NSJ

Rule #1: Never stop learning

Scott — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:32:36 +0000

Read about Yo Yo Ma, one of the most accomplished musicians of our time. Listen to one of his solos with your eyes closed and realize he has completely mastered the cello. Yet at the height of his career he started The Silk Road Project because he wanted to learn. The best cello player in the world, still sees endless opportunities for growth and renewal.

Read the book Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales. Learn that the ones to survive are the ones who are constantly learning, adjusting to changing situations.

Regularly appreciate and be amazed at the accumulation and accessibility of knowledge in Wikipedia. Use it.

Always take it apart. Even if you don’t know how to put it back together.

Constantly wonder about everything around you.

The Rules

Scott — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:32:26 +0000

1001 Rules for My Unborn Son made me smile.

The concept seems to fill that innate parental desire we have to impart wisdom on our children, while all the time knowing they will have to learn it themselves. In fact, deep down we know they will often do the exact opposite of what we recommend just to protest the tyranny of the current parental regime. We know this because we were them, and our parents were us. Sure, we think we are different. We are not old like our parents were when they were our age. We are young, hip, and in touch with the youth. We have iPods for god’s sake, we play XBox, and send text messages. Surely, our kids will listen to us, right?

Right.

And so the great cycle of life continues unbroken:

Fail to listen. Learn through experience. Attempt to teach those who do not listen.

So my dear son, welcome to “The Rules.” A series of posts where I will spout snarky wisdom, that after you ignore, and then learn yourself, you will understand. Or you will decide I am nuts. Or maybe both.

It is only fitting I start with rule #1.

***

http://happyinwater.com/nicholas/category/rules/

This too shall pass

Scott — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:36:15 +0000

If you haven’t watched OK Go’s latest video, I highly, highly, highly recommend it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you have children, I highly, highly recommend watching it with them over and over hundreds of times. Oh and dance. Dance like Niko and Elsie. Rube Goldberg and dancing, can you ask for more in life?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Play-doh improvements

Scott — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:34:25 +0000

Niko is only interested in “cylinders” or “space boulders” when it comes to play-doh. And you can only have so many snowmen vs. worms battles before it gets pretty boring. So I have been trying to step up my Play-doh skills. Here are some I’ve had luck with beyond my original forms:

bowls of cereal – positive: easy to make, resembles ash tray from Home Economics so skill already acquired. Negative: when spilled, cereal quickly eaten by dog and/or easily ground into hardwood floor cracks & rugs.
Glass of… – this one just keeps on giving. Glass of water? How about orange juice? Hey, here is some grape juice? How about pomegranate? Time to learn about anti-oxidants.
Once you master the “glass of…” a nice variation is the martini. Plus it can be early training for “getting dad a drink.”
Once we got to the igloo things got a little out of control. I quit when he started asking for an eskimo.

Snowman

Scott — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 20:13:25 +0000

Painting the wall, guitars, and the perch

Scott — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 20:12:53 +0000

Ice

Scott — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 19:48:07 +0000

If we fell through the ice, I’m sure Sumo would have pulled us out.

On language: absorb and repeat

Scott — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 02:22:29 +0000

Niko has reached the age (three) where he is mixing things he hears us say a lot in with his standard vocabulary. I’m not sure he always understands what he is saying, but it certainly is a riot to hear him say it.

Examples:

You have got to be kidding me!?
For crying out loud!!
You’re always causing trouble dad
I’m a little bit shy

He also still struggles with his “th” words which is adorable:

Does anybody want to play wis me?
I sink I’m getting a little bit tired
What is dis?

Play-doh – all vision, no execution

Scott — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:35:42 +0000

Niko got a crazy amount of play-doh for christmas. When I see that many colors I think I should be able to build entire cities with it. Turns out my vision way exceeds my execution. Here is my entire repertoire of play-doh formations:

Snake
Pretzel (twist up the snake)
Ball
Snowman (three balls, stacked)
Pancake (flatten the ball/snowman)
Birthday cake (4-5 pancakes, stacked, with some giant candle like things that look more like tree trunks but could also be snakes)

I thought this limited set of options might be a problem until I realized Niko had no interest in actually shaping the play-doh. Anytime I would make something, he would ask me to make it back into a cylinder so he could organize them. I’m not good at organizing either. In fact, probably worse at organizing than making play-doh formations.

We switched to legos.

First ski

Scott — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 14:35:20 +0000

I’m a ski snob. There, I said it. A complete and total snob. This began at an early age. While I learned to ski on Michigan hills, I very quickly realized the glaciers had left us geographically challenged when it came to skiing. On the way home from our first ski trip to Colorado, I turned to my dad and precociously said, “How about we skip all the trips to MI ski areas and just go to CO once a year?” So I had always just assumed Niko’s first ski trip would be a Sladden/Richau affair and involve Vail or the equivalent. Jul recently pointed out that while this sounded like a great idea, perhaps we didn’t need to *wait* until we take a trip west. Chances are his first runs aren’t going to be tree skiing on the back bowls of Vail. Point Julie. So I left my snobbery at home and we took a quick trip to Mount Southington for his first ski lesson. There is something desperately adorable about bundling up a kid to go skiing. The necessary bulk added to keep them warm is so disproportionate to their size they end up looking and moving like a astronauts. My favorite part was the, “You are kidding right?” look on his face when we put him in his ski boots for the first time. (That’s right son, until you can afford to buy your own snowboard equipment, you are stuck in skis.) Overall the trip was a success. There were no bodily injuries and he didn’t end up hating skiing or me (both dangers of a first ski trip). The instructor was great and he had the two of us skiing together in no time, hula hoop and all. He did cry all the way down our final run, which ended up being a good time to stop for both of us. My thighs couldn’t have handled one more ten minute “deep squat” on the slowest rope tow of all time.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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