69 thoughts on “May 30, 2014: Loud Children”

  1. Blue jets, sprites, "jumping sundogs" -- there are unexplained phenomena above large thunderheads; whatever it is that this pilot filmed is pretty neat (and damn freaky)
    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eomvFly0Ic

      1. That's kinda cool, in a creepy sort of way. You sure your judge's new gig isn't with the FISA Court?

      1. I will say that I kept taking the late bus this week in part because the pressure was too much.

    4. Is that confetti flying through the air? Hungry Joe, there's gotta be a header in that picture somewhere don't you think?

      1. Sheenie asked me last night what I was babbling about on Twitter yesterday.

  3. Project Encounter AMR, day 5: success! I turned the corner onto 3rd Street and there he was, just a walkin' down the sidewalk.

      2. I think it was the Orb, from Orbvs Terrarvm, "Occidental" maybe?
        It wasn't "Montagne d'Or" or "Oxbow Lakes" or "Slvg Dvb".
        If not "Occidental, it was "White River Jvnction".

        I've got that album, the Lydia Loveless album (x2) and single (x4), and a bunch of bird songs and calls (mostly Vireos and Empids) in my "On-the-Go" playlist.

      1. Indeed! After we parted, I realized I should have asked to see one of your multi-column formatted printouts. I guess I will just have to hope our paths cross again at some point. (But no more daily updates.)

        1. Sure, I'm at a bit of a backlog (it's not only SpookyWrigingGames that get that treatment), so I had a few in a pocket of my backpack.

  4. We went to a wake yesterday for my wife's uncle, and my 2 year old, OGZ, would not stay quiet. The worst was when my mother in law came in and OGZ shouted across the room, "Hi Grandma! We're going to a park!!!"

    *sigh*

    1. I would wager a lot of attendees actually appreciated the joy a 2-year-old brings.

      Also, I spent the last wake I went to playing Duck, Duck, Grey Duck with a group of about 8 kids, 5 and under.

    2. My experience is that the child's parents are much more distressed about things like this than anyone else. That's especially true in a situation like this. People know a two-year-old cannot understand the concept of death, and as Philo says, I suspect a lot of people were actually pleased to have something to distract them from their feelings.

      1. We found a dead baby turtle in our swimming pool on Saturday and my almost three-year-old was informed by her mother that it was ... sleeping.
        Kernel: "Baby turtle taking a nap?"
        Wife: "Yes honey. Why don't you take her into the woods to sleep."
        with a glance at wife
        Corn: "No Sweetie, that turtle is not sleeping. That turtle is dead. She's up in heaven with Jesus now, but when you go into the pool without your mommy or daddy around, it can be very, VERY dangerous."
        takes turtle and toddler to woods to bury.
        half an hour later, finds another baby turtle in yard. this one alive
        Kernel: "Baby turtle woke up!"
        Corn: "This is a brother turtle. The other turtle did not wake up. Should we take her to the pond to let her go see her momma?"
        Kernel: "Yay - she is very sad without her momma!"

        I have no idea if it registered one iota, but that turtle was not sleeping and there's no way I'm going to miss that opportunity to try and talk to her about it.

        1. Agreed. With our girls (and in general) we find there is basically no situation where we feel good about lying to them. We may use more child friendly language for it, but telling it like it is and explaining to the best of our ability seems like the best way to us, too.

          1. Same. Philosofette's grandfather died recently, and our kids had a number of healthy questions about it. We answered as honestly as we could. Over Memorial Day there was a trip to the graveyard, which Aquinas initially understood to be heaven, "because that's where people go when they die."

            As a believer, discussions about the soul/body distinction are kind of a fun challenge. I had never come so acutely to grips with my inability to articulate my understandings on the issue.

            1. I think it's really valuable to tell kids that there are things we don't understand, too.

              2. Agreed. The ability to ask questions far outstrips the ability to answer them.

                1. that's brilliant, Algonad.

                  When my kids were young, I modeled much of my question-answering strategy after Calvin's dad. As they aged, I shifted more and more to "let's (or why don't you) look it up!"

                  Death is a tough one. I'm not a believer, so I don't have Corn's solution available to me.

                  1. Since when has belief been a prerequisite to use? Didn't you spend two years writing letters as the tooth fairy?

                    1. there's harmless fantasy unconnected to one's faith, then there's other stuff. Death is definitely other stuff.

        2. This is my parenting style too.

          One of the things I find tricky about divorce is that its a fine line to walk. Both of my boys (ages 7 and 4) have been asking more and more questions about why it happened. I'm a big context guy (you may know that) so I think they have a right to know the story. Frankly, when they are a little older they will do the math and figure it out on their own - I want to try and stay on top of that. The challenge is giving them enough information so they are secure, but not so much that its not age appropriate.

          But generally, yeah, my boys are the ones who know Santa Claus is not real and that dead animals are actually dead.

          1. This year at Christmas we talked about Santa and his origins as St Nick, and how some people celebrate by pretending that he comes bringing presents. GRZ, our 4 year old, informed us that she wanted to pretend that, so we all got gifts from Santa and he filled our stockings, too.

            1. Re: the man in red.
              I think our eldest has things figured out through penumbras and emanations.
              Willful suspension of disbelief is a good skill, too.

              1. My daughter still purports to believe in Santa, Easter Bunny, and Tooth Fairy.

                However, she did let it slip before the first tooth that she said that the tooth fairy was probably someone like your parents. When pressed on this, she disclaimed this assertion.

                I think she knows and she knows not admitting it is a good thing for her.

                1. I think she knows and she knows not admitting it is a good thing for her.
                  There. That.

                  1. I got locked into a written correspondence between my daughter and the tooth fairy for about two years before she really figured it out and let me off the hook. It was fun.

                    No Man in Red. Because teh Tribe. We had early discussions, first about respecting others' beliefs, then about not ruining it for other children.

        3. I'm in agreement with others here about being honest with kids when it comes to stuff like this. I was a sensitive child and I think my parents went too far in "protecting" me from difficult subjects. Of course, this means a few months ago that the jalapeno (age 3) burst into tears at the dinner table because we're all going to die. But we had a good talk about it and he did even eat his dinner too after he calmed down.

          1. Louis CK has a hilarious bit where he accidentally taught his daughter about death when she asked if the sun shines forever, and he told her someday it would explode. She began crying. He told her not to worry because it would happen many years after she and everyone she knew was dead.

        4. My m-i-l died on my daughter's second birthday and she was there in the room with her dead grandmother. We told her that she had died. For her, it was very matter of fact. Grandma is gone. A few months later, my f-i-l died. Again, we told her. Again, she was pretty much matter of fact. Grandpa is gone. I think she was able, at that young age, to handle that information.

          1. Death shaped a large portion of my late high school and early college experience. My grandfather died my junior year of HS. A great friend had a reoccuance of an extremely rare brain tumor during my senior year, and died shortly after my grandmother unexpectedly passed half way into my freshman year in college. That was a rough patch, but I learned how to cope in a healthy and effective manor.

      1. Yea, we weren't too worried about it. We made the rounds, then I took her out to the car while the wife had the 2 quiet kids visited for another 10 minutes or so. Then we went to a park.

          1. In retrospect, the real issue was our over communication in preparation for the wake. Loud Children Parents

  5. San Antonio just destroyed OKC last night. It's hard to imagine that the Heat beat this club in a seven game series last year (although, they did have the home court advantage). They looked absolutely unstoppable last night.

    1. Compare and contrast to the San Antonio team that got hammered twice at OKC.

      I both want and expect SA to win the title this year, but stranger things have happened. They gotta get better on the road.

      1. If they win their remaining home games, they will win the title.

        It is pretty amazing how much different a team can look at home vs. on the road. It's not just officiating... clubs are just more aggressive or confident or something. These are two very good clubs. They've each looked totally incompetent on the road and like world beaters at home.

        I'm pretty sure now it's Miami and SAS. That will be one helluva series.

      1. I had to do it for a case I'm working on. It was awful. Also, NSFW, except that I was doing work.

        1. In junior high, the mother of one of my best friends was a nurse, and a very practical woman. She would bring home medical journals as teaching aids, usually with very graphic images to drive home her point. Venereal disease? Look at this picture of a man's genitals deformed by gonorrhea . Fireworks? Look at these pictures of kids with their fingers blown off by cherry bombs. I always appreciated her concern for our well-being, her practical nature and direct manner, but man, some of those pictures were so frigging gross.

            2. As bad as pictures can be, real life is worse. I watched my dad lose his foot and lower leg to infection and gangrene a little bit at a time, first one toe, then another, then half the foot, then the leg below the knee. I helped my mom change some pretty rank bandages and dressings when we went to see them on weekends.

    2. Well, at least tell people that it will be bad enough with safe search on. So do that first.
      I don't know how one puts off medical treatment that long to get at the stages of some of those.
      People stuck in the wilderness exempted, many look like they might have been due to frostbite.
      Frostbite? More like freezechomp.

  8. I had fully planned on taking the afternoon off to mow the lawn and do a bunch of yardwork, but instead I'm muddling through some crappy change management software for hours until I get to watch it pour outside for ½ hour, and then I find out that my boss is taking off today through Tuesday so no signoffs are available. *throws things at wall*

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