Three-Year-Old Clarity Trumps Hazy Early-Morning Parenting

On the drive to Emma's school today:

Emma: Dad, I need a tissue. Can you give me a tissue?

Me: I'm sorry Emma, I don't have any up here. You knew your nose was running...you should have brought one with you.

Emma: Yeah.

Me: Maybe you can just wipe it on your mitten. It's kind of yucky, but sometimes you just have to do that when you don't have a tissue. It will dry up and be fine.

Emma: Ok.

The dilemma appears to pass, and then it is quiet for several minutes...

...interrupted by the sound of Emma loudly blowing her nose.

Me: Emma, did you just blow your nose into your mitten?

Emma: [laughing] No! I blew it on my mitten!

Note to self: You can't be explicit enough about directions to a three-year-old. That, and they appear to revel in their acute attention to prepositions.

My Blog Gets a Soundtrack!

So here's an interesting story. I heard and read great things about Tim O'Reagan's new album (formerly, drummer for The Jayhawks), and finally got around to buying the CD. Lo and behold...track 8 is called "Girl/World"!

Well, he didn't get the spelling quite right, but I still say that he was awfully nice to write and record a theme song for my blog. Thanks Tim! (and yes, I do love the album). A snippet of the song is below:

Is This a Good Idea?

After a few years of periodically climbing REI's indoor pinnacle and one YMCA climbing camp last summer, we decided to enroll Sarah in a serious climbing camp at Vertical Endeavors during Christmas break. It was two days of technical climbing and belaying training.

It was thrilling to watch, and she absolutely loves it. On the other hand, seeing her cling to a wall 4 stories above a concrete floor, with another 9-year-old belaying her, I couldn't help but begin to wonder whether encouraging this is really a good idea?...