Book Review : The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

I've recently come across something that is great for me. I love to read, I love to discuss books, but my schedule is way too full to join a book club. I can't guarantee that I will be able to go out every third Friday of the month, or whatever would be involved. It's something I would like to do in the future, but I'm really enjoying Good Reads right now. It allows me to see what some of my friends are reading and read their opinion of it before I get started. Currently, there are about 10 books I want to read, just from this alone. If you haven't checked it out, I definitely recommend it.

The first book I noticed my friends reading is called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. I stepped out of my comfort zone and read it.

The main character, in the first-person, is Christopher, a 15 year old boy who is "special needs". It doesn't flat-out say that he's autistic as far as I remember, but it's either that or Asberger's Syndrome. He is extremely gifted when it comes to math and science, but he doesn't like English (too many metaphors and jokes) or being touched. The book opens with an incident where he discovers his neighbor's dog dead, and as a result of his admitted emotional shortcomings, he winds up being accused for the murder and taken to jail for assaulting a police officer. He decides, with the help and encouragement of his teacher, Siobhan, to write a story investigating the death of Wellington.

The prose is very straightforward and one-sided. The narrator tends to wander, especially when he is starting to feel agitated. I won't go into details, because there is a fairly significant plot twist about 3/4 of the way in, but when he steps out of his comfort zone, he tends to react by retreating into his own head, which makes for deeply boring passages explaining how to calculate all the prime numbers in existence or how to solve various math equations. If I want to read that, I can pull out the Calculus textbook the university wouldn't take back. The other thing that bothered me (but I suppose is a good thing overall for the author) is the character's assumption (or just lack of consideration) that his audience knows nothing at all. He explains Occam's Razor, among other theories, in the most basic and condescending way imaginable. I felt like my intelligence was being played down through some passages. That being said, Christopher is as aware of these shortcomings as we are, and it was interesting to read the tangents he applied to Wellington's murder and see in a very linear fashion how he got from point A to point B.

It was very different to have a main character who is afflicted the way Christopher is, but he is obviously good at managing issues that affect him daily (for the most part). He is burdened slightly by well-meaning if not completely inept parents. I can't imagine the stress of caring for someone who needs so much long-term and will continue to do so without understanding the need for a "break". However, I think his parents contribute to some of his problems as well.

On the whole, I'm not sorry I read it. It's not something I will read over and over though. At Good Reads, I gave it three stars for "liked it".

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Putting the "smart" in smart aleck since at least 1984

It's no secret that all parents feel like their kids are brilliant or bound to be the next great something, whether it be a doctor, lawyer, or the researcher who cures cancer. No one wants to say "Hey, my kid is going to barely eke out an existence at or below the poverty line!" We all want to believe our kid is fantastic, and there is nothing wrong with it. Everyone needs that encouragement (pressure) and support (nagging).

I have honestly never expected anything out of Mason in terms of accomplishing things early. I just want him to be healthy, happy and normal. If things continue the way they are, I expect he would be happy to work on a garbage truck. As long as he can keep the job and be happy about it, it doesn't matter to me what he ends up doing (law-breaking and boozing aside).

With that being said, he has been learning and exploring at such a rapid pace it's been staggering to keep up with. The other amazing thing is his memory--it knows no bounds, and definitely makes us stop as we try to remember back to whatever event he brings up. Is it bad if the toddler is rapidly becoming more intelligent than his mother? (I like to throw the blame back to the intelligence deficit known as pregnancy. I've never had to pause more to think, laughed at more jokes I didn't get, or existed at such a generally tired pace in my life.) I feel compelled to post his recent accomplishments/discoveries/comments in list form because they have been coming so fast and furious.

1. "Help Daddy wash the leaves." Alan went out yesterday to start preparing our yard, and Mason confused the Round-Up used on our first self-starting group of dandelions with cleaning solution because it looked like bubbles.

2. Mason can now count to five, demonstrating with his fingers. Verbally, he can count to sixteen (the number of stairs in our house) if you can keep his attention on it long enough.

3. You may remember my previous surprise about Mason recognizing the letter "W" and "C"; he now knows "H", "B","P", and "F". He will ask for "L", but he can't quite say it so I'm not sure if it counts.

4. He distinguishes between bodily functions and will loudly announce (with complete delight, by the way) the proper one and who did it. "Daddy burped."

5. He has stopped mixing up the colors pink and purple.

6. Mason now names any animal we throw at him, and we try really hard to stump him. He can pick out a ferret, a kangaroo, a seal, a prarie dog, and a buffalo with the greatest of ease. He is also beyond seeing the turtles, bunnies at birds at the pet store. Now he wants to see horses. (Let's be clear about it--pictures are not good enough).

7. On a recent visit to Target, he picked out his own Thomas the Train movie, then asked dad to pay for it so he could go home and watch it. He was deserving of a reward, so we let it slide and brough the movie home. The bonus? It also contained an episode of Bob the Builder.

8. Our previous trip to the grocery store had to be sticker-free (despite his best efforts to charm the checker) because they were out of stickers. Our trip on Sunday was sticker free because he informed me they don't have stickers any more.

I hope all of your days are also filled with so much discovery and excitement about the world around you. I know I have benefitted greatly from the sweet example he sets of seeing the world through new eyes. I have also managed to persevere through the recent battles of "Just say please already and you can have it" and the disapproving toddler screams when he is told no, so at least being a parent has some balance to it.

Patient Planning Pays Off

For almost the last two years, in light of budgeting and time issues, I've been trying to plan dinner for our family on either a bi-weekly or a monthly basis. It seems to be working out. The only complaint from Alan is that I don't leave enough nights to work on leftovers. So in addition to finding new things to cook, I've been trying to either find smaller recipes or start freezing halves for nights when I'm at work or we're short on time. My biggest goal here is to actually finish all of our leftovers instead of wasting the food and money throwing them out. To help hold me accountable, and to share what I find, I'm going to try posting our biweekly menu (we are only home together five or six nights in that time period--those are the only nights I cook). So please enjoy the below recipes/links. These are also in no particular order, I try to keep the items on hand and cook each thing when it sounds good.

Spinach Tomato Tortellini
Fragrant Lemon Chicken with Lemon Almond Broccoli
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Meatloaf
Chicken Pasta Toss
Grilled Cheeseburgers w/ my mom's ranch pasta salad (no recipe on these, just improv)
BBQ Ribs and Smoky 4 Cheese Macaroni


Chicken Tortilla Soup (Fix It & Forget It Lightly)
16-oz. can fat-free refried beans
15-oz. can black beans, rinsed & drained
14-oz. can fat-free chicken broth
1 1/2 C. frozen corn
3/4 C. chunky salsa
3/4 C cubed, cooked chicken
1/4 C. water
2 C. shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 bag baked tortilla chips

Combine all ingredients except cheese and chips in slow cooker. Cook on low 3-4 hours or until heated through. Add half of the cheese. Stir until melted. Serve in bowls with crushed tortilla chips on top, and sour cream or other toppings as desired. It says the yield is seven servings, but we usually only have one good-sized bowl left over.

Meatloaf (thanks, Joey!)
1 lb. ground beef
1 egg, beaten
1/3 C. bread crumbs
1/2 C. milk
1 tsp. salt
1 onion, diced
1/2 tsp. Worscestershire sauce

Topping- 1/2 C. ketchup, 3 Tbsp. brown sugar (packed), 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, 1 tsp. dry mustard

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients except topping and shape into loaf in a 9X5 loaf pan. Combine topping ingredients and pour over top of loaf. Bake for about 1 hour. Makes 8 servings.


Chicken Pasta Toss (thanks again, Joey!)
10 oz. spaghetti
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 Tbsp. butter
3/4 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1/2 C. chopped green onions
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp each onion powder, rubbed sage, white pepper, black pepper
Dash cayenne pepper
1 C. heavy whipping cream
1/2 C. shredded Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp. parsley

Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, saute garlic in butter. Add chicken, onions, and seasoning. Cook uncovered for 3-5 mins or until juices run clear. Stir in cream. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 4-5 mins or until slightly thickened. Drain spaghetti. Toss with chicken mixture. Sprinkle with cheese and parsley. Serves 4.

The Long Goodnight

Do you ever feel like your child's bedtime routine is getting out of control? Especially in the two-year-old world in which we live, bedtime routine is absolutely crucial. We have to follow all the steps, in just-so order, for Mason to make it to bed successfully. Part of it is probably that he's a particular little guy, especially at bed time.

Step by step, we've gotten ourselves into an hour long routine, which is tough to live by when work hours come and go at all different intervals or we're out late at Grandma's house. There is nothing like starting bedtime at 9:30 or 10:00 pm, only to finish up at least an hour later.

Our routine consists of the following: diaper change (to "blue and yellow stars", because the special night-time diapers are good to us) and put on jammies, then we look at the alphabet slideshow on Starfall (sometimes we even take the "puter" into Mason's room as a special treat), and then we read stories. It used to be all the stories, then we cut it down to three, and now we're back up to somewhere between five and seven. After stories, we tuck him into bed with all SEVEN blankets (that's right-- he hugs two or three, and has at least three on top of him, the kid is a blanket aficianado!). Then it's time for lullabies. This is where I run into problems.

I need some new book suggestions and some lullaby suggestions. I've only found three songs he likes, and I only personally care for one of the three. I'm hoping to make him a little CD or something I can just let play to help cut a few minutes off our bedtime ritual. It's not that I mind spending the time with him, I just want to simplify things a little bit. Often, Dad is getting home around bedtime or Mom gets home from work late and it's meaning that no one besides Mason gets into bed before midnight.

So, please post any lullaby suggestions or ideas on how to simplify our bedtime routine. I have gradually managed to move bath time to earlier in the day, but I would be very interested and very grateful for further ideas!

Baby Mason at age 8 weeks when bedtime was much simpler

No Dumpster Diving Allowed

We had a rather unusual case of trauma yesterday. The county had delivered several of the "spring clean-up" dumpsters throughout the neighborhood as they do every year. The first oddity for Mason, the official "garbage truck watcher", was that the truck left the dumpster behind. He kept telling me the garbage truck came apart.

The second problem was the disposal of a very broken office chair. The chair snapped in half a few years ago, and we weren't sure how to properly dispose of it. It's been sitting off to the side of our office unused while we tried to decide. I forgot to take it out during the spring clean last year, and as Mason has become more aware, he likes to twirl it around when he's playing. Apparently, he's become quite attached. When I took it out to the dumpster between our house and the neighbor's house, he watched from the porch in horror. When I pitched the chair over the edge into the dumpster, he started screaming. He was standing on the porch, purple in the face, and I was so sure our neighbors were going to call and report some form of child abuse. When I picked him up, he brokenly told me he wanted the chair back.

Eventually, he asked to see the chair. He then told me "Take it out and get tape." Mason discovered scotch tape a few months ago and thinks it will fix everything. I told him the chair couldn't be fixed with tape, that we couldn't fix it at all, and the dumpster was going to take it away to a new home. He spent the remainder of the evening telling anyone (daddy, grandma, grandpa, uncle "Kylie") who would even pretend they were listening and understood that the chair was in the dumpster, that he can't fix it, and he can't get in the dumpster with it. (That was the other desire that I immediately denied.)

This morning, the trucks came to pick up the dumpsters in our neighborhood. He seemed okay with it, and said "Bye!" to the chair, the dumpster, and the truck as he watched from his semi-permanent post at the living room window.