Fast times and wild living with (the former) Baby Whozit…
Posted in Jessica, Little Boy on Nov 9th, 2011
Simon’s swimming program is organized into 6 levels, ranging from Level 1 Splashers whose goal it is to not freak out in the water to Level 6 Flyers who are perfecting a multitude of strokes. Simon started out as a Level 2 Floater and has remained one for three months. This past Sunday, upon seeing […]
Posted in Jessica, Little Boy, Simon says... on Nov 6th, 2011
Courage is being scared to death… and saddling up anyway. ~John Wayne Or, in Simon’s case, being scared to death and jumping in the pool anyway. As Simon progresses through the skills in his swimming class, only two items remain before he advances to the next level*: (1) rolling over from his front to his […]
Posted in Jessica, Little Boy on Nov 3rd, 2011
When I held Simon as a baby, I sometimes pondered what the hardest part of parenting might be: Potty training? Whining? Teenage angst? Giving him car keys? They all seemed like good bets, and I still don’t like thinking about the last two. But the one that I dreaded the most was telling Simon about […]
Posted in Jessica, KIP (Preschool), Little Boy on Oct 28th, 2011
It’s that time of the year again. KIP opted to host their annual Halloween parade a little early, on Friday the 28th instead of Monday the 31st. At first I was a little confused about this, but I think the logic was that a parade + party + trick-or-treating on Monday = a bunch of […]
Posted in Family, Friends, Jessica, Little Boy on Oct 25th, 2011
Louisville is a small city/big town, the kind of place where everyone is, or seems to be, a few degrees removed from everyone else. I didn’t feel a part of the web of the city my first few years back. I had been gone for seventeen years, and many of my connections were lost or […]
Posted in Friends, Jessica, Little Boy on Oct 21st, 2011
As Simon gets older, he’s interested in a wider variety of activities and only rarely naps. I sometimes sense that he’s under-stimulated by being at school from 9 to 1 and then hanging out with me at home. After a brief snack and rest, I feel like he’s ready to DO something. And he is, […]
Posted in Family, Friends, Jessica, Little Boy on Oct 18th, 2011
Against the backdrop of birthday preparations last week, other stuff was percolating. This stuff, which I will get to in a moment, demonstrated to me more than anything that it takes a village—or better still an army—to raise a child. It all started the week before last, when I had a five-day fever that didn’t […]
Posted in Birthday Letter, Jessica, Little Boy on Oct 16th, 2011
Dear Simon, This is the year that sealed it for me and your Dad: We are some of the luckiest parents in the world. Not because you are perfect—no one is—but because, Baby Kitten aside, you are the perfect kid for us. I’m sure if I had sat down and described my ideal child: curious, […]
Posted in Jessica, Little Boy on Oct 14th, 2011
Did you know that Simon is going to be five on Sunday? And that he’s having a friends birthday party on Saturday and a family one on Sunday? Did you know that he’s getting presents at the family party? And that we are baking cupcakes for the Saturday one? And that his Sunday cake will […]
Posted in Jessica, Little Boy on Oct 8th, 2011
Transcript of actual conversation between me and Matt: “So what’s Simon doing for Yom Kippur? Going with you and your mom?” “No. He’s going to have a sleepover with your folks.” “Oh.” [sounding surprised] “Yeah, I figure he did so well on Rosh Hashanah, we can call it a holiday. Besides, he’s not-quite five. What’s […]