SIMON'S PLACE | Simon Says Archive April 2002

Early this morning, Simon started coloring in a Tonka construction crew coloring book. He was using a pale yellow marker and putting on a lot of ink. He said he was making it the "true" color (yellow for construction vehicles). After a while, the preprinted ink on the page started to run a bit, and he was annoyed. Considering this a "teachable moment," Mary launched into a discussion of choosing media for artwork.
Mary: "Markers are really wet, and when you put on a lot, that can make other stuff run. So, that's what an artist thinks about, to choose a color and a kind of thing to use. Like, you can use a marker, or a colored pencil, or a crayon, or whatever you think will work best."

Mary: "Yes, you are. Nancy in my office is an artist, too. Did you know that? Maybe she can come over sometime and do a project with you. Would you like that?"

[Nancy, what do you think?]

April 24, 2002 "Volcano Pose"

Simon is increasingly interested in doing yoga, and he's working with the Yoga Kids tape, a totally fun way for kids to do yoga. After a year of couch-potato yoga, he's suddenly in the middle of the living room floor, doing all the poses with great precision. The pose that recently drew him in is vulcano pose, and the yoga lady asks: "What is your vulcano filled with?" The kids' voices on the tape say, "Candy!" and "Ice Cream!." Simon said:

April 23, 2002 "Confidence in Chemo"

Mary: "I am hoping these chemo drugs are making your tumors go away!"

April 21, 2002 "Feeling the Fight"

Simon recently got new shoes: the kind with the lights that flash as he walks. We like to say that the lights fight cancer.
Mary: "Can you feel the lights in your shoes fighting cancer? Can you feel the shot* in your leg fighting cancer?"

"Yes! The lights are showing the medicine where to go.. When they see something, they just fight it off and get it dead!"

[*Saturday was the first day of Simon's new regimen of Iscador therapy, which we are giving as a 1 ml subcutaneous injection every other morning. So far, so good. For more information on Iscador, see the TREATMENT page.]

April 19, 2002 "A Hard Job"

After a day at the hospital for Simon to have a new Broviac central line surgically implanted, Mary offered some praise: "I think we did a good job at the hospital today. Only you had the hard job, and I had the easy job."

Yeah, in The Cat Song. The kids get the hard part, and the grown-ups get the easy part.* It's not very nice!"

[*Gemini has a great, rhythmically fun song, The Cat Song, with repeated refrains where the grown-ups are assigned to say, "No!" and the kids say, "Neither can I, but my cat can!" Like this:

Can you walk on dry leaves and not make a sound?
No!
Neither can I, but my cat can!]

April 16, 2002 "Fun with Math"

Simon, Miriam and Mary ran into Lindsay (mother of the oft-mentioned Andre) on the bus this morning. She was going to school; we were headed to the dinosaur musuem.

Simon (demonstrating with his fingers): "Lindsay, I can do math! 5 + 1 is 6!"

Lindsay: "How did you get so good at math?"

Simon:" I just learned it from my hands."

April 16, 2002 "Some Confusion about Bobs"

Admiring the now blooming daffodils from a Peace Planting Mary's office coordinated last fall, Mary and the kids saw Mary's friend Bob Grese, director of the Arb. A somewhat bizzare set of associations followed, loosely recounted below.

Mary: "Hi Bob!"

Simon (wandering toward Miriam): "I know two Bobs: Bob the Builder and Sponge Bob."

Bob: "Well, I have to go to class now."

Mary: "Do you want to say goodbye to my friend Bob, Simon and Miriam?" (They didn't. Bob walked on.)

[Pause] Miriam: "Where Sponge Bob go?"

Further along on our walk, Simon noticed a broken stone fence.

Thinking like a university burocrat, Mary almost said something about how Bob is the director of the Arb, but he's not in charge of the brick fence by the pool. But then Simon clarified:

April 15, 2002 "What Flowers Do"

On a suddenly hot mid-April day (it's been in the 80's!), Mary mused in the car on the way home to Simon that we should check on the tulips he planted in the fall to see how they were doing. He replied:

Undated

Recently, on a rainy day

April 14, 2002 "A Peck on the Cheek"

While Mary stood next to Simon as he washed his hands this evening, she couldn't resist bending down to give him a quick kiss on his cheek. Confessing, she said, "I stole a kiss!"

April 13, 2002 "A Burst of Energy"

Acting somewhat sneaky, Simon raced up the stairs and returned a few minutes later. Mary asked, "Why did you go upstairs?" Simon replied, goofily:

April 11, 2002 "A Disagreement"

Espousing a strong opinion that ran contrary to that of both parents, Simon expressed his disgust:

April 11, 2002 "Upset Tummy"

On the first day of a recent bout of vomiting/diarhea, Miriam asked for a cup of cranberry juice. Wondering if this would be OK in her condition, Mary gave her a small glass and asked her to "listen to her tummy" to be sure it was OK. She took a sip. Mary queried, "What did your tummy say?" Miriam's dutiful response:

April 8, 2002 "Praise"

Markus and the kids worked on a punch-out paper doll activity with Bob the Builder before bed yesterday. Markus put on the finishing touches, which Miriam admired this morning in absolutely perfect motivator fashion:

April 7, 2002 "A Little Angry"

Miriam quoth to Markus:

Simon quoth in response:

Later that same evening, Miriam quoth to Mary:

Mary queried: "Then where will you get your drinkies from?"

April 7, 2002 "Potty Alert"

Simultaneously, both kids said "I need to pee" and raced each other up the stairs to our one and only toilet. Markus clambored from behind to bring our one and only potty up the stairs, slipping the potty under Miriam in time. Simon called to Markus in the hall:

Markus beamed at Miriam and said, "I'm so proud of you!" To which she replied,

April 6, 2002 "Expression"

Standing in front of our upstairs hall mirror (for those in the family, it's the oval-shaped one that Granny and Gramp had at the end of the hall), Miriam grimaced and decried:

Meanwhile, Simon was voicing a loud complaint downstairs. Miriam headed down the stairs, and said:

[To quote Lawrie, she speaks for all of us.]

April 6, 2002 "A Favorite Food"

Dipping his chesadilla into a pile of humous on his plate, Simon proclaimed:

April 6, 2002 "The Smell of Breakfast Wafting Up the Stairs"

Miriam picked up on the scent of the griddle as she came down the stairs on Saturday morning and exclaimed:

[For those of you who don't know our family patterns, it bears noting that Markus has been the breakfast cook at our house ever since Mary had morning sickness for the first time. Well past that stage of things, she still appreciates the service!]

April 5, 2002 "A Moment's Confusion"

Recently "An Eye for Color and a Heart for Love"

Simon and Mary have been enjoying the colors and the color names in the box of 64 crayons. Simon pulled out the colors "sky blue" and "robin's egg blue".

April 2, 2002 "A Good Question"

Contemplating his chemo regimen, Simon said,

Recently "Side by Side with Dad"

Mary discovered Miriam in the kitchen with Markus at the sink. "Are you helping Dad with clean-up?"

April 4, 2002 "Potty Training"

Miriam decided to put on underwear this morning, and since this is still an experiment for her, we were eager to set her up with a potty downstairs. Simon commented:

(Miriam successfully used her potty TWICE this morning. Although she's got to fit this major learning step around our bizzare schedule with Simon's treatments and our worklives, she persists in leading the charge and is likely to get a handle on the whole project pretty soon.)

(Recently) "The Psychology of Time-Outs"

Although it's a rare instance these days, Simon sometimes needs a time out after doing something inappropriate. Our normal procedure is to discuss the issue that lead to the time-out once the timer dings. Annoyed at the requirement of discussing his time-out, Simon said:

SIMON SAYS Archive April 2002

April 26, 2002 "A Budding Artist"