Friday, October 26, 2007

The Laryngitis Spectrum

Here are my six phases of laryngitis:

  1. Haley Joel Osment in the Sixth Sense. You can just whisper "I see Dead People" (but nothing else. Really freaked my kids out this afternoon, let me tell you.)
  2. Harvey Firestein
  3. Lilly Von Shtupp
  4. Demi Moore
  5. Kathleen Turner
  6. My normal voice

I'm at Lilly Von Shtupp at the moment. "I'm tired... Tired of being ADMIRED. Tired of being DESIRED." and so on and so forth. Although at the moment, I'm merely TIRED. Although I would so do Lilly at karaoke if given the chance. Not that I do karaoke any more, but I could rock that song, even with my limited range.

We just got back from Buffalo Tom at the Somerville Theater and they were fabulous. The first set was mostly acoustic and Tanya Donnely and Hilken Mancini came up and sang with them. I love the way you can feel the music in your chest at live shows. We were up in the nosebleed seats, but the sound was rich enough that it didn't matter. And, they were free so I'm so NOT complaining.

Anyhow. The day should be over. It's time to go crash now.

I'll just leave you with this Lilly von Shtupp quote:

"I've been with thousands of men
again and again
they promise you the moon
they're always coming and going
and going and coming
but always too soon"

Whispering Yawp

I have lost my voice. Now I sound like Harvey Firestein in drag as Kathleen Turner. But mostly I can only speak in a whisper...

Not sure how to keep my kids in check without a well timed growl or stern reprimand. Right now, Eric is two inches from Max and Ruby and other than physically moving him with no explanation, I'm not sure how to get my point across.

Grr... Argh.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Begone Ye Creeping Crud! BEGONE

The kids were sick last week, and now Rich and I have it. But it is slowly leaving our systems and we have more energy today than we did yesterday.

Eric got up at 5:30. YIKES.

Unfortunately, the Creeping Crud has taken my normal voiced and replaced it with much rougher one. I like to think I sound like Kathleen Turner or Demi Moore. But in truth, it's more Harvey Firestein. Oh the shame of it. But it's kind of funny imagining Mr. Firestein's voice shouting out such gems as:

"Eric, get your head OUT of the toilet!" and
"Eric, what are you doing to my feet? Cut that out!"

And so on, and so forth.

Much fun will ensue this weekend. Tomorrow night we're off to the Acoustic Buffalo Tom concert at the Somerville theater. A dinner and a show date will occur. And we feel like we're awesome because, we're on the list for the show. Because we're awesome. Totally awesome.

Saturday is Ben and Liz's annual Halloween bash. For the first time in forever, we don't have a costume planned. Inspiration has not stuck.

Although Rich did suggest going as Eric and Kaylee. That would be pretty funny.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Preschoolers Get Yelled At for Peeing At Dog Park

We visited the new, renovated Perry Park on Washington Street in Somerville yesterday. My impression was very mixed.

The old park had a regular climbing structure, swings and a "really fast orange slide" that Eric loved. The surrounding landscape was run down and covered in gravel. The new park is bucolic, but the kids area is an exercise in minimalism. It's kind of like stumbling onto the Saturday Night Live loft owned by a couple named Nunie. Everything was postmodern and weird. There is a normal, dull rope climbing structure, a disk swing (The kind they had to get rid of at the Baldwin School because kids were breaking limbs on it) and these weird stainless steel balls that grow out of the ground. I think kids are supposed to spin on them, or bounce on them. But there's only 4 of them and they don't lend themselves to simultaneous play. IE, one child at a time per ball.

It leads me to wonder if playground designers have ever watched children play? I mean, have they ever seen a bunch of nine year old girls create a house and a restaurant out of a platform climbing structure, or two preschoolers doing similar games next to each other. I don't know why they could not have taken a page from the wildly successful Lexington Street park and put in similar equipment. But I am not a cutting edge European playground designer. I'm just a mom who knows the type of playground that works for a lot of different kids, and this is not it.

There was tons of green space, which I loved. But it also seemed to be an on leash dog park, which brings me to my next issue.

We went with our wonderful neighbors who have 2 boys, 3 and 5. The boys had to pee, so we sent the three of them off into the bushes. Some of the abutters yelled at them and told them not to pee. I don't know exactly what they said, but my neighbor's 5 year old was hysterical. My son and the 3 year old just went about their 'business' and went back to the climbing structure.

Who yells at little boys for peeing in a park where dogs are allowed to pee? It's not like there was a convenient public restroom nearby. With kids that age, you don't have ten minutes. Once they know they have to pee, you get about two or you have wet pants and a puddle of urine at their feet in someplace much less convenient than a bush.

There were about six feet away from the fence, so it's not like they were trying to pee on the abutter's property.

I felt so bad for my neighbor's son. Perhaps if Eric or the younger brother had been a bit older, they would have been more shaken. But fortunately they weren't.

Eric was trying to comfort him later and he was a raging mess and shoved him over. Into a puddle. Poor Eric.

Then today when we saw them on our way to Palmacci park (a "normal" kids park), Eric said to him: "Hey, um B__"

B__ said "Yes?"

"Next time we go to park, I don't want you to push me into a puddle."

And B__ agreed and they are friends again.

My heart is so full of love I feel I could burst.