Thursday, February 25, 2010

The Importance of Gooder English

Xavier has a cold. Today when he came home from school, I asked him, "How is your cold? Is it better?"

"Yes!" he said, taking off his shoes. "And when I say that, I mean I am better, not my cold, which is badder. Which is to say, that my cold is getting better, but it is not doing good."

Did you catch that?

I gave Gwen a hug the other day, and said, "Gwen, I think about you all the time."

"Really?" she asked. "Even when I'm asleep and you are watching TV with Daddy?"

"Yes."

"Even when you are riding your bike to work?"

"Yes."

"Even when you are working on a hard problem at work?"

"Yes."

"Even when you are messing around with that Jackie Chan guy?"

(Insert needle being pulled off the record here.)

"What?! Who?!"

"You know, that Jackie Chan guy. The guy Xavier said looked like Jackie Chan."

"You mean, Mr. Jian? The guy I work with?"

"Yeah. Do you think about me when you are messing around with him?"

"You mean 'working', right? There's a big difference between 'working' and 'messing around.' I don't 'mess around' with Mr. Jian."

"Do you think about me then?"

"Yes."


Gwen had me download Google Earth. The free version has images from February 1st, 2007. We looked at Grammy and Grandpa's house. I don't know where Grandpa was going on February 1, 2007, but he's going somewhere because we see his van heading out of the driveway. Hope he had a nice time!

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead

Spoiler Alert! If you have not read the Harry Potter series, there are some plot points revealed below that you may not want revealed if you plan to read the books. Of course, if you have not read the books, you may not understand this post a lot anyway.

The kids have been working their ways through the Harry Potter books. The first three went by quickly enough -- Gwen reading to herself, Xavier asking Adam or me to read them out loud. When we told them that someone dies in the fourth book, Gwen held back, but seeing that Xavier was listening, she persevered and finished "Goblet of Fire" anyway.

Then we started on "Order of the Phoenix." I warned the kids in advance that someone closer to Harry dies in this book, but after ascertaining that it was not Ron or Hermione, Xavier was keen to read it anyway. Now, so far I have made a point of not telling the kids in advance who dies, I just let them find out when we get to that point. Gwen initially said she would abstain, but after listening in to a few of my sessions reading to Xavier, I noticed that she started hanging about when we were doing our reading. As we approached the end, every time a character appeared to get into trouble -- or sometimes just appeared -- Xavier would ask, "Is he going to die?" or "Is she going to die?" I was a little surprised that when it was Sirius, he seemed unable to believe it.

Anyway, we finished the the book tonight. Xav wanted to start reading "The Half-blood Prince" right away, but I deferred, pointing out that I need to get over a cough and we should wait a few days anyway. Xavier wandered off, and Gwen said, "I'm not sure I want to read 'The Half-blood Prince.' These books seem to be getting darker and darker, and I'm not sure I want to see anyone else die."

I glanced around to make sure Xavier wasn't listening, then said, "If it won't ruin it for you, Gwen, I can tell you who dies in this book and you can decide if it is worth it."

She looked up at me and said, "Dumbledore." It was not a question, it was a statement of fact.

"How do you know?"

"My friend Violet told me."

A little while later, while the kids were getting ready for bed, Xav asked me again to read "The Half-blood Prince." I said, "Maybe in a couple of days, Xav, but I have to warn you, someone even closer to Harry than Sirius Black dies in this book."

I expected him to ask if it was Ron or Hermione, but instead he said, "Dumbledore." A statement, not a question.

"How did you --?"

"It wasn't me!" Gwen cried out. "I didn't tell him!"

I turned back to Xav. "How did you know?" I asked, thinking he may have been listening earlier.

"I told him," Gwen replied, despite what she said just a few seconds before. "I told him last night."

Silly kids, they can't even keep a secret to back up their own secret.

Saturday, February 06, 2010

Lego Harry Potter Monopoly

If you are a fan of Harry Potter, then you've surely heard of Wizarding Chess. This is almost completely different from that.

It all started out as a normal game of Monopoly, I think, but once Gwen had laid out the board, I waited for the inevitable battle over who got to play the wheelbarrow.

"Actually, I don't want any of those," Xavier said. "How about I get some Lego guys to use instead?"

A few minutes later he reappeared with Harry Potter and Snape lego figures. "Here, Gwen, you can be Snape and I can be Harry Potter!"

"What will Mom be, then?" Gwen asked.

"Hold on!" He disappeared for a few minutes, then returned with a Lego pirate and a Bionicle mask that looked kind of like a skull. "Which one do you want?"

"I'll take the pirate guy," I replied.

"Well, actually, your character is actually a Ani- Ani- Ani- a shapeshifter! You can go back and forth between being a pirate and skull, see, so you have to take this skull with you whereever you go!"

"Fine." After a couple of rounds, evidently play got too mundane for Xavier. "Guess what! You see this here in jail?" He referred to another Bionicle piece that looks kind of like a jellyfish (I don't remember what actual purpose it serves.) "That's a disease! If you go to jail, you get a disease, and it follows you everywhere!" It sounds like Xavier is more familier with the rougher league of prison than I ever wanted him to be.

Unfortunately (or maybe quite fortunately, depending on your perspective), no one went to jail for a long time. I had to go cook dinner, then deal with a work emergency, so Adam took over for me. As he sat down, Xavier piped up, "Hi Dad! Would you like to buy a troll?"

I've been away from the game for awhile, but last time I checked in, "Snape" was having a meltdown because she is losing, and "Harry" was threatening to chop up Daddy's houses with his wand/sword.

Clearly, standard Monopoly is WAY too tame a game for Xavier.

Thursday, February 04, 2010

Better to be busy than idle

Someone pointed out to me today that I have not blogged since the new year (yes, Mom, I'm talking about you :) ). I'm afraid I have been busy, but I can't complain -- better to be busy at work than idle.

Other things that have been keeping us busy:

1. More snow days than I have ever seen before in our town. By sundown tomorrow, my kids will have spent all of five hours in school this week (heck, who am I kidding? They'd met that goal by 3:30 today. School is already canceled for tomorrow.)

2. Our house hunt. This is is supposed to be a buyer's market -- too bad we have a house to sell as well. We found a house we liked, but the kids were resistant. Finally, after lots of meltdowns, we were able to persuade them that the new house would be better.

We made an offer, and are playing the waiting game. We've been waiting about two weeks, actually, and the real estate agent called last night and gave us the dope: the seller was already selling the house at a loss, and since we asked less than his asking price, he doesn't know where he can come up with the additional money. At the same time, he is so desperate to sell this house, he's afraid to negotiate for fear we will walk away. Now the kids are having meltdowns because they are afraid we WON'T get the house.

3. Gwen's sleep apnea. We noticed she was gasping a lot in her sleep last fall, and finally got her in to see her doctor in November, who said, "I'm sending you to an ear, nose, and throat specialist." After waiting a month to see him, he said, "I'm sending you for X-rays and an appointment with the sleep therapist." A month after that (after the X-rays and sleep study were done) we finally got back together with the ENT specialist. Her nasal passages are almost completely blocked by her adenoids, and her oxygen levels are dropping significantly at night (not low enough that they tried to schedule us in earlier, though.) Looking in her mouth, he said, "I was going to recommend just the adenoidectomy, but seeing that she has an active case of tonsillitis today, I think we should take those, too." So, if you were wondering what we will be doing for spring break, well ... now you know.

The funny part is, after we left the ENT's office, Gwen started flipping out. "I have to get my tonsils and adenoids taken out! It isn't fair!" she cried.

Xavier -- the kid who has been violently opposed to having some skin tags removed around his ears -- also flipped out. "Gwen gets to eat all the ice cream she wants! It isn't fair!"

The grass is always greener, I guess. On the flip side, if I ever decide we really do need to take action on those skin tags, well, I'll know how to motivate him. In the meantime, I think Gwen has taken solace in the fact that her friends think it is cool that she'll be going under the knife.

Kids are weird.