To the Children's Museum!

Children's Museum.  Sounds dull doesn't it?  Sounds like some place some old foggy decided to put a bunch of junk from his childhood that he wanted people to remember.  Not that I'm against old foggies or their junk; that's pretty much my style.  But not the style of an 18 month old...

So it was good to find out that my expectations were wrong (I actually found this out a while back, but that was before I had a blog).  The Children's Museum isn't really museum-like at all; no statues or paintings you can't touch, no security guards making sure you aren't taking pictures of paintings the entire world has already seen.  Turns out the Children's Museum is more of an indoor playground for toddlers.  And:  IT IS AWESOME!  Bring on the rainy days!  We will spend them playing farmer with fake plants, pushing our shopping cart around the fake store, or looking at how silly we look in giant mirrors!  Simply put, Hatter (and I) love it!.  If you get a chance, go.  If you want to reiterate how great it is, leave us a comment and let us know!  See you there!

Artprize

 For those of you who don't know, Grand Rapids is a cool town.  Over the last couple of weeks it transformed into a cool little art show.

Artprize is the name of this municipal change of persona, and it refers to the $250,000 grand prize for whichever piece of art is voted the favorite.  Viewers may vote via a very American Idol-esque text-your-vote method, giving each piece either a thumbs up or thumbs down.  Hatter and Sarah and I went on Sunday after church, and then Hatter and I went back Tuesday to explore some more.  Here are some pictures; let us know what you think!

Is your mama a llama?

We went to Binder Park Zoo the other day to see the llamas, horses, giraffes and other fancy fauna.  It was a fun day but exhausting.  At home, Hatter always says "Mama!  Mama!" when he plays with a stuffed llama (he has several for some odd reason...), and he did the same with the real ones at the zoo!  Here are some pics, let us know what you think.

:)

A Tale of Two Extremes

So we began the morning with Hatter taking every bit of clothes he could find out of his dresser.  Continued with putting on socks (which he never wears) which is good, because I think he threw one of his shoes out of the car window yesterday.  Yeah, we seem to be having some trouble with attitude lately.  We'll blame it on incoming teeth.  For now.

Day continued with Hatter insisting that the diap and shorts were not enough; he really, really, really needed to wear his swimsuit on top.  So I complied.  We left the house smiling like two clams and looking just as silly.

After the morning of Hatter wearing every extra piece of clothing he could find, you'd think he'd be easier to dress for bed, right?  Instead, he wiggled and screamed "Neh neh!  Neh neh!," (Hatter for naked) while we tried to dress him.  Any of your kids like this?

:)

Mine!

We've learned a new word around Hatter-House. Though many of you colloquially use "mine" to indicate an object belongs to you and you only, around our house it has a multitude of meanings. Sure, "mine" still means that what I'm holding is yours, but it can also mean any of the following:

• I'm really mad at you right now
• I don't want to do what you want me to do
• I want a popsicle
• I do NOT want to take a bath
• You touched my blue blanket and that's not ok

Anyone have a similar experience with a seemingly simple word taking on so many new meanings?  If so, let me hear about it :)

Being a dad in a mom's world

Any other day time dad's out there? Anyone else who knows what it feels like to walk into a playgroup and all the moms there get quiet? If so, I'd love to hear from you. Its tough being a day time dad, although I hear its becoming more accepted. Still, there are those times that a kid near you falls at playgroup and you're the closest parent to them. The kid looks at you needing a little comfort from someone and all the moms look at you silently trying to decide if you are a potential threat for picking the kid up, or a normal oaf of a man for letting the kid cry. Is there really a way to win in this situation? And you thought the kid crying on the ground had problems...

Anyhow, let me know if you know what I'm feeling. Knowing someone else knows the pain is a little solace :)

Let's go!

I've been meaning to get a blog going for some time now, and Hatter is finally at the age where I can get a few minutes here and there to update things. So here goes! With this post, Big Hatter Daddy's diary has begun!

Please subscribe or at least check back often :)

These are the sorts of activities we're going to try to avoid while Dad is posting...