in the summertime

late night date night

We are going out tonight! And not only are we going out, we are going out late – like after dark, babysitter-isn’t-even-showing-up-until-10 late. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. is playing a free show at the Terrace and WE ARE THERE, PEOPLE.

(Well…for at least an hour. Baby friends who wake up at 6 a.m. tend to make staying up past midnight on weekdays seem like a very, very bad choice the next morning.)

listen

performed by paco, from yo gabba gabba

classic and cool

One of my favorite blogs is The Selvedge Yard, which is devoted to all sorts of things that fall into the category of “classic American cool” – things like great moustaches in history, retro man caves, and Steve McQueen.

Yesterday The Selvedge Yard wrote about Shel Silverstein. Who knew he was so cool? I own several of his books and poetry collections for children but I had no idea he also was a prolific songwriter.

The song he starts singing at the end of this clip is really sweet. It’s worth a watch.

Since I’m talking about Shel Silverstein I have to mention ‘The Giving Tree’. I love this book, and I totally get the message of unconditional love. But that little boy/man/old person is such a jerk! What did he do for that tree? He took EVERYTHING and then when there was nothing left to take he sits on the damn stump. And yes, all the tree ever wanted was the make the boy happy, which he did OVER and OVER again. But did the boy ever do anything for the tree except grace him with his presence? Exactly. This is more like it.

For fans of the original, here you go:

teaching

Did you watch Glee last night? Boy Gwyneth killed it. She’s so perfect I usually can’t stand her but I had to give it up for her last night. She played a substitute teacher who was super cool and fun and let the kids sing songs they loved, instead of the ones Mr. Schue had been making them sing.

I loved the whole conversation they had about their different teaching philosophies. She argued that you can’t connect with kids unless you relate to them in a way they already understand – the way they relate to themselves and each other. He argued that it’s a teacher’s job to show their students new perspectives.

Holly Holiday (a.k.a. Gwyneth): “16% of all high school students dropped out last year. You can’t just expect them to sit up and pay attention. These kids feel special. They have a voice. And if we don’t listen to it they just tune us out.”

Mr Schoe: “I give my kids a voice. I just don’t let it run free. I’m the teacher, it’s my job to know more than they do.”

Holly Holiday: “Right, but you don’t know more about what they care about the most – themselves.”

Boy could I relate. When you’re working with kids it can be really challenging to strike the right balance of being an effective disciplinarian and being cool and relatable. Matt does this really well but it’s always been more awkward for me. As a wise man once said, “It’s a fine line between stupid and clever.” It’s easy to try too hard. And once you’ve crossed into stupid from clever it can all go downhill quickly if you’re not careful. (Holly Holliday learned this the hard way after she let Mercedes clog the tailpipe on Sue Sylvester’s Le Car with tater tots.)

But when you do find that balance where you’re able to relate to kids AND expand their horizons, it can be pretty amazing. Like the PS22 chorus. Here they are singing Phoenix’s ‘Lisztomania’. Seeing these kids pour their hearts into this song as they sing it gives me chills.

Kids are awesome.

tough guy

This morning Matteo’s daycare called to say he was in a lot of pain from the shots he had at his doctor’s appointment yesterday, and asked if I could pick him up. I could hear him crying over the phone and left work right away to go get him. Of course, when he saw me he calmed down, stiffened his lip and kind of looked around like, “Who me? That wasn’t me crying. You must be crazy, Mom!”

The nurse who gave him his shots yesterday said he cried less than any baby she’s ever given shots! She was new, so who knows how many babies that actually is, but I was proud of him just the same. After all, this is the same baby who didn’t even cry when he was circumcised. He’s one tough cookie, that’s for sure.

The picture was taken last night with his three band aids and his worm friend, Funky, who was named after the Ohio Players’ classic funk song. Visual proof that a little funky worm always makes you feel better.