Happy Epiphany

I know it's not yet Epiphany, but it's close.

We went out for dinner with Mr. and Mrs. the Photog New Year's Day. We ate at Cafe Adobe. While the service was all right (we got our refills without needing to be asked), the greeters/sitters left something to be desired.

We got there shortly before the Photogs did, and I mentioned that we would need a table for 7. The blonde greeter stated there was no table available yet, but that they had a booth in the smoking section, "but nobody is smoking in there now." I mentioned that we would prefer a non-smoking table, and she said that would be no problem, and it would take them about 2 minutes to put a couple tables together. I said that would be fine and sat down to wait. While waiting, the Photogs arrived while the Brunette greeter was sitting a table of 25. The Blonde greeter was sitting a table of 5 and another group of 8 or so was also seated. I went back up (after mentioning to the Photogs about the offer for the booth that I declined as it was in the smoking section), and asked about our table as they had seated 3 groups before us. Brunette Seater said they didn't have a table ready, but that there was a booth available. I asked if this was the same booth in the smoking section that I had already declined, and she said "yes, but nobody is smoking there right now." Mrs. Photog astutely noted that simply because nobody was smoking now did not preclude anybody from coming in and smoking after we'd been seated. I commented on how I was confused that they had no table for us even though they seated 3 groups each with more than 4 people and two of which were larger than ours even though they said it would only be 2 minutes for us to be seated. Blonde Seater grabbed some place settings while I was asking the manager what was going on, and she went and started setting two tables together for us. The manager commented that it would be no problem for us to get two tables together (the place was fairly empty; it was New Year's after all), and the Brunette seater went to get some place settings and started to lead us to where Blonde Seater had already set the menus down, so she put hers back.

Long story short (too late), we finally got seated. As I said the service itself wasn't bad, though the food took a little longer to get out than I would have normally liked. The company was terrific, as the Photogs are always fun to be with. They even got the Binjo kids a terrific gift - season passes to the Zoo. This is good news, indeed! Thank you, again, Photogs - the kids will have a great time.

Right now, the Boy is ill with whatever the Apple had a couple weeks ago - high fever, some congestion. It's a good little flu or something. Hopefully he'll be okay in the next day or two - I don't like seeing the young'uns sick.

Long Week

Last week was a long one.

One thing I'm not comfortable with is talking with people I don't know. I need to know you before I can be comfortable talking with you, particularly on the phone. Seriously. This is a true source of anxiety for me, and unfortunately, it's a big part of my job right now.

Last Monday, one of my friends from high school was in town, so we had lunch together. It was really a nice thing; I'd not seen this friend in about 14 years and it was really nice to catch up.

Then, to make the day even better, my best friend called me that evening to wish me a happy birthday (it wasn't my birthday, but why carp?). We chewed the fat a little, reminisced a bit, and just had a nice talk.

The rest of the week was very busy with phone calls from irate clients (see anxiety, above). My in-laws and father left last week, as well, so we had a little post-move separation anxiety mixed in with the work anxiety. Additionally, I think I'm starting to feel my version of buyer's remorse - which is anxiety that I won't be able to continue to afford my purchase.

Eventually, I'm going to try to find a 9-5er somewhere closer to the house. It's important to have a family member within 30 miles of the children for emergencies. That, and I don't know how much I really enjoy doing what I do. It's an important job, and being the low man on the totem pole, I get to do the less savory tasks, but I don't know how much longer I'll be able to take the alternating anxiety about the calls and the anxiety about near total lack of job security.

I cut the grass today. In the back yard. It took an hour, or so. Filled 3 1/2 trash bags with grass clippings. But the yard looks good, the lawn mower and edger work well.

The kids should be going to sleep right now. They're playing hide-and-seek upstairs. I'm letting them because to stop them would require my going upstairs, and I don't wanna.

Jamie - you're going to be fine on the bar. To this day Photog and I can both tell you that the breaking and entering into the dwelling house of another with the intent to commit a felony therein is Burglary. If you find yourself panicking, think about a rule of law that you know and start from there. You'll calm down and it will come to you.

Conversation With the Princess

This morning, as I mentioned in my previous post, we ate breakfast at the Guenther House in San Antonio - by far one of the top 3 restaurant breakfasts I've enjoyed in Houston. We had a bit of a wait to be seated. Fortunately, the house is right on the San Antonio River, with a pretty nice-sized seawall attached, so you got a good view without too much risk of getting wet.

The Princess had been looking over the side at a couple mallards that were swimming about. She walks over to me and asks me if I've ever eaten duck. "Yes, Princess, I have."
"Oh, then those ducks probably don't like you."

After asking Mom the same question and receiving a negative reply, it was back to watching the ducks swim.

I guess I know now why ducks don't come up and start casual conversations with me.

Morning preparation

I spent some time this morning trying to get the Apple dressed for school. I told him to put on shorts. "I don't want those brown shorts." I showed him another pair. "I don't want those brown shorts."
"What shorts do you want?"
He points.
"Which ones?" I don't see any shorts in the direction he's pointing.
"Those ones." He points again.
"The cat is not shorts."

The Buck Stops There

There were so many reasons to like and respect Harry Truman. For one, he had a sign on his desk that read "The buck stops here." And you knew he meant it.

President Bush has tried over the past few years to equate himself with President Truman, invoking not just his name but his legacy with respect to wars and paraphrasing the phrase noted above.

The problem is, whereas President Truman's actions demonstrated he, in fact, did mean what he said, President Bush's actions suggest otherwise. For example, Congress has recently been working on an expansion of the Children's Health Insurance Plan (CHIP). The current plan has holes in it that deny health insurance to children who make too much money for medicaid, yet are unable to afford private health insurance. The President, who seems to believe that not only are these people able to afford health insurance on top of their other bills and obligations (really, you can save $100 a month by moving into a crack neighborhood apartment complex!), but all the American people who WOULD qualify for the expanded CHIP would choose it over private health insurance that they could afford, thus costing too much money. Thus, he says he intends to veto the bill. The President, in debating the issue refers to Congress as "irresponsible" and announces that they are leaving children uncovered to make a political point.

You see, here's the spin. Congress, by working together to create a program not only with public, but with BIPARTISAN SUPPORT, is playing politics with children. By vetoing the bill (the current law expires on September 30), the President is saying that Congress is harming children. The alternative? This should not come as a surprise President Bush suggests that Congress should have done what He told them to do. Then he would have passed it, and everyone would be happy, because the President got His way.

Therein lies the difference. Truman accepted responsibility not just for what he said, but what he did. Bush, on the other hand, wants just one thing - everything done his way. When it isn't what He wants, then it's somebody else's fault. Here, it's not His fault he's going to veto this bipartisan-supported bill; it's Congress'. What a great way to run a country.

Hurts Me More Than Him

Yesterday afternoon, I decided to take the children over to the park to play. This is something I do somewhat regularly, in that I think it important for them to get some exercise and fresh air. So we played for a while, then decided to take a walk around the trail (about .63 miles). We get most of the way around the short section of the trail to where the water fountain and baseball field (with bleachers) are. The kids take their drinks then start climbing up and down the bleachers, ignoring my repeated (and regular for the trips there) requests to not do so, lest they fall and get hurt. After a few minutes, I finally get the first two down and back on the trail, or near the trail and am trying to get the Apple down. As I get nearer to him, the thing I knew would happen one of these days happened - he slipped and fell. Somehow, on the way down (he was only about 3 seats up, so not far from the ground), he hit his head on a bleacher corner. I get over to him fairly quickly and pick him up, thinking he'd just bumped his head. That's when the Boy noticed the cut, "He's bleeding!" I put my hand on the back of his head and it's warm and wet. I look and his bright blond hair has a huge patch of red in it. As I'm trying to collect the other two children and simultaneously rinse the Apple's hair in the water fountain to see how bad the cut is, he stops crying - Dad's holding him, so he's calmed down. I decide if he's able to calm down so quickly, he mustn't be hurt too badly, so I figure I'll run him home and rinse him off there to make sure he's not cut too badly. So we walk quickly back to the car, drive quickly back home, and get him in the shower. The bleeding has subsided quite a bit, but he's bleeding a little still and I finally see the cut. It's about 3/4 of an inch long on the back left side of his head, so while waiting for my wife to get done talking to the family doctor, I decide that I should take him in.

We get to the ER and sign him in and tell them what happened, but he's more interested in watching the fish than getting his cut looked at, which I take to be a pretty good sign. After a bit of a wait, the nurse checks him out, asks what happened, and says he'll need a staple or two. Then the nurse practitioner comes in and checks him out, asks what happened, and says he's going to need a couple staples. This upsets me, because my 3 year old is getting staples. The practitioner notes that the Apple is a little boy, and little boys get hurt, which is true of course, but it's supposed to happen to someone else.

The practitioner tells us he'd like to numb the area before using the staple gun. I'm not too comfortable with the idea of a staple gun being used on my son's head, but if it's going to be used, I'd rather he be numbed first. The nurse then says it'll be about 40 minutes. Joy. The Apple has his Popsicle, so he's happy for the time being. Fortunately, his mom showed up about 5-10 minutes after we did to the ER, so she's able to watch the siblings. I ask the practitioner to tell her how long the wait is, which prompts her to come in and check on her baby, not that I blame her. While we're discussing dinner plans, the Practitioner tells us he's managed to expedite things, so we'll be done in about 20 minutes, then asks who will stay with the Apple. The wife offers, which makes me happy, because I'm still sick that my Apple got hurt, but the Princess protests and insists that mommy go back to the waiting room with her and the Boy. So I stay with the Apple. A couple minutes later, the practitioner and the nurse come in with the equipment. They first bundle the Apple in a white sheet - straight-jacket style - and inform me that I will be laying on top of him and keeping him still, while the nurse holds his head still. Joy.

The practitioner then starts cleaning the area of the cut, which hurts, which starts the boy writhing, which starts me laying on him firmly, holding his body and head singing the Letter Factory Alphabet song ("the A says 'a,' the A says 'a,' every letter makes a sound, the A says 'a,'" etc.). Then the shots and staples come. Understand that the Apple cried more during the actual stapling than he did when he hit his head. It's over pretty quickly, though, and a crying Apple asks so nicely for his popsicle. We then wait for another nurse, who comes in and has me sign a couple papers, and asks me how the Apple got hurt, bringing the total number of medical personnel I had to tell to four. After about 10 more minutes, I go out to the nurse's station to see what else they need, only to find out we're done, and could have left after we signed what the last nurse needed. A minor inconvenience, really, and considering, we got through the whole thing pretty smoothly, though I still feel like crap that my boy was hurt.

He was in good spirits most of the time, which is a really good thing, and did really well as a patient. I was proud of my Apple's behavior in the face of his first injury.

Church Mice?

One of the benefits of being the youngest family at church (indeed, the only family with school age children or younger) is that you have an entire congregation of grandparents, who just love that children are present at their service. This means that the children get away with things that otherwise would cause whispering among the masses. This means when the Apple sits during Children's Sermon and waves to the congregation, 30 grandparents smile, chuckle, and wave back. It means when the Princess dances down the pew to shake hands during the call to worship, people exclaim she's adorable and shake her hand with a large grin.

This doesn't necessarily make me feel any less embarrassed by their behavior, but at least the children are welcomed by the rest of the congregation.

Wednesday is Haiku Day

The Princess saw a
Cow giving birth and said "The
Cow pooped a baby."

It was a special moment.

No Child Left Behind*

One of the problems with being an unpopular president, is that anytime anything connected to the executive branch looks hinky, you take the blame. Much like the popular president who gets to take credit for the good things coming out of executive branch agencies.

The current issue lies with the President's threats to veto the State Child's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Coincidentally, shortly after his threat to veto, four regional directors of the Department of Health and Human Services (where I once had to show my military ID in order to use the restroom) issued copycat letters spreading apparent misinformation about the program (link is from the Huffington Post). The letters misstate the effect of the law and spout similar concerns expressed by President Bush. The idea seems to be to frighten people into criticizing this bill that would provide health insurance for children who can't otherwise afford it.

I prefer to operate under the ounce of prevention concept, that providing insurance for children will result in better treatment for those children, which will make for healthier adults who will be able to work more, have fewer ailments, contribute more to the economy, and ultimately save money. That's not a big price to pay, IMO, for the potential future payoff.

Parenthood

I get to be a stay at home dad this week and next week. We don't have the money to put the kids in daycare, and I'm not employed, and after a summer of seeing the kids for about an hour a day, it's a welcome change. We've been pretty active the past few days; we go to the park in the morning, then while the Apple is taking his nap, I do a little housework, which has been piling up over the summer.

It looks like we're going to be able to take a vacation this summer. It'll be nice to get out of Texas for a week. The wife hasn't had a break in 3 years, so she is definitely overdue. The Boy and the Princess have not been out of state since 2002, and the Apple's never been out of Texas, so it'll be a nice change for them. We're going to drive (yes, road trip with kids. I'm already getting my dadisms ready) up to Indiana to visit the grandparents. it's only about 950 miles, so it shouldn't be too bad. Being dad, I am comfortable with driving past landmarks without stopping ("look kids, there's the St. Louis Arch, and the Ozarks, and the Mounds!), so I should be able to get there in about a day and a half, accounting for stops for the kids and wife, who, despite my pleas to the contrary, insists on having a bladder. Anyway, it's going to be nice to take the kids on a trip, and eat at Steak and Shake once again.

Saturday Morning

I woke up to The Boy's alarm at 6. He set the snooze, twice, so I got to hear the alarm three times total. Yay.

The princess came in to show us that she got all dressed and ready and aren't we proud of her? Of course, but we'd be even more proud if she did this on school days vice Saturday.

The Apple comes in next telling me I need to get up (to which the wife laughs quietly). He needs to "munch some popcorn! Come on, daddy!" He then proceeds to grab me a shirt and shorts so I can go downstairs with him.

I get downstairs, make breakfast for the apple while the other two kids are taking turns on the DS. It's almost seven now. If it were a weekday, we'd be on schedule for daycare departure, which for whatever reason is a struggle to do on weekdays.

Then I had to clean up the cat poo on the landing, and change the litter box. So much fun. Next were the dishes, which I washed with much aplomb, including the coffee pot, so that I could make coffee for my dear spouse who slept in. She deserves it, inasmuch as I'm going to be studying for the bar yet again.

Bar study is not as much fun as it sounds. I'll go over the test after the exam.

Time to get back to work.

Crime and Punishment

The Boy got in trouble tonight. He got in trouble for a couple reasons. First, he took too many tomatoes on his taco. While this seems like a silly thing to get in trouble for (it is), this is the umpteenth time he's taken so many tomatoes the other four people in the family did not have enough.

Then, after getting a talking to (I did not raise my voice), it was time to say our prayers. He slouched down in his chair threw his legs over his arms, and started mumbling. When we reminded him that he was talking to the Lord, and not his parents, he got even more upset, turned around in his chair and refused to move. This got him sent to his room. I would hesitate quite a while before using the adjective "sanctimonious" to describe us, but we have our habits.

Fast forward about 15 minutes, and The Boy comes downstairs and sits in his chair. He pretends nothing has happened, and starts asking for condiments for his dinner. We then spoke for a couple minutes regarding how he had been sent to bed without dinner, and apparently, he presumed he'd been there long enough, as his demeanor suggested he was entitled to dinner by right (not that I blame him, past behavior on our part has suggested this, despite the "this is the last time" he got last time). This of course got him another talking to, which ultimately resulted in his being sent to his room without dinner (again).

I feel bad. I also think that had he not acted so entitled on his return to the dinner table, perhaps he would have ended up eating, so maybe it was for the best. I don't like punishing - it's not as much fun for me as it was for my parents, who I think danced with glee when they got to punish me. Maybe I'm just doing it wrong...

A wonderful way to wake up

I woke up this morning at about 5:40 to two children fighting for ownership of a blankie. They fought briefly, I intervened, granting possession to the Apple. He then took the blankie and laid it over his sister, with whom he had been fighting. Such a grand gesture.

Then we got downstairs and started breakfast. Apple had cereal while Punkin and The Boy had yogurt. They had all just sat down to eat when Apple looked out at one of the cats, bent his arms up at the elbow, hands forward, and roared. He roared with gusto, exclaiming "I'm a dragon! Roar!" He had the biggest smile I had ever seen on a dragon.

Sometimes it's a blessing to have morning children.

Playing favorites

The daughter has a new favorite song - Good Vibrations, by the Beach Boys.

I will allow this to be her favorite song, on grounds that it is the single greatest rock and roll song ever written and/or performed.