Abby: You count and I'll hide, ok? Go!

Riley: 1.. 2.. 3.. 4.. Here I come!

Abby: NO! Count to ten, ok? Go ahead.

Riley: 1.. 2.. 3.. 4.. 10! Here I come!

What makes this more funny is that Riley, although only 3, will routinely count to 20 without much thought, but I guess he doesn't see the point in giving Abby time to hide.

I just wish they'd stop taking all of the cushions off all of the couches in the house. Aye de mi.

We had a conference with Abby's first grade teacher recently, during which she expressed mild concern over Abby's interest in school. She asked us specifically if anything really motivates Abby, since she doesn't seem to do anything more than the necessary work in her academics. While she's perfectly capable of doing the work, she doesn't really get enthusiastic about it.

Abby's always been her own self, and the one thing that she really does get enthused about is art. Abby really likes to draw, and even her teacher remarked that she's significantly advanced compared to her peers. She notices details that they don't and I have noticed that she is able to put abstract images on paper that I wouldn't even have thought of.

There is one particular crayon-coloring that sticks in memory. It was one of those "color this - win lunch" things that they give the kids at Ron's Schoolhouse - a picture of a backpack. I think Berta or I idly asked her to draw some things in around the backpack, not really specifying, but I was really expecting some basic school-related doodles. Instead, Abby drew a bunch of things to scale with the backpack. Some in the foreground, some in the background. There was even someone's foot and leg visible from behind the bag, and it amazed me that she could put the backpack in this whole scene - just see it in her mind and draw it.

So we haven't yet taken Abby's teacher's advice for getting Abby outside art lessons, but I have been trying to think of ways that we can expand her interest in reading and writing by way of art. I was hoping to continue the book writing that we started a long while ago, where she would dictate stories and I would write them in a notebook. Then, she could draw pictures to go along with each story.

Today, Abby came home with a poem she had written, I think as part of her free time, because it wasn't graded or marked-up. Nonetheless, Abby's teacher was extremely complimentary of her work in class. I think this poem is an important step in a long journey of relating written word to art for her. For a six-year-old, I think this poem is outright amazing, even considering that I could simply be a proud dad.

In any case, here is Abby's poem, entitled I Can't Wait.

I can't wait til Christmas.
There is snow all around.
Please, my little dear, 
just lay your head down.
The chimneys are smoking,
lights all around.
Please, my little dear,
lay your head down.

Yesterday when I got home from work, Abby was asleep on the couch. This is pretty abnormal for her, since she's usually "on" from 8am until 10pm, non-stop. She woke up groggy around 7pm, complaining of a headache. We gave her a bit of kid's Motrin, and she seemed to improve.

Abby had a high fever this morning when she woke up. She was bit bit more sluggish than usual, dragging herself out of bed to the living room where she crashed on a couch in front of the TV. She didn't seem enthusiastic about breakfast, but that's pretty normal. I gave her another spoonful of Motrin (she really doesn't like that stuff), and it took the edge off of her fever.

When Nana arrived, I told her that Abby wasn't feeling really well. She felt Abby's forehead, and it was still burning up. Nana insisted that Abby wouldn't go to school. I wasn't really thinking about sending her, I was just wondering if she'd clear up later in the day, enough to head out to kindergarten. But I guess that was optimistic.

And so, only a month into her elementary school career, Abby learns about staying home sick from school. Not that she's faking now, nor would I send her to school if she was going to suffer through it, but it's sad that she would learn of this so early on.

Berta told me that Abby's friend Lauren was home sick for several days last week. Since Lauren and Abby likely play at Malvern School before Lauren leaves for morning kindergarten (she and Abby don't have kindergarten together), I don't find this surprising. It does surprise me that she's playing with Lauren though, since I've noticed that Abby doesn't pay her much mind at Malvern School any more.

I suppose that Abby might have contracted this fever bug from someplace else, and I hope that's true because I wouldn't want her to be down and out for several days. Abby usually recovers quickly from these things - a day or two - so hopefully she'll be back to normal by tomorrow.

Saturday was a pretty nice day over the weekend, and rather than fall into the same TV-watching rut we seem to have been in since Christmas, Berta and I took the kids out to play at the Oasis Family Fun Center. I had taken the kids there once before myself, with Dan and his two kids. Abby and Riley had a pretty good time, and there was no reason to expect that they wouldn't on this occasion, too.

The Oasis is a warehouse-style building that is somewhat off the beaten path. Inside, they've got miniature golf, redemption games, and - the reason why we went - a giant playground. It's one of those playgrounds like they have at Chuck E Cheese's, with the tubes that the kids climb in, but it's enormous.

The playground has 4 big-kid slides and one for toddlers. A nice thing about this playground is that it has a toddler area. Too often, they want to go play with their older siblings and they just aren't big enough. And yet, we ended up letting Riley crawl around in there, too.

Yes, yes - Berta and I both spent our fair share of time crawling through the tunnels with the kids. Riley particularly likes the fast slide. And Abby was insisting that I take her down the largest winding slide there, which meant crawling through all of the obstacles on the way to the top. She complained too vociferously that I needed to go down with her sitting in my lap. For some reason the longest slide seems narrower than the others, and I tried to explain that I couldn't even sit upright in the tunnel.

Last time, when we went with Dan, Abby and I carried Riley all the way to the top of that thing, and all three of us went down in one solid lump of people. We got stuck going down a couple of times, and I swore that was it for me. I could see them removing me from the tube with a crane. Lovely.

I told Abby that my first time down with her was going to be my last, and when I finally told her I was going to let her sit on me, I explained that she had to get into the tube first in order for that to happen. Of course, when she was in the tube, I shoved her down under the pretext of "making room", and then came down after her. When I met her at the bottom she was raving about how she did it all by herself, and there was no stopping her from doing it a dozen more times - all on her own.

Riley had his own trials. In the toddler area there is a nicely padded climbing course that ends in the only slide for toddlers. The climbing course is the only way to get to the top of the slide. Last time, Riley was thwarted by a section of the course that is like walking on a wide yellow-padded plank, supported by netting on either side. It was too squishy and rocking for his liking, and he wouldn't cross it. When I carried him across, he would bolt to the slide and whoosh down all on his own, screaming in delight.

This time, he had only a mild initial hesitance on the plank thing, crossing it quite easily on all fours. But he would get stuck at the top of the slide. He just wouldn't go down by himself. This was unfortunate, since he didn't require help in the obstacles to get there, and I ended up having to frequently chase him all the way to the top just to get him to slide down.

Riley also had fun playing in the foam blocks just outside the toddler area. Abby and I played some Star Trek: Voyager video game, shooting the Borg. She did surprisingly well with the "Reload!" ("Recalibrate your phaser!") conspet, wher eyou have to shoot off-screen to reload your gun. Her aim wasn't exactly the best, though. I perhaps shouldn't have been playing a shooting game with her - yeah, yeah.

After Berta and I were exhausted from the playground, we went over to Granite Run Mall. We hadn't been there in a long time. It's surprising because we used to go there so frequently before we were married. Not much had changed, really.

We stopped at the comic store where Chris used to work. Mike, the owner, was there and we said hello. He seemed to recognize me, though he couldn't place me, but at least there was some recognition. I suppose that the challenge there is that Mike doesn't look like he owns the store, and so picking him out among the other Warhammer gamers is something that only someone who knows him can easily do. It makes me feel like I know somebody, if you know that feeling.

We left there quickly - Abby had spontaneously punched Riley in the face for some unknown reason - and found the books store and the movie store. Nothing has really changed there, either. The book store has the same lousy selection. The movie store has the same overpriced tripe.

We ended up eating at Sbarro. I had some pizza, which I had been craving for a while. Abby ate spaghetti, and Berta ate a few bites of the ziti she got to share with Riley. When we were younger, we used to make special trips to Granite Run just for the baked ziti at Sbarro. Riley sure seemed to enjoy it, since Berta didn't eat much.

Have I mentioned that Abby hates shopping? She does not like the mall. It was a chore to convince her to check out the toy store. Where is this kid from?

Back on our way home, we cracked open the box of Peanut Butter Patties I bought from the girl scouts camped in front of the Wawa near home. There were girl scouts everywhere. There were some at both Wawa entrances, in front of the Oasis doors, and at one of the entrances to the mall. All of them were selling cookies. All of them had that same fold-up table. All of the cookie boxes were arranged the same way. Are girl scouts creepy, or is it just me?

Anyway, Berta and I had made a big deal about the cookies. "Can I have one of those shrimp biscuits, Mommy?" "Why, yes, Daddy - Here is your shrimp biscuit."

This deception lasted until Sunday night when Abby decided to be adventurous and insisted on trying a "shrimp biscuit". "This doesn't taste like shrimp." "How would you know?"

We made her work for it, though. I forced her to sound out the words on the box to determine what the biscuits really were. She did eventually get it, with much cajoling, and was quite pleased with herself afterwards.

This morning, she was regaling the story to Nana. How silly Mommy and Daddy were to have thought those Peanut Butter cookies were Shrimp Biscuits.

Eventually she'll catch on and probably hate us.

Berta and I are dismayed at the types of food that Abby will eat. This article will likely prove itself as historically useful for when Abby is older.

These days, Abby's favorite food is the griled cheese sandwich. We try very hard to convince her to eat other things, but she isn't very interested in that. Whenever we go out to eat, it must be someplace that serves grilled cheese or we risk the tantrum that accompanies the lack of adequate food choices.

Abby will often eat macaroni and cheese, but not the kind that comes from a can. She will not eat mac and cheese from Wawa, which means it probably comes from a can or is prepared in a similar fashion. She will not eat mac and cheese that contains tomatos (Sound weird? Dice a small tomato and try it!), but she will cover her mac and cheese in seasonings if given the opportunity, and then not it it because it is too spicy.

Abby does not eat spicy foods. Spicy foods often have some extra sugar or salt - not any particularly spicy spices - or are carbonated. Soda is not a drink that Abby enjoys, and she often questions my worth as a human for drinking such a vile concoction.

According to Abby, milk is the coldest drink on the Earth. Colder than ice water, in fact. Abby will often attempt to drink gallons of milk instead of what food we feed her for dinner that is not a grilled cheese sandwich.

I saw Abby eat a hamburger once and nearly died of shock.

Abby enjoys hard candy, but not sugary foods. She will not eat breakfast cereal that is frosted or has similarly high sugar content.

Abby's favorite meal is breakfast, where she has the widest variety of food that she enjoys. She will eat pancakes and waffles, which should not contain sweeteners, but will sublimely dunk them in a vat of maple (not blueberry) syrup. Eggs are iffy.

To our surprise, Abby eats sausage. At breakfast is the best time to serve her sausage. She will also eat pizza, reluctantly, if it has only sausage, and she will occasionally pick it off.

Pizza, a staple food of children with teeth, is not a food Abby will ask for. Nor are hot dogs. French fries mike make it past her censors.

When eating rice, Abby will seek out the buttered rice - indeed, the solitary butter pat still melting in the rice - to eat before anything else. But do not put butter on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich because that makes it taste bad.

Abby thankfully enjoys most fruit, although it is easier to get her to eat peaches than apples, and really, who can blame her?

Of the vegetable variety, Abby is quite selective. She will eat broccoli - 100%. Green beans - 80%. Peas - 20%. Red Beans - 0%. She used to like sweet potato, but this Thanksgiving she turned it down. I'm not crazy about sweet potato, so I let that slide.

Trying new foods is an activity that Abby will not partake in, especially if the food was once a living thing. Berta and I have changed our hair color to a more gray tint attempting to convince Abby to try meat, vegetables, and even desserts.

Cake is a dessert that Abby enjoys. Or rather, cake icing is a dessert that Abby enjoys. Thankfully, Abby has great taste in ice cream.

Abby does not eat that much, and I constantly wonder if she's getting enough of what her body needs. I think we talk to her about eating good foods too often, because she will often ask why a particular food is good for her body.

Still, she doesn't like pizza. What's that all about?

As far as the other kid goes... Riley eats everything.