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27
Feb

Kid’s Day Out: Berkeley

pizza at blondie's on telegraphThe Sun was out, the afternoon was free, so I grabbed the munchkin’s boots and raincoat (just in case) and we hopped on BART and headed for a day out in Berkeley. It might not be the first place you’d think of for an excursion with a 3-year-old, but it turned out to be great fun, both for herself and daddy.
The main thing I worry about when heading off with the munchkin is general safety - how many busy streets do we have to cross? How many places will have breakable things I need to keep little hands away from? Freedom to run and explore is also critical at this age. Berkeley turned out to be a great choice on all accounts and a great day out for both of us.

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23
Feb

Good food?

Okay, so what is with people buying certain staple foods with unnecessary ingredients? When I was growing up my family had a number of food allergies, so, after kid #3 my mom carefully checked ingredients on the label whenever she went to the store. Maybe that’s why I see the predominant trend of buying sugar-and-preservative-infused foods as bizarre. Sugar in your peanut butter? Seriously? Who thinks this tastes good? You want sugar with your peanut butter, drizzle some honey into your sandwich or, heck, just add jam! The white butter/margarine thing is weird to me, too . . . but then, at this stage I’m used to regular YELLOW butter from Ireland. I checked recently and one’s choice in the local supermarket seems to be margarine with copious amounts of yellow#5 or mysteriously bleached butter . . . why is it white? That’s just weird. What are they doing to the butter?

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18
Feb

HouseDad on Facebook

Well, look - we’re a Facebook Networked blog! Whoopie!


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17
Feb

Cereal with a Fork

There are a lot of firsts in a kid’s life. They haven’t been alive as long as you and I, so there are a lot of things they haven’t encountered before; a lot of things that need careful evaluation and experimentation before deciding what the appropriate course of action in the given circumstance might be.

As we get older we stack up a huge number of experiences. We know not to sit on balloons (they pop when you do that). We know not to grasp the inside of a doorjam when closing a door (that hurts), not to lick a sharp knife and not to order Guinness west of Chicago.

These are all important life lessons that allow the experienced individual a sophisticated level of functionality in everyday life without the need to pause and consider . . . why not eat cereal with a fork?

. . . for example.

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16
Feb

Fremont Animal Shelter

Sometimes, weather and time permitting, our visits to the park and/or the library include dropping by the Fremont Animal Shelter. To be honest, I didn’t know exactly what to expect from the experience. We’re not currently looking for a pet - don’t get me wrong, a puppy would be great, I just don’t believe in getting an animal when we don’t have our own place with a bit of room for it to run around.

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