DailySusan Humor Blog

I’m surprised and honored. A friend involved in politics in Lincoln encouraged me to write an op-ed opposing the spread of all-day kindergarten across the state and send it to the Lincoln Journal. They ran it today! It’s a hot potato, because a lot of parents like the “free day care,” and many people think it’s academically better for today’s kids. But the evidence shows that it’s not. And it costs a ton. Come see what you think:

www.journalstar.com/articles/2006/03/06/letters/doc440b7077c1357325964818.txt

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FLUFFINGTON VAN CHOCSTRAW

The older three girls criticize us as being ‘way, ‘way, ‘way too permissive with Maddy. They say the thought of a new toy or possession no sooner pops into her little pea brain and out her cupid’s bow little lips, than we run out and buy it for her.

It must come with senility, now that we’re raising a tail-ender in our old age. We were physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight enough with the first round of children to have disciplined them moderately well. At least, THEY remember us saying “no” a lot. They say we’ve forgotten how.

Well, now we’ve done it again. Meet “Fluffy,” our new guinea pig, an early birthday present for Maddy. She is little, cuddly and quiet, at least so far. It was love at first sight; Maddy was jumping up and down as rapidly as a pneumatic drill when she first cast eyes on her in the pet store.

Fluffy is a calico: white head and shoulders with a dark patch over one eye, very movie-star like, and then a dark brown section and a tan section, and then some more white. She reminds me a lot of Neapolitan ice cream. That’s why her formal name is “Fluffington Van Chocstraw.”

At least we recycled an old 30-gallon aquarium for her home, and didn’t have to buy a lot of accessories for this new pet. But, as the older three would say, it’s early, and we’re wussies.