Author: suburbandaddy

Fathers Day Activities

First, I received a fresh assortment of World’s Best Dad collectibles to display proudly in my office for the next year.

Next up, golf with Thing 1 and Thing 2. They’re not quite ready for a real golf course yet, but we’ll be hitting the driving range then 18 holes of mini-golf. I hope to make this a yearly tradition for us on Fathers Day. Next year Thing 3 can join when he is 4, but that might be the end of the tradition.

Last up, the best gift of all, SuburbanMommy will be taking the boys to McDonalds for dinner. So I can enjoy some peaceful time alone with Thing 4, who will probably fall asleep, and I can watch the US Open.

Happy Fathers Day.

Spaghetti Slurping Photo Contest

Of the many promotion requests I receive, this one caught my attention.

Spaghetti KidWhat?s more photogenic than a kid slurping pasta in his or her favorite and quirky way? Well now you have the chance to vote for your favorite photo from spaghetti smiles, to sauce covered faces in the Ronzoni Smart Taste Pasta blogger photo contest. Vote for your favorite photo and a chance to win a $25 gift card. Voting ends June 25th

Little Looster

It was difficult at times, but somehow we managed to potty train 2 out of 4 Things. We are close to starting down that road with Thing 3, mainly because he needs to be out of diapers before moving to the next preschool class in September. Unfortunately he wants no part of it. So I was happy when Monica Mylet, the inventor The Little Looster, invited SuburbanDaddy to test out her new product.

The Little Looster is a plastic stool that surrounds your toilet.? It is designed to help little ones climb up on the potty, and because of its unique wraparound shape, gives them a place to rest their legs while sitting.? Ingenious!

The stool is made out of sturdy plastic and was able to easily support my weight.? It is wide in the front and narrower along the sides, providing a nice fit along the toilet base.? And it’s slim enough not to interfere when adults use the toilet.

It arrived in a big shipping box, with bubble wrap, which was enough to get Thing 3’s curiosity way up.? I was hoping the excitement would be enough to get him to actually sit on the potty.? But he still refused, and I know enough not to push it with him.? Luckily, Thing 2 was more than happy to demonstrate how it works.

You can find out more about The Little Looster? at littlelooster.com.

Little Looster

What Do You Say To That?

Idle threats are usually enough to pursuade a three year old.

“Don’t throw your toy or it will break and we’ll have to throw it away. Is that what you want?”

“Nooo!”

Or when he doesn’t want to leave somewhere:

“OK. I’m leaving without you. Bye”. I usually start walking away for added effect, and after 10 seconds he gets upset and comes running.

It’s a strategy which generally works well, but now I think Thing 3 is onto me.

He insists on standing on his chair at the kitchen table. Literally, every 30 seconds I’m saying “Sit down” and he may or may not listen.

So I tried the idle threat strategy.

“Do you want to fall down and get a boo boo?”

It’s actually not idle, because he has actually fallen down on more than one occasion from standing on the chair, and got hurt. So I know he knows what I’m talking about.

His response: “Yes”

“You want to fall and get a boo boo?”

“Yes”

What do I possibly say to that?

Animals At The Zoo

I took the animals to the National Zoo today in DC. Urban Uncle went with us. Who knew it would be so crowded. Sure, it’s Memorial Day weekend but I thought everyone left town for the start of summer except for the thousands of bikers here for Rolling Thunder. And I didn’t think the Harley crowd was into pandas.

Thing 3 was more interested in the dirt on the ground than the animals.