spynotes ::
  February 25, 2007
Shaping up

It�s snowing and snowing again. This time it�s the thick, wet, heavy stuff, the kind that sticks to every branch of every tree and turns our yard into a magical place, the kind that is back-breaking to shovel. For the first time ever, we abandoned the project of the driveway and called a plow. It was the best $50 we�ve ever spent.

I have the Oscars on in the background while I�m doing some time trials on my papers for next weekend�s conference. Melissa Etheridge is singing. She looks old. I remember going to see her with rs536 a bunch of years ago � I no longer remember how many. It was the day of the Puerto Rican Day parade and we got stuck on the crosstown bus. We made it to the Beacon Theater, but just barely. She started, if I remember correctly (and I probably don�t) with �Somebody Bring Me Some Water,� and I remember sitting there thinking how incredibly thirsty I was. After a hot afternoon on the bus and a dive into a cool theater, it seemed appropriate.

I really don�t enjoy watching the Oscars, but I can�t not watch them. As a kid, they were something we always had on in the evening while our family was lounging around our vacation condo after a day at the beach. The show always used to coincide with spring break. AJ was born on Oscar night, shortly after the festivities ended. We kept the Oscars on in the delivery room because we discovered that we got more attention from the nurses, who would pop in regularly to see who was winning and who was wearing what. The Oscars are entirely wrapped up in the best parts of my family history. So maybe that�s why my favorite moment of the evening thus far was when the camera panned to Abigail Breslin and showed her in a pink princess dress, swinging her feet off the edge of her seat with a blankie and a well-loved Curious George doll in her lap.

AJ is curled up with his blankie and his Curious George music box. He is not thinking about the Oscars. He is probably dreaming about pentominos. We�ve been reading Blue Balliet�s The Wright 3, which takes place on familiar turf. Part of the book is based around one of the character�s pentominoes. Pentominoes, I learned, are a collection of squares (or cubes, depending on whether you�re looking at the 2-D or 3-D version) grouped into shapes of 5 squares each and are named for the letters they resemble. You can read more about them here. AJ is fascinated by them and has been asking all kinds of questions. I think that tomorrow we may try to make some out of legos or paper. Tonight as I tucked him in, I couldn�t get him to settle down. After singing his lullaby and turning on �the monkey,� as he calls his music box, he popped up again. �Mommy, can you make pentominoes out of other shapes?�

�Well, you could, but they probably wouldn�t be called pentominoes.�

�Well, I�m going to try making some with my shapes.� His shapes are a collection of different colored and shaped tiles that you use to make pictures, kind of like tangrams.
�That�s a great idea.�

�Do you think I could have some pentominoes sometime?�

�Probably. Maybe we can look online tomorrow to see what we can find okay?�

�Okay.�

I managed to make it to the door before I heard another question from the dark. �Do you think I could make them into a square?�

�I don�t know AJ.�

�Because I think you can. Or maybe a rectangle.�

�We�ll try tomorrow, AJ. Go to sleep.�

�Night night.�

"Night night."

2 people said it like they meant it

 
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