Indiana Idylls

At the Indianapolis Children's Museum on Leo's birthday, we participated in a science workshop where the boys made a kind of plastic out of cornstarch. We learned about George Washington Carver (who did NOT invent peanut butter), and the proper names of some scientific tools, like a graduated cylinder and a pipette -- when the kids guessed things like "eyedropper", Science John tried to lead them to the right answer with a clue: There was a French name for it. So the next day, during lunch, Leo says this: "N. E. I. E. It's a French word for "knight". Is that a good French word? N-e-i-e.

Tonight, after reading Leo's bedtime story, I was lucky to remember that it was the Feast of the Guardian Angels. I really like the idea of Guardian Angels, but it was only two weeks ago that I learned Guardian Angels are officially sanctioned by the Catholic Church. They're in the Catechism , that God sends each of us an angel when we are born! I have always liked the idea of Guardian Angels, but if pressed, would have said they were sort of a fancy. I was grateful to learn that it was right to believe in them. Anyway, so I taught Leo the Guardian Angel prayer I know: Angel of God, my guardian dear,  to whom God's love commits me here,  ever this day be at my side,  to light and guard, to rule and guide.  Amen. "Leo, did you know that when you were born, God sent a special angel just to watch over you and keep you safe?" "Angels have wings, right?" "Well, I think so. I've never seen a picture of an angel without wings, so I do think of th...

Leo and I started reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , as Alex and I did when he was three. Tonight, Alex joined us for chapter 5, in which Dorothy and the Scarecrow meet the Tin Woodman. Scarecrow and Woodman debate whether it is more important to have a brain or a heart, and so I asked the boys what they thought. Without skipping a beat, Leo said, "A heart." I asked if he was sure, if he thought it better to have a brain for thinking or a heart for loving, and he confidently replied, "A heart for loving." When I asked Alex, he looked ponderous for a moment. Then he replied, "A heart. You might be a little bit crazy, but at least you wouldn't hurt anybody, because you'll love them." Neither one will ever make it in politics.

Tea, once hot, twice warmed, sipping intermittently nice morning with boys

Paul and Alex are at Game Day at the library. I am playing pretend with Leo. He's wearing a glove of finger puppets and I am a Playmobil horse. I was talking about the weather, and I asked Froggie and Chicken where they go when it rains. "Cincinnati." "What do you do in Cincinnati?" "There's a rope and... and robots and butterflies." "A rope? What do you do with the rope?" "You swing on a rope into the water... on a skateboard!" I think I want to go to Cincinnati when it rains, too!

This articulated something I like about planning, better than I think I've been able to. "Plan in advance. Don't expect to get up Saturday or Sunday morning with no plan and say "ok family, let's spend the day together". It's fun to look forward to the day and it's important to structure the week to get our work done (laundry, bills) and plan the activity so we can make it happen." It appeared here .

I have been cleaning out my box of college notes, and wanted to preserve the Film Lists from my various Media Study classes. Non-Fiction Film, Fall 1999 Best Boy, 1979, Ira Wohl Lumiere Brothers' First Films, Thierry Fremaux, ed Nanook of the North (restored), 1922, Robert Flaherty Trimph of the Will, 1936, Leni Riefenstahl The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl, 1994, Ray Muller Olympia, 1938, Diving Sequence, Leni Riefenstahl Excerpts from early social documentaries: Drifters, 1929, John Grierson Housing Problems, 1935, Edgar Anstey & Arthur Elton The Plow that Broke the Plains, 1936, Pare Lorentz The River, 1937, Pare Lorentz Night Mail, 1936, Watt & Wright Night and Fog, 1955, Alain Resnais Salesman, 1968, Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin Don't Look Back, 1967, D.A. Pennebaker Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment, 1963, Drew Associates (Robert Drew & Richard Leacock) Blood of the Beasts, 1949, Georges Franju Titicut Folli...