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Michael's Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 8/28/00 -------------------- 8/21/00 8/14/00 8/7/00 8/1/00 7/24/00 7/17/00 7/10/00 7/3/00 6/26/00 6/19/00 6/12/00 6/5/00 5/29/00 5/22/00 5/14/00 -------------------- Michael's Introduction

August 7, 2000

Dear Readers,

My summer vacation, as I call it, ends in three weeks. That's when my wife goes back to work as a Vision Itinerant Teacher and I go back on the job full-time as the stay-at-home dad. The two weeks at the beginning of summer and the two weeks at the beginning of the school year are always the toughest for us as we sort out our new routines. But it's worth it for all the family time we get to enjoy in between.

Mama's Taking Us to the Zoo Today:
Going to Brookfield Zoo is one of our favorite family outings. It's a great way to spend a few hours and there is so much to do and see that even when we go a lot, we don't repeat ourselves, except for the stuff the kids really, really, really want to see.

What I find most interesting about these trips is how in a few weeks or a few months the kids react and act so differently to what they see. One visit the water wall in the Living Coast is a great attraction; the next it's boredom inducing. Bears are big now -- Black Bears, Brown Bears and especially Polar Bears. Next visit, who knows?

One event, however, always hits the spot: Lunch. This is probably because the zoo lunch is almost all treat - hot dogs, chips, and cookies -- I know it's not healthy for kids, for anyone, in fact, but they're kids and they're not going to eat the tofu and sprouts salad. Anyway, to assuage my parental nutritional guilt, I usually bring some grapes from home and try to get them to eat a few, so I can claim that they had a "balanced" lunch.

Another event that might be moving into the pantheon of must-see: Watching cow or horse dung drop and splatter in real time. The last two trips have given us the pleasure of watching this natural process up close, and it never fails to grab our attention: "Daddy, what's that?" Brandon asked with emphasis on the "that." And I, of course, answered honestly and scientifically. After all, the zoo is an educational outing. "The cow's going pooh-poohs," I told him. "Cows go outside while standing up." My son, the future ecologist, further observed: "Flies on the pooh-poohs. Flies like the pooh-poohs." Yes, apparently they do. And we love the children's zoo. I can't wait to watch one of the milking demonstrations.

No Sleep Til Elkhorn, Wis.
I love my daughter. Yes, I love my daughter. I do. I really love her. So went my affirmations on the way to Elkhorn, Wis. to celebrate my wife's uncle's 60th birthday and on the way home. My sweet, dear, beautiful daughter, Allison, unfortunately, does not like to nap or sleep -- even when it's her naptime or bedtime -- in the car.

After reading her books and playing with her toys nicely and quietly, Allison decided to fight her nap hard. This meant lots of screaming and whining and a new con on my wife, Lisa. "Mommy, help me," Allison pleaded from the back. My poor, sweet wife then acquiesced to this desperate cry. She slid her right arm back between the door and the seat, like a cop was stretching her arm back to put cuffs on her, until she reached Allison's hand. Allison had busted Lisa. I looked over to my partner and said, "You're supposed to be the boss. You're never going to get your arm free." Lisa nodded in sullen agreement. "But what do you want me to do? Let her cry. I know how that upsets you." Somehow, she always knows how to turn it on me. "Yes, yes," I mumbled.

While this act of flexibility calmed Allison somewhat, it did not work to soothe her into sleep, which is what she needed, though Allison denied it vehemently. Allison continued to fuss. And she became determined to make Lisa sit with her arm cranked back for the rest of the ride. Every time Lisa removed her hand Allison cried out, "Mommy, hold my hand." On we drove, until finally stopping at Wendy's after two hours of driving: one hour pleasant, one hour miserable and one hour to go. The stretch did all of us good. But Allie never slept.

A New Game: Squat Over the Glass
Although Allie might not be a great driving buddy, she is a lot of fun at a party. She likes to be the center of attention. So at the party, she played with the other kids and other adults, thinking of innumerable ways to elicit attention and laughs and time from them. She was so in demand and so full of herself that she refused to play with a three-year-old girl who desperately wanted to play with her. It was this little girl's chance to be the big girl -- she's the youngest of three sisters.

Allison, however, was too busy with more important people to give the little girl more than a smile and a brush off. Allie wanted adults to yield to her charms. And they did -- bringing her toys, playing with her, and laughing at all her jokes. I wish I could work a room the way she can.

But Allie really topped off the evening with her creation of new game: squat over the glass. Someone at the party left a small plastic drink glass on the deck (at least 20 feet by 10 feet where we were sitting). So Allie decided that it would be fun to run back and forth on the deck and then stop and squat over the glass for a minute or two. Once in the squat position, she rotated over it, mumbled some noises and shouted out excitement. Of course, when her relatives laughed, she was determined to do it some more.

Also, her brother, who usually isn't as demonstrative, saw the attention Allie was getting and decided to join in the game. So now, I had two kids running back and forth on the deck and squatting and rotating over a glass. I felt my heart swell with pride. Mercifully, the call to cut the cake came and the game ended before my head could get too big from watching the brilliant display of my children.

Fortunately, they haven't wanted to play "squat on the glass" since. So, if you ever come over to our house for a visit, it's OK to drink from our glasses.

Using glasses for drinking only,
Michael