An alternative to TV

Next week is Screen-Free Week, so we are going to try to go without TV in our house starting Monday. We have a few outdoor activities planned (San Diego Zoo, for one), but it's not reasonable to spend the entire waking day outside, so I started thinking about the kinds of creative things we could do as a family. Then I saw Lily's paintings hanging on the wall.

We framed three of Lily's paintings that she did when she was about 8 or 9 months old. We did that so we would remember the fun she had smearing paint around and mixing up all the colors, and I started thinking that painting and art and creativity could end up becoming a lifestyle if we wanted it to.

Just like any other lifestyle choice, it takes consistent effort to make it a habit, but it also gets easier the more you do it.

So next week, I'm going to try not just to go without TV, but to spend more time painting with Lily. It isn't goinh to be a week focused on what we are giving up, but a week focused on how much we can create and accomplish if we choose to. I'm not good at painting, but my goal is to recapture the fun and creative energy that kids seem to have and adults seem to lose.

Have fun with your kids. Cheers!

Great Book for Arbor Day

April 27th is Arbor Day. A day to celebrate trees in all their oxygen-producing glory.

To support the cause, we read the book Big Bear Hug by Nicholas Oldland with Lily. Without giving away too much, it's about a bear who loves to hug trees. Sounds very hippy, I know, but it's very fun to read in the voice of Tom Bodett from the Motel 6 commercials.

Two years ago on Arbor Day, we called up the city of Orange Public Works department and requested trees to be planted on our parkway. We now have four trees provided by the city that will grow up alongside Lily as she continues to learn about how to take care of the Earth.

If you can't plant trees on Arbor Day, try to make it out to a park or nature center and take a walk under trees that have been alive at least two or three times as long as we have. You don't have to hug them, just appreciate them.

Cheers!

Easy Earth Day Project

So Earth Day is coming up on Sunday, and I wanted us to do something at home to help the Earth.  Lily loves to cut and glue, and she's good at it, so I thought it would be a good idea to label some recycling bins for different materials.  Well, she took total ownership of the project and labeled some of the extra trash cans we had around the house so that we can now separate our recyclables.  She even wants to do it again at Lolo and Lola's house (grandparents).

The dad in me thought "Man! This is the kind of project that could go on a resume."  Then I stopped thinking of turning my girl into an overachiever at three years old and let her relish in her task.  Lily was so proud of her work, as you can see in the picture, and I was very proud, too.  It's not a super creative project, but it's a step toward educating Lily about how to take care of the Earth.

There are lots of events going on this weekend for those of you interested in taking your kids or just going on your own.  Help take care of the Earth.

Cheers!

       

The Brightest Rose

I was going to write about the Earth Day project Lily did today, but then she did something that in my opinion was remarkable. She wrote (dictated while I wrote) her first poem, and it was for me and Heather. Lily titled it "The Brightest Rose", and I'm copying it with her permission below.


It's as sweet as a rose
And I love you so much.
And I sing for you,
And I love to write poems for you.
I love you Mommy and Daddy.

I will squeeze you so much,
And I will hug you so much,
And I will pick you a flower outside in our backyard,
And I love you Mommy and Daddy.


I count myself among the most fortunate of men to have such a thoughtful and clever girl.

It reminds me of something Shakespeare wrote:

"How much more praise deserv’d thy beauty’s use,
If thou couldst answer, “This fair child of mine
Shall sum my count, and make my old excuse,”
Proving his beauty by succession thine.
This were to be new made when thou art old,
And see thy blood warm when thou feel’st it cold."

Perhaps I speak from vanity, but I am very proud of the legacy I see in Lily. She makes the world a better place. I'm a lucky dad.

3:40 a.m.

I could complain that I'm awake at 3:40 a.m., but I'm not going to. It's quiet and cool, and I get to enjoy my thoughts while I patrol campus.

Some might consider these the dark hours when crime is afoot and bad guys abound. While my job is to deter these darker elements of society from committing their wrongs on our campus, I simultaneously notice the various flowers half-blooming under artificial light.

I recall "The Noble Nature" by Ben Jonson which reminds us that "In small proportions we just beauties see, and in short measures life may perfect be."

Cheers

Ch-ch-ch-changes

A lot has changed since my last entry. I am now a patrol officer at a local university. Some people think this means I'm a cop, but a lot more goes into being a cop than the prep work I did to get promoted.

That being said, at this time last year, I never would have thought that I'd be doing what I'm doing now. I had a feeling I wouldn't be teaching anymore. Not because I hated teaching, but because I hated all the politics of the public education culture. It was a game that I was bad at playing, regardless of my teaching abilities. Hence my departure from that realm.

Before you begin thinking this is a pity party, it's not. It's a statement about how fortunate I am to have a wife who is a master at social networking. It's a statement about how lucky I am to be in a position that I've wanted to be in my whole life... A job that I don't have to take home with me. A job that has a great retirement package. A job that allows me to go to school for free as long as I am an employee... A dream I've had since high school. I remember telling one of my high school teachers that I wanted to have as many letters after my name as possible. Now, by way of some unexpected turns of events, that dream is a reality.

On top of all this is the added bonus that in a few years, Heather and Lily get to go to school for free too. What more could a man ask for for his family?

Sure, I have to work some funky hours, but so far, that's been the worst part of my new job. If that's the worst of it, I can handle it. I'm less stressed than I've been in a long time, and now that I've completed my application, I'll be a college student again in a matter of a few months.

Lesson here: transitions may suck, but you never know what kinds of green pastures lay ahead. As the magnificent Monty Python troupe implores us, always look on the bright side of life.

Villanelle 11/26/11

This is my first villanelle since high school, so while criticism is welcome, please be gentle.  Cheers!

Follow thy bliss and learn all that you can

Read, discuss, and open up your mind

Do your own part to raise the race of man

Then look into your heart to understand

Your motives. Caution! Keep them true and kind;

Follow thy bliss and learn all that you can

Then breed some more of thee, per Nature’s plan,

In them your love and knowledge leave behind;

Do your own part to raise the race of man.

Strong Passion’s pushed us on since time began

But self-love must with reason be entwined

Follow thy bliss and learn all that you can

Err on the side of love throughout thy span

Both mind and heart teach wisdom when aligned

Do your own part to raise the race of man

Thy goal, dear friend, as o’er your life you scan

Shall be to say, “I kept man from decline.”

Follow thy bliss and learn all that you can;

Do your own part to raise the race of man.