Skip to main content

Luke and his sisters

Yesterday I went to a dentist appointment (no cavities!) and a friend watched Luke and Amanda while I was gone. When I got back, I noticed that Luke was being quite attached to Amanda. He wanted to be where she was, doing whatever she was doing.

For example, Luke noticed that Amanda was sitting on the floor of the kitchen eating a chocolate chip cookie. Luke went over to her, hugged her head, fell over her, backed up to her (his new trick is walking backwards) and tried to sit in her lap, petted her hair, and so on. Some of this attention was unwelcome on Amanda's part, but she generally liked it.

A bit later Amanda was sitting in a wheeled walker toy. Luke was pushing her across the floor. When they ran into something, Amanda would move it out of the way and tell Luke to keep pushing. This is especially impressive considering that Amanda is 27 pounds and Luke is 19.

He will go over to his sisters during dinner and beg food from their plates (they happily oblige). They try to find new tricks that make him laugh. Eleanor says: "I like to make Luke screech! It means he's happy!"

This attachment isn't always helpful, though: yesterday evening as I was trying to get Amanda into her jammies (pajammies, as she says) Eleanor was playing with Luke. She had the idea of getting the play tent up on our bed and then lifting Luke up to play with him on the bed. Although he can get off the bed without falling (under direct supervision), this time he fell and bit his tongue, which made him very sad. Eleanor was sad that she had hurt Luke, and as punishment she is not allowed to pick him up for a while. Sometimes I forget that she is still just 6.

Comments

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...

My hero, Helen Parr

Otherwise known as Elastigirl , a.k.a Mrs. Incredible. She is a stay at home mom ( SAHM ), she clearly feels that what she is doing is important and is willing to give up a lot to do it (remember her comment in the intro: "I'm at the top of my game! Leave saving the world to the guys? I don't think so.") But she is finding fulfillment in leading her family from day to day, in doing a hard job well. She also knows that she is very talented, and that knowledge helps her see beyond the repetitive drudgery of staying home. My favorite scene is from the deleted introduction, where she talks with a "career woman" who is of the opinion that staying home is fine for people who can't do anything else. She responds that taking care of her kid is at least as hard as saving the world, and is valuable contribution to society. The point for me is that someone has to do the job that I'm doing, and it's not something that you could pay someone to do. I see...

Comfortable

Last night Amanda was sent to bed early for gross insubordination. I did snuggle with her for a bit, but then went to wash dishes and other exciting stuff. When I came upstairs, 20 minutes after her usual bedtime, she was still awake and flopping around. "Amanda, are you comfortable?" I asked. "No," came the answer. "What do you need?" I asked, thinking she wanted water, to be tucked in, her doll, something like that. "A mama," she answered. I could do something about that. I snuggled her for about 5 minutes and she fell fast asleep.