Dadgummit, I walked out of the house this morning without my belt. Last night I was hanging up my freshly laundered shirts in the armoire and the belt got shoved back on the rack, and then this morning I was apparently interrupted in the middle of my dressing routine to either brush someone's hair or to referee a fight over a Barbie doll. I kept thinking something was wrong, and now I know what it was.

For those of us boys who wear Husky sizes, this can be very annoying--I'm not really worried about my trousers dropping off as they are sufficiently snug all over, but there is the shameful tell-tale white waistband that keeps rolling over. With the trusty belt in place, this is often disguised, but without makes it necessary to blouse out the bottom of my shirt to conceal it. Which just makes me look sorta slobby. I even thought about running by Wal-Mart this morning, but didn't want to be late for work. ::sigh:: And today of all days, when I was scheduled to have lunch with My Friend Jeff, who will be downtown today for some sort of something or other.

Maybe I can find some rope or twine or maybe some strapping tape...

Almost forgot, but last night was Baby Girl's kindergarten open house. She was so proud--being the youngest has meant she has gotten to see everyone else bring home papers and homework and crafts, and she has been busting a seam to be in Big School. She has done very well, and we got to see her house-of-cutout-paper-shapes, and her paper elephant, and her paper word tree, and her purple paper puppy, and her class book, and her styrofoam cup dalmation. And her journal. Now THAT was interesting! Lots of pictures of her and her sisters and her brother and her mommy and her daddy, and gratefully nothing to indicate the frenetic oddity of our home life. (I guess it's normal to her.)

With four kids, after the first couple, all of the first words and first teeth and first steps and first days of school get all mushed together, and it's a bit sad to me. It's always fun for me to read Lileks when he notices the things his little girl picks up on--being an older parent gives you a much greater sense of wonder when you see a kid learning something new, and having only one means you get to see it all. I always wonder what I've missed in the rush to get their hair washed, or get their papers signed, or get them into bed. When did she learn that up and down meant 6 o'clock? When did she figure out that birds eat worms? I taught her to tie her shoes, but when did she learn to operate the VCR? When exactly was it that she learned the difference between telling the truth, and telling a lie? When did she understand that when the power goes off that we need to put in a new battery in the house? That water comes from a pipe in the ground into the house, and that water comes from the big water tower, and that the water in the tower comes from up out of the ground? That the moon is far away?

I don't know.
posted by Terry at 8:45:00 AM