Kim and I recently hosted some good friends for lunch. Among the troupe of visitors was a five-year-old boy with blonde hair named Elroy. He approached the door with a pointy yellow crown stationed on his head. It was crudely bejeweled with markers of varying color. "What's with the crown?" I asked. He didn't skip a beat. "I'm the King of Pretending," he exclaimed. I was honored; it was the first time we were able to welcome royalty into our home. As I observed him throughout the day, playing with cars and creating things out of Play-Doh, it became very clear that this monarch was the …
General
How to Create a Theme for Your Summer (and Why You Really Should)
In an episode of Seinfeld, after discovering that a severance package from the New York Yankees should last him about three months, George Costanza decided to take the summer off, declaring it the "Summer of George." Some of the activities he engaged in were playing frolf, purchasing a new recliner with a refrigerator in it, and reading a book, from beginning to end (and in that order.) My buddy Chip Lutz has declared 2009 the "Summer of Play." Rather than focusing on the things you can't control, he implores you to control the things that will help you focus on living your life by making …
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How Childhood Can Save the Auto Industry
Wanna guess what the best-selling car in America was last year? Something by Honda? Or Toyota? Nope. At 457,000 units sold, the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe outsold every other car in the U.S. in 2008. And I hear it gets great gas mileage. Now, I have super duper secret sources that tell me that -- I shouldn't even be telling you this -- the auto industry is in trouble. You might be saying to yourself, "What? How can this be? How does he know these things?" Trust me, I'm a blogger, we have our ways. So, yes, the auto industry is a mess (and as usual, Uncle Sam has done his part in …
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No Magic Elixir for Adultitis
As I write this, Lucy is a freshly-minted five-month-old. I’m not sure if it seems like it’s been that long or not; the first few weeks were such a blur. I’ve started noticing how big she’s gotten when I see younger babies. I was shocked at church the other day when I saw a newborn cradled in the arms of her mother sitting in front of me. “There’s no way Lucy was ever that small!” I thought. And yet I know she was. There’s something about having kids that really lets you know how much time flies, and that it’s NOT on your side. When it was just me and Kim, time seemed to go by much slower. …
Try The Alligator
During a recent trip to southern Louisiana, I tried me some deep fried alligator. It tasted like chicken (with a hint of fishiness.) I enjoyed it immensely. I also tried frog legs for the first time, and some warm, delicious beignets from Café Du Monde in New Orleans. We had a program near Lafayette, and tacked on an extra day to explore The Big Easy. I'm not sure which was better: the people or the food. Our hosts were friendly, gracious, and Cajun to the bone. And the yummy shrimp, jambalaya, gumbo, and red beans and rice still has my tummy smiling. It's a close call, but both made for …
Miles of Smiles
In February we started traveling with Lucy. Jason and I have "busy seasons" in our travels for our speaking gigs so rather than being apart for six weeks we decided to make it work as a family. In Lucy's short four months of life she has now been on 20 flights, visiting 12 different states. Comparing our travels BL (before Lucy) and now, we have determined one thing: Life is so much more fun with a baby! The biggest thing we noticed is that people are so much more friendlier now. The roughest, toughest looking hardened adults are instantly transformed into the biggest softies when they see …
Too Old To Draw
At a speaking engagement in Fort Worth, Texas, we passed out paper and crayons to the audience and asked them to draw a funny picture with the intent of hiding it in an unexpected place for someone else to find. We call it a Doodlesmile. Eager for the opportunity to draw with crayons, most of them dove right in. Except for a nice-looking lady in her seventies. She sat with her paper blank and her arms crossed. My brother-in-law, who happened to be sitting right next to her, asked, "Aren't you going to draw something?" Her response: "I'm too old to draw." Too old to draw? Hmm. I …
Don’t Worry, Be Happy
I have heard other parents say about parenthood that if their child lives to see adulthood it'll be a miracle. Forget about raising "good kids" just try to keep them alive! I've been very aware of this recently. There are times in the middle of the night when I'm so out of it that I think it's a miracle that I don't accidentally bump Lucy's head on the doorway as I walk her to the living room for her feeding. With having an infant in the winter (in Wisconsin), there have been so many occasions when Jason or myself are carrying her in her car seat and have had to balance ourselves over ice …
Just For Fun
Every once in a while I run across something in adulthood that I would've died for as a kid. Superfan Steven Sauke shared with us one of these things. FAO Schwartz has an online section of their store where you can actually build your own Muppet. Yep, you get to choose the color of the body, the type of eyes, nose and hair, as well as the outfit. Way cool! What a way to whisk you back to childhood. I certainly would've saved up my allowance for a chance to design and own my very own Muppet. Now does anyone really need a custom designed, $90, Muppet? No, especially not in this economy, …
Sticking Together
This past weekend Jason, Lucy and I drove up to Minneapolis for a speaking program. We were on the road for about 600 miles total, and by the end of it we were relieved to be home. Lucy was an angel, so it wasn't our two month old who created the extra stress on the trip. The weather was fine, so it wasn't that. It was the other drivers. Jason and I identified a significant increase in distracted drivers. Some were swaying back and forth crossing the lines without even knowing it. Others were weaving in and out of lanes so haphazardly, they were endangering everyone around them, including …