Comma Dot Comma

It so happens that I have two adorable nephews, whom I dote upon as a good auntie should. They are probably the nicest, smartest kids in the universe (apart from the children of all my friends, who are also the nicest and smartest, in a different way). I don’t blog about my nephews much because their parents retain chief bragging rights. But I have explicit permission from Noah’s dad on this one.

Noah is 3 and a half, and when he speaks he articulates at least as well as Laurence Olivier, if not better. Lately he’s been really into rhyming; he even rhymes himself to sleep. Over Thanksgiving weekend I heard more rhymes than I heard in an entire year of poetry grad school (plus one morning he woke me up early to ask what it would be like, if we all had to bury our food in the dirt before we ate it). It’s fun to get Noah to say multisyllabic words because he pronounces them so accurately, in such a high-pitched little voice. Recently my brother Ryan (his dad) was playing this game.

Ryan: “hey noah, can you say encyclopedia?”
Noah: “no, i can’t say that”
Ryan: “try it”
Noah: “encyclopedia”
Ryan: “can you say deciduous?”
Noah: “deciduous.”
Ryan: “can you say reciprocate?”
Noah: “reciprocate. what does that mean?”
Ryan: “to do it back”
(ryan hugs noah, laughing and impressed; noah hugs back)
Ryan: “what are you doing?”
Noah: “I’m reciprocating!”

I don’t have a recent picture of the two of them together, but here’s Noah dressed up as a sea lion, followed by Ryan with his other son, Judah. You can’t see Ryan’s nose, but hey, it’s an overrated feature anyway.

Ok, having taken this quiz, I now feel it is measuring geekdom more than nerddom. It feels terrible to score only in the 20th percentile? What did I do wrong, O quiz-makers? Is it because I don’t have my I.P. address memorized? Nevertheless, it is a quiz, and it has pictures of really old scientists with big hair. Coolio.

Before we get there, here is a sample thought I have had lately: A recent post of mine began with “What happens to 131 pictures when a memory card goes on the fritz? Do their pixels just disassociate?” I later had fun realizing that I inadvertently referenced Langston Hughes: “What happens to a dream deferred?/ Does it dry up/ like a raisin in the sun?” who in turn referenced Proverbs 13:12, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” Cool! Digital cameras and King Solomon, together at last. Without further ado, the quiz: