RIP VAN WINKLE AWAKES

(insert rote haven't-posted-in-ages grovel here)

The light bulb actually did go on over my head for once, while playing a board game with Noodle and Beast that was initially enjoyable but proving to be a hair too long for their wee attention spans, not to mention Dad's. Interruptions because of a die flying under the kitchen table or the baseboard heater were common. And then from the distant mists of my socially-awkward past...

Behold...the d20! And a board game that goes one heck of a lot faster, not to mention helps teaching the smaller one his two-digit numbers.

ICICLE HACK, NOW POSTED

My hack of a week or so ago on using icicles as an emergency bitten-tongue solution is up now at Parent Hacks.

Some of the comments are priceless (rolls eyes).

IN WHICH I GET ALL McGYVER

So tonight at dinner Noodle accidentally bit her tongue. Really gave it a good chomping as only a five-year-old can do. The standard cold packs and other refrigerated soothers were not remotely cutting the mustard...what's a dad to do?

Snapped one of these right off the gutter for my little girl, I did.

Oh, it's not perfectly sterile; of this I am aware. But having told her in the past not to lick the cat, not to eat off the floor, not to drink her bathwater, not to play by the litterbox, not to chew on the DVD case, and not to put the driveway chalk in her ear...how bad could an icicle be?

Reminds me of a song...

UPDATE: Woot! I've just received word this little solution of mine will be featured next week over at parenthacks.com. At last, my fifteen minutes arrives - and remember, you read it here first!

JUST WHAT THE NOODLE ORDERED

So useful if you've got a little one venturing forth into kindergartenland: How To Tie Your Shoe (s). (Found on Parent Hacks)

SIX DOWN, FOUR TO GO

Noodle's really getting the hang of this falling-asleep-solo thing! And that's even with the bummer news that the Memere had a bad cold and wouldn't be joining us at the Chuck E. Cheese or wherever it is we're going tomorrow.

We're also psyched here in Boogerland, because today I got my first hack posted over at the mighty parenthacks.com! Not that it's any amazing work of genius; I merely suggested a clip-on hat lamp would work wonders if you're in a situation like ours where the light from one kid's room keeps the other kid awake at bedtime, but turning out the lights straightaway would be a tantrum-maker. Here's the whole story, along with linkage to the one place I found that had the lamps if you're averse to grabbing them from the point-of-purchase rack at your local Wal-Mart.