My younger son (16 months) can’t speak any words yet but he has no problems expressing himself by pointing and grunting. When he’s hungry he whines and points to the pantry. When he wants a specific fruit out of the fridge he will reject all the other ones with a head shake and sometimes a shove until I offer him the right fruit. This morning I witnessed him do a gesture that can only be construed as “Look ma no hands”....

I started listening to classical music in my late 20s. Violin pieces are my favorite. I started with classical because I needed music without words while I programmed. Nowadays I listen to it for the pure joy of listening. I got started with Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. I thought that was the best piece of music ever conceived by humans. I used to argue with my wife (a music major) about how Vivaldi was better than Tchaikovsky....

Vian is eating dates that I bought from the Indian store. He seems to be a fan. I take another date out of the package for myself. Vian intercepts my new date even though his mouth is full. I’m curious to see his next action. He takes the old date out of his mouth and shoves it into my mouth and then proceeds to eat his new one. 

We were sitting at a restaurant eating brunch. Yoshi got Calamari which was served with a lemon. Sempi is sipping his orange juice. Suddenly he drops this pearl of wisdom. Why do we call an orange, orange but don’t call a lemon, yellow? Yoshi and I both choked on our food from laughing so hard.

We’re all having dinner as a family. Sempi is complaining about the food. He eats a little, here and there. Yoshi warns him to eat well or he might get hungry later. He doesn’t pay any attention. Dinner is over and he’s ready for bed. Yoshi is reading him a story. Sempi declares he’s hungry now. Yoshi: You should have eaten well when we were all having dinner. Sempi: I’m hungry....