You know Something’s Gotta Give? The movie with Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson? We recently watched it with Rissa. Rissa loves a good romantic comedy. “EEEEEEEEWWWWW! He’s soooooooo old. How can he be dating her?” Early in the film, Jack Nicholson is dating Amanda Peet – who is less than 1/2 his age and plays…
“You should feel this Mummy,” says Rissa, as she deliberately creases her forehead. “It gets all lumpy. It’s awesome!” “I always liked that I could move my scalp back and forth,” I reply – taking my fingertips and moving my scalp over my skull and then reaching over and moving hers. “Wait! Wait!” she begs. …
Rissa’s playing soccer this summer. She and David went out to buy equipment. She came back with shin guards, snazzy cleats and… nose plugs. You know, for all those underwater games. I threw a look at David. He shrugged. Rissa put on the nose plugs and complained that they didn’t feel right. “I don’t think…
Rissa murdered my hair dryer. It was a crafting catastrophe. One minute she was melting crayons on a canvas – the next my hair dryer was the victim of too much “on.” We suggested she use the heat gun. “That sounds dangerous.” “No, not if you use it correctly. It’s meant to be super hot.”…
Rissa, at the best of times, can make words sound nothing like they’re supposed to. Last night she made a weird-ass shape around her belly button, said “DRACULA BELLY BUTTON!” and then dissolved into giggles. David and I were mystified as to what vampires and belly buttons had to do with one another. “DRACULA belly…
“Hey Mummy, would you say this is weird?” Says Rissa, upon her arrival home from school. She pokes her head around the corner and sticks her tongue out of her mouth and makes this noise: “Lardl-lardl-lardl-lardl…” “Yes. I would say that is weird.” “How ’bout this?” She ducks out of view for a second and…
Poohsticks from A. A. Milnes’ The House at Pooh Corner. Illustration by E.H. Shepherd We played Poohsticks last weekend. We had to be careful, and not cross the bridge willy-nilly on account of the fact that, for a small country road in Lanark County, there’s a lot of traffic. David, Rissa and I gathered…
We are coming home late. The stars are brilliant in the night sky. Rissa says, “I know Orion’s Belt.” I say, “I really only know the Big Dipper. And maybe the North Star.” “Well, that one?” Rissa says. “That’s the, um… triangle… and over there is the octagon constellation and that one… is the…
“Wait! Wait!” Rissa says, as I’m trying to depart her bedside. She clutches at me. “You can’t go yet.” “Why not?” “You have to lie on me!!” “Because why?” “Because then I can put my arm on my stomach and see if I can escape.” (This is one of those things that happened by accident…
It’s afternoon snack time!! I have just thrown in a bag of microwave popcorn when David calls to have me find a file. I run upstairs to find it, but immediately realize the folly in leaving unattended microwave popcorn, so I run back downstairs and ask Rissa to stand guard. “Can you please listen for…