Weekend
We went to a one year old's birthday party yesterday afternoon. It was gobbs of fun. Pictures coming soon. I have to say, it was the most fun I've ever had at a one year old's birthday party. Kudos to Justin and Christine, the proud parents.
Premise
Nat and I did not get our normal date night. I missed it.  We kept Elle this weekend because she was gone all last week. I have to say, it was fun having her around. Nat and I want to keep her for more of the weekends. Now that she is in school most days and the grand parents want to take her on many of the weekend, Elle is getting tossed around a bit. I just like having her around. She is a bright, funny, happy child. She can throw a fit with the best of them. Those come and go. We can deal.
Friday evening
I don't remember what we did Friday. We ran around and got some errands done.
Saturday
I baptized the yard in bug killer. I also got some weed killer. That comes some time this week.I'll keep you up to date.s Other than that, not much. Nat went to a concert with some friends Saturday evening. I watched Elle.
Sunday Day
Nat got up and did some cleaning. Not bad for having stayed out at a concert. I start charging batteries and getting my stuff together. Nat gets Elle up and running after some debate about what bathing suit to put Elle in for the day. We hit the road and find ourselves in one of the hardest rain storms I've seen in a long time. It was creepy because Nat and I were both glaring at the dark gray side of the sky smack over the direction we were headed. The rain was so thick that folks on the road put on their hazard lights just to be seen. I'm thinking the whole time that the party will be rained out. After about thirty minutes we hit the other side of the mess and it was blue sky. Not only was it clear, but there was a line where the rain stopped. The pavement was dry from there on except for the water dripping off soaking wet cars.
The party was at a ranch far north of Huston. I was a bit wary about going so far, but I'm glad we did.
We drove right past the place. Fortunately, Hank the guy who sings for Justin's band was driving in as we came back.
They have a pool, playgrounds, places to barbecue. They have a train that drives around the lake, but it was down due to track problems. I wanted to go out on the lake in one of the paddle boats, but no one was able to get one launched. Those would have been cool pictures. As it is, I missed a great Red Tailed Hawk bating in the stream. By the time people spotted it, I was pooped and just wanted to sit in the shade. That was fun too because you could watch and talk to people.
Sunday Evening
I heard a story on NPR this morning about robots learning to speak. They went into detail about how computers can have canned responses and even sense the level of someone's mood by listening to the tones of their voice. They cannot understand how someone feels or grasp real sensations like a person can. Much more goes by in a conversation besides words and phrases.
They mentioned empathy. Empathy is the ability to sympathize with someone else's emotional state. It turns out, children do not learn this ability until about age two to three. This is why children can be so cruel. A two year old genuinely doesn't care how you feel when they throw a fit about candy or a toy. They are just out for what they can get. They have to learn. In order to learn, they have to feel the emotions they put on others. They have to have the same things done to them, within limits, that inflict the feelings that they can and will inflict on others. There is no other way to learn it.
Elle threw a fit yesterday when we left the party. It is one of those situations where you just want to explain things to her, but all she does is scream at the top of her lungs. The only way I know how to deal with this is simply get on with my day and wait until she realizes her fit is doing her no good. If we had stuck around and tried to convince her, she would have thought her fit just might work. We left and within a few minutes she had stopped. Her fit failed. it was not five minutes and she was out. The day was full and she was tired and cranky.
I only hope she learned a little bit of a lesson. I hope that was the right thing to do. I fell asleep on the ride home. Poor Nat tells me she nearly stopped to take a nap too. We made it home safe and sound. I walked in, collapsed on the couch and woke up after nine to crawl into bed.
This Morning
I got up early this morning to take the bus. Nat and Elle were both feeling under the weather and stayed home. Thank goodness someone mowed the path along side the street on 1093. I imagine someone who had to swerve to miss me last week called the county and complained. That is how pedestrian rights work these days.