My Dad

Things my dad does:

• Teaches me board games and usually lets me win
• Shows me 80's cartoons like Voltron and Transformers
• Builds Legos with me
• Chases me
• Wrestles me, now I know what a small package is
• Takes me on errands
• Shows me how to use tools
• Includes me when there are things to be fixed (e.g. the crawl space)
• Snuggles me
• Reads books to me
• Bathes me
• Walks me to school
• Goes with me on road trips
• Makes sure I know my extended family
• Challenges me with math problems
• Demonstrates how to do a proper push-up, so I can learn fitness
• Encourages me to run
• Sends me to great schools
• Attends birthday parties with me
• Takes me to church
• Teaches me how to 'share the peace'
• Lets me play with the iPhone
• Goes on bikes rides
• Signs me up for swim lessons
• Helps me brush my teeth
• Shows me how to draw
• Teaches me how to use color for visual interest

Lastly

Passes along Grandpa Nehring's teachings on God.  Never pushing or forcing me through the door to enlightenment - just shows me that the doors in open, shares the stories/teachings, and when I am want... I can enter.

Thanks Dad.

LTN

Happy Birthday Papa!

What a glorious day indeed.  Today, the man whom I can thank for providing me with at least 50% of the necessary genes for granting me life turned 39.  In the 5 years since my birth, I have had the pleasure of watching my father grow for a male full of spirit and spunk, to a man who places the future of his family as the highest priority.  He recently told me of a quote which he overheard, "God creates us as males, we choose to men."  I wish you well Papa on your continued journey to be a man.

Love and long life,

LTN

Thank God I'm a country boy

You know you are a second class citizen when your family turns on you. Imagine that you are having the time of your life playing in a creek and your caretaker comes over and says, "give me your shirt". Pardon me? "Give me your shirt now.", they repeat. These people have never done you wrong, so you hand over 50% of your clothing without question. Only to learn that your shirt will now he used to blanket another person who already had a shirt. That other person wasn't careful with their clothing and fell into the river - hence the need for a shirt. So there you stand 1/2 naked looking like something the cat dragged in. The only plus side us that you will not have to worry about a farmers tan.

Thank God I'm a country boy.

Dad is back!

My dad has been missing. For two years he has been taking classes at Northwestern University. This has dominated his weekend evenings and one night a week I don't see him at all. Well, I am happy to share that he is back. He finished up his last class and will be available for summer fun. It is great to know that he can now focus some extra play time with my sister and I.

Welcome back Dad. We are proud of you.

LTN

Happy Mother's Day

This was a great day!  I got to wake up and play Legos.  Go shopping for rain boots with my mom and then later split a pizza.  Plant some flowers in the backyard with her and then then after a quick nap head downtown.  That was sweet!  He checked out my dad's office, with video games, amazing views and an endless supply of candy.  We then headed into the park to run and play.  Finally, we finished it up with take out dinner for Mariano's.

I dare say that mother's day might be better than even my own birthday.

LTN

School Time

I hear lots of talk around my parent's house about the upcoming school year.  It appears that my run as a young man enjoying preschool is coming to an end.  There is a transition coming to my life, it is called Kindergarten.  It must be the biggest decision a little boy can make in their life, because my parents talk about it all the time.  They talk about private school, public school, magnet school, school performance numbers, etc. They even go so far as talk about moving just so I can attend a kindergarden that has a 5% increase is government issued and mandated testing.  I don't know how to break it to them that I do not trust the government to mandate what is best for my life. 

I am a bit worried about my parents, if they put this much effort into selecting a kindergarten how is it going to be when I start select colleges for myself.  Lord knows they are going to have serious opinions about where I attend school, even if most of schooling is based on how much effort you put into it and not some numbers on a spreadsheet.

Wish me luck.

LTN

First Theater Show

Tonight I had an amazing experience. I had the opportunity to attend my first musical at New Trier high school in Winnetka, IL. The show was Disney's Beauty and the Beast, which is a movie I have watched on DVD. The theatrical performance was much better. Of course there is a major problem with the theater; being only 3+ feet tall I have to sit on my fathers lap in order to see the stage. You would think New Trier high school would have booster seats readily available for little guys.

Snugs

I'll give my little sister one thing. When she is not hitting me, yelling 'mine' at me, or stealing my toys, she can be fun to hang out with. I even enjoy when we share a snack. Mom and Dad think it is sweet how she will cuddle me. They don't realize that it makes my arm fall asleep.

LT

A = F/m

So acceleration equals force divided by mass. In order for an object to be classified as accelerating it must be increasing in velocity.

As far as I can tell, snow sledding is a constant acceleration right up to the point where you crash.

First of all there is snow. Snow as you normally think about it is described as puffy and light. You imagine the flakes lightly covering your body as it descends like a winter blanket.

Sledding snow is not this. Sledding snow is firm, packed down by the sea of children who descended the hill prior to your arrival. If fresh snow is a winter blanket, then mid-day sledding snow is your wet bathroom tile. Ready to causes you to slip at any moment.

Acceleration takes into account mass. Now something horrible happens when you combine a 38 pound child, with a 205 pound daddy; the mass, once it has reached maximum velocity, then to want to remain in motion. That same mass also decides to kick up snow all over the place, and by all over the place I mean directly on your young unexpected face.

You see, upon reaching the bottom of the hill your face will be indistinguishable from a Snoppy snow cone. In essence a jet engine blasts snow into your face as it is forcefully ejected from the ground by all the mass on the sled.

This is no way to spend an afternoon.

After three runs, I informed my father that I do not enjoy sledding and would prefer to go indoors. If you look closely at the rim of my hood you will notice the remains of the snow that was previously on the mountain, but which had decided to relocate to my face.

Perhaps I will try this extreme sport again, after I master less dangerous activities such as base jumping and sky diving.

Feels like spring

Winter is this amazing time of year where there is snow on the ground, water freezes up, snowman appear daily and the whole city is draped with a white blanket. This year winter has not arrived. What we have been receiving instead is an early preview of Spring. Today, in the middle of January, the temperature was 45 degrees. This has afforded my sister and I the opportunity to investigate some new parks in order to assure they meet the highest standards. This also provides me with extra outdoor time to jump, run and generally wreak havoc.

As for the other person in the photo, my dad says she has to be there to balance out the weight on the teeter-totter.

Brushing Up on Vader

Over my holiday break I had the chance to stay at a friend's home. This friend happened to have a library full of children's books. Turns out that my friend is a speech therapist and works with kids on their reading. Of all the subjects on her shelf there was one in particular that caught my eye, Darth Vader. Over the next week I was inseparable from this book. I would ask my folks to read it to me nightly, which was no small chore since it is 50 pages long. When my folks were not reading me the book, I would scan through it myself. The only time I put it down was when we had to leave my friends house and Lord Vader had to remain behind.

Do you have a favorite book, if so I would love to hear about it.

LTN.