Author: Josh

Today was Donuts for Dad day at Maly’s school. I’ve been looking forward to this day for the month that I’ve known about it. I attended Donuts for Dad last year as well, but I didn’t really know what to expect. This year, I walked in considering myself a seasoned vet – at eating donuts with my daughter at her school. It’s not as easy as it sounds. We have to choose between donuts with pink glaze and sprinkles or safety orange drizzled donuts. This year we opted for one of each — part of a nutritious, balanced diet according the American Society of Unrecognizable Donut Glazes and other Goos that Can be Used to Stripe Interstate Highways.

Just as last year, Maly designed a construction paper and yarn tie for me. She chose pink. Pink is the new black in men’s fashion this year. That’s what I’m telling myself. On my tie is Maly’s hand print in a dark pink paint. On the other side of the tie are questions that Maly answered about yours truly:

How tall is Daddy? 1 foot tall
How old is Daddy? 4 yrs. old
What color are Daddy’s eyes? Brown
What is Daddy’s favorite color? Red
What is Daddy’s favorite food? Carrots
What does Daddy do at work? He just does something on his computer
What is Daddy’s favorite thing to do? He just likes to play

My job is to make sure that the answer to the last question never changes.

Click here to watch the video.

Puts a new spin on playing with the dollhouse!

Josh bought a French coffee press yesterday with some of his birthday money. He made coffee this morning and added some vanilla ice cream. This is the conversation we had:

“Look at that. I heated it up [ice cream] and it’s frothy.”

“Umm…it’s good.”

“Yeah. I’m quite the barista now.”

“Oh. Is this for me? I didn’t realize you made me a cup too. Thanks!”

“I can’t wait to get old and do nothing but this every day, and take a walk and have a bowel movement.”

“…”

We’ve been dogsitting a 10-year-old Lab/Golden Retriever this weekend named Rafter. From what Elise told me, Maly was sitting at the office window for the better part of Friday afternoon, waiting for Rocio to drop Rafter off. I got home from work around 7 p.m. and was quickly and excitedly greeted by the dog. He’s been nothing short of a good ol’ dog since he’s been with us. He reminds me of the days as a boy growing up with dogs around.

This morning we all took him for a walk to Starbuck’s. Everyone took the trek well, despite the cold weather. There was plenty of sniffing and peeing along the way, and the dog stopped to pee every once in a while, too. I think he takes well to our house as well. I find the humor in him walking through the kitchen and, with his tail wagging, knocking the drawings off of the refrigerator. Maly has come to terms with Rafter’s going home tomorrow. After she went to bed tonight, he followed me around the house — from the kitchen to the living room. Back to the kitchen and then to the office. When I’d park at my desk in the office, Rafter would park at the doorway, quietly waiting to follow me wherever I might go next.

He’s been a good companion to have around the house, even if it’s just for the weekend. I’m thinking come Monday, Maly’s going to ask, “Daddy, when can we have a doggy like Rafter?”

“Whenever you learn to sell live felines on eBay, Sugar.”

“Would YOU want to move back to Iowa?”

“Maybe under certain circumstances.”

“Like global warming?”

“Like if you died.”

“…”

One of the personal highlights of this Christmas for yours truly was receiving a rock tumbler from my in-laws. Yes, I’m excited about a rock tumbler. I’m excited because it means a new tradition for Maly and me. Elise’s maternal grandfather spent years and years collecting and polishing rocks. And hundreds of these polished rocks live in a large bowl at the Boeckman house. I wish I could have had the opportunity to meet Grandpa Thurston and hear some of the stories of where some of those rocks were found. Maly loves to play with those rocks when we visit Boppa and Gran. She likes to look at all of them and pick out the ones that she finds prettiest. So, over the past year or so, when we find a cool rock, we pick it up and keep it. And we put them in the porcelain turtle that Maly painted for me in Cabo for Father’s Day.

So I finally got a rock tumbler. On Saturday evening, Maly and I went for a walk around the block. We “borrowed” a couple rocks from a neighbor’s xeriscaped yard to add to our collection. I told Maly that once this set is polished, we’d have to return the rocks to the owners. I’m hoping they’ll let us keep a couple because we picked out a couple really cool purple rocks.

I’m hoping this will mean a new tradition for Maly and me, where we can go on deliberate or accidental rock hunts and be able to remember where we found our jewels years later.

Last night we took the rocks we’ve collected, plus half the bag of “sample rocks” that came with the tumbler, and started our first batch of rocks to polish. The whole process takes about a month, the current, first round lasting 4 days with coarse grit and water. The tumbler is working loudly in the garage as I type this. This afternoon we (neighbors included) unanimously decided that the tumbler is a little too loud, so I built an insulated box to muffle the racket.

I’m looking forward to the finished product, plus lots of rocks hunts in the future, and hopefully a huge collection of polished jewels and memories.

[flv width=”500″]http://www.janicek.com/video/20091231_Janicek_2009.flv[/flv]

Generally I get Maly ready for bed every night. We’ll eat dinner, play for a while, take a bath, put on pajamas and read a book before it’s time to go to bed. A few weeks ago, after I read a book to Maly, she asked me to tell her a story. Usually midway through the book we’re reading, I go into retired mode. When she asked me to tell her a story, the request caught me a little off guard. She loves animals, so I thought I’d tell her a story about my childhood pets.

I told her about Beau and Tinker. When I was a young boy, we had a little beagle named Tinker, and a yellow lab named Beau. Those were my childhood companions – the dogs that every little boy should have growing up. We played all kinds of games together. They were my soldiers in my army. They were the monsters when I needed a foe. They were my travel companions when I needed to explore. They were my guardians when I needed help in the real world.

I don’t remember what all I told Maly about my companions, but I know I told her about how their lives ended. Tinker was shot on the side of the road and we had to have the vet put her down. Beau, who was an old yeller in every since of the word, was attacked by coyotes and his last proverbial leg wasn’t strong enough to hold him up and longer. Beau was the one that caught copperheads and rattlesnakes. He was the one who crushed armadillos in his jaws. He was the one who was always by my side.

Maly knows that her dad had two dogs as a boy. Beau and Tinker.

On another recent nightly bedtime ritual, asked Maly what she wanted to ask Santa to bring her for Christmas. She leaned up in her bed, carefully held up three fingers and said, “three kitten toys! Oh, and a doggy toy. Like Copper from Fox & Hound.” Well, Santa and I had actually been texting each other earlier that evening and he told me that Maly had too many kitten toys already, but the dog toy might not be a bad idea.

I picked up a little stuffed beagle toy from the local toy store a couple evenings later. I thought about getting her a stuffed Copper, but decided against it. I know the Disney empire is hurting and all, but I wanted to give her something that I picked out; something of a reflection of me and my childhood.

Fast forward to Christmas morning. I have learned two things this year: 1) When the child reaches the age of 3.5 years old, she gets the concept of Christmas morning gifts and 2) the child excitedly screaming, “I GOT A PUPPY DOG!!!” from the side of your bed on Christmas morning is one of the sweetest sounds I think I’ve heard since I heard my wife say, “I do.”

Over the past four days, Maly has had that little stuffed beagle closely in-tow. For the first couple days, she called her dog Tinker. Just yesterday, I was informed that the dog’s new name in Beau. Either way, I’m glad she likes it. I’ll be curious as to what the dog’s name is when I get home this evening.

I think I just might put a bug in her ear about getting a real dog. Someday.

About a month ago John posted a link to an interesting video on the growing rate of national unemployment from January 2007 to October 2009:

[flv width=”400″ height=”300″]http://www.janicek.com/01dz/panhandle_iowa/Unemployment_rates_by_county.flv[/flv]

Then there was a conversation on Facebook:

And then we went into production, all within the same day: