Last Friday I was a field trip chaperon for my triplets pre-school class. We were scheduled to go to a nature preserve in Riverside. I didn’t even know we had one. If you’ve ever seen Riverside, there’s nothing “natural” about it. Hell, we don’t even have A RIVER!

I got there early, like I was supposed to, so that I could receive instructions from the teacher in charge of the field trip. She is a no nonsense sort of person, takes her job very seriously, as she should. She handed out papers with information, directions and a list of do’s and don’ts for us to follow. As I read she addressed the class.

“And,” she said, “this is very important. Will the parents please refrain from leaving the caravan on the way to the Nature Preserve and going through fast food restaurant drive thru windows, because this causes confusion for people following and we don’t need that sort of thing.”

Now, I had rushed that morning to get all of the kids ready for the field trip and made sure they had everything they needed, the right clothes, lunches, snacks, drinks, and they had breakfast. I suddenly realized I hadn’t.

“Ummmmm”, I thought, “Breakfast sandwich sounds goooooooood.”

I wasn’t even hungry, until she mentioned it. Hadn’t thought about it at all, but, SHE made it so that it was all I could think about!

We loaded the kids up into the vans, buckled them in, and we were on our way. The caravan wound its way through the city, stopping at lights and stop signs. It was very slow going. Then, on the main street in downtown Riverside, we sat at a very long light.

I glanced to my right and there it was, Carl’s Junior, one of my favorite hamburger joints.

“Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm, sausage breakfast biscuit gooooooooooooooood, ” was all I could think about.

The traffic wasn’t moving. I was right next to the entrance. I already knew my way to the Nature Preserve. So I went for it.

“Dad! Where are you going?” said one of my kids.

“Daddy is just going to make a quick stop.”

All my kids in unison said, “DAD!”

As I turned into the Carl’s Junior I looked into my rear view mirror and, sure as SHIT, two cars turned to follow me!

“WTF!” I thought, “What the Hell!? Are these people Lemmings?”

The lights changed, traffic started to move and the cars that followed clogged the traffic as they realized their mistake and tried to merge back into traffic. I was already at the window ordering so I laughed and got my sandwich.

When I made it to the Nature Preserve she was waiting for me, shaking her head.

“Mr. Dadlez,” was all she said.

“Hey, you started it!” was my reply.

Here is one of my all time favorite songs performed live on the MTV Music Awards back in 1987. Remember when MTV used to play music? It’s Crowded House playing “Don’t Dream It’s Over”. Just ignore the stupid Downtown Julie Brown crap and wait for the music…It’s worth it.

Crowded House -- Don’t Dream It’s Over 1987 MTV Video Music Awards -- Venue: Universal Amphitheatre City: Los Angeles, CA Date: September 11, 1987

Today was the beginning of Baseball season in our house. Little League started and my triplets had their first taste of “The National Pastime”. Of the three five year old’s, my son Joseph is the most serious about the game. He’s been waiting for this day for a long time; practicing with his Grandfather and asking all sorts of Baseball questions. He was ecstatic when we finally went to the sporting goods store to buy Baseball cleats and his first real Baseball mitt. He’ll be a dedicated player and probably end up playing shortstop or first base.

Then there is Michael. Let’s just say that the song by Peter, Paul and Mary, “Right Field”, is appropriate for him. He’ll be “Watching the dandelions grow.” That’s OK by me. I spent a lot of time in right field myself praying that the ball never came my way.

Rose is somewhere in between the two. She’s more interested in socializing and making new friends than actually playing. Which, again, is OK by me. That’s what Little League is all about.

Even little Matthew wanted in on the fun and was very upset when he realized that he was too little to play on the team. So, to cushion the blow, we dressed him up as a pirate (the team name is the Pirates) and he went as a kind of team mascot. It was very cute.

Now, if any of you have never been to the first day of Tee Ball practice, this is how it goes. You have a bunch of five year old’s jumping around, excited, like they just mainlined sugar on Halloween. The coach is trying to wrangle them up and teach them the rules of Baseball. He does this with little memory games that explain the bases, hitting the ball, running the bases, scoring and such. Then they try and put the rules into practice by actually playing a little.

Michael steps up to the plate and holds the bat like a rifle, pointing it at the guy at first base like he’s gonna blast him. When someone hits the ball, the guy on first runs to second and the guy on second runs to first as the coach and parents yell directions at the kids. The kid who hit the ball makes it to first and keeps on going in a straight line past it. The kid on third is hopping up and down, whether he’s excited or just has to go pee I don’t know.

And then there is Matthew yelling “Go Pie Waites!” in his tricorne pirate hat.

I’ve never enjoyed Baseball so much.

I’m busy working on a project so I’m posting a commercial and hope I’ll soon have a new post. Enjoy.

I don’t know how they happen, but when you have little kids, dozens of routines and daily traditions get started. And, if you deviate from those routines and traditions, all hell can break loose. I really don’t know where or when they start, but your child will let you know the second you don’t do it, or you do it wrong, whatever “IT” is. This just totally reinforces the belief in my wife and myself that, above everything else in their lives, children crave order.

We have routines in our house on practically everything that takes place, from getting dressed, eating, and going potty. The most routines happen at the end of the day when my wife and I get the kids ready for bed.

First, they get their jamies on, then they all pick up toys, each kid gets different toy categories every night, then each one gets to pick out a story book, then they get their teeth brushed and it’s off to bed. Upstairs, we say prayers, each one says thanks for something that happened during the day, and we tuck them in.

Each one has their own special way they want you to say goodnight. And the very last thing, if that isn’t enough, my littlest Matthew, goes to sleep snuggled up against my wife or myself while watching pictures float across the bedroom ceiling. They are projected from a battery powered, dome shaped, music box that plays Brahm’s Lullaby for about six minutes after winding it up. We watch stars, birds, elephants, kangaroos, planets, you name it it’s there.

That started when he was a baby and we couldn’t get him to go to sleep in his crib. We found that he would go to sleep if he laid on your chest and watched the ceiling show. Then we just laid him in his crib. That has been the tradition for almost a year and a half now. He’s out of his crib and in a “big boy” bed. My wife and I have decided that we should wean him of this behavior.

I’m going to miss it. It’s one of those beautiful parent child experiences that will never happen again.

I found this in a book of quotes about helping others.

“When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn’t change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family. Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world. ” ~Author Unknown

This was a tribute concert done for Roy Orbison several months before he died. They did it at the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles just before they tore it down. There were so many celebrities and legendary musicians involved and sitting in the audience it would take forever to list. The few that I will mention are T Bone Burnett, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, and Bonnie Raitt. They even had Elvis’ back up band from Vegas.

The members were James Burton (lead guitar), Jerry Scheff (bass), John Wilkinson (rhythm guitar), Larry Muhoberac (keyboards) and Ronnie Tutt (drums). The concert was titled “Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night”. Google that on wikipedia and get the whole story.

This video is one of my favorites from the special. It features a call and response guitar jam between the Boss and James Burton.

My wife wanted Sushi. It’s close to Valentine’s Day so I thought, OK, I’ll get her some. I went to her favorite Sushi Bar, which is less than a mile from our house, and ordered her some take out. Once I had the order I got in the minivan to drive home.

The exit to the parking lot for the shopping area of the restaurant sits right next to a busy intersection. It’s a very bad design. As I waited to pull out of the parking lot, the lights of the intersection changed. Some stupid kid, driving a jacked up truck, came barreling around the corner and cut across the lanes of traffic to enter the parking lot I was leaving.

He cut it really close, so close that he was gonna hit me! So, I threw my car in reverse and backed up to give him room. Then I heard a sound that was eerily similar to that of an empty Pepsi can getting crushed in my fist. The truck didn’t hit me but I had backed up into a car that was sitting very close behind me.

The truck that was the catalyst of all this must’ve realized he’d caused it because I watched as it dashed through the lot and made a speedy retreat out of another exit.

I got out to survey the damage. That’s when I saw that behind the car I hit was a police car. The cop pulled up beside me and rolled down his window.

“You gonna be OK to exchange information with that guy?”, he said pointing to the other car.

I replied, “Yeah.”

He rolled up his window and drove off.

California Police won’t do anything unless there are guns, alcohol, drugs, gang members or a bloody body present. We drove our cars to a less crowded area of the lot and exchanged insurance information. When I arrived home and brought my wife her food, I placed it on the table and said…

“This was very expensive Sushi.”

This is one great video, especially if you like Rockabilly, which I do. Try and identify all the musicians sitting in. Enjoy!

My youngest son, Matthew, is approaching three years old and the wife and I are ready to go full throttle with his potty training. He already goes pee on the toilet when he wants, but the concept of pooping in it is totally alien to him. He’s seen his brothers and sister do it but the idea of him doing it just doesn’t register. He’s perfectly happy getting the one on one attention that comes with changing his diaper.

We used the reward system with the triplets and it worked really well. Every time they pooped on the potty they received an M&M (Nestles Smarties to those outside the USA). At first my son Joseph didn’t quite understand how the system worked. We told him that every time he pooped in the potty he’d get an M&M. So he would poop in his diaper, walk to the toilet, take off his diaper and dump the contents in. Then he would demand his prize.

It all seemed perfectly right to him. He had fulfilled all the requirements, the poop was in the potty. It took a little while but he eventually got it.

I’m told by other families that the Cherios method works too. They throw a couple of Cherios in the crapper and the boy stands there and does target practice, peeing them under the water.

The most bizarre and funny case of potty training in our house happened when my wife decided that she wanted to train our cat, Chanel, to use the toilet. This was before the kids.

Chanel was our beautiful, extremely feminine , black white and gray, long haired cat. If she had a human counterpart, that human would’ve been Blanch DuBois from “Streetcar Named Desire”. She was delicate in every way, very affectionate and really did rely on the kindness of strangers. Her most endearing quality was her silent mewing.

She would purr and open her mouth to meow but never actually make the sound. It was as if someone turned off the volume. God she was beautiful.

Back to the story. Shannon, my wife, bought this contraption that fit on top of the toilet seat. You were supposed to sprinkle some kitty litter, not a lot but just enough, to give the cat the idea it was supposed to go there. Eventually, after the cat used it a few times, you would tear off a tab and create a hole that would now let the cat poop into the toilet. I told my wife it was ridiculous. Chanel agreed.

She refused to use it. Every time she walked into the bathroom where her litter box used to be and saw the new setup, she would raise her nose, stick up her tail and proudly walk out. This went on for days. She held it for days. Boy was she stubborn.

Then, finally, she walked into the kitchen and meowed, loudly. My wife and I were surprised and looked at her. She turned and started to walk but would stop and look to make sure we were following. We did, we followed her all the way to the bathroom. She stopped, her ears went down, a low, guttural, growl emerged from her such as we’d never heard. She leapt at the kitty toilet cover grasping it in her teeth and violently ripped at it, whipping her head back and forth, until it lay, shredded, in pieces, on the bathroom floor. Then she lifted her nose in the air, perked up her fluffy tail and walked out, past us.

I immediately put back her litter box.