Economic Stimulus Part Drei

For those of you NOT concerned about the impending financial doom, might I suggest digging 6,800 quid out from under your mattress to purchase one of 999 Audi Type-C pedal cars. Then rent a Santa costume so you can bestow this leather and oak trimmed aluminum beauty upon my children Christmas morning. Of course this is contingent on all 999 not being already earmarked for all the good little boys and girls in the U.A.E.




Maybe if The Big Three manufactured limited edition high-end replicas of their 1936 race cars they wouldn't have to be begging the government for bailout money.

Damn You Irony!

I am convinced the boys are plotting against us. Worst yet, they are using what I post on this blog as fuel for their clever cruelty. "Sleepyhead ehe? Comparing me to a raver? We'll show them! Muuhahaha!"

In the middle of the night Ozzi is screaming like he's on fire. K8 and I betray our better judgment to bring him into our bed. Like roadies digging for all the green M&M's to fill a bowl in Mick Jagger's dressing room, we know we're just condoning the behavior, but, at 1 in the morning, we're not willing to endure the wrath incurred. We must have dropped a few red ones into the bowl. From 1 to 4 am Ozzi was screaming, laughing, crying, babbling, flailing, and playing like a belligerent drunk. Not drunk on alcohol, drunk on power. Power over his weak enabler parents. He bites his beautiful mother. He stage dives onto my head and gives me a face full of pee engorged diaper. "This isn't a fucking Daft Punk concert you cute crazy little shit, it's Mama and Papa's bed. It's not party time, it's sleeping time. Pleeeeaaaaaaase go to sleep. Please! AAAAAHHHHH!"

Whimpers from the other room warn us of the approach of the whining reinforcements that Ozzi has called in. Q's arrival to the battle in our bed, however, does not work out to Ozzi's favor. Emboldened by overcrowding and sleep deprivation, I gather Ozzi up and place him back in his crib. I return to our bed.... and Q. Q begins to lightly moan and stroke my hair like a teenager on ecstasy and Ozzi catches on fire again. The battle rages back and forth until eventually Q, realizing a wild and ruckus neighbor is more tolerable than a wild and ruckus bedfellow, returns to his own bed. K8 manages, with great effort, to cajole Ozzi to sleep just in time to miss the morning sun rise into our window.

Electric Kool-Aid Ozzi Test

This song, Sleepyhead by Passion Pit, came on the Current today and Ozzi went joyfully bonkers.... better hide the glow sticks now!

Economic Stimulus Part Twee

This past weekend K8 and I started, and almost finished, our xmas shopping for this year. While in the toy stores I couldn't help but notice all the really great toys available for kids older than my own. Of those, the toy that stood out the most is Totem.



Created by Kidsonroof out of Amsterdam, Totem, like most other construction toys, provides children with an opportunity to learn how to follow instructions or to build freely from their own imagination. In addition to each piece being made out of laminated recycled cardboard, they are also decorated with a variety of fantastic designs, symbols, and textures. From what I've seen Totem is a fantastic toy with endless possibilities.

Kidsonroof makes a few other ingeniously simple products worth checking out as well and even gives 5% of all profits to UNICEF. You gotta love the Dutch.

Quotes of the Day

Q is building a "zoo" out of Duplos on the living room floor. Ozzi comes along and does his best Godzilla impression.

Q: "NOOO! PUT THAT BABY ON TRIAL!"

Our oldest may not be able to write his name yet but at least he's got a good grasp of the American Judicial System. "I'll be the Judge. You be the Jury.", he says banging on the table with a plastic hammer.

It really is amazing what kids pick up. The previous day we had this conversation while looking at a globe.

Q: "Which country is Africa?"
DK: "Africa is a continent, not a country."
K8, from the other room: "Good work Sarah Palin."
Q, pointing to Africa: "Sarah Palin lives in Africa?"
DK: "No. She lives in Alaska."
Q: "Where does John McCain live?"
DK: "Arizona."

And then there was this exchange in the bookstore last week when Q spotted a magazine with Obama on the cover.

Q: "MomMom, look! Obama!"
K8: "Yep."
Q: "He's smiling. Why is he smiling?"
DK: "Because he won the election."
Q: "You vote for him? I vote for him. Barack Obama's your friend? He your friend MomMom?"
K8: "We hope so."
Q, jumping up and down: "Barack Obama's MY friend TOO!"

The Roof, The Roof, The Roof Is The Playground

I love being a stay at home dad but if we lived in Copenhagen I would definitely get a "real job" just so the boys could go to the Skanderborggade Day Care Centre. I especially love the incline scattered with beanbags.

PM4K8

Tokyo Police Club



Keane

Hero of The Week: Karen Armstrong

Karen Armstrong made a wish at the 2008 TED Conference, to create a Charter For Compassion. Her movement has begun with the Charter For Compassion website and an inspiring video that everyone should watch and then pass on.





here is her original TED speech,

Get Yo Green On

If you're looking for something to do this weekend and have some environmentally conscious individuals on your holiday shopping list, might I suggest the Green Gift Fair at Midtown Global Market. There will be several vendors hocking their earth friendly wares and even some live music. Of course, all the usual shops and restaurants will be open for your enjoyment and perusing as well.

If you have a little one still on the baby food, make sure you stop by the Sweet Cheeks stand and talk to Lori.

And if you want to have the best damn flan this side of Zihuatanejo stop by La Sirena Gorda. Mmmmmmm, flan.

The Green Gift Fair is this Saturday, Nov. 15 from 10 am - 5 pm.


Thanks to Lori from Sweet Cheeks for the heads up on this one.

Recent Acquisitions

Ever since our visit to the Library of Congress my passion for great original children's books has certainly been reinforced. Here are a few that we've discovered that we really enjoy.

I Will Make Miracles by Susie Morgenstern illustrated by Jiang Hong Chen. One of the most beautiful books we own, in both illustration, verse, and substance.




Not a Stick by Antoinette Portis. As utterly cute and perfectly simple as its predecessor, Not a Box.




Elephant Elephant: A Book of Opposites by Pittau & Gervais is a VERY unique and funny demonstration of opposites with the help of some misshapen, disfigured, and in one instance, anatomically correct elephants. Though some parents may find this book "inappropriate" I like to see it as an opportunity to explain certain unavoidable aspects of life.




John, Paul, George & Ben by Lane Smith is a comical introduction to the founding fathers from the illustrator of some of our favorite books, including Big Plans.

Economic Stimulus Package

How much of the bailout billions is Santa going to get? I would imagine his heating bill alone has him on the verge of Chapter 11 unless he converted to geothermal with the Icelanders. Anywho, if he's not too strapped for cash, I'm hoping he can hook me Q up with some of the new Automoblox cars. Specifically the limited edition C9-S Berlinetta and the 3 pack of new mini's. I hear the auto industry could use the business.

Torturing Your Parents 101 with Professor Q

Good morning class. For today's lesson we will be discussing how to scare the holy shit out of your parents using what the medical community calls Torticollis.

• Step 1: wake up at 5:30 am.
  
• Step 2: lay down on the floor beside your bed.
• Step 3: grasp the back of your neck and start crying.
• Step 4: when your parent(s) enters the room and tries to pick you up off the floor, scream.
• Step 5: through your cries repeatedly say something to the effect of, "my neck's stuck." with panic in your eyes.
• Step 6: let your parent(s) imagine all the horrifying scenarios resulting from a major neck injury.
  

These six easy steps will most likely result in a trip to the emergency room. The staff will then inform your parent(s) that what you have is Torticollis, a very common ailment for children between 2 and 5 years of age. As a bonus, you get to watch the relief that your parent(s) are feeling deflate when the doctor tells them that Torticollis can last anywhere from 1 hour to 4 days.

Milk it! As long as you continue to clutch your neck and wince at even the slightest movement, you can enjoy sitting on the couch undisturbed watching cartoons and eating junkfood.

Quentin of Solace

K8 and I love James Bond movies so much that we already have a babysitter lined up for the 14th. So when I saw that Swatch has come out with 007 villain watches I damn near soiled myself. Some are definitely cooler than others and I'm a little bummed they only have villains. Though we'll continue to hope for change an official Q swatch watch, I think the Baron Samedi watch will suit our Q quite well for his very first watch. Q's Christmas list is getting longer everyday.

Googley Eyes

I made two discoveries on the internets tonight:

1. I am a bum


2. My review of Big Plansis quoted on Bob Shea's website.

PM4K8

Emiliana Torrini




Kraak & Smaak

Hero of The Week: Sybille Jagusch

I'm finally back home with the boys in St. Paul. It was nice to get away for a few days. Not just for the uninterrupted sleep, but more for the joy I got from seeing Q giddily running to me with open arms at the airport. Even a sick little Ozzi gave me a big hug and smile when I picked him up. Time apart is always a great reminder of how great time together is.

This brief trip had a few other life lessons for me to learn. The greatest of these were taught by none other than the United States Library of Congress. We wandered into the LOC late in the afternoon. After spending several minutes straining our necks looking at the magnificent ceiling, we discovered a thick wall of glass preventing us from entering the main reading room. It seems so obvious now, I'm not quite sure why we thought this functioning research library would be open for all us visitors to just noisily wander in and out of. A little disappointed, we started to leave. At the last minute we ask the two gentlemen at an information desk just how one could get into the reading room.

"You need one of these cards.", they both say.
"Ok. What do you have to do to get one of those cards?"
Taking out a little LOC map, "You go to Reader Registration in the Madison Building and fill out a form."
We thank them and walk out into the sun blindingly reflecting off all the white marble.

- Lesson 1 : It never hurts to ask.

"We have time. Do you want to try and get the cards?"
"Yeah. Even if we don't use them to get into the reading room they would make a cool souvenir."
We head for the Madison Building. When we get there we are greeted by the friendliest administrators of bureaucracy on the planet. We fill out a couple of forms and within just a few minutes we have official Library of Congress Reader Identification Cards.

- Lesson 2 : Don't let a little bureaucracy stand in your way.

The final step in reader registration was letting an eagerly helpful government employee (that's not a joke. I'm totally serious.) help direct you to exactly where in the LOC you needed to go for your chosen topic of research. K8 picked out Children's Literature and once again this blog made itself useful, turning a blurted out fib of K8's into a totally legitimate reason for us to gain access to our nation's temple of knowledge. As soon as this lady heard K8 mention Children's Literature she went from a pleasant helpfulness to an exhilarated helpfulness. She explained to us that the woman running the Children's Literature Center, Sybille Jagusch, was the nicest woman we would ever meet. It was nearing the time that Sybille often left for the day so she called Sybille to confirm that she was still there, gave us directions to the department, and told us to hurry.

We hustled back over to the LOC. Entering through the back we followed the directions through small unmarked doors and up narrow spiraling staircases. Sybille was there waiting for us. "The nicest woman we would ever meet" falls seriously short of describing Sybille. She is the most perfect person for what she does. Wisdom of a sage and the excitement of a child.

She began with what I imagine is her normal spiel, explaining what she, the solitary proprietess of the Children's Literature Center, does. That, however, lasted less than a minute before she interrupted herself with,"Wait, wait, I've got to show you something! I'll be right back!" Springing up from her seat, running into another room and returning with a copy of a 19th century German paper play-globe. I have never in my life met anyone so excited and passionate about what they do for a living. We spent almost an hour with her that afternoon, though it certainly felt like less. She showed us some amazing acquisitions like the smallest children's book in the world. She told us some fantastic stories from her life with children's books. We talked about Minnesota, Garrison Keillor, Lake Wobegon, and our two boys back home. We told her about our favorite kid's books and she told us hers, Suho's White Horse: A Mongolian Legend. She was fascinating and appeared to be genuinely interested in us as well. Talking to Sybille was not only the highlight of our trip but a major insperation for the both of us.

Lesson 3 : Sometimes even the most flippant of ideas can lead you to a significant, meaningful experience.

Quote of the Day

I'm "halfway" home from a quick little visit to Washington DC without the boys. Just K8 and I. I'll have another post or two about the trip later but had to quickly put up the funniest part of the trip. I was in the Natural History Museum near a life size model of the Iceman displayed with all his prehistoric tools and clothes. A group of 5 young kids walk up to the display.


kid: "This guy is a Hobo sapien. They call them Hobo sapiens because they don't live in houses."

I love kid logic.