Dressing your toddler can be one of life’s more stressful daily tasks. I am not making this up. Getting your kid to cooperate when it comes to clothing them can drive even those with a saintly level of patience bonkers.

On days that Sloan goes to school, I dress her. Because she wears a uniform, getting her ready can be a pretty elaborate process. Elaborate processes and 3-year-old attention spans don’t really mix. There are some mornings when we battle each other. Despite my stamina being depleted after these mini wars, Sloan always seems to have plenty of fight left in her when Sidney takes over for hair styling.

Knowing that feeling exhausted and frustrated by 7:30 a.m. wasn’t ideal, we sought a creative solution to our problem. Credit Sid with the stroke of genius…

With the new game that Sidney made up, we are as happy as Sloan is in this photo after we get her dressed.

Like any toddler, Sloan loves YouTube. However, her taste for content might be a little more sophisticated than most her age. She watches vloggers and reviewers to the point that it drives me nuts. With that said, this torture has had an upside.

We are now successful when it comes to getting Sloan ready for school because we pretend that she is on her own YouTube channel. During one particularly defeating morning, a switch flipped in Sid’s head and she drew Sloan’s attention to her imaginary followers. It was all over from that point…

Sloan would turn on the invisible camera and start narrating her hair routine. Sid would be her sidekick and biggest fan as she tamed our daughter’s wild curly hair. As my wife worked her magic of encouraging and imagining, I looked on in amazement.

Okay followers, now we are going to spray my hair. And now we are going to comb it…

Well, as you can imagine, it didn’t take long before I started playing the angle. Sloan’s YouTube channel now just doesn’t feature her hair routine but it also features a dressing segment too. She eats it up and I don’t mind feeding her viral ambitions one bit.

Now that she is on a “YouTube channel” she is much more cooperative and happy when we get her ready for school.

If you have a toddler who is high maintenance when it comes to getting dressed, you can either spank them or make them feel like they are the star of a YouTube account with a billion followers. I prefer the latter. For those of you looking for a fresh solution to an age old problem, turn on your imaginary camera. Don’t Blink.

Hello, my name is Brent and I am a blogger. Thanks for joining me for another Thursday Rundown. If you don’t mind, I would like to get started…

Best Valentine’s Treat – Sloan’s preschool class had its Valentine’s Day party last week and our little girl made out like a bandit. Her classmates spoiled her with cards and candy but there was one particular treat that took the cake. Take a look at this festive Valentine character. Juice box body, Smarties arms, Jello head, chocolate feet, and a chocolate heart for his…well…heart. This had to have been a Pinterest hack but it sure turned out nicely.

This Valentine treat character was very well-done.

Valentine’s Fail – Transitioning from a well-executed Valentine to a botched one, this cake made me laugh and cringe at the same time. I took a screenshot from the TikTok I was watching of a teacher shedding a tear because of the incorrect usage of “your” (should be “you’re). I sure hope no one bought it.

This is a tough pill (or cake) to swallow for an English teacher.

Shirley Temple – A couple weeks ago I shared an image from the @historydailypix Twitter account and I want to do the same tonight. In my mind I have always viewed Shirley Temple as a young curly-haired girl who never aged. However, this photo shows her beyond her child acting days and it really showcases her natural beauty. I love seeing old pictures like this.

Shirley Temple had always remained a child actor to me.

Movie of the Week – If you are looking for a Netflix movie to watch this weekend, I recommend “The Dig.” It is set in the late 1930s and tells the tale of a local archaeologist who is hired to dig in the mounds of a rich woman’s property. After a fascinating discovery is unearthed, the film focuses on the expansion of the project and the ramifications it has on the original archaeologist. It is beautifully shot and contains superb character development. I recommend it.

You will probably enjoy “The Dig.”

Crazy Lost Pet Stories – You hear about pets who were found years later at locations hundreds of miles away from their homes all the time. It is basically in the same clickbait category as centenarians and lotto winners. With that said, these pet stories never fail to amaze me. I heard of another one today. A cat from Texas who disappeared from his home in 2017 was recently found in an Arkansas neighborhood more than 600 miles away. Nobody knows how it happened but the feline is said to be in good health. Yep, must have not been close to his nine lives.

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That will be that for tonight. Thanks again for your readership and I hope you have a nice night. Don’t Blink.

For many, Facebook has the reputation of being an archaic social media platform. People, especially the younger generation, look at it as the channel that their grandma is on. It is not uncommon for Facebook to be the butt of social media jokes, sometimes mockingly compared to MySpace.

Despite its “uncool” reputation, I still really value Facebook. From a professional standpoint, its userbase and advertising capabilities are second to none. Personally, I am still able to use it to connect with a lot of people I would otherwise lose touch with. But there is another strength of Facebook that I appreciate that you can’t really get on any other social media channels…

Groups.

I value Facebook Groups.

Since its inception, Facebook has allowed likeminded users to create groups. Back when I first joined, I belonged to Facebook groups for my residence hall and an intramural softball team I was on. Fast forward 15 years and I am still very much part of Facebook groups but in a more sophisticated way.

Groups on Facebook have evolved from simply aligning yourself with something you are part of to serving as a community that provides tangible benefits. Notice my emphasis on community.

Perhaps the best professional networking resource I have at my disposal is a Facebook group for higher education social media professionals. The forum is always bustling with activity and is the place to throw around ideas and connect with counterparts across the country. I also belong to multiple other groups that are career-focused, whether it be niche communities like digital media buyers or TikTok advertisers. The users in these groups bring a wealth of knowledge and willingness to help.  Thus, it makes it pretty easy to check them on a daily basis.

Aside from professional development, I am part of Facebook groups that keep me glued into the local community that I live in. I am part of groups that highlight Christmas light displays, traffic accidents, activities for kids, festivals, and so much more. Like with my work-related groups, the common characteristics are solid information and helpfulness.

The detail, camaraderie, and usefulness of Facebook groups cannot be found on Instagram or Twitter. Competing social channels simply can’t compete in this respect and it is one of the reasons why Facebook will continue to stay relevant, no matter how many social media hacks will tell you differently. What Facebook group is your personal go-to? Don’t Blink.

With Sloan turning 4 next month, she has reached the age where she understands what an insult is. In the same vein, she is now “mature enough” to properly string one together, even if it is at a very elementary level. Tonight I thought it would be fun to reveal Sloan’s three go-to burns she is using at this point in her very young life.

Sloan knows how to hurl an insult. Do they always make sense? No. Are they always mean? Yes!

You’re Boring! – If Sloan really wants to cut deep, the insult she will hurl is “you’re boring.” Does she use it literally? Of course not! She won’t tell me I am boring if I am sitting on the couch and won’t play with her. Rather, she will say it if I ask her to eat her dinner. Or if I tell her to stop being mean to her brother. Or if I wish her good morning (seriously). “You’re boring” doesn’t mean I am dull or unimaginative—it means that basically I am a jerk.

Stupid – Every now and then she will reach for the six-letter “s” word. Kind of an ugly thing to say coming from a 3-year-old, I really fear her using it out in public. Although coming from Sloan it isn’t a shot at someone’s intelligence—rather just a repeat of what her favorite YouTube celebrities are saying—not everyone will take it that way. I think she sees the reaction of Sidney and I when she says it and that might egg her on a bit. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t mind if she stops saying it soon.

Dumb as a Scrum – This is a true Sloan original. Sidney and I can’t pin exactly how she invented this gem of a rhyme, but I do have an idea. Sometimes I will describe an inebriated person as “drunk as a skunk” and I think she picked up on it and added her own customization. She applies it correctly, or at least how I believe it should be applied, given the situation. For example, if a video shows up on YouTube that she doesn’t like or if one of her tablet games isn’t to her liking, she is reaching to her back pocket to describe it as “dumb as a scrum.” Hope there aren’t any rugby fans reading this.

Sloan certainly isn’t perfect and can say some hurtful things. We are working on it.

Fear not, Sloan still liberally uses phrases like “I love you” and “thank you” but she does have a bit of a toddler potty mouth on her. As long as it doesn’t graduate to an adult potty mouth, we should be fine during these early years. Being called “boring” hurts, but I guess it could be a lot worse. Don’t Blink.

Okay, can we briefly discuss this meme I am about to share? Alright, here it is…

I used to do this all the time.

The dude pictured used to be me. Well, not physically, but in terms of my behavior. I used to have a strict “don’t recognize the number, don’t answer it” policy. But just because I didn’t answer it didn’t mean I wasn’t intensely curious about who was calling me. Before my incoming call had even stopped ringing I was Googling it. Most of the time my search would confirm that it was a telemarketer but other times it would identify an actual person or business behind the mysterious telephone number.

These days I can’t afford to employ such a scaredy cat tactic. If my phone rings and a 10 digit number shows up on my screen as opposed to one of the very few names of people who actually call me, I am answering it promptly in my nicest “Hello, this is Brent” voice. I have kids now and you never know if the strange number is going to fill you in on some important information relating to them.

However, there will be times when I am tied up on a Zoom call or at the dentist’s office and a number I don’t recognize will come through. Because basic etiquette prevents me from picking it up, I get to return to my days of guessing who the caller might be before typing the number in Google. It is fun and interesting all at the same time.

If you are uncomfortable about answering a call and you face no implications by letting it ring, by all means let it go to voicemail. It is just another small way that you can seize control of your life while playing a nice guessing game at the same time. Do you answer calls that you don’t know? Don’t Blink.

Can it really be one year? Our baby boy adds a vertical line to his age today as we celebrate his first birthday. Thanks be to God for this milestone!

Beau is 1 today!

Beau was born on an unsuspecting sunny February day. Just like with Sloan, we had no idea we would welcome a child on the date that we did. But after the doctor did a quick exam on Sidney at a routine checkup and proclaimed “You’re going to have a baby today,” there was no looking back.

Beau was born at 1:37 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020.

Just a few hours later Beau would be born. He entered the world in the waning days of pre-pandemic normalcy. Despite the challenges he would soon face, those few sweet moments when Sidney and I held our son immediately after the delivery were filled with indescribable joy.

Moments after Beau’s birth, the nurse who recorded his initial measurements brought him up close to the glass so we could all see him.

After that short period of bliss, Beau’s irregular breathing would come into focus. After a couple days at Conway Medical Center he would be transferred to McLeod Regional Medical Center in Florence, SC, where he was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension. A 10-day stay in the NICU was trying on us all but we could not have felt more blessed that mid-February day when we took a healthy baby boy home to his adoring sister.

The NICU was tough but as his condition improved so did our moods.

And healthy he would remain for the duration of his first year on this planet. Beau has had a happy, ailment-free 11.5 months. Don’t get me wrong, he has faced developmental challenges such as a misshaped head and some eating issues but nothing that some therapy couldn’t handle. And by no means would those issues mess with our son’s natural pleasant and low-key temperament, a nice complement to his sister’s rather unruly personality.

This is Beau at a month old. He was happy and healthy after those initial couple weeks.

Beau has rolled with the punches since making his debut. A cross country move didn’t rattle him nor did a couple months away from his daddy (although the same can’t be said for the old man). He wore wires for two weeks in the NICU and a helmet for four months in the summer. He has thrived in a pandemic world and impressed his fellow passengers on long plane rides. Simply, Beau is a cool customer. He sleeps soundly, eats a lot, and loves to cuddle.

Although Beau had to wear a helmet for four months, it never slowed him down.

Our family has benefited so much because of Beau. I have my son, Sid has her mama’s boy, and Sloan has her brother. Beau has brought symmetry to our Reser clan and with it a new familial identify that I really dig. I couldn’t imagine life without him.

Beau has brought a lot of joy to the three of us.

As I reflect on his first year, a lot of favorite memories come to mind. His triumphant homecoming when we was discharged from McLeod. His baptism at St. Andrew in front of family and friends. Our reunion at the airport after two long months. The hilarious and heartfelt interactions between him and his sister. The moment when crawling just clicked and he was off to the races. The time he unexpectedly picked up Sloan’s milk cup and guzzled everything that was remaining.

This little boy is everything.

Over the next year, Beau will walk and start to say words. But before we focus on those developmental achievements, we will take today and the rest of the weekend to celebrate the road he paved just to arrive at this point. We love our Beau Bear very much and thank God for giving us such a blessing. Don’t Blink.