Almost Better

Oda Mae is feeling better today. Her nose is still a little runny, but she is doing much better than yesterday. We've been practicing some of the skills that we learned at TLG yesterday. She is going to kick butt next week!

-OD

Oda has the sniffles...

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. We've been busy. Monday it rained. Yeah for us. Oda Mae and I stayed inside and watched the rain. Tuesday, the weather was GREAT! We went out for our run and didn't pass out because of the heat at 9:00 am. Oda Mae also got some new to her shorts at the thrift town the other day. We'll have some photos of those later.

Today was Oda Mae's first day at The Little Gym! Unfortunately, she didn't sleep well last night because she was developing some kind of something. This morning she started sneezing and coughing a little. We decided to go ahead and go to school since it was supposed to be our first day.

Open note to all the little gymers:
We are sorry if you get sick, but we really wanted to come today. Make sure your mommies make you wash your hands!
-OD

Oda Mae had such a good time despite not feeling 100%. She got to pound on the floor, jump on mats, chase bubbles, sing songs, and play games (All Sorts). Oda Mae did exceptionally well on the uneven bars. She hung on to that bar for a good long while. I even pushed her back and forth a bit. The balance beam was a little trickier, but I think with some practice she'll get better. She had a great time and met some new little friends. At the end she got her hands and feet stamped and a cookie.

We were going to go to a story time for toddlers at the library up the street afterwards, but Oda Mae was pretty tired after not sleeping well last night. She was also beginning to not feel so well. Tonight, her little nose was like a faucet. She seemed to be in pretty good spirits, but you could tell she wanted to go nite, nite. We had a bath, read our favorite stories, and went "dite, dite". Hopefully she'll feel better tomorrow.

I'm sure that you can all guess that I was the only person over the age of 3 with a Y chromosome at TLG. I got a couple of weird looks, but for the most part all the mommies were too involved with their little ones to take much notice. There were a couple of mommies who talked to me. They asked me about Oda Mae: how old was she... you know, so that made me feel better. We'll have to see what's in store for me the next 16 weeks. All I know is that Oda Mae had a good time today. I'm sure she'll like it even more when she is feeling better.

-OD

P.S. I would post a picture, but my network isn't really working. I'll have to pull my hair out trying to figure it out. Maybe tomorrow.

:(

Oda Mae had a little accident this morning. She fell and chipped her two front teeth. I took her to see a dentist and he said that the best thing to do right now was nothing. Just to watch for any signs of infection. He said that it was possible to repair the teeth for cosmetic reasons, but that he didn't advise it until she was older. So we'll just have to wait and see how we feel about things when she starts school. Her permanent teeth will not be affected.

Oda Mae seems to not be in any pain. She cried for a few minutes after it happened, but she's just fine now. She doesn't put her fingers in her mouth or anything. I'm pretty sure Oda Momma and I feel worse about it right now than Oda Mae does.

Is this the part where I start getting grey hair?

-OD

Mmmmm, Dinner...

...usually. I try very hard to try out new recipes. I have a computer program that allows me to enter my recipes into what ever category I want. It's really cool. As I find a meal that the family likes, I enter it into my program. This allows me to make a meal plan for the entire month. I only have to go grocery shopping once a month! I do however make little trips to the store for fruits, vegetables, and stuff that we run out of. My goal is to have enough recipes in this program that the family likes, are easy to make, and I can put on the table in an hour or less for an entire year. That way I don't have to come up with something different to cook every night. My own "Oda Family Cookbook" so-to-speak. So in order to come up with enough recipes, I am always looking for something new to try. Sometimes I come upon a really good one. Other times (like tonight) it is a total bomb. I tried to make Jamaican Black Bean Burgers. Now we're not vegans or anything, but I try to come up with meals that are healthy as well. This was awful! I actually ate a whole burger myself, but I probably wont go out of my way to eat another. Oda Mae and Oda Momma were pretty glad I bought hot dog's the other day! Tomorrow we'll have something safe.

Oda Mae starts school next week! Well, we both start school next week. We enrolled in The Little Gym today for the fall semester. We'll go once a week for 45 minutes to play with all kinds of gym equipment and the most important part....SOCIALIZATION!!!! Now Oda Mae is still a bit young to play with other kids, but I think she'll learn a lot by watching the others do their thing with their parents. Maybe I'll learn a thing or two as well. I'm hoping that I don't get there and find out that they just do things that I do at home already, or could just do at home. We'll try it out for a semester and see how things go for us.

We went to the park tonight with Oda Momma.

AUNT SIS was the first winner in the "Where in the World is Oda Mae Now" contest. Oda Mae was indeed in The Little People Farm. Stay tuned for the next game.

-OD

Where in the World is Oda Mae Now?

About a year ago we were playing a little game that kept me blog readers occupied for a while. It was called "Where in the World is Oda Mae?" I decided today that we would play this game again. It'll be a bit easier this time around (sometimes). Just like before, there are no prizes except the fact that you get to call yourself the winner. I don't know how often I'll post for this little game, but it should be fun. So, without further ado...

Where in the World is Oda Mae Now?

Good Luck!!!

Oda Hair

Why didn't someone tell me that Oda Mae was bald when she was first born? My daddy eyes told me that she had plenty of hair!

Her hair is actually starting to get a little longer. Just not quite long enough. Give it another couple of months and we'll be doing good.



-OD

PT DUTY

It's slow.

Here is my new technique that Nonchalant Savant recommended to me.



-OD

Ess, Ess, Ess, Ess...

That's what I heard yesterday as I was sitting at the kitchen table working on a project. Oda Mae was playing behind me and started saying, "Ess, Ess, Ess, Ess..." over and over again. I turned around to see what she was talking about and sure enough, she had the letter "S" in her hand.

The past couple of weeks we've been learning the alphabet via the fisher price website. ABC's if you want to check it out. She has been able to say a few letters, "E", "G", "I", "O", "T", and "Z". She has never said "S" and she also has never pointed out any letter to me around the house.

Kind of makes me feel like I'm doing something right.

This post has been brought to you today by the letter...

I Did It!!!

Oda Mae slept all night last night. She did it!!!!

This morning we got up and used the pottie as well.

-OD

Movin' Right Along

Last night Oda Momma took care of Oda Mae's addiction comfort. Oda Mae woke up twice last night and went to sleep on her own the first time and the second time Oda Momma went in and told her to go back to sleep, and she did.

Today Oda Mae took two naps, both without too much trouble. It is 8:09 right now and I just put her to bed. Not a peep!

I think she's getting the hang of it now.

Yea for Oda Mae! She is doing VERY well.

Tonight we had a little bathtime fun...




Today I made Oda Mae a Music Mix for the car. I came out with 2 CD's and an hour and a half of music for the car. It was all free kids music on the internet. Some of the songs I sampled were pretty bad, but the ones I got were really good. If you need some kid music CHECK IT OUT!

We here at the "Oda" household particularly like "A NEW PAIR OF SHOES"

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

-OD

24 HOURS

Yep, It's been 24 hours now since we last had a binky.

How are we doing?



So long as we have something to pull on, we're doing okay.


The first nap yesterday was not too bad. After about 30 minutes she fell asleep. The second nap didn't go as well. We didn't sleep at all, but after dinner and a bath Oda Mae went to sleep pretty easily last night. I had to go in about 3am to tell her to lay down and go back to sleep. She did, until about 5:30. Then I went in her room to sleep. She would be quiet off and on, but we made it to about 6:45 before we got up. Now her tummy is full and we're ready for day 2.

PT Duty is hit and miss. She loves to sit on her big girl potty, so that's not an issue. The issue is, can I time her before she goes in her diaper. Sometimes we get it sometimes we don't. I figure eventually she'll figure out what we're doing.

-OD

Hello...

My name is Oda Mae...


I admit that I have a problem.



Today is the first day of the rest of my life...




They say that the first three days are the worst. We'll see how she does.
-OD

Only the Lonely

Well, since it's been a bit over a year as a SAHD I can say that most people are pretty good about keeping their thoughts about our "non-traditional" parenting situation to themselves. At least they don't act like I'm a freak. I am rarely looked upon as something completely foreign. Today though I saw the other side of the fence so-to-speak. I've heard all the other SAHD stories and now I have one of my own.

Today Oda Mae and I went out to do some errands. While we were out I saw an antique mall that I wanted to go into and look around. As I was putting Oda Mae in her stroller I noticed 4 little old ladies coming out. I figured this was pretty typical...Tuesday afternoon, antique mall, who else would you see at a place like this? But the thought actually crossed my mind before I went in that I would probably be an unusual sight in a place like this regardless of the day or time, but we went in hoping to find a treasure.

Now, Oda Mae is VERY good in public. She loves to look at things and hardly ever puts up a fuss so long as we keep moving, so I wasn't worried in the least about her breaking some $20,000.00 piece of rare crystal or something. As we were walking up and down the isles of the store I can say that at least 4 times the employees stared at us as if to say, "Oh, my God. What does that guy think he is doing coming in here with a baby. Why didn't he just take her to the park on his day off." Maybe I'm just being paranoid. But, really, some of the looks I got from these people I've never seen before. Nobody actually said anything, but I could sure tell that they wanted to.

LOSERS!!!!!

Okay, I'm done. I did find a pretty cool table that I wanted, but it was pretty expensive and I don't really know anything about antiques. I think I'll keep shopping the garage sales and thrift stores. Ooo, maybe we'll make a field trip to the thrift store tomorrow.

-OD

P.S. I finally got my pictures to load of my cabinet.... (see below)

PT Duty

Thought I should post today since it's been a while. Oda Mae and I have been very busy. We've been doing some back to school house cleaning, trying to get ready for year two. Oda Mae has LOTS of toys. She told me yesterday that she wanted to donate some of the ones she doesn't play with to the local Salvation Army store. I told her that that was a very nice thing to do. Oda Momma and I are going through our stuff as well.

Yesterday I finally finished the cabinet I bought a while back for the kitchen

BEFORE


AFTER


Now we have room for more food!

Oda Mae and I have started PT Duty. For those of you less apt to the SAHD lingo. That's Potty Training Duty. We've started by going to the potty as soon as she wakes up from her morning nap. So far we've done pretty good. I don't think she really understands why I cheer for her while she's sitting there reading her book. I figure eventually she'll catch on. It's going to be a long road. Wish us luck. At Home Daddy is beginning some PT Duty as well. He's done this before so it should only take him a couple of days to get things right! I'm going to take some advice from him and make a trip to Lowe's for some plastic covering for the house.

Maybe I'll see if I can borrow his new Power Sprayer as well. Did you know that those little PT Potties don't really flush? You have to clean those things out by hand!!!!!! Come to think of it, I think I might just let Oda Momma handle PT Duty!

Blogger won't load my pictures tonight so I'll put some up tomorrow.

-OD

One Year and Counting

It's been a year now that I've been a stay-at-home-dad. I didn't even realize it until this morning. I suppose things have been good the past year. It went by fast, so I guess we were having fun. I'll try over the next year to do things a little better. I guess I'm not really a rookie any more. It sure does feel like it though.

Oda Mae is learning new stuff every day. Something I didn't mention last week: Oda Mae can say a sentence (sort of). The other day she said, "Hi, Daddy." Now she can say "Hi, Momma.", "Hi, Abby.", etc. We're working on saying "Hot Dog". She can say the words by themselves, but it's harder to say them together. We are also working on learning our A,B,C's and doing puzzles.



-OD