I was this close to this thing

Last Sunday morning, after a rowdy breakfast with the kids at TJ's on High, Frankie and her friend Aaron and parents went to Highbanks Metro Park and found this big, fat, squishy Cecropia Moth Caterpillar. After the kids watched it a while (Frankie fortunately didn't squash it), Trish bravely took it to the edge of the woods so it could turn into a moth in peace. Click on the image to go to a cool site called "What's that bug".

And, by the way, here's a picture of the beautiful moth it will turn into. It says on that page the female won't live longer than 2 weeks because it lives only to lay eggs and die. And I thought I was a dedicated parent.

caterpillar toddler parenting columbus

Busy traveling schedule interfering with potty training? Now there's this nifty device.

Dr. Fauci, the man

NPR has a series entitled This I Believe. The essays are submitted and read by a wide variety of professionals, and it is, Newt (I have a wife and several girlfriends) Gingrich notwithstanding, incredible. Inspiring sometimes. This week's essay is by Dr. Anthony Fauci. It's especially interesting to hear his positive take on his own character flaws as it pertains to what he does and what drives him. An excerpt:

Second, I believe in striving for excellence. I sweat the big and the small stuff! I do not apologize for this. One of the by-products of being a perfectionist and constantly trying to improve myself are sobering feelings of low-grade anxiety and a nagging sense of inadequacy. But this is not anxiety without a purpose. No, this anxiety keeps me humble. It creates a healthy tension that serves as the catalyst that drives me to fulfill my limited potential.

This has made me a better physician and scientist. Without this tension, I wouldn't be as focused.

Peruse the archives and enjoy.

npr vocation beliefs anxiety

Parenting Tip #612

Long car/plane rides? General relaxation needed for that slightly challenging toddler. Try these tunes. Most of them are midi files and start playing when the page is selected.

toddler parenting

Slime revisited

A while ago I wanted to visit my girl's daycare class and have the tikes make a slime recipe I modified. I portioned it out so everyone could make their own. She got sick on her birthday and I shelved the ingredients in my 1000-deg-F garage.

I took a portion out yesterday, mixed it up and gave it to the Frankster to play with while dinner prep was going on. She loved it. Apparently, it's a pretty robust preparation.

arts + crafts toddler slime

Waterfire on the Mile premieres tonight

Across Spring Street from the Arena District, tonight premieres an interesting artistic installation that originated in Providence RI by Barnaby Evans (Linda Roehrenbeck was responsible for bringing the installation to Columbus). His Little bonfires will float along in the Scioto in the North Bank Park area tonight beginning at 9:15. A little past Frankie's bedtime, but we're going for it anyway, we hope she likes it. It will take place monthly through October. Should be fun. If I can, I'll put some photos up on flickr. Full story in The Other Paper this week.

Also, Waterfire on the Mile has it's own site.

Update:
They started a bit late and Frankie was getting pretty impatient so me missed most of it but here's a couple images from flickr. Keep and eye on this link, maybe they'll be more uploaded throughout the weekend. A great turnout though! North Bank Park was jammed.

art columbus waterfire

Happy Bastille Day All

Five years ago we trucked into Columbus, from Baltimore, with a bunch of animals in tow. We were exhausted and sat on our front porch and ate Gatto's pizza and drank champagne. A LOT has happened in the past five years and although we dearly miss our neighbors from Baltimore, we've become quite comfortable here. I think we'll stay a while.

For a nice site from Baltimore, see Jon's.

france bastille day columbus baltimore

She made it!

Suze went under the knife and came through with flying colors to have the growth on her side removed. She even got a manicure while under. We're grateful to have her back.

On a more serious note: Columbus, OH banned assault weapons after the federal law expired. Full story here.

nervous dog assault weapons pets

Suze

Suze is going under the knife tomorrow to have a growth removed. Wish her luck.

dog veterinary medicine nervous dog pet

The Friday news dump

•Natalie Dee who I link in the sidebar under "Columbus" is a local artist who draws amusing cartoons to make my day more pleasant now has an advice column in the free Columbus Weekly, Columbus Alive. Kind of funny this week, give it a read.

•This looks cool. Should be interesting as the date approaches. Frankie should be quite skilled in finger painting by October.

•And, I refuse to tag this post with Lindsay Lohan's Breasts just to get extra hits today. Have a good weekend (oh, c'mon, it's not prurient, it's an experiment in tagging).

toddler crafts columbus advice lindsay lohan

Parenting, children and alligators

I don't think a day goes by when Trish and I don't express doubt about our parenting decisions: are we reading to her enough? are schedules stifling her creativity? are we the reason she has the attention span of a gnat? Montessori or Public? will a sippy or open cup have profound implications on her development? Unix/Linux, Mac or Windows? will excessive amounts of pink clothing turn her into a girly girl? will our fear of bugs prevent her from a career as an entomologist? will giving in to an occasional trip to Wendy's cause her to be a junk-food addict?

Hegemo to the rescue with this piece. Check out the slide show. I haven't been able to view the video because of my current set up (that's probably a good thing).

I feel much better.

parenting downward social comparison alligator toddler columbus

Doo Dah

If you missed yesterday's Doo Dah Parade, catch Hope's pics on flickr. Thanks Hope, we couldn't make it (naptime, you know). And, another set of pics of the parade from Hegemo (better descriptions of the action).

doo dah parade 4th of july columbus

Outing

Two Beers at Barley's, $9
Dinner at Barley's, $30
Babysitter, $40
3 hours of watching people at gallery hop ... priceless.

gallery hop escape dinner columbus