Recipe kindly requested…

What was the hardest part? What was easier than you thought? Anything you can do to prepare the night before? Can it be held in the refrigerator before cooking?

I’m kind of coming up with a template for some straightforward pieces of information that a cooking community might enjoy sparking into a conversation.

This looks delicious.

I somehow also see a baby elephant

Look at us cool kids being kids doing kid things.

+1

Ask open ended questions. “What do you think they’ll do next?”

It never hurts to fall back to the old improv trope of “yes anding” where anything your child does with the toys, you further by adding to it or reinforcing what they’re already doing.

If you have any memories of playing as a child, you can rely on that to help inform your current opportunity to play. When I was young, Hot Wheels tracks were multi-purpose. It’s a sword. Made into a circle, it’s a magic portal. Often as adults we don’t engage with our imagination in the same ways that we did so effortlessly when we were young. If you feel silly, you’re doing it right.

When my kids were around this age, I loved to give the toys unique voices. British accents. Low deep voices. Slow voices. Fast voices. Robot voices.

At 4, their building capabilities aren’t the greatest, but you can help in that arena by creating landscapes of blocks for their toys to navigate. Towers, bridges, streets, hills, pyramids, mountains.

If a toy/character can fly… guess who has the strength to pick up a four year old holding a “flying” toy to add the simulated sensation of flight to their imaginative play…

Let me reinforce that you don’t have to be good at this. You’re wanting to be there. You’ve reached out for help and you clearly want to give your child the best. That means you’re doing better than most. You are a great parent. Your talents and abilities will influence and provide for your kiddo’s wellbeing in a myriad of ways over their lifetime. You’ve got this.

So many different kinds of stitches to use and learn. I love the Henson stitch. Yay Muppets!

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

Just wanted to share that it’s possible that RISUG or Vasalgel (I think they rebranded as PlanA) will become available this decade. Look into it and see if that works for your needs (no idea how active you are). I’ve got kids that I’m hoping will never have to worry about a surprise (funny enough they are the very first planned offspring on either side of our families).

Best of luck to anyone facing this choice at any age.

This is the way!

There’s a Vietnamese restaurant in Redding, CA (or near it, can’t remember) that serves Belgian beer with the food. The right pairing makes both things better. Also pretty sure I’ve read some studies about what alcohol does to our tastebuds and general olfactory system. Can’t be bothered to look them up. Food and drink pairings are legit though. But an alcoholic beverage does not work miracles.

There’s also something to be said about a celebration where food and alcohol are served creating fun times and memories that could cause things to be remembered more fondly. Great food is great without alcohol. Great food with rot gut is no better and often worse.

I do like my fish tacos better with a beer.

Thank you for saying this I_Fart_Glitter

I hope this idea of protesting at golf courses takes off. Doesn’t impact almost any working class people. Annoys the rich. Risks only trespass charges. Easy optics against the golfingest president that ever did golfident.

I agree that OSC is a POS. I don’t really think the way the book and series are received by readers suggest any excusing of genocide. Songs and books and art in general can have an intention from their maker that is wildly different from how the work is perceived by their audience. If OSC intended to turn us all into humans willing to accept genocide as necessary… well… he missed the mark in this reader who actively protests genocide.

Oh yeah… there is that, lol. It’s weird being from America where violence isn’t viewed through a puritanical lens, but the human body very much is. I easily forget where the line is drawn with what level of violence is acceptable. The message of Parable stuck with me now more than 20 years more so than any memory of the specific gruesomeness they endure during the travel north. Thanks for reminding!

Cory Doctorow’s ‘Little Brother’ only has 1 sex scene and it’s a pretty good model for sex positivity, I guess. That aside, it’s definitely near-future dystopia. Not far off the mark from today.

Octavia E. Butler’s ‘Parable of the Sower’ may be a bit above their level, but I could see 13 and 14 year olds devouring it none the less. Hmmm… there might be a steamy sex scene in this one too.

Technically Ender’s Game is a dystopian sci-fi novel. The film omits some insanely important content like a video game that the cadets all use during downtime that explores their psyche.

It’s old, but was my first introduction to dystopian concepts: The Time Machine by HG Wells

Oh, my wife loved Z for Zachariah at that age and reading it as an adult was enjoyable for me. A classic post-nuke young adult book.

Proud of you for facing tough things and reaching out for help when needed. Everything you’re feeling makes sense. You can do this, you’ve already done so much.

I would also accept a dramatic table read. Whoever portrays “footnote” is going to have to be next level.

Love both those characters. Also loving the carefree Cthulhu energy Jasnah has in this photo. Like, the childhood days before life was filled with instilling fear and horror in the masses.

Great username!

Formatting goblins. Apologies. FiXED