Camping in

So on Wednesday Jack told us he wanted to go to school on Friday (he normally doesn't), because they were going to pretend to go camping in his classroom, with tents and a fire and everything. So I said, well, we can do that stuff at home. And so we did.

Emily and I came up with a plan, which meant digging out our old tents and sleeping bags and stuff, and I aired them out in the backyard on Thursday. Then Thursday night, I had Jack write down a list of stuff he wanted to do (see picture). And when I put him to bed, I said, tomorrow we'll go camping.

So Thursday night Emily and I set up the tent in the living room, which only took a couple of tries, and we set out the sleeping bags, and the battery-operated lantern. And the little camping pillows, one of which has an alien pattern and the other has bugs all over it (the pattern, not actual bugs).

Friday morning, we all came downstairs. It was kind of like Christmas morning. Jack got on into the tent and into a sleeping bag, saying, "Now I'm going to sleep," a course of action Emily and I wish he'd employed in his own bed for another half hour or so at least. Kate also got into the tent, although she had no idea what to make of anything. Jack loved his little alien pillow and wants to keep it even when not camping. Of course.

Jack made a little candle out of blue and orange construction paper, which he called a fire.

We got the blue comforter off his bed which became the pond, and I made fishing rods out of drumsticks, string, and plastic hooks for vegetables from his play store. We caught fish: a bath toy and his "Bridgeport Bluefish" mascot.

We hiked around the living room. Twice.

We ate cereal out of the camping dishes. Jack wanted to sit in the tent for this, but we had to draw the line somewhere.

We "napped" in the tent.

He and Kate went in, Jack zipped it up, and they bounced around and pretend fell against the wall and said "OUch!" I was outside the tent and couldn't see, and I heard a thud, and was going to be worried, but then came peals of laughter. Another thud. Another "OUch!" More laughter.

Jack turned the lantern on and off, on and off, over and over again.

Kate words

We worried a little that Kate didn't seem to have as many words as quickly as Jack did, but over the last few months, boom, she caught up. Here are a few of them...

"Aypane" - She hears an airplane going by outside, or sees one, and just as Jack used to, she gets very excited. "Aypane!" she says.

"Peas" - We're working on getting her to say please. She's almost got it, and it's pretty sweet, usually accompanied by a big, cheerful smile.

"Lap" - I heard that one tonight for the first time; I was showing Jack pictures on the computer from when the McArdles were here last summer, and she came over and wanted to see too. "Lap," she said, indicating it's time to make some extra room on Daddy's legs.

"Fok" - Fork. It sometimes sounds a little inappropriate.

"Poon" - Spoon.

"Shake" - Jack got a pair of maraccas (misspelled, I know) at school, some sort of Mexican fiesta party. Kate loves them; there was a big meltdown yesterday afternoon, in fact, when she wanted them and Jack didn't want to give them up. She asks for them or indicates them by saying, "Shake." Because that's what she does with them.

"WoofWoof" - dog.

"MOOOOOOOO" - This is basically any farm animal. I mean, she knows cow, and duck, and goat, and pig, but when I ask what sound it makes, she usually comes out with "Moo." We were looking at a book today with a picture of a goat, she said "Moo," and I said, no, it's a goat. Leading her to her next word:

"Ohhhhhhh." This comes out like she's learned something very impressive.

"Woww!" - This can accompany just about anything, but it's frequently after she falls, or drops something, or there's a loud noise or crash. "Wow!" she says, even if it's her who just took a colossal tumble. Or tripped while trying to walk around in Mommy's shoes, one of her favorite activities these days.

"Dack" - She's getting closer.

"Keht" - You guessed it: her own name.

"Baba!" - When pictures of him come up on the computer screen, as they did tonight. It's usually a yell. I suspect it's because she looks a little like him. Only younger and prettier.

"Good-bye!" Sometimes, "Bye-bye!"

Sweet Kate, Ill Jack

Kate can drive you crazy. She stands up in her high chair halfway through every meal, or dumps her plate, or starts pouring her milk or water out. Then today she was spitting her milk out again, something she hadn't done for months.

And yet, she's also incredibly sweet.

Bringing Jack his sandals when she and Emily were headed outside. Jack was going to stay in, but she wanted him to come. "Shoes! Shoes!" Then she saw he was already wearing sandals. "Oh!" she said. "Shoes."

Saying "Hi, Daddy," and "Goodbye, Daddy," at morning and night, respectively. The way she says it, kind of dragging out each syllable, with a sweet little happy smile. So it's, "Hi, Dah, Dee."

When I read her stories, on each page, after each line, she looks up at me and beams. That's just if she likes a book, and if there aren't cows or dogs on the page. If there are cows, she points and says, "mOOOOOOOOOOO." If there are dogs, she points excitedly and says, "WoofWoof! WoofWOOF!"

She physically brings me over to see things, or draw with her. Last week I was sitting at the laptop. She brought a piece of paper and markers over to her little table, then came over to me and took my hand. I can't remember what she said: Here? Or, Sit? Anyway, she beckoned me over to draw with her. Very sweet.

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Then there's Jack. Jack was sick most of the week. First he had what we thought was pink eye but turned out to just be some kind of irritation. Then he had a fever and the worst cold he's ever had -- rivers of mucus. Let's leave it at that.

Through it all, though, he was in really good spirits. Cheerful. We played games, drew pictures (he made an awesome house with the whole family in it.

He slipped a bit over the weekend -- maybe going stir crazy a bit, like me probably. Still in good humor, but more frustrating. Little stuff here and there. In fairness, he was probably sick of his being sick, like me.

You realize that some of the stuff you worry about and get upset about doesn't seem to matter as much as simply not being sick. So we're hoping for a week of that, at least.

Just some random stuff

- Tonight Kate sat down at her little table with a piece of paper and three markers. She started scribbling on it, I saw her, she saw me, and said, "Sit. Sit." I sat and she handed me a marker. We scribbled together; she laughed. Then Jack came over and picked up a marker. Kate pointed to the seat next to her. "Sit. Sit." So Jack sat and the three of us scribbled together. As we scribbled, Kate bubbled over with laughter, as if the three of us using markers together on paper was the best thing in the world. We filled the paper, she got up, walked across the room, and got another piece of paper. Brought it back. "Sit," she said, to herself perhaps. "Sit."

- Jack was home sick today; kind of odd really. He was sent home Tuesday with a red, puffy eye. We gave him eye drops, which we have from a previous pink eye deal (although we suspect it's allergies), but they had no effect, so I took him to the doctor yesterday. Turned out he just had something in his eye and then irritated it further by rubbing it. Then yesterday afternoon he suddenly took a nap, which I had to wake him up from so we could get Kate at school, and he ended up with a fever. I say it was odd because he was perfectly fine all day; we went to the doctor, went home, and then shortly thereafter he had a fever. Coincidence I guess.

Anyway, I mention it because he's really quite entertaining. Even though he had a fever, he was in good spirits. He drew a cute picture of a house and a family, as well as a smiley face sign "so only good people are allowed in." We played the "Iron Man game," which involves his four mini Iron Man action figures hitting each other. We played Candyland, and he stacked the deck so that his first two cards were the lollipop and the ice cream cone, after which the game was essentially over. Hate when he does that but it's kind of funny.

Then we went to the library, got out a couple of books, came home and read them, and he had a nap.

He got us up at 5 this morning -- since he'd gone to bed at 6 the previous night. He walked into our room and said, "Why is the night so long?"

He's been coming out with some great questions lately. "Why is the sun larger than the earth?" was a good recent one. I wish I could remember the others.

Bridgeport Bluefish

Went to a Bridgeport Bluefish game today, an independent league team about half an hour away. What can I say, it was awesome.

- Pristine little ballpark in perfect condition, easy to get to and park at, plenty of families -- actually, that was about all we saw.

- Kate, at her first baseball game, was awesome -- for the most part stayed in Emily's lap, then mine, then shared a seat with Jack.

- Jack was mildly intrigued by the Bluefish mascot -- but Kate was enraptured. She laughed and pointed and hollered at him. He was in our area the first couple of innings, then was over on the third base line after that. She stood up in Emily's lap and pointed, and clapped, and yelled, "Come back!" And laughed and smiled and laughed.

- Our $12 seats were about 10 rows from the field. And in the brutal sun, so we moved back after a few innings. Still, we were frighteningly close to the field.

- Got Jack and Kate both ice cream. Emily noticed how the kids ate ice cream like their personality. Jack slowly, deliberately, carefully licked his ice cream cone. Kate just shoveled it in.

- Went to the gift shop with Jack to get stuffed mascot toys for Jack and Kate. Hoping they'd have a few; they had a ton. Stood in line with Jack with our two toys. Suddenly I looked over and there were Emily and Kate, and Kate had her arms full of mascot toys. Must have had about six of the things. Emily said she saw them and just went, "ooh!" and grabbed one, then "oh!" and grabbed two more, and so forth. When we took her armful away she wailed, until I gave her the one we'd bought. Then she was fine. For a minute she was really panicked about not having one.

- I caught a little bit of the baseball game. Bluefish looked OK. When music played Jack danced at his seat and Kate clapped her hands. This is why there's so much music at ballgames these days -- kids go crazy for it. Once it bothered me. Now, I understand it all.

Sweet Jack

Jack got up this morning, which reminds me that in Vermont when he got up in the morning he came into our room, which was my old room, planted his feet, put his hands out to the sides, and said, "It's....MORNING!" Anyway, he got up and said he wanted to make cards for his friends at school, Teddy and Jack Sais, because he missed them. I guess they were on vacation last week. So he made cards for them.

Later, we went to the beach, and as we got out of the car, me carrying all of our stuff, Kate and Jack standing there, and then approaching the crosswalk from the parking lot to the beach, Jack said to Kate, "Here, Kate. Take my hand." And they held hands as they crossed the crosswalk.

Playing at the edge of the water later, Kate liked to pick up rocks and walk around with them. Then drop them and watch the splash. Jack went and got her a rock. "Here, Kate."

Jack filled his bucket with too much sand and water to carry it, so that became the location of the dump, because after all the dumptruck had to do something with all the sand he put in the back. Then he started burying me in wet sand, and Kate came over and hit me in the leg with her shovel. Which reminds me, when I gave her the shovel, she took it, looked at it, and then said, "Fok?" Which is her way of saying "fork," which is what she calls the rake that comes with the pail and shovel set.

Snack-time was a highlight, because I got to sit in one place (they liked to run in separate directions, Jack for the water and Kate for basically anywhere else) and they stood still. Well Jack did, standing and crunching down Pirate's Booty and Doritos. Kate seemed to be collecting them, I don't know. She'd take 2, eat one, and put the other on the little chair I'd brought. Then she'd do the same thing again. Then she'd try to sit in the chair. Then the snack food would fall into the sand. Then she'd cry when she'd try to pick it up and I wouldn't let her. Kate, I said, when it falls in the sand, it's not people food anymore.

In the car on the way back, we ate Spider-man gummies, and Kate fell asleep.

Told to me

Jack: Mommy, will we always stay in this house?
Emily: Well, no, Mommy and Daddy are trying to buy a different house right now.
Jack: The house with the chimney? (He visited this particular house with us, and noticed the chimney ("Where Santa comes down?")
Emily: Yes.
Jack: But we already bought it.
Emily: No, Mommy and Daddy are trying to buy it, but the man we're buying it from needs to fix some things.
Jack: Why?
Emily: Well, there are some things that need to be fixed before it's safe to live there.
Jack: Why doesn't he want to fix it?
Emily: Well, maybe he doesn't want to spend the money?
Jack: Why doesn't he?
Emily: Well, maybe he wants to use the money on a vacation or something.
Jack: Oh. Well, we can buy another house with a chimney. One that's already fixed.

Ag Fair

Quickly about the Windsor County Ag Fair....

1. Criss-crossed the thing looking for pony rides. No pony rides. Again. Third time in five years. I did talk to people with show horses and these bucking bronco types that were pulling harvesters or plows or whatever. No doubt they thought I was an idiot.

2. My Mom said, "There's a puppet show here." Emily and I scoffed. "We don't care about puppet shows." You guessed it, while we were eating lunch the puppet show started a little ways away. Jack was drawn to it like mosquitoes to an Ag Fair. I think he watched it with Emily for a good half hour; Kate watched some too. Nice for those of us who mostly cared about eating lunch.

3. There were two "rides," one a Ferris Wheel and one a car spinner thing. Jack was scared like nobody's business, especially when they wouldn't let adults ride with the kids. We finally convinced him to ride the spinner thing. I strapped him into the seat and he had a look of fear and misery on his face. Then it started, and I admit it went a little faster than I expected. Jack wailed. The guy stopped it and I lifted Jack out, and the other kids -- two little girls -- also wailed for their parents. I kind of don't blame Jack much. Later, walking by the Ferris Wheel (which went pretty high) I heard another boy wailing in terror. I might have smiled a bit. Note: there were no refunds on the ride tickets; I'd bought 10 and ended up giving most of them away on our way out of the Fair. I had been really close to buying 20 at the outset -- whew!

4. Later, bribed by a toy from Daddy's childhood toy shelf, a place of magic and wonder for Jack, a place of dusty, 30-year-old toys for me, I got him to do this big bouncy obstacle course with me. I think he was the youngest kid who did it -- you had to crawl through tunnels and climb up walls, it was sponsored by the National Guard or somesuch. He did great. As did I, since this one they let adults do. We raced, it was fun. And later Jack claimed his prize, some sort of little plastic turtle that I suspect he'll have lost by this time tomorrow.

5. Kate said "Cow?" at just about everything. Got to touch a kitty, too.

Sports with Jack and Kate

Today I played golf with my Dad in the morning. Then in the afternoon, I played golf with Jack.

Emily thought Jack was old enough that we could bring him up and he could putt a little on the green at the golf club. In fact, though, Dad also was able to borrow a kid-sized driver so we got some range balls and went out to the driving range. And, it was great. I stood behind Jack and helped him to set his stance and swing. My Dad came up with the bucket of range balls and said it was great to just walk up and see us there.

Jack was OK with me standing behind him, hands on the club over his, swinging and hitting a few that way. We even got a few in the air. Then Jack tried a few on his own, which was hit or miss. His swings were sometimes lunges, feet stepping around as he swung and hit the turf -- but sometimes, when he kept his feet still, he hit it straight and stopped to watch, just like he'd been doing it all his life. He kept things interesting by hitting off three different tee boxes at the range.

Later, we putted about 5 or 6 balls on the green. This time, he was less inclined for help. Actually he didn't care that much about style or form. He just liked getting the balls in the hole, then pulling up the tee so they all exploded out onto the green. We did this for a good 15 minutes. At one point I heard someone saying to a friend, "THAT's the age to start 'em at."

I don't know which of us got more out of the whole thing - Jack, me, my Dad.

At home that afternoon, we played some in the yard. A ball, a bat, a couple of scoopy things and another ball. Kate and Emily were also out for it. That was kind of funny. Kate mostly liked to take both balls and run in her herky-jerky style, laughing, across the lawn. Jack liked being "the runner" in baseball -- not hitting, not pitching, but running after hit balls. I think he was pretty out of breath at the end of it all. (Although he did hit some at the end, which was good to see.) And nobody got hit by a golf club, bat, or scoopy thing all day.

Jack's digger, and other stories

We went to a playground a week ago, there was a sandbox, and another boy had a digger - a big truck with a high, arcing shovel scoop. The other boy ended up sharing, which was nice, but I said at that moment, Jack needs a digger. So I told him I'd get him one.

Easier said than done. The toy store in town had lots of dump trucks and bulldozers, but no diggers. So last Thursday, I went to Target in Stamford. This will have a digger, I said. No! I walked up and down every one of the toy aisles. Two or three times. No digger.

I went to Stamford Toys, this little Mom and Pop store that I'd never been to. And FOUND a digger. There were two, actually, a 40 dollar digger and a 50 dollar digger. That's right, 50 bucks for a plastic toy certain to be destroyed within weeks and no doubt ruined by sand. Granted, it was a nice, realistic looking digger, but it didn't even light up or anything.

But regardless, I'd been all over town, so I bought the 40 dollar digger and drove the half hour or so back home. Traffic was beginning to pick up since it was just before the 4th of July weekend.

I'd been home 15 minutes when I decided I liked the other digger better. So I got back in the car, drove back to Stamford (traffic slowed me down quite a bit), and exchanged the $40 digger for the $50 one.

And it was so absolutely worth it, because Jack said "Wow!" and played with it until dinner and showed it to Mommy once she got home and wanted to bring it up to bed with him and brought it out with him to show Grandma and Grandpa and his cousins the next day. 5o bucks well spent.

Sunday he brought it to the sandbox and it got filled with sand and now the shovel scoop doesn't quite straighten all the way. But he doesn't mind so I don't either.

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Kate runs into my arms when I pick her up from school. She basically tackles me, even though she's not big enough to knock me over -- but if she was, she would. She just runs into me, shouting "Daddy!"

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She has a lot of words now. I usually hear them the most when she's attached to something or other and she's left it upstairs when she's downstairs, or vice-versa, and wants me to go get them. So, "Pablo?" in reference to the stuffed penguin she's left upstairs. (She pronounces it, Pab-ule.) Or, "book?" in reference a book she's left in another room.

Other words I hear a lot: "Up!" (Pick me up.) "Mik!" (Milk.) "Toe! Toe." (I stubbed my toe on something....ouch.) "Dack!" (She's getting closer to saying "Jack.") "Duck!" (Duck.) "Woof!" (I see a dog.)

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At bathtime, it's very important to Kate that if she's getting a shampoo, Jack gets a shampoo. If I start to give her one, she starts pointing at him in protest. "Dack! Dack" ("Him too, Daddy! C'mon here.") Once I start giving him one, she is much calmer and happier about the whole thing.

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She's very sweet. Jack occasionally hurts himself -- stubbed toe, bonked head, whatever -- and cries. Kate comes over and is very concerned. She seems to want to help.

Today they were playing with big Legos, and Jack knocked over something of hers. She looked at me and wailed in protest. I went over to calm things down. She then looked at Jack and hit him. I said, "Kate! No hitting. You don't hit Jack. Now, say you're sorry." "Sowwah." (To me.) "No, say it to Jack. "Sowwah." (To me again.) "Kate," I began. Jack said, "She doesn't have to say she's sorry." "Yes, Jack, she does."

Suddenly Kate looked at Jack and patted him gently on the back. Then went as if to hug him. She didn't say "Sowwah," but she showed it.

Like I said, very sweet.

Jack at the Beach

Went to the beach with Jack today. Kate had a cold and cough so Emily stayed home with her. Here's how the trip went.

- Found a spot. Jack immediately wanted to bury me in the sand. I usually help him with this, otherwise it could take a while. He buried one leg while I scooped sand over the other. The way he did it, he used a little shovel to fill a bucket, which he then used to fill his dumptruck, which he then used to pour sand over me. Essentially he spent 5 minutes filling something he couldn't lift and then whacked me in the groin with a plastic dumptruck, as sand fell pitifully near my leg. Good times.

- We went down to the water. I pointed out how a guy was way out far but it was only up to his knees. We started off, walking out into the water. I was impressed by how game Jack was; I remember him being reluctant to go in, not so long ago. Perhaps when we lived in Colorado and he only saw the ocean on rare occasions - a trip to Mexico, basically.

- We played some games on the beach. One was "train," where I'd follow him and stop when he stopped. There was some "whoo-whooing." Another was "run from the seagulls." The seagulls had zero interest in us, but that didn't stop us from running madly for our seats, pretending to be statues, running for the water, running back to the beach, etc. Still another involved throwing shells into the water. Jack liked finding shells near where our towels were, running down to the water (a good ways from our towels), and heaving them in. We'd done this a few times when I pointed out there were a lot of shells right on the edge of the water. Thus, more time throwing, less time running back and forth. The game changed a little after that.

- Jack wore his wild, green patterned bathing suit and floppy blue hat. He looked like a little beachcomber. He ran on the beach oblivious to things like rocks and stuff that I know a year ago he would have gingerly walked around.

- We built a sand castle. It was pretty ugly. I'm a little out of practice, and Jack likes bringing more water than is necessary to create a moat. We built some towers that slowly crumbled into the moat. We used the shovels as flags in the collapsing towers. Then we kicked the whole thing over.

- We went to get food at the stand. Chicken nuggets, fries, burger. Jack danced around me while I waited in line. He was in a good mood. Ate lots of fries and nuggets, too.

- There was a lot of ketchup on Jack's face.

- We headed home and I gave Jack a ring pop from the cooler. He was pretty weary and nearly falling asleep as he sat in his car seat, wearing sunglasses and his floppy beach hat, noisily chomping the ring pop. Some of it didn't end up stuck to his sandy face.

Wally and Molly

Kate has taken an interest in Jack's Wally and Molly stuffed toys. Wally is a mini-version of the Red Sox' team mascot, Wally the Green Monster, and Molly is an effort to further cash in on fan interest...I mean, Wally's girlfriend. Anyway, Jack had started bringing Wally to school as a toy to nap with, and when Kate developed a similar fondness for him, we steered her toward Molly. Now of course she loves both of them. Anyway. Jack doesn't mind letting Kate play with Molly, and so she has been.

Kate's funny. First, she calls Molly, Wally. She still calls Wally Wally, but she also calls Molly Wally. Really. So this week I'd bring her into school, clutching Molly, and then in the afternoon I'd pick her up, and they'd tell me that Molly was in her jacket sleeve on its hook, and as I got the jacket, Kate would be saying, "Wally?" And then: "Wally?" And I'd say, Yes, Molly! And I'd give it to her, and she'd say, "Wally!" And sometimes it was "Wally, Wal-ly, Wah-ly!" And "Wah-ly, wah-ly, wah-ly!"

So she's been sleeping with Molly, and walking around with both Wally and Molly whenever Jack leaves Wally unattended. And it's pretty cute, because she at times treats them like her little dolls. (She really hasn't shown any interest in the babies ever since one of their heads fell off.) Today I gave her her sippy cup of milk, and she had some, and then she wanted to give some to Wally and Molly....she sat on the kitchen floor and held the milk up to their mouths.

Sometimes she'd just walk over to me with one of them, announce their name (It was always "Wally!") and then wander away. Today she also walked up with Molly, caught my eye, and then had her doing little claps. By which I mean, she used her hands to make Molly's little green hands clap. And she provided a soundtrack, too. "Tep, tep, tep," she said, happily. "Tep, tep, tep."

Emily told me Kate was doing this last night, too. When she was putting Kate to bed, at one point, she went in and soothed her a little. She rocked Kate, who was also holding Molly at the time. Kate held up Molly to her, and clapped her little hands together. And laughed and smiled.

"Tep, tep, tep. Tep, tep, tep."

Father's Day Blog

6:05 a.m. I hear Jack's door open, him clomp along to the bathroom, things crash and slam in there, and then him head back into his room. More crashing. Typical morning, really, sometimes no different if Jack is trying to be quiet. A few minutes later our door opens, and there's a crinkle and a rustle of paper. Jack is there, holding something up. "For Father's Day," he says. It's a miniature plastic Dallas Cowboys football helmet, autographed by Tony Romo with an official certificate of authenticity. Jack actually tried to show it to me in his closet several times this week, but I kind of figured out early (maybe because he told me) that it was a Father's Day present and I resisted seeing it. And I owe a phone call to Aunt Cathy, who I think knows what the story is with it. Something about a raffle I believe. Jack: "But we don't like the Cowboys?"

6:15. Jack and Emily have gone downstairs to let me "sleep in," but Jack returns with Father's Day cards. And Kate, who's now awake and Emily deposits her on my lap. I open up the cards, ones made at home and school. Kate's from school has a picture of her in it, and her hand print, and she doesn't want to let me have it. She smiles coyly as she clutches it and moves away from me. Jack's includes a construction-paper tie and a beaded key ring, whose letters read "I LOVE YOU DAD." Jack asks me if he can keep it. Actually, he asked me on the way home from school on Thursday.

7:00. I make it downstairs for blueberry crumb cake and coffee. The kids climb over me a lot during it.

10:00. Watched a "Phineas and Ferb" show. Lots of good laughs.

11:00. We play some with Jack's toys and Kate's animal puzzle, her favorite toy these days. She likes standing the animals up (they're blocky wood puzzle pieces) and clapping happily when she's done, as well as showing them to me one by one, occasionally identifying them. Apart from calling the flamingo a "duck," no matter how much I correct her, she usually gets them right. Plus, she acts like she's correcting me: "No, Daddy. I keep telling you. DUCK. Duck." She's very firm on this point.

12:00. Kate's napping, Jack and I have had lunch, so we go out for father-son activities. First we collect some bread and go feed the ducks at the nearby office park. There was an incident once a year or so ago -- a couple of rather larger geese got greedy and came out of the water for bread -- which adds an element of danger to the whole thing. Jack was kind of shaken by it. So now we go and I make doubly sure they're not coming out of the water and am ready to scoop him up if need be. We heave all the bread in bit by bit, I take a picture of him with my cell phone -- he's wearing his little floppy hat, it's damn cute -- and we leave without incident.

12:30. We're at the fish store getting Jack more fish. We have four, so we're going up to eight. Just little fellers. Jack of course wants frogs, turtles, guinea pigs, rabbits, cats, dogs.....but ultimatley grudgingly settles for fish. "I want another Dodo," he says, which is the red one. The sole original survivor of the fish we bought him over a year ago. So I buy another red one and three others (which together are the same price as the red one, I might add) and we're off again.

1:00. The fish are in their new homes and Jack seems happy. So do they.

2:00. We play Candyland. I think Emily whispers to Jack to let Daddy win, and I put on a show of being all sad about losing, pretending to be morose or whatever. Jack kicks my ass anyway -- first legitimately, then by drawing the ice cream card which he has placed, totally without guilt, on the top of the deck. Father's Day or no, I'm not going to win my first Candyland game from Jack today. Maybe next year.

4:00. Jack's neighbor Max comes over for a bit. All three kids run around wildly for a while. Kate is fascinated by Max, I think. She stands in place and yells, "Max!" Pause. Then: "Max!" Max basically ignores her. She doesn't mind much.

6:00. We've eaten dinner, and now it's time for Fudgie the Whale, the best thing Carvel has ever made. It says "For a Whale of a Dad." Jack and Kate each get pieces of "Dad" and devour it with much enthusiasm. "Goodbye, Fudgie!" says Jack, as we pack the rest of him away into the freezer. Kate continues eating, pausing only to say, "More?"

7:00. Hide'n'seek. I make Jack laugh from his standard hiding place in his room by pretending to talk underwater in his fish tank ("Arebbbbb youbbbbb therebbbbbb Jackcbbbbbbbb?") and then, when he's hiding near Emily's dresser, bonking my head on my desk repeatedly as I look for him under it. High comedy, for him anyway. I have a bit of a headache, but it's a small price to pay.

8:00. I slip out of Jack's room having read him stories and sung him to sleep ("Sixteen Tons," which he now sings along with). A special day, but really, just another one of being Jack and Kate's father.

Jack's Question

Last night Jack asked Emily, "When's Brother's Day?"

Reading

I read to Jack's class today. One of the Moms organizes it and I've gone a couple of times since April. Basically she gets a book for the class (usually something touching and inspirational) and puts it in Jack's cube for me, and I bring in a couple of additional books (usually something about pirate dinosaurs or cows that can type) to read.

I walked into the class and they were all gathered on the rug around Miss Gabriella, one of their teachers. I don't know if she preps the room by giving them warm milk or something, but they all seemed peaceful enough. Jack raised his arms up happily when he saw me, which is nice.

The teacher introduced me and I walked over to the upside down milk crate and sat down -- I felt like a stand-up comic saying Hi Hello there, like I should make a joke or something. But instead, I just said, Howdy, I've got some great books here: "Room on the Broom," "Click Clack Moo," and "Happy Birthday, Moon." Which one do you want to hear first? "Room on the Broom" got the most yells, so we were off.

I quickly realized I was going to have to read each page upside down. I tried reading a page and then showing the picture, but as soon as I turned the book away somebody complained that they couldn't see. This went on for a few pages until I just held the book so that they could see the pages and I was reading upside down. Might be why I have a headache now. Anyway.

Everyone oohed and aahed and laughed at all the right places. They also laughed at the punchline in Click Clack Moo -- "the ducks want a diving board! HAAAAAA!!!!!" -- it was pretty cute. And I even enjoyed the touching story about a little bear giving a gift to the moon; I feel like I'd read it before at some point, though I'm not sure when.

Jack pretty much stood at my elbow during all three stories. For some pictures, kids got up to see them from up close (like for example the witch's new broom at the end, with a little shower for the frog. Everyone wanted to see the shower for the frog). And at the very end, when Mr. Brendan told everyone to say thank you, a few got up to hug me. And then the rest did. And then I was crushed by about 15 kids, who thought it was pretty funny. "You're welcome "gah" cough akkk."

And then I waved goodbye and left, missing them all already.

The Little Stuff

The best thing about going on vacation, aside from the actual vacation, is the little stuff you get to appreciate when you get back....

1. Jack came in to our bedroom this morning, saw us for the first time since we got back late the previous night, stopped for a minute, then came over and hugged me. And then it was talk talk talk talk talk: "I got a pin at soccer.....Aunt Cathy cut my nails....what's THAT? (A toy shark we got for him.) Did you get me a remote controlled long-necked dinosaur, too?" On and on and on.

2. Emily brought Kate in. She sat on my lap and looked closely at my face. Yeah, I remember you. Daddy! Her face looked chubby to me. Either she'd gained weight in just five days, or I remembered her differently. It was kind of weird.

3. Kate wanted her baby. Then Uniqua. Then this toy. Then that one. And at one point she babbled on for about 5 minutes. I didn't understand much of it. Probably, "Grandpa my baby Mommy Jack. Grandma? Book fair Aunt Cathy. Grandpa! Watermelon juice baby Grandpa!" And more of the same.

4. Kate wanted me to read a book to her this morning. "Sit," she said. Not a request, or an order, but more like an invitation. I sat. I read her a book. We did this once or twice.

5. Jack came home from school with pictures he made. A zebra, a witch, a row of "Evil Robots." Two of the coolest grinning fish you'll ever see. (Gah! This reminds me. Jack got a big puzzle from a yard sale next door, with huge pieces that connected together and spelled out the alphabet, with a picture of things for each letter. After doing the puzzle, he sang the Alphabet song, but started replacing letters with words that they stood for, or occasionally other things indicated by the pictures. So it became, "A, B, C, Daddy, E, F, Kate's favorite word." (It was a picture of a goldfish, and Kate loves to say 'fish.' Or 'feesh.') "H, I, Jack, Kate, L, Mommy....") Nice to see his pictures.

6. Kate ended up bringing Jack's stuffed Oscar to school today. Or rather, Jack brought it, but left it in Kate's room when they dropped her off. The teachers there put Oscar into Kate's jacket sleeve. At the end of the day, as I got her jacket down, she saw Oscar. She laughed like it was the funniest thing she ever saw. Then didn't want to give up Oscar, which Jack of course wanted back It was a little ugly until he gave her Daffy Duck, a stuffed toy I've had in my car for 17 years now. And then she said, "Duck." And, "Duck!" I'd swear at some point she even said Daffy, although that one I'm not sure about.

7. At bed time tonight, Jack didn't want stories or songs. He just wanted to hug me as we lay down to go to sleep. So I let him, and I hugged him back.

Friday morning blog in real-time

6:30: I wake up to the squeaking noise of Kate shaking the bars of her crib. I'm thrilled that it's 6:30 rather than 5:30, and also that she's not wailing. I kick Emily out of bed because hey, I'll be here all day and I'm also sick.

7:00: Feel better after coffee and Advil. Emily has gone to shower, I'm giving Kate the rest of her breakfast. She likes our cereal, of course.

7:15: Jack is up. I feed his fish, then he comes downstairs. Kate sits on my lap and Jack sits next to me as I read her Backyardigans book, set under the ocean with the characters deep sea divers and mermaids. Whenever she sees a fish, Kate points excitedly. "Feesh! Feesh!"

7:45: Jack has breakfast, including three kinds of cereal (I used to cap him at 2, but it didn't seem a a battle worth having) and "green cantelope" (honeydew melon).

8:00: Kids playing. Kate starts making a big Lego tower and Jack brings out play-dough, which means soon Kate will also be playing with play-dough and it will be stuck to the rug before long. But hey, they're playing.

8:05: Jack: "Look, Daddy, we're playing nicely together!"

8:10: "Sorry, Daddy, but we're kind of getting play-dough on the rug."

8:20: Kate hits Jack. Jack says, "Noooooo...." I say, "Kate, don't hit Jack. Say you're sorry." Kate says, "Soss-ah." I say to Jack, Kate said she was sorry. Jack says, "No she didn't, she said 'Sah-Sah."

8:45: Jack is walking around with the ladybug blanket over his head. "I'M A MONSTER!!!!!!" he growls.

8:50: Now he's just Jack again. "I scared the monster away," he explains.

9:15: Jack is making a gift for his cousins with stickers on construction paper. Very nice. Granted, they're Kate's sticker, but she doesn't seem to mind.

9:30: Jack is playing with small Legos. Kate wants to go upstairs to get Peppa Pig's family.

9:45: Kate breaks one of Jack's Lego constructions. Jack wails. "Jack, she just wants to play with you." Small consolation for him, I guess.

9:55: Jack runs by with a Lego battleship he's made. Impressive. Kate runs by, chasing him, wailing. She looks at me in protest. "Waaaaahhhh!" As if to say, he's hogging those Legos! Make him stop!

10:15: Jack wants to watch TV; I'm thrilled he's waited this long to ask. I sell him on Sesame Street. Both sit on the couch, glued to Elmo and Maria the Cowgirl singing songs. I finish this blog and get more coffee.

scratch and sniff

Jack had this book with a scratch 'n' sniff skunk in it. He'd scratch it, we'd both lean forward and sniff it. I'd lean back, saying "Ewwwwww!" Jack did the same. Sometimes I'd mix it up: "Oh, that's not that bad at EWWWWWWWW!" which cracked Jack up, and then he'd do the same thing.

Kate was sitting there also, seeing us doing this, cracking up. So she started cracking up. And then she started doing it, but she didn't really get that it was the skunk making us go "EWWWW."

So she'd say "EWWWWW" and then lean forward so that her face touched the book. And then lean back. And we'd all crack up. Then she'd go "EWWWW" again, lean forward....

We did this for about 10 good minutes. Great minutes.

Catching up

- Kate's baby's head fell off last week, at school. In the car on the way home, it continued to fall off. She was quite upset, as you might expect. Then she didn't really want to hold it anymore. Kind of unnerved by the whole thing, I guess. She left it home Thursday, and I spent a good hour and a half figuring out how to get it on and keep it on. Hopefully she'll come around to it again, but that hasn't happened yet.

- Jack's been watching Phineas and Ferb. It's a funny show but it's possible it's a little old for him. Emily and I enjoy it, which I guess says it all. Anyway, there was one with a mummy, and lately he's been coming out with strange questions. "Where do you find mummies?" "Will I be wrapped up in toilet paper like a mummy?"On the bright side, the shows have some songs, and it's pretty funny when Jack starts singing one of them randomly. The songs are typically doo-wop type stuff. Jack does cute versions of them.

- Dancing in the kitchen has become a thing lately. Used to be after dinner, I'd be washing dishes or something and put the radio on. Now Jack sometimes starts dancing even before there's music on, swinging his arms and stomping his feet and stuff. So then I put music on, and we both start dancing, and then Kate starts bobbing her head back and forth in her high chair, and then she wants out. So Emily gets her out and the four of us start dancing in the kitchen. It's not a big kitchen. Kate's dancing is normally to hold our hands and let her body relax, so that we're lifting her up, swinging her somewhat, by her arms. Jack likes to pull on our arms, and shake his butt around (at some point he came up with a song he sings sometimes, which I believe is Emily's fault: "My boo-ty butt.....my boo-ty butt....."). And then he tries to pick us up like we pick Kate up, which of course doesn't work out so well.

- Today we went out in the backyard late in the afternoon with a bubble machine. Not sure I mentioned it before. It runs on 6 batteries and has a wheel with about 8 wands so it blows a whole lot of bubbles. So the air was filled with bubbles, that Kate looked at with bemusement and Jack laughed at and ran away from....or toward...or away from. The bubble liquid also had a big wand. Jack used it to blow some bubbles. Kate tried, so hard, to blow some bubbles, but she couldn't get that you needed to keep your mouth slightly away from the wand. She basically kept trying to kiss it.

Then I took the wand and used it to blow larger bubbles. I blew a big one, and it floated off across the patio. Jack tried to catch it, running after it, leaping in the air, laughing.

yesterday and today

- Went to soccer in the morning. Jack almost -- ALMOST! -- scored a goal. Kicked it near the post, it bounced out, and this girl who'd already scored twice kicked it in. Still, it was very close, and I kind of tried to convince Jack he'd scored it. I don't think he was buying.

- Went to the playground after. Mommy and Kate had walked up a walkway and, while Jack was on a slide, I walked a few feet up from the playground to let them know where we were. I looked back a minute later and Jack was standing, wailing. He couldn't see me and was scared. Another mother was trying to soothe him. I ran over. It was OK, but it felt bad anyway.

- Jack went out to buy plants with Mommy. Came back with a big plastic shovel, his second of the week. Because you know, he loves having little shovels.

- Went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant with the Rosenfelds and Grandma. Kate at one point sat in the high chair for about 10 minutes! It was great. She let Reanna feed her a bit. Jack sat next to Lyndsay and they mostly entertained each other, sometimes with peals of laughter. A good meal, and probably Jack and Kate's best meal out ever.

- Came back and gave them baths, then put Kate to bed while Emily handled Jack. Kate's doing a new thing where she points to the crib when she's done with stories and wants to get in it. It's not that she then goes right to sleep, but at least she's recognizing she's tired and telling us so.

- Kate wore her little dress today and was very pretty.

- Jack played with his cousins again, who came over for a cold cuts lunch.

- Emily's cousins Marik and Maggie were in town. Both kids were fascinated by Marik. Nothing against Maggie, they've always been kind of interested in male relatives, presumably because they have fewer of them, I don't know. Jack and Marik read "Where's Wally?" and other books together. Then played with dinosaurs, Jack taking them each out of their toy bin and naming them. "This is T-Rex. ....... THIS is Stegosaurus. .... This is...."

- Kate played the xylophone for Marik. For a good 10 minutes. I think she was smitten too.

Good weekend.