• Inconsistency is a terrible thing to admit

    A couple weeks ago I was summoned home due to an emergency. Beth was freaked out by a frog that gained entrance to our house via commode.

    Being a thoughtful, sensitive parent, I went straight home, tracked down the frog, and laughed. Mind you, this was no mere chuckle. This kind of laughing involved tears. At first Beth didn’t share my feelings… not even a little bit. I could tell because she said, “that’s not funny dad!”

    I’m quick that way.

    One thing I’ve learned on my journey through parenthood though: your kids occasionally take their cue from you when they react to something. For example, if Adam tripped and fell and someone reacted… “OH ADAM, ARE YOU O.K.?” That would be his cue to cry. However, if I was in the room I’d chuckle and say, “whoa Adam, you took a big tumble there little guy!” He’d pop-up with a smile on his face and say, “that WAS a big tumble dad!” And off he’d go. It’s not perfect of course. It seems no amount of good cheer can overcome blood – not in this house anyway.

    On the ten minute drive home I was hoping a similar strategy would work with Beth. I figured my work would be cut out for me since she was already freaked out – no thanks to my wife, who has a Biblical/Old Testament plague view of frogs. However, by the time I took a picture, did a quick catch and release, and posted the picture on the web, we were all able look at the frog on the screen and laugh. Adam still asks me to pull up the picture of the frog at least once a day.

    But here’s the thing: I can’t go to the bathroom anymore without checking under the rim first for intruders.

    Who do I have to make me feel better? Maybe I’d feel a little better if I knew you were sitting there laughing at me.

  • My favorite sentence of the day

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    Newsvine/AP – Giuliani Wants US to Promote Democracy:

    Republican Rudy Giuliani said Monday the reputation of the United States has suffered globally not so much because of arrogant actions but for lack of salesmanship about benefits of democracy.

    If you’re like me, you’re thinking that the author of the article must have tweaked reality a little. I saw that sentence pop up on my feed reader and I figured it had to be a creative interpretation meant to suck in page hits. I mean, come on… did Rudy really say that our foreign policy problems aren’t rooted in arrogance, so much as a failure to communicate how great we are? If he did, his speech writers ought to think about switching to comedy.

    I don’t think much of Rudy, but I thought he had a better understanding of the mother tongue than the man he hopes to succeed… or at the very least a dictionary.

    Or maybe I’ve got the definition of arrogance wrong.

  • My grand re-opening

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    Cheryl and the kids wanted to take a trip to Busch Gardens Friday afternoon, and I finally gave in and went along. My white cell count is still low, but I kind of like the idea of the kids having a few fond memories of me doing fun stuff with them.

    I even felt adventurous enough to bring our old camera along. Sure, we’ve already got tons of pictures of the place, some going back almost thirty years, but I can’t deny Adam the joy of reliving a trip just because I’ve seen it all before. When Beth was younger she used to love seeing the pictures from a day trip… even if it was just a few hours ago. It’s been one of the boons of digital photography, as far as I’m concerned. Beth will pull up iPhoto and cycle through all those pictures over and over, telling anyone who’ll listen the story behind every pic. She’s done it ever since she knew how to use a mouse… which was about when she was three.

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    Now it’s Adam’s turn.

    Adam was a bit cranky this afternoon after his nap, and it didn’t seem like anything was going to cheer him up. Then inspiration struck. “Hey Adam, you want to see that picture of you and Beth on the motorcycles yesterday?”

    It was like he had a “whimper” switch on his forehead, and someone turned it off. Just like that he was his perky self, bouncing off the bed to see himself on the big screen.

    I might as well toss one more in here:

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    Adam is partial to hippos these days. And besides, how often do you get to see a hippo out of water?

    I’m toying around with image orientation on this post. So you have my apologies if this turns out a hard to read mess.

    By the way, the “travel” tag is a bit of a stretch, but this is the closest I’ve come in a while (not counting the Chattahoochee trip).