The American Baking Competition - TV recap

When nine of America’s finest amateur bakers strapped on their aprons and faced off in the cookie challenge, rules and spirits were broken. Risks were taken and cookies were burnt and it was all up to judges Paul Hollywood and Marcela Valladolid to decide which way the cookie ultimately crumbled in the latest installment of The American Baking Competition.

The first competition was the signature bake where, the contestants had to create one of their tried and true recipes and bake one dozen cookies in an hour and a half. The judges looked for consistency in look, taste and originality. While host Jeff Foxworthy looked for a large glassof milk to enjoy with the confections.  read the rest at HaveUHeard.net

Game of Potties : a song of wet underwear and pants. The Bribe

The little guy has been much better with using the potty, though his accidents are still very frequent. But it doesn't seem as daunting, and small batches of laundry are so much easier to deal with.



So the little guy was sitting on the potty, doing his business, and a commercial for Chuck E Cheese comes on and he says he wants to go there. I think he's way to small to enjoy CEC yet, but he seems really fascinated by it. So I tell him that when he is fully potty trained we will go.



This is not the first time I used bribery as a tool for potty training. When I was training Nugget we went to Ikea and she really wanted to play in Smaland (I can't figure out how to make umlauts or the degree signs over letters) but you needed to be a certain height and out of diapers. Nugget was tall enough, but was still in pull-ups. She longingly looked at the kids jumping into the ball pit. But that ended up being one of the sparks to get her out of diapers.

After we got her trained, Mrs.GMIBP and I took a trip out to the Ikea in Brooklyn and with glee Nugget went in and played. It being the first time she lasted only 20 minutes because she was too scared to play. Now they practically have to drag her out.

So hopefully the idea of video games, skeeball, dudes in mice costumes and bad pizza is inspiration enough for Thor to be fully potty trained.

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As an aside, I have a friend who says there are no accidents, I'll see what he says when his daughter starts potty training. "She peed on herself on purpose."

Kids in cardboard boxes

http://updatednews.ca/2013/06/03/why-finnish-babies-moslty-sleep-in-cardboard-boxes/

In sure by now many of you have read the story about Finnish babies sleeping in cardboard boxes on Facebook. It is pretty amazing that the government would have the foresight to do something like this.

While there is nothing like that here in the U.S. If there was it would be a political volleyball, with millionaires squabbling with other millionaires about who deserves to get one or why are we spending so much when they could do it them selves. It's too bad. The closest thing we have to that is companies (mostly diaper and formula companies with a sprinkled in entertainment company or two) will bid to get into hospitals to give new moms their sample pack.

But that is what having a baby is about here. Going to your baby superstores and registering for things you don't need. Do you know why people don't register for their second kid? It's not that they already have stuff, it's they know how much of that stuff is useless. Bottle sterilizer. Diaper warmer. Etc etc.

Perhaps we should take a hint from the Fins. Get the bare essentials for your baby and spend time bonding with them. Not worrying so much if decorative safety padding in the crib that matches everything else will actually suffocate your kid.

Game of Potties : a song of wet underwear and pants. Random Thought

I think I'm much more anxious about this potty training thing than the little guy is. I'm pretty comforted by the fact that most of the kids in his play group are not trained yet either.

Game of Potties : a song of wet underwear and pants.

NOTE: I don't want to be one of those parents who is constantly talking about potty training online.


Two days ago Thor's potty training started in earnest. His last diaper came off and I put on a pair of Superman underwear on him. He was very resistant at first but seemed to like how they felt and liked the attention.

He sat on his potty but nothing. Well he enjoyed the M&Ms I gave him. But the potty remained dry as a desert.

I don't remember training Nugget being this difficult. Maybe I am just less confident, maybe he is more stubborn. Maybe boys are not as easy to train.

In his first full day, he got to try on a cadre of liscenced underwear. Batman, Aquaman, Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Yo Gabba Gabba each one ended up in the hamper, in guessing that me and the lady at the laundry who doesn't speak English will become close friends.

People will say he's not ready. But he needs to be ready by September and I don't now how long this will take. I'm trying to do it with patience and humor, I set up a potty in the back of my SUV which I have him sit on.

So far he has only peed on himself. He pooped twice in the potty, which was awesome. And I found the restraint not to post the picture of his poop online. If anyone has any useful advice I welcome it, as a comment or email. Non-useful advice can be sent to Niel@imnotreadingthis.com

A great moment in good parenting.

Today we had an eagle court of honor for one of our scouts a really deserving young man. And despite all my anxiety of how the event would go .

Would anyone show up?
Would we have too much food?
Not enough?

It went great. People liked how it went and seemed both inspired and grateful. My big takeaway was a small moment that many people may not have seen or noticed that touched me. Right after the young man was awarded his Eagle Scout rank he pinned a eagle parent pin on his mom and dad. The scout's dad was overwhelmed with tears.

I know this scout's dad a little, as he is a frequent driver on our trips and such a great guy. He is stoic and serious, until he warms up to you and then you are pals for life. But to see him break down was a little surprising. His son overcame a lot to earn the rank. I know seeing your child do something they didn't think they could do makes any dad proud. I couldn't imagine what that moment was like for him. Soon after I went over to where my wife and kids were sitting, and said to my three year old "no pressure but that could be you in 13-15 years". And if it is meant to be, no doubt I'll be in tears myself, but I'm sure I'll react that way whenever he or my daughter achieve something they worked hard to accomplish.

Happy Birthday Nugget

Something happened to me five years ago. Exactly five years ago I became a dad when Nugget was born. I remember that day as if it were yesterday.

I remember getting the call from Mrs. GMIBP. And even though I knew it could happen at any time I froze up for a second. I told my boss and luckily someone offered me a ride to the train station, since I didn't drive in that day. I called my mom and sent a text out to my closest friends. It was pouring raining. I ended up getting off on the wrong stop of the train and running for blocks and blocks until I could catch a cab.

And an hour or so later I was looking at her. She was absolutely perfect, I still think she should have gotten to the full highest AGPAR score instead of the as close to perfect, but they never give 100%. But I digress. She was so amazing at five minutes old. But each day she amazes me more and more five years later.

Nugget at five loves to laugh, sing and dance. She enjoys fairies, princesses and pirates. She knows her numbers, letters, colors and shapes and always wants to let you know.

She can be moody and likes people to do things for her that she is fully capable of doing herself. She is sweet and can go from serious to on the floor in hysterics in the blink of an eye. I see she isn't that same little girl I carried around everywhere, ok I carry her a bunch still, but not everywhere. She has friends, and is making a life outside of our world.

When I pick her up after school (especially on days where Thor is sleeping in the car) I like to chat her up. Just find out how the day went, who was the special helper and what did she learn. I know I won't always be able to catch her when she leaps off the stairs after school. But as long as she tries so will I.

So even though she can't read this post and doesn't have a ridiculous (which is one her favorite words right now) Facebook vanity page. I want to wish my sweet little nugget the best birthday ever.

Nine reasons the park is awesome

Spring has finally fully sprung and playground time is here. I see two to three hour playground sessions in my near future (as opposed to the thirty minute "hey my hands are cold"sessions of the winter). I thought about writing a list of my playground pet peeves, but decided to go in the other way and write about what is great about the park.

1. The squeals of glee as a kid swings higher and higher on a swing.

2. Watching your kid discover and explore the outdoors. Wether it's tracking a squirrel or bird, or finding a colony of ants crawling on a log.

3. Seeing your kids play the same way you played as a child. When I was three there were no computers or video games in the house. But there were swings to swing on, slides to slide on and butterflies to chase.

4. Letting a child's imagination run wild. A log becomes a space ship and a bunch of acorns become a store full of diamonds.

5. Discovering a new playground and trying out strange and exotic equipment.

6. The sound of the ice cream truck on a warm day. (Its on my pet peeve list when I have no cash on hand).

7. Watching your kids strike up mini-friendships. Chuck Palihnuik called them single serving friends in the book Fight Club.

8. It's better than watching TV. Hey I love watching TV, but an hour in the park is better than an hour on the couch.

9. Looking in the rear view mirror on the way home and seeing mouths agape and eye lids closed.