How Big Will He Be?

We give everything we have to our children. I think everyone would agree to that. We give them all our love, all our time, all our attention, and all of our money.

We also give them much more than what we do consciously. Parents can pass on any number of things through their genes whether they want to or not. We may give them patience or a temper. We may give them a cheerful attitude or grumpiness. We can give them a lot of things.

The argument of hereditary versus learned behavior is a very interesting one indeed. I have always found myself wondering about how much of a child's personality is passed on and how much of it is learned. Of course kids learn a lot of their personality from their parents who also pass them their genes so that line is muddled a bit.

You can discuss that topic amongst yourselves or leave your scientific research in the comments section.

We are moving on to the topic of physical traits that we pass on to our children. There is no argument about how this works. We know that these traits are passed on from one generation to the next. There are odds at play here though. There is no guarantee that children will look like either of their parents. They might look like an uncle, a cousin, or no one in particular. How the genes mix according to that xx, xy, yy chart thing that they taught us in biology is a mystery.

As people continue to tell me that Braden looks like me I am beginning to wonder what his physique will be like. Will I pass on my chicken wing shoulder blades? Will he get the bird chest? I would rather he get the good parts of my physique. When I figure out what those parts are I will let you know.

I have always been thin. It is hard for me to put on any weight. Later in life this has served me well. It is much easier to stay skinny. So far the only thing that really packs on the pounds for me is beer. In my young adult life I drank way too much. At that time I had a nice beer belly. I didn't have any accompanying weight to go with it though. I liked to call myself a skinny fat guy. It seemed to fit.

When I was growing up I would have liked to be a bit bigger. I was a sports nut, and size always helps. In baseball I was destined to be a singles hitter. Despite my obvious lack of muscles I did record exactly one home run in my high school career. I still remember it vividly in that glory days section of my brain.  I was never cut out much for football because of my size either. I got playing time in 7th and 8th grade, but eventually quit to pursue basketball and baseball.

I would like for Braden to be built a little bigger than me. I will be happy no matter what size he is, but there are advantages to being bigger. This is not just a pipe dream either. The men in Arica's family are very big and strong. Her cousin could double as the brawny paper towel guy. He looks like a lumberjack. Let's just say that her uncles have never had any fear of a little tussle either.

So what will it be? I have no idea, but as you can see from these pictures Braden is happy to show off his physique already. Maybe that is a good sign.

Snook is a Hippie

In the coming days I have a couple posts that I would like to share covering a very important topic, cartoons. One of the hidden joys or burdens, depending on how you look at it, of having kids is the reintroduction of cartoons into your life.

The last time I was watching cartoons on a regular basis Bugs Bunny was still king.  There was the Road Runner, Tom and Jerry, Mickey Mouse and others as well. Mickey is still around, of course, but now he is the ultra digitized and computerised version. He looks nothing like the Mickey of old. Pooh and other old favorites are still hanging around too, but for the most part there is a whole new cartoon world out there these days.

Now I am not here to cover important topics like why Mickey wears pants and no shirt while Donald Duck wears a shirt and no pants. No, I will leave that to the pros.

Today I am here to build a case against Snook. For those of you who don't know Snook is a big sloth that hangs around on PBS every day at noon on a show called "It's a Big Big World." Today we will prove once and for all that he is a hippie and he is using his show on PBS as a platform to pass along his tree hugging ways to children everywhere. 

For starters Snook's voice, unkempt hair, and laid back attitude are enough to convince me he is a hippie. But if I have learned anything from hours of drinking beer with a lawyer it's that you can't get a judge to convict anyone on looks alone. You need facts.

Let me state my case.

• I just heard Snook yesterday say "Don't you like to celebrate trees?" I am serious. That is what he said. The case should be closed now, but I will go on just to humor the legal eagles out there.
• The tree dwellers sing a song called "You and me are the keepers of the tree."
• Snook and his band of merry men and women also sing a recycling song that goes something like this "The forest is your friend so use it again and again and again."
• On two occasions I have seen Snook out in the real world talking to a guy with a ZZ top beard. They talked once about a compost heap and once about growing organic carrots.
• I have heard Snook implore his minions to "help the tree" on a few occasions. I say help is just another H word substituted for Hug.
• They live in the world tree.  Not the oak tree. Not the pine tree. Not the Mangrove tree. Not even the rubber tree. The World Tree.

Don't get me wrong, teaching children not to litter and how to recycle are good messages. I love the outdoors, and I hope we can keep some nature around for a long time. I am just a little concerned about this guy in a sloth suit pushing a little too much of the hippie counter culture.

So Mr. Snook I'll be watching you. If you ever show up on my TV with a tie-dyed shirt then our relationship is over.

Opening Day 2010

I had nothing prepared today to post on Baseball's Opening Day.  As one of the literally dozens of baseball fans under the age of fifty I should be ashamed of myself. I am not supporting the sport that I love in a proper way.  I have plenty of Easter footage and other thoughts rambling around upstairs, but today must be reserved for baseball.

Right now as I type this the Cardinals are playing the Reds. I am recording the game with my trusty DVR so I can watch it tonight. I will have hot dogs and perhaps a few cold ones to celebrate Opening Day.

Lately I've tried out baseball a few times on Braden. I posted about his first viewing when he got a bat and watched with me while whacking away at the furniture.

The last time Braden watched part of a game he got excited because the players were wearing hats. He kept saying ha, ha, ha until I got him a hat to wear. Then he sat on my lap and watched a few innings.

I am looking forward to a special summer with Braden in many ways. We will go to the lake. We will swim and maybe even try to fish. We will play outside at the park. Braden will even get to watch Mommy and Daddy play softball this year.

Not the least of our summertime fun will be watching the Cardinals. I know he won't watch a lot, but surely we can exchange a few high fives over a home run or clutch strike out.  He already clapped with me last week while we were watching a spring training game.

Few things have the power to bring fathers and sons together like baseball. It was something special I shared with my Dad, and I hope it will be the same for me and Braden.  Our 2010 journey begins today.

By the way, I watched the first inning of the Cardinals game at lunch because I just couldn't' wait until tonight.  Albert Pujols hit a home run in his first at bat of the year. I think I heard Braden cheering all the way from his classroom.

The Seven Dwarfs Open a Bar

I have stopped doing all types of themed posts. I have pulled out of the little communities tied together by Mr. Linky. I like it this way. There are no rules or other encumberments to my creative process. Blogging may not pay enough to fill a zippo with fuel, but at least at this job I can be my own boss.

Having said that I sometimes miss being able to vent my random thoughts onto an unsuspecting public like Homer Simpson vents explosive gas to the atmosphere from Sector 7G.

Since I am the boss I am instituting a random thoughts posting this Friday. I shall call it Venerdi Venting. I like Venerdi rather than Vendredi because who doesn't prefer Italians to the French. Really? Who?

• There is a bar in town that has changed names from Slim's to Heavy's. It is safe to say that Too Tall's and Shorty's will be next. Other possible names include Happy's, Sneezy's, Grumpy's, and Doc's.
• Why must the wholesale clubs, like Sam's, hire the most talkative people to check your receipts as you leave the store. Every time I go I have to wait in line while some pensioner talks to a random stranger about the weather or the price of corn. These highlighter armed security checkers need to be focused on keeping people from stealing 20 pound cans of Folgers rather than chatting up the customers.
• Since we have been getting up earlier to get ready for school I have become a brief watcher of the Disney morning line up. Is there a worse song than the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse song "Hot Dog, Hot Dog, Hot Diggety Dog." What is that? Whatever happened to M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E.
• Why does the best weather of the year in Arkansas come with unbearable wind. You can go outside and enjoy the weather as long as you don't wear loose clothing and fly away like a kite.
• I recently got to experience a new joy of parenting for the first time. It was not for the faint of heart. Let's just say that if you have never been fishing for brown trout in the bath tub, don't try it. It's not that much fun.
• Lately Braden has developed a new sleeping habit. He wakes up most nights between 2 and 3. He doesn't fuss or cry much. He does make noise though when he tries to go back to sleep. From our room you can easily herar mmmmm....MMMMMM....mmmmmmmmmm....MMM. I keep waiting for Rain Man to show up and start imitating him and saying I heard noises.
• Let's close with a random pic.

Leslie Knope is a Genius

It seems lately when the question is asked if I want to do something with Braden my answer is always, "Let's go to the park."  I don't really know why this proclivity for park visitation has arisen. I never was a regular park attendee as a child.  Of course the park that we had at the time was a couple run down swings and a lot of trees surrounding a softball field for the local beer league games.

I don't love the parks system as much as Leslie Knope or anything, but I do think that parks are pretty cool. She is right about that. 

I think maybe the reason for my new found love of the parks system is two fold. The most obvious reason is that Braden LOVES to be outside. He regularly drags me or Arica to the door by the finger and points to the handle.  He wants to be in the great wide open. The walls of our house are apparently too confining for him despite the fact that he has an embarrassing amount of riches in there to keep him occupied.

The second reason is that it is really difficult to take him outside at our house. We live at the foot of a mountain. Our front hard is very steep making it difficult for Braden to roam about.  We also have only a small piece of property which doesn't provide sufficient space for our little explorer.  It takes about 5 seconds for him to get out into the street.  The back yard is better, but there are two gigantic dogs and a fence. Braden doesn't really mind the dogs, but again he isn't much on boundaries.

The park solves these problems. It is big and relatively flat.  Braden can roam around for as long as he likes.  He swings and slides occasionally, but the biggest draw for him is the ability to walk and walk and walk without someone scooping him up and ruining his fun.

We have to be careful what days we take him though because he has pretty bad tree pollen allergies. If you have never been to Arkansas in the Spring then you might not know how we are affected by tree pollen in this great state. For a couple months our entire world has a yellow haze too it. All surfaces are covered with yellow dust. All puddles of water look like a runny watered down pools of cheese dip.  Pollen is everywhere.

Because of the pollen invasion we try to keep Braden inside on windy days. Otherwise he coughs and sneezes for a week or two. 

When we actually get to the park it looks something like this.

There is climbing...

and  walking...

and playing with sweet gum balls...

and lots of smiling.