For those who read my blog regularly, you know that I already covered this when my daughter was first born, but this weekend we’re traveling again and the difference between trips is amazing. Last time we talked about this subject, Diane and I were really new at this whole parent thing, so we brought lots of things “in case of an emergency”, which really just added up to more crap. At the time we really did need all of it, if not for peace of mind, it was for sleeping, or burping, or whatever! Now though, it’s a completely different story. When we travel, I feel almost like we’re leaving something vitally important behind because we’re traveling so light. Read the rest of this entry »

The other night, Diane and I had our friends Nick and Julie over for some dinner and late night video games. Since Nick works late on Fridays, it was just Julie for the actual dinner part. Of course my daughter was there as well and as we all crowded around our small dinner table, the little one started to act up. We weren’t sure if she was trying to be cool in front of Julie or just in a mood, but she just didn’t want to take her bottle after she ate her solid food. Normally she’ll suck on it for a few minutes and then put it down rather nice like but this evening she was throwing it over the side of her high chair. The first time she did this we picked it back up and then handed it back to her. By the third time we’d had had enough and calmly told her that she doesn’t get it anymore until she’s ready to be nice. When our friend Julie saw this and how we responded to my daughters little tantrum, she applauded us and said it was nice to see some parents actually standing up to their kids.

Diane and I were both shocked by this comment. To us, this kind of action/reaction was normal, but for Julie it was something of pure fiction. Puzzled, we asked why she would say something like this. She admitted that several of her parent friends often let their kids walk all over them, picking up thrown toys, giving into tantrums and basically letting the kids call the shots. In all, those people had become doormat parents. Read the rest of this entry »

This week I asked my friend to Sam to give me some input on her life as a single mom. I figured that since she has her son half of the week that she’s be able to give some good advice. Regardless, the following post is from her and it touches on various parts of being a single mother. Enjoy her thoughts, they are unique and insightful:

So a lot of people always tell me how hard it must be to be a single parent, and I suppose some people may find it harder than others. I have gotten so much advice from well meaning people in how to raise my son, I always listen but rarely follow it. For me, the way I choose to raise my son has to be my own because in the end I’m his mom and I have to be able to look back say, “yea that was me”, regardless of how he turns out. It’s a day by day process, since this is my first child, I don’t have prior experience in this field. The most basic thing I have to remember is to always put him first, regardless of whether it’s a social situation, family, and even eating. I’m not gonna lie and say dating is the easiest thing to do with a young child, you have to remember that your child is being exposed the people you bring around, good or bad. I try to remember that and do most of my social stuff on the days I don’t have my son, that way I can feel out the situation and if it seems to be working for me I can slowly incorporate my child and the person I am dating. That’s usually the make it or break it time, if they can handle me and my son, then we go from there. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s really a sad thing what some people will do to be famous and it’s even worse when those with power take advantage of them. This week the Washington Post announced that they’re running the “Next Big Cartoonist” contest which I’m sure will net them lots of hits and appear to be a big success. I, being an active cartoonist myself, was drawn to the idea of yet another comic contest. With excitement and giddiness beyond compare, I immediately dove into the legal to make sure what I was getting myself into, the requirements and most importantly, the prize. It was at this point in time that I was struck with the biggest insult I could ever encounter as person trying to make it doing what I love. The grand prize for winning this contest was a big fat nothing.

Now, don’t get me wrong as there is an actual prize but in the end, it’ll really equal nothing. If you manage to win, what you’ll receive is the chance to get your work published in the paper, online or in some form of mobile. And that’s it. So you get in, get to do a bunch of work and then get no payment in return. Sure, the exposure would be nice and you can put it on your resume but that’s not really going to pay the bills, is it? And that is why I’m a bit upset with the Washington Post.

I get it guys, you’re not doing to well as the whole newspaper industry is tanking but does that mean you can pick on the little guys? Money is tight but throw a dog a bone if you want us to do tricks for you. How can they expect a legitimate cartoonist to enter this contest if they can’t even promise the they might consider giving you full time work for winning. It’d be the same as American Idol selecting a winner and then kicking them to the curb.

“Hey folks, here’s your winner and weren’t they great?! Now that they’ve won, we’re going to let them out into the world with out a contract or touring plan but we sure do hope the exposure from our show helps you out”

Come on folks, we all know how that turns outs. Justin who? Yeah, the second place guy who lost to Kelly Clarkson in season 1. Haven’t heard from him in a while but his exposure on the show must have helped him somewhere along the line.

And I’ve recently ran the rules through my awesome legal bot and it’s found some interesting notes. For all of those who plan on entering, know that your work will no longer be your own. Upon entering, you grant the Sponsor the right to unrestricted, royalty-free, perpetual right to display, modify, perform, copy and create derivative work from your work. Yes, you’re legally signing over your idea, characters and story to these guys to use as they see fit (for profit or not). Will they turn out to be some evil company and use your idea to make millions of dollars? I’d bet “probably not”. But I’m sure as hell ain’t going let my creations go against those odds.

For those of you who are adventurous enough and want to brave the wilds of this contest, be my guest, just don’t expect to see Plus One in the mix.

Before my daughter was born it was really easy to say that parent X was being too protective or that parent Y needed to relax a bit. I could sit back, watching in my hypothetical “when I’m a parent” world and make these judgments. Boy was I wrong.

Since my daughter started walking it has literally turned play time into pain time. As she walks across the room, trying her hardest to keep her balance, it’s taking every ounce of my strength not to grab and keep her safe. I know as a parent this kind of over protective love is a bad thing most of the time but I just don’t want to see her get hurt! Oh man, I can already feel the over protective father inside me rearing it’s ugly head.

“Daddy, can I go on a date with this boy?”

“Is he a good kid?”

“Yes daddy. He studies really hard and gets an A- on most of his tests. It’s very impressive.”

“A- you say? Well no dumb little boy is going to date my A+ daughter”

“But Dad, I got a B+ on my…”

“That’s enough. I’ve put my foot down.”

Yep, parent of the year award, here I come.

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Let me start off by saying that Diane is an amazing mother. I’m not sure where she gets these ideas or how she comes up with the way to implement them but she does it. The latest idea to come out of the brain child was the great food switch.

Lately my daughter has been really getting into food. She’s loving peas, carrots, cheese, potatoes, crackers, chicken and fish (just to name a few). Now none of this would mean much with out any sort of schedule and plan and as I mentioned earlier, this was all her plan.

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So this week something really amazing happened in the world of my daughter. As you can probably guess from the headline, she took her first steps. Better yet, we managed to catch it on the camera. Now, as anyone with a baby who has attempted to capture events on video knows that this stuff can be really hard to do. To 100% honest, we made my daughter walk back and forth a sum of 10 or 12 times. I’m sure she was pretty annoyed with us in the end but that doesn’t matter, right? RIGHT! So, feel free to skip past the jump and see some footage of her in action.

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This week I was going to write about the exact same thing as Diane but then I realize that I was lazy so I’m just going to steal her article. Check out her ramblings every week at the ever exciting Tocket.info.

The title of this post  may seem like a no brainer, but it’s good to state the obvious once in a while. Many people that know us are under the impression that we have a super awesome baby. While that may be true 95% of the time, they generally aren’t around for that 5% where she is a hellion child. We try to plan it that way. It is by no mean feat that we are able to pull this off. There is a ton of timing involved because all it takes is one missed nap to turn our awesome baby into a demonchilde. So when we are sitting around the table late at night planning out the nitty gritty details of the Great Baby Con, we have to factor in every nuance of her schedule.

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?; .vz.laX,,sVam zOP,K.E/ ?mXK,M.XUV8UK

That is what my 4 month old daughter typed into the computer when I put her down in front of the keyboard. I know that she didn’t know what she was typing but I cant help but feel that she’s trying to imitate us. That she sees mommy and daddy pecking away at this “thing” with such speed and accuracy that it must baffle her mind. But it really got me thinking about what I have to do when raising my daughter that no other generation had to worry about. I’m of course talking about raising your kid in the age of technology and geeks.

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A lot can be said about a father before the birth of their first child. Scared. Excited. Slight tingles in funny places. What? Ok, maybe that was just me. Regardless, one thing that I could always count on was the knowledge of others and for someone living in an area where I don’t know many people, that knowledge was found in books. Now there are millions of books on babies and I’m pleased to report that a large collection of books for Dads is emerging as well. Before my daughter was born, I went to the book store and spent a few hours looking through several books to determine which one would be the right one for me.

I was looking for something that was lighthearted but serious enough with information. A book that could help me understand what I was getting myself into without scarring the crap out of me. A fine line and one that I personally walked often and I needed a guide to help me along the way. That’s why when I found the book, the one that would help me figure out what the heck I was doing, it was like magic. From the calm blue cover with several grown men in lab coats holding babies to the friendly writing style, I knew this was the book for me.

Now I’d like to take a moment to share a little review of the pieces of paper that helped me through pregnancy and beyond. Prepare to experience awesome, it’s Dad Labs: Guide to Fatherhood.

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