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Saturday, February 5th, 2005
We watched the second half of Fantasia tonight, except for A Night on Bald Mountain which Sylvia found too scary. (And she was pretty tired anyway by that point.) Weird -- I was totally sure that Peter and the Wolf was one of the songs in Fantasia, but apparently not.
posted evening of February 5th, 2005: Respond
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Friday, February 4th, 2005
Been a while since I posted about a family movie night and we have had a few more in the mean time. Tonight we watched the first half of Fantasia and that was a lot of fun. Sylvia was quite chatty throughout -- the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor played against a background of Sylvia talking about how she had watched part of this movie in school after lunch and calling various images "funny", "good" or "sad"; The Nutcracker was accompanied by her memories of seeing it performed at NJPAC; The Rite of Spring had a lot of dinosaur-related commentary and (my personal favorite) during the first 30 seconds or so, when the screen is dark and there is no sound: "'s it over?..." "What's happening?..." "Maybe it's loading." The commentary did not stem from being bored with the movie but from being engaged. She was particularly keyed-up about The Rite of Spring and busy naming all the dinosaurs that appeared on screen. She got that the large meat-eating dinosaur had to be an Allosaurus because it had three fingers and was attacking a Stegosaurus. (I think maybe there was some confusion at the studio though, and they intended Tyrannosaurus -- there were definitely some Cretaceous creatures in the crowd that looked up in alarm at the predator.)
posted evening of February 4th, 2005: Respond
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Sunday, January 30th, 2005
The wall unit for Sylvia's room is coming along nicely (though I expect to be done in March now, not February) -- tonight while I was cutting dovetails for the remaining section of it, Ellen and Sylvia were painting one of the completed sections. Sylvia and I went over to Mark's house today, where Christine and Bill also came to visit. We had a great time, including watching Harold Lloyd movies and learning from Bill how to play "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues".
posted evening of January 30th, 2005: Respond
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Saturday, December 25th, 2004
Sylvia has gotten interested in singing along, it seems to me like all of a sudden though probably in reality, it is something that has happened gradually. Some stuff she is singing lately -- "I've been lighting all the candles" (scroll down), a Hanukkah ditty sung to the tune of "I've been working on the railroad" which she learned at school; "Little Birdie" and "Weary day", both learned from a folk music CD that we play in the car a lot; "Happy Birthday", she sings a lot regardless of whether there is a party currently in progress. While she was taking a bath this morning with Ellen, I heard her singing "Jackamo fee-no ai nané, Jackamo fee nané" -- the chorus of "Iko Iko", which I've been playing a lot on guitar since I got interested in it recently.
posted evening of December 25th, 2004: Respond
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Friday, November 5th, 2004
Got some nice plans for tomorrow -- taking Sylvia in to the city to go to the WFMU Record Fair, whence Hova and Belinda will be broadcasting the last episode of Greasy Kid Stuff before they move to the west coast. (They will resume broadcasting after the move.) And hopefully find some cheap, sweet blues CD's. Then we'll head out to Brooklyn and go to the zoo, and have a snack with Ed, and later on meet up with Jim and Limster for Armenian dinner in Queens.
posted evening of November 5th, 2004: Respond
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Wednesday, November third, 2004
Hi Everyone -- I am dismayed over the results of this year's election and am trying to deal with it personally and socially. So here is what I am thinking: When I was growing up, I remember being encouraged by my parents to take an interest in politics. I was taught to be enthusiastic about democracy (though with a mix, yes, of Menckeny ironic detachment) and about participation. Looking at yesterday's results, I cannot think of what I will say to Sylvia when she gets old enough to think critically about the government -- and it is not far off, I would think a year or two at most -- I really don't feel like explaining the concept of a "right-wing theocracy" to her straight off the bat... I am hoping I will hear from some other people who feel the same way and would like to enter into some kind of collaborative effort towards making a space for trying to raise free-thinking, democratic offspring. So if you are thinking along the same lines as I am, please drop me a line and we can work on this together.
posted evening of November third, 2004: Respond
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Mrs. Shashank sends a nice picture of Sylvia with Supriya and Regina, at the Children's Academy Hallowe'en parade.
posted evening of November third, 2004: Respond
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Friday, October 15th, 2004
Here are some more pictures from Sylvia's 4th Birthday, courtesy of Miriam: READIN Family Album
posted morning of October 15th, 2004: Respond
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Monday, October 11th, 2004
Sylvia and I spent the evening at a neighbor's house, watching the finale concert of the Vote for Change tour and writing letters to voters in swing states. For me, the musical high point of the evening was the first song I heard, which was John Cougar singing "In my Time of Dying" -- I had no idea he sang that song, he does it very well. Sylvia was shy and stayed on or next to my lap all evening, not talking to people but smiling.
posted evening of October 11th, 2004: Respond
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Thursday, October 7th, 2004
With Sylvia the other day, I dropped by Bank Street Bookstore, my favorite place for children's books. (Right down the street is Labyrinth Books, my favorite place for philosophy books -- Pomander Books, my favorite (in NYC) used bookstore, used to be nearby but no more.) We picked up some more Moominfamily books, and an Olivia jigsaw puzzle -- The next level of difficulty up from the jigsaws she has been doing, this one is 63 pieces and a wider variation of shapes.
posted afternoon of October 7th, 2004: Respond
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