While Mrs. Nod and I worked on shoveling out 30 inches of snow from the driveway, I sent Wynken and Blynken out back to clear away the heat pump. After warning them to be careful of the nearby outside basement steps, I returned to my grueling task.

Not five minutes go by when Wynken comes rushing up and says “Blynken fell down the basement steps and now she’s stuck!”. I rushed to the back and sure enough, she fell down the well of the stairs into the drift, arms and legs akimbo. Not only that, she lost her boot in the process.

She handled it well and didn’t panic; thankfully she didn’t get hurt – just stuck. I scooped her up in my arms and carried her back into the garage and set her down safe and sound.

She says, “Thanks, Daddy.”

I said, “Don’t you know, I’ll always come for you?”

‘Cause, you know, that’s what Daddies do.

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On 5 March 2003, I came home and, right after I closed the front door, my Bean-Girl ran up to me stark naked and give me a big hug.

So I ask, “Why are you naked?”

“Because I haven’t got any clothes on!”

You may or may not think this is cute, but I do. After all, she’s my daughter. And you might be wondering how I know exactly what day it happened on. That’s because I wrote it down. In the kitchen, right underneighth a pile of un-read newspapers (mostly the Wanderer) and magazines (Harper’s, Mother Jones) and whatever book I’m reading (Nolte’s Three Faces of Fascism) you will find my current note-book where I write down everything almost as soon as it happens.

On the same page as Bean-Girl’s clever tautology, I have other things she said or did:

• Breakfast 3/7/3: sausage, chocolate crêpes, pickles.
• 3/16/3 calls tortillas “Taco Buns”
• Visit to Nature Museum 4/7/3: “Let’s split up into one group.”

Kids do these things and you are convinced that they are the cleverest, funniest, cutest things ever, and that you will never forget them. But guess what? There are seven days each week, thirty or so days each month, and 365 1/4 days in each year and you do forget them. That is, unless you write them down.

Keep a note-book handy and, if it’s not at hand, write things down on scraps of paper or in your date book. Take a trip to the zoo or someplace interesting? Have them tell you their impressions over dinner and write them down. At the end of the year, I even take an inventory of their favorite things (What’s your favorite movie, book, meal, friend, etc.)

I have four note-books full right now, and another one in use. They are the most precois things I own.

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