It's great having this climbing walll right near the house. We all walked over to it today and climbed and talked and stood around communing with the neighbors. All of the kids love to climb on it, too. Needless to say, Berit is a a monkey and is doing tricks off of the top of the wall. Rowan is following close behind her, though I have to help her off the wall at times. She had gotten to the top this one time, and was frightened. I had her legs, and told her to let go, but she wouldn't believe me and was even more scared and gripped the wall all the more tightly. It ended in me pulling her off the wall, and her in tears. This is, I think the very essence of the difficulties I have with the kids. Instead of negotiating and rethinking my approach with them, I just kep asserting my position and butting heads.

We've been in the new house for a week now, and though we've got the girls set up with their new bunk beds (which they have been very excited about), I checked on them tonight to find that Berit had abandoned her coveted top bunk to sleep curled up with Rowan on the single bed beneath. It was the cutest and loveliest thing I've ever seen (though my memory is bad so perhaps not)

Griffin is excelling on the tricycle. This evening we chased each other round and round in circles in the basement - he on the trike and me on the kateboard. all the while we sang, "I'm chasing you... I'm chasing you..."

I picked Berit up from gymnastics last night and took her to The Siamese Plate To Go (on Pam's suggestion). I wasn't sure that she'd like anything Thai, but she pointed to the Phad Thai and wanted to try it. She liked it! And she even liked the bean sprouts and the crushed peanuts on top of it. AND she ate with chopsticks... so, I'm gonna give her some credit for broadening her palate.

She told me all about school. About Mrs. Cohen tracing out her body on a big piece of paper and her coloring it in; about making clay people in art. She didn't tell me what Pam told me later, which was that she was in tears because some boy was making fun of her initials - S.F. - calling her "San Francisco." I'm going to tell Berit what a beautiful and exciting place San Francisco is.

"Hey Daddy, 'Mom' spelled backwards is still 'Mom.'" she tells me on the way out of the restaurant. I tell her that's called a 'palindrome' and then we figure out a bunch more palindromes, which she 'collects' on a piece of paper on the car ride home.

"This is my palindrome collection."

I love my kids so much. It's incredible being a dad.

Parenting turns you into a cornball.

I'm out in public yesterday with Berit singing a song from Mr. Rogers"

"It's such a good feeling to know you're alive
it's such a happy feeling - you're growing inside
and when you wake up ready to say,
'I think I'll start a snappy new day!"

at the end, we snap in unison. It's a beautiful thing.

First rule of parenting: plan ahead.

Don't do as I did last night, which was tell Berit we could go to Chili's restaurant together as a special treat, AND THEN try to bargain with her as to what she was allowed to get from the kid's menu.

It doesn't work. She just keeps begging until she breaks me down, and before I know it, my 6 year old is sitting across from me eating a corn dog and french fries, and I'm sitting there thinking that I'm going to have to answer to social services for her malnutrition.