Me and my Little Monkey, just before his 1st birthday in August of 2008.

My son turned three this last weekend.  Three-years old.  I’ve caught myself thinking about those words a few times over the last couple of weeks.  Three years.  It seems like such a short period of time.  I mean, in the grand scheme of things, it really is a short period of time.  But it’s amazing what those fast-flying years can encompass.

Three years ago, we brought him back from the hospital.  He was tiny and frail, and I kept thinking I was going to hold him wrong or bend something the wrong way.  It was insane to think that my wife and I had been put in charge of this little human being.  Mostly, because it was ME (my wife would have done fine regardless).  I sometimes had tenuous control of my own life…and now I was one of the people entrusted with someone else’s?  That realization can do powerful things, I think.  It makes you think about what you want in life: what’s important and what you’re doing with yourself.  It makes you take the focus off of “you” and even your significant other, for a while at least, and realize that there’s something bigger now.

I made a promise to my son in those first couple of days he was in our house.  I promised that, no matter what happened in life, no matter how crazy it was in our house, I would be there for him.  It didn’t matter what he did that might anger or disappoint others, I would always be there for him.  Unconditionally.  I know, it’s pretty cheesy – I think a lot of parents think those thoughts and mean them – but I said it out loud to him.  I said it while holding and rocking him one night, trying to calm him when he was upset, and I meant every last syllable of the words I spoke.

As he gets older, he tries to test me on my resolve.  He does things for sheer spite, it seems at times.  He fights me and pushes me and makes me so angry I feel myself turning red.  But I’m never really angry at him; only his emotions and actions.  And he can turn that anger away quickly with a quick smile and a laugh, or a familiar phrase.  It’s amazing, really.

I’m beginning to realize that these early years of his truly are fleeting.  Three years.  In the grand scheme of things, it’s a drop in the bucket…but they fly by quickly.  So I’ll soak in the morning naps on the couch with him.  I’ll cherish the times he comes to me and asks don’t I want to go to his room and play legos?  I’ll hang on to the cute way he says certain things (“Is that a good idea?” after every idea he comes up with, for example).  I’ll savor the way he tells his mother that sometimes he just wants “Daddy Time”, and wants her to go away so we can hang out together.  I am hanging on to it all…because the last three years sometimes feel like a blur.  But they’re some of the best of my life.

Happy birthday, little monkey.

photo credit: Robert S. Donovan

Yet another site design.  I think it was needed this time, though.  The latest experiment with the site, allowing visitors to contribute and have it flow in a conversational kind of manner was mostly a flop.  At least for now.  I think I need to share a bit more and build up a rapport with you folks before that sort of effort will be truly successful.

So, aside from that, it’s been a busy summer at Casa del Monkey.  The Little Monkey’s birthday was just over a week ago, and we had a fun time throwing a party for him.  He celebrated it in style, of course.  I’ll try and get a couple of pictures up of that shortly.  This past weekend, we attended a party at a friend’s house, and that was really nice.  We have realized we don’t get out as much as we need to.

I’m slowly working my way through my “Summer Reading List”.  I asked my Facebook friends to submit 1 or 2 of their favorite books to me, and built a summer reading list around the submissions I received.  Well, it’s probably more aptly titled a “2009 Reading List”, because it’s going to take me at least until the end of the year to finish this, and probably into next year as well.  But, it’s been enjoyable reading thus far.  Currently, I’m reading Now I Can Die in Peace: How ESPN’s Sports Guy Found Salvation, with a Little Help from Nomar, Pedro, Shawshank, and the 2004 Red Sox. It’s a really great read.  I’d read Bill Simmons before, in ESPN’s magazine, I think, but I hadn’t really gotten a good dose of his work.  It’s really good reading, especially if you’re a sports fan from New England.  Which, HEY!  I am.

Aside from that, I’ve been working on the Other Website, which if you haven’t checked out, and you’re a fan of hockey, please do!  I think you’ll enjoy it.  We’re going to be rolling into hockey season in the next month or so, and things are really going to pick up there, I think.  I’m a strange mixture of nervous and excited.  Which feeling is prevailing depends on the day.

photo credit: tranchis

Just getting a chance to settle down after yet another very busy day. Sometimes it’s just wonderful to be able to sit down with a big mug of water, feel the A/C flowing over you, and catch your breath when the day has been “go, go, go!”  That’s where I’m at right now.

Things over at my other blog have been really busy.  But, it’s a busy I really enjoy.  Tasting some success in the blogosphere is very nice when you’ve been working at getting yourself out there for so long.  I thought that one day I might build my personal blog into something that would have lots of readers, but it turns out that my ‘hobby blog’ was what did it.  Either way, it’s very nice.  I’m getting the interactive communication that I was hoping I would, and learning lots of new ways to make it more successful.  So, if you haven’t gotten to look at it, please go take a look!

The day job is keeping me pretty busy when I’m not reporting on all things hockey.  Usually the summer is pretty quiet, as we had mostly supported the universities in the past, and their summer class enrollments are quite smaller than the Fall and Spring.  But, with referrals pouring in from Apple pretty regularly, we’re really keeping steady work in the shop.  It’s enjoyable, but makes me appreciate when I can relax and just have some time to myself, for sure.

Family life keeps me busy when I’m not occupied with those other things.  I love that, though.  I don’t get to spend enough time with my wife and son, really.  But, we grab the moments we can.  This last weekend was great; we sat at home, had family over on Saturday for a big cookout, and then spent Sunday doing absolutely nothing.  Other than enjoying each others’ company…which was wonderful.

I make this look *good*

The Little Monkey decided to help his mom out with the cooking last weekend, and I snapped off a few pictures, because…well…he looked like this.  Mrs. Monkey insists that he’s a big help in the kitchen, but I think she secretly just likes to see him covered in various ingredients.  Luckily, this time, it was pretty straight-forward-ly chocolate, which all comes off with a bit of water and cooperation from the child.  Which, as you might guess, is where I ran into difficulty.  Apparently he thought that chocolate was a good look for him, and I could just go climb a tree if I thought that I was going to come after him with a wash rag and change all of that.  After a small bit of chasing, and a rather one-sided conversation that involved me trying to convince him he’d be much happier without the layer of chocolate surrounding the lower half of his face, he allowed me to start the cleanup process.  Which, in itself, was pretty interesting.  During the course of feeding himself spoon after spoon of leftover chocolate cupcake batter (no eggs, so it was pretty harmless), he managed to lodge it in lots of fun places.

Did I get any on me?

If you look closely, you can see a sizeable amount of the goop-like batter surrounding his right nostril.  You might be inclined to think that it stayed just on the outside of said nostril.  Those leaning towards that inclination would be wrong.  Oh, it was up there.  My guess is that he had the spoon there and inhaled…snorting chocolate at age 1.5….  Where did my parenting go wrong??

What’s truly funny is that he didn’t complain at all.  Apparently, it’s not an uncomfortable sensation, because he was pretty happy to go about his business consuming the chocolate if I’d just leave him alone.  But, being the parent, it’s my job to crush all happiness now, and so his bowl and spoon licking activities were at an end for the day.  But, they did make for some cute pictures.  Good to enjoy now, and possibly when he invites his date over to meet the parents one day in high school…  Nah, I wouldn’t do that.  That’s what “first bath” pictures are for.

Today was a day on the go for sure – lots of errand running and feeding of the little monk in the parking lots of North Dallas. We left for some lunch with friends around noon, expecting to be back around 2:30 or 3, and we got in around 7:30pm. Crazy day.

That’s all I have for right now. Hope everyone is doing well while gearing up for the fun holiday here in the States coming next week. We’re very excited about it, and have lots to be thankful for – this year more than most.

Mrs. Monkey and I are getting things in order to put Thanksgiving Dinner on the table this year. It’s going to be a lot of fun this time around – we’ll have Mrs. Monkey’s mom and grandmother here, as well as our good friends A&E. We’re very excited about the full table. I’m going to cook some of my famous pork stuffing and Mrs. Monkey is making her famous pumpkin pecan pie. Yum!! Any favorites out there? The stuffing is something my mom made every year and I just LOVED. I could eat it all by itself by the pound. What was your family’s favorite dish?

Oh, and I have a TV in my office that stopped working a few months ago. It just all of a sudden up and died one day. Was the strangest thing… Well, I’ve tried to turn it on and see if it’s running a few times but the status hasn’t changed. So, I was sitting in there the other night, and I just had this feeling I should turn it on and check…I ignored the urge for a while, but finally I turned it on, just to appease the notion. Well, sure enough, it was working again. It was the weirdest thing. But, at least it’s working again.