Last night we went to my sister's place for 4th of July festivities. The weather forecast included a tornado warning during prime firework time, and we decided to just 'stay in' this time. They live in an area where some of the smaller fireworks are legal, so we picked up two packages at the store.
Their neighbors, however, didn't seem to have much concern for whether their own fireworks were legal, and had a show rivaling my the ones my small town put on when I was a kid. (This raises a whole series of ethical questions for someone watching whose house and car are in danger from lots of flaming debris, but I'm not addressing that this time.) They had very large shoot-up-in-the-air type fireworks, and they were literally right over our heads.
After awhile it started raining, so we quickly finished up our little fireworks and went inside. On the way home, I was talking to my kids about it and asked them if they liked all those fireworks. My 6-yr-old said that he hated them, which seemed strange because he had been laughing with glee when we were doing them. I inquired further, and he said that he hated them because the fireworks turned into rain.
Suddenly all was clear. The huge fireworks the neighbors were shooting off had looked like "rain" falling down, and then he felt rain, so he assumed that the fireworks had turned into rain. Wow. The world through the eyes of a child.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
How Do I Love Thee???
Ever want to tell someone you really love having them around and wish you could spend every day with them? Well, my 9-year-old has just the thing for you.
Today I was talking to him about how sometimes moms and dads fight with each other. (To my knowledge he has probably never heard my husband and I fighting.) I asked if he could imagine a home where mom and dad were yelling and screaming at each other all the time and always fighting, and asked what he would do.
He first said he would play computer games all day because we'd be so busy fighting that we wouldn't stop him. I probed and asked how it would make him feel, and he said that he would like it because maybe then I would leave and he would be able to just be with dad all the time and have lots of fun.
"So you wish I would leave and never come back?" I asked. "No," he said, "not NEVER, but maybe for like a month or something."
To be fair, he is mostly remembering the two weeks that I was gone for my grandmother's funeral when dad took over and was able to take half-days at work, and it happened to be the same time that he had no homework at school because of testing. So dad let him play computer games all the time. Now he is really looking forward to the weekend that I go away for a moms 'retreat.'
He also thinks I'm old and boring. Dad not so much, but mom is pretty old and boring.
Doesn't it just make you want to clone him so you can have one for yourself -- you can just put him on auto-repeat and call it your self affirmation for the day. I love being a mom!!!
Today I was talking to him about how sometimes moms and dads fight with each other. (To my knowledge he has probably never heard my husband and I fighting.) I asked if he could imagine a home where mom and dad were yelling and screaming at each other all the time and always fighting, and asked what he would do.
He first said he would play computer games all day because we'd be so busy fighting that we wouldn't stop him. I probed and asked how it would make him feel, and he said that he would like it because maybe then I would leave and he would be able to just be with dad all the time and have lots of fun.
"So you wish I would leave and never come back?" I asked. "No," he said, "not NEVER, but maybe for like a month or something."
To be fair, he is mostly remembering the two weeks that I was gone for my grandmother's funeral when dad took over and was able to take half-days at work, and it happened to be the same time that he had no homework at school because of testing. So dad let him play computer games all the time. Now he is really looking forward to the weekend that I go away for a moms 'retreat.'
He also thinks I'm old and boring. Dad not so much, but mom is pretty old and boring.
Doesn't it just make you want to clone him so you can have one for yourself -- you can just put him on auto-repeat and call it your self affirmation for the day. I love being a mom!!!
Monday, June 25, 2007
What If Babies Wrote Scientific Journals?
I have been thinking a lot about how our whole understanding of the universe and specifically the world around us, is based on people making guesses (based on evidence, of course, but often guesses nonetheless.)
My educational background happens to be in the field of statistics, where I developed a pretty deep love for the research process, but also a healthy skepticism for the conclusions that people *sometimes* make based on the data in their research.
This weekend I was watching my 9-month-old play with a toy and had a startling insight into how errors can surface in that research process. We have an electronic guitar-type toy that you can "play" by pushing long plastic "strings" on it. My baby really likes to make the music play, and spends a lot of time slapping it randomly to try to make the music start. This weekend, though, he discovered that if he turns over the guitar on the floor (so the buttons are facing down) he has a lot more success. He further discovered that if he pushes the guitar around (face down) while he is crawling, that the success rate increases even more.
After doing these experiments, his conclusion is that the guitar is meant to be upside down, and that if you want the guitar to make music, you need to crawl around the room, putting your weight on the guitar. Any person wanting to make music with this toy while sitting in one place will find themselves completely unsuccessful.
At this point I wondered, how often do we make similarly faulty conclusions? How often do we make scientific statements that work for our own limited understanding but somehow miss the real point?
My educational background happens to be in the field of statistics, where I developed a pretty deep love for the research process, but also a healthy skepticism for the conclusions that people *sometimes* make based on the data in their research.
This weekend I was watching my 9-month-old play with a toy and had a startling insight into how errors can surface in that research process. We have an electronic guitar-type toy that you can "play" by pushing long plastic "strings" on it. My baby really likes to make the music play, and spends a lot of time slapping it randomly to try to make the music start. This weekend, though, he discovered that if he turns over the guitar on the floor (so the buttons are facing down) he has a lot more success. He further discovered that if he pushes the guitar around (face down) while he is crawling, that the success rate increases even more.
After doing these experiments, his conclusion is that the guitar is meant to be upside down, and that if you want the guitar to make music, you need to crawl around the room, putting your weight on the guitar. Any person wanting to make music with this toy while sitting in one place will find themselves completely unsuccessful.
At this point I wondered, how often do we make similarly faulty conclusions? How often do we make scientific statements that work for our own limited understanding but somehow miss the real point?
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Colin Firth vs. Matthew Macfadyen: The P&P Showdown
I just finished back-to-back viewings of two film versions of Pride and Prejudice. Darrell and I have spent the past few days watching the BBC version, but hadn't yet finished it, so last night while he was at the Fathers and Sons campout I did what every self-respecting woman would do. I watched the end without him! My daughter was crying because the boys were going camping without her, and I quickly decided that my sweet tomboy needed a girls night. I pulled out the nail polish and painted her toenails while we ate chocolate and I introduced her to the chick movie of all time. OK, so she ended up painting her own fingernails while I fed the baby and put him to bed and then she fell asleep before the movie was over, but I think she had fun, and it stopped her from crying.
Well, when the BBC version was over, it was only 9:30, and both my kids were asleep. With my kitchen a wreck, and after a day of not really accomplishing anything, I again did what any self-respecting woman would do, and spent the next two hours watching the Keira Knightley version of P&P. This was purely for comparison purposes, of course, and has nothing to do with any sort of a longing to see Mr. Darcy win Elizabeth Bennet's affections one more time.
I admit that prior to these back-to-back viewings, I had few objections to this shorter version, but now I have to say that hands down, the BBC version is better overall. I like the casting better, and I've decided that this is a story that *needs* the character development of the full version.
OK, as much as I would like to further analyze the differences, the time constraints of being a mom force me to simply summarize by saying that unless you're short on time, go for Colin Firth!!!
Well, when the BBC version was over, it was only 9:30, and both my kids were asleep. With my kitchen a wreck, and after a day of not really accomplishing anything, I again did what any self-respecting woman would do, and spent the next two hours watching the Keira Knightley version of P&P. This was purely for comparison purposes, of course, and has nothing to do with any sort of a longing to see Mr. Darcy win Elizabeth Bennet's affections one more time.
I admit that prior to these back-to-back viewings, I had few objections to this shorter version, but now I have to say that hands down, the BBC version is better overall. I like the casting better, and I've decided that this is a story that *needs* the character development of the full version.
OK, as much as I would like to further analyze the differences, the time constraints of being a mom force me to simply summarize by saying that unless you're short on time, go for Colin Firth!!!
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