in which someone gets robbed and i get a sandwich

today the kids had quite a lesson in humanity - the highs, the lows, the ineffectual.  we went to walmart and managed to exit the car at the same time someone was robbing two women in the cars across from us.  the kids saw everything, including the part where i tried (unsuccessfully) to chase the robber down.  i was terrified but i also couldn't just watch someone get violated and not do anything.  i didn't manage to catch him or even stop him and in retrospect i'm not even sure he noticed me.  but the babies did.  when i came back to the car, after apologizing to the second woman, the kids were staring at me with tears in their eyes.  i took both of them in my arms and spent a few seconds completely at a loss as to what to do.  i wanted to get out of there - out of the parking lot, away from the store, away from the women that i was ultimately unable to help - but i also didn't want upset the babies any more than they already were.  so we went to walmart.  we wandered aimlessly through the aisles and purchased a whole cart full of post-traumatic stress goods:  toothbrushes, soap, lasagna noodles, crackers in the shape of a whale, fabric softener, dried eucalyptus, lunch box.

witnessing crime tends to put a damper on the day so mostly we just came home and played wii.  i also spent a lot of time washing blood off of hardie, who now has open sores on his head and awkwardly bleeds on things (and people) but that story doesn't have nearly the same excitement as the robbery one.  in fact, it pretty much begins and ends with: hardie has open sores on his head and awkwardly bleeds on things (and people).  the great staph battle of 2012 rages on.

to end on a happy note, i have been trying to continue the useful lessons of montessori (independence, self-reliance, responsibility) at home and let beatrice explore the world of culinary arts.  so far she's managed instant oatmeal and peanut butter sandwiches but i am confident that once her knife skills improve i can hand over the dinner reins and spend my evenings drinking martinis and playing wii with hardie.

the saddest, open-woundedest little man 

just kidding.  

chef beazle