....Blogging about cabbages and kings since 2005.

Ordinarily our children get along.

Today, however, the First Year Boy is In A Mood. The First Year Girl is not far behind. One of their morning chores is to make my bed- the reason this is their morning chore is that one of them is usually still in my bed when I get up in the morning. They make it together. For some reason, one side is preferred over the other (I have just learned the reason and it is so silly it is worthy of another post at a later time).

Today the FYG came to me in tears because she called the favored side of the bed first and so the FYB was calling her names. This is provoking. What, I ask, did he call you?

She sniffles, “He called me a liar…”

This is very bad. He shall be reprimanded.

She continues in tears, “and a joker…”

This is, um, interesting, but I maintain a straight face. Parenting is not for the faint of heart.

She sobs out the last and most vile insult, “And he called me a peanut butter sandwich!”

Oh. Wash the child’s mouth out with soap, a peanut butter sandwich, indeed. Let the beatings commence. Let there be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. I am horrified. Reprimands and scoldings are in order.

The weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth begins- that would be me, trying unsuccessfully not to laugh. The harder I try, the more I laugh.

I am not taking this seriously enough for the First Year Girl. The First Year Boy has been made to apologize for his intentions, which were to hurt his sister’s feelings.

I rashly tell the First Year Girl that there are much worse things to be called than a peanut butter sandwich. Naturally, she wonders what those things are.

Parenting is not for the stupid and shortsighted, either. My poor children.=)

Welcome Karnival of the Kidz viewers. You can read more about these two yahooligans here (our young lad thinks he’s a rajah), here (we have a tea party), and here (the First Year Boy and Girl are introduced to the Common Room blog audience).

This item reportedly turned up on a hospital bill recently: “Mucus Retrieval System, $75.” After some questioning of the accounting office, it was identified as a box of tissues normally used to blow one’s nose.

The entire article is worth a read, and the author raises points deserving thoughtful attention.

I haven’t had my coffee yet this morning, so I’m not really up for thoughtful. I’m pondering what other items could conceivably be on a hospital bill alongside Mucus Retrieval System.

dihydrogen oxide- water
dihydrogen oxide personal delivery system- a cup of water
dihydrogen oxide receptacle- a pitcher of water
crystalline sodium chloride free nutritional system- salt free meal
textile sanitation device: a washcloth

Fie upon it- I really need that cup of coffee. Can you think of any?

For those who find this sort of obfuscation attractive, visit this website.

Here’s an idea so bad that I don’t even know where to begin. It’s an excellent illustration of what’s happens when government gets its hands on a good premise, I suppose.

The starting assumption is sound- parents should be involved in their children’s education. I think everybody agrees with this, with the possible exception of some people’s children. The disagreement begins when we examine that involvement more closely and determine what it will look like. My own observation is that for the most part what the people on one side of this proposition mean is that parents shall be involved as helpers- they will do what they are told, cheerfully and without question. I suspect that most educationists and politicians who tout the need for parental involvement do not mean that they want parents involved as equals.

In Tennessee this is demonstrated by a bill proposed by Democrats John Ford and Lois DeBerry:

A proposal making its way through the General Assembly would require parents with children in kindergarten through grade 4 to ”volunteer” at least 12 hours a year. And they couldn’t just show up — they’d be expected to get involved in the teaching process by tutoring, chaperoning lesson-related field trips or helping students play educational games

Notice that none of these things requests parental input in decision making. Neither does such a proposal treat parents as equal partners, or even grown-ups. I do realize that far too many parents do not act like grown-ups, but that is a different issue. This is a proposal which would codify into law the school tendency to treat all parents as though they were lackees to the local school district.

The legislative proposal, which appears to have temporarily stalled in the Senate, is moving ahead in the House. However, lawmakers on the House Education Committee softened the language a little last week before approving it and moving it to the next step.

”We’re working toward the goal of 12 (hours) but not having any sanctions,” said Bruce Opie, the legislative liaison for the state Department of Education. ”We might not reach that goal with every parent.”

Lawmakers quizzed Opie about what types of activities would count toward the 12 hours. They directed questions to him rather than the sponsoring lawmakers because it’s the Education Department that would be expected to carry out any change approved by the General Assembly.

Classroom, lesson-related activities and academic field trips would count, among other things, but attending sports events or school plays probably would not.

”Part of the bill is that parents, in some shape, form or fashion, be in the school building,” Opie said. ”There are a variety of ways they can get in and participate.”

State Education Departmen Liason Opie seems to acknowledge that the alleged desire for parental involvement isn’t exactly universal among educators:

A law would go a long way to further parental involvement as a priority, he said, and send a message to teachers that parents should be welcome in classrooms. Typically, some educators are more open to the idea than others.

Does he really mean that we need a law to convince teachers that parents should be welcome in their childrens’ classrooms?

And at least one teacher inadvertantly reveals what role she wants from parents- that of teacher’s little helper:

”It’s always wonderful to have an extra set of hands,” said Melanie Stacey, who teaches at Marshall Elementary.

Apparently there are still a few bugs to work out- like how to handle parents who might have a criminal record. Parents will probably be able to receive an permission slip from the school to miss their mandatory 12 hours of involvement if they can present to the school a good enough reason why they cannot spend 12 hours at the school.

Kids do better when parents are involved in their education, but the kind of involvement that helps most is the kind where parents are deeply engaged in their children’s lives. It’s the kind of involvement that comes from the heart, not a law.

Newsweek is apologizing for errors in its story on mutilation of the Quran in Guantanamo Bay. Apparently they didn’t have rock solid sources or information for the story, but anything that portrays American soldiers in a negative light must be correct, right? As long as that essential truth is communicated, the facts don’t matter. This only gets troublesome when facts are made up, and the truth is revealed. That, unfortunately, is a rather messy business.

Fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature,
O thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
thou, my soul’s glory, joy, and crown.

2. Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands,
robed in the blooming garb of spring:
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer
who makes the woeful heart to sing.

3. Fair is the sunshine, fairer still the moonlight,
and all the twinkling starry host:
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
than all the angels heaven can boast.

4. Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration,
now and forevermore be thine.

Listen to it here
Find out more about the song here http://www.truthinhistory.org/fairest.htm

apologies for the delay, but I attempted to post this several times late last night and early this morning, and blogger just would not function.

Our son had trouble with words when he younger. His speech was far behind that of his sisters when they were the same age. His first word was a sound effect: Zrooom- for truck. Before he said ‘mama,’ he could pretend to sword fight with a wrapping paper tube and say, “En guarde.” He said that perfectly because he wasn’t able to prounounce final consonant sounds and with ‘en guarde’ you aren’t supposed to pronounce the ‘d’.

Before he was two he would line up all his cars and trucks in order from largest
to smallest. He would leave the room to get more vehicles to add to the line, and we would shift one of the cars to a different place. He always knew. He would come back, start to add his new cars to the line, start, put his hands on his hips, sigh, and put the misplaced car back in its correct place in the line up. But if we asked him to tell us about his cars and trucks, he’d just grunt, gesture, and look frustrated.

He knew several signs and used them. He loved spicy food. He would take a bite of something spicy, fan his hands at his face to cool it off, say ‘Ha, haaa, haaa’ (without that final consonant sound, this was his version of ‘hot’) and then make the sign for ‘more.’ He could do all this, but speak as well as his sisters did when they were six months younger than he? Not.

We privately called him our cave child because of those grunts and gestures he would substitute for the words he was struggling to produce.

He’s now six years old. Recently I read to him and his youngest sister the story of the deaths of Saul and Jonathan from the Bible. In the text I read, I believe it said they were slain.

After I read, I have the children tell me back some portion of what I read. It was the First Year Girl’s turn, so she told me all about it, but when she got to the deaths she just said they’d been killed, and her brother objected to that.

“Not killed,” he said. “Slaughtered.”

FYG said she wanted to say killed, and BYG told her slaughtered sounded better, and they argued about it back and forth in the manner of siblings.

Then BYG threw his hands up in disgust and said, “Killed, slaughtered, whatever. They mean the same thing, but I like _SLAUGHTERED_ better. It sounds better.”

FYG told him no, it sounded gross, and he said, “Yes, that’s why I like it.”

Six years old and already our slow talker understands the power of the right word.

I really enjoy summer vacation. My more prudent and worrisome side whispers on occasion, “you should have taken a summer course,” but I shove it aside and continue to live wildly. Wildly meaning I tell myself every other day that it’s fine not to be taking a summer course.

Today I finished reading three books. This is not as magnificent a feat as it first sounds. I was cooped up in a vehicle for several hours, I was experiencing a rare day where reading in the car did not make me carsick, and so I read…and listened. We finished listening to The Horse and His Boy on tape, read aloud by Alex Jennings. The Equuschick said that this does not count for reading a book. The Equuschick is wrong. If it is an abridged version, then you are certainly gypped or cheating. An unabridged version, however, gives you precisely what the author wrote. And so it counts. It is true that it’s much harder to take notes on books on tape, which is why it is best to limit yourself to a rollicking good story in the audio format. And The Horse and His Boy certainly falls under that category. C. S. Lewis is so very funny and lighthearted, but still meaty. I always gain a new appreciation for his books during a re-read.

I also beat my deadline of May 15 for finishing A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Someone told me when I was about halfway done reading it that it was one of his serious novels. That surprised me. Then. Now I know why they said what they did. What a depressing ending to a book, but also one that troubles me. I don’t want to spoil it for those who haven’t yet read it, but certain parts of its climax and conclusion seemed hastily thrown together. I would still recommend it, however, as it really has brilliant literary value and an end that would leave even the hardhearted with a lump in their throat.

Last, but not least, I finished reading Torn Thread by Anne Isaacs. It is the story of Isaacs’ mother-in-law, a wonderful woman who survived the holocaust as a teenager and, with her courage and perseverance, helped protect and strengthen her weaker sister. Since it’s a Scholastic book it’s not as brutal as some of the other WWII novels, but still not candy-coated.

Which Fat Novel should I read first? Our Mutual Friend or Daniel Deronda?

Our dear hosts have a new and precious baby. All babies are precious, but since both mother and baby nearly died in the delivery process, the preciousness of this little darling is more immediately on our hearts and minds.

Baby’s Mama said something this morning about being a little less willing to ‘share’ this baby. She said that people would ask to hold the baby, and she really wanted to be able to say no, but was afraid she wouldn’t be able to. “It’s just so hard to say no,” she said, and I agreed.

Not so her six year old, who seemed astonished. “I say no five times a day” she said. “Like this, No, no, no, no, no.”

Perhaps the Mama should put the six year old in charge of saying all the no’s that need saying.=)

Not.

CBS distorts the news. Again. Or should that be still?

This is from yesterday, but it’s a story that should get extensive blog coverage because everybody oughta know…

See Powerline and Lucianne for more.

The bare bones summary is that Gloria Borger interviewed Ken Starr, and CBS aired a portion of that interview. In that segment, Starr apparently said bad things about the Republicans for trying to end the filibuster.
Except that the bad things he said were not about the Republicans ending the judicial filibuster, but, according to Starr, were

“specifically addressed to the practice of invoking judicial philosophy as a grounds for voting against a qualified nominee of integrity and experience. I said in sharp language that that practice was wrong. I contrasted the current practice and that employed viciously against your father with what occurred during Ruth Ginsburg’s nomination process as numerous Republicans voted, rightly, to confirm a former ACLU staff worker. They disagreed with her positions as a lawyer but they voted — again rightly — to confirm her.”

Rush Limbaugh (yes, yes, I know) says,

“From now on whenever CBS does anything under the guise of news, that purports to shift the discussion on an ideological basis they are not to be trusted. There is a reason nobody is watching the CBS Evening News anymore, and it’s not who anchors it. It’s who’s producing this garbage and who’s putting this garbage together. Maybe in part the anchors here and there, but the bottom line is: CBS News cannot be trusted, because CBS News is not news. It’s CBS commentary and editorializing under the guise of news.”

I think he has a point.

Atty General Spitzer is about to go after spyware.

Computer repair people say that spyware accounts for about half of the trouble they see. One study finds that 80 percent of private computers are infected. Spyware is noxious. It slows down your computer, pops up ads nobody wants to see, tracks your websearching, spies on you using your equipment and internet connection against you. It’s ugly.

“Those who engage in these abuses are hard to track down,” Spitzer said. “An operation can be terminated and another literally pops up overnight. Hopefully, technology will provide a comprehensive solution at some point but until that time, there needs to be a cop in cyberspace who will stop the most egregious abuses.”

Spitzer sees himself as the police.

While Congress and about half the states — including New York — debate legislation to clamp down on spyware, Spitzer is taking business fraud and consumer protection investigation into the 21st century:

His people set up three personal computers up in a storeroom in Spitzer’s Manhattan office. For months, investigators visited the freebie-giveaway websites likely to carry adware and spyware. Investigator Vanessa Ip regularly analyzed the hard drive to detect any unwanted downloads.

“The most important thing was to try to mimic a typical consumer’s experience,” Ip said.

Kenneth Dreifach, chief of Spitzer’s Internet Bureau, said the office is “limited only by the bounds of creativity and diligence of our investigators — which is limitless.”

We wish him a grand success.