Happy Veterinarians Day!

We're home after lunch and Clover is already trying to give her brother a time out. She's counted to three and is now yelling "Time out!" He goes back and forth between ignoring and taunting her, all while yelling "ayt, ayt, ayt," from Vampire Weekend's A Punk. It's going to be a long afternoon.

With the day off school for the holiday to honor our esteemed veterinarians,* we headed to the mall to see Santa. I know it's mid-November, but having the annual Santa photo already taken is a huge relief. Before we left, I pulled out the kids' new hair brush since we still cannot find our regular one, which is lost in the house somewhere. As the kids pointed out immediately, the new one looks like the dog brush. Yesterday as I hurried to get Clover ready for school, she asked why I was brushing her hair with the dog brush, which is when I realized I missed a great punishment: I could have threatened to use the dog brush on them until they found the lost hair brush. Or I simply could have used the dog brush instead of buying a new kids brush. When I brought out the brush today, Rocket yelled, "NO! Don't dog brush me!"

At the mall, we only had to wait a minute or two before Santa walked up, crossing through the courtyard carrying his briefcase/gym bag and Starbucks. Usually they have these guys get ready at Macy's, then walk out. One mom said, "Oh here he comes! [Whispering] Walking to work, how realistic!" Probably not so realistic for the kid who had to see this guy get out of a Honda Civic.

After he sat down, his staff made him take off his black boots and put on black Birkenstocks. Oh California, how we've managed to turn even Santa into a part-time hippie.

Santa was amazing. He looked and acted the part completely. Both kids smiled on cue and all was well. We headed to the Creamery for lunch and promised milkshakes. There must have been something in the milkshakes because about half way through, they turned my little angels into a band of monkeys. Luckily we got out of there before the trouble began.

*Clover said it was Veterinarians Day and I corrected her, saying "veterans," and she responded with "yeah?" as if we had said the same thing. I had to explain the difference.

Comments

[Pumpkin Petunia]

The image of Rocket screaming "don't dog brush me" in the middle of the mall has put me in a fit of giggles! I can only imagine the thoughts running through the minds of the masses who overheard him!

As for Santa in birkenstocks - is nothing sacred! What is wrong with a nice boot when the occasion calls for one?