Less than Twelve Parsecs

Gaius has been making three signs for several weeks: 1. Up (he does a variation of it with both arms) 2. Tree 3. Lamp Mara recently noticed that Mommy will point at a street light and make the " Lamp " sign, which caused some long Mommy-Mara conversations where we disagreed. She says those are " Lights ", not " Lamps ". Mommy believes we can use the same sign for something that produces light. The matter is still open. Today, Gaius and Mommy were on a walk to buy milk. Gaius loves trees. And lamps. Whenever he sees a big tree he'll "bring it up" in conversation by making the sign. When he sees a street light he does the cutest "Lamp" sign: right arm up high, then curls the wrist toward his eyebrow. ASL sign for: Tree ASL sign for: Lamp You can see in the pictures (source:  www.babysignlanguage.com ) that the two signs are quite similar, especially with a baby's lack of precision. Because of that, sometim

Mara and Greg talk about scorpions: Mara: What do they do? Greg:  They hold things with their pincers, then poke them with that thing. [pointy tail] Mara: What if scorpions came to our house? Greg: They live very far away so they probably would not come here. Mara , unimpressed by previous answer :  What if scorpions came to our house? Greg: I don't know, what do you think? Mara: We would say: "Don't stab us with your pointy tail." PS:   The photo is of an actual scorpion we found in our house in Florida, years ago. So I guess they aren't really "very far away" as per Greg's answer, because we'll be visiting grandparents there. But let's not tell Mara just yet...

Mara: I don't like you. I open my eyes, groggy. I had fallen asleep next to Mara in her bed trying to help her fall asleep. It's still night time. Based on past times, assuming 2-4am. Mara: No. I can't stop crying. Oh she's sleep talking. OK. Good, I don't want to have to do things. I'm so tired. Mara : I don't like you. Hrm. I wonder what's happening in her dream right now. Mara : I don't like you, Mommy. [Silence...] I realize my whole chest is tight. Nothing moves, and that's odd. Oh, I need to breathe, that's it. Reason slowly trickles back in, along with the oxygen: she probably doesn't mean that.  There's a gentle leg kick on my arm, followed by a slightly more anxious: Mara : I don't LIKE you, Mommy. What?! Did I do anything last night to cause this? What did I say? Darn sweet husband of mine being all awesome compared to me. I need to ramp up my game tomorrow. Really. What d