Home!

I'm home from a great getaway with Kris, Holly and Liz. I'll post more details later. For now, here is a link to photos from the trip.

'Call and duty'

Katie's preschool teacher keeps a treasure box to reward extra special behavior. Katie is not pleased when she is denied access to the treasure box. (Betty has been picking up Katie for me in the afternoons, so I just hear about the meltdowns -- I haven't witnessed one yet.)

I picked up K today, and she was eager to show me the treasure she selected -- a plastic flip flop keychain wrapped in a velvety bag decorated with skulls and crossbones. (I know, it's a strange combination and maybe a bit too creepy for 3-year-olds.)

Mrs. Lilly explained that Katie was extra helpful today. A friend spilled water during lunch. During the commotion, Katie fetched paper towels and started cleaning the mess -- without being prompted. Mrs. Lilly said, she "went above and beyond the call of duty."

When Katie retells the story, she says: "I got to go to the treasure box. I got a shoe in a pirate bag. I went to call and duty. Someone spilled water and I cleaned it up."

5K

Allison and I are training to run the half at the Dallas White Rock Marathon in December. We try to run three times each week and try to add distance every few days. Today we ran the Heroes for Children 5K in Plano.

Steve, Cooper and Katie came with us, and Liz and Sally drove out, so we had a big cheering section! (Liz would have been out running with us, too, but she's injured her knee.)

This running business is hard for me. I'm definitely not a natural runner. So where I place doesn't matter at all. I'm just happy I finished! Allison and I placed 322 and 321 respectively, with chip times of 40:22:56 and 40:21:86.

Bribery or incentive?

A student in Katie's preschool class has a peanut allergy, so no one can bring nut products for lunch. Katie loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches more than any other. She tolerates deli meat and cheese sandwiches. So I've been working on other options.

Today I made some tuna salad for her to try. She wrinkled her nose at the offering and refused to eat it.

My next move: Try Cooper. Cooper eats very healthily but has a limited palate. I knew if Katie saw Cooper try it, she would to.

I asked. He said no. Without hesitation, I said, "I'll give you a dollar if you try it!"

"Really?!"

"Yes."

(Steve sat in silence, either amused or confused by my sudden new moves.)

"Really?!"

"Yes. I promise."

Cooper loves money. He saves it in multiple banks and drawers in his room. He rarely spends it. He often gives it away.

So he ate a big bite and said he liked it. Steve pulled a dollar out of his pocket and handed it over.

Katie seized the opportunity. "Can I have a dollar if I try it?"

"Yes!"

She ate a forkful and liked it. She accepted a bill from Daddy. She asked for more tuna salad and didn't even ask for more money.

Tomorrow, I'll pack her a tuna salad sandwich. For Cooper? Not a chance. He said he won't eat it again unless we pay him.

******

In case you haven't noticed, I've been posting links to Briefing columns on the left. You can read about why I love soccer moms; how sad we've been since Cooper lost B; and how it's difficult to know which activities are best for kids.

First day of preschool

Katie returned to ECDP, the preschool at our church, this morning. She'll attend three days a week, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. If she had her way, she would have already started kindergarten at Cooper's school. We're trying to convince her she needs a little more seasoning first.

Hair

It's the familiar story -- girl with curly hair wants straight; girl with straight wants curly. I just didn't expect to deal with it so soon.

Katie's hair is as straight as mine is curly. Ever since cousin Molli (who has a head full of curls) stayed with us earlier this summer, Katie has longed for curly hair. When she asks me or Steve why she has straight, we tell her that that is what God gave her. She's never satisfied.

While she and I were home alone Thursday morning, she asked over and over for curly hair. So, I pulled out some gel and soft rollers. I spritzed her hair and rolled it up.


She endured the curlers for about 30 minutes.

"I want God to give me curly hair," she exclaimed rather loudly before she started ripping the curlers out of her hair.

The result was a bit of body, which lasted about five minutes.


We constantly tell her she's beautiful just the way she is. Most of the time she believes it, but she's still asking for curls.

Change

Well, if you're reading this blog now, you're officially invited!

After the D Magazine blog exploded for a few hours with criticism of Briefing, my intro column and more, I realized that it wouldn't take long for folks to find the checkonsteve blog. And from there it's pretty easy to get to this site.

That thought actually woke me up about 5 a.m. Friday. I have always internally debated having this site public. I took steps to make it invisible to search engines, but I kept it available. After the Briefing incident, though, I realized I didn't want to subject Cooper and Katie to random hatefulness. So, that's why this blog is now password protected.

I chose not to restrict access to Steve's site. I'm not going to let a handful of jerky jerks (the name I've chosen to call some of the D Mag blog commenters) dictate how we let people know all the great news about Steve's progress. Blogger limits permission to 100 readers. Some days the checkonsteve site gets more than 200 individual readers. There's just no way to whittle them down. And with every reader, there's another opportunity for additional prayers and good wishes. We need all of those we can get!

We've also heard from families who've found Steve's site who are fighting their own cancer battles. What a blessing to think we might be able to share information that could help or encourage another family.

Thanks for making the extra effort to get here!

Critics

From FrontBurner, the D Magazine blog

First columns

Darla's column debuted in Briefing yesterday. A preview of the fun:

I'd like you to meet my family. Let's start with my 9-year-old son, Jake. Why? Because he's the one who'd want to meet you first. He's quite the talker. The budding politician. The kid with questionable conduct grades.

Her full column is here.

My column was introduced today. You can read it here.

New title

I've had lots of job titles and descriptions, but I've never been a columnist -- until now! Click here to find me and Darla and Dear Abby and others. Briefing launches tomorrow, and my parenting/family column will run Thursdays and Saturdays.