Writing the last blog ( The Golden Torus and The Enchanted Pants) entry brought back memories from when my son was still in diapers and started eating cereal. He was already eating table food, when my wife and I started discussing getting him some fun, sugary cereal as a “dessert treat” of sorts. We both agreed that that would be fine, and that was the last I heard of it.

Weeks later I was on diaper duty when “BLAM”, I came face to face with some of the oddest, scariest looking diaper filling I had ever seen in my life. It was nuclear purple swirled with fluorescent green, and I could swear it was glowing. I shrieked for my wife to come see. I was in a little bit of a panic. I was ready to take him to see the doctor.

My wife looked pensively at the diaper’s contents for a little bit and a smile eventually came to her face. She had recently bought a box of “Buzz Lightyear” Cereal, and he had some earlier that morning. She explained it all to me, showed me the box of cereal and its contents, then chuckled at my reaction.

“Not funny dammit!” I thought he was really sick.

Sure, we laugh at it now, but at that time it really scared me.

“To the diaper pail…..and beyond!”

With summer bearing down on us and the school year coming to an end in the United States its a fine time to begin looking at which activities you can get the kids involved in that may actually provide some lasting positive growth opportunities and lessons.

Enter 4-H

My wife was involved in 4-H from her eighth birthday up until she graduated high school. Today there is a 5-8 program which I’m sure will be the official introduction for our kids.

4-H is all about building community, kids mentoring one another, gaining direction and building leaders. Making the best better. It is an avenue for exploring interests and making lifelong friends.

Not having a history in 4-H myself I always thought it was all about the county fair. Those farm kids with their animals. While this is still a part of 4-H (depending upon the club) there are many other opportunities for discovery.

And the list goes on. Even savvy city folk can find something in here that will interest their children.

A key part of making 4-H a success for your family involves being in the right club. 4-H clubs can be found all over the country. You best bet is to contact the 4-H extension office in your county and share with them what your child(ren) are interested in. With this bit of information they should be able to point you in the direction of a club that would be a good fit.

Most clubs focus on a particular area while participating in many areas. The last thing you want is to join a club that is focused on equestrian activities when your kid is afraid of horses.  In the event you get in with a club that isn’t a fit, don’t throw in the towel. Go back to the 4-H extension office and encourage them to get it right.

So, when the dog days of summer are beating down on you and you just can’t bear to hear, “turn on the sprinkler!” one more time visit one of the links below and get in touch with a 4-H club. Who knows, maybe their next meeting will be in a nice air conditioned hall.

• 4HUSA.org
• Find a 4-H club
• National 4-H Headquarters
• 4-H Council

Our three year old will occasionally employ the “my stomach hurts” stalling technique when going to bed. One such evening she expressed this concern and my wife offered her half of a children’s TUMS. The girl wondered why she couldn’t have the whole thing to which my wife replied, “You don’t need that much magnesium.” This seemed to make perfect sense to the girl as she replied with, “ok Mommy” and off to bed she went.

I imagine many kids have Dr. Seuss or Clifford books occupying the back seat of the car. We have a medical journal or two.

Recently the girl asked her mother what a picture in the journal was. Her mother replied, “That’s part of the brain.”

“Not the whole brain?” the girl asked.

“No. If the brain were cut in half that is what it would look like.” Mom replied. They then went on to discuss the color of the brain and the how it controls action, memory, etc. Amazingly the girl seemed to get it.

It’s hard for me to remember the girl as a baby sometimes. It seems we have been able to have full conversations with her for a very long time even though she’s been with us less than four years.

The other evening I was reaching for a couple of TUMS when a sweet yet commanding voice could be heard just behind me.

“Daddy. Do you really need that much magnesium?”

Yes. She is her mothers daughter.

All I’ve ever wanted to do, since meeting my wife, was give her all she wanted. Easy right?

It wasn’t so long ago, just 4 years now, that we hated our home. We wanted out more than anything but like everything else money and time ruled the day and we had to wait.

Once we got serious about this “moving to a different house” thing we, well.. we got serious about it. We had a goal to be moved before our daughter was born. Somehow the pieces fell into place and move we did just four months prior to our oldest girls birth.

It’s funny how, when something is supposed to happen (meant to happen), the way is somehow cleared. I’ve always appreciated this but find I’m not always patient enough to wait for it to happen.

It seems I was doing ok with my main objectives. My wife was excited to finally be a mother to her own children. Check. She just wanted to live someplace simple where she could have her horses on her own piece of land. Check.

My wife has wanted a pony since she was a little girl. This dream never turned into reality and all these years later she still wanted a pony, except this time she wanted it for our two girls. A pony they could learn to ride. A pony they could grow with and would allow them to participate in all the 4-H events she was exposed to.

This past weekend we got a pony. It required us to sell another horse that was given to us, and sell him to a good home we did .

The Pony’s given name is Pete, but the girl calls him Peter Pan pony. Welcome to the family Peter Pan pony and if you have your own list feel free to put a check next to “making dreams come true” .

On second thought I don’t regret the guinea pig decision. You just know we would have ended up with a guinea pig AND a pony.

Once there was a beautiful little girl who sat in a tall chair. She had reached an age of maturity where she could be introduced to a magical new morsel, the Golden Torus. Her parents placed offerings of the scrumptious toroids in front her. She would reach for them and try to bring them to her mouth, but they were elusive and she could only ever consume half of them. The rest would mysteriously disappear.

When the table was empty she would look sad, and to keep her placated, her parents would run their hands over her garments and magically produce more of the elusive morsels.

The little girl watched and grew wise to her parents deeds and tried searching for the morsels herself. Alas, the enchanted bloomers would yield no bounty. Only her parents could coax the desired edibles from the garment’s folds.

And to this day the parents happily, and patiently, continue to conjure up the little princess’ favorite treat, and she continues to be in good spirits. For soon will come a time when all will be revealed to the little princess. The mysteries of the morsels and garments will be mysteries no more.