02/03/2009 - 14:22
Healing, Fishing and No Juice Before Bed
by Tyson Chandler

I'm getting back healthy. I'm doing rehab, starting to jog and make post moves.

I might be back this week hopefully. I'm thinking about getting in a couple of games before the All-Star break.

It took a long time for me to get healthy before. I feel like I've been banged up this whole season and I was just starting to feel good right before I turned it this time.

I just have to continue with the rehab and continue to get stronger. I'm not going to rush back. I want to make sure that it's OK for me to play.

We've been so inconsistent and guys are in and out, healthy and then not healthy. We're all banged up. We can't consistently keep the whole team together. That's normal in the NBA, but it seems like there's always something.

I'm kind of happy where we are considering. The guys have done a great job of holding the fort down. CP has definitely stepped up.

I didn't realize they were picking the reserves last week and then I saw it at the bottom of the screen when I was watching TV. And I was really excited for David.

GOT THAT BASS
I finally caught the bass!

One of my buddies came over. He's gone fishing with me a couple of times down here but he hasn't caught any fish, so I kept making fun of him. We go back there and we didn't get any bites. And I'm teasing him about not catching any fish. So, he stays out there.

And then he comes inside and he's like, "Man, I saw this huge bass come after my bait, right by the rocks."

I'm just teasing him like, "Yeah, you got a monster, didn't you? It was probably an alligator. You got a shark biting."

He says, "No, I'm serious. The fish are by the rocks."

So, the next day I decided to go out there. I started to get a bite. And I had this jig where the hook comes out after the fish bites it, but it never came out. I started getting bites, but I couldn't hook 'em. So, I was so frustrated.

It's dark out now and I can't hook them, but I think if I can bring them closer, I can get 'em. And I didn't want to go inside to get a new jig, because it was pitch black and I didn't want to lose my spot.

Then I get this huge bass by the rocks. I got close and I tried to jerk him up out of the water. He falls on the rocks, halfway in the water and halfway out. But he's about 10 feet from me. It's pitch black, but I can see him flopping.

I'm like, "Oh, man!" I run over there and I dive along the bank. I got my hands on him and I'm trying to hold him, but he's half in the water, so he's flopping around. He flops back in the water and I put my arms in and start reaching around, trying to grab him. And he swims off.

I was fuming.

I come inside and my wife and Sacha were inside watching TV. I tell them the story and they're laughing at me. I tell myself, "I gotta go back out there." And I decide that I'm going to try the same thing, but I'm going to expose the hook, so if he bites, I'm going to get him.

So, I go back out there, I do the same thing and I get a bite. I'm saying, "Man, don't do the same thing." I'm reeling him and reeling him. He gets closer and when I start to see him, I pull him up and he comes out of the water.

I'm like, "Yeah!" I grab the bass and I take off running towards the living room window. I got the fish up and I'm tapping on the glass so they can see. They turn around and they're clapping for me. And then I run back to put him in the water so I don't hurt him.

After that, I came inside. I was excited. I was proud. And then the following day, I went back out there and I caught four or five of them.

Now I got it. I catch a couple of them every time I go back there.

LESSON LEARNED
Having my family back in the house is the best. It feels normal again.

I wake up to Sacha's crying or to the baby's crying. I come home from practice and Sacha's screaming my name. It's great.

The baby is doing good. He's getting big. He just eats and sleeps. But Sacha is getting to the stage where she's had enough with the baby getting attention. She wants it back to "me time." So we really have to watch her with the baby. We can't leave them the alone.

But she started sleeping in her own bed and we read to her every night. I was on the road when that started, so my wife was doing it. Now, we've been home for a week, so I've been trying to put her to bed.

The first time, my wife was like, "It's all you tonight. Don't call me. Do it all on your own."

Sacha was taking a bath and I had my iPhone playing. She's grooving in the tub and I put on her favorite artist, "Deyonce" with a 'D'. She's dancing in the bubble bath, I have the bubbles like three feet above the tub, and we're having a good 'ol time with it.

After the bath, she's walking me around the room, "My shirt's in this drawer, my bottoms are in this drawer and these are my undergarments." So, I get her dressed, she lies in the bed and I start reading her a book. But she keeps getting up every time I turn the page.

I tell her to close her eyes and she says, "Daddy, I'll close my eyes if you get me juice." I'm tired, it's getting late and now I gotta go back downstairs.

I say, "All right Sacha, I'll make a deal with you. I'll get you juice if you promise you're going to close your eyes and go to sleep." She says, "OK."

Now, I'm running downstairs and my wife asks me where I'm going. I tell her I'm getting her some juice. She's like, "Juice? She can't have juice before she goes to bed. And she knows she's not allowed to have juice."

So I run back upstairs. When I get in the room, she closes her eyes real quick and puts her hand out for the juice. I tell her that she can't have any and she starts screaming for her mom.

So, my wife comes up and tells her she can't have juice. Sacha says, "I don't like having daddy put me to bed. Mama, you put me to bed."

I'm like, "What?!"

So, my wife puts her to bed in like five minutes. Afterward, she asks me what I did. I told her that I gave her a bath, listened to some music...

She says, "First of all. You can't get her all hyped up before bed. Second of all, you can't give her juice. Third, you didn't put her pull-up on."

I was like, "She told me she doesn't wear them anymore."

She says, "Yeah, because she wants to be a big girl."

So, I basically did everything wrong. And now she won't let me put her to bed. As soon as I'm done with her story, she starts screaming for her mom.

MY NEW HOBBY
I've been painting a little bit. I did a bunch of paintings while my family was in L.A. and I set up a gallery around the house for when they came back. I gave them a tour of all the paintings when they came in and they absolutely loved them.

I'm not Picasso or nothing, but now, Sacha wants to paint and I've been teaching her how.