My Experiences as a Father... August 5 to September 4, 2003 (52nd month)

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Wednesday, September 3, 2003
I have never liked the purple dinosaur Barney.  He always seems pretty dumb.

Maeve knows that I don't like Barney.  I've been home on a few days when Maeve has been watching Barney.  She once told me that, "You know the show is almost over when Barney talks to you."  I asked Jill how Maeve knows anything about Barney.  Jill insists that Barney is a "bridge" program, because it comes on just before Caillou.  So I'm supposed to believe that Maeve and Hilde only watch Barney because they are waiting for Caillou.

At the store today Hilde wanted to get some Barney diapers.  Maeve yelled that Hilde couldn't get Barney diapers because I don't like Barney.
 

Sunday, August 31, 2003
Jeanne was talking about her upcoming vacation to Florida where she will swim with dolphins.  I mentioned the Corky and the Juice Pigs song about Dolphin Boy.  She hadn't heard it, so I played it.  Maeve thought that song was pretty silly, so we've listened to the CD a few times.  Today Jill came home and asked what I was listening to.  Maeve said, "Dolphin Boy!"  I asked Maeve what other song on the CD she likes.  She said, "Pants".  Jill sang a line from the song, "Everybody now, touch my pants."  Maeve said, "It's '...love my pants'."
 

Thursday, August 28, 2003
Our toilet was draining slowly.  If we poured extra water in, if flushed fine.  I thought there could be a clog between the tank and the bowl, so I tried to blow out the path from the tank to the bowl, but what I did didn't solve the problem.   I talked to Grandpa about it.  He asked if anyone had dropped anything into the toilet.  I said, "Not that anyone is admitting".  He said, "They never admit it."

We discussed running a snake down the drain, but I didn't want to push any clog so far that I couldn't do anything about it, or that it would clog the whole house or cause more trouble for a plumber if we eventually had to call one.  Grandpa told me about finding a makeup compact in the drain, and about a fellow who cracked his toilet trying to push a snake too hard.

Jill and I decided to call a plumber.  It turned out that the tablet that Jill put in the tank was breaking up and clogging the path from the tank to the bowl.  They wrote, "Diagnosis: Tablet left in tank; Recommendation: Don't put tablets in tank of toilet".  Now I have proof of who caused the problem, and I didn't even need Jill to admit it.
 

Wednesday, August 27, 2003
Maeve and Hilde went to the doctor today.  Maeve is about 4 years 5 months old, and Hilde is 25 months old.

Hilde is 34.5" high and 26.6 lbs.

Maeve got three shots.  She didn't like it, but she is done with immunizations until she is 11.  She was 38.75" high and 30 lbs.  Her vision is fine, but she wouldn't cooperate with the hearing test.  Maeve has told Jill that she has glasses, so she doesn't see so well, and she proved it with the eye test.  Jill couldn't see the shapes even with her glasses, but Maeve had no problem.

At dinner Jill told me that Hilde was a doctor just like Caillou in the "Caillou goes to the doctor" video because Hilde got to use the reflex hammer.  Maeve pointed out that Caillou had a light, and not a reflex hammer.
 

Sunday, August 24, 2003 - Mom's little vacation
We got to church about 10 minutes early today.  I told Maeve and Hilde that I think Jill slows us down too much on Sundays, and that's why don't always get there on time.

In the afternoon, Jill had committed me to help some friends move.  She must have known that she was going to be out of town.  We packed up a lunch and we all went.  Maeve and Hilde had a picnic under a tree while we filled the back of the van with boxes.  They ran around the yard while we unpacked, and then we went to the airport to pick up Jill.
 

Saturday, August 23, 2003 - Mom's little vacation
Jill got tired of me saying I didn't know how to cook certain foods, so she left the recipe for chocolate milk and scrambled eggs.  She left a note to "Remember to give Hilde drinks (MILK)".  She also left a shopping list for Sunday, which included milk and eggs, because we didn't have milk or eggs.  I thought it was pretty tricky to tell me to give Maeve and Hilde eggs and milk when we weren't going to have any until Sunday afternoon.

Jill has left very good instructions for how to take care of Maeve and Hilde in the past when she left them alone with me.  She asked me if I wanted them for this trip, and I said I would just ask Maeve if I had any questions.  Jill left a note for breakfast: "Protein and carb with drink".  I asked Maeve what that meant, and Maeve didn't know.  We went to Dunkin' Donuts for Munchkins.

We went to a lot of places, including the Cumberland Library and to buy Hilde new shoes.

Hilde has had a pretty rough week.  She fell during a walk on Sunday and Monday.  She slipped during a walk on Tuesday and scraped her shin.  Yesterday she slipped on the patio while we were around the pool.  Today she slipped once at the library, and again walking down the sidewalk at CVS.  At CVS, she fell mostly on her face, and had scrapes from the outer corner of her eye, across her cheek, nose and chin.  For lunch, we went to the park by the Cumberland Library.  After our picnic, Maeve and Hilde played for more than an hour.  Maeve and I kept saying that she had fallen enough, so we were trying to be careful.  We did fine until we were leaving.  Maeve ran under a swing that she had used earlier, pushed it over her head as she ran under it, and left it swinging.  Hilde headed right for it.  I told Hilde to try to do that to the swing next to it, that wasn't moving, instead of the one that Maeve had pushed.  She kept heading for the swing that Maeve pushed.  I yelled, "STAY AWAY FROM THAT SWING!", and then Hilde walked right into it.  It hit her forehead and knocked her down.  We were able to avoid any more injuries for the rest of the day.
 

Friday, August 22, 2003 - Mom's little vacation
Today Maeve and Hilde went to preschool because Jill was flying out in the morning, and I still have work to do. It was Hilde's first day of preschool, and they both had a great time.  After dropping them off, I took Jill to the airport for her "little vacation".

After I picked Maeve and Hilde up from preschool, we swam a little and put up the tent in the living room.  We fell asleep (eventually) while watching TV from inside the tent.
 

Thursday, August 21, 2003
Jill is flying to Ohio to see nephew Michael get baptized on Friday, and will return on Sunday.  Maeve calls it Jill's "little vacation".  Maeve and Hilde were doing laps around the kitchen table tonight, saying they were going on a trip to China.  All of a sudden Maeve stopped and said, "Oh, wait, we have to stop and get our tattoos first", referring to how Jill got a tattoo only a week before she is going on this trip.
 

Wednesday, August 20, 2003
Last night Maeve said she wanted to sleep in my bed all night.  I had to leave for work at 4 AM.  After I left, Maeve went into her room to talk to Jill, who had been sleeping on Maeve's bed.  Maeve said that I had left, and that Jill could go back to her bed, because she wanted to sleep with Jill.  Once they were both in bed, Maeve started talking about how she wanted green eggs for breakfast.  Jill told her to go to sleep and stop talking.

A little later, Hilde woke up and Jill went to put her back to sleep.  When Jill returned Maeve said that she wanted to lay sideways on the bed, so Jill should go back to Maeve's bed.  Soon after Jill did that, Maeve came in and said she wanted to sleep in Maeve's bed, and that Jill could go back to Jill's bed.
 

Monday, August 18, 2003
We went for a walk last night, and Hilde fell and scraped her knee.  We put a large bandaid on it.  Tonight when we went for a walk Hilde fell again.  This time she just tore the bandaid.  She was still fussing because her bandaid was torn.  She was fine after we went home and put a smaller bandaid on the tear in the big bandaid.
 

Friday, August 15, 2003

Jill went with Jeanne to get her tattoo tonight.  Maeve and Hilde tried to stay up to see it when she got home, but they fell asleep first.  I told them that it would still be there in the morning. One place that Jill looked for tattoo ideas was the James Avery jewelry collection.   Jill asked Maeve which one she liked best, and Maeve choose the "Hands of Promise" cross because the folded hands remind her to pray and talk to God.  That is the design that Jill chose.

 

Saturday, August 9, 2003
Hilde has been sitting on her little toilet for months with her diaper on.  She will sit for a little while with her diaper on, and then put some toilet paper in the little toilet.  Lately she has been potty-training herself.  She has taken off her diaper and gone into the bathroom to sit.  Jill got out the seat for the big toilet a few days ago.  Twice today Hilde told Jill, "potty, potty, potty", so Jill put her on the big toilet and Hilde went to the bathroom.
 

Tuesday, August 5, 2003
Jeanne came over for dinner tonight.  She tried to leave early, saying that she had to get air in her tires.  I told Maeve to tell her that we would pump them up with our air compressor.  That got Maeve and Hilde another 30 minutes of time to play with her.

When we checked her tires, they were all in need of air.  Two didn't even register on the tire pressure gauge.  I pointed out one that was very low to Maeve, and asked if Maeve knew what it was called to drive on tires that flat.  She didn't, so I said, "Wacko".  Maeve was quick to defend Jeanne, saying that Jeanne was not a wacko and that she didn't know why her father would say such a thing about Jeanne.
 


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