Resolution 2022

Hey there readers.

Any guesses on the meaning of the title of this post?

Might it be related to a craft beer named Resolution 2022 that I am currently enjoying?  Yeah, that's not the correct answer.

Might it be the title of a sci fi novel I am writing?  Where the star ship 'Resolution' must save humanity from certain doom? Um, are you kidding? I couldn't even write here for long gaps in time, much less write a novel.  

Yes, you guessed correctly right away.  This IS a post about my 2022 blog resolution.  

I guess I should start by addressing that whole gap in time in the history of this blog - you might have noticed a few teensy years had gone by with nary a sentence scribed here at LIFAY.  I'll take to calling those the empty years.  Any guesses about why the gaps exist?

Yep, you're right on track.  I've been incarcerated.  Locked away.  In the big house. The hoosegow.  On the chain gang. Watchin those trains keep a rolling by. You get the idea.

What, you didn't guess that?  

You didn't even notice I was gone?  

Ah, no worries.  Truth is, I WAS a prisoner....just a prisoner of my own apathy toward writing. You know, the kids got older, and more demanding.  Work got busier.  The internet got more interesting.  I couldn't stay awake late into the evening anymore. The Usssssh.  (That is supposed to sound like 'You-shh').

But, every time I reflect back (often with the whole family) on old posts I've written, we all really enjoy reading them.  I mean REALLY enjoy them.  It's such a great feeling to watch the kids laugh and smile at stories I have written about them.  That's parenting gold right there.

Given that,  I am intending to write more here again, so there's that. You can even call it a resolution if you like.

Okay, for my 2022 New Year's Resolution, I resolve to write here at LIAYF more often.  What's that?  You say that is too wishy washy?  Okay, I resolve to write here at lest once a month.  How's that?

Happy New Year Readers!!  January is in the books!

Boom!

Meet SeattleDog!

 
Its happened readers.  The end is nigh.  The last line of defense (yours truly himself) hath fallen, the invaders are running amuck within our walls - and the LIAYF family can now officially be labeled  a 'dog' family. 

Given that, I would like to introduce you to SeattleDog. 

Yes, I agree that a SeattleDog sounds like a cylindrical roll of baked salmon on a brioche bun with lemon squeezed on top that you might get, say, at a #Mariners or #Sounders game. But I digress.  Yes,  this dog does have a real name -  not to be revealed here at this time.   I'll just say, it's NOT the name you are looking for (waves hand slowly in front of you all).

SeattleDog is a Bernese Mountain dog who is 5 1/2 months old now.  And, I gotta say, he is pretty darn cute.  And sweet.  And friendly.  And smart too.  Did I mention friendly?  Yeah, that one gets a double mention.

And smart too.  

Oh, I already mentioned that one?  I should also mention food motivated.  Very food motivated.  So much so, that SeattleDog has learned many tricks already.

Sit?  Of course.  Easy one.

Lie down?  Ha! Piece of cake!

Shake?  How about with both hands.  Bwhahahaha.

Stay still with a kernel of kibble on my nose?  Pffft.  No problemo most gracious humans.

Roll over?  Uh, how about both directions IF you double to treat reward master!

Stay? Grrrrrrr, okay.  Okay, just make it quick, I'm hungry.

Look cute?  Seriously....have you seen my mug?

Okay, suffice it to say, SeattleDog is a goooood boooooy!

So, why was I, Seattledad, so resistant to getting a dog you may ask.  Well, it mainly involved the usual suspects.  Nope, not Kaiser Soze, but the pooping and chewing and biting, and fur everywhere.  I didn't think it would be worth the trouble.

Turns out I wasn't entirely wrong on all those things.  They aren't our favorite parts of being dog owners for sure.  Especially the pooping.

But hey, I'm a dad.  I've been dealing with poop most of my life.  And, of course just look at how happy those kids are above.  They LOVE LOVE LOVE this sweet new member of our family.  And when they are happy, there are more moments of peace in the home. We all need that, as parents.

Mrs. LIAYF too!  She was the impetus for getting SeattleDog, after all. (She literally has ALL the good ideas around here - at least from the adults).

To sum it all up.  SeattleDog is here to stay!  He's a hit! Poop, Fur, and spiraling financial outlay be dammed  darned. 

Peace!

Teen Spirit!

(Through the years!)

Happy 13th Birthday to our AMAZING son.  

Lukas is every bit the sweet, generous, kind, funny, compassionate, trustworthy, and intelligent child we had always envisioned our combined gene pools would produce!  And it actually turned out that way.  Wow!

Buddy, we all love you with everything we've got.  

I'd say "Make us proud", but clearly you already have.

Love, Dad.

Santa Photo 2017

Annabelle asked Santa for a "Unicorn Stuffy", and Lukas asked for a "Portable gaming device".

No worries.  I'm pretty sure Santa has it covered.

Happy Holiday's From Luke, I am Your Father.

Rally Time

Happy New Year readers!

We took the kids to their first rally this past Monday, (MLK Jr. Day) at the Washington State Capitol in Olympia.  It was a gathering of nearly 7000 similarly minded folks advocating for the Washington State Legislature to fully fund (as the Washington Supreme Court has already mandated) public school education in our state.

As is stands now, without any action being taken, the public schools will fall 10's of millions of dollars short of what is required for this funding, leaving school districts such as Seattle no choice but to cut already thin staffing and operations.

In short, there will be a lot of students, especially those in low income areas where there is no outside support, such as from a PTA to supplement funds, left behind in critical area's.

We felt it was important for us to be there on Monday, with the kids, to voice our concerns and to give a visual reminder to our legislators that the impact is not simply in numbers, but that real live kids will be negatively affected without action being taken.

As it turns out, it was a cold morning, and both kids had a limit to the time they could be out there in the cold without a proper meal, so we left after a few hours, trusting our more experienced and savvy friends and PTA members to follow up directly with our legislative representatives.

But the message was certainly heard.  Both by said legislators, and by Lukas and to a lesser extent, Annabelle (who's 4).  Having a voice, and acting on it - even if in a small way - does make a difference.

Mrs. LIAYF and I look forward to many more opportunities with the kids to get involved, and to make our bit of difference on important topics to us.

No matter how big that is, it's a lesson in democracy we are happy to be teaching them.

Who knows, maybe someday they will help change the world for the better!

Merry Go Round

Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays readers!  I've been working very hard over the past couple of months, and thus have had less time (much less) than I've needed to devote here at 'Luke, I am Your Father'.

But what better time than Christmas Day to check in and to let you know that the LIAYF clan are still here, enjoying our time together, sharing lots of love and happiness and, as always, growing older and wiser.

Thankfully, a couple of weeks ago Lukas and Annabelle mailed their Christmas letter, which Lukas carefully wrote to Santa for both of them.

Annabelle, who is still crazy for Superman (as well as Peppa Pig, Hello Kitty, Rainbow Dash, Mickey Mouse....) only asked Santa for a pair of Superman headphones.

Lukas, who is 9 now, decided he would leave the decision to Santa himself, since "Santa knows me so well."

I love this boy!

Shortly after mailing the letter, they got to go tell the Jolly Old Elf himself, what they wanted. As you can tell, they were both extremely happy to see Santa.  Especially Annabelle.

Then, this morning, the excitement was palpable as they both raced down the stairs to see if Santa had come, and what he had brought them.  (By the way, he DID eat the cookies and milk they left for him, leaving only a few crumbs for Dad to clean up. Which I did after eating a few-ish of the leftovers.)

It was a wonderful Christmas morning, with lots of smiles, love, sharing, and even a fire burning in the TV cabinet.

By the way, Annabelle did get her Superman headphones from Santa (she was thrilled), and Santa chose to give Lukas 'Bloxels' a cool video game creating gift, which he was so excited about, he didn't care to open the gifts Mrs. LIAYF and I had got him.

He's still playing with it (and creating) right now.

He was absolutely right.  Santa does know him so well.

Corn on the Dad

It was my birthday yesterday.

Don't ask, but know that next year I'll briefly be a member of the Over 50, Under 5 club. Yay!

I'm not mentioning this to get any birthday greetings from you readers, I received plenty of those from all my closest friends - through Facebook, of course.  Almost no one at my work even realized it was my 'special day',  which shows where the Venn Diagram between my FB friends and Co-workers intersects I suppose.

Anyway, the real reason I mentioned my birthday, is because although I received a whole lot of love, hugs, smiles, and cool stuff from my loved ones, there was one teensy little present which I just had to enjoy right away. No, I was IMPLORED to.

It was from Annabelle.

Lukas actually got me a hilarious card that featured a Honey Badger having eaten my cake. We laughed a lot at that one together, because....how can you not laugh at a Honey Badger?

Then I opened the card from Annabelle, which was an awesome High Fiving Unicorn card!

Maybe High One-ing?

It was magical.

And if that wasn't cool enough, when I opened the card, out slid a Tattoo set.  Annabelle shrieked with delight as she grabbed the pair of tats and proclaimed that we were both going to get one of them right away.

Then she looked at me in all sincerity, and asked "Can we do it now Daddy? Right now?".

How could I say no to that?  Well, I couldn't. End of discussion.

All I had to do was first choose which of the two I wanted, since it WAS my Birthday and all.

Now, I must admit that this was a pretty difficult choice.  But in the end, Annabelle was perfectly happy that she got to adorn her arm with the remaining colorful Rainbow tattoo.

As for me?  More magic. Not the run of the mill kind either.  But the pure, unfiltered kind. Yeah, the good stuff.

It's as if (s)he was shot from the rainbow

I chose the Unicorn because of all those Magical powers.  And, I'm pretty sure the world was at complete peace for a second or two after it's application. Plus I heard harp like music from nowhere in particular.

Unfortunately for me once I had this pink beast tranfered onto my arm all the existing tone and muscle definition seemed to disappear from my bicep instantly.

Must be a side effect.

Thanks Sweetie!  And, Happy Birthday to me.  I'm not going to wash this arm for quite some time.

At least until the Mariners make the playoffs.

The Eyes Don't Have it

The Blind Boys of LIAYF

Oh great, now my eyes are going to crap too.

In fact, I struggled again last night while trying to read Annabelle a bedtime story.

At this rate I'm sure I'll be blind by the end of the year.   I'll probably have to add the blind moniker to the beginning of my name. Something like Blind Willie Seattledad. Or Blind Lemon Seattledad.

But on the bright side, I might  finally take up that harmonica that's been staring longingly at me all these years.

Ok, so in reality I am not going to lose my eyesight, which is a good thing, but they are noticeably weaker with each passing month these days.

While most days I just think of myself as a dad period. In the back of my mind I know that the tell tale signs are there.  The signs that I'm on the back side in years, of where I should be for having an active 3 year old, and a lightning fast 9 year old.

I say active, but what I really mean is she NEVER. SLOWS. DOWN.

Achy knees? Check.  Creaky bones the morning after a long night with an overly drawn out bedtime for the kids, followed by dishes and laundry and lunches, and more dishes and more laundry? Check.

That extra little groan I have to make now while picking up one or both of my kids - because they are too tired to walk anymore (even though they just had 10 or more hours of sleep)? Check!

You know who's really too tired?  Me, that's who!

Just a couple of nights ago I was engrossed in reading Annabelle Frog and Toad (with my reading glasses), when the next thing I knew she was over playing with her doll house and apparently had been for some time!

I vaugely remembered her yelling at me a couple of times to keep reading, but that didn't help.  I was just out cold.

And now, the fact that I can't even read my kids a bedtime story anymore without holding the book at arm's length (unless, of course, I go off in search of my one pair of reading glasses) is another reminder that my body is in an all out race with my kid's childhood.

Sometimes I wonder which will be expire first?

This is sad. Poor me*.  I say so, because my eyes were the one superior thing I had left over my wife and kids. Something I could Lord over them as they got older. They all have glasses, but I've always had the perfect vision in the household.

Not anymore though.

Yep, these eyes are going to crap out on me soon.  Leaving me not only nearly blind, but tired and achy too.

Sounds like the perfect topic for a Blues song, doesn't it?  "I can't see my kids no more.  Da duh duh duh!"

*The truth of the matter is that I don't have to be able to read without optical support to see my kids smiles.  I could see those even if I really were blind, which thankfully I am not.  

Plus, I can hear their laughter perfectly even though they seem to think I can't hear very well.  Or they must think so, since they are always talking SO darn loud.

But that's a post for another day.  Eye promise.

Ride Like the Wind Again

Our Annabelle has always been a great athlete for her age.  Sure, she has a compact frame, usually being the shortest kid among her peers, but boy she is coordinated. And freakishly strong too.

She stepped onto a 3 wheeled scooter shortly after her grandparents got it for her 2nd birthday, and was instantly adept, amazing onlookers as a little while later she fearlessly weaved through crowded sidewalks with ease.

Aware that she had natural athletic gifts, Mrs. LIAYF and I enrolled her in a gymnastics class a year or so ago.  And, of course, she has mightily impressed the coaches there with her abilities as she quickly moved through the ranks.  So much so that, still 3 years old, they want her to enroll in a class for 5-6 year olds this month.  I just watch in awe as I consider the things this little girl can do at such a young age.

We actually had to wait until she turned 3 and a half years old before we could get her on Lukas' old balance bike, because her legs were too short.  But once we did a couple months ago, like most other things, she took to it almost immediately.

So, recognizing that the Summer was winding down and that we wanted to get her riding a pedal bike sooner than later, we picked her up a super cool Specialized 12" pink Hotrock of her very own last night.

Today, we took her to a playground with a lot of asphalt.  Perfect for learning how to make the transition.

What happened?  Well, you can probably guess.

Yeah, that's a very short clip.  But I was WAY to busy following her around the whole playground with a huge grin on my face to get a longer version.  It was pretty awesome!

Bottom line, in nearly no time she has once again proven that she is a natural athlete and is willing to conquer any challenge that comes her way.

Way to go Annabelle!  

Ride like the wind my beautiful girl.

Better Than a Toy Unicorn

I love my Annabelle.  We have a pretty good Father/Daugther thing going.

And even though she can be a tad TOO independent for my taste at times (read: at the end of a long work day when she doesn't want to go to bed on our set schedule for her), she is a funny, bright, hard working, strong and lovely little girl.

And my days would be filled with so much less happiness without her.

Apparently, she appreciates and enjoys the affection I heap on her as well.

Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't have promised her a real unicorn for her next birthday.

Okay, I didn't really promise her a unicorn.  But I really do need to teach her about the value of wishes and the decision making process that goes into choosing one.  Thinking bigger, if you will.   I mean, really, she can hug and kiss me (and does) anytime she wants.

On second thought, perhaps I will leave this lesson until much later.