Skip to main content

Cousin Competition

On Sunday, Eleanor and Amanda started talking about their cousin Anders. They both wanted to be his cousin, but it was important that the other one not be his cousin. "I'm Anders' cousin!" "No, I'm Anders' cousin!"

I tried really hard to explain that they could both be his cousin (and in fact, if one was his cousin, so was the other one). Eleanor thought she was more his cousin since he was born just after her (actually he was born almost precisely in between Eleanor and Amanda). I suggested that Amanda had been his cousin for her whole life, so maybe she was more his cousin. Or that maybe Luke was more his cousin because he was a boy.

Eleanor and Amanda remained stubbornly unconvinced. Unable to cut the Gordian knot, I passed the buck. In a few days, Anders will get a package containing pictures from Eleanor, Amanda and Luke. He then gets to pick who is his cousin. I'm hoping my sister will be able to come up with something good to tell them which will get them to stop arguing about this! (She said that if you asked him who his cousin was, he would probably pass by Eleanor and Amanda for his older boy cousin on the other side of the family. Maybe this would end the argument...)

Update: On Tuesday at dinner, Eleanor said "I wonder who is more Luke's sister." Perhaps this is a battle we cannot win.
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
I asked Anders and he looked at my confused and said, "Um, they both are my cousins?". Of course, he hasn't seen the artwork yet.

FNDP
April 9, 2008 at 8:46 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why you should study the history of math

  Why you should study the history of math In the mid 1300s a fad made its way around Italy. Mathematicians would challenge each other to “mathematical duels”. They would post problems for their opponents to solve, sometimes along with their solutions in coded poetry. The winners would get support and funding from rich patrons, the losers would descend into obscurity. One such contest, between Fiore and Tartaglia, involved a new method for solving the cubic. In order to win, Tartaglia worked day and night to find Fiore’s method---unfortunately, Fiore did not do the same and only knew his own method and no others. (*Recall that the formula for solutions to quadratic equations of the form use the quadratic formula, Giorlamo Cardano---physician, philosopher, astrologer and mathematician---convinced Tartaglia to share his method and promised never to reveal it. Then Cardano figured out a more general method, and wanted to share it, but was blocked by his promises. Fortunately (for Ca...
Post a Comment
Read more

Books I like: reality edition

Here are some more books from my childhood and later. I read a lot as a kid, and these books are the ones that stand out in my memory. I figure that if I can remember them 25 years after I read them, they must be pretty good. I'm calling this the "Reality Segment," not fantasy, not science fiction, not history, just real life. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin : This is probably my favorite children's book of all time. I read it in 3rd grade or so, then read it again to clear it up more. Then I read it in 6 th grade and finally understood what was going on during the second reading of the will. In more recent readings I've understood more about Sydelle Paulaski and the relationship between Dr. Denton and the lovely Angela. What a pleasure. Ellen Raskin has written many other good children's books (all quirky and surprising) but this is the jewel. Bruno and Boots books by Gordon Korman : As the FNDP (Friendly Neighborhood Developmental Psychologis...
2 comments
Read more

Books I like: magic/science fiction

I read a lot of science fiction and fantasy when I was younger, so I was surprised when I was thinking about this list at how few books were on it. The other thing that is interesting is how many books I just remember a few details from, but not anything useful like a title or author. Half Magic and the whole series, by Edward Eager: My favorite is Knight's Castle, although I suspect I would have enjoyed it more if I had ever read Ivanhoe... Mrs. Piggle Wiggle by Betty MacDonald: I'm not sure when it happened, but I now identify with the parents rather than the kids. The Seven Citadels by Geraldine Harris: I came back to the Jr. High library to check this out even after I moved on to the high school. Girl with the Silver Eyes by Wilo Davis Roberts: I always wondered what would happen if I had ESP and other "special" abilities. The OZ books, by L. Frank Baum: I read almost all of these (all the ones I could find in the library, rather). My favorite is Tik - To...
5 comments
Read more