some laws of nature should be illegal

all right. we are approaching absolute zero here in minnesota. well maybe not exactly. but I was reminded of a film (SUNSHINE directed by Danny Boyle of Slumdog Millionaire, 28 Days Later, and Trainspotting fame) that dad and i watched recently. in it, there is a scene in which one of the astronauts floats into space without a space suit. he freezes and shatters as space is almost absolute zero (-273 degrees celsius or -460 fahrenheit). well it felt about that cold today here in minneapolis and tomorrow is supposed to be colder. my only consolation is that we do not live in embarrass, mn or in saskatoon, canada. but if we lived in canada then gay marriage would be legal! anyway, the wind chill was in the negative twenties. it hurt to be outside.

of course, this weather did not deter the toddler from refusing mittens or the preschooler from standing in the cold and putting on his mittens in the slowest manner possible while insisting that he has to put them on rather than hurry inside without mittens. go figure. it is all about control.

both kids were stinkers today at pick-up. r had a roll on the bathroom floor in the bungalow kind of tantrum. must be tired. and tired of being cooped up. k continues to object to everything. breakfast would have been amusing if i could get a healthy distance from it.

r: it is sunny
k: no sunny
r: it is sunny (gets up from the chair and starts running around in distress)
k: no sunny
to be fair it was partly cloudy.

just an example of the fun we are having.

after his tantrum at school, i explained to r that he still has to listen to parents when we tell him to do something, but that as kids get older they get more choices. i said a 4 year old has more choices than a 2 year old. but a 4 year old also has more rules. he says that he wants to be a fifth grader so he can make more choices but that babies have it easy as they have no rules since they cannot do anything.

in r's bungalow, they have written down their resolutions. apparently, r is inspired by his uncle tom as his resolution is to run in olympics. there is some confusion as his reported version of the resolution is that he wants to run a marathon like uncle tom, but a kid marathon until he is a grown up. either way, he better start training with uncle tom. you hear that uncle tom?

i went to look at another school today and liked it. of course it is in st paul which adds to our driving time. why is it that the minneapolis schools we like start too early for r? we are going to have to use the neighboring school system which is a little odd. r is going to have to commute to elementary school! bizarre.

dad and i are having conversations about our futures and careers. it is a weighty subject that occupies us greatly. of course, more gravity for him than for me. still i see lots of hope and potential as i tend to be an optimistic person. we shall see. i hope we can both remember what it feels like to dream about what you want and to remember to cast our nets wide.