Family Matters, Week of 7-16-06

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

Annie (4yr Old Naysayer)

Annie Boog has been quite the big girl lately. She’s not wearing diapers to naps any longer (though we’re still having issues at nighttime), she can spell her name, and she can write her name.

And, as of this past week, she’s been delving into preschool workbooks.

Now we buy these for two reasons: First, we’re really friggin broke (shocker, I know) and can’t afford preschool. Secondly, Annie needs these skills to begin Kindergarten next year.

It’s just fascinating watching little minds work. You can see her puzzling out the problem, and many times she tries to yell out a choice just so I’ll be excited for her. This is where the art of teaching comes in—you want to be excited for them at getting the right answer, but you don’t want the kid to just start picking an option and hope you’ll cheer.

The games include stuff like three books at the bottom, three objects at the top, which object goes with which book (Annie’s good at these). Some of the tougher exercises are “What came first”, showing a picture of a house, a house with snow, and a house covered with snow. Between writing the numbers themselves (which can be a challenge), she’s trying her best to figure out the order of things.

My baby, I tell you, she’s growing up.

Abby (2yr Old Angel)

Abigail looks pretty bad at the moment. Not that she isn’t always wonderfully beautiful, but the girl has had a rough time lately.

Wednesday Ericka and the girls were walking back from a trip to the pool when Abby tripped on a step…

…did I mention she doesn’t catch herself when she falls?…

…CRUNCH onto the sidewalk. Her nose begins to bleed and she won’t let Ericka touch it.

It’s hard to describe in words the pouty, sad look I got from her as I walked in the door. A princess band-aid (boo-boo ‘daid) draped across her nose.

“Hi Daddy,” she says.

“Hi baby, did you hurt your nose?”

“Uh-huh.”

“What happened?”

“I fell down and it hurt.”

Kids are so wonderfully simple sometimes. Also, thanks to begin a kid, she has those amazing powers of regeneration. After only a few days you can barely tell anything happened to her nose.

Which, of course, meant that she fell down again and now has a large bruise on her forehead. I’m really beginning to wonder if we should place bets on how quickly it will heal.

I got $10 on two days.

Ericka (her myspace)

My wonderful wife celebrated the birth of her mother yesterday, and she did so with an enormous, beautiful cheesecake that was covered in chocolate-covered strawberries.

Yes, you can die of sugar-overdose now. It’s cool.

Anyway, she’s going to be holding the fort down while I’m gone. I’ll be off to Grand Prix: St. Louis.

Until next week, wish me luck.

Boy you're one card short of the pack
Begging for your baby to take you back