April 26, 2011

Sundays with Nino

Sippy Cup: "Nino, does Jesus have a car?"

Nino: "No, I don't think so."

Sippy Cup: "So then how does he take the candy to the children on Easter?"

Nino: "Uhm.  I think he has one horse."

Sippy Cup: "So Jesus is a cowboy?"

Me (shaking my head): "Thanks Dad."

Nino: "What? He asked me a question!"

Sippy Cup (whispering in shock): "Jesus is a cowboy!"

April 23, 2011

A Letter to Future Sippy Cup (12)

Hey kid,

Earlier today, you reached up and turned on the bathroom light all by yourself.

You did this without having to use your step stool.

I know this may seem like an insignificant moment to you.

But it wasn't to me.

Sincerely,
Dad

April 20, 2011

Super Hero Birthday Party

This past weekend, Sippy Cup celebrated his 4th birthday in grand style at Long Island City Kids Gym.

The kids played, the parents ate and everyone sang songs of praise and glory.

Or maybe it was just "Happy Birthday".

Either way, it was a blast.

As promised, here are some pictures chronicling the event.  Follow the jump for even more fun.

April 18, 2011

Thank You

As you all know, Sippy Cup celebrated his 4th birthday this past weekend and, while I will get to the pictures documenting all of the shenanigans later this week, I feel it is very important that I share the following story first.

You see, for the past few weeks, the M.O.M. has been meticulously planning this event.  She picked out the theme, ordered all of the necessary supplies and found the location.  She bought favor bags, goodies to fill them with and organized a musical play list of age-appropriate music for the day of the party. 

While all of this would have been impressive enough, she took it a step further. 

She designed cardboard lunch boxes for the kids (complete with a crust-less sandwich, a snack, a juice box and a pack of crayons to decorate said box) and even crafted individual super-hero capes for all of the children to take home.  These capes were personalized with each child's initial, cut to size (i.e. 1T, 2T, 3T, etc.) and included velcro fasteners on the neck loops to make sure they fit snugly and comfortably.

The M.O.M. is the sole bread-winner in this house.  She works 40+ hours every week and commutes via the lovely NYC Mass Transit system every single day.  She is also 31 weeks into her pregnancy.  In spite of her busy work schedule and often hectic commute, she would come home, every single night, and prepare some aspect of this party.

I am so often humbled by the compliments I receive in the comments sections about how I am such a great father and how Sippy Cup is lucky to have a dad like me in his life.  While I do agree that I work hard as his dad, it is important that everyone reading this realize something: I pale in comparison to his mother. 

We are a team.  I am the father that I am because she is the mother that she is.  And I shudder to think what my life and my son's life would be like without her in them.

I am 4 years older than the M.O.M.  I outweigh her by 70 pounds.  I even exercise 3 times a week as compared to her 0 times a week.

And yet I still know, without a doubt, that she is stronger than I will ever be.

Thank you, M.O.M.  You made our son's birthday spectacular.

April 16, 2011

Happy Birthday Sippy Cup

Hey guys.  Sorry we couldn't post today.  We are out and about celebrating Sippy Cup's 4th Birthday.

Please feel free to leave us a message after the end of this post.

We'll return to our regularly scheduled madness on Monday.

Take care,
Mr. Cufflinks and Lil Sippy Cup

April 14, 2011

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Me: "Hey, little man, you're getting to be pretty big now and I think it's important that
you learn the meaning of the word 'respect'."

Sippy Cup: "What's that?"

Me: "Well, 'respect' means when you treat people the way you would want them to treat you."

Sippy Cup: "Huh?"

Me: "Well, let me see if I can explain this.  Uhm...what's your favorite toy?"

Sippy Cup: "Uhm...I don't know...my robot?"

Me: "Ok.  Your robot.  What if you were playing with your robot in the park-"

Sippy Cup: "Why would I take the robot to the park?  I wouldn't take my robot to the park. 
It could get dirty.  Or break!"

Me: "Ok, calm down.  Let's just imagine that you take it with you to the playground for some reason. 
What if you were playing with your robot in the park and some little boy came and took it from you? 
For no reason whatsoever, he just comes over and takes it from you?"

Sippy Cup: "I'd get up, punch him and take it back."

Me: "Well, no, you see that's not nice.  Would you like it if he punched you?"

Sippy Cup: "Why would he punch me?  He took my robot!"

Me: "Well, let's say you took his robot and then he got up and punched you."

Sippy Cup: "Well, if I took his robot, then I guess it's ok if he punched me.  Then I'd give it back to him."

Me (sighing): "Really?  Even with this one?  You just couldn't sit there and learn something, could you?"

Sippy Cup: "That's why I don't take toys to the playground.  That way, no one gets punched."

April 12, 2011

Sippy Cup Sold Dreams

Recently, Lil Sippy Cup magically transformed one of his toy play sets into an entrepreneurial enterprise. 

I thought it was a fantastic opportunity for him to practice some basic math skills. 

As with everything I plan, I ended up being taught the lesson and not the other way around.

Sippy Cup: "Dad!  Come to my bodega!"

Me: "Oh, this is a bodega?  I thought it was a castle?"

Sippy Cup: "No, see, I have a potato, an apple, a banana, a piece of bread, some chocolate and some candy.  Oh and a cell phone!"

Me: "Ok, I don't want to know where you found that cell phone. 
Speaking of which, how much is the cell phone?"

Sippy Cup: "The phone is $1 dollar!"

Me: "Oh, wow, that must be an amazing phone.  So how much is the bread?"

Sippy Cup: "The bread is $2 dollars!"

Me: "Wait a second?  In your store, a phone is $1 dollar but bread is $2 dollars?  That's ridiculous!"

Sippy Cup: "No it isn't!"

Me: "Good response.  So how much is this candy?"

Sippy Cup: "Oh, that's $35 dollars!"

Me: "$35 dollars!  That's absurd!"

Sippy Cup: "No it isn't!  I like that candy!"

Me: "So your pricing scheme is based on the personal value you've attached to the items?"

Sippy Cup: "I love candy!"

Me: "Clearly.  You do realize that you are capitalizing on the current economic situation
in this apartment and have created a monopoly?"

Sippy Cup: "I know that!  It's my bodega!  Soooooo...are you going to buy something or not?"

April 10, 2011

Touch-A-Truck

Yesterday afternoon, Public School 295 in Park Slope, Brooklyn hosted a fund-raising event called "Touch-A-Truck".

At the event, children were invited to climb aboard a variety of different trucks and city service vehicles, including dump trucks, cement trucks, ambulances, garbage trucks and (always the crowd favorite) fire trucks.

Needless to say, the little dude had an amazing time, dancing in the street, exploring fire safety equipment and driving a moving van (Yep.  A moving van.)

Even more important, since New York City's Public School arts program is severely under-funded, all of the proceeds of the day's event went directly to P.S. 295's arts program.  This, my friends, is what you call a win-win.

As always, there are more pictures after the jump.  Enjoy.

April 8, 2011

Brain Teasers

Me: "Alright little dude, let's do some school work."

Sippy Cup: "Nah, I want to watch some cartoons."

Me: "Dude, you've been watching TV all morning.  That's not cool."

Sippy Cup: "You're crazy.  Cartoons are great."

Me: "They are.  But too much TV isn't good for you either.  If you don't do school work, your brain won't get any exercise and then it'll get fat and mushy and slide out of your ears."

Sippy Cup (eyes wide with terror): "WHAT?!"

Me: "Yep.  Your brain will, literally, slide right out of your ears."

Sippy Cup (head sideways, jumping up and down, tapping his ear as if he has water stuck in it)

Me: "Uhm, what are you doing?"

Sippy Cup: "I want to see if my brain slides out!"

Me (sighing): "Fantastic.  Grab your book bag when your done."

Sippy Cup (still jumping): "I'm going to grab it!  When it slides out! 
I'm gonna grab it and push it back in!"