Today's a national holiday(in Texas)

[OperaTenor]

Can and IS!



:p

[lioness]

ok, all this talk about you wearing make up. i have to know what's going on here. what kind of makeup? i hope you're not walking around looking like an old washed out 80's rocker?!?! :p

p.s. it's ok, i wear make up sometimes too (not that girly stuff though... i bring on the clowns!!)

[OperaTenor]

I sing with the San Diego Opera, and have performed in various productions with other companies over the years. I've mentioned in the past that that entails wearing stage makeup, and, well, some people just can't seem to get over that notion.



PS. Evidence: My profile photo(that's the little note card icon at the top of the post, if you aren't aware of how that works).

[lioness]

oh, i saw it alright. actually i think it's a very powerful picture! i was under the assumption (by everyone poking fun) that you did that sort of thing all the time and i was interested in the type of style.

[OperaTenor]

Nope, just for show. Beyond that, way ordinary(except for toenails...occaisionally).

Barfle just takes his pot shots to ratchet up his post count.

:p

Not that it does him much good....

:p :p

<small>[ 01-21-2005, 06:58 PM: Message edited by: OperaTenor ]</small>

[piqaboo]

Picture stopping by for morning coffee with a married couple both of whom have smeared eyeliner

[lioness]

i can definitely imagine!!
picture the image of the old 80's rocker and a clown coming down for morning coffee after the night of a a very long and blurry show! smeared eyeliner is an understatement!!!

hey piq, since there once was the MC store, do you ride at all? CA has to be wonderful weather for that!

[piqaboo]

I've been pillion a few times. I doubt I could learn to ride well enuf to keep up w OT on the fun roads.

[lioness]

oh, come on now girl... don't sell yourself short (here's that short thing again). practice makes purrrfect!!!

[barfle]

Originally posted by OperaTenor:
Barfle just takes his pot shots to ratchet up his post count.

Nahhh, I'm firmly entrenched in second place for quite a while (until shos gets busy or until you get gainful employment).

I do it 'cause I'm an ornery old cuss, and you're a convenient target.

I have a friend back in California who was a ballet dancer. His mother had a ballet school, which was mostly a bunch of prepubescent girls trying to be fairies and princesses. Whenever they would have a performance, he was called on to play the male lead (with very few exceptions). I was the videographer for the company, and one day at work I mentioned in the presence of our boss that I had videotape of him in tights. He thought it was funny, and the boss was clueless.

So I'm afraid it's my nature. I have a picture of piqaboo as a witch

[OperaTenor]

[quote]Originally posted by barfle:
[b] Nahhh, I'm firmly entrenched in second place for quite a while (until shos gets busy or until you get gainful employment).

I do it 'cause I'm an ornery old cuss, and you're a convenient target.

As for gainful employment, Altoid(and she's easy by all accounts) isn't even crawling yet, and I consider her heavy employment, beyond gainful. Perhaps it's a byproduct of the information age, but both Piq and I find ourselves expending a lot of energy making sure Altoid has the proper this and that to ensure she develops at her full potential at all times. I know this hasn't always been the case, that all our parents weren't nearly so focused on our developmental minutae, and we seem to have turned out okay in general. But with the plethora of information and all of the research done on the subject of child development and parenting available these days, there seems to be a significant amount of pressure, peer and otherwise, to make sure a child has every tool in their inventory usable to face the challenges of the world today, and be emotionally and physically secure.

Makes me tired just thinkin' about it! :whew:

Not complaining, mind you.

[piqaboo]

originally posted by barfle :
I do it 'cause I'm an ornery old cuss, and you're a convenient target.

ROTFL! Me too!!!!!!!! (And I know he's man enough to take it )

[OperaTenor]

[quote]Originally posted by barfle:
[b] I have a picture of piqaboo as a witch

[BigJon]

Originally posted by OperaTenor:
Perhaps it's a byproduct of the information age, but both Piq and I find ourselves expending a lot of energy making sure Altoid has the proper this and that to ensure she develops at her full potential at all times. I know this hasn't always been the case, that all our parents weren't nearly so focused on our developmental minutae, and we seem to have turned out okay in general. But with the plethora of information and all of the research done on the subject of child development and parenting available these days, there seems to be a significant amount of pressure, peer and otherwise, to make sure a child has every tool in their inventory usable to face the challenges of the world today, and be emotionally and physically secure.

And most of the efforts are wasted.

Don't let the nattering nabobs of child rearing negativity get you down. Surround her with toys that require thought, not toys that think for the kid. Usually anything with a battery is out. Keep the TV off and the kid away from the computer. Then turn her loose to play and play and play and play. Creative, imaginative play is how kids learn best. When you "interfere" with or "program" play you stunt the growth that play encourages. When she is playing, go work on those things that will improve your human condition and those things that will strengthen you and Piq's relationship. This is the best gift you can give her. A Dad and Mom who are healthy in every sense of the word.

Your time interacting with her, apart from maintenance, is best spent reading to her and talking to her like an adult. This is how the language portion of the brain develops the best.

BigJon

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Never mind toys that require thought. Three large pots and a wooden spoon; that's the ticket. Beemer will add the vocals. The cat can direct.

[OperaTenor]

Hi *igJon,

You're preachin' to the choir on that one. We cut off TV to the house - just have it for watching videos/DVDs. Children are extremely vulnerable to the marketing targeted at them through commercial television. Ain't gonna happen in this house. When it comes time fore the computer, it will be difficult, but I plan to try to teach her that it is a tool and not a toy(I'll have to be an example here -

Selma, we've already started deciding which pots will be right at the cupboard door for easy access, and I've got this ginormous wooden spoon I picked up at Filippi's a couple of years ago...

[Serenity]

I have yet to figure out how to "control" the influence of peers at school; they help create needs and wants of things you don't let them see at home. Let kids experience the world around them but be actively involved in their perceptions. It's hard to switch from being a grown-up to becoming a kid again to put yourself in their place. Next Christmas I'm just buying them packaging materials. They'll make castles and secret hideouts from boxes, stomp and pop bubble wrap all day, make blow horns from the gift wrap cardboard, make a parade with confetti made from torn gift wrap paper long after the 2 or 3 days they actually played with toys.

[OperaTenor]

We've discussed just how we'll approach the comparison to peers' lives. It will be a huge challenge, to say the least. Especially keeping a positive spin on the situation. We definitley hope to keep the communication free and easy(as possible), and be involved in her perceptions, as you say.
Not hard for me to switch since I'm still pretty infantile.

[analog]

-----------------------------------------------
QUOTE:
I have yet to figure out how to "control" the influence of peers at school;
-----------------------------------------------

I figure if they're getting approval at home they'll not so desperately need it from the peers.

About the only rule Mom had was "..no good silverware in the sandbox" ..

<small>[ 01-25-2005, 01:43 AM: Message edited by: analog ]</small>

[OperaTenor]

I wish it was that simple! There are cartoons these days whose sole purpose in life is to market crap. Pokemon is the prime example. The cartoon has no morality whatsoever. All the cute little creatures do is fight with each other for the enitre half hour. But there about 9,000,000 million of them, and their slogan is: Gotta Have 'Em All! The toy Pokemons(which is a contraction of pocket monster) are cheap little plastic pieces of junk, poorly designed(arms fall off in no time, etc.). They also have action cards that have a scoring system that makes the Aztec calendar look simple, but kids feel the need to collect and carry them around anyway.
If two kids at school are packing around this crap, they're cool and everyone else wants what they've got.

Oh, and the target age group is 4-6 years old.

Just one example of the commercial marketing pressure brought to bear on children these days.

Another is the Happy Meal. This is very clever marketing. Do you realize the HM is more expensive than the individual items, excluding the toy? My sister took two of our nephews to McD's once, and the younger of the two wanted a HM. My sister, being quite pragmatic at the moment, did the math and got him the individual items because they were cheaper, not realizing the cheap little toy was the point as far as he was concerned. He threw a fit because he didn't get the toy, and they ended up sitting in the car to finish their meal.

All of these little pieces of junk have an amazing way of accumulating, and their entertainment half life is incredibly short, particularly since they're so unimaginative.

I got to be a step dad for a few years, so I've been down this road. I found I was able to make it work and the child was happy, in the very fullest sense of the word. It takes a lot of consistency and self-discipline on the part of both parents.

Altoid will get plenty of approval when it comes to her creativity and sense of play. There has to be buck-stopping when it comes to unimaginative garbage, and there is sooooo much of it out there these days, and it's soooooo pervasive.

Personally, I plan on teaching her how to make mud bowls.

<small>[ 01-25-2005, 05:23 AM: Message edited by: OperaTenor ]</small>