Hannah and the TorNATO

We had the NATO conference in Chicago a couple of weeks ago. Hannah began drawing a cartoon for me. She had no idea what NATO was, but she watches a lot of storm-chaser shows. After listening to the news, she decided that Chicago was in for a torNATO. Here is her artistic interpretation of our week in Chicago. (And yes, Hannah is a HUGE manga fan.)

We watch a lot of weather shows. The story starts with the meteorologist predicting the weather...

Read from right to left. These two are police officers. You can tell because they are wearing badges...sorry the quality isn't great. I'm doing my best here.

On the left, cut off in the picture is lightning and a note that we are now downtown

Of course, the storm isn't the only thing getting violent downtown!

Our intrepid police officers off to help their comrades!

...and from behind the buildings downtown comes a ???
(the word is VOOM...some people have interpreted it incorrectly)

Luckily the officers stop in time!!

Yes, the torNATO has arrived. If you look closely you can see that all the protesters are inside of the torNATO along with several protest signs. The big one in front reads "We are the 99%" (Of course, she pointed out that we are kind of like the 50%...we aren't super-rich, but we aren't poor either.)

And finally, left alone, the officers are a little bit freaked out. The meteorologist, however, is pretty pleased with himself.

And there you have it! A ten year old's interpretation of NATO! She wrote the script, she developed the characters, she drew and shaded the pictures. My photos really doesn't do her work justice. She did a very good job with black and white shading, characters, concept and execution. She was very organized. Very thorough...and she used correct spelling and punctuation. In the whole thing, only one apostrophe is missing (the apostrophe in "let's", and honestly, that's a difficult one.) She figured out all the spelling and grammar herself. I am pleased with her commas, but I'm just a geek.

No...I'm not just a geek. I'm just a proud (and geeky) Mom. That's my girl. She made me laugh. 

Talking in My Sleep

Lying in bed on Sunday morning after a long, NATO night, the bed shakes slightly indicating that someone has crawled in with me. I can't even open my eyes, I'm so tired. I'm having a dream of Mad Men, (which I've never seen) that takes place in a model train layout, acted out by Barbie dolls. I don't want it to end. I know that it's absurd, and I'm enjoying it.

"I really like science, Mom."

"Mmm."

"I want to talk about why I like science. I think I'm going to be a scientist."

This is obviously important. I need to make an effort to be a good Mom and listen. "Hnh," is the best I can do.

"I like thinking about things. Science is a lot of thinking. You know, sometimes when I'm alone, or people think I'm not doing anything, I'm really thinking. I think about a lot of things, and science always gives you new things to think about."

"Srr...argle...mulfta."

"I'm going to be an astronomer. I know it's a lot of school and stuff, but school isn't bad when you study what you want to learn. I know I have to work on math. I'll need a lot of math. I'm not fast at math yet, but I will be, and then I'm going to be an astronomer. I think that's a lot of years of school."

"Ya...gompra...habbuti."

"I know that I might not be famous being a scientist, but I'll be doing important work. I think it's important to do work that's important. That might help people. I don't know what kind of astronomer I want to be yet. Maybe study gamma rays. You know a gamma ray burst can destroy a whole planet? I want to make sure that people are safe. I don't think I want to travel in space though. I'd miss you. I'd miss Earth."

"Me too."

"Okay. I just wanted to let you know." Pause. He's too old to kiss me unprompted most of the time, but this is normally where I would prompt him.

"I miss talking to you," I tell him.

"Okay."

"Love you."

"Love you too." He slips out of bed and I lay there, wondering if I just agreed to pay for twelve years of graduate studies. Then I fall asleep. Two more days of NATO ahead.

Wednesday afternoon we are driving to Hannah's dance class. Caleb picks up a thread of conversation where he left off several days earlier. "Mom, how do scientists get paid?"

I don't know what to answer. I think I tell him that he should affiliate himself with a research institution and apply for lots and lots of grants. Then I remember that I'm a teacher. I plug my specialty: "You could write articles and books."

He sighs. "That's what I was afraid of. Well, I guess I might have fun anyhow. I'll try."

The scientist with his circuit. It makes noise, and is light activated. Hence the darkened room.