Thingamababy

A Random Act of Reddit

AJ — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 20:25:07 +0000

tl;dr: Users of Reddit.com funded the purchase of 2,100 children’s books for a “free bookstore” I started at my daughter’s elementary school. Students are motivated in their classwork by earning a visit to choose a free book and struggling students receive special encouragement. Reddit’s generosity arrived at a pivotal time as the bookstore idea was [...]

Athletic Shoes for Increasing your Sperm Motility

AJ — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 17:32:21 +0000

I guess the message your Gravity Defyer athletic shoes conveys to the ladies is that your boys can swim. Side note: You’ll find the darnedest things when buying used copies of National Geographic at a yard sale in a gambit to get your daughter excited about geography.

You Ruined Everything

AJ — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:18:53 +0000

Song by Jonathan Coulton [bio]

Two quotes, different children

AJ — Thu, 19 May 2011 03:53:47 +0000

My 3-year-old son is playing on the hard floor of our living room with a wooden train set. “Mama, I see an ant!” [Mom is walking in from another room.] “We need to make it dead.” [He smashes the ant with a train.] “Mama, we have to take it outside so it’s not dead in our house.” [Side note: Although he [...]

Anthem to Parenthood

AJ — Wed, 11 May 2011 14:04:31 +0000

This came to mind while communicating with a new parent who adopted a child from a troubled background. In short, there are lots of highs and lows and uncertainties as they bond and the past comes flooding out in tears. A phrase in the conversation caught my attention, “us being new parents and all.” I said, [...]

A father’s last post

AJ — Wed, 04 May 2011 19:50:50 +0000

Derek K. Miller of Burnaby, Vancouver, Canada – Father, husband, writer, editor, musician, photographer, blogger. See related: The Last Lecture.

Vampires are Real

AJ — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 02:28:43 +0000

With the Easter Bunny’s arrival today, we decided to quiz our 6-year-old daughter about fact versus fantasy in what we dubbed a Truth Deciding List. Each item on the list had three columns in which to place an X for real, fantasy or unknown. Here are her answers: Real Desk fairies* Fairies Flying reindeer Gnomes Santa Claus Vampires *Desk fairies periodically visit her [...]

They grow so fast

AJ — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 14:28:08 +0000

Yearbook photos are taken in the fall. These are our spring photos. Her teacher this year asked via e-mail: What is the reason for the robot helmet? When we take the class photo I would like for her not to have it on. I replied: Whoops, sorry for the confusion. The helmet is only for the [...]

Super Hero Santa Witch

AJ — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 05:06:17 +0000

…his idea, including using the ‘blanket’ from his toddler picnic basket as a cape.

I don’t care who started it

AJ — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 19:14:06 +0000

“Both of you, time-out. I don’t care who started it.” Saying you don’t care who started it tells me you don’t care about my personal actions. I can do wrong and get away with it because you’ll punish both me and my victim, which is to my advantage because my victim gets punished first by me [...]