Riding in the truck

Today was the day the dishwasher arrived. Since I borrowed my brother's truck to clean up some yard stuff last week and he told me to keep it while he was on holidays this week, I thought I would use it to pick up the dishwasher. But first I took the old one to the dump this morning. Jorja was still at DVBS today, so I took Ginny for a ride by herself. She thought that was pretty cool, riding in the front seat of the truck right beside me. (It's an old truck with no airbag, and I put her seat in, it was all good.) On the way home, I thought I would ask her if she wanted a treat. Naturally she replied yes. So we stopped at a corner store that has a bakery in it and picked up some doughnuts. I was good with just getting some for us, but she insisted that we get one for Jorja too. I thought that since Jorja was doing her own thing, Ginny could use her own treat too. But she wasn't going for it. It's nice to see she's that considerate. Jorja was the same way when I would stop with her after a soccer game. She always insisted on getting something for Ginny too. Too bad they will likely outgrow that. Anyway, after we get the doughnuts and get home, I go to roll up the window. Ginny asks what I'm doing. Then it dawns on me that she has probably never seen a vehicle where you have to roll up the window without pushing a button. Crazy.

The dishwasher was in after lunch, so I took both girls with me to get it. Apparently Jorja didn't know about rolling down windows either. She really took to it though. She asked if she could roll it down and I said sure. She rolled it down till it was a couple inches from the bottom and stopped. I told her that this window would go all the way down if she wanted. Well, you should have seen the look on her face. She thought she was pretty grown up. It must be a totally different experience riding in the front seat when all you've ever done is ride in the back. They were both just full of questions about pedals, buttons, levers. They thought it was pretty cool.

Then came the task of installing the dishwasher. Things went fairly well. First I hooked up the water and turned it on. No leaks. Good. Then I hook up the water drain line. Finally the power. Then the ultimate test - down to the basement to flick the breaker. No smoke. No fire. No Julie yelling, "What have you done?! Turn it off! Turn it off! Turn it off!!!" (She was on the lookout for me while I went downstairs. Then we washed a load of dishes and it worked. Clean dishes and a dry floor. I was pretty proud of myself.

We started watching the new summer show 'Rookie Blue.' (A cop show.) It's awesome. It is really the only thing worth watching on TV right now. Well that, and the Bachelorette (Julie always watches it and I started and now I'm hooked.) Okay, the Bachelorette isn't worth watching, but I just can't stop. Yes, it's embarrassing, I know. Later.

The Four year old mother

I was tucking the girls into bed this evening, and laying the law down for Ginny (because that works so well) about not getting out of bed. Jorja told me, "Don't worry Dad, I'm actually going to have a little chat with her when you go downstairs." All right then.

I fired up the lawn mower this afternoon to pick up all the leaves etc. on the lawn. I was walking outside with my toolbox, when Julie gave me this funny look. What, I said, it may need some work the first time of the year. "And you know how?" she says. "Honey", I say, "How long have you known me, and don't these things always work out?" She had to admit that they usually did, and that she felt proud of me when they did. Pride after the fact is great, I said, but a little faith beforehand might be good. Oh well, for as often as I use tools, she's probably got reason to doubt. I can do a lot of things when I have to, I just don't really enjoy tinkering with things like a lot of guys do.

The girls were playing outside after I was done mowing, and Julie and I went in to get ready for supper. We had the window open and Jorja was yelling, "Bang, bang, rattle-bing-bang gonna make my noise all day." Ginny tells her that that is really noisy. "Good, then I'll get their attention."

I took Jorja to piano lessons this morning, and we were coming home on Broadway and the pubs must have their patios set up. "Look Dad, there's an umbrella of your work." Do a lot of four year olds know beer logos?