Cerebrate Good Times

All parents have tricks they use for getting babies to sleep (at least, the ones who haven't yet been committed to a mental institution), and one of the most popular methods involves rocking your baby to sleep with soft music. (Pro tip: In my experience, horror movies are less than ideal for getting your kids to sleep.) With Sam, we used a CD of gentle piano music. And now we've found something that seems to work for Allison. Your job is to guess what it is. a. Greatest Military Marches - The Very Best of John Philip Sousa b. Stunt by Barenaked Ladies c. The Phantom of the Opera (The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) d. Nacho Libre (The Motion Picture Soundtrack) e. Now That's What I Call Music, Vol. 29 Go.

Tonight I took Sam to a Halloween store to look at costumes, so he could start deciding what he wants to be. Here's our conversation on the way home. "Sam, what do you want to be for Halloween?" "A snake spider bat chipmunk squirrel ghost."

Most people in my family, including me, eat corn on the cob in rows, like a typewriter. But some eat rings around it. What do you do?

There was a giant robot composed of many parts held together by magnets that crashed to earth as a meteorite, and I had to stop it. Stopping it involved sand and water, and then for some reason I got a snake to wiggle inside of it and eat its heart, which was apparently something akin to a mouse, or something equally desirable to a snake. And the earth was safe again. But for how long ?

(in no particular order) Caramello Milky Way Kit Kat U-no Almond Joy What about you?

Last week we started giving Allison rice cereal. Here's how she reacted.

Yesterday afternoon I had the opportunity to lie down for about half an hour, but as I prepared for my little nap I heard a strange scraping sound. A little investigation revealed that some branches from the neighbor's tree were scraping along the eaves of our house. I had to get up on the roof to be able to trim the branches. While I was up there I noticed just how overgrown their trees are. Some of the branches overhanging our roof will require a chainsaw to remove. So, combined with the additional plumbing problems we experienced a week ago courtesy of roots in the pipes (yes, plumbing problems again ), I think it may be time these trees have a little... accident.

My dad gave Sam a toy scorpion. He's been sleeping with it for the last week. It's actually very cute to see how attached he is to it.

I can't believe how many spam comments I get on this new website. They outnumber real comments, which is kind of sad.

I feel that we were reasonably well prepared for child #2. I know that the second child is always the complete opposite of the first, but in Allison's case that just means she sleeps at night. There haven't yet been too many experiences that surprise me. Nevertheless, she managed a doozy yesterday. She was pretty cheerful in church for the most part, taking a nap for a while in my arms. Then in sacrament meeting Sam wanted to take a trip out to the drinking fountain. While we were out there, I decided to check Allison's diaper. And that's when I realized that she had managed to sneak one by me. Despite her tendency to be rather obvious when she has a bowel movement, she apparently went into stealth mode for church, perhaps in a bid for reverence. And it had happened a while before, because it had had time to get all over her clothes, and also all over my suit pants. Katie, being the wonderful wife she is, had packed an extra outfit for her in case such a situation shou...

We've all occasionally been in roadside emergencies. It's impossible to prepare for every contingency, but I think we can be ready to deal with the majority of things. So here's my list (so far) of things you should always have in your trunk. Spare tire and jack Jumper cables Small socket set Portable compressor that plugs into the cigarette lighter (or a can of slime, I guess, but these compressors are cheap and awesome) Blanket Gallon of water Basic first aid kit Quart of oil Windshield washer fluid Coolant What else?

A week or so ago, someone signed me up on Twitter because he was convinced I would enjoy it. He had me follow a bunch of people he finds amusing. And for a few days I checked it out, thinking it was kind of fun. But then I realized it's really just annoying. In order to understand what anyone was talking about I had to make sure I went back to read everything they posted previously, and many of them aren't as funny as they think they are. So this morning I deleted my account. Consider me de-twitted. Do any of you use Twitter, for good or ill?

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On a whim, Katie and I decided to take the family up Mill Creek Canyon yesterday for a hike. Here's what I learned: Nobody who is coming down has any idea how much farther you have left to go. It's perpetually "half a mile." But the view is "totally worth it." When the sign at the beginning of the trail says it's a two-mile trail, that apparently means vertically. Carrying a 15-pound baby in a harness for 4 hours is kind of tiring. A child can complain for hours coming down the mountain about how much his feet hurt, and then when you get home he will still have enough energy to demand that you play with him. Next time we will look for a trail with an escalator. Those exist, right? Next time I'll remember to bring a real camera. This kind of looks like we were looking at a painting or something.

Pretend for a moment that you remember this post . Now, consider this: This is a new keyboard at a new job. I guess my typing habits are predictable.