It is not the easiest thing to have loved ones living in faraway parts of the world. We were relieved when my brother and his family left Israel for Jordan and even more relieved when they moved to Bangkok a year ago. But today, there�s news of a military coup in their current home. The irony of it is that they probably don�t even know about it yet � it�s the middle of the night there. It�s hard to tell what this means from abroad. But tanks moving into the city doesn�t sound good. I have to try to sit on my hands and wait for news.

I�m not very good at waiting. Instead I�ll try some distractions.

We received a call from AJ�s school while AJ and I were skating this morning and I couldn�t wait to call them back either. It turned out to be nothing too serious. The speech therapist, who had apparently screened him a couple of weeks ago (She did? Why didn�t we know about this?), wanted to talk about the results of his screening which were, as they have been for the last couple of years, borderline. He�s got a couple of minor problems that are common with younger kids but that usually disappear by AJ�s age. The speech therapist sounded very sensible. She wants to take the wait-and-see approach. �I think trying to correct these things too soon sometimes just makes them self-conscious.� My feelings exactly.

Time to watch CNN. I leave you with my favorite quote of yesterday, heard on the Curious George show that AJ was watching on PBS:

�The smartest wiener dogs are always the most misunderstood.�

6 people said it like they meant it