A Bicycle Built for Three

One of Little Man's favorite phrases lately is, "Let's pretend.."  Sometimes the phrase is followed by, "I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to myself" -- although a moment later I'm obviously expected to be part of the conversation.  Little Man's stories certainly run the gamut, from tales of heroic acts to ferocious bear hunts to mysterious worlds on the other side of the cracks in our fence.  He talks of his older sister and what her life must be like, as well as reporting the goings on of his daycare friends.  He is quite insistent that his version of the world is true, and there are times where perhaps that would be preferable. This type of creativity is something teachers like to call "a rich inner life".  At this age it's beautiful and entertaining look at a developing mind.  Many argue that the structure of education and its path to college or career prioritizes logic over whimsy, even as more and more businesses find tha...

This week we celebrated Purim, which commemorates the salvation of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian empire from a royal death decree thanks to the bravery of Queen Esther.  For any Jew at that time to be so bold was one thing; for it to be a woman was something else entirely.  The parallels to modern history are hard to miss for so many reasons.  Recently Little Man got a new book about Representative John Lewis ( which you can watch here ).  Representative Lewis was a student organizer and civil rights leader who was elected to Congress; a voting rights act in his name still awaits passing.  Little Man typically has questions whenever we read books, and this time was no different.  However, he has noticed particular details in the story that highlight his increasing awareness of his reality. The book does not shy away from what Representative Lewis faced as part of his protests, including imprisonment and injury.  Little Man was immediately dr...