A Titanic Observation HBO, as they are wont to do with popular movies from time to time, has been showing Titanic almost every day lately.  One thing I enjoy doing is watching movies, especially those I've already seen, in non-linear bits and pieces over several days (After about 10-15 separate viewing, I finally managed to see all of "The Iron Giant."  One of my favorite movies despite never seeing it start to finish.).  Anyway, after watching the last dramatic hour of Titanic the other night, I thought, "wow, that really was a great movie."  I shared my thoughts with my wife, who disagreed that it was just too over the top sappy for her.  In another gender role reversal in our marriage, servers in restaurants often bring the Diet Coke I ordered to her and the regular Coke she ordered to me.  As for these gender role reversals, I am comfortable enough in my manliness to mention that I did score on the female side of things in the on-line "Gender Test."  It is quite fun and interesting, give it a try.  Especially if you are a man who loved Titanic or a woman who did not :-).
Posted by shgreene ( Jul 31 2006, 09:31:49 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

The thin line of parental happiness I was just really enjoying my time with all 3 boys today and I stopped to ponder why I should be in a particularly good mood this morning.  Then I realized-- Evan slept past 7am and David and Alex (miraculously) both slept till 8am.  A well-rested parent is a happy parent.  Had Alex or Evan woken around 6, as they are often both prone to do, it would have been a much less happy morning.  For some reason, regardless of when I go to bed, about 6:45 is the key time for determining whether I'm going to be a happy parent in the morning.   Posted by shgreene ( Jul 30 2006, 10:05:50 AM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

Hippo Miscellany Alex's pre-school class got to take a field trip on the last day of school for Hippotherapy.  (Lest you be getting some odd ideas, you should realize that hippo is the greek work for horse.  Hippopatamus actually means river horse).   What a thrill to see all these 3 and 4 year old special needs kids having so much fun on horseback.   


On a quasi-related note, I have the entire text of Hippos Go Beserk committed to memory.  David is 6 1/2 and has loved this book since he was 2. 

Final quasi-related note.  Did you know that more humans in Africa are killed by hippos than by any other wild beast.  Those African rivers are dangerous places.
Posted by shgreene ( Jun 13 2006, 09:19:46 AM EDT ) Permalink Comments [1]

3am Theory of Parenting (reader discretion advised) So, when I started this blog my wife was afraid I would just use it to write boring, quotidian details of family life.  I assured her it would mostly be about politics, current events, etc.  Last night's events, though, struck me as blogworthy-- not for the events themselves, but because they caused me to think a little about parenting in general.

So, within a very short span of time, around 3 last night, Evan had what we parents refer to as a serious "blowout" in our bed and just a few minutes later David awoke vomiting copiously.  Probably the worst I've ever seen from a kid who has always regurgitated with alarming frequency.  All the ruckus caused Alex, an extraordinarily light sleeper to awake crying and upset.  Kim went about calming Alex and changing our Evan-stained sheets while I tried to settle David down and change his sheets and get a load of pretty distasteful laundry going.  Evan was a trooper and managed to sleep through all the chaos, after his initial contribution. 

So, how does this relate to a theory of parenting?  Even amidst all this late night unpleasantness, I had to mentally step back and laugh to myself about just how crazy and absurd the situation was.  I think to be a happy parent and not go insane, you really have to do that, otherwise, it seems to me that parenthood would just eat you alive.
Posted by shgreene ( Jun 02 2006, 02:24:37 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]