I have this performance muscle in me that I rarely get to stretch. In Boston I tried my first Improv workshop, and it blew my mind. The most important rule in improv is remembering “Yes, and…” – Essentially, NO as a concept is the most destructive thing to good improvising. NO closes off options that would otherwise be available to you, making it harder to continue making things up smoothly. If you take what you are given in improv and accept “YES, this is what we are working with. AND here is my contribution to this interaction…” then you will have a much easier experience, the audience will feel more at ease, and everyone ends up less frustrated and more satisfied.

My life is not fundamentally different from improv. We’re all sort of making this life up as we go, parenting, working hard to try to create things that are worthwhile, and no matter how hard I clench my jaw or worry, I keep discovering that I only create greif for myself and everyone else by saying “no”.

On a drive to Puerto Vallarta to catch a festival that seemed way smaller than we had imagined, I hear Cole’s voice from the back of the van.

“Yes. Yes daddy… Yes.”

I turn to look back briefly – he’s not looking at me, not addressing anyone in particular. He is looking down, and as usual, he looks happy.

“Yes to what, bubba?” I say.

“Yes to everything.” Christine answers, laughing.

I’ve been spending a lot of time lately telling Cole not to do things. Closing doors on him without finding a way to help him explore and grow in a constructive way, and he doesn’t have the language yet to communicate his frustration, so he rebels more. I’ve created a small rebellion loop which makes it even more challenging for me to stop saying “no” when he acts out rather than stopping and having a conversation with him about what is frustrating him. In a recent edition of Radiolab, one subject said words that are still with me:

“When you choose to have a child, you’re choosing to embrace a future you can’t control.”

Or you know, something to that effect. As a card carrying member of the League of Control Freaks, it’s something I’m still trying to get used to 3+ years in. Moving forward, I am resolving to do my best to keep options open to these kids.

Here’s to saying “Yes.”

Your ideas were awesome, and it was a tough choice, but there had to be a winner, so the dumbest idea picked by yours truly belongs to Kyle, who suggested “Vincente Fernandez on a bumper car eating cotton candy.” So dumb. You can now find these for sale in our Redbubble store.

I also made a version that’s meant to look like a sports logo type thing, so you can have your pick:

A close runner up was a suggestion on Facebook that suggested a “Panda pooping rainbows.” Which will have to only exist in my dreams for now.

It’s been a busy week, I’ve been doing some portraits for our Kickstarter rewards members:

And this is a process video showing me drawing one of these out. It’s a little jumpy for my taste, and any digital artists watching will probably be horrified that I like drawing in Flash rather than illustrator.

If you can’t see this one, click here.

For a couple of my 20 minute morning drawings, I have been playing around with Animation Desk for the iPad. I will probably upgrade to the paid version shortly because I am enjoying the process, and am a little surprised how much motion I can get, which is possible because clearly I am scrimping on the details for these. Very, very fun exercises.

First was a normal 6 frame walk cycle.

And a second one, why not zombie it up?

More on Zombies next week!

This is Corny. You’ve Been Warned: I’ve dubbed this The Mint Drewlep

Oh god, my heart hurts for making that drink title. All I wanted in life the other day was an adult beverage that would cool me off as the temperatures rise here in Southern Mexico. When I dug around and found “mint julep” I thought for sure I had a winner, but this god forsaken drink is primarily bourbon.

I’m a scotch drinker.

The recipe went as follows:

• 2 oz Bourbon (For the Drewlep version, use scotch)
• 1 tsp sugar (Personally I would at least double that amount of sugar)
• 2 tsp water
• 4 sprigs of mint

Grind up the sugar, mint and water in a cup. Fill a second glass with shaved ice, pour in whiskey, pour in sugar/mint. Stir.

I don’t have a small enough measuring cup for two ounces. I do, however, have an infant.

The verdict? I sort of prefer my whiskey straight with a piece of ice, but that doesn’t work on a hot summer day. This does. I dig it, and will try it again with more sugar in future versions of the Mint Drewlep.

In case it is in any way unclear: No children imbibed any alcohol at any point, no matter how curious this one was. It was Tuesday after all. We save the hard liquor for Fridays. I mean, duh.

It began, as these things always do, with Christine saying “Yes, go for it.”

We’ve talked extensively for years about parenting philosophy. Intellectually, I am on board with her more flexible “free range-ish” idea, that we want to foster independence and fun in our children’s life. However,  I grew up in an environment that allowed me a lot of freedom to adventure on my own but was also fraught with constant worry over pretty much everything I ever did or might do or what might happen. This has created a truly obnoxious combination of Free-Range-Helicopter parenting.

It’s frustrating to be this person. It’s very likely more frustrating to be around this person.

Somehow though, when I heard Christine utter the word “Yes” as Cole looked up at us with a large bucket of flour, I just released any hope of trying to control this moment at all. If you had witnessed it you may have seen my shoulders slump in resignation, but it was actually liberating. Stella needed to be bounced to sleep, so I sat at the end of the bed and witnessed, Clockwork Orange-style, as my toddling son covered the dogs in flour, covered the guest room floor with flour, and basically had the most excellent time that a kid could possibly have.

It’s what makes parenting a child at this age worthwhile. I hope I can resign myself to allowing awesome experiences to happen more often, because it was totally worth the cleanup the next morning.