Last weekend we went to a local mall to walk around inside enjoying the free air conditioning. They have a little playground area inside that C and J can play in. The only problem with it is that the age range tends to get a little wild - from crawling babies to eight or nine-year old kids.
One particular little boy was being pretty rough with J. She kept coming back to me, complaining, "That boy keeps pushing me down, daddy." I kept telling J to work it out (ask him to stop; failing that, avoid him; and failing that, shove him back). I went back to following C around making sure no one knocked her over, and when I looked back over to J she had recruited two larger kids (a boy and a girl) to serve as bodyguards. The much larger boy was telling the other kid to "Leave her alone!" His sister was holding J's hand as they walked around.
After the rougher kid left the playground, J played with the protective siblings for a while. As they left, I told them thank you for standing up for someone smaller than them. It was kinda cool to see how that worked out.
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A few nights ago I went jogging with J in the jogging stroller. Someone in a big black Caddy rolled by, thumping hip-hop out of the radio at full volume.
"I don't like that music, daddy. It's not pretty. That's boy music."
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We just celebrated the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teurah / Rosh Hoshanna) and I tried to use the day to tell J stories about God's creation, the wall of Jericho, etc. However, after a few stories J started to express some dissatisfaction. "I'm tired of these stories, dad. I want to hear a story about ponies!"
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I want to write these down more often because it's so easy to forget them.