Oxymorons in Advertising

There are lots of them and they drive me crazy (English major that I am) -- but here's a new one: Pillsbury Crescent Rounds -- you're either a CRESCENT or you're a ROUND, you can't be both. Now if we can stop advertisers from verbing language ("fragrances whole rooms" is on a can of air freshener at my parent's house -- fragrance IS NOT A VERB!!!!!!!!) then we'll only have to tackle false and predatory advertising and we'll have the whole industry cleaned up in no time......SIGH. Can we all just watch PBS and Noggin all the time, please.

Harsh Reality

erin and Pat on the Pier
Originally uploaded by Rosalind Tedford.

So today I'm sitting in The Pit (our campus cafeteria) and I'm watching two students, both male, both clearly freshmen (they look 12). And here's what they have on their plates -- 2 cookies, 1 PB&J sandwich on white bread and chocolate milk. Here's how they eat: first the cookies, then the milk, then the sandwich. And it hit me -- my kids may never grow up. Despite my constant reminders to myself that 'they won't go to college still in pull-ups" or "they won't go to college" still doing whatever annoying thing they are doing in their current phase -- I realize they just might. As I was leaving, I saw another one - he had a bowl of Trix. FOR LUNCH. I rest my case......

"You just never know when.....

Erin on Deck
Originally uploaded by Rosalind Tedford.

a boy's gonna kiss you. That's a true story. Well, that's not really a story, it's just a saying." That's what came out of Erin's mouth tonight as she was coloring. She was talking about this boy in her class who didn't want her to kiss him. And then she spouted that out. And you know, she's right.

September Thoughts

Erin and Mom!
Originally uploaded by Rosalind Tedford.

Haven't posted in a while, so I thought I gather my thoughts and put them down.

Parenthood is, indeed, the toughest job in the world. But when you are putting your daughter to bed and she hugs you and says "Mommy, you're the best mommy I could have in the whole world" then somehow, it all seems worth it. That is, until, she pitches a fit because she wants her 'OTHER' pink and silver shoes, not 'THOSE ONES'.....just as you are ready to take her to school in the morning. Erin still loves The Downtown School and her teachers. They are learning this week about 'the lifecycle of frogs' which she is finding very interesting. She has taken to coloring with a vengeance in the last two weeks. We got her a box of 96 Crayolas (is there anything better than a brand new box of Crayolas--with the sharpener??) at Target on clearance for $2 and she is now coloring all the time. She is drawing her own pictures -- mostly doors, houses and people that look like big eggs with arms and legs coming out of them -- I wonder what Freud would say about that? And alas, apparantly geekiness runs in the family. She has mastered the mouse, can print things on her own and is becoming intimately familiar with noggin.com, pbskids.com and disney.com. Tomorrow, she'll be formatting our hard drive and putting Linux on it. At least she hasn't asked for an iPhone, yet.

Sean is still the happiest kid I know. Want proof....listen to him laugh. He is saying 'bah' for ball and 'dah' for down and such a wide variety of 'Uh-ohs' that you marvel that you never really paid much attention to that word before. It can mean so many things. The rest of us are chopped liver when Pop-Pop is around -- that boy LOVES Pop-Pop. And the feeling is mutual, I assure you!

Erin, Patrick and I are going to the WFU Football game this Saturday - it will be her first. Should be an adventure!

We are off for a family trip to the beach in a couple of weeks (Emerald Isle -- YEA!) so I know I'll have pics and stories when we get back. And then it will be October -- holy cow -- how did that happen??

August Reflections

blue_eyed_sean_aug07
Originally uploaded by Rosalind Tedford.

Where the hell has my summer gone?? WFU students are coming in this Thursday and my life will be chaos for a while after that so I thought I'd post a few things before I get swamped.

Sean's only word is still 'Uh-oh' but he's adding more random sounds every day. He has completely given up baby food - and is becoming quite adept at feeding himself. He has this empirical point that he does all the time - he points at his mobile, the wall, his sister, his cats....I really think he was a Roman Emperor in a past life - I feel like any day he'll point at me and say "peel me a grape....slave" --but until that day, we enjoy his crazy cute smile and especially the fact that he is sleeping straight through the night most nights now. He's pulling up on everything and I'm sure he'll be walking soon, lord help us all.

Erin has become a great swimmer over the summer - it's been amazing to see her develop. She begins her new school next Monday so this week we are doing dry runs of making her lunch (Disney princess Lunchbox) the night before and packing her backpack (Tinkerbell). This morning she was so cute walking into Camp GrandJo with her backpack on and her lunch in her hand - it almost brought tears to my eyes. We meet her new teacher on Wed. so that will be fun. I think she's a little anxious but I know she'll love the school.

Some cuteness: She hurt herself a week or two ago and through her tears as I was getting ready to put a bandaid on her I heard her say "bless my heart...."

Crossing Your Fingers

Erin_portrait
Originally uploaded by lavivienne.

So how do you explain what you mean when you say "I'll keep my fingers crossed?" Erin is so fascinated by language that if you say a word or a phrase she doesn't understand, she'll keep asking you what you mean until you give her an explanation that suits her. So yesterday we were in the car and she asked if we could go swimming today. I said that I would keep my fingers crossed that it didn't storm. After which we spent several minutes explaining what you mean, and that you weren't literally crossing your fingers (although sometimes you do) etc. She takes things very literally. All in all not the worst question to have to answer and it sure beats all the questions we've been getting about when we're going to die. Although typical questions for a 3 1/2 year old - hard to answer nonetheless.

This picture is of the portrait that Ann Mercer Kessler Shields painted of Erin back in the Spring. I don't know how she did it, but I think it captured Erin perfectly.

One more funny story -- a couple of days ago Erin was on the floor and when she got up she pushed herself up using the coffee table and said "I'm getting old..." It's a bitch when you hear yourself coming out of your kids mouths!!

Vivian comes Saturday - everyone is excited!!

A Good Man Is Honored Today

Tonight at 6pm a funeral service will be held for one of the good guys. Wake Forest Basketball Coach Skip Prosser died last Tuesday from a massive (and sudden) heart attack. His death has deeply saddened the entire campus - it is as if the heart of the university has broken. The Quad has been rolled in his honor (twice!) articles have been written, old players have returned but it still does not seem real. Not only was he a good coach, he was a good man. He was a lover of literature and history often known to quote Greek scholars and Shakespeare or make references to obscure historical events. He paid as much attention to the players' development off the court as he did to their on-court progress. Every Senior that played for him graduated with a WFU degree and a knowledge that they were better people for having known him. Skip, we will miss you and will think of you every time we don our tie-die and cheer for the Deacs that you so loved. Here are some tributes that can tell his story better than I....

John Feinstein (Washington Post)
Decourcy (Sporting News)
Dan Collins
Kharry McGee
Ed Hardin
ESPN