Problem with Comments

Chris DeVito informed me that there's a problem posting comments and I'm working on fixing it. It looks like this might be a blogger-wide problem, based on the number of blogs that have suddenly had the same issue crop up all of a sudden.

If you're unable to comment, please just post a comment here to let me know.

Day 3: Roger Zelazny haiku

Green-eyed ubermench
sought for literate sci-fi.
Smokers only please.

Day 2: Roger Zelazny haiku

Lord of Light haiku?
Just say Mahasamatman.
You're already done!

Where Do Babies Come From?

Most only children like their setup, but Lily lives in mortal terror of ever having another sibling. And while we don't have any plan to have another kid (and I hope I didn't jinx our birth control into failing by making this statement), we're aware of her concerns, so this sometimes leads us* to making odd threats like "Clean your room or mommy's having another baby right now."

Anyway, a few days ago, I was just sitting and hanging out with Lily when she asked, "Where do babies come from?"

Now, this isn't the first time she's asked such a question.

Shortly before she turned three, she asked "How do we make new people?" We knew that we'd be getting something like this eventually, eventually, but we thought it would come in a more traditional fashion.

Then we had this conversation when she was still four.

Lily: I was worried that I might fall through the toilet and get stuck in the pipes.
Me: No, you're too big. The worst that might happen is that you'd get a little wet.
Lily: What if I was a baby? Would I be small enough to get stuck in the pipes then?
Me: No, even babies are too big to get stuck by the time they are born.
Lily: What about little babies before the daddy puts them in the mommy? Are they small enough to get stuck then?
Me: *blink* ...I am not ready to have this conversation now.

Up until now, we've always been able to answer these questions to her satisfaction by saying, "From their mommy's tummy," and then answering the follow up "How do they get there?" with "Their daddy puts them there."

But this time she pressed further, and I'm pleased that she has the acumen to see a deflection for what it is, and the intellectual wherewithal to push back against it.  I think that kind of persistence will serve her well in later life. Now, however, it puts us in an awkward situation.

I want to be able to answer all of her questions, and I think she's capable of understanding an abridged version of the reproductive process. She's a good kid, she's a smart kid, but unfortunately, she's also a social kid and I'm sure that the information won't stop with her and we're not sure we want to be the parents of a Pre-K Doctor Spock who shows and tells the most instructive things during show and tell.

So, I'm opening the floor to suggestions. Does anyone have any recommendations?


*And by "us", I of course mean, "me".

Day 1: Roger Zelazny haiku

In April, I will
post one Roger Zelazny

 haiku every day. 

That's the announcement. Here's the first haiku: 

Roadmarks was fun to
read. Want to know why? Timyin
Tin was fucking great!

(Also, he and Archie exchange haiku during their fight.)

Archie:

"It looks as if white
flowers fall upon my shroud. 

Your hands are so pale."

Timyin Tin: 

 "To leave the world in spring,
with flower guards to honor:
it must be peace."

(I personally pronounce "pale" as a two-syllable word, which would bring Archie's up 18 syllables, but that may be an artifact of my dialect. I've checked with a number of online syllable counting sites and they count it as one syllable.)

Also, when talking casually about haiku, we usually say they have 17 syllables, but traditional haiku consist of 17 on which don't always map directly to English language syllables. I believe it was Zelazny's intent that the exchange be a pair of haiku and I'm inclined to defer to his expertise in matters of poetry.