Hot Wax

I’m probably a bit excessive in my hyper-vigilance where the welfare of my kids is concerned. I’ve always got an eye on one or both of them, weighing what they’re doing, trying to pick out the potential dangers. It’s an incredible distraction, and in some ways I feel like I’ll never be able to fully concentrate on anything until they’re older.

I can’t catch everything though.

When THEBOY'S getting out of the bath or shower, sometimes I have candles lit. If he’s slow to get out when I tell him, he’ll speed up if he knows he gets to blow out a candle or two.

Last night, in one quick motion, he got too close to the candle and blew too hard. Yeah, it was like it was in slow motion in my peripheral vision.

He blew hot wax all over his face, including his right eye. To me it looked like he’d all but put the flame out with his eye.

He’s blown out candles 1000 times, but on the 1001st time I didn’t watch closely enough and he nearly did something terrible.

It hurt a lot, obviously. As far as I could tell, though, no wax got IN the eye itself. No discoloration, nothing odd looking. But he certainly had red marks on his face.

I felt bad for him, of course. I feel guilty, like I made some bad call in letting a kid of nearly five blow out a candle. It’s always when you’re not right on top of what they’re doing that they nearly kill themselves.

He was fine this morning.

***

But we’d had a good evening to that point. At the Northeast Tarrant County College campus one can see rabbits at dusk. To groundskeepers I’m sure they’re a nuisance, or at best no more special than squirrels.

I thought THEBOY would like to see them, though, so we took a stroll around campus. Total rabbits: 14. I let THEBOY lead the way as we crept past bushes and around corners. They’re not that shy, and he loved seeing them. I imagine they’re fed by students too, as one of the little buggers approached us, coming within about 10 feet.

***

Trouble goes wherever Ugueth Urbina is. Wasn’t it last season that his mother was kidnapped? Now he’s being charged with attempted murder.

He’s a good pitcher for sure. He was a Ranger for a while, and I thought at times he pitched brilliantly. But he’s been through several teams since then, and I’d imagine it’s at least partly because of all the baggage that goes with this guy.

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THEGIRL'S been in a great mood lately. Keep that kid healthy and she just sparkles with personality. Sunday all she wanted to do was sit on my lap or entertain me. All smiles and laughs… good stuff.

***

Running is going fairly well. I failed to reach six miles Sunday like I’d hoped. But I did five miles in 53:40, which is a time I can live with. It’s a much better pace than I thought I was running, actually.

***

Work beckons.