Walter had an assignment at school last week to write a multiple choice quiz. I'm not sure what the context of the assignment was beyond that (perhaps to help prepare the students for the standardized tests they take next month, in which case, it is a BRILLIANT IDEA), but I was both amused and impressed when I found "The Davis Test" on our kitchen table. It's a set of index cards with one question per card. Here are some highlights....
What is Jupiter made of?
1. gas
2. rock
3. cheese
Max is scared when he hears a noise in the attic. What should he do?
1. run
2. tell a parent
3. jump out the window
What is the meaning of this word? POSITIVE
1. to be super sure
2. to not know
3. to be hungry
If nothing else, he understands the rule of threes, which means he could be a great comedy writer someday. But then maybe it's only funny to me because I'm his mother.
February 29, 2008
Multiple Choice
February 26, 2008
I Love a Good Storm
We had some bad weather this morning.
There was no damage at our house (just a 30 minute power outage which meant I had to shower in the dark), but a tree fell on the mini-bus at Ralph's daycare. This was the scene when I pulled in to drop him off at 8:15 this morning.
I woke up at 6 a.m. to some crazy thunder and lightning, which explained why I had been dreaming that a plane crashed in our neighborhood. Luckily, Ralph slept through the power outage, but Walter (who was getting ready for school at the time) loved it. And the lights in our neighborhood came back on just before he got on the school bus.
I have two Minivan Rotations coming up, and once those are posted, I'm planning to archive (and organize) all the kids' music content on this site. I need to move past writing about music, but need to bring some closure to my "music-writing period" first. Writing these last two Minivan Rotations is going to require me to go to place in my head that's fairly dark and depressing. But it's where my music-writing mojo is kept, and where some of my better writing started. And I really want to have this closure. It will bring things full circle for me in a way.
When I started this blog, I was on the verge of some major life changes. I thought blogging would be therapeutic, that it would help me through the difficult times. And it did. I wrote and wrote and wrote some more -- about kids' music, about television, about hipster parents, about pretty much anything besides what was driving me to write in the first place.
In the last year, things have stabilized somewhat, and I've written less. Last summer, we relocated from Ohio to Georgia. And in November, I went back to work. I wrote less and less and less. I'm too busy to write, I told myself. But honestly, I wasn't too busy. I just wasn't feeling the gaping void that I had felt for so much of the last two years, the void I had filled by writing.
Thanks to some remarkable timing, I got to be part of the world of kids' music during a period of amazing growth and creativity, and part of some amazing collaborations with other bloggers. I managed to fill the void in my life with great music and wonderful people.
And now, my life is still not perfect, but things are much better than they were in late 2005. I've made it through two of the hardest years of my life, and my life is pretty darned close to where I want it to be.
So that whole "writing to fill a void" business is kind of over for me. Because of that, I've had an incredibly hard time keeping this blog going. I've come close to walking away from it a number of times. (I actually had a "farewell" post written and saved in my drafts for the last week.) But for some reason, I can't bring myself to shut down this blog. Instead, I've been working on finding new motivations to write and new things to say, and I've made some major progress (although you would never know it based on the absence of recent writing here).
I'm almost ready to move ahead. To find some closure with music. To write freely about other things.
I'm almost there.
Thanks for sticking with me.
February 14, 2008
February 11, 2008
Broken Glass
Earlier this evening, a glass cake plate, similar to the one shown here, slid off a high shelf in our kitchen and crashed onto the floor. (Yes, it slid. Remember, there are no right angles in this house.) We were all in the kitchen at the time. Luckily, we were all wearing shoes, and Ralph was in his high chair.
After marveling for a few seconds at the gravity (heh, heh) of the situation, our parental instincts kicked in. Both kids were unscathed, so we sent Walter out of the room, gave Ralph more milk, and quickly went to work cleaning up the mess.
Large pieces of glass went into the garbage. Rugs were taken to the outdoor garbage can for a good shaking. We Swiffered, vacuumed, Swiffered some more, and then it was time for the husband to leave. He had to be on campus to watch a final dress rehearsal of some play that some other faculty member was directing, because...um...and why is it again that you have to be there for this? Oh, yes, collegiality counts toward tenure, but glass clean-up does not.
Tenure versus minor cuts. We'll take tenure.
As soon as the husband walked out the door, Ralph began demanding that he be freed from his highchair. It was at this point that Obsessive-Compulsive Mom took over my mind and body. And here is how the rest of my evening went.
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Vacuum living room carpet just outside the kitchen.
Put Ralph in the living room with Walter and demand they both stay there.
Give Walter the TV remote with some vague instruction, such as do whatever you have to do to keep you brother in here. And for god's sake, don't touch the floor with anything but your shoes.
Swiffer the kitchen floor with dry cloths.
Swiffer the kitchen floor with wet cloths.
Squint at floor, looking for pieces I may have missed.
Flash back to that time when my older sister's friend stepped on broken glass in the alley behind our old house, circa 1972.
Swiffer some more.
Consult Parenthacks for tips on cleaning up broken glass. No tips.
Consult Google. Find inane advice, such as "use a vacuum cleaner to vacuum up the small pieces" and "sweep small pieces into a dustpan."
Decide that someone should really put some better advice about cleaning up broken glass on the Internet.
Vacuum kitchen floor and living room carpet again.
Notice that children are glued to Cartoon Network.
Swiffer again.
Debate the harm of long periods spent in front of Cartoon Network versus a tiny shard of glass stuck in a tiny bare foot. Overstimluated child versus bloody child. Decide to leave kids in front of My Gym Partner's a Monkey. Overstimulated child wins.
Swiffer some more.
Decide that Swiffer is the greatest invention of the 21st century.
Have drink.
Decide bedtime is more important than further Swiffering. Give Ralph a bath. Leave Walter with Cartoon Network.
Vacuum again.
Swiffer again.
Have another drink.
Encourage Walter to shower, put on his pajamas, read in his bed.
Marvel at his agreeable nature.
Decide husband can do next six to eight rounds of Swiffering when he returns.
Estimate that the kitchen will be safe for bare feet sometime in June.
Blog.
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Hello, everyone. Sorry to have been gone for so long. I'll try not to do that again.
Updated to add: Yes, there are ads featuring Elisabeth Hasselbeck on my site. Crazy, isn't it?
