Daddy Dan

On Friday, as many of you might have seen on Twitter here, I took the day off and took the Babito to Disneyland while Mommy was Christmas shopping.  I’ll take Disneyland over Christmas shopping any day.  It was perfect mid-70’s weather, with not a cloud in the sky.  When we got there around 10:00 it wasn’t very crowded, but it got crowded during the evening.

Here’s how our day started…

Next stop was the Matterhorn, and Babito took his first ride on the bobsleds.  He’s been eligible to ride for a few months now but I didn’t know the height requirement was only 35 inches.  I thought he might be a little scared, especially during the dark parts, but he wasn’t.  He loved it and laughed throughout the ride.  Here he is pointing at the mountain…

Can you see our excitement about It’s A Small World?….

It was all decorated for Christmas, and thankfully, they had Jingle Bells and a few other Christmas songs mixed in with the Small World theme song…

Finally, it’s over!…

After riding Pirates and Winnie the Pooh, we ran into Brer Bear and Babito showed him some love…

We went over to California Adventure next to get away from the afternoon Disneyland crowds and noticed that the big lake has been completely drained.  They’re putting in a new water show that’ll be debuting next year.  Notice too that the Ferris Wheel cars are missing.  They’re redoing that ride with a Mickey Mouse theme…

Our next stop was the Redwood Creek area.  Babito and The Bear (I don’t know his name) are apparently great pals…

This area is a great place to let your kids burn off some extra energy.  Babito loves to run across the bridges in this area….

Next, we watched the Pixar Parade….

With Mater bringing up the rear…

After a quick trip back to Disneyland to see The Tiki Room Show and take a ride on the teacups, we headed home.  It was a great day with The Babito.

The best blog posts (I’ve seen) over the past week:

• An open letter to Apple regarding dead hobo fingers (by The Bloggess) - The Bloggess is having issues with getting her iPhone to recognize her touch.  She has an unusual solution.
• Somebody (by Betsey Booms) - Aging, marriage, and a surprising e-mail that saves the day.
• Would You Rather: The Stage Manager’s Version (by Halushki) - A reminder to savor every moment (even the not so great ones) with your children, before it’s too late.
• How Fast She Grows (by The Spohrs are Multiplying) - The FUNNIEST pictures you will ever see.
• Sure, Why Not? Everyone Else Has Seen It (by Momisodes) - Momisodes in a very compromising and awkward position.
• The Attack of The Troll - (By The Bean) - Bejewell battles a nasty troll.  To the death.  Guess who wins?

As Babito continues transform from a baby/toddler to a little boy, he has definitely began to develop strong likes and dislikes.  One such example is his taste in music.

The other night I met my wife and The Babito at Chik Fil-A for dinner after work.  That’s right, nothing but the best for us!  After dinner, my wife needed to stop at the store, so I took The Babito home with me.

On the way home I decided to look for an elaborate Halloween display I’d heard about that someone had set up in their front lawn.  I didn’t remember exactly where it was, but I knew the general area.  This display is awesome.  The guy setting it up works for Disney, and he goes all out with a full walk-through pirate ship, waterfall, etc, based on The Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland.  Here’s a short video clip of it:

But we never found it.  And we looked for a good 30 minutes.

Anyway, back to my point about The Babito’s strong musical tastes.

I had created a playlist on iTunes using their new Genius feature.  I based it on The Cure classic “Close to Me.” I picked this playlist because I knew it had Babito’s favorite song on it, “Our House” by Madness.  After we sang along with Madness, we continued to listen to the rest of the playlist.  Babito would listen to each song for a good 5-10 seconds before making his judgment.

If he didn’t like the song, he’d say “Nooo, don’t like dat song, Daddy.”  If he liked it, he wouldn’t say anything.  I’d ask him, “Do you like this song?” and every time he’d say that he did.  I only played each song for about a minute to get his opinion on as many songs as possible.

So here’s the playlist, divided between the songs he liked and disliked.  Let me know what you think of his musical taste.

Liked

1. Our House - Madness
2. Roam - The B-52s
3. She Sells Sanctuary - The Cult
4. God Only Knows - The Beach Boys
5. Train in Vain - The Clash
6. Should I Stay or Should I Go - The Clash
7. China Girl - David Bowie
8. Miss You - The Rolling Stones
9. True Faith - New Order

Disliked

1. Lay Lady Lay - Bob Dylan
2. Under the Milky Way - The Church
3. Faith - George Michael
4. Lips Like Sugar - Echo and the Bunnymen
5. I Melt With You - Modern English
6. Here’s Where The Story Ends - The Sundays
7. New Year’s Day - U2
8. Wicked Game - Chris Isaak
9. Rio - Duran Duran
10. Celebrity Skin - Hole
11. Eyes Without a Face - Billy Idol
12. Mushaboom - Feist

Yes, he only liked 9 of the 21 songs I played for him.  Very picky little boy, isn’t he?  And what a strange mix iTunes came up with, don’t you think?  George Michael, The Beach Boys, and Chris Isaak don’t seem to fit in with the rest of the songs.

Let me know what you think of Babito’s musical taste.  And don’t say it’s impeccable.  After all, he loves the entire Barney playlist, as well as the Cedarmont Kids.  Scary!

Cedarmont Kids:

One thing we’ve tried to instill in The Babito from early babyhood is a love for books and reading.  So far I think we’ve been successful.  We read to him every night before bed, and I really think it’s helped him gain knowledge ahead of schedule.  He can recite the alphabet, count to ten, and knows his colors (at least the basics).  He can also go through pre-school flash cards and name every picture on several sets of cards now.

Ok, enough of my proud daddy boasting.  Here’s some of The Babito’s favorite books.  I’d love to hear what books your toddler loves reading.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear is a book that the Babito want us to read again, and again, and again.  I’m sure you’ve all seen this classic book before.  It’s a great book to teach your toddler both animals and colors.  Babito knows all the animals and their colors now, and we often hear him repeating the book’s words out loud while he lays in bed putting himself to sleep.

Elmo & Friends (Look and Find) is Babito’s favorite book.  I know we’ve read through it at least 100 times.  Each page features a different color and a sub-box with many items of that color that Babito must find on the pages.  He loves going through this book and it’s also helped him learn the names of various items and colors.  Personally, I’m sick of this book, but the Babito never tires of it.

Five Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed is another book that’s a regular feature of Babito’s bedtime.  It’s a fun book that toddlers love to repeat, and it also gives you a chance to explain that it’s not ok to jump on the bed.  (It does make you question the Momma Monkey’s parenting skills though.)

Guess How Much I Love You is another classic that gives you a wonderful opportunity to explain to your toddler just how much you love him or her.  Babito is turning out to be a very affectionate and sensitive little boy, and I know this book reinforces his personality.

The Complete Adventures of Curious George is a fun book filled with many fun adventures.  The wide variety of topics and stories keeps things interesting for your toddler.  Babito, like most kids, love monkeys, and he loves this book too.

The best blog posts (I’ve seen) over the past few weeks.

• Fable’s Birth Story: Chapter One and Fable’s Birth Story: Chapter Two (by Girl’s Gone Child) - Rebecca Woolf shares the story of the birth of her daughter, Fable Luella.
• Stat-ddicted (by Momisodes) - Momisodes admits she has a problem (and isn’t that the first step to recovery) - she’s addicted to her blog stats.
• Thoughts On Something Huge (by Say It, Don’t Spray It) - Nanette’s husband, Brent guest posts to announce the birth of their baby girl.
• He’s Here!!! (by Happy Working Mom) - Happy Working Mom announces the arrival of her son, Ryan Mark!  Wow, a lot of new babies this week!!!
• A Confession (by Mike at The Newborn Identity) - Mike makes a shocking confession.  He has a son that he abandoned as a young man.
• This Was Not In My Job Description (by Cynical Dad) - Chag battles a dangerous boa constrictor (or was it a cobra or an anaconda or a rattlesnake?) to the death.