Father's Day

Saturday we went to Crissy Field where we made little sand castles which immediately got stomped on by the Jolly Green Skyler, ran on the grassy knolls and walked on the pier. Skyler didn't find many fish in the buckets this time but he got to inspect some bait and was very curious about the giant earth worms so Matt and I held it out for him, "it's not going to hurt you sweety, it's a worm, see mommy and daddy are touching it" and he reluctantly put a tiny finger on it for a split second. Icky.

My father used to get my brother and I to touch all sorts of gross slimy creatures and I must admit I was glad to go through my early years fairly fearless and happy to catch lizards and bugs like a boy, and eat things that most kids would think were disgusting (octopus in spaghetti for example). It wasn't until I got a little older (and wiser) that I started to question him: "Dad, I thought you said this was roast beef, it doesn't taste like it...", "Well, actually Steph, it's cows tongue." or, "Dad, what's in these scrambled eggs?" "Oh, I added some brains to it, keep eating, you'll learn to like it. The French love it." or, "Dad! You poured me a cup of milk that's spoiled, didn't you notice it was chunky?!" "It's fine, how do you think they make cheese!?". In spite of all of that, I really do miss him, especially today.

Skyler and I took Matt to a little Father's Day breakfast at East Coast West for matzah brie with smoked salmon and strawberry pancakes. Skyler decided that he wanted to eat the butter all by itself. What do you do when you don't want a scene in a restaurant but you can't just let him take fork fulls of butter!? Yes, of course we tried logic first: "Skyler, NOBODY eats JUST butter!", and, "It's going to give you a tummy ache", and, "Do you see anyone else in the restaurant eating butter?" pointing to other patrons to show they're smarter than to eat just butter. Then we pulled out our imaginary Parental Playbook and tried number 27, "the art of distraction" which is basically pull a toy out of your purse, offer some other tasty treat, talk in a funny character voice - anything to get off the subject of the butter. It doesn't always work perfectly and we did had some squeaking at our table, but he went on to enjoy his pancakes after I just took the giant butter scoop and stuffed in under his pancakes telling him that if he ate ALL of his pancakes (impossible) he'd get to eat ALL of the butter.

Then we drove to Fisherman's Wharf to ride the carousel, visit the sea lions and have a little ice cream, then it was home for a nap (god I love naps).

Happy Father's Day Matty! You are a wonderful dad.

Steph
XOXOX