My Experiences as a Father... October 5 to November 4, 2003 (54th month)

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Monday, November 3, 2003
When it was time to brush Hilde's teeth tonight, she didn't want to for some reason, and covered her mouth.  I said if she covered her mouth like that that I would have to put toothbrush in her nose and bend it around to get her teeth.  Jill told Hilde I couldn't do that.  When I did my OR time at Dewitt Army Hospital, I saw the doctors run some string from a tonsillitis patient's nose, into the throat, and back out the mouth.  Remembering that, I said, "You're right.  Toothbrushes don't bend like that, but string will." Jill gave me a look as though I wasn't supposed to suggest things like that.
 

Thursday, October 30, 2003
We went to Vadenais Farms today to pick pumpkins and pet the animals.  All of the pumpkins had been picked, so we could get them from the store instead of mucking around in the fields for them.

When we got home, Maeve wanted to scoop out the big pumpkin.  As she worked and had most of her arm in the pumpkin, she said that Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater's wife must have been very wet.  Jill said, "I'm sure he loved her enough to clean it out very well before putting her in it."
 

Wednesday, October 29, 2003
Jill took Maeve and Hilde to a Halloween party tonight.  They were out until 7:30.  I had to get up at 2:30 AM to go to work.  Jill said I could give them a quick sink bath.  I wasn't quite sure what that was, but I washed Hilde's legs and her back too.  The bathroom sink wasn't big enough to rinse, so I rinsed her in the kitchen sink.  As long as I was there, I washed her hair, too.  She stood up in the sink to finish getting washed and rinsed.

During her sink bath, Maeve was washing some play dishes that were in the other section of the sink.  We talked about her washing all of the dishes while she took a bath.  She said we could get a very big sink so we could all take a bath and wash dishes at the same time.
 

Monday, October 27, 2003
I took Maeve and Hilde to Walmart tonight.  We walked through the sporting goods department and Maeve asked about fish hooks.  I explained that you put some bait on the hook and put the hook in the water to catch fish.  You can use worms for fish bait, and we use peanut butter to catch mice in mouse traps.  I asked her what we would use to catch a Maeve.  She said, "Grits".
 

Thursday, October 23, 2003
Maeve and Jill were watching a TV show with a math lesson.  A boy had three sticks.  One was 2 feet long, one was 3 feet long, and one was 5 feet long.  The boy wanted to get a stick that was 1 foot long.  By putting the 2 foot stick up to the 3 foot stick, the boy knew that the difference was 1 foot.  He pulled a hacksaw out of his backpack and cut the 3 foot stick at that point.

Jill told Maeve it was pretty smart of the boy to know how to use a hacksaw like that.  Maeve said she was wondering why he was carrying around a hacksaw in his backpack.  Jill said that Maeve was just like her father to ignore the main point and focus on some unrelated topic.
 

Monday, October 20, 2003
Jill tried to paint the sun porch a few days ago, but it took most of an afternoon to paint one corner.  The husband of one of Jill's friends came today to start painting the sun porch.  We decided to pay someone so it will get done faster and with no trouble for us.
 

Friday, October 17, 2003
I said I was tired at the dinner table and wanted to go to sleep.  Maeve said if I went to sleep at the dinner table that she would get some yogurt and put it in my pocket.  Hilde laughed and really seemed to like that idea.
 

Monday, October 13, 2003
We went to see the Columbus Day parade this morning.  This was the first parade that we had taken Maeve or Hilde to.  They enjoyed it, but Jill mostly noticed how bad the flag teams were.

At one point a clown got too close.  Maeve tried to hide in my lap, and accidentally untied my shoe by pulling on my shoelace.  I told her not to do that, because I'll need my shoes tied if we need to run away from the clown.
 

Sunday, October 12, 2003
Today we cleaned up the sun porch to get it ready for painting.  It will become the new playroom once it's painted, insulated and carpeted.
 

Saturday, October 11, 2003
Today we went to the Octoberfest in Newport.  Apparently Octoberfest consists of playing the accordion and drinking beer.  We don't play the accordion, so we did our part by Jill having 3 pints.

Jill had to go to the bathroom a lot.  I asked Maeve why that was.  Jill answered that she drank so much.  I told Maeve that alcohol blocks the body's production of Anti-Diuretic Hormone (ADH).   ADH decreases urination at the correct rate to maintain the correct amount of water in your blood.  When ADH production is blocked, you urinate more and end up dehydrated.  So it was the alcohol inhibiting the release of ADH that caused the increased urination, and not just the additional water from the beer.

When we went to dinner, Maeve was stirring her drink with her straw.  She said she was making her ice dizzy.
 

Wednesday, October 8, 2003
Jill, Maeve and Hilde went to see Nanny Carol yesterday.  As she usually does, Maeve told Jill and Hilde to go away as soon as they got there.  Maeve told me, "I need to spend time alone with Nanny every day."
 

Monday, October 6, 2003
After tub tonight we were cleaning ears.  Hilde took a q-tip and I reminded her that we were only supposed to clean the outside and to not put the q-tips in the ears.  Maeve asked why.  I reminded her that the doctor had found a bunch of impacted ear wax, and even wanted to flush it out.  Maeve didn't look like she understood so I told them to go into the kitchen.  We had a little chocolate cake left, so I got some crumbs on a plate.  I showed them how the crumbs would move around if you shook the plate.  I said that was like ear wax coming out of the ear on its own.  Then I squished all of the crumbs with a fork until everything was stuck to the fork.  I said that if they pushed the q-tips all the way into their ears that it would get stuck inside and wouldn't roll around any more, just like the cake crumbs were all stuck to the fork.
 


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