new year’s wish

The New Jersey Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary near our house has a holly tree. One of the naturalists there told us that one winter day a particular species of bird will come at eat every berry on that tree. It’s supposed to be something to worth seeing – but because it happens so quickly, you have to be very lucky or very diligent to catch it.


Last night Chris and I watched a documentary on ABBA. At the height of the band’s popularity, Agnetha Fältskog, the blond vocalist, decided she wouldn’t tour anymore because she wanted to stay home with her baby. Her husband, Björn Ulvaeus, the band’s guitar player totally didn’t get it. He figured, they had a Nanny, what difference would it make if they left the kid with her for a few days here or there?

The thing is, you don’t know when the birds will come to eat the berries – or when baby will take his first step. The only way to be sure to be there, is to always be there.

So, here is my New Year’s Wish: May you have the luxury to be there for all of next year’s unmissable moments. And may you have the serenity to be fully present for each of them.

Happy New Year!

christmas with cousins

On Wednesday we had a great Christmas visit to Aunt Pat's farmhouse. My cousins Beth and Craig were visiting from distant North Carolina with their kids Thomas and Molly. Now, the actual relationship between their kids and ours is somewhat more distant, but at this point I am going to officially designate them as cousins, in the theory that you can't have too many cousins, certainly not when they are as sweet as Thomas and Molly.

Here's our little sausage with the lovely Molly.



Thomas was very pleased with the circuit-building kit we brought him, even after I told him that I am a teacher and the toy was probably educational. We promptly built a light-sensitive alarm. The kid is so smart and so quick it's a little scary.



We all had a swell time together. Our child was great. He seemed to have a great time being mauled by his cousins, who thought he was loads of fun. Me and G went away feeling very wealthy in the family department.

modern dad skills

OK, now that I no longer travel and my workday schedule is completely predictable, I have become the owner of one of the most advanced communication tools that will fit in your pocket. I finally replaced my beloved but aging Nokia cell phone with a shiny new Treo 680. It's a combination phone and Palm Pilot PDA which I bought in order to help organize my busy life. NOT to watch South Park and play solitaire during meetings.

But incidentally it does play excellent solitaire and thanks to the efforts of many smart people I have also got it to play the same videos we download.

Now, I can make full use of every second of the 9 unoccupied minutes that I am currently wasting each day.

This morning, while walking the child in a darkened room in order to soothe him, I was able to watch a whole South Park episode. Not only is this entertaining, but it's important to my professional development that I remain up-to-speed on popular culture so that I can relate to my students. So you see, I really have my students' best interests at heart.

Talk to me before you decide to buy a Treo though, there are issues.

first christmas

He's not old enough to decide which holiday to celebrate so I guess it'll be the one with the tree and the holly which we celebrate in the middle of winter.

The boy has displayed every sign of great enjoyment during our holiday season together. Below is a picture taken in a sleepy moment, with the bear that his Aunt Sarah sent from London. He's still very much working on the grabbing-and-holding skills, but he latched right onto the bear.



His looking-at-things skill set is developing nicely. In the picture below he is also enjoying the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium with swimming fish and bubbles in a real water-like fluid.



The aquarium was a very welcome gift from Mark and Lauren and Allie and Joe down in Tampa. Last night it enabled us to enjoy a nice meal while His Majesty gazed enraptured.

If you are interested in uncovering corporate conspiracies, please look into collusion among Fisher Price, Energizer, and the makers of Advil. The new generation of infant toys consume vast numbers of D cells, and moms and dads must get tons of headaches trying to change the batteries. Maybe it's just because of all the lawyers we have here, but the batteries are sealed behind multiple phillips-head screws. From what are we protecting the precious flowers of American youth? Batteries haven't leaked for decades, and even when they did, the result was scarcely more toxic than mayonnaise.

my other baby

I’ve always wanted to learn to play the accordion. So, I’m just home from the hospital taking care of the baby and I think, “Perfect! I’m home with all this time on my hands and no one but baby Peter to annoy.” So, I call my friend Andrew Krystopolski and ask him to teach me.

I met Andrew when he brilliantly created music for a play I directed called Silent Lives. Andrew is a polka enthusiast. Andrew is so Polish he has a pierogi hanging from his rear-view mirror. Andrew studied accordion at the Acme Accordion School. (I’m not making this up.) Andrew is just the person to teach me accordion. He says yes.

Problem: You don’t really have any time on your hands when you are home taking care of the baby. I consider it a good day when I’ve found time to brush my teeth! Also, you can’t hold the baby and the accordion at the same time.

So, it is going very slowly. I’m playing scales and exercises from a book from “Ernest Deffner, Inc.” Chris notes that it is no coincidence that my accordion book came from someone named Deffner. Sigh. But I am learning a song from my favorite new band The Decemberists. Their accordion player is also a chick.

I was warned that mockery never stops when you play the accordion. Already the baby cries when I take the instrument from its case. Last week, the cat even started eating my sheet music.

christmas in high school

Isn't it great to see young people enjoying themselves and having a good time with each other. Maybe someday I will see this in my classroom!



My last unit on momentum & conservation went fairly smoothly, and it certainly was a cause for celebration when it ended.

grandparents

Here's a couple of pics from thanksgiving that I just found.

My mom and the kid with a hat


G's dad


G's Mom and the boy with the cool giant bug thing
 

hop on pop

We got a bunch more baby pictures I am going to get up soon but right for now here is a picture of domestic bliss at the end of the day.



Last night we had a bit of a family adventure. First, we went to the wilds of western NJ to get fingerprinted at the mental hospital. Yeah, really. I needed to get printed for the school. The hospital was an attractive place actually, at the top of a hill with a beautiful view over the lakes and valleys, pretty even in December. The complex was large and old-fashioned, quiet and only a little creepy, and I easily found the room where they did the fingerprinting. There was a little guy with a giant humming machine, obviously developed with homeland security spending. It looked like something from Torchwood. There was a glowing red window on the front and when I touched it my fingerprints leaped up on the screen, and presumably were instantly beamed to Dick Cheney's bunker.

Then we drove off toward a nice little country pub where we had a good burger a few years back. We found it transformed into a nice little country bistro with jazz and a fancy menu. We had moules and frites, and the boss rode the whole dinner in the sling on my chest and was as good as pie.

On the way home, in the pitch dark of the country roads, I braked hard to avoid a deer and we heard another one thump into the side of the car. We were probably going 35mph at the time. I felt really bad but since I am a physics teacher I know that the deer only hit us at the speed of a running deer so it's possible it limped off. There was no sign of trauma on the side of the big old sedan.

OK now I gotta get back to work on practice questions for tomorrow's Circular Motion exam.