Friday, April 25, 2008

Mr. Mom

I’ve got some Mr. Mom duty coming up this weekend, and as much as I hate invoking a designation that leads directly to the dopey, yet annoyingly self-satisfied, visage of erstwhile actor Michael Keaton, I can’t resist. Just another enduring gift to humanity from the mind of John Hughes, right up there with The Breakfast Club, a character named Duckie and the most artistically productive years in the history of one Anthony Michael Hall.

Gwen and her sister are leaving early today for a visit with their Grandmother and assorted other relatives, groupies and hangers on, returning late Sunday. I’ve been wondering how to spend the time with Madison and Ava – after thinking better of my original plan to shepherd the children through a Howard Hughes-esque odyssey featuring 60+ hours of television, innumerable pints of ice cream, sleep-deprivation and home-made pizza. Unfortunately, spring activities have already kicked in, so we’re not exactly dealing with an empty canvas.

Madison has soccer practice from 5 to 6 tonight, maybe we’ll do something fun for dinner after that. She has lacrosse practice from 9 to 10 tomorrow, a soccer game from 12 to 1, then another soccer game from 12 to 1 on Sunday. Yeah, it's that time of year. By some feat of divine intervention, Ava’s soccer squad is not practicing or playing, and I’m not exactly complaining, although I'll probably have to stop off at church on Sunday to thank God for sparing my life.

We may drive over to see my Grandmother tomorrow afternoon. She’s in her late 80s, but still very active and bowls in a league every week. The girls have had a few bowling birthday parties recently, which they enjoyed, so I figured it might be fun to all go hit the lanes together, grab some dinner and then return home for movie night. “American Gangster” and “No Country For Old Men” just hit our cable company's VOD listings. I don’t know much about either film, but based on all the critical acclaim they seem to be just what the doctor ordered for a family-friendly double feature.

The only thing I can say for sure is that it will be all quiet here in blog-land. I’m resolved to really embrace this bountiful supply of quality time with the kids, to focus in on fatherhood and stay away from computers (even Macs), e-mail, RSS feeds and cell phones. That means no new posts, no comment moderation, nothing for the next few days. I'm going to avoid the inevitable push-and-pull associated with trying to work in my own stuff by wiping that slate clean. These days are theirs. Consider us officially off the grid.

So have a great weekend and, in the immortal words of Larry Sanders, as overheard by Anthony Pellicano, “you may now flip.”

At least until Monday.

9 Comments:

Blogger Swirl Girl said...

Another movie to stay away from with your young ladies is ...Juno!
We saw that in the theater and there was a dad with his 8 and 5 year old there. Needless to say, his visitation rights were probably revoked after that outing.
Have they seen The Waterhorse? My 8 and 4 yr. loved it!

11:36 AM  
Blogger Sabriel said...

you should definitely NOT watch No country For Old Men with your girls. Not at ALL family friendly. good movie though. i don't know anything about the other film.

i love watching your family progress. I aspire to be a parent such as you when i am one.

i am mostly just a selfish American teenager living in Israel but you should still check out my blog. It's mostly self-discovery type stuff.

earthverbatim.blogspot.com

12:04 PM  
Blogger Daisy said...

Enjoy!!!

12:28 PM  
Blogger Lynn said...

Oh no! Surely you jest about those movies for family movie night! I'm 54 and still having nightmares about No Country for Old Men.

12:33 PM  
Blogger Dad said...

Just cleared the first few comments reacting to this post, now I'm off to pick up Ava from school.

Last you will hear from me until Monday.

Yes, I was kidding about the movies. iCarly is about as rough-and-tumble as it gets on our TV at the moment.

Have a good weekend everyone.

12:38 PM  
Blogger Fi said...

Just wanted say I live in the UK and just started reading your blog a couple weeks ago, I am a single mom and look forward to reading your blog. Have a great weekend and enjoy your kids!

1:07 PM  
Blogger Veronica said...

Good for you!

Enjoy.

8:06 PM  
Blogger LA said...

Love your blog. We are in the thick of thirtysomething, suburban, two kids, yaddah, yaddah, too.

When my dad got me and my sis for a weekend we did a movie out and McD's one night and movies in with a big steak dinner the other. I learned my movie history on those weekends with things like Hitchcock and War of the Worlds and Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.

Cheers! LA

4:46 PM  
Blogger Savannah said...

The best of luck to you.

8:43 PM  

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