Every evening before we eat dinner, Amanda and I lead Alex and Joel in saying grace. One evening a while back I noticed that Lily (about 9mo at the time) was staring at us and had clapped her hands together. At first I wasn’t sure if it deliberate or just a coincidence. Well, it happens just about every time we eat together now, so it’s definitely deliberate. Whenever we start grace, she watches intently and usually drops whatever she’s eating or drinking to put her hands together (though she sometimes ends up clapping them or swinging them around like she’s practicing a Captain Kirk double-fist thump).

I think that’s pretty cool, and as a Catholic it makes me proud as well. Anyone else have a story like that ...

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I don’t know about you, but that mental image certainly made me weepy.

This blog post is brought to you by the letter 'A'.

I actually finished this months ago, but I’ve been so busy with grad school and whatnot I haven’t gotten around to writing about it. Here it finally is, offered as-in and without fanfare.

My wife and I have been using Signing Time videos to teach our kids ASL since Alex was four months old. Ever Alex got good at identifying letters I’ve wanted to combine reading English and learning ASL in order to ease the kids (and me) into learning Latin. Why Latin? As the root of all romantic languages, it’s the piano of languages. It’s also the official language of the Roman Catholic Church, to which we belong. It took me a long time to think of how to achieve my goal, though.

I don’t recall what inspired my eventual solution, and I’m sure someone deserves credit that ...

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Sometimes mass is cancelled unbeknownst to us (since we don’t attend Sunday mass at St. Rosalia to get the weekly bulletin). That wasn’t the surprise we received this morning, though, and even we ‘d had the bulletin we would not have been prepared. As we entered the church, we were informed that a funeral would be taking place.

Hmm. Decision time. Should we stay or should we go?

Reasons to go:

• We weren’t dressed in funeral attire.
• We weren’t family or friends of the deceased.
• It would be longer than a typical daily ...

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October 16, 2009. "Whachu talkin' 'bout, Willis?"

October, 2010 "Roar?"

October, 2011 "I'm cute like a bunny."

“There’s nothing I like less than bad arguments for a view I hold dear.” ― Daniel C. Dennett

I try to keep my political ramblings and my parental ruminations as separate as possible. However, there are occasions when the two intersect, and I feel compelled to comment. This is one of those times.

I’m a libertarian. Sometimes, though, my fellow libertarians embarrass me. When the offenders are fringe wackos, I generally don’t go out of my way to respond to them. When the offenders seem to be the majority, or at least a sizable mainstream minority, I have to speak up. So, here I am; I’ll keep this short and simple.

Far too many times I’ve heard that socialism begins in the sandbox. That is, the road to forced wealth redistribution and the welfare state begins in childhood, when a parent forces a child to share a toy with another ...

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I’m now considering taking a bolder step, and I’m hoping I can convince some of my minions (I have minions, right?) to join me. Who out there is brave enough to go bald for St. Baldrick’s? The basic gist is that you sign up to be shaved, ask your family, your friends, and strangers ...

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