My Experiences as a Father... October 5 to November 4, 2001 (30th month)

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Sunday, November 4, 2001
I had Hilde and Maeve this morning when Jill went to church.  Jill had to leave earlier to teach her class, so I had to get Maeve fed and get everyone out the door.  Hilde started crying as soon as Jill left.  Maeve woke up about the same time.  I got breakfast for Maeve while I tried to comfort Hilde.  We eventually made it to church, but it wasn't easy.

I was complaining about this at lunch and Jill showed no sympathy.  "What do you think I do every day?", she asked.  She told Maeve to tell me to "Suck it up".  Maeve started yelling, "Suck it up" and wagging her finger at me.  Then she changed the phrase to "Shut the door".  Jill couldn't get her to go back to, "Suck it up".  I didn't mind her telling me to shut the door.
 

Wednesday, October 31, 2001 - Halloween
Maeve and Hilde's Halloween costumes were as their namesakes.  Maeve went as Queen Maeve in Irish Folklore.  Hilde went as a German "Battle Woman".

Maeve went trick-or-treating in my office last year, but she didn't seem to understand what she needed to do this year.  By the time we were done, she would go up to a door, knock, and say, "Cocoa peet".
 

Monday, October 29, 2001
Today Maeve and Hilde came for the inspection of the house we want to buy.  Jill spent most of the inspection in the living room with Hilde.  Maeve came around with me as we followed the inspector.  Maeve seemed pleased with her new playroom and the new pool. 

In a catalog, Jill found a rack of colored bins that should get her to like the room even more.  We'll see if that makes it fun for Maeve to keep everything cleaned up, or if she still wants to spread everything out on the floor.
 

Saturday, October 27, 2001
Jill is working with kids at church on the Christmas musical.  Maeve has been going to most of the practice sessions.  Maeve keeps trying to get on stage and sing with the older girls.  At home, Maeve got something that looked like a microphone and started singing the, "Hallelu, hallelu, hallelu" song.
 

Tuesday, October 23, 2001
We are trying to get the house ready to sell, and I have a lot of tools around the house.  Most of them are in the kitchen, where I am doing most of the work.  Jill tried to put some in the garage and Maeve stopped her.  Jill said that the tools belong in the garage.  Maeve said tools belong in both the garage and the kitchen.  Maeve also said that I would put them away, so Jill should just leave them in the kitchen.
 

Tuesday, October 16, 2001
Jill was trying to put an extension cord in the utility room while she was cleaning up downstairs.  Maeve said the cord belongs in the kitchen.  Jill said, "Do cords really belong in the kitchen?"  Maeve replied, "Yes, silly!"
 

Sunday, October 14, 2001
I worked with a guy once who told me about teaching his daughter that "crying doesn't get you anything".  She was making a snowman, one of the balls fell off, and she started crying.  He got down on his hands and knees to look at the snowman, and told her that it wasn't working; she would have to cry more.  Eventually she figured out that crying wasn't fixing the problem, and instead she asked her father to put the ball back.

I've explained this to Maeve in the past.  Today I was supposed to take Maeve home, and Jill had some errands to run.  Jill had already left and Maeve said she wanted to go with her.  Maeve started crying when I said that she would have to go with me.  I said I would help cry to see if it brought back Jill.  After just a few minutes of both of us crying it didn't look like the crying was going to help bring Jill back.
 

Saturday, October 13, 2001 - Paramedics are different, session 6
Today was only two days after Anthrax became such a big deal.  Thursday everyone had to deal with unrealistic people.  In Springfield there was a hospital and mail processing facility that were shut down, with everyone inside decontaminated, due to Anthrax scares.  In both cases, it was clear by the time the last person was decontaminated that Anthrax wasn't present in the first place.  People were having unrealistic symptoms also.  Even though Anthrax takes at least seven days to incubate, people would complain of a runny nose less than an hour after they touched something with white powder on it.

The class started with one of the medics saying, "I would feel much better about everyone making such a big deal about this if I would see just one dead body."  At this point, that is a reasonable statement.  Later in the class, this medic poured some coffee creamer on another medic, rubbed it in and said it was Anthrax.

There was also discussion of reports they had heard of people sending talcum powder to people they didn't like, such as ex-wives.

The final comment on this issue was that even if the Anthrax reality never gets anywhere close to the perceived threat, terrorism has already succeeded by causing this type of panic.
 

Friday, October 12, 2001
Hilde is grabbing all of the toys that hang down in front of her in her bouncy seat.  She mostly tries to put the toys in her mouth, but sometimes smacks herself in the head with them.
 

Wednesday, October 10, 2001
Maeve got her first AOL CD today.  I don't know how she got on someone's mailing list.
 

Saturday, October 6, 2001 - Paramedics are different, session 5
The funniest story today was of a patient sitting at the dinner table who had what looked like bloody sputum.  One medic got concerned about TB, and began getting masks and gowns ready for everyone.  The other medic pointed out the beets on the patient's plate, saying that beet juice is not contagious.
 

Friday, October 5, 2001
Maeve was driving her car around today, and was yelling, "Bonehead!  Stupid!"  We've been trying to stop using "stupid", but I still like "bonehead".  I was so proud.  Unfortunately Jill told Maeve that she should use "silly" instead of either of these words.  I'll have to see if I can get "bonehead" back on the approved list.  It just isn't the same when I'm driving to yell "Silly!" instead of "Bonehead!"
 


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