Child Labor

Charlotte, Emily, and I had a very fun weekend in Des Moines with Emily's family.  We got back today with enough time for Charlotte and I to rake the leaves in the backyard.  Here are three videos of Charlotte helping and playing.

In the first video you can see that Charlotte has yet to grasp the notion "work smarter, not harder," but I'll let it go for now.  The second video jumps for some reason, but I finally was able to capture her chasing Pancho down to give a stick to Pancho and saying "thank you" after he takes it.  It's one of her favorite things to do.  And the last video has a few funny moments too.

A Post Only a Guy Who Regularly Times How Long It Takes Him To Drive From His House To My House Would Love

Before I begin this post, I should give a little background for any non-Minnesotans reading this.  This fall we have two consitutional ammendments on the ballot (you should be able to guess which two).  Big shocker here: an ammendment FOR voter ID and one defining marriage as wait for it... wait for it... only between a man and a woman.

Also, this is a long way for me to go just to show the video at the end from my childhood that I was recalling as we walked home and Charlotte was blabbering away about coffee.  Is that Kurt Vonnegut in that video at the end of this post?  Yes it is!

And really, post is for my friend Nathan because I think he would also count yard signs for fun.  We both have been known to time how long it takes to drive home, drive to each other's houses, and set personal records in the process.

An interesting little development has happened in our neighborhood over the past month, well, all over south Minneapolis for that matter.  As the Presidential election approaches, you'd think our neighborhood would be dotted with Romeny and Obama signs.  Four years ago this was the case for Obama and he had about a 2:1 edge over McCain and Palin in the yard sign battle.

But what is interesting is how scant both Obama and Romney signs are.  But what is EVERYWHERE are the VOTE NO signs.  In fact we have two VOTE NO TWICE signs in our yard, setting the bar high for the rest of the block.  We're telling people to vote no, in four different ways! Just yesterday our across the street neighbor added two VOTE NO signs to their yard in trying to keep up with us.  I want to make a sign that says, "VOTE NO.  ALL THE COOL KIDS ARE DOING IT."

I would say the VOTE NO signs outnumber the VOTE YES signs 10:1, at least.  It may be 20:1.  Interesting that four years ago the lefty/righty signs were 2:1 yet so few people in Longfellow feel comfortable putting out VOTE YES signs of any kind this time around.

As Charlotte and I walked home from the Riverview Cafe today down our 44th avenue, I decided to count the signs on the way back.  I have always noticed that block by block you will either have a block littered with lawn signs or one that has almost none.  Would that hold true for the walk back?  Read on.

38th to 39th street
7 vote NO on the marriage ammendment, 2 vote NO on voter restriction, and  3 Obama signs (12 total)

39th to 40th
Five vote NO for marriage ammendment, four vote NO on voter restriction.

40th to 41st street
1 vote NO sign (marriage) one vote YES sign (marriage... the only one on the walk), and one for Kaufman Roofing even though no roofing was being done.  So either the Kaufmans live there or they are just crazed fans of the company, or, like me, are so dischenchanted with Obama and even more so with Romney, that they are going to write Kaufman Roofing in as their Presidential choice. (3 total, if Kaufman Roofing is getting a vote for President).

41st to 42nd street (our block)
6 vote NO on marriage, 3 vote no twice (two are ours) and one Obama... and one of those crazed "We are the 99%" signs.... and four "Together We Make A Safe Community" signs (it's a Longfellow thing, yall, criminals be gone!).  So that gives us 14 total, if you count comminuty organizing as a lefty cause a la Obama (which I am going to do to pad our stats)... Our block FTW!

See what I mean?  From 12 lefty signs on one block, then nine, then to one on the next, and then 14 on the ours.  Peer pressure is in effect. And it was that one block with only one vote no sign that someone felt emboldended enough to put up a vote yes sign.

And for some reason people on some blocks also have Parkway Pizza yardsigns.  Emily wants to get one of every sign: an Obama sign (she will have to put that on a part of the yard she will be responsible for mowing and raking because I am casting my vote elsewhere, but I will find a better candiate than Kaufman Roofing), a Parkway Pizza yard sign, a Longfellow Community yardsign, and we are already good on the Vote No front.

So what does this have to do with Charlotte?  Well you may be wondering if she is being indoctrined at too young an age, seeing all these VOTE NO signs.  Will she ever have a chance to think for herself? Well fear not!  As we were walking by the flurry of VOTE NO signs on the 3800s block, Charlotte was saying the following three "sentences" over and over, "Bye bye coffee shop.  Thank you coffee shop.  Fun."

So if there is a cause Charlotte believes in, and wants a yard sign for, it would be for the Coffee Achievers.  Do your best!

Mulching

Today and tomorrow there is no school in the state of Minnesota, ostensibly so teachers like me can go to our annual union convention.  On the radio they said 10,000 teachers are expected to attend.  I don't know any of those 10,000.

Instead Charlotte and I walked to one of her favorite places to go and she had a convention with other toddlers whose parents, I found out by overhearing them chat, were also teachers not at the Education Minnesota convention.

Anyway, here we are starting out on our walk before she opted for the stroller.  She still loves leaves as you can see.

Old School

Here is Charlotte playing with a phone that her cousins Calvin and Sophia played with.  Exactly how Charlotte knows this is a phone is beyond me.  Other than the telephone in Goodnight Moon and a few other picture books, Charlotte has never seen a phone with a headset.  And then there is a video of her opening her gift from Calvin, Sophia, and her parents.  It even features a bungled stupid joke by me because that's what I do.

Bye Daddy!

How to Bye Daddy, one of Charlotte's favorite games.

1. Make sure your dad is sitting out of arm's reach of the door.

2. Shout "Bye Daddy!"

3. Laugh.

4. Leave room.

5. Shut door .

6. Try and fail to open door.

7. Knock non-stop until your dad opens the door.

8. Wait for your dad to get out of his seat to open door.

9. Say "Hi Daddy!"

10. Say "Daddy sit down?"

11. If your dad sits down, go to step one.

12. If your dad says "one more time" it's a wild card! Either go to step one or go to step 14.

13. If  you have gone through the "one more time" cycle then your dad will say "all done" on thbis cycle.  When he says "all done," you have no choice.  You have to flop on the floor dramatically and cry.

14. Keep crying until distracted by something else.

GAME OVER

Here is Charlotte at step one or two.

1... 2... 3... 24

Charlotte's counting to three, and only three reminds me of this video from Mr. Show about 24 years ago.  There are probably only 24 people in the world who will find this funny, but I am one of them.

More Videos

Here are three short videos of Charlotte opening and the playing with her new present from Suze.  The spacing is weird between the three videos, but you should be smart enough to scroll to each one if you want to see all three.

In the last video she started counting the blocks which was the first time I've seen her count on her own.  Such a prima donna, show boating for the camera.

Anyway, the stacking boxes are a hit for Charlotte and some sort of Sisyphus type punishment for me.  Picture Charlie Brown trying to kick the football while Charlotte, I mean Lucy, keeps pulling the football up at the last second.  Charlotte implores me to stack the blocks and then she'll act like she's doing something else for ten seconds  and then come over and knock them all over the place and happily pronounce "Oh no!!!"  And then all meek and innocent like say, "More?  Again?"  Kids these days.