Go Yankees!
Here’s hoping for luck. (Yes, I’ve posted this before, but it sometimes works.)
Virtues of More Than One Child
Posted November 4, 2009 by ManicDdailyCategories: parenting
Tags: only children, parenting, parenting in NYC, two-child families, virtues of having more than one child
Many years ago, tomorrow, my beloved second daughter was born. It was the day of the New York City marathon. This caused me some consternation (aside from the labor pains) as my hospital and I were on opposite sides of an East River whose bridges were filled with runners.
The wonders of any child (especially this particular daughter) are too many to encapsulate in a blog. But her birthday has made me think of several generic reasons why it is great to have more than one child, even in the crowded, and very expensive, world of New York City.
Here are some:
1. Having more than one child allows you to practice your mediation skills.
2. And exponentially expand your ability to multitask: yes, you already know how to hold, change, nurse and bathe a baby, now you need to be able to do all these things with one hand.
3. It saves you trips to Good Will.
4. And also allows many rich opportunities for genetics research. (How can two children who are (a) both so wonderful, and (b) so alike, also be (c) so completely different?)
5. You get to develop your inner policeman/Solomon through enforcement of the rules of (a) democracy, as in whose vote wins this week’s movie choice, (b) boundary lines, as in whose half is whose of the stroller, room, subway seat, mother’s lap, computer, and (c) good fellowship as in who must be dragged along with whom to the soccer game, playdate, doctors’ appointment, chorus concert….
6. There are twice as many plates of leftover food to inattentively scarf down. Who said you needed a girlish figure?
7. Or sleep?
8. It usually takes a least two children to make a decent Mother’s Day breakfast. (One to flip the pancakes, the other to arrange flowers on top of the pancakes.)
9. More importantly, with two kids around, there’s almost always someone around who either (a) needs a hug, or (b) is available to give it. (This person may be you.)
10. You are not likely to worry (at least for some years) that you’ve never run a marathon.
Whether you have one child, or more than one, check out 1 Mississippi by Karin Gustafson on Amazon or at link from ManicDDaily home page.
More on Obama at Dover, Another Villanelle
Posted November 2, 2009 by ManicDdailyCategories: Obama, poetry, villanelle
Tags: American Flag, Flag, Karin Gustafson, manicddaily, Obama at Dover, patriotism, poetry, Vietnam protesters, Vietnam War, villanelle
Still thinking of Obama at Dover, and how some on the right have such a hard time accepting the sincerity of his concern for U.S. servicemen at war.
To some degree, the right seems disingenuous here. However, the disbelief in the patriotism of someone who is generally against war is longstanding in this country; it seems to me at least, to stem in part from a re-hashing of the fight between those for and against the Vietnam War, and the lingering anger over those protests.
I do believe, now, that those protesters went too far, seeming to disown the U.S. soldiers. The backlash, in which the flag was taken over by the right (almost as a symbol of war rather than the country) was also a travesty.
At any rate, here’s a poem about it. Another villanelle. (Please check other posts in the “poetry” and “villanelle” categories for the exact rules of a villanelle. You can see that I’ve played with them a bit here.)
Flag
There were rules. You weren’t allowed to let it
touch the ground. If it did, it should be burned
or buried. You couldn’t just forget it,
pretend it hadn’t slipped (if stained, to wet it)–
our trusted God would see and you’d be spurned.
There were rules. You weren’t allowed to let it
rip or fray. To be flown at night upset its
regimen, as it were. The darkness turned
it into something buried. Don’t forget it,
leave out in the rain; you had to get it
(getting soaked yourself, your last concern).
There were rules. You weren’t allowed to let it
pass—even at the movies, we would fête it—
until the Sixties came, and their war churned
and buried much—you couldn’t just forget it,
pretend we hadn’t slipped. The fall begat at
least two flags—one paraded, the other mourned—
but just one rule—you weren’t allowed to let it
be buried; we couldn’t just forget it.
All rights reserved. Karin Gustafson
USS New York
Posted November 2, 2009 by ManicDdailyCategories: 9/11, New York City
Tags: 9/11, Battery Park City, manicddaily, New York City, pencil drawing, USS New York, World Trade Center
The USS New York sailed by Battery Park City this morning, an LPD-21 (whose name, I believe, means something like “landing platform deck”) stopping opposite the World Trade Center site. My camera didn’t work (or I didn’t know how to work it on a brisk morning), and settled for holding my shivering dog under my jacket, so I only have the “artist’s rendering” above.
The ship, in honor of New York, is made in part (probably extremely small part) from steel from the World Trade Center. The Hindu-temple-like stupas at the front are missile defense systems.
Bagpipes played the Marine corps anthem “From the Halls Of Montezuma”.
Fire boats sprayed blue and white water. (Their spray in the morning light, with the Statue of Liberty and huge grey ship in the background, and Hudson rippling on all sides, and ferry boats, and police boats, and little coast guard rubber style boats, was really quite beautiful.)
Eleven helicopters were counted.
Important Update Re Robert Pattinson
Posted November 1, 2009 by ManicDdailyCategories: Robert Pattinson, Yankees
Tags: manicddaily, pencil drawing, Robert Pattinson, RPatz, Yankees, Yankees' fan
This just out re Robert Pattinson: He was spotted leaving LAX airport and arriving at Tokyo’s Narita Airport wearing…. a New York Yankees’ baseball cap!
OMG!!! RPatz and the New York Yankees–combined! Has he been reading ManicDDaily?????
If so, Rob, sorry for any/all jokes at your expense. (Also sorry for the bad picture. At least I wasn’t chasing you with a flashbulb.)
Go Yankees!
Halloween’s Over- Candy Remains
Posted November 1, 2009 by ManicDdailyCategories: parenting
Tags: 1 Mississippi, candy, chocolate, Halloween Candy, Halloween rules, Karin Gustafson, manicddaily, parenting at Halloween
Halloween’s over. How to handle all the candy your kids have collected?
Suggestions:
1. Fight with them about it at least three times a day for the next couple of weeks.
2. Steal some to recycle in Christmas stockings.
3. Eat it yourself. (Hey, you’re looking out for them. Isn’t that what parents are for?)
4. Carefully substitute small boxes of raisins for the more disgusting items. No, wait—raisins are terrible for their teeth. Chocolate’s better. Chocolate? You’re substituting chocolate?
5. Actually, that’s not a bad idea. If you’re going to eat their candy yourself, you’ll probably really enjoy that chocolate.
6. Keep it from the dog.
And, while you are feeding your inner child, check out 1 Mississippi by Karin Gustafson on Amazon, or at link from ManicDDaily home page.
Obama Truly At Dover
Posted November 1, 2009 by ManicDdailyCategories: news
Tags: Afghanistan, Dover, Fallen Soldiers, Liz Cheney, manicddaily, Maureen Dowd, news, Obama, Photo Op
After all the silliness, I want to comment on something truly newsworthy—Obama’s late-night, early-morning trip to Dover, Delaware (October 29), to salute the 18 fallen soldiers whose remains were returned from Afghanistan. Maureen Dowd has an interesting article about it this morning (November 1, 2009 – “Port Mortuary’s Pull”). (For video footage involving one soldier’s casket, whose family gave full permission for filming, see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/29/obama-heads-to-dover-air-_n_337930.html.)
Apparently, Liz Cheney, and others on the right are accusing Obama of using the moment as a photo op. Dowd quotes Cheney as saying, to a Fox News radio host, “I think that what President Bush used to do is do it without the cameras.” Dowd goes on to point out that Cheney’s right: “There were no press cameras at Dover in the previous administration. There was also no W.”
What Cheney and others also fail to note is how small a portion of Obama’s participation was actually covered in the supposed photo-op: a part of the “dignified transfer” of one soldier out of eighteen, a meeting with a chaplain and all of the families; all through the night.
I’m not saying that the loss of one night’s sleep is a huge sacrifice. I’m just trying to further emphasize the ridiculousness of Cheney’s statement, and of any statement trying to cast doubt on Obama’s sincerity. Any person with an ounce of neutrality can see the somber gravity of Obama’s expression; it’s as clear as the blowing of that early morning wind.
Fresh “News” Re Robsten
Posted October 31, 2009 by ManicDdailyCategories: Robsten
Tags: Chateau Marmont, Kristen Stewart, manicddaily, New Moon, New Moon Trailer, pencil drawing, Robert Pattinson, Robert Pattinson's hair, Robsten, RPatz, Twilight
More “news” re Robsten, all out within the last 24 hours.
1. They split up at the LA airport!
2. Then met up at an LA hotel! In a single room! In a Chateau! (A hotel called a “Chateau!”)
3. Rob still can’t get a date!
4. Maybe because he’s been asking Kristen to marry him. (That’s why they split up!)
5. But their chemistry is so good!
6. But they’re actors!
7. But they’re so hot!
8. With such great hair!
9. Who knows
10. Who cares?
11. Many people apparently. (Twenty-five million hits on the New Moon trailer this week; twenty-one million the week before.)
12. Whoa….
If you find this interesting, check out other posts re Robsten, RPatz, Kristen Stewart and Twilight, from my home page, https://manicddaily.wordpress.com.
Further to Sheepish On Halloween – The Candy Thing
Posted October 31, 2009 by ManicDdailyCategories: parenting
Tags: dogs, dogs and chocolate, Halloween, Halloween Candy, Halloween Candy rules, manicddaily, monster mother, parenting, parenting at Halloween
Since writing my last post – “Sheepish On Halloween” (https://manicddaily.wordpress.com/2009/10/31/sheepish-about-halloween/), I have been told that I was a bit of a Halloween monster for allowing my 2-year old daughter to “lose” her pumpkin of Halloween candy. (Okay, I added the “bit of.” I was called a Halloween monster, plain and simple.)
I’ll admit it. I was a macrobiotic for a couple of years in my life (whole years!) Even after I softened that stance, I bought brown rice by the burlap sack full. I ground some of my own wheat to make yeast-free bread. (I guess you could call it bread.) Seaweed was not unknown in our household.
This made the whole process of Halloween, especially in a traditionally Italian part of Brooklyn and not some new-agey PC rice syrup neighborhood, extremely trying.
I did give her candy to replace the lost pumpkin-full. (Yes, my substitutes may have included carob.) However, life and children have a way of loosening even the tightest resolves, i.e. parents quickly lose control.
Here are some of the later rules I made regarding Halloween candy:
1. You can eat all you want but ONLY on Halloween night. This has the disadvantage of turning your childen into bingers. It has the advantage of limiting tooth damage to one night.
2. After Halloween, you just have one piece a day until you run out (in our society, meaning into the next year.) This encourages restraint, but keeps the candy in focus as a problematic treasure for a very long time. Forget about teeth.
3. I give up.
Last note–if you have canine family members, keep a close watch. A lot of sorting of candy tends to take place on the floor; bags are frequently left at bedside; even the most loving kids are too excited to be truly careful; chocolate can be lethal for dogs.
Once more, Happy Halloween.
ManicDDaily 
Recent Comments