Every so often being a parent affords me the opportunity to reference pop culture to my children (and my wife) to mostly oblivious results.

Two recent examples worth blogging about:

Driving to work last week:

Owen: Look at that wood on the truck! (Pointing excitedly out the window from his car seat)
Jenn: Wow, that is a lot of wood!
Me: That’s what she said.

This joke never gets old for me and is still way above either of the kids’ heads.

Please to watch this compilation from The Office that includes all the utterances of said phrase. Old meme but definitely funny.

Second, an exchange I had over the weekend with young master Owen on the topic of having his diaper changed:

Owen: I don’t want to take my clothes off! (He was afraid we were going to switch him into his jammies and put him to bed.)
Me: You don’t have to take your [pause] clothes off, to have a good time.

Sad but true. Video evidence that I’ve been unduly influenced by 80’s music videos.

So there you go. Using my own touch points and memories to confuse my kids and make my spouse roll her eyes since 2003.

Happy Thanksgiving Week! (I’m thankful for YouTube, btw).

In an effort to put something family-focused on the blog with some degree of regularity, I’m going to start a new weekly feature here, a “weekly recap” post.

I’ll collect and connect some of the random Twitter messages and pictures along with some of the shorter, funnier anecdotes from the kiddies and try to develop a cohesive narrative.

Failing that I’ll just blockquote something from a song, add a wistful *sigh* and end with an iPhone picture of my backyard.

Cool?

Here goes:

The big developments of the week were our trips (plural) to the dentist. I had to get some cavities (plural. again.) filled and Raelyn had her 6-month check-up.

Here’s the photographic evidence (non-gory) of my experience:

The goggles do nothing!

A god-damned sexual Tyrannosaurus

Jesse Ventura approves, by the way.

Raelyn’s visit featured a distinct lack of crying. No tears or complaints about x-rays, cleaning or fluoride. We’ve either turned a corner, dodged a bullet or turned a corner to dodge a bullet.

She did find out that two of her teeth were loose (how could she not know?) and saw the x-ray evidence of new teeth yearning to breath free. We had to make four separate phone calls to let grandparents and uncles share her surprise.

Here she is spreading the joy:

Then there’s Owen. This week, on the ride home from work, we did our best Bugs & Daffy impression while reading a book.

Owen: It’s a cow!
Me: It’s a sheep!
Owen: It’s a cow!
Me: It’s a sheep!
Owen: It’s a cow!
Me: It’s a cow!
Owen: It’s a sheep!

And of course the love of my life, Jenn, is doing well. She’s continually reminding me of all the reasons why I married her: her wit, her charm, her humor & love in the face of adversity. Oh, and her willingness to lounge on our back porch after work and drink a beer while the kids play.

Loving everyone (even you) this Friday. See you next week!

For your edification and education, especially those without progeny:

Rainy Morning

Plus

(International!) Walk Your Children To School Day

Equals

Love <3

Photographic Evidence:

That is all.

Happy Wednesday!

Today I took photos
Today I recorded video
Today I smiled
Today I cried

Tomorrow she’ll be in Summer Camp
This Fall she’ll be a Kindergartner
In my mind’s eye she graduated high school and college and got married all in the space of a song. (R. Kelly’s “The World’s Greatest” for those scoring at home.)

Plenty of other folks have better metaphors for this than I do.
I’m just a one-man wrecking machine of cliche and trite, banal, facile sentiment.
No one tells you it’s OK if it’s your kid, they just don’t understand (or maybe they do).

I don’t feel old, I still feel young, maybe still look young too. Maybe I still *AM* young, but that’s not where my mind and soul are at now.

I’m not me any longer.
I’m Raelyn’s dad. Part of me, anyhow.

A bigger part than I ever imagined.
A smaller part than I think I should be sometimes.
A part I know was sad and joyful to see that part of my heart which beats outside my body.

She’s the embodiment of her mother and I.
Our ambassador to all the friends and parents and lovers yet to come.
We’re reflections of one another.

We were all smiling today.

So today marks the childhood equinox for our second-born, our son, Owen Kenneth Miller. He’s officially been out of his mother for the exact length of time (9 months, more or less) that he was in there. Good on ya, Owen.

Here are some stats to keep in mind about young Owen:

• Teeth: 2. Both front, center, lower.
• Crawling? Yes, please!
• Humming when he eats? Yep. Just like big sis *still* does
• Demeanor: Serious as a heart attack

Owen is a very different child from his older sister Raelyn.

Where she’s very outgoing and boisterous, he’s thoughtful and reserved.

When she would explore it was never mischievous but very controlled, almost cautious. Not so with Owen who routinely goes after items that might cause him blunt trauma, scarification, choking or general malaise.

How they differ in almost every approach to the world we’ve made for them would fill 10 blogs.

They have the same smile though. Especially for one another.

Raelyn gives hers more freely (always has), and Owen has to warm up to you, but they really light up in each other’s presence. It’s fun to watch. Makes us all smile together.

Owen especially likes to dance.

Anywhere.
Any time.
Any music.

Raelyn regularly launches into a Fitty-inspired “Go Owen! It’s Ya Bert-day!” that has him bobbing, weaving, shucking, jiving and gyrating as well as his chubbiness will allow.

He can cruise a little bit and has started (just this week) standing up in bed when he’s not ready for bed (night) or awake (morning).

Unfortunately for us, he’s also gotten very brave. And babies at this age don’t really have any differentiation between brave and stupid since they don’t know any better.

Anyhow, we bring him into our bed in the morning – around 6 am for those playing at home – for a bottle and a morning nap. I know, I know: we need to be training him to sleep later, but we’re lazy.

So today, on his 9-month birthday (3/4 anniversary?), the boy decided that he’d like to wake up while Mom was in the shower and Dad was getting dressed in the walk-in closet and CRAWL. OFF. THE. BED.

Thud!
*Pause*
EARSPLITTING SCREAM!

For those of you with kids (and concerned co-workers), you know things like this do happen on occassion. If you don’t, please feel your face (especially your chin) for any faint scars or marks.

I swear, we’re good parents.

Anyhow, little man was consoled and crawling again in no time, though I think we’re realizing we’ve gone from “a little bit late” to “woefully under-prepared” in the baby-proofing of the new house.

He has his Doctor’s appointment tomorrow afternoon where we’ll get all the stats and such, but thus far he’s been a great kid. A wonderful addition to our family. Someone new who forces us to look at ourselves differently, but also another Miller child to corrupt with tales of “barking spiders” and “baking a pineapple”.

Love ya, Kiddo!

Oh, and I’m inspired to dad-blogging by new dad Kottke (his son’s initials are O.K. just like Owen’s, and they were born on the same day) and Dooce.