And then there are THOSE nights..........

1:15 AM - Kali 2.10 wakes up crying and sick.

1:45 AM - Giselle 0.1 wakes up crying and is hungry.

2:00 AM - I get Mrs. Lime from Kali's room so she can feed the baby while I deal with Kali and get her medicated.

2:30 AM - Kali finally goes to sleep in our bed.

5:00 AM - Kali has to go to the bathroom and gets more medicine. I just go directly to the shower and get ready early rather than going back to bed for a few minutes.

8:30 AM - Mrs. Lime say Kali is sleeping and has a normal temperature.

Just another night as a parent. Thankfully, they are few and far between. They're both great kids. Just didn't work out real well last night.

MASH unit.........

Rough day yesterday for the family in regards to ice.

Yesterday afternoon, I was going over to a security company for a meeting. I walked down their sidewalk in front of the building only to suddenly hit a spot of ice. My right knee bent outward while my shoe eventually caught on the sidewalk causing my ankle to roll. Thankfully, I had on basketball shoes or I would have rolled my ankle really good. I still have some pain in my knee, but I was limping around badly yesterday. At least I can walk relatively normal today with minimal pain.

In addition, Papa came to dinner last night with a good-sized bloody scrape on his knuckles from a fall on the ice. Better his knuckles than his face I suppose.

Thankfully, no broken bones or torn muscles/ligaments between the two of us. We'll survive.

Where'd they go?

I woke up at 4:30 AM this morning because Giselle 0.1 was fussing in her crib. She continued to cry for a minute or so. I assumed Mrs. Lime was fast asleep and didn't hear her. I rolled over to check and found an empty spot where my wife usually is located. I went out the bedroom door and noticed that Kali 2.10's room door was open, so I knew Kali must have woke up early.

I later found out that she woke up around 3:30 AM. Mrs. Lime said she was a bit wound up that her Aunt Shell was coming to town today and couldn't stay asleep. So a rough night for Mrs. Lime, but she said everyone slept in this morning, so hopefully things are back in order.

We'll obviously have to stop telling Kali when Aunt Shell is coming to town. Too much excitement for a two year old kid to handle.

Two year old English.......

Kali 2.10 was having some issues going #2 the other day. I was in the bathroom, tasked with convincing her that everything would work out just fine.

Me: All you've got to do is push a bit and it will work.

Kali: No, it won't work!

Me: Yes, it will work just fine. You can do it.

Kali: No, I can't!

Me: Yes, you can.

Kali: Yes, I can't!

Me: Yes, you can.

Kali: Yes, I can't Daddy!

It's a different form of the language, but she gets her point across.

Santa arrived!

I had to wake up Kali 2.10 this morning. She was still sleeping around 7:30, so I got her up and took Giselle 0.1 and her down to see if there were any presents. Kali saw that there were presents when she came around the corner and happily exclaimed, "I was a good girl!!!!!"

Kali picked up a Princess Dollhouse from us and got a set of glass slippers and a dress-up dress from Santa. Giselle got a toy that hangs from her car seat handle that plays music. Kali unwrapped Giselle's present and gave it to her. She said "Merry Christmas, Giselle!!!!" when handing her the present. It was great.

We've got blowing and drifting snow outside this morning. The depth varies from 3-4 inches all the way up to 14-16 inches, so it's hard to tell how much snow we got exactly. But it makes for a great Christmas appearance and Tinkerbell 1.2 loves playing in the new snow.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas.

I was 'that' dad.........

Yesterday, I headed out to get one last minute gift for Kali 2.10 for Christmas. She had requested a present the last time she went with me to Sam's Club and saw it on the shelf. So I headed over to Sam's Club because I knew right where that present was in the store.

Except when I got there, there were none left. Uh oh. We have a daddy in crisis mode.

After running through three Target stores, two Wal-Marts, a Toys R Us store and a Sam's Club store, I finally found what I was looking for 2 hours later. Whew. Crisis averted and lesson learned. I'll be buying presents for the kids much sooner for future holidays.

We're braggin'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mizzou finally made it a happy Christmas for the first time in a decade, beating Illinois 81-68 in the Braggin' Rights game. I almost forgot how good it feels to beat those smug Illini from across the border.

Here's some perspective. Mrs. Lime and I got married in April of 2000. Mizzou had not won the Braggin' Rights game since we've been married. Thank God that streak is over.

Motivation.........

We've been working with Kali 2.10 on her behavior. Mainly working on motivation for going to bed at night and bathroom 'performance'. The bathroom thing she's got down pretty well, except for the occasional time where she waits a bit too long and has to scramble to the bathroom to do her business.

She also has a 'Good Girl' board that allows her to be rewarded if she stays in her room all night. That has paid off in spades. Last night went extremely well in that regard.

I was on my own taking care of both girls since Mrs. Lime was back to work. While Mrs. Lime certainly has plenty to deal with during the day taking care of the kids, I have the added challenge of taking care of a 3 week old baby who likes breast feeding and isn't terribly crazy about a bottle. So I have a baby who is asking to be fed every hour and refusing to go to sleep for 5 hours straight, which is a long time for a 3 week old baby. I'm sure it was wonderful overnight, as the baby likely slept all night, but it makes it 'exciting' for me.

Long story short, it came time to put Kali to sleep. I went in her room with Giselle 0.0 and we sang the usual bedtime songs and tucked her in. After that, I left the room. Kali decided to come out of her room, saying she was 'scared'. Let's just say that I'm the parent that doesn't buy that line for a second. I took her back and agreed to sing to her one song. After that, I told her that if she came out of the room again, that she would lose her "big girl mark" for the night. That's a big deal in her eyes, since she gets a 'special something' if she fills up that board.

I closed the door and heard nothing but silence for the rest of the night. Mission accomplished. Giselle still wasn't happy with me, but it's much easier to deal with one child than two children.

Lake weekend.........

We took the family down to my parents' house for the weekend. Some of the highlights......

-A trip that normally takes 2.5 to 3 hours took 5 hours as we had to make 4 stops on the way down for various baby and kid needs.

-Plenty of presents for Kali 2.10 and Gwen 2.6. Princess scooters, Princess fishing games, and Princess shirts were part of the big haul for the girls. In case you haven't noticed yet, we've got some very girly girls.

-We celebrated another birthday for my grandpa. He got choked up when the girls sang Happy Birthday to him.

-We went to church with my parents. All was well until a young pastor took a Christmas sermon and turned it into a rant on abortion. Without question, one of the most surreal church experiences ever. It was like someone handed you a rose, said Merry Christmas, and then dumped a 55 gallon barrel of fish-heads on you. I guess the Christmas story about a savior being born didn't have enough shock value.

-The Chiefs lost, but I only watched half the game, so it was only half as painful.

-The ride home only took just over 2.5 hours, though we did get home and find that Kali's fishing game was broken in the box. Thankfully, a call to Grandma to find out the store she got it from and a nice manager at Walgreens saved the day. We went home happy with a replacement toy.

Another night of rest.........

Giselle 0.0 decided to sleep through the night again last night. She slept from 11 PM to 6 AM, which Mrs. Lime was very happy about. She's not doing it every night by any means, but even the occasional full night of sleep is very welcome. Kali 2.10 didn't sleep through the night until she was 3 months old. I'm not going to say anything about how great of a baby Giselle has been for fear of karma retribution. Let's just say we're happy with her early results.

She did blow completely through a diaper last night. Mrs Lime asked me if I wanted to change her diaper. She didn't tell me until after I agreed to do so that there was a blowout. That's what I get for not asking why she was so ready to hand off the baby.

Ariel's sisters...........

One of my friends is a choral director at a local high school where we both went to school. We all went over to the school last night to see the holiday concert.

Kali 2.10 did very well overall. It was a pretty long concert, but she watched most of the performance. She did mention during dinner that she thought she was going to see "Ariel's sisters". It was a reference to the Little Mermaid movie where the sisters are all singing at a concert at the start of the movie. After a couple of choirs, Kali leaned over and asked where Ariel's sisters were. I told them that they were coming soon. Just then, the next choir hit the stage. It was a female choir who were all wearing purple dresses. Kali leaned over to me........

Kali: Look Daddy! It's Ariel's sisters! They're wearing purple dresses!

Me: That's right! They all have legs so they can go see Prince Erik!

Kali: Ooooooooooohhhhhhhhh! (giggle)

After that choir finished up, there was another choir or two in robes. Then, the next choir was a group of boys and girls in black outfits. The boys were in suits and the women were in black dresses. I got a tap on my right shoulder.

Kali: Daddy! Daddy! It's Ariel's sisters again! They went and changed dresses!

Me: Yep, they must have gone back and switched from their purple dresses to their black ones for these songs. Daddy's very impressed that you noticed that.

Kali: (giggle)

At the end of the concert, my friend invited alumni choir members to come up and sing the Hallelujah Chorus with the combined choirs. I went up and ran into my old choir director who is now working at a different school in the district. I can only imagine what Kali was saying about me while I was on the stage singing. Probably made some mention to Mrs. Lime that Daddy was singing with Ariel's sisters.

Santa's in the house..........

I recently chatted with Santa after he went to a X-mas party hosted by my sister for her daycare. Some of the more interesting parts of our discussion.

-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are still very popular with kids. Santa said there were at least 5 boys that wanted nothing but TMNT toys of various forms.

-Dolls are not always first on the list for little girls. Animals appear to be nearly as popular. Kitchen sets are a big thing too.

-When Santa sees a young boy named 'Henry' running around screaming, he knows that he's going to have a handful when it's Henry's turn to sit on Santa's lap.

-The kids and their reaction to Santa vary quite wildly. Some are gung-ho and ready to sit on Santa's lap and have a chat. Santa found in this group that a high-five was a great way to at least get the kids to approach him if they were scared.

-Santa had no issues with people pulling on his beard to check to see if he was a real Santa. The only issue was one mom who decided to make a big deal about asking what kind of facial cream Santa used to make him look so much younger. Santa just laughed a jolly laugh and ignored her.

-Santa knows what it's like to be a superstar. When those kids sit on his lap, their eyes show a true sense of wonderment. They know how big this moment is and they look at Santa like he's a superstar. It's great to see that kids still do have a solid role model in Santa.

-Kali 2.10 was at the party with Gwen 2.6. Mrs. Lime was not at the party initially. When Gwen went and sat on Santa's lap, she told him all about the horses she wanted. Kali was right behind her and jumped right up on Santa's lap and explained that she wanted princess slippers. However, when Mrs. Lime showed up later in the party, Kali cried and screamed when asked to sit on Santa's lap. It's an odd thing how different kids act depending on who's around.

-When a child is misbehaving at a party and Santa comes over to chastise them for their behavior, they listen far more than they ever would if any parent would have said something.

-Santa was treated to a pizza lunch after his big party. It's not easy figuring out how to handle 30+ kids and how each of them will react. But Santa said it was a great experience and that he'd do it again without question. I can certainly see how much he enjoys his job and how addictive it can be to give happiness to kids.

SNOW!!!!! SNOW!!!!!

I took Kali 2.10 outside yesterday to play in the snow. Mrs. Lime wanted no part of the bitter cold. Kali got all bundled up in her snowsuit and headed out with me. She had some issues because the snowsuit she wore had mittens with no thumbs, so she was mostly just scooping snow at me rather than throwing it at me, but she got the job done.

After tossing snow at each other, she wanted to clean off the swing set. So we cleaned off the slides, the swings, the ladder, etc. She seemed to think it was fantastic fun, so who was I to stop her.

Tinkerbell 1.2 was running around the yard while we were out there. She was going nuts.....rolling around, running in circles, sniffing the snow, etc. She apparantly thought it was a blast. She also slept very well last night.

Giselle 0.0 continues to grow. She's really starting to fill out and gain some weight. She's also staring to be awake more. Her only issue right now is that she falls asleep using Mommy rather than a pacifier. We'll have to work on that after a few weeks, but it looks like we have little choice right now. She does drink formula out of a bottle, so at least that will allow Mrs. Lime to get away from the house now and then and not be attached at all times to the baby.

Giselle 0.0 pictures.......

Time for a mini-picture blowout. Giselle chilling out in the crib..........



Hanging out with mommy........







Checking out her big sister.......

Well, you don't see that every day.........

31 degrees outside. Semi-truck overturns with a load of Pepsi products. Pepsi products flow over a major interstate, freezing on the roadway and causing icy (carbonated) road conditions. And yes, it smelled like Pepsi when you drove by it.

December 7th......

It's easy to forget that today is December 7th. Pearl Harbor Day. I'm not sure I paid nearly as much attention to the relevance of the date until I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to visit Pearl Harbor with my wife and her family. Once you're there, the location brings home exactly what happened, the size and scope of the attacks, and how many lives were lost. It's pretty surreal stuff.

I have a poster that was signed by all the American and Japanese servicemen that attended the 60th anniversary of the attack. It's pretty neat to see many of the names that are mentioned in the documentaries on the signed poster that I have in my home. It's an attachment to the event that someone rarely gets to have, especially with the event occurring so long ago. I'm so glad I have it.

Baby in the bedroom.......

Giselle 0.0 is staying in a small crib in our room until she gets a bit older. She's got into a pattern of sleeping 3-4 hours and then eating. Wash, rinse, repeat. Mrs. Lime has also noted that she usually starts squeaking a half hour before she's ready to eat.

Kali 2.9 is pretty interested in Giselle. She's checking on her whenever she fusses and making sure she's OK. She also wants to help out with everything. As long as she's part of things, she's good with it. We've seen the occasional small tantrum, but nothing terrible. I'm sure we'll have a good one sooner or later.

Projectile!!!!!

Yep, I caught my first one yesterday. I was burping Giselle 0.0 yesterday on my shoulder. A few pats on her back didn't seem to do the trick. So, I gave her body a bit of a wiggle to shake things up. Bad idea.

When it was all over, Giselle and I were both changing our shirts. But she did say she felt much better, so at least someone was happy with the situation.

So we've been a little busy........

Babies and family and toddlers.....oh my!

It's been pretty crazy at the Lime household of late. Giselle 0.0 got home late last week and has been adjusting to her new household. She's having some spit-up issues, but nothing that can't be dealt with. She eats well.....almost too well. We've tossed in a bottle of formula every few feedings just to give Mommy's body a break. Giselle seems to be OK with that, so it's working pretty well.

Kali 2.9 is having the usual feelings that an older sibling has. She loves giving kisses to the baby, but you can also tell when she's needing some attention or feeling left out. We kept her busy yesterday by putting up the Christmas tree. She got a big kick out of pulling out the ornaments. We had some that were damaged, so we went out and picked up some new ones to replace the old ones. We're going to put those up today, so she'll be busy again.

I got my flu/H1N1 shot yesterday, so hopefully I'll stay healthy. Kali is getting hers today. Last time she got a shot, she started a big drama claiming she couldn't move her legs. She miraculously regained use of her legs after a few minutes. We're expecting a similar drama today.

I have some pictures that I'll hopefully put up tomorrow for Giselle's 1 week birthday.

I'm a daddy again!

Mrs. Lime and I have added another girl to the family! For those keeping score at home, that makes it 4 girls in the home (3 human and 1 dog) and one boy (me).

Giselle Gianna

Date: November 25th, 2009
Time: 12:13 PM
Weight: 7 lbs., 10 oz.

Here's some photos just after her birth.......













Grandparents have a handful now with three grandkids..........





Kali 2.9 gets to hold Giselle 0.0 for the first time.........

The Goblin King.......

Kali 2.9 has been watching a Scooby Doo movie of late entitled The Goblin King. Last night, I tried to convince her that the Goblin King was at our front door. She steadfastly stuck with the assertion that there was no Goblin King at our door.

Tonight, while she was watching 'The Goblin King', she suddenly walked over to me.

Kali: Daddy, the Goblin King is being very bad.

Me: Really?

Kali: Did you know he's at our front door right now?

Me: No, I didn't. Why don't you let him in?

Kali: (lecturing Daddy) We can't, Daddy. He's a very scary person. We can't let him in. He's got teeth that could hurt someone.

Me: Well, that's a good reason to keep him outside.

Kali: I'm going to leave him outside the front door.

Perfectly good logic where I stand. Kali knows how to handle a Goblin King.

There's a baby coming soon.............

It's supposed to come this week. It's a very secretive arrangement known only to the baby and Mrs. Lime. I'd like to say more, but I risk being shot by the Fetus Secret Service if I do, and that would leave Baby G and Kali 2.9 without a father. So I've been sworn to silence until then.

Nesting.......

We must be getting close to having a baby. Mrs. Lime is moving around cleaning in the house. Everyone else is assisting because if we didn't assist, she'd try to do it all (which wouldn't be a good situation). The hospital bag is packed and ready. The baby car seat is cleaned up and ready to go. Kali 2.9 even asked if the baby was here yet, probably due to seeing so much baby 'action' around the house.

Tinkerbell 1.1 has not noticed any change, outside of the occasional late feeding due to cleaning activities. I have informed her that she can't step on the baby. She didn't confirm that she understood what I was saying, so we may still have work to do in that regard.

One week to G-Day.............

Yes, only a week or so (barring an earlier delivery) until Mrs. Lime gives birth to Baby G. Mrs. Lime's doctor says the baby's coming sooner rather than later (original due date was early December). The baby is called that because nearly everyone knows that the baby's name will start with a 'G', but very few know the full name.

I got some advice from people who previous had a 2nd baby and what might be different. I've been given the following advice.

1. The second one is much easier just because you know what to expect and how to deal with it the second time around.

2. Be sure to emphasize to the first child the excitement of being a big sister and what all she'll be able to do now that she hs a sibling.

3. Purchase a small gift from the new baby, wrap it, and give it to your child the day after the birth with a card saying how excited the new baby is to have a big sister.

I think all of these are pretty good advice. I'll let you know how well it all works after a few weeks with the new baby.

The return of the Dance King.......

Kali 2.9 will be pretty excited that her Papa is finally returning from his 2 week dancing tour of South America. He'll likely return with faster feet than when he left. Kali's been guessing that Papa was coming in when the garage entry door opens, only to find out it's someone else. She'll be excited to find out her guess is finally right when he does come back home.

Kali 2.9 picture blowout!

Haven't had a picture blowout in awhile. Thought the Halloween season would be a good topic. Here's Tinkerbell and Minnie Mouse hanging out.

From Month 32

From Month 32

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Heading down the sidewalk with Grandma to get some treats...........

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Tinkerbell 1.1 checking out the rose..........

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This is what happens when you fall asleep while eating Frosted Flakes..........

From Month 32

What is she looking at?

From Month 32

Kali 2.9 shows off her bracelets that she made........

From Month 32

Princess Ariel wearing her necklace and earrings.......

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Never leave a child alone with a sticker book............

From Month 32

From Month 32

I am SO ready for a new president.........

I have little doubt that on a personal level, Barack Obama and I would probably get along pretty well. We both have a craving for BBQ. We both love to play and watch basketball. We both have daughters and that requires you be in touch with your pink and fuzzy side.

With that said, I don't think I ever imagined just how badly his policies could screw up this country in such a short period of time. The deficit has skyrocketed on bailouts, handouts, and loans that will never be repaid. I didn't like the fact that George Bush had a $400 billion deficit for a year. Then I found out the other day that the federal deficit for October 2009 was $176 billion. For just ONE MONTH!

The Democrats in power want to lump all conservatives into radical groups that cause havoc and make no sense. This just in........most of us aren't radicals, but we're still pissed off. I'm technically an independent since I haven't registered for either party. The 2010 elections should be very interesting because I don't think the Democrats have any idea how frustrated many people have become at this point. The only thing more frustrating than the inept leadership of the Democrats is that we have to elect equally inept leaders on the Republican side.

Where's Ross Perot when we need him?

Baby premiere draws closer..........

We're down to the wire in regards to Baby Girl -0.1. She should be arriving very soon, as Mrs. Lime is into her 8th month of pregnancy. Mrs. Lime has been painting the nursery with flowers, butterflies, etc. I've been cleaning carpets in anticipation of the new rugrat's arrival. Kali 2.9 was asked if she was ready for her new sister. She said, "No, not yet!".

I watched Kali and a couple of the neighbor kids for a few hours yesterday. The youngest one was a 15 month old boy. I forgot how quickly a kid that age can disappear. One minute, he's right next to me. I turn away from him for 20 seconds and then spin around only to see him turning a corner at the far end of the house. Kids are like Houdini at that age. But I've got a few months of 'baby that doesn't go anywhere' time before I start chasing one again. And Kali should do an excellent job of ratting out her little sister if she tries to get into trouble.

Outdoor cooking.........

My grandfather was in town the other day. While we were out, I decided to take him along to help me pick out a new barbecue grill. Nice little toy with 4 main burners and a side burner. It's just nice to have something that allows for quick cooking and relatively easy clean-up.

Kali 2.9 thought it was great that we had our own hamburger cooker in the backyard. She used it as an excuse to drag me over to the swing set for a few minutes on the swing before the burgers needed to be flipped again. Tinkerbell 1.1 thought it was great because everyone was hanging out in the backyard where she loves to lay around for hours and chew on sticks/bones/etc.

Burgers were pretty good. I made turkey burgers. They're tough to keep moist, but they cook pretty easily otherwise. Kali proceeded to eat everything on her plate EXCEPT the burger. She didn't eat any of it until she finally decided that she'd eat it with some ranch dressing. Whatever floats her boat, I suppose.

Still keeping busy.........

Another fun-filled weekend for me around the homestead. Cleaned up around the house and shampooed a few carpets on Saturday. Full day on Sunday as well. Went over to Kali's great-grandma's house to clean up for several hours and try to get her ready for her move tomorrow. Followed that up with an evening with Kali's great-grandpa.

Oh, and we're likely to have a new child in the house later this month. I'm guessing all this work is just to get me acclimated to being busy.

Curious George.......

Kali 2.8 and I didn't have anything important to do last night. Mrs. Lime was working. I noticed that they were offering $12 tickets to the Curious George show at the Sprint Center. So Kali and I headed out for a daddy/daughter outing.

We went over to a big pub in the Power and Light District to grab some food. They had an attendant in the bathroom, which Kali thought was fantastic. He put soap on her hands, turned on the water for her, and gave her a paper towel. She tipped him for all his help. Kali had some Mac & Cheese and rice to eat. She managed to stay relatively clean. I managed to dump over a glass of pop. That's called role reversal.

I decided to buy the tickets at the arena. I looked online, but they were going to charge several 'convinience' charges that basically amounted to an extra $10 over the ticket price. Interestingly enough, the tickets I bought at the arena were actually 7 rows closer to the stage than the ones that were offered to me online 2 hours earlier. I'll file that knowledge away for safe keeping. When Elmo comes to town in January, I'll be buying my tickets at the arena.

Kali had a great time. She got a star wand to light up and swing around when the lights were off during the show. She spotted Curious George right away. It was somewhat like a mini-musical. Probably had 12-15 songs in a show that was no more than 80-90 minutes. Tons of color, lights, fog machines, and confetti. Everything a kid would want in a show.

We got into the car and Kali was asleep within 5 minutes. That's usually a clear sign that Daddy did his job well.

Learning the English language........

Kali 2.8 is doing a great job of working on her various verbal and learning skills, but the nuances of the English language are still eluding her at this point. Last night, Kali and I got into a tickle fight (which she always loses). After receiving a good tickle and crying uncle, Kali said, "You're doing funny things to me, Daddy!". Of course, she meant that I was doing something that made her laugh, but the context to most of us would be something totally different depending on the situation.

When we were finished with our tickle fight, we had the following exchange.......

Me: OK, tickle fight's all done.

Kali: OK!

Me: Time to make up with each other.

Kali: No, I no make up! Mommy is the only one that puts on my make-up. Not you Daddy!

Can't disagree with that.

Learning by example.........

We went out and ate last night with some family friends. They have a 6 year old girl named Grace and a 1 year old boy named Christian. Kali 2.8 got to sit next to Grace. Both the girls got coloring pages with puzzle, pictures, etc. Kali initially did her own thing.

But then, she started watching everything that Grace did and would mimic it on her coloring sheet. If Grace colored in certain letters, Kali would do the same. If Grace flipped over her sheet to draw something on the blank side, Kali would do the same. She was soaking it all in and doing a great job of learning from Grace.

Now, on the other side, she refused to share something earlier in the evening and threw a tantrum when she was told that she needed to share. So, we'll just call Kali an intelligent child who is a work in progress.

A tale of two services............

The retail industry is a funny thing. You think you have it all figured out about who is providing the best service until that all gets dumped on its head.

Last night, I had to call a company (Martinek Baby Co.) to get a replacement part on our baby crib. When I disassembled the crib after Kali got old enough to get out of it, I accidentally broke one of the slide assemblies on the sliding gate. So I called the company last night to order a replacement part. Imagine my surprise when I was able to talk with a person in their parts department right away. He took down my information and the part I needed. I asked him how much it would cost and he said it likely would be no charge. Really nice guy and it was really easy to get it done.

Contrast that with my experience with Bernini Platinum, a suit retailer in Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas where I ordered a suit. I wanted a specific kind of suit, but they didn't have my size. Not a problem, they said. They'd order the same suit in my size from the corporate warehouse in California. 10 days to ship it. I paid for the suit and we left the store.

After 20 days with no suit, I started to get worried. I called the store and informed them that I was supposed to have my suit by now. They told me it wasn't a problem and they'd get it straightened out. I called back a couple days later after I still hadn't heard anything. They said they'd get right on it and call me back. I STILL didn't hear back from them. Long story short, after calling them at least 15 times (none of which were initiated by the store), I disputed the charge on my credit card, called the store, and informed them that I had removed the charge from my card. Only then did they start to worry. Too late. They mentioned that the suit may have been shipped. I told them I'd refuse to accept the delivery and have it returned.

In summary, two different companies with two vastly different customer service responses. One will get references from me if they're looking for that product. The other one won't get a sniff of my money going forward.

Incentives......

I got a marker board yesterday to start working on incentives with Kali 2.8. While she's a smart girl, she has a tendancy to want to get up in the middle of the night and ask for various things (tuck me in, cuddle with Mommy, etc.). What I've noticed in recent trial runs is that if you give her some incentive to stay in her room all night, she does it without issue.

So, borrowing a page from my parenting teacher otherwise known as Supernanny, I've set up a 'Good Girl' board for her. There are 15 squares drawn on the marker board. Every time Kali stays in her room all night, she gets to put an 'X' on the board. When all of the boxes get filled, she gets to go to the store and pick out a coloring book or reading book of her choice.

In some cases, she's woke up 2-3 times a night in recent weeks. Since the new plan was implemented, she's got a perfect record.

We never give kids enough credit. They're very smart when they want to be.

Baby checkup........

Mrs. Lime went for a checkup today on the baby. No huge concerns, other than the baby being a bit small. They found a 5 pound baby, which is still pretty good size. Mrs. Lime is also slightly dialated, so there's some signs that a baby is there. Mrs. Lime said they believe we may have the baby a bit sooner than anticipated, though likely no more than a week or so earlier than the due date. So I may have an extra long Thanksgiving break in store rather than an early December break. I'll definitely be keeping the phone fully charged from here on out.

Clean up, eat, win, and sing..............

Kali 2.8 and I had a fun night. Nothing really all that exciting at face value, but we got to spend some time together hanging out.

We went to FedEx to get some copies made. It took a little while to get everything done. Kali was relatively well behaved. She did show off more of her tendancy to be like me. She's very big on everything having a spot and being organized accordingly. There was a Halloween card display right next to where we were standing in line. Kali noticed that 2 of the cards were on the floor. She asked if she could go put them back and I told her she could. Not only did she pick up both of the cards, but she made sure to walk around the display and find the exact place that each card was supposed to go.

We headed over to a cheap pizza buffet to grab some food afterwards. Kali ate some pepperoni pizza and quite a bit of salad. She went with the swirl soft-serve ice cream because, well, because swirls are cool when you're two years old. She topped off the dinner by going back and winning a five cent bracelet on a game while only using $1.50 to do so. So I paid $1.45 to give her a sense of accomplishment.

Last stop on the tour around the city was Sam's Club. First thing she spots when she comes in......a Disney Princess Castle playset that Sam evidently decided to put RIGHT NEXT TO THE FRONT DOOR. Great marketing, but lousy location for parents looking to go shopping without buying toys. Kali was actually relatively good about it. Initially, she started getting this fake sour-puss face when I said she couldn't play with it. I told her that sour-faced girls don't get to play with toys. As if there was a light switch, she promptly switched to the 'I'm a sweet little girl who isn't frowning' face while repeating the same request in a much more pleasant tone. Granted, she was still saying it, but at least it was less irritating.

We headed home to the sounds of 'Sesame Street Karaoke' on the DVD player. Kali's getting really good at singing the songs. As Uncle Tom found out while in town, the songs being repeated over and over on each trip quickly get stuck in your head. Eventually, you just start singing children's songs for no particular reason throughout your day. Uncle Tom now knows the 'Ladybug's Picnic' song by heart.

Soaks in everything.........

Kali 2.8 continues to impress with her observation skills. I'm continually amazed with how much she soaks in at every turn of the day. She'll randomly bring up events from a few days ago that made an impression on her, events that I've often already forgot. She also repeats a lot of phrases on TV or in a movie for emphasis. In addition, the secret name of the incoming baby was mentioned in front of Kali and she immediately repeated it. So if you work hard enough, you may be able to squeak the name out of our smarter-than-her-age kid. Of course, you have to do that in the first five seconds you bring it up before she switches to another random topic as two year olds often do.

Another busy week ahead of me. I'm sure it will slow down after this week, right? Right?

Interview day.............

I interviewed today for the management position in my group. No real surprises from a question perspective, though I thought I could have done better. There were a couple of times where I couldn't come up with what I felt was a good answer right away. Just kind of sat there and thought. Ah, well. Sometimes that happens.

I don't think the interview will ultimately affect my chances at getting or not getting the position. I think my work over the past year should speak volumes. An upper manager in the group we work for told my manager that she expected him to make sure I play a major role in the group moving forward. So regardless of whether I land the lead position, upper management thinks well of me and that's all I can do.

Time capsule........

I've been assisting Mrs. Lime's grandmother with getting her home in order. She's going to be moving down to live near Mrs. Lime's uncle where they can keep a close eye on her.

Just a few things that I found:

-Old music from the middle part of the 1900s
-Several newspapers announcing the first man on the moon.
-Old pictures of Mrs. Lime's family members, including her mom.
-An autograph book from 1936/1937 where Mrs. Lime's grandmother collected notes from friends/family.
-Sewing patterns from the 1950s. Some wacky clothes in that drawer.
-Several carousels of slides that we haven't even viewed yet.
-A spiral notebook used by Mrs. Lime's mother in college. Lots of doodling in it along with some notes to her friends/boyfriends, including Mrs. Lime's dad.

I've got plenty of stuff still to go through, but some pretty fun stuff thus far. I'm sure there's plenty more to be found.

I am just wiped out.........

I've been going non-stop over the past week or so. My workplace is in flux until they hire a new manager (which I now have found out may or may not be me). Meanwhile, I'm the interim manager, so I have to run the ship for now.

In addition, I just finished up a 100-page report for my father-in-law. I'll be starting some new paperwork this week.

I'm also helping clean out a relative's house. Roughly 60 years worth of 'stuff'. Someone's got to jump-start the process and I'm just the one to do it. Took out 11 bags of trash in about two hours of work last night.

And outside of all of that, I have to be a dad and a husband. I only had 4 hours sleep last night due to Kali having a rough night. I'll also have a second child in a month's time.

Other than that, not much going on.

The wisdom of a 2 year old.........

Me: I am SO hungry. I think I'm going to take a bite out of your arm.

Kali: No! Do not eat me!

Me: Why not? I am so hungry!

Kali: Daddy, you can't eat me. I am not an EGG!

Today is the day "it" hit the fan.........

Life just got a bit interesting at my workplace today. My manager, who as I mentioned previously was doing bad things, was fired late last night. There is already a process in place to replace him as the team leader, but I've been asked by my higher level project managers in the company to not apply for the position. They know I'm fully qualified, but they're considering putting me in another lead position in the company.

It's always a bit of a risk to pass up a management position with little more than a promise that another one is in the works, but I trust my upper manager enough to take the risk. He did a great job keeping my status as a silent whistleblower in the matter surrounding the firing. That's a good enough reason for me to trust that he has my best interests at hand. Not only that, but he's a former FBI agent. He, much like me, can read unintentional body language and knows when someone is lying or telling half-truths. He went out of his way to note that he knows that I was telling the truth regarding situations in our group, so I have a good feeling that he trusts me as well. I feel the need to repay his trust.

Except for the couple of people who were involved, the rest of the group is shocked that he was fired. If they knew some of the situations that I was privy to, they wouldn't be surprised. In fact, they'd likely be shocked that he even put himself in that bad of a position. But I can't say anything about it for fear that they'd figure out I was the reason he was fired.

This exercise is a blatent reminder of what can happen when a manager thinks he's bulletproof. I don't care how many people you think are on your side or that you think you can say derogatory things about others and get away with it. Eventually, it will catch up with you. It's an excellent lesson for everyone in regards to both personal and business relationships. It's OK to be a firm and direct person, but you can mistreat people. It will always end badly.

It's all new to Kali 2.8...........

A week ago, there was a re-release of the Wizard of Oz to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the movie. Kali 2.8 has seen the movie once before on TV, but with commercials a child is easily distracted. So we picked up the Wizard of Oz movie so Kali could watch it.

I came home from work the next day to find Kali watching the movie. She started bouncing up and down on the couch and excitedly told me that she was watching the Wizard of Oz. Mrs. Lime smiled from behind and held up 4 fingers, noting that this was actually the 4th time that she had watched the movie. She already had a great grasp of the plot and characters along with predicting what would happen at the start of each scene before it even happened. She explained the movie to me in great detail, making sure that I knew exactly what was going on and what I had missed.

It's a great movie and it honestly holds up very well even today. If it keeps a two year old kid's attention, it must be good.

I'm sure I'll be dealing with this soon enough......

Was reading a blog entry from a friend of mine that was pretty startling about the Swine Flu at his kids school.

Link to "The Swine" blog entry

So his kid's grade at his school went from normal attendance to 80% absent in three days?!?!?! That's pretty crazy. It does sound like it's relatively easy to treat once diagnosed, but that's some pretty contageous stuff.

Soon Kali 2.8 will be in school and 'building up immunity' one sickness at a time.

Checking out dance class.......

We took Kali 2.8 over to the local college where her Papa helps teach a college ballroom dancing class. Kali was pretty excited to go see the dancing. She watches ballroom dancing on TV every Monday night, so she was ready to go see it in person.

As soon as everyone started dancing, she got up and started spinning around. She quickly figured out that she could see her dress spinning in the mirror on the wall, so she spun around several times and watched herself in the mirror. She also danced with me for a bit.

When Papa came around the circle and was near us, Kali was excited to see him dancing. She then noticed that the girl that Papa was dancing with had Kermit the Frog on her shorts. For the rest of the time we were there, Kali would ask where 'Papa and Kermit' were if she couldn't see them on the floor.

We left once she got a bit bored (which two year olds are prone to do), but she said on the way home that she wanted to be in dance class. She can start doing that next year, so we'll definitely have to get her involved in that.

Sleepless night.......

I couldn't go to sleep for awhile after that Mizzou debacle last night against Nebraska. Easily one of the worst collapses I've seen. I have no clue how Zac Lee performed like Zac Lee for three quarters only to become Dan Marino in the final quarter.

***shudder***

On the bright side, basketball practice starts a week from today. My favorite sport is back. I'll just focus on that for now.

I blame Kali 2.7........

Mizzou played Nebraska tonight in football. While Kali was awake, Mizzou outscored Nebraska 12-0. At some point around 10:15, Kali fell asleep next to me on the couch. From that point on, Nebraska outscored Mizzou 27-0.

I should have never let her fall asleep.

Mission accomplished........

Had a female co-worker that I hang out with quite a bit who had her birthday today. She eats lunch in a group of us that get together every day. I scored big points today with her. None of the other 6 people in the lunch group remembered that it was her birthday. I showed up with cake for the entire group to celebrate her birthday.

In closing, I'd like to thank Mrs. Lime for teaching me to remember important dates. It paid off in spades today.

Isn't that interesting..........

You know you're having an interesting day when a lunch conversation goes like this......

Me: So who just called your cell phone?

Person: Oh, it was the doctor's office. They got my test results back, but said I should come in to discuss the results.

Me: What kind of tests?

Person: Some blood work and a STD test.

Me: What do you need a STD test for?

Person: You know.......just the occasional test to make sure everything's still clean.


I'm going to go out on a limb and say I'm glad that I don't have that issue.

Yet another milestone..........

I'm officially 35 years old as of today. Most people lie about their age until they get really old and suddenly decide it's a badge of honor. Not me. I consider it a badge of honor that I even made it to 35.

This time of the year does get me excited about what's to come......

-Royals finish last in their division again. Thank God that's over.
-Chiefs have now lost 27 of their last 29 games, which is the worst stretch of losing in NFL history.

On the positive side......

-Mizzou football is off to a 4-0 start with a relatively young team. Next few years should be fun.
-Mizzou basketball starts practice in 1 1/2 weeks. Mizzou has a great coach and a good group of kids who make it very easy to root for them. Should be a lot of fun to see the younger players develop this year.
-It's getting cooler outside. Mrs. Lime doesn't like it, but Kali and I dig it.
-By my 36th birthday, I expect to have two daughters in my midst. I'm likely to need divine intervention.

Never a dull moment. I don't even have time to think about being old.

My Wal-Mart safari.......

I usually shop at a nearby Target store when I need to get something relatively quick. Last night, I was printing out some pictures on the printer and ran out of ink. Target doesn't carry the printer cartriges and the various electronics stores were closed. My one option was the 24-hour Walmart nearby. There's a couple of things that become immediately evident when you enter the store......

1. The store is DIRTY. I guess I never realized how dirty the Walmart stores are when compared to other retailers. I've never seen so many spots on the floor where something had dropped down and dirt had been tracked through the mess.

2. The people in the store are an interesting group of people to say the least. There is no dress code for sure. Anything you think a person could wear in public can be seen on display in a Walmart.

My trip to Walmart was topped off by a family in the self check-out line. Family consisted of parents (who were both likely only around 40) and they had 5 kids ranging from 18 to around 10. The oldest girl also had a 6 month old baby.

Normally, you think the self check-out is for people with a relatively small amount of items. Not this family. They decided to bring the self check-out line to a virtual stand-still by checking out THREE SHOPPING CARTS of stuff in a self check-out line. To add to the excitement, the 18 year-old appeared to have no idea that the bar code on the product was actually how the price scan works. She just kept spinning the product until she heard a beep.

Meanwhile, her baby is sitting in the cart. A teenage daughter is standing next to the baby only to see the baby spit up all over himself and the floor below. The teenager duly notes 'Uh, the baby just spit up all over the floor'. To which the 40-some mother says 'I'm sure they'll have someone clean it up'. The teenager sees the baby spit up again a couple of minutes later all over the floor again, but doesn't say anything this time because she knows what her mom will say.

After scanning for at least 15 minutes, the family finally has everything paid for and is ready to leave. At that moment, the mom hands out cigarettes to basically anyone in that family who's old enough to smoke. They all stick the cigarettes in their mouth and head out the door with lighters in hand. As soon as they hit that exit, they're ready to light up.

I'm not sure when I'll go to Walmart again, but it'll have to be an awfully good reason.

Meeting the locals..........

I was invited over to a local poker tournament in town. It was held in one of the buildings on the town square in an upstairs office. Nothing fancy, but had a pretty interesting cross-section of the community. There were some good civic leader connections available, which may help down the line with the local renovation project we're working on. They play a tournament every Wednesday night. I usually am busy taking care of Kali 2.7 or doing other things, but since Kali was out of town with the grandparents, I decided to give it a whirl.

I played pretty tight poker to feel out the players a bit and then started with some aggression once I knew what I was up against. I won a little pot early on with pocket tens and made sure to flip it over just to advertise to the table that I only played premium hands. I used that to my advantage about 15 minutes later when I had the best flush draw after the flop. I bet and one guy called. Pot was large and I checked the turn. He checked as well and I had a pretty good idea that he was hoping for the same thing I was, which was another card to hit a flush. The river came and I didn't have my flush. I had ace high and went all-in. He thought for some time and then finally folded and showed that he had king high and was going for the same flush as me. I got a big stack from that pot and flipped over my bluff just to let them know I could bluff.

I mixed up my play pretty well the rest of the night. I got paid off on a lot of good hands due to my big bluff earlier. I think it was very adventageous that I was a new guy. The regulars in the game were pretty baffled and couldn't get a good read on me. I didn't bluff a whole lot, but when I did, I never got called where I had to show the bluff.

After 4 hours, I won the tournament and went home with $250. Unfortunately, that pretty much means I'll have to go and play again at some point, but it'll probably be a couple of months. I'm sure I'll find a good use for the money.

Full honors........

My grandfather's best friend (Jack) passed away of lung cancer last week at the age of 82. Certainly not unexpected since he was a lifelong smoker. He probably did well to even live that long.

He was part of the disappearing population of WWII veterans that we have left. My grandfather met Jack in boot camp where they were training for the invasion of Japan. Both of them were spared the bloody battle that would have occurred had they stormed the beaches in Japan by the dropping of two atomic bombs by President Truman. My grandfather said he would have stormed the beach with nothing but a pistol and a 70 lb. radio backpack for command communications.

Jack found out he had a week or so to live, so he had time to plan his own funeral. He was buried by his request in his Army officer uniform (yes, it still fit). It was like looking back into time to see him in his old uniform. He picked out all the songs at the memorial service.

He also requested full military honors at his graveside service. He was a big gun collector and history buff who was very proud of his service. They had a flag folding ceremony where they presented the flag to the family on behalf of the President and a grateful country. They had a full 21-gun salute and then Taps was played (via recording since there is a shortage of bugle players left in service).

You see and hear about these kinds of ceremonies in places like Arlington and some other national cemeteries, but rarely do you get to see it happen for someone you know. Far too often, this kind of honor/ceremony is bestowed on someone who has tragically been killed far too early in battle. It was nice this weekend to enjoy the full event as an honor to a lifelong servant of our country. Jack would have loved it.

The Kingdom of Kali is complete.......

Kali 2.7 slept in her royal (queen size) bed for the first time last night without any issues. Her Royal Highness only called upon me once around 3:45 AM this morning. She had kicked her favorite blanket under the bedspread during her sleep and couldn't find it. I quickly came in and retrieved it for her and she went right back to sleep.

Her bed chamber is accented with many princess and castle decals that have to be seen to be believed. I'll be taking pictures of her kingdom later this week and will post them for all to see.

Painting of the Kingdom of Kali is complete........

I still have to take the tape off the trim and touch up a couple of spots where needed. Paint is all on the walls at this point. Next comes the application of the giant princess pictures, castles, and chalkboard. Yes, a chalkboard.

I'll have pictures sometime next week. Total cost to build previously mentioned kingdom is around $350. Pretty impressive price for a kingdom I'd say.

Uh, that's weed.

Just went over to a cube in my area to have a business conversation with one of my co-workers. I had the unmistakable scent of marijuana enter my nose as soon as I got over there. Powerful stuff.

We'll use this information to make the assumption that the state of random drug testing in the federal government offices is in a total state of disrepair.

PINK!!!!!!

The Kingdom of Kali 2.7 received two coats of paint last night.

It's pink, it's bright and it's bold. She loves it.

With that said, if the light is on in that room, the hallway glows an orangish-pink color due to the light reflecting off the paint in the room. I fear we may have a nuclear meltdown in the room if we make it any brighter, so we'll probably stop right there.

Early drawings of the Kingdom of Kali are complete.....

Kali 2.7 and I made a trip over to Home Depot for the supplies for her new bedroom.

The colors: light pink and dark pink

The theme: Disney Princess

Highlights: Two five foot tall princess decals, a castle decal, and a chalkboard applied to the wall.

Total cost: $300-350 (Labor is free since I've found out that I'm not being paid for the work)

Construction estimate is 3 days. Preliminary taping of trim is complete. Tomorrow, the painting begins.

Another one bites the dust.........

Kali 2.7 continues her run of humbling full grown adults. Kali played Memory against two of my friends, Jonathan and Cindy. The report was that she beat them both in a game of Princess Memory, which has 76 cards (38 matching sets). By the end of the game, Kali was reportedly helping them figure out where the matches were located. I guess she felt sympathy for them since they were behind.

Thursday night bowling........

I've been sporatically going bowling with my friend Hightower on Thursday nights. It's usually only once or twice a month, but it's a good time. Last night I started horribly but managed to rally back to win eventually. Some thoughts.........

1. The bowling alley offers karaoke after 9:00 PM on Thursdays. If there is a worse talent group to pull performers from, I'd love to see it. There are some TERRIBLE singers. At one point last night, a guy was butchering a Hank Williams Jr. song so badly that I started singing the song loudly just to drown out how bad he was.

2. We had a college-age couple bowling in the lane to our right. The guy was being a relative jackass to his girlfriend. She and I happened to go pick up our respective ball at the same time. I told her that just between her and I, I was rooting for her to beat him. She smiled and said she was doing her best. In the last frame, she was down by 5 pins and had to run to the bathroom. While she was gone, her boyfriend tossed a gutter ball for her first ball. When she came back, Hightower let her know that she only had one ball to win with since he threw a gutter ball on her scorecard. She promptly walked up and knocked down 8 pins to win by 3. Very nice.

3. The kids to our right presented an interesting group as well. They were probably all just out of high school. Three of the eight kids over there had pretty bad obesity issues already at a young age. I felt terrible for them. I couldn't even imagine what it would be like to be badly obese at that impressionable age.

Some people don't know when to shut it......

As some of you may have noted from a previous post, I was basically asked to be a whistle-blower on my office boss by company management. There was a lot of things that he was saying and doing behind peoples' backs that just didn't fly right. Since the company management was busy doing a few other things for a couple of weeks, no action has taken place yet until they resolve some issues in another town some distance from here.

Yesterday, the manager that I blew the whistle on approached me to ask a few questions. Imagine my surprise when, not only did he confide in me his trust for me, but he even went a few steps further and bashed many of the same people that he did before. He did this despite already being asked NOT to engage in that behavior and he did it to a person who, little known to him, is actually the one who reported him previously.

This won't end well at all. I'm always baffled why some people totally lack any common sense. For some, it's evidently too much to ask to just treat people well while not stabbing them in the back on a regular basis. I hope I never reach that point. My morals have been compromised if that happens.

Tinkerbell 0.11 is growing rapidly........

I was sitting in the couch last night looking over at Mrs. Lime across the room when I had a sudden realization. I could barely see Mrs. Lime. The reason? Tinkerbell 0.11 was standing between us and is getting VERY tall. Tinkerbell's back is only a couple of inches shorter than Kali 2.7 right now. She's not fat by any means, but she's very tall.

Tinkerbell also got great reviews from the kennel as usual. She's a crowd favorite and they love it when she stays there. She plays non-stop when she's there and always sleeps for the next two days when she returns from her stay at the kennel. Must be tough playing all day and sleeping all night.

Back to the grind.......

Had a short work week last week and went to Baltimore over the weekend to hang out with Mrs. Lime's sister and her husband. We had some great seafood (Baltimore's main redeeming quality) and the Chiefs almost upset the Ravens on the opening weekend of the NFL. So I can't complain too much.

Kali 2.7 had fun playing the Memory game with Aunt Shell. She also got to play with their three dogs. Kali got a kick out of their dog named Jake, who hops when he walks due to him missing a front leg. He surprisingly runs like a normal dog, but he bounces along like Tigger when he's walking. He and the other dogs loved the attention that Kali was handing out. Kali was even taking pillows off the couch for the dogs to lay on.

Now I head back into a full work week. I'm already thinking about Columbus Day and the next 4 day work week.

Time frame.......

Kali 2.6's new deal is to delay the inevitable menace otherwise known as bedtime. It's a relatively mundane attempt, but an attempt nonetheless. A couple of months ago, it was time to put Kali to bed and I told her so. She said 'no', so I thought I'd try something different and give her an option. So I asked her how much longer she wanted to stay up before heading to bed. Her response? Two days.

Of late, her demands have become more reasonable. Her current requested time is only 'three minutes'. That's easily done. She feels like she wins because she gets her three minutes. I win because she has no idea how short of a time frame 3 minutes is relatively speaking. Hopefully that will remain the gold standard for some time moving forward.

Maleficent goes to dinner.

Last night, we all went out for dinner since Mrs. Lime had a night off. She was worn out (apparantly carrying around a baby in your tummy does that to you), but she's always ready for an outing.

Kali 2.6 was highly entertained by a baby near our table. Kali quickly identified that a mommy was feeding the baby. The baby was also very interested in Kali and her antics. The mom had trouble keeping the baby focused on eating because she was so busy watching Kali.

During the meal, Kali caught on to the whole feeding trend. Kali mentioned that there was a baby in Mrs. Lime's tummy. Mrs. Lime responded affirmitively. Kali then took a fork and scooped up some lettuce off Mrs. Lime's plate. Mrs. Lime said she was full, but Kali said 'Kali feed baby'. She had made the connection watching the baby get fed, so she decided she'd feed the baby by giving her mommy a forkful of food. Smart girl.

Later in the meal, I had finished my food and was stealing some of Kali's fruit on her plate. Kali said it was her fruit. I took another piece of fruit. Kali took her fork, plunged it into the fruit bowl and said "YOU'RE TOO LATE!" and then cackled like a witch. Mrs. Lime busted out laughing and then informed me of the comedic reference my daughter had just uttered. In the movie 'Sleeping Beauty', the princess pricks her finger on a sewing spindle just before the fairy godmothers can stop her. Malificient (the evil witch) then screams out "YOU'RE TOO LATE!" followed by a fiendish cackle.

My daughter is now making movie references to crack jokes at dinner. I'm so proud of her. (tears up)

You lost.........again.

Kali 2.6 has taken the game of Memory to a whole new level in our house. It's her new favorite game, replacing Candy Land. We play this memory game with 42 cards (or 21 pairs). That's a lot of cards for me, nonetheless a 2 year old. When the board is still relatively full, I still flip over the wrong card quite a bit when I think I have a match.

Kali is a sniper in this game. She KNOWS where the cards are and has a great memory. Even when she thinks she knows and she misses, you can tell that it was an accident because she usually is just one card away from the correct match. Consider yourself lucky if she misses. If you flip over a card and she knows where the match is, she'll flip over that same card before you can even cover it up and will quickly grab its match. She has no problem beating you while smiling at her good fortune.

Before, it was just a fun little game with some animals on cards. Now, it's a real competition. I've found my best chance of beating her on a regular basis is to turn on Sesame Street while we're playing. It takes her focus off the game to the point where she doesn't fully pay attention to the cards being revealed. If she's solely focused on the game, you're screwed.

Uncle Carl's food..........

Kali 2.6 and I went out to my father-in-law's project to meet with some people. While there, a family friend of ours named Carl showed up. He ran an Italian restaurant for many years in downtown KC. We said hi to one another and Kali got a kiss from 'Uncle Carl' as she knows him. She sheepishly smiled when she got the kiss, making Uncle Carl happy to no end.

Carl let me know that his son had just opened up a new drive-thru location in the north end of town that was serving all the old food that Mrs. Lime's family and my family regularly enjoyed for many years. Mrs. Lime's mom was a HUGE fan of the food. It was one of the few places we could go and know we'd get great service and also know that her mom's food would be cooked just to her liking.

So Kali and I headed over to pick up some of "Uncle Carl's Food" as Kali called it. We got the family deal, which had a big bucket of spaghetti and sauce. It also came with a huge loaf of garlic bread and a big portion of salad. Kali was a big fan of the 'long noodles'. Mrs. Lime had cut up some spaghetti for her, but Kali wanted to eat them one at a time. She'd hold one way above her head and eat the entire noodle.

Really great food and it was affordable as well. If you want to see the menu or see the location, you can visit their website at http://www.igtogo.com/.

Keeping Daddy in line..........

Kali 2.6 was sitting in her princess throne this evening eating some cookies....

Me: Are those good cookies, Kali?

Kali: These aren't cookies! These are Oreos!

--------------------------

Mrs. Lime made the unfortunate decision to leave her iPhone sitting out on a table for two minutes at a public university over the weekend. It was gone in a flash. As a result, Mrs. Lime needed a phone in a hurry and Kali and I were on the case.

Per the usual, Kali was well-behaved, even entertaining the people at the store at some point. After a hour or so, we finally landed a phone and we were on our way.

Today (two days later), we headed over to Target. As we're going through the parking lot, I heard Kali saying something and couldn't make it out. After 3-4 tries, I finally got it. "Daddy, there's the phone store!"

Sure enough. In the distance was the phone store that we had gone to a couple of days before. This girl has a ridiculous memory for a 2 1/2 year old kid.

Do you remember?

Kali 2.6 and I sat down in the living room. She's got a memory game that has various animals that you can flip over the cards and try to match more than your opponents. Kali has just been playing around and reading the cards and what animal each card had on it.

Today, I decided to teach her how to use the cards to play a game. I showed her how you flip over two cards and if they match, you get to keep them. I tried to help out Kali a bit. In the first game, I'd point to a card if she flipped over an animal that we had already seen somewhere else. She was pretty excited to match them up. But generally, she kept flipping over the same cards instead of looking for new matches.

Then a funny thing happened. We started a second game. If Kali flipped up a card where we had already seen its match, I'd stop her and ask her if she remembered where the matching pair was. The first time I did that, she stopped and was obviously thinking about it. Then she picked the matching card out of about 40 cards. I laughed because I was so surprised to see her catch on so quickly.

And then she did it again.

And again.

She beat me in her second game of memory. The only assistance I provided was to stop her and tell her that we had already seen its match so she'd think about it. Otherwise, it was all her. It was pretty amazing. It was like playing against a good poker player who would pretend to play badly initially and then proceed to take back all the money on the table.

As I write this, Kali is begging me to come over and play memory with her again. In summary for those who may be asked to play memory by Kali in the future, no need to take it easy. She's likely going to beat you without any consideration for your feelings or ego. But at least she'll flash a cute smile at you when the bloodbath is complete.

Playtime with Kali 2.6.........

Earlier this week, I decided spur of the moment to take Kali to Worlds of Fun for a couple of hours to play around. Kali was all fired up and ready to go. So we made the five minute drive over to the amusement part and arrived........to see an empty parking lot. Yours truly had forgot to note that the park was no longer operating during the week thanks to school starting back up.

While I'm extremely fortunate to have a daughter who has a fantastic temperment, she was none too happy that Daddy was now driving out of the parking lot away from the big roller coasters. She wasn't throwing a fit by any means, but she was giving Daddy a full dress-down on why we were leaving Worlds of Fun no sooner than we had arrived. I went into Henry Kissinger mode and negotiated a truce. We were headed to the playground in the area.

All was forgiven when we arrived to see the big slides and climbing walls. Kali and I went up the ladders and down the slides over and over and over again. Tons of energy in that girl. I hung with her as best as I could for a 30-something dad. After 15 minutes, a couple of kids and their mom showed up at the playground.

The mom was probably younger than me, but her kids were older than mine by a few years. The kids were climbing all over the place, but their mom just sat on the bench. She was overweight and was texting on the bench. She seemed totally disinterested in what her kids were doing.

I'll fully admit that I'm a kid at heart (or some might say I've never fully grown up), but I don't get why someone comes to the park with their kid and doesn't play with them. I like slides. I like climbing. Kali likes both as well. Why would you not do things with your kid, including playing?

Regardless, Kali and I had a lot of fun, but I think both of us slept well that night. It's not easy being a kid.

It's dark in here.......

Yesterday, Kali 2.6 and I were up in the master bathroom. I went into the toilet room to sit down for business purposes. I hadn't turned on the light in that side room, though the main bathroom light was on. Kali wandered into the room and decided to close the door, rendering the small toilet room pitch black.

Me: (whispering) It's dark in here.

Kali: (whispering) Yeah. It's dark in here. You making poopy Daddy?

Me: (whispering) Yes.

Kali: (whispering) You make BIG poopy Daddy?

Me: (whispering) No, just a little one.

Kali: (whispering) Oooooohhhhh! You need toilet paper Daddy?

Me: (whispering) Not yet.

Kali: (whispering) How about now?

Me: (whispering) No, thank you.

(moment of silence followed by a Kali giggle)

Kali: (whispering) I love you Daddy!

Me: (whispering) I love you too!

Kali: (giggle)

Me: (whispering) Is there a reason we've been whispering this whole time?

Kali: (whispering) No.

Me: (chuckling & whispering) OK, just checking.

Fantastic stuff. Totally silly conversation, but after she said there wasn't a reason why we had been whispering in the dark the whole time, I just lost it. We left the toilet immediately afterwards, but I was laughing for at least the next 10 minutes.

I'm 9 feet tall!

Kali 2.6 and I went over to the local elementary school to goof around for a bit. Did some swinging where she wanted to make sure she went "really high". We played around on some slides. We also walked across a suspension bridge. Kali also showed off her competitive nature by challenging me to a race. I let her win, but not by much just to make sure she doesn't get too cocky.

Later on, we headed over to the kickball/tetherball/basketball area. The school had left their play balls out on the playground, so Kali ran right over to pick up one of the balls. I picked up a different ball and started shooting some baskets. Kali saw what I was doing and immediately ran over to the base of the basketball goal post and stood there with her ball, looking back at me.

I walked over to see what she was doing. She said 'Kali go up'. I was trying to figure out what she wanted. I asked her if she wanted to climb the poll. Nope, she replied, that wasn't it. Then she said 'Kali make ball' and pointed at the basket. She wanted a boost to shoot at the basket just like Daddy did. I picked her up and lifted her as high as I could. She didn't make it, but she was pretty fired up that she got to shoot at the same basked that I did.

A poopy milestone........

Yes, Kali 2.6 had a big day yesterday. She was able to 'drop a deuce' on her potty chair for the first time. She got tons of praise and loved every minute of it. She loved it so much, that she went back an hour later and did it again. Then she went back a couple of hours later and did it again. Amazing what positive reinforcement does for the whole situation once it happens.

I'm sure we have many, many more to come. Unfortunately, Kali's being potty-trained, but another baby is on the way to start the cycle all over again. Hopefully the new baby learns quickly from Kali's poopy example.

Daycare for Tinkerbell 0.10

Tinkerbell was sent to puppy daycare today since Mrs. Lime and Kali 2.6 were going to be out of the house all day. They basically have a huge room where the dogs get to hang out, chew on things, and just be dogs. Tinkerbell loves to go to daycare. She just goes nuts. The staff has told us that Tinkerbell is the absolute last dog to run out of energy while playing. She just keeps going and going.

I went by to pick her up at the end of the day. They specified that this was the owner of the 'big' Tinkerbell. Evidently, there was a very small Tinkerbell at daycare today too. Sounds like they were only separated by 100 pounds. Tinkerbell popped out of a doorway with a teenage boy in tow. And I do mean in tow. This kid's shoes were more like skis as Tinkerbell dragged him through the office. I'd be lying if I said I didn't laugh. It was pretty funny. She eased up once she saw I was there. The kid was more than happy to let me have the leash.

Developing quickly..........

I'm amazed at how quickly Kali 2.6 is changing into a little lady. First, the reports of great advancement on potty training were accurate. Kali has gone from little interest in potty training to looking forward to doing potty training. The apparant catalyst is that you have to put a Disney Princesses potty seat on the regular toilet. If you do that, she's always ready and willing to potty on request. Who knew?

Kali's also grown a large vocabulary in a big hurry. She's soaking up words every day and turning right around and using those words and phrases the very next day. We're not just talking words like cat and dog. These are three syllable words and they come out often. Pretty impressive.

She's also become very good at counting to 20 and saying the alphabet without any issues. She knows the letters just by looking at them and is able to tell you a word that starts with that letter. Her ability to put together puzzles has grown by leaps and bounds as well. She used to just stick the pieces together without little thought as to whether the pictures on the pieces fit together. Now she puts together the puzzles by looking at how they relate.

Crazy stuff. Won't be long before I'm the dumbest one in the house. I'm OK with that.

Kali 2.6 and Grandma.........

I was told last night in Grandma's weekend report that Kali 2.6 worked hard on her potty training over the weekend and mostly wears just underwear during the day now. I knew she was getting awfully close to that point, but it just always seemed like it didn't click for one reason or another.

One of the things you learn as a parent is that there are other ways to do things. Sometimes kids just respond to different techniques in different ways. Sounds like Grandma's method provided the magic touch in regards to potty training. We'll take it however we can get it.

Go Chiefs and (football) Tigers!

I dropped a couple of sports bets at Caesar's Palace on the way out of Vegas yesterday that could pay off well if all my dreams come true.

-I put $20 down on the Kansas City Chiefs to win the Super Bowl. If they do win it, I will pocket $750.

-I put $20 down on the Missouri Tigers to win the BCS Championship. If they do win it, I'll take in $1500.

Longshots to be sure, but it'll make it fun for the upcoming season if either of them make a run.

In addition, I would like to note that we went and saw Wayne Brady's show in Vegas our last night there. Very good show. We were supposed to sit a couple of rows from the top of the theater, but were moved down to 6 rows from the stage when we arrived. Great seats at a cheap price. You can't beat that!

Las Vegas Trip summary.......

We've been in Vegas over the weekend and had a great time. A few notes......

1. I met an Aussie at a poker table on Friday. Funny guy with a bit of a foul mouth. He humored me by saying some Aussie words like 'barbie', 'kangaroo', and 'dundee'. He also had a standard raise of $8, which he pronounced as 'aight'. As a result, everyone at the table raised 'aight' if they raised for the whole game.

2. Also met a guy at a table who had worked for a long time as a traveling businessman. When his child support payments ended (i.e. he didn't have to pay them anymore), he quit his day job and now strictly plays poker. Seemed to be very good and very tight. Walked away up $300 after a couple of hours.

3. Met a Morman at the poker table from Utah. I explained that I lived in the area near the Saw Mills massacre site and near where Joseph Smith was jailed. I also mentioned that a Mormon temple was going to be erected near my home. He said that if the home value didn't go up 75% or more in 5 years after the temple is built, he'd be shocked. Guess I'll hold on to my house for a bit longer.

4. I had a big drunk guy who was hassling a police officer run into me on the sidewalk. I saw the officer had taken away his booze bottle and had the pepper spray out. We got out of there in a hurry.

5. Mrs. Lime had a rough weekend at the poker tables. I think we'll steer her away from cash games for awhile. She was not happy about it.

6. I got to meet the Miss September 2009 Playmate at the Playboy store. I also got her magazine and got the centerfold signed. She even had a brother who spelled his first name the same way I did. So I've got that going for me. Seemed like a really nice girl.

7. Mrs. Lime got to hang out with Elvis. He was originally from New Zealand. I'm not sure how that all happened. Always interesting to hear Elvis with a Kiwi accent.

8. Vegas in August is HOT. Even with no humidity, walking on cement in 100 degree temperatures is pretty brutal. Thank God for air conditioning.

9. Saw Peepshow with Holly Madison (Hugh Hefner's most recent ex-girlfriend). It was pretty obvious that she wasn't terribly happy to be in the show. She seemed disinterested and was going through the motions. At least the crowd was thrilled when she took off her top at the end of the show. But the rest of the performers were actually very good. We had VIP seats right next to the stage. I had one of the girls even toss her feather boa on me to flirt with me (while topless). Mrs. Lime and our friends got a big kick out of that.

10. Kali 2.6 had a fun-filled weekend with Grandma and Grandpa. I'm sure she hardly even missed us. It was nice to sleep in for a few days. We're recharged and ready to get back to see her. 3 more months until baby #2 enters the fold!

Sesame Street!

I started recording Sesame Street episodes for Kali. She watches a DVD of Sesame Street from time to time, so she knows a lot of the characters. I'm amazed at how excited she gets for the episodes. She knows all the names. If she doesn't recognize something, she'll ask what it is or who it is. She hops up and down and sings the theme song pretty well.

I used to watch Sesame Street all the time when I was little. It still does many of the same things that it did long ago. Lots of emphasis on the letter and number of the day. Many of the same people are still on the show from when I watched it, although they're 30 years older than they were in the past. People like Mr. Hooper have passed away. The characters are obviously ageless. It's fun to watch it after not watching it so long. It's even better that it's recorded on a daily basis. That way I can watch it with her if there's any new episodes rather than miss out. Thank God for technology.

Kali 2.6's big weekend........

Kali 2.6 was with her college-age babysitter for the past three weeks or so with Mrs. Lime doing some side work at a local hospital. Not surprisingly, three weeks with a college-age person can have an explosive effect on a child's conversational abilities. We wen't from a somewhat talkative child to a child who carries on conversations non-stop. Not only that, she's giving more specific answers to questions as opposed to just saying 'mmmmm-hmmmm'. Ask her what she had for lunch and she'll tell you the whole menu and then add in some random comment about someone she saw while at lunch. Ask her whether she played today and she'll tell you what she did. It's still a work in progress, but the evolution is pretty impressive.

She's also pretty excited about the upcoming weekend. She's been informed that she's going to hang out with Grandma, Grandpa, and her cousin Gwen. We've left out the part that we're not hanging out with them and we're doing something else, because she wouldn't be too keen on that. Kali knows that Grandpa is getting a new boat and Grandpa has said there's a potty on the boat. While Kali is still using diapers at this point, she has emphatically noted on a daily basis that "Kali go potty on Grandpa's boat!".

She's also very excited to go to the fair with Grandma and Grandpa. She knows that there will be horses and princesses at the fair. She has said on multiple occasions that she's going to "see princess ride horses". I'm not sure we'll see any princesses riding horses, but she's got it in her mind that she's going to do so. Who knows? You never know what you'll see at the fair.

Kali 2.6!!!!!!!

Yes, today is Kali's 2 1/2 year birthday. I think we can officially stop using any reference to 'months old' at this point and now look to 'years old'. Even more frightening? She's halfway to kindergarten.

**shudder**

Look out PTA meetings. Here I come.

Organization?

As I mentioned previously, I have taken on some work with Kali's Papa involving some meetings and paperwork for a project he's working on. In addition, I occasionally have some things like swimming lessons for Kali. This has forced me to do something I have never done before.......organize events on my phone calendar.

I've always been one to just work from day to day. But now, I'm having an increasing number of things that I have to do and I'm too damn forgetful to rely on my grey matter alone. So I now have pop-up alarms going off on my phone to remind me when I have something to do an hour or two before I have to do them. It drives me nuts, but I have little choice in the matter. I'm getting old AND busy, neither of which helps me remember what the heck I'm supposed to be doing at a given time.

I've also started to add people to my phone address book when they call me. I'm now dealing with new people in business where I need to learn/remember their name. I'm terrible with names, so this is the only way for me to fight that battle and win. If I add them to the phone the first time they call me, then their name will pop up right before we chat and I'll be able to better associate the name with a face/voice.

It'll be a struggle for me initially, but I'll work it out. It's probably for the best. Hopefully my wife won't find me to be forgetful going forward as a result.