Today was a busy day.\u00a0 Princess Sack of Potatoes wanted to play Dead Pile, and later on, The Angry Polar Bear.\u00a0 The latter is a very taxing business where I chase her around the house growling and trying to carry her away to the \u201cIce Flow of Death.\u201d\u00a0 All that growling takes its toll on my larynx and the dogs go nuts trying to defend her from this seemingly homicidal activity of mine.\u00a0 But one does what must be done.<\/p>\n
As you can tell by the descriptions, death has become a part of her imagination.\u00a0 Of course, all those who end up in the dead pile are the bad animals, never the good ones.\u00a0 And the Ice Flow of Death has only ever been fatal for the polar bear and even then, he always seems to be brought back for an encore.\u00a0 It\u2019s funny how little kids imagine things for which they have very little experience.\u00a0 Other than a hermit crab, her little world has been untouched by death.\u00a0 At least as far as she is aware.\u00a0 She\u2019ll be spared knowledge of actual deaths that have occurred while she was too young to even understand the concept.<\/p>\n
Of late Camera Girl has introduced the concept of dog heaven to cover the eventuality of what to tell her when our older dog does die.\u00a0 And she is very curious about it, \u201cWill Kaylee have anyone to play with?\u00a0 Will she get her favorite treats?\u201d\u00a0 All these were manageable reactions.\u00a0 But then she asked about herself going to heaven.\u00a0 That was a bridge too far.\u00a0 We assured her that she wouldn\u2019t be going anywhere for a long, long, long time and she should stop thinking such things.<\/p>\n
And that passed.\u00a0 Now we\u2019re back to the cheerful mayhem of dead pile where bad velociraptor and evil giraffe get their comeuppance but never is heard a discouraging word.\u00a0 She has introduced some innovations that may be a form of humane treatment or possibly just safety precautions.\u00a0 Now before any of the bad animals are hurled onto the dead pile, they are first \u201cput to sleep.\u201d\u00a0 This sounds suspiciously like pet euthanasia.\u00a0 I hesitate to ask where she got this idea.\u00a0 Maybe one of her friends had a dog or cat that had to be \u201cput to sleep.\u201d\u00a0 But we\u2019ll let it slide for now.\u00a0 Dead pile has been wildly popular but I think the first waning has begun.<\/p>\n
And just in time.\u00a0 It\u2019s rather repetitive.\u00a0 And it\u2019s time for the princess to begin to read.\u00a0 We\u2019ll start with the ats (at, bat, cat, fat, skip gat, hat, mat, gnat, pat, sat, forget tat and finish with vat).\u00a0 And then we\u2019ll do a few more families and it\u2019ll be on to Dr. Seuss.\u00a0 We\u2019ve got to hurry because before you know it it\u2019ll be September and she\u2019ll be off to kindergarten.\u00a0 And then she\u2019ll be too old for The Angry Polar Bear and too sophisticated for her old pastimes.<\/p>\n
Well, that\u2019s the way it should be.\u00a0 Her world is opening up.\u00a0 School and friends and all the joys and sorrows of childhood.\u00a0 And I have to wonder if she\u2019ll remember all our games and play.\u00a0 She is a very intelligent child.\u00a0 Maybe her memories will last.\u00a0 I hope so.\u00a0 I feel that my existence is bound up in the memories of those who are close to me.\u00a0 My children and grandchildren will be the extension of my impact on this world, just as I passed on the existence of my parents and grandparents to them.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a great privilege to get to interact with your descendants.\u00a0 You can see their traits and sometimes recognize yours and your spouse\u2019s.\u00a0 You can tell them stories and things about themselves and about their parents and you can share things that you enjoyed when you were young.\u00a0 Yes, it\u2019s a rare treat.\u00a0 It\u2019s the payoff for all the hard work you did raising your own kids.<\/p>\n
Well, it was a good day.\u00a0 Busy but good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today was a busy day.\u00a0 Princess Sack of Potatoes wanted to play Dead Pile, and later on, The Angry Polar Bear.\u00a0 The latter is a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,818,2860],"tags":[300,83,3552,2093,2341],"class_list":["post-22328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-ocf","category-reclaiming-the-family","tag-camera-girl","tag-family","tag-princess-sack-of-potatoes","tag-reclaiming-the-family","tag-traditional-family"],"yoast_head":"\n