It’s been my thing to take Beth to school on the first day of school. It’s been an obsession really. I figure if I’m going to make my kid go to school, the least I can do is take them on the first day, to ease some of the pain. Only today I may have been more pain than relief. Sure, we went out for breakfast at Starbucks. Sure, we went for a walk around the still closed mall.
Beth’s birthday was a success. I just wish she liked the $200 bike as much as the $20 lamp. I thought it was going to be a mistake to give her the biggest gift first, but it all worked out in the end. The bike came first, with a moderate amount of joy, and the lamp came last, accompanied by an explosion of eight year old birthday glee.
When you get right down to it, it’s pretty…
Beth finally got her iPod on Friday. We ordered it early last week and tracked in it from China (with a little help from the FedEx web site). It’s hot pink, has Beth’s name engraved on it, and is everything Beth was hoping for in a portable music player. She totes it around the house like a trophy almost non-stop. No, she hasn’t listened to a whole lot of music on it – but…
Last week we had a little problem getting Beth ready in the morning. Gaping, bleeding wounds will do that to you. She was feeling playful and decided to hide under her bed after we asked her to get dressed. Unfortunately, she caught her leg on something sharp and we wound up in the ER rather than the rec center (for summer camp).
“Dad, were you angry with me when I cut my…
I was at work and struck by the hour: noon already? On a whim I begged off early, promising to make up the time later (a line borrowed from the procrastinator’s creed). This whim eventually brought me to my daughter’s school, just as her and her like were being released for the day. She wasn’t expecting me, and didn’t notice when I fell into step behind her, stride for…
Flush with accomplishment from recently achieving her savings goal of $187, plus tax, Beth is contemplating higher plateaus. Suddenly, the kiddy slide isn’t high enough any more. Now, she wants to play with the big boys. That’s right, she wants the 20GB iPod now.
“But Beth, you don’t have enough music for the 20GB iPod.”
“So. Someday I might. See right there…
If you have a child, chances are you are familiar with the fresh water phenomenon. As it happens, we have a child, two of them in fact. Since our oldest child has had the ability to communicate – whether it be by speech or wild gestures with her extremities – she has wanted fresh water at her bedside at night. Yes, I fondly remember the day Beth learned to use “dehydrated”…
Have you ever wanted to let out a cathartic scream, but didn’t? Futility over comes you instead, and you do nothing – hopelessly wallowing in the absurdity of the moment.
A phrase comes to mind, “if it’s not one thing it’s,”
One minute Cheryl is guilting me into riding my bike to work. She’s browbeating her parents into accepting my exercising needs. The…
My daughter is in second grade, and she has spent more time on homework these last couple days than I spent my entire senior year of high school. Now before you say something snide about my senior year of high school, remember that I got into a decent college – even after my senior year. However, I will admit I was something less than your model high school student (unless your model was…