Smart kids

The trouble with smart kids is that as fast as you establish rules, they find loopholes. The more you explain the reasons for something, the more skilled they become at debating. At least my son's language skills are improving.

The other infuriating habit he's developed is that whenever we do something fun with the kids - like go to the park - he always seems to turn into a monster for the rest of the day afterwards.

I sit there at the park, watching him interact so well with other kids. I feel proud when I see him helping the younger kids and holding his own with the bigger kids, knowing how to react when a child wants to interact and when a child wants to shy away... just being a great little kid. And then after it's time to go, his behavior goes steadily downhill. I've tried to explain to him that it makes us not want to do fun things with him, but I can't solve the riddle. I can't get inside his head and figure out what he's getting out of it.

So in addition to a bad day with my son, I ran out of gas, found a goat and a donkey roaming loose outside their fences (still not sure how they managed it), had both male goats playing King of the Mountain on top of the plywood roof of their shelter, came into contact with several different kinds of poo (including rat, human, and goat), and my total food intake for the day amounted to an apple, a grilled cheese sandwich, a donut, and a new pasta recipe that probably won't be making a repeat appearance. I probably had a calorie deficit of about 1000 today.

But, at least I learned how to play Garbanzo Hockey. (More on that when I'm in a better mood.)