The Sound of a Broken Heart.

There were tears in the dark tonight at bed time...real ones. "Daddy," she said, "you never sleep with me anymore. I wish I was free (three) and you would still sleep with me." Could you hear my heart breaking from there, because it did.

Seeking Answers to Difficult Questions...

Today we talked about slavery. What five year old is asking questions about slavery. This one is. Sometimes I wonder if we don't tell her too much...if it shouldn't all be fairies and ponies and never any talk about such weighty things. Yesterday we spoke about disabilities and the obvious and not so obvious differences between us all, and how they paled when faced with the similarities. I guess maybe it was a natural curiosity and next step for Zoey to connect that conversation to this evenings. It took her all of three minutes to make a Harry Potter reference, and of course, start asking about house elves and Dobby etc...We've raised no fool, it seems, but still, sometimes I worry. How can she possibly conceive of such terrible concepts but then I recall my own childhood, and my uncommon fascination with injustice...with slavery and the underground railroad...as a young boy I used to ride my bike to Uncle Tom's Cabin, alone...just to wander and look and learn. I was a child. I came home to driveway basketball games but in the quiet of our living room I talked my Mom's ear off about slavery, and Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X...about injustice. It's no fabrication...no stretch...you can ask my mother. Yes, ask her about my uncommon childhood. She'll laugh and shake her head. I don't remember when such things took root in my imagination, but they grew into powerful notions, they shaped me. Perhaps it's not too early to be talking about such things. She wants to. We don't force it. She wants answers to her many questions, and she's perpetually unafraid, almost unshakeably curious. Tonight we went to the book store looking for children's books about slavery. What five year old asks questions about slavery? This one.

Photo Blitz...

Who doesn't like a photo blitz? Blind people, maybe but probably not even them!
Guess who's brushing her teeth now, and who went to the dentist with her sister and begged to sit in the chair. She opened wide and sat patiently, and earned about four million sighs.


Someone can read now, just yesterday...not even kidding. No slow progression, just I think I'll read now. She's become unstoppable.


This is what I sometimes get to do on my lunch hour...what do you do? I bet it's not this awesome.


Think I'm the luckiest guy alive?


How 'bout now?


What about now?


In an excitement contest this one wins.


I seriously went bra shopping...because she asked.


I had no idea that I could father something this beautiful.


I thought my gene pool was more capable of this nonsense.


I remember thinking, "How could I ever be so lucky twice?" Then I was.


Then I reconsidered that notion.


Then I knew for sure.

Write This Down...

My friend Mel posted this on her Facebook acct and it was so awesome tat I pinched it and put it right here. You're welcome, but you really should be thanking Mel. Oh, I'll take all of the high fives that I can get, but I really didn't do much.

The Happiest Girl Alive

The text message read, "Zoey just read her first book...all by herself!"

What?

How does that happen? We were just saying to each other how we had to do more work at home. Since school is largely a play-based learning deal Zo hasn't spent a lot of time sitting down and learning how to read...or so we thought. I read to her constantly, and she does flip through the odd book, but we might only actually work on reading once a week, at best. For the longest time we were waiting for some revelation from school...isn't that where kids learn to do this stuff? Nope...not in JK, not anymore. They play. So when she just sat down and started reading...sounding things out and working her way slowly through page after page...we were astonished. She's always been rock solid with her alphabet, and she understands sounds and has always worked her way through words. She's become more patient and she really uses the pictures to get clues as to what words should be. She memorizes a lot of them I suspect, but that's how it starts, I guess. Now she's the happiest girl alive. You can't wipe the smile off of her face. "Daddy, I'm going to get book tickets at school tomorrow. I'm going to the reading station 'cause no one is ever at the reading station." No doubt...all that playing getting in the way of actual reading.