Game Closet: Go Away Monster!

There are a lot of "experience it again for the first time" moments that I've had lately as the Mu is turning the corner and headed towards 3 years old.  In addition to him springing a Disney consciousness, and able to talk with me about Peter Pan, Mowgli, Beauty & the Beast, and (personal favorite) Aladdin, he's also able to tell me that he loves Chewbacca and Yoda - though he has no idea who they are or why.

Now board games have become a part of our regular play, and it all started with Gamewright's "Go Away Monster," quite possibly the best early, early-childhood game out there.  

The game is simple (as it should be): up to 4 players, each with their own board pick tiles out of a bag in order to decorate their room; if they draw a tile with a monster on it, they ceremoniously yell "Go Away Monster!" and throw it back in the box (or, if you are playing with a rowdy 2-year old, across the room, into the fireplace, out the window, etc.).  If players draw a tile for an object they already have, they are supposed to share it with another player who doesn't have that object.  The first person to complete their board is the winner.

Toddler Meets Xbox

I came home from work yesterday like any other day.  As I was helping Lady Rad pull dinner together by entertaining the Mu and Q, it was a good 20 minutes in the family room before I turned around and looked at our media rack - only to find the DVD tray of my Xbox open and askew.  Actually, "askew" might be a generous term.  Another term would be "looks like it was used as a chin-up bar."

The component that does almost as much heavy lifting in our home as our TV is now out of commission - which also means that DVD watching, game playing, and professional reviewing is down until I can get it repaired - hopefully without having to resort to purchasing a new box.

Here's the thing: the Xbox Slim is great, and normally the capacitive buttons I would welcome, except with a Toddler in the house... As Lady Rad reminds me "the flood waters of disaster continue to rise" but there's only so much higher I can place things before I am resigned to just living in the garage!

Literal Tron Trailer

Funny every time...

When to have The Talk with your kids

I can't believe that the Mu is not even 3, and already beginning to ask questions. What a world we live in.

Man, yet ANOTHER reason why I want a Segway

I don't care how ridiculous they are.

Father Hulk

By the way, when I was searching for a photo to use for my last post, I found the most bizarre essay online about the religious affiliation of the Incredible Hulk:

http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/Hulk.html

Man... the Internet.

A Toddler's view of Daddy

Sometimes I wake up looking like this.

I was told today that the Mu picked up his Incredible Hulk action figure, held it high in the air, and exclaimed "Oh look! It's Daddy!"

I assume, for my own sake, that it's because Hulk is big and strong, and not because he's bi-polar with an anger management problem.  

Now I'm no Lou Ferrigno... heck, I'm certainly no Ed Norton and I'm hardly even a Bill Bixby, but when I hear that, it reminds me that we ARE the heroes we attempt to be for our kids when we try.  No matter what our size or stature is, we can always give them the security of having a big, strong man around by just... being around; reading to them, wrestling with them, talking with them.  Loving them.

The greatest joy of my day is when I come home and get to grab both of the kids from Lady Rad and play with them.  That should be the greatest joy of any father's, and for those who can't get home from work early enough to experience that joy, I feel sorry for you.  Bringing home a paycheck or getting a promotion doesn't make you a Hero in their eyes - being present and engaged does.

I know the day will come when my kids don't see me as the powerful protector anymore -  we all begin to realize our parent's shortcomings as we get older - but I hope that for as long as possible, I can be the Hero they think I am.

Thermos - Freedom from Work Awkwardness

Yea, I said "manly"

Look: I'm a highly, highly social guy outside of work.  I regularly wrangle my guy friends together for a bi-weekly, aka bi-monthly, (seriously Oxford: why don't you clarify those definitions?) game night; I mentor junior-high kids; I'm on a first-name basis with the baggers at our local grocery store.

But at work? I have nothing in common with those people.  Oh sure, I'm cordial and friendly, I banter and make small talk, but frankly I only enjoy talking with a few of them so I pretty much keep to myself. 

That's ok.  I've learned over the years that there's an importance in of keeping personal and professional lives separate; an air of mystery is a good thing at the Office.  It's not that I'm Don Draper, it's just that I wouldn't ever choose to hang out with most of my co-workers, so why try to force a friendship that doesn't need to exist?  I come in, I do my work, I do it well, and I leave - isn't that America? Maybe it's that way in every traditional office environment, maybe it's just because we're a bunch of lawyers, who knows? I don't fret about it anymore.

Scatological Report: Jungle Book Edition

© 1967 Walt Disney Co.

After a successful round of potty training yesterday, our little Man-Cub was congratulated on both his #1 and #2.  He responded with...

Mu: "I pee'ed and pooped in the potty.  It's the Bare Necessities!"

In a way, I guess he's right - having a designated place to do your business is one of those simple bare necessities of life!

Yea, Man!

My Disney Legacy & Fatherhood

That's ONLY Aladdin & Genie

I was raised on Disney.

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was born one neighborhood over from the Magic Kingdom in Anaheim and had been to Disneyland more times in my first two years than my parents can even recount.

In fact my earliest memory, back in the cobwebby recesses of my mind, is of Sleeping Beauty's castle and a "closed for refurbishment" sign - I have no idea why.  Apparently, I was very interested in the "behind the scenes" even as a toddler.

Once my folks moved us back to their home state, Disney still played a pretty heavy influence in my life - we had virtually every animated film on VHS and watched them until the tapes warbled, I wore out my recording of Disneyland's 25th Anniversary (complete with a strutting David Hasslehoff, circa Knight Rider, singing in front of Tomorrowland), I would regularly ride my bike up to the local AAA office just to grab the Disney pamphlets and travel planners - though we only went to Walt Disney World twice.

I suppose it was no surprise to anyone when I decided to go work for Disney right out of college while figuring out whether I actually wanted to go to Law School or not.