Daddy Dan

To all you mothers out there: Happy Mother’s Day!

I hope you all have a wonderful day, and I hope all of your efforts have been as appreciated as my wife’s efforts have been appreciated by me, although I may not tell her as often as I should.

My wife, as I always knew she would be, is an excellent mother. She is warm and caring and always puts The Babito’s best interests first.

We’ve made great partners and have consistently worked together to ensure that The Babito is raised to the best of our abilities. We talk often about all of the many issues we’ve faced in our learning process for the hardest, but most rewarding job of all, parenting. I know we don’t always agree 100% on everything related to raising The Babito (and what couple ever does?), but I appreciate the fact that we always discuss things, make a decision we can both live with, and both stay consistent with each other in the decisions we make.

I know we often say that we lucked out in getting such a good baby, and that is most definitely true, but him having you as his Mommy has played a huge role in the person he is becoming, and I hope you know that.

So on this Mother’s Day I just want you to know Honey that I appreciate you so much. The Babito is so lucky to have such a wonderful mother, and I am so lucky to have such a wonderful wife. Happy Mother’s Day! I Love You!

Last night, I called home from work at about 8:00pm.  I wanted to let my wife know that I was getting ready to head for home and I also wanted to tell The Babito good night.

He got on the phone and said “Hi Doddy”  (that’s his pronounciation of Daddy.  Sometimes it’s hard to tell if he’s talking about me or the doggies.)

I asked him if Mommy was going to read him a book before he went to bed.  He started crying and said “No!  Doddy read book!  No!”

I decided then that three straight days without seeing him at all was enough.  When I got to work today I told my manager, who is a family guy and very understanding, that I was leaving by 6:00 today, no matter what.  He was fine with it.

I ended up getting home around 7:00.  The Babito was VERY excited to see me.  Almost as excited as I was to see him.

We played cars, played ball, and generally had a great time.  I gave him a bath, read him several books, and sang songs with him.  (Have I mentioned on here yet that he knows all the words to ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star?’  He does.)  

He did call me Mommy several times tonight (yikes!) I guess I have been working a little too much.

I let him stay up about an hour past his normal bedtime.  My wife wasn’t too happy about it.  He’ll probably be cranky when she has to wake him up in the morning.

But she doesn’t mind all that much.  

She was happy that I got to finally spend some quality time with him, and she ended up getting a little break.  

It was a great night.   

This is my first attempt at blogging from my Blackberry, so hopefully it works. I’m going to keep it short, in case it doesn’t.

I’m currently into my second week of the following work schedule:

Arrive at work: 6:30am
Leave work: anywhere from 7:30-9:30
Arrive at home: Eat dinner, look in at a sleeping Babito, go to bed
Weekends; In the office all day Saturday, work from home approximately 6 hours

This schedule to continue through next week, most likely to include Mother’s Day.

Life sucks right now.

And how are you all doing? Tell me something fun you’ve been up to in the comments so I can live vicariously through you. =)

Before I get to the point, I just want to stress how lucky we’ve been with The Babito.  He’s not a fussy eater, he’s an excellent sleeper (usually in bed by 8:00 and always sleeps throughout the night), and has been very good at doing what we ask him to do.

But lately he’s begun to test us.  He’ll do things he knows he’s not supposed to do, like stand up and walk on the couch, get on the fireplace, throw things, etc.  When we tell him to stop he ignores us until either: (1) he can tell we really mean business; or (2) he ends up in ‘time-out.’

I know this is a normal phase that toddlers go through, but it really is irritating.

The advice I’m asking for is this:  How did you handle the ‘testing’ phase?  What worked and didn’t work?  And most importantly, for two impatient parents, HOW LONG DOES IT LAST???

Save us. 

(Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

A scene from the May Day demonstration in Downtown L.A. today.  The marchers want amnesty for illegal immigrants and a stop to raids on companies employing them.

Mexico flag wavers for people wanting to become U.S. citizens?  Major pet peeve of mine.

A 21-year old Texas man was arrested at a Fort Worth bank for allegedly trying to cash a forged check.

Apparently the teller was tipped off because the check was for $360 BILLION DOLLARS!

The man told the bank that his girlfriend’s mother had given him the money to start a record company.   

That would be one HELL of a record company!

I am always amazed at the speed in which The Babito is growing up and the new things he learns every day.

Here’s some examples:

• When it’s time for me to give him his bath, he walks upstairs, takes his teddy bear and binky into his room and puts it on the chair, without me even telling him to do it.  He knows after his bath we’ll be coming back to that chair to read a few books before he goes to bed.
• In the bathroom, he gets the kneeling pad off the counter and puts it on the floor next to the bathtub.  While the water is filling up he throws all of his bath toys in the bathtub.
• He knows Target.  If we’re driving by a Target anywhere he recognizes the sign and yells “Tahhh-get!!!”  (Do you think we shop there too much?  And do you think he likes Target too much because he knows he’s going to get a toy or a book EVERY time we go there, despite my wife and I always agreeing that he has ENOUGH stuff already?)
• He remembers things from earlier in the day, and tells me about them the minute I get home.  Today it was “I bump my head.”  He bumped it early this morning when my wife dropped him off at the sitter’s.  After that it was the usual “Want play cars?”
• One night, when he was extra wired up, I was chasing him around the house after his bath, trying to brush his teeth.  I finally caught up to him in the hallway.  I sat down on the floor, put him on my lap, and brushed his teeth.  Now, every time I finish getting him in his PJs he goes and sits in the hall and waits for me to come and brush his teeth.

Tonight was the first time I’ve seen him since Sunday night.  I’ve been leaving the house before he wakes up (which is normal), and getting home after he’s gone to bed.  It’s been tough, but he remembered every ritual we have together and he did them all again tonight.  I love that we have these little special things together.  My wife has similar morning rituals with him too.

When our phone rings he almost always says “Papa,”  because my Dad calls a lot and doesn’t get to see The Babito too often.  Tonight was different.  As I was giving him a bath, the phone rang and he said “Daddy.”  I think I need to get home a little earlier, and that’s what I plan to do as much as possible.  I have a few more really busy weeks at work, but it should be fairly clear sailing after that for the rest of the summer.

Maybe we’ll go to Tah-get.

Did you hear about Barack Obama FINALLY fully denouncing Rev. Wright today?

It was his strongest condemnation yet of the Reverend and Obama truly seemed angry today.  I think it’s something he really needed to do, as his association with Reverend Wright was truly isolating Obama from the potential voters he needs to attract if he’s going to win the election in November.  Reverend Wright’s comments yesterday at the National Press Club were over the top.  

In case you missed it, here’s some of what Obama said today:

 I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened over the spectacle that we saw yesterday. I have been a member of Trinity United Church of Christ since 1992. I’ve known Reverend Wright for almost 20 years. The person that I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago. His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate, and I believe that they do not portray accurately the perspective of the black church.  They certainly don’t portray accurately my values and beliefs. And if Reverend Wright thinks that that’s political posturing, as he put it, then he doesn’t know me very well. And based on his remarks yesterday, well, I may not know him as well as I thought either. 

Now, I’ve already denounced the comments that had appeared in these previous sermons. As I said, I had not heard them before. And I gave him the benefit of the doubt in my speech in Philadelphia, explaining that he has done enormous good in the church. He has built a wonderful congregation. The people of Trinity are wonderful people, and what attracted me has always been their ministries reach beyond the church walls.

But when he states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS, when he suggests that Minister Farrakhan somehow represents one of the greatest voices of the 20th and 21st centuries, when he equates the United States wartime efforts with terrorism, then there are no excuses.

They offend me. The rightly offend all Americans. And they should be denounced. And that’s what I’m doing very clearly and unequivocally here today.

Let me just close by saying this. We started this campaign with the idea that the problems that we face as a country are too great to continue to be divided, that in fact all across America people are hungry to get out of the old, divisive politics of the past.

I have spoken and written about the need for us to all recognize each other as Americans, regardless of race or religion or region of the country, that the only way we can deal with critical issues like energy and health care and education and the war on terrorism is if we are joined together.  And the reason our campaign has been so successful is because we have moved beyond these old arguments.

What we saw yesterday out of Reverend Wright was a resurfacing and, I believe, an exploitation of those old divisions. Whatever his intentions, that was the result. It is antithetical to our campaign. It is antithetical to what I am about. It is not what I think America stands for.

And I want to be very clear that, moving forward, Reverend Wright does not speak for me. He does not speak for our campaign. I cannot prevent him from continuing to make these outrageous remarks, but what I do want him to be very clear about, as well as all of you and the American people, is that when I say that I find these comments appalling, I mean it. 

The full transcript is here.
It was a very strong statement by Barack Obama.  It’s not fair that he’s being dragged down by Reverend Wright.  No matter who you’re supporting in this campaign, I hope you can agree with that, and hopefully, after today, we can move forward and the campaign can focus on the real issues.

I don’t know why I’m admitting this here on my blog.

I guess I’m hoping that bringing it out into the light will help me to get the help I need.

Tonight, around 10:00pm I was driving down the street to get me and my wife something to eat.  As I reached the crest of the hill, I saw it.  A DUI checkpoint.  I immediately panicked, hoping against hope that somehow I could make it through without notice.

The officer asked for my driver’s license and registration.  As she was looking over the documentation and then looking back at me, I knew that I was busted.  She could tell that there was something amiss.

She told me to pull my car off to the side of the road and wait for another officer to handle me.  She also told me to turn off the engine when I reached the side of the road.  As I pulled over, I saw the unlucky others sitting on the curb behind their cars, their hands behind their backs in handcuffs.  Was this my fate?

An officer walked over to my truck and asked me if I knew why I’d been asked to pull off to the side.  I wasn’t going to lie.  I know I had done wrong.  Thoughts ran through my mind.  “What is my wife going to say?  She’s going to kill me!”  She’s told me several times that I had to take care of this problem, but I never did.  And now it was too late.  I admitted my crime to the officer.

Surprisingly, he was very nice to me.  He said, “Not a big deal, Bud.  It’s just a fix-it ticket.  Get that registration taken care of and that’ll be it.”

Yes, I do have a problem.  I am a procrastinator. 

IN MY DEFENSE:  I have paid my registration, but California law requires that each car get a smog certificate before a new registration is issued.  I took my truck in for a smog check and it failed because the ‘check engine’ light was on.  The emissions and everything else passed with flying colors.  It was just that damn light.  I had planned to take the truck in to the dealership to determine the cause of the ‘check engine’ light, but I just hadn’t gotten around to it.  The state will not issue the actual tags and registration until it receives the smog certificate.