Steelykid!
drorzel | January 27, 2013It's been a good while since I did any Cute Kid Blogging, due to excessive busy-ness. There's big news among the younger residents of Chateau Steelypips, though: SteelyKid lost one of her front teeth the other day:
SteelyKid showing off her missing tooth
That gap? Wasn't there on Friday morning. Lest you think we're horrible people who let her run headfirst into a pole or something, while we were surprised to have one come loose this early, she's within the normal age range for losing baby teeth. Just barely, but then she got teeth really early, too-- she had eight at eight months old. So I…
drorzel | December 31, 2012The Pip's ringing in the New Year... Well, OK, he's actually asleep upstairs. Because when you have a one-year-old and a four-year-old, you don't really get out to a lot of parties on New Year's Eve.
Anyway, to be honest, I won't be all that sorry to see 2012's taillights fade to black. There were undoubtedly some good things-- the publishing of How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog and a few smaller things, and the sale of How to Think Like a Scientist, along with some other weird-but-fun stuff that's not tangible enough to talk about yet. There were also some very bad things-- several deaths…
drorzel | November 29, 2012In the comments to yesterday's post about college admissions, Joseph Yoon quoted my statement that "I'm somewhat sympathetic to claims that Asians have a difficult position in higher education," and shot back with:
I wonder if you will feel more strongly about this in 10 years when your kids are near college. Will you advise them to not check the Asian box if it decreases their chances?
As a general matter, I try to avoid responding to comments when my initial reaction is "Oh, go fuck yourself." But I'll make an exception here, because I think it goes to a more general issue about college…
drorzel | September 27, 2012SCENE: The library at Chateau Steelypips. DADDY is typing on the computer, while THE PIP plays on the floor. Enter STEELYKID.
STEELYKID: I'm already four years old.
DADDY: Yes, yes you are.
THE PIP: Thbbbbbbbpppt!
STEELYKID: How old is The Pip?
DADDY: Eleven months. Not quite one year.
STEELYKID: When The Pip is four, how old will I be?
DADDY: You'll be seven.
STEELYKID: And when he's seven, how old will I be?
DADDY: You'll be ten.
THE PIP: (pulls himself to a standing position) GA BA DA BA Phbbbbt! (falls down)
STEELYKID: Daddy, how old are you?
DADDY: I'm forty-one.
STEELYKID: And when I'm…
drorzel | September 18, 2012There are a bunch of physics stories that I'd sort of like to write about, but don't have time for, and politics is oscillating between "darkly hilarious" and "indescribably depressing," so that's best left alone. So, here's some cute kid pictures instead.
SteelyKid has lately taken to telling all and sundry "This is my daddy. He's a scientist." She also sometimes adds "I'm a scientist, too!" so it seemed appropriate to go out with her and Do A Science.
As previously mentioned, she got a bunch of Backyard Safari gear from my aunt and uncle, which included a safari vest and a collapsible mesh…
drorzel | September 4, 2012So, a couple of months ago, I said I was taking some time off from the blog, and wasn't sure I would make it back. What was up with that, anyway?
Well, for one thing, I had a bunch of stuff to work on, and needed the extra time. I wrote a proposal for a third book that's being shopped around now, about which I won't say anything other than that it doesn't involve Emmy. (She's taking it in stride. As long as she gets treats and belly rubs, we're cool.).
I also wrote two papers, posted to the arxiv: first, Searching for New Physics through AMO Precision Measurements:
We briefly review recent…
drorzel | September 1, 2012I might return to physics blogging at some point, but I know what people really want from this blog. So, here's a cute kid picture.
Don't worry, Daddy, we're not up to anything
The Pip is increasingly mobile, and here we see him trying to climb into my lap, with an assist from big sister SteelyKid. Giving them superhero-ish noms du Net may have been a mistake, because I think they may be planning to take over the world...
drorzel | June 23, 2012I had hoped to get the next Ten Years Before the Blog post queued up for today, but what with one thing and another, that didn't happen. It probably won't happen before Monday, either, as the weekend will be full of family-type activities-- taking SteelyKid to soccer this morning, and her summer camp orientation tomorrow, and so on.
So, here's some cute-kid material in honor of that. The featured image above (not visible in the RSS feed, alas) is me with the two kids, The Pip sporting the Yankees outfit his Aunt Mary sent him (Uncle Dick would've been proud), and SteelyKid in her spiffy new…
drorzel | June 3, 2012In which we look at the very latest in amphibian science.
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The embedded video shows one Prof. S. Kid describing her latest observations in detail. It's a very comprehensive study.
drorzel | May 21, 2012Because I need to test out some features of the new WordPress system, including the image handling, here's a place-holder post with a bonus SteelyKid photo:
This is SteelyKid kicking back at Niska-Day over the weekend (the annual community fair here in Niskayuna). Don't be deceived by the lazy look of this image-- she was seriously fired up, and went on a whole bunch of rides, including four trips on the "roller coaster," proving she is her mother's daughter. She also took two pony rides, but happily hasn't demanded one yet.
So, how was your weekend?
drorzel | May 15, 2012Tell me a story. Tell me the story about the three hippopotamuses.
Ummm... OK.
Once upon a time, there were three hipopotamuses. And they lived in Africa, in a river.
Right, it was a great big long river, that had so much salt in it that they could float!
Well, salt does help things float, but rivers are usually fresh water. Anyway, hippos are pretty fat, so they can float in fresh water.
OK
And one day... What happened then?
One day, a nice giraffe came to the river and said "Please can I drink a little bit of your water."
And the hippos said "OK." Then the giraffe drank a little bit of…
drorzel | May 2, 2012I've gotten really bad about posting pictures of the kids, but we got the official school picture proofs today, featuring a smiling SteelyKid and an insouciant Pip:
Both pictures pretty accurately reflect them at this stage, which is kind of nice. SteelyKid's kind of camera-averse at the moment, and it apparently took some doing to get her to agree to sit for this, so I'm surprised it came out this well. The Pip doesn't have as much ability to fuss about having his picture taken, so I've got some shots of him in his play gym:
He's a happy and active little dude, and when he figures out how…
drorzel | April 29, 2012SteelyKid: Daddy, would you like to go to visit Jake and the Never Land Pirates?
Me:: In principle, sure. But it's a cartoon. We can't go there, it's not a real place.
SteelyKid: Yes it is. Never Land is real, we can go there.
Me: Well, look, if you find some pixies dust that we can use to make us fly, we can try to fly to Never Land. Let me know if you find any.
SteelyKid: No, Daddy, we don't need to find pixie dust. We just need to go to the store and buy some pixie dust.
Me: I'm pretty sure they don't have pixie dust at the stores around here. Though, there are persistent rumors that they'…
drorzel | April 23, 2012Via Joerg Heber on Twitter, a great post on gender divisions in STEM by Athene Donald:
As children try to work out their personal identities, the difference between 'boy' and 'girl' is as fundamental and omnipresent as it gets - and they receive the clear messages that collectively society gives out about the attributes implicitly associated with that distinction. Inevitably they are likely to 'hear' the message that boys are noisy, into everything and generally vigorous and enquiring, whereas girls are 'expected' to be good, docile, nurturing and passive. Parents may do all they can to…
drorzel | April 15, 2012We found out yesterday that one of my great-aunts, who recently moved out of a retirement community because she wanted to live by herself, fell and banged her head badly. While she apparently seemed okay at the time, a short while later she collapsed, and is vanishingly unlikely to recover. While it seems weird to say that someone who's 97 is dying too soon, well, we always assumed she would outlive us all through sheer orneriness, so this is a nasty shock.
Thus, we're badly in need of some cute around here. Happily, the kids' day care was closed on Friday for Passover, and my mom came up…
drorzel | April 9, 2012SteelyKid has recently become obsessed with the Disney Junior show Jake and the Never Land Pirates, demanding to watch it all the time. Thanks to her two recent bouts with this year's stomach bug, I've had to watch, or at least listen to her watching in the next room, every episode that Time Warner offers on demand. Being a scientist, and thus inclined to over-analyze things, this has, of course, raised some questions:
-- The show focuses on the title character, Jake, and his friends Cubby and Izzy, who live on Pirate Island off the coast of Never Land, and spend their time thwarting the…
drorzel | April 8, 2012Today is Easter Sunday, which we celebrated in the manner of my people, by chasing soap bubbles around the backyard:
OK, that's not an actual tradition, but it was a beautiful day today, and SteelyKid got a big bottle of bubble stuff from her great-grandmother, so it seemed like the right thing to do. So she and Bodie (my parents' yellow Lab, seen in the above photo) frolicked around the yard until she was so tired that she slept all the way home. Everybody wins with Easter bubbles.
Happy Easter if you're someone who celebrates it, or at least won't get into a snit about being wished well…
drorzel | April 6, 2012I want a story. The story about one little pig, and the wolf.
I'll need you to help me with it, OK?
Yeah.
OK, once upon a time, there was one little pig, and he... What did he do?
He built a house out of straw.
Right. He was a little bit silly, so he built himself a house out of straw. Which is a terrible material to build a house out of.
So, then, one day, a big wolf came along, and said [scary wolf voice] "Little pig, little pig, let me in!"
But he was a NICE wolf.
Right, so he said [scary wolf voice] "Little pig, little pig, let me in! I'm a nice wolf, but I sound like this because this…
drorzel | March 29, 2012Last Saturday, at my book signing in Vestal, The Pip spit up a lot, several times, and wouldn't stop crying. This lasted a few hours, and by the next day, he was more or less back to normal. When I dropped him off at day care on Monday, I mentioned this, and the teachers in his room said "Oh, the stomach bug. Yeah, that's going around."
Kate stayed home Monday, feeling wretched, but was back to normal by Tuesday. Tuesday afternoon while picking SteelyKid up I started to feel achy and nauseous, and had a rotten night, but was more or less OK by Wednesday afternoon (which accounts for the lack…
drorzel | March 27, 2012Once upon a time, there were three giant hippopotamuses...
No, Daddy, it was three little pigs.
This is a completely different story, honey.
Once upon a time, there were three giant hippopotamuses, who lived together in a river in Africa.
They lived in a house.
Well, hippos spend most of their time in the water, so they really lived in the river.
But they had a house on the bank of the river, which was very nice.
OK.
And one day, something happened, which was...?
A big bad wolf came to their house!
No, honey, hippos live in Africa. They don't have big bad wolves in Africa.
Oh. Ummm... A…