Footsteps

I think the stereo-typical moment of fatherly bliss is the moment a son or daughter announces they want to take over the family business. I remember on parent job dress up day in 4th grade I wore jeans and a white knit button-front sweater. We were supposed to dress up like the job our parents had, and I looked like a 10 year old version of this guy. The other kids were in fireman suits, doctor scrubs, and every other high profile occupation you can imagine. When they asked me, "What are you?" I proudly answered, "I am an insurance salesman!"

So reflecting on all this parental joy, you can understand how touched I was when Asher comes to me and says, "Dad, I want my own webpage. How do I make one?" I think I almost cried. Well, not really, but it was still pretty cool. How indicative of our modern times that my 9-year old decides he is going to make a webpage. Fortunately for him, it is much easier now. I set him up with a blogger site under my account (so I can keep tabs). And he is writing up a storm compared to his usual writing.

If you get a chance, visit his site at http://ashersutter.blogspot.com and give him some props in the form of comments. Everytime he sees someone commented on his blog, he writes a little more. So egg him on; teach a kid to write.

So THAT's Why They Do It...

Stefanie is back in school. She currently spends every Friday in a classroom in Santa Rosa to get back into "nursing shape." So some Friday's Marlene comes to watch the kids, and some times I take off work.

Today I took off work. The kids are on Easter break, so we all got up around 8 and started the day. In the spirit of full disclosure I always have the Mr. Mom thing with Michael Keaton playing in my head when I am on for the whole day. Needless to say, I had an agenda. Dutch babies for breakfast. Friedman Brothers hardware to get the parts to hook up the bathroom sink. Back home for Kate's nap and painting. Off to Napa Home Depot in the afternoon (30 minutes each way) to get the parts Friedman Brothers didn't have.

As an aside, let me discuss our media policies because they do have relevance to my current thoughts. Stefanie and I are cautious about some media. Our kids are well versed on the computer and have a plentiful collection of DVDs. We have a PlayStation 2 and a Wii. However, we limit the amount of time they get in a given week on all these media. The girls watch maybe 2 hours worth of TV each week, if that. Asher mostly only plays video games--usually 2-3 hours on the weekend. So when Asher asked for a Game Boy years ago, we said, "Absolutely not." I had visions of fighting with him at the dinner table, at the breakfast table, when we were walking through the store, while visiting relatives at holidays, while... you get the picture. "Put that Game Boy down!"

So, back to today. As I made breakfast, Asher asked if Sean could come over. Sure. He was at our house 10 minutes later, joined us for breakfast, and headed to the hardware store with us. Everything went pretty well. At little rambunctiousness in the store, that is to be expected. We made it back home, put Kate down, and asked the kids to play outside after I fed them lunch. 2 hours later, Kate wakes up, and we set off for errand #2 -- Home Depot.

Without making the story much longer, I just about reached the end of my rope. In the store, in the car, or in the parking lot, these 5 kids were all over the place and all over each other. We finally make it to the car to start the 30 minute drive home, and I am thinking, "If there was only a way to tone them down a few notches." Then it hit me, what I need is a few Game Boys! So even though I always thought I wanted my kids to talk to me in the car instead of playing a pocket video game, I realized today that there is a good reason so many kids have one.

The Biggest Fool

I had a meeting this morning at the Contra Costa County Office of Education. I am out the door at 7:30 and make my way through Vallejo and Benicia to Pleasant Hill. Somewhere in the middle, I get a call from Stefanie. The conversation goes something like this:
"Hey Jas."
"Hey Stef, what's up?"
"You know how I wasn't feeling well? I think it is morning sickness. I want to get a pregnancy test."

OK, let's take a moment for some background. Stef doesn't start up with her womanly cycles until she stops breastfeeding, so we were expecting this soon. I was aware of April Fool's day, but this struck so close to home that it didn't even register as a possible prank. Back to the conversation.

"Really. [silence]"

So Stefanie tells me she will get one later. She lets me go to my meeting and sweat it out. I call her back at a break, but she said, "I haven't had time to get one yet." So I am doing all this thinking. Where will this one go? If it is another girl, how am I going to pay for 4 weddings? The one question I didn't ask is how did this happen. I think I have a handle on that now. In any case, at 1:30, I call her a third time, and she finally lets me know that this is a prank. Obviously, this was a "good one." More surprising because Stefanie is a terrible liar. But I was left with a question for the rest of the afternoon. At what point does a prank go too far? This one certainly put a toe up against the line.