Is This Fair?

It is still hockey season in the Northern household. There was a wonderful week of seventy and eighty degree days, during which the Northerns spent a lot of time outside and tried to switch Toddler from hockey to baseball. Unfortunately, it started snowing again this week. To Toddler, that means that it's still hockey season. NorthernDaddy is thinking that renting out an entire ice rink for Toddler's birthday didn't help things...and buying Toddler an honest-to-goodness-real hockey stick probably wasn't a good way to try and end the season, either.

So, the kitchen hockey continues. The photo below shows the rather nice hockey goal that NorthernToddler gets to shoot at when trying to score a goal.

This photo shows the goal that Toddler has set up for Daddy to shoot at to make a goal.

Is this fair?

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Toddler posing in front of his neato new goal - it has little white LEDs in the tubes that make the front frame glow. Really cool.

Hockey Cake!

DUCKIES

NorthernDaddy got scooped. He was out picking up one of Toddler's birthday presents (to be presented at the rink for his ice skating/hockey party), so NorthernMommy got to be the one to take Toddler to pick up the new ducklings. She got home first, got her camera first, and posted first. http://haphazardlysustainable.blogspot.com/2012/03/make-way-for-ducklings.html

NorthernToddler even named the three ducklings before Daddy got home! Quack, Mack, and Jack. That doesn't sound anything like the names Daddy was thinking of.... He was thinking of "Roast", "Lunch", and "Confit".

The ducklings are very cute, but they remain dinner. Whether the Northerns keep the flock at three or go back for another round (six), not one of these ducks are being kept past October. Well, they'll be kept....in the freezer. So, while Toddler is naming the ducks and giggling at the way they nibble on him, NorthernDaddy is studying on how best to fatten them up and methods of 'processing'.

Stay tuned!

IV

Yup, NorthernToddler is four.

Sadly, the change from age three to age four did not cause an instantaneous improvement in Toddler. He's still insane; he still runs around like he's just downed a case of Pixy Stix chased with a gallon of  Kool-Aid; he still asks enough questions per minute to cause an adult's brain to melt out their ears.

NorthernMommy and NorthernDaddy still love him, though.

They're guessing that FOUR will be the same as ONE, TWO, and THREE were - very challenging, but tons of fun. Stay tuned to the blog for updates.



Ducks

If, by the title of this post, you're hoping to see pictures of cute little ducklings, then you will be disappointed. The NorthernToddler clan is still going to get ducks, it just won't be today.

Yesterday, NorthernMommy set us all on a mission to get the equipment we needed for the brooder. Shavings, heat lamp, chick waterer, and chick feeder. (At least all the stuff can be used for both ducks and chicks - we are adding more chickens to the flock this year.) We got all the stuff and set up a brooder box from wood that was kicking around - it's all ready to go.

Today, we visited Tractor Supply to see if they had any ducklings for sale. NorthernToddler was very excited and curious about getting baby ducks. NorthernDaddy spent the whole ride to the store telling Toddler not to be too disappointed if there weren't any ducks available - Mommy and Daddy didn't know if it really was Chick Days at TSC (or what breeds they had, etc.). Walking in the door at TSC, it was immediately evident that there were no little chicks or ducklings - the lack of chirping and cheeping was proof enough.

By inquiring of the clerk, the Northerns learned that there would be several more shipments of chicks and ducklings over the coming weeks. Armed with the dates the shipments would arrive, Mommy and Daddy led a dejected Toddler out to the car.

Driving up Shelburne Road several miles from Tractor Supply, the Northerns passed a large pond with a fountain in the middle - and ducks.

Toddler yelled out: "LOOK! OVER THERE! DUCKS!......GO GET THEM!"

NorthernToddler really wants his ducks....

Stinky Feet

NorthernToddler is a punk.

A little background to start with: NorthernDaddy's feet stink.  They stink pretty badly. SouthernGrandma blames Daddy's stinky feet on genetics - which helps (or doesn't?) a lot, but the problem is compounded by NorthernDaddy cramming his feet into work boots every day. Take a smelly pair of feet, confine them in old boots, and sweat all day, and you'll end up with rank feet every time.

NorthernToddler has started to notice.

Now, Toddler is starting to develop his own set of stinky feet, but at three years old, his feet have not grown into full "bloom" yet. They're just a little smelly at this time. Enough to notice on some days.

Okay, enough background - time to set the scene. Toddler, Mommy, and Daddy were all riding home in the junky car after dropping the NorthernToddlerAdventureMobile off at the shop for some (remarkably expensive) repair work. Toddler is strapped into his seat in the back and starts to take his shoes off.

He gets the first shoe off, and gets to working on the second. Then:

Toddler: "Daddy, have you been in my shoes?"

Daddy: "Huh?"

Toddler: "Have you been in my shoes?"

Daddy: "What are you talking about?" (Daddy's hasn't been paying too much attention, and he's trying to figure out where Toddler is going with this. Is he asking if I stretched his shoes out? Is he asking if I know how he feels - the old 'walk a mile in my shoes' line - and if so, where did he get such a deep understanding? Daddy's just confused at this point.)

Toddler: "I think you've been in my shoes because they really, really stink."

NorthernMommy nearly ran off the road and killed us all because she was laughing so much....



First Sign of Spring

It's been a long, boring winter. There hasn't been enough snow to do anything fun outside like sledding, snowshoeing, or even clearing the driveway. The NorthernClan gave up on this winter two months ago; they're ready for Spring.

The Official First Sign of Spring in this neck of the woods appeared this afternoon: the road that runs up to the house was posted.

Some people think that the signs of spring are robins singing, flowers blooming, or even baseball players reporting for spring training. Those in the North know that the first sign of Spring is literally a sign.

Bomb Fireworks Maker

NorthernMommy went off to some meeting or something and left poor NorthernDaddy alone with Toddler. Daddy was cooking dinner as Toddler started building something in the living room. When Daddy came to check on things, Toddler was in the middle of building "fireworks". The stack of cards there is his pile of fireworks. When asked what the fireworks would do, Toddler replied, "They go BOOM!" (Can y'all see where that is going? Daddy is picturing cards thrown all over the room....)

When Daddy asked Toddler what the line of blocks there was supposed to be, Toddler said that they were a blast wall. Then he said - and this is an exact quote - "Don't worry Daddy, I'm building a wall to stop the fireworks so you won't get messed up."

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Isn't it nice to know that he doesn't want his Daddy to get 'messed up'?

Leprechaun

This is what greeted NorthernDaddy in his kitchen after Mommy and Toddler spent some time with the craft supplies.

Is that not one wacked-out creepy leprechaun?

 Toddler insisted on a full photo shoot for his leprechaun - posing frontways, sideways, upside down and backward - the whole deal. To save you the agony of viewing those photos, there will be just one posted:

NorthernDaddy Didn't Break Any Bones!

Notes from today:

1. After chores, the NorthernFamily went ice skating. NorthernMommy even convinced NorthernDaddy to risk life and limb by lacing up skates and stepping out onto the ice. Turns out that Daddy still remembers a little bit of the skating lesson that Mommy gave him oh, seven years ago...Toddler thinks that he was teaching Daddy how to skate. Toddler was hanging onto his milk crates for balance, with Mommy holding him up by the jacket, and still he fell several times.

On the ride to the grocery store, Toddler was full of praise for Daddy: "Daddy, you did pretty good skating. You didn't fall. I'm a good teacher, right?"

2. In the brain of a toddler, there is a fine line between insanity and genius. One second, NorthernToddler can be serving up truly profound observations about the world we live in; and the next, he will launch a song with totally gibberish lyrics. It is a little surreal and unsettling. (Of course, his parents think that Toddler is just continuing in his plan to drive them totally batty before he turns four!)

"Can't see me!"

Model Railroad Show

NorthernToddler had a wide-open schedule yesterday. When he was asked what it was that he wanted to do, he replied, "Go to a street fair." NorthernDaddy was a little at a loss; one, because he was caught unaware and wondered where that desire of Toddler's came from and, two, because there just aren't any street fairs to be found in Vermont in March. Trying to gloss over the whole street fair thing, Daddy suggested a visit to a Model Railroad Show at the Expo. Well, Toddler jumped on that idea like stink on a skunk - of course he wanted to see the trains!

The whole Northernclan hopped into the NorthernToddlerAdventureMobile and made tracks to the show. It turns out that one can find some very different people connected to the world of model railroading. NorthernDaddy commented on the high percentage of nerdy, pimply, just-plain-weird teenagers involved in operating the layouts. NorthernMommy was much, much nicer, and commented on the fact that there were many nice older retiree/grandfather types running trains. Toddler? Toddler didn't even realize that there were people running the trains! (Shows what Thomas the Train has done to the brains of little kids...)

It should have come as little suprise to NorthernDaddy, but there were a whole lot of model train layouts at this show. Tons of them. The layouts ranged from the very simple - short figure eight with an on/off switch to the complex - twelve trains on multiple tracks going every which way controlled by digital keypad radio transmitters that allowed the triggering of all sorts of accessories like smoke machines and Ferris Wheels. There was even a layout with a scale-sized functioning ski lift with gondolas -crazy!

There was a nice layout built with LEGO blocks - complete with a LEGO train that ran automatically. There was a second LEGO train layout that had more of a freight-handling theme. It even had a gantry crane for moving freight - very cool!

Of course, you-know-who made an appearance....

This is an example of the smallest commercially available model railroad. You can see the how small it is by comparing it the size of that guy's wristwatch. This thing is tiny! You could lay out a whole city to the scale of this train in about a three square-foot area (assuming you had super-incredible vision and a Lilliputian-sized toolkit!)

How did NorthernDaddy track down Mommy and Toddler? He just looked for the highest balloon in the room!

 Give him a balloon and a button to push to make a train go 'round, and he will be the happiest boy in the world!