Category: stories

A Worthy Investment

We’ve been having problems with the air conditioning system since, well, last year.? It’s been leaking refrigerant which we’ve refilled three times.? It’s probably not the best thing for the environment, especially since it’s an older unit and that type of refrigerant isn’t allowed anymore, but refilling for a few hundred dollars is much better than the replacement cost of a new A/C system.

But we realized we’ll have to do it sooner or later so yesterday we had a brand new, Carrier Infinity installed.? It’s the mac daddy of air conditioners home comfort technology.? It’s got a lot of whiz bang features like showing you the outside temperature on the thermostat and speaking of thermostat, it looks like an iPad hanging on the wall.

All that is nice, but last night I found out the feature that makes the hefty price tag worth it.? Apparently it does such a good job with its “home comfort technology”, that everyone in the house slept in until 6:30am!? At the same time.? You have to realize how amazing this is for us.? In the last 8 years, I don’t think we’ve ever slept that late.? We’ll see tomorrow if it was a fluke or the Carrier Infinity.

Future Criminal Mastermind

We had a little mystery to solve this week. Someone had written, in pen, on the wall. There were just a few letters and what looked like a star or maybe a shape which had been scribbled over.

Who could have done it? There were only three prime suspects. Thing 4 was off the hook because it was higher than she can reach. And at 16 months she doesn’t know how to write letters. For that reason, we ruled out Thing 3 because the letters were too nicely written for a four year old.

That left Thing 1 and Thing 2. Luckily, there was one really strong clue that made it pretty obvious. There were only two letters, written twice each, as the start of the same word. Not a lot to go on, except they happened to be the first two letters of Thing 2’s name. When confronted, he wisely confessed rather than try to deny it, because, fortunately for us, he is one of the world’s worst liars. He will not have a bright future as either a poker player or a criminal mastermind.

You Saw This Coming

It was bound to happen. With three older brothers and a house full of trucks, trains, and footballs, there is no way she would turn into a princess.

SuburbanMommy has been waiting seven years to shop for frilly dresses and hair bows. But no matter how girly she is dressed, Thing 4 just wants to follow her brothers. I see a lot of very pretty dresses getting very dirty in her future.

Here is Thing 4 as the best dressed basketballer ever.

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A Terrible Quagedy

We experienced a terrible tragedy recently. Or should I say quagedy. A beloved friend of Thing 3 had a terrible accident and he was very upset as a result. Interestingly, the accident came at the hands, literally, of Thing 3 himself. In a scene reminiscent of Lennie Small from Of Mice and Men, Thing 3 accidentally ripped the head off his bath duck.

Duck With No Head

To his credit, I have never seen Thing 3 so genuinely apologetic for damage that he caused.

R.I.P. Mr Duck

Home Sick

This is Thing 3 home sick today. Although he did throw up once during the night, he is in pretty good spirits because he gets to watch movies all day which is one of his favorite activities. And he also gets to play with his little sister’s toys that she got for her birthday last night. Coincidence?

Time For Tea

I Should Have Expected It

When you are a fourth child you get a lot of hand me down toys. And when the three before you were boys, those hand me downs include a lot of cars, trucks, trains, and blocks.

So I guess this was expected. Thing 4 likes to play with cars. And bang on drums. And climb.

She does NOT like to play with dolls. She doesn’t just prefer other toys. No, she is actually *afraid* of dolls. Especially the ones that look like real babies. She cries until you take it away. We need to change this. So SuburbanMommy has already bought some to give for her upcoming birthday. We’ll see what happens.

And They Just Keep Coming

We’ve had a big week or so over here at the SuburbanDaddy household.? A lot of “firsts” and big milestones reached within a very short time.? I’ve already posted about Thing 3’s potty training breakthrough.? We’ve also seen Thing 4 start to walk.? She took her first steps about 2 weeks ago and is able to walk 10 or 12 in a row now without falling.? She taught herself to climb stairs and can make it up the 15 stairs to get to the bedrooms.? At least, I think she taught herself.? If I find out one of her brothers taught her they are in trouble.

This week we all went out to a restaurant.? And not the kind where you order food standing up.? True, we took separate cars and SuburbanMommy arrived first and put the orders in.? But still, this was an accomplishment.? I can’t remember the last time we attempted to eat out.? Certainly not since Thing 4 was born.? I wouldn’t call it a relaxing dinner, with Thing 3 running all over the place, but it wasn’t too bad.? And, unbelievably, Thing 3 went potty in the restaurant.? Twice.? And he actually TOLD us he needed to go.? And, he went #2.? Did I mention this was in a restaurant?? And then he also told everyone else in the restaurant what he just did.

Unprecedented.? Unexpected.? Unbelievable week.