My Seussical Life for 2004 May 4

I've figured out that if I hide a little bit of broccoli in Atticus' mac & cheese, he'll eat it without a fuss. Samuel, on the other hand, will only eat macaroni and cheese when I've hidden it in broccoli. They are a strange pair.

I attended an Enrichment Night which featured children's literature last summer. The presenter, a children's literacy specialist, read this great book that followed the formula of something good happening followed by something bad. Every sentence began with "fortunately" or "unfortunately." I can't really remember the exact events of the story, but the format was charming. I really hope I find the book someday, but for today, I have my own story to tell using the "fortunately, unfortunately" convention, so here it is. . .

Fortunately, I have an especially acute sense of smell. Unfortunately, yesterday I felt haunted by some foul odor coming from some area of the kitchen. Fortunately, this motivated normal to extra deep cleaning on my part: doing all the dishes, cleaning out the fridge, throwing out old food, taking out the garbage, moving the fridge and mopping the floor underneath, taking recyclables out to the car for a trip to the recycling center, etc. Unfortunately, this business kept me up until midnight. Fortunately, I got rid of the smell. Unfortunately, in the morning, Samuel was simultaneously feeling thirsty and independent, and he decided to take the lid-less pitcher containing two quarts of apple juice out of the fridge by himself. Unfortunately, a great mushroom cloud of the sticky liquid came crashing down and the juice went *everywhere* inside of the fridge--and outside a little bit, too. But fortunately, I laughed and didn't cry. In situations such as these, little else besides humor can keep a person together.