Tuesday, March 29, 2011

My Child is a Cyborg


I came home from work yesterday and was sitting with Twin J on the floor playing silly chess (that is a topic for another post).  I noticed he had colored his arm -- or someone had.  This is not an unusual event in our house, though it did seem a bit more focused and intentional than the usual random human-canvas approach our youngest has.  During a break in the intense game I asked about the art and I got this response: It's a machine. It fills people up with what they need/or he wants.   This may sound odd to you, but there is history here.  Let me explain.

When the twins were younger and I put them to bed, I would read them stories.  Then, after the lights were out, I would make up a story of two, often putting them in as characters. This is not uncommon for parents.  Also, not uncommon for parents is to be so utterly exhausted at the end of a day of chasing twin 3-year olds around the house, neighborhood, park that the parents falls asleep faster than the twins, or at least wants to.  So, on occasion I would try to beg off from telling a story because I didn't have the creativity or will to make up a story and/or retell one I had previously made up.  In our house there was a stiff penalty for not being able to retell a story I had made up recently while in a near comatose state of exhaustion.

So on those nights, I would tell the boys that I was all out of stories.  Enter the machine.  The boys claimed they could refill me with ideas/energy/or whatever else was needed to enable me to tell a story and allow them to stay up longer.  It's kind of like refilling a gas tank with imagination.  Sometimes it worked; sometimes it didn't.  Occasionally over the past couple of year, the notion of filling someone (usually me) with whatever was needed to get the twins what they wanted has resurfaced. Most recently it has had to do with energy to fling the boys about the house, hold them upside down, or simply hold them while I walk around the house and they reach out with their legs and arms to walls, cupboard pulls or anything else that might throw me off-balance or knock things off a shelf or wall.  

So yesterday I came home to the machine colored on my son's arm.  Essentially, my son was telling me he was a cyborg. He was ready to give me whatever I needed so I could swing him around in my shoulders.  I admit it made me laugh.  I lost the game of silly chess (though I always do).  It amazed me about his creativity and willingness to involve his body in such an endeavor -- without hesitation.  Maybe Kevin Warwick or Wafaa Bilal could use some input from a deeply imaginative mind.

Friday, March 25, 2011

This Moment -- Spring!



{this moment} A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. -- via SouleMama

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Computer Parenting

Okay, maybe my title is a bit hyperbolic, but I was struck when I stumbled across this commercial for a Nursery Rhymes app.



I basically had two reactions when I saw this. First, I thought it was sad that the dad can't be home to put his daughter to bed.  Maybe he's a workaholic (which I can relate to) or maybe his job demands long hours.  In our current world, most jobs put work before family. My second thought, after my second watching, is that the father is out of the country and can't be home.  He is away on business. It made the commercial a bit more palatable for me, but I couldn't help but wonder why he wouldn't want to have a conversation with his daughter.  Why not just talk?

If I were completely cynical, I would say the daughter wasn't really paying much attention to the father because she was playing with the iPad.  Of course she is paying a bit of attention because she is on the same rhyme as her father and children can listen and play at the same time (though sometimes I wonder if this is true). Also, they seem to imply the father is away on business because he speaks a different language to a colleague.  It doesn't seem to account for the time change, but there would be ways to rationalize that as well. And then there is concern about how screen time disrupts sleep patterns.  Maybe I'm just cranky, but the add rubbed me the wrong way.

It was just a thought.

Friday, March 18, 2011

This Moment



{this moment} A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. -- via SouleMama

Monday, March 14, 2011

Unschooled Word Problems

We plan to homeschool our children.  More specifically, WonderMom will be doing the schooling.  I do school all day and value my relationship with my sons too much to do the schooling.  I've done enough to drive them into therapy, why compound it?  I don't want to make this post about why we will be homeschooling.  I'll save that for a different time, when I have more time.  In the meantime, here is the link to Badass Dad's reason they are homeschooling.  Their reasons don't fall too far from mine. 

Recently the unschooling movement got some bad press via Good Morning America.  I'm not going to link to it because I don't want to perpetuate their misconceptions or George Stephanoloplis's stupidity.  I'm not necessarily advocating unschooling because I don't know enough about it, but here and here are a couple of nice places to look.  I really like the idea, but I'm possibly too much of a control freak and neurotic for unschooling.  We'll see.  I like the terms "natural learning" and "experience-based learning" that Earl Stevens uses.  That makes it easier for me to consider.  In fact experience-based learning is one of the latest pushes at my university. 


So recently we brought our ball pit up from its basement storage.  It's really a pack-n-play with the few remaining ball pit balls that haven't been crushed, torn apart, or aren't hiding under the couch.  WonderMom was trying to stop the twins from simply throwing the balls all over the room, so she had the boys collect each color ball, then guess how many their were.  We moved through five colors of balls, first collecting and then placing them in a basket.  Guesses ranged from 5 to 3 million.  Twin M, on the advice of WonderMom, quickly began to assess the number based on how many balls were in the basket the last time.  Eventually Twin J focused and did the same.  For the white balls, of which there were only eight, we counted by ones and then by twos.  I'm told the twins are beginning to count by twos, but can also count by fives and tens.  It was great fun and everyone was focuses (for the most part), including the two-year old in my arms.  If you haven't figured it out yet, it was a beautiful moment of experience-based learning.  The twins were having fun and were engaged.  They were naturally interested in finding out how many balls of each color there were.  It was a fun 30 minutes or so. 


At dinner, Twin J says: E, if you've got three bowls and one plate and you take away three bowls, what do you get? 

So now my boys are making up word problems.  Who knew school could be such fun?

Friday, March 11, 2011

This Moment



{this moment} A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. -- via SouleMama

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Toddler in Overhead Compartment?

I've had a bit of outrage lately.  The news and interwebs have been covering lots of toddlers getting duct taped to walls or tape over their mouths or other ridiculous forms of child abuse that parents find funny enough to post to Twitter, Facebook, or send via phone to friends (here and here).  In the second case I link to the parents were high and thought it was funny.  I can't even really comment on that one I find it so offensive and disturbing.  Let's just say I couldn't be an unbiased juror in their case to avoid the abuse they will experience with their jail time. 

With all the stories about kids duct taped, I was only partially surprised when I read about a flight attendant who, as a joke, put a toddler in the overhead compartment on a Virgin Airline flight (here). Though the stories I read on this don't have much detail, I also wonder how the flight attendant got a hold of the toddler.  What were the parents doing while the flight attendant had the toddler? What the hell?

Who thinks that's funny, besides drug-addled, abusive parents in Nebraska? 

Friday, March 4, 2011

This Moment



{this moment} A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. -- via SouleMama