Sunday 08 February 2004
My weekend with my princess came to a nice close today. She was up about an hour before I was this morning and playing a game on my computer when I awoke. I went into the kitchen to start some coffee and blueberry pancakes. When she was done with her game she came out to the kitchen and asked if I could make her pancakes for breakfast. Great minds think alike. She smiled when I told her I'd already started just that, and the fact that I had blueberries was a bonus for her.
After breakfast we went outside to build a snow fort. I did most of the digging while Cathy made a five-foot slide down the side of the snowbank. Her laughter keeps me warm on the coldest of days.
Once the fort was built, with steps down to get inside, a few snowballs waiting on a shelf for defense, and blocks of snow to use as seats, I returned from a momentary trip inside with a bucket of cold water and a plastic cup. I splashed the water along the steps, seats, and walls in order to freeze and harden the fort. It was a masterpiece and she was quite impressed.
While waiting for the fort to freeze into shape, we went to the River's Edge Cafe down the street for hot chocolate and a snack of deep fried cheese curds. Upon our return, Cathy knocked on the door of the downstairs apartment to see if Kayla could come out to play with her in our snow fort, but no one was home. So, it was just my princess and me, tossing snowballs and sliding down the embankment until we were soaking wet, our faces red with cold, and our smiles nearly frozen in place.
We left our boots at the door and our gloves on the heat register to dry. We played Monopoly for a couple hours and I watched carefully as she made change with each transaction... she is my greatest student and my greatest teacher. My dad called about ten minutes before we were supposed to leave for one more conversation with his first grandchild. He tried telling her that grandpas were for hugging and dads for punching in the nose... she disagreed, saying it was the other way around. A minute later I overheard her telling him that if dads are for punching in the nose, "Then the next time my daddy sees you he's going to punch you in the nose... 'cause that's what you say dads are for!" It was classic. I love watching a young person outwit an adult. (Perhaps that's another reason I'm so fond of my students.)
The only glitch in our day was in catching the bus to the mall. We waited at the bus stop for twenty-five minutes, then returned home to instead call a taxi. It was in the cab ride that we learned Valley Transit doesn't run on Sundays. I know I'd caught a city bus on a Sunday in December, but apparently they only ran on Sundays during the Christmas shopping season. The cab was to arrive twenty minutes after my call, giving us time to warm up inside and play two games of mancala. Fifteen dollars and fifteen minutes later, we were sharing a supper of pizza and cookies at the mall. We met Cathy's mom there at 5:30, did a little shopping for Valentines for Cathy's party at school this week, then I called a cab for a ride home. (Debbie still refuses to help as far as Setback Number One is concerned... I suppose I should be grateful she agreed this weekend to meet us halfway.)
A stop for a pack of cigarettes and an HDC email check later, I returned home in time to see Evanescence win a Grammy for best new artist. (I found out they also won earlier in the show for best hard rock performance.) I praised Amy Lee's group here three months ago and I was very happy to see them get the acclamation they deserved.
Well, I should take a shower and call it an early night tonight, especially following a four-hour sleep after staying up until 5am last night. With Catherine here I didn't write any of my text at all this weekend, so it's going to be another busy week.
