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August 2, 2013

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My Pop

Sometimes when my mom sees how involved I am with taking care of my kids, she will say something to my dad about how he did not change the diapers, or something along those lines, when my brother and I were babies. My dad was the breadwinner of our family, so naturally he did not do as much of the dirty work with parenting as my mother did. Sometimes though, I think she does not give him enough credit. I have no memory and no idea about who changed all the diapers, but I do have photographic evidence that my dad was an active and involved dad. In this picture, my dad, Patrick James Augustine, is feeding me. I am, according to the back of the picture, nine months old here. Not too far from the age that Tsunami is currently. I have plenty of other photographic evidence that my dad was involved in my brother and my childhood as well, but not even this picture is needed in reality. There is no way that I would be near the dad I am today without him. He showed me a lot of things

Kid on a Leash

Has anyone seen these kid leash products around? Sometimes I see them at the zoo, farmers market, or other crowded areas. If a company can make a product that will make a parent feel a little bit safer, there will always be people out there to buy it. When I see one, it reminds me of that scene in Rise of the Planet of the Apes when a leashed Caesar sees a dog on a leash and turns to Will and signs, "Am I a pet?" The idea of the product is that it will keep the child safe and nearby. It is designed to subside the fear that a child will run off or get abducted. I think that if someone is out to abduct a child during the few seconds when a parent is looking away, a leash is a very small deterrent, and likely, not effective. All the abductor would need is a nice pair of scissors or simply their fingers. The latch cannot be that hard to work. If anything, having a leash might give a parent a false sense of security causing them to pay less attention to the child. In that case it

Too Clean

One day a couple years ago, while Chris and I were waiting in the checkout line at Target, she noticed that many parents were using a protective lining in the shopping carts. She asked me why I do not have one of those for Jupiter. I half joked that I was trying to boost his immune system, and she and the checkout clerk had a laugh about it. I was only half joking though, because some people really do try to keep their kids in way too sterile of an environment, in my opinion. I think it is a good thing to spread some germs around a bit to keep the immune system on its toes. I do not want my kids immune system to be so weak that they get deathly ill every time they come into contact with another sick kid. Jupiter does not get sick all that often. We have three dogs, sometimes we think that may be a contributing factor. If there is anything that spreads the nasty stuff around the house, it is dogs. I also do not freak out if the kids pick up something off the floor and put it in their m