Working on Animal Sounds: Avery & Daddy Episode 4

07/06/2015 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Here we are again with another episode of Avery and me vlogging it up in style! And by “style”, I mean a yogurt face toddler and her dad who’s doing good just to have a shirt on for the camera. You’re welcome.

You might’ve noticed I dropped the “Vlog” part of the title to shorten it a little. Obviously, it’s a Vlog, so no need for redundancy. Oh, and I have plenty to share about our Fourth of July weekend full of 5k fun and co-sleeping before fireworks were done, so be on the lookout for that story soon.

My wife and I praise Avery for always responding when we ask her to make a certain animal sound, but a lot them sound the same. I know in her head it’s different, and we’re proud of her efforts, so I just wanted to a record it here.

You’ll have to pardon my corny intro, it’s just part of being a Dad. Right? Right? Plus, I thought I played it off pretty well actually. Call me biased, but…..well, just call me biased.

Hope you were able to hear her animal sounds good enough. I blame the fact I’m using the built-in audio/video from my laptop, so can’t expect high quality anything. But hey, she’s a cutie! And I bet you didn’t know a pig and a mouse sounded so similar, huh?

There will be more animal sound videos in the future, so stay tuned. Until then, hope your Monday is off to a great start and everyone’s fully recovered from the Fourth of July….if you’re in the U.S. that is.

What animal sounds are your kids making or did they make as a toddler?

Be honest, did you like my “caught off guard” intro?

#MySundayPhoto, Parenting

Not Your Typical Couch Potato: #MySundayPhoto – 07.05.15

07/05/2015 R.C. Liley 5 Comments

A Couch Potato, as defined by Merriam-Webster is a lazy and inactive person; especially : one who spends a great deal of time watching television. Avery has watched a few shows here and there, but not often and she has yet to sit still longer than 5 minutes to see what’s on screen, so she is far from a couch potato.

While the dictionary definition does not apply, this little girl has taken to climbing and walking/jumping all over the couch lately. I’ll be in the kitchen (like usual) with my back turned and all of the here a little voice say “Hi.” Instantly, I know what I’ll see when I turn around, and sure enough…..

How can you get on to that face? It’s hard enough to suppress a smile, but to then have a stern voice? Forget it! I try to offer other, safer alternatives, but the allure of the couch is just too strong for anything else, even her shadow.

Hopefully she won’t have to learn the dangers of jumping on the couch through experience. Then again, maybe it’s a right of passage as a toddler. After all, my mom continues to remind me how I met with the corner of a wooden speaker box at that age. We don’t have sharp cornered objects surrounding the couch, so at least that’s working in our favor.

Does your kid love jumping on the couch, bed, or something else?

Ever have an accident as a result, or can you remember when you hurt yourself as kid?

Going Strong, Life, Parenting

Why I’m Scared this Fourth of July

07/04/2015 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Hello and Happy Fourth of July!!

You’re probably thinking I’m scared of the Fourth of July fireworks or crazy people who had too much to drink and are high on smoke bombs driving around, but that would be wrong. Well, the latter is a little worrisome, but not an issue I’ve dealt with before.

Nope, right now, as you read this, my wife and I probably just finished our 5k at a nearby brewery as G-Ma and Avery cheered us on and are sipping on a refreshing craft beer to celebrate. The scary part is what we’re doing for the day; going to G-Ma’s to *gasp* spend the night!

As you can tell, I’m writing this in advance, so I’ll have to fill you in on the details of our race and the rest of today in a future post. For now, I’m just sharing my fear with you. Avery has outgrown her pack ‘n play portable crib which we’ve always used at G-Ma’s and we have been avoiding another visit for far too long.

This time, we are going to make a comfortable bed on the ground since she has no awareness of boundaries and hope for the best. She is never just asleep when we put her to bed in her crib at night, and she usually rolls all over the place talking for a good 20 minutes. I assume this normal for most toddlers, but geez, she’s crazy!

So now, after waking up early for the 5k and being exposed to fireworks, she’ll either be extremely tired and will go to sleep easily, or so tired she’s wired. Parents, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. We brought her to G-Ma’s last year where she first saw fireworks, but was hardly aware of what exactly was happening.

Now that she is very aware of everything around her, who knows how she’ll take the loud booms and flashy pyrotechnics. Will it be overstimulating, scary, or a joy to watch for her? Guess we’re finding out today!

So, the plan of attack is counting on the accumulation of waking up early, playing at G-Ma’s and swimming at her neighbor’s house, possibly no nap, and staying up later to see fireworks working for instead of against us to get her to sleep good at night. Wow, that was a long sentence!

My nerves are a little frantic, if you can’t tell, but luckily Going Mom is cool and calm. Hope my frantic state is all for not.

Bye for now, and Happy Fourth of July to those of you here in the U.S.! Happy weekend to the rest of you!

Have you had to deal with a tricky sleep situation for your little one?

Ever find a solution or was it just a miserable night for everyone?

Any tips? Please?