My Experiences as a Father... May 5 to June 4, 2004 (61st month)

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Saturday, May 22, 2004
I had a Project Management seminar to go to this morning, so Jill was on her own for the soccer games.  Hilde played the entire game, mostly without holding on to Jill.

Maeve got hit in the face with the ball once.  She cried for a little while, but they she went right back in and played again.  Later in the day Jill explained to Maeve that if Maeve is the one kicking the ball, then it won't be hitting her in the face.  We'll see if that's enough motivation for Maeve to make sure she's always the one kicking it.

After I got home, I took Maeve and Hilde to Dunkin' Donuts/Baskin-Robbins for playing so well in their soccer games, and for Hilde doing so well with the hearing test.  After we got the ice cream, I asked Hilde if she wanted to sit on the same side of the table that Maeve was sitting on, or if she wanted to sit by the window.  She chose by the window.  The guy at the next table drinking his coffee was impressed knew what she wanted.  I'm always giving Maeve and Hilde choices, so they are used to making decisions.

He also mentioned that they were well behaved.  Maeve has been very well behaved for as long as I can remember.  Hilde is just as good.

Then they did something that I'm pretty sure I never did with my siblings.  Hilde said, "Switch?"  They traded ice cream cones.  The guy said he had never seen kids do anything like that.  After a few licks the cones were traded back, but it was still very unusual that it happened at all.
 

Friday, May 21, 2004
We often joke with Maeve that she has no Rs.  She can pronounce them to some extent, but she definitely doesn't practice using them very much.  Other than that, Maeve developed her speech very early on, so I got spoiled by that.

Hilde doesn't seem to have Ss, Fs or THs.  Jill had asked someone with a Child Development degree when we should be concerned.  They said that when she gets a little older that we could have her hearing checked.  In some cases, if children can't hear certain frequencies, they never hear certain sounds, so they can never learn those sounds.

The Quota Club, the group that sponsors the Sign Language Story Hour, sponsored a free hearing screening.  Jill took Hilde.  Just like the last time that she took Maeve and Hilde to the Sign Language Story Hour, the ladies gushed over Maeve and Hilde.  The ladies called Maeve and Hilde by name as soon as they saw them.  There was even a poster with pictures of different Quota Club events.  Jill said that one of the pictures was the picture of me with Maeve and Hilde that had gotten in the newspaper.  They had cropped it so that it was just us.

The lady who signs the stories is also a speech pathologist.  She gave Hilde a hearing test, and Hilde was very cooperative.  Hilde had no problem hearing any of the frequencies.
 

Wednesday, May 19, 2004
At dinner we were discussing how Jill is the only one that does not have blue eyes.  I usually claim responsibility for giving the children blue eyes.  In discussions like this, I say that all of Jill's chromosomes just let mine control most of the kids' traits.  This blue eye discussion particularly rankles Jill because she knows that she also contributed a blue eye chromosome, which she claims came from her father.  He had blue eyes, so Jill has a blue eye chromosome.  It just isn't dominant.

Tonight Jill decided to take her rebuttal up a notch.  She said, "Maeve, can you say, 'Mendel'?"  Maeve said "Mendel" without any problem.  Then Jill said, "Mendel's laws of genetics".  Maeve repeated it perfectly.
 

Monday, May 17, 2004
There was a patient on The Paramedic Show who had severe coronary artery occlusion.  Maeve knows that a "chest pain" patient is suspected of having a heart attack.  I got my pathophysiology book and showed Maeve and Hilde occluded arteries.  I also showed them the coronary arteries, and explained that depriving the heart of blood/oxygen can cause chest pain.

Maeve said that she wanted to pick a page to look at.  We went to the index and she pointed to "obstruction of urinary tract".  When I opened to the page, Maeve saw the diagram of the kidneys, ureters, and bladder.  She said, "Kidneys!"  We established that urine comes out of kidneys.  Then Maeve said, "The peeps goes from the kidneys into the bladder.  The bladder is a bag inside you that holds the peeps until you go to the bathroom."

We should have her through the first year of college human anatomy and physiology by the time she's 8.
 

Saturday, May 15, 2004
Today Maeve and Hilde both had soccer games at the same time.  Jeanne also wanted me to help tear up the flooring in her kitchen and a bedroom to expose the hardwood floors.  She wanted to have someone buff the hardwood floors that were under the tile and carpeting.  I did some of that work, then went to the two soccer games.  After the games, we all went to Jeanne's for lunch.  I stayed behind and finished exposing the hardwood floors.
 

Friday, May 14, 2004
Jill was getting Maeve milk and root beer.  We call it "milk and beer".  Jill put the root beer in first (I always put it in last) and then put in the milk.  Maeve saw the last of the milk going in and told Jill to leave enough room for the root beer.  Jill said that she puts the root beer in first.  Maeve said, "Oh, Mom likes milk and beer, too."  Jill said that she didn't, and that she doesn't even drink much milk.  Maeve said, "Maybe that's why you aren't skinny.  Milk is good for you."  Jill explained the other ways that she got her calcium and vitamin D.
 

Thursday, May 13, 2004
Jill and Jeanne were complaining about the weather men who would be off by 10 or 20 degrees in the forecasts, or predict sun/rain and then have the other really happen.  Maeve said, "Maybe the weathermen got it right, but God changed his mind."
 

Tuesday, May 11, 2004
It's a running joke that I say Jill cooks the best dinners when Jeanne is coming over.  Tonight Jill was cooking something that was taking a lot of preparation time.  Maeve asked if Jeanne was coming over.  Jeanne wasn't coming.
 

Sunday, May 9, 2004
Marianne visited yesterday and today.  She brought some AED playing cards for Maeve and Hilde.  Marianne told Maeve that I probably wouldn't know what any of the cards had on them.  I played along.  On the card that shows "All Clear" just before a shock, there is a person laying down hooked to the AED, and another person kneeling with their arms in the air.  I said the person on the ground was Jill who was tired from coaching soccer, and the other person was Hilde waving her arms yelling, "Do some coaching, lady!"
 

Saturday, May 8, 2004
Today during Hilde's soccer game, Hilde just wanted to hang onto Jill's legs again.  Jill wanted some playing to go on, so she was leading Hilde around by the hand.  Jill kept dragging Hilde in front of the ball.  Hilde started to like that.  She wanted Jill to drag her in front of the ball again and told Jill, "I want to kick the ball again".
 

Friday, May 7, 2004
There is a new wing being built on Landmark Hospital in Woonsocket.  Maeve mentioned it for Jill, and said that it was a wing so her doctor could move closer to the hospital.  Jill said, "Is it just for kid doctors?"  Maeve said, "Mom, he's called a pe-di-a-tri-cian."  Maeve said it slowly so she wouldn't confuse Jill.
 

Thursday, May 6, 2004
New Hampshire and Rhode Island don't have motorcycle helmet laws.  When we lived in northern Massachusetts, we spent enough time in New Hampshire to see plenty of motorcyclists without helmets.  I told Maeve that I never ride without a helmet, leather jacket (yes, even in the summer), long pants and gloves.  I also almost always wear boots.  We say that motorcyclists without helmets aren't very smart.  Sometimes we even see motorcycle injuries on The Paramedic Show, and other times we just talk about what kinds of injuries sliding down the road at highway speeds without a leather jacket or running your head into anything without a helmet would do.

Tonight we stopped at CVS to get Mother's Day cards from the kids.  Just as we were getting out of the van, a guy came out of CVS wearing tennis shoes, shorts and a tank top.  He hopped on his sport bike and drove away.  I was glad that Maeve or Hilde didn't yell, "Look, Dad, that guy's not smart.  He should be wearing a helmet."  We did chat about it quietly.
 

Wednesday, May 5, 2004
For her birthday yesterday Maeve got some toy handtools.  She got two saws that have a part on the blade that moves, and make a noise that is supposed to be sawing.  Today Hilde was using one on their rocking horse.  She told Jill, "I'm sawing the horse's heiney off."
 


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