Overheard at the swim meet between two five or six year-olds: "No, you have to kiss him on the lips, THAT'S how you get babies."
Good to know, good to know.
So, I did it again. I'm going to have to change the name of this blog to: Catholic All Year, Controversial Once a Week.
Thanks to all of you who commented on my breastfeeding in public post. It's really been a great discussion and an eye-opener for me on some aspects of the issue.
I'm still getting a lot of traffic and comments on the gay marriage-supporting Facebook friends post.
And I'm all:
If you happened to check out Thursday morning's post already, you might want to click over again -- if you'd like to see how the Tierneys roll for the Fourth of July. I've updated it with a bunch of photos from the day's festivities. Hope your family had as much fun as we did!
But it's not all smooching and fighting heresy and s'mores. We're also planning a birthday party. I'll do a post on it Sunday or Monday. But until then, here's a sneak peek:
Hey, here's something weird about me . . .
When I was little one of my favorite books was this:
The Value of Believing in Yourself: The Story of Louis Pasteur. The thing I remember most from it was how the soldiers in your body fight the ugly (furry?) germs, sometimes with the help of reinforcements injected into you by the world's largest needle.
To this day I do not like to use antibiotic ointment on cuts, or even really to wash them, because I take pride in watching my body's imaginary red-coated soldiers fight and conquer the furry germs of small skin infections.
And that's the value of reading, kids.
Hey, speaking of NOT encouraging kids to read, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel is getting on my very last nerve. He's really been pushing the public libraries for the last couple of years. Which, of course, is great. We are big fans of the public library. They know us by name at our branch.
But now he's gone too far.
He has required that all kids attending the park district day camps spend 20 minutes of their 3 hour camp day reading, or being read to. And instead of an inflatable bounce house every Wednesday, the kids get . . . a visit from a librarian.
It's a one-size-fits-all solution to a problem that doesn't exist for all kids in all neighborhoods. My kids go to the library ALL THE TIME, they read and are read to often. But you know what they NEVER get at home? An inflatable bounce house.
I send them to camp to get exercise, not to sit quietly. That's what nap time is for.
Plus, I'm picky about what my kids read. My 4, 5, and 7 year-olds are the ones at camp. They are not yet fully indoctrinated into the Tierney Family Discerning Reader Program. And who knows what they are reading to them there?
I do not want to hang out at the park for story time. I want to drop them off full of energy and pick them up exhausted. That's it.
Is this what regular school parents have to deal with everyday? What do I do? Lurk at the park? Request a written list of books they plan to read to my children? Just ask them what they heard when they get home and deal with it here?
Why can't they just jump?! Okay. Done with rant.
I heart grammar.
Have you seen the BabyLit board books? SOOOOOOOO cute!
Pride & Prejudice
is my favorite, since it's is the best book ever and could only be improved by super-adorable illustrations and, you know, some counting.
etc, etc.
There are many books in the series now, from Austen to Bronte to Shakespeare. There's even Moby Dick, which could really benefit from some serious abridging, amirite?
Check them out. Your baby would thank you, if babies did that. For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!