Working all day

So, I just started a new job where I work 12 hours a day and commute for an hour each way. 

Crazy you call me? 

Yes, yes I am.

BUT

The pay is ridiculous so here is my problem.

I'm up and gone by the time my son wakes up in the morning and by the time I arrive home it is getting close to his bed time and I only have about 2 hours with him.  It really sucks because for the last two years, I pretty much spent every day with him, all day.  So, I now try to cram in a whole days worth of playing in the two hours I spend with him when I get home.  It kind of sucks and I wonder how fathers throughout history have dealt with this problem.  Could this be why we have emotionless fathers who can't bond with their children and in turn leave the same legacy for their sons to follow for ever and ever througout history?
I love my father and I never really got to know him until recently.  I have 3 other siblings and my father spent most of our childhood working to be able to support his family.  This I consider honorable and as the old saying goes, "duty is prior to happiness" but it made it so I never really got to know my father until I was an adult.  I do not want to have the same thing happen to myself and my boy and I want to know how to do it.  Technology will help with skype, google video, sightspeed, oovoo etc. leading the way to allow fathers to see their sons or daughters every night no matter where they are.
Or perhaps we need to get to the root of the problem...globalization, suburbia, urban sprawl etc.  All of these contributing factors have allowed our fathers to get further and further away from us when all we want to do is be with our sons all day to teach them, help them grow and love them to bits.

Well, I brought up a lot of issues that I can spend hours ranting and raving about but I should be using this time practically, spending time with my boy or at least thinking about what to do with him when I get home (cause I'm at work now, shhhhh don't tell anyone I'm blogging at work)

take care and be well

Foods for babies

Browsing through the aisles of supermarkets in Korea and Canada seem similar enough. They both have breakfast aisles, snack aisles, frozen food sections, a bakery etc in both and most of the time the content is extremely similar. Small things like squid jerkey or soy bean paste in Korea and cheese flavored everything in Canada are some differences but one of the biggest differences I noticed was the child inspired products.

In Korea, they have baby milk, cheese, yogurt, bread, snacks of all kinds, meats, and plenty of others. All of them are specially designed for children with less bad stuff and more good stuff (technical terms) in them. This was extremely helpful for a father sent on a late night or early morning run for foods or when on a road trip and forgot to pack a certain item. I loved it.

After moving back to Canada and heading to the supermarket for the first time in about 6 years, I noticed that there is none of this stuff. There is nothing that is specially made for children aside from diapers and toys. This brings up a number of issues.

First, the obesity rate in children has gone up 200-300% in the last 30 years. Could it be because the food we find in the supermarket is made for adults but given to kids because there are no better alternatives. This is also the time that pre-packaged foods and processed foods started showing up on grocery store shelves. Coincidence? Maybe.

Second, where are the marketers for these companies? In our fast-paced society where the shift from a separation of spheres in nearly non-existent or switched the need for these kinds of products would be invaluable for the mom on the go or for the father with no clue what to buy in the grocery store. The boom for children products is huge right now with the wiggles, kids clothing lines from popular adult companies and children oriented websites. Why not make healthy children alternatives to adult food. I think this would be huge!

Third, when carousing the grocery shelves, all you see these days are fat-free this, sugarless that, diet these and gluten free those. But are these products really safe for children? With all the extra chemicals in them to make them ~reduced or ~free it may be safe for us to eat but is it really better for us and if not think of the children...won't somebody please think of the children? Also, are we that selfish as consumers and society that we care more for what we look like and what we eat than how healthy our children eat and what they eat. If so we should re-think our priorities because our children are the future.

DDR video

Here is another video of my boy, this time he is giving his try at dancing DDR

Tristian on YouTube

Check out an old Video of my boy!

Drool!

My boy drools all the time.

Is this normal? I heard that babies drool a lot when new teeth were coming in. When he was younger, this was definitely the case. He would start drooling when a new tooth would be coming in and then stop once it popped through. This happened to his first 16 or so teeth.

When his 2 new second bicuspids started coming in, about 3 or 4 months ago, he started drooling and hasn't looked back since. It's a constant drool. He now has 10 teeth on the top and still 8 on the bottom. I think I can feel some coming in the bottom so this could be why he is still drooling.

Does it take a long time for the teeth in the back to come in. He is now waiting for his second bicuspid for his bottom teeth and they must have to take a long time to come in cause they are bigger than its predecessors.

Meanwhile, we have been living in drool and shall live in drool until they come in...I hope.

Happy New Year!

I know it's a little late for new year resolutions but this year mine is:

spend more quality time with my wife and son!

I love you guys!

Leave comments with your new years resolutions!