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Wookie The Chew

Sunny’s “Stuffed Animal of the Moment” (as it tends to shift on a biweekly basis) is a small, classic Kanga from my childhood. We have no idea why she’s taken such an interest in her. She’s neither read nor seen Winnie the Pooh, although we fully intend on making those stories a part of her childhood. Nor has she been exposed to kangaroos in any other capacity. Although, we’ve now showed her a myriad of videos of kangaroos to help explain what Kanga is. I’ve even perfected my kangaroo hop.

Regardless, she takes Kanga everywhere. And heaven forbid Kanga escape her clutches in the middle of the night, we all suffer the consequences. Seriously, just look at my hairline of gray for proof.

Man, I so wish I were kidding.

Semi-related: Today Kimmy sent along a link to artist James Hance’s print series titled “Wookie The Chew.” Given that we grew up in a Star Wars loving household, a household where my father told us bedtime stories with the assitance of a Yoda hand puppet, complete with Yoda voice imitations (Why else do you think my dad is called Doda by his granddaughters?), my heart swelled with geektastic happy at the sight of these prints.

The illustrations are extra special because all proceeds go to help offset the costs of the artist’s seven year old daughter’s medical treatments. You can purchase prints here.

Images: Courtesy of James Hance

Currently Reading

Don’t Carpe Diem

Clearly, Carpe Diem doesn’t work for me. I can’t even carpe fifteen minutes in a row, so a whole diem is out of the question.

Here’s what does work for me:

There are two different types of time. Chronos time is what we live in. It’s regular time, it’s one minute at a time, it’s staring down the clock till bedtime time, it’s ten excruciating minutes in the Target line time, it’s four screaming minutes in time out time, it’s two hours till daddy gets home time. Chronos is the hard, slow passing time we parents often live in.

Then there’s Kairos time. Kairos is God’s time. It’s time outside of time. It’s metaphysical time. It’s those magical moments in which time stands still. I have a few of those moments each day. And I cherish them.

Shitty Parenting Annonymous

The title of the workshop was “Why Don’t My Kids Listen To Me?” On that premise alone, I’d say roughly three billion people could have stood to attend. I grabbed a pen and a big legal pad for taking notes, and I went to go learn how to not be a terrible father.

“I’m lying alone with my head on the phone”

I reach down and hold her foot in my palm. I trace all five of her toes and stop on the smallest one. I draw outlines, fold them up and tuck them away so that at some point I can take them out, lay them flat and run my fingers along the memory.

Six Princess Books for Parents who Really Really Hate Princess Books

Trust me, resistance is futile. I’ve spent countless hours already trying to shape my daughter into a gender-proud feminist (and she’s FIVE) and yet there I was – taking her to a Disney Princess breakfast at EPCOT (by myself!) and making sure that we saw every damn princess in that park. Why? Because she simply loves princesses and fighting against their appeal is just going to make me the common enemy of both my daughter and the princess industrial complex. And I won’t survive if they unite to take me down.