Many people mourn the passage of childhood, the abandonment of carefree ways of the young’uns in favor of a more complicated, less innocent life.<\/p>\n
Only one such milestone has been traditionally greeted by parents with unmitigated joy: potty training. But to that hallowed and solitary occasion of joy I add a new occasion of celebration, a new rite of passage that brings nearly the joy and happiness and unregretful glee at the occasion as toilet training.<\/p>\n
Yes … it happened. It took a little prodding, a bit of suggestive sale, a scosh of manipulation to set it up, but …<\/p>\n
… Katherine has agreed that “Dave & Busters” is a much <\/em>better time than “Chuck E. Cheese,” and is the new Night Out of Great Happiness. Drinks, better games, and a full menu trump crappy pizza, poorly-maintined audioanimatronics, and a zillion squealing toddlers. <\/p>\n Huzzah!<\/p>\n Today … my daughter is a Young Lady.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (Credit for the cunning plan must go to Margie. But I added the incentive of having a trip on the light rail.)<\/p>\n <\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Many people mourn the passage of childhood, the abandonment of carefree ways of the young’uns in favor of a more complicated, less innocent life. Only one such milestone has been…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[23,72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parenting","category-food-drink-restaurants"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10418,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/01\/21\/seperating_the_boys_from.html","url_meta":{"origin":13221,"position":0},"title":"“Seperating the boys from the men”","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 21-Jan-07 1:17pm","format":false,"excerpt":"So one of the things I do at our church is serve, on occasion, as lector. That means reading one or more of the readings appointed for the given Sunday....","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":128498,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/11\/03\/remembering-charlies-angels-the-movie.html","url_meta":{"origin":13221,"position":1},"title":"Remembering "Charlie's Angels" (the Movie)","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 3-Nov-15 11:52pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Y'know, I love this film. As the article indicates, it is just full of joy and fun and kick-ass action and friendship and girl power and sassy dialog (as well as some nice shout-outs to the TV series). It makes me smile every time I watch it, and my only\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6821,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/12\/24\/what_does_chris.html","url_meta":{"origin":13221,"position":2},"title":"What does Christmas mean to me?","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 24-Dec-04 3:34pm","format":false,"excerpt":"There's the religious aspect, of course. Ironically, though we are regular church-goers during the rest of the year, we never go on Christmas, since we're usually out of town, and...","rel":"","context":"In "Family"","block_context":{"text":"Family","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/personal\/family"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":257,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/05\/19\/trust.html","url_meta":{"origin":13221,"position":3},"title":"Trust","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 19-May-03 1:01pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I was reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman on my lunch hour today, and read, in a few sparse paragraphs, something that made my blood run cold. No, I'm not...","rel":"","context":"In "Parenting"","block_context":{"text":"Parenting","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/personal\/parenting"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9251,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/08\/01\/lover_when_im_w.html","url_meta":{"origin":13221,"position":4},"title":"Lover, when I’m with you …","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 1-Aug-06 2:25pm","format":false,"excerpt":"You scored as VI: The Lovers. This is a card symbolising couples, relationships and strong bonds. The love does not have to be physical, nor even called by that...","rel":"","context":"In "Personality Tests"","block_context":{"text":"Personality Tests","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/personal\/personality-tests"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":132443,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/25\/merry-christmas-to-all-and-to-all-rrrwarwrroawr.html","url_meta":{"origin":13221,"position":5},"title":"Merry Christmas to All, and to All RRRWARWRROAWR!","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 25-Dec-16 1:08pm","format":false,"excerpt":"To all you out there, casual reader or frequent commenter, I hope the winter holidays and turn of the year -- whatever significance or name you given them -- is a time of happiness and peace and joy. 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