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Julie's All-Time Favorite Late-Note Thoughts
2002
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Julie, Gregory and Mike
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Thought for the day: I will never look at the big green staircase that connects the 3rd and 4th floor newsrooms in the same way again. When Bradley was here on New Year's Eve, he spent a good portion of the evening immersed in a fantasy that the south side of the building (from the staircase, south) was a submarine, of which he was captain. Everything to the north was open ocean. He stood on the landing in the middle of the staircase, steering the vessel to safety when peril was imminent. When Times staffers innocently strode by, I often noticed them saluting him, unwittingly playing a role in some underwater disaster scene concocted in the 7-year-old's mind. As I was getting ready to come to work today, baby Gregory was wearing my ID card. Bradley must have assumed Gregory was coming to work with me. He saluted the baby and wished him well on his journey into the sea. January 2, 2002 Thought for the day: While giving 15-month-old Gregory lunch, I told him we had to hurry because we needed to pick Bradley up from school soon. When lunch was finished, we had a few minutes to kill before we needed to leave, so I went in the computer room to check my email. Gregory was toddling around in the dining room, and in the living room, and in the closet. At exactly the moment when it occurred to me that we better leave, I heard little Gregory walking quickly towards me shouting, "Bra-lee? Bra-lee!" He must have known it was time to pick up his big brother. He was holding his coat. January 3, 2002 Quote of the day: I parked at a convenience store in front of one of those huge signs advertising cigarettes. Bradley, who is occasionally very wise, said, "I don't know why they call them 'cigarettes.' They should call them 'SICKarettes,' since they smell sickening, they look sickening, and if you smoke them, they make you SICK. I mean, duh!" January 4, 2002 Quote of the day: 1-year-old Gregory is an eating machine. He spends most of his waking hours raiding the cereal cabinet. Bradley and I were hanging out in the kitchen when I asked Gregory if he was ready for his morning snack. "Are you kidding?" Bradley said, "He's ready for a snack 24-hours a day." January 7, 2002
Thought for the day: Baby Gregory watched intently as I prepared various boxes for recycling. An empty oatmeal box -- pull it out of the cabinet, throw it on the floor, step on it several times, compress it really flat. Next, a box that housed something in the freezer. Then, an empty cereal box. Next thing I knew, there he was, pulling not-so-empty cereal boxes out of the cabinet and stomping on them. Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. Itty bitty crumbs. That's all that's left. January 8, 2002 Quote of the day: Seeing a man he recognized walking down the street, Bradley said, "Hey! That man works in my school! He's one of Mr. G.'s sidekicks." (Mr. G. is the principal.) Amused by the word "sidekick," I asked, "What does a sidekick do?" "He walks around behind Mr. G all day doing whatever he says." Then Bradley added: "I would hate that job. He's always picking up trash." January 9, 2002 Quote of the day: While walking home from school today Bradley hugged my arm and in the sweetest voice said, "Mom, you're the best mom in the whole wide world, the nicest, too." "Awwww" I said, "that's a sweet thing to say." To which he replied, "Well, that's just for today. I might change my mind tomorrow." January 11, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley and I were discussing a toy store that changed its products from mostly science toys to a more eclectic line. BRADLEY: How do you know that? ME: I heard it on the news. B: Oh yeah? Don't believe what you hear on the news, Mom. I don't trust those news people. ME: I'm a news person, you know. B: Yeah, well, you're not a TV news person. January 14, 2002
Thought for the day: I spent $9 on a state-of-the-art sorting toy for baby Gregory that promised to: * Develop motor skills * Encourage cognitive abilities * Motivate imagination. I thought: "I am such a good mommy!" When I got home, I presented the new toy to the baby. He held it for two seconds, then ran straight for the cereal cabinet and dumped out three cereal boxes (which he had already crushed the day before).For $9, I could have bought three NEW cereal boxes!I mean, just THINK of the possibilities! * Motor skills: grasping and opening the cabinet develops finger and hand dexterity while dumping cereal all over the place and then picking up tiny little Cheerios (and eating them, yes,off the floor) strengthens hand-eye coordination. * Cognitive abilities: identifying and sorting cereal boxes from the non-mess-making ones like the sealed oatmeal and Balance Bars that are in there encourages increased brain function. Figuring out how to get the little chip-clip off the inner bag is a valuable problem-solving skill.
Who needs Toys R Us? January 15, 2002 Thought for the day: If you plan on driving in Finland, don't speed! Exceeding the speed limit netted one man a $100,000 ticket, and it wasn't a typo! HELSINKI (Reuters) - A senior executive of Nokia is appealing a record $103,600 fine for speeding, Finnish officials said Monday. Millionaire and Harley Davidson enthusiast Anssi Vanjoki was caught racing his motorbike down a Helsinki street in October at 47 mph in a 31 mph zone. Unlike in many other countries, Finnish traffic fines vary according to the offender's average income. January 16, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley was staring at my face when he said, "I just want to point out, mom, that you have wrinkles around your eyes (pointing) here, and here. Do you realize that you're old?" (Gee, thanks, kid, I needed that.) January 17, 2002 Quote of the day: When Bradley sees me in the morning he asks if I slept well and had nice dreams. Today I said, "Actually, no, I had a bad dream." I didn't want to tell him what it was about because it was scary, so when he asked me to tell him, I said, "I'm not going to tell you." Bradley: "Tell me. Tell me. Tell me!" Me: "No. No. No." B: "Now. Now. Now!"Me: I'm NOT going to tell you, Bradley. Forget it." B: "Please, mom. Please? Please tell me." [Repeat those last five lines about 10 times.] After a while I finally said, "Ok, OK! Actually, it wasn't really a bad dream. It was a GOOD dream." He smiled a huge smile and said, "Tell me what it was about! Tell me! Tell me! I really want to know." "Ok, you asked for it," I said, "I dreamed that your MOUTH was zippered shut and you couldn't TALK anymore." He stared at me in silence for 10 solid seconds, then, "REALLY? Nah... you're joking... tell me REALLY what your dream was. You said it was a good dream. Tell me. Tell me now! Please tell me..." January 21, 2002
Thought for the day: Funny thing about when you lose your voice and can't talk very loudly: people who talk to you tend to whisper too. January 25, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley was browsing through books on my bedside table when he read the title of one out loud, "Being a Great Mom, Raising Great Kids." He held the book for a moment, turning it over and upside down, and then announced, "You don't need this book, Mom, I'm already a great kid." January 28, 2002 Thought for the day: It's not that easy to be excused from jury duty in New Jersey, but one Wall Township resident had a pretty good excuse: Kyle Connor was 8 years old when the summons came. This was the second time Kyle received a jury duty notice; the first arrived when he was only 5. January 29, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley pounced on the snack cabinet when he got home from school today. As usual, Gregory was waddling around behind him begging for a morsel when Bradley said, "Why are you such a goose? Go honk at somebody else." February 1, 2002 Thought for the day: The best toy of my childhood was without a doubt my Big Wheel. Holding true to the commercials, you could get going really fast, slam on the brakes and spin around a couple of times. If you pedaled so fast that you "burned plastic," you would wear a hole in that big front wheel. And the one back wheel got a big flat spot from spinning all the time. But that was just a sign to all the neighborhood kids that you were going places. I think they should make Big Wheels for big people, don't you? February 4, 2002 Quote of the day: To recap last week's thought: "I think they should make Big Wheels for big people, don't you?" Five people (all men) responded with almost exactly the same answer. "They do. They call them SUVs." February 11, 2002 Quote of the day: 1-year-old Gregory, as he watched snowboarders "catching air" at the Olympics: "Wooooo hooooo!" February 12, 2002 Thought for the day: Watching the Olympics with 1-year-old Gregory has been quite entertaining. For the last few days he's been gliding around the house bent at the waist with his arms extended straight behind him, palm up. (It's too cute.) Mike and I decided he's either imitating the speed skaters or the ski jumpers. Now if we can just get him to imitate Tiger Woods for the next 15 years . . .
February 15, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley needed a haircut so I sent him to my hairdresser. "Don't worry," I told him, "Krissy's been cutting my hair since 1992." (I should have seen it coming . . . ) "You'd think she'd be done by now," he said.
February 18, 2002 Quote of the day: If you are a fan of the "late note thought" (as I call this space), you might remember Bradley's Christmas fish, Harry and Hermione. About 2 weeks ago, the guppies had six babies. Bradley has thoroughly enjoyed watching the little family grow, in spite of warnings from friends that daddy-guppies are known for eating their young. Every morning he gazes at the tank and counts: "One, two, three, four, five . . . where's six? Mom!" he shouts, "I only see five babies. Where . . . Oh, wait. There he is -- in the shipwreck. Whew." Today Bradley added this thought: "You know, mom, it's o.k. if the daddy eats the babies, 'cuz they can just have more babies. I think they're mating now! Look! See?" February 19, 2002 Thought for the day: Continuing the fish family saga, little baby "Six" fish was missing again today. Bradley searched the tank thoroughly, but to no avail. After Bradley left for school, Mike found that Six had been sucked up by the filter. With quite a bit of effort, Mike got him out (what a great daddy he is) but the little runt got himself sucked up in there again. Sorry, Bradley, Six's toast. February 20, 2002
Quote of the day: After almost 17 months of blissful big-brotherhood, Bradley displayed a bit of jealousy when he approached me at the playground begging to go home. "Why?" I asked as I helped baby Gregory off the slide. "None of my friends want to play with me," he whined. "They all want to play with Gregory. It isn't fair." February 22, 2002
Quote of the day: Mike and I were watching the Olympics' Closing Ceremony when Bradley caught a glimpse of the strange-looking 70's band that was performing. After Mike explained the heavy makeup and weird costumes, Bradley looked back at the TV only to discover the band was gone. "Where are those, um, Kisses?" he asked. February 25, 2002 Thought for the day: I read somewhere that the Olympics cost Salt Lake City about $1.9 billion. That's roughly $791,259 per athlete. February 26, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley was supposed to be doing his homework when I noticed the kitchen table was devoid of one important homework tool: the first-grader himself. "Bradley!" I called, "Where are you?" A few minutes later, he stood in front of me holding an orange Nerf-football-like sponge in the shape of a brain. While making a clicking noise, he turned his hand alongside his head as if turning a key. "Ok, I give up," I said. "What are you doing?" "Click. Click. Click. There we go, " he said as he went through the motions you might make if you opened up your head and replaced your brain. "My new brain is ready. Now I will go and do my homework." February 27, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley's homework assignment was to write at least three sentences about how he might change the world someday, entitled: "Bradley, Future Famous American." The finished essay read, "I would stop people from cutting down trees. I would not let people sell guns. I would not let people sell drugs only medusin ones." I pointed out that he could write more sentences and he pointed back at the assignment. "Three. It says three, mom. I'm not changing the world any more than three times." March 1, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley needed stitches after falling and cutting his head in school today. He called me from the emergency room: "I'm being very brave," his shaky little voice said." Daddy told me I am. But I don't want to get stitches. It's really going to hurt, mommy." When he got home from the hospital he bounded into the house and gave me a big hug. "So," I said, "how was it?" With brusque confidence he replied, "A breeze. Didn't hurt a bit." March 4, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley was supposed to take it easy at school today since he is still recovering from a fall and has stitches in his head. When his class went outside for recess, I spied to make sure he was being calm. He wasn't. As usual, he had an explanation: "I'm not running, mom. I'm speed walking." March 5, 2002
Quote of the day: 7-year-old Bradley was doling out crackers to baby Gregory who was growing increasingly agitated at Bradley's slowness. "Oh dear," Bradley said quietly, "I think I've taught him too much about whining." March 6, 2002 Thought for the day: My friend writes: "A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000-square foot house 4 inches deep." March 8, 2002 Quote of the day: I took Gregory to the eye doctor today for his post-op followup. Dr. Engel was testing the movement of Gregory's eyes by activating various electronic animals on the opposite side of the room. (A barking dog, a hopping bunny, you get the idea.) With each animal, Dr. E. would engage the baby by asking a question:Dr. E: "What does the dog say?"Gregory: "Woof woof! Dr. E: "What does the cat say?" G: "Woof woof! Dr. E: "What does the dinosaur say?" G: "Woof woof! Dr. E: "What does the rabbit say?" G: "Woof woof! Dr. E: "What does the pig say?" G: "Woof woof! Dr. E: "What does the cow say?" G: "Moooooooooo!" (Dr. E. about fell off his chair laughing.) March 11, 2002 Quote of the day: Obviously, a waterbed could not hold enough water to fill a 2000-square foot house 4 inches deep after all. My friend, Newman, ponders: "A dimension of a king-size bed is around 80" x 80" or 6.6' x 6.6' totalling 43.5 sq. ft. in area. Let's say a waterbed is 3 feet in depth (that's pretty deep). Multiply 43.5 x 3 = 130.5 cubic feet of water in a king size bed. Multiply 2,000 (house dimension) x 0.33 (1/3 of a foot or 4 inches)= 660 cubic feet. So based on my calculations, a king-sized waterbed will fill a 2,000 sq. ft. house with only 0.8 inch of water."Newman didn't stop pondering the waterbed scenario at that point because later in the day he added: "Those calculations are pretty liberal because a king-size water bed (mattress only) wouldn't be three feet tall but more like 16 inches." March 12, 2002
Quote of the day: Newman, who does tend to be thorough, writes: "Here's another interesting fact: The 130.5 cu. foot king-size water bed from yesterday would have 976 gallons of water and weigh 8,147 pounds. It would be the weight of two Toyota Sienna minivans (3,931 lb. each)." March 13, 2002
Quote of the day: Regarding Newman's extensive thoughts on how much water a waterbed holds, these are selected quotes sent in response: "I've always wanted to know that." -- Jerry. "A mind is a terrible thing." -- Mike. "All bets are off if the leak occurs during the filling and the hose is on and no one is there to turn it off." -- Steve. "Is that with the gas tanks empty or full?" -- Pat. On how much a Toyota Sienna minivan weighs: "Gets more interesting every day." -- Jerry March 15, 2002 Quote of the day: A note appearing in junk email I received: "We strongly oppose the use of unsolicited email." March 18, 2002 Quote of the day: Gregory's baby monitor has a feature that sounds an alert when the monitor and receiver have lost contact. The receiver blurts really loudly. BLURT! BLURT! (You tell me, what parent wants a baby monitor that WAKES UP the kid?) Anyway, to make matters worse, the monitor end (the one in the baby's room) broadcasts the offender when the connection has been interrupted. So, while downstairs you're hearing BLURT! BLURT!, upstairs the baby will be awakened by someone's cell phone conversation. The monitor was on today when Gregory and I were reading in his room. It lost contact and we became unwilling eavesdroppers on this conversation: She said, "Was it a boy or a girl?" He said, "It was a girl. They named her Paige." She said, "Paige? You're KIDDING ME!" (They both laugh.) He said, "Who would name their kids Reid and Paige? March 19, 2002 Quote of the day: Regarding Bradley's quote the other day stating that I "shouldn't have to work digging through mice droppings," one of our colleagues writes, "Guess you can't read the greenies any more, then." (For those of you who don't know, the greenies are a compilation of editors' remarks about the previous day's newspaper. By the time the greenies come out, the newspaper is bird cage liner.) March 22, 2002 Quote of the day: 17-month-old Gregory is learning animal sounds. He's still a little confused about the sound birds make. When I ask, "What does a bird say?" he puts his hand up in the air (in a flying motion) and makes a raspberry sound. Bradley says, "That's a bird with gas." March 25, 2002
Quote of the day: Bradley is on spring break. All day long, he quoted lines from some television show he saw a few months ago: "Spray for bugs? Spray for BUGS? This is the way I spray for bugs." And then he STOMPS the floor big-time. (Now baby Gregory is going around the house stomping "bugs" everywhere, too.) March 26, 2002 Quote of the day: We were sitting at my kitchen table rehearsing lines for a play. Laurie, a native New Jerseyan, had a direct view of the refrigerator, which displays a large gamecock magnet from the University of South Carolina. All of a sudden, she said, "Stop! I can't stand it anymore! Please tell me, WHAT is that CHICKEN on your refrigerator?" March 26, 2002 Quote of the day: It was a nice day (this, after several cold and/or rainy ones), so I took Bradley and Gregory to the playground. After a little while I asked the baby if he was ready to go home. A simple answer, not complicated by years of vocabulary training: "No!" March 27, 2002
Quote of the day: Sometimes I wonder if 7-year-old Bradley is really 87-year-old Bradley: "Mom, isn't Gregory so cute?" he said of his baby brother. "His eyes are wide open! Big and brown, look at those eyes!" (Be prepared. Here comes the really deep part.) "I mean, he has so much to discover! You and me, our eyes are closed because we think we already discovered everything. But Gregory's eyes are wide open and ready to take it all in. Isn't he just so cute?" March 29, 2002
Quote of the day: Bradley and I were at odds today over messy homework, snacks in the living room, bothering his brother, and digging holes in the backyard. After I fussed at him for the umpteenth time, he couldn't take it anymore. "Mom," he announced, "I've had all I can stand of that tone from you today." Then he got up, went outside and filled in the holes, apologized to his brother, cleaned up crumbs in the living room, and ripped up the messy homework to begin again. April 2, 2002 Thought for the day: Due to unforeseen brain clutter, today's Bradley quote has been, woefully, forgotten. April 4, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley was denied television privileges as a punishment. Since he couldn't watch TV, he went to his room. A few minutes later he emerged saying he had thought it over and had said a prayer. "That's great," I said proudly, "If you ask God for help, your behavior will likely improve." "I didn't ask God to help ME," he said, "I asked him to help everyone else understand me." April 5, 2002 Thought for the day: Another entry in the fish family saga. You remember Harry and Hermoine, Bradley's guppies, right? And they had 6 babies, but one kept getting sucked into the filter . . . well, now Hermoine's all by herself with 5 babies she apparently is so afraid of, she won't eat and she rarely comes out of the shipwreck. And when she does come out, watch out! She swims to fast you'd think a shark was chasing her. See, what happened is: Harry was slowly and painfully EATEN by the babies. Hermoine is one traumatized guppy. She watched her mate be cannibalized. It's just AWFUL. April 15, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley was noticing how big the baby fish have gotten since they were teeny little guppies. "You remember," he said, "back when they weren't very spotful." Huh? Spotful? You mean when they didn't have many spots. "No, mom, I mean spotful, or being able to spot easily which they weren't when they were teensy." April 16, 2002 Quote of the day: Off in the distance, in another newsroom department, a phone rings. Someone yells to the ceiling, "I'M NOT HERE!" April 17, 2002 Quote of the day: 7-year-old Bradley sent me email before he went to bed tonight describing what he did after dinner: "I made a map that showed four icebergs and the paths that submarines took to lead them to the shipwreck." Sounds like a typical day at the office for me. (Mike says this map was rendered in aluminum foil on cardboard and that it was likely the icebergs that sank the ship.) April 19, 2002
Quote of the day: (Contributed by our friend, Pat): 7 a.m.-- Gabriel, age 5: "Daddy, I don't want you to go away to the city for twelve whole hours to work today. I want you to stay home. Let's stay home forever, me and you. No work. Just home.""But Gabriel, if I don't do my work, my boss will be very mad and he won't pay me."He scowls and clenches his fists. "You tell your boss he'd better change that attitude this minute!" April 22, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley was watching the Robin Williams movie, Mrs. Doubtfire, when he announced, "Oh, I'm going to have funny dreams tonight." April 23, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley's first grade teacher left the classroom for a minute and when she returned, she told me that Bradley had his classmate, Brian, in a head-lock. (I'm guessing Brian has a good 25 pounds on Bradley, so I was skeptical about whether or not I was getting the whole story.) Ms. Kindler asked Bradley what on EARTH possessed him to treat his friend that way. Bradley's response: "Brian TOLD me to do it." (Sometimes I really wish I could be a fly on the wall in that classroom.) April 24, 2002 Quote of the day: 7-year-old Bradley and I were walking home from school today when Bradley stopped to blow dandelion seeds all over the place. I walked on ahead. When I got to a crosswalk, I waited for Bradley, who approached very slowly. When he finally reached me, he said sadly, "Mom, if a person swallowed a seed, would the seed sprout in the person's tummy?"It was obvious what had happened, but I asked anyway: "Did you swallow one of those dandelion seeds?"(He nods slowly.)"There isn't any sunlight in your tummy, and let's hope there isn't much soil, so, do you think it would sprout?" "Well," he said, "there is water and nutrients, so it's possible, isn't it?" "I guess we'll find out for sure when you start coughing out dandelion seeds, huh?" Walking along, shoulders drooped to the ground, he sighed, "Mah-ah-ohm, what am I going to do now?" April 26, 2002 Quote of the day: 18-month-old Gregory was waddling around the kitchen desperately in need of a nap. (If you're an Andy Griffith fan, picture a tiny little Otis, the-town-drunk: head rolling around in mid-waddle, eyes not focusing on anything particular.) All of a sudden, Gregory fell straight to the floor, landing on his knees. He just sat there and said quietly, over and over again, "Uht ooooooooo." (As in "uh oh," but rhymes with "what too.") April 29, 2002
Quote of the day: Regular late-note contributor, Pat, writes that his wife, Katie, "used to get a laugh from the way a sleepy toddler resembles someone in his cups, to the point that she often would say in mock-seriousness, 'Gabriel, you're drunk!' as she picked him up to take him for a nap. You know how this story will end: One evening a sleepy Gabriel staggers into a room full of company, rubbing his eyes and saying for all to hear, 'Mommy, I'm drunk!'" April 30, 2002
Quote of the day: 18-month-old Gregory was spinning around the backyard like a pinwheel when he lost his balance and fell. 7-year-old Bradley ran over to help the little guy get up. As he lifted, he shared this little gem of big-brotherly advice: "Gregory, never dance with a windmill on a windy day." (Words to live by, if you ask me.) May 6, 2002 Quote of the day: 7-year-old Bradley, when he first saw his new webpage, "Whoa, COOL! People all over the WORLD can see my ocean drawings? Please thank your friend for me, mom. This is SO COOL!" (The friend, by the way, is Bob. So, thanks, Bob!) See for yourself: www.coffeedrome.com/bradley.html May 7, 2002 Quote of the day: 7-year-old Bradley was thumbing through a small-print version of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" when he said, "If I get to be president when I grow up, I'll order that every book has to have pictures in it. I'll have people go around to other people's houses and if they have books without any pictures, they'll put pictures in them." May 9, 2002 Quote of the day: Saturday, and it was beautiful -- warm sunshine, light breeze, but the forecast called for rain all day Sunday. 7-year-old Bradley said, "It should never rain on Sunday. Isn't that why they call it SUNday? Come to think about it, I don't think it should ever rain on Saturday either. All weekends should be storm-free. Don't you think so too?" May 10, 2002 Quote of the day: 7-year-old Bradley wrote a poem for me for Mother's Day. If you appreciate the fact that he's quite the ocean expert, you'll also appreciate how sweet the first line of his poem is: "You are as beautiful as a butterfly fish eating plankton." May 13, 2002 Quote of the day: 19-month Gregory and I were looking out the window at our white-flowering dogwood tree. Just for fun, I said, "Gregory, what does the dogwood tree say?" Like a teenager saying, "Duh," he answered, "Woof woof." May 14, 2002 Quote of the day: When 7-year-old Bradley came home from school today, he asked, "Mom, is our backyard big enough for a zebra?" (One can only wonder why a child would ask such a thing.) May 15, 2002 Quote of the day: 7-year-old Bradley and I were strolling around the block. Well, I was strolling. He was jumping. He was trying to see if he could jump high enough so as to be taller than I am. "Look! Now! Taller than you! Ha! Now! Ha! Now!" Finally, he stopped jumping long enough to enlighten me on the subject of gravity. "You know, mom, when you jump, like this, (jump), there's a split second when you are not moving up and not moving down. The reason that your body STOPS in mid-air like that is because it takes a moment for the gravity to get back on you.." "Oh." May 17, 2002 Thought for the day: Remember a few months ago when I overheard a cell phone conversation on Gregory's baby monitor? The discussion was about a new baby named Reid, and his sister, named Paige, and the callers were laughing at the combination. (I got a kick out of it, too.) That was March 19th. This past Sunday a cute little baby boy, named Reid, was baptized in my church. His sister's name is Paige. I couldn't BELIEVE it! "They're HERE," I thought. "It's THEM . . . the famous Reid and Paige ... in person!" What a small world. May 22, 2002 Quote of the day: 19-month-old Gregory was playing in the backyard wearing stone colored khaki pants that later became stone-and-grass colored khaki pants. When he came inside he studied the grass stains on his knees carefully, then finally said, "Uht oooooo." May 23, 2002
How you get grass stains. Thought for the day: Bradley was playing with his Matchbox cars on the dining room floor when he asked me to come see the "scene" he had set up. Two cars appeared to have crashed into each other. There's an ambulance, two police cars, a tow truck, a fire truck, lots of little people standing around, and as far as the eye can see into the living room: cars lined up bumper-to-bumper in six rows going both directions. (Makes you just want to stay home.) May 24, 2002 Quote of the day: In celebration of Memorial Day, here are Bradley's lyrics to "God Bless the U.S.A." "The U.S.A. is one of a kind and they are free!!! And there's just one thing I have to say. . . God bless the U.S.A.! And I am free too . . . And when I die I hope that the same thing will still be the same And there's just one thing I have to say God bless the U.S.A.!" May 27, 2002 Thought for the day: One of Bradley's homework assignments was an exercise in conflict resolution. He had to fill in the blanks describing a problem between himself and another person, culminating in answering a question about whether the solution resulted in a win/win, win/lose or lose/lose result for the two people. His "problem" was that he had this homework to do, and the "conflict" that needed resolving was the fact that he didn't want to do it, and I wanted it done right then. In the end, he determined that it was a "win/lose" situation because I won and he lost. May 28, 2002 Quote of the day: The outside of our refrigerator suffers from an overload of posts -- calendars, pictures, drawings, menus, magnets, bills, you name it, it's up there. Today, Bradley found the crafty snowman magnet he made back in December. While he looked it over, he sang this song: "Frosty the snowman Had a scarf tied 'round his neck But it was too tight Then he choked and died And the children were upset." May 28, 2002
Quote of the day: When you learned about the Solar System, maybe you used a popular mnemonic device to remember the order of the planets: "Many Very Early Men ate Juicy Steaks Using No Plates" (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars... etc.) Bradley's first grade class learned it too, and as a homework assignment, he had to come up with his own memory device: "Mad Volcanos Eating Many Jeeps Sprout Ugly Narrow Principals." May 30, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley is always very excited when his little league team has a game. He just LOVES baseball. At least I THINK he does . . . Bradley: "Yay! I have a game tomorrow!" Me: "I'm so glad you're enjoying baseball." Bradley: "Yeah, I love it! I can't wait until the game's over so I get to have my snack. That's the best part!" June 1, 2002
Quote of the day: Our friend, Pat, writes: My two chilIdren are 5-year-old Gabriel and 8-year-old Sara. I walked into Gabriel's room the other evening, but I couldn't get more than two steps from the door for all the toys and books and crayons and legos and blocks and puzzles and dressup stuff covering every inch of the carpet. "Gabriel," I inquired of the small figure vaguely discernible amid the debris on the far side of the room. "What on earth happened in here?" The 5-year-old replied, "Sara. Need I say more?" June 3, 2002 Quote of the day: I'm always telling Bradley how much baby Gregory and he look alike. Today Bradley was trying to get Gregory to join him in one of Bradley's all-time favorite pasttimes: a serious tickle-fight. But as usual, Gregory wanted no part of it. "Why doesn't he want to play with me?" whined Bradley. "He doesn't like to be tickled," I said. "He's different from you." "But you always said he was the same as me." "I always say he LOOKS like you, but he has a completely different personality." "Well, I'm going to put a stop to that right now. From now on," demanded Bradley, "Gregory will have MY personality. And that's final." June 4, 2002
Quote of the day: I am not crazy about cooking. Bradley is not crazy about homework. Yesterday I was cooking dinner while he was doing homework. He had two pages of math problems that would take you or me 2 minutes to do. But it was taking Bradley a really long time to settle down and focus on the unpleasant task. I checked on his progress as often as I stirred the peas. Frustrated by Bradley's extreme slowness, I demanded to know what was taking so long. "I just HATE homework," he said. "I don't want to do it." "I know what you mean," I said. "I hate cooking dinner." "Tell you what," he said, "you do my homework and I'll cook dinner." For a second, I thought: Ok! My life would be SO much easier. The homework would be done . . . I wouldn't have to cook . . . It's a DEAL! (Then I stirred the peas.) June 5, 2002
Quote of the day: Bradley's eating habits are typical of many 7-year-olds. Besides being picky, he can't stand little "flecks" in his food, and uses a different utensil for each dish. How many of you know a kid (maybe even yourself) who would react EXTREMELY negatively if the spoon that was used to eat English peas was mistakenly also used for rice? Bradley: "SOMEBODY CALL 9-1-1!" (gagging noises . . . ) "Bleck." (spitting noises . . . ) Me: (urgently) "What is the MATTER?" Bradley: "I used the WRONG SPOON!" Me: "Oh, (sigh), I thought you were choking." Bradley: "I got PEA JUICE in my RICE. Bleck. Yuck. Ick." June 7, 2002 Quote of the day: A few weeks ago, Bradley and I had traveled a long distance together and we stopped at a service area to rest for a while. We shared a cup of chocolate yogurt with M&Ms on top, a treat we've only ever had that one time. Tonight, I told Bradley that one of my favorite things was chocolate yogurt with M&Ms on top, to which he replied, "Wow! You remember that too?" June 10, 2002
Thought for the day: Just as I can not imagine picking up the phone and saying "Pennsylvania six five thousand" and then actually being connected to another person, 20-month-old Gregory will never be able to imagine dialing only seven numbers to call someone. At my little house in my little town, there is no place I can call without first dialing one and the area code. June 11, 2002
Quote of the day: Bradley, musing, "Mom, I don't remember anything from when I was in your tummy. I guess it was pretty dark." (He gets in the fetal position.) "I suppose this is how I was when my birthday was getting close. Do you know that birds hatch out of their eggs after only 21 days? I wonder if baby birds get birthday parties? Do you suppose baby birds can see anything when they're in the egg?" June 12, 2002 Quote of the day: My fortune cookie, "Your insights must be made public." June 13, 2002 Quote of the day: 7-year-old Bradley wondered, "I imagine that when I grow up I could eat 20 cookies in one day. If I could do that, I'd be famous!" (If that's all it takes, Bradley's MOM must be the Queen of England.) June 14, 2002 Quote of the day: You might remember from one of my previous notes that I don't enjoy cooking dinner, so I mentioned to 7-year-old Bradley that when he grows up and gets a job, maybe he could take me out to dinner once in a while. His response: "No WAY! I've got BETTER things to do with MY money!" June 17, 2002 Quote of the day: I take my cellphone with me everywhere I go, so I thought it might be a good idea to teach Bradley the number. We went over it several times, but he just wasn't getting it. Finally, his motivation for a lack of focus became clear when he said, "Why should I memorize all those numbers when I can just push that one button on the kitchen phone that says 'Julie's cell phone'?" June 19, 2002 Quote of the day: It was the first day of summer -- the first full day after the last day of school -- and Bradley woke up with an extra ounce of energy. (Hard to imagine that.) Bradley's first words to me were, "Happy First Day of Summer, Mom! No school!" And then the smile left his face, his shoulders dropped, and the REAL truth came out when he said: "I wish it was the first day of school instead." June 21, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley and I were sitting on our beach chairs in the back yard watching little Gregory playing in the sprinkler. With a hint of melancholy, Bradley said, "Mom, how long do you think I'll last?"I paused a moment, trying to discern what motivation might prompt such a question. Not being able to come up with one, I said, "Why do you ask? His answer: "Well, I'm a pretty nice boy, and the longer I live, the longer I have to be nice to people."(I hope you last a really long time, Bradley, because I can't think of a better reason than that to stick around a while.) June 24, 2002 Quote of the day: Remember back when adults used to always ask you what you wanted to be when you grow up? Bradley wondered why people are always asking him that. He said, "I know what I DON'T want to be. I don't want to grow up to be a terrorist." June 26, 2002 Quote of the day: A car slammed into a telephone pole in front of our house today. Within minutes, the place was swarming with emergency vehicles -- the driver was pinned inside the car and the pole was precariously leaning over him. 5 police cars, 2 fire trucks, 2 EMT vans, 1 ambulance and a tow truck made quite a racket. Gregory ran over to the window to see what all the sirens and flashing lights were about. His first words when he saw the smashed car: "Uht oooooo." June 27, 2002 Quote of the day: I met my first best friend when we were three years old. Despite the miles between us, we are still buddies. Here is what she wrote to me tonight:"Jules- You won't believe what I found in an old scrapbook!!! The attached is the first letter you ever sent to me (dated June 10, 1972) ... I find it very humorous that you didn't even put a stamp on it, or the city or state. The mailman obviously delivered it anyway, knowing it was sent by children. THOSE WERE THE DAYS! I was very touched with the P.S. at the end about Joey writing half of the letter ("Rote have of the Litter")."[Joey was my 9-year-old brother. I was 7. You'll notice I DREW a box for a stamp.]
June 28, 2002 Thought for the day: Gregory likes cookies. If you give him a cookie, he will stuff the whole thing in his little mouth. He likes it this way. My guess is that he gets the full flavor sensation when his mouth is full of cookie. So, in order to avoid a potential choking situation, the cookie must be broken into small pieces, and given to him one piece at a time. But beware! If the pieces are deemed too small, he will hand them back to you with a stern scowl. July 1, 2002 Quote of the day: Whenever I see an American flag, a little voice inside my head says, "Buhbee!" That's because Gregory says "buhbee" whenever he sees an American flag. I never realized how many flags are all over everything until Gregory started shouting "Buhbee! Buhbee!" every single time he sees one. Flags on pencils, flags on houses, flags on people's shirts, a little teensy flag on the bottom of the kitchen stool, flags on cars, store windows, TV, hats, ads, train cars, baseball bats, bathing suits, beach chairs, bookbags, lapels, a 20-footer dangling in the breeze from atop a crane; flags EVERYWHERE. Well, "buhbees" everywhere. Gregory has the whole family saying "buhbee" now. Today, Bradley was talking about the famous American, Abraham Lincoln. Only he didn't say "famous American." He said, "Abraham Lincoln, the famous Buhbeean. July 2, 2002 Quote of the day: (This works better when you hear it in person.) Bradley asked, "Why is 6 afraid of 7?" I don't know, Bradley, why is 6 afraid of 7? "Because 7 8 9. Get it? [laughs outrageously, hand on belly] Bwha ha ha ha ha!" July 3, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley was taking the laundry basket to the basement -- quite a dangerous operation if you consider the combination of variables: two flights of stairs, a heavy basket and a 7-year-old. As he was making his way carefully down the last flight, the basket started to tip and clothes started falling out. I could tell he was in a panic so I rushed to help. Afterwards, we had a little laundry basket lesson. "Bradley," I said, "If it's between the clothes falling down the stairs, or you falling down the stairs, better the clothes than you." As he walked away, I could hear him muttering under his breath, "Clothes fall -- good. Bradley fall -- bad. Got it." July 4, 2002 Quote of the day: My mom called today to wish me a Happy Birthday. I said, "Mom. My birthday was 20 days ago." She said, "I guess if anybody would know when your birthday is, it would be you." July 8, 2002 Thought for the day: It was so hot today. (How hot was it?) It was so hot that Bradley (7 years old and too cool for Blue's Clues) would rather watch Blue's Clues than play outside in the sprinkler. July 9, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley was reading a book to me today when I noticed he had a tendency to skip over small words like "all," "of" and "the." I pointed to one of those words and said, "Don't forget the little words." Apparently, he had heard this phrase before. He responded, "That's right, Mom! Ms. Kindler always says the little words ride the little-kid rides and the big words ride the big-kid rides." Seeing the perplexed look on my face, he added, "You know -- small words have a place in the world, too, like small kids do." (You have to love those first grade teachers!) July 10, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley had a huge lunch today, while Gregory ate very lightly. Two hours later, Gregory was trying to convince Bradley to give him some crackers. But you know how it feels when you've overdone a meal -- you don't even want to SEE food, much less TOUCH any. Bradley did manage to dole out a few cracker pieces for his little brother before he just couldn't stand it anymore. "That's it, Gregory," he announced as he crumpled the cracker wrapper. "Snacktime is officially cancelled for today." July 11, 2002 Quote of the day: The day may come when I'll be glad I wrote down these thoughts from precious little Bradley: "Teenagers are so weird. They are, like, the strangest people on Earth. I don't understand why they can be so destructive and why they wear such weird clothes and listen to loud music, and they smoke when they HAVE to know it's filling their lungs up with DIRT. Why do teenagers act like that, mom?" July 12, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley was experimenting in the kitchen. He was mixing various ingredients together in a small glass. Then he would bring the glass to me to show off his concoction. He mixed crazy things together like: water, lime tic tacs and a marshmallow; or dried onions, diet coke, cinnamon and olive oil. After a while, I figured I'd better go see what horrible mess he must be making in there. As I walked in, I said, "So what are you making now?" I was thinking it smelled really awful, but to be nice, I said, "Mmmm, smells like you're making breakfast." As he shooed me out, he said, "Well, I'm not making breakfast for you, honey. So NO FREE SAMPLES." July 15, 2002 Thought for the day: Gregory was walking around with a spatula he had taken from the utensil drawer. I noticed he had been in the pantry and taken out a box of Bisquick, too. As he headed for the cabinet where the frying pan lives, I asked him if he wanted some pancakes. "Pancakes?" he said. "Yes!" July16, 2002
Quote of the day: If I could preface this with some sort of explanation, I would, but I don't have a clue where Bradley got THIS idea: "If the president were to outlaw chairs that let you dangle your feet, I just want you to know, mom, I would fight for my right to keep my dangle-feet-chair." July 22, 2002 xs Quote of the day: I had two coupons for free hot fudge sundaes and it was making me crazy. It was all I could think about. I must have told Bradley the plan several times: When the clock struck 3, we'd go. "3 o'clock, ok?" I told him. "We'll be leaving at 3, so be ready." I put little Gregory in the stroller and got Bradley's hat and then the church bells down the street rang three times. We were on our way. I was happy to be taking the boys out for ice cream and VERY happy that I'd finally be getting my hot fudge sundae. "Oh, what would I do without my boys?" I said, "I love you so much!" Bradley replied, "I know what you'd do, mom, you'd go out and get your hot fudge sundae all by yourself, that's what you'd do." July 24, 2002 Thought for the day: My husband, Mike, works for Lucent Technologies. We're so proud! The stock closed at a buck-sixty-nine today! Among Mike's nervous colleagues, every-other-Thursday has come to be known as "fump day" (F.M.P., which they pronounce "fump," is an abbreviation for Force Management Program -- in plain English: layoffs). On fump days, employees are informed of whether or not they will be "retained" or that their job is "at risk." ("At risk" meaning you might as well start packing.) This Thursday when Mike walked in the front door of his building, which is in a wooded area of central New Jersey, the security guard pointed for Mike to look WAY UP at the high windows. Perched on an adjoining building's roof, and peering inside the windows of Mike's building, was a huge vulture. (Mike asked the guard, "Do you think he knows what day it is?") July 25, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley offered me the following advice: "Hey mom, if you're ever a pilot and you're flying over a forest and you crash, and if you have a guitar with you, you can break the handle off the guitar and if someone has a broken leg you can use the handle as a splint and then if you have any cloth, wrap it around the person's injured bone." (I just thought I would share this with all of you who might someday be a pilot flying over a forest and you crash and just might happen to have a guitar with you...) July 26, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley, Gregory and two teen-age babysitters locked themselves out of the house today. After an hour in the 95-degree heat, and an hour of trying to figure out what to do about their predicament, the children were quite frustrated when I returned home, especially Bradley, who said, "This is the worst day of my life." One of the 13-year-olds replied, "You're going to have days that are a LOT worse than this, Bradley, just you wait." July 31, 2002 Quote of the day: One of Bradley's favorite things to do in summer is watching and chasing fireflies. "I'll bet," he said one evening as he chased the little bugs in the backyard, "that if you took all the fireflies and stacked them in a neat pile, they would go all the way to space." Aug. 1, 2002 Quote of the day: Gregory loves to hit the big plastic baseball with the big plastic bat in the backyard. When he hits it, it doesn't go very far. But when I hit it, it usually crashes into something with a loud BANG. "Oh, MAN!" says the little toddler, "Mommy!" Aug. 2, 2002 Quote of the day: I was at the mall with Bradley when we passed by a store selling party dresses. We stopped for a moment to peer in the window. "I like that one," I said. But Bradley quickly put me in my place. "Mom," he said looking up at me, because, you know, he's still rather short, "You don't need fancy clothes. You're just a normal woman. Ordinary. Normal. Nope. No fancy dresses for you." (Oh yeah? Well, you're . . . you're . . . SHORT, buddy! So THERE.) Aug 5, 2002 Quote of the day: A conversation with Gregory: Me: "Gregory, what does a cow say?" Gregory: " Moooooo!" "What does a dog say?" "Woof woof!" "What does a cat say?" "Meow!" "What does an owl say?" "Whoo." In an effort to trip him up, I added: " What does Gregory say?" He responded, "Eggy, peas?"(Which, in Gregory-speak, means "Spaghetti, please?" ) Aug 7, 2002 Quote of the day: It was a beautiful, sunny day. Not too warm, a little bit breezy, not at all humid. The perfect day for lots of outdoor activities. I said to Bradley, "Look! It's a nice day out. What should we do today?" He then produced the following list:1. Have a snack .2. Go to pbskids.org and play a computer game. 3. Read the newspaper. 4. Watch a tv show. 5. Draw some pictures. 6. Play with my planes in the living room. "But," I said, "These are all INDOOR things. Can't you be flexible?" "Nope. This is what's on my list. Sorry." Aug 6, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley asked, "What does an archaeologist do?" I told him they are scientists who study the history of ancient cultures on Earth. He said, "Well, I want to be an AIRcheologist when I grow up so I can study the history of air." Aug. 8, 2002 Quote of the day: Gregory was looking face-to-face at a 7-foot shark (separated by 12 inches of glass) when he said, "Big fish!" Aug 9, 2002 Quote of the day: A diver was in a tank at the aquarium scrubbing algae off the walls. As a family approached the glass, a little girl exclaimed, "Mommy! Look! It's a man-fish!" Aug 12, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley complained that when I adjusted his swimming goggles, I made them too tight. "If I wear these very long, my head is going to explode and my eyes are going to pop out of their sockets and that's going to be a big mess, Mom, so can you fix them for me?" Aug 13, 2002 Quote of the day: The email system at Lucent Technologies had been down all day so Mike called support to see why he couldn't send and receive messages: "Well, we sent out an email announcement." (Ok, well, duh...) The helpful support rep continued, "The technicians fixing the hardware said it would be about 12 hours, but we don't know what 12 hours it will be because we don't know when they started." Aug 14, 2002 Quote of the day: Gregory was checking out my ice cream soda. "Would you like some?" I asked. He responded, "Yes." I put a spoonful in his mouth and his face told me he hated it. "Yuck," he said. But he didn't go away and was still checking me out. So I said, "Would you like some more?" Again, he responded, "Yes." (The pattern continues: Yuck, Yes, Yuck, Yes, until the thing is all gone.) Aug 15, 2002 Quote of the day: One of Bradley's jobs is to put away the clean dishes in the dishwasher and load the dirty ones back in. It's a wonderful day when a child starts to "get" that housework is never done: "I can't believe how many dishes this family uses every day," he said. "I mean, I put everything away, then WAM-O! Before I know it, the thing is full again." Aug. 16, 2002 Quote of the day: When Bradley was a little baby, I lovingly admired his feet. They were soft, adorable, sweet-smelling, just a little bit ticklish, and the little toesies were, well, itty bitty and just the cutest little piggies you ever saw! The other day, the strap on now-7-year-old Bradley's sandals broke, and he didn't have any shoes to wear. We were in a rush to go out and the kid needed protection for his feet, so I said. "Just go get my sandals. They'll be too big, but they'll do until we can get you some new ones." When he showed up wearing my shoes, we both marveled at the fact that THEY FIT PERFECTLY. I gave him a hug and tried not to choke up when I said, "My baby's all grown up." Bradley is not one for big mushy scenes, though, so he broke the mood by saying, "Come on mom, what's with the sweat? These shoes of yours are so sweaty, not even extremophiles could live in here." Aug 19, 2002 Word of the day: Halocline. (HAY-lo-kline) Halocline is the blurry layer where fresh water from an underground river floats on salt water from the ocean. They meet, but they don't mix well, creating an eerie film in the water. As a distinct boundary between two extremes, and with an absence of light energy, halocline supports life forms that don't exist anywhere else on Earth, i.e.: extremophiles. Aug 20, 2002 Quote of the day: A person who enjoys exploring underwater caves is by default a lover of extremes -- an extremophile. One of the most famous cavers in the world, Dr. Hazel Barton, said underwater caving has improved her dry caving techniques. She says she no longer worries about getting stuck in a really small space in a dry cave, "Because I keep thinking to myself, 'Hey, I have an unlimited supply of air here!'" Aug 21, 2002 Quote of the day: I was trying to teach 22-month-old Gregory to ask for the cookie he wanted by saying, "Cookie, please?" rather than the old point-and-grunt technique. Gregory points at the cookie box and grunts. Me: "Gregory, would you like a cookie?" G: "Yes, cookie!" Gregory knows without a doubt that "please" comes next, but I prompted a little anyway: Me: "Cookie, what?" G: "Cookie, what?" Me: "No, not 'what,' say 'please.'" G: "What?" Me: "Cookie, what?"G: "Cookie, what?" Oh forget it. Now I don't even know what I'm doing anymore . . . Aug. 22, 2002 Quote of the day: A girl of about 10 years old fell off the merry-go-round at the community playground. Attending to her injury, her father announced that she had "busted out her stitches" and would need a bandaid. He asked me if I would stay with her while he retrieved one from his car on the other side of the field. Watching from afar, I could see that this bandaid was not so easily found. Every door was open, including the hatchback, and things were flying out the windows, like in a commercial or a dream. Finally, prince charming rushed to his weeping daughter and triumphantly bandaged her wound using a disposable diaper and duct tape. (She tore it off within 30 seconds muttering, "I'd rather bleed to death than wear this ugly thing.") Aug. 26, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley was playing with a tattered paper airplane, flying it around the living room and crashing into the "frontier village" he made out of Lincoln Logs. He was telling me about the crash scene: injuries received by frontiersmen and their horses, damage to buildings, livestock, that sort of thing. I innocently asked if the Rescue Heroes (a new series of action figures by Fisher-Price) would be coming to save the day. "Mom," he said matter-of-factly, "there aren't any Rescue Heroes here. This is REAL." Aug. 28, 2002 Quote of the day: A timeless tip found in the 1897 Sears Roebuck catalog: "If you don't find it in the index, look carefully through the entire catalogue." Aug 29, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley learned a thing or two this summer: "You know what I learned at the aquarium?" he said. "If a male penguin is in love with a female penguin, the male will follow the female around and bug her and annoy her endlessly until she says, 'All right. I give up. Let's mate.'" Aug 30, 2002 Quote of the day: While enjoying a plate of really good french fries, 7-year-old Bradley enthusiastically said, "These are so good it makes me want to fly up into space (pointing to the ceiling) and fall back down (zoom!) into a pile of these french fries with my mouth wide open. AAAAAAAH!" Sept. 2, 2002 Thought for the day: Yesterday's quote about Bradley's yummy fries makes me wonder if his quotes might someday be inspiration for a comic strip ala Peanuts: Move over, Snoopy. Here comes Flying Ace Bradley on his own Sopwith Camel, ready to shoot down the infamous Tri-plane of the Red Baron just in time to swoop around, mouth wide open, to his supper dish full of the best french fries in the tri-state area. AAAAAAAH! Sept. 3, 2002 Quote of the day: Bradley and I went for a walk on the day before he was to start 2nd grade. I told him I was sad to see summer end, and that I will miss him while he's at school. "Don't worry, mom," he said assuredly, "I'll just be down the street and when I come home I would have learned something new!" As we walked home from school the next day, I asked Bradley what he learned. "Well," he said, "everyone was talking about all the cool places they went over the summer, and this one kid said she went to Viagra Falls." "It's Niagara Falls," I said, "Not Viagra." "Oh," he responded, "well, there you go. That's what I learned today then. Niagara. Not Viagra." Sept. 4, 2002 Quote of the day: Gregory is not a happy camper when Bradley leaves for school in the morning. The toddler watches from the window and waves and cries softly. "Gregory," I asked yesterday, "are you sad because you miss Bradley?" Still looking longingly out the window, he squeaked out a small sad "yes." Then I asked, "Are you sad because you want to go to school with Bradley?" Again, the answer was just about the saddest "yes" imaginable. I continued, "Gregory, are you ready to go take your nap now?" Turning his head to look me right in the eye, he emphatically shouted, "No!" Then he got down off his window stool, wiped the tears from his face and said, "Cookie, please?" Sept. 6, 2002 Thought for the day: Ever since I learned to write it, I've spelled "definitely" the wrong way. (I spell it DEFINATELY, by habit.) My new email program puts misspelled words in red and underlines them. I've noticed a definite pattern of red underlines lately. I can't help but wonder how many people over the years (the years before my new email program) laughed at my missteps. What's worse is that I find myself actually double checking to see if it's possible that the word might just have an alternate spelling. (It definitely doesn't.) Sept. 9, 2002 Quote of the day: If you read my thoughts and quotes often, you might remember that 23-month-old Gregory uses the word "buhbee" whenever he sees an American flag. While Gregory and I waited for Bradley to get out of school today, we stood underneath the school's flag as it flew in gusty autumn winds at half-staff. The toddler immediately noticed something wasn't quite right. He had a very stern look on his face while he motioned with his hand as if to push the flag back to its rightful position and said, "Up. Buhbee up." |
