I was talking to a friend the other day when the subject of ancient history came up. I’m not sure how we got there, but at some point I found myself describing the disorienting feelings that come from reading ancient mail. One minute you read a four-thousand-year-old letter from an exasperated king to his ne’er […]
Monthly Archive for January, 2011
If You Can’t Beat Them, Have Them Join You
Posted in Family, Jessica, Little Boy on Jan 28th, 2011
Simon and I have a little joke: “Why can’t Cambria do X [name of any random task],” I’ll ask? “Because he doesn’t have any hands,” Simon will helpfully explain with a huge smile on his face. Cats. Liberated from work by the lack of an opposable thumb; prevented from human play by the same. Or, […]
Absorption
Posted in Jessica, Little Boy, Simon says..., Uncategorized on Jan 26th, 2011
My mom used to say that part of parenting required blind faith. You tell your kids the same things over and over and over and over, while they often as not seem to ignore you, and hope to live to see the day when some of that advice or direction sticks. I got an early […]
Idiolect
Posted in Jessica, Little Boy, Simon says... on Jan 24th, 2011
Simon likes language. I know that sounds silly, but what I mean is that he is very aware of the words and expressions he uses and tries to experiment with them. I’m hoping this foreshadows a lifelong interest in the written and spoken word. Until then, I’m enjoying the fruits of his unique idiolect. Being […]
Snow Day!
Posted in Friends, Jessica, Little Boy on Jan 21st, 2011
Our fifth, to be precise, but the first when I could get the camera out. Today we slept in, then headed to Caroline’s house for some sledding and hot cocoa. Time to get kitted out in bibs, jacket, hat, mittens, and snow boots? About 10 minutes. Time sledding before Caroline called it a day (she […]
If my time on Facebook (or anywhere else people comment online) has taught me anything, it’s that people behind the screen can be a lot like people behind the wheel: total sociopaths. What’s more, there is something about turning 41 that has left me less likely to sit back quietly when others are being obnoxious. […]
Raging against the Dying of the Light
Posted in Jessica, Little Boy on Jan 17th, 2011
Oh boy. We’re back to talking about death, and the conversations are getting more difficult and emotionally fraught. I still don’t think Simon really understands it, but he now understands it enough to be afraid and upset by the notion that we all die. Thursday night, just before I turned out the light, Simon asked […]
Reversing the Ivan Curse
Posted in Family, Jessica, Little Boy, Simon says... on Jan 15th, 2011
My dad has many fine qualities and talents. His sense of direction and spatial capacity do not number among them. The same man who can tell you about every Dutch portrait ever painted, discuss drug interactions in dizzying detail, and make a rocking cradle that makes you want to have a dozen kids just so […]
A Blip and a Laugh
Posted in Jessica, Little Boy, Simon says... on Jan 14th, 2011
So I was down for two days working in the KIP computer lab and scurrying to finish a grant proposal. Then the blog was down for a half day from a technical glitch. Deep thinking will have to wait. But I do have two funny quotes to pass on. Simon to Evie at Noah’s Ark […]
2009 vs 2010: A Study in Contrasts in Six Words or Fewer
Posted in Jessica, Little Boy, Simon says... on Jan 11th, 2011
In early 2010, Simon said something that unnerved me. I was upstairs vacuuming when I heard him ask Matt: “Is that Leslie up there?” Leslie was the housekeeper who came every two weeks. Although I did vacuum between her visits, I didn’t do it much or well. Thus, Vacuum = Leslie in Simon’s three-year-old brain. […]