The Series Concludes

Ryan and I have been engaged in an epic backyard street-hockey series since the beginning of the NHL playoffs. With me getting ready to head off on a business trip, I pushed him to figure out when the series would end. Since Ryan was keeping track of everything — wins and losses, shots on goal, […]

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Grammar Lesson With DJ Ryan

Now that Ryan is old enough and large enough to ride in the front seat of our car, he takes great pleasure in assuming the role of in-car DJ. The second he’s buckled in, he begins scanning the programmed radio stations, looking for a song he likes. Ryan’s taste in music isn’t bad. Unlike his […]

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He’s A Hockey Player

Ryan lost a tooth yesterday. We know this because he came up from watching TV in the basement during breakfast and announced “I lost a tooth.” Ever the literal child, Ryan’s pronouncement meant exactly what he said: He lost a tooth. As in, pulled it out of his mouth and misplaced it somewhere. Missing. Lost. […]

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At the Movies

We haven’t had a ton of success taking Ryan to the movies over the years. His issues weren’t sensory — the overly loud previews don’t seem to bother him at all, for example — but rather attention span. Ryan couldn’t stay engaged with anything that lasted 90 minutes or more. We did OK with some […]

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Lessons in Losing

“Show me a good loser, and I’ll show you a loser,” said Vince Lombardi, famously. We don’t necessarily subscribe to that philosophy in our household, but both Veronica and I believe it is important to teach our kids to win and lose. We never believed in playing games until everyone won. We preferred to allow […]

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