[twitter]One of the first lessons we learn as kids is how to share. What’s mine is yours, what’s yours is mine. We take turns. We wait patiently. We share.

Somewhere between offering you one of my fishy crackers and Facebook, however, the lesson was learned too well. We now share all the time. We share blog links. We share photos. We like and share and repin. Sometimes you don’t even need to share to share. An original post of photos, experiences, and stories is sharing. And it is in that final leap that takes us to the realm of oversharing.

The Guardian this weekend wrote about “sharents”, labelling the likes of parents who overshare online. The article named me as a parent who overshares and will likely face psychiatric bills for my children because of the articles I have written about them in the past.

In the fall, I wrote about the struggles I faced when trying to relate with my toddling son. I mentioned that I got along easier with my kindergartner, and when it came to splitting up the kids for chores, or what have you, I would take the oldest, my wife would take the youngest and things would go smoothly.

I talked about having “a favorite child,” and my post went viral. TV news, talk shows, newspapers, blogs, and more picked up on the unspeakable ‘favorite child’ topic. Truth is, many parents have a favorite. It ebbs and flows throughout parenthood, the issue being never to treat your children differently – and I never have.

Still, there is much Google juice attached to this story now, and whenever you search my name online the sensational articles related to the story will follow. So my kids, according to the author (and many anonymous comment trolls), will need therapy.

Except, no they won’t.

Read the rest of this story at Babble.com and find out how Howard Stern took oversharing and made it his brand.

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[twitter]There is a time when you stop teaching your kids, and they start teaching you. Emotionally, the lessons we teach each other happen right from birth. The way you would immediately give your life so they can have theirs is the purest definition of unconditional love. You learn that lesson the moment you hear that first scream.

I don’t know how he learned it, but he does it all the time. He does it to give himself a rhythm as he dances down a hallway. He does it when he comes down the stairs in the morning. He does it when he’s happy. He does it all the time.

It’s a weird throat sound, a sort of natural skill that could be developed into something if he wanted to. I’ve tried to get Charlie to teach me how to do it, but I’m useless.

Every day I ask him “How do you do that!?” and he just giggles and beat boxes some more. Zacharie can’t do it. Jen can’t do it. I can’t do it. Just MC Chooch.

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[twitter]If you’ve got a train crazy kid, you can buck up for the real Thomas the Train branded tracks, or you can go for the generic kind. Imaginarium, Ikea, even the toy store at the kids’ market all sell versions of the track that “work together with popular brands.”

Problem is, they don’t. It’s not quite the same. The curves don’t quite match, the connectors don’t quite fit, and the ride isn’t quite as smooth.

I’m now discovering the same thing about Lego and competing brands of building blocks. Over the past few months, Zacharie and Charlie have received Mega Bloks and Kreo sets and I’m realizing – they’re not quite Lego.

After many challenges in court, Lego has been found to have a trademark on their product, but the patents have expired. This means interlocking building bricks can be made by Lego copycats, they just have to look a little bit different. There are nearly 20 different Lego clones on the market.

LEGO v MEGA BLOKS v KREO

It’s interesting to see the differences the Lego copycats have made in creating their blocks, while still making them compatible. Kreo, for example, has a hole in every block. The top isn’t all nubbles, one of them always has a hole in it. And they include branded blocks to use as staging tools while you’re building the model.

Kre-o minifigs are also more moveable than traditional Lego minifigs. Their legs move out sideways, although the hair doesn’t seem to stay on too well. While the Lego faces are pretty generic, the Kre-o ones actually look like the real life actors they’re portraying. That is a very good likeness of both John Cho as Sulu.

Mega Bloks’ bricks look just like Lego, but don’t have the branded Lego logo on the top of each nubble.

The thing is – they just don’t click together as well. They’re lighter, and not as sturdy. The designers for the Lego copycats have done exciting things like add lights to the bricks, and they have many different pre-molded bricks to have wild shapes for their models, but it’s just not the same.

Yes, both Mega Bloks and Kreo are compatible with Lego. Yes, they’re cheaper. Yes, it doesn’t really matter about the model because 5 minutes after you’ve finished building it, something snaps off and it all ends up in one big smorgasbord potpourri mosh pit for your kids to pick through and rebuild something from their imagination.

WILL THE KIDS NOTICE?

Our Lego bin has a mixture of bricks from all 3 manufacturers discussed here, but to the boys they are all “Lego.” I’m the only one that knows the Kreo bricks with the hole don’t stick as tightly. I’m the only one that notices the Mega Blok bricks don’t say Lego. The kids don’t care.

It’s like the Thomas track incident. The original creator just fits a little better than the follow-up imitations. When you build, try to use the bricks from the same eco-system so they fit together just a little bit better, but you’ll probably be the only one who will notice because your kid just wants to build a green and orange and white flying garbage truck with dinosaur wings.

And all of the brands can feed an imagination with equal nourishment. Find what you can afford, and what your kids want to play with. They all end up in a big brick soup in the end anyway.

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[twitter]When a box of Kreo Star Trek toys arrived this week, the boys were excited because it was “Lego”. They saw big ships, and lava, and cool dudes and were excited to build away.

But they didn’t really know what Star Trek was. Sure, Zacharie (and Charlie by osmosis) is a huge Star Wars fan. He’s a DOUBLE Jedi, don’tcha know, but the boys had never really seen Star Trek before.

“Star Trucks?” Zacharie asked when I told him what show the stuff was from.

“Let’s save it for a day when Daddy has a few more hours”, I said.

I showed them the minifig Kirk, Spock, and Sulu.

“Where’s Darth Vader?” Charlie asked.

This was going to take a little more effort, so I flicked on the Apple TV, dialed in to YouTube, and pulled up original Star Trek episodes. And then, just as they were captivated by the original 60s Batman series, the boys were lost in a dream of imagination.

We watched The Immunity Syndrome, and the boys devoured it.

Then we went out side and had light sabre fights in the backyard. Some habits die hard, it would seem.

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[twitter]Zacharie’s birthday is coming up in 2 weeks. So he’s talking a lot about the day he was born, how he was born, and all that fun stuff.

When it comes to the birds and the bees, we have been keeping it pretty straight with the boys. I’ve shown the pictures of my pregnant sister, and we’ve steered clear of mythology including storks and the like.

Jen has explained to him that a daddy gives a mommy sperm and that helps make a baby. This happens when people love each other very much. The baby then grows in the Momma’s tummy and is born through her bagina. The fact he can’t pronounce it is hilarious.

Last night, more comedy was added to our ongoing birds and the bees discussion as in Zacharie’s translation, he has a squrim in his tummy.

Last night he declared “I have a squirm in my tummy and I want to give it to Momma because I love her so very much.”

Jen and I shot each other an OMG.

Well, we’re trying to give it to him straight, anyway. Perhaps we could use a collection of Beaver Babies to get the point across?

Image via One Classy Motha

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[twitter]In suburbia, we are insistent on building fences to divide our 30 ft line in the sand. 6-8 ft of wood paneling divides what we own versus our neighbors. Sometimes we peer over the fence to say hi, more often than not we’re content to have our own version of the Berlin Wall to separate us from everyone else and create a personal oasis.

Since they moved in last summer, we have talked about having an easier way to get the kids back and forth. Our oldest sons go to school together and often yell at each other over and through the fence. In the winter, we set up a ladder on either side so we could climb over for family dinner dates, saving each other the long three block walk up, down, and over to get to each other’s house.

So, now, there is a hole. We ripped out two of the fence panels, bent another, and created a convenient path for the boys to go and play with each other. The idea was to have backyard free time together. Soccer in their larger yard, water squirting fun in ours, but something entirely different happened.

The moment the hole appeared, my son went to their house and let himself in. Their son came to our house, and let himself in. Then our youngest son followed, and soon the boys had entirely switched homes.

Read the rest of this story on Babble.com

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[twitter]Zacharie had never wanted to have his face painted – until this weekend.

That changed this weekend when we made the annual visit to A Day Out With Thomas at Heritage Park. Zacharie not only asked to have his face painted, he was willing to wait nearly half an hour in line to get it done. The game changer? Spider-Man.

Zacharie saw half a dozen boys wandering the grounds with Spider-Man paint and was adamant he have it done too.

“Are you sure?” I asked. “Yes!” He immediately replied.

“But you’ve never wanted to have it done before,” I responded. “Yeah, but I didn’t know you could be Spider-Man!”

He rocked that paint the rest of the day. When it was time to do groceries in the afternoon he gladly piled in with me and whispered “everyone thinks I’m the real Spider-Man, daddy” as the other shoppers pointed at him.

His only disappointment? That the make-up didn’t last until he had to go to school.

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[twitter]I don’t ever remember being over scheduled for summer camps growing up. I’d go to sleepover camp for a week, that was about it. For summer camps in Calgary 2013, however, a stack of pamphlets and booklets crowds our kitchen table as we plot out activities for the boys this summer.

Point is, summer camp in 2013 means unique, specialized experiences to highlight your child’s interests. Check out some of the unique summer day camps in Calgary this year:

Lego Camp

LEGO isn’t just a toy, it’s a tool to grow imagination, and learning. Think of all the engineering skills kids can pick up just by trying to piece together bridges, buildings, and all sorts of figures. Bricks 4 Kidz summer camps cover everything from animal biology to amusement park physics with a dose of robotics.

Camera Camp

Calgary Camera Camp will teach the kids the basics of photography composition and technique. They may be handy with an iPod, iPad, or iPhone, but what about a point and shoot? Calgary Camera Camp includes one for them to keep and they’ll actually learn how to take proper photos. These skills will be vital as they grow in a world of selfies and Instagram.

Olympics Camp 

Ski Jumping, Luge, and Bobsleigh may be winter Olympic sports, but at Winsport Canada, kids can slap rollers on the bottom of the gear and get a taste of the Olympic Spirit.

Pioneer Camp 

Laura Ingalls Wilder isn’t just a character in a book, she really lived in a house on the prairie. Home On The Range Camp takes that experience and makes it real life. High schoolers spend a week living at Heritage Park and experience life as settlers and ranchers at the turn of the (previous) century. They live and sleep in a restored barn and work the land just like they did 100+ years go.

Dinosaur Camp

 If you’ve got a kid that can pronounce all those dinosaur names in their favorite bedtime books, let them dig for real bones. At Dinosaur Camp, kids live in at The Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller and spend their days prospecting for dinosaur bones and learning the science of palaeontology.

Princess Camp

Your 5-8 year-old princess will explore the full range of what it takes to be a real princess – elegant manners, leadership by example, and all the skills involved to prepare for a Fancy Dress Ball. Yes, Princess Camp. Color me glad to have had 2 boys.

Here’s a longer list of unique summer camps you might find inspiring.

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There are a variety of treatment methods that can be used to help improve the chances of successful conception. Understanding how these treatments and processes work can help give parents-to-be that essential comfort of mind. Medications can be used initially to encourage ovulation in women, although surgery may be necessary to help alleviate certain more specific conditions.

Couples can find conception difficult for a number of reasons. Timing is a big factor in conceiving, an d those that find it difficult to get pregnant over time may wish to seek further medical assistance. Often, these issues are minor and can be quickly resolved with medication. In some cases, surgical options are also open to help assist with the process.

Infrequent ovulation can be a factor in frustrating pregnancy attempts, and women occasionally require medication to encourage the ovulation process. For those with more physical problems like endometriosis or blocked fallopian tubes, matters turn to surgery to identify and treat these conditions.

In some instances, there may be health issues on the male side with the conception process, and this can require medical intervention on both fronts. Insemination and in vitro fertilization (IVF) can be used to more directly aid pregnancy, allowing those couples that have found conception difficult hope that they might still give birth.

There are a number of different fertility treatments available for both me n and women, and consulting with a fertility specialist is the most direct route to accessing these fertility treatments. While many couples may feel apprehensive about the process, getting in touch with a fertility center can help allay these concerns and provide more information about the route ahead to pregnancy.

For more information on fertility treatments and processes, fertility educational resources provide a non-invasive first step to planning your approach. With plenty of materials available, it is recommended that parents firstly consider their options before consulting with a relevant medical practitioner.

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[twitter]There are two seasons in Calgary: snow on the ground and no snow on the ground.

Last year the first snowfall was October 25. It didn’t all disappear until late April. Soon after that, we experienced a blast in temperatures above 20, which was a welcome change from last year’s Cinco de Mayo when our Corona chilled in our backyard snowbank – #truth.

Many photo compilations have been made where people re-create the same photo year after year after year.

There were the lake buddies. There were the sisters. Dear Photograph is a great website where people mash-up then and now photos.

For us it started in the summer of 2010. Charlie was a beefcake worthy of the nickname Chooch and this photo of Zacharie and he in our party pool became an instant favorite. It hangs on our stairs amongst the other family favorites and it has now become tradition. On the first hot day of the year, the boys get in the chairs and pose in a similar style to that original.

Here’s how it has looked over the past 4 summers:

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