Daddy Painting Nails - Not So Girly After All!

"Daddy, can you paint my nails?"

     The questions once seemed like such an odd one. Yet, a few years back, it all changed. I knew things would be different after my daughter was born. I just didn't know HOW much. I'm one of four boys. We did all things G.I. Joe, pirate, hot lava, etc. Yet we all have girls now. It was a few years back, when I saw a member of our family with HIS toes painted a sparkley silver. I asked him about it and he said it was a way for him to spend more time with his two girls. He would paint theirs, and then they would paint his. It became a tradition. I tried it once in Hawaii with my niece, in order to get her to try it for the first time. It was a great experience.
     So it trickled down to our little tradition. Only so often, we break out the kit and get to trimming, cleaning and painting. TRUST me, I've had to ask for help and direction from my wife. It's totally worth it though. Practice makes perfect, and on a child's feet, the canvas is wiped clean often. I've recently looked into stencils to add some flavor to the end result. Places like OC Nail Art are a great place to get started. I make more mistakes than clean jobs, so take it from a semi-pro, it's more about the time with you daughter.
     Now chat with the wife, break out the colors this weekend, and give it a try. You'll be glad you did.

J.

Blogs, Blogging and Their Inherent Issues

     If at first you don't succeed,....

     With the birth of a new blog, comes all the digi-crap that comes with any new life form. So it is with The Cheeky Daddy. The specific portion of the blog I had issue with is irrelevant. The price came at nearly two hours of searching for an answer. The solution came in the form of abandonment of all hope of fixing, and simply replacing.
     The lesson learned is perhaps to not spend so much time trying to fix a problem that has no immediate answer. I found the answer in the list of Gadgets that Blogger had to offer. I simply replaced old functionality, with new. Point is, don't give up. As frustrated as I was at the end of it (...and since I couldn't actually set fire to the blog), I'm satisfied with the outcome. Now I can move on, older and wiser. Well,...let's not get carried away.

J.

Gift Ideas - "It's Poo!"

You can't have everything. Where would you put it? ~ Steven Wright

     As Christmas and birthdays have just passed, my wife and I came across this video clip. It's classic kid, meets classic lame present. It reminded me of the scene in A Christmas Story, when Ralphy and Randy get socks as a gift.

     We attempted to attach the appropriate amount of cheer behind each gift, but how do you dress up the gift of pants? Just try to balance the order in which the gifts are opened, so that the last three presents aren't books, pants, then socks.

     Nothing killed my June pool birthday party more than my last present being a sweater vest for church. Good luck!

J.

Days At The Park

“If people don't want to come out to the ball park, nobody's gonna stop 'em.” ~ Yogi Berra

     We've been heading to the park a lot these days. These trips bring all sorts of fun and different games to play. Like playing pirate with my daughter. Or enjoying a challenging game of "Guess What's In My Mouth?" with my son. As the weather got nicer, the trips to the park were inevitable. The above quote says it all. Nobody is going to stop you from staying home and doing nothing.
     I've noticed that, like previously posted, bringing the right things along is crucial. Today we forgot the sand toys. Yesterday we forgot the snacks and extra juice. So keep that in mind. Also, we're new to the area and have yet to find all the parks. There's a new iPhone app called Park Finder that might be able to help. Looking up your town usually produces a city website that shows all the local parks as well.
     So take the time. You'll come home tired and happy you did (as I write this, I'm dosing off with a football game on in the background).

J.

Cool Dads, Cool Guys

Doesn't every guy deserve to be looked at like this?



...and not just by your dog, but your wife, kids, girlfriend, co-workers,....whomever.

J.

Root Beer - My Happy Place

  
     "Okay, he either said, "move to the back of the throat," or he "wants a root beer float".” ~ Dory, Finding Nemo

     I have loved root beer since I was a kid. I've had the cheap no-name stuff, hand crafted my own, and every other kind in between. My current every day favorite is Mug Root Beer (check 'em out, they've got some good recipes). When I can get my hands on it, a treat to myself is Dad's Root Beer (I actually have a Dad's pocket watch!). Some restaurants and stores carry IBC Root Beer, which fills the void when my other favorites are not available. I actually DID make my own root beer briefly. That all ended when I added too much yeast one day and they began to explode in our cupboards. One almost killed my wife as she began to pull 'em out off the shelf. That put an end to my brief career as a home brewer. Maybe one day I'll start it up again.
     My daughter and I have found a local root beer shop, specializing in all types of labels from all over the country. They have their own label brewed for them, which they use for their root beer floats. We share one every time we're in old town, though she's a bit of an ice cream hog. It's been a great tradition to start.
     Oh, and if you're a root beer nut like me, head over to Root Beer World. They've got over 2500 brands cataloged, recipes, links and such. Drink up!

J.

Pillow Pet Is The Way To Go

     A man's best friend, evidently, is a Pillow Pet. 

     So listen up, dads. One of our greatest gifts given this season was a Pillow Pet. My daughter had seen them around and knew of another child or two that had them. She singled out the Magical Unicorn specifically and reminded us leading up to Christmas. Someone was listening. 

     She has since used it as both a pillow,......AND a pet. Can you believe it?! Really, it was a great addition to her life. She sleeps on it exclusively, and we can hear her talking to it as she goes to bed each night. A brief history of the Pillow Pet can be found here. They're worth the money in my opinion. She's already smitten by her new friend. Me too, a 'lil bit. Check 'em out.

J. 

Short Stories For Short People

     Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. ~Groucho Marx

     We spent an evening at Barnes & Noble, and besides the child wrangling event that it was, we had a good time. My five year old LOVES the Kid's Nook that they have at each store, usually spending ALL of her time there with a stack of books next to her. There is a new app on iTunes for the iPad by Barnes & Noble Kids called Nook for Kids holding one of the largest collections of ebooks for kids.

     Our kids favorites around the 6-18 month range are the Touch and Feel books. They have an excellent blend of engaging images and interesting textures for the kids to mess with. My son (1 year old as of this post) is near impossible to keep still. He's a statue when we pull these books out.
     My 5 year old girl has a number of short story favorites. Below are our top 5 right now:

Olivia (series by Ian Falconer)
Fancy Nancy (series by Jane O'Conner and Robin Preiss Glasser)
Disney Step Into Reading (series 1 mostly by Random House Disney)
Do Princesses... (series by Carmela LaVigna Coyle)
My Little Pony: I Can Read (series 1 by various authors)

     So get on down to the book store, keep an eye on those kids, and pick out some good ones. We've established story time at night with our daughter (son to follow), and she threatens revolution when we don't deliver. I hear that establishing reading habits now with your kids will increase their love of books and reading later. Have fun!

J.

Time For Self

Finding time for yourself seems like a full-time job. 

I posted the below in May of 2007:

"My buddy commented on how hard it is to find time to draw these days with a child around. My little gal best thing about me and I love every minute with her, but the drawing has taken a back seat to the job of playing and taking care of her. I fit this sketch in while the baby was sleeping in the car up in Park City, UT. At 7 minutes and 13 seconds into the sketch, she woke up and wanted out. I intend on finding the time, no matter what, to fit in some stuff for me too. It's just a bigger fight, but one that's worth it."

Whether it's finding time for yourself to feel more stress-free, or to just tackle more of the projects you've been wanting to get to, I feel that it's important to try. I talk to a LOT of people, every day. You'd be very surprised at how many people claim they have no outside interests or hobbies. For shame! The guys over at Not So Boring Life have some good ideas if you can't think of anything to get started in. Get on it!

J. 

Not Your Average Foo Pets

Foo Pets will only give you so much love in return.

     I had a dog growing up. It was meant to be the emotional detour after my parents split up. That lasted about three weeks, and then our Shepard mix, Joey, spent the rest of his thirteen years out back. That's why, when we decided to get a dog, we did nearly three months of research in preparation. We researched the breed, met the mommy and daddy, and spent some time with the litter before we made our final decision.
     Now, we haven't always needed to do that kind of deep research for all our pets. After the recent passing of our Great Dane, Asia, we moved on to a simpler pet. Guppies. Our one year old would definitely harass anything bigger or more accessible, so that's our limit for now. It's begs the question, though, what kind of pet do you want (Best Friends Animal Sanctuary has a good 6 page helper on choosing a pet here), and what kind of research are you willing to do before hand?
   The decision is always a big one. Heck, these guppies keep having babies. Eighteen at a time. So think long and hard and make sure you're making the best decision for your kids, their age bracket, and the time you can put towards them after the acquisition.
   Woof-woof! (Happy searching!)

J.