Halloween 2010

Halloween is tomorrow and so in "Trick-or-Treat" in our town.  I am not sure who is more excited - my wife and me or our children. It is probably my wife and me, and not because there will be a whole bunch of candy in the house. (Although that is a huge bonus. I mean, what kind of parents would we be if we let our children eat all of that candy?)

Shannon, my wife, loves Halloween. Tomorrow night she and my neighbor will sit out in front of our house and hand out treats. We actually post a sign at my neighbor's telling Tricker or Treaters that she is next door so that she does not get any unwanted tricks for not handing out candy.

For me, I cannot wait to walk around the neighborhood with the girls. It is a special time for us. Their costumes are all ready to go. In fact, they have both worn them twice already. Once for our town's Halloween parade and once each for their perspective school parties. I will again be wearing the scariest mask that I own - my face. I am not one of those parents who dresses up with the children. Well, at least not yet. Maybe I should though. I think Jillian would get a kick out of it, and Molly would be embarrassed. Both are good reasons to do it. (What? I am just trying to get my Molly to lighten up a bit. Like me, she gets so worked up about certain things. So much so, that I feel bad for her.)

Before we can even think about going out for candy though, we have to carve the pumpkin. No, we have not carved it yet. We had planned to do that today, but we ran out of time. So, tomorrow, I will lop off the top of the pumpkin and begin cleaning out the goo. I wonder if either of the girls will help this year. I think they will both be eager at first. That is until their little hands get all slimy. I cannot wait! I have to figure out what kind of face I want to do. The children are still little; so, definitely no spooky face. It will probably be just a smiling fool again. If you all are good boys and girls maybe I will share a picture of the Jack O' Lantern with you tomorrow.

If you have not done your Trick or Treating yet this year, be safe tomorrow

Happy Halloween!

Age of Discovery

I had lunch with a coworker yesterday, a coworker who has a 16 month old son at home. My son is 18 months old, and we have that in common. We started talking about our families, and he asked me my favorite age. I have seven from which to choose starting at newborn and ending at six years old. It really should not be that hard to pick. As it turns out, it was impossible to decide.

I started to tell him how much I liked my son's age. He is walking and really gets around. Coilin is exploring the world around him as only an 18 month old can. Also, he is starting to talk and is able to communicate with us more. This is an awesome time. It is a time of discovery. That is when I got to thinking. All of childhood is a time of discovery. It is just a matter of what it is the child is learning.

My middle child, Jillian, is in her first year of Preschool. She is starting to discover friendships. Our town has a Halloween parade, and our children have participated every year that we have lived here. While at this parade, Jillian ran into a class mate. Her parents and my wife decided to walk together with the rest of the preschoolers. I was walking with my oldest with the First Graders. On our way back to the house, Jillian told me how she and her friend walked together, and that they held hands. She was so happy, and it was so sweet to hear her talk about the night. I knew that her new friend made the parade that much more special for my Jillian.

My oldest, Molly, is in First grade. She is discovering the most important thing of all – her self-confidence. I wrote a bit about this last week in “Give It a Try.” So, I will not rehash all of it here. Molly is trying new things all of the time. The same day of the sleep over I talk about in “Give It a Try” she had a bowling party. I dropped her off and ran some errands. Molly was totally fine with me leaving her by herself. She was hanging out with Second Graders. Granted, my neighbors, whom we trust implicitly, were in charge; but even so, last year she would never have stayed without me or Shannon.

For me it is amazing to be able experience so many different moments with my children. It does not matter whether I am there to witness the moment or if I hear about it from them. I would prefer to be there for everything, but I realize that is impossible. I do my very best to be there with them every chance I get. I know how quickly the first six years with Molly has flown by, and I hear from folks with older children that the time does not slow down any.

Leaves on the Ground

We are approaching one of my favorite times of the year – Fall. We still have 13 days before the autumnal equinox, but here in Pittsburgh we are experiencing Fall-like temperatures and I love it. I don't know what it is about this time of year that I love so much. As soon as the weather starts to cool down and the leaves start to change colors and fall to the ground, I begin to wax nostalgic. I remember all of the wonderful times I had growing up, and I long for my children to have the same fond memories. This evening, I hope that I helped to create that environment for them.

After dinner, the girls wanted to go out and play. They put on their shoes and were out the back door as soon as they were done with their dinner. In fact, Molly only had on one shoe and was holding the other in her hand when she hit the back porch. I was finishing up the dishes in the kitchen; so I was able to watch them from a distance without them really noticing me or modifying their play because I was around.

Their toy of choice this Autumn-like day was a bat and ball. Not my first choice for this type of weather, but they were playing nicely together, and I was not about to interrupt and suggest that they play football. I have learned that when two little girls are playing nicely together, you are best to leave well enough alone. Especially since one of the girls from next door came up to join them. Three girls getting along is like a miracle to me. It was awesome. They were running around playing baseball and giggling. It was pure unadulterated fun. I remember having times like this when I was growing up.

As soon as school started, you had a limited amount of time to play with your friends before it started to get dark. You had to use your time wisely. There was no time to bicker and argue. You had to have your game plan set before you headed out to play. As I remember it, we played a lot of football in the form of actual games or just lining up and running plays.

“Head to the tree and hook left.”

“Run a post route.”

“Go Long!”

It didn't matter how many of us there were, as long as we had two guys – one to throw the ball and one to catch it. On good days, we had a third or even fourth guy to play defense – one to cover the quarterback and one to cover the receiver. Inevitably, someone got dirt stains or grass stains on their pants. Those were the best of times.

Tonight, I saw a glimpse of what I loved so much as a child in the way my children were playing, and I was happy for them. I do not even care if they got grass stains on their clothes. As my wife says, “That's what they make Oxyclean for.” I hope for their sake and, maybe a bit selfishly, mine that they have many more days like this. These are the things children are supposed to do when there are leaves on the ground.

Author's Note: I am happy to report that the girls did get out the football, unprovoked mind you, before they came in for the night.

Author's Comment: Happy Birthday to the Love of My Life!

Rainy Days

    I was doing some landscaping yesterday. There is nothing quite like an afternoon of landscaping/gardening to make the body hurt. And it's that good hurt that lets you know you treated your body to a good workout.
About halfway through the work, it started to rain. I had known that there was chance of rain of all day – thunderstorms actually – but I didn't care. I wanted to get this project done; so, I kept working. As I was carrying sod from the back yard to the front yard, I stared thinking about my childhood and how I spent days just like this one summer over twenty years ago.
    We loved it when it rained heavily. At least, that was, during late spring and throughout the summer. Those days we would play in the rain during the storm and the following day.
     While the rain was coming down, we would run up and the down the neighborhood from my house to Andy's house – a distance of about five houses. We didn't use the street though. That was far too conventional. We would swim like dolphins in the open ocean. Instead of the open ocean, we had ditches that filled to the top with rain water.
    The yards were set-up like this – The grass ran from the front of the house to the street. About three feet from the street, the yard started to slope downward at roughly 25 degrees. Then, a foot before the grass met the street, the yard rose sharply to meet the street. The street sat a foot and a half about the ditch. This created the perfect channel for water to build-up during heavy storms. This is when we would run from Andy's yard down to mine. It was dive, stand-up, dive, stand-up until we it made to my house. Then we would reverse direction.
     The best was the next day, after the rain had stopped. We would head down to the creek (pronounced crick where I'm from). The creek was fed, in part, by the ditches in which we were swimming the day before. The creek, on a normal day, ranged from six inches to four feet deep depending on the spot. After a heavy rain, it was no less than a foot to a foot and half deep. We would get into inflatable vinyl two person boats. That's when would cruise down the creek letting it take us at whatever speed the creek wanted. We didn't go far. The total trip was about a mile; but, it was an experience I will never forget.
     These are the days I love to remember.