Mr. Mom Day 4

It is a very good thing that Ellen and Aunt Betsy loaded up the fridge with all the food and drink the girls and I would need. I have not had to make any grocery runs. The thought of having to load Grace and Julia up in the van and go shopping raises my blood pressure. Instead, day 4 was marked by two separate trips to two different playgrounds. I am beginning to wear down and need to get out of the house to avoid looking at the growing mountain of laundry and scattering of toys everywhere.

Let me diverge for a moment with a follow-up to this issue of toys. To all our friends and family who might want to send a toy to Grace and Julia, please don't. The thought is nice, and we appreciate your desire to do something caring for the girls, but save your money. Seriously! The girls have a disgusting amount of toys. Most of them get played with only a handful of times before the pieces are lost, destroyed, or forgotten about. Next time you want to buy a piece of Chinese plastic for my children please reconsider. Grace and Julia won't mind since they would enjoy themselves just as well playing with a broken tree limb or perhaps a handful of gravel from your driveway. I am completely serious here everybody. No more plastic, or battery powered crap will be allowed in our house as gifts for the children. With Christmas over I am now planning on a trip to Goodwill to bring a pathetic looking load of our plastic toys for donation (to make room for newer, fresher, and soon to be pathetic looking plastic toys we received at Christmas). Now some sad little boy or girl somewhere will be reminded how miserable their situation is when the only toy they can get their hands on is missing all the knobs, buttons, and parts that made it sort of cool to begin with. The modern use of plastic in consumer goods really is ruining our world (and my neighborhood). Please stop buying it and sending it to my family in large amounts.

I will end this post with a funny anecdote from today. Grace keeps raising the stakes in saying mean things to me and I am proud to say that I have refrained from playing into her manipulative little hands. She told me today that she was going to lock me on the backporch with my sleeping bag and a pillow. She also told me today that she was going to take me outside and give me a whoopin if I kept talking. I actually laughed about this and she followed up with, "when I turn 9 years old I will give you a whoopin!" Ellen and I don't actually talk like this to her. She has learned about whoopins from our neighbor Abrahm who does get whoopins when he even remotely speaks to his mom and dad the way Grace speaks to us. Maybe we should arrange for a little parent swap for a week. A few whoopins might be just what Grace needs.... hmmmm. Ellen you better get home quick!