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I've been putting Katie on the toilet for the past 6 months or so. She has never had a problem with sitting on it, but has never actually "gone." But, this morning, she took the initiative of taking off her own diaper and sitting on it without me even prompting her. She then peed in it! Yay, Katie!
Aaron and I just got the script for the preview performance of Love on the Prairie. We're understudying the leads for the second preview performance, as the leading man can't be there (they are having us do it as a couple, although the lead girl could have been there).
Anyway, the script is an hour long. My part is not too bad, but Aaron has about double the lines that I have. He's a bit nervous. The leads have been working on these lines for a few weeks already, and now we're getting this with less than two weeks to go. We only have one song to learn, but I'd rather learn songs than lines. This is going to be an interesting next two weeks.
On Saturday, the Kukachka clan came over for our annual "cousins party." This is where we celebrate all of the kids' birthdays at once, so we don't have to all try to get together for each birthday, as that was getting really complicated, with so many kids.
This year, it was held on Connie's birthday. She turned 29 again this year. ;-) She said that Luke (her youngest) wished her a "Happy Father's Day" instead of a "Happy Birthday." I hope she enjoyed the day. It occurred to me afterward that we should have sung to her. We normally sing to everyone when we do cake, but this year we did s'mores instead, and I totally spaced the singing part.
During the party, some of the younger kids noticed a chirping sound coming from the storm sewer in the back of our yard. They checked it out, and it turned out there was a robin stuck down there. I laid out some thin pieces of wood for it to climb up on, but they were too steep. On the third try (and once the robin realized I was trying to help, not poke it), when it got on the wood, I thought to use leverage to slowly lift the bird up to the top of the grate. When it got to the top, it hopped across the grate, then sang to me for a minute or so before leaving for the next yard. I felt very well-thanked. I noticed then that it had a fuzzy head, and wasn't fully grown yet. It hopped a few feet away, and then a momma bird came out from behind a tree and hopped over to it, gave it a few pecks, and led it back over to the tree. What a fun experience!
Today, William threw up in church. I'm hoping it was just a reaction to so much junk food yesterday. I really can't afford a sick family this week, as it is going to be a busy one. We have rehearsal Mon., Tues. and Thurs. nights. Wednesday afternoon I have my advising and registration session at Normandale. Wednesday night Aaron, Kelly Ammott and I will be rehearsing our song for Sacrament Meeting next Sunday. After that, the Ammotts are going to help me de-bone 10 rotisserie chickens for the zone conference luncheon I'm putting on for 75 missionaries on Thursday. I will also be doing most of the shopping for the luncheon tomorrow or Tuesday, depending on whether I get my couponing done early enough to get out tomorrow. And that's just my schedule. There's plenty more going on for the kids, too. I'm in for a busy week, but I'm up for busy this week - provided we don't have a whole wave of stomach flu.
This morning at 2:45am in Eagan, a 3-year-old child was found walking along Highway 55. At 5:30am, his parents discovered he was missing and called the police. They said he got out by using an electric garage door opener. The child is being held by social services for the next 72 hours while they investigate the parents.
This doesn't seem fair to me. In fact, it outright disturbs me. I thought that there must be something the article didn't say, like the parents looked like they were stoned or something when they came to get their child. So, I called Dakota County social services to find out. They told me that they don't just do this, that the police have to tell them to take the child into custody and do an investigation. They suggested I talk to the police. So I called them. They said that when they can't find the parents, they place the child with social services, and have no control over when the child is released. "That's funny," I said. "Social services just told me it was the other way around."
This could happen to you or me. In fact, I am awfully lucky it hasn't happened to me. I have had three-year-olds escape the house by going into the garage (the door of which they figured out how to open, despite the child safety doorknob), finding a car door unlocked, and opening the garage with the opener on the visor, just as they have seen me do. I have had a three-year-old sneak out after dusk, when I thought he was asleep, only to have a neighbor call and tell me that my child is two blocks entertaining a crowd of people, including the sheriff.
I told the person at the Eagan police department that I thought that it was unfair to keep a 3-year-old from his parents for three days for escaping home without another reason. She told me that there are unexpensive things a person can do to keep their child from escaping the house. I told her that nothing is ever foolproof, and that this just isn't right. She told me that she had gotten my voice mail, and that she really didn't need to further the conversation. As I hadn't called her previously, I told her that this was my first call, and this just shows that other people are concerned with this, as well.
I got off the phone feeling like this isn't really the free country we think it is. I cried.
I am afraid for the day when Katie figures out how to use a child safety doorknob.
I want to start a public blog with coupon and sale specials for the Waconia area. Does anyone have a great idea for a name?
