This was taken in my back yard, with son (son!) and the chickens. But it might be China....

I know this... this *sound*. I've referred to it before as the Rodan shriek.

I didn't know it could be quite *so* deadly.

But Reuters reports here from Nanjing about a 4-year-old who kills with his screams.

Hundreds of chickens... more

That's all.

I would've been just as satisfied with "Baba" or "Papí" or "Pops" or even "Señor."

It's been, what, 10 months of parenthood, 8 months of "Mama" this and "Mama" that, and finally, I come home last night to a running baby boy saying "DAT-da!" Said it again this morning, just to prove he meant it.

Is good.

(On the continued usefulness of early childhood bonding techniques.)

So, son (son!) seems to have gone through one of those developmental leaps that young children go through. Those faithful readers who have already had the pleasure of raising toddlers know of which I speak -- developmental milestones don't seem to be gradually acquired (like, learning a new word every week), but come in fits and starts (like, nothing for months and then five new words in a weekend). Unfortunately for us, this latest leap hasn't... more

Is it the hair? It's gotta be the hair.

So, last night we watched Sammo Hung's breakthrough Bruceploitation* satire, Enter the Fat Dragon (1978 , thank you Netflix). And laughed and... more

Neal Stephenson, A-1 writer.

Let me say up front that I think Neal Stephenson is an A-1 writer. Smart man who knows how to string together an exciting plot with plenty of thinkfood along the way. He also really likes Chinese history.

So I'm half-excited at the news that George... more

Remember the panelists on Paula Zahn saying boneheaded things about racial motivations of adoptive parents?

(Well, to be completely fair, hopefully boneheaded things -- the unconscious is a tricky beast, after all...).

Here: Panelist Solangel Maldonado has written on the issue before. That link is a pdf file from the Law Review at UC Davis -- an article called "Discouraging Racial Preferences in Adoptions," published in 2005.

From the abstract:... more

The things I miss by not watching CNN....

I suppose everyone else caught the video of Paula Zahn doing something tragic with China's new adoption rules, like hosting a show without anyone from adoptive families on the expert panel -- a panel who were saying stuff like:

ZAHN: One more time. Cenk Uygur, Roland Martin, Solangel Maldonado.

Obviously the Chinese government is making it... more

The Dragon's Pearl, by Julie Lawson and Paul Morin.

This is one of those lavishly illustrated children's books that you, as a parent, kind of want to frame and hang on a wall, but your kids sort of shrug at until they reach just the right age, at which time they become magical grimoires.

At least that's what I'm hoping.

Daughter sort of shrugged off this story and fell asleep halfway through our reading, but I was utterly captivated by the bittersweet adventures of Xiao... more

We've been on a bit of a vacation, visiting friends with children (which is what one does when one has children of one's own, since they're fairly obnoxious houseguests for those unused to the demands of the under-six set). Said children have been biological, foster, and adopted from China like ours.

Lesson learned from trip: the kids are all kids. Some are slower at some things and faster at others. Words, moving objects, sticking close to mom & dad. All kids. I like that.... more

Here's a post-Christmas story that anyone who's got kids might want to read: How materialism happens.

It's fascinating to me that this subject, near as it is to my miserly, penny-pinching, sunset-watching(*) heart,... more