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Showing posts with the label Grandparents

"De Calf!" A Goofy Poem (for Rhia)

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I am spending a perfectly goofy day with Rhia, my granddaughter, drawing pictures (Rhia) and writing goofy poems (me). Rhia noticed this "De Calf" magnet notepad on our refrig, something that has been there forever and largely unnoticed, but credit a kid for noticing details like that--always seeing things in a new way. So we have been playing around with drawings (see Rhia.tv for some of her drawings from the past two days) and poems on it. I wrote this silly piece of fluff (Pictured in image above) for Rhia: There was a little calf Who loved to swim in decaf, The hotter and sweeter The better, sometimes With cream, Sometimes not, But always diving in With a toothy grin. Sometimes it's just good to have a frivolous day with someone you love.

Working on a Domain Project and Other Cool Things...

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Elephants and grandchildren never forget. --Andy Rooney Ha, ha, isn't that the truth? I am currently working on a domain name project called Name for the Day . The blog is half built, but I love the background (shown in the above image) and the layout. I'm thinking of making some changes on this site, namely a new template, perhaps a new background. Also, there is way too much introductory material... On Monday, Jerry and I had Rhia, our granddaughter, so we went miniature golfing; it was hotter than Hades (97 degrees!!!), but it didn't seem to bother Rhia at all. We, on the other hand, looked and felt wilted, even though we were drinking lots of water. Jerry actually felt a bit sick on his stomach. We sometimes forget that we're (gasp!) senior citizens. I hadn't been miniature golfing in years, and we were all terrible at it. I did, however, make a hole-in-one, but it was just plain dumb luck. Rhia held the golf club like a baseball bat, despite our bes

Hook, Line, and Sinker--A Day at the National Aquarium

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Jennifer, Rhia, and Jerry ________________________ Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children. --Alex Haley Jerry and I spent the day at the National Aquarium in Baltimore with our granddaughter Rhia. What fun! We saw sharks, dolphins, jellyfish, and a rain forest, among other sights. We saw Dora the Explorer and her friend Diego in a 4-D adventure film, the 4th dimension having to do with smells, vibrations, and splashing water on the audience, which Rhia did not appreciate. Her exact words: "This is NOT acceptable!" Ease up, sweetie. It's just water... But, overall, it was great fun, and by day's end everyone was duly worn out. The hook, line, and sinker of the day: we actually bought the above photograph along with an entire photo package, no doubt overpriced. Gotcha! How can you say "no" when the photo includes your precious grand baby? Later!

Thought for the Day--May 4, 2011: STOP Stigmatizing Overweight Children

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The above image has been manipulated from an April 21, 2011, ad, from the website www.stopchildhoodobesity.com (see original ad below). ________________________________________ The original ad : According to Katu.com , "This advertisement, part of a 'Stop Child Obesity' campaign in Georgia, won some enthusiastic praise for their attention-grabbing tactics. But they also have outraged parents, activists and academics who feel the result is more stigma for an already beleaguered group of children." ________________________________ Stigma is not an effective motivator. --Rebecca Puhl, psychologist and a leading expert on weight discrimination (Yale University) "Shaming" and bullying a child into losing weight rarely works. I know this from personal experience; as a chubby child (I wasn't quite "fat," whatever that means), my well-meaning grandmother (who raised me) would often embarrass me in front of relatives, including children, in the hope tha

Memoir Madness: Driven to Involuntary Commitment