There's crazy in the air

Ilene tells it way better, but I will sum up:

Issue 1
My father-in-law, he of the ladder-fall/coma/recovery transition, has taken to collecting pets. Since getting out of the hospital and recovering his mettle, he's acquired a dog (small), two canaries (smaller but one male and the other female), five more canaries from the resulting first clutch of eggs, two finches (again, one male, the other female) ... and he's not stopping there. On the drawing board: backyard pond with fish and turtles.

Issue 2
Our 4-year-old has taken this opportunity to tell us that she no longer wants to be a vegetarian (as we are) and that she wants meat, meat and more meat. Since she had never tasted meat, she got Ilene to take her to Trader Joe's, where she tasted the meaty (chickenish) sample. Now the teachers at preschool have been informed that little miss can, indeed, have meat if she wishes.

Today's preschool menu? Cheese enchiladas. ... no meat in sight.

Anyway, it's a kind of teenage rebellion, a quest for control ... except that SHE'S ONLY 4.