Blowing & Drifting

At about 10:30 tonight, as I was sitting at the laptop watching an episode of Game of Thrones, Julia came out of her bedroom. “Daddy, I can’t sleep!” “What’s wrong, honey? You can’t sleep?” “No, I can’t! Everyone keeps moving everything up and down.” “What?” Then, quickly, realizing she was sleepwalking: “Honey, I think you’re [...]

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Every now and then, Vivi will spontaneously start singing a little song she made up: Dangit dangit dang-IT Dangit dangit dang-IT Dangit is supported by Northfield News. Provided by Genevieve Land Everybody Dance Now Service. And it’s also provided by Iffy Mama. This is clearly modeled on the little promos after PBS shows, but she’s [...]

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Here are nine reasons that I love this nine-year-old kid: 1. She is ridiculously smart, and I can tell she’s going to use her brain to great effect over the next nine years – and beyond. 2. She loves to read. If she has her nose in a book, good luck getting her attention. And [...]

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Finally – video of the girls’ dance at the elementary school talent show! This was shot by my friend Todd, the father of the other two girls here. They’re all good dancers! You can tell they practiced a lot – and that Shannon and Todd’s wife put a *lot* of thought into the choreography. Well [...]

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I realized a longtime dream today when the girls agreed to play Scrabble with me! Nonna is on notice: Genevieve is pretty sharp.

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For my birthday, Julia also drew this amazing picture: She drew it from a photo of taken on the first day of school last fall. Pretty good resemblance, huh?

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Musing about possible April Fool’s pranks, Julia asked me how hard it would be to rig a bucket of water to fall on someone’s head. Thankfully, she and Vivi went in another, tamer, drier direction. (The dress color and the last line in the description are the jokes.)

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Vivi wrote this newspaper while I was traveling earlier this week. Click on it to see a more legible version. It’s worth the time:

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When I was racing the other weekend, Shannon set the girls up with a dish-soap painting project. Here are two of the paintings they made, each with a mysterious title. When I asked them about the titles, they said almost in unison that I’d told them that artists sometimes gave their works strange names, so [...]

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Genevieve spends a lot of time talking about “Genevieve Land,” where the natives naturally speak “Genevieve Language.” Luckily for those of us who might have to travel to this locale, she’s started a lexicon with important entries like Mama, sweets, vegetables, and birthday:

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Today is Shannon’s forty-xth birthday. As chief birthday officer, I’m glad to report that everything went well. The gifts were well chosen and well received, and the girls and I acquitted ourselves well in the kitchen, making a workmanlike dinner of bacon grilled cheeses and apple-celery salad and – get *this*! – a chocolate cake. [...]

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At about 7:15, Vivi decided that she wanted to read in bed under the covers with a headlamp she’s appropriated from me. We headed into her room, where Julia decided to join in the fun (in her own bed). Everything went fine until it was time for actual lights out at 7:30. Vivi started crying [...]

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The cover of Vivi’s nonfiction book on penguins. The interior pages display an excellent sense of the most useful balance between facts and images. In this work, she only used secondary sources, so I suppose they’ll do some primary research – field work on the Ross Ice Shelf? – next year.  

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After breakfast today, Julia asked me, “Do you know how long it takes light from the sun to reach the earth?” I said no, slightly ashamed that I didn’t. “Well, guess!” she told me. “Uhh, one minute.” “No, more. It’s a surprisingly long time.” “An hour!” “Way less.” “Fifteen minutes.” “Close!” “Uhhh, seven and a [...]

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The only thing better than a giant snowbank is a giant snowbank with tunnels in it, and the only thing better than that is a snowbank tunnel from which emerges a smiling first grader!

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