A Pictoral Review of Recent Happenings

 Better late than never. Here's a montage of photos of our goings on over the last few weeks. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Forget all of the living ones, Declan took a picture of a dead one.

Butterfly bushes are torturous for cats when they're right outside the window.

This guy almost got stepped on b/c he was warming up on the walkway at night.

Lil man earned his green belt. Awesome job, bud.

"What? The world's in peril? I eat peril for breakfast--one spoonful at a time."

Lil man LOVES taking pics of his toys and animals. We seem to have an entire catalog of his belongings.

Classic!! Right after the cat whacked him.

Two of the people that make things worth while. :)

The pen people hope you enjoyed your stay!! Til next time!

He got me!

Lil man is turning in to quite the budding artist. While were out enjoying a nice Saturday lunch, he decided to draw me. And I must say...he's getting good.

Mr. McPiddlefingers

[Legacy Post- Originally posted 10/08]

Tonight is the weekly, ever-anticipated Family Fun Night here at the Swarr household.

After we got home we made dinner and decided to play a board game while we ate. The game's called Frustration. It's a knock of the Milton Bradley game, Trouble. We just got it this past weekend at a consignment shop and little man loves it.

So there we were, playing and munching on the living room floor, when the smallest of our number began to wiggle around with his legs crossed. Maribeth, using her acute powers of observation asked, "Declan, do you need to go to the potty?"

"Mm hmm," was little man's reply. And with that he stood up and ran off to the bathroom.

We could hear everything from where we were. We heard the seat lift, his pants unsnap and get pulled down. The 4 second stream of whiz...

Then...Silence. A good 6 seconds of silence.

"Declan?"

"Whaaat?" came a little sing-song voice.

"What are you doing?"

"Um. Washing my hands," he said with a hint of that oh-crap-I'm-busted tone.

"I didn't hear the sink," Maribeth said as she got up and made her way to the bathroom, "did you wash your hands in the potty?"

"Um. Mm hmm," was his meek response.

"C'mon. Over to the sink. You have to wash your hands," Maribeth said.






"...but I already did..."



I love Family Fun Night.

Outsmarted by a man half my size!!

[Legacy post- Originally posted 11/08]

I love to talk to little man when I take him to school in the mornings. Obviously because he's my son, but mainly because you never know what he's gonna say. Case in point:

This morning for instance, I tried my hand getting him to see things in different perspectives. We were driving by a pond and I accidentally called it a lake. But that got me thinking...how he views a tiny puddle is different than how an ant would view that same puddle. Seemingly pointless information, but it may give him something to think about; analytical thinking is high on my importance list for him. So the conversation went as follows:

Me: "Declan? Did you ever think about how a small puddle would look to an even smaller ant?"

Declan: "No."

Me: "Well...let's say you're standing near a tiny puddle. And because you're so big, it's just a tiny puddle, right?"

Declan: "Yeah. Because I'm sooo big and the puddle is sooo small."

Me: "Now, let's say a tiny little ant walked up and stood at that same puddle. What do you think he would see instead of a tiny little puddle?"

Declan: "He'd see me standing at the puddle."

My kid's got one up on you Dora the uh...whatever

Dorer the Explorer? Dora the Explora? Well whatever it is, that show works on my nerves. Why is it that every character sounds like they're yelling all the time? How does saying 'Swiper, no swiping' actually stop the fox? When I repeat instructions to my child, over and over, it doesn't work! And what is Boots' name when he has his boots off?! Feet? Toes? Ok, deep breath. Sorry, I've been holding that stuff in for a long time (and please don't get me started on the cow and backpack).

Don't ask...

When Declan was younger I was one of those parents who always said, "I'll raise him right, watching Transformers, G.I. Joe and He-Man, none of this crap they have on now." But then reality sinks in (along with my wife's Mjöllnir of subtle influence), and he ends up watching good quality, age appropriate shows such as Blue's Clues, Calliou and Kipper. I was happy for a while, then the Dora kick started, followed by a long lasting disdain for pink shirts and orange shorts.

Eventually I saw a light at the end of the tunnel...but then her blasted cousin shows up and rekindles the black flame of despair.

However...just the other day, my hopes were met with irrefutable evidence that there will be life A.D. (After Dora, for those that were wondering).

Declan was watching Dora and the little bowl cut demon was summoning her map from the bowels of backpack (who, just in the last episode, ate map through the top of its head, by the way). So map pops up and Declan's looking at the screen and Dora repeats ten times where they need to go and how they're going to get there. And just before my eyes started to bleed Declan turns to me and says, "Daddy. I don't want to watch Dora anymore."

Clutching the sofa as not to fall, I swallowed my heart and said, "Ok. why not, buddy?"

He then looks at the screen and shaking his head, he says, "Because Dora's stupid. She has a map and she knows where to go, so why doesn't she just go around all the bad stuff? She's so dumb."

I held my child and cried as the angels sang down from the heavens.

So it begins

This morning marks the first time that Declan has gone downstairs to watch cartoons while I lay upstairs, still asleep and dead to the world. He was so excited to have found this, he woke me up to tell me. Thanks, i guess...

I'm here to catch your cartoon memories...

[be sure to click the links]

When I was a kid (and even now), I loved cartoons. My brother and I would devour them like the KiX cereal in our bowls every chance we had (both were kid tested, mother approved).

I know there were the norms such as Transformers and GI Joe, but sometimes it was the shorter lived cartoons that stuck with you, the ones that found themselves canceled prematurely or whose hopes were dashed by the whim of a studio exec on the other side of the country.

Some of the ones that I personally loved were Kissyfur, Rude Dog and the Dweebs and lest we not forget Inhumanoids and Visionaries. My list goes on and on all the way through the 90s

There are tons more that I remember snippets of and those, such as Inhumanoids which I thought went on forever, but were only one season. So I thought that it would be a good idea to keep a running tab of all of the cartoons that Declan loves, but have been seemingly (and some wrongfully, in my opinion) thrown in the back alley dumpster behind whatever studio brought them to life in the first place.

So here's the short list  thus far (some are clickable..follow the click...you know you want to)

El Tigre
Jakers - best theme song as far as I'm concerned :)
Jacks Big Music Show
Toot and Puddle

As of now, there were four shows he absolutely loved and they've played an integral part in his youth thus far.

Little buddy, I know the list will grow as you get older, but know this: I'm keeping track for ya.