Blog Drought
A holiday hiatus it was. I missed blogging, but had a good break nonetheless. Thanksgiving is gone and done with for another year. A successful trip to the polar ice cap known as MN. Cousins played together nicely with no incidents of not. Well, maybe one.
When Ben returned from an overnight stay at his cousin's house, he whispered to me, "Dad, Hunter shot me in the ear with his pellet gun." When I expressed my surprise and shock at the statement, he added "…but it didn't hurt as much as when he shot me in my side."
Horrified, I thought this needs addressing. Until I realized he was smiling and was adamant that both incidents were accidents and that he was OK. He also mentioned that the gun had been taken away and that he didn't want Hunter to get in any more trouble. I shrugged it off as a boys-being-boys moment and told him to be careful and not get hurt. I can't say I never shot my brother with a projectile before.
I had Ben's third grade teachers conference this past week. It's always good to get a perspective on your child from another person, esp. one that spends 8 hours a day with him/her.
The teacher mentioned Ben's gift for writing and showed me a couple of very descriptive pieces. One even described a breakfast with Hunter where he said Hunter was "Mongling" his cocoa puffs cereal. The teacher challenged him to find that word in the dictionary. When they couldn't find it, he said that that was what it sounded like to him at the time. The teacher told him that then he should use it. I thought that was a refreshing piece of creative encouragement on her part.
Then, the teacher showed me one of his social studies projects he was working on that had two parts to it. One written area and one containing some maps with questions about the maps. He had scored kind of crappy on the maps part, which I found fairly humorous in light of what I do for a living. When I called him on it after I got home, he said that the map was hard to read, which I had to admit it was. Another case for better mapping quality control.
It occurred to me that for a guy who was going to the park 3-5 times a week, I didn't go to a park with the kids all summer. They're just too big and think the park is for little kids (it is). It just struck me as kind of sad. A closing of a chapter if you will. I won't be able to go to the park again until I have grandchildren, most likely.
There's a woman, a student at Carroll who I pass everyday who walks like a speed skater. Same gait and arm swing, just not as pronounced. Strange, but she probably thinks I walk too knock-kneed or something. Or perhaps that I'm a knuckle dragger. Hey!
The Packers played Dallas on the NFL network last Thursday, and I can say without hesitation that that is the worst announcing crew I have ever seen. Bryant Gumbel, Cris Collinsworth, and Deion. Gumbel's getting the players and the teams mixed up, messing up calls and in general being a nasally annoyment to us all. (There's a word, eh?)
Well, I've got to try and figure out how to get my daughters Ipod to work on the TV. Good luck with that, right? It can be done I'm told.
Hope to blog again during the week.
Blogging off...
Jim
When Ben returned from an overnight stay at his cousin's house, he whispered to me, "Dad, Hunter shot me in the ear with his pellet gun." When I expressed my surprise and shock at the statement, he added "…but it didn't hurt as much as when he shot me in my side."
Horrified, I thought this needs addressing. Until I realized he was smiling and was adamant that both incidents were accidents and that he was OK. He also mentioned that the gun had been taken away and that he didn't want Hunter to get in any more trouble. I shrugged it off as a boys-being-boys moment and told him to be careful and not get hurt. I can't say I never shot my brother with a projectile before.
I had Ben's third grade teachers conference this past week. It's always good to get a perspective on your child from another person, esp. one that spends 8 hours a day with him/her.
The teacher mentioned Ben's gift for writing and showed me a couple of very descriptive pieces. One even described a breakfast with Hunter where he said Hunter was "Mongling" his cocoa puffs cereal. The teacher challenged him to find that word in the dictionary. When they couldn't find it, he said that that was what it sounded like to him at the time. The teacher told him that then he should use it. I thought that was a refreshing piece of creative encouragement on her part.
Then, the teacher showed me one of his social studies projects he was working on that had two parts to it. One written area and one containing some maps with questions about the maps. He had scored kind of crappy on the maps part, which I found fairly humorous in light of what I do for a living. When I called him on it after I got home, he said that the map was hard to read, which I had to admit it was. Another case for better mapping quality control.
It occurred to me that for a guy who was going to the park 3-5 times a week, I didn't go to a park with the kids all summer. They're just too big and think the park is for little kids (it is). It just struck me as kind of sad. A closing of a chapter if you will. I won't be able to go to the park again until I have grandchildren, most likely.
There's a woman, a student at Carroll who I pass everyday who walks like a speed skater. Same gait and arm swing, just not as pronounced. Strange, but she probably thinks I walk too knock-kneed or something. Or perhaps that I'm a knuckle dragger. Hey!
The Packers played Dallas on the NFL network last Thursday, and I can say without hesitation that that is the worst announcing crew I have ever seen. Bryant Gumbel, Cris Collinsworth, and Deion. Gumbel's getting the players and the teams mixed up, messing up calls and in general being a nasally annoyment to us all. (There's a word, eh?)
Well, I've got to try and figure out how to get my daughters Ipod to work on the TV. Good luck with that, right? It can be done I'm told.
Hope to blog again during the week.
Blogging off...
Jim
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