The second I think Jax is finally down for a nap: 
Literally an hours worth of this. I guess two- years 11 months is the cut off for naps for this little guy.
Author Archives: Peter
Wailing- According to Webster’s Dictionary
This kid is pretty cute when he isn’t wailing like a banshee.
#Wailing –verb: 1. To make a long, loud, high-pitched cry, as in grief, sorrow, or fear. See Synonyms at cry. 2. To make a prolonged, high-pitched sound suggestive of a cry: 3. Otherwise see Oliver from 9pm-5am.
Although I have to give the little guy a shout out… he slept most of the night last night. Fussy, but for the most part slept well.
It was the other creature who was up all night. Not sure what to make of a there year old getting up at 1am, 3am and 4am asking for yougurt and juice box!???
So Much Room for Activities
Meanwhile since 11:00am in Oliver time:
Which can only mean he will be wide awake and ready for activities from approximately 9:00pm until most normal humans wake up for breakfast.
Basketball Bloopers
What I just witnessed was a disaster. It was literally such a hot mess that it was funny. It was one of those situations where you can’t even get upset. You just have to laugh.
Toddler Mini Hoops: just the name elicits feelings of joy and happiness… should be a morning full of smiles and laughs while daddy and son sit criss- cross -applesauce and roll the ball back and forth to each other. Maybe a few practice passes and the opportunity to shoot a granny shot or two.
I know my career path has allowed me to study and research developmental milestones of child development and age appropriate activities for children, however I’d like to think that for the most part it’s pretty much common sense when it comes to most things you would ask a toddler to do.
I’m not even talking about age appropriate skills related to a particular sport. I’m talking about simple aspects of everyday life. Like the amount of time you might ask a three year old to attend to a task and more specifically related to today’s incident… how long you ask a child to sit and listen to an aging middle school JV basketball coach while sitting down silently. Listen folks, I’m an elementary school principal, I’m 37 years old and I can’t do any of the above for more than four minutes and that’s even pushing it. As a former Division 1 track and field hurdler I get the difficulty that comes with being an athlete and the work and effort that comes with improving your craft, but this was ridiculous.
There is no way my “active” (that’s an understatement) can sit quietly while listening to Phil Jackson’s understudy explain the rationale behind using a chest-pass instead of a bounce-pass. Not yet, at least. We’re not there yet. We are at, “here’s how you hold a basketball and let’s try to bounce it back and forth without doing summersaults, licking the gym mats,” or maybe even how about we just complete a two hand dribble and catch with out stopping to lick the floor. How’s that sound?!??!
With jaws on the floor we all listened to Coach Auriemma describe the flight path and correct backspin on a bounce pass needed to hit your teammate in stride on a backdoor cut to the basket. All this occurring while my child was running laps around the out side of the gym. Jackson did successfully however steal the ball from the coach without fouling him while he was explaining the children’s homework for the week. I was impressed with the defensive ability of the kid as he swiped the ball from the coaches side, dribbled it with his feet and kicked it into a stray soccer goal off to the side of the hoops. (Followed by the Fragola shirt pull over the head while running around yelling “GOOOAAAAALLLLLL!!!!” (Wrong sport bud).
”Basketball on three… ONE, TWO, THREE”
Two Months
Oliver Peter: March 31 Two Months Old
- 12lbs 2oz (75th Percentile)
- 23″ long (75th Percentile)
- Sleeps most of the day
- Completely nocturnal
- Witching hour(S) from 9pm-5am
- Likes Tummy Time
- Holds his neck up
- Hips checked out OK after being breeched
- Not a fan of having his eyes poked out by his big brother
- Loves his bath chair, hates the bath faucet
- Snores, squeaks, squeels and screams
- CAN.NOT.KEEP.THE.PACIFIER.IN.HIS.MOUTH.
Hubris
Me after listening to eight hours of crying
I thought I had this parenting thing all figured a while back when Jackson hit a groove and was easing up on requiring parental services for every part of this life. When the new guy came along we hit our stride pretty quickly and got a routine up and running the minute we were home from the hospital. For the first few weeks, the baby would sleep in the doc-a-tot thing or even in the Rock and play. I had no worries of long sleepless nights and knew once Oliver checked out A-OK for allergies this was going to be a piece of cake.
I had False visions of a snoring little bundle of joy, peacefully dreaming while I watched his little face smiling back at me. I’d be able to look over emails and complete teacher observation write-ups. I’d be able to binge watch on Netflix and get back to writing on a more consistent basis. Heck I’d even maybe up my to reading a more than two books a month.
That was until I realized that my son was being possessed by Voldemort… before I came to the conclusion that he was housing a piece of Voldemort’s souls inside him… before I spent eight straight hours bouncing, walking, soothing, or rocking this evil little dark wizard from 9-5pm every night… before I heard the decibels of screaming that this child’s tiny voice box could produce… before I went three straight weeks with little to no sleep.
And you know what… that’s my bad. I shouldn’t have been so cocky. I shouldn’t have counted my eggs before they hatched. I should have banked as much sleep as I could early on. And that’s what happens when you fly too close to the sun. Too much confidence will “melt the wax on your wings” and send you to a certain death. It happened to Icarus and its now happened to me.
Olympic Training
First day with no accidents… this kid is hitting the potty training like he’s a Gold Medal Olympian.
Unreal, to think we’re almost out of diapers with one and then still have another three years of diapers to go with the other!
Mr. McGibletts Makes a Comeback
Mr. McGibletts was a household favorite back in the day. He’s been through a lot. He’s been puked on… peed on… and I’m pretty sure both dogs have chewed on him as well. He’s been to Cape Cod, Newport, hung from the back of his head in the garage during winter and for a long period of time he was stored quietly in the attic… but he keeps coming back for more!
2014 McGibletts:
2017 McGibletts:
PS: How scary is “the real” Mr. McGibletts?!??! 
Five Star General
Let’s be honest here parenting two children is literally like having 12. It’s like being the general of the Continental Army… A bunch of completely untrained, extremely energetic, very hungry, needy and ill prepared people in an environment of utter chaos, screaming, injuries and bodily fluids.
I’m not going to sit here and say I had some incredibly tough upbringing or that I know the trials and tribulations that some families go through… But as an educator for the past almost 20 years and as a former Division 1 College athlete who functioned at high levels both in the classroom and on the track with little to no sleep and performed under an incredible amount of stress… I can honestly say that compares in no way to being a parent of multiple children.
There’s a never ending need for your services… Which in all reality it’s something I expected and was as well prepared as I could be for. However it’s the fact that there truly is no time to even go to the bathroom, or eat something let alone make something to eat, and forget showering. The house is jam packed with baby holding apparatuses of every shape and size. There are enough toys here (that no one plays with) to make even Geoffrey the Giraffe jealous. I’ve claimed approximately a 6square foot of floor space to sleep on, or at least rest on.
The claim that parenting is hard no matter what is a lie. One kid was like a walk in the park. Even when we were actual walking in the park, it was like a walk in the park figuratively. Two kids is like going to battle. Waking up (if you even call it waking up) is a constant war between good and evil. It’s chasing dogs who are eating dirty diapers and spreading bacitracin and butt cream in crack and crevasses that I didn’t even know existed. It’s walking through a mine field of Legos, magnetic letters and pacifiers. You have to look around at every corner… plain and simple you’ve got to keep your head on a swivel at all times.
And just when you think you’ve got a handle on things… someone poops in their pants. My washer and dryer is working overtime these days. I’m not sure either one will make it to see 2018. But I guess that’s it… you have to take the good with the bad. Because for every scream filled night there’s a few quiet times that look like this: 
Mini Monet V
Finally the genius, the minuture artistic savant of abstract painting has taken some time out of his busy schedule to paint himself something for once.
No fanfare… no time lapse video… just the finished creation blending artistic vision and artistic ability with the fact that his parents think that everything he does is amazing and you have a genuine masterpiece:
Sorry Sons: Chronicles of a New Dad 