Growing Kids

I am fearful! I'm also excited. I am currently a mix of the many emotions that every parent will go through as their kids grow up. And, as every parent navigates these times of child development, there are times where you chuckle, shake your head and ask, "Did that just happen?" Or, you stand up tall, stick the chest out and say, "That's my kid!" Well, I have experienced both of these in the last month, and that is just with Rachel.

Last month, out of the blue, Rachel announces to Janda that she knew exactly what she wanted to do. Knowing that she already wants to go to a hotel with some friends, swim and stay the night, Janda could only begin to imagine what she wanted to do. Well, the words spoken both surprised Janda and made her proud. Of all the things a soon to be 10 year old girl would want to do, she wants to be unselfish. She wants to give on her birthday. I won't go into details yet, just know that for a 10 year old to be to want to give for her birthday is indeed a miracle AND the moment I wanted to stick my chest out and say, "That's my kid!" And yes, the details of what she wants to do for her birthday will be posted sometime around January 1st, give or take a couple days.

Now, the moment in which caused fear, and the shaking of the head and asking, "Did that just happen" was in the early part of this passed week. Now, I know that my little darling girl will break many a hearts. And like any dad of a little girl, I also have a deep desire to lock her in her room until she is 30 (35 if I could get away with it). However, this moment had nothing to do with a boy...and I'm glad Janda is the one that she talked to about this...ummm...."problem". (Here is where you need to remember Rachel is turning 10 in FEBRUARY.) It seems Rachel is upset about development. After hearing a wonderful explanation from Janda, Rachel was less concerned about her rate of "maturity." For that, I am thankful. As for me...well....my thoughts are as follows:

Now that Janda has convinced her she is NOT ready for boobs, am I? WHAT THE HECK?!?!?! I'm in no way ready for my little one to have boobs!!! Dear, God!!! HELP!!! Amen!

Give me a couple more days, and I MIGHT be ready to share about Ethan's moments.

Green Eggs and Ham

Dr. Suess is one of the great literary figures of any child growing up. Green Eggs and Ham will typically be one of the first books a child will read once they can. It was one of the first books Janda and I read to our kids. And eventually, if you're like me, you will inevitably find a way to cook green eggs.

Just a little tangent before I get too far. You see, I can't confirm or deny that my brother or I convinced our dad to cook green eggs for us (dad was the resident kitchen adventure seeking type in our house). I can and will confirm that if in fact he did cook them for us, mom had no part in it. However, since I don't remember an enormous amount from my childhood, you are stuck with a mystery as to when I first consumed green eggs (but rest assured, my kids have seen green eggs they could consume). Green eggs though is where the food alteration experiments have ended as green ham doesn't look or sound right. Nor does it taste right. This is in fact something I know. My father would love to explain how we know green ham (or byproduct/pig byproduct) is slightly repulsive (thank you Kingdome memories).

Okay, back to the subject. When one reads Green Eggs & Ham, you are blessed with pictures of green eggs and green ham. Now, go read the story with out pictures. Really, please do! What do you read? Do you read anything stating the ham was green? Sure! The story does read "green eggs and ham." However, I beginning to believe that it was only the eggs that were green. Yes, the picture is of green eggs and green ham. But where in the story does it specifically state the ham was green? I believe Mr. Dr. Suess was taking liberty in his story telling and drawings of making the ham green. Why do I believe this? You try to make a pinkish/brownish meat green!!! Who cares if The Food Network has all sorts of recipe's for Green Eggs and Ham! None of their pictures show the ham as a solid green!

So, what do you think? Was the ham really green? Is it just a story to get kids to see if mom and dad will make food like this? Regardless, I love the story. Artistic liberty or not, still one of my favorite fun reads.

Oh yeah! The whole reason I thought about this is a little amusing in itself. Janda and I were having a conversation about her finger being blue due to adding blue food coloring to water. And in order to have green eggs, you have to add blue food coloring to the egg. Thank you Janda and your blue finger for causing mental stimulus for me tonight!

Apathy

Yup, the title says it all. At least, when it comes to blogging. However, I am changing that. I began working on a new project, which meant some writing. So, I figured I'd just dive right in. After more than a year of being absent from this blog, to jump right in on another project and abandon this one just didn't seem right. So, I guess you could say I'm jumping into the fire and bypassing the frying pan. So, I'm gonna give it my all to write more than once a year. Yes, that also means more than once a month. So yeah, I guess that's all I got for now. Nothing too deep, too special or poignant for that matter.

Well, back to work and no more wasting time typing a blog. Later all.