"I'm going to poop and ride my bike everyday!"

Yet another classic line from Milo...

Yesterday Milo asked if he could ride his bike on the sidewalk. This is a bit of a treat for him since we only allow it as an incentive for good behavior. However, Monday was a little rough in that Milo had not one but two accidents that each happened after he was prompted to go to the bathroom.

I told Milo that we needed to work on the potty thing... and that if he went all day tomorrow without an accident he could ride his bike as a reward.

To encourage him, I asked "Milo, are you excited about getting to ride your bike tomorrow if you go poo on the potty?"

His response was "Yeah! I'm going poop and ride my bike everyday!"
For the record... he made it today!

"Awesome, I remember I put that there!"

So I was doing some cleaning and decided to sweep off the dust bunnies on the AC vent in our hallway. Of course, it's pretty normal for me to find a Hot Wheels car or some significant toy piece that's been MIA for several months whenever I pry behind or under anything that hasn't been moved in awhile... like a couch, dishwasher, or something like that.

This is why I wasn't all that surprised when I unscrewed the last screw that was holding the vent in place and found Milo's little red toy wrench on the floor behind it. Milo at some point must have slid it through the space between the vents and forgot to tell anyone about it.

When Milo saw the toy, he pointed and said "Awesome, I remember I put that there!"

Milo has technically lived in six different apartments in his short life. I wonder how may other surprises he's left for people over the years?

Joey, eat your food at the table!

There's one tell-tale sign that Joey is trying to get away with something... it's whenever he looks at you.

Joey has the hampster-style eating thing down pretty well. That is, he'll often store food in his cheeks (or pouches if you will) long after dinner is over. So it's not unusual to find him spitting out corn 45 minutes after we've finished eating. Or he'll leave the table abruptly and walk around the house with a mouthful of partially chewed food. Neither of these activities are probably endorsed by our pediatrician.

After today's lunch I happened to notice that Joey hadn't opened his mouth in awhile... it finally hit me... Perhaps there is a reason his mouth is closed!

My investigation revealed one finding. French Fries.

Joey let me change his stinky diaper while keeping a mouthful of french fry mush hidden the whole time.

Maybe I'm not the observant parent I thought I was.

No story, just a cute pic

Drive all night...

You can drive all over Austin, looking for something that will feed the whole family for under $15.

And you end up, per request, at "Slooper Salat."

Cheers to the Biker Waitress and the ice cream cone machine!

Milo Good, Professional Voice-Over Talent

I think it's possible that Milo may be watching too much TV.

As an advertising professional, I tend to pay close attention to what is on the television. As a parent, I have concerns about ads that may mislead children or unfairly target them. (However, anything that just makes a kid really want a toy to the point of screaming... is totally fair game)

While I've been able to impress peers with a vast cache of jingles and commercials dating to times prior to my birth, Milo may just have topped me.

This weekend while we were watching TV, a pharmaceutical ad for a bladder control prescription drug aired. The first two seconds featured a fidgeting woman attempting to get comfortable while sitting in an airplane seat. Before the actual narration began, Milo popped in with his own words, mimicking the same tone of a commercial voice-over professional -

"Do you not feel good sometimes?"

He's got the pipes and copywriting skills... he'll do quite well in the ad biz...

In Honor of Mothers' Day

Yes, the boys can be stressful. They always make up for it on the good end, but they have the power to test our limits as parents and human beings whenever they feel like it.

Where does this come from? Let's see... .where could possibly pick up on a desire to give their parents grief?

In analyzing this question, it didn't take long for me to realize the source.

Before I passed the age of five, I had been guilty of the following offenses:

1. Wandering into traffic on a major roadway. (was saved by a neighbor who blocked traffic with his car to protect me from getting hit)

2. Being hit by a car while crossing the highway on my bike. (the first words out of my brother's mouth were 'It's not my fault!')

3. Climbing part-way into the monkey cage at the zoo. (don't remember this but my mother can testify)

4. Eating the neighbor's dog food. (because the dog ate my ice cream cone - yes, I even recall my justification)

5. Doing a backflip off the diving board at swimming lessons. (guessing I was proving that I didn't need my floaties)

6. And let's not forget the 'Kitty Tired' story.

So having all this plus the knowledge that my parents had a custom harness made for me.... I have to accept that at the very least, my boys are capable of 50% of these actions.

In reality, it's Irene who deserves the most credit in our house... She's here because she knows I couldn't make it without her help as Milo & Joey's loving and extremely patient mother.

Happy Mother's Day Irene!

Love,

Mark

PS - Irene.. just a heads up. In the 6th grade I got a 'C-' in conduct.

We're so "Metropolitan"

Yesterday was "Puppet Day" at the Austin Museum of Arts. Being the ultra-hip parents that we are, we took the boys downtown to participate.

We all made things. The only "puppet" was something Mark made, all the rest of the art was immobile, free-standing art-ish figures.

Milo sat around complaining that Joey was taking his "eyeballs." Joey ran around sucking on some craft foam, and I was in heaven, operating a small, pink glue gun.

It was fun, it was dangerous, it was all a family could want in an afternoon of art (for $7.00).

Dear Lord, What Have We Done?

The boys were being a little rowdy last night, after we put them to bed.

I checked on them, as they were making little beds on the ground. I just told them to get to sleep.

Time passed. Then, some giggling- I opened the door, threw up the light switch, and screamed-

"What the hell?!"

Turns out Milo thought it would be AWESOME to unzip the futon we were storing under the bed and pull out the bedding.

Yeah, this AND the bathroom incident have made me run to work for solace...

New Definition of 'Powder' Room

Somehow last night Milo and Joey decided to do a 2nd re-enactment of 'Scarface.'

I was in the shower and Irene heard some noised coming from the boys' bathroom. Now, I must state that this picture in now way does justice to the mess the boys actually made... Seriously, wiping up baby powder and liquid soap? That's as good as TP'ing a house before a light rain!

However, it the mayhem, poor little Joey must have decided to take a nap. When Irene opened the door, he was passed out on the floor.

He wasn't hurt... but that much baby powder would probably do something to a person in over a period of time...

We laughed, we cried... we cleaned up the mess... all part of being a parent!