Friday Hodgepodge

Four Things

I haven't written about the kids in a while, so here we go...

1. There is a small freezer with popsicles in the waiting area where I take my kids for gymnastics on weekends. Usually, I let them pick one out to take home for a dessert as we leave.

But on the weekend of Halloween, I'd bought a pumpkin pie at my wife's request and I had told the kids about it in the morning. It was home, ready to eat, and eagerly anticipated by the kids, until...

... a little girl pranced by and taunted them with her popsicle : "I have a popsicle."

Suddenly, the dessert markets were in turmoil, with pumpkin pies in free-fall against the mighty popsicle.

Image of status symbol via Unsplash.

My four-year-old son became upset. Both kids demanded a trip to the freezer. Dad's poll numbers were looking pretty grim.

"Not tonight. We're having pumpkin pie. Remember?"

They tried to wheedle a popsicle out of me a little, but I wasn't going to budge. Ultimately, they calmed down, possibly aided by a reminder-bribe of whipped cream on top.

Then the girl came by again, and repeated herself.

"We're having pumpkin pie!" my son replied.

What passes for sanity in the life of a dad with two small kids had returned.

2. My daughter, who looks a lot like my mother did as a child, resembles her in another way, too: She likes stilts.

She quickly picked up that skill while we visited my baby brother's family over Thanksgiving. And she'll have a set of her own on Christmas, thanks to my mother.

3. My daughter, always imaginative, came up with a funny turn of phrase one evening at bedtime. She declared that she was going to be a "bed potato" that night.

4. I can also be imaginative. My wife likes to have little elves sitting around the house during the holidays to keep an eye out for Santa. It was never a tradition in my family, so it slips my mind every year until she brings it up. This year, Mrs. Van Horn got them out while she worked from home one day. Apparently distracted from putting them on station by a call, she forgot about them, and left them lying on the coffee table.

The next morning, my daughter spotted the elves, apparently asleep on the job, and asked about it.

"They're taking a nap because they just got here, and have to stay up for the next few weeks to keep an eye on you. Let them sleep."

-- CAV