7 Quick Takes about Aging Prematurely, Odd Experiences in the Museum, and What To Do When Your Hair Looks Good

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?

—1—

They say you're only as old as you feel, and sometimes I sincerely hope that's not true.

Because if you were in our house last Friday night at about 10:15, you may or may not have seen Phillip and I in our pajamas, Phillip looking through the medicine cabinet for antacid medicine and me heating up a heating pad because I tweaked my neck trying to reach an itch on my back.

It's not like we were ever wild and crazy party animals in our younger years, but in my opinion it's just getting a little ridiculous now.

—2—

The kids' grandma and grandpa are visiting (my 1-year-old calls them "goma and goma") and they got here just in time for the craziest weather of the year.

On Monday we took the kids sledding, and on Wednesday it was 76 degrees. And I kid you not, it snowed on Thursday.

Thanks to the freakish weather, I got a head-start on the horrible day when we drag everyone's bikes out of the recesses of the garage and everyone complains that theirs is too small for them now and all the tires are flat and we can't find the bike pump.

Presumably when it's spring for real we'll get to do that again. I can't wait.

—3—

My 13-year-old is taking a week-long drawing class at an art museum. She takes the subway to the museum on her own now, but on the first day I went along to make sure she knew where she was going.

While she was in class I just browsed around the museum... all alone. It was super-weird. I felt like a cat who'd gotten outside for the first time in his life.

But then I got over it.

—4—

After the initial strange feeling of being out in public without shushing anyone or telling anybody not to touch that or hiding from strangers who my preschooler pointed at and yelled "that guy is fat!" I really enjoyed myself.

I walked through every gallery I wanted to see at my own speed. I read all the placards I felt like reading, even the boring ones.

I saw some interesting things, like ancient Greek Zentangle:

Or this fancy Egyptian dress overlay, which they reconstructed after finding beads all over a decomposed corpse...

But even though I had fun, by the end I knew it was time to go home when I saw this painting and started missing my kids:

I'll bet these two didn't last 5 seconds before they started fighting over the tiny scepter.

Though if these were really my kids, they'd be doing upside-down acrobatics on the couch and giving everyone an eyeful of their underwear.

—5—

My 11-year-old got a magnetic poetry set for Christmas but didn't really use it, until I stuck them all to our magnetic front door and now the kids like to create messages whenever they pass by.

Sometimes, they're actually really good advice.

—6—

I've been reading this biography about Harry Houdini. In the interest of full disclosure, I got it for my daughter from the juvenile section of the library but then discovered that children's biographies are my new favorite way to learn about historical figures.

Adult biographies are too long, too detailed, and too boring for me to stick with, but a double-spaced 80-pager with font size 14 feels just right. I highly recommend it.

—7—

One morning my 4-year-old finished his morning routine of get dressed/brush hair/brush teeth and came downstairs to bounce on my bed while I was folding laundry.

"Your hair is pretty," he stopped to say.

I hadn't even combed it yet that morning and all I could think was Aww, he loves me! He thinks even my bed head is beautiful.

I thanked him, and then there was an awkward pause before he said, "Do you think my hair is pretty?"

You guys, he was just fishing for compliments on his own hair! I should have known something was up.

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