Travelogue

I was in custody of the Kitten today, since I have today off (woo-hoo!) and Margie has to work. To that end, I’d intentionally skipped going to the comic book store, etc., yesterday on the way home. I wanted to have Fun with Kitten Time.

I knew the comic store didn’t open up until 10, but boming up on 9 a.m., I decided to make a run at Best Buy. “Come on, Kitten! Go car!”

Much sifting and sorting of shoes and packing of diaper bags later, we were “going car” and off to Best Buy, there to look for a game I’ve been occasionally seeking.

“Uh-oh.” Best Buy doesn’t open until 10, either. I consulted with Kitten, and we decided to go to the park. “Park?” “Park!” There’s a nice little park here in the neighborhood, beyond easy walking distance from the house, but we had wheels, so off we went.

There were some other kids there — one little girl whose grandmother (with a cute English accent) was watching her while Mom dealt with the carpet cleaners, and some boys whose Dad was watching them in-between cell phone calls. We had much fun going up and down the slide, swinging on the swing, and doing whatever the other little girl was doing. Many big smiles and laughter ensued. She’s such a social animal, and she really doesn’t get enough play time with other kids her age.

An electronic ragtime tune split the air. My cell phone. It’s Margie. Did I get those donations out on the front doorstep?

Uh …

So off we go. Katherine has no qualms about leaving, mercifully. We zoop over home, and I pull the old TV, vacuum, mirror and shoe rack out onto the front porch. ARC is only expecting the vacuum cleaner, bwah-ha-ha! Slowly but surely the garage is getting emptied out, hopefully in time for the snow season …

Then back in the van. To the comic book store, Captain Kitten! Huzzah!

We get there without incident. Last time I was there with Kitten, she was a kidling in arms, which is sort of shocking. We wander through, and she’s an excellent little girl, pointing out all sorts of thing that caught her eye (and given how much there can catch my eye, that’s saying something) but not grabbing anything.

We do the obligatory manual scan of the racks for last week’s comics, just in case I missed anything. Nope. But … “Hey!” Katherine says, pointing at a Power Puff Girls comic — which had caught my eye at the same time.

So Katherine got an extra treat, which coincidentally matched her shirt today. And she got a bonus free comic from the proprietor, an Archie comic. Cool!

As a further reward, we went over to Starbucks, and got Kitten a little treat, and Daddy a big one. Yum.

Off to the game store. Midway there, we got a loud “Uh-oh!” from the back seat, as she’d managed to somehow spill an appreciable amount of her treat down her front, sippy cup notwithstanding. She had a paper napkin back there, and managed to most the excess off, but the Power Puff Girls now looked to be flying through a large smog bank.

We stopped up at Bonnie Brae games, which is actually much more convenient for me since they moved from Bonnie Brae. I was in search of the D20 version of Silver Age Sentinels, the supers RPG I’m running (and, yes, I finally have a next date scheduled, and more on that some other time). Not a cheap purchase, to be sure, but I think I owe it to my players (no, really) to check it out and see if that’s the way I want to move things.

As we arrived, a fire engine was just finishing cleaning up from an auto accident. Much excitement for Kitten, though she seemed as excited by the bus driving by as the fire engine.

We walked over to the shop, and, again, Kitten was a stellar citizen. Lots of interest, lots that she could have grabbed and ripped from the shelves, but she showed admirable restraint. So Daddy got his rule book and Kitten got a little red VW car. I was beginning to feel a bit like a “custody daddy,” showing the kid with goodies whilst on their weekend visits, but — well, what the hell. She was being great, and I was having great fun.

So back to the van. We headed back to Best Buy, as she continued to point out big cars, big trucks, red cars, green cars, and playing with her car. We were also listening to the Playhouse Disney CD, which she recognized all the voices from and had much fun with singing along (in her own fashion — well, Daddy did, too).

Toddling through BB, she was finally beginning to get a bit flaky — playing with her car, but also running around, climbing up on bottom shelves, etc. Didn’t find what I was looking for (Unreal II — alas, it seems to have fallen off the shelves, even though it was just published in January), but I satisfied myself with something from the clearance rack and went on from there. I also wanted to check and see if they had any kids-hand size mice, but nothing was to be had.

Cruise back home, empty the car, big bowl or two of applesauce for Kitten, e-mail check for Daddy …

A good morning. Nothing terribly interesting or unique, but good fun.