Party Tricks

Harper and I have a 45 minute commute to school/work in the morning. While some people might hate a long commute, I actually rather enjoy this time. Sometimes we listen to music or kid books on tape. Other times, we talk about the things that we see as we drive.

Lately, I've been trying to make our morning car time more purposeful by using it to teach her something specific. At the beginning of the week, I set a goal for what I want her to learn. For instance, one week I taught her the order of colors in the rainbow. Another week, I taught her how to spell her first and last name.

While my goal is to have her master these things in the span of a week, it really only takes her a day or two.

I've found that the trick to getting her to remember things is to put it in the form of a song. This kid will instantly absorb any bit of information if it's set to music. I just make up a song that contains the "lesson" for the week, sing it to her a couple times, and by the time we get to school she pretty much knows it.

Last week, I taught her how to name all of the planets in order of their proximity to the sun. Below are the lyrics to the little song that I made up.

Try it with your kids. It makes for a fun party trick.

And that whole learning thing is probably good too.




To the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star:

Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
Pluto used to be a planet
But the scientists said it was too small
Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

Knock It Off Already.

2008

2009

2010

 2011

I have repeatedly asked her to stop growing up.

I think she's doing it to spite me.


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The Sanctity of Pumpkins

A couple weeks ago, we went to Walden Farm to pick out our pumpkins. I look forward to our pumpkin pickin' outing every year. I don't know about you, but for us Fall doesn't officially begin until we have pumpkins on our front porch.

Did you ever wonder why pumpkins are associated with Halloween? Well, I did so I looked it up. 

The tradition of carving vegetables seems to have originated in the British Isles. Particularly in Ireland, turnips, potatoes, and beets were carved and illuminated with pieces of burning coal and set on porches or in windows to represent the souls of departed loved ones in celebration of All Saints Day and All Souls Day (celebrated on November 1st and 2nd respectively to remember departed loved ones in heaven and those who may be in Purgatory) . 

In the mid-1800s, over a million Irish citizens immigrated to North America to escape the Potato Famine. They brought with them their rich traditions including the carving of vegetables. Turnips, potatoes, and beets were not as readily available in their new homeland, but pumpkins were in abundance. Hence, pumpkins were carved and illuminated instead. 

I'm not big on carving pumpkins. I put so much effort into picking just the right ones that I can't bear the thought of cutting them up.

However, Rob and Harper are not of the same opinion when it comes to the sanctity of pumpkins and I may get out voted this year...

Oh well. I do enjoy roasted pumpkin seeds, so all is not lost.



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Trying Not To Let It Wear Off

Well, tomorrow marks exactly one month since I had my stroke.

I just want to say a sincere thank you to everyone who reached out to me with words of encouragement.

Individually and on this blog, I have tried to share bits and pieces of the realizations that I've had while I process what happened to me and the implications it has on my life. I've been kind of hesitant to talk about some these things because I really don't want to be perceived as one of those touchy-feely types that talks about their feelings all day. I also don't want to be perceived as a preachy know-it-all who's got it all figured out.

I assure you, neither is true.

Over the last month, many of you have shared inspirational testimonies of your own with me. So many of us have had profound moments in our lives that have given us life-altering attitude adjustments.

But, so many of us have also forgotten or minimized these profound moments and their affect on our lives has been muted.

I don't know about you, but now that I've gotten a glimpse of what mortality means, I don't ever want to go back to the old way of doing things.

Everyday I wake up and I don't have a stroke, it's a good day. No matter what else happens in the course of that day, I keep reminding myself that I'm having a good day. I now have this deep and constant sense of gratitude that serves as the underpinning of everything else that's going on around me. It's a wonderful feeling and I can literally feel it transforming every aspect of my life from how I approach my marriage,  parenting, work, free time... Everything is changing. And it's a good thing.

But like all good things tend to do, I'm afraid it will wear off. I don't ever want this good thing to wear off and the only way I can think to prevent that is to constantly remind myself that life is fleeting and there is no time to waste on things that don't matter.

In this video, Ric Elias talks about his life-altering attitude adjusting moment. He was a passenger on the plane that crash landed in the Hudson River. Take the 5 minutes to watch this. He is right on about how you can't afford to put things off and why you should try to eliminate negative energy. This guys gets it.



As I continue to find meaning in my experience, I will try to share it with you. And I hope that as you find meaning in your own lives, you will share it with me. Let's keep reminding and inspiring each other.

Delicate Doesn't Even Begin To Cover It

This is a mouse heart. It's pretty massive as you can tell (heavy on the sarcasm). 

Some of my research deals with the blood vessels that supply the heart with blood, the coronary vessels. Mouse coronaries are huge (even heavier on the sarcasm). 

I'm trying to understand how these vessels (along with a couple other types of vessels) form and how they repair themselves if they get damaged. I spent the better part of yesterday with my head in a microscope dissecting out these babies from the surrounding heart tissue. It's a delicate operation, but it's also kind of relaxing.

Growing up, I always thought that I would enjoy being a paleontologist who carefully digs up dinosaur bones with a paint brush or being an art historian who painstakingly restores frescoes on the ceilings of cathedrals.

I think I've found the scientific equivalent.




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Morning Email

My mom emails me every morning. Typically, there's nothing important in the messages. She just wants to say good morning and let me know she's thinking about me.

I look forward to it every day.

This email from last week made me smile. It's soooo my mom.

Here is my inner commentary as I was reading it. 

Mom: Dad was notified by American Express that someone was using his card. American Express cancelled his old card and sent him a new one. 

Me: Boo on people who steal. Glad AmEx is getting it straightened out.

Mom: I do worry about you and Rob using debit cards.

Me: I know. You've told me that before. We like to use debit cards instead of credit cards because it forces us to be more aware of what we're spending.

Mom: I WORRY THAT SOMEONE WILL CLEAN OUT YOUR BANK ACCOUNT.

Me: Wow. My mom is passionate about credit card fraud. How does she even know that all caps equals yelling?

Mom: (AND THAT'S ALL THAT I WILL SAY ABOUT THAT.)

Me. Why is she still yelling at me? And how do parentheses affect the yelling? Do they indicate yelling on the inside? Is this yelling turned inward?

Mom: SORRY, I HIT THE CAPS BUTTON BY MISTAKE.

Me: Ah yes. Everything is now clear. This is the mother I know and love.


And as a side note, I did discuss with her the implications of bringing home baby squirrels. Crisis averted.

And, yes. My mom does sign every email WOW. It's MOM upside down. I love her.

Out Of The Mouth Of Babes

This kid cracks me up. Sometimes I just can't believe the things that come out of her mouth. For instance...

She's in this phase where she like to narrate everything that's going on around her. If you've ever watched a dvd with the bonus director's commentary feature on, you know what I'm talking about. During a trip to Target, she single-handedly offended just about every person we came into contact with. First there was the overweight lady that she pointed to and said, "That lady has a baby in her belly." Next, there was the teenage boy (bless his heart) with acne that she pointed to and said, "That boy has spots on his face!". And finally, there was the old man that she pointed to and yelled (literally yelled), "Hey old man, why don't you go to Florida!".

I have no idea where she got that last one from. Maybe she noticed that there were a lot of old people around on our recent trip to Florida? But, we certainly didn't point them out to her.

Just to give you another little glimpse into her mind... we were eating Dunkin' Donut munchkins the other day and she picked out a jelly-filled one. She took one bite and inspected the middle of it. Then she turned to me and said, "Mom, this donut has blood in the middle...and I like it."

Seriously? Please tell me that this is not the first symptom of an impending Twighlight obsession.

I took this video earlier this week. I wanted to show my mom and dad that Harper can spell her first and last name. She is in fact 3 by the way. Not 5 like she would have you believe. (She's on a 5 kick because she really wants to go to kindergarten and I told her that she can only go when she turns 5. So she's trying to will herself into growing up and in addition convince us to go along with it. Oh, when she learns how to channel that willpower into concrete things...look out! She is going to be a force to be reckoned with.)