The lesser-known skills that a Boy Scout needs

On Monday night M achieved 2nd Class rank in Boy Scouts. The way his troop handles the awards ceremony, not only does the Scout receive a cloth badge for his uniform, but he is also handed a small metal pin with a miniature symbol of the rank badge, and he is told “In recognition [...]

Read Full Post »

Bigfoot

S here, and we got the first snow of the season this morning. I can’t remember snow ever coming this early, but it’s been unseasonably cold. And the whole weekend is supposed to be rainy, cold, raw, and windy — so of course M is on a Boy Scout camping trip.
We discovered last [...]

Read Full Post »

Teens versus preteens

S here, and last night was my first session of leading Boy Scouts through the Family Life merit badge. It was a markedly different experience from when I led the financial management merit badge last year.

Last year the boys in my group were mostly teens in high school. This year they were mostly preteens [...]

Read Full Post »

The bottomless pit

M grew again. He also now considers a TV dinner to be an afterschool snack. I can only imagine how hard it will be to keep him fed when he’s an actual teenager.

Read Full Post »

Poetry by M

M had to write an “I Am From” poem for a school assignment. His use of imagery just amazes me.
————————————————–
I am from dirty glasses and lost teeth.
I am from being enveloped in goodnight hugs.
I am from steamy mouthfuls
of Ramen noodles and rice pilaf.
I am from the yeasty aroma
of big soft pretzels.
I am from conjured [...]

Read Full Post »

The father’s role in the family

S here; each year, M’s Boy Scout troop gets various parents to be merit badge counselors, who then spend several troop meetings helping a small group of boys work through earning the badge. At an all-parents meeting last year, we were given a very brief overview of the dozen or so badges that the [...]

Read Full Post »

Do I have to be monogamous?

S here; M has been watching a number of the Young Indiana Jones episodes lately. Two days ago, he watched one in which a very young Catherine Zeta-Jones flings off her burka to do some belly-dancing. M got a big grin on his face at that point. I am so not ready for this stage.
Yesterday [...]

Read Full Post »

A little update on our boy

S here; we’ve been doing a lot of cat-related posts lately, because frankly the cat is a lot cuter and funnier than most of the other stuff going on in our lives right now. (You don’t really want to hear about E’s sinuses, or the moldy bathroom, or the bees infesting the shutters, do [...]

Read Full Post »

Signs of maturity

Last week, M came up to me and asked, “Mom, is there some day that you can either bring me to school early or pick me up if I stay late, so I can make up the Spanish quiz I missed due to the orthodontist appointment?”
This completely blew me away for a number of [...]

Read Full Post »

Technical difficulties with communion

It was a communion Sunday at church today. The pastor intoned the ritual “The bread of life. Take, and eat.”
Well, I don’t know where the bread came from today, but it was stale enough that I couldn’t help but whisper into M’s ear, “The bread of life is very chewy today.”
He [...]

Read Full Post »