First some sad news. Dianaverse's dog Daisy has been diagnosed with Addison's disease. Daisy's a very sweet dog and has been a great friend to Dianaverse and to e-baby. Please send some healthy dog vibes her way.
And the happy news- Happy first birthday, c-baby!! We are sending you lots of love and virtual birthday cake!! I can't believe it was only a year ago that I was walking around Macy's pillow department and got a call from your mom that It Is Time. I am so glad you are one of our girls and e-baby, SNG and I love you very much!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
Sixteen Months and The Nixon
E-baby turned 16 months old yesterday, and I haven't done one of these What's New posts in a long time, so here's what the Queen of Everything has been up to the past two months or so.
As I started on this, I realized that there's no way I can begin to list all the stuff that's been happening with this child. A friend told me that at 15 months, all sorts of new cognitive and social processes come into play. I probably had to know that for a final exam once upon a time and immediately drowned the knowledge in a margarita at a Scott St. party. This is definitely an exciting time. Four months ago SNG and I watched an infant shift to a toddler. Now we see a scientist, an explorer, a chef, a veteranarian, a rock star. It makes me wish I could videotape every cute thing so I could return to it someday and remember how funny these times were.
* Language: She picks up new words like they were M&Ms. Between the sign language and the spoken, she can say or sign around 80-100 words, and she understands much more, but it is hard to estimate at this point. The only trouble is that you can't always understand what she's saying, and sometimes she gets a little confused. Example- she learned the word and sign for snow the other day, but the next day pointed at a bottle of ranch dressing and said "snow!" Apparently the lesson learned was the color white = "snow."
* Fine and gross motor coordination. Spoons, forks, drumsticks, buttons, knobs, and other things that were kind of tricky to manage a few months ago are getting much easier now. Bigger tricks like climbing a stepstool to reach something, climbing onto furniture, and playing on the slide are also getting pretty easy for her. That means I've got to be careful not to put anything tempting up on those fun-to-climb bookshelves. The greatest barrier to success now is that pesky gravity.
* New games:
Lots of role-play. To me, the most noticeable change this month has been in the role-playing behavior. E-baby feeds her dinner to the stuffed animals that share her table. She puts them to bed and she tells them "night night!" She shares her pacifier with them, and they have their own blankets. Bigger dolls hold and rock their baby dolls to sleep. Smaller dolls go for rides on small toy cars. Bikes and boats drive all over the coffee table, and they go "vroom!" If I seem sad about something, she brings me a toy to make me feel better. I'm sure that it's related to the "lying to mommy and daddy" trick as well, since these are all aspects of developing empathy and understanding the perspective of other people. To me, that's the most fascinating part of the last few weeks.
Copycat. If I take a bite, she takes a bite. If I take a drink, she takes a drink. If I jabber on the phone, she jabbers on the remote control. If I go around the house picking up things, she picks up things.
Housekeeper. She will throw away anything we ask her to. She loves to blow her own nose (which is bizarre and funny), throw away the tissue, and tell me "thank you!" She learned this trick awhile back, but now I can tell her to throw away anything I give her and she'll oblige.
Animal noises. She can imitate the sounds of cows, horses, dogs, cats, sheep, and I forget what else.
Body parts. She can find any body part on herself, any person, or any toy. And she might decide to find your nose-- waaaaay up in there--- when you're in the middle of a nose-free activity, like paying at the grocery store.
Monster in the closet. She stands in the closet and says Boo! over. and over. and over. and over.
CRAZY face. E-baby has started making this maniac-neck-muscles-tensed-lower-teeth-bared face that probably all toddlers eventually learn. It sometimes comes on with such intensity that she'll shake a little. It's the most hilarious thing EVER. She does it just to make us laugh, usually when I ask her if she's cold. It makes me laugh so hard I snort.
The Nixon face. If she's suspicious of a person or of a situation, she gives The Nixon. She has become famous at daycare for the serious intensity of this face, but it was her Grampy who coined the term "The Nixon."
About 2 months ago I was having trouble keeping track of all the new words and signs she was using, and I didn't want to forget when anything funny happened, so I started keeping 3x5 cards in the kitchen to make note of anything new that was happening. In the last few weeks she's changing so fast that I can't even keep up with the cards.
Perhaps the only people who will find this post interesting are the grandparents, but this blog is as much as anything a way for me to keep track of things that are happening for posterity. Or for posteriority, as I like to say. Right now e-baby is sitting next to me having a complicated and serious conversation with the iPod cable. I'd better make sure they keep it peaceful.
As I started on this, I realized that there's no way I can begin to list all the stuff that's been happening with this child. A friend told me that at 15 months, all sorts of new cognitive and social processes come into play. I probably had to know that for a final exam once upon a time and immediately drowned the knowledge in a margarita at a Scott St. party. This is definitely an exciting time. Four months ago SNG and I watched an infant shift to a toddler. Now we see a scientist, an explorer, a chef, a veteranarian, a rock star. It makes me wish I could videotape every cute thing so I could return to it someday and remember how funny these times were.
* Language: She picks up new words like they were M&Ms. Between the sign language and the spoken, she can say or sign around 80-100 words, and she understands much more, but it is hard to estimate at this point. The only trouble is that you can't always understand what she's saying, and sometimes she gets a little confused. Example- she learned the word and sign for snow the other day, but the next day pointed at a bottle of ranch dressing and said "snow!" Apparently the lesson learned was the color white = "snow."
* Fine and gross motor coordination. Spoons, forks, drumsticks, buttons, knobs, and other things that were kind of tricky to manage a few months ago are getting much easier now. Bigger tricks like climbing a stepstool to reach something, climbing onto furniture, and playing on the slide are also getting pretty easy for her. That means I've got to be careful not to put anything tempting up on those fun-to-climb bookshelves. The greatest barrier to success now is that pesky gravity.
* New games:
Lots of role-play. To me, the most noticeable change this month has been in the role-playing behavior. E-baby feeds her dinner to the stuffed animals that share her table. She puts them to bed and she tells them "night night!" She shares her pacifier with them, and they have their own blankets. Bigger dolls hold and rock their baby dolls to sleep. Smaller dolls go for rides on small toy cars. Bikes and boats drive all over the coffee table, and they go "vroom!" If I seem sad about something, she brings me a toy to make me feel better. I'm sure that it's related to the "lying to mommy and daddy" trick as well, since these are all aspects of developing empathy and understanding the perspective of other people. To me, that's the most fascinating part of the last few weeks.
Copycat. If I take a bite, she takes a bite. If I take a drink, she takes a drink. If I jabber on the phone, she jabbers on the remote control. If I go around the house picking up things, she picks up things.
Housekeeper. She will throw away anything we ask her to. She loves to blow her own nose (which is bizarre and funny), throw away the tissue, and tell me "thank you!" She learned this trick awhile back, but now I can tell her to throw away anything I give her and she'll oblige.
Animal noises. She can imitate the sounds of cows, horses, dogs, cats, sheep, and I forget what else.
Body parts. She can find any body part on herself, any person, or any toy. And she might decide to find your nose-- waaaaay up in there--- when you're in the middle of a nose-free activity, like paying at the grocery store.
Monster in the closet. She stands in the closet and says Boo! over. and over. and over. and over.
CRAZY face. E-baby has started making this maniac-neck-muscles-tensed-lower-teeth-bared face that probably all toddlers eventually learn. It sometimes comes on with such intensity that she'll shake a little. It's the most hilarious thing EVER. She does it just to make us laugh, usually when I ask her if she's cold. It makes me laugh so hard I snort.
The Nixon face. If she's suspicious of a person or of a situation, she gives The Nixon. She has become famous at daycare for the serious intensity of this face, but it was her Grampy who coined the term "The Nixon."
About 2 months ago I was having trouble keeping track of all the new words and signs she was using, and I didn't want to forget when anything funny happened, so I started keeping 3x5 cards in the kitchen to make note of anything new that was happening. In the last few weeks she's changing so fast that I can't even keep up with the cards.
Perhaps the only people who will find this post interesting are the grandparents, but this blog is as much as anything a way for me to keep track of things that are happening for posterity. Or for posteriority, as I like to say. Right now e-baby is sitting next to me having a complicated and serious conversation with the iPod cable. I'd better make sure they keep it peaceful.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Tucked Away For Winter
Starting around Thursday or so, the weather reports have forecast all kinds of winter weather for Raleigh, with the most likely devastation arriving today. Yesterday we were warned about Friday night rain followed by 1-3" of snow Saturday morning, followed by highs around 30 and lows around 10. This would result in lots of black ice on the roads until the temperatures rise above freezing again, which is forecast to be Monday or Tuesday.
In North Carolina, if winter weather is forecast, the schools close a day early in anticipation and there is a mad rush on the grocery stores for bread and bottled water. Three years ago, in a very poorly planned midday closure of the schools, frantic parents and, well, everyone else, sat in traffic for upwards of 12 hours to go a few miles to get their kids from school or just get home. This was primarily because of panic by the schools and local employers, because the minor snowfall should not have sufficed to wreak that much havoc. In fairness, there was a terrible snowstorm about 8 years ago that knocked out electricity and most options for transportation for over a week, leaving people in hotels with no food because the restaurants had run out or the workers couldn't get to the hotel to prepare it, and that was only forecast to be a couple of inches. Then there was the ice storm about 4 years ago that took down power lines and trees leaving behind $millions in damages and electrical outages for over 2 weeks in some areas (I hesitate to admit that we had power back within 12 hours. Oh, living on the hospital's power grid was so nice). There was also the miserable pair of F-hurricanes (Fran and Floyd) in the 90s made clean water hard to come by for a lot of residents. You can't blame people for taking precautions.
Still, it seems to be a teensy bit reactionary that people just clear the shelves of milk, bread and water and stand in long long lines every.time.snow.is.forecast. Heck, even people in Austin were less concerned about forecasts of ice and snow. Well, OK, snow is never forecast in Austin. Ice and sleet.
So back to my story. Yesterday we were low on dishwashing detergent and powdered buttermilk (don't ask), but knew better than to try to hit the grocery store the night before a forecast of 1-3" snow. Instead, we ate breakfast and scuttled out the door at 9:00 this morning to get our groceries (luckily we keep 5 gallons of bottled water in the garage, since the grocery shelves were, in fact, cleared). SNG and I agreed, if we were going to be holed up indoors for 3 days, we'd better make soup and bake some sourdough bread. So chuck is on the counter burbling away with his fresh lunch of flour and water, and I'm hunkered down over a hot bowl of chicken-vegetable soup with wild rice and fresh rosemary. It is still raining, but little chunks of snow have mixed with the rain. It's 35 degrees and I still have my doubts that anything newsworthy will happen. Chuck should be bread-ready in another 2-3 hours and by then perhaps we'll have some pretty snow that I can take a picture of.
Edited to add:
Edited again to add:
In North Carolina, if winter weather is forecast, the schools close a day early in anticipation and there is a mad rush on the grocery stores for bread and bottled water. Three years ago, in a very poorly planned midday closure of the schools, frantic parents and, well, everyone else, sat in traffic for upwards of 12 hours to go a few miles to get their kids from school or just get home. This was primarily because of panic by the schools and local employers, because the minor snowfall should not have sufficed to wreak that much havoc. In fairness, there was a terrible snowstorm about 8 years ago that knocked out electricity and most options for transportation for over a week, leaving people in hotels with no food because the restaurants had run out or the workers couldn't get to the hotel to prepare it, and that was only forecast to be a couple of inches. Then there was the ice storm about 4 years ago that took down power lines and trees leaving behind $millions in damages and electrical outages for over 2 weeks in some areas (I hesitate to admit that we had power back within 12 hours. Oh, living on the hospital's power grid was so nice). There was also the miserable pair of F-hurricanes (Fran and Floyd) in the 90s made clean water hard to come by for a lot of residents. You can't blame people for taking precautions.
Still, it seems to be a teensy bit reactionary that people just clear the shelves of milk, bread and water and stand in long long lines every.time.snow.is.forecast. Heck, even people in Austin were less concerned about forecasts of ice and snow. Well, OK, snow is never forecast in Austin. Ice and sleet.
So back to my story. Yesterday we were low on dishwashing detergent and powdered buttermilk (don't ask), but knew better than to try to hit the grocery store the night before a forecast of 1-3" snow. Instead, we ate breakfast and scuttled out the door at 9:00 this morning to get our groceries (luckily we keep 5 gallons of bottled water in the garage, since the grocery shelves were, in fact, cleared). SNG and I agreed, if we were going to be holed up indoors for 3 days, we'd better make soup and bake some sourdough bread. So chuck is on the counter burbling away with his fresh lunch of flour and water, and I'm hunkered down over a hot bowl of chicken-vegetable soup with wild rice and fresh rosemary. It is still raining, but little chunks of snow have mixed with the rain. It's 35 degrees and I still have my doubts that anything newsworthy will happen. Chuck should be bread-ready in another 2-3 hours and by then perhaps we'll have some pretty snow that I can take a picture of.
Edited to add:
Edited again to add:
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Eeeeeeeeeeewe
This post is not for the squeamish.
Sometimes when people find out that I travel for work, they make a comment about the luxury of staying at fancy hotels and eating in fancy restaurants. I've pointed out that expensive hotels are often just as dirty as cheap ones, but this is often met with skepticism.
And then you see something like this. (And don't miss the followup videos linked on that page)
And then you realize, "Hey, that's the hotel I stayed in the last time I was in Atlanta!" $209 a night.
And then you think about the time you came home from DC with fleas. $299 a night.
And then you remember the time you found a suspiciously smelly brown smudge on the bathroom wall in Chicago. $319 a night.
And then you remember the time you found marijuana in the couch cushion in Nashville. That place was actually pretty cheap, like $99.
And the countless occurences of curly hairs in the bed, suspicious-smelling towels, the list goes on.
Superbug spreading in hospitals and daycares? Maybe it only takes the hospitality industry to bring public health to its knees.
Thanks to my mother-in-law for sending the video links. I'm staying in a hotel in Memphis this week, so pardon me while I go buy some bottled water.
Sometimes when people find out that I travel for work, they make a comment about the luxury of staying at fancy hotels and eating in fancy restaurants. I've pointed out that expensive hotels are often just as dirty as cheap ones, but this is often met with skepticism.
And then you see something like this. (And don't miss the followup videos linked on that page)
And then you realize, "Hey, that's the hotel I stayed in the last time I was in Atlanta!" $209 a night.
And then you think about the time you came home from DC with fleas. $299 a night.
And then you remember the time you found a suspiciously smelly brown smudge on the bathroom wall in Chicago. $319 a night.
And then you remember the time you found marijuana in the couch cushion in Nashville. That place was actually pretty cheap, like $99.
And the countless occurences of curly hairs in the bed, suspicious-smelling towels, the list goes on.
Superbug spreading in hospitals and daycares? Maybe it only takes the hospitality industry to bring public health to its knees.
Thanks to my mother-in-law for sending the video links. I'm staying in a hotel in Memphis this week, so pardon me while I go buy some bottled water.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
The Other E-word
My recent insomnia has been put to rest for awhile. It was a combination of things, really, one of which is something that I should have recognized: the other e-word. The one that has allowed me to sleep and keep serotonin balance for so many years, the one that used to be the central focus of many of my blog posts. Exercise.
It occured to me last weekend, as SNG and I trudged up a hill on bikes, e-baby in her trailer behind my bike, that I had not been exercising regularly since the weather turned cold about a month ago. I can't bring myself to put e-baby all Siberian-styley in her baby jogger when it's 20 degrees to jog to work. Over the holidays, there was just so much going on that we never got out for a workout. We have a big gym at work, but the daycare hours are pretty much my work hours plus 15 minutes to drop off and pick up the baby, so there's no time for a lunch workout. It was beginning to feel like there was some sort of conspiracy against my exercising! Gr. Arg.
This week we put e-baby into early care every day so that SNG could drop her off. That freed me to jog in the cold weather alone, and he left the baby jogger at my office on his way. I'm surprised how much fitness I can maintain when all I'm doing is chasing a toddler, so the running hasn't been too hard. Slow, but not hard. But most of all: sleep! Yaaaaaay, sleep! All but one day this week I slept until the alarm clock went off.
Other stuff- Next week I'll be teaching in Memphis, then home a week, then teaching in Hartford. If anyone knows of fun things to do in either place (besides trawling the Graceland gift shop) let me know.
So that was perhaps one of the more boring posts ever. Sometimes you just gotta dig deep and write about something.
It occured to me last weekend, as SNG and I trudged up a hill on bikes, e-baby in her trailer behind my bike, that I had not been exercising regularly since the weather turned cold about a month ago. I can't bring myself to put e-baby all Siberian-styley in her baby jogger when it's 20 degrees to jog to work. Over the holidays, there was just so much going on that we never got out for a workout. We have a big gym at work, but the daycare hours are pretty much my work hours plus 15 minutes to drop off and pick up the baby, so there's no time for a lunch workout. It was beginning to feel like there was some sort of conspiracy against my exercising! Gr. Arg.
This week we put e-baby into early care every day so that SNG could drop her off. That freed me to jog in the cold weather alone, and he left the baby jogger at my office on his way. I'm surprised how much fitness I can maintain when all I'm doing is chasing a toddler, so the running hasn't been too hard. Slow, but not hard. But most of all: sleep! Yaaaaaay, sleep! All but one day this week I slept until the alarm clock went off.
Other stuff- Next week I'll be teaching in Memphis, then home a week, then teaching in Hartford. If anyone knows of fun things to do in either place (besides trawling the Graceland gift shop) let me know.
So that was perhaps one of the more boring posts ever. Sometimes you just gotta dig deep and write about something.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Well, It IS An Important Thing To Learn, I Suppose...
E-baby told her first lie yesterday.
The Backstory: Like many toddlers, e-baby is addicted to her pacifier. I've pretty much limited her use of it to the carseat and bedtime, but even her doctor has noted that she's had a strong need to suck on something since birth, so it's not surprising that the girl will not give it up without a fight. One of her top-ten signs right now is pacifier. This week she was recovering from horrendous diaper rash, with every diaper change being very painful, so it just seemed the humane thing to let her have the pacifier ("chupon" in our house) when she had to have a poopy diaper change yesterday afternoon.
After the aquaphor and a new diaper were applied, I took away the chupon and she criiiiiiied, and signed pacifier and said "pon! pon!" but I told her that she didn't need it right now. We went downstairs.
The Mischief: Less than five minutes later, she went up to SNG and signed change diaper. She's been learning this concept of signing when she needs a new diaper, so he asked her whether she needed to change her diaper and she signed change diaper again, but the look on her face was clearly "I'm up to something!" SNG, always the slave of his brown-eyed-girl, carried her upstairs. She spotted the chupon, picked it up and ran back to the stairway. Her giggling clearly said "Heee! I got you, sucker!"
The Analysis: Learning to lie is an important part of development because it not only requires understanding the difference between "me" and "you" but it also requires understanding that "my knowledge" can be different from "your knowledge." Sounds simple, but it's really pretty complex stuff. She won't really have an idea of other people's perspectives for years to come, but this little "trick" on her part was fascinating. My only disappointment is that it worked: she came downstairs with the chupon. :-)
All of this brings up an interesting question, to which I don't have a good answer. To what extent should I be imposing limitations and when should I just let things go? This was a very important question when we had dogs, and it was SO EASY to answer: if you don't want your dog to do xyz or some variation of xyz when it is an adult dog, then humanely nip the behavior in the bud as soon as you see it. The problem is that my child is not a dog, and I don't really want her to grow up responding to my every command. Also, some of the things I wish she'd give up, like the chupon, will work themselves out in time anyway. No way will her friends let her have a pacifier at her first sleepover. So should I fight it now? Another case in point is mealtime behavior. Lately, e-baby HATES her highchair and would prefer to eat at her small table in a chair. I see this as a natural progression and don't mind indulging her, but so far she sits, eats a few bites, gets up to play, and wants to take her food with her. I don't want her wandering around with a fistful of crackers. If I take up the plate, she misses the rest of the meal. Eventually she'll learn that she has to stay seated if she wants to eat (just like at daycare, where they have the same policy). But the question arises again-- do I really need to fight this battle? Or should I just insist she stay in the highchair longer? Won't there be a thousand other battles to fight that are more important?
Dogs were so easy. But none of my dogs knew sign language.
The Backstory: Like many toddlers, e-baby is addicted to her pacifier. I've pretty much limited her use of it to the carseat and bedtime, but even her doctor has noted that she's had a strong need to suck on something since birth, so it's not surprising that the girl will not give it up without a fight. One of her top-ten signs right now is pacifier. This week she was recovering from horrendous diaper rash, with every diaper change being very painful, so it just seemed the humane thing to let her have the pacifier ("chupon" in our house) when she had to have a poopy diaper change yesterday afternoon.
After the aquaphor and a new diaper were applied, I took away the chupon and she criiiiiiied, and signed pacifier and said "pon! pon!" but I told her that she didn't need it right now. We went downstairs.
The Mischief: Less than five minutes later, she went up to SNG and signed change diaper. She's been learning this concept of signing when she needs a new diaper, so he asked her whether she needed to change her diaper and she signed change diaper again, but the look on her face was clearly "I'm up to something!" SNG, always the slave of his brown-eyed-girl, carried her upstairs. She spotted the chupon, picked it up and ran back to the stairway. Her giggling clearly said "Heee! I got you, sucker!"
The Analysis: Learning to lie is an important part of development because it not only requires understanding the difference between "me" and "you" but it also requires understanding that "my knowledge" can be different from "your knowledge." Sounds simple, but it's really pretty complex stuff. She won't really have an idea of other people's perspectives for years to come, but this little "trick" on her part was fascinating. My only disappointment is that it worked: she came downstairs with the chupon. :-)
All of this brings up an interesting question, to which I don't have a good answer. To what extent should I be imposing limitations and when should I just let things go? This was a very important question when we had dogs, and it was SO EASY to answer: if you don't want your dog to do xyz or some variation of xyz when it is an adult dog, then humanely nip the behavior in the bud as soon as you see it. The problem is that my child is not a dog, and I don't really want her to grow up responding to my every command. Also, some of the things I wish she'd give up, like the chupon, will work themselves out in time anyway. No way will her friends let her have a pacifier at her first sleepover. So should I fight it now? Another case in point is mealtime behavior. Lately, e-baby HATES her highchair and would prefer to eat at her small table in a chair. I see this as a natural progression and don't mind indulging her, but so far she sits, eats a few bites, gets up to play, and wants to take her food with her. I don't want her wandering around with a fistful of crackers. If I take up the plate, she misses the rest of the meal. Eventually she'll learn that she has to stay seated if she wants to eat (just like at daycare, where they have the same policy). But the question arises again-- do I really need to fight this battle? Or should I just insist she stay in the highchair longer? Won't there be a thousand other battles to fight that are more important?
Dogs were so easy. But none of my dogs knew sign language.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Happy New Year!
I'm writing this before midnight, but the neighbors across the street threw a New Year's party for the neighborhood kids and we rang in the new year at 8:30pm, so I'm already an hour 28 minutes into 2008 right now. The party was fun, and e-baby had the time of her life, until she started to cry uncontrollably, grasping at her pants. I took her home and changed her and found that the fettucine alfredo she had for lunch did not agree with her. Poor kid must have felt like she had fireants in her diaper. We gave her a bath, she fell asleep before 8, and SNG watched football while I headed back to the neighbor's party to eat the best cannolis outside of Angelo Brocato's. Poor e-baby. I hope she feels better in the morning.
Christmas was SO much fun. We had my parents, SNG's parents, Dianaverse, and our friend Kiltman here for Christmas dinner. We'll be dining on leftovers until 2009. SNG and I gave each other matching iPods, which are great except then we realized that they won't show our home movies. So what's the point of a video iPod if you can't watch your videos on it? E-baby got lots of toys, including another bike which will probably fit her by summertime, a red wagon she can pull around, a singing kitchen, a book that meows/chirps/barks, a lovely pink handmade scarf, and countless other toys, books, and clothes. In spite of the riches bestowed upon her, e-baby's favorite toy of all was the $1.99 bathtub xylophone from a Walgreen's in San Francisco.
Last weekend we drove to New Bern to visit SNG's parents. E-baby terrorized their cat and played their harpsichord. We also toured Tryon Palace while we were there. And all of us slept well, which as far as I'm concerned, is all that's really required to make it a good weekend.
I guess that's all. One more holiday before returning to work. I can't believe the twelve days are almost over.
BTW, to see pictures from Christmas day, they are here.
Other pictures from December, including Christmas eve and a couple of shots from the neighbor's New Year's party, are here.
Christmas was SO much fun. We had my parents, SNG's parents, Dianaverse, and our friend Kiltman here for Christmas dinner. We'll be dining on leftovers until 2009. SNG and I gave each other matching iPods, which are great except then we realized that they won't show our home movies. So what's the point of a video iPod if you can't watch your videos on it? E-baby got lots of toys, including another bike which will probably fit her by summertime, a red wagon she can pull around, a singing kitchen, a book that meows/chirps/barks, a lovely pink handmade scarf, and countless other toys, books, and clothes. In spite of the riches bestowed upon her, e-baby's favorite toy of all was the $1.99 bathtub xylophone from a Walgreen's in San Francisco.
Last weekend we drove to New Bern to visit SNG's parents. E-baby terrorized their cat and played their harpsichord. We also toured Tryon Palace while we were there. And all of us slept well, which as far as I'm concerned, is all that's really required to make it a good weekend.
I guess that's all. One more holiday before returning to work. I can't believe the twelve days are almost over.
BTW, to see pictures from Christmas day, they are here.
Other pictures from December, including Christmas eve and a couple of shots from the neighbor's New Year's party, are here.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Christmas Eve Blog Post
The latest I've slept since the holidays started is 6:30. On a work day, I barely drag myself out of bed by 6:40 and on vacation, I'm up at 5:30 or 6 most days. How is this normal? At least with my parents in town, I have some pre-dawn company. Dad is usually up by 5.
I did all the Christmas grocery shopping yesterday at 6am, at the 24-hour Teeter, with a bunch of stockers and one other shopper, probably an off-duty stalker, in the store. No lines. No open registers, even. One of the stockers (not the stalker) opened a register when I was finished. Registers On Demand: the way grocery shopping should always be.
I emerged from the store into the the usually crowded parking lot, with its half-dozen cars scattered across three acres of pavement. The sun was just rising and it was a little bit foggy-- mist enbough to muffle sounds but not enough to block out the streetlights. A few scavenging doves cooed and bobbed around the cars, and the soon-to-be-busy roadway nearby was completely silent. The feeling took me back to a moment in my late teenage years when we had pulled an all-nighter in the French Quarter. We wandered the streets as the bartenders were starting to wash the sidewalks and made our way to Jackson Square. Immediately in front of the cathedral, which ordinarily would be a riot of tourists, street performers, pastel portrait artists, fortunetellers, and the occasional churchgoer, it was misty and silent. Beneath a bum sleeping on a bench a little flock of doves searched for a rogue Lucky Dog bun.
They say that a smell can take you back to a powerful memory more than any other sense. I don't think I want to relive the smell of Jackson Square after a Saturday night. The smell of the beignets we ate a few minutes later would be OK. But a blanket of fog and the silence of pre-dawn, sprinkled with the busy bopping of a few doves, can put you at one with the universe for a brief moment.
I'll live with a bit of insomnia if it'll make me one with everything. I feel like a Lucky Dog.
I did all the Christmas grocery shopping yesterday at 6am, at the 24-hour Teeter, with a bunch of stockers and one other shopper, probably an off-duty stalker, in the store. No lines. No open registers, even. One of the stockers (not the stalker) opened a register when I was finished. Registers On Demand: the way grocery shopping should always be.
I emerged from the store into the the usually crowded parking lot, with its half-dozen cars scattered across three acres of pavement. The sun was just rising and it was a little bit foggy-- mist enbough to muffle sounds but not enough to block out the streetlights. A few scavenging doves cooed and bobbed around the cars, and the soon-to-be-busy roadway nearby was completely silent. The feeling took me back to a moment in my late teenage years when we had pulled an all-nighter in the French Quarter. We wandered the streets as the bartenders were starting to wash the sidewalks and made our way to Jackson Square. Immediately in front of the cathedral, which ordinarily would be a riot of tourists, street performers, pastel portrait artists, fortunetellers, and the occasional churchgoer, it was misty and silent. Beneath a bum sleeping on a bench a little flock of doves searched for a rogue Lucky Dog bun.
They say that a smell can take you back to a powerful memory more than any other sense. I don't think I want to relive the smell of Jackson Square after a Saturday night. The smell of the beignets we ate a few minutes later would be OK. But a blanket of fog and the silence of pre-dawn, sprinkled with the busy bopping of a few doves, can put you at one with the universe for a brief moment.
I'll live with a bit of insomnia if it'll make me one with everything. I feel like a Lucky Dog.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
(One Day Belated) Birthday Boy
Friday was SNG's birthday. I don't think I turned on the computer except once to look up his Christmas wish list, so I didn't post until now. Happy Birthday, SNG!! You're the best husband and friend I could ever wish for and the perfect "daddy" complement to my "mommy" secret identity. I'll love you just as much when you're 99 and crunchy around the edges, but for now you're still pretty spry. And tall, dark, handsome, etc.
Someone tell me. Is this irony, or just a bummer?: Friday was SNG's birthday and I took the day off. He wasn't able to because it was his boss' last day and he wanted to help send her off in style with a surprise party. Not that I'mn complaining-- I'd have done the same thing in his situation-- but it is funny that for SNG's bday I stayed home.
I look forward to 12 days off, but e-baby has had a couple extra days of vacation. My parents arrived in town on Tuesday and kept her home with them Wednesday and Thursday. When they arrived, e-baby took about five minutes to process the paperwork on my dad, and when it came back clean, she was his best buddy. He will be known as "The Cool One Who Takes Me Outside Even Though It's Cold" and "The Cool One Who Entertains Me While Someone Changes My Diaper." From my perspective, he's doing all the hard stuff, but I think he's having a blast.
That's about all for now. I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays. I'll drop updates from time to time this week since I have a lot more time to do so.
Someone tell me. Is this irony, or just a bummer?: Friday was SNG's birthday and I took the day off. He wasn't able to because it was his boss' last day and he wanted to help send her off in style with a surprise party. Not that I'mn complaining-- I'd have done the same thing in his situation-- but it is funny that for SNG's bday I stayed home.
I look forward to 12 days off, but e-baby has had a couple extra days of vacation. My parents arrived in town on Tuesday and kept her home with them Wednesday and Thursday. When they arrived, e-baby took about five minutes to process the paperwork on my dad, and when it came back clean, she was his best buddy. He will be known as "The Cool One Who Takes Me Outside Even Though It's Cold" and "The Cool One Who Entertains Me While Someone Changes My Diaper." From my perspective, he's doing all the hard stuff, but I think he's having a blast.
That's about all for now. I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays. I'll drop updates from time to time this week since I have a lot more time to do so.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Motherhood Means Never Having to Pee Alone...
...is one of the things that my mom used to say which I have recently realized is true. She had a different way of saying it than that (she insisted that children and dogs had a 6th sense about when she put a toilet seat into use, and they would come from miles away to sit and play on the floor at her feet). Unfortunately, if you prefer to pee alone, then the only way this will happen is to leave town. I had nearly two weeks of delightful privacy. With no trips until mid-January, and 12 days off for Christmas holidays, it's back to, "Why don't you show mommy how you can throw that tissue into the trash can? Very good! No, you don't have to unroll any more, thank yoooou!" for awhile.
The funniest thing is saying (and signing) thank you to e-baby-- she signs thank you back (and says "ta-too."). She thanks herself for throwing something away without being told to.
I got home from DC Friday night and on Saturday we finished unpacking the upstairs den from when we moved. That's pathetic, but I challenge anyone to claim that every item from their last move, if it was in the last 10 years, has been put away where it belongs. Somehow there's always something that you wait to do until later, and later becomes a few months, and the thing creeps into a closet or a corner and a few months becomes almost 4 years. The motivation to finish unpacking (framed pictures and prints, office supplies, electronics cables and old computer hardware) was the idea of Christmas at my house: my parents, SNG's parents, Dianaverse, SNG, me, and a 15-month-and-one-day-old e-baby. It will be quite enough to keep her from unwrapping everyone else's gifts without stopping her using an extension cord as a neck scarf or banging together my diplomas (which cost a car payment to have framed) like cymbals.
With the last gasp of putting away 2004 detritus, we are really ready for the holidays. It's such a contrast to last year when we could hardly juggle the 3-month-old and sign 10 Christmas cards for my coworkers, so forget about getting anything into the post. This year we had Santa and his flamingos in the front yard the day after Thanksgiving (e-baby initially called Santa "Pa-Pa" which is her name for SNG's dad, but now she calls Santa "danda-dah"). We did all of our shopping and even sent cards and ornaments to everyone in the Texas crew. We got gifts out to our babies all over the US. Tomorrow I'm dropping off gifts for e-baby's teachers, and I brought in cookies for my coworkers on the one day I was in the office last week. It makes me wonder, if SNG and I did everything while not only going to work every day, but also having me out of town and SNG playing single parent most of the last 2 weeks, what the heck are we going to do with 12 days off? Bake a dozen pies and ten loaves of bread? Make 60 jars of jam? Sew baby clothes? Clear out the backyard snake habitat to make a happier place for little feet? Build a house? Restore a car?
I suppose I could get a head start on next year's Christmas list. The malls probably open early on the 26th. SNG better get going on the backyard snake thing.
(HEY!! LOOK! TWO NEW POLLS!)
The funniest thing is saying (and signing) thank you to e-baby-- she signs thank you back (and says "ta-too."). She thanks herself for throwing something away without being told to.
I got home from DC Friday night and on Saturday we finished unpacking the upstairs den from when we moved. That's pathetic, but I challenge anyone to claim that every item from their last move, if it was in the last 10 years, has been put away where it belongs. Somehow there's always something that you wait to do until later, and later becomes a few months, and the thing creeps into a closet or a corner and a few months becomes almost 4 years. The motivation to finish unpacking (framed pictures and prints, office supplies, electronics cables and old computer hardware) was the idea of Christmas at my house: my parents, SNG's parents, Dianaverse, SNG, me, and a 15-month-and-one-day-old e-baby. It will be quite enough to keep her from unwrapping everyone else's gifts without stopping her using an extension cord as a neck scarf or banging together my diplomas (which cost a car payment to have framed) like cymbals.
With the last gasp of putting away 2004 detritus, we are really ready for the holidays. It's such a contrast to last year when we could hardly juggle the 3-month-old and sign 10 Christmas cards for my coworkers, so forget about getting anything into the post. This year we had Santa and his flamingos in the front yard the day after Thanksgiving (e-baby initially called Santa "Pa-Pa" which is her name for SNG's dad, but now she calls Santa "danda-dah"). We did all of our shopping and even sent cards and ornaments to everyone in the Texas crew. We got gifts out to our babies all over the US. Tomorrow I'm dropping off gifts for e-baby's teachers, and I brought in cookies for my coworkers on the one day I was in the office last week. It makes me wonder, if SNG and I did everything while not only going to work every day, but also having me out of town and SNG playing single parent most of the last 2 weeks, what the heck are we going to do with 12 days off? Bake a dozen pies and ten loaves of bread? Make 60 jars of jam? Sew baby clothes? Clear out the backyard snake habitat to make a happier place for little feet? Build a house? Restore a car?
I suppose I could get a head start on next year's Christmas list. The malls probably open early on the 26th. SNG better get going on the backyard snake thing.
(HEY!! LOOK! TWO NEW POLLS!)
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Home Intermission
The San Francisco trip was a mix of great fun and ridiculously bad luck. The "lucky" streak began on Saturday night, when I was up at 3am chucking up all the day's lunch and dinner. The flight to New York on Sunday was on time, but the flight from NY to SFO, which should have been 6hr 20min was 8 hours. We left on time, but the pilot mentioned something about wanting to see the a big fiberglass duck and the hotel shaped like a turkey along the way, so we took a few detours. (Thursday Trivia-- PIC has been to the Gobbler. She has the pictures to prove it.)
I stayed at San Francisco's first "Green" hotel (ladeda), which as far as I can tell only means that you can shut down all the electricity to your room with a cardkey, and had to be assigned three different rooms before one could actually be opened by the electronic cardkey system. By this time I was starving and half asleep, but sleep won over hunger.
The class was terrific- smart, inquisitive students, kept me on my toes. Monday night I shopped and had dinner at a good asian fusion place near union square. Tuesday I woke up at 5:00.
My left eye was crudded shut.
Pink. Eye. I caught it from SNG, who probably caught it from e-baby.
Three hours of phone calls back home to my doctor, one CLOSED "24-hour" urgent care clinic, and one "24-hour" pharmacy that opened at 8am later, I had a prescription for eye drops and four tubes of (priced-to-be-disposable) mascara. For every crud there's a creamy center, though, and Tuesday night I had dinner with a dear friend and his dear wife at a wonderful vegan restaurant in Oakland. The best thing about travel for a living is getting to visit good friends that I'd probably never get to see otherwise.
Wednesday night I took a train to a train to visit my aunt in Menlo Park, where we had a dinner at an Italian place near the train station. The time just flies by when I visit with her, and before I knew it, it was time to catch my train back to the city. We had a wonderful time, except I left my backpack and my iPod at the restaurant, and had to get my aunt to go back and get it for me. Oooooops.
This morning I woke up at 4 to catch a train to the airport and .... I have a cold. Hopefully this is the last crud-thing that will happen this week. Right now I am blogging from the Admiral's club at DFW (in Terminal A-- the one with the EGG CHAIRS in the music room-- I Luuuurve the EGG CHAIRS). Today's creamy center will be getting to rock e-baby to sleep after her bath tonight.
Boarding in 10 minutes.
I stayed at San Francisco's first "Green" hotel (ladeda), which as far as I can tell only means that you can shut down all the electricity to your room with a cardkey, and had to be assigned three different rooms before one could actually be opened by the electronic cardkey system. By this time I was starving and half asleep, but sleep won over hunger.
The class was terrific- smart, inquisitive students, kept me on my toes. Monday night I shopped and had dinner at a good asian fusion place near union square. Tuesday I woke up at 5:00.
My left eye was crudded shut.
Pink. Eye. I caught it from SNG, who probably caught it from e-baby.
Three hours of phone calls back home to my doctor, one CLOSED "24-hour" urgent care clinic, and one "24-hour" pharmacy that opened at 8am later, I had a prescription for eye drops and four tubes of (priced-to-be-disposable) mascara. For every crud there's a creamy center, though, and Tuesday night I had dinner with a dear friend and his dear wife at a wonderful vegan restaurant in Oakland. The best thing about travel for a living is getting to visit good friends that I'd probably never get to see otherwise.
Wednesday night I took a train to a train to visit my aunt in Menlo Park, where we had a dinner at an Italian place near the train station. The time just flies by when I visit with her, and before I knew it, it was time to catch my train back to the city. We had a wonderful time, except I left my backpack and my iPod at the restaurant, and had to get my aunt to go back and get it for me. Oooooops.
This morning I woke up at 4 to catch a train to the airport and .... I have a cold. Hopefully this is the last crud-thing that will happen this week. Right now I am blogging from the Admiral's club at DFW (in Terminal A-- the one with the EGG CHAIRS in the music room-- I Luuuurve the EGG CHAIRS). Today's creamy center will be getting to rock e-baby to sleep after her bath tonight.
Boarding in 10 minutes.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Got the Date on the Golden Gate
I got a Friday morning surprise today: I'm leaving for San Francisco on Sunday. Coming home Thursday evening. Then, three days later, I'm going to DC. Well, the 2nd trip is not a surprise.
This kind of news called for rapid-engagement social-mobilization tactics. In San Francisco, I have a dinner plan with my aunt and another with an old grad school friend. If I can arrange one more dinner date with some work friends, then I'll have a hat trick, and no time alone to feel bad about leaving SNG and e-baby for five days.
Well, you know, except those wee hours from 4-7am, when I'm awake but no one else is. Stupid Pacific time zone.
This kind of news called for rapid-engagement social-mobilization tactics. In San Francisco, I have a dinner plan with my aunt and another with an old grad school friend. If I can arrange one more dinner date with some work friends, then I'll have a hat trick, and no time alone to feel bad about leaving SNG and e-baby for five days.
Well, you know, except those wee hours from 4-7am, when I'm awake but no one else is. Stupid Pacific time zone.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
An Anniversary of Sorts, and a First
One year ago today, I woke up after sleeping for 8 hours: e-baby had slept through the night for the first time.
Today, e-baby made her first 2-word combination: "No, mama!" She knows exactly what it means. But she's so polite when she says it.
She has not yet said "No, daddy!" *sigh! *
Today, e-baby made her first 2-word combination: "No, mama!" She knows exactly what it means. But she's so polite when she says it.
She has not yet said "No, daddy!" *sigh! *
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Insert Title Here
I still don't have a whole lot to say, but I have enjoyed reading PartnerInCrime's daily blogging so much this month, I should post more frequently. So if my babbling is boring, feel free to click to something more interesting. Otherwise, I'm glad you're here! Hi!
The rest of Thanksgiving weekend was terrrrrrific. On Saturday, SNG's mom watched e-baby all day while we excavated the upstairs attic. We have 2 attics: one over the dining room, accessed from an odd little door in e-baby's closet (oh yeah, there will definitely be monsters living in there someday) and a larger attic above the 2nd floor. The upstairs attic has been overtaken by the ghosts of Christmas Past. I don't know how we ended up with so much Christmas crap. We had 4 boxes of small empty boxes and countless boxes and bags of gift wrap, lights, ornaments, tree stands ("Honey, where's the tree stand?" "We don't have one." "Let's go buy one today." "OK!"), tags, bows, Christmas-themed tchotchkes, socks, boxer shorts, sweaters, turtlenecks, you get the picture. We had all our moving boxes from the last move, and wanted to give them to Peace and Fuzzy who move into their new house this weekend. There were also several boxes mysteriously labeled "clearing clutter at Peach Haven." I think this means we shoved all objects from dresser-and table tops into boxes so we could put our old house on the market. Old ticket stubs rested side-by-side with vases, a food dehydrator, a blues harmonica, and some costume jewelry. Most of that stuff ended up in the trash or at Goodwill.
It was so nice to have the attic taken care of, but it took all of Saturday plus part of Sunday to accomplish.
On Sunday I made about 10 dozen pecan-raisin hermits. The recipe says they have to sit in an airtight container at least 2 weeks before serving. I dunno, they tasted pretty good fresh out of the oven. They tasted even better fresh from the mixer. While I baked, SNG put up Christmas decorations. But that'll be another post with pictures.
By Monday I was asking "Is the holiday over already??"
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