Monthly Archives: November 2012

Past Tense

2005

L’s big break. He does a shoot for a baby mag. What the heck, right? Only, when you’re photographing babies, you’re basically photographing animals. Lots of toys, and whistles, a gazillion adults behind the camera shouting, cajoling, cooing. At least he has a sense of humor about it. Or can pay for his own diapers for a few months.

Lincolnkatepowers6mosLincolnPregnancyMagShoot

Past Tense (Less So)

September, 2010 – Parent/Teacher Conference, Meet & Greet

We were invited to a start of year conference w/ L’s first grade teacher. She actually asked us to prepare a “strengths and weaknesses” assessment. It was hard not to ask if we should add his “5-10-15 year goals.” Sadly, this is how first grade will go (a crummy teacher’s crummy).

Instead of determining those things for him, I asked L what he thought were his amazing skills, and what he might want to do a bit better. After covering drawing, math, science, drawing, humor, science, math, drawing, and science, we got to the other half:

L: “I wish I could develop more confidence. If I had more confidence, I wouldn’t have to pretend to know things I don’t, I wouldn’t have to pretend that I’m good at everything. I could make mistakes and not feel so bad. I wonder what the world would be like if everyone had more confidence. Can you imagine if we all could just keep trying and not worry about messing up? It would be awesome. That’s what I wish. I wish I had more confidence.”

Well said.

Past Tense

2008 again

I picked up L from preschool today and there was a note from the director saying “please see me.” ZOiNKS! I approached her with trepidation and said, “okay, so what’s up?” She asked me if I could volunteer for an art project on Friday. The relief that I felt was immeasurable. I actually said aloud, “Oh, thank GOD. I thought L had injured a kitten or something.”

Hurt kitten jokes are a laugh a minute, especially at a preschool. At least I didn’t mention a burlap sack.

Dream, Dream, Dream

This morning:

L: “Have you ever had a weird dream? Like the weirdest dream in the world? I had one last night. I dreamt we went to Colorado to grandma & grandpa’s cabin only it wasn’t their cabin. It was flat and long and it was in Yosemite. But they were still there. We visited for three days and them came home. As soon as we got home, dad went to work and didn’t come home. You and I were hanging out, reading, and we heard footsteps. I looked up and a clone of you—an exact duplicate!—walked out of my play room. I kept getting the two of you confused. You were so alike. Eventually, I realized one of you had to be sacrificed. Only I wasn’t sure I was choosing the clone, so I hesitated quite a bit. I finally made the right decision and you lived.”

M: Wow. Intense dream.

L: “Yeah, I learned that you have to give something up in order to get something. I got you.”

Past Tense

July, 2008

Last night, L and I talked for about an hour after stories about the pets he’s going to have. A fish named Haylie, a hamster named Kyla, and a chicken named Justin. I told him we’d start with the fish but that the binkie had to go. He got up out of bed and threw it into the trash (with much aplomb). He talked about taking his fish to swim class on a leash and teaching it how to swim. Then, as he started drifting off, he said, “where’s my binkie?” I cracked up. He fished it out of the trash and put it back into his mouth.

It was an exciting 5 minutes.