Michelangelo who?

Surreal conversations with a 2 year old over dinner...
Distracted Dad... "Raynham, what did you do at school today?"
Distracted daughter..."Michelangelo Burmpghs...."
Distracted Mom... "Michelangelo? Michelangelo WHO?"
Distracted daughter "Michelangelo Buonarroti!!"

Excuse me? Are we talking the painter? What was his last name????? She's two, she can't possibly mean the painter...

Distracted Dad... "What did Michelangelo do?"
Distracted daughter..."He made David. He a boy"
Distracted Dad... "What else did Michelangelo do?"
Distracted daughter..." He paint" (while pointing up - I'm thinking Damn, she means the Sistine Chapel) "He not want to do it"
Distracted Dad.... "Who made him paint the picture?"
Distracted daughter " Julius" (Ahhhh as in the Pope? Yup)
Distracted Mom... "Do you like Michelangelo?"
Distracted daughter..." I like Mary Cassat. She paint a momma, a dadda and BABIES!"
Distracted Mom..."Mary Cassat? Who is Mary Cassat?"

Mary Casset, a female painter from the late 1800s-early 1900s, that's who you stupid, uneducated mother:

The Art Room for my two year old has covered Mary Cassat, Michelangelo and is moving on to Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Sandro Botticelli and Vittore Carpaccio.....

I leave you with the Michelangelo Song (to the tune of Get Down, by the Backstreet Boys)

You're the one for me, born in Italy; you're the one I need
(Whisper) Michelangelo, Michelangelo...

Get down, get down and move it all around
Get down, get down and chisel to the ground

Hey, hey Pope I cannot believe that your
Are making me paint this one too
I'm into scuptures every minute, every hour
My heart is crying out for you
Painting the Ceiling, now their tears in my eyes
Marble and rock were made just for me
You drive me crazy 'cause you're one of a kind
David, Moses, and your fresco painting

Get down, get down and move it all around
Get down, get down and chisel to the ground


She may end up knowing more than me about painters but still, her choice of preferred painters cannot be called sophisticated. It has a baby, that's good. No baby, no thanks! Art appreciation for two year olds.....

My kids are an occupational hazard

Staying healthy at the start of cold and flu season is a difficult thing to accomplish. Particularly when you work at a university crawling with sick students. Even more so when you have kids in school.

The first cold hit of the season hit our house in the last few weeks. First Galen, then Raynham, then Andrew.... and now ME. Of course, I am now giving 12 lectures a week plus an additional seminar class (luckily the students do most of the talking in that one...). 12 lectures per week with a cold. My kind of hell.

Happy American Thanksgiving, WKRP style

not a good idea

Go ahead, click on the link.

The Maker

Daniel Lanois' song The Maker has become a family standard. So much so that our son Galen has a CD with 14 copies on it that he listens to when going to sleep. I just found this good version by the Dave Matthews Band:

I can't wait!

We have a family membership to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. We've been going all year and have very much appreciated the new Michael Lee-Chin Crystal galleries. However, nearly all of these galleries have been closed as exhibits are installed. That includes the Dinosaurs, so we haven't seen any yet. That all ends on December 15th when the Dinos Are Back in the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal! Can't wait to get there!

Oh yea, once we get totally saturated with dinosaurs, next year we can also see the Darwin Exhibition.

Fall 2007 Photos

Hi everyone! We've had a good Fall here in Hamilton. Galen is in Grade 1 full time and is loving it, to the point where he doesn't want to come home for lunch - why miss friend time? Raynham is doing very well at Temple Playhouse and also wants to be full time. Joanna has started her teaching and finally has a fully functional fish room for her research. Her life is very busy at the moment. Andrew is working hard at his consulting work, although the ever changing Canadian dollar is a worry. We've had our Canadian Thanksgiving and are getting ready for our American Thanksgiving. The kids have been busy with swim class, hockey (Galen), learning to skate (Raynham), their cousin Emma's baptism, and Halloween. We've also had some friends visit from the US, which was great. The only sad news is that the kid's second cousin Karen left for a year in Australia and Scotland. She is missed, but thank goodness for the internet for keeping up with her! Photos can be found in the 2007 Photo Archive.

We hope all is well with you,

Andrew

Researchers: Have Kids Sooner if You Want a Career

WSJ.com: The Juggle - WSJ.com14/11/07 12:00 PM Sara Schaefer Munoz

Undecided about when to have kids? A professor and doctoral student at Duke University's business school have come up with what they say is a "logical decision model" to help women determine the optimal time to conceive their first child.

According to the release from Duke, variables are plugged into the mathematical model. It then attempts to balance the benefits of motherhood against its effects on career and social interests and the age-related concerns of diminishing fertility or an increased likelihood of conceiving a child with a genetic abnormality. In some scenarios, the model suggests that having a child much earlier may be a better long-term solution than waiting until a woman is more established in her career.

(Of course, this assumes that people would use the model before getting pregnant. In 2001, approximately one-half of pregnancies in the United States were unintended, points out an MSNBC piece about the model.)

"It may seem surprising to suggest having a child at a younger age," says doctoral student Dinah Vernik. She says that "taking a maternity leave has less impact on the future career of a woman who is a student or in the beginning of her professional life. This woman's child will also be older and slightly more independent by the time the woman has reached the critical years of her career."

I have lost the balance and the kids know it

This fall has been particularly hard on me- distracted mom is more like absent and vacant minded mom. My work load is intense and I am staying later than normal on a consistent basis struggling to get a grip on the TO DO list. I thought it would be September. But I had to put off so much stuff that October piled up and now the November rush has started....

The result? One tired, cranky mother and 2 excited, needy children. They follow me around the house. Oh I wish I could just go to the bathroom alone, with no one coming in, knocking on the door, yelling from the hallway... It takes me 10 times longer to do anything because they either want to come with me or "help".

Galen and I have a bit of a tradition. During his sister's swim class, I come from work, pick him up and we go off together- library, Tim Hortons, a walk... This usually involves a treat but not always. It is prime one-on-one time with Galen mostly talking and me nodding and saying "really", "and then what happened" and "uh-huh". He LOVES it. Well swim class has started again this fall and I have mostly not been able to come and meet him in time because of work. Last night I rushed over, in total failure of doing anything but catching a ride home in the car, and was waiting outside the change room for the gang to appear. Galen came out, droopy mouth, took one look at me and rushed over, quickly rearranging his face. "It's OK mom", he reassured me. "I don't mind you couldn't make it tonight. Don't be upset". He gave me big hugs and kisses and we left for home.

Not sure if I feel better or worse. Not only have I lost the balance but the kids aren't even heaving fits over it. Instead, they are trying to make me feel better about my letting them down. Smart kids. At least they can show sympathy, right?

MIT tech review

It is just before 7 in the morning. For the first time in months, our daughter slept through the night. Joanna and Galen are still asleep. I'm having a nice cup of coffee while my almost 3 year old daughter sits on the couch watching Dora while intensely reading the MIT Technology Review. I'm not kidding. She is carefully going through each page. I've had to answer more tech questions before 7 am than I've thought about in a month.

daddy really hates safety moms

Apparently at school today, Galen told the teacher on recess duty that he just saw a man with a gun pull up in a truck beside the school fence and grab ten kids. When met with disbelief, he continued to lie until taken inside the discuss it with the vice principal. She basically gave the "Boy Who Cried Wolf" story and got him to admit, grudgingly, that it was not true.

I of course know nothing of this when I come to pick him up. The first thing out of his mouth is this story. I gently suggest it is not true and he is adamant. To finally call his bluff, I end up taking him to the Principal's office. On the way, he lies several times to find ways to avoid going to the office with me. We end up talking in the hall when approached by the vice principal, who fills me in on the goings on. We discuss in length why telling this story is not good, how it would scare people, how the police would get involved and pulled away from other duties, etc. He admits it is not true and we leave the school.

I'm completely angry about all this lying. Not knowing when it is appropriate to pretend an imaginary event is true is fine. Repeated, detailed lying on the other hand is entirely not acceptable. I suggest that major punishment is going to happen after I discuss it with his mother.

About halfway home, I'm a bit calmer and it strikes me, "Where the hell did he come up with a guy, a gun, and truck?". So, I ask. Quiet tears and a mumble comes back. After some gentle coaxing, Galen tells me a classmate told him that her mother doesn't want her playing near the fence as someone with a gun could come and grab her. Once the last word is out of Galen's mouth, he starts shaking and crying very heavily. The boy is terrified. It comes out that he could immediately envision this happening to him (remember, the boy has a huge and graphic imagination). He doesn't want to "get taken by a guy with a truck and never see his family again". The story and the insistent lying was to get his teachers to take him inside as he was terrified. All thought of punishment is gone from my mind, it is clear an emotionally overwhelmed boy did the best he could. Not something an adult would do, but he has never had these thoughts before. What kind of a f*cked up safety mom tells their six year-old child they are going to be kidnapped at gunpoint at school? Teaching them stranger safety is one thing, scaring them about abduction is insane. Never mind how rare it is and that the school is fenced and patrolled by teachers. I now have a frightened boy on my hands thanks to some dimwit, risk-retarded parent.