#44 - The Daddy Manual

I've read in some humor books about how there should be a manual for becoming a parent. Of course there are plenty of books on parenting theories, but none of them are perfect. And if you want to find opposing views on parenting opinions, you certainly can. Today's new thing wasn't actually something that happened to me directly, but to my wonderful hubby. He attended a daddy training session at our day care. Not really knowing what he was getting into, I anxiously awaited his arrival at home afterwards. Fortunately, my guy took it all in stride, and was eager to share some of his new knowledge. The instructor spent some time discussing discipline problems (like timeouts, which don't work until after a child is 3 or 4), and shyness (apparently, this is genetic!). It sounded like the small group of dads in attendance had some good stuff to talk about... and my hubby even said I was right on target re-directing when the little guy cries. Next time they hold a mommy training class, I hope I get to go!

#43 - In the airport

I flew to and from Las Vegas for work today, and since I had lots of down time in the airports, I got a lot of reading done. I read an issue of Self magazine, which I'd never seen before. With a name like "Self" and the captions on the cover, I had certain expectations about the types of articles I would find inside. And I'm happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised with some of the content! This issue had lots of stories surrounding cancer (particularly breast cancer, since October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month)... some of them were personal stories from cancer survivors who are younger than me. This made me feel very lucky to be healthy - and sparked some conversations with friends and family about what causes cancer? Why can't we find a cure? How can us healthy people avoid getting cancer in the future? Thank you, Self magazine, for a lively debate and an hour's worth of good reading.

#42 - Taking Charge

When I was in college, I needed some serious tutoring in economics (both micro and macro). I've paid the bills for a long time, but when it comes to managing our finances, I generally let my wonderful hubby take charge. Well, not today! On my lunch break, I met with the banker and took charge of our finances. OK, we had agreed previously what I'd be doing exactly, but it still felt great to be taking charge and getting things done. Take that, economics 101 professor! Ha!

#41 - Photos for the masses

A family member who's been keeping up with my blog gave me today's suggestion: enter a photo contest. You can probably tell that we're a little nutty with a camera around our house, and that's nothing compared to the photo albums we have. So today I e-mailed a photo in to a contest on Babyzone.com, where I hope it will be successful. My family member's suggestion was actually to enter a "crazy photo contest" with the photo and caption from my "Bruised ego" blog entry, but I was not able to find a contest where the caption would make a difference (and I have to think that photo on its own, with no explanation, doesn't make much sense). I'll certainly let you know if I hear anything...

#40 - Watching firsts from up close

Our little guy (TLG) had lots of firsts today which I got to watch up close. We bought him his first pair of sunglasses (which was the highlight of his day, I think). Then we went to the park, where he rode on the big-boy swings for the first time - and they were so low to the ground, when he wanted off, he just hopped off. Amazing. And this evening, he told us he had to go potty, so I swept him off to the bathroom and (lo and behold) he really did! It was a great day to see a lot of development in TLG and I'm so proud of him.

#39 - It's the great pumpkin!

My pumpkin bread is famous in our family. Not because I make it well, or even make it often. Tonight is only the second time I've ever made it. But as my mom likes to remember, last time I made it in the middle of the night using three different recipes and running out of ingredients half-way through. So when I found a can of pumpkin hiding in the pantry tonight, I decided it was time to try again. My wonderful hubby helped me, and I'm proud to say that this time, we used one recipe and all the correct ingredients to make some yummy pumpkin bread. I love anything pumpkin this time of year - from Starbucks' pumpkin latte to pie at Thanksgiving. The bread is still cooking now, but it's starting to smell delicious. UPDATE: As seen in the photo, the pumpkin bread is edible... but not at all as good as I remember. Wonder what we did last time?

#38 - Customs

If you've been reading my posts for the past few days, you know how excited I've been to get involved as an official volunteer for Books for Soldiers.com. After posting a bunch of books as available last weekend, yesterday I heard directly from a soldier in the middle east asking for some of the books. Last night, I packed up two packages of books, candy, and little games - and today I took them to the post office where I had to fill out customs forms and do all the "official" stuff to get boxes sent oversees. I learned some valuable advice for next time regarding the flat-rate priority mail boxes they have (boxes are free and the shipping is $8.95, which is cheaper than the smaller boxes I sent today). I also brought home a bunch of boxes and forms for next time. So if you live near me and you have any spare (used or new) books, CDs, DVDs or games, don't throw them away! I'll take them off your hands for my new venture. It felt good to know someone else will really use the stuff I'm sending. Yay!