Honest

The great thing about my seven-year-old is that when he says he's not feeling well, and that he doesn't want to go to school, it's because he really doesn't feel well. (I'm enjoying not having to read between the lines, while I still can.)

Of course, later that morning he was feeling much better. (At 11:00 AM he suggested I bring him to school, but by then it was too late.) He'd be his energetic seven-year-old self, but when I'd remind him that he wasn't feeling well, all of that energy would evaporate in an instant — for a few minutes, at least. I know he really did feel poorly this morning, but I think he felt obligated to play that part when called upon for the rest of the day. Somewhere between getting away with something, and intentionally getting away with something.

Pennies, Dimes and Nickels

I have been thoroughly defeated by this problem from my seven-year-old's math practice homework:

Sharla has 12 coins. She has 70¢. How many pennies, dimes, and nickels does she have?

We worked on this together for five or ten minutes, then I worked on it for five minutes more. I tried all sorts of different combinations — nothing fit! I give up — I'm sending it in with a note for the teacher, in the hope that she'll return the answer.

Find

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a Private Detective (or a "Licensed Private Investigator," to use the official term)? I have. I enjoy research — following the pieces of a puzzle, putting them together to see where they might lead (and you never know what unexpected surprises might lie under stones not turned).

You can't really hide — not any more. You might be surprised (or, depending on who you are, perhaps embarrassed) at how much information — even photographs! — are available, if you know where (or how) to look, or stumble. You'd have to go out of your way to be "UnGoogleable," but even then, there are still slender threads, waiting to be pulled.

I've been piecing together a puzzle of my own. My questions aren't so easily answered by Google, but that just makes them more interesting.

Roads Not Taken

This is what I get for not paying attention: I've just discovered, a week before Christmas, that my Christmas-themed book had somehow become all but unavailable through Amazon.com. (You could buy a copy, sure, but you'd have had to pay well over $100 to an individual seller.) I've no idea how long this has been the case, and I've no idea why — even if it wasn't in stock, the book is still very much available from the distributor.

(For what it's worth, I've quickly listed the book at cover price, available from me.)

Plausible

I let my son watch Mythbusters with me from time to time, when I think there's something he'll find interesting — say, two trucks crashing into one another at full-speed (what seven-year-old wouldn't want to see that?), or a holiday-themed Rube Goldberg contraption.

I try to emphasize the science involved (or at least, the scientific method, something he's been learning in school this year), but mostly I like showing him people building stuff, trying, failing, trying again and then (hopefully) succeeding — and having lots of fun with science. And Kari Byron is a girl who builds stuff (and occasionally blows it up) — not so much a role model (not for a seven-year-old boy), but a good example. (Why is it that Mythbusters seems like the only series left on The Discovery Channel these days that isn't completely overwhelmed by testosterone?)

Later, I've promised to show him the remote-controlled bus. (Yeah, it crashes, but he'll like that.)

Faded

Found recently at an Estate Sale.

Why is it I never seem to remember when it's Wednesday?