Dear Spring Chicken Little,
Your babysitter shared this quote from you …., “Today I didn’t take full advantage of Nap Time!” At least you’re aware of our expectations of you and the effects of not making wise choices.
You’re a goofy kid – and I love it!
My school has a traditional “Dancing With the Starr” event each year, when one student from each grade in the High School competes for their class by presenting an original dance. I was asked this year by Helen, a senior, and together, with Mikayla (Chemistry teacher, fitness instructor, and great dancer) we shared something special with the audience. It was one of the highlights of my year.
What you’re doing these days:
You still enjoy stories in the car. In the mornings, I do the stories about smurfs, a tree that grew stones instead of fruit, and a wishing well. When we’re all in the car, we listen to Stories Podcast. Our favorites so far have been “Dog King: Dog Days of Summer,” and “The Golden Screw.” Most of them have a song piece where the narrator, Amanda Weldon, sings along with light ukulele accompaniment. We really want our names to be announced before one of the episodes, so I donated to the Podcast.
When I’m telling you a story, you offer minimal interruptions unless I pause for too long or you really want to change where the story is going. You rarely ask clarifying questions. I started a story about a dog who could hear well. It got paused when I dropped you off at daycare. When I picked you up in the afternoon, immediately you asked me, “Daddy, will you continue the story about the dog who had keen ears?”
One night, you (and me and Mommy) were up coughing most of the night. You coughed so hard you vomited on your sheets and pillow. It was a difficult time waking up the next morning and we were all tired. When you got dressed and came downstairs, you yelled, “Alexa, tell us a joke.”
Our spring break this year was memorable. First, we went to DC to celebrate Passover and Nana and Poppop’s 50th Wedding Anniversary! Then it was your first Disney World experience…..
There were several lice outbreaks at your school this year. When we had a sighting one evening, I made an emergency trip to the drugstore to get a shampoo kit. I have images of You and Mommy, your heads wrapped in saran wrap, reading Disney, waiting for the ten-minute timer to go off, indicating that the lice medication had done it’s job.
A recording: I taught this witty quote from Winston Churchill.
Some more quotes from you:
“Mommy, if I read this book will I learn all that you did?” (Disease Control and Prevention in Developing Countries was the book you had)
(I miss the old times when I was a baby.)
Why can’t we stop by the wading pool?
Because we’re expecting a guest.
Why are other people in the wading pool?
They aren’t expecting a guest.
You don’t know that!!!
In my life these days:
I gave a TEDx talk at my school in April titled “The Art of Reflection.” It was a pleasure to prepare for and I’m excited to have it released.
I gave another “Calculated Change” presentation at NCTM with my friend Amanda this year.
I organized the pantry one weekend – labels, rotating trays, and categorized bins.
I helped our school enter the Washington State Rubik’s Cube Competition.
In the news:
On Valentine’s Day 2018, there was another school shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglass School in Parkland, Florida. The shooter was a young white male who had attended but not graduated from MSDS. 17 people were killed and 17 other injured. A handful of student-victims of the shooting who escaped alive started a movement that has developed more traction for change than previous mass shootings. The students have organized twitter boycotts, legislative changes for gun control, and have called out politicians who receive money from the NRA, pressuring them and warning them on the wave of young adults who will reach legal voting age and don’t want to be the “school shooting generation.”
I am a gun violence victim. In 2001 I was held up by a man with an automatic handgun. Fortunately, I escaped alive, but my perception of my safety, bias against the race of the person who threatened my life, and view of humanity changed that evening. I was inspired by the Parkland students activism and devoted my February/March 1-second video to the gun reform issue.
Hopefully, when you are in school, you won’t have to go through what your cousin did at the Noblesville West Middle School shooting.
A summary of a book or podcast I liked:
We Love “This Podcast Has Fleas – a show about a dog who hosts a podcast, but the cat in the same house has one, too! It is hilarious and we’ve listened to each show about a dozen times.
Love, Dad