Talia playing with balloons

Posted via email from NBR

Today's updates:

• 14:28 4-yr-old epistemology: "Some people don't believe in Rudolph. I DO believe in Rudolph, but I CAN'T believe he has a red nose."

Posted via LoudTwitter

Today's updates:

• 19:29 Zeke: "I don't believe Santa lives at the North Pole. How could he live in an igloo, with so many toys, a sleigh, and REINDEER?"

Posted via LoudTwitter

Today's updates:

• 23:04 Zeke told me: "Daddy, my stocking is so nice and clean, Santa wouldn't want to put dirty coal in it." He's genuinely concerned. #fb

Posted via LoudTwitter

Spotted in the playground at Zeke's school. He has the makings of a tagger

Posted via email from NBR

Zeke shows off some moves

I don't think this really requires much explanation.

Today's updates:

• 07:23 Zeke (4) channels Erving Goffman: "Daddy! Pretend you're you, I'm me, and Talia's her." But then: "And pretend we didn't poop on you."

Posted via LoudTwitter

Today's updates:

• 19:50 Zeke (4), holding a toy: "If I swung this at you and hit you, you would die. But I usually don't swing it at my parents or friends."

Posted via LoudTwitter

A photo of Talia playing outside

This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, Quicktime@ 6.5 or higher is required.

Posted via email from NBR

Zeke and his friend tackle a dilemma

A few days ago, I overheard the following discussion between Zeke and his best friend K. We were all in the car.

K.: I wish I could have my sister's bed. I want to have my own room and sleep in my own bed. But I also want my mommy to be there with me so I can hug her in the night.
Z.: Hm. Well, you could dream something up. You could (pause) ... you could build a ramp. And if in the night you felt like you wanted a hug, you could (pause) ... you could walk on the ramp and go into your mommy's room and get a hug.
K. Hm.

If you could climb into your head

Tonight Zeke was asking me about why some big trucks have bunks above their cabs. I explained that it was so the drivers could sleep if they were taking long trips. He then wanted to know how the trucks kept driving while their drivers slept. I explained that they didn't. He was, it seems, thinking about the image of a driver climbing up into a bunk above the cab of his truck and looking out those little windows. He thought for a minute and then remarked:

Daddy -- wouldn't it be funny if there was a window in your head, and you could climb up into your head and look out the window? And then your head would be bouncing around with you in it.

A little pre-Hallowe'en test run

Talia hasn't really gotten into it much yet.

Posted via email from NBR

The kids' first day of school

This photo is a little out of date -- from last Monday -- but here it is.

Posted via email from NBR

What Zeke said at bedtime tonight

Zeke was in fine form at bedtime tonight. He asked me a series of questions, more or less as follows:

1. What color is your brain? Is it light red? (I said "Gray," and his response was, "Ew!")
2. Why does your brain have so many cracks in it?
   
3. What would happen if I stuck my finger in my brain? Ew.
   
4. Why do we need a skull?
   
5. How old are these (holding his two favorite stuffed animals)? Not like, "one, two, three, four," but like, "old and shaggy." They're new to me.
6. Is a dream like a little movie in your head? It's like I have a computer set in my head.
   
7. In Greek myths, why does it say that the Earth had babies and they turned into one-eyed Cyclops and Zeus didn't like them?
   

Also, his favorite bedtime song has changed. It used to be a lullaby ("Hush, Little Baby, Don't Say a Word"). Now it's "Summertime."

Today's updates:

• 19:42 Zeke, getting out of the bath: "Daddy! I didn't wash my hair. But I DID get out all the toe jam!"

Posted via LoudTwitter

Zeke told a "scary story" in the car tonight

We were driving home after nightfall, and I made some comment about
how we were driving through the dark and it was kind of spooky. Zeke
asked if we wanted him to tell a scary story. Talia and I said yes.
His voice got really low and he began reciting a long, incantatory,
ex tempore poem. All I remember is this:

 

Storm clouds! Skeletons! And ghost deers!

Point a rock and throw you dead.
Broke you to a flaming
wheel.

Bash.
Crash.
Bam.
Broke.

 That's it.

Posted via email from NBR

Talia showing off the magic-marker manicure her brother gave her

Posted via email from NBR

ice cream

Posted via email from NBR

Zeke playing with Mr Potato Head

Posted via email from NBR

Today's updates:

• 17:43 Zeke says his favorite car is a "Jeepie S." (i.e., a GPS) because they go so fast

Posted via LoudTwitter

I opened Zeke's lunch box tonight to clean it, and this fell out on the counter

Kind of spooky, huh?

Posted via email from NBR

Today's updates:

• 19:15 Zeke: "Hi! My name's Idiot Diarrhea! And other bad words, too!"

Posted via LoudTwitter

"Toilet learning" is in progress

Ahem, uploaded 10th June, 2009.

Yes, folks, that is indeed a copy of the New York Review of Books that she's pretending to read.

Today's updates:

• 20:41 Zeke officially has a Pennsylvania accent. He says "I sawl it" instead of "I saw it"

Posted via LoudTwitter

Zeke wrote this (the third letter is a 'K')

Posted via email from NBR

Today's updates:

• 22:55 Zeke: "Can I stay up till lilacs?" Somehow he's confused "lilacs" with "twilight"

Posted via LoudTwitter

Summer's here, mostly

Well, the annual Dogwood Festival has come and gone, which was a lot of excitement for everyone. Zeke actually stood on the porch, pointed to the rides as they began to set up, and -- being too excited even to form words -- let loose shrieks of pure joy and anticipation. In other news, Talia fell down on the front stairs and knocked two of her front teeth loose. One of them now seems to be turning black, which I guess means the nerve is dead, but so far it doesn't look like it's going to fall out. We're waiting to hear from the dentist. 

Here are a few favorite recent photos in a slideshow format. Click here to see this whole collection on a single page. When you're watching the slideshow (in this post, or in almost any other slideshow or video) look for a little icon like this:  or something similar, here (and usually elsewhere) found in the bottom right corner. If you click that symbol, the slideshow will expand to fill your whole screen. 

Zeke also recently figured out that if you sit on your tricycle at the top of a hill and start pedaling, you can get going pretty fast. So far there have been no accidents. 

Some bon-mots

A couple of recent favorites:

On radical hair:

K. (from next door): Does my hair look radical?
Z.: What does "radical" mean?
K.: It means all messy.
Z.: No, your hair doesn't look radical. It looks like a girl's hair. Kind of... (pointing towards his shoulders) down.
K.: Oh. Okay. Good.

On death and God:

Z.: Daddy, are you going to die?
Me: Well, everything that's alive dies some day. So, yes. Some day I'll die.
Z. (slightly tearful): But I want to stay with you.
Me: Well, hopefully, it won't happen for a very long time. Years and years.
Z.: Well, we die when we tell God we're ready to die. Right?
Me: Uh... who told you that?
Z.: (after a long pause) God.
Me: Um... ah... I see.

I'm still kind of mystified by this one.

On discovering a hidden cache of cookies (hidden by me):

Z.: Daddy, why did you hide the cookies?
Me: Because I didn't want you to ask me for one. Every time you see cookies, you ask for one.
Z.: That's because I'm not allergic to sweets.

He's got a point, I suppose. Not that he's allergic to anything else, either, as far as we know.

Today's updates:

• 12:21 Zeke: "I'm not scared of flying spices. Like, flying out of the jar. But if they get in your nose, PSSHT! you sneeze."

Posted via LoudTwitter

Today's updates:

• 21:52 Zeke (age 4) on his first serious carnival ride, the Rainbow: "It tickled my insides, but in a fun way." He loved it.

Posted via LoudTwitter

Today's updates:

• 19:56 Talia, playing with a balloon:"If you put a balloon on your head and pop it, it's a hat."

Posted via LoudTwitter

Today's updates:

• 10:37 Talia (age 2-1/2): "I'm a frog! I'm a frog! I know REALLY how to jump!" ff.im/2BaU0

Posted via LoudTwitter

Bruce Springsteen honors Pete Seeger at his 90th birthday

Pete Seeger turned 90 on Sunday, May 3, 2009, and a huge birthday celebration was held at Madison Square Garden. Bruce Springsteen was one of the headliners. He had this to say about Pete Seeger's legacy.
 

As Pete and I traveled to Washington for President Obama's inaugural celebration, he told me the -- he told me the entire story of "We Shall Overcome," how it moved from a labor movement song and, with Pete's inspiration, had been adopted by the civil rights movement.
 
And that day, as we sang "This Land Is Your Land," I looked at Pete. The first black president of the United States was seated to his right. And I thought of -- I thought of the incredible journey that Pete had taken. You know, my own growing up in the '60s, a town scarred by race rioting, made that moment nearly unbelievable. And Pete had thirty extra years of struggle and real activism on his belt. He was so happy that day. It was like, Pete, you outlasted the bastards, man. You just outlasted them. It was so nice. It was so nice.
 
At rehearsals the day before, it was freezing. It was like fifteen degrees. And Pete was there, he had his flannel shirt on. I said, "Man, you better wear something besides that flannel shirt!" He says, "Yeah, I've got my long johns on under this thing." I said -- and I asked him, I said, "How do you want to approach 'This Land Is Your Land'?" as it'd be near the end of the show. And all he said was, "Well, I know I want to sing all the verses. You know, I want to sing all the ones that Woody wrote, especially the two that get left out, you know, about private property and the relief office." And I thought, of course, you know, that's what Pete's done his whole life: he sings all the verses all the time, especially the ones that we'd like to leave out of our history as a people, you know?
 
At some point -- at some point, Pete Seeger decided he'd be a walking, singing reminder of all of America's history. He'd be living archive of America's music and conscience, a testament of the power of song and culture to nudge history along, to push American events towards more humane and justified ends. He would have the audacity and the courage to sing in the voice of the people.
 
Now, despite Pete's somewhat benign grandfatherly appearance, you know, he is a creature of a stubborn, defiant and nasty optimism. He carries -- inside him, he carries a steely toughness that belies that grandfatherly facade, and it won't let him take a step back from the things he believes in.
 
At ninety, he remains a stealth dagger through the heart of our country's illusions about itself. Pete Seeger still sings all the verses all the time, and he reminds us of our immense failures, as well as shining a light towards our better angels in the horizon, where the country we've imagined and hold dear, we hope, awaits us. And on top of it, he never wears it on his sleeve.... The song that... Tommy Morello and I are about to sing, I wrote it in the mid-’90s... [I]ts last verse is the beautiful speech that Tom Joad whispers to his mother at the end of The Grapes of Wrath. It says, "Wherever there's a cop beating a guy, wherever a hungry newborn baby cries, wherever there's a fight against the blood and the hatred in the air, look for me, Mom. I'll be there." Well, Pete has always been there.

 
 
The full text of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," including the two verses Springsteen refers to.

I’ve roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me.
 
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.
 
In the squares of the city, under shadow of the steeple
At the relief office, I saw my people
As they stood there hungry, I stood there whistling
This land was made for you and me.
 
A great high wall there tried to stop me
A great big sign there said private property
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing
That side was made for you and me.

 
More, including some video, at Democracy Now.

Posted via email from NBR

Talia in the bath

Talia in the bath, uploaded 2nd May, 2009.

Today's updates:

• 16:14 Talia made it through the whole night last night without a pacifier. This is a first

Posted via LoudTwitter

Zeke and Talia riding their bikes

Zeke and Talia riding their bikes, uploaded 22nd April, 2009.

Taken late this afternoon. Spring seems to have finally sprung here.

Zeke's first book

Zeke wrote his first "book." You can view it below, or if that doesn't work, follow this link. To make the image larger, click in the little rectangle in the top right of the gray viewing box below (or on the linked page).
Zeke's first book (fingerpaint and dictation)

Publish at Scribd or explore others: School Work Books art children

Zeke's version of Dr. Seuss

Presumably many of my three or four readers will be familiar with Theodore Geisel, b.k.a. Dr. Seuss, and maybe also his well-known graduation present book, Oh, the Places You'll Go. We have a copy of this lying around and Zeke has taken a liking to it. He has been asking to have it read to him a lot. But yesterday he decided to "read" it to Talia. I didn't get it all down, but here's a reasonable chunk of it.

When you're on earth, it's not much fun.
You're on the outside of the earth. You're done.

Oh, let's go, to the places you'll go.
It's in space. In outer space, you know.

You might catch, or you might score,
On the greatest one of all. One hundred. Or.

Except when it's not, there's a game you can't win.

The end.

In the original, there are a lot of pages that begin, "Except when it's not," or "Except when you don't," or things like that. Just in case you're wondering. Also, Zeke has suddenly gotten interested in outer space and asks lots of questions about planets. Someone at preschool must have mentioned the fact that Pluto has been demoted to, what is it now, a planetoid or something, because he has been asking me why Pluto used to be a planet and isn't any more. He wants to know if it shrunk.

At any rate, the first line really made an impression on me. And he definitely has the anapestic tetrameter pretty well down.

Photo: Zeke standing on top of my car

Zeke standing on top of my car, uploaded 18th April, 2009.

I don't think this one really needs any commentary.

Today's updates:

• 14:02 Zeke: "Daddy! Do you know what jelly is? It's, like, the floppiest jam in the world."

Posted via LoudTwitter

A few more from yesterday and today

 

Posted via email from NBR

Talia saying 'cheese'

Posted via email from NBR

Today's updates:

• 21:54 Zeke seems to think that croutons are actually called "protons."

Posted via LoudTwitter

The kids made a 'secret hideout' out of pillows and blankets tonight

Posted via Pixelpipe.

Zeke getting his hair cut (photo series)

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from NBR

Talia laughing at the table

Posted via email from NBR

Today's updates:

• 09:58 After we dress Talia, she likes to run around shouting, "Look how PRETTY I are!"

Posted via LoudTwitter

Today's updates:

• 09:05 Zeke: "Daddy. I want to play a game. But... NO PICKING BOOGERS."

Posted via LoudTwitter

Zeke and his mother planting seeds

Zeke and his mother planting seeds, uploaded 2nd March, 2009.

Today was a snow day. This turned out to be a good activity.

Zeke and Lenny

Zeke and Lenny (collage), uploaded 1st March, 2009.

Lenny is Zeke's new pet, a Madagascar hissing cockroach. Lenny was a present from my old friend Melissa.

What Talia ate this morning before 11 a.m.

One waffle with butter and syrup. Two hard-boiled eggs. One chunk of cheese. One piece of toast with jam. Almost half a pound of mashed sweet potato covered with about a quarter-cup of yoghurt. She's two years old, folks.

Zeke tries on his mother's shades

Zeke tries on his mother's shades, uploaded 22nd February, 2009.

A few recent favorite photos

The photos with the crown are from Talia's birthday. The photos with Zeke and his grandmother are from Christmas. Zeke got a few hand-me-down pink footie pajamas from his friend Carmen and, if he could, would never wear anything else.

Zeke and Talia playing in the snow

Sometimes he really is a very good big brother.

Today's updates:

• 00:56 Zeke's question for the night: "Daddy, does God feel bad when we get sick?"

Posted via LoudTwitter

No piñata? Make one

One minute of hilarity from Zeke's birthday party last month.

Zeke and Talia brushing teeth

Zeke and Talia brushing teeth, uploaded 5th January, 2009.

Things Zeke asked me today:

• Why are poisonous snakes in museums? 
  
• Why is the bottom of your mouth part of your head?
  
• Why don't people just drive one another's cars?
  

Today's updates:

• 22:23 Four-year-old theodicy: "Daddy, does everything in our world have an important job?"

Posted via LoudTwitter

Today's updates:

• 15:25 Zeke (3), after I warned him about spinning to make himself dizzy: "I LOVE hurting my head. It's FUN. It's, like, terrible but fun."

Posted via LoudTwitter

Today's updates:

• 10:59 Zeke: "Bugs poop, you know. Every single day. -- Bugs are pooping RIGHT NOW."

Posted via LoudTwitter

Today's updates:

• 08:26 Zeke (age 3) on the meaning of life, the universe, and everything: "A giant robot is pooping on our world."

Posted via LoudTwitter

Today's updates:

• 16:58 Zeke (whispering privately to cat): "You stink, little Jimmy, but I don't mind. You're stupid, but I love you anyway. You're the best"

Posted via LoudTwitter

Today's updates:

• 08:33 Zeke, telling a story: "Then... it happened!" Talia: "Then what happened?" Zeke: "No. Then IT happened."

Posted via LoudTwitter

Today's updates:

• 18:35 Zeke, while watching a chunk of butter dissolve into a pan of noodles: "Daddy! It looks just like baby Jesus!" I have no idea either.

Posted via LoudTwitter

Today's updates:

• 09:05 Somehow Zeke seems to have managed to get Raisin Bran onto his shoulder while eating breakfast. That's talent, folks.

Posted via LoudTwitter

A couple of photos from the last few days

If you are a contact of mine on the photo-printing site Snapfish, you can get prints of any of these (and a bunch more) by going to ReinFamilyPictures.Snapfish.com.

Talia laughing

Collage of Talia laughing (made with Picnik), uploaded 29th November, 2008.

Someday soon I should record her laughing and post it here. It's very enthusiastic. It sort of sounds like she's shouting.

Thanksgiving at Naani and Pop-pop's

Uncle Abie and the kids, uploaded 28th November, 2008.

Here's a snapshot of Zeke (left) and Talia playing with their uncle on the floor. They were very excited to see him (and the rest of the family).

Today's updates:

• 14:04 Z.: "Daddy, we're not held up by the earth, we're held up by ... a giant birthday cake, which is another planet. It's South America!"

Posted via LoudTwitter

Today's updates:

• 08:35 Zeke, this morning, while rushing to the kitchen table: "I don't want to be late for my hungriness."

Posted via LoudTwitter

Today's updates:

• 14:34 Zeke, after baking a cake with his mother: "I think the cake doesn't want people to be late to have a bite of it."

Posted via LoudTwitter

Today's updates:

• 21:06 Q.: "Zeke, what do you want to be for Hallowe'en?" A.: "A toilet in a shark costume."

Posted via LoudTwitter

Talia

Talia, uploaded 27th October, 2008.

Heather took this with her phone. It doesn't matter what I do -- her pictures are always better than mine.

Today's updates:

• 10:36 Zeke, on walking into the bathroom: "Something stinks in here. Something is FILTH."
• 15:35 Talia peed on the potty yesterday. And on the bathroom floor. Not bad for a 22-month-old.

Posted via LoudTwitter

"Don't think about your mommy"

Zeke, a few weeks ago, trying to comfort a friend on the way to school:

Don't think about your mommy. And don't think about your daddy. I'm thinking about how nice it is inside our school. And about how nice our teachers are.

Talia has learned a new skill

Sorry for the long silence. There's no especially cogent explanation -- mainly, I don't seem to have collected many very good pictures, and it's only fairly recently that I managed to get my home computer working properly again. Anyhow, though, I intend to begin again, and to show I've turned over a new leaf, here's a nice webcam photo of Talia for you. I have a camera attached to the computer at home, and I was trying to prevail on Talia to do something cute for it. Like, for example, sing. Ordinarily she seems to sing pretty much constantly, except, I guess, when you want to show her off. Her favorite song is the alphabet, but she will repeat almost anything she hears anyone else singing. Anyhow, though, this is all I could get out of her.

Today's updates:

• 21:35 Zeke does some weird acrobatic move and then says, "I learned that from my shadow."
• 21:35 Me, to Zeke: "Was Euan mean to you?" Zeke: "You and me and who?"

Posted via LoudTwitter

Today's updates:

• 13:38 Zeke (age 3), picking up a twig while getting into the car: "I'll bring this stick, in case there's trouble in the car."

Posted via LoudTwitter

Kids playing in the morning

They both got a lot of sleep last night -- more than usual -- so they're in a really good mood.

Mobile post sent by nathan using Utterz.  Replies.

Today's updates:

• 17:08 Talia holds out her hand. "Slap hands," she says. I slap her five. She grins & immediately also gives a high-five to a bowl of cereal

Posted via LoudTwitter

A cognitive milestone for Talia -- maybe

Today, when I picked the kids up from day care, Talia informed me: "Eat cake. Happy birthday to you." This was the first time I've heard her tell me, in a declarative way, about something that happened in the past. (There had been a little birthday party for one of the kids in her "class." She couldn't tell me whose birthday it was, but Zeke filled me in on the details.) In fact, I believe it's the first time I've ever heard her use language to describe something that was neither (1) immediately in front of her or (2) something she wanted us to get or do for her. Maybe I'm wrong, but this seems like a major cognitive milestone to me, in terms of how she uses language and how she thinks about events. I don't remember anything quite this dramatic with Zeke.

Here's something else -- two photos, showing Zeke at age 22 months and Talia at age 18 months (a few weeks ago). I think it's pretty striking -- you can really see how much alike they look.

Today's updates:

• 05:51 Zeke (3), at bedtime: "Daddy, I'm really old, and I'm about to die." Me: "Why?" Z.: "Because I've been playing for years and years."

Posted via LoudTwitter

Froot Loops

Z.: I want to go with you to the store so you don't forget to buy Froot Loops.
Me: Why do you want Froot Loops?
Z.: Because they're very expectful to eat.
Me: What's "expectful"?
Z.: "Expectful" means, um, "really reliable."
Me: What does "really reliable" mean?
Z.: (after a pause) Poop.

Not sure where he ate Froot Loops, but I don't intend to buy any, just for the record.