boo

little monster

after living a life where his ghosts and ghouls originate from disney and nickelodeon cartoons, the boy only took a few weeks in kindergarten to learn about vampires and zombies. 

he knows vampires drink blood and zombies eat brains. that's it. so far, they've yet to haunt his dreams or his closet. 

he seems to have embraced the fun frights of halloween in a way i never did as a child. looks like he's gonna be even more a typical american boy than i was. 

lines and circles

watching the boy sound out words is akin to watching struggle rewarded time and time and time again.

the emergence of his satisfied, triumphant little smile when he unlocks a word must be what comes across an apprentice safecracker's face each time a tumbler falls on a combination dial.

i'm really digging in both pride and amazement how he's becoming this enthusiastic explorer for learning.

dream media

weird couple of nights thanks to eyeballing social media before bed.

i responded to a tweet from my friend tony.

@Candace07 I hate Twitter

— Tony Dobies (@DOBIEST) October 28, 2015

later that night, i hadn't been asleep more than an hour when i was abruptly awoken by a dream in which he had tweeted something in a bit of a contentious social media discussion on singer ani difranco. i didn't sleep for another four hours.

then last night, i was winding down after the exasperating west virginia u-texas christian game when i came upon a post by another friend, steve, who's a long-time social media expert and a professor at louisiana state.

Earworms are keeping me awake this week, so I decided to share them with you: https://t.co/SxHW9kwIgE

— Steve Buttry (@stevebuttry) October 30, 2015

i offered comment after reading his blog post on the vagaries of his cancer treatment and wished him well in his fight.

while i managed to get a better night's sleep, i still found myself awakened in the hour or so before dawn by a dream in which i plunged, flume-like, onto the submerged lake ponchartrain causeway in louisiana. it was crazy, because i was just barreling along, plumes of water spraying from either side, somehow, miraculously, staying on the world's longest bridge over water. 

i suppose the fact that i was not submerged and possibly a mere twitch away from taking my vehicle totally underwater was enough to startle me awake.

i guess i'd better be careful who i respond to on the social media before i go to sleep.

fluid dynamics

coffee me

a thought that normally occurs while i'm in the throes of a fever or headcold or respiratory ailment, is that basically our bodies are just so much soup — a conglomeration of liquids, lipids and proteins that is optimal only within a few degrees of 98.6 fahrenheit. any deviation from said temperature puts us in worlds of lethargy, fog or delirium.

i remember this because i'm at the end of a long day helping kris with not one, but two school halloween parties. (she was basically a madwoman this week, btw, as she prepared games and treats for our kids and those of others, in addition to her gig helping at the the girl's preschool and the all-day hootenanny that is child-rearing. definitely a medal-winning performance all around on her part. seriously.)

the morning after our burg's designated trick-or-treat night and, despite my better judgement, following my beloved, maddening west virginia mountaineers' self-immolation in forth worth versus texas christian university for the remainder of the evening, i was still pretty punked after arising first for about an hour at 5 a.m., then again 7:30.

i knew i had a long day ahead assisting my lovely wife at her various school functions. yes, my egg and smoothie breakfast was nourishing and healthful, but i knew there was no way in hell i was going to make it through a morning helping preschoolers without a travel mug of coffee.

and for the better part of three hours, i nursed that puppy through three classes of face painting. sip after sip after sip gave me the liquid courage and creativity i needed to converse with parents, set up a space, and enthusiastically paint tigers, kitties, rainbows and hearts on the cherubic faces of about a dozen wee bairns.

it got me to thinking about how frequently i use various beverages as crutches to not only help me get through my day, but through awkward social situations. other times, they're exactly as advertised, enhancers of gatherings with friends and family — libations to loosen the metaphorical necktie or creep you into the coming day's consciousness.

yes, we are soup, but not so precisely measured that we can't stand to be a little more liquid.

also

five hours in, and i'm still waiting for sleep. fml. 

last night was the first in weeks that i hadn't taken a sleep aid. i figured as tired as i was tonight, i'd drop right off. 

now i'm trying to convince myself that four hours of sleep before the kids wake up will be enough to operate on for a full day. 

i'm not yet at the point where i'm bargaining with God for an hour of restful sleep, but i'm just waiting for it. 

and there's our sunday paper hitting the lawn. 

bubbles

the boy has yet to drink a carbonated beverage. the second the liquid passes his lips, he begins wiping off his tongue. 

the babe

eye spy

what i thought was regression, kris points out likely parallels to the boy's bouts of terrible behavior preceding developmental progress of some sort. stands to reason that the girl would be, too. oh, my baby girl isn't going to be a baby much longer.

sleepless

three antacid tablets and two sleeping pills in, and i'm tired, but not sleepy. lots on my mind, apparently.