Danger Scale: Pantry Raiders

Because we all know that nothing dangerous is ever left in the pantry. Who doesn't let their 13 month old climb in the pantry and rearrange it?

How do you rate this?

Aeralind and the Black Widow

It is the greatest fear of any parent that their child will meet a black widow. But what do you say when your daughter becomes one? The girls both love the Noodlebug series of videos, to the point of requesting the music dvd being played for their wake-up music. We thought life was good until Melissa took the girls for a walk and Aeralind spotted a "Noodlebug" on the ground. Rather than saying a nice "hello" she jumped on the bug with all her righteous fury yelling: "Die Noodlebug, Die." This has me concerned about any males that may decide to get close to her.... Or maybe it will be a good thing as far as suitor defense goes. For those interested, you can find the movies below:

Don't most parents let their children climb on top of their play house? It is perfectly safe, isn't it?
(I actually was concerned about them doing this and only let them get up their for the shot.)

How would you rate this?

Princess Books

In a similar vein of my prior post on Children's books, this one also involves a Princess. Unlike the last one though, this one does not obfuscate the blueness found within. Once upon a cool motorcycle dude involves a boy and a girl sharing a fairy tale. The girl brings in the princess, who for once isn't attacked by a dragon, while the boy brings in the strong hero.

Really, the book is good and quite funny. I would encourage you to get and read the book to your children.

Danger Scale: Tunnel Diving

A good friend of Melissa's gave us a playset for the girls. For the longest time we had the tunnel flat to the ground for safety reasons. Last fall I decided that they were big enough so I moved the tunnel to its normal position. The below pictures are a montage of the first thing they did with their new tunnel. Yes, they really are going through it face first. What could possibly go wrong with the ensuing 2 foot drop face first onto solid ground.

What is for Breakfast?

I have taken to asking the girls what they want for breakfast in the morning and let them choose between eggs or oatmeal, with various mixings. I thought I would chronicle some of the rejected ideas for breakfast though:

1. Brother
2. Brother's Toes
3. Poop
4. Cockroaches
5. Sister

Obviously, as the above choices do not meet Federal Dietary guidelines I had to refuse them. The poor girls were heartbroken.

Boycotting Valentines Day

From a young age we in America have it ingrained in our heads that Valentines day is a day of love and we MUST give gifts to people of the other gender. The boys are instructed that they have to give gifts and women are raised expecting to be lavishly given gifts on this day. If the man forgets to give a gift, or if said gift is found lacking in any way, then he will quickly be banished to the doghouse until the women decides her man's punishment is over. This could be a matter of days or even years. It is for this reason that I am happy that Melissa informed me before our 1st Valentines Day that I better not give her anything, a tradition I have continued since then. Hopefully I can also pass this on to my children as well.

I have a question though, why do we do this? Why are we forced into this over-commercialized holiday in the hopes that it can bring satisfaction and happiness to our Significant other? Should we not instead shower gifts on our spouses at random times throughout the year? It certainly would be cheaper on our checking account if we did.

Secondly, St. Valentine was one of several martyr's named Valentine who were all killed for the cause of Christ. Why don't we talk about that on Valentines Day? Espouse the principle of standing for your convictions and what you believe in even if it means death. It seems to me that is the message we should be talking about rather than this blatantly commercialized {pink} holiday.