A look at parenting through testosterone-tinted beer goggles.
The Cast:
BusyDad (Jim)
Working dad doing his darndest
Fury (Marcus)
10-year-old boy and future revolutionary
Lessi (Alessia)
My source for organic new baby smell
d Wife (Lisa)
BusyDad’s reality check
Krypto (Dog #1)
Witness to the insanity and chewer of things
BJ (Dog #2)
Yapping spreader of love and poops
If you just read these, I'm good:
If Jeopardy Were Written by Parents
(Toy) Breaking News
What Ever Happened to "Girls Have Cooties"??
Knocking Out My Demons
Homies on a Train
Iron Chef Fury
Such Sweet Sorrow
Darwin Would Be Proud
Crossing Over
Respeqt my Intelleqt, Qid!
Brand Ambassadorships,
past and present:
Saturday, January 26, 2008 How adorable! My son taking advantage of this beautiful Saturday afternoon to play in the dirt with his construction toys.
Let's pan out a little bit, shall we?
It might be a little hard to spot him now, but if you look reeeeal carefully, you can just make him out ... RIGHT NEXT TO THE BEAUTIFUL SANDBOX!
Reader Comments (34)
Oh my! How funny. And true of kids!
-Cocoa Vienna
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[BuzzeeDad] Gotta love it! (or go insane)
Har! Well, you could have saved yourself all that money and backbreaking work, and just dug up the yard to give him a good dirt pile to play in!
Either that, or let him play in the sandbox in your truck.... ;)
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[BuzzeeDad] Ha - actually he was playing in the truck as I was making it. I thought of just sticking a beach umbrella in there and just calling it a day.
Smartasstic Mom to Braden:
"GET YOUR ASS IN THE SANDBOX AND LIKE IT."
:-D
Loved this post, dude!
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[BuzzeeDad] Definitely an option I was entertaining!
Hey BuzzeeDad! Bloghoppin' with Martini in hand! That's a funny post brother! Kiddos will do this every time! It was 50 degrees today in Colorado but there's still snow left on the ground from all the crappy months of weather we've had. I'm sooooo jealous looking at your backyard pic with that palm tree in the background behind your fence. ~SIGH:~... Someday I'll make the move back West to Cali (my original birthplace) Anyhoo, take care man.
"Makeshift Sinatra"
from the weekend bloghoppers
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[BuzzeeDad] It's so obvious, you think they do this on purpose! Yeah, beautiful day today. It started raining about an hour ago though... (man, I'm spoiled).
Geez, you're right, that Southern California winter looks BRUTAL!!!!!!!!!!!
waaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!
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[BuzzeeDad] Did you see the way that palm tree is bending in the wind! That's hardcore weather!!!
Dude, you need some landscaping.
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[BuzzeeDad] HAHAHAHA!!!!! d Wife hated that I put that pic on the web. Actually, our house is set to be demolished in a few months for a full rebuild, so I got lazy and killed the grass off this summer.
The lack of appreciation begins early! It doesn't get any better, trust me! But they do have some redeeming moments now and then.
Bloghopper SHW
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[BuzzeeDad] He's just priming me for later. How considerate of him!
One day your son will be a man.
And the man, with his own hands, will build you a wheelchair ramp up to the house.
You will be old but still able to remember the sandbox you built him as a boy.
You will stubbornly bypass the ramp and take the stairs.
The young man will finally feel your pain.
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[BuzzeeDad] That... was beautiful.
That really is too funny!
He is playing with an earth mover dontcha know. What fun is there in pushing around sand? The boy obviously needed to feel the satisfaction of something pushing back. - Chas
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[BuzzeeDad] I feel better. Much better. Thanks.
Oh, that's knockin' my socks off, BuzzeeDad! Beautiful box. But wait, when does he get to start using it? But seriously, maybe he's afraid to take off the board on top of it (?)!. Or maybe he's like my dog and he just needs time to adjust...
Heck I dunno.
Love the pics, though!!
;-)
Off to do more hoppin...
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[BuzzeeDad] Nope, when he wants to use it, he just asks me to remove the cover. He's only asked like 4 times in the past year. And I think it's just to humor me more than anything.
Did you tell him he couldn't play in it? ;) And, as of 5 minutes ago, the sky opened up and it's raining buckets again. So weird.
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[BuzzeeDad] BRILLIANT!!!! Wait - are you a SoCaler too??
Look at the bright side, at least he's in the vicinity, he'll make it inside at some point.
Mightily impressed with your handiwork, BTW, BuzzeeDad, you're a man of many talents.
Pomtini
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[BuzzeeDad] Why thank you! I try - but half the time I realize that it wouldn't have mattered whether I did or not. This was a case in point. Oh well, such is the life of a parent, right?
Was he one of those kids at Christmas that didn't care what the present was but played with the box for hours?? I had a few of those, when I think of all the money I could have saved...
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[BuzzeeDad] Oh yes... for the first couple years, we should have just shopped at Mailboxes, Etc. for his gifts. Bubble wrap and boxes. That's all we needed in retrospect.
Totally agree with most of them... my son is only 10 months old and already he's much more interested in oh, my shoes, his shoes, picture frames and candle holders on end table, anything and everything except his toys. I finally put them all in a basket and give him one or two and the next day one or two different ones and he plays with them for awhile... until he finds his shoes again! Much wasted money is in that basket!
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[BusyDad] Everyone seems to go through this same phenomenon - funny how it isn't in ANY parenting book you read.
BusyD, at least you have a beautiful, sunny afternoon! I am jealous to the max over the blue sky.
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[BusyDad] That's only because it rained so much recently. Pulls the smog clean out of the sky for the next few days. Give it a few days to build back up and I can't see the tops of the mountains just 4 miles north of me. Seriously. Not joking.
Incredible execution of this post. Loved the slow build, the photo, and the supporting evidence pointed out in yellow on the subsequent photo.
Brilliant.
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[BusyDad] Thanks CG! I never had anyone break a post down like that. Pretty cool!
I should have known...not only are you great at 'playing well with others in the proverbial sandbox'....you can build 'em too!
cute pix
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[BusyDad] :) thanks CF! I can play well in the literal sandbox as well, if only my kid would get in the damn thing.
Let's just say we lived in the same city. And, let's just say we were having a play date. Guess who'd be in that sandbox, with or without Fury? If you said Benny, you answered correctly. The kids LOVES sandboxes. Me, not so much. Why? #5 (and #6; sand everywhere!)
Then I hear from friends, "But, it's so good for their senses!" Senses-shmenses. Is she gonna come clean my house? Didn't think so.
Oh, by-the-by, I'm amped on coffee. Just sayin'
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[BusyDad] Caffeine much Mishie? haha!! Benny has a standing invitation to mess up my backyard anytime.
come and join me and the others in the big bang world record.
http://love4kids.blogspot.com/2008/01/big-bang-world-record.html
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[BusyDad] Just throw this one on the meme to-do pile...
Yup... that's kids for you!
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[BusyDad] Don't you just love em?
Born and raised. Totally. Fer Sure.
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[BusyDad] Is your yard totally flooded like mine is right now? (see folks, in LA rain is totally conversation worthy. I'm not just making small talk)
I can't get past playing in January without snowpants, hats, mits, and boots. My kids got into the sandbox the other day for the first time in 18 months. Please see previous sentence for an update on climatic conditions in our neck of the woods. Whaaa? Turns out they were trying to pry loose all the sand toys from the solid ice formation in the middle. Now they have a bunch of shovels with the spade in the ice and the handle in the garbage.
KEEP BELIEVING
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[BusyDad] That's so cool! It's not a sandbox, it's a tundra box!
LOL! That's like when you buy them a $250 toy and all they want to do is play with the box it came in.
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[BusyDad] I really smart parent would spend that $250 on a toy for himself and give his kid the box. Everybody's happy.
Okay this is just freaking hysterical. I am crying over here.. At first I am like awhh what a cute picture of Fury.. And then your captions in the next just sent me into belly laughs.
And your response to Groovy mom is so something I do..LOL
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[BusyDad] I guess it's a lot funnier when the sand isn't in your own buttcrack!
There's this fabulous snowplow truck toy made by Bruder (a company somehow related to Mercedes, but haven't I completely figured this one out yet) -- anyway, it has a sander system that really works to sprinkle sand on the roads. With all the terrible ice you've been having in Southern CA lately, perhaps this would be in order? It might kill two birds with one stone: get your son into the sandbox AND put him to work at the end of your driveway on "icy" days. Just tryin' to help... :)
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[BusyDad] I'm gonna Google that one. Now there's a toy I would "get for Fury because he'd have SO much fun with it."
How funny, we have a sandbox just like that. Had to have it... never used it. The dogs, however, do love digging holes in it and throwing sand all over the yard.
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[BusyDad] Extra funny - see that wooden cover? I had to make that because our dog kept lifting up the canvas cover to dig in the sand. I swear, he appreciates it more. I should just get rid of the cover and let him have at it.
Such is life. Damn wiener kids are all about the fancy packaging and dust bunnies beside the time or money intensive thing they're actually supposed to play with. I think it's something genetic, the 'screw with mom/dad's head' amino acids.
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[BusyDad] Psychological warfare. They are experts.
Isnt that the cosmic rule of parenting? You work your butt off doing something like that, and they want to play with the boring dirt. Just like opening a very complicated toy and all they want to do is play with the damn box!
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[BusyDad] Yet they insist up and down that they'll die without the sandbox the second you suggest getting rid of it.
heehee that's just too funny. It's the whole "I don't care what you got me, in five minutes the box it came it will be more fun" concept.
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[BusyDad] So well exhibited here. Text book example. Unfortunately.
Dude, your yard is a sandbox...why build one? just open a bag of sand up every 3/4 months and spill it on the ground and mission accomplished...much to learn young padawon. LOL!
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[BusyDad] haha - great tip, Jediprah. d Wife is gonna cringe at this comment though. I killed the grass this summer to make way for a home demolition (we're remodeling) happening soon. She hates showing people our currently ghettofab yard.
how funny!!!!! (ok, sorta?) LOL ;o) xoxox
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[BusyDad] If I completely remove myself from it... yes. I can see how that is so totally hilarious at my expense! ;)
Could have been worse: could have been a cat and a litter box!
Shoot me the html code for the BlogHopping Logo too please!
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[BusyDad] Or even worse, cats using it AS a litter box. That's part of the reason I replaced the flimsy canvas cover with the wooden one.
awesome!!! I love it!
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[BusyDad] I hope you are referring to the sandbox. SOMEBODY should love it!!
oh man!! it's one of those discover card commercials. I'd stick him in the sand box!!
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[BusyDad] I should just say "don't go in the sandbox. Sand is very breakable." He'll be digging through that in no time. As long as I turn my back and do something else.