Sunday, July 19, 2009

sing of summer

The air conditioner is singing baritone in the window behind me as I type and its after 8 and still 79 degrees at the other end of the house where we adults sleep. The kids room has its own air conditioner keeping it a cool 74°F.

Yesterday it was also hot, so while Jen and Emily were at the Mom's Book Group, it was "Date With Daddy Saturday" during which Claire and I swam in the inflatable pool in the back yard. I noticed Claire singing for the first time. Just the first line of "Old MacDonald had a Farm", then she'd revert to Sprechstimme for the next line. Just floating aimlessly in a warm pool brings out interesting conversation. Claire reached out and touched my back and said, "Thank you, God, for Daddy's back." The girls had been praying for my back last week since I was in such pain after the drive back from Arizona. Then I noticed that my back was indeed feeling better. The prayers of the righteous [innocent] availeth much...

Thankfully, we have been able to keep away most commercial advertisement from our Daughters. But some merchandise is just so ubiquitous, and anyway, "Dora The Explorer" seems innocent enough. She has recently had pull- ups with Dora on them. Which leads to my next anecdote...
Placating the kids is sometimes quite a challenge. Quick-thinking skills are quite in demand. For example last month I was sent to the store to get "pull-ups" which are like stretchy diapers supposedly geared towards helping with potty-training. So I grab the first ones on the shelf which covered the appropriate size by weight. Getting them home, we open them and Claire wants to try one right away. Jen says to me, "but you got blue for boys!" and indeed there was a cartoon car pictured prominently bordered in blue. But instantly switching gears, she turned to Claire and said, "Look, its Dora's car!" (Claire was first exposed to Dora at the gym where she had therapy because they had a Dora doll there. She has never seen the show.)

1 comment:

Martin said...

Mark, my dear son! How I enjoyed reading your family anecdotes this morning and again this evening! I'm so glad you and Jen take time to jot down the endearing moments you share with your girls. Love, love, and more love to each of you! Mom