Where the weeds stop and the drainage super-highway begins
Posted on 2013.02.16 at 10:30
Things Hawaii said: "Boys should have a laser. On their penis! So that they don't get butt owies." She means chafing and diaper rash, not STDs.
I took the kids to see Goodnight Moon, a play based on the book, up in Austin. Hawaiian Punch wore her firefighter helmet, which is awesome. They loved it. (I spent the day being incredibly short-tempered and hating myself for blowing my stack so easily. Single-parenting.)
This week I've had lots of energy! I have no idea what changed from the past few weeks, but I'll take it.
Things my parents said: "Nephew K is a fucking mathematical GENIUS!" Ok, not quite, but I got quite irritable and bit their head off anyway. What they said is: "Nephew K said '7 plus 8 is 15. 6 plus 9 is 15. 5 plus 10 is 15. 4 plus 11 is 15.' "
I said, "Hey, that's great. Clever kid."
They said "We thought you'd appreciate it, because MATH!" And they repeated the story for me to fawn over again.
The problem is that I don't appreciate the story whatsoever. It triggers a lot of what I think is bullshit about childhood math. So eventually they kept harping, for some elusive enthusiasm which I failed to provide, and I eventually snapped at them, and that was that.
It's neat that Nephew K is seeing that there are different ways of forming 15. That is inherently neat and clever of him. Bright kid. (He's 4 1/2 years old.)
Irritating things that I super-imposed on top of the conversation:
- mistaking arithmetic for math
- identifying kids super early and tagging them as MATH GENIUS
- the idea that MATH GENIUS is the most special magical impressive form of intelligence
- the gender bias involved in who gets picked out and labeled as MATH GENIUS
- the lack of appreciation that cousin K is going to fancy prep school, and playing with computer programs all day where he learns arithmetic facts. (Mom: all I know is that I wasn't able to do anything like that when I was four!)
- that I'll hear this story from the parents and grandparents twenty more times.
- that our kids are going to go to the local shitty public school and possibly I'm a tad sensitive if you dig deep enough.
- (also I'm a tad sensitive about how little math encouragement I ever received, so maybe I'm taking it personally.)
Sorry about being so cranky, Mom and Dad. Sorry that you don't know about this secret blog, so that apology was all performance for third party readers, and not something you'll ever see.
(Afterwards, conversation stalled. They said "So how are Hokey Pokey and Hawaiian Punch?" I said sullenly "They eat paste and smear their boogers on the wall." The conversation ended shortly thereafter.)
We used to have a drainage ditch in our backyard.
These are the only photos of our old, overgrown weedy backyard. It's hard to see the drainage ditch.
Then the city built the drainage super-highway through our backyard and cut down a lot of trees. Now you can see the ditch. It's the dirt part, where the weeds stop.
The city promised us dirt. And then this past week we got dirt:
These photos our terrible! Our backyard nearly doubled in size but it's hard to see that. Oh well.
I took the kids to see Goodnight Moon, a play based on the book, up in Austin. Hawaiian Punch wore her firefighter helmet, which is awesome. They loved it. (I spent the day being incredibly short-tempered and hating myself for blowing my stack so easily. Single-parenting.)
This week I've had lots of energy! I have no idea what changed from the past few weeks, but I'll take it.
Hokey Pokey dressed up at a birthday party.
Things my parents said: "Nephew K is a fucking mathematical GENIUS!" Ok, not quite, but I got quite irritable and bit their head off anyway. What they said is: "Nephew K said '7 plus 8 is 15. 6 plus 9 is 15. 5 plus 10 is 15. 4 plus 11 is 15.' "
I said, "Hey, that's great. Clever kid."
They said "We thought you'd appreciate it, because MATH!" And they repeated the story for me to fawn over again.
The problem is that I don't appreciate the story whatsoever. It triggers a lot of what I think is bullshit about childhood math. So eventually they kept harping, for some elusive enthusiasm which I failed to provide, and I eventually snapped at them, and that was that.
They make icing out of melted crayons, as best I can tell. After getting a bath, Pokey still had a faint purple ring around his mouth.
It's neat that Nephew K is seeing that there are different ways of forming 15. That is inherently neat and clever of him. Bright kid. (He's 4 1/2 years old.)
Irritating things that I super-imposed on top of the conversation:
- mistaking arithmetic for math
- identifying kids super early and tagging them as MATH GENIUS
- the idea that MATH GENIUS is the most special magical impressive form of intelligence
- the gender bias involved in who gets picked out and labeled as MATH GENIUS
- the lack of appreciation that cousin K is going to fancy prep school, and playing with computer programs all day where he learns arithmetic facts. (Mom: all I know is that I wasn't able to do anything like that when I was four!)
- that I'll hear this story from the parents and grandparents twenty more times.
- that our kids are going to go to the local shitty public school and possibly I'm a tad sensitive if you dig deep enough.
- (also I'm a tad sensitive about how little math encouragement I ever received, so maybe I'm taking it personally.)
Sorry about being so cranky, Mom and Dad. Sorry that you don't know about this secret blog, so that apology was all performance for third party readers, and not something you'll ever see.
(Afterwards, conversation stalled. They said "So how are Hokey Pokey and Hawaiian Punch?" I said sullenly "They eat paste and smear their boogers on the wall." The conversation ended shortly thereafter.)
We used to have a drainage ditch in our backyard.
These are the only photos of our old, overgrown weedy backyard. It's hard to see the drainage ditch.
Then the city built the drainage super-highway through our backyard and cut down a lot of trees. Now you can see the ditch. It's the dirt part, where the weeds stop.
The city promised us dirt. And then this past week we got dirt:
These photos our terrible! Our backyard nearly doubled in size but it's hard to see that. Oh well.