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Archive for the 'Kids' Category

birthday cake

( Kids and Personal )

Me: Gee, this car is already six years old.
Bookzilla: We could open the hood and shove in some birthday cake.
Me: (gasping for breath)

Cognitive acrobats

( Kids )

David Carr has written a searingly beautiful account of his journey from junkiedom to normalcy. This book is written 20 years after the fact and a constant theme is the unreliable nature of his memory.
To be an addict is to be something of a cognitive acrobat. You spread versions of yourself around, giving each […]

When one door closes

( Kids and Personal )

I pointed out the shafts of sunlight pouring through a break in the clouds to the west of Kirkland, over Lake Washington.  Seattle was in the background on the other side.
“It looks like an open door to God.”
– JMan, 8

Maybe this is what it is like

( Kids and Personal )

I just experienced something and I don’t know if this is what it is like to be a substance abuser.
I went by the school to get Bookzilla.  It’s Thursday, the one-on-one day.  One-on-one means that each child gets time with a parent one-on-one.  JMan thought that he had time with me today.  I told him […]

Heaven

I pointed out the shafts of sunlight over Lake Washington to JMan.  We were heading west in Kirkland, and I saw the sunlight overlaying Seattle on the west side of the lake.
“It looks like an open doorway to heaven.”
–JMan, 8

Shawn Mullins - Shimmer

( Kids and video )

Shimmer was one of my favorite songs. When this song came out, I projected it onto my life and it is what I believed in. But then the divorce happened and I couldn’t listen to this song. It hurt to remember my aborted hopes and dreams after the divorce.
I found this […]

Autism

( Kids and Science )

Autism is scary in large part because we don’t understand it.  As a parent, it’s the kind of thing that we all fear.  This is a great article about new ideas in autism study.  It focuses on Amanda Baggs.
This movement is being fueled by a small but growing cadre of neuropsychological researchers […]

To Live Is Better Than To Die

( Kids and Politics and video )

I saw this film at Sundance in 2003.  It was gut wrenching.  It has been posted to YouTube in two parts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E-vsd3EWnQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQWHa_Y5um8

Beautiful

( Kids and Politics )

I remember diagramming sentences in the seventh grade. I don’t think kids do that these days. I tried to explain it to Bookzilla, but she didn’t get it. This is beautiful.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for […]

Time to nurse Mrs. Butterworth

( Kids and Personal )

Breakfast, 7.45 am. JMan is looking at the syrup server. I get the syrup in the big jug at Costco and use a ketchup server with the top trimmed back to serve the syrup at table. The server is about the shape and size of a baby bottle. There’s about 1/4 […]