We live in a new development with very few fully-grown trees, so when it’s breezy outside, our neighborhood can experience Jim Cantore-level gusts, as the homes create a system of wind tunnels that sends gales whistling and twisting past houses.
“Daddy will take you outside to fly your kite,” Jaclyn decreed this weekend while we were experiencing just such a weather phenomenon.
Despite having seen/read enough Peanuts cartoons over the years to know how this was going to turn out, I assembled Miles’s entry-level (read: extremely cheap) Woody kite. He was thrilled at the prospect of sending his kite soaring into the sky…at least until we got to the park which, largely clear of both trees and houses, sent the wind pounding into us.
“AHHH!” he yelled, pulling the hood of his coat tight against his head. “I WANNA GO HOME!!!”
And so we turned around and headed back, where we could find some respite on the back side of the house. It was there that I realized that we might have a little more control over how much wind we were experiencing at once if we moved just barely out from behind the house. And while Miles still has some learning to do as far as keeping his kite in the air and creating resistance (ie, not walking TOWARDS the kite as he’s trying to get it off the ground), he still managed to get at least a little airtime!
The Perils (& Pride) of Paternity 