With two October ticks left on the calendar I’m going to take a terrible chance. So far the month of October has been a budgetary success. It marks the first full month of fiscal restraint and we’ve done better than I expected. By all estimates we’re going to come in under budget, with a couple of key fixed expense categories under historical averages. The big one is groceries; our single…
I was sitting with Beth at the allergist’s office, helping her with her “gifted” homework. In the span of a 20-minute shot watch we discussed mid-term elections, the separation of powers, the merits of a bi-camel legislature, term limits, and the unique nature of prime numbers.
Throughout this light conversation I stole a few glances at the folks sharing the waiting room with us… and they…
This morning Adam was angry about being abandoned by his mother. Cheryl and Beth snuck out early to hit Busch Gardens for a little mother daughter bonding. They left Adam in the clutches of the evil daddy, who had no desire for a return engagement with the full pull of Adam’s mass.
Adam demanded to see his mommy and wasn’t going to do anything until he got his way, including eating…
Yesterday my son and I were settling into our Friday evening routine, consisting of a daddy on the floor doing his best impression of a jungle gym. I was lying on the floor, when Adam decided to go old-school WWF on me. I didn’t know he could jump, let alone jump backwards, but facing the opposite direction he jumped backwards from a standing position, pulled his knees up and drove his but into…
The raison d’etre for childhood is learning. Much of that learning is done by trial and error. Sometimes it feels like the raison d’etre for parents is to point out the error in childhood trials. Take yesterday evening (please?). Twenty minutes before bedtime our kids voiced unanimous desire for an apple. They spent the better part of that twenty minutes sitting in the hallway with their…
“… and the heavens opened and water poured forth like a reading from the Old Testament.”
– Excerpt from Tuesday afternoon.
It was one of those Florida afternoons where you could see the rain coming like an omnivorous grey beast. I was on my way to pick up Beth from Tae Kwon Do, with Adam in tow, when I realized there was no way I was going to herd two hyper kids into the car without some…
The morning started off swell… I didn’t get up until 9:30. What else could you ask for? Perhaps 10:30? I digress. Since I woke I’ve been chasing down my son trying to discourage his most recent habit, cat burglary. He has taken to sneaking around the house with one of his miniature fold-up chairs, unfolding it in strategic positions to gain access to various forbidden zones around the house.
It wasn’t a sure thing though, after yesterday. The butcher’s bill for the Kauffman Family Household (v.2.2.1) on Tuesday, September 12 is as follows:
Two doctor’s appointments
Nine allergy shots
Two long telephone calls, of the banking kind
A haircut
All of this occurred on a weekday, which is just plain crazy… everyone knows you get a haircut on the weekend. We would surely not be here…
Four and a half hours ago I was putting my son to bed. It is only with the spit polished lenses of hindsight that I now know it was for the rest of the night – both hours that were left of it. About five minutes before I put him to bed, as he calmed down with his head on my shoulder, his grip slowly loosening on his blanket and his breathing becoming relaxed – I strangely felt like I could…