What happens if . . .?

So Sonwun wanders into the kitchen the other day. His eyes are full of tears. He's sobbing and he's carrying his Wii wheel.

Yeah, it's been raining a lot the past week or so here in Thompson, so he's been polishing his Mario Kart skills a little more than I'd like to see. But, to be honest, the video games have given me a peek inside his little mind. And I'm fascinated.

He's sobbing because he erased his driver's licence and lost all of his medals. This is a big problem because I have no idea how he did it, or if it's fixable. So I ask him what he did. And, without missing a beat, he takes me through a series of menus in Mario Kart that ends with a button that says "Erase Licence."

I had no idea it was there and if you asked me today, I'm not sure I could find it again. But he could. Even though he can't read yet, he recognizes the shapes and colours of the different buttons and retains the patterns in his head. It is actually kind of amazing.

Anyhoo, turns out this is not fixable so he must start again. Lesson learned, I hope.

Now this got me to thinking. As a parent, I often ask this 4-year-old the typical, probably stupid, question that all parents seem to ask of their children at some point . . . "What were you thinking??"

I mean, when you hear laughter from the dining room table and enter the room to find the dog and walls covered in yogurt, what else can you say? "What were you thinking??!!"

When he winds up with his plastic baseball bat and takes careful aim at his younger brother's head, you gotta ask. When you see him walking toward the electrical outlet with a fork, you gotta ask. And when you see him hauling his tricycle to the top of the slide, and then standing on the seat at the top, you gotta ask.

But Mario has given me the answer. Sonwun is thinking the same thing he is always thinking: "What happens if . . .?"

It is his mantra, his philosophy, his raison d'être. It is the way he learns.

And you can see it in Mario Kart. While I'm content to race around the track, Sonwun is always bumping into walls, driving off the course, painting outside the lines, if you will. Why? Because he wants to know what happens if . . .

And I'll tell you what happens. He finds shortcuts, secret places and boosts that give him an edge over me. He learns, he gets better and he teaches me things.

Sonwun is teaching me, for example, that his philosophy is a good one. It makes life interesting. Honestly, how boring is your life if you stop asking the question? Is that when you stop living and start the slow march to the big dirt nap?

The world, to Sonwun, is new and fascinating. I am watching him and I can see that every day he craves new experiences, new answers to the same question. What happens if . . .?

In the adult world, in business, in the board room, in the lab, we call this Thinking Outside the Box and we revere those who are good at it. They are the business leaders, the great artists, the ones finding cures for disease. But they're only doing what my 4-year-old son is doing. What happens if . . .?

So yeah, it begins with Mario Kart. Sometimes you erase your driver's licence, sometimes you find a shortcut. But you keep trying, you keep driving where you "shouldn't," and you keep asking yourself, What happens if . . .?

It's a great philosophy.

Because a Little Bug Went Ka-Choo!

It always starts with something small.

I know this because I've read "Because a Little Bug Went Ka-choo!" to my boys. It starts, as expected, with a little bug sneezing. That little sneeze puts into motion a chain of events that sees, among other things, a chicken getting wet, a turtle falling into a lake, a farmer having a bucket land on his head and a boat almost sinking. It ends with that boat flying into town and disrupting a circus parade. Read it to your kids, you'll see. Good book.

And I know this because, in my first home, I tried to recaulk the bathtub. And it ended with an entire bathroom renovation, complete with a brand new toilet, as I put the hammer through the old one while removing baseboard.

Anyhoo, this time around, it began with Sonwun finding a tiny flaw in the wallpaper. He chose to make it a little less tiny. Some would say huge.

And so, while bargain hunting one Saturday morning, Neomom found a couple of gallons of the perfect colour of paint needed to replace said flawed wallpaper. Great! For about $20, we could fix this unsightly problem and life would be good.

But, as is often the case with a 60-year-old house, those that have done renovations over the years have not always had the skill, or desire to do them properly. And a little bug went ka-choo!

So we peeled off the old wallpaper. We found few flaws in the wall that, apparently, those that installed the wallpaper, were trying to hide. No big problem. Nothing a $10 bucket of drywall compound and a few hours of work couldn't fix.

Oh, and the wallpaper went behind the door trim, so we had to pull that off. It's old, it's chipped and, if we're gonna do the job right, it should be replaced. A few more dollars for new trim . . . and a bucket of white paint to paint it. (Not on sale).

And then Neomom noticed that, you know, with the new colour in the stairwell leading to the rec room, if we painted the one wall down there with the new paint (hey, we had 2 gallons, why not!) it would look so much nicer. (A new roller or two, a little tape, no big deal).

And so we did. We pulled that baseboard off the wall, in order to paint it properly, and, in the process, decided it too should be replaced. But not just on that wall. I mean it has to match the rest of the room and the previous renovators had used door casing as baseboard anyway . . . so . . . 100 feet of baseboard . . . a few more dollars. And a little bug went ka-choo!

Meanwhile, upstairs at the original wall, I had removed the door, which has 21 lovely glass panes in it, and leaned it up in the mudroom while I worked on the door frame and trim.

Now, the good news here is Sontoo did not get hurt. But he did find the door and decided it shouldn't be leaning against the mirrored closet doors in the mudroom. So he pushed it over.

More good news here. Not one of the 21 panes of glass in the door was broken. The mirrored closet doors, however, shattered as the falling door bounced up into them. Sooo . . . $200 to replace the mirrored closet doors.

Now, we're still in the middle of this little project and praying we've found the last of the surprises. My next purchase will be a little antihistamine for that freakin' bug.

I hope to put the door back in place this morning, which will, knock wood, eliminate the chances of it getting knocked through something else of value.

I also hope to paint the last of the 100 feet of baseboard in the garage today and install it in the rec room early next week.

"And that's how it happened. Believe me. It's true. Because . . . just because . . . a small bug went ka-choo!

A Matter of Perspective

To me, it was the most craptacular, run-down, unsightly, depressing excuse for a carnival I've ever seen.

To Sonwun and Sontoo, it was "the bestest thing ever!!"

It's all a matter of perspective.

Last night, we loaded up the mini-van o' fun and headed to the parking lot at the big mall in Thompson. The carnival was in town! Rides, games and the most unhealthy food too much money can buy! Wahooooo!

But it's about the kids, right? They haven't seen too many carnivals (thank goodness) so the lights, the rides and the cotton candy all came together in a sugar-fuelled evening of spectacular fun.

The boats, at least, looked like boats!

We started off small, with the Boat Ride. You know, a dozen little boats on a track that the young-uns sit in and pretend to steer while going in circles. They enjoyed it, and it only cost me three tickets per child ($5.10 in total).

Roller coaster fun!

And then it was the mini roller-coaster. Bigger fun, more tickets. ($6.80 total). They really liked that one. Sure, it was depressing to me. I mean, the little cars looked like they were made in metal shop at the high school, about 50 years ago. Not kidding. I mean, the carnivals I've been to in the past at least try to make the mini-coaster look like something . . . a dragon, clown cars . . . SOMETHING.



But these things were little metal boxes, powered by a visible electric motor, tethered by an electric cord to a power source in the middle of the circuit.

Did the boys care? Hell no! It was a ride, it went up and down, it went "fast" and it lasted long enough for the carny to enjoy a full cigarette. It was awesomeness incarnate.

The Swing! Sonwun said it was the most fun!

The sights! The sounds! The smells! We wandered about for a while, carefully dodging the puke piles on the pavement, that no one seemed too concerned about cleaning up. We stopped to watch as a carny splashed several buckets of water into the "Salt and Pepper Shaker" ride, to wash out the puke left by a rather green rider.

We bought a couple of slushies, some candy apples, a dozen mini donuts and a bag of cotton candy. The supper of champions!

All in all, the boys had a blast! And the smiles were more than worth the roughly $60 I dropped for this entertainment.

But all good things must come to an end. And so, still vibrating on the sugar-filled festivities, we headed back to the mini van o' fun . . . only to discover someone (not mentioning any names Neomom) had locked the keys inside.

No big deal, the boys had enough sugar on board to walk to Winnipeg. Home is much closer.

So we walked home and discovered we'd locked it up tight, necessitating a little break-and-enter: a perfect end to a night of fun in Thompson!

"The bestest thing ever!"

Diaper-Free Days ahead . . .

Ah, potty training. I forgot just how interesting it can be.

But I must say, Sontoo is doing very, very well. And why wouldn't he? He wants to do what Sonwun does at all times. And that includes the potty action.

We've been following the same program we used for Sonwun. We introduced the concept with Alyssa Satin Capucilli's book, "The Potty Book for boys," about a week ago. Worked for Sonwun, why not Sontoo?

The first couple of days were a little slow. He peed freely in his new "big boy" undies and did not seem too concerned about it. But on Thursday, we had our first success. And we celebrated like he'd cured cancer. High fives all around, hugs, excited talk and a few M&Ms for the effort. He liked that.

And things have gone well ever since.

Yesterday we enjoyed our first accident-free day. This morning, he woke up with a dry diaper (yeah, we still put him in a diaper for sleeping) and made for the potty first thing.

And, after he'd had breakfast this morning, he dropped a deuce in the potty and was very excited to share the news. Gotta say it ain't easy to leave a nice warm plate of bacon and eggs to go and view his work. But he insisted, of course, and I put down the fork to go and appreciate his "gift," and join in the celebratory dance.

(I'll spare you a picture of this event. Although Sontoo would certainly want one posted. You're welcome.)

Wasn't easy to go back for breakfast after that, but it's the price you pay, for never having to buy diapers again.

Neomom is already re-arranging his room, in her mind, sans change table. That will be a good day.

Anyhoo, that's the excitement in Thompson this morning.

Have a great Tuesday!

Ospwagan

Sunday . . . weather looks good . . . Ospwagan Lake beckons.



But first, a few updates. Sonwun had his cast removed Friday. YAY! The bone appears to have healed properly and he can now fully enjoy the little pool in the back yard, his bicycle and the beach. These are a few of his favourite things.

I was proud of him. When we went to the hospital, we discovered the saw they use to cut the cast was old and extremely noisy. This can be a little terrifying for a four-year-old. I could see he was concerned with the process, but he did not pull away or protest. Makes a dad proud.

Sontoo is also making his dad proud. After a stuttering start to the whole potty training festival, he seems to be catching on to the game. He's letting us know when it's time and, last night, he had his first poop on the little chair. I see diaper-free days in the near future and I like it!

Anyhoo, don't know if I mentioned it, but we've discovered a new place to play up here. Ospwagan Lake is about 10 minutes outside of town. It's big, it's beautiful and it's not as populated as Paint Lake Provincial Park.

It seems everyone in town goes to Paint Lake on the weekends. And fair enough. It's got a nice beach, a marina, camping, fire pits, a proper boat ramp and plenty of fish. But EVERYONE goes there.

When I fish, or hike, I like a little wilderness feel; a little solitude. Ospwagan offers these things, along with decent fishing and the chance for our dog to enjoy the water.

I'd kill for a canoe so that I could load up the family and explore more of the relatively untouched shoreline. Right now, we're kinda limited to what we can navigate on foot. Which is still great. The boys love wandering the rocky shoreline, looking for cool rocks and crayfish. I like casting from shore, but would love to get out a little deeper in search of bigger fish.

In time . . .

Anyhoo, Sonwun will enjoy his first day of cast-free adventure at Ospwagan today. Sontoo will enjoy peeing free in the great outdoors.

So that's the plan.

Have a great Sunday!

This week . . .

Well, happy Thursday!

One more day until Sonwun gets his cast off. We're all looking forward to it.

While it hasn't slowed him down too much, Sonwun has been frustrated that he can't completely grip the monkey bars, or the handlebars on his little bike. And he hasn't been thrilled with the bag we've had to put on the arm for playing at the beach, or in the little pool in the back yard. One more day . . .

In other news, Sontoo has begun his potty training. The first two or three days have not gone well. He just isn't too concerned about peeing in his undies. He just lets things go and then announces, "I had a accident."

But this morning, we had our first success. After soiling three pairs of underwear, he found his way to the potty and let fly. We made a big fuss, gave him a little reward and he seemed genuinely excited with the success. So we'll see how that pans out.

Let's see, what else? Oh yeah, I got my Pleasure Craft Operator Card this week. And that means I'm allowed to do what I've been doing since I was 16: drive a pleasure craft on the water.

Can't say I'm too thrilled about having to get it. To me, it just seems like another tax, because that's what it is.

I had to read 8 "modules" covering everything from mandatory equipment for various boat sizes, to what a whole mess of buoys mean, depending on size, location and colour combination. Most of it was either obvious stuff I was well aware of (don't drink and boat, don't smoke while filling the gas tank, wear a lifejacket) or it was crap that will never likely mean anything to me, (such as which wind speed qualifies for a storm warning as opposed to a small craft advisory) as all of my boating takes place on inland lakes.

But, under the law now, I must have this little card that says I passed the little test.

So why do I see it as just another tax? Well, I completed it all on line, which suggests to me that the government doesn't take it all that seriously. Sure, I was required to have a "supervisor" watch me take the test and make sure I didn't cheat. The supervisor could not be a family member. My neighbour Dave stepped in.

The test consisted of 36 multiple choice questions and, having read all eight modules once over, it took me about four minutes to complete. I did not cheat.

The time allowed to take the test is 45 minutes. So, if someone wanted to cheat, this gives them plenty of time to look up the answers . . . easily. I mean, it's multiple choice. You either know the answer or you don't. And there's only 36 questions.

This tells me the government is more concerned with collecting the $40 or so dollars for the "lifetime" operator's card than it is with people actually knowing this vital material.

So the federal government got its cash, I got my licence. yay.

Anyhoo, that's been the week so far. I have another story, but I don't yet know how to tell it without offending anyone. I'll keep working on it.

Have a great day!