Tales from the Changing Table

When we were kids we all had parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents make comments about how fast we were growing. I even recall some mornings my mom telling me, “You look like you got taller overnight.”

In my youth I remember feeling like these comments were odd. Of course growth was happening, when I was born I was roughly 20 inches tall and fortunately somewhere along the lines I grew. (The fact that the majority of my growth in the last 12 years had been more of a widening than getting taller is a different story altogether!?!?!?) As I kid I just never believed my parents could observe growth from one day to the next.

As a parent I can see where my aunts, uncles, and mom were coming from. I can recall multiple mornings feeling like one of the girls had changed overnight. I also have moments that the speed of their development simply shocks me. A few examples include Paige holding her dinner bowl to her ear pretending it is a phone and then laughing because she knew she was being funny or Lucy teaching me how to scroll through the applications on mom’s smart phone.

Another example of this struck me while I was changing Paige’s diaper. The first observation of her development filled my senses as soon as a peeled back the diaper. As Paige has increased her intake of solid foods her dirty diapers have significantly increased in smell and size.

About once a week she celebrates her bowel productivity with a complete blowout diaper. Typically these changes mean a lost outfit and a diaper pad cover change. After those items are out of the way I just start wiping below the armpits and work my way down until she is clean enough to go in the bath.

Paige also seems to be “filling” more and more of the changing table daily. As you can kind of see from this picture our changing table has sides. I often feel like her head and feet are getting closer and closer to those sides.

My experience observing the girls’ growth now has me saying, “You must have grown overnight.” This leads me to agree with my mom observations from years back and conclude with another common phrase of our youth, “Mom knows best.”

Different ways to raise awareness

As I have discussed in a few previous posts I was the sole participant of a self titled “No Shave November” which was preceded by a no shave October (just doesn’t have the same ring). While I was growing out the facial hair I had a couple of people ask me if I was doing it for Movember. At the time I responded that I didn’t know what that was.

I have since learned that Movember is an organization that is working to raise awareness of men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer. To raise awareness they invite men to grow a mustache during the month of November. It is a unique idea. Although I didn’t follow the specific participation requirements this year I did shave to make it look like I did. Next year I hope to participate by the book and collect a few sponsors. Consider yourself warned about both me asking you to sponsor me and me growing a mustache.

A much, much more traditional event to raise awareness that the whole family participated in back in September was an Ovarian Cancer walk/run. We have a family member whose mother was/is battling ovarian cancer. Our family member has been a volunteer at this event for years. There was a kids fun run that Lucy participated in.

While not pictured, as soon as she crossed the finish line she stopped turned around and gave us a look like, what is next. It made us laugh and effectively blocked a portion of the finish line with numerous other children heading straight for her.

The St. Paul Saints maschot paricipated in the run, as you can see.

DUDE REPORT: Twins off season requests

Major League Baseball is holding their annual winter meetings in Orlando. I wanted to take a moment to discuss two requests from the Tale from the Homefront. These two requests are understandably not the organizations top priorities. The organization should be focusing on pitching (specifically the bullpen) and the middle infield. As a fan my two requests are to have Jim Thome brought back and Todd Coffey added to the bullpen.

I really enjoyed watch Jim Thome hit for the Twins this year. After years of watching him hurt the Twins as a Cleveland Indian and Chicago White Sox, it was enjoyable to see him put 25 over the fence as a Twins. During a game I attended with my father-in-law he hit a ball that bounced off the flag pole in right field. He certainly outperformed my preseason projections ("If Thome hits 10 HR’s and drives in 35 in 130 AB’s I will be ecstatic.") and I would love to see him resigned.

From all accounts he is a very nice person and seems to be a good fit in the clubhouse. He is originally from Peoria, IL. Libby and I, with my sister and brother-in-law, completed a memorial seven hour road trip to Peoria for a family wedding. Having memories of that trip brought up by thinking of Thome is a bonus.

The White Sox were rumored to be interested in bring him back. They have since signed Adam Dunn and expressed interest in bringing Paul Konerko back. I am optimistic they are out of the Thome running. The Twins picked up Jason Kubel’s option for $5.25 this year. While I don’t disagree with that decision I am concerned that too many lefty bats could lead the Twins to tapering their pursuit of Thome.

Bill Smith and others are paid the big bucks to make the tough decisions and they certainly know better than me. A “Thome is my Homey” t-shirt is on my Christmas list and I will be a fan of his next season where ever he plays (except Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland or Kansas City) I just really hope it is Minnesota.

My second request is for the Twins to add Todd Coffey to their bullpen. Like the Thome request it is from the heart of a fan, not the head of a front office member. With that said Coffey does have fastball in the mid-90’s and a good slider. I want him for non-pitching reasons. I want him because it is simply difficult to put a price on seeing a 6’4” 240 pound man sprints from the bullpen to the mound. Some of my family members are Milwaukee Brewer fans and I know they looked forward to Todd Coffey appearances.

Just thinking of the green grass of the major league ballparks and having a beer outside on a summer evening makes me smile!

Let the countdown begin

Lucy seems to have inherited her mother's love of numbers. She loves to count everything from the number of crayons in her hand, to the number of animals in a picture, to the number of jumps off the bed with dad catching her that she has negotiate. Typically five is the number of jumps we find mutually acceptable. As she jumps she likes to track her progress. After the first jump she will hold up four fingers on one hand, which is the jumps left, and on the other hand she will hold up one finger, which is jumps completed.

We have tried to capture some of this number loving by creating countdowns to special events. For her birthday we did a good old fashion paper chain. Each morning she woke up very excited to take off a ring and know that her bday was now one day closer.

With the help of Nona (Lib's Mom)we have started the time honored tradition of an advent calendar. Much like the birthday countdown, Lucy starts each day by opening one of the numbered red boxes pictured below. Inside of each box Nona has prepared a little present. To date Lucy has opened bubbles, stick on earrings, and jelly bracelets. Lucy enjoys counting the boxes that are left, although things get pretty fuzzy between 10 and 25, with a lot of fours, thirteens, and nineteens being said. Eventually she gets to 24 and 25 and we take the opportunity to discuss the birth of baby Jesus and the reason for season.

With the calendar reading December 3rd I would be interested in knowing what is going on around your house to get your kids and/or yourself into the holiday spirit. Happy Holidays and best wishes during this time of preparation.

“Bird” cookies

The week before Thanksgiving Lucy and I had some fun making cookies. The cookies we made were ones that I remembered making growing up. It was fun to keep the tradition alive.

The cookies bordered on crafts. We used frosting for glue and our other materials used included sugar cookies, Hersey Kisses, candy corns, and chocolate chips.

There were multiple steps to making the cookies. As I explained the steps to Lucy she seemed more interested in the cookie/candy part of the plan versus the turkey/Thanksgiving tradition explanation. The proof of her focus was clear when she told mommy that we were going to make chicken treats.

Once we got started on the project (baking the cookies, opening the kisses, etc.) Lucy seemed to be engaged in the process. We talked about how the cookie would be the turkey’s tall feathers, the kiss the body, the candy corn the turkey’s face, and the chocolate chips the feet. She seemed to be following along, but when asked if the explanation of the turkey body parts made sense, all I could only get a muffled “uh-ha” because he mouth was full of candy corns and frosting.

Eventually we started producing some finished products. Just as I thought Lucy was starting to pick up on the turkey being part of the Thanksgiving tradition she asked, “When can we eat one of the chicken cookies?”

Regardless of what you call the “bird” cookies we enjoyed making them, sharing them with neighbors and family, and of course eating them.

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving!