Family Matters - Week of 3/26/06

Every Wednesday I write about my family. Welcome to it.

Annie (3yr Old Superkid)

Annie has been as mean as can be expect this week. Unfortunately there are no ‘oh crap’ moments as great as the one from last week, but rest assured she has been defying us every chance she gets.

Last night we had another Discipline Showdown(tm) where Ericka tried to get the girls to take a nap and they wouldn’t. Spankings? Didn’t matter, they would hoop and holler moments after crying and sniffling. The problem is, my niece Courtney is staying with us this week and Ericka had promised to take her to the pool.

But she also promised to not take little girls who don’t take naps to the pool. What’s a dad to do?

Put his foot in his mouth of course.

“They’re not asleep,” she tells me.

“When did they go to bed?”

“Four-thirty.”

“That’s too late. It’s six o’ clock babe, they’re up. You put them in bed too late.” See that last sentence? Note to self: Keep it to myself next time.

“They wouldn’t go to sleep.”

“You taking them to the pool?”

“No, because they didn’t go to sleep.”

Amazing Dad Moment: “You might as well,” I say, “they won’t care either way.”

She brought up the conundrum of a parent who promises a punishment but doesn’t carry it out. I did just the opposite and did carry out my promise of No Chicken Little DVD Tonight last week, but that wasn’t quite up to snuff as taking away a trip to The Pool.

Anyway, she ended up taking them and they were moaning and whining just like little kids who need their naps. Oh well.

Abby (2yr Old Funky Stuff)

Abigail remains as fiercely independent as she can be, though she is picking up on Annie’s habits. The idea of screaming (it’s almost akin to barking) at her sibling when she needs something is a little irritating. While she doesn’t do it around me or Ericka, I can hear them in their room on the baby monitor barking and yelling as they torment each other.

Ain’t siblings grand?

Otherwise, it was a peaceful week in the AbbySphere.

Ericka (her myspace)

My wonderful wife is finally taking some time for herself this evening and I wholly applaud it. Of course, I’ve got help in the form of my niece to help watch the children whilst I busy myself with game development work, but I would gladly tell the peeps at WA that I need a free evening as long as it would provide Ericka with some much-needed breathing room.

She’s also mentioned that she wants to go back to school, something I’m 100% for…as long as we can afford it. I hope.

Etc

On the personal side of things, my Bell’s Palsy is quickly retreating (yay)! I now have all kinds of mouth movement and can almost wink. I can also—and this is something I didn’t miss until it was gone—can whistle again! Wow it feels weird to be completely unable to whistle. It’s like being in 4th grade all over again.

I finally got my contact (yes, singular) in today for my left eye. Ironically when the Palsy which prompted said contact is leaving. And let me tell you it was damn near impossible to get in my eye. I literally poked myself in the eye for about an hour. That felt great. And when I took it out and put it back in before I left, I got it back in—quote unquote from the doc—”by accident”. That’s great.

Anyway, the Bell’s Palsy is retreating and meanwhile I’ve been writing a lot and shaking up the playerbase over at StarCityGames. Feel free to check out this page which lists the Top 5 Most Popular “Standard Format” Articles. And who should be sitting there? Let’s see…

That’s what you call a Good Feeling. Until tomorrow…

 Bones, sinking like stones
All that we fought for