Can-O-Lantern.

Here is a a good alternative to the traditional Jack-o-lantern.Start by collecting some empty cans. You can use empty paint cans or I opted for some half gallon sized tomato sauce and juice cans.With a marker, draw some spooky faces on the cans. Remember that the more details on your faces, the harder it will be to cut out so keep it simple.Using a pair of utility snips cut out the faces. Remember to wear gloves, you are working with sharp objects. Or make sure you have plenty of band aid in stock and that your tetanus shots are up to date. I go for the gloves.Once all your faces are cut it is time to move to the paint booth.
Use some (outdoor) orange paint and spray your cans. One coat should be enough.

Once all the cans are dry line the them up along your driveway or display them in your yard with some tea lights inside. I use battery operated tea lights. I do not want to be known as the idiot who burnt down his house with his Halloween decorations. Plus they have a timer so I do not have to turn them on and off everyday.

Halloween Craft. Pipe cleaner Frankenstein.

We are about a month away from Halloween which means that within the upcoming month I will try to post a lot of easy to make craft ideas.
Today let's start with some pipe cleaner fun.
Here is what you will need:

• 2 green pipe cleaners.
• 1 black pipe cleaner
• 2 googly eyes
• glue
• nail clippers or scissors

Bend one of the green pipe cleaners into a square for his head. It does not have to be a perfect square. Twist the ends together to complete the square.
Wrap the excess pipe cleaner around the square. Use the second green pipe cleaner if needed until you have covered the entire square with green pipe cleaner.Using the nail clipper or scissors cut off a small piece of black pipe cleaner. We will use it for the mouth.
Take the black pipe cleaner and wrap it around the top of the head. Again, it does not have to be perfect (we are making Frankenstein).Once you are done wrapping the hair, glue on the googly eyes. I glued one horizontal and the other vertical, he is a monster after all.
Glue on the small piece of black pipe cleaner for the mouth and voila!!
Now you can use it as a magnet, a pin or hang it for a nice ornament.

The fabulous life of DaddyO

Around 6:30am, I extract myself from bed and help Matthew get dressed, not that he cannot do it by himself but it will be quicker this way. Eileen already gave him his breakfast and she is leaving for work.

I boil some water for my first cup of tea (since you all follow my blog attentively you know that I quit drinking coffee about six years ago). I put a few (frozen) waffles in the toaster oven for John and Grace's breakfast.

7:10am, time to wake John and Grace and get them ready.

7:25am, the minivan is loaded and we are on our way to the bus stop.

7:35am, I kiss Matthew good bye and wish him a great day; I am so proud of him.

We are back home 5 minutes later, John and Grace enjoy (or not) their breakfast.

While they eat their waffles, the first load of laundry (today there will be only one, sometimes there are a lot more) gets into the machine and it is time for a second cup of tea.

While I clean up breakfast, they get to play (or argue and scream at each other).

8:45am the laundry is in the dryer and since the weather is beautiful, it is time to go outside.

The little ones play until around 10:00am.

After a couple of diaper changes (John is toilet training but...) we are on our way to the library.

We read a few stories play with a puzzle and after running after Grace for a few minutes it is time to pick up a few educational DVDs and head back home.

11:30am, Lunch time. Grilled cheese sandwich for one, chicken nuggets and pasta for the other.

Yogurts for desserts.

After lunch we watch a French educational DVD that we picked up this morning.

12:30pm, after another pit stop (diaper change!), it is nap time.

Grace falls asleep almost instantly, John will be another story.

I clean up lunch, fold the Laundry and it is time for a cup of...green tea (my drink of choice in the afternoon).

I check my emails, get on the net, relax for a few minutes and at about 1:45pm, it is time to get myself ready.

At 2:25pm, I wake up John and Grace from their naps (we will pay for this later), change their diapers and we are on our way to pick up Matthew at the bus stop. In the afternoon we walk there. Actually I walk and they sit in the stroller. I always take a bag of Goldfish with us so they don't fuss. Our little kindergartner gets off the bus and we are back home a few minutes later.

2:55pm, snack time.

3:00pm, mayhem. Matthew and John keep arguing, John hits Matthew, he hits him back, Matthew is sent upstairs to his room and John in time out. I take a deep, no a very deep breath and boil more water (for my green tea!!!)

I get ready for work, I trade the shorts and Tshirt for a suit and tie. Matthew and John are back to normal but i know it is just a matter of time...

We all go outside, Matthew plays baseball and John rides his bike while I am running after Grace who tries to get out on the street.

Around 4:00pm, Mommy's here, I pass the baton and the crazyness.

I am now on my way to my "real" job; like the last ten hours I just spent were a walk in the park!!!

From 5:30pm to around midnight, I will be dealing with another kind of crazyness, trying to satisfy a bunch of spoiled people whose main problem in life is n over (or under) cooked dish.

I will be back home around 1:15am relax a bit watch the tube for a little while, get my ass in bed around 2:00 and we will do it again in about four and a half hours.

And this is the fabulous life of DaddyO, King of all Daddys.

First steps.

The first steps...a milestone that is hard to beat.

One day she is waddling hesitantly holding on to the coffee table, then she is off and running, stepping into toddlerhood, learning to master her first major move toward independence.

Did I just say independence? She is only fifteen months old!!

My little girl wanting to be independent, already, that is a scary thought.

Pretty soon she will be asking for the car keys, or some teenager is going to take her to the prom...All right, let's calm down, she is only fifteen months old and she is finally walking.

She was a little bit on the late side, most kids start walking between eleven and fourteen months. The boys were one when they did their first steps. Now, do not freak out if your child is a little late, some start walking as late as twenty one months. According to doctors, there is nothing parents can do to speed up their child's walking timetable. Words of encouragement are the best thing we can give them.

And please, do not use a walker. these things should not even be on the market anymore. In 1997, baby walkers sent more than 14,000 babies to the hospital emergency room. Walkers were even involved in 34 deaths from 1973 to 1998. A baby in a walker can move three feet in one second, so they are not even safe with close adult supervision.

Do yourself and your baby a favor, there are plenty of stationary playthings on the market that will help your child's growth and development so do not go wasting your hard earned money on a walker.

On a short leash.

According to Wikipedia, a leash is a rope or similar material attached to the neck or head of an animal for restraint or control. On the animal, some leashes clip or tie to a collar, harness, or halter, while others go directly around the animal's neck.

Again, a leash is meant to be used on an animal!!! Not on a kid!!!!

I have read a lot of posts and articles on the subject and I still cannot figure out what kind of parents use a leash on their kids. Come on, how about teaching them to hold your hand and stay close to you. I understand it for some extreme cases like non verbal autistic children but most people I see using them are just lazy parents who would rather be yapping on their cell phones or texting on their crackberries while enjoying a cup of overpriced coffee instead of spending some real quality time holding and talking to their kids.

And please spare me this kind of excuse: "As a parent of 3, I LOVE knowing that I am doing everything I can to keep my children safe. And if that results in having people judge my parenting skills, go for it. Just remember parents do this out of love, not laziness." Blah, blah, blah!!!

If you love your kids so much teach them to stay close to you, teach them to hold your hands, teach them about the dangers they would encounter by not staying by your side, otherwise the day you will take that leash off, they will still want to wander away and then what?

This kid gets it.

Eileen sent an email to the entire family yesterday that I want to share with everyone. However, before I do that I need to let you know a little more about her and Matthew.
Not only she is a huge Yankees fan, she is a great Baseball fan. She has an understanding and knowledge of the game and its history that could rival Mike Francesa's and John Sterling's combined.
And since the apple does not fall far from the tree, at only five years old, Matthew is not only a die hard Yankees fan but a great fan of the game as well. He has already been to many games and knows all the retired players and their respective numbers. He could also talk to you about the Babe and Yogi, the M & M boys etc...
What he loves most though is broadcasting (or at least pretending to broadcast) and doing play by play. By the way at two years old he was already doing a perfect impersonation of Chris "Mad Dog" Russo that you can enjoy by clicking here.
So you can imagine what a day yesterday was like in our household with the passing of George Steinbrenner and the all-star game.

Here is now the email that Eileen sent. The subject read This kid just "gets it".

As you can imagine on this rainy day, the day George S. died, the TV was on here for many hours (ESPN, YES, MLB network...)
Matthew's "thing" these days is sports reporting. Just a few minutes ago, this was his report word-for-word:
"This is Matthew O in the YES studios with the All-Star pre-game show. I know you're all excited about the game but George Steinbrenner died today and he is much more important than the game. You can be happy about the all-stars but sad about George Steinbrenner."
How proud am I?

Deceptively delicious

Eileen and I decided to give the kids healthier food which is not an easy task since they are so picky. To get a few ideas we dusted off Jessica Seinfeld's book "Deceptively Delicious" that we got a while ago as a gift. Far from being a great cooking book, it is a good source of ideas to try to get your kids to eat foods that they usually do not eat.

A couple of days ago I made rice balls with sweet potato puree and I would like to share the recipe and the experience.

Here is what you will need:

-A truck load of patience
-1 cup cooked brown rice
-Nonstick cooking spray
-3 teaspoon olive oil
-Nerves of steel

-1/4 pound chicken cutlets, rinsed and dried
-1/2 cup sweet potato puree
-1/4 cup shredded reduced fat Cheddar cheese
-1/4 cup lowfat (1%) buttermilk
-1 large egg, lightly beaten
-1 1/2 cups whole-wheat cracker crumbs or bred crumbs

So now that you gathered all the ingredients, tell the kids that it is ok to watch TV in the play room, you will be done very soon.







Here we go:

1. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and set it over medium-high heat.
2. When the pan is hot add 1 teaspoon of olive oil.
3. Smell poop.
4. Go change your one year old girl's diaper.
5. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and put it in the now scorching hot pan.
6. Scrape the burnt chicken off the pan, cut it in pieces, and place them in a food processor or blender. Next time I will buy some ground chicken, that will save a lot of steps.
7. Go tell the boys to stop fighting or else...(nothing and they know it, Daddy is a sucker).
8. Add the sweet potato puree, cheese, and buttermilk, and blend until smooth.
9. Go put your baby girl down for her morning nap.
10. Do not forget to change her diaper first.
11. Put one boy in time out, send the other one to his room. No more TV, today Daddy means business.
12. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and stir in the cooked rice.
13. The boys' screeching really gets to you so you tell them to go back to watch TV. Daddy is a sucker after all.
    
14. Roll the mixture into 1 inch balls and place them on a sheet of wax paper or aluminum foil.
15. One at a time, dip the rice balls in the beaten egg, then roll them in the bread crumbs to make an even coating.
16. Smell poop.
17. Poop can wait.
18. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and set it over medium-high heat.
19. The smell is too strong, I need to change my two year old's diaper.
20. Add the remaining two teaspoons of olive oil to the now way too hot skillet.
21. Add the rice balls.
22. Your baby girl just woke up crying, you go pick her up.
23. You turn the overcooked rice balls one handed (the other arm holds your girl who will not stop crying.) It takes way too much time.
24. By now the rice balls should be brown and crispy. I went for jet black and hard as a rock.

Lunch is served, I do not expect a great reaction from the kids but even Matthew who hates to hurt our feelings said "Daddy, it tastes nasty!!".
In the garbage went the rice balls and I made peanut butter sandwiches.
Do yourself a favor, unless you are wealthy enough to have a staff of nine (two nannies per kid, a maid, a private chef and a full time shrink) stick to what they like and make it as easy on yourself as you can.