blame it on the parents

The other day, while HotMomma was off with her friends having "mommy" time, I took Z-Dub and The Deuce to Target with me to pick up a few things (diapers). While driving up St. Rose Parkway, all of a sudden I realized that Z-Dub was singing along with the song playing on the radio. He seemed to know most, if not all, of the words of the chorus. This was the song:



At least the song teaches life lessons. Right?

Like, if you get her drunk she'll take her panties off.

a post of randomness

Oh dear blog, how I've neglected you. It's been five days since my last post. And, frankly, my last post was nothing more than an embedded You Tube video. Not much to it really. 

Life has been kind of crazy lately. We've been reinforcing the potty training with Z-Dub. He's starting his third week diaper free. He's had a few accidents, but that's expected. He gets distracted by "fun" and forgets that he's not wearing a diaper. He also tends to "hold it" too long before telling us he has to go. As a result, some of his accidents have been while his pants were coming off to use the toilet. 

Speaking of Z-Dub, he's turned into a raging three-year-old lately. He's literally a back-talking, hitting, stubborn brat of a boy. We're working hard to get him under control, but let's face it, he's three and it's how kids his age act. We're trying to find a healthy balance of discipline and positive reinforcement when he's being good. So far, the most effective punishment is withholding toys. And threatening kidnap by pirates seems to be working as well. He scoffs at time out. 

Meanwhile, little The Deuce just keeps eating, pooping and growing. He's been teething lately, so he's a little on the grumpy side. Not too bad though. With the warm weather, he's been enjoying time at the pool. In celebration of a friend's birthday, we had a private cabana and pool at Green Valley Ranch Resort yesterday. The weather was beautiful and The Deuce and Z-Dub and their cousins had a blast splashing in the pool. They also like the endless parade of delicious food. I enjoyed one too many mojitos. It was a great day. 

Want proof, here's some pics.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that we got Z-Dub one of these over the weekend:

It's a Disney's Cars television set. It was an award for all of his peeing and pooping in the toilet. It'll also be great to "take away" as punishment for bad behavior. Just thinking ahead.

excuse me mr., it's earth day

Also, check out my Earth Day post at Uptake.com. It captures a special moment in Z-Dub's life.

it's official

With Z-Dub finally dropping loads of number two in the toilet, and not wearing diapers for more than a week, he's now officially potty trained. He's got it all under control.

FINALLY.

And, just in time for Earth Day. I'm sure Mother Nature will appreciate him no longer filling up the landfill with poopy diapers.

he said what?

Last night, as we were leaving a restaurant, Z-Dub blurts out "we drive in Mommy's dirty ass car." HotMomma and I were shocked, but at the same time, tried to hold back giggles as he repeated "Mommy, you have a dirty ass car."

He was instructed not to say that anymore, even though his observation of the state of Mommy's car was more than accurate.

Lessons learned: clean the car and watch your mouth around the little ones. They're like sponges.

dude, let it out!

I apologize in advance for the content of this post. 

This is yet another post about poop. We're continuing our efforts to potty train young Z-Dub. All of his little friends, many of which are younger than him, are now diaper free, so we're on a mission. He has no issue peeing in the potty. He's had a couple of accidents, primarily due to distraction, but for the most part he has peeing under control.

Our problem is his poop anxiety. He's afraid to do it on the toilet and we've yet to have success with dropping a load into the porcelain throne. In fact, yesterday he was so fearful of the notion, he sat on his little toilet for much of the day without success. Instead of just letting it slide on out, he actually held it in all day long. His poor belly was big and he complained that his "tummy and his butt" hurt. We encouraged him, held his hand and even explained how to relax and push it out. Nothing helped him overcome his fear.

Eventually he went to sleep...late. At 4 a.m., while getting ready to head off to work, HotMomma checked on him. He was asleep with the largest, stinkiest load of poop in his pants. I ended up changing him while he was asleep.

Today he's with his cousin who is six months younger and already potty trained. We're hoping she can encourage him to get over his poop fears.

Any advice?

red rocks and stuff

When HotMomma and I lived in the Phoenix area for a couple of years, we used to enjoy our road trips up to Sedona. It was absolutely beautiful up there among the red buttes. We took off-road jeep tours on the rugged terrain, explored weird vortexes and enjoyed the great restaurants. It was amazing.

Thinking of these past trips, I decided to write an Uptake post on vacationing in Sedona. Of course, now I'm feeling all nostalgic. The article has inspired me to look at booking a Sedona vacation. Although, I'm thinking more of a romantical vacation sans kiddos.

Check out my Sedona post here.

random post about weather and a contest

Like my uber-creative title? I know...it sucks. It's Wednesday and I'm already burnt out from my week, so don't make fun of it.

On to the post. Is it me or is the weather getting freaky? Just two days ago it was in the mid-80s here in Las Vegas. Then the winds came again (they've been a pain in the ass this year) and the weather chilled. Today is supposed to only reach 58. Even more shocking was the fact that when I stepped out the door this morning to head to work it was snowing. Seriously...frickin' snowing in Vegas in mid-April. There's something very wrong with that.

Even more surprising is the fact that the weather predictors are forecasting 90-degree temps by the end of the weekend. It's quite a roller coaster ride going from warm to cold to hot all in the span of a few days. Although I'm not a fan of the cold, I'm definitely not looking forward to the hot weather. I'd like a few weeks in the 70s, like in California. We're going to try to hit Disneyland again next weekend. Hopefully the weather will be perfect.

Speaking of California, the folks over at UpTake are having a contest. You can win a Napa Valley spa vacation for you and three friends. Check out the details here. It's actually really easy to enter, so you'd be a fool not to. I would, if I could. HotMomma would love some girl time in Napa Valley.

a touching tribute

Today is Maddie Spohr's day.  I invite you to visit Mike's touching tribute  to his beautiful daughter.

the weird dream

Ever have a really weird, vivid dream; the kind of dream that you remember every little detail of? I had such a dream last night and I'm still trying to analyze it.

HotMomma, Z-Dub, The Deuce and I were being chased by mobsters and the police simultaneously. We were in a strange city, which, based on the signs, turned out to be Jacksonville, Florida, even though it looked nothing like Jacksonville. There were big hills in the city, like in San Francisco.

At different points in the dream were at the beach, hiding among the throngs of sunbathers. Later we were hiding in a mall and a used car dealership lot. It was there that HotMomma surprised me with her car theft skills as she hot wired a beat up, old, orange VW Bus. Later we were involved in a high speed chase with the police and it did very well around the curves considering the kind of vehicle it was. Later we were on a cruise ship as it was exiting a bay. With the police on board, we jumped off into the water and magically ended up on jet skis. From there we were being chased by mobsters in speed boats. Throughout the dream, innocent folks were falling victim, but somehow we always eluded capture. It was very Jason Bourne.

The dream ended with a real yelp from The Deuce, indicating that he was awake and ready to eat. Just before that happened, in the dream we sought sanctuary in the home of a very nice and helpful lesbian woman who was in the middle of shampooing her carpet. Not that carpet, you perv!

a special birthday video

Obviously our friend Drew has mad skillz. He put together this video of Z-Dub's birthday party last weekend at Bounce U. It's amazing. It makes me smile.



Thanks Drew. You're the man!!!

extreme sadness

I'm speechless...

Goodbye beautiful Madeline Spohr.

Mike and Heather, you're in our thoughts and prayers.

Donations in Madeline's name are being accepted for March of Dimes, an organization dedicated to improving the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.

a special thank you

can he be anymore excited?

I finally found time to download videos off the camcorder. Here's one of Z-Dub and his cousin Sukita as we were on the bus heading to the main gate of Disneyland.

happiness

As I was washing off some strawberries and blueberries for Z-Dub to eat for dessert last night...


Z-Dub: "Daddy, you happy?"

Me: "Huh, what did you say?"

Z-Dud: "Daddy, you happy?"

Me: "Yes, I'm happy."

Z-Dub: "You not mad?"

Me: "No, I'm not mad?"

Z-Dud: "I not mad either. I happy too."

of scalpels and fast food

Z-Dub had an appointment with his ENT yesterday. As many of you may know, he's suffered from chronic ear infections since his first infliction when he was eight weeks old. Although he's been doing better over the past few months, the doctor says it's time for new tubes to be placed in his eardrums and surgical removal of both his tonsils and adenoids. Not only will this help alleviate his ear problems, but will also drastically improve his severe snoring problem. Seriously, the boy wakes the neighbors.

His surgery, which will require an overnight stay in the hospital as well as a seven to 10 day recovery, will be scheduled within the next six weeks. We have an appointment to do that on Monday. In the meantime, the doctor wants us to "fatten him up." This is because he'll likely lose weight from his inability to eat following surgery. The doctor sees him as a skinny kid. I was a skinny kid, so he inherited it from me. Nothing wrong with that. And contrary to what the doctor thinks, the kid eats like a pig. But the doctor has recommended that we take him to eat a lot of fast food in the coming weeks, including Wendy's and McDonald's.

My reaction was..."WTF?"

The doctor wants us to feed him crap we've never exposed him to. I don't get it. I'm not about to introduce the kid to something we've worked so hard to avoid in his three years. Many parents can probably attest to the fact that once they get a taste of fast food, they become like crack addicts yearning for more.

It isn't going to happen. We'll try to fatten him up at home, thank you.