Category: Family (Page 3 of 4)

Clara wanted to read her new book Clara and Asha before bedtime. As I’m bringing it over to the bed, she says, “Next time when I’m a baby, I don’t want you to name me Clara. I don’t like that name any more.… Read the rest

Clara has been completely enchanted by The Nutcracker for the past several weeks. She first heard the music at preschool, where they’ve got two different CDs of the ballet, and the teachers reported about two weeks ago that she was requesting these CDs and listening intently to them for long periods of time.… Read the rest

Today our excellent crew of carpenters put the roof beam in place, and we celebrated in traditional style by hanging a pine wreath on the end of it.… Read the rest

by Clara (transcribed, and annotated, by a teacher at preschool)



Once upon a time I rided a bike to school. Cause it is hard to get to school on the freeway cause there is traffic. Traffic is so you can’t get through.… Read the rest

Here’s Clara’s outstanding robot costume, manufactured with a case of Pacifico and a box of Annie’s Mac and Cheese, plus some silver spray paint, a bit of flexible dryer conduit, a Sharpie, and plenty of duct tape — assembled entirely by Karen yesterday evening.… Read the rest

I’m sure Karen will soon have more pictures of the chaos going on here, but here’s a sample. The big project for the past few days has been stucco removal–like flaying the house alive, actually, since it leaves everything still standing and more or less intact, but … skinless.… Read the rest

After months of work, Karen’s plans for our remodel finally got the green light from the planning department yesterday. We celebrated by sabering a bottle of champagne last night, and this morning Karen — together with a neighbor she hired — started stripping stucco off the outside walls of our house.… Read the rest

This is a picture Clara drew last week at preschool. Teacher Sheila wrote down the story Clara told to go with it:

It’s a person. It’s my Daddy. It’s an angry Daddy. Because I did something bad that he didn’t like.

Clara’s musical interests have shifted to Aretha Franklin — and now it’s “Respect” that she wants to hear, over and over again. “I want respect!” she says. Most of the time I’m able to bite my tongue, but once I couldn’t help myself: “Respect has to be earned, Clara.”… Read the rest

Clara heard “Walk This Way” on the radio last week, and asked to hear it again yesterday. Karen says they listened to it about 18 times yesterday morning (including both Aerosmith and Run DMC versions) before preschool. After she got home, all Clara wanted to do was sit in front of the computer and listen to it over and over again.… Read the rest