Light Magic

Ty got a hold of one of the pens I have that has an LED in it. We turned down the light as he made rainbows for me. With my point and shoot I was able to snag this.

Maybe next time I'll use my other camera and we will try and paint something in the air like Picasso did.

The First Play Date

It was like Popeye asking to hangout with Bluto.

One afternoon Ty asks if he can have a play date with Jake. The kid who for the last three years has caused more crying incidents and bruises than all the other kids in his class combined. But apparently, after all this rivalry going on, the boys finally realized they are among the oldest in the class and have more in common than not.

So it was with great trepidation that I agreed to the concept. Plans were solidified with Jake's Mom and we headed over to their house one recent Saturday. Now mind you, these kids have known each other a long time, but I've never seen them play nice together. When I got to the house I hung out a while and snapped a few pics of them playing in the backyard with his older sister. Then suddenly an awkward moment came: his Mom told me I didn't need to hang out and I could come back later.

She clearly realized by my expression that I wasn't 100% cool with that. I have never left Ty alone with anyone besides family members or at daycare/school. Has he really grown up this much? The same kid you see in my blog banner wrapped tightly in a blanket? Yup. He has.

So I left for a few hours. And you know what? They played nice. In fact his Mom said they were very quiet and enjoyed the time together. Ty can't wait to have him come to our house now. And me, well I can say now I survived that separation anxiety that I read so much about. It never hit me with the first day of school thing. This felt different. And on that day, both Ty and I did some growing up.

6 Year Old New Zidane in the Making

OK. This isn't Ty. But it's really cool. Maybe we can aspire to this level during our new season which starts in a few weeks.

A Club Made Just For Us Dads

I have been doing Ty's blog now for about 2 years. It started out as a cool way to share photos and stories with our family who are spread out from New York to California. And as an alternative to attaching pictures in emails and getting complaints that some couldn't open the attachments. Soon I discovered there was a whole universe of parent bloggers out across the internet. Some sites rise and fall in activity, and there have also been some linking tools to get fellow parent bloggers to stop by each other's sites.

Now it appears a few guys got together and decided that beyond just bloghopping and leaving random comments for each other, we should have a hangout. A virtual clubhouse for the Dads where we can talk about our kids, sports, politics or just laugh at random musings.

So thanks to a new site called dad-blogs.com, we have a whole new audience for Ty and a group of cool folks for Dad to mingle with. Welcome to anyone who has stopped by for the first time today and enjoy the posts. We will do our best to keep this current and post specifically on Fridays as this theme suggests.

Have a great weekend.

Only My Hairdresser Knows For Sure

After our bath the other night I gave Ty his hairbrush and let him style his hair anyway he wanted to.

This is what he came up with.

Balancing Act

Sometimes kids just amaze me. Ty dumped out the Lincoln Logs and asked me to build him something. I tried to explain the purpose of this toy was for him to be creative and build something. So after I built a small house, I left the room for a minute to grab something.

When I returned, this small wonder of Roman engineering you see pictured was sitting on the floor. Perfectly symmetrical (as Ty is always prone to design) and amazingly balanced. He was very excited to show this off for the camera. I asked him why he can't build this stuff when I am watching, and he replied simply that he wants to surprise me because it's more fun.

Super Foos

During our Superbowl party, the kids went out to my garage/game room for a little Foosball action. Ty has had lots of practice with Dad and he had lots of fun spinning his men and shooting goals.

If you click and zoom in on the photo, you will see a red lizard on the edge of the table. Seems a bit out of place doesn't it? Ty just happened to be carrying that around all day for some reason.

Eco-Friendly

Our blog has gone green. What do you think?

ABC = Always Be Coloring

It is an unwritten rule that all casual dining establishments that we frequent must supply crayons. Ty is also not content with the designs they put on the paper because he has "done these too many times". So he prefers to flip the paper over and freehand something.

His latest thing is making a drawing for whichever cute girl might be taking care of our table. Usually it is some sort of tree house where they both hang out. A massive flirt my son is already at age five.

RC in Action

Here's an action shot of Ty in control of his new race car. He has gotten pretty good at maneuvering it. He can make it do circles and zoom through a tunnel made by my legs.

It has suffered one minor wreck though. The "wing" on the back chipped off when he dropped the car and has been repaired with Gorilla Glue.

Super Bowl Party

We held our annual Super Bowl party again at the house yesterday. Great turnout from friends and neighbors. Ty had lots of kids to play with. And because it was so nice out, while Dad cooked on the grill, the kids were outside playing hide and seek.

Ty scarfed down a hot dog and a hamburger and managed to sneak a few Oreo's too. The cutest moment of the day though was when he and another girl (much older too) were sitting in a chair playing with stuffed animals and whispering to each other.

Like his Dad, Ty didn't really pay much attention to the game because our beloved Giants were not playing. It did turn out to be an exciting finish in the 4th quarter, but by then, Ty was completely exhausted and sleeping soundly.