debralegg.com http://debralegg.com A working mom's mad adventures in boy land. Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:00:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 debralegg/vQVWhttp://feedburner.google.comSubscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with My AOLSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with Pageflakes What’s in Dad’s care package http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/debralegg/vQVW/~3/S4VX9scT21U/ http://debralegg.com/2010/07/25/whats-in-dads-care-package-16/#comments Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:00:21 +0000 Debra Legg http://debralegg.com/?p=9180 I thought I'd be about three years past buying baby wipes at this point, but not so.

At home, they still go everywhere with us. They work far better than hand santizer for cleaning up on the road. They're indispensable for precautionary scrubbing at places ranging from restaurants to airplanes - anywhere that peanut might have been before us.

Now that Dad's deployed, they're going abroad, too. They're indispensable for quick clean-ups, be it of the person or of the weapon. That's why we sent Dad two packages this week.

The rest of the package:

Dots: Another theater-sized box of candy that the guys were convinced Dad wanted.

Tuna: We're still going with StarKist creations. This week we sent twi, 6.4 ounce packages of plain and 4.5 ounce packages of sweet and spicy, herb and garlic and hickory smoked. I'm still not wild about paying almost $2 per pack, so I think next week I'm going to send regular cans of tuna plus a can opener.

Dried fruit: A one-pound assortment of apples, pears and apricots.

Peanut butter crackers: Nine individual packages from a giant box we'd bought a while back. They're good for filling in nooks and crannies in a shipping box.

Paydays: Two bars to fulfill the weekly Recommended Dad Allowance.

Copyright 2010 Debra Legg. All rights reserved.

Similar Posts:
]]> http://debralegg.com/2010/07/25/whats-in-dads-care-package-16/feed/ 0 http://debralegg.com/2010/07/25/whats-in-dads-care-package-16/ What’s in Dad’s care package http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/debralegg/vQVW/~3/LmDSXWlPhVs/ http://debralegg.com/2010/07/18/whats-in-dads-care-package-15/#comments Sun, 18 Jul 2010 15:53:42 +0000 Debra Legg http://debralegg.com/?p=9177 If you can't be at the birthday, the birthday will come to you.

That was Boots' reasoning behind this week's care package, though I did talk him out of sending Dad a piece of his birthday cake. He settled for putting on in the freezer so Dad can eat it when he comes home.

Otherwise, the box included many things we used to celebrate, bowling ball excluded. We sent a Mario Brothers water bottle that was left from the favors Boots gave out to guests, as well as a hand-held electronic card game that is a bit too old for Boots. "Daddy can figure it out and show me when he gets back," Boots said. It's card games, so Dad will have it figured out 3.6 seconds after he opens it.

We also sent our monthly DVD, which I rushed to finish to get him the birthday footage as quickly as possible. It turned out to not be as quickly as I'd thought it would be. This was the first month I'd shot completely with my high-definition camera, and it took for-EVER for the computer to render the video and burn the DVD.

The rest of the package:

Monster Slim Jims, jalapeno flavor: Big Guy keeps picking these because it gives him an excuse to beg for his own Big Guy-safe Slim Jims.

Planters Nutrition Antioxidant Mix: This includes nuts as well as dried fruits. It's an attempt to make up for all the candy we've sent of late, and I completely negated it by also packing ...

Yummy Earth lollipops: A one-pound pack. The guys and Dad both love these, and I have to admit they're the best lollipop I've ever tasted. Dad's particularly fond of the pomegranate flavor.

Dill pickle sunflower seeds: I didn't even know that such a thing existed until recently, and I have no idea if Dad will even like them. But he likes dill pickles, and he likes sunflower seeds, so maybe ...

Razors: Three packs of disposables. I'm not sure if there's a shortage of late at Dad's base or if he's just been too tired to shop.

Paydays: Two bars to fulfill the weekly Recommended Dad Allowance.

Copyright 2010 Debra Legg. All rights reserved.

Similar Posts:
]]> http://debralegg.com/2010/07/18/whats-in-dads-care-package-15/feed/ 0 http://debralegg.com/2010/07/18/whats-in-dads-care-package-15/ What’s in Dad’s care package http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/debralegg/vQVW/~3/c15d86dyvvg/ http://debralegg.com/2010/07/11/whats-in-dads-care-package-14/#comments Sun, 11 Jul 2010 16:27:08 +0000 Debra Legg http://debralegg.com/?p=9174 Dad claims he can't get to sleep without background noise, though snoring must qualify or else he would have been in a worse-than-normal state of chronic deprivation during basic training.

It's led to many marital disputes over the years, because I like dead quiet and pitch darkness. We finally worked out a compromise: The TV stays on until he dozes off, then I get to turn it off. Since I always fall asleep last because the dang TV keeps me awake, it works.

It doesn't work so well in Afghanistan, where plywood partitions divide rooms and any music or computer can easily keep the guy next "door" awake. So Dad's relied on the cheap set of head phones he bought before he left. They cost less than $10, so I was surprised that they'd lasted as long as they did.

He couldn't find even a cheap replacement set on his base, so this week we sent him a new one. A nice set, with a microphone that's gone a long way toward solving our Skype audio problems as well. I'm sure they've also kept peace among his fellow soldiers, who likely aren't as willing as I am to sneak up and turn off the noise after he falls asleep.

The rest of the package:

Mike & Ike and JuJu Fruits: I don't know if Dad's ever eaten these in his life, but they guys picked out theater-size boxes at the commissary.

Planter's Pistachio Lovers Mix: Dad's definitely a pistachio lover, so this 21-ounce can should keep him happy for a few days at least.

StarKist Creations: Two packs of plain tuna. Unlike the Bumblebee and StarKist packages we've been sending, the packaging is more compact in part  because it doesn't come with crackers. I'm not sure if he's going to like it as well, though, it's packed in water instead of oil. We'll see!

Paydays: Two bars to fulfill the weekly Recommended Dad Allowance.

Copyright 2010 Debra Legg. All rights reserved.

Similar Posts:
]]> http://debralegg.com/2010/07/11/whats-in-dads-care-package-14/feed/ 1 http://debralegg.com/2010/07/11/whats-in-dads-care-package-14/ Heaven help me, we’ve entered the Hot Wheels era http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/debralegg/vQVW/~3/-d2MAK-Aejw/ http://debralegg.com/2010/07/08/heaven-help-me-weve-entered-the-hot-wheels-era/#comments Thu, 08 Jul 2010 17:13:22 +0000 Debra Legg http://debralegg.com/?p=9197 Just when I thought three tubs of tank engine track was as bad as it was going to get, along comes the next menace: Hot Wheels.

It's not that we've never had Hot Wheels - the guys already own dozens, plus or minus the cheap plastic knockoffs that I'm able to covertly palm and carry to the trash after they start losing wheels. But until recently, it's been individual cars that the guys have learned to pick up at night lest the Mom Claw patrol after they go to sleep.

Now, though, we've branched out into Hot Wheels track. Full play sets that you cannot possibly figure out how to assemble by reading the printed directions. Courses that hog the family room for hours at a time.

Pure boy cooties. Ick. What happened to the toy dishes they used to cook dinner with?

In a way, it's Thomas' fault. Armed with a wallet fat with birthday money, Boots stood in a discount store before a dazzling array of Thomas and his friends recently. There was Gordon and Emily and Henry and Spencer - none of whom he has a working model of in his current collection. There were trains I've never heard of. There were freight cars and carnival cars and milk tankers.

There was way too much. Boots picked up one and then the other, eyeing each carefully. "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" he wailed, running out of the aisle. after about 15 minutes. Or was it 15 hours? "I can't pick one. They all look fun."

His paralysis ended when he hit the Hot Wheels. He grabbed the first set he found and took off. It's puzzling that the decision was so easy when picking a Thomas was so impossible. Maybe it's because he has less emotional energy invested in Hot Wheels.

I've had plenty of emotional angst invested since then, and that's not counting the agony of assembling the track.

Thomas I at least know how to play because there are movies and books. The media guide me on the personalities of each train. I know that Thomas and Percy are good but occasionally grumpy, Gordon is mostly grumpy but basically good and Diesel 10 is the bad guy.

Hot Wheels? One second the green car will be the hero and the blue the villain, while it might be the other way around the next. Who knows? Only the guys, and they rarely clue me in before they start playing. I think that's largely because they don't know either, which leads to much bickering as they make it up on the fly.

Big Guy's birthday is coming up, and he's already asked his grandmother for money rather than a present so he can buy the toy himself.

Wonderful. I fear that the best outcome I can hope for is that he's so overwhelmed by the Hot Wheels choices that he runs screaming out of the aisle and straight into Thomas.

Copyright 2010 Debra Legg. All rights reserved.

Similar Posts:
]]> http://debralegg.com/2010/07/08/heaven-help-me-weve-entered-the-hot-wheels-era/feed/ 1 http://debralegg.com/2010/07/08/heaven-help-me-weve-entered-the-hot-wheels-era/ Why Shyamalan’s right, but wrong, about Airbender casting http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/debralegg/vQVW/~3/1zg-YwTEWPE/ http://debralegg.com/2010/07/07/why-shyamalans-right-but-wrong-about-airbender-casting/#comments Wed, 07 Jul 2010 18:39:10 +0000 Debra Legg http://debralegg.com/?p=9190 Shopping for a bathing suit is bad enough, but it becomes virtually impossible when a kid wearing pale-yellow paints and has an arrow eye-linered onto a freshly shaved scalp pops around the corner.

"Hey, guys, look! It's Aang!" I called, quickly forgetting about the bathing suits. I hadn't been that enthusiastic to start with.

"Aang" and Big Guy quickly became fast friends, following each other all over the store. "Aang" would flop back and forth between being in character and being a normal 8-year-old boy. When Big Guy asked him his age, he at first said 112 - an answer in keeping with the cartoon. But later, "Aang" asked Big Guy who his sensei is when they were comparing karate belts, and everyone knows that the Avatar masters bending, not martial arts.

When he was on, though, this kid was good. Bam good, as Big Guy says. His air bending looked so authentic that I kept waiting for the clearance racks to blow over. He also was a fairly skilled gymnast, turning three cartwheels in a row in the aisles and capping them with a Russian split. Ouch, Big Guy and I both said.

We wound up eating lunch with "Aang" and his grandfather at McDonald's, where the boys critiqued the Avatar toys that are this month's Happy Meal prize. By the time we'd parted ways the two boys who represented three races between them had spent hours together talking about a show they both loved and wishing they lived next door so they could be best friends for longer.

And that's why director M. Night Shyamalan got at least the theory right when he picked the cast for the movie "The Last Airbender."

His decisions - which included giving three of the leading roles to white actors, two of whom were unknowns - have been criticized as "racebending" and "whitewashing." To compound it, the villians in the  cartoon Book One on which this summer's movie is based are considerably darker skinned.

Shyamalan's defense lies in the cartoon itself: "Anime is based on ambiguous facial features. It’s meant to be interpretive," he told The Washington Post. "It’s meant to be inclusive of all races, and you can see yourself in all these characters. My daughter saw herself as Kitara and now her friend who’s Hispanic sees herself as Kitara, and that’s totally valid."

And he's absolutely right about that - kids from a number of backgrounds can see themselves as Aang. The character's complexion in the cartoon is darker than the actor in the movie, and his grayish eyes are light enough that Big Guy can see them as his own blueish gray eyes but dark enough that the brown-eyed "Aang" at the discount store could see himself as well.

The problem is, Shyamalan didn't cast the movie to reflect that ambiguity. The actors who play Katara and Saka clearly aren't dark enough - that's Big Guy's verdict based on the trailers. We haven't seen the movie yet.

If Shyamalan had cast the role of Aang in the ambiguous way he talked about in defending his decision to cast a white in the role, I would have no problem with it. Though there's an undeniable Asian influence in the cartoon, I've never necessarily seen Aang as Asian.

I've seen him instead as everykid. And Big Guy and a lot of his friends do as well.

Copyright 2010 Debra Legg. All rights reserved.

Similar Posts:
]]> http://debralegg.com/2010/07/07/why-shyamalans-right-but-wrong-about-airbender-casting/feed/ 0 http://debralegg.com/2010/07/07/why-shyamalans-right-but-wrong-about-airbender-casting/ Overpack and hope for the best http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/debralegg/vQVW/~3/xnfjs3mWcw0/ http://debralegg.com/2010/07/06/overpack-and-hope-for-the-best/#comments Tue, 06 Jul 2010 17:14:02 +0000 Debra Legg http://debralegg.com/?p=9193 Coloring books: New and unsullied, accompanied by a fresh pack of crayons. Check.

MP3 players: Charged, with new songs loaded. Check.

Snacks: Enough to cover the midnight munchies plus breakfast the next day because the chances are small of finding something in an airport that a highly allergic kid can eat. Check.

Books: Three each, all shiny and new as well.

We also have blankets, puzzle books and gum. The list includes virtually everything every parenting site has ever included in hopes of keeping kids occupied and pleasant during road trips. I've avoided Hot Wheels - too much of a risk as a projectile.

Will it work? Probably not, if experience is anything to go on.

We've been lucky over the years that, with one horribly awful exception, the guys have never thrown fits on airplanes. From the time he was 8 months old, Big Guy's been happy to look out the windows. Boots, not quite as happy, but mostly cooperative.

Instead, they save their tantrums just for mommy and daddy, so we can keep them all to ourselves rather than share them with the rest of a 737. I suppose there's something to be said for never having been thrown off a flight - so far.

I used to think that a red eye would solve all my problems. That was before I actually took one.

The theory was that if we left in the dead of night the guys would quickly conk out in flight. The reality: Amped up after the now-required two-hour wait at the airport, they were too punch drunk to conk out quickly. Boots had just drifted - did I say drifted? I actually meant "thrashed" - off to sleep when it was time to change planes in Houston, thus beginning the howl-alujah chorus anew.

And, oh, Houston. I  used to be convinced that when I die I'll have to change planes in Atlanta regardless of whether I'm headed to heaven or hell. I'm now convinced that the Houston airport is hell. Purgatory, at the very least.

There are allegedly interconnected terminals that aren't very well interconnected, especially if you're transferring from the main airline to its commuter counterpart. There are TerminalLink "automated people movers" that are virtually impossible to find if you're brain dead from a sleepless red eye. We made our connection only because a nice SkyCap lady took pity on a mom trying to wrangle a reluctant - did I say reluctant? I actually meant "shrieking" - toddler. The SkyCap lady got a very nice tip.

The backpacks we'd lovingly packed before the trip? The snacks had disappeared before we'd  boarded the first flight, due to the previously mentioned two-hour wait. There was nothing on the flight from Houston that Big Guy could eat. Luckily he was so exhausted by then that he fell sleep and forgot to howl with hunger until after we'd landed in Charlotte.

We're booked for a red eye for our coming trip, but at least we've avoiding hellish Houston. I'm sure that even that won't guarantee an easy trip. That's just the nature of travel beast when kids are involved.

Oooh. I still need to pack ear plugs. Extras, even, for innocent bystanders.

Copyright 2010 Debra Legg. All rights reserved.

Similar Posts:
]]> http://debralegg.com/2010/07/06/overpack-and-hope-for-the-best/feed/ 1 http://debralegg.com/2010/07/06/overpack-and-hope-for-the-best/ Why I won’t ask our school to pay for pricey cookies http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/debralegg/vQVW/~3/BmM3PVjhe50/ http://debralegg.com/2010/07/05/why-i-wont-ask-our-school-to-pay-for-pricey-cookies/#comments Mon, 05 Jul 2010 20:38:45 +0000 Debra Legg http://debralegg.com/?p=9204 I ran across a story this morning about a school district in South Dakota that goes out of its way - to the tune of paying an extra $40 for a case of cookies - to make sure that allergic children can eat school lunch. Just a few minutes later, Elizabeth at OnespotAllergy started a discussion about it on her Facebook page.

This all happened as I was wading through paperwork I need to send to the doc for the next school year. It included a form where I could have asked for lunch accommodations, but the only thing I'm going to request is a peanut-free table. Here's why:

1. Some of my son's allergies are so hard to deal with - garlic, for example - that I just don't see asking a cafeteria to take that on. Plus, it's SO easy to miss garlic as an ingredient since (a-HEM!) companies don't have to label for it. The day camp he's been at this summer bans outside food, and there have been near misses there that thank heaven his counselor has caught.

2. The school lunch menu in our district on any given day is so awful (and sadly, typical) that he's nutritionally better off brown bagging it. Which would I rather he eat - highly processed Beefaroni or homemade spaghetti? Canned fruit or fresh strawberries?

3. With the state of school budgets in California (and across the country) I just don't see asking a district to take on that expense. Parents already are asked to provide things such as copy paper and Dry Erase markers. I spent $80 last year on supplies for Big Guy alone, and next year that will double because Boots is starting kindergarten.

In that budget climate, every dime that goes to expensive cookies (that I could make and pack in his lunch much more cheaply) is coming out of an increasingly tighter bottom line. I can't in good conscience ask a school to spend extra money on something that is not educationally necessary.

Peanut-free classroom: No cost, and necessary to keep Big Guy safe. Peanut-free table at lunch: There's a miniscule cost in the few seconds it takes a cafeteria aide to wipe down the table, but I've been there during lunch and the quick swipe really isn't taking her away from other duties.

Allergy-safe cafeteria lunches: Labor intense, expensive and simply not educationally necessary. And if it's not necessary to ensure that Big Guy is safe and receives the education he's entitled to, I'm not going to ask for it.

Copyright 2010 Debra Legg. All rights reserved. Similar Posts:
]]> http://debralegg.com/2010/07/05/why-i-wont-ask-our-school-to-pay-for-pricey-cookies/feed/ 3 http://debralegg.com/2010/07/05/why-i-wont-ask-our-school-to-pay-for-pricey-cookies/ The right to remain silent – until you can’t stand it any longer http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/debralegg/vQVW/~3/Cqp6NjGVToU/ http://debralegg.com/2010/07/05/the-right-to-remain-silent-until-you-cant-stand-it-any-longer/#comments Mon, 05 Jul 2010 17:00:51 +0000 Debra Legg http://debralegg.com/?p=9186 Children's shows have felled many a strong person. With me, the waltz scene in "Beauty and the Beast" used to do it. I knew that, and used it to my advantage, popping the tape into the VCR after a bad day when I really needed to cry but just couldn't.

With Big Guy, Yo Gabba Gabba's "Goodbye" song did the trick, breaking down the walls and releasing what had been days, if not weeks, of pent-up emotion.

Big Guy, you see, is determined to play the tough guy during his dad's deployment. He courageously toughs it up, facing the challenges of the absence with accepting shrugs. He did the same thing last year when Dad was in basic and advanced training. It took him until near the end of tee ball season to balk at the coach's homeplate ritual, which included a salute. "No," he finally said. "Salutes are for daddies."

It was during that same era - the months after we'd visited Dad for his basic training graduation but before he came home after advanced training - that the Yo Gabba Gabba DVD entered our lives. It was a time when Big Guy was learning an extended meaning of "goodbye," that sometimes partings last longer than the interminable wait for Mommy to pick you up at day care each day.

Boots giggled through the entire episode, laughing even harder as I disco rolled along with Jack Black. I can't say that I blame him.  "Party in My Tummy" inspired him to make sure there was enough good food in the party, though I have to say that whole video kind of creeps me out.

Big Guy was content to ignore Boots' "baby stuff" until the goodbye song caught his attention at the very end.

"Goodbye, see you later. We've had fun." And we had, for three glorious days until it was time to part again.

"Goodbye, see you later. Now it's done." And it was for two more months when Dad would be able to rejoin us.

Big Guy listened for a few more seconds and burst into tears. "Ohhhhhhhh! That song makes me miss Daddy so much," he cried.

Fast-forward more than a year, to last week, when Boots remembers the DVD and starts watching it again. Yo Gabba Gabba must be what LSD is like. You think the trip is over, but then you start having flashbacks. I was working upstairs and didn't realize what Boots was watching until Big Guy came barrelling into the room.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhh," he cried, chest heaving. "It's that Yo Gabba Gabba song, and it's ... making me ... soooo ... sad."

I sat on the floor and held him, rocking him like I did when he was small. "It's OK, babes. It's OK to be sad. It's good to let sad out, because if you don't you wind up being mad."

He had been mad for the better part of a week, blowing up at Boots and me for little or no reason. After each storm I'd ask if there was something he wanted to talk about, but the answer was always an insistent "no." Until that day.

He's been much better since. He's a temperamental little cuss so he still throws his little hissies, but they're nothing like the major fits we were seeing.

I doubt there have ever been any studies of the therapeutic value of Yo Gabba Gabba in anger management, but I'm here to tell you anecdotally, it works.

Copyright 2010 Debra Legg. All rights reserved.

Similar Posts:
]]> http://debralegg.com/2010/07/05/the-right-to-remain-silent-until-you-cant-stand-it-any-longer/feed/ 0 http://debralegg.com/2010/07/05/the-right-to-remain-silent-until-you-cant-stand-it-any-longer/ What’s in Dad’s care package http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/debralegg/vQVW/~3/Tbby_01R4TY/ http://debralegg.com/2010/07/04/whats-in-dads-care-package-13/#comments Sun, 04 Jul 2010 19:24:56 +0000 Debra Legg http://debralegg.com/?p=9167 We really should have sent a tooth brush with this one. Or, at the least, labeled it with a warning. Caution: Most of the contents will do severe dental damage.

I picked out the Oreo Cakesters, and Dad had requested the cartoon of cigarettes and the roll of smokeless tobacco. I added three of his favorite 3x5 notepads - they're the perfect size for his uniform pockets - and the Pringles Onion chips. The rest is Boots' work, and it shows.

Twizzlers: A seven-ounce package of cherry flavored. He'd wanted to send a five-pound box like the one we'd shipped a few months back, but we couldn't find it.

Gummy Army guys: We used to find these at a shoppette on post but we hadn't seen them for a while. They magically reappeared recently at the PX. "Oooh! Daddy will love these!" It seems slightly cannibalistic, but OK.

Fruit cocktail: Three, 15-ounce cans. I couldn't find any in natural juice, so let's hear it for even more sugar!

Paydays: Two bars to fulfill the weekly Recommended Dad Allowance. Not that he'd notice if I left them out given the rest of the haul.

Copyright 2010 Debra Legg. All rights reserved.

Similar Posts:
]]> http://debralegg.com/2010/07/04/whats-in-dads-care-package-13/feed/ 0 http://debralegg.com/2010/07/04/whats-in-dads-care-package-13/ Happy Fourth of July! http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/debralegg/vQVW/~3/6KCdtM5-7UI/ http://debralegg.com/2010/07/04/happy-fourth-of-july-2/#comments Sun, 04 Jul 2010 19:13:54 +0000 Debra Legg http://debralegg.com/?p=9164 Big Guy's shorts have been in a wad since late last week, when I came home with a t-shirt featuring a baseball and bats arranged into an American flag. "No fair! I need a Fourth of July shirt, too!" he protested.

I'm not sure if he was more upset because he "needed" a shirt or because I'd dared to spend $4 for myself without buying him something. Either way, the situation was remedied yesterday when we walked into a retailer I'd rather avoid at all costs - but I don't right now because it's only discount store within 40 miles -  and the guys spotted a stack of red, white and blue shirts for $3 each.

"OK," I said. "Pick one out."

"Daddy needs one, too," Big Guy said.

"Hon, Daddy can't wear it right now. All he can wear is his uniform."

"Then we'll put it away and save it for next year," he said.

We left with four shirts. I didn't notice the "made in Pakistan" label until we got home. The irony of that struck since most of Dad's current problems were fermented, if not made, in Pakistan. I also felt guilty about supporting sweatshops that pay Pakistanis under $3 a day to quench our insatiable thirst for $3 t-shirts. Defenders of the system argue that sweatshop work beats prostitution. I would counter that letting kids go to school instead of forcing them into work would create adults better able, financially and intellectually, to resist when the Taliban comes knocking at the door in the dead of night.

Stateside, Independence Day has always been Big Guy's holiday.

His first celebrated it before he could do more than babble random sounds, though he could walk. Man, he could walk. We went to a celebration at a college near our house that year, and if there 10,000 people there, he met 9,999 of them that night. He was ready to conk out just as the fireworks were about to start - he'd already done his fighting-sleep howl - but the second the first boom echoed, he was wide awake again. He sat quietly, his tiny mouth smiling gloriously, oohs and ahhs streaming from his lips.

Two years later, Boots was just weeks old and slept through his first Fourth of July. By then I'd recast it as "Hairmica's Birthday," and we always had to bake cupcakes and sing, just like at any proper birthday party.

We've partied enthusiastically every year since, usually at home with small groups of friends. We did venture back to the college campus one year, when they added face-painting, bounce houses and children's games to the schedule, but most years we stayed away from crowds.  Our neighborhood offered a better view of the fireworks anyway.

Oh, and then there was last year, when Big Guy broke his wrist just hours before dark. I'm blaming that on his Godfather's Curse and hoping we're over it.

This year, we're sticking close to our new home. Dad's already celebrated abroad, with a cookout and a visit to the weekly cigar club. Sunday's usually his "weekend" - he gets four extra hours off.

We'll celebrate later, with a carnival on post. There will be bands, bounce houses and games with junky prizes that will trigger hours of bickering. And, of course, fireworks.

We'll wear the made-in-Pakistan shirts - I'll try to leave my guilt at home - and it will make the guys a little happier knowing that there's a fourth shirt at the ready for Fourth of July, 2011.

Copyright Debra Legg 2010. All rights reserved.

Similar Posts:
]]> http://debralegg.com/2010/07/04/happy-fourth-of-july-2/feed/ 0 http://debralegg.com/2010/07/04/happy-fourth-of-july-2/