Peanuts

• pThe kids found a way to fight over clearing the dinner table. Solution: Melissa is now the sole table clearer; Matthew gets the new job of dishwasher-unloader.
  
• Apparently you can grow mangos in Texas. So much better than the nasty inedible picked-and-shipped ones you found in Utah.
  
• Another sign I'm getting old: Rachel's cousin Laura is getting married. She was barely a teenager when I met her. (Congratulations, Laura!)
  
• Isaac had quite a morning. First Matthew left a crayon on the floor and I got to rinse crayon crumbs off his hands and mouth. Then Melissa left four crayons on the floor. Then we all went outside and Isaac had a snack of sidewalk chalk. I think this counted as a Very Good Baby Morning.
  
• Rachel and I spent half an hour watching Remy videos. My favorites were "Arlington" and "Extra cheese."
  
• Cooked lemon grass chicken for company last week. It was excellent. I'm glad Rachel made the cross-town trip to an Asian market to get the lemon grass.
  
• Matthew left his door open one morning and Isaac made it in before I caught him. As I approached, he looked back and saw me coming. He deliberately reached out and swing the door closed. "Maybe Daddy will forget I'm in here."
  
• My dad modeled many good qualities for his sons but talking about emotion and affection wasn't really one of them. So when Rachel encouraged me to hand-write a few hundred words for a father's day card (not a hallmark fill-in-the-blank), I was reluctant. Finally she offered to change a poopy diaper for me if I wrote the card. I did. That's the kind of thoughtful son I am.
  
• Inflatable Wonderland: $10/kid as long as you want to play all day. And wi-fi. I think I know where to go when Rachel goes to Washington in August and leaves the older two with me.
  
• Matthew is fascinated with Mr. Game & Watch on SSBB. I showed him some pictures and explained that it was almost 30 years old (from 1980). "Whoa." In fact, it's older than Aunt Christine. "Whoa!"
  
• The kids sang a father's day song at church. Melissa didn't know the words or the tune very well, but I caught her voice singing out happily "I love my daddy!"
  
• Got Rachel a Nokia E75. Out of the box it will bulk-upload photos to flickr, something I could never do on the iphone despite trying a zillion apps. (Apple doesn't like competition with their crappy built-in photo manager.) Meanwhile my new phone isn't in stock yet. First they predicted the 23rd, then the 26th, now the 30th. Grr.
  
• Melissa: "Knock, knock." Who's there? "Tinkerbell!" Tinkerbell who? "Happy Tinkerbell!"
  
• The older kids are sleeping in now that I don't have to wake Matthew up for school. Isaac is not. So for an hour in the morning it's like when Matthew was an only child: just me and my boy. (His favorite game: climb on Daddy and try to steal his glasses. First, though, you must brave The Perilous Tickle Spiders.)
  
• Matthew: "Were you a conductor today?" Huh? "Did you get a lot done?" Yes: I was productive.
  
• Melissa put two weeks of allowance into one of the Claw Prize machines at Inflatable Wonderland. I warned her that it would take her dollars and not give her anything back, but she wanted to learn the hard way. She did, and tears ensued.
  
• Melissa: "My nickname is Sweet Bee." Yes. "You don't have a nickname." No, I don't. "I know Mommy's nickname!" You do? "Mommy's nickname is 'Boss!'" Smart girl!
  
• Got "Pajama Sam" for the Wii. It's kind of a My First Adventure Game. Matthew really liked it; too bad it only lasted three or four hours. I can't wait until he's old enough for Grim Fandango.