Scott Nagele's Blog, page 38

The little kid with the big wig

Our baby was born with lots of hair, and after nine months on the outside, he has even more. His hair is dark and curly. When allowed to do what it pleases, it stands up tall on the top of his head. For a long time, the hair on the back of his head was [...]

Home is where the warm, cozy blankets are

My four-year-old son likes to sit with me in our recliner to watch cartoons. When I say sit with me, of course I mean sit on top of me. That’s okay though, he only weighs a few pounds more than a big bag of kitty litter and he’s more fun to watch cartoons with than [...]

When in doubt, sound it out – or just take a wild guess

My son is starting to be able to put the sounds letters make together to form words. This is a joyous, proud, and maddening time for his parents. It is hard to hold a single emotion from one moment to the next when our budding little reader is playing with the intellectual Flubber commonly referred [...]

Let’s keep playing Uno until your eyes glaze over!

Our four-year-old likes playing Uno. This is the card game that evolved from the old Crazy Eights we used to play with a traditional deck. Uno has several more specialized cards; it is more sophisticated than our old game and my boy loves it. The sad part is that he has trouble finding people who [...]

Can you crawl to the kitchen and get me some juice?

Some things are more enjoyable when done with one’s children. Being sick is not one of them. You can hardly enjoy being sick at all when your kids are sick too. It just about ruins the whole experience. Four-year-olds forget their manners altogether when they are sick. They don’t want to sleep in their own [...]

What’s in a Christmas stocking?

Christmas is almost upon us and I’m feeling good about it. I’ve got my checklist pretty well marked up: Reroute a couple of paychecks to Amazon.com to take care of the far-flung friends and relatives. Sort through all the millions of toys my four-year-old has told me he wants, paring it down to the few [...]

Dear Santa, please bring us a gift that really sucks this Christmas

My wife wants a new vacuum for Christmas. Before anyone mounts their “this-is-the-21st-century.-How-could-you-think-of-giving-a-cleaning-appliance-to-your-wife-as-a-Chritmas-gift?” ponies and rides to the sound of the guns, let me explain. She doesn’t normally ask for cleaning equipment for Christmas, and I don’t usually get her such gifts. Cleaning is as non-festive an event in our household as it is in [...]

The elf couldn’t make it to the shelf this year; he’s serving a life sentence in the closet

This Elf on the Shelf is becoming quite a widespread Christmas tradition it seems. There’s nothing wrong with that; not all traditions have to be old. I wish the best to all the elves on shelves and those who abide by them. We have an Elf on the Shelf too, but our elf isn’t on [...]

Those Germans sound like they’re telling a really good story

My son likes me to read to him. Though I would rather have him start carrying more of the burden of the reading, I generally don’t mind his requests. Sometimes, he doesn’t even listen to the story. He just likes hearing the sound of my voice. If I needed any more proof of this, it [...]

One year of Snoozing on the Sofa: Are you feeling refreshed yet?

Today is the one –year anniversary of my first blog post. This is my 80th post, which means that I have hurled my precious nuggets of fatherhood at you about 1.53 time each week. I hope that I’ve helped you hone your ducking and dodging skills. The pages of this blog have been viewed a [...]