The ghost of Christmas present

This is the Christmas ghost who appears when M takes the cover off his comforter so we can wash it before Grandma comes to visit and sleeps in his room.

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The power of evil

M’s tendency to mumble and slur words together has only gotten worse with the addition of orthodontia, so I finally went online and looked around for do-it-yourself speech exercises that might help. One site suggested having the child look in the mirror and recite something he knows by heart while exaggerating all the facial [...]

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Listening in

S here, and I drove M and two of his friends home from math club after school today. On the down side, this meant I had to endure the smell of a car full of sweaty teens. (Don’t ask me how they work up a sweat at math club. I don’t want [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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.

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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