Creating More Questions

Dear Chicken Nugget,

It's been a long week!  Somehow I managed to get sick at the end of the work week, just in time for our Spring break.  We're flying to Madison, WI this week to visit your Aunt Sara, Uncle Jerry, and Cousin Timothy this week.  Your Grandpa Dale and Grandma Sue will be there too.

I have a tendency to get sick right before vacations.  I have a feeling that it's because my body knows that I'm going to have time to rest so it pushes through and doesn't give in to the bug until the last minute.  Unfortunately, it ruins a couple of days of vacation for me.

I am looking forward to a few days of play time with you and your mom.  As you get older and become much more aware of your surroundings, it has been an incredible experience to show you new things.

For example . . . a box!  Yes, a cardboard box.  Your mom placed you in one the other day and you enjoyed it tremendously.  In fact, we now have a permanent cardboard box station in the kitchen for you to play in.

As we were learning about paper and boxes in kindergarten science, I decided to show my kindergarteners how you play in the box:

I recently started a Science Teacher blog called "Creating More Questions" for my students, their parents, and other science teachers.  My students love it!  They keep sending me emails about the website or asking questions about science via the website.  In fact, two students wrote a comment about you in the box, wondering how you got in there.  I'm using you to show them that kids (and some adults) learn best by playing. 

Nugget, you are a non-stop playing machine right now and you're learning so much.  I hope that by sharing your experience in a box we'll prompt another parent out there to put their kid in a box or prompt kids to build a fort out of the box or use the box as an imaginary boat.  The possibilities are endless, the learning is limitless, and the photos are priceless.


Thank you for helping me teach science,

Tu papa 

sNOw Day?

Dear Chicken Nugget,

The news in New York City this winter has been packed with snow.  We've gotten a lot of it.  At least three storms have come through with significant accumulation.  There was one storm that came through the day after Christmas that actually made New York City stop for a bit - and that almost never happens. 

During that storm, your Great Uncle Richard was stuck on a bus for three hours.  The bus got stuck in deep snow, the snow drifts made it difficult for people to get off, and the winds were blowing at over 50mph.  I'm sure he'll tell you the whole story in hilarious detail some day.

Even tonight, as I write this letter, meteorologists are predicting 8"-12" of snow by 8am.  Usually this would get me excited for a snow day.  But, this year the City of New York seems to be on an anti-snow day kick.

It's unfortunate.  There is much fun to be had in a fresh pile of snow.  On the day after a snowstorm a couple of weeks ago, a father called our school to inform us that he was keeping his son home from school.  Not for safety reasons or anything of that sort - he simply wanted to take his kid to the park to play in the snow.  That kid's dad became my hero that day.  At least some folks out there still know how to enjoy a good snowfall.

I love the snow too and would appreciate being able to explore it with you tomorrow.  So, tonight I put a spoon under my pillow, turned my PJs inside out, did the snow dance, and flushed a handful of frozen peas down the toilet.  (OK, so technically the last one was supposed to be ice cubes but we're out and I figured the next best flushable frozen thing in our freezer was the peas.)

If we get a snow day, we party.  If we don't, I'll leave the partying to you and your mom.  I'll be at school, with about half the kids, all wishing they were playing in the snow.

Have a good night, Nugget.  Sleep tight.  Dream of snow!


Eternally yours,

Tu papa

when we were young

Dear Chicken Nugget,

I spent most of the day thinking about my elementary school friends.  One of my oldest buddies, a guy I've been friends with since kindergarten, sent an email highlighting a piece another friend wrote and his own subsequent reflection.

Carly wrote a piece about our first grade class and where some of us are now. She called you "praiseworthy."   She used the word "lauded" in describing me as a science teacher.  God bless her and her words.

Your good-looking papi is in the second row, third from the left

My friend Rolando told the story of how Carly went from being his nemesis to becoming a friend.

I have great memories of both.  And today I spent a good deal of time lost in those memories.

I remember going to Carly's house to play and thinking how nice she was.  Super nice.  Her mom too.  Her mom once asked my mom for a recipe for Spanish rice.  Not sure why I remember that.  I also remember hiding a pair of earrings I got from a toy vending machine in her desk in the third grade.  I wasn't going for the earrings, that's just my luck.

Rolando is permanently etched in my mind since he was a constant presence.  Not only was he a good friend, his family was wonderful to me. He was the bold one and I was shy one and I was glad to play sidekick. I spent a lot of time at his apartment, playing video games, talking movies, discussing time travel, and going places. 

For that matter, the parents of my friends were responsible for me getting out of our cramped apartment often.  My friend Vanessa's dad took us to an antique car shows and to NYPD family events (he was a detective).  My friend Andres' parents took us to Mets games and on trips to Bear Mountain.

My mom, too, took the kids who lived on my block on trips to the Bronx Zoo and to weekly Junior Park Ranger meetings.

These memories led me to the already known conclusion that the reason my childhood is full of great memories with these kids was that our parents were incredible.  It's with their active influence that we experienced what we did and had the fun we had.

As a parent, I hope that I can do for you what they did for us.

And, I hope that you end up meeting a bunch as awesome as ours when you get to school.


Eternally yours,

Tu papa