Writing

Elizabeth is loving writing. The main thing she writes is her name. Elizabeth. Elizabeth Long. Elizabeth Ann Long. She loves it.

Then today, she wrote, "yes no" and came to show me. She said, "Look what I did all by myself!" I asked her what it said and she told me.

Miranda practices her letters every day too, but doesn't have the confidence to just do it and repeatedly says, "I don't know how to do a "c"" even when she does.

At this point, we are pretty sure they are gonna go to kindergarten next year.

Proper Attire

I don't know much about gymnastics. I have some memories of when Amy did it and I know what I see on TV. But...I do know what gymnasts wear. And I tried to have Elizabeth wear something appropriate and "cool". You know, leotard with shorts or one piece outfits.

She had other ideas.

So I told her that she had to wear certain clothes and other clothes weren't allowed in her class.

She had other ideas when she saw other kids wearing prohibited clothes.

So I gave up and she is taking her class today in full clothes including two shirts and somewhat baggy pants.

No one cares.

I guess I won't either.

I don't understand: Aging

I'm gonna start a new series here, called, "I don't understand." It will be like an unfunny, "What's the deal with the peanuts?" a la Seinfeld.

Today's rant is: I don't understand parents who are in shock that their kid is aging. I mean, really? Did it sneak up on them? Were they hiding in a cave for the last few years? What is so hard to believe about their kid turning 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or whatever? But yet, there it is on Facebook, "OMG, can you believe little johnny is 6!"

Yes. I can believe it. Until time travel is possible, I'm gonna believe it every single time.

Rock Island Line

Michael mostly puts the girls to bed these days. After being with me all day, they usually request him, he enjoys spending this time with them and I'm pretty damn sick of them. If I do it, I always sing the same songs: Hey Lolly, Dearest Duckling, Go to sleep, little pup, Hush little baby, and Walking Cane. Michael sings different songs each time, but he also always ends with Walking Cane. We've been doing it that way for years now and it's their cue that singing is about to end.

Tonight, I was doing it and didn't feel like singing so I told them we would each sing one song. Miranda sang twinkle, twinkle little star after trying Rock Island line (one of Daddy's favorites) unsuccessfully. She did very well and was even in tune.

Then Elizabeth signs Rock Island Line and pretty much nailed it. I don't even know the lyrics, but she did. Here they are are:

Well the Rock Island Line, she's a mighty good road
Rock Island Line, she's the road to ride
Yeah, the Rock Island Line, she's a mighty good road
And if you want to ride it you gotta ride it like you find it
Get a ticket at the station on the Rock Island Line

Jesus died to save our sins
Glory to God I'm gonna see Him again

Well the Rock Island Line, she's a mighty good road
Rock Island Line, she's the road to ride
Yeah, the Rock Island Line, she's a mighty good road
And if you want to ride it you gotta ride it like you find it
Get a ticket at the station on the Rock Island Line

A B C, W X Y Z
Cat's in the cupboard
But he don't see me

Well the Rock Island Line, she's a mighty good road
Rock Island Line, she's the road to ride
Yeah, the Rock Island Line, she's a mighty good road
And if you want to ride it you gotta ride it like you find it
Get a ticket at the station on the Rock Island Line

Trip to park (dad's view)

I am not tired!

The kids wanted to either ride their bikes today or go to a park or both. Michael and I were doing other stuff and therefore neither of us were too motivated to get them out the door. But as my motivation started to wane even more, I thought we better hop to it lest we sit on the couch the entire day. We decided I would take them and Michael would clean out the pantry...just one of the many things on our to do list today.

So I tell the kids to get ready. Parker and Miranda do. Elizabeth looks at me like I was the devil.

I say, "Go put shoes and socks on so we can go."

Another deadly stare.

"Elizabeth, I don't really care if you go or not, but if you want to go, you need to put shoes and socks on."

More stares, no moving.

"Ok. That's fine. You can stay here with Daddy."

"NOOOOOOO! I wanna go, but you need to get my shoes. I don't want to go upstairs alone." This, from the girl, who goes upstairs about 27 times each day to change her clothes.

"Elizabeth, go get your shoes and socks on if you want to go. I'm leaving in five minutes."

More whinning. More not moving.

At this point, we realize that she is tired and needs a nap. (She needs one a lot these days.) So I suggest that as an alternative and she freaks out. But still doesn't go put her shoes and socks on. Now her face is all red, she looks exhausted and we change directions and decide Daddy will take the other kids to the park and I will use my mommy mojo to get her to take a nap. I state this is the new plan and she immediately runs upstairs to get her shoe and comes back down. Too little, too late.

I take her upstairs while she yells, "I WANNA GO TO THE PARK! I WANNA GO WITH DADDY! I'M NOT TIRED!!!!!!"

I continue to take her up where she starts hitting me and screaming in my face with all the rage of...well...something very, very angry.

I pull her down into the bed where she cries for about 8 minutes. I keep telling her everything is ok and she is just tired and I pat her back and stay with her.

Then, she falls asleep. She's been asleep for just over an hour now and I'm cleaning the pantry.

Not as fun as a trip to the park, but I suppose it could be worse. She could still be screaming.

Thanksgiving at Casa de la Colina

This was one of the few times that I didn't go home for thanksgiving/my birthday. I was going to, but didn't want to take Elizabeth out of her gymnastics class in the second week. At first Michael was going to cook stating that he wanted to start a tradition, but I convinced him that the kids wouldn't eat any of it and we would eat way, way too much of it. So we were gonna do nothing until my good friend Ebba suggested we go to her house. I thanked her but assumed Michael would not want to go to someone else's house with people he didn't know. But he surprised and said, "let's do it." I told Ebba and also told her we would bring a pie (see Happy Thanksgiving blog)

We arrived around 4ish to a house full of Ebba's family (two sets of grandparents and her sister's family). The kids were a bit afraid of the small dogs also visiting, but got over it quickly and settled into goofing off with Ebba's kids and nieces. Michael and I ate way too many appetizers. Then we had the most delicious dinner! Elizabeth and Miranda liked the turkey and gravy as well as some mashed potatoes, which is more than I thought they would, but Parker only at the bread. I ate way too much dinner, but only one piece of pumpkin pie. Everyone seemed to like Michael's apple pie made of 4 different kinds of apples and with a fancy new crust pan.

We were both exhausted when we got home and fell asleep almost immediately.

Thanks Ebba!

Software Games and the Week

As Michael went off to the back house tonight (he's a bit sick and gets to sleep in tomorrow), he said, "It will be nice to have Parker go back to school on Monday so he can stop all this learning."

He is referring to the computer games he has been playing. He has a bunch of educational games that appear to be about 2nd, 3rd or 4th grade level. They have science, math, reading, spelling, spanish and some other stuff. This week he has learned about homonyms, antonyms, synonyms, diphthongs, compound words, sentences, what makes a story, amoebas, grammar, and a whole bunch of other stuff. He keeps coming out of his room telling us about all of it. In addition, he's learned about race car driving, kick ball, baseball, and other games which are the base of each one of the educational games. The graphics are pretty bad and Michael actually felt bad that we didn't get him a real computer game rather than these educational things.

But boy, does he love them. He is sucking everything up fast. There are two levels of math and both are too easy for him. I even heard him talking to the computer (that talks to him) saying at the phonics section, "I know what the letters sound like. I ALREADY KNOW THAT!" He was even helping Miranda and Elizabeth do some of the games. They both fully understand the mouse and how to use it, which kinda creeps me out.

Our week of no school is almost over and it actually went pretty well. I didn't over schedule them with playdates or activities and a good amount of time just hanging around the house. We did visit some parks, at their request, eat some ice cream, and do some bike riding, but overall, he just hung out.

A good week with a lot of learning.

Happy Thanksgiving

Back of the pack.

Elizabeth's (4th) class today was combined with the girls who had been doing it since Jan or Feb. Boy oh boy were those little girls good. They made Elizabeth look like an uncoordinated, weak mess. It was impressive and hard to watch at the same time.

I sat next to one of the moms from Elizabeth's class and we were chatting a bit, amazed at these other three girls. It turns out her daughter is 5 1/2. Which made me feel a bit better after watching the girl who could not be a day over 3 1/2 doing press up handstands and other crazy stuff.

Miranda, loved, loved, loved her crazy dance class again. Parker brought a book about roads from Grandma Judy to read, but decided to watch the classes instead.

I'm already secretly hoping Elizabeth decides gymnastics is for the birds.

Rachel's birthday cake

The good life.

No, not my bday, which was in fact pretty damn good. (Popcorn in them morning, b/w cookie in the afternoon, hoho cake in the evening...not that everything is measured in food, but I'm just saying.)

The good life is when I realized a few minutes ago that it is very, very quiet in the house. Since the kids all woke up in the funk today and had been crying/whining all morning, this immediately worried me and I had images of hair lying on the floor of the bathroom again.

But...luckily, when I went into Parker's room to check, Miranda said, "Parker is reading me a book." And Elizabeth was playing some number frog game on his computer.

Why can't all days be like this???

Happy Birthday Rachel!

It's Rachel's birthday today, and she got the day off to a good start with a shower of gifts from the kids. In addition to picture frames and candles, the kids and I made her dearest wish come true by giving her a popcorn machine. Now if she could get a cotton candy machine, her life would be complete.



I'm heading home early today to go home and make her birthday cake.

Changing Times

Since Parker was about 4, he has either had his own iPod or computer in his room. I was initially concerned about obsessive behavior with one or the other or both, but it never happened. He would play with them, forget about them, do other things, play with them again. I never had to monitor his time on the screen or tell him to 'wrap it up'.

Until today. Day one of the thanksgiving break was spent at home. All day (until 4 when we had gymnastics). It was hard for me, but I thought the kids could use a day doing nothing. And that is what they did. I didn't set up any project, offer to bake anything, or even get involved in their activities. They did handstands, made up silly games, did art, and played on Parker's computer. He is playing these reading games for some grade higher than his own (2nd or 3rd I think). He kept coming out saying, "Can you name any compound words? Do you which colors are homonyms?" And other things like that. I think he is finally getting into them because he can read and navigate the game without me there saying, "click on this, click on that."

Then I realized that he had pretty much been on the computer most of the day. Some of it was helping Eli and Miranda play math games way above their heads, but mostly just learning new things and occasionally exclaiming, "Yes! I got a gold star!"

I actually didn't (and don't) care that much, but I suppose I should. I suppose I should start discussing this with him and set up some kind of limit for the screen, but I just didn't worry about it today. I was just happy we go through the day without needing to turn the TV on. I consider that a major success. For me and them.

Highway Math

After years of going down highway 580, Parker finally says today, "The next exit is for Lakeshore Blvd!" I complimented his reading and asked if he could read the next sign. He could saying proudly, "Grand Avenue something mile." Considering the something was 1/4, I was a bit surprised he didn't know that fraction (since he does). So I said, "that is a quarter mile until the Grand Avenue exit." Then he asks without skipping a beat...

"So if we were going 60 miles per hour, it would take 15 seconds to get to Grand Avenue?"

Yes, Parker, that is correct.

More Handstands

Elizabeth and Parker practicing Handsstands a few days ago. They have much improved since then.

Monkey wheels

Bday Weekend

Last night, Michael and I went to see West Side Story in SF. Jenna came over and we got a hotel and were gonna have dinner somewhere too. The kids and I dropped off Michael at the hotel in the afternoon and then goofed off until Jenna got there. Then I sat in bridge/rain traffic for over an hour. We missed our reservation and ended up having chicken sandwich in the hotel room. We then started to walk in the pouring rain to the theatre 8 long blocks away. Not only had I brushed my hair (a rare thing), but I even wore a dress and fancy shoes that I found at the back of the closet (the girls were speechless when they saw me.) But I ditched the fancy shoes when the rain was inches deep. We popped down to Bart to get out of the rain and took it one whole stop to the theatre.

We had great seats...front row loge and were very excited until the Curse of Rachel set in. The people next to us and behind us both showed up after the show started. The people behind were two kids who had to kick my seat almost the entire time and played with their play bill. The people next to us (who Michael and I referred to as a tall, attractive, young version of ourselves) were making out the entire time. And when they weren't, they were singing along or the guy was translating the spanish (the sharks all spoke in spanish in this version) to the women. I was being driven crazy and by intermission I couldn't take it. I told Michael we had to leave. He suggested we switch seats which we did and I enjoyed the rest of the show. Michael, who always falls asleep at live shows, didn't and seemed to enjoy it. I didn't realize how many of the songs I actually knew. Almost every single one.

We walked back to the hotel, watched a little tv and fell asleep until the late hour of 7:30am when I was done sleeping. We had breakfast and made it home to hear that the kids had done great and Jenna had no problems.

Then an hour later, Susan picked me up for a bday day lunch and hot tub with the girls (Ebba and Val). We had delicious dim sum followed by a lovely hot tub. Val took off and we did a little shopping before heading back.

I came home to a big pile of presents that I couldn't open until Tuesday which made Elizabeth very sad.

It was a lovely bday weekend and I'm looking forward to my cake and presents on Tuesday.

Parker makes a call

At Home Gym.

The kids have been practicing gymnastics a lot at home. With our new living room/dining room layout, there is lots of space for it.

Elizabeth has almost perfected a handstand and is starting to figure out a walk-over. She can't quite make it back up, but I have no doubt she will soon.

Parker has mastered a cartwheel on most days and his handstand is getting damn good.

Miranda is working on her handstand and doesn't seem to notice or care that, although she is better at it than any of her non sibling peers, she is a bit behind the Eli and Parker.

They are all so happy and proud when "working out."

Guess what Elizabeth is into lately?

These are all her. She really wants long hair. Like Julia.

Second Day of Gymnastics

Today in Elizabeth's class they practiced how the girls walk during rotations (when the move from the beam to the floor or bars to the vault, etc.) Flippy hands, heads up, straight soldier legs. And how they end a routine with their arms up high. (They also did handstands, straddle stretches, bar work, and other stuff.)

It was slightly ridiculous.

Miranda had a blast in her dance/gym class. Her teacher was very, very gay and Miranda seemed to be quite charmed by him. It didn't hurt that there was only one other kid in her class. She and Elizabeth kept waving to each other across the gym as if they hadn't seen eachother in years.

Words to live by

Many years ago, Michael gave me some words of wisdom. He said, "Never wrestle with a pig. The pig will like it and you'll just get dirty."

This simple phrase has helped me time and time again over the years. When I feel someone isn't be "fair" or is being an "asshole", I feel compelled to show them or tell them about it. But, it almost never does any good and everyone just ends up feeling worse.

This came up this week when a parent from the preschool turned in an article (a short bio of themselves) for the newsletter that Michael and I are responsible for at the school. It was very, very long. Way longer than anyone elses including details such as dates and endless descriptions of places he's visited. I thanked him for his submission and added that it was a bit long and could he shorten it. I even supplied a sample edited version. He told me NO. There was no way he could shorten it and in fact, it was already "just a snap shot" of his life. He said he would OPT OUT from this if it couldn't be used as is. I again explained to him about the cost of the newsletter to print and space allocations in it, but he only responded asking for the exact character limit that he could use if he did decide to shorten it. I told him I didn't have an exact character count but that 5-7 sentences (what I had originally said) would be fine. He then told me that I could find out the character count and proceeded to explain to me about characters and how to count them in a text box.

I already felt a little dirty, but better later than never, I told him I would be happy to print the bio as is and I would just Make It Work. I thanked him for his time and efforts.

Oink.

Elizabeth practices writing her name

1st Day of Gymnastics

Michael and I took the kids to their new gymnastics classes today. Elizabeth was in her "intro to team" class, Miranda in a regular 3-4 year old class (her dance class is on Wed), and Parker was in a circus class.

They all did fantastic. Miranda's class was a perfect speed for her and she was at the same level as the other kids. Parker held his own very well against more experienced and older kids including one bossy boy.

Elizabeth's class only had 2 other kids in it. They looked about the same level as Elizabeth, but I think Eli is stronger than either of them. It was all about form, technique and strength. But the coach got them up on the beam, on the bars, doing hand stands, and taught them how to stick landings. It wasn't as much "fun" as Miranda's class, but Eli didn't seem to mind. The teacher said she did great and will most likely be sore tomorrow.

Miranda's class was too far away most of the class to get any pics. I'll try again next time.

Zeke vs the Raccoon

We have raccoons that come by regularly to eat left over cat food. Today, one came by after I fed the feral cat. Only after watching it for a few minutes did I realize that Zeke was still standing there with the raccoon. The raccoon didn't seem to care about him and just kept on eating. He only stopped when I came out. Zeke was growling, but held his ground.

Gilroy Gardens

Michael mentioned we went to Gilroy Gardens this weekend. I didn't take many pics, but got these cute ones of everyone (but me) on the boats. They waited about 25 minutes for this 7 minute ride.

Eli's new bathing suit.

Courtesy of Susan.

Elizabeth had been wanting a green bathing suit with shorts and sleeves like her cousin, but when she got this one, she said, "This is just like the one I wanted except it has stripes, no shorts and no sleeves. It's perfect!"

Isabella!

Mark and Yvette's super cute kid!

One more halloween photo

Losing Elizabeth

So we took a trip to Gilroy Gardens yesterday, which was the predicted hoot for the kids. But during lunch we had a nice ~5 minute scare when we couldn't find Elizabeth. We were in the big food courtyard, and the kids were all lingering and goofing off around the table, and then Eli was gone.

When I'm in public with the kids I'm constantly doing little audits to make sure I have them all, and it was during one of these that I came up short and said, "Where's Elizabeth." We were with Susan and Roy and their kids, and Roy had taken off with one of them, but Eli was nowhere to be found.

I did not panic, but got Rachel looking in one direction while I looked in the other, and Susan watched the other kids. I checked in the restaurant, and around all the outdoor seats, and stood scanning the crowd. It was lunch in the main eating area of the park, so it was chaos, but I could see everything across the courtyard, and she just want' there.

Down a few steps was the main walkway for the park, and I went on a quick tour of that, and no sign of here. At this point I am fighting off panic, remaining focused and analytical. I checked the men's bathroom, and back in the restaurant, and scanned the crowd some more.

Just as I'm beginning to think about how and when to contact park security, I came around the corner and saw Elizabeth sitting in the big stroller that Roy and Susan had rented for the day. She was grinning at me happily, amused with some game she was playing by herself. I'm sorry to say that I cussed her out and scared her to tears, and then I held her in my arms for the next several minutes. If I'd kept my head, I could have left her in the stroller, finished my lunch, and she'd have been none the wiser, but I was probably happier to have her on my lap, crying as she was.

It's the classic parent horror story, and I can now attest that it's horrible.

Swim Classes

The kids have continued to take swim classes. They all go on Saturday morning. We drive to concord for the stress-free facility, almost private classes and super warm water. They are all doing great and of all the things I've done with my kids, I'm most proud I ensured all three of them could swim. I feel confident that if any of them feel into a pool, they could and would, swim to the side successfully. Since the main goal of the classes (in my mind) has been to teach them how to not drown, I consider it mission accomplished and feel that they can stop now.

But...Parker is actually quite good at it and enjoys it. Each week I ask him if he wants to stop or keep going and he always says keep going. He is at the second level from the top and wants to make it to swim team which is what kids do after they complete all the levels. So yesterday, I asked the manager the average age of kids on swim team. The answer was 10. Yikes. The explanation was that even if the kids have good form, they don't have the strength or endurance to swim straight for an hour until they are older. I explained some of this to Parker, adding that it would most likely be a long wait for him to make it there. Then I asked again if he wanted to keep going or take a break and he said take a break. And since he said that, the girls did too. We can always start up again if they miss it.

Visitors

The last two days has been a whirlwind of visitors.

On Wednesday, my good friend and ex-coworker Kirsten was in town and came over a good long visit. She met us at park where she pushed the girls on swings and we reminisced about the "good old days" (5-7 years ago). Then we went out for drinks and dinner with a few old ex-coworkers as well as our boss. It was fun to get the latest gossip and somewhat satisfying and sad, at the same time, to hear what a mess our place of employment is now.

She spent the night in the cabana and then in the morning we chatted while she helped me stamp and label twin club postcards. She left at 10am to visit more people before attending a work conference on Friday.

That same morning, Val, called me (which never happens because she knows I never answer the phone.) She was on her way down from Sacramento for a day trip with her kids. It was great timing because we had a planned a get together with another old friend, Mark, his wife Yvette and there no longer new baby Isabella. Mark and I worked together many, many years ago at my first job out of college and then we were roommates for a year before I moved to Berkeley. Mark is a great guy and I'm so glad that he is a father because all of us always knew he would be the best.

Val arrived first and her oldest son, who is in 2nd grade and who apparently had been told of Parker's skills, immediately said, "Can Parker do Algebra?"

Then Mark and his family arrived and we all hung out oohing and ahhing at each other's kids and catching up.

They all left when we had to head off to gymnastics class and Isabella was not too thrilled about that.

It was a good 24 hours of reliving the past, remembering that I did once do more than serve meals, drive kids around, and pick up crayons off the floor.

Oh and another thing that happened today was that Miranda rode her bike without training wheels. She wasn't thrilled about it, but she did it and was damn proud after the fact. Yay.

Afternoon play.

Dressed in blankets and standing on chairs...

Elizabeth: Parker and I got married!

Parker: Yeah, because we are done with college!

Elizabeth: Cool! Let's have a cake for graduation. We need to sing the graduation song.

Parker: OK, but first I need to tell mom there is a bagel on the floor.

Miranda (who is the baby): Goo goo ga ga

Elizabeth: Baby, maybe you can get married.

Parker: Now it is sleep time. Oh, I have an idea. Let's not go to bed. Let's be the wolves that come out!

Miranda: NOOOOOOO!

The truth

Elizabeth: Mom, can you draw a picture of a man for me? (Holding up some paper.)

Me: I really can't draw, but I'll do my best.

Elizabeth: (looking at the picture I did sadly) I don't want a scary man, mom!

New Software

This is how Parker is learning what Baseball is. Sometimes I feel bad that we are his parents.

Sick Parker

Parker was up last night saying his stomach hurt a lot. He (and I) stayed up for about an hour talking about math and such and he finally went back to his room and to sleep. Then he woke up in the morning and threw up. He caught most of it with his hands (yuck) and the rest went in the toilet. He rarely throws up (I think only twice before) so he was kinda freaking out.

The rest of the day he lay around crying and whining and sleeping. Sick kids are so sad.

Here he is enjoying his buddies on the couch.


And here he is with them in September 2006.

Forgotten Halloween Photos

Just found these on the camera. Kids had fun on Halloween. We went with friend of Parker's from school, Zoe and Susan and her kids. Parker got more candy then ever before. They all got pixie sticks for the first time, which was interesting to watch them eat.

Playdates

We have officially entered the glorious world of playdates at Chez Long. Sure, we did a few last year and always have them with Ebba and Susan's kids, but the kids are all asking to have them with their new school friends. I consider this a major success considering all of them need assistance in the "social" arena.

We had Zoe over the other day. Zoe is the daughter of a mom that helped me coordinate the pre-kindergarten playdates. They never really played on any of those for 9 months, but they sit right next to each other at school and are actually quite similar. They play really well together since Parker isn't very "boy" and Zoe isn't too girlie. Then they asked Parker over to their house and it went well too. They live only 5 blocks from us so we can walk to their place. Next Ronan, another neighborhood kid whose parents are both teachers, invited Parker over to his house where they had a great time. The next day, his mom needed some help since she was going on a fieldtrip with her daughter so he came to our house. Another good afternoon.

The girls had a girl named Quinn over a couple weeks ago. Quinn seemed to really take to Miranda, but all got along well. Then Quinn's mom Ashley invited Miranda over on Monday. (They have a small car and small house so two girls was not possible.) So I planed a playdate for Elizabeth and gave her the choice of who to ask. She picked a quiet, smaller girl named Alise and her mom was pleased to hear it.

Then today, a neighborhood preschool boy was walking by our house, Elizabeth saw him and went outside to say hi. He and his mom came in to hang out for a bit and everyone had fun.

Since learning anything in kindergarten (or preschool for that matter) isn't really one of the goals for the kids, I'm quite pleased that they are all making friends. Especially with Parker as this is one of my only goals for him this year.

Sometimes you have to sit on a car.

Feet.

I've had bunions on the my feet my whole life. They were one of the reasons that I quit ballet (in addition to not being very good at it or having dancers body, but I digress.) Lately, the bunion on my right foot has been hurting and the one on the left has a strange extra bump on it. I contacted my doctor who sent me in for xrays and then gave me a referral to podiatrist.

While Ebba and Susan watched the girls, I went in today. The doctor explained them to me and gave me the options of 1) doing nothing 2) having them fixed surgically. I asked about the recovery time and he said at least 2 weeks or not driving/walking and 6 weeks of wearing giant foot cast and another 4 months of slow recovery (ie no running, jumping, etc.) Since that plan pretty much sucked and is not really even possible, I told him I would go with option 1 and do nothing until they were bad enough that I couldn't do those things anyway. He thought that was very reasonable.

He said the other bump was a ganglion cyst (which I had before on my wrist when Parker was a baby) and he drained it today. That was gross.

Math

I enjoy Parker's interest in math, and although I don't push him, I do try to help him explore that world as well as I can. The other day he was telling me how many rows and columns he could need to write up to 1000. This is all part of a recent multiplication thing he's got going on, so he was saying he could have 10 rows and 100 columns, or 20 columns and 50 rows, etc.

So I asked him whether he could write up to 1000 using the same number of columns and rows. This stumped him for a bit, and it stumped me for a moment as well, but it led to a nice conversation about squares and square roots. Parker has been working on squares for a while now, so it was a good time to talk about square roots.

I helped him understand the terms, how to talk about these concepts: two squared is four, and the square root of four is two, etc. I gave him the examples up to 16, and then quizzed him on the square roots of 25, 64 and 100, which he got without any trouble. I then showed him how to make these calculations on the scientific calculator, which he dug.

At that point we were ready to address the issue of counting up to a thousand using the same number of rows and columns, which led us to the square root of a thousand. The answer is 31.6227766, making it clear to him and to me that one can count up to 961 or 1024 using the same number of columns and rows, but not to 1000.

There will come a time soon when Parker's understanding of math far outstrips my own, so I am enjoying these little lessons while they last.

Gotta Go

Parker always looks like an old man when he has to go #2. He walks crouched over, legs wide and with a slightly grumpy, yet confused look on his face.