Fast times and wild living with (the former) Baby Whozit…
Posted in Jessica on Feb 17th, 2015
Once upon a time, I shopped for fun, need, and therapy. I shopped with friends and alone, to celebrate and self-medicate. Then Simon came along and with him, certain restrictions on time and cash. A few years later, I began running and doing pilates, and further restrictions on shopping were put into place. Finally, last […]
Posted in Friends, Jessica, Second Grader on Feb 2nd, 2015
Not-so-rhetorical question: How old does a child have to be before it is OK to dislike him or her? Don’t get me wrong, there are 3-year-olds I dislike. It’s just that when a child is hard to like at age 3, you have to assume the child is unhappy, off-schedule, stressed, or a normal 3-year-old […]
Posted in Jessica, Second Grader on Jan 28th, 2015
Last night, Simon and I sat down to work on math word problems. He was supposed to to learn the following: How to use addition to solve a problem; How to use multiplication to solve a problem; How to combine the two in to solve a multi-step problem. Instead, he learned this: It’s hard to […]
Posted in Jessica, Second Grader on Jan 23rd, 2015
In a bit of irony that nearly drove me to tears, I got a note from Simon’s teacher last Wednesday that he has made a complete 180-degree turn in class. He is no longer shy, no longer hesitant to raise his hand out of fear of making a mistake, and is fully and fearlessly participating […]
Posted in Jessica, Second Grader, Simon says... on Jan 16th, 2015
Presented with parenthetical commentary by yours truly, Simon’s most recent school essay. My First Turniment Goal By Simon Whitworth Last weekend I went to a soccer tournament. (Or thee months ago. Same diff.) The soccer tournament was a 2 hour drive to Cincinnati with my mom and dad. The game was really early. The game […]
Posted in Jessica, Simon says... on Jan 4th, 2015
I’ve made a real effort these past two weeks to clear off my literal and metaphorical desk so I can begin 2015 fresh. The end of 2014 was busier than most and left me with a disordered house and scattered mind. So in between cooking and cleaning and entertaining and visiting these past two weeks […]
Posted in Jessica, Uncategorized on Dec 28th, 2014
Like so many years before it, 2014 is ending on a sprint. Part of that sprint is owing to my own tendency towards procrastination. What can I say: I respond to deadlines. But the other part is owing to a phenomenon I know many are familiar with: the too many chiefs, not enough Indians school […]
Posted in Family, Jessica, Second Grader on Dec 16th, 2014
The yin-yang of big kid-little kid with Simon has reached dizzying heights. Consider today: 1. I catch Simon singing the theme song to the “Men in Blazers” show. These are two British expats who do a podcast and television show about football, or as they like to mockingly say, “saaaacker”. If that doesn’t sound like […]
Posted in Jessica on Dec 7th, 2014
I haven’t had a literal baby to put to bed for seven years now, but I’ve had a metaphorical one—the Sudanese scholarship organization I’ve been a part of—for the past six. I joined when the group was just coming off its peak of fundraising and scholarship allocation, and I took over as director the year […]
Posted in Jessica, Second Grader on Nov 30th, 2014
We are now a week or so out from fall soccer, and have gotten through what I will call re-entry. At first, with all that time on our hands and unseasonably cold temperatures outdoors, we were all on edge. What in the heck were we supposed to DO with ourselves? Honestly, none of us were […]