Dragons and Bombs; or, Parental Thinking on Your Feet

Driving down a country road yesterday to pick up Papa and Napoleona:
SillyBilly asked, “Mama, what if a big dragon were coming here? What if it was flying up here from the south . . . from Los Angeles?”
Mama: “Hmmm . . . I wonder where it would land — in the mountains?”
SillyBilly: “Mama, what if [...]

Homeschool Days

SillyBilly’s school was closed today, yesterday he was off of school for a dentist’s appointment, and he will have the entire next week off too (teacher conferences and inservices). So, I’ve been thinking of this as a temporary homeschooling opportunity.
We’ve been taking walks:

Today was very cold and cloudy. There is a dusting of snow on [...]

It’s Sinking In

Antimaterialism 101, overheard at snack time today:
“I want to see a magazine factory. Not Ladybug and animal [Your Big Backyard] magazines. Grown-up magazines, like we have in the drawer in the bathroom…. [Editor's note: Get your mind out of the gutter and keep reading.]
(Thinking about another word to describe what he’s thinking of) Catalogs … [...]

Thursday Evening Thoughts

I’ve been trying to decide if I wanted to say anything here about the downfall of New York’s governor. Whether I wanted to comment on the irony of a man voted into office for his tough-on-crime stance as state attorney general, which included some pretty strong words and actions against prostitution and pressure on banks [...]

Natterings of Napoleona

Nana recently mentioned that she thought Napoleona had faded into the background a bit on this blog. She’s right — we’ve been so caught up in SillyBilly’s issues these days (including another round of asthma over the weekend, which we seem to have somewhat alleviated with doses of lobelia and the evil pink stuff).
So, I [...]

Explaining MLK Day to a Preschooler

Yesterday while we were running errands, Napoleona asked me, for the bazillionth time, “Is tomorrow the weekend?” (For some reason the kids both ask me about this all the time. SillyBilly recently bought a new saw and multi-tool with a Home Depot gift card he received for Christmas; he only gets to use these tools [...]

A Way with Words

I’ve always been a very verbal person. My mom says once I learned to talk, I never shut up. I learned to read when I was four, and never stopped reading either.
I’ve always been proud of my 720 SAT verbal score* (back when there was just one verbal section). However, I sense that I have [...]

Instant Relief from All That Pessimism

So, I’m in the bathroom this evening with Napoleona. She’s just had a bath and I’m trimming her bangs before I dry her hair. She’s admiring a new bracelet I received for Christmas (thank you–you know who you are!), so I start telling her about how when I was a little girl I had a [...]

Rugrats, Reading, and Rapunzel

Three pieces of evidence that my kids are actually aliens from outer space:
1. The other day they were running around the house yelling “Miraculous Hemulen!!!!” and shaking little boxes of beads behind them. Upon questioning them, it was revealed that they were actually saying “Maraculous,” as in maracas.
2. SillyBilly is obsessed with space. He constantly [...]

A Brief Paleontology Lesson

I just spent the last two hours doing a fact-checking test, so I’m not going to stun you with anything original tonight. Instead I’m going to stun you with a more or less verbatim transcription of what SillyBilly told me tonight about dinosaur bones, one of his favorite topics:
Land dinosaurs were thirsty so they went [...]