My kids and notes: Year 11.2
June 17, 2026
Life with JB
Grown adults still thinking that getting paid more means losing it all to taxes makes me batty. After another athlete shared that they had their contract written for a dollar less than $1M because of taxes, I pulled JB aside to explain marginal tax rates to them. They need to know well in advance of earning any kind of W-2 income that, generally speaking, earning an extra dollar is always worthwhile even if you’re going to be paying a higher tax rate specifically on those dollars that land in the higher rate threshold because that is STILL more money.Worthwhile mathematically, at least, the decision about whether it’s worth the time is for another conversation.
Then we talked about the basics of investing (time in the market…) and not speculating which is basically another form of gambling. We covered the Dutch Tulip Bulb Market Bubble as an example of speculation.
There’s an irony in our sleeping arrangements these days. I had to share one large bed with my mom and brother when I was in elementary school, each of us getting one puzzle piece of the bed, because we were too poor to afford an extra bed or an extra room. Now, we have enough beds and rooms for everyone! But PiC is stuck bunking with SmolAc who cannot sleep alone yet and ever since my depressive episode, JB moved into our bed leaving their own entirely spacious bed which now serves only as an overly fancy table and bed for their plushies.
Life with Smol Acrobat (5.4)
SmolAc has always seemed like someone else’s kid when it comes to potatoes. I love them in every form. They would only eat fried potatoes: French fries, waffle fries, and hash browns. Anything else was a nope. No mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, baked potatoes, scalloped potatoes, nada. Until they started helping me dig for potatoes in the garden. Those potatoes I can cook anyway I want and they’ll happily eat them, picking one at random and holding it up, “I digged this one!” before chomping.
It’s embarrassing to realize this so late, or maybe it just flared up?, but SmolAc’s emotional regulation is garbage. We dealt with this in JB at age 2-3 and it took 2 years for them to learn to cope with disappointment. We hadn’t been paying too much attention to the effects of letting JB coddle them every time they were sad, but I am now, and WOW are they a pain when they experience the least amount of disappointment. It’s awful. SO we are starting the JB program of sitting in the sadness and working through that feeling and not hurting ourselves and others. How did I let this happen? ARGH.
But we are doing it and it is slowly sllloowwwwllyyyy taking some minor effect. It’s going to take a bit, I assume, to get all the way there.
JB has been banned from coddling until this is done.
Pupdate
We recently visited a local rescue and met a lot of dogs but none of them, except one small one, particularly liked us. The small one was absolutely obsessed with us (and me) but I’m not prepared to bring home a small dog yet. I’m looking for a medium-large that I can still lift. I can definitely still lift her! But … my yearning is for a much bigger dog.
Precious Moments
SmolAc: Wee doesn’t know everything right?
Me: No one knows everything.
SmolAc: They don’t know how to drive. I don’t know how to drive. I am just a kid! I don’t know the rules! Not even when I was a baby! Babies are not tall enough to drive. Dey defly cannot know how to brake.
SmolAc, testing pens: This doesn’t work. Oh no! But I love it!
Me: Show me.
SmolAc, scribbling, no ink comes out: Nooo! Blue is my favorite color!
Me: That’s purple, babe.
Respecting boundaries and loving each other and mischief
SmolAc: JB may I pwease use your soap?
JB to SmolAc with hugs and kisses: You are the best little sibling ever mwah mwah mwah! (SmolAc eats it right up)
SmolAc: Those are cute potatoes!
Me: Yeah, I think I’m putting those back into the grow bag…
Sotto voce to JB: should we eat dem, Wee?
When I looked at them, innocently: What?