House hunting Stepdad
Friday, September 19, 2003
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This morning came too early...
Jenn had to get up a little early so she could go to the doctor after taking B to school. She didn't make much noise because I didn't hear her or wake up when she got up. I woke up at seven and staggered into the bathroom to wash my face and find my glasses.
I moseyed into the living room where B was eating breakfast and asked her:
'B, will you go to work for me today? I'm tired...'
This is a game we play and she sometimes says yes, sometimes says no. Sometimes she gives a reason.
Today she said, ' Sure, but you have to go to school for me....and let me tell you, it's not easy! If you don't do all your work on time, you can't go to recess! And then, even if you finish your work, you still can't go to recess.'
I love my stepdaughter. I also decided to go to my job today.
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Jenn had to get up a little early so she could go to the doctor after taking B to school. She didn't make much noise because I didn't hear her or wake up when she got up. I woke up at seven and staggered into the bathroom to wash my face and find my glasses.
I moseyed into the living room where B was eating breakfast and asked her:
'B, will you go to work for me today? I'm tired...'
This is a game we play and she sometimes says yes, sometimes says no. Sometimes she gives a reason.
Today she said, ' Sure, but you have to go to school for me....and let me tell you, it's not easy! If you don't do all your work on time, you can't go to recess! And then, even if you finish your work, you still can't go to recess.'
I love my stepdaughter. I also decided to go to my job today.
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
What do you know? I can do this!
I got home around 7pm Monday and B met me at the door to ask if I would take her bike riding. To recap, so far she can ride pretty well in a straight line, so this time we were going to work on turning. The only thing is, I couldn't remember how I learned. Well, actually, I do remember but that's not the way I plan on teaching B. When I was five, my parents bought me a big bike and my five brothers provided all the horsepower needed to push me really fast until I was headed straight for the azalea bushes, which I would always crash into amid lots of laughter and finger pointing. They kept pushing me on the bike until I stopped crashing into the azalea bushes and started riding my bike. I have no idea how those azaleas made it through the ordeal and to this day, I still don't like azaleas.
But it worked and I didn't break any bones and only got assorted scratches and bumps. Come to think of it, perhaps my brothers showed an unusual amount of determination in helping me learn to ride my bike, maybe that wasn't their main reason for spending those Saturday afternoons, pushing me on the bike?
I decided that the best way to get B to learn how to be able to make turns on her bike without falling over was to get her to ride all the way down to the intersection and turn up into the street and then stop. We live in a very quiet neighborhood and we were practicing on the last street at the back of the neighborhood, so all was safe. This worked very well and after a couple of circuits, I told her to turn all the way around and ride back to me.
The first time she tried it, she got scared and bailed. But on her third try, she turned all the way around and came pedaling towards me, all smiles and bike helmet. She had to bail a few more times but by the end of the evening, she was able to turn around easily. My guess is within a week or so, I'll have to pull my bike out and start riding with her. She's going to want to go beyond the one block length of the street.
So, I've taught her to ride a bike in more or less four hours...I need to call my brothers and have a talk with them. I'm learning a lot from having a stepdaughter. For example, I'm starting to see my brothers didn't always have my best interests in mind. And I still don't like azaleas.
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I got home around 7pm Monday and B met me at the door to ask if I would take her bike riding. To recap, so far she can ride pretty well in a straight line, so this time we were going to work on turning. The only thing is, I couldn't remember how I learned. Well, actually, I do remember but that's not the way I plan on teaching B. When I was five, my parents bought me a big bike and my five brothers provided all the horsepower needed to push me really fast until I was headed straight for the azalea bushes, which I would always crash into amid lots of laughter and finger pointing. They kept pushing me on the bike until I stopped crashing into the azalea bushes and started riding my bike. I have no idea how those azaleas made it through the ordeal and to this day, I still don't like azaleas.
But it worked and I didn't break any bones and only got assorted scratches and bumps. Come to think of it, perhaps my brothers showed an unusual amount of determination in helping me learn to ride my bike, maybe that wasn't their main reason for spending those Saturday afternoons, pushing me on the bike?
I decided that the best way to get B to learn how to be able to make turns on her bike without falling over was to get her to ride all the way down to the intersection and turn up into the street and then stop. We live in a very quiet neighborhood and we were practicing on the last street at the back of the neighborhood, so all was safe. This worked very well and after a couple of circuits, I told her to turn all the way around and ride back to me.
The first time she tried it, she got scared and bailed. But on her third try, she turned all the way around and came pedaling towards me, all smiles and bike helmet. She had to bail a few more times but by the end of the evening, she was able to turn around easily. My guess is within a week or so, I'll have to pull my bike out and start riding with her. She's going to want to go beyond the one block length of the street.
So, I've taught her to ride a bike in more or less four hours...I need to call my brothers and have a talk with them. I'm learning a lot from having a stepdaughter. For example, I'm starting to see my brothers didn't always have my best interests in mind. And I still don't like azaleas.
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
I added a new link
Baby Birdie's Adventures is yet another extremely well written Blog I found by sitting here and aimlessly clicking the newly updated Blog's on the Blogger site. I have been reading it for a while and should have added it a couple of weeks ago, but she had a week or so of inactivity, but it's linked now. Go take a look, it's worth it.
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Baby Birdie's Adventures is yet another extremely well written Blog I found by sitting here and aimlessly clicking the newly updated Blog's on the Blogger site. I have been reading it for a while and should have added it a couple of weeks ago, but she had a week or so of inactivity, but it's linked now. Go take a look, it's worth it.
I'm a Soccer Dad!!!
It's not blurry, what you see is the heat haze coming off the field. Yeah, keep believing that. That's B in her first Soccer game of the year. She missed the only practice they had because she was sick. She did very well, got in some good kicks, and almost scored a goal! She's a good athlete but she was a little timid on the field. That was because this was the first time she had met her teammates and because she's the only girl on the team. Out of the four teams I saw Saturday, only one had more than one girl on it. Last year, her team had four or five girls on it.
She's not sure she wants to keep playing Soccer this year since she won't be able to switch teams. I think she ought to stick with it, she's not always get to choose who she plays/works/goes to school/ with so wouldn't this be a good way to figure that out? The boy in the photo was nice to her and talked her a bit during the game so I don't think anyone cares that she's the only girl, well, except B. But I think she'll hang in there and have a blast.
And here is another picture from a week or so again:
It's hard to get a picture of B without her posing.
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It's not blurry, what you see is the heat haze coming off the field. Yeah, keep believing that. That's B in her first Soccer game of the year. She missed the only practice they had because she was sick. She did very well, got in some good kicks, and almost scored a goal! She's a good athlete but she was a little timid on the field. That was because this was the first time she had met her teammates and because she's the only girl on the team. Out of the four teams I saw Saturday, only one had more than one girl on it. Last year, her team had four or five girls on it.
She's not sure she wants to keep playing Soccer this year since she won't be able to switch teams. I think she ought to stick with it, she's not always get to choose who she plays/works/goes to school/ with so wouldn't this be a good way to figure that out? The boy in the photo was nice to her and talked her a bit during the game so I don't think anyone cares that she's the only girl, well, except B. But I think she'll hang in there and have a blast.
And here is another picture from a week or so again:
It's hard to get a picture of B without her posing.
Monday, September 15, 2003
State of the Stepdad Address...
There are some things I just don't get. Why is it that with so many divorces and remarriages, there is so little information available for new Stepdads? There are some books available, but trying to read one of them would surely kill me out of boredom. I'm not asking for entertainment akin to the Lord of the Rings movies but come on, shouldn't someone be able to write some informative and poignant stuff about being a new Stepdad?
What brought on this post is that I have ten blogs bookmarked or linked that are from Moms who Blog (is blog also a verb?) about their life with kids and with or without husbands. Know how many Dad/Stepdad blogs are on my list? Three, one of which has exactly three posts, so it sadly doesn't count anymore.
There may be more that I have missed. I'm sure there are but even with regular websites, Stepdads and even Dads aren't given equal time with Moms. Sure, you can find some sites like Cyberparent's Stepparent site, or this site but you really have to look for them and if you do a search, that means wading through hits that are from message boards dealing with a horrible stepdad or abusive.
I hope I have just missed the good sites or good books but even in regular bookstores, there doesn't seem to be many interesting to read 'How To' books and in these days, that genre should be a best seller.
So if any of you readers have any ideas or advice on where to get books or good sites, please leave me a comment. I need to know if it's ok when B tell's me that Lord of the Rings is a horrible movie or that I can't sing or if it's ok when she tells me she wants to marry her shoe...her left shoe. Thanks!
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There are some things I just don't get. Why is it that with so many divorces and remarriages, there is so little information available for new Stepdads? There are some books available, but trying to read one of them would surely kill me out of boredom. I'm not asking for entertainment akin to the Lord of the Rings movies but come on, shouldn't someone be able to write some informative and poignant stuff about being a new Stepdad?
What brought on this post is that I have ten blogs bookmarked or linked that are from Moms who Blog (is blog also a verb?) about their life with kids and with or without husbands. Know how many Dad/Stepdad blogs are on my list? Three, one of which has exactly three posts, so it sadly doesn't count anymore.
There may be more that I have missed. I'm sure there are but even with regular websites, Stepdads and even Dads aren't given equal time with Moms. Sure, you can find some sites like Cyberparent's Stepparent site, or this site but you really have to look for them and if you do a search, that means wading through hits that are from message boards dealing with a horrible stepdad or abusive.
I hope I have just missed the good sites or good books but even in regular bookstores, there doesn't seem to be many interesting to read 'How To' books and in these days, that genre should be a best seller.
So if any of you readers have any ideas or advice on where to get books or good sites, please leave me a comment. I need to know if it's ok when B tell's me that Lord of the Rings is a horrible movie or that I can't sing or if it's ok when she tells me she wants to marry her shoe...her left shoe. Thanks!
This is my reply to the Nigerian 419 email scam I received Saturday:
Dear CHIEF EGOBIKE MADU,
I am very honored to be sent this email and feel the weight of my decision. Who gave you my worthy credentials? Was it Abe Linkin? That's my only close friend in Niger, so it must be him. Abe is one of my best friends, if it was him, tell him I said 'Nanu nanu, old cuss!' That's how we always greeted each other when we were roomates in College.
Anyway, back to the important matter at hand. I can see why time is of the essence, that is a large sum of money. Please outline further what you wish me to do. I am very, very interested in this transaction and if I can help in any way, please let me know!
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Jojobela
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Dear CHIEF EGOBIKE MADU,
I am very honored to be sent this email and feel the weight of my decision. Who gave you my worthy credentials? Was it Abe Linkin? That's my only close friend in Niger, so it must be him. Abe is one of my best friends, if it was him, tell him I said 'Nanu nanu, old cuss!' That's how we always greeted each other when we were roomates in College.
Anyway, back to the important matter at hand. I can see why time is of the essence, that is a large sum of money. Please outline further what you wish me to do. I am very, very interested in this transaction and if I can help in any way, please let me know!
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Jojobela
