Good Times
If we had to put a letter grade on our trip to Kansas City over the weekend, we would give it an A-. We had a great time seeing and catching-up with old friends. We hit a couple of my favorite eateries, although again with the kids present, I can’t go quite as nuts as I used to. And, obviously,…
She’s Mocking Me
Three year olds are always observing, cataloging, and analyzing the actions and speech of others. Then they throw it back at you and crack you up. Example: The other night the girls were playing outside after dinner. First M. came in saying that L. hit her. A few minutes later C. came in, crying, with the same complaint. I brought L. in and told…
Three Things
M.: Each morning when I drop M. off at school, she mumbles a goodbye to me as she scans the sidewalk between the van and the front door. She’s looking for friends who may be walking in. On the mornings she does run into someone she knows, I love the way they both light up, run to each other, start…
Three Things
Parenthood is a long, hard slog. It’s easy to get lost in all the negative things that wear you down each day/week/month. Thus, I’m going to attempt to end each week with three things that pleased me about my daughters over the previous seven days. Perhaps the public sharing of these acts will help me cope with the constant battles…
Toeing The Line
M. gave up something big for Lent this year: playing the Wii. She had already lost access to it for a week because of a controller-related incident, but I give her credit for selecting something like that as her sacrifice. Of course, by this weekend she was already saying she wanted to reclaim the Wii and exchange something else for…
Firsts
It’s been a big few days for C.. Last Monday she lost her first tooth, her upper left incisor. It had reached that crazy, almost sickening level of looseness when S. finally reached over and yanked it out. There was a scream of surprise then much happiness. Even more happiness the next morning when she found the Tooth Fairy’s gift.…
Check Out The Big Brain on M.
A few weeks back we donated an aging piece of furniture to AmVets. Hopefully they’ve made good use of the ugly but insanely comfortable, 40-year-old corduroy chair that my wife was finally able to purge from our home. For some reason, M. thought of that this morning as she was getting ready for school. She asked who it was that came…
Sisterly Love
So S. and I are in the basement this afternoon, installing the final piece of our new entertainment system. We hear arguing upstairs. After it escalates, I head their direction to stop the nonsense. On my way up, I hear C., in tears, yelling at M.. M. responds, in her ‘I’m not really sorry’ voice, “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear…
Fun With Nursery Rhymes
My nearly eight years as a stay-at-home parent have been filled with humorous moments that come with being the rare dad who is with his kids all day. Random kids who come up and start telling me about their potty habits. Boys who mistake me for their dad because I’m the only guy around. And, my personal favorite, kids yanking…
R.I.P. Spike
We lost a dear friend yesterday. C.’s fish, Spike, passed on to the great fishbowl in the sky. It was not unexpected, as he hadn’t been right for months. That didn’t make the loss any easier for her. He had always been an odd fish, but since the fall he spent most of his time curled up on the bottom…