Category Archives: The Ankle Biter

November 10, 2011

My First Parent Teacher

By Canadian Bald Guy

There are a lot of “firsts” over the course of a child’s lifetime that parents get to enjoy.  With my daughter living so far away from me, I missed out on many of those firsts. I’m sure as time goes on, some of these events won’t seem like such a big deal…but for right now, it was pretty special.

Last night I got to attend my first parent-teacher for my son, Ankle Biter.  I had spoken with his mom a couple of weeks ago and she seemed surprised that I wanted to go. She had initially thought to schedule a time where I had him for supper so she could go. I expressed my feelings on going, too, and she re-arranged the meeting.

I met up with her and Ankle Biter last night five minutes before our scheduled time with his teacher. Other than the first day, I hadn’t met his teacher before…but she seemed very nice.

She first wanted to let us know that AB’s personality is second-to-none. He’s very independent, without having the need to constantly ask questions or be around an adult in order to feel safe. When it’s recess, he’s not asking when is it time to come back inside. If there are other kids around, he’ll talk to them. If there are adults in the room, he’ll talk to them. He’s not shy (I wonder where he gets THAT from?). In addition, he’s also quite independent…so if he’s working at a table by himself, he’s perfectly fine.  The teacher explained that it was a really good blend of personality traits.

When he first was “tested” in the class, he could only recognize one capital letter out of the alphabet. She thought that he knew more, but he only came out and said one letter. Now he’s up to 18 and is retaining new information like a sponge. So she has been really impressed with his progression.

At this point, we explained to her that AB had to get tubes put into his ears a couple of years ago and that he has been in speech therapy for almost three years now.  The teacher lit up…her daughter had experienced the same thing and Ankle Biter’s progression and current communication ability made perfect sense to her now. She seemed to immediately see him in a different light and almost appeared to be MORE impressed with how far he has come.

She then explained that with this information, she’ll better know how to interact with Ankle Biter and maybe help him along just that much more. She gave us some websites to visit and said that they’re informational AND fun. Now we can both continue to help in his learning process and be interactive parents, which is something I’ve never done before and am really looking forward to.

The one real concern for the teacher was AB’s inability to hold a pen or pencil correctly…his fingers just had a difficult time grasping objects that small. We were asked to start making sure his markers and crayons at home were the “normal” sized ones and gave us a couple of exercises for him to do that should help eliminate the problem.

Finally, the kid just LOVES his Star Wars…and at this point, I actually became MORE proud of him (lol).  In the things he builds with blocks and lego to the pictures he draws of things that he’s thankful for (seriously), he’s all about stormtroopers and good guys vs bad guys. I quickly explained that it was my fault for introducing him to Star Wars at a pretty early age.  But then I looked over at Ankle Biter (sitting quietly on a chair waiting for us to finish our meeting) and gave him a thumbs-up and a big smile. He gave the same thing back to me, and that was icing on the cake of a great experience. 

Now I just need him to do this for the next 10 years or so until he graduates and it’ll all be good.

6 comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in parenting, The Ankle Biter

June 15, 2011

My Son’s First Soccer Practice

By Canadian Bald Guy

Okay…I fully admit it.  I’m going to be one of the “gush about everything great with their children” type of parent blogger.  Sorry…it’s just my nature, I guess.

And hey…how many times can my son play a sport for the first time?  Not too often…so believe me when I say that all day yesterday was spent getting excited to watch my son play organized soccer for the first time.

And I gotta tell you…this thing was definitely organized well.  There had to be around 200 kids on two separate football fields all separated into teams of 10 or so.  Maybe 100 kids.  I don’t know…my estimation ability isn’t the greatest.  Let’s just say there was a ton of kids and a ton of proud parents watching them.

Now the first night wasn’t actual competition.  No, the first night was simply practice…passing the ball, kicking it around, trying to score on a goalie. It was a really well-paced first night. What’s interesting is that tomorrow he’ll end up having his first game…where the first 30 minutes is practice and then the second 30 minutes is a game against another team.

Alright…now I’ll try to be unbiased with my impression of his soccer ability…

I think the kid’s a natural.  I know, I know…I sound like a typical parent.  But here’s the thing: he’s small.  In fact, he’s the tiniest one on the entire team (as you can see from the picture to the right…he’s #4). He makes up for his lack of height with speed and feet skills.  Seriously…I shit you not. He was kicking like a pro…he was passing like a pro…he didn’t want to just haul off and kick the ball every single time; he wanted to play a finesse game.

Okay…I know that sounds ridiculous for a first practice.  But I got to play a little “passing game” with him (I thought it was neat that the parents got to be involved) and I really was impressed with how he kicked the ball not with the point of his shoe, but with the side.  He listened to the instructors and wasn’t just trying to kick the ball as hard as he could (have I mentioned that part already?). I was so impressed that I actually took pictures of the kid (an example of one is on the left) while passing the ball back and forth with him. I just couldn’t have been having more fun if I had tried.

And fast?  Let me tell you…I walked him to a port-a-potty that was on the other side of the field. When he was finished, I said let’s run back so that he wouldn’t miss anything else. I thought that I could just do a brisk walk next to him and that would be fine.  I mean…his tiny little legs take two steps to my one, right?

Well didn’t the little bugger start pulling away from me??  I had to break a sprint just to catch up to the kid!

And okay…he may need to brush-up on his break-away scoring ability, but I’m sure that will come with time…

I dunno…I was watching the other kids and trying to compare their skill level with Ankle Biter’s.  One kid didn’t want to be there at all…at one point lying on the ground to stare at the clouds. Her dad kept trying to get her up to play with everybody else, but she didn’t want any of it.  Another kid was the whiner…crying at the drop of a hat and pouting because he didn’t get his own way every single time. Another looked to be a bit of a bully…really wanting to do whatever he wanted to do.

But I really thought Ankle Biter’s skills were above average in comparison.  Mind you, he hasn’t played a game yet and he’s only four…so maybe he’s not quite Pelé or Beckham at this stage in his athletic career.

I couldn’t have been any prouder, though. My cheeks hurt as I drove home because of all the smiling that I did.

It was a great night to be a dad.

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in parenting, The Ankle Biter

May 9, 2011

The Zoo, Disney Dreams, My Relay, and Sunshine’s Birthday

By Canadian Bald Guy

- Ankle Biter and I got to go to the local zoo on Saturday morning.We had a blast. It’s still in “off-season” rates so not only did we get in cheap, but we got there just after it opened and there was hardly anybody there with us…so it felt like we had the zoo to ourselves.  The sun was out and it was gorgeous outside, but not too hot…which meant that almost every single animal was out and about. Ankle Biter  wanted to see a tiger, but their tiger died a year or so ago, so it wasn’t to be. But their leopards were beautiful, the lions were close to the fence so he could see them up close, and the monkeys were swinging from rope to rope and singing for all to hear. I love little bonding experiences like this with him…it just makes me feel closer to him.

- Getting to the zoo was a good thing because about an hour after we got home it rained.  And then it rained the rest of the weekend. It’s still raining today and it’s supposed to continue to rain straight through to Thursday. I don’t mind summer rain at all, but it’s still cold spring rain…so I’m not quite ready yet. Still…I was out BBQ-ing in the rain on Saturday. Ankle Biter didn’t want to stay inside so he came out in the rain to watch me. I thought it was cute when he began trying to catch the raindrops like they were snowflakes.

- Rugrat contacted me over the weekend. It was via email, but we speak so infrequently that it’s always a real treat when whenever there’s ANY correspondence. She’s at the age (so I’ve been told) where talking to her old man…even if she only gets to see him twice a year…isn’t really on her “to do list”. I guess I’m okay with that as long as she continues to reach out when she does, because that means she’s not doing it because she has to…she’s doing it because she wants to.

- Which brings me to think…what would be one of the first things you did if you won a million dollars?  Sure…bills paid/money to family blah blah blah, but what then? I know that I’d absolutely change my living arrangements and go on another cruise with Sunshine…we’d end up seeing the world, I think. But the very first thing would be booking a trip to DisneyWorld with just me and Rugrat. It’s something I’ve always dreamed of doing and it’s a place she’s never gone. Just daddy/daughter time in the Happiest Place on Earth. Whether it’s now when she’s 12 or later when she’s 30…my dream is to take her there.  It will happen…some day, some how.

- My Relay for Life is quickly approaching. I’m currently at 65% of my online goal and with less than a month to go, you’re probably going to end up seeing more and more “Relay” posts. I’m sure I can hit $500. Please join me in the fight against cancer by supporting my participation in Relay For Life now. It’s really easy – just click on this link. It’s going to be a fun weekend, too, because Sunshine and I will be doing the Relay together with our kids…and my family has repeatedly told me that it’ll be a fun time and that there is a lot of things planned for kids, so that’s good.

- Speaking of Sunshine, her birthday is this coming Saturday. Y’know, it’s actually a bit depressing in a way because I so very much want to give her the world…but I can’t. I so very much want to be able to lavish her with gifts…but I can’t. I know she’d say that my love is enough and I absolutely feel the same way about her…I don’t even NEED gifts as long as she’s in my life…but still, I wish there was a way I could snap my fingers and make everything in our lives exactly the way we want it to be.  But I can’t. So I guess we’ll both just have to work with what the Universe has handed to us.

Hope everybody had a great weekend!

4 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Sunshine, The Ankle Biter, The Rugrat, Thoughts on stuff

December 2, 2010

Bits ‘n’ Bites

By Canadian Bald Guy

I don’t really have a “normal” blog post today, so I thought I’d just jot down some notes on what’s going on in my life right now.

  • It looks like Sunshine and I will be spending Christmas together.  I’ll be driving up with Ankle Biter and spending Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with Sunshine and her two girls.  Her girls go back to their dad around noon and then the three of us will head back to my parents’ house for the afternoon and Christmas dinner before heading back to my NEW home.  In addition, we’re trying to work out the details of her and the girls spending New Year’s weekend with me and Ankle Biter.  So yeah…it’s looking REALLY good right now.
  • My daughter gave me a Christmas wish list that had “Money” as the first three items on the list.  I’ve decided to find a package of “Monopoly money” and label it Open Me First…just as a gag gift.  I mean really…at 12 years old do you really need money that badly?
  • I got to have lunch with the folks yesterday and sign the mortgage documents that will finalize the purchase of my new house.  The big thing, for me, is that my mom was doing really well.  She was having “a good day”.  Her leg is healing and she should be back on her cancer medication within the next week or so.  The hope is that she’ll be limping around without crutches by Christmas.
  • I lost six pounds in the last week, which is awesome because I gained six pounds during my week-long trip to Orlando a couple of weeks ago.
  • I’ve been given a ton of new responsibilities at work in this past week…and I am LOVING it.  I’m busy from morning ’til it’s time to leave and I couldn’t be happier.  What’s better is that I can listen to music on my iPod while working (something I couldn’t do in my old position). I’ve got a TON of music so it’s a different playlist every day…it just depends on my mood.
  • Speaking of music, Ankle Biter and I have really been bonding lately over one particular song.  Y’see, I was tired of listening to Justin Bieber and Michael Jackson songs every time we were together, so I played one of my cd’s in the car for him one day and “No Sleep ‘Til Brooklyn” by the Beastie Boys came on.  I told him it was “No Sleep ‘Til Bedtime” and it immediately garnered his attention.  So now we’re ROCKING in the car together and he also loves the video.  To hear him try to sing/rap the song is hilarious.  I only wish it WAS “bedtime” instead of “Brooklyn”…it’ll probably traumatize him as he gets older (lol).

That’s all I got.  Enjoy your Thursday!!

10 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Christmas, dating, family, music, Sunshine, The Ankle Biter, The Rugrat

November 30, 2010

To Watch A Child Bleed

By Canadian Bald Guy

I am what people would consider a helicopter parent.  I’m the kind of guy who simply doesn’t want anything bad to ever happen to my child.  Ever.  I realize that’s not a realistic expectation, but that’s just who I am.

Last night Ankle Biter and I were on our way into my current home for supper when something happened that was simply out of my control…but it certainly didn’t make me feel any better.

We sometimes like to race into the house…where my son likes to “beat daddy” to the front door.

Last night I was unlocking the door, Ankle Biter came tearing up the front steps.  Unbeknown to me, he had a small toy in each hand.  On the steps was about an inch or two of snow that I hadn’t cleaned up yet.  As I was trying to unlock the door, he was trying to push me aside and get through the door first.

He slipped.

Head-first.

His face hit the metal bottom of the front door.  Y’know, the base of the door itself.  He immediately began to cry.  I immediately began to panic.

The blood began to run down his chin.

I was mortified.  I didn’t know if it was his teeth or his gums or what it was.  All I knew was that he was crying and bleeding and all I wanted to do was comfort him as much as I possibly could.

In the end, he just split open his lip…but it could have been much worse.  When I close my eyes and picture it, I cringe at what could have happened and all I can think about it was I could have done to prevent it.

I know the whole deal, though: boys will be boys.  Children aren’t made of glass. He’ll survive. Blah blah blah.

Still…those thoughts did NOTHING to make me feel any better once I came home after dropping him off and seeing this at my front door:

7 comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in fears, parenting, The Ankle Biter

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,654 other followers