suburbandaddy | SuburbanDaddy

A New School Year

It was a clear, post-hurricane Irene morning for the first day of school today. Thing 2 started first grade, riding the bus for the first time, and Thing 1 is an old pro now in second grade.

SuburbanMommy made them endure the yearly ritual of hair combing, collared shirts, and lots of pictures.? One day they will thank her.

Thing 3 and Thing 4 eagerly watched their brothers from the front door.?? Thing 3 started pre-K today.? New teachers, new friends, but he adjusted? well and enjoyed playing with all the dinosaurs in his new classroom.

Thing 4 was feeling a little left out, but she felt better once she found a backpack so she could be like one of the boys.

Getting My Hopes Up

Considering all the struggles we went through to finally get the boys potty trained, I’m trying not to get too excited about Thing 4 wanting to sit on the potty. She also tells us when her diaper is dirty and happily lets us change it.

Potty trained before two years old? An end to 8 years of diapers!? A parent can dream.

We Like It Crazy

Thing 1: “Why we don’t go to Chuck E Cheese?”

SuburbanMommy: “It’s really crazy there”

Thing 2: “We like it crazy”

Indeed.

Back To School

It’s that time of year. Back to school is celebrated by parents everywhere. Today was open house where kids can meet their new teacher, find their desk, and get used to the fact that summer vacation is over.

Thing 1 got comfortable in a reading chair in his second grade (wow!) classroom.

Thing 2 tried his desk out in first grade.

Who’s Afraid Of A Little Thunder?

A major thunderstorm tonight with thunder, lightning, and hail. Right as we were putting everyone to bed which didn’t help any.? We usually do pretty well with thunderstorms. Except for one Thing.? Can you guess which one gets scared from thunderstorms?

Is it Thing 1, who breaks into tears and has crazy endurance for a 7 year old?

Or is it Thing 2, a master at deception who and is continually entertaining us?

Or maybe you think it’s Thing 3, with his bumble bee dreams and unique style?

What about Thing 4 who is full of determination and tries to do everything her big brothers do?

Put your guess in the comments.

Can’t Beat A Classic

Maybe there really is something to the old expression “they don’t make ’em like they used to.”

The classic toys and games, many of the same ones I played as a kid, are still great and kids love them.

Right now, the most popular game in my house is Hungry Hungry Hippos. It’s not very exciting by today’s standards but seems to work. Thing 3 keeps it in his bedroom and asks to play it all the time.

Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, and Slip n Slide have all been hits in our house. What other classics are still popular?

How To Get Muscles

Me: Do you know how you get big, strong muscles?

Thing 3: No.

Me: You eat a lot of healthy foods.

Thing 3: Like Lunchables?

In case you don’t know what Lunchables are, go here.

A Worthy Investment

We’ve been having problems with the air conditioning system since, well, last year.? It’s been leaking refrigerant which we’ve refilled three times.? It’s probably not the best thing for the environment, especially since it’s an older unit and that type of refrigerant isn’t allowed anymore, but refilling for a few hundred dollars is much better than the replacement cost of a new A/C system.

But we realized we’ll have to do it sooner or later so yesterday we had a brand new, Carrier Infinity installed.? It’s the mac daddy of air conditioners home comfort technology.? It’s got a lot of whiz bang features like showing you the outside temperature on the thermostat and speaking of thermostat, it looks like an iPad hanging on the wall.

All that is nice, but last night I found out the feature that makes the hefty price tag worth it.? Apparently it does such a good job with its “home comfort technology”, that everyone in the house slept in until 6:30am!? At the same time.? You have to realize how amazing this is for us.? In the last 8 years, I don’t think we’ve ever slept that late.? We’ll see tomorrow if it was a fluke or the Carrier Infinity.