After dinner on Tuesday, we loaded up everyone into the van (dog included) and drove to register T. for our neighborhood swim team. It was all very exciting. The store that sponsored the registration was filled with pool friends, and T. was nervous, and excited, and happy to be the focus of attention. After we registered her she tried on the tiniest racerback Speedo swimsuit EVER made and paraded around the store.

Scott looked worried.

"Are you sure it isn't too tight?" He asked, plucking at the straps.

The store erupted in laughter. "Spoken like a true father," someone said. [more]

It's a mind-blowing, life-changing fact that from the minute you become a parent--the minute you hear that first snatch of breath and that first cry, you see the world forevermore through the eyes of a parent. When I was single I saw the world through the eyes of a single person. When I was married my attention was always drawn to other married couples. When I was pregnant I was haunted by stories of other pregnant women--joyous stories, tragic stories, but they resonated with me in deep and consuming ways. [more]

My mother is avoiding me. I saw her this afternoon. She waited for me in front of the Boston Medical Center’s entrance, wearing a black leather jacket, talking with two women who obviously abuse a substance. She appeared to ask the women to walk with her to my car, but the women shook their heads “no.” My mother avoided eye contact with me. She walked straight to the back window, to my son. Danny said, “Hi, little nana.” Her face said, “I’m tired, worn down, and beat up.” Her eyes were sleepless and her skin dead. [more]

At the risk of alienating my math-teacher mom and math-Ph.D. brother, I don’t hesitate to say that I don’t care all that much about math (in general). I did well enough in my math courses, but numbers were never really something that spoke to me the way words do (or, back in the day, the way sports did). And, as I think about K-Man’s future, I don’t usually think about his math aptitude. Apparently, I’m in the minority, however, as the Associated Press has released results from a poll that suggests a majority of parents want more math for their kids.

Really? [more]