Sequencing is a big skill for first graders. Apparently Obama never mastered it.
THIS: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/02/28/obama-governors-public-employees-vilified/
Should have happened FIRST. THEN they should have had a national debate on what federal steps should have been taken.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Did I just read that?
Two headlines you never expected to see--At All--and on one page! From Fox New's Home page today:
(It was the last two that interested me, in case you couldn't tell.....)
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Stitches
Aside from wisdom teeth and childbirth (neither of which somehow "count" in my mind), I got my first set of stitches today. I had a mole removed, and it required 6 stitches.
Um...stitches hurt. Or, rather, a cut big enough to warrant stitches hurts.
I should have known, but I didn't.
Good thing we have tylenol.
Next time one of my kids needs stitches, I will be MUCH more empathetic!
Um...stitches hurt. Or, rather, a cut big enough to warrant stitches hurts.
I should have known, but I didn't.
Good thing we have tylenol.
Next time one of my kids needs stitches, I will be MUCH more empathetic!
Did I just read that?
From a Chinese Food Menu ("TastyAsia") that arrived in the mail today: "If you don't see your favorite dish on this menu, we'll be glad to prepare for you"
If you DO see your favorite dish, though, you're out of luck.
If you DO see your favorite dish, though, you're out of luck.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Did I just read that?
From Fox News Home Page today: "98 Dead, 'Grave Fears' for 200 Missing in New Zealand"
Oh, that was tasteless and tactless. GRAVE fears? For people buried in an earthquake. Yikes.
No wonder they changed the headline for the actual article.....
Interview with Tim
A writer friend interviewed Tim and wrote up a review of his show. She's a great writer, and I love her style (also what she had to say).
A quote: " My first thought: If T.S. Eliot could have sang and Allan Ginsberg had known how to beatbox and been stuck in one body, they could have been reincarnated as Mister Tim."
A quote: " My first thought: If T.S. Eliot could have sang and Allan Ginsberg had known how to beatbox and been stuck in one body, they could have been reincarnated as Mister Tim."
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
More Math Fun
Caleb, today, answered this question: "Write four multiplication/division facts using the numbers 3, 8, and 24" this way:
"Four multiplication/division facts using the numbers 3, 8, and 24.
Just kidding ;)
3x8=24/3=8x3=24/8=3"
Made me smile.
"Four multiplication/division facts using the numbers 3, 8, and 24.
Just kidding ;)
3x8=24/3=8x3=24/8=3"
Made me smile.
The Dental Saga Continues
Today was Benji's turn. He's been twice to the dentist. Once he wouldn't even touch the chair. The next time it took 2 hours, but he finally opened his mouth and let her peek. She scheduled him for Children's hospital (which is what I had been asking for all along, but me saying, "Visible decay" isn't enough--they had to see it, too).
Benji is a unique soul: brilliant, feisty, fiercely independent (but also fiercely loyal), fearless, strong-willed, sensitive, driven solely by his own ideas. He is every crying child's hero. He is the only child I've ever known who is completely, 100% unbribable. It just doesn't work. He is busy, thoughful, self-motivated, active. PLAY, fun, and teasing are the things Benji values the most.
He's also a runner. Honestly, I've feared for his life since the day he learned to walk.
Benji won't do something unless he, in his own estimation, finds it somehow desirable or valuable or important. If HE doesn't think it's a good idea, you'll NEVER get him to do it--no amount of pleading, begging, explaining, bribing, punishing, threatening, yelling, praising, helping, forcing, or tricking will work. This normally doesn't bother me--I'm good with indepedent kids who can reason--but Benji won't listen and reason. For a while we wondered if he's deaf (he's not) because unless he has determined you are saying something of value, he won't even acknowledge you are speaking. He makes his mind up quickly and entirely by himself, and very rarely changes it after that.
And yes, I AM talking about the 3 year old in our house. I can't count the number of moms who have said, "He's lucky to have you as parents. I would have killed him long ago."
Mostly, Tim and I have spent the last 3 years trying to keep him alive (no, you can't run across the parking lot or jump off the roof!) while he grows into himself.
So how do you get a kid like that to go to the dentist? You can't. Especially when, to complicate things further, he has a mortal dread of anything medical-related. And he never seems to forget. (Unfortunately, he's also the kid who is most likely to end up in the ER in our house!). It's so severe, the first dentist we met (who is an excellent pediatric dentist, by the way, and who has worked successfully with all my other dentist-haters really well) suggested he has a phobia of medical stuff and needs counselling. At age 3.
So today was his turn to get his teeth fixed at the Children's Hospital under general anaesthesia. I'm glad Tim took him--he has to be held down to even drink the pre-anaethesia medication that's supposed to make kids relax. He had to be held down to put the mask on--by more than one person. Not only was it too early in the morning for me to handle it, I'm not strong enough to manhandle Benji anymore. So Tim had to do it. He hates it, too, but we had to get his teeth fixed.
Turns out he needed it even more than we realized. EVERY SINGLE TOOTH had a cavity. All 22 needed to be fixed. So he had 5 pulled and the rest (to my knowledge--he's still sleeping, so I haven't seen him yet) crowned. That's sad, but it also means that it's unlikely we'll have to do this again until he is old enough to at least use nitrous oxide (he won't let it near him now). It means all that can be done for his baby teeth has been done, and there won't be any need for additional forcing him to see the dentist until he is getting his adult teeth--and hopefully he, at age 7, will cooperate more (Caleb does better now, and he was kicked out of a dental office when he was 6 for being uncooperative).
Also, Tim said all the people who came in said, "He has a sensory processing disorder?" Not that we know. It must have worked its way into the charts somehow.
It is possible, of course. People have suggested autism spectrum to us before. But I think the problem is not a disorder of any kind. I think it's a personality combined with an unusual brilliance of mind that doesn't lend itself well to being a toddler. You put brilliance with fierce independence, feistiness, fearlessness, and a love of play and you get a nightmare toddler. Honestly, what do you expect out of a kid who matches all the descriptions of brilliant 13 year olds but who is 2 or 3, with the impulse control and judgment for his age? Especially when he doesn't have to vocabulary to reason with you.
For now, the Dental Saga here is not quite over. Caleb goes back Friday, Anda next Tuesday, Daniel a little after that. But at least we don't have any more whole-mouth overhauls in the near future. Why? Because the only kid left who might need one is Elijah and, at 2 months, he doesn't have any teeth yet.
Benji is a unique soul: brilliant, feisty, fiercely independent (but also fiercely loyal), fearless, strong-willed, sensitive, driven solely by his own ideas. He is every crying child's hero. He is the only child I've ever known who is completely, 100% unbribable. It just doesn't work. He is busy, thoughful, self-motivated, active. PLAY, fun, and teasing are the things Benji values the most.
He's also a runner. Honestly, I've feared for his life since the day he learned to walk.
Benji won't do something unless he, in his own estimation, finds it somehow desirable or valuable or important. If HE doesn't think it's a good idea, you'll NEVER get him to do it--no amount of pleading, begging, explaining, bribing, punishing, threatening, yelling, praising, helping, forcing, or tricking will work. This normally doesn't bother me--I'm good with indepedent kids who can reason--but Benji won't listen and reason. For a while we wondered if he's deaf (he's not) because unless he has determined you are saying something of value, he won't even acknowledge you are speaking. He makes his mind up quickly and entirely by himself, and very rarely changes it after that.
And yes, I AM talking about the 3 year old in our house. I can't count the number of moms who have said, "He's lucky to have you as parents. I would have killed him long ago."
Mostly, Tim and I have spent the last 3 years trying to keep him alive (no, you can't run across the parking lot or jump off the roof!) while he grows into himself.
So how do you get a kid like that to go to the dentist? You can't. Especially when, to complicate things further, he has a mortal dread of anything medical-related. And he never seems to forget. (Unfortunately, he's also the kid who is most likely to end up in the ER in our house!). It's so severe, the first dentist we met (who is an excellent pediatric dentist, by the way, and who has worked successfully with all my other dentist-haters really well) suggested he has a phobia of medical stuff and needs counselling. At age 3.
So today was his turn to get his teeth fixed at the Children's Hospital under general anaesthesia. I'm glad Tim took him--he has to be held down to even drink the pre-anaethesia medication that's supposed to make kids relax. He had to be held down to put the mask on--by more than one person. Not only was it too early in the morning for me to handle it, I'm not strong enough to manhandle Benji anymore. So Tim had to do it. He hates it, too, but we had to get his teeth fixed.
Turns out he needed it even more than we realized. EVERY SINGLE TOOTH had a cavity. All 22 needed to be fixed. So he had 5 pulled and the rest (to my knowledge--he's still sleeping, so I haven't seen him yet) crowned. That's sad, but it also means that it's unlikely we'll have to do this again until he is old enough to at least use nitrous oxide (he won't let it near him now). It means all that can be done for his baby teeth has been done, and there won't be any need for additional forcing him to see the dentist until he is getting his adult teeth--and hopefully he, at age 7, will cooperate more (Caleb does better now, and he was kicked out of a dental office when he was 6 for being uncooperative).
Also, Tim said all the people who came in said, "He has a sensory processing disorder?" Not that we know. It must have worked its way into the charts somehow.
It is possible, of course. People have suggested autism spectrum to us before. But I think the problem is not a disorder of any kind. I think it's a personality combined with an unusual brilliance of mind that doesn't lend itself well to being a toddler. You put brilliance with fierce independence, feistiness, fearlessness, and a love of play and you get a nightmare toddler. Honestly, what do you expect out of a kid who matches all the descriptions of brilliant 13 year olds but who is 2 or 3, with the impulse control and judgment for his age? Especially when he doesn't have to vocabulary to reason with you.
For now, the Dental Saga here is not quite over. Caleb goes back Friday, Anda next Tuesday, Daniel a little after that. But at least we don't have any more whole-mouth overhauls in the near future. Why? Because the only kid left who might need one is Elijah and, at 2 months, he doesn't have any teeth yet.
Benji identifies colors
Benji was quick to pick up language, but slow to fill in precise words for things. He's still working on it. So he's been able to sort colors and match colors but not name colors.
I was concerned he's red-green color blind, but yesterday he sorted red and green into different piles just fine, and matched "this thing is the same color as this thing but not that thing" just fine. And he could tell me which things were red. But not green--he didn't know the word for green, and didn't retain it when I told him. He knows red now. He sometimes identifies pink as red, but often as yellow, and he has no CLUE what to call yellow things. He mixes up the words blue and purple.
But he knows orange.
And he is very consistent with what most of us call blue. He always identifies it the same. "What color is this one?" "That one is water." "Which candy do you want?" "The water one."
Yes, in Benji's world, "water" is a homophone that can mean either "that stuff that comes out of the tap" or "the color of the sky".
Next time we have popsicles, I want the water one!
I was concerned he's red-green color blind, but yesterday he sorted red and green into different piles just fine, and matched "this thing is the same color as this thing but not that thing" just fine. And he could tell me which things were red. But not green--he didn't know the word for green, and didn't retain it when I told him. He knows red now. He sometimes identifies pink as red, but often as yellow, and he has no CLUE what to call yellow things. He mixes up the words blue and purple.
But he knows orange.
And he is very consistent with what most of us call blue. He always identifies it the same. "What color is this one?" "That one is water." "Which candy do you want?" "The water one."
Yes, in Benji's world, "water" is a homophone that can mean either "that stuff that comes out of the tap" or "the color of the sky".
Next time we have popsicles, I want the water one!
FUN
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/5-seconds-of-every-1-song-ever
5 seconds of every number one song ever. This is SO fun. Is it sad that I knew every single early song, but not a lot of the later ones?
5 seconds of every number one song ever. This is SO fun. Is it sad that I knew every single early song, but not a lot of the later ones?
Math Lesson Answers
From Dan, age 5:
Question: "What is 5 + 6?"
Answer: "One more than ten."
Next Question: "What is 6+5?"
Answer: "Still."
Next Question: "What is 0+8?"
Answer: "The same."
me: "Do you mean the same as the last one, 11?"
Dan: "No. I mean the other one that wasn't zero is the same as it was before you added zero."
I marked his assignment 100% right.
He also learned about fractions today. He started out by looking at the page and saying, "I think this is going to be too hard for me." I explained it, and he did 4 pages of fractions just like that and loved it.
From Caleb, age 9:
Question (on a test): "What months have 31 days in a leap year?"
Answer: "The usual."
I marked that one right, too.
Good thing they don't go to public schools!
Question: "What is 5 + 6?"
Answer: "One more than ten."
Next Question: "What is 6+5?"
Answer: "Still."
Next Question: "What is 0+8?"
Answer: "The same."
me: "Do you mean the same as the last one, 11?"
Dan: "No. I mean the other one that wasn't zero is the same as it was before you added zero."
I marked his assignment 100% right.
He also learned about fractions today. He started out by looking at the page and saying, "I think this is going to be too hard for me." I explained it, and he did 4 pages of fractions just like that and loved it.
From Caleb, age 9:
Question (on a test): "What months have 31 days in a leap year?"
Answer: "The usual."
I marked that one right, too.
Good thing they don't go to public schools!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Benji says,
Upon waking, Benji said, "Oh! Not anudder dream?!?"
Guess he was disappointed to be awake. (Later, he said he'd dreamed we had turned him into a star.)
Guess he was disappointed to be awake. (Later, he said he'd dreamed we had turned him into a star.)
Did I just read that?
"Tattoo of Leviticus 18:22 that forbids homosexuality on your arm: $200. Leviticus 19:28 forbids tattoos: Priceless" http://splonk.posterous.com/tattoo-of-leviticus-1822-that-forbids-homosex
Homosexuality elsewhere, though (off your arm) is okay.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
I never knew, before
There is a kind of grief I never tasted until last night. Though not without cause, it is without reason. It comes in waves, crashing and then receding, only to crash again later and recede yet again.
This grief, intense and deep, cannot be "talked out" or "Talked through." There is nothing you can say that can dissipate it. It's there, and, without reason, cannot be reasoned out of. No amount of logic, no matter how true, can ease the intensity of it or make it go away.
There are no words to define this grief, no way to answer, "Why are you crying?" because none of the little whys add up to the sum of the depth of the feeling. Nothing can truly explain it. It's just there, being experienced separate from thought, reason, logic. Born of love and tragedy, there are no words for it, no words to guide you through it, no words to wash it away.
And it's not something you want to talk about to someone who doesn't already know, even though it cries out for the comfort of mourning with someone who DOES know. It is grief that seeks companionship, to mourn together with someone else who is mourning, to lean on each other. Not just companionship--love. Family. Not merely a shoulder to cry on, but a heart to hold and be held by without having to explain why you are crying, since it cannot be explained.
It is also grief that seeks to be alone. To not have to speak. To not have to listen or explain. Just to sit and...(and there it is, the value of art and music and poetry)...to be alone with art, which is also something that is best understood outside thought.
It is outside the realm of words, outside the realm of comprehension, and can only be experienced. Felt.
And then she did not die. Not then. Not when we expected, when the plug was pulled. She still might, but not yet. Not today.
So the grief is gone, replaced with hope.
But having tasted it, just for a night, I will never be quite the same again.
This grief, intense and deep, cannot be "talked out" or "Talked through." There is nothing you can say that can dissipate it. It's there, and, without reason, cannot be reasoned out of. No amount of logic, no matter how true, can ease the intensity of it or make it go away.
There are no words to define this grief, no way to answer, "Why are you crying?" because none of the little whys add up to the sum of the depth of the feeling. Nothing can truly explain it. It's just there, being experienced separate from thought, reason, logic. Born of love and tragedy, there are no words for it, no words to guide you through it, no words to wash it away.
And it's not something you want to talk about to someone who doesn't already know, even though it cries out for the comfort of mourning with someone who DOES know. It is grief that seeks companionship, to mourn together with someone else who is mourning, to lean on each other. Not just companionship--love. Family. Not merely a shoulder to cry on, but a heart to hold and be held by without having to explain why you are crying, since it cannot be explained.
It is also grief that seeks to be alone. To not have to speak. To not have to listen or explain. Just to sit and...(and there it is, the value of art and music and poetry)...to be alone with art, which is also something that is best understood outside thought.
It is outside the realm of words, outside the realm of comprehension, and can only be experienced. Felt.
And then she did not die. Not then. Not when we expected, when the plug was pulled. She still might, but not yet. Not today.
So the grief is gone, replaced with hope.
But having tasted it, just for a night, I will never be quite the same again.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
With impending grief, why do I find this so comforting?
SONNET 116
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
An unnamed tragedy, not unfelt
Sorrow strikes and I cry.
And then seek solace in words.
And it is there.
Thank goodness for the poets who put them down.
She told me her novel, but never wrote it.
And now it's lost. The story can never be told again.
And there will be no good-bye.
I cry.
And I resolve to put the words on paper.
Nobody else can tell my tale.
Enough of tragedy. I can't bear to pile one more sorrow on, and so I write.
And then seek solace in words.
And it is there.
Thank goodness for the poets who put them down.
She told me her novel, but never wrote it.
And now it's lost. The story can never be told again.
And there will be no good-bye.
I cry.
And I resolve to put the words on paper.
Nobody else can tell my tale.
Enough of tragedy. I can't bear to pile one more sorrow on, and so I write.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Did I just read that?
"only 150,000 Miles on her.New Caskets , New Oil change.Good tires."
from a craigslist car ad. http://fortcollins.craigslist.org/cto/2221653063.html
I guess this van is ready for you if you crash. Good thing they're NEW caskets. Nobody likes a used casket. It's too hard to figure out what to do with the old body.
from a craigslist car ad. http://fortcollins.craigslist.org/cto/2221653063.html
I guess this van is ready for you if you crash. Good thing they're NEW caskets. Nobody likes a used casket. It's too hard to figure out what to do with the old body.
Fantastic Opportunity for Writers
I am not available to do this, but it's a FANTASTIC opportunity for writers--and really affordable. How often do writers bemoan the fact that they can't get feedback from an agent? NOW is your chance.
Seriously. Do it.
It's even for a good cause.
For more information on Sara, her sales, her tastes and her philosophy, go here:
Seriously. Do it.
It's even for a good cause.
Fiction Writing Workshop
In honor of the Boulder Jewish Day School
Taught at the Boulder Jewish Day School, 7415 Lookout Road, Longmont CO 80503 (on Lookout Road just west of 75th off of 119)
Sunday March 13 and Sunday April 3. 9:30-11:30am
30 spots per day (the workshop is the same on both days, so pick whichever one is more convenient) RSVP quickly as this will fill up!
$50 per writer, check made out to Boulder Jewish Day School
RSVP via email to MegibowWorkshop@gmail.com
------------------
Sara Megibow, Associate Literary Agent at Nelson Literary Agency, will lead a two hour writing workshop open to any fiction writer.
Do you write novels? Do you want to learn about the business of publishing fiction books? Are you looking for that elusive “critique” from a literary agent? If you are a writer – anywhere on your journey between that first sentence and published author – come join us!
The goal of the workshop is to look at your work with an eye towards publication. Sara will talk about the process of finding a literary agent, what a literary agent looks for in a submission and how agents go about selling books to major NY publishing houses. Each participant will be encouraged to bring their work – on paper, on a laptop, on a Kindle (yes, we will have internet access). After talking about the business of publishing, Sara will look at your work specifically (if you want her to) J
- 30 spots per workshop means VERY specialized attention
- plenty of time for Q&A and personal critique of your novel (yes, Sara will look personally at your query letter, synopsis and/or novel if you’d like her to and will offer direct feedback)
- Sara is actively acquiring new clients so will be open to pitches the day of the workshop, and will provide submission information for writers who may be interested in pursuing publication later
- All proceeds (yes ALL proceeds) go directly to the Boulder Jewish Day School
- Bagels and coffee will be provided, so even if you want to come simply to listen and enjoy a coffee, that’s fine
- Manuscripts do NOT have to be complete in order to attend this workshop
- The only restriction is that Sara represents fiction, so if you want personalized feedback on your novel it MUST be in one of these genres – romance (any category except inspirational), young adult or middle grade (any subgenre), science fiction or fantasy, women’s fiction, chick lit or commercial fiction
- Yes, you can absolutely bring more than one project to workshop
Sara Megibow has been with the Nelson Literary Agency since early 2006. Her first responsibilities included reading the query letters, sample pages and full manuscripts submitted for representation. In early 2009, she was promoted to Associate Literary Agent and is now actively accepting submissions of her own. From sexy romance to epic fantasy, Sara has loved reading since picking up her first copy of The Hobbit. Some of the books Sara has helped acquire include NYTimes Bestselling HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET by Jamie Ford and NYTimes Bestselling PERFECT CHEMISTRY by Simone Elkeles. She has personally sold 6 debut authors in the last year (including the upcoming SCORE by Miranda Kenneally and THE SIREN by Tiffany Reisz). Sara has a B.A. in Women’s Studies and a B.A. in American History from Northwestern University. She lives in sunny Boulder with her beat-boxing husband, adorable son and two fuzzy cats. Nelson Literary Agency is a member in good standing of AAR, RWA, SCBWI and SFWA.
For more information on The Nelson Literary Agency, go here: www.nelsonagency.com
For more information on Sara, her sales, her tastes and her philosophy, go here:
To follow Sara on twitter, go here: @SaraMegibow
RSVP: email to MegibowWorkshop@gmail.com - your name, contact info (phone or email) and date you want to attend. Yes, you can ask limited questions at this email address if you need clarification on something.
Bring a check for $50.00 the DAY of the workshop, made out to Boulder Jewish Day School.
--------------
Boulder Jewish Day School is a fully accredited independent community day school whose motto is “Educational Excellence and Jewish Values.”
Read more at www.bjds.org
-----------------
Why I’m doing this…
My son is in kindergarten at Boulder Jewish Day School. He reads and writes in Hebrew and English (at five years old) and this is thanks to the outstanding curriculum and world-class teachers he enjoys. This writing workshop is my chance to give back to the school. I know writers are eager for feedback and coaching from a literary agent. And, I am eager to meet new writers! Also, I want my son to know how much I value his school, his teachers and his education. So, all the money raised will go to support the literature programs at BJDS. Education should inspire and BJDS has proven itself to me as a mother over and over through the years. In fact, I just signed myself up for Hebrew classes (to catch up to my son).
-Sara
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