High summer in Wisconsin, and the weather is perfect for being outdoors: sunny, not too hot, mild breezes. I was dying to pick up and find some woods to hike through.
Donald, meantime, wanted nothing other than to relax alone with his final volume of the Harry Potter series, which had arrived in its special muggle-proof cardboard box from Amazon.com in yesterday's mail. The publishing event of the decade, at least.
So Ulysses and I ... more »
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Sunday, July 22
by
duonexus
on Sun 22 Jul 2007 06:44 PM CDT
Saturday, June 30
by
duonexus
on Sat 30 Jun 2007 07:29 PM CDT
Rhythm and Booms -- the Midwest's largest fireworks display -- takes place about a mile from our home each year. People come from all over, of course, and fill nearby Warner Park with campers and picnic blankets. People who live in the neighborhood are likely to invite folks over for cookouts, meantime.
Ulysses and I walked up to the playground on the grassy hill on the property of the mobile home park. We danced in ... more » Wednesday, May 30
by
duonexus
on Wed 30 May 2007 07:34 AM CDT
New word last night.
Our living room couch is a convertible futon sofa. It folds flat into a futon bed. Last year, U developed the dangerous habit of climbing up to the top of the couch to sit and hang out. We couldn't get him to stop. So we folded the couch flat, into its bed shape, and decided that would be the configuration until he was mature enough to be safer. On Monday, earlier ... more » Saturday, May 26
by
duonexus
on Sat 26 May 2007 11:25 AM CDT
New words since February. There are more. I'll add as I think of 'em.
hug wolf ay-soh dinosaur cheshire treasure egg jaja Serbian for egg tea chai Serbian for tea game cheech grape yes shee-shee TV ball chip-chop, chip-chop What you say when you stomp in a puddle more » Thursday, April 12
by
duonexus
on Thu 12 Apr 2007 06:37 AM CDT
A new word for Ulysses this past weekend was toast -- or, as he pronounces it, "toatch." He puts a hard "tch" on the end of lots of his words: "boatch" for boat, "mootch" for move, and so on. Lot of other words, he puts a "k" or "g" at the front end: "guck" for truck, "guck" for duck, "guck" for stuck, "gock" for sock, "cock" for clock. All these words sound almost alike to ... more »
Monday, March 5
by
duonexus
on Mon 05 Mar 2007 06:49 PM CST
Ulysses drew this picture on his magnetic doodle pad, then took it to show Donald, saying, "Fish!" So Donald snapped a photo, and sent me Internet chat at work to tell me about it. I was so excited, I told everyone in the room, and I couldn't wait to get home and see my little boy's first picture!more » Monday, February 12
Friday, December 29
by
duonexus
on Fri 29 Dec 2006 10:26 PM CST
About two weeks ago, Ulysses used the word "boo-boo" for the first time. I've never used it, myself -- Don says he's said it. And it's used in a couple of often-seen TV episodes I can think of (Spongebob Squarepants: No Weenies Allowed; Go, Diego, Go: A Boo-Boo on the Pygmy Marmoset) Ulysses didn't just say it; he used it.
We were sitting together at the dining table. I was reading the Web on my ... more » Wednesday, December 6
by
duonexus
on Wed 06 Dec 2006 10:47 PM CST
When I came home from work today, Donald was excited. "He said lots of words all day long!" he said. "I asked him if he wanted a banana, and he looked at them and said, 'Banana!' Then I offered him some cheese, and he said, 'Cheese!'"
He also insisted on using the cheese slicer, apparently. It's the type that's officially called a "cheese plane" -- pull backward against the cheese and a sliver comes up ... more » Monday, September 18
by
duonexus
on Mon 18 Sep 2006 09:39 PM CDT
This summer, we had an intense, painful heat wave. But now it's September, and the highs are often in the 60s.
Donald told me he took the double fan out of the bedroom window today, while I was at work. But it made Ulysses upset. "So, you put it back in?" I asked. "I had to," he replied. "And then I had to plug it in." "He wanted it plugged in?" "He insisted on it! ... more » Saturday, September 16
by
duonexus
on Sat 16 Sep 2006 03:56 PM CDT
Oh, how I wished I had a camera!U and I went down to the 8th annual Food for Thought Festival of sustainable agriculture by the Capitol Square. I hadn't planned on going, but attending the reception at L'Etoile yesterday after work got me wanting to go. I was among those invited for working on or helping to publicize the event. It was my third invite -- I had an article about the fest in ... more » Saturday, September 9
by
duonexus
on Sat 09 Sep 2006 09:23 PM CDT
Saturday. We needed lots of groceries. After a leisurely breakfast, and with U in a good mood, we ran some errands together and then headed to Woodman's. U was in a good mood, but evidently it was not a mood for grocery shopping. Don pushed the cart around the produce section while I alternately ran in circles after U or held him while he squirmed to be put down. As we began down the meat ... more »
Monday, August 21
by
duonexus
on Mon 21 Aug 2006 10:44 PM CDT
Inventing the ChildTo use the type of language that quickly becomes familiar to a reader of this book: The dominant culture reproduces itself by telling itself stories about itself. These stories tell of the rightness of obedience to authority, of the natural order of hierarchy, of power, of the obvious right of the strong to use violence and force to coerce the weak, of the need of the subjugated to be controlled. Children learn these stories, which reinforce the realities that they themselves experience and that they see around them. By telling these stories about children (or stand-ins for children, as... more » Sunday, June 11
Wednesday, February 8
by
duonexus
on Wed 08 Feb 2006 10:54 PM CST
"We'll have storytelling, then we'll watch a movie, and then we'll do a craft," said the woman who was leading the program. She had short gray hair and wore slacks and a long, lightweight jacket that swung down to mid-thigh. I hoped desperately that she would turn out to be cool.
U and I were at preschool story time at the Lakeview branch of the public library, in our neighborhood. It began at 7 p.m., so I scooped him up when I came home from work, pulled some clothes on him, and we went on our way. The program was ... more » Saturday, October 22
by
duonexus
on Sat 22 Oct 2005 03:16 PM EDT
Ulysses and I were hosing off in the showers after our usual Saturday morning swim at the Princeton Club.
From 10 a.m. to noon is their so-called "Family Swim," one of two
scheduled times in the week when the lap markers are hauled out of the
water and parents with kids of all ages can get in and splash around.
Unstructured fun and adventure.
In the shower across from us, a mother and daughter were in conflict. The girl was behind the shower curtain. The mother was outside, still in her swimsuit. She was reaching in and applying shampoo ... more » Sunday, October 16
by
duonexus
on Mon 17 Oct 2005 12:56 AM EDT
Ulysses and I went to Tenney Park. I had planned to go to Rev. Darryl
Richie's installation as settled minister at James Reeb Universalist
Unitarian Congregation this afternoon, but Ulysses was having a rough
day. It would have been too agonizing for him to sit through the event
in the sanctuary, where it was happening, and too pointless for me to
sit through it playing with him in the nursery.
U and Don have been sick with colds since last week. Somehow I dodged that bullet. U seemed pretty much recovered from his cold, so I got him up earlier ... more » Saturday, October 8
by
duonexus
on Sat 08 Oct 2005 10:18 PM CDT
We had had a swell time swimming at the Princeton Club. Ulysses rode on my back as I used a double layer of blue kickboards to take the strain off my neck as I kick-propelled us back and forth through the big pool. In the hot tub, he stood on the tile bench, his chin just above the water, and absolutely unafraid as I disappeared under the surface and came up spouting at him. When it was time to go, he turned and pushed the heavy glass door shut behind him when we left the pool area and headed to ... more »
Wednesday, September 28
by
duonexus
on Wed 28 Sep 2005 07:34 PM EDT
Thursday, September 22
by
duonexus
on Thu 22 Sep 2005 08:35 PM EDT
Ulysses's first Happy Meal. There's a milestone for ya.
On a day where there were many occasions to take him out of the car and put him back in, he was exceedingly miserable with getting in. We'd drive a little and then have some reason to get out, and then putting him in to get to the next place was a screaming, tortured nightmare. It didn't help that his midday nap had been cut short by a soaking wet diaper and he never managed to drift back into it again.Finally, errands out of the way -- and more » Tuesday, September 20
by
duonexus
on Tue 20 Sep 2005 02:28 PM EDT
Sunday, September 18
by
duonexus
on Sun 18 Sep 2005 03:29 PM EDT
We went to the Northside Farmer's Market
today. We were chatting with a volunteer we know who was staffing the
Northside Co-op info table. Conversation turned to Ulysses -- how's he
doing, my, how big he's getting, and so forth.
"Is he a good eater?" she asked. "Oh, yeah!" I answered immediately, nodding. I was thinking of how much he enjoys eating lemon and lime slices, the toppings and sauce off his pizza before tearing up and hurling away the crust (and after discarding the pepperoni), how much pleasure he gets from munching on green onion stalks, basil sprigs, and ... more » Monday, September 12
by
duonexus
on Mon 12 Sep 2005 05:54 PM EDT
More fashion direction: I was wearing a nice skirt and top while we
were out, for the first time in maybe a couple of months. But I peeled
them off on coming home. I was planning on heating and eating some of
that beef and pork biryani I made the other day -- delicious, and
loaded with Indian spices of high stain potential. In anticipation of
the possibility that U might join me in a bowl of stew -- literally --
I got down to underwear.
Ulysses found the clothes in their pile on the floor and picked them up, ... more » Sunday, September 11
by
duonexus
on Sun 11 Sep 2005 08:31 PM EDT
Ulysses was pushing his toy shopping cart across the bumpy lawn towards
the sidewalk. Not easy. With about a third of the way yet to go, he
backed away from the cart. Then he reached up towards me, a cue for my
hand. He grasped my wrist and placed my hand, palm down, on the cart
handle. He made little high-pitched grunts of dissatisfaction until I
was stationed properly behind the cart, both hands gripping the bar.
Then he walked behind me, placed his hands on the backs of my knees, and pushed. Squeals of delight as I began to ... more » Thursday, September 8
by
duonexus
on Thu 08 Sep 2005 02:54 PM EDT
UnschoolingDiscussion · UnschoolingDiscussion@yahoogroups.com
From: "Vesna" <duonexus@tds.net> Date: Thu Sep 8, 2005 1:54 pm Subject: Accusations -- a student's reward for good work [Was: Re: I need some help] Glena, I can relate! Similarly, in the seventh grade I was accused of plagarism because my book report seemed (to her) so good that it had to have been copied from the dust jacket. The teacher didn't bother to look at the dust jacket before leveling her charge. At first, I thought it was a compliment. I was trying to write the way "real writers" wrote, so being compared to the pros ... more »
by
duonexus
on Thu 08 Sep 2005 08:18 AM EDT
UnschoolingDiscussion
· UnschoolingDiscussion@yahoogroups.com
From: "Vesna" <duonexus@tds.net> Date: Thu Sep 8, 2005 7:18 am Subject: Re: I need some help.....(sorry it's long) Sandra, I totally agree with you. I'm sorry, I didn't explain the point of the book right. The book "Homeschooling Our Children, Unschooling Ourselves" does not justify pressing lessons on kids. The whole book is about just the opposite. It shows how disastrous it is to press lessons on kids. I agree, and the writer of the book would agree, more than twice IS just too much. If she could go back in time and take back whatever efforts ... more » Wednesday, September 7
by
duonexus
on Wed 07 Sep 2005 12:25 PM EDT
UnschoolingDiscussion · UnschoolingDiscussion@yahoogroups.com
From: "Vesna" <duonexus@tds.net> Date: Wed Sep 7, 2005 11:25 am Subject: Re: Not First Day of School Robyn, --- In UnschoolingDiscussion@yahoogroups.com, "Robyn Coburn" <dezigna@c...> wrote: > Today would have been Jayn's first day in mandatory school (in CA) if we had > not been so fortunate as to have been led to Unschooling. That's great! My son is not "school age" yet. Yesterday I was visiting a friend whose son just started kindergarten last week. We walked to the bus stop together to meet him coming home. She said, by way of calculating when he would ... more »
by
duonexus
on Wed 07 Sep 2005 12:10 PM EDT
From: "Vesna" <duonexus@tds.net> Date: Wed Sep 7, 2005 11:10 am Subject: Re: I need some help.....(sorry it's long) --- In UnschoolingDiscussion@yahoogroups.com, "Kim J. F…" <kim@t...> wrote: > I need some advice on what to do with my kiddos. My kids are 8,7,5 and 8 > months. My concern is really with the older ones. We have been unschooling > for a long time. Though periodically we have tried using a curriculum, but > always stop after like 2 weeks. > My problem is that though my 8 year old does seek out some information, they > really just play most ... more » Sunday, September 4
by
duonexus
on Sun 04 Sep 2005 11:04 PM EDT
Today we all went to the Union Cab picnic at Demetral Field. The
candidate's forum was at 1 pm. Don is running for the Board, so he was
there for that. He made his statement and answered questions with the
other seven candidates. That lasted about an hour and a half. For an
hour and a half, I chased Ulysses around the Demetral Field picnic
shelter and kept him off the hot grills, out of the dog poop, and away
from Don's lap.
Every time Don started to talk, U screamed with happiness and ran straight for him. I would ... more » Saturday, September 3
by
duonexus
on Sat 03 Sep 2005 11:16 AM EDT
I dreamed that Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Starship Enterprise
was the size and shape of Ulysses. Some crisis was in progress. I
picked up the captain and moved him from one spot to another.
"Come on, Captain!" I urged. "The lives of a thousand crewmembers are depending on you!" Captain Picard started to wail. more » Tuesday, August 23
by
duonexus
on Tue 23 Aug 2005 06:04 PM EDT
Lake View Elementary School playground, home of lots of jungle gym
slide sets, and the only playground I know of in town that's shaded at
midday, thanks to a stand of lovely old oak trees. Far less than a mile
from home, it's an easy bike ride.
So quick a bike ride, in fact, that U is usually not ready to get off the bike by the time we arrive. He grabs at his helmet, clutches at his bike seat straps, and otherwise shows that he wants more riding. So around the grassy field we go, threading our way through ... more » Monday, August 8
by
duonexus
on Mon 08 Aug 2005 03:03 PM EDT
Ulysses was working at one his favorite tasks, scrubbing the toilet
in the front bathroom. I left him happily at it for a minute or two,
but when I came back to see how he was doing, he had added a new
element.
He looked joyfully up at me as I approached, glad to show me what he'd done: he'd put his life-sized toy biscuit into the water, and it bobbed gaily in the bowl as he plunged the toilet brush up and down. But his pride quickly dissolved into confusion and shock. Instead of praising his cleverness, I cried ... more » |
about us
In alphabetical order, we are:
b. 1963 from New Jersey and Georgia Ulysses Eugene V Kovach b. 2004 from Madison, Wisconsin Vesna Vuynovich Kovach "blogger in chief" b. 1962 from Baltimore Search
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Ulysses drew this picture on his magnetic doodle pad, then took it to show Donald, saying, "Fish!" So Donald snapped a photo, and sent me Internet chat at work to tell me about it. I was so excited, I told everyone in the room, and I couldn't wait to get home and see my little boy's first picture!
Oh, how I wished I had a camera!
Saturday. We needed lots of groceries. After a leisurely breakfast, and with U in a good mood, we ran some errands together and then headed to Woodman's. U was in a good mood, but evidently it was not a mood for grocery shopping. Don pushed the cart around the produce section while I alternately ran in circles after U or held him while he squirmed to be put down. As we began down the meat ... 
Ulysses held up a toy T-Rex -- a dark purple, realistically styled, suede-ish critter about 4" high, once merchandise from my street vendor days in Philly -- and said, all throaty and gutteral,
On a day where there were many occasions to take him out of the car and put him back in, he was exceedingly miserable with getting in. We'd drive a little and then have some reason to get out, and then putting him in to get to the next place was a screaming, tortured nightmare. It didn't help that his midday nap had been cut short by a soaking wet diaper and he never managed to drift back into it again.