Small Print

Emma : Ma B can you play with me?
Ma B: Not right now , we have to go get my new glasses.
Emma: Why do you need new glasses? 
Ma B: So I can read the small print better.
Emma: Oh, that's ok, we can can play big!

S H O W E R

Mike to Carina: Does Emma need a S H O W E R? (I spelled it out)
Carina: No.
Emma: No, I took a bath at Bella's.
Mike: (Looking incredulously at Emma) Emma, what does S H O W E R spell?
Emma: I don't know.

Beautiful Brain

Emma: I think the rails of this toy should be wood.

Carina: What?

Emma: The rails of this toy should be wood, not plastic.

Carina: Why?

Emma: Because if it were wood, it wouldn't break if I dropped it.

Carina: I love your brain.

Emma: My brain?

Carina: You have a beautiful brain.

Emma: Yes, it's full of flowers.

How Lucky Am I

Carina: I love you.
Mike: I love you too.
Carina: That's awesome.

Winter Salsa

Emma: Is it still Hannukah?

Carina: No, Hannukah is over.

Emma: Why?

Carina: Because Hanukkah is before Christmas

We then started talking about specific people we know and whether they do or don't celebrate Christmas.

Mike: He doesn't celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah. He celebrates something else.

Emma: Oh! The Winter Salsa?!

It's the Thought that Counts

Image picked by Emma.

Emma:  Is Christmas about caring?

Carina:  (laugh)  Yes, Christmas is about caring.  On Christmas, we show each other that we care.  Where did you hear that?

Emma:  I don't know.  My brain?  But what about the presents?

Carina:  Well, on Christmas we give each other presents.  One day, you'll be able to give us presents.

Emma:  Eh?

Carina:  Yeah, you can pick your own presents that you want to give to people.  I can help you with that if you want.  Who do you want to give presents to?

Emma:  Bella!

Carina:  And what would you want to get her?

Emma:  Uh, she needs earrings because she lost her baby squid earring, so she needs a new one.  We can go to Wegmans and get earrings in the jewelry section of Wegmans.

Carina:  (laugh)  Ok, yes, we can do that.  Who else?  What would you want to get Bello?

Emma:  A tool.  Because he works a lot.  A tool that will help him paint tables.

Carina:  So you want to get him a brush?

Emma:  No!  Not a brush!  He has brushes.  He needs a tool that will dry the paint for him so he doesn't have to wait while the paint dries.

Carina:  Wow.  That's so very thoughtful Emma.  Ok, how about Grammy?

Emma:  Heart earrings.  Yeah, heart earrings.

Carina:  Uncle Sammy?

Emma:  I don't know Uncle Sammy that well.  What does he like?

Carina:  What do you think?

Emma:  Well...he likes me...

Carina:  So, you want to give him a picture of yourself?

Emma:  No, I want to get him a crown.  A toy boy crown.

Carina:  (laugh)  Um...ok...how about Daddy?

Emma:  Daddy needs a tool too.  A wrench!  Not a screwdriver.  He already has a screwdriver.  Oh, and Miles!  I want to get Miles a super-fly-high helicopter!

I just loved how honest and thoughtful all of her responses were.  Obviously some of these gifts aren't possible, or are things you already have.  I just thought I'd share because - after all - it's the thought that counts.

Beowulf

A student walks in to the library...

Student:  "Hi.  I was looking for a book that I'm hoping you have.  Have you heard of a story called Beowulf?"

Somehow I kept a straight face...

Me:  "Yes...I've heard of Beowulf and I'm sure we have it.  Let me just look up where it is."

Beowulf, according to Dewey, is 829.3, so off I go towards the stacks with the student following behind.  

Student:  "History?  Why are we in the history section?" he said rather nervously.  "I thought Beowulf was fantasy.  I don't want history!"

Me:  "Actually, this is the literature section.  You know that Beowulf is old right?  Like really REALLY old?  Some consider it to be the first story EVER?"

Student:  "You mean, Beowulf is like the first ever fantasy?  COOL!"

Keep it cool, keep it cool...

Me:  "Which English would you like it in?"

Student:  (blank stare)

Again, I somehow maintained a straight face.

Me:  "Beowulf was written so long ago that it was written in an English that is very different from the English was speak today.  Here let me show you."

This was obviously the first time the student had ever heard of Old English or was introduced to it.  It was an amazing thing to see his eyes light up and his jaw drop open.  

Student:  "This is English?!  Do you have Beowful in like now English?"

In the end, the student walked out of the library with a facing-pages copy of Beowulf with Old English on one side and modern English on the other.  That was an awesome experience and I just can't stop laughing.

Maine 2012

Our Maine 2012 trip. Hope you enjoy it. We certainly did!

Drawings

Things my daughter drew tonight:

A giant surfboard so that everyone in the entire world can surf on it.

A two giant surfboard so that Emma and Miles can surf.

A surfboard contraption (her words).

A water holder machine with an on and off button.

A duck that really looked like a duck.

A Lotdog with legs like a doggy and a hotdog on it's back. (said like hotdog)

A man digger contraption.

A Seven-eyed eye grabber that picks eyes off your glasses so a new eye can grow in.

The cells in her body trying to get rid of the cheese and dairy. (She was stuffed up last night and we
told her it was probably because of the food she ate)

A none-eye fanner (No idea) with two faces that have eyes.

A giant duckling.

A none-eye Snake with four eyes so little that you can't see them, and they just need some glasses.

A dragon-face body with wings from a pegasus.

A cell-lady. (It actually looked like a cell too, but with a smiling face.)

A dog with three legs and a pegasus.

A fruit painter and a door for the fruit painter's house with a smiley face.

Three silly bags of food.

A flan and a flish.

Emma Time

Mike: Emma, do you know how long mommy and daddy have been married?

Emma: 20 days?

Mike: 6 years.

Emma: I don't believe it!

Stir-fry Love

Emma:  Do we put love in our food?
Carina:  Love?
Emma:  Yeah, like Theresa.
Carina:  Theresa puts love in her food?
Emma:  Yeah.  Do we?
Carina:  I guess so.  What do you think Daddy?  Do we put love in our food?
Daddy:  With every stir.
Emma:  Only in stir-fry?!

Allergic to Rainstorms

(While watching the rain storm).


Emma:  Achoo!
Mike:  Bless you.
Emma:  Daddy, I love watching rainstorms with you - achoo - but I think I'm allergic to rainstorms.

Funny Log - Maine Edition

Since we didn't really have much access to the internet, we kept a log of all of the funny things said while we were in Maine.  Enjoy:

-------------------------

Emma:  Are we there yet?  (Said about 2 miles from our house on the way to Maine).

-------------------------

Emma:  Can I have a hug Daddy?
Mike:  Not right now Emma.  I can't.  I'm driving.
Emma:  Mommy, can you hug me?
Carina:  I'm sorry honey.  I can't get to you right now either.  We're in the car.
Emma:  Can we have a group hug when we get to Maine?

Where we could go.

Carina and Mike were enjoying a pie in the sky discussion about sailing around the world. Emma listens to all this and chimes in rather firmly with the following:
Emma: If we had a car, we could drive to China!

Emma's Story

Emma:

Excuse me, I'm going to tell you a story.

Once, long ago, there were two bugs and friends who wanted to go to the park.

They went to the first park, but there were humans sitting there!

They went to a second park, but there were humans there too.

So they went to a third park and there was nobody there so they played happily ever after the end.

She Knows Facebook?!

Carina:  Emma, which picture do you like for this next blog post?

This one...

or this one...

Emma:  I like the first one.  Let's put it on facebook!

Holy Sneeze

Emma:  Achoo!

Carina:  Bless you.

Emma:  I'm so blessuous!

Chicken Bottom

Miles: Well I get my eggs right from the farm, Emma.
Emma: Oh really?
Miles: Yes, they taste so much better because they come right from the chicken's bottom and then I eat them.
Emma: MMMM! That sounds GREAT!

A Birthday Wish for Retta

Retta holding baby Emma

The following is a request.  Please add Retta and Jack Sheerin to your prayer/thought/casting/whatever-you-call-it lists.

Many of you know Retta.  For those who do not, she's been a friend of mine for about 15 years; was maid of honor at my wedding as I was at hers, and has had a really rough time the past few years.  Here's an idea of some of their recent challenges:  Her husband, Jack, lost his father, his job, and Retta developed hyperthyroidism which resulted in having to have her thyroid removed.  And all that happened in the same year that they were married!

But they never gave up.  This bullet-proof couple just kept working at their dreams; believing in each other with complete faith.  They decided to become even more self reliant (if that's even possible) and buy a farm.

However, life has once again decided to get in their way.  On the evening of May 18, Jack was in a traumatic motorcycle accident.  He was driving alone when he hit a deer and was whipped to the ground.  If not for some neighbors who found him, it's unsure how long he would have been left there.

Jack & Retta at their wedding

The accident left him with a contusion on his hip, a broken collar bone, and short term memory loss.  He's currently at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange.  The outlook is quite good, but recovering from brain damage takes time, the patience to deal with it, and a lot of faith.

For those unfamiliar with this kind of injury (as I was), Jack currently has trouble converting short term memory to long term memory.  I'm sure others reading this could explain it far better than I can, but the bottom line is that he only remembers what's been told to him for about an hour or so.  That means Retta has had to tell Jack that he's been in a motorcycle accident dozens of times over the past couple of weeks because each time he wakes up, he doesn't remember what happened to him, where he is, or why he can't do things by himself right now.  A comic reference would be the movie 50 First Dates with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore.  Obviously there's nothing funny though about having a spouse that remembers little every morning and to whom you have to relive the whole awful thing again and again.

At Theresa's Baby Sprinkle

As I said before, the outlook is good.  Don't get me wrong.  We think that Jack will be fine in the end.  This is just a very trying time and I needed to write about it.  There's very little I can do for them right now besides being there for Retta on the phone when she's not in the middle of making major medical decisions for Jack or keeping him from trying to leave the facility because he doesn't understand that he's injured.

And considering the fact that Retta is 5'2" and Jack is 6'6" that ain't easy!

What can you possibly say to a friend who is going through something like that?  Who has already gone through so much yet always seems to persevere with a grace and resilience that I can't fathom?  When something like this happens - to someone that means so much to you - all of your problems and issues seem so stupid!  Everything you worry about like bills or cleaning the house zooms out until it looks like a speck of dust that you can just blow away.  It's all so insignificant and you feel insignificant for having worried about all of that in the first place.

A rude lesson for the last two beautiful people who needed such a lesson.

The reason I'm writing this today instead of earlier is because I was lying in bed unable to sleep, thinking about things.  My mind wandered as to what I could possibly do to help Retta and Jack at a time like this.  Especially because - get this...

...tomorrow is Retta's birthday.

So for her birthday I would like to send as much love and thought her way as I can.  It's the best I can do.  Will you help me?



(I wish I had more pictures of Retta and Jack, but they're both very private people and expert camera dodgers!  I'll post more as I find them.)

Prehistoric Patriotism

Emma was in the backseat while I was driving, playing with an American Flag sticker that she'd just been given for Memorial Day.

Emma:  Mommy, how many symbols are there?

Carina:  Symbols of what honey?

Emma:  Symbols on the flag?

Carina:  You mean how many stars are on the American Flag?

Emma:  No, how many velociraptors?

Carina:  VELOCIRAPTORS?!

Emma:  Yeah, how many symbols - like velociraptors - are on the American Flag?

How do you respond to something like that?