The Terrible Two's.

One of the things I am most fascinated by, is the growth and development of Apollo's young mind. He is truly  like a sponge soaking up massive amounts of information; smells, sounds, sights, the formation of sounds into words, the use of words to communicate, structuring words into sentences, and developing and refining motor skills. 
  I am amazed at how much he can take in and how he is so in tune with everything. We forget as we grow older, how to enjoy all that is around us, indulge our senses, and to look at everything as if it is the first time you have seen it. I know that having Apollo has helped me reconnect with this part of myself that has been lost for possibly decades. The way he looks at all the things I have grown to take for granted, i.e., the moon, stars, rain, snow, sand, water, etc, and the ensuing "ooooh!" and "aaaaaaah!" and "what's that" as he points, has forced me to stop and take a second look, and to be once again...fascinated.
 In contrast, it can be very painful watching the personality traits develop, be augmented by a two year olds' heightened emotions, expressed in a public place, with complete disregard to the fact that you are surrounded by dozens of people. Suddenly you realize; "my kid, has become  'That kid'."
  What could you expect. Apollo inherited his moms explosiveness and fit throwing, coupled by my ability to hold a grudge, and compound that with extreme stubbornness from both of us, oh, and don't let me forget that he learned from our (I really mean Melanie's) parrots how to scream at the top of his lungs in the highest pitch that he can, repeatedly, and you have the perfect recipe for an extreme scene.
  Yes, this is happening. The first time was last weekend when we met some friends from Oregon at In-n-Out burger as they were just pulling into town after a 9 hour car ride. As always, the place was packed, and loud from all the raised voices trying to talk to one another. The stage was set; first, we throw ourselves to the floor, bury our face in our hands, and start whining. We then raise our head a bit to see if we are getting the reaction that we wanted. We then step up our game. Lets throw in some high pitched blood curdling screams, and start kicking and screaming....Aaaaaaaah, that's doing the trick!
  Yeah, the place got pretty quiet. People were turning around to see what was going on. Employees from the back of the restaurant came to the front to see who was screaming. Melanie just went on with her conversation and ignored him and I, being the great dad that I am, started laughing. I couldn't leave him there to ruin every ones dinner, so I scooped him up from the floor, held him out in front of me just under his arms and headed for the door. Apollo was arching his back, kicking his legs back and forth so fast, that he looked like the Roadrunner at top speed, and screaming his high pitched"EEEEEEEE!!!EEEEEEEEE!!!!EEEEEE!!!", the whole way.
  When we got outside, the 30 or so patrons out there, were equally impressed with this display, of completely unbridled emotion. You could have heard a pin drop outside. Thankfully, one understanding mother seated outside with her 3 children under the age of 6, broke the silence and busted out in laughter as if to say "Thank god, I am not the only one!"
  This past week has brought a few of these wonderful episodes. The terrible twos have definitely begun. As if this isn't bad enough, our teens have both finally hit their terrible twos as well! Okay, maybe take away the public displays, and the rest is not that far off.
  Apollo is actually very enjoyable and charming most of the time, and incredibly sweet. Hopefully, we get through this emotional transition phase unscathed before daddy has to start drinking again.

And so it begins...

I know that all my ranting and raving about Apollo is probably making some of you a little sick. I know that I make Apollo sound perfect, and to me he is, but I thought I would share a little insight into a "not so typical" yet not entirely uncommon day.I copied a few emails from this past Friday, that Melanie had sent to me over the space of an hour. I have to tell you that I was laughing so hard at these, but I know Melly was about to have a melt down during this time. My narrative comments will be inside of quotations"" and in bold print.
Friday 11:46am
Um, yes life in the baby fast lane is glorious!
So far today we've had no fewer than 8 tantrums (on the floor face down!) Apollo NOT me! "notice how she had to clarify?"
and we have gone thru 4 pairs of underware and had no potty in the actual potty.
I have had to steam clean the side of our mattress and the floor.
I have had to cook eggs then re-cook them as Apollo had a cow that the yellows were not cooked enough.
OMG !!
I have had to pick all of the 'icky's' off every bit of pear (you know how the core is stringy?) "Please see my last post! ;)"
Want me to keep going? "But of course I do!"
I had to scrub out the bath tub because it was too gross for me to consider letting him bath in it and he was in convulsions about the show wee..."Show-wee=how Apollo says shower"
Oh! and pretty much all of his toys are making him 'mad' today...
11:58 am
lets add getting peed on and steam cleaning the couch to that list...
12:10 pm
You ("meaning, yours truly")would have given up hours ago and left all the steam cleaning to me and all the peed panties on the floor and he'd be in a diaper. "Thanks for the vote of confidence Mel!"
12:36 pm
No, I am not making this up... he just fell in the pond!
"Terrible two's? or just a stir crazy mom? Probably a little bit of both."

Happy Birthday Apollo!

WOW!!! 2 years old! Where did the last two years go? It is truly amazing how fast time goes by as we get older, throw a baby in the mix and it goes twice as fast.
As I ponder my favorite moments of the last two years, so many come to mind. Of course my most favorite moments are the ones that happened today; meaning everyday. Right now, I am very impressed how Apollo is learning several words a day. He has realized that everything has a name and he wants to know what that name is. Emotions now run very deep. It does not take much to break this little guys heart. "No" will most certainly bring a melt down anytime, anyplace, and anywhere. On the flip side, hugs and cuddles accompanied with "aaaaahhhhhh", are abundant.
What I find most amazing are the things that I believe to be genetically encoded; behaviors that he has inherited from both his mother and myself. Even more remarkable is the fact that some of the behaviors that I see in Apollo, are behaviors that I developed as an adult, and I am sure that the same is true for Melly. Which brings up some really good questions; How is it that he inherited these traits that seem to be nurture as opposed to nature, in his mother and I? Does this encoding get programmed into our genome as we grow, or are these traits dormant in us and only manifest as we age but are prominent in our offspring early on? Oh sure, one could argue that he is picking up on our behaviors now like Mels fits and my grudges, but what I am talking about are things that he has not seen or could not know, i.e. the way I do not like mixing my foods together. I like to take one bite of one type of food at a time. I don't like to take a scoop of beans and a scoop of rice in the same bite. I would never put a bite of egg with a bite of pancake or even bacon for that mater. Guess who is the same way? Yup, my little man does not like mixing anything! and it drives his mom crazy! Melly mixes everything. No bite should be taken without two or more items from the plate on your fork. You want to see a fit?, just put two different types of fruit on a fork and try to serve it to Apollo, or scoop up a piece of cake and try to scoop up some extra frosting on it. This is pure joy for me and absolute misery for his mom.
Another trait of mine that I see in him is that if someone hands him something like his bottle or MP3 player, when he is done, he only wants to give it back the person that gave it to him.
I could go on and on, but you get the picture.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY APOLLO! I LOVE YOU!

The Outdoor Classroom.

I love the ocean. I will take a tropical beach over any other climate on this earth. Even the cold and stormy beaches of Northern California and Oregon have a powerful beauty that I am drawn to. I am always fascinated by the unusual and abundant life in the ocean. One of my favorite things about living in Santa Rosa, is that the ocean is 40 minutes away, and the country side that you drive through to get there is beautiful.
Reliving the excitement of discovery through the eyes of a toddler is priceless. Apollo has a love for all things living. The smaller the better. "Hi guy!" is how he greats any small critter...even spiders!

Recently, we spent a gorgeous spring day, at one of the local beaches. It was non-stop entertainment for my little man; there was sand and rocks to throw, shells to find, pieces of mother of pearl, perfectly polished by the sand and surf that always brought an "Ooooooooooh!", and then there was the critters.

We saw birds, squirrels, lizards, crabs, and snakes! Yes more than one snake! And of course the tide pools were our own personal petting zoo. Star fish, sun stars, hermit crabs,and little fishes. By the way, Sun stars taste like chicken! Who knew! Just kidding. But the mussels were delicious!

The Golden Rule

I grew up in the era where parents ruled with an iron fist. You made your parents mad; you got spanked. You talked back; you got smacked. You did something bad; you got whipped. I didn't have it as bad as some of my Greek cousins though. You have never been beat until you have been beaten "Greek Style". I have often told our teens while they were growing up, that if they got out of line, I would beat them "Greek style". A Greek style beating, as I vividly remember it: You do something that makes your parent mad, usually your mother, you were then smacked one to three times across the face or head, once you started crying, then you were smacked on the face, butt, arms, legs, and back repeatedly until you stopped crying!All the while be screamed at in Greek; "Skase! Skase Vre!" Meaning- Shut up! You see, you got the second part of the beating just for crying, and it didn't matter if you were in a public place or not. Nobody ever called the police either. I am sure the other parents were thinking "I am sure that kid deserved it".
How is it then that Generation Y, thinks everything their parents tell them is negotiable, chores are optional, being grounded means you don't get to hang out in your room playing video games but instead you hang out with you parents more and try to be as annoying as possible. What the hell! Where have the good ol' days gone. When I was grounded, I was too mad to hang out with mom and dad. Okay, so maybe my house hold is unique, as our teens aren't your normal teens, but seriously enough already. Now we have a toddler in the home and teenagers.
What you tried the first time around didn't work out so well, so...lets get back to the basics; The golden rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Hey, what a great way to teach your toddler! Lets teach him not to throw sand at people by throwing sand back at him....in his face! Ha! Fail! That just made it so much more fun. And yes, Apollo thought it was HILARIOUS! We had about a 45 minute sand fight, which consisted mostly of us running from the little monster as he screamed with delight at each hand full of sand he threw at us. I haven't looked, but I am sure Apollo has sand in his poop!

Dancing with Apollo!

About a year ago I made a little video of Apollo dancing before he could even walk. I used the same music as I did in this dancing video, partly because it is a fun little dance song and partly because I already had the song on my computer ready to go. You will see his sweet dance moves have come a long way. There is some extreme interpretive dancing going on with Apollo and his friend Kaelyn. Apollo is really taking notes and trying out some of his new found moves. At the beginning of the video, Apollo is supposed to be preforming a number with a group of kids from his nursery. I don't think he wanted to share the dancing spotlight with anyone...except Kaelyn of course. Make sure you watch until the end for the grand finally!

Future Rockstar!

Apollos first gig! What more can I say?...Enjoy!