So Max got a little sunblock in his hair and, not having much hair of my own to do funny things with, I could not resist. He was very pleased and ran around shouting, "I'm Dan Zanes, I'm Dan Zanes!" He also wanted to recreate it for school on Monday, but since it's probably not great to put a lot of zinc oxide in your hair on purpose, we said no.

He is very excited for school these days because 1) it is really summer camp, so they mostly go outside, and 2) he got "promoted" to the oldest group, Las Mariposas. It is a proud day when your oldest son becomes a butterfly, I can tell you that.

Last night as I was putting Max to bed, he asked me to lay down next to him. Though he is supposed to be able to just go to sleep without a whole lot of song and dance, I agreed. Then he said, "Dad, can I touch your face?"

"Why do you want to do that?"

"Because I like you."

Then he put his hand on my cheek, sighed, and fell asleep. Max rocks.

About an hour later, Abe woke up and screamed for 30 minutes. He did that three more times before morning. But Abe rocks, too.

Summer is cranking along. My job is great, completely different from anything I've done before. So apparently my gargantuan investment in grad school was worth it.

In more interesting news, the kids are doing fun stuff. Max's garden is thriving and there are peas for everyone. I think it is a sign of excellent parenting when a 4-year old cries because he has to stop eating peas and chard and come in for dinner. I don't think Max has asked for candy in months, and that's not because Leah and I don't buy candy for ourselves. Well, for Leah. In fact, the only time Max got interested in candy recently was when he was buying a fancy chocolate bar for our neighbor, Jennifer, who lets him pick raspberries from her yard.

Max's cousins from the west coast recently came to visit, and Max was happy to share his peas with Jesse. These two could not be more different: Jesse does not mind the occasional fall out of a tree, and Max, well, let's just say that he would mind. A lot. Plus, they only see each other at best once a year. Yet they interact like the best of (4-year old) friends: half hugs, half bickering.

Max also recently graduated from pre school and is headed to kindergarten in the BPS. Fun times ahead as we become "that family that cannot get their goddamned kid here on time and packs those weird lunches." Max's school is sort of on the edge of the hood and on the edge of yuppieville, so his classmates will be very different from those in his private pre-school. We think he will do wonderfully, because why not? Max got to be first across the stage at graduation and loved every second of it. Abe liked the reception better than the ceremony, because the ceremony did not involve noodles.