Get Outside

We finally broke free of the Lego spell today and headed over to the neighborhood sledding hill. The snow was melting quickly; we were thrilled to discover that a little snow goes a long way. And nobody went swimming! (Yesterday, we heard, this happened to a few folks.)

(Special thanks to friend Doug,
who was there to capture a few minutes of our fun,
and to Teo, who kept Mr. D from sledding into the lake!)

The Dude Drawer

We have been Lego-ing up a storm around here all weekend... many thanks to the student-teachers of PEEK, who helped us take our game to a whole new level, to the generous friends who passed their Legos along to us, and to my mom, who held onto my vast collection for YEARS until I finally bought a house and became a parent and made some room in my life for thousands of pieces of brightly colored plastic again.

And, while we're at it, a big shout out to my partner Super-T, who bought us these amazing organizing chests this year...


And then spent hours sitting next to me sorting...


So that now, when planning our next adventure, everyone knows just where to go when we need someone to pilot the ship... the dude drawer, of course!

(Not sure what the deal is with Mr. Googley-eyes, there.
He doesn't get out of the drawer much.)

Reading Haiku

Once a month, the folks at haikuworld.org put together a kukai, in which writers of English-language haiku write and submit haiku in response to specific prompts. Then, if you've submitted a haiku to either prompt (there are usually two), you are permitted to vote on the haiku other folks have written.

I submit my own haiku so that I may have the privilege of voting for other folks'. The voting deadline this month is tomorrow, and there were over 250 haiku to read and think about. I have now made my selections.

Some of my current thinking about haiku has been shaped by the editors at Simply Haiku, this post by David Giacalone, and the writings of Robert Hass on the subject. I hope to be trying to write haiku for many years to come. It's harder than it looks.

~

roads glisten black
as the traffic melts
this morning's snow

Broken Heart Song Snippet

Hey, look, we have audio!

This is a clip of Mr. D and me singing a section of the fabulous Kim Richey's song, "The Way It Never Was," from her Glimmer album.

You remember the way it never was
You've forgotten the things we didn't say
If you miss me the reason is because
You remember the way it never was...

Mr. D's favorite category of song these days is what he calls "broken heart songs," and this one is right up there with Joan Osborne's "Who Divided" from Pretty Little Stranger.

(Sometime if I have time (can you say snow day?),
I'll post a little "how to"... all you need for this is a phone
and some minor behind-the-scenes code-slinging!
In the meantime, though... any requests?)

His Idea, I Swear

From the time we arrived home from school today until the time we went upstairs to read books, with one grudging break for dinner, Mr. D worked on this amazing project.

The 10 times tables from one to 102. (He wanted to get to 1000 and then wowed himself by going past it.)

I provided the notebook paper and occasional coaching with regards to the orientation of the "bump" of a nine. (Eventually he figured this out himself, repeating my reminder, not like a P, not like a P," under his breath.)

He's looking forward to showing his teacher Ms. Fabulous, tomorrow. I'm tempted to attach a Post-It that says, "His idea, I swear!"

Knew I Liked This Guy

I've always been interested in the process of politics, in addition to the personalities. Here's 10 minutes of the lucid and engaging Lawrence Lessig on his plans to change Congress.

Imported Fun

Here's a snapshot of bedtime reading with Mr. D and the fabulous Miss C, who we imported from her home in MD for the weekend. They love each other. And also? They both know how to read now! These things combined to put a big ol' grin on my face this weekend.

Which was an especially good thing during all those moments during which I was fighting back the nausea associated with the food poisoning I got from a certain diner in Delaware. Elkton, Delaware. In the Big Elk strip mall. Yeah, that one. On the day of the biggest beef recall in US history, I ordered a hamburger. Not my finest moment.

Sleep

My relationship with sleep has been a good one, for the most part. Or at least that's how I think of it. But upon further reflection I think that I have been something of a jerk in the relationship.

I enjoy sleeping, and periodically bemoan the fact that I wasn't fortunate enough to be born into a culture more supportive of napping. When I used to do a lot of babysitting, I was constantly pleading with the sleep-resisting five year olds: "Trust me, you think you don't want to take a nap, but in twenty years or so you're going to really want one and not be able to get it, so just take it today, will you?" It didn't work, but it made me feel better.

Now that I'm a parent, and especially because we're into the thick of college application review season in my household, sleep has taken a bit of a hit. The lovely T often doesn't get home until what used to be our bedtime, and then of course there's all that catching up to do.

Poor sleep, taken for granted and always getting pushed further down on the list of priorities. I have made my peace with the crazier hours, and it was the early days of parenting that made it possible... once you let go of the idea that sleep should happen at a particular time during the day, it's less frustrating to find yourself still awake at 12:23am.

But I do pay a price. I can feel that my mind is not as sharp, that my balance is a little off, and that my temper runs shorter when I'm tired. I get a second wind, and I count on it, but I remember another trick from early parenting... the way to tell how tired you are is to remember how you felt when you first woke up that morning. Before coffee. Before your second wind. Like most people, I need more sleep than I get, but it seems that I am an unrepentant jerk... I've got another late night planned tonight. And no nap in sight.

(Thanks to the women of Sunday Scribblings
for their continuing inspiration.
I wrote about sleep in another vein at another time;
you can read that, too, if you like! It's over here.)

Happy Happy

Get out there and love somebody, people!