This is Ten - Twelve.

stories and snippets from the frontlines of age 10-12.

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This is Ten.

stories and snippets from the frontlines of age ten.

Child 1 (girl)

A great deal of teasing her younger brother - three years her junior. Ability to turn on a dime: best of buds, then pivot quickly to teasing him relentlessly. Seems very conscious of people, including us, watching her be affectionate or appear to be having too good a time with him.

Reading: Flora & Ulysses

Child 2 (boy)

Up in the morning. First thing. Usually between 5 and 6am, seven days a week. To draw, illustrate, or paint before the day’s dawn and realities fully arrive. Amazing.

Ralph Steadman. Starting around October? Huge influence. Constantly painting. Both digital and watercolor, ink, acrylic.

Ray Bradbury. Big fan still.

Loving theater and acting.

Very interested in peoples ages and when they die, as well as last words and how tall people are. Beginning January 2021

Extremely conscientious.

Very, very into politics still. Very up on what the state of the Republican Party is and the latest hypocrisies or ludicrous pronouncements to capture for eternity via cartoons. By the way: his cartoons are getting really good.

Memorizing people’s birth and death dates. He’s pretty amazing with it. Getting really interested in arranging history in different contexts.
Dip pens. Mixed media painting.
Ray Bradbury. Still.
Twilight Zone (original)
April 2021

Draw draw cartoon paint draw paint draw collage paint draw cartoon write research draw illustrate paint research read swing draw paint repeat.
June 2021

This is his birthday list for turning 11 this month:

Snowdon Cartridge Paper 300 GSM
Winsor Newton Ink Pack
Accordion (NOT electronic, NO pattern)
OLD record player (eBay)
Polaroid 600 Black & White Film
The Tale of Driver Grope (Ralph Steadman)
Any Ray Bradbury books

This is Eleven.

stories and snippets from the frontlines of age eleven.

When I was freshly 11, on the day of August 19th, 1987, something terrible happened. No, not my parents’ 14th anniversary, a happening for which I was and am grateful. No, it is this: I went to the home of Craig W———, a fellow two grades and years senior to me. Craig had an Atari 2600 game console, and I played it. This is the terrible thing. It introduced me to gaming, and there was a period of several months when I could think of little else - at least in my memory - and I remember a sense of despondency and lost hope that I would ever attain a system such as an Atari or Commodore 64. We had nothing. And I knew we never would, that all was lost. This is the day I discovered video games, and for a brief period of time it seemed like that was the gateway to my future. I loved it so much and could have spent hours playing, had I had one. Sadly, I did not, and tragically, eventually my interests moved to other things and I was never able to immerse myself fully in a gaming lifestyle, a happening which surely would have led to many wonderful and beautiful things in life. But you move on, or try to. 20250112

Child 1 (girl)

coming soon

Child 2 (boy)

Immersed in art, still. Current: his big influences Ralph Steadman, Quentin Blake, Ronald Searle, and Punch magazine. Pages and pages filled with his renderings of various historic and political figures. Love his style and interest and dedication so much. It can be intense. But I love it. Summer 2021

Very into his animals - goat, cat/kittens, salamanders, frogs, and…duckweed. I have learned a great deal about duckweed recently. Outside all throughout any given day in our pasture, checking on his pond, the creek, and various habitats.

Loves snuggling with his mom. And sometimes me.

I have to choose my battles. And I don’t always choose well. Summer 2021

Reading: E.G. Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado and Oliver Jeffers’ Here We Are (2017). September 2021

Reading: I’m Not Leaving (Carl Wilkens) and Talking to Strangers (Malcolm Gladwell)
Very proud of his 1961 rotary printing press. January 2022

This is twelve.

stories and snippets from the frontlines of age twelve.

Our oldest (2009)

I have long enjoyed experiencing cinema with her; it has only become more of a bond as she has aged, and now we have watched Signs and The Adjustment Bureau together; just the two of us over multiple nights, and it has been wonderful. I love how she observes people, character, relationships, and the questions she asks as she tracks what’s happening. I can feel the glee and joy in experiencing a captivating story and it makes my heart sing. Quietly. Find things to connect about.

It is wonderful to see the friendships she has developed; the ways in which she and her closest ones reinforce and support one another. They all have a strong interest in academics and most in reading. They make things and do things and create and discuss and play games and run. I love that. I am so glad she has neat friends.

I love how one of the first things she does when walking in the front door is to go over to our 2009 iMac and start up a playlist on Spotify. Our house is meant to be filled with conversation, love, art, and…music. She has absorbed and ritualized that and I love it.

We have begun to take for granted her helpfulness in certain areas, such as making lunch for her siblings on the days we’re home. It is wonderful.

Trying to find small ways to make little moments solo, like watching Shyamalan films after the younger ones are in bed. Nov 2019

Our second oldest (2022)

Thinking he may want to be a Pixar animator someday (2022)

Chess. Halfway through 12, that is the thing. The big thing. There is no disguising the things that fascinate and interest him at a particular point. He’s all in, starting in January 2023.

Loves ice cream, which is difficult to reconcile with some of his other disdain for dairy in general.

Loves to snuggle with his mom…and reluctantly with me.

Growth spurt and accompanying appetite. 20230323

Sleep rhythm starting to change. To bed later (9ish), doesn’t always get up on his own, which is a shift (6am-ish). Has started taking naps sometimes in car. 20230503

Competitive with his older sister about many things.

Finding his stride with…tone and deference and humor all swirled up together. How to be respectful and sincere when you also have a great sense of humor.

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