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.

Party Party Party

We had a weekend full of parties. On Saturday we drove up to St. Cloud for a niece's 1st birthday then came back to St. Paul for a fantastic Halloween party with some friends. In between the parties K8 quickly redressed the boys to turn Q into a Rock Star and Ozzi into Chuck while I used this instructable to turn an everyday watermelon into a pale human brain. Mmmm, brains.

My geeky heart is all a flutter.

THE. MOST. AWESOME. WOOD. BLOCKS. EVER! A Young Mad Scientist's First Alphabet Blocks are created by Xylocopa and was a stand out at Make Magazine's Austin Makers Faire.


I'm on the verge of dehydration from the amount of drooling I'm doing over these things. They are definitely going on my Christmas list this year (right under the G1 Phone). Don't think of this as a grown man wanting some baby toys, but instead, a patron of the arts wanting a masterpiece of geeky art in the form a child's plaything.

Look at what they've come up with for all the letters:
A - Appendages
B - Bioengineering
C - Caffeine
D - Dirigible
E - Experiment
F - Freeze ray
G - Goggles
H - Henchmen
I - Invention
J - Jargon
K - Potassium
L - Laser
M - Maniacal
N - Nanotechnology
O - Organs
P - Peasants (with Pitchforks)
Q - Quantum physics
R - Robot
S - Self-experimentation
T - Tentacles
U - Underground Lair
V - Virus
W - Wrench
X - X-Ray
Y - You, the Mad Scientist of Tomorrow
Z - Zombies

PM4K8

Imagine for a moment Q, Ozzi, and I all spinning, bouncing, and dancing to this yesterday afternoon.


Then Q rocking out so hard to this that, I swear to god, he almost puked.


Now imagine what it looks like from other cars to see Q and I rocking out to this song in the car.

Hero(es) of The Week: Minnesota Dads At Home

My level of involvement with MDAH has dwindled since I first joined up with them after Q was born. They are a fantastic group of guys that I wish our schedule would allow me to hang out more with. Looking at myself in the mirror, I wish I would have at least made time for the Friday morning run around Lake Calhoun.

Over the past few weeks this group of stay at home dads has really demonstrated what it means to lead by example and be an at home role model to their kids. One of the dads has been struck with some major medical issues and is, last I heard, in some level of coma. When the news of this tragedy broke to the group there was an immediate outpouring of prayers, offers, and planning to help the family in anyway they could. Today, the family's yard work is being done by an army of Stay at Home Dads. I think there are plans to finish some painting another day.

Finally

I posted this video demonstrating the ABC3D book by Marion Bataille a while back when it was said to be available in some vague future. That future is now people. You can go to Amazon right now and get your copy of the coolest ABC book ever.

Modern Times

One might argue that my not having a super-high-tech phone like the awesome new G1 (seriously Google, you and Tmobile have my address. How shameless do I have to get here?) would disqualify me from the title of "modern dad". Well, one might be right, but I'm trying. For example;

Q is getting quite familiar with computers and has his own XO Laptop,

the boys have their own ipod that even Ozzi is learning to operate,

and this weekend we went to a party hosted by someone we only knew via the internet. Our internet real life friend Pumpkin Girl put on a great party for the kids and the adults as well. She generously sent everyone home with her highly sought after handmade baby clothes available on etsy.

Q scored a rockin' guitar shirt.

Ozzi got his dirty little hands on one of the famous tiesies. All we need now is a pair of red baby Cons and Ozzi could be Chuck for Halloween.

Quote of the Day

DK: "Q, what planet do we live on?"

Q: "Google Earth."

If that doesn't deserve a free G1 phone from Google, I don't know what does.