Last night I ran into another one of those what-is-it-with-this-house moments. Rewinding a bit in the day, during lunch I ran out to Staples to return the new mouse I'd bought for Evelin's laptop; the old mouse that had seemed to have given up the ghost decided it wasn't ready for the scrap heap when it saw the new model arrive &mash; it started working perfectly mooting any plans to replace it. (Both the old and new are/were corded optical mouses; I just don't feel the love for cordless mouses, no matter how much certain people may talk them up.)
While making the return, the woman at the service desk asked if I'd be buying anything else today. I said no, but while she was handing the transaction, I cast my eyes over the clearance table. There were a couple of multi-extension cordless phones on sale, so after I got my card credited for the mouse I started poking around.
We have two old cordless phones, each of which has its own basestation. One is a 900 MHz unit; the other is 2.4 GHz. I haven't noticed any troubles yet, but our wireless network is 8011.b/g, which also uses 2.4 GHz, and since we should be switching entirely from Verizon to Vonage soon (we're just waiting for the old number migration to be finalized) I thought it might cause some issue to have a 2.4 GHz phone carrying VoIP traffic in the same loop as the 2.4 GHz network carrying Internet traffic. Plus, the 5.8 GHz phones (AT&T 3658Bs) were better than half price and looked neat, and would give us a third handset.
The upshot of all this is that Evelin will probably be Freecycling the 900 MHz phone + answering machine and the 2.4 GHz phone soon.
But that is just the lead up to the what-is-it-with-this-house issue.
When I put the new basestation in place (on the wall in the kitchen) it hung too high; the bottom of the cabinets made it impossible to put a handset in the basestation cradle. Removing the faceplace, it looks like it will be easy to just cut a channel down the wall to shift where the wire comes out of the wall and then I can spackle and rehang things. (Also I also discovered at this point that the Harvest Gold paint was applied over a fairly cutesy country wallpaper — little red houses and fruits.)
Of course it isn't that easy: The first problem was the plaster crumbling, including a nice chunk that popped out when I tried to put in a plastic screw anchor. Nothing too drastic happened, however; I just had to use more spackle that originally planned for.
The interesting thing was that the phone line didn't terminate directly into the jack; instead, there was a four-wire termination plate just hanging inside the wall. Only red and green were attached, so I stripped the black and yellow wires and attached them. Also, instead of the jack leads being crimped under the screws, they terminated in these neat little red, green, yellow, and black clips that snapped on top of the screws on the line plate. I snapped them down and pushed everything back into the wall and went about setting up the basestation.
The first indication that something was off was that the "in use" light kept flashing. We thought maybe it was because everything was charging for the first time, but it did seem a bit odd that a few hours later a partially charged handset couldn't get a dialtone.
This morning any hope that it was just a charging thing went out the window. Evelin called to say that the new phones weren't working; I later tried to call to see if I would get the answering machine ... again nada.
So, as soon as I got home, I tried a standard phone (the one normally connected to the VoIP line) to test the jack. No luck, it was back into the wall for me. Thankfully, it turned out to be a simple fix: One of those neat clips had popped off, probably dislodged by a bit of plaster falling behind the wall. After snapping that back on and putting everything back together, the "in use" light stopped flashing and the phones could ring.
At some point, I should probably replace the jack and how the line is terminated — perhaps whenever we redo the kitchen or when I go back to pain over the spackle and bit of wallpaper — but for now it's working.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Monday, July 11, 2005
Beach Baby
On Saturday, Celeste got her first taste of salt air. We took a daytrip up to Ocean City, NJ, to visit friends and to see what Celeste thinks of sand and salt water. She didn't sleep much on the drive there, so her walk along the boardwalk was an abbreviated one, but she did take a good nap that was followed by a short walk into the surf. She seemed a bit unsure what to make of it all, and the cold Atlantic waters did elicit a few tears, but she did like walking on the wet, packed sand near the water's edge.
As she was walking back up to the boardwalk, Celeste drew a few comments from some onlookers, one of whom was surprised we were heading in so soon after arriving; I replied that Celeste had always been more partial to the mountains than the shore.
On the drive home, Celeste napped for a solid 90 minutes through most of New Jersey, but once we got home she was wired. After about three false starts we finally got her to bed for good around 10:00 p.m. ... and she slept through to just before 6:00 a.m. on Sunday. Her first ever sleep though the night. (It didn't last: Sunday night–Monday morning, she woke for a feed around 2:30 a.m.)
Friday, July 08, 2005
Bargin Bob's Stroller City
So Celeste still has her old Baby Trend Snap 'n Go in the basement, her Combi Savvy Soho umbrella stroller, and as of Wednesday night, she has a pre-owned Baby Jogger Performance Series jogstroller. Tired of slamming the Soho through the ruts and potholes in our streets and sidewalks, Evelin had been cruising Freecycle and craigslist for a few weeks looking for a jogging stroller. While in Atlanta, we called a consignment shop N--- knew of and tried to buy another off one of her friends — all to no avail. When we got home, however, craigslist had just what Evelin had been looking for.
She made the call and set up the deal, and I made the trip to Chevy Chase View/Bethesda after work to pick up the stroller. It's a serious machine, able to take the worst our city streets and sidewalks can offer, but it also isn’t as quick and easy to fold up for storage. C'est la vie.
Yesterday, I took the new stroller (and Celeste) for a long walk over to the Riverdale Park Farmers Market. With the remanents of Tropical Storm Cindy threatening, there were fewer stalls than usual (and a few deals: two bags of baby chard, a bunch of chives and some beets for $5; I took the chard, but passed on the beets and chives, leaving the two running the booth eyeing the clouds and looking for someone who liked beets to buy the last of their produce so they could get out of there).
On the walk home, it started spitting a little bit — nothing too bad, but Celeste didn't seem to really like it. The sun shade kept her from getting wet (and there really wasn't much rain at that point), but she was pulling her feet up like she wanted to get away from whatever water was reaching her.
On Tuesday afternoon, we had a nice thunderstorm and she enjoyed standing on the porch and holding her hands out into the rain, but I guess being strapped into a chair and having rain being pushed on to her wasn't as much fun.
Considering how Evelin's been working craigslist and Freecycle lately, I was certian she'd end up a Ferengi in this "Which Star Trek Alien Are You?" quiz. It turns out she's equal parts Klingon (45%) and Vulcan (45%) — there must have been something in her answers that tipped it to Klingon, that's what the final result said despite the tied score. Cardassian, Jem'Hadar, Bajoran, and Ferengi were tied at 40%, followed by 35% Romulan and 30% Borg.
I came up with a three-way tie Romulan (60%), Bajoran (60%), and Vulcan (60%), with the tip going to Romulan. I was only 15% Ferengi and 20% Borg. With the other races being in the 30% or 40% range.
She made the call and set up the deal, and I made the trip to Chevy Chase View/Bethesda after work to pick up the stroller. It's a serious machine, able to take the worst our city streets and sidewalks can offer, but it also isn’t as quick and easy to fold up for storage. C'est la vie.
Yesterday, I took the new stroller (and Celeste) for a long walk over to the Riverdale Park Farmers Market. With the remanents of Tropical Storm Cindy threatening, there were fewer stalls than usual (and a few deals: two bags of baby chard, a bunch of chives and some beets for $5; I took the chard, but passed on the beets and chives, leaving the two running the booth eyeing the clouds and looking for someone who liked beets to buy the last of their produce so they could get out of there).
On the walk home, it started spitting a little bit — nothing too bad, but Celeste didn't seem to really like it. The sun shade kept her from getting wet (and there really wasn't much rain at that point), but she was pulling her feet up like she wanted to get away from whatever water was reaching her.
On Tuesday afternoon, we had a nice thunderstorm and she enjoyed standing on the porch and holding her hands out into the rain, but I guess being strapped into a chair and having rain being pushed on to her wasn't as much fun.
Considering how Evelin's been working craigslist and Freecycle lately, I was certian she'd end up a Ferengi in this "Which Star Trek Alien Are You?" quiz. It turns out she's equal parts Klingon (45%) and Vulcan (45%) — there must have been something in her answers that tipped it to Klingon, that's what the final result said despite the tied score. Cardassian, Jem'Hadar, Bajoran, and Ferengi were tied at 40%, followed by 35% Romulan and 30% Borg.
I came up with a three-way tie Romulan (60%), Bajoran (60%), and Vulcan (60%), with the tip going to Romulan. I was only 15% Ferengi and 20% Borg. With the other races being in the 30% or 40% range.
Thursday, July 07, 2005
A Little Too Late
This — BBC Radio 3 Beethoven Experience — is always the sort of thing I find out about too late. The BBC Philharmonic recorded all nine of Beethoven's symphonies and Radio 3 aired them throughout June and offered free downloads for a week after airing.
If you hurry, the download of the 9th Symphony is still available through midnight (UTC±0:00) tonight.
If you hurry, the download of the 9th Symphony is still available through midnight (UTC±0:00) tonight.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
We Have Language
Well, she's hardly mastered spoken English, but Celeste is making a few sounds that are connected with things/people that seem to have a decent rate of correlation. For the past two weeks or so, she's been pretty good with dadadadada sounds, but they seemed to lack context. Over the 4th of July weekend however, there was a clear break between dæ di/dæ dɑ (me) and dɑɑ (M---, my brother's black lab).
The dæ dɪ/dæ dɑ was spoken with more deliberation, while the dɑɑ was held a bit longer. There also was at least one dɛ that seemed to correlate with a stuffed duck she got from her great aunt and uncle. And this afternoon she pointed to a bird and said something that sounded like bɪ.
There're a lot of other babbling and random sounds, but I really think we're starting to get some context in there, too, which is really exciting and a bit scary. It's going to be hard to let her cry a little bit when she's yelling "Daddy!"
My folks came into town on the 24th for a few days. My dad was put to work right away: We replaced some spongy boards on the front porch; fixed/replaced some of the trim on the porch; installed Evelin's long-wished-for door between the kitchen and the basement stairs (she got a folding door instead of the full door she wanted, but that's the best solution considering the tight layout of the space); replaced the rusty chains on the porch swing; and took care of some other small chores that needed doing. We also played with the dishwasher some to little good effect. There was a little work and a lot of consultation on the Psup3;, and, while I was back at work, he power-washed and painted the deck and replaced a leaky gasket in an outside faucet (I thought I'd have to replace the whole thing), as well as a few other things that I'm blanking on now.
With my folks here, Evelin and I took the opportunity to head out Sunday night for our first stretch of time together away from Celeste. We had a quick dinner at Lebanese Taverna Café in Silver Spring followed by a screening of Revenge of the Sith.
Monday night was the searing of the flesh. I was grilling mushrooms for dinner and, distracted by talking with my dad, I picked up the grill wok with the oven-mitted hand, but I grabbed the butter warmer I was using to heat the marinade/sauce barehanded. The food went flying and I ran in to run it under cold water; a few mushrooms hit my dad's leg. He salvaged things best he could, and I spent the evening pouting with my hand in a bowl of cold water. It really hurt and I felt pretty dumb.
Fortunately, by the next evening, the pain and swelling were down. I have some cooked parts of my palm and fingers, but some of it is already starting to flake away.
The poison ivy was in remission by the burning. I'd had three or four straight nights of oatmeal baths — and it's worth buying the pre-powdered stuff; I tried whizzing regular oatmeal in the food processor and although it looked pretty powdery, in the bath the powder swelled into grits ... it got pretty nasty trying to clean the tub afterwards — and I switched from Super Ivy-Dry to Aveeno 1% hydrocortisone. I also dosed myself overnight with Benadryl. The Super Ivy-Dry worked well, but it was burning me. The bits that still look bad (albeit sans the itch) are where I overdid various products and basically burned the skin.
The folks had left our place on Tuesday and spend some time with friends/relatives while making their way down to Atlanta; without timing it out we happened to be approaching the GA–SC state line at about the same time from slightly different directions, so we met up at the Georgia welcome center and caravanned the rest of the way to Atlanta.
It was a nice trip. A--- and N--- have a new house, so we got to see what was what with that, and Celeste definitely picked up a few tricks from her 21-month-old cousins. While visiting us, my mother got Celeste working on holding fingers and walking, but seeing the twins running about (and M--- walking away from her) inspired Celeste to really kick the handheld walking into gear. Her balance is no where near where it needs to be for unassisted walking, but she is determined and enjoys moving around. We've been saying for a while that it looked like she would skip crawling; it looks like that'll be the case.
While on the trip Celeste also cut her fifth tooth (one of the upper incisors) and she got her toe pecked by a hen at the Yellow River Game Ranch. Basically it's a big petting zoo with some other animals that aren't for petting (and that seemed to be in less than ideal enclosures) — a few black bears, foxes, bobcats, a puma, coyotes, bison, a porcupine, etc. Celeste really liked most of the animals, but one aggressive hen walked up to the stroller and mistook her toe for a kernel of corn or something. I saw it about to happen and pulled back the stroller, but not quite in time. The skin wasn't broken, but Celeste was frightened and started crying, so we carried her for a bit and she got back into things pretty quickly.
We also took time to run into MidCity to have a nice brunch with M--- and B---. After brunch, B--- gave us a tour of some of the New Urbanist developments going up in Atlanta; it's really cool to see some smart growth developments going up inside a city — we really need some more of that around D.C.
The entire trip left Celeste a bit out of whack — strange place, strange people, strange food, very long car rides — but she pulled through and did very well.
The dæ dɪ/dæ dɑ was spoken with more deliberation, while the dɑɑ was held a bit longer. There also was at least one dɛ that seemed to correlate with a stuffed duck she got from her great aunt and uncle. And this afternoon she pointed to a bird and said something that sounded like bɪ.
There're a lot of other babbling and random sounds, but I really think we're starting to get some context in there, too, which is really exciting and a bit scary. It's going to be hard to let her cry a little bit when she's yelling "Daddy!"
So, Where the Hell Have You Been?
It's been a while since my last entry, so here's the short-form version of things; I may go back in time to add some entries to June, but in case I don't:My folks came into town on the 24th for a few days. My dad was put to work right away: We replaced some spongy boards on the front porch; fixed/replaced some of the trim on the porch; installed Evelin's long-wished-for door between the kitchen and the basement stairs (she got a folding door instead of the full door she wanted, but that's the best solution considering the tight layout of the space); replaced the rusty chains on the porch swing; and took care of some other small chores that needed doing. We also played with the dishwasher some to little good effect. There was a little work and a lot of consultation on the Psup3;, and, while I was back at work, he power-washed and painted the deck and replaced a leaky gasket in an outside faucet (I thought I'd have to replace the whole thing), as well as a few other things that I'm blanking on now.
With my folks here, Evelin and I took the opportunity to head out Sunday night for our first stretch of time together away from Celeste. We had a quick dinner at Lebanese Taverna Café in Silver Spring followed by a screening of Revenge of the Sith.
Monday night was the searing of the flesh. I was grilling mushrooms for dinner and, distracted by talking with my dad, I picked up the grill wok with the oven-mitted hand, but I grabbed the butter warmer I was using to heat the marinade/sauce barehanded. The food went flying and I ran in to run it under cold water; a few mushrooms hit my dad's leg. He salvaged things best he could, and I spent the evening pouting with my hand in a bowl of cold water. It really hurt and I felt pretty dumb.
Fortunately, by the next evening, the pain and swelling were down. I have some cooked parts of my palm and fingers, but some of it is already starting to flake away.
The poison ivy was in remission by the burning. I'd had three or four straight nights of oatmeal baths — and it's worth buying the pre-powdered stuff; I tried whizzing regular oatmeal in the food processor and although it looked pretty powdery, in the bath the powder swelled into grits ... it got pretty nasty trying to clean the tub afterwards — and I switched from Super Ivy-Dry to Aveeno 1% hydrocortisone. I also dosed myself overnight with Benadryl. The Super Ivy-Dry worked well, but it was burning me. The bits that still look bad (albeit sans the itch) are where I overdid various products and basically burned the skin.
What else ...
On Thursday, Evelin, Celeste and I made the drive down to Atlanta to spend the weekend with my brother, sister-in-law, the twins, their dog, and my parents.The folks had left our place on Tuesday and spend some time with friends/relatives while making their way down to Atlanta; without timing it out we happened to be approaching the GA–SC state line at about the same time from slightly different directions, so we met up at the Georgia welcome center and caravanned the rest of the way to Atlanta.
It was a nice trip. A--- and N--- have a new house, so we got to see what was what with that, and Celeste definitely picked up a few tricks from her 21-month-old cousins. While visiting us, my mother got Celeste working on holding fingers and walking, but seeing the twins running about (and M--- walking away from her) inspired Celeste to really kick the handheld walking into gear. Her balance is no where near where it needs to be for unassisted walking, but she is determined and enjoys moving around. We've been saying for a while that it looked like she would skip crawling; it looks like that'll be the case.
While on the trip Celeste also cut her fifth tooth (one of the upper incisors) and she got her toe pecked by a hen at the Yellow River Game Ranch. Basically it's a big petting zoo with some other animals that aren't for petting (and that seemed to be in less than ideal enclosures) — a few black bears, foxes, bobcats, a puma, coyotes, bison, a porcupine, etc. Celeste really liked most of the animals, but one aggressive hen walked up to the stroller and mistook her toe for a kernel of corn or something. I saw it about to happen and pulled back the stroller, but not quite in time. The skin wasn't broken, but Celeste was frightened and started crying, so we carried her for a bit and she got back into things pretty quickly.
We also took time to run into MidCity to have a nice brunch with M--- and B---. After brunch, B--- gave us a tour of some of the New Urbanist developments going up in Atlanta; it's really cool to see some smart growth developments going up inside a city — we really need some more of that around D.C.
The entire trip left Celeste a bit out of whack — strange place, strange people, strange food, very long car rides — but she pulled through and did very well.
Monday, June 27, 2005
To Forget About Poison Ivy ...
... just burn the hell out of your hand. Nice grilling accident; I can still type, but it's been a grumpy evening. Details later, unless that'd just be gross.
Friday, June 24, 2005
Sleeping in Chairs
I'm sure part of it is just everything catching up with me and my body working overtime to fight this poison ivy, but I've fallen asleep in an armchair every night this week. Tuesday, Evelin came home and I had Celeste not quite asleep in her crib while I was sacked out in the Barkaby in her room modeling good sleeping behavior. Last night and Wednesday night, I ended up in the garage-sale Ikea recliner (I can't find its Swedish name at the moment), and Evelin had to wake me up to send me to bed.
As for the poison ivy, I'm on to yet another group of products to try and kill the itching: Ivy-Dry Super worked great on drying up the rash and the first day or two it felt good, but either it or all the other stuff I tried before it really dried out the skin, which meant some serious burning when I applied the Super Ivy-Dry. Right now I'm trying Sarna, but I also have some Aveeno 1% hydrocortisone with oatmeal to try ...
At the risk of jinxing things, I am not the only one who's falling asleep a lot in the house. Celeste is doing a lot better overnight. She still wakes up a few times — and she's up for the day around 5:30 a.m. — but she's dropped one overnight feeding and either self-soothes or can be soothed back to sleep relatively easily. She does have occasional middle-of-the-night freakouts, but generally she's sleeping pretty well and giving us good four- to five-hour stretches of sleep.
As for the poison ivy, I'm on to yet another group of products to try and kill the itching: Ivy-Dry Super worked great on drying up the rash and the first day or two it felt good, but either it or all the other stuff I tried before it really dried out the skin, which meant some serious burning when I applied the Super Ivy-Dry. Right now I'm trying Sarna, but I also have some Aveeno 1% hydrocortisone with oatmeal to try ...
At the risk of jinxing things, I am not the only one who's falling asleep a lot in the house. Celeste is doing a lot better overnight. She still wakes up a few times — and she's up for the day around 5:30 a.m. — but she's dropped one overnight feeding and either self-soothes or can be soothed back to sleep relatively easily. She does have occasional middle-of-the-night freakouts, but generally she's sleeping pretty well and giving us good four- to five-hour stretches of sleep.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Baby Crack
When greg.daddy labels something as "baby crack," believe him. Yesterday, Celeste and I picked up some Veggie Booty for her to try; I figured it couldn't be as addictive as Daddy Types made it sound and it would expose her to spinach, kale, corn, and a few other new things.
Wow. Her first bite was a little uncertain, but after I ate one, she dug in. And it was the first time in a month that she's made anything close to the MORE sign. Celeste must have had 10 pieces, at least and almost all of it went into her belly (as opposed to into her new crumb-catcher bib). She also tired quickly of the peaches and cottage cheese and even the sweet potato chunks, but as soon as she saw another piece of Veggie Booty ... watch out!
(Actually looking back, it was Mary Elizabeth Williams writing in Salon that used the term "baby crack" for Veggie Booty. No matter who came up with it, the label fits.)
Wow. Her first bite was a little uncertain, but after I ate one, she dug in. And it was the first time in a month that she's made anything close to the MORE sign. Celeste must have had 10 pieces, at least and almost all of it went into her belly (as opposed to into her new crumb-catcher bib). She also tired quickly of the peaches and cottage cheese and even the sweet potato chunks, but as soon as she saw another piece of Veggie Booty ... watch out!
(Actually looking back, it was Mary Elizabeth Williams writing in Salon that used the term "baby crack" for Veggie Booty. No matter who came up with it, the label fits.)
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Itchy, Itchy, Itchy
I am a dermatological mess right now. Not only have I been using duct tape [PDF] to attack two small warts, but I seem to have strayed into some poison ivy or something last week … and it took me a few days to realize it. I just thought it was some bug bites or something, but it's since spread across much of my torso, to both arms, and a bit on my legs.
While I seem to have gotten this all over myself, Celeste and Evelin have been spared, thankfully.
I had been trying Band-Aid Anti-Itch Gel, which worked a little bit, but this morning I switched over to Calamine Spray, which is basically calamine lotion in a spray can. I'm not sure if it's messier than the lotion or not, but being able to basically spray paint myself Pepto-Bismal Pink has to be an advantage, right?
My guess is that when I hopped the neighbor's fence to do some quick weeding among their azaleas — they're on the old side and have given us permission to knock down things on the hill next to our house — I must have gotten into something. I don't see anything over there, and the vines I pulled up didn't look like poison ivy, but who knows … I obviously got into something.
While I seem to have gotten this all over myself, Celeste and Evelin have been spared, thankfully.
I had been trying Band-Aid Anti-Itch Gel, which worked a little bit, but this morning I switched over to Calamine Spray, which is basically calamine lotion in a spray can. I'm not sure if it's messier than the lotion or not, but being able to basically spray paint myself Pepto-Bismal Pink has to be an advantage, right?
My guess is that when I hopped the neighbor's fence to do some quick weeding among their azaleas — they're on the old side and have given us permission to knock down things on the hill next to our house — I must have gotten into something. I don't see anything over there, and the vines I pulled up didn't look like poison ivy, but who knows … I obviously got into something.
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Father's Day
Apparently, it took a few shoots, but Evelin and Celeste put together the coolest father's day present for me (and for Celeste's grandfathers). And, since Evelin had her book club that morning, Celeste and I got to spend a nice chunk of time together. We went to the farmers market and to the carwash.
It seems that a lot of the "first experiences" I share with Celeste end up scaring her a bit (I'm thinking particularly of that MARC train a few weeks ago). The carwash was a touchless drive-through type and I thought Celeste might be interested in seeing the water spraying the windows and such. When the first presoak/soap stage flew past the back window, her interest was piqued, but something — the noise? vibration? boredom? — started her crying when the high-pressure rinse cycle started. She would cry while the water was on the hood and front of the car, and then freeze with a look of horror on her face as it passed along the sides and rear of the car (she is still in a rear-facing carseat, so the back window is what she could see best). I had my seat back and was talking to her, but she didn't want to be comforted. As soon as the carwash was finished, she was okay with things ... maybe she was just embarrassed by how dirty the T.R.U.C.K. was.
Friday, June 17, 2005
Six Hours
21,600 seconds = 360 minutes = six hours = a fourth of a day = 0.0357142857 weeks = 0.0178571429 fortnights = 0.00821372779 months = 0.000684477316 years = 0.000171119329th of a presidential term = 6.84477316 × 10-05 decades = 6.84477316 × 10-06 centuries = 6.84477316 × 10-07 millennia ...
After a day it starts to become meaningless, but when Celeste managed to go to bed a little before 6:00 p.m., wake up a little before 10:00 p.m., feed somewhere around midnight and then wake for the day at 5:47 a.m. ... well, six hours is a significant period of time.
Before, she would go to sleep sometime between 6:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., wake to feed sometime between 10:30 p.m. and midnight, wake to feed sometime between 3:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m., and then up for the day between 5:30 a.m. and 7:00 a.m.
Last night we started what will hopefully only be a weekend project of getting her to sleep through the night more.
She was tired before Evelin got home, so I fed her a bottle and got her to sleep before 6:00 p.m., she peeped around 8:00 p.m. and a little before 10:00 let loose with a lot of tears. I went in and tried to give her a pacifier, but she kept swinging her arms at me. Eventually, I got the pacifier past her wails and she quieted right down. I spent a little time patting her back, but did not pick her up, and she stayed quiet.
About 10 minutes later, after I'd brushed my teeth, I went in to check on her and she was wide awake, but quiet, just playing with her blankie. Within a half hour, she was back asleep.
Around 11:30 p.m., Evelin poked me to and try to sooth Celeste back to sleep again, but she wasn't interested in the pacifier this time. I did get her to calm down, but she continued to whimper for a while and Evelin went ahead and fed her around midnight. (It had been six hours since she'd last ate afterall.)
At about 5:30 a.m., we started hearing some noise from Celeste's room. It was gradually building, but we wanted her to wait until after 6:00 a.m. By 5:45 a.m., however, it was clear that she wasn't going to just play quietly, so we started the day.
I'm sure I am jinxing things by blogging it — why should this time be any different? — but if my soothing her at that first wake forestalls the first night feeding enough to drop the second night feeding, well, then six hours feels a lot like a full night's sleep to me. (Of course, the real test will be if my leaving to go to work at 3:00 a.m. becomes a cue for her to wake or not ...)
After a day it starts to become meaningless, but when Celeste managed to go to bed a little before 6:00 p.m., wake up a little before 10:00 p.m., feed somewhere around midnight and then wake for the day at 5:47 a.m. ... well, six hours is a significant period of time.
Before, she would go to sleep sometime between 6:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., wake to feed sometime between 10:30 p.m. and midnight, wake to feed sometime between 3:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m., and then up for the day between 5:30 a.m. and 7:00 a.m.
Last night we started what will hopefully only be a weekend project of getting her to sleep through the night more.
She was tired before Evelin got home, so I fed her a bottle and got her to sleep before 6:00 p.m., she peeped around 8:00 p.m. and a little before 10:00 let loose with a lot of tears. I went in and tried to give her a pacifier, but she kept swinging her arms at me. Eventually, I got the pacifier past her wails and she quieted right down. I spent a little time patting her back, but did not pick her up, and she stayed quiet.
About 10 minutes later, after I'd brushed my teeth, I went in to check on her and she was wide awake, but quiet, just playing with her blankie. Within a half hour, she was back asleep.
Around 11:30 p.m., Evelin poked me to and try to sooth Celeste back to sleep again, but she wasn't interested in the pacifier this time. I did get her to calm down, but she continued to whimper for a while and Evelin went ahead and fed her around midnight. (It had been six hours since she'd last ate afterall.)
At about 5:30 a.m., we started hearing some noise from Celeste's room. It was gradually building, but we wanted her to wait until after 6:00 a.m. By 5:45 a.m., however, it was clear that she wasn't going to just play quietly, so we started the day.
I'm sure I am jinxing things by blogging it — why should this time be any different? — but if my soothing her at that first wake forestalls the first night feeding enough to drop the second night feeding, well, then six hours feels a lot like a full night's sleep to me. (Of course, the real test will be if my leaving to go to work at 3:00 a.m. becomes a cue for her to wake or not ...)
Thursday, June 16, 2005
No! You Feed Me!
A week or two ago, it seemed that Celeste wanted nothing to do with the spoon during mealtime. She'd pick up her Cheerio's, slices of cheese, and so forth, but anything on a spoon was suspect and deserved only to be swatted at and smashed across the face (hers or mine; it didn't seem to matter).
Today, she would pick up Cheerio's, banana slices, etc., but it would go maybe into the mouth, maybe straight to the floor. And if it did go into the mouth, there was no guarantee it would stay there for long.
However, if I would let her bite the piece of strawberry, for example, off my fingertip, then 90% of the time she will chew it up and swallow it (especially if I model chewing and swallowing for her). Even the mesh feeder bag ... she wanted me to hold it up to her mouth instead of holding it herself.
Today, she would pick up Cheerio's, banana slices, etc., but it would go maybe into the mouth, maybe straight to the floor. And if it did go into the mouth, there was no guarantee it would stay there for long.
However, if I would let her bite the piece of strawberry, for example, off my fingertip, then 90% of the time she will chew it up and swallow it (especially if I model chewing and swallowing for her). Even the mesh feeder bag ... she wanted me to hold it up to her mouth instead of holding it herself.
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Employee Discounts
Apparently, wearing a Hawai'ian-print shirt is not enough to get you an employee discount at Trader Joe's. You actually have to work there or something. Oh well.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Celeste Loves a Pratfall
... or something like that. She seems to have a pretty broad sense of humor, which isn't at all surprising considering that she's only 9 months old, but she did seem to enjoy dropping her mesh feeder filled with some half mushed mango chunks on my head this afternoon. Sure she acted all innocent and "Oops, where did my mango go?" but I think she knows what she was doing ...
I was trying to gather some of the various Cheerio's and bits of cheese, sweet potato, and everything else she'd moved from the highchair tray to her mouth to the floor and therefore was probably begging to have the mango-and-spit conditioner added to hair.
I was trying to gather some of the various Cheerio's and bits of cheese, sweet potato, and everything else she'd moved from the highchair tray to her mouth to the floor and therefore was probably begging to have the mango-and-spit conditioner added to hair.
Monday, June 13, 2005
Nine Month Check Up
Celeste is three-fourths of the way through her first year. Back when we went for her first doctor's appointment, she was at the bottom of the charts; today, she is right on the 50th percentile for height (27.5 inches) and weight (18 pounds, 14 ounces), and in the 75th percentile for head size (17.75 inches). Evelin has dug up my old baby pictures, and it looks like Celeste has my big baby head. She got one quick shot, kicked the nurse who gave it to her, and didn't cry too much — all in all a pretty good check up.
Friday, June 10, 2005
Parenting Advice
Before one starts putting outlet covers on every electrical outlet in the house, one really should make certain that so-called "child-proof" products will not also prevent adults from accessing said electrical outlets. I'm just saying.
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Artichokes
Celeste was a bottomless pit this afternoon and, after her bath, she extended her meal to fifteen courses* with yet another new food ... artichoke. She's getting older and we're getting a little more cavalier about waiting three days between new foods, especially when she's so gung ho to try new things.
She was wide awake after her bath, so Evelin and I had her sit down for dinner with us. She munched on a piece of whole-wheat rotini, but she watched us dipping the leaves into some lemon juice and melted butter and was pretty soon making grabs at the artichoke. I tried scraping some meat off the leaf for her, but she wasn't interested in that, so — watching her very closely — we gave her a leaf. She started chewing on the edible end (I'd snipped the thorns off, so there wasn't a chance she'd get poked) and pretty soon had stripped most of the meat off of it and was ready for another and then another.
I tried giving her a bite of the heart, but she wasn't interested. Maybe she gets that from me: When I was a kid, I used to eat down to the thin, prickly leaves and then want nothing to do with trying to get the choke out of the way. I don't remember my mother ever complaining that I didn't want to eat the heart ... more for her, I guess.
Just about every time I eat a whole artichoke, I go back to one memory: I was visiting J---, a friend who was studying in Sweden for a year (this was April 1994), and she took me to a gasque (formal dinner party) at Norrlands Nation. One of the early courses was an artichoke and J--- and I tried to discretely look around to see what the protocol in Sweden was for eating these things. (I'd earlier made a food faux pas by eating my potatoes without peeling them.) We quickly realized that pretty much everyone else was doing the same sort of looking around to see what others were doing, so prodding some Finnish friends of J---'s who were there with us, we all started diving in with our hands.
The other funny story from that trip was that the Swedish new wave/punk band KSMB — whose name is derived from Kurt-Sunes med Berits, and not the radio station in Lafayette, Louisiana that first came to mind when I saw their name — was on a reunion tour at the time, and they were playing an after-gasque party. I'd made the mistake of asking one of the people in J---'s dorm what Kay-Ess-Em-Bee sounded like, and he gave me the oddest look. It took a little while for us to figure out that I should have said Ko-Ess-Ehm-Bah. It seemed pretty funny at the time; also, the guy thought I was German for some reason ....
*It was about 4:30 p.m. when Celeste ate, and she hadn't had anything since about 12:00 p.m. When I got home, we played for a little while, and I saw some eye rubbing so, around 1:30 p.m., I tried getting her to go to bed, but she wanted to run a crib marathon instead, so around 2:00 p.m. I put her down next to me in the big bed and we both slept for about 90 minutes. After that, she played for a while, but started getting a bit fussy, so I signed EAT to her and she went bonkers.
Nearly an hour later, she was finishing up (and I'm not sure she was entirely sated). She ate: Cheerio's, some cheddar cheese, a tiny broccoli stalk/floweret, one cube of green beans mixed with ricotta, a few sweetpotato chunks, one cube of applesauce, three peach slices in her mesh feeder bag, two pieces of rotini, half of a little strawberry (it was tart), one cube of parsnip thinned with a little apple juice, and two-thirds of a Stage 2 jar of carrots thickened with some multigrain cereal, all washed down with some water.
After her bath, Celeste had some milk, stole some of Evelin's toast, ate three artichoke leaves, and capped it all off with a teething biscuit. Hopefully she's just storing up for a growth spurt, otherwise we are in serious trouble.
She was wide awake after her bath, so Evelin and I had her sit down for dinner with us. She munched on a piece of whole-wheat rotini, but she watched us dipping the leaves into some lemon juice and melted butter and was pretty soon making grabs at the artichoke. I tried scraping some meat off the leaf for her, but she wasn't interested in that, so — watching her very closely — we gave her a leaf. She started chewing on the edible end (I'd snipped the thorns off, so there wasn't a chance she'd get poked) and pretty soon had stripped most of the meat off of it and was ready for another and then another.
I tried giving her a bite of the heart, but she wasn't interested. Maybe she gets that from me: When I was a kid, I used to eat down to the thin, prickly leaves and then want nothing to do with trying to get the choke out of the way. I don't remember my mother ever complaining that I didn't want to eat the heart ... more for her, I guess.
Just about every time I eat a whole artichoke, I go back to one memory: I was visiting J---, a friend who was studying in Sweden for a year (this was April 1994), and she took me to a gasque (formal dinner party) at Norrlands Nation. One of the early courses was an artichoke and J--- and I tried to discretely look around to see what the protocol in Sweden was for eating these things. (I'd earlier made a food faux pas by eating my potatoes without peeling them.) We quickly realized that pretty much everyone else was doing the same sort of looking around to see what others were doing, so prodding some Finnish friends of J---'s who were there with us, we all started diving in with our hands.
The other funny story from that trip was that the Swedish new wave/punk band KSMB — whose name is derived from Kurt-Sunes med Berits, and not the radio station in Lafayette, Louisiana that first came to mind when I saw their name — was on a reunion tour at the time, and they were playing an after-gasque party. I'd made the mistake of asking one of the people in J---'s dorm what Kay-Ess-Em-Bee sounded like, and he gave me the oddest look. It took a little while for us to figure out that I should have said Ko-Ess-Ehm-Bah. It seemed pretty funny at the time; also, the guy thought I was German for some reason ....
*It was about 4:30 p.m. when Celeste ate, and she hadn't had anything since about 12:00 p.m. When I got home, we played for a little while, and I saw some eye rubbing so, around 1:30 p.m., I tried getting her to go to bed, but she wanted to run a crib marathon instead, so around 2:00 p.m. I put her down next to me in the big bed and we both slept for about 90 minutes. After that, she played for a while, but started getting a bit fussy, so I signed EAT to her and she went bonkers.
Nearly an hour later, she was finishing up (and I'm not sure she was entirely sated). She ate: Cheerio's, some cheddar cheese, a tiny broccoli stalk/floweret, one cube of green beans mixed with ricotta, a few sweetpotato chunks, one cube of applesauce, three peach slices in her mesh feeder bag, two pieces of rotini, half of a little strawberry (it was tart), one cube of parsnip thinned with a little apple juice, and two-thirds of a Stage 2 jar of carrots thickened with some multigrain cereal, all washed down with some water.
After her bath, Celeste had some milk, stole some of Evelin's toast, ate three artichoke leaves, and capped it all off with a teething biscuit. Hopefully she's just storing up for a growth spurt, otherwise we are in serious trouble.
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
It Grows Here
Back on 1 June, I started writing an entry about how the garden was doing but got distracted and never finished it. Back then, we were at what we would soon learn was the tail-end of our long, cold spring. Now, we are a good week into summer with temperatures in the high 80°Fs to high 90°Fs.
A few blueberries and raspberries seem to be setting on the plants, but the power grower this year has been the strawberries. There were a few in the front bed when we moved here, and we've added a few that we picked up at the USDA BARC Field Day over the years. This year, they're all cropping pretty heavily.
This afternoon, Evelin and Celeste were outside picking berries (well, Evelin was picking and Celeste was watching) and Celeste was adamant that she needed a strawberry. They weren't on her food list, but Evelin couldn't resist the happy, insistent face and Celeste apparently loved them. So, we'll watch for a reaction over the next few days while she pigs out on strawberries.
The peas have been growing nicely and for longer than we originally expected. The cool weather has extended their season, but that means we can't put the tomatoes in that bed yet. The leeks and carrots are showing their tops, and the cucumbers are developing nicely. The garlic will probably be wilting soon, which will mean we can harvest them in a month or so, and the bok choi isn't growing as quickly as advertised (10–14 days to harvest), but it's definitely there.
A few blueberries and raspberries seem to be setting on the plants, but the power grower this year has been the strawberries. There were a few in the front bed when we moved here, and we've added a few that we picked up at the USDA BARC Field Day over the years. This year, they're all cropping pretty heavily.
This afternoon, Evelin and Celeste were outside picking berries (well, Evelin was picking and Celeste was watching) and Celeste was adamant that she needed a strawberry. They weren't on her food list, but Evelin couldn't resist the happy, insistent face and Celeste apparently loved them. So, we'll watch for a reaction over the next few days while she pigs out on strawberries.
The peas have been growing nicely and for longer than we originally expected. The cool weather has extended their season, but that means we can't put the tomatoes in that bed yet. The leeks and carrots are showing their tops, and the cucumbers are developing nicely. The garlic will probably be wilting soon, which will mean we can harvest them in a month or so, and the bok choi isn't growing as quickly as advertised (10–14 days to harvest), but it's definitely there.
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
The Third Tooth
During her bath, Celeste decided to gnaw on my hand a little bit. The two very sharp teeth on the bottom jaw I was expecting; the eyetooth that poked the top of my finger, however, was a surprise. We've figured she was cutting a tooth or more for the past few weeks, but it is there, clearly visible and sharp. She may or may not be pushing through the complementary tooth on the other side of her mouth, and there might be the upper incisors coming too (it's hard to really tell), but she definitely needs to spend all that time chewing her toothbrush ...
Other news from the world of Celeste: She is getting close to figuring out this movement thing. She can still breakdance a little bit, but she's finding it easier to roll from back to stomach and back again until whatever she's grabbing for is in reach. She also is pushing herself along the ground on her back to get places.
Today, she moved a good meter and a half on her back, rolling over occasionally to check her direction, to get to her book basket where she tried to pull out Buzz-Buzz, Busy Bees. I had to adjust where it was in the basket, but she eventually pulled it out.
There also is the crib marathon. She was acting sleepy, so I tried to get her to go down for a nap. While I sat in her room reading, she pushed/pulled/rolled herself around the perimeter of the crib twice — we're talking a good 20 minutes of solid movement punctuated by the occasional grin or squeal.
There also was at least one point where it looked like she'd managed to pull her knees into a crawling position. I don't know if she didn't manage to crawl because her head was up against the bars or if she couldn't get her hands into position or her belly was in the way or what ... but it's probably going to be happening sooner than we're ready.
Other news from the world of Celeste: She is getting close to figuring out this movement thing. She can still breakdance a little bit, but she's finding it easier to roll from back to stomach and back again until whatever she's grabbing for is in reach. She also is pushing herself along the ground on her back to get places.
Today, she moved a good meter and a half on her back, rolling over occasionally to check her direction, to get to her book basket where she tried to pull out Buzz-Buzz, Busy Bees. I had to adjust where it was in the basket, but she eventually pulled it out.
There also is the crib marathon. She was acting sleepy, so I tried to get her to go down for a nap. While I sat in her room reading, she pushed/pulled/rolled herself around the perimeter of the crib twice — we're talking a good 20 minutes of solid movement punctuated by the occasional grin or squeal.
There also was at least one point where it looked like she'd managed to pull her knees into a crawling position. I don't know if she didn't manage to crawl because her head was up against the bars or if she couldn't get her hands into position or her belly was in the way or what ... but it's probably going to be happening sooner than we're ready.
Monday, June 06, 2005
Asparagus
I've made many of my own disasters in the kitchen, and some of them have turned out to be decent (albeit not always recreatable), so I was a bit intrigued when I read about Edible Tulip's unintended experiment with asparagus. (Via Too Many Chefs)
I'd picked up some asparagus as the farmers market on Thursday, so with nothing else in the plans for dinner, we gave the non-recipe a go: Set oven to 400°F, oil and salt asparagus, walk away and forget. I left them in for about 20 minutes, and they didn't quite match the visual description Edible Tulip gave of her asparagus, but they were pretty tasty with a crisped skin and a melty inside. I might want to try a little less oil next time, but I think this is one where there is room for a next time.
P³ UPDATE: Evelin recently discovered Freecycle and has managed to get two no-longer-needed humidifiers and some Ikea sheets she hated out of the house. She also put out a notice that if anyone wanted free dirt we had a lot ... and we actually had a taker.
Okay, so the Freecycler who was interested in some dirt didn't show up on Sunday, but Evelin did talk to a neighbor across the street who recently had some trees taken out of his front yard and it turns out he needs some dirt to help fill things in. I took six wheelbarrow loads over there after work (and before the rain hit) and hopefully one of us will see him tomorrow or Wednesday to find out how much more he wants and where he wants it. We have so much dirt to give.
WEATHER: After a very cool spring, we finally turned on the AC on Sunday. The temperature wasn't too bad that morning, but the humidity was up to 94% (and inside the humidity reader was scoring 75%). The timing was pretty good because that afternoon it was in the upper 80°Fs range and today it hit 98°F (albeit a little less humid). I don't know if we're into summer heat from here until October or if this is just an early June heat burst, but the AC is working, which is always a nice thing to discover after it's been off all winter (kind of like finding out that the furnace is working when that first cold snap hits in November or December).
I'd picked up some asparagus as the farmers market on Thursday, so with nothing else in the plans for dinner, we gave the non-recipe a go: Set oven to 400°F, oil and salt asparagus, walk away and forget. I left them in for about 20 minutes, and they didn't quite match the visual description Edible Tulip gave of her asparagus, but they were pretty tasty with a crisped skin and a melty inside. I might want to try a little less oil next time, but I think this is one where there is room for a next time.
Other Stuff
CELESTE: She had a short morning nap and a long afternoon one and went down pretty well after her bath ... and we haven't had a peep out of her in over two hours. Could we have reached a turning point? Or will the thunderstorm wake/disturb her? Or is my blogging this certain to lead to a backsliding? I guess only time will tell.P³ UPDATE: Evelin recently discovered Freecycle and has managed to get two no-longer-needed humidifiers and some Ikea sheets she hated out of the house. She also put out a notice that if anyone wanted free dirt we had a lot ... and we actually had a taker.
Okay, so the Freecycler who was interested in some dirt didn't show up on Sunday, but Evelin did talk to a neighbor across the street who recently had some trees taken out of his front yard and it turns out he needs some dirt to help fill things in. I took six wheelbarrow loads over there after work (and before the rain hit) and hopefully one of us will see him tomorrow or Wednesday to find out how much more he wants and where he wants it. We have so much dirt to give.
WEATHER: After a very cool spring, we finally turned on the AC on Sunday. The temperature wasn't too bad that morning, but the humidity was up to 94% (and inside the humidity reader was scoring 75%). The timing was pretty good because that afternoon it was in the upper 80°Fs range and today it hit 98°F (albeit a little less humid). I don't know if we're into summer heat from here until October or if this is just an early June heat burst, but the AC is working, which is always a nice thing to discover after it's been off all winter (kind of like finding out that the furnace is working when that first cold snap hits in November or December).
Sunday, June 05, 2005
Rest of the Weekend
So, how does one cap a day centered around a trip into the vaults at the Folger Shakespeare Library? Watching the Nats beat the Florida Marlins, of course.
While Evelin, Celeste, and M--- stayed home, my father-in-law and I headed out to RFK to see what seats were available for the game. Not wanting to spend $190 for seats right behind home plate, nor wanting to be up in the upper atmosphere, we opted for some decent seats on the mezzanine level above right field. It was much easier to judge where balls were flying than when S--- and I saw the Nats–Mets game back in April. It started off pretty slow, but the game turned out to be a pretty decent one.
On Sunday, we took a quick trip down to the Mall and the National Museum of American History to view the Whatever Happened to Polio? exhibit and to run through the bookstore there before R--- and M--- needed to head to the airport.
Afterwards, I spent a little time on the P³, shifting four wheelbarrow loads of dirt to a low spot in the upper yard, spreading, tamping, and seeding. As I have been digging, I've had a recurring fantasy of discovering one or more bodies buried in the dirt; the big hope is that a CSI team would then have to come and finish all the digging for me. No such luck, however; all I've found thus far is one old beer can, a few empty cigarette packs, and various other bits of trash/debris.
Today, however, I hit two bags of sand — sealed plastic bags of general-use sand. Maybe they were put there to help stabilize things during the original construction, or maybe they were accidentally buried and the guys decided to just leave them there. Just another instance of what were they thinking ...
The one really crazy thing that went on to today is that Celeste was back in her refuse-to-sleep mode. She woke really nicely at 6:00 a.m. (almost on the dot) and was tired by 8:30 a.m., but she refused to go to sleep, we tried to get her to sleep a few other times during the morning and hoped she'd pass out on the drive down to the Mall ... no such luck. She did nod off on the way home, but as soon as we were home she was up.
Tonight, after her bath, the real drama started; she did fall asleep while nursing, but was wide awake and crying after only 45 minutes. Celeste was almost panicking every time Evelin was out of eyeshot, and, while she would snug down into her blanket, she kept popping her head up to look around, intermixing goos and laughs with tears. Finally, Evelin got her down ... now the dread is how will she be overnight.
While Evelin, Celeste, and M--- stayed home, my father-in-law and I headed out to RFK to see what seats were available for the game. Not wanting to spend $190 for seats right behind home plate, nor wanting to be up in the upper atmosphere, we opted for some decent seats on the mezzanine level above right field. It was much easier to judge where balls were flying than when S--- and I saw the Nats–Mets game back in April. It started off pretty slow, but the game turned out to be a pretty decent one.
On Sunday, we took a quick trip down to the Mall and the National Museum of American History to view the Whatever Happened to Polio? exhibit and to run through the bookstore there before R--- and M--- needed to head to the airport.
Afterwards, I spent a little time on the P³, shifting four wheelbarrow loads of dirt to a low spot in the upper yard, spreading, tamping, and seeding. As I have been digging, I've had a recurring fantasy of discovering one or more bodies buried in the dirt; the big hope is that a CSI team would then have to come and finish all the digging for me. No such luck, however; all I've found thus far is one old beer can, a few empty cigarette packs, and various other bits of trash/debris.
Today, however, I hit two bags of sand — sealed plastic bags of general-use sand. Maybe they were put there to help stabilize things during the original construction, or maybe they were accidentally buried and the guys decided to just leave them there. Just another instance of what were they thinking ...
The one really crazy thing that went on to today is that Celeste was back in her refuse-to-sleep mode. She woke really nicely at 6:00 a.m. (almost on the dot) and was tired by 8:30 a.m., but she refused to go to sleep, we tried to get her to sleep a few other times during the morning and hoped she'd pass out on the drive down to the Mall ... no such luck. She did nod off on the way home, but as soon as we were home she was up.
Tonight, after her bath, the real drama started; she did fall asleep while nursing, but was wide awake and crying after only 45 minutes. Celeste was almost panicking every time Evelin was out of eyeshot, and, while she would snug down into her blanket, she kept popping her head up to look around, intermixing goos and laughs with tears. Finally, Evelin got her down ... now the dread is how will she be overnight.
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Give the Girl Some Culture
This afternoon, Celeste became the youngest person ever admitted into the vault at the Folger Shakespeare Library ... and, while it looked for a moment like she was going to try to chew on one of the library’s copies of the First Folio, she behaved herself quite well.
A while ago, Evelin's mother won at a charity auction a tour of the library guided by the head librarian, so M--- and R--- flew in this morning and Evelin's sister, M---, drove down last night and we all, Celeste included, went for the tour.
We've seen a few exhibits at the library and one performance, but this tour gave us a look at a lot of the behind-the-scenes spaces and a lot of the art that's spread throughout the facility, including the earliest known sieve portrait of Queen Elizabeth I (painted by Plimpton in 1579).
The coolest part (apart from talking with the librarian about the collection and the library) was the rare book vault. In addition to tons of Shakespeare — including 79 First Folios, about one-third of the copies known to be in existence — we got to see William Caxton's 1477 printing of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, the first quarto of Titus Andronicus, Elizabeth I's personal red velvet-bound copy of the Bishop's Bible, a prayer book inscribed by Anne of Cleves to Henry VIII, and a 17th Century seven-language phrasebook (Flemish, English, German, Latin, French, Spanish and Italian).
Celeste did get a little restless and noisy while we were in the book vault, but otherwise she was very, very well behaved and really paid attention during some parts of the tour.
A while ago, Evelin's mother won at a charity auction a tour of the library guided by the head librarian, so M--- and R--- flew in this morning and Evelin's sister, M---, drove down last night and we all, Celeste included, went for the tour.
We've seen a few exhibits at the library and one performance, but this tour gave us a look at a lot of the behind-the-scenes spaces and a lot of the art that's spread throughout the facility, including the earliest known sieve portrait of Queen Elizabeth I (painted by Plimpton in 1579).
The coolest part (apart from talking with the librarian about the collection and the library) was the rare book vault. In addition to tons of Shakespeare — including 79 First Folios, about one-third of the copies known to be in existence — we got to see William Caxton's 1477 printing of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, the first quarto of Titus Andronicus, Elizabeth I's personal red velvet-bound copy of the Bishop's Bible, a prayer book inscribed by Anne of Cleves to Henry VIII, and a 17th Century seven-language phrasebook (Flemish, English, German, Latin, French, Spanish and Italian).
Celeste did get a little restless and noisy while we were in the book vault, but otherwise she was very, very well behaved and really paid attention during some parts of the tour.
Friday, June 03, 2005
Sleep ... Precious Sleep
So, I may have mentioned before that Celeste doesn't always sleep so well. However, her little bout with a fever combined with a leap have made the past few weeks even worse.
And, on top of that, on Wednesday Evelin shifted her bedroom around — the crib had to be moved because she was able to reach the curtains and, since we dropped the mattress, an electrical outlet was tantalizingly close — which seems to have left her sleep just that extra bit more unsettled.
So, since she's in the midst of all this change, we're also throwing some food changes at her. The basic rule of thumb we just learned is 0–9 months offer milk first then solids; after 9 months go with solids first. Yesterday afternoon, instead of her 3:00 p.m. (or so) bottle, Celeste had some cheese, Purely O's (the organic version of Cheerios), some sweet potato, and some apple ... followed about an hour later by a half bottle of milk.
Overall, that went reasonably well, but, since she didn't nap or anything, she was ready to head to bed well before the normal time. She was bathed and, by 5:40 p.m., I was feeding her an extra-tall bottle of milk, and she was asleep in my arms just a little past 6:00 p.m.
For there, she did pretty well, with some whimpering at the 90 minute mark followed by a full-blown wake up around 9:00 p.m. Evelin gave her a feeding at that point, and then the fun started: Celeste decided she'd only had a nap and was up for the next two hours. She fed again around 1:00 a.m., spent some time in our bed, and rest of the night is kind of uncertain. Evelin thinks there was a wakeup around 3:00 a.m., but neither of us are sure. She woke for the day around 5:30 a.m. Her first nap of the day came before 8:00 a.m.
Right now, she's asleep (with the occasional cry/whimper short wake) and has been for about two hours ... and, of course, as I type this a big cry is starting.... Hopefully it'll even out and the evening will go more smoothly than last.
And, on top of that, on Wednesday Evelin shifted her bedroom around — the crib had to be moved because she was able to reach the curtains and, since we dropped the mattress, an electrical outlet was tantalizingly close — which seems to have left her sleep just that extra bit more unsettled.
So, since she's in the midst of all this change, we're also throwing some food changes at her. The basic rule of thumb we just learned is 0–9 months offer milk first then solids; after 9 months go with solids first. Yesterday afternoon, instead of her 3:00 p.m. (or so) bottle, Celeste had some cheese, Purely O's (the organic version of Cheerios), some sweet potato, and some apple ... followed about an hour later by a half bottle of milk.
Overall, that went reasonably well, but, since she didn't nap or anything, she was ready to head to bed well before the normal time. She was bathed and, by 5:40 p.m., I was feeding her an extra-tall bottle of milk, and she was asleep in my arms just a little past 6:00 p.m.
For there, she did pretty well, with some whimpering at the 90 minute mark followed by a full-blown wake up around 9:00 p.m. Evelin gave her a feeding at that point, and then the fun started: Celeste decided she'd only had a nap and was up for the next two hours. She fed again around 1:00 a.m., spent some time in our bed, and rest of the night is kind of uncertain. Evelin thinks there was a wakeup around 3:00 a.m., but neither of us are sure. She woke for the day around 5:30 a.m. Her first nap of the day came before 8:00 a.m.
Right now, she's asleep (with the occasional cry/whimper short wake) and has been for about two hours ... and, of course, as I type this a big cry is starting.... Hopefully it'll even out and the evening will go more smoothly than last.
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Trainspotting With Celeste
No, we didn't try to score some heroin or anything, but Celeste and I got pretty close to a MARC commuter train as it sped through Riverdale Park this afternoon. As I'm trying to do each Thursday afternoon, Celeste and I took a trip to the farmers market in Riverdale Park, which is held in a parking lot next to the CSX train tracks. Two weeks ago we saw a big freight train pass through. It was loud and we were watching from the parking lot and I'm pretty sure Celeste couldn't quite comprehend what was going past her.
This afternoon, I think the train just scared her. We were closer this time —— on the MARC platform —— and it was a really short three-car train. We'd already bought our strawberries, asparagus, and loaf of bread (it's still early in the season and this market is smaller than our Sunday one in Takoma Park), so we were taking a walk and went on to the platform. I heard a train whistle in the distance, so Celeste and I sat down on a bench and waited. I warned her what was coming, and Celeste was really interested when the crossing gates came down to block off the road.
Suddenly, the train was there. I cupped my hands over her ears, which probably startled her more than the train, and she just pushed back in her stroller and stared as the train whizzed by on the tracks closest to us. After it had passed, the wind generated continued to whip around us for a while and she eventually looked over at me with a "What the hell was that?!" expression.
A little while later, while I was getting her into the carseat to head home, I heard another whistle, so I held her up to see the train pass on the far tracks. Being further away, she wasn't as startled, but it did go by too quickly for her to really figure out what it was.
This afternoon, I think the train just scared her. We were closer this time —— on the MARC platform —— and it was a really short three-car train. We'd already bought our strawberries, asparagus, and loaf of bread (it's still early in the season and this market is smaller than our Sunday one in Takoma Park), so we were taking a walk and went on to the platform. I heard a train whistle in the distance, so Celeste and I sat down on a bench and waited. I warned her what was coming, and Celeste was really interested when the crossing gates came down to block off the road.
Suddenly, the train was there. I cupped my hands over her ears, which probably startled her more than the train, and she just pushed back in her stroller and stared as the train whizzed by on the tracks closest to us. After it had passed, the wind generated continued to whip around us for a while and she eventually looked over at me with a "What the hell was that?!" expression.
A little while later, while I was getting her into the carseat to head home, I heard another whistle, so I held her up to see the train pass on the far tracks. Being further away, she wasn't as startled, but it did go by too quickly for her to really figure out what it was.
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
More About Feeding Celeste
She used to be so clean while eating. Maybe, if she was tired, she'd go to rub her eyes and move the slightest dribble of sweet potatoes from her chin to her cheek. Not any more. I don't know if it's an assertion of independence or just some overtired reactions or if she just really, really doesn't like green beans, but Celeste has gotten quite messy while eating.
Some days, she'll start off okay, and she is pretty good if she really likes the food (or at least I think that's what's happening), but the rest of the time it's hands flailing in front of face, spoon grabbing and flinging, and gobs of food pretty much everywhere if her hands close over the bowl of the spoon before I can move it out of the way.
Evelin thought more finger foods might work for her, so I started off this evening with some bits of brown rice cakes and dices of cheddar cheese. The cheese is a semi-new introduction, but she seemed to go for it. I made sure to buy mild orange cheddar (the cheddars we usually get are white and on the seriously sharp side) so it would be visible against the highchair tray, and she did see it and grab it. The first piece did what the rice cakes were doing — a few bites and then back out onto the bib or into her lap. The second piece of cheese, however, stayed in and got some good chewing. A little dribbled back out, but the rest disappeared.
While she was working on cheese and rice cakes, I defrosted some mango for her. Evelin's been making pseudo mango lassis for her, mixing the puréed mango with some ΦΑΓΕ yoghurt. Since she was already getting a bit of dairy with her meal, I decided to forego the yoghurt and to give her the mango straight. Big hit. She did grab the spoon once (and ended up shoving it too far into her mouth), but she ate all of it without any problems.
I next tried mixing up some potato with a few smushed peas. That did not go nearly as well. Hands were flying, potatoes were flying, peas were flying. It got ugly. They were eventually scrapped in favor of a few Cheerios (which, like the rice cakes, for the most part went into the mouth for a few chews and then popped back out) and a little more cheddar while I loaded the mesh finger feeder bags with some peach slices. Those were received much more graciously; I guess she likes orange fruit.
Earlier in the day (and let me say, she was sooooooo sweet today — playing quietly by herself for a bit, playing nicely with me, big smiles for everybody, traveling well to Whole Foods and back), we harvested a bunch of peas from the garden. (It turns out one of the pea plants is producing snow peas instead of the Sugar Bons the rest of the bed is producing.) Celeste gnawed on a few pods on and off; I think some actually went down, but most of it was just gnawing to generate a lot of drool and scattered bits of peapod.
Some days, she'll start off okay, and she is pretty good if she really likes the food (or at least I think that's what's happening), but the rest of the time it's hands flailing in front of face, spoon grabbing and flinging, and gobs of food pretty much everywhere if her hands close over the bowl of the spoon before I can move it out of the way.
Evelin thought more finger foods might work for her, so I started off this evening with some bits of brown rice cakes and dices of cheddar cheese. The cheese is a semi-new introduction, but she seemed to go for it. I made sure to buy mild orange cheddar (the cheddars we usually get are white and on the seriously sharp side) so it would be visible against the highchair tray, and she did see it and grab it. The first piece did what the rice cakes were doing — a few bites and then back out onto the bib or into her lap. The second piece of cheese, however, stayed in and got some good chewing. A little dribbled back out, but the rest disappeared.
While she was working on cheese and rice cakes, I defrosted some mango for her. Evelin's been making pseudo mango lassis for her, mixing the puréed mango with some ΦΑΓΕ yoghurt. Since she was already getting a bit of dairy with her meal, I decided to forego the yoghurt and to give her the mango straight. Big hit. She did grab the spoon once (and ended up shoving it too far into her mouth), but she ate all of it without any problems.
I next tried mixing up some potato with a few smushed peas. That did not go nearly as well. Hands were flying, potatoes were flying, peas were flying. It got ugly. They were eventually scrapped in favor of a few Cheerios (which, like the rice cakes, for the most part went into the mouth for a few chews and then popped back out) and a little more cheddar while I loaded the mesh finger feeder bags with some peach slices. Those were received much more graciously; I guess she likes orange fruit.
Earlier in the day (and let me say, she was sooooooo sweet today — playing quietly by herself for a bit, playing nicely with me, big smiles for everybody, traveling well to Whole Foods and back), we harvested a bunch of peas from the garden. (It turns out one of the pea plants is producing snow peas instead of the Sugar Bons the rest of the bed is producing.) Celeste gnawed on a few pods on and off; I think some actually went down, but most of it was just gnawing to generate a lot of drool and scattered bits of peapod.
Once, Fish Lived Here
Well, there was a bit of a frustrated freakout when I realized there is no way we'll be able to just spread all that dirt around this weekend, but part of the P³ has reached completion. On Monday, what was once the pond was seeded, watered, and covered with a protective layer of hay.
As for the rest of the project (do I officially change the name from P³ to P² or should I call it P³-P?), I removed a few more timbers, found a subterranean course of timbers, got quite frustrated, and then did a lot of talking with Evelin and we think we have an idea for the size/shape of what will eventually be built.
Now, like a bit of topiary, I think I will try to carve away the dirt that doesn't fit that eventual structure and see what happens. There is a low part of the upper garden that will be able to take some of the dirt. The rest maybe will be shifted into part of the area recently uncovered but that will be below the structure yet to be designed.
Is it obvious I'm winging this?
Sunday, May 29, 2005
A Short Hike
Despite being stuck in a lot of traffic thanks to Rolling Thunder, Evelin, Celeste, and I took our first real hike as a family. Sure it was only a mile or so around Theodore Roosevelt Island in the Potomac, but Celeste rode in the Piggyback nicely for almost all of it (as we were getting back to the footbridge — and debating whether or not to hike up the parkway and across the Roosevelt Bridge to watch the dragon boat races — she started crying, leading us to pause at the memorial for a while so she could have some time out of the Piggyback).
We ended up skipping the dragon boat races and headed home via the Beltway, and Celeste spent a good bit of the drive home crying. She might have been hungry or tired of being confined (first in the car, then in the Piggyback, and then in the car again) or who knows what, but she was happier once we got home.
After we got her to sleep for the night, Evelin and I watched The Station Agent, which was really fun and well done. It had lots of humor, pathos, good emotion, excellent acting, ...
We ended up skipping the dragon boat races and headed home via the Beltway, and Celeste spent a good bit of the drive home crying. She might have been hungry or tired of being confined (first in the car, then in the Piggyback, and then in the car again) or who knows what, but she was happier once we got home.
After we got her to sleep for the night, Evelin and I watched The Station Agent, which was really fun and well done. It had lots of humor, pathos, good emotion, excellent acting, ...
Saturday, May 28, 2005
Celeste: Minion of Chaos
I don't remember from my D&D days whether or not alignment is something fixed at birth or if a character develops it over time, but right now, Celeste is definitely either Chaotic Good or Chaotic Neutral. She will not stand for any form of order.
If you dare present her with her stack-up rings on their post, her driving mission is to disassemble them and to toss them every which way. Stack up blocks; they must be knocked down, no matter the cost. Attempt to put the singing animals in their proper slot on the Sparkling Symphony Compose 'n Play Orchestra; all must be destroyed.
This is simply the way it must be for Celeste. We are helpless before her.
(Celeste's too young to take it, but here's an online D&D Alignment Test for those who can type and read. I scored Neutral Good.)
If you dare present her with her stack-up rings on their post, her driving mission is to disassemble them and to toss them every which way. Stack up blocks; they must be knocked down, no matter the cost. Attempt to put the singing animals in their proper slot on the Sparkling Symphony Compose 'n Play Orchestra; all must be destroyed.
This is simply the way it must be for Celeste. We are helpless before her.
(Celeste's too young to take it, but here's an online D&D Alignment Test for those who can type and read. I scored Neutral Good.)
Letting the Dirt Settle
Well, I think the pond is no more. Last week's rain soaked in an helped the dirt settle some more, so I worked this morning on shoveling in more dirt, racking it smooth, tamping it down, and adding more dirt on top of that. It's starting to rain now (and more is predicted for this evening), so we'll see how it continues to settle. There is plenty more dirt available, and once it seems stable, we'll put down some grass seed to hopefully at least cover the area until we know what we're going to do with it.
I also took a few shovelfuls of dirt to fill in a depression in the front yard; I imagine I'll be spending some time loading up the wheelbarrow and wandering through the yard looking for soft spots, dips, divots, and other holes. And there will still be plenty more dirt available.
While Celeste took her morning nap, Evelin helped move bricks and we now no bricks on the patio. I also removed a few more of the timbers, which revealed one problem: While the ties are held together with 1-foot pieces of rebar, the bottom course is secured to the ground with some pipes that are nearly a yard long (or at least the one I was able to get out was that long). They're making that bottom course (and in some places bottom two courses) quick difficult to pull out.
Now the question remains: What to do with all that remaining dirt? One suggestion has been to just leave much of it there and to build a deck over it. That just seems messy to me, but it may turn out to be the best solution, particularly if the deck is at the level of the old patio or even a little lower. We could have the sides solid or latticed (instead of having a deck up on stilts), which would hide the dirt nicely.
So ... I guess our next step is to keep shifting dirt around to be able to pull out timbers and to knock down the level of the dirt, and to figure out if we want to try and build something ourselves or if we call in professionals.
I also took a few shovelfuls of dirt to fill in a depression in the front yard; I imagine I'll be spending some time loading up the wheelbarrow and wandering through the yard looking for soft spots, dips, divots, and other holes. And there will still be plenty more dirt available.
While Celeste took her morning nap, Evelin helped move bricks and we now no bricks on the patio. I also removed a few more of the timbers, which revealed one problem: While the ties are held together with 1-foot pieces of rebar, the bottom course is secured to the ground with some pipes that are nearly a yard long (or at least the one I was able to get out was that long). They're making that bottom course (and in some places bottom two courses) quick difficult to pull out.
Now the question remains: What to do with all that remaining dirt? One suggestion has been to just leave much of it there and to build a deck over it. That just seems messy to me, but it may turn out to be the best solution, particularly if the deck is at the level of the old patio or even a little lower. We could have the sides solid or latticed (instead of having a deck up on stilts), which would hide the dirt nicely.
So ... I guess our next step is to keep shifting dirt around to be able to pull out timbers and to knock down the level of the dirt, and to figure out if we want to try and build something ourselves or if we call in professionals.
Friday, May 27, 2005
Long Weekend?
With our weather staying on the cool side for most of the spring, Memorial Day has kind of snuck up on me. We don't usually do anything special for the three-day weekend, but I expect I'll be spending at least a little time with a shovel. Over the past week-and-a-half — between Celeste's illness, a lack of sleep, and the weather — I haven't done anything on the P³, so I need to catch up on things to get back on track.
Celeste is definitely back. Evelin said she had an overall good day: Lots of playing and general happiness, as well as three walks (mostly in the sling because I forgot to take the stroller out of the T.R.U.C.K. where I left it after taking Celeste to the farmers market on Thursday).
Last night she slept pretty well (either that or I was totally out of it because of the Tylenol Allergy and Sinus I took), waking up twice to feed, once for repacification, and then trying to wake up for the day a bit past 5:00 a.m. Okay, that last part wasn't so good, but the rest of the night went well. Evelin said Celeste took only three naps today (for a total of about 23⁄4 hours of sleep); that's not so good, but it isn't too far off from what her typical sleep habits.
Celeste is definitely back. Evelin said she had an overall good day: Lots of playing and general happiness, as well as three walks (mostly in the sling because I forgot to take the stroller out of the T.R.U.C.K. where I left it after taking Celeste to the farmers market on Thursday).
Last night she slept pretty well (either that or I was totally out of it because of the Tylenol Allergy and Sinus I took), waking up twice to feed, once for repacification, and then trying to wake up for the day a bit past 5:00 a.m. Okay, that last part wasn't so good, but the rest of the night went well. Evelin said Celeste took only three naps today (for a total of about 23⁄4 hours of sleep); that's not so good, but it isn't too far off from what her typical sleep habits.
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Feeling Better
I'm keeping my fingers crossed and knocking wood as I type this, but I'm pretty sure Celeste is feeling better. Her nap was a respectable 90 minutes without being too long, and she seemed to be having fun for most of the afternoon. We played with her toys, bounced in the exersaucer, took a stroll around the neighborhood, and even ran over to the farmers market in Riverdale Park.
However, as the day progressed, she did get grumpier and grumpier. I tried to get her down for a short nap around 4:00 p.m., but a former neighbor stopped by to pick up some flowers that were left with us last night (she moved a few months ago, but apparently whoever was sending the flowers hadn't gotten the change of address notice); the doorbell spoiled any hope of a nap.
Complicating judging Celeste's recovery is that we're pretty sure she's in a developmental leap at the moment, which means she's going to be fussy and have difficulty sleeping and a bit of regression on some things. Right now, the big one is her sleep — and I know our trying to deal with her sore throat set her back with that — followed closely by eating solids (which could also be a hold over from her sore throat). Where she used to eat up to four ice cubes of food at a time, now we're lucky for her to take one. She's still nursing (and, because of the fever she was getting breastmilk pretty much on demand and a little bit more), so nutritionally, she should be fine, but it'd be nice if her solids meals didn't turn into a big drama scene.
However, as the day progressed, she did get grumpier and grumpier. I tried to get her down for a short nap around 4:00 p.m., but a former neighbor stopped by to pick up some flowers that were left with us last night (she moved a few months ago, but apparently whoever was sending the flowers hadn't gotten the change of address notice); the doorbell spoiled any hope of a nap.
Complicating judging Celeste's recovery is that we're pretty sure she's in a developmental leap at the moment, which means she's going to be fussy and have difficulty sleeping and a bit of regression on some things. Right now, the big one is her sleep — and I know our trying to deal with her sore throat set her back with that — followed closely by eating solids (which could also be a hold over from her sore throat). Where she used to eat up to four ice cubes of food at a time, now we're lucky for her to take one. She's still nursing (and, because of the fever she was getting breastmilk pretty much on demand and a little bit more), so nutritionally, she should be fine, but it'd be nice if her solids meals didn't turn into a big drama scene.
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Spoke Too Soon?
I need to remember that if I write something about Celeste on here, she is going to try to contradict me as quickly as she can ... even if she's really too young for me to resent the fact that I'm invading her privacy by blogging about her.
Yesterday, I said she was doing better, well, last night she woke a little before 10:00 p.m. and refused to go back to sleep until after midnight. We tried all the usual tricks and nothing worked. In the end, she fell asleep on me for an hour or so, and immediately woke when I tried to shift her off my chest and on the mattress. At that point, Evelin picked her up, becoming the bed for the rest of the evening.
In the morning, I was sneaking out to work when Celeste woke up. We took her temperature and it seemed way too low (94.7°F, if I recall correctly) and she seemed to have a crazy rash all over her head. Not trusting the rectal thermometer we got from the hospital after the stay for jaundice or the stick-on strips, I headed out to the 24-hour CVS to buy a digital ear thermometer. (It turns out as quick as those are, they aren't really comfortable for a baby and don't make it too much easier to take her temperature.)
I also googled around about rashes and reassured both Evelin and myself that Celeste had a heat rash, most likely from sleeping all night on top of one or the other of us.
Still, we planned to call the doctor, and I called in to work to say that I wouldn't be coming in again (instead I ended up getting a fair number of articles edited from home). The other thing that factored into that decision is that Evelin had promised J--- that she'd take her to the airport that afternoon; considering how Celeste was feeling, we figured it'd be better to have me stay with Celeste while Evelin was gone rather than to have her crying all the way to Dulles and back.
As it was, Celeste was napping when Evelin had to leave, and I ended up waking her just shy of the three-hour mark. (I didn't want her to have too good of a nap for fear that it would mean she'd be up all night again — not that it seems to have worked. It's a little before 8:00 p.m. and Evelin just brought a very awake Celeste back downstairs, about 90 minutes after she went to bed for the night.) We had a little bit of playtime (including making pizza dough) until Evelin got home and I was able to return to my editing.
Last week, Evelin picked up some asparagus and we ended up just having them for dinner on Sunday night, but they got me thinking ... asparagus pizza with mushrooms and parmesan.
So, after I woke Celeste from her nap, fired up the bread machine to make the dough. (It's a shortcut, but the machine does a decent job of kneading the dough.) I knew I wanted to do something with the dough to complement the toppings and instead of trying to mix in some herbs or something, I went with the following ...
Two-Thirds Whole Wheat Crust
Next I turned to the topping — asparagus and mushrooms.
Toppings
In the mean time, the crust has been rolled out and put into a 350°F oven to start cooking. After about 10 minutes, pull it out and arrange about a pound of fresh mozzarella, sliced thinly, across the top of the crust. Return to the oven for 5 to 7 minutes, until the cheese is nicely melted. With the mozzarella melted (it may make sense to pour or blot excess liquid from the crust, depending upon how much water the cheese releases), add the asparagus–mushroom mixture and cover with shaved parmesan. Bake a further 15 minutes, until the crust is done, and the parm melts away entirely.
I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it was quite tasty. The crust was on the thick side; I think next time I'll divide the dough and make a much thinner pizza, but otherwise it was quite tasty.
Yesterday, I said she was doing better, well, last night she woke a little before 10:00 p.m. and refused to go back to sleep until after midnight. We tried all the usual tricks and nothing worked. In the end, she fell asleep on me for an hour or so, and immediately woke when I tried to shift her off my chest and on the mattress. At that point, Evelin picked her up, becoming the bed for the rest of the evening.
In the morning, I was sneaking out to work when Celeste woke up. We took her temperature and it seemed way too low (94.7°F, if I recall correctly) and she seemed to have a crazy rash all over her head. Not trusting the rectal thermometer we got from the hospital after the stay for jaundice or the stick-on strips, I headed out to the 24-hour CVS to buy a digital ear thermometer. (It turns out as quick as those are, they aren't really comfortable for a baby and don't make it too much easier to take her temperature.)
I also googled around about rashes and reassured both Evelin and myself that Celeste had a heat rash, most likely from sleeping all night on top of one or the other of us.
Still, we planned to call the doctor, and I called in to work to say that I wouldn't be coming in again (instead I ended up getting a fair number of articles edited from home). The other thing that factored into that decision is that Evelin had promised J--- that she'd take her to the airport that afternoon; considering how Celeste was feeling, we figured it'd be better to have me stay with Celeste while Evelin was gone rather than to have her crying all the way to Dulles and back.
As it was, Celeste was napping when Evelin had to leave, and I ended up waking her just shy of the three-hour mark. (I didn't want her to have too good of a nap for fear that it would mean she'd be up all night again — not that it seems to have worked. It's a little before 8:00 p.m. and Evelin just brought a very awake Celeste back downstairs, about 90 minutes after she went to bed for the night.) We had a little bit of playtime (including making pizza dough) until Evelin got home and I was able to return to my editing.
Asparagus–Mushroom Pizza
Since I was home, I got a chance to put together a real dinner — something that is harder and harder to do, it seems. (Sometimes, when things are going well, I manage to put together something on Tuesday or Thursday evening, but usually by the time I get home on other nights and Celeste has her bath and is in bed it's either 8:30 p.m. and we're too exhausted for anything other than a sandwich or bowl of cereal or it's 7:00 p.m. and we're too exhausted for much beyond a sandwich or bowl of cereal.)Last week, Evelin picked up some asparagus and we ended up just having them for dinner on Sunday night, but they got me thinking ... asparagus pizza with mushrooms and parmesan.
So, after I woke Celeste from her nap, fired up the bread machine to make the dough. (It's a shortcut, but the machine does a decent job of kneading the dough.) I knew I wanted to do something with the dough to complement the toppings and instead of trying to mix in some herbs or something, I went with the following ...
Two-Thirds Whole Wheat Crust
- 11⁄8 cup water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cups whole-wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup bread flour
- 11⁄2 teaspoons sugar
- 3 tablespoons dough relaxer
- 11⁄2 teaspoons yeast
Next I turned to the topping — asparagus and mushrooms.
Toppings
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 toes garlic, pressed
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 1⁄3 pound crimini mushrooms, sliced
- 1 pound asparagus, steamed tender and cut into 1 centimeter lengths
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- olive oil
- white wine
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 pound fresh mozzarella
- shaved parmesan
In the mean time, the crust has been rolled out and put into a 350°F oven to start cooking. After about 10 minutes, pull it out and arrange about a pound of fresh mozzarella, sliced thinly, across the top of the crust. Return to the oven for 5 to 7 minutes, until the cheese is nicely melted. With the mozzarella melted (it may make sense to pour or blot excess liquid from the crust, depending upon how much water the cheese releases), add the asparagus–mushroom mixture and cover with shaved parmesan. Bake a further 15 minutes, until the crust is done, and the parm melts away entirely.
I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it was quite tasty. The crust was on the thick side; I think next time I'll divide the dough and make a much thinner pizza, but otherwise it was quite tasty.
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Feeling Better
While not out of the woods, I think Celeste is feeling better. This morning, Evelin took her temperature and she was 99.4°F, but she climbed back up to 101.2°F around noon, so she got a fresh dose of Infant's Motrin. Once I got home, even though she'd had a good bit of sleep earlier in the morning, Celeste was ready for a nap. By 1:15 p.m., she was asleep in my arms and stayed that way for about 45 minutes. I dozed some, too, but with my arm falling asleep, I tried to move her to her crib. That woke her up, so we moved back to the chair where we both slept (her more than me) for another hour.
[ASIDE: Getting the Ektorp was a much better decision than a glider — I can't imagine both of us napping in a glider the way we can in the Ektorp.]
Afterwards, she took a bottle and we played for a while. She is getting really good a high fives, and is apparently studying !Xũ or some other Khoisan language while Evelin and I aren't around. Over the past week, she's really kicked up the click consonants. She seems to have the postalveolar click (!) and bilabial click (ʘ) down, but is having trouble with her palatal clicks (ǂ). She's also starting to babble more (non-click) consonants, so we could soon be hearing something closer to English (or Spanish, French or Japanese, if the Babbler is doing its job) ...
Just before bedtime, her temp was actually below normal (97.1°F) an hour after the Motrin would have worn off. She had been sitting around in just a onesie after her bath, so I may have chilled her a little bit. Evelin put some pyjamas on her for bed (we've been leaving her dressed on the cool side because of the fever), so I guess we'll see how warm she is when she wakes for a feeding later tonight ...
[ASIDE: Getting the Ektorp was a much better decision than a glider — I can't imagine both of us napping in a glider the way we can in the Ektorp.]
Afterwards, she took a bottle and we played for a while. She is getting really good a high fives, and is apparently studying !Xũ or some other Khoisan language while Evelin and I aren't around. Over the past week, she's really kicked up the click consonants. She seems to have the postalveolar click (!) and bilabial click (ʘ) down, but is having trouble with her palatal clicks (ǂ). She's also starting to babble more (non-click) consonants, so we could soon be hearing something closer to English (or Spanish, French or Japanese, if the Babbler is doing its job) ...
Just before bedtime, her temp was actually below normal (97.1°F) an hour after the Motrin would have worn off. She had been sitting around in just a onesie after her bath, so I may have chilled her a little bit. Evelin put some pyjamas on her for bed (we've been leaving her dressed on the cool side because of the fever), so I guess we'll see how warm she is when she wakes for a feeding later tonight ...
Monday, May 23, 2005
We're Contagious!
After a long, but not too long, wait at the pediatricians, we found out that Celeste has a sore throat (which explains the lowered interest in solids) the etiology of which is probably viral in nature. Fifths disease was ruled out based on the lack of a lacey rash, and a quick swab test ruled out strep throat.
So, this means we could be dealing with/watching Celeste's fever for a few more days. (In fact, she's still considered contagious until she's had 24 hours of constantly normal temperatures.) We can use the Infant's Motrin to help relieve pain/fever and are to offer cold foods (peach-sicle, apple-sicle, etc.) along with lots of liquids. Hopefully, her system will burn it away in a few days ...
So, this means we could be dealing with/watching Celeste's fever for a few more days. (In fact, she's still considered contagious until she's had 24 hours of constantly normal temperatures.) We can use the Infant's Motrin to help relieve pain/fever and are to offer cold foods (peach-sicle, apple-sicle, etc.) along with lots of liquids. Hopefully, her system will burn it away in a few days ...
Long Night
It probably could have been a lot longer, but last night was pretty sleepless. We woke Celeste up around 9:00 p.m. because she'd sweat through her onesie and was due for a follow-up dose of Infant's Motrin. Around 2:00 a.m., Celeste was crying some and Evelin went to check on her. Celeste had taken the stick-on thermometer off her forehead at that point, and Evelin wasn't having much luck soothing her, so she asked me to try. I though she was feeling pretty warm, so we took her temperature; it was back up to 101.5°F.
At this point, Celeste was pretty confused. Usually, we didn't get this awake for her in the middle of the night ... and this time she was getting a 2:20-something bath? She had a pretty quizzical look on her face, but was game for splashing in the tub some, but she really didn't like it when Evelin tilted her back to wet her head. Around this time, I called the office and said I wouldn't be coming in today (or if I did, it'd be in the afternoon).
Giving the timing of the medicine, we had to wait until around 3:00 a.m. to give her another dose, so we had a little post-bath playtime and, once she was dosed, it took her a little while to get to sleep.
Around 5:00 a.m., Celeste woke up crying. She felt warm, but not overly warm and her onesie and the bed beneath her (we let her stay with us) was soaked with sweat. Evelin and I took turns trying to soothe her until Evelin finally figured out — *doh!* — she was probably hungry.
After nursing, Celeste and Evelin came back to bed and we all got some sleep for a little while. When I woke up around 7:00 a.m., they were both still fast asleep and Celeste felt a lot cooler. Maybe her fever broke before that 5:00 a.m. wake to feed. Or maybe the Infant's Motrin is taking full effect (she's not due for another dose until 9:00 a.m. at the earliest).
We'll see how she's acting/feeling when she wakes and then decide about taking her in to the doctor ...
At this point, Celeste was pretty confused. Usually, we didn't get this awake for her in the middle of the night ... and this time she was getting a 2:20-something bath? She had a pretty quizzical look on her face, but was game for splashing in the tub some, but she really didn't like it when Evelin tilted her back to wet her head. Around this time, I called the office and said I wouldn't be coming in today (or if I did, it'd be in the afternoon).
Giving the timing of the medicine, we had to wait until around 3:00 a.m. to give her another dose, so we had a little post-bath playtime and, once she was dosed, it took her a little while to get to sleep.
Around 5:00 a.m., Celeste woke up crying. She felt warm, but not overly warm and her onesie and the bed beneath her (we let her stay with us) was soaked with sweat. Evelin and I took turns trying to soothe her until Evelin finally figured out — *doh!* — she was probably hungry.
After nursing, Celeste and Evelin came back to bed and we all got some sleep for a little while. When I woke up around 7:00 a.m., they were both still fast asleep and Celeste felt a lot cooler. Maybe her fever broke before that 5:00 a.m. wake to feed. Or maybe the Infant's Motrin is taking full effect (she's not due for another dose until 9:00 a.m. at the earliest).
We'll see how she's acting/feeling when she wakes and then decide about taking her in to the doctor ...
Sunday, May 22, 2005
First Fever
Last week, I stupidly made the comment that we'd been really lucky in that we'd gone nearly 9 months without Celeste having any illness (excepting, of course, her second week hospitalization for jaundice). This afternoon, we had our first fever scare.
This morning, she woke up around 4:00 a.m. and did the inconsolable crying thing. Evelin and I took turns trying to soothe/calm her and, after a stint in our bed, Evelin nursed her back to sleep a bit past 5:00 a.m. I thought she felt warm at that point, but it was chalked up to her having been in snuggly pyjamas and with her blankie while I was just in boxers.
Flash forward to the afternoon: We'd been to the farmers market where Celeste enjoyed listening to the Banjo Man with a bunch of other kids, Evelin took her on a walk while I went to return the previous night's movie (National Treasure) and to run a few other errands. When I got home, Celeste was napping; they hadn't gone very far before Celeste started to fall asleep, so Evelin turned around to get her home to her crib.
It turned out to be not too long of a nap, and Celeste was pretty grumpy. She was playing on the floor with Evelin next to her reading and me across the room with the newspaper, but she kept fussing. We'd try some of the usual favorites, but she still was fussy. I kissed her forehead and thought she felt warm, so Evelin got the forehead thermometer, which was showed a high fever, so we decided to disturb her with a more accurate thermometer — 101.4°F.
A quick check of our doctors' instructions said to worry/call if the fever was higher than 102°F, so we dosed her with some Infant's Motrin and, while Evelin fed her, I started paging through all the books. We gave her a tepid bath, which did help cool her off, and, after the Motrin'd had some time to work her fever came down to the warm stage. During the bath, I put a stick-on thermometer on her forehead so that we could get a rough idea of how she was doing without having to resort to more uncomfortable thermometer techniques.
After a short nap on top of Evelin, Celeste was definitely feeling better: playing more actively and acting less crabby. By her bedtime, the forehead thermometer was registering a mild fever, but she was still acting better. Our plan is to watch her overnight and hopefully the fever will pass: It's possible it could be teething related, but it seems a bit on the high side for that ...
This morning, she woke up around 4:00 a.m. and did the inconsolable crying thing. Evelin and I took turns trying to soothe/calm her and, after a stint in our bed, Evelin nursed her back to sleep a bit past 5:00 a.m. I thought she felt warm at that point, but it was chalked up to her having been in snuggly pyjamas and with her blankie while I was just in boxers.
Flash forward to the afternoon: We'd been to the farmers market where Celeste enjoyed listening to the Banjo Man with a bunch of other kids, Evelin took her on a walk while I went to return the previous night's movie (National Treasure) and to run a few other errands. When I got home, Celeste was napping; they hadn't gone very far before Celeste started to fall asleep, so Evelin turned around to get her home to her crib.
It turned out to be not too long of a nap, and Celeste was pretty grumpy. She was playing on the floor with Evelin next to her reading and me across the room with the newspaper, but she kept fussing. We'd try some of the usual favorites, but she still was fussy. I kissed her forehead and thought she felt warm, so Evelin got the forehead thermometer, which was showed a high fever, so we decided to disturb her with a more accurate thermometer — 101.4°F.
A quick check of our doctors' instructions said to worry/call if the fever was higher than 102°F, so we dosed her with some Infant's Motrin and, while Evelin fed her, I started paging through all the books. We gave her a tepid bath, which did help cool her off, and, after the Motrin'd had some time to work her fever came down to the warm stage. During the bath, I put a stick-on thermometer on her forehead so that we could get a rough idea of how she was doing without having to resort to more uncomfortable thermometer techniques.
After a short nap on top of Evelin, Celeste was definitely feeling better: playing more actively and acting less crabby. By her bedtime, the forehead thermometer was registering a mild fever, but she was still acting better. Our plan is to watch her overnight and hopefully the fever will pass: It's possible it could be teething related, but it seems a bit on the high side for that ...
Saturday, May 21, 2005
New Carseat for Celeste
With yesterday's rain, the P³ area seemed a bit on the muddy side to work on (it's hard enough shoveling dry dirt), so my attention was diverted to other parts of the things-to-do list.
First up, to keep pace with Celeste's growth, we pulled her SnugRide bucket out of the car and put in her Britax Roundabout. This follows earlier in the week when we dropped her crib mattress one level; she's not pulling herself up yet, but she is scooting around the crib so we decided to move the mattress rather than waiting for an overly exciting moment ...
Celeste probably isn't up to the weight limit on the SnugRide, but it was getting more and more difficult to get her in/out of it, and we'd already taken to just leaving the bucket in the T.R.U.C.K. She still needs the carseat to be rear-facing, so it'll be a few more months until it's easier to turn and see what Celeste is up to, but the new seat does put her in a bit higher position from which she can look around at the traffic/scenery.
This afternoon, we tried to take a hike (both to get out and to give Celeste a chance to try out the new carseat). She did pretty well until we were about 10 minutes away from Sugarloaf Mountain at which point she started crying. Evelin, who'd moved to the backseat after some earlier fussiness, soothed her some and, as we were getting to the parking area, Celeste nodded off to sleep. So, we turned around and drove home where I got to cut the ogräs.
One bit of fun for Celeste when we got home: Evelin brought her out to watch me cutting the front yard and a neighbor stopped by to chat. While Evelin, M--- and Celeste were talking, two dogs (with walkers) came up. Celeste was interested and so were the dogs (a greyhound and a bloodhound) and they all sniffed one another and Celeste did some gentle petting.
After the carseat and before the attempt at a hike, I spent some time fiddling around on a few things, including taking apart the dishwasher to see if I could get to the source of its leaking. (I think part of the tub and/or door is a little warped, allowing water to spray up and drip out; I made some adjustments to the alignment of the unit, which seem to help some, but it's not perfect. I've already replaced the seal, so maybe I can add some additional (not-manufacturer-intended) gasketry to the door side of things or try to google around for ideas ...)
First up, to keep pace with Celeste's growth, we pulled her SnugRide bucket out of the car and put in her Britax Roundabout. This follows earlier in the week when we dropped her crib mattress one level; she's not pulling herself up yet, but she is scooting around the crib so we decided to move the mattress rather than waiting for an overly exciting moment ...
Celeste probably isn't up to the weight limit on the SnugRide, but it was getting more and more difficult to get her in/out of it, and we'd already taken to just leaving the bucket in the T.R.U.C.K. She still needs the carseat to be rear-facing, so it'll be a few more months until it's easier to turn and see what Celeste is up to, but the new seat does put her in a bit higher position from which she can look around at the traffic/scenery.
This afternoon, we tried to take a hike (both to get out and to give Celeste a chance to try out the new carseat). She did pretty well until we were about 10 minutes away from Sugarloaf Mountain at which point she started crying. Evelin, who'd moved to the backseat after some earlier fussiness, soothed her some and, as we were getting to the parking area, Celeste nodded off to sleep. So, we turned around and drove home where I got to cut the ogräs.
One bit of fun for Celeste when we got home: Evelin brought her out to watch me cutting the front yard and a neighbor stopped by to chat. While Evelin, M--- and Celeste were talking, two dogs (with walkers) came up. Celeste was interested and so were the dogs (a greyhound and a bloodhound) and they all sniffed one another and Celeste did some gentle petting.
After the carseat and before the attempt at a hike, I spent some time fiddling around on a few things, including taking apart the dishwasher to see if I could get to the source of its leaking. (I think part of the tub and/or door is a little warped, allowing water to spray up and drip out; I made some adjustments to the alignment of the unit, which seem to help some, but it's not perfect. I've already replaced the seal, so maybe I can add some additional (not-manufacturer-intended) gasketry to the door side of things or try to google around for ideas ...)
Friday, May 20, 2005
P³ Photos
Not to get all Flickr about it or anything, but I have been meaning to post a picture or two of the Pond/Patio Project.
I can't seem to find any pics of the pre-destruction patio, but here is a (slightly blurry) pic of the pond circa summer 2001:
Note the bits of slate that rim the pond: Evelin always hated those.
The first step in the P³, sensibly enough, was to drain the pond, which was accomplished by running a hose in the backyard and starting up a siphon. The next morning, the water was mostly gone and I had to take out the plants, which was followed by cutting out the liner (all of this has been gone over before). What was left was a big, pond-shaped hole in the ground:
The next step was to start work on the patio — moving furniture, pulling up pavers, taking out the top course of timbers, etc. — to get at all the dirt that lay below. Once the dirt was exposed, the shoveling began. Here is a pic of the patio as of Saturday
In the foreground are the timbers and some other P³-related detritus that will eventually need to be hauled away.
What has me worried, as one can see from the photo, the patio is at best two-fifths deconstructed, but here is the pond
There's room for some more dirt, and today's rain will help compact things and get the dirt to settle even more, but there's a lot more dirt under the patio, or to express it mathematically:
I can't seem to find any pics of the pre-destruction patio, but here is a (slightly blurry) pic of the pond circa summer 2001:
Note the bits of slate that rim the pond: Evelin always hated those.
The first step in the P³, sensibly enough, was to drain the pond, which was accomplished by running a hose in the backyard and starting up a siphon. The next morning, the water was mostly gone and I had to take out the plants, which was followed by cutting out the liner (all of this has been gone over before). What was left was a big, pond-shaped hole in the ground:
The next step was to start work on the patio — moving furniture, pulling up pavers, taking out the top course of timbers, etc. — to get at all the dirt that lay below. Once the dirt was exposed, the shoveling began. Here is a pic of the patio as of Saturday
In the foreground are the timbers and some other P³-related detritus that will eventually need to be hauled away.
What has me worried, as one can see from the photo, the patio is at best two-fifths deconstructed, but here is the pond
There's room for some more dirt, and today's rain will help compact things and get the dirt to settle even more, but there's a lot more dirt under the patio, or to express it mathematically:
Thursday, May 19, 2005
P³ Update
Work continues around the house. Last night, I cut the wires for the electrical feed to the outside outlet that'd been installed on the patio. Because of where the line ran, I needed to take it out before I could take another course of timbers off the patio, and it just seemed safer to take the wires out at the on/off switch inside. I then pulled up the buried line.
A lot of digging still needs to be done, as well as moving pavers and figuring out where the dirt will all go. I've been using a manual tamper to compact the dirt that goes into the pond, but I haven't been too systematic about it so the pond does have some shifting soil. It's supposed to rain tonight and into the weekend, so hopefully water filtering down will help compact things some, freeing up space for more dirt.
Even if I end up putting another 15 square feet of soil into the pond (and I don't think there's that much left to fill), I'll still have a lot of soil under the patio to dispose of. There are some low spots in the yard that we can put some of it in, and more will be needed to try to figure out the new grade for the upper garden, but we are likely to be left with a bunch of dirt. It could well be that we keep some of it under the deck (assuming we build a deck to replace the patio), but that still leaves the question of stabilizing it so that we don't end up with somesort of mini mudslide in the future.
Of course, the pond/patio project (the p³ of the entry's title) can't dominate everything: I still need to cut the ogräs, clean the gutters, and tend to other tasks, like the dishwasher, which has been overflowing a bit. Last night I replaced the door seal, which improved, but didn't completely solve things. I think this weekend I'll be checking the drain and other parts to see if I can figure out what might be the cause.
Hopefully, she'll ease into this phase and her sleep will even out in a few more days — usually the first two nights of a leap are really tough for her sleepwise — and she'll be able to focus on new developments (including her breakdancing).
Today, Celeste's big excitement was a trip to the farmers market in Riverdale Park, which is held in a parking lot next a CSX rail line. Celeste, who is always interested in big trucks, buses, etc., got to see a freight train pass within 10 yards of her. I'm not sure she was able to really process what it was, but she wouldn't take her eyes off it ...
A lot of digging still needs to be done, as well as moving pavers and figuring out where the dirt will all go. I've been using a manual tamper to compact the dirt that goes into the pond, but I haven't been too systematic about it so the pond does have some shifting soil. It's supposed to rain tonight and into the weekend, so hopefully water filtering down will help compact things some, freeing up space for more dirt.
Even if I end up putting another 15 square feet of soil into the pond (and I don't think there's that much left to fill), I'll still have a lot of soil under the patio to dispose of. There are some low spots in the yard that we can put some of it in, and more will be needed to try to figure out the new grade for the upper garden, but we are likely to be left with a bunch of dirt. It could well be that we keep some of it under the deck (assuming we build a deck to replace the patio), but that still leaves the question of stabilizing it so that we don't end up with somesort of mini mudslide in the future.
Of course, the pond/patio project (the p³ of the entry's title) can't dominate everything: I still need to cut the ogräs, clean the gutters, and tend to other tasks, like the dishwasher, which has been overflowing a bit. Last night I replaced the door seal, which improved, but didn't completely solve things. I think this weekend I'll be checking the drain and other parts to see if I can figure out what might be the cause.
Celeste Update
Celeste must be entering another leap/stormy period. Her sleep has grown quite erratic. Actually, for the first half of the night, she's better staying asleep once she finally gets there, but she really fights going to bed. Plus, when she does wake in the middle of the night, it's more difficult to get her back to sleep; sometimes, she's up for an hour or three playing, crying, generally not sleeping ...Hopefully, she'll ease into this phase and her sleep will even out in a few more days — usually the first two nights of a leap are really tough for her sleepwise — and she'll be able to focus on new developments (including her breakdancing).
Today, Celeste's big excitement was a trip to the farmers market in Riverdale Park, which is held in a parking lot next a CSX rail line. Celeste, who is always interested in big trucks, buses, etc., got to see a freight train pass within 10 yards of her. I'm not sure she was able to really process what it was, but she wouldn't take her eyes off it ...
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Breakdancing Baby
She doesn't quite have her hand glide down but Celeste started breaking today. Usually when we put her down in the living room, she is on the zebra rug, but today, for no particular reason, I put Celeste down on the hardwood floor ... and she took the opportunity to test her mad breakdancing skillz.
I gave her the smiley sun rattle thing that she really likes and the Chicco lion that she sort of likes and she started playing with the rattle. She was on her back and then dropped the rattle to the side and behind her a little. What to do? Well, Celeste rolled over to her stomach (and this from a girl who is not too fond of tummy time) and then used her hands to spin herself into a position where she could pick up the rattle. She played with it on her stomach for a little while before rolling back on to her back (I made sure to get a hand between her head and the floor so that she didn't hurt herself while flipping back on to her back).
She did the same hand-pull move a number of times and even once or twice looked like she might manage an army crawl. I was quite impressed — both by her ability to think of and do this and that she was letting me see a new trick for a change. (
The rest of the day was spent with a short (under 2 mile) hike at Greenbelt Park (Celeste is still not 100% sure the Piggyback is fun) and, after Evelin got home and Celeste went to bed, making a very tasty spinach-feta-potato terrine that fell apart when I tried to plate it but tasted exquisite.
I gave her the smiley sun rattle thing that she really likes and the Chicco lion that she sort of likes and she started playing with the rattle. She was on her back and then dropped the rattle to the side and behind her a little. What to do? Well, Celeste rolled over to her stomach (and this from a girl who is not too fond of tummy time) and then used her hands to spin herself into a position where she could pick up the rattle. She played with it on her stomach for a little while before rolling back on to her back (I made sure to get a hand between her head and the floor so that she didn't hurt herself while flipping back on to her back).
She did the same hand-pull move a number of times and even once or twice looked like she might manage an army crawl. I was quite impressed — both by her ability to think of and do this and that she was letting me see a new trick for a change. (
<insane jealousy>Usually, she likes to show her mumma these sorts of things first</insane jealousy>.)The rest of the day was spent with a short (under 2 mile) hike at Greenbelt Park (Celeste is still not 100% sure the Piggyback is fun) and, after Evelin got home and Celeste went to bed, making a very tasty spinach-feta-potato terrine that fell apart when I tried to plate it but tasted exquisite.
Monday, May 16, 2005
Sleep Stories
All in all, Celeste's sleeping is getting better, but is far from perfect. My theory is that she just doesn't enjoy sleeping and would rather be doing something else — even if that something else is sitting on the floor watching groggy parents try to play with her while hoping she'll show some unambiguous signs of tiredness.
If she could form the words, I'd imagine Celeste would try Hannes' argument relayed a few weeks ago on Name that baby!: "It ain't nice to sleep ..."
In general, she's shifting her bedtime to about an hour later than it had been and she's having a rougher time going down for a nap. Evelin thinks part of it is Celeste's increased mobility: She uses the crib bars to walk herself along the mattress, making her bed a bit of a playground. The other option is it could be related to teething: she looks like she's cutting an eyetooth.
Once she finally does go down, she seems to be sleeping longer with less nocturnal crying, although she still gets two feedings per night.
This morning she was up around 4:30 a.m., crying, but she was dead tired. I went into pick her up and to try to calm her around 5:00 and she would snug down and fall asleep really quickly on my chest, but as soon as I'd try putting her down in the crib (either on her stomach or her back), she's start kicking, squirming and crying. I wondered if her stomach might be hurting her or something — we'd introduced mangoes to her that afternoon, so there could have been a reaction — but Evelin was less convinced. She ended up feeding her around 5:45 a.m., and we were all up for the day soon there after.
[UPDATE: And, of course, ever the contrarian, Celeste was asleep before I got home at 6:30 p.m. tonight ...]
If she could form the words, I'd imagine Celeste would try Hannes' argument relayed a few weeks ago on Name that baby!: "It ain't nice to sleep ..."
In general, she's shifting her bedtime to about an hour later than it had been and she's having a rougher time going down for a nap. Evelin thinks part of it is Celeste's increased mobility: She uses the crib bars to walk herself along the mattress, making her bed a bit of a playground. The other option is it could be related to teething: she looks like she's cutting an eyetooth.
Once she finally does go down, she seems to be sleeping longer with less nocturnal crying, although she still gets two feedings per night.
This morning she was up around 4:30 a.m., crying, but she was dead tired. I went into pick her up and to try to calm her around 5:00 and she would snug down and fall asleep really quickly on my chest, but as soon as I'd try putting her down in the crib (either on her stomach or her back), she's start kicking, squirming and crying. I wondered if her stomach might be hurting her or something — we'd introduced mangoes to her that afternoon, so there could have been a reaction — but Evelin was less convinced. She ended up feeding her around 5:45 a.m., and we were all up for the day soon there after.
[UPDATE: And, of course, ever the contrarian, Celeste was asleep before I got home at 6:30 p.m. tonight ...]
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Take Celeste to a Ballgame
Today Celeste went to her first ballgame, a back-to-back seven-inning Portland Sea Dogs vs. Bowie Baysox doubleheader. It was originally slated to be just one nine-inning game, but they changed the scheduled because Saturday night's game was rained out.
We were in the third row from the field, just to the right of the Sea Dog's dugout, along with the other seven Red Sox/Portland fans in attendance, which gave us a great view of home plate and the infield, as well as the chance to talk a little with some of the Sea Dogs while they were in the on-deck circle.
Celeste started off the game a bit disinterested in what was going on on the field. Evelin had her in a sling and she was looking back into the stadium, making faces at people in the stands. But during the 4th inning, I had her on my knee, facing the field, and she started watching and clapping (unfortunately when Sea Dog's catcher Alberto Concepción grounded into a double play), but by the bottom of the 6th she was tired and cranky. Evelin took her out to the car for the bottom of the 7th, which ended very quickly, and we took a long roundabout way home so that she could sleep in the car for about 90 minutes.
The game itself had some nice moments, starting with Dustin Pedroia's solo home run in the top of the 1st and his stolen base in the 4th, as well as Concepción turning a double play in the 4th. I can't imagine Pedroia is going to be playing AA ball next year ...
Top prospect Hanley Ramírez, however, was a bit disappointing; he had one good hit and some sloppy play on the field. In the 6th, Jared Sandberg had an embarrassing moment when he missed a fly ball at the warning track and ended up catching his shoelace or foot in the outfield field; he couldn't get up or pull away from the wall and ended up giving up a triple to Tripper Johnson.
We were in the third row from the field, just to the right of the Sea Dog's dugout, along with the other seven Red Sox/Portland fans in attendance, which gave us a great view of home plate and the infield, as well as the chance to talk a little with some of the Sea Dogs while they were in the on-deck circle.
Celeste started off the game a bit disinterested in what was going on on the field. Evelin had her in a sling and she was looking back into the stadium, making faces at people in the stands. But during the 4th inning, I had her on my knee, facing the field, and she started watching and clapping (unfortunately when Sea Dog's catcher Alberto Concepción grounded into a double play), but by the bottom of the 6th she was tired and cranky. Evelin took her out to the car for the bottom of the 7th, which ended very quickly, and we took a long roundabout way home so that she could sleep in the car for about 90 minutes.
The game itself had some nice moments, starting with Dustin Pedroia's solo home run in the top of the 1st and his stolen base in the 4th, as well as Concepción turning a double play in the 4th. I can't imagine Pedroia is going to be playing AA ball next year ...
Top prospect Hanley Ramírez, however, was a bit disappointing; he had one good hit and some sloppy play on the field. In the 6th, Jared Sandberg had an embarrassing moment when he missed a fly ball at the warning track and ended up catching his shoelace or foot in the outfield field; he couldn't get up or pull away from the wall and ended up giving up a triple to Tripper Johnson.
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Bugs Everywhere ...
I sometimes have a problem extrapolating from weight to volume. For example, a while ago, I bought a 4-ounce bag of Turkish bay leaves from Penzey's. It turned out to be a very large bag of very good bay leaves that Celeste will probably still be enjoying until she graduates from high school.
Thinking I'd learned my lesson, I later bought some spearmint from Penzey's. It turns out 1 ounce of dried leaves is still a fairly big bag, although we have gone through that one much more quickly and are on track to finish it by the time Celeste is in 2nd Grade.
Yesterday, I came home to find my latest such discovery of how much a pint of ladybugs (Hippodamia convergens) works out to. The answer is a hell of a lot of ladybugs.
I'd noticed some scale on one of the blueberries a while ago, and then later found some on a butterfly bush and on the beauty berry bush, so I decided to order some ladybugs. While looking around on the Biocontrol Network website, I figured a pint of ladybugs would work. I guess I didn't really have a good feel for what 4,500 ladybugs would be like, although that line about "covers 2,500 square feet" should have tipped me off.
At first, when I opened the bag, I wasn't worried; sure the bugs were swarming out at me, but they're just ladybugs — the scale, aphids, etc., are what need to worry not me. I started dropping them out of the bag around the garlic and then the peas and raspberries before moving around the yard past the apple tree and mint and over to the butterfly bushes.
Although it was a bit silly, I tried to economize how many were released over in the daylilies and on that side of the yard; I wanted to save some for the front where we have the strawberries and blueberries. After working my way around to the front yard and down the other side of the house, I realized I still had a good 1,000 or more bugs, so they were dropped off back in the garden.
This morning, I went out to find ladybugs everywhere; it's crazy how many there are and, from the look of things, they were busy working on adding to the population. If Hyattsville has a plague of ladybugs this summer, we will be ground zero.
Now, I have to worry about what about 600 praying mantises (Tenodera aridifolia sinensis) will do to the yard. The smallest number of egg cases they sold was three and each can hatch up some 200 mantids. The other bugs don't have a chance ...
Thinking I'd learned my lesson, I later bought some spearmint from Penzey's. It turns out 1 ounce of dried leaves is still a fairly big bag, although we have gone through that one much more quickly and are on track to finish it by the time Celeste is in 2nd Grade.
Yesterday, I came home to find my latest such discovery of how much a pint of ladybugs (Hippodamia convergens) works out to. The answer is a hell of a lot of ladybugs.
I'd noticed some scale on one of the blueberries a while ago, and then later found some on a butterfly bush and on the beauty berry bush, so I decided to order some ladybugs. While looking around on the Biocontrol Network website, I figured a pint of ladybugs would work. I guess I didn't really have a good feel for what 4,500 ladybugs would be like, although that line about "covers 2,500 square feet" should have tipped me off.
At first, when I opened the bag, I wasn't worried; sure the bugs were swarming out at me, but they're just ladybugs — the scale, aphids, etc., are what need to worry not me. I started dropping them out of the bag around the garlic and then the peas and raspberries before moving around the yard past the apple tree and mint and over to the butterfly bushes.
Although it was a bit silly, I tried to economize how many were released over in the daylilies and on that side of the yard; I wanted to save some for the front where we have the strawberries and blueberries. After working my way around to the front yard and down the other side of the house, I realized I still had a good 1,000 or more bugs, so they were dropped off back in the garden.
This morning, I went out to find ladybugs everywhere; it's crazy how many there are and, from the look of things, they were busy working on adding to the population. If Hyattsville has a plague of ladybugs this summer, we will be ground zero.
Now, I have to worry about what about 600 praying mantises (Tenodera aridifolia sinensis) will do to the yard. The smallest number of egg cases they sold was three and each can hatch up some 200 mantids. The other bugs don't have a chance ...
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Almost Back to Normal ...
Yesterday, on the whiteboard in my office, I drew a big arch and colored the space inside of it black. I then wiped a little bit of the black away with my pinkie finger. That was the light at the end of the tunnel. I can finally see it.
My June issue of my regular magazine is out the door; the June issue of the francophone supplement is out the door (despite, and no kidding on this, the French-language coördinator for the supplement dying the weekend before production); and the post-show marketing piece phase of the contract publishing gig is in the production phase. It's only 16 pages, so I'm not too stressed, although I'm sure it will hit some snags along the way.
All in all, it looks like I can breathe for a moment, which is a good thing because just as work is getting less 過労死, I'm launching into something I don't know how we'll finish at home.
When we first looked at this house, I threw away any negotiating position we had by looking out the bedroom window and excitedly saying "Ooh, a pond!" Over the five years we've lived here, I've mucked out the pond, ignored the pond, tried to improve the pond, and now we're filling in the pond.
To be fair, it wasn't the best of water features for the yard. It was big and the edges looked really unfinished; plus, there was no filtration setup of any sort. Basically, it was a big stagnant pond that was home to 35+ goldfish, a bunch of water lilies, a dwarf lotus, and a few other plants. Last summer, I let things go a bit and bought three water hyacinths that basically choked out everything else in pond by autumn. Raccoons, cats, possums, or something got lots of the fish, and we had an ich outbreak over winter that killed off most of the rest. In the end we were down to one gold fish and a bunch of plants.
It's important to note that Evelin has never liked the pond, but with Celeste on the scene (and rapidly approaching mobility) she has upped the impetus to get rid of it.
Parallel to all of this is the patio — a raised structure with timbers for sides (five at the highest point), brick pavers for a top, and a lot of dirt beneath. The previous owners apparently every year pulled up the pavers and releveled the dirt below; we haven't done that, and the patio has become progressively less stable. Plus those timbers (despite being creosote-soaked) are rotting badly creating some danger points that were probably actionable.
The final part to this equation is that last Thursday, Celeste took a fantastic three-hour nap, which meant we didn't have time to make a cute card for Evelin for Mother's Day ... which meant that a promise to begin tearing apart the patio and filling in the pond became my and Celeste's Mother's Day gift to Evelin. Evelin was thrilled by this.
Saturday afternoon, I set up a hose to start siphoning water out of the pond to a point in the backyard that could absorb all the water. Despite a few clogs, it drained more quickly than I expected and by morning, we were looking at a smelly hole with just a bit of water left in the deep end. After getting the siphon going again, I started cutting the lining to pull it out in stages. The tricky bit was that I wanted to dump the muck/litter that was at the bottom of the pond back into the hole, both to add some organic matter to the soil and because it was wet, heavy, and gross and disposing of the liner is enough of a problem without having to worry about the muck, too.
In the meantime, my neighbor wandered into his driveway, giving me the chance to see if he would take in any of the plants. He said he was planning to work on his pond later in the week anyway, so he was game to see what he could use. (A bit later, as I was getting to the last bit of lining, I thought I'd found the last goldfish — we hadn't seen him in weeks and had assumed a cat or raccoon had eaten him — and through he was dead. Turned out he was alive, and we rushed him over to the neighbor's pond; hopefully, he'll continue to have a good life over there.)
After the pond was emptied, I started in on the bricks and timbers. The top course of timbers was mostly at or above the brick level, so that was easy to pry away. I then (and when Celeste went down for a nap, Evelin joined in) pulled up a little bit less than half of the bricks.
The most dangerous bit of the patio was the steps down from the back door. They were three courses of bricks and timbers, but the middle timber was 90% rotted away. So I focused on dismantling that first. There was more dirt under there than I'd imagined, but the pond still has a lot of space to fill. I also started digging out on the half where the pavers had been taken up.
In all, I think I put in about six or seven hours of work on the destruction project and it just looks like a mess. Evelin is happy, however, and the pond is getting filled in and the patio is going away. (Since then, I spent some time Monday night tamping down the dirt and today, during Celeste's nap, I put in about an hour of shoveling, which brought the dirt level down to where I could take out one more timber.) This is going to take all summer, and we don't really know what's going to replace it all — a deck, another patio, some bi-level deck-patio combination, a bigger pond (probably not) ...
The other thing that's in the process of going on is that Evelin and I are changing our telecom options. Tuesday, we had cable installed; today, I finally got the cable modem working and set up the wireless router; now we just have to sign up for VoIP and we can start dumping the old phone and Internet services in favor of something faster that will cost about $45 more per month than what we used to have but about $15 less than our other high-speed options. I'm a bit sad because I've been with out outgoing ISP for more about a decade, but I do have to admit the cable is a lot faster than dialup (and Evelin and I are both doing a fair amount of work (formally and informally) from home, so we need the high-speed connection ...)
My June issue of my regular magazine is out the door; the June issue of the francophone supplement is out the door (despite, and no kidding on this, the French-language coördinator for the supplement dying the weekend before production); and the post-show marketing piece phase of the contract publishing gig is in the production phase. It's only 16 pages, so I'm not too stressed, although I'm sure it will hit some snags along the way.
All in all, it looks like I can breathe for a moment, which is a good thing because just as work is getting less 過労死, I'm launching into something I don't know how we'll finish at home.
When we first looked at this house, I threw away any negotiating position we had by looking out the bedroom window and excitedly saying "Ooh, a pond!" Over the five years we've lived here, I've mucked out the pond, ignored the pond, tried to improve the pond, and now we're filling in the pond.
To be fair, it wasn't the best of water features for the yard. It was big and the edges looked really unfinished; plus, there was no filtration setup of any sort. Basically, it was a big stagnant pond that was home to 35+ goldfish, a bunch of water lilies, a dwarf lotus, and a few other plants. Last summer, I let things go a bit and bought three water hyacinths that basically choked out everything else in pond by autumn. Raccoons, cats, possums, or something got lots of the fish, and we had an ich outbreak over winter that killed off most of the rest. In the end we were down to one gold fish and a bunch of plants.
It's important to note that Evelin has never liked the pond, but with Celeste on the scene (and rapidly approaching mobility) she has upped the impetus to get rid of it.
Parallel to all of this is the patio — a raised structure with timbers for sides (five at the highest point), brick pavers for a top, and a lot of dirt beneath. The previous owners apparently every year pulled up the pavers and releveled the dirt below; we haven't done that, and the patio has become progressively less stable. Plus those timbers (despite being creosote-soaked) are rotting badly creating some danger points that were probably actionable.
The final part to this equation is that last Thursday, Celeste took a fantastic three-hour nap, which meant we didn't have time to make a cute card for Evelin for Mother's Day ... which meant that a promise to begin tearing apart the patio and filling in the pond became my and Celeste's Mother's Day gift to Evelin. Evelin was thrilled by this.
Saturday afternoon, I set up a hose to start siphoning water out of the pond to a point in the backyard that could absorb all the water. Despite a few clogs, it drained more quickly than I expected and by morning, we were looking at a smelly hole with just a bit of water left in the deep end. After getting the siphon going again, I started cutting the lining to pull it out in stages. The tricky bit was that I wanted to dump the muck/litter that was at the bottom of the pond back into the hole, both to add some organic matter to the soil and because it was wet, heavy, and gross and disposing of the liner is enough of a problem without having to worry about the muck, too.
In the meantime, my neighbor wandered into his driveway, giving me the chance to see if he would take in any of the plants. He said he was planning to work on his pond later in the week anyway, so he was game to see what he could use. (A bit later, as I was getting to the last bit of lining, I thought I'd found the last goldfish — we hadn't seen him in weeks and had assumed a cat or raccoon had eaten him — and through he was dead. Turned out he was alive, and we rushed him over to the neighbor's pond; hopefully, he'll continue to have a good life over there.)
After the pond was emptied, I started in on the bricks and timbers. The top course of timbers was mostly at or above the brick level, so that was easy to pry away. I then (and when Celeste went down for a nap, Evelin joined in) pulled up a little bit less than half of the bricks.
The most dangerous bit of the patio was the steps down from the back door. They were three courses of bricks and timbers, but the middle timber was 90% rotted away. So I focused on dismantling that first. There was more dirt under there than I'd imagined, but the pond still has a lot of space to fill. I also started digging out on the half where the pavers had been taken up.
In all, I think I put in about six or seven hours of work on the destruction project and it just looks like a mess. Evelin is happy, however, and the pond is getting filled in and the patio is going away. (Since then, I spent some time Monday night tamping down the dirt and today, during Celeste's nap, I put in about an hour of shoveling, which brought the dirt level down to where I could take out one more timber.) This is going to take all summer, and we don't really know what's going to replace it all — a deck, another patio, some bi-level deck-patio combination, a bigger pond (probably not) ...
The other thing that's in the process of going on is that Evelin and I are changing our telecom options. Tuesday, we had cable installed; today, I finally got the cable modem working and set up the wireless router; now we just have to sign up for VoIP and we can start dumping the old phone and Internet services in favor of something faster that will cost about $45 more per month than what we used to have but about $15 less than our other high-speed options. I'm a bit sad because I've been with out outgoing ISP for more about a decade, but I do have to admit the cable is a lot faster than dialup (and Evelin and I are both doing a fair amount of work (formally and informally) from home, so we need the high-speed connection ...)
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Clap or MORE?
This afternoon, I called Evelin after Celeste and I had a short hike in Greenbelt Park to let her know that I was preparing a bottle for the girl. Evelin asked if I'd seen Celeste clap yet. I hadn't, but I soon would.
Evelin wasn't sure if the clapping, which just started today, was Celeste's attempt to sign MORE or if it was just a fun thing for her to do. For a while now, she's like to watch us clap (either just to praise her or to keep rhythm with a song or for fun or as part of a "Here we go Red Sox!" chant) and about a month or so ago, she started putting her hands over my or Evelin's clapping hands to "force" us to clap, but today she started clapping all on her own.
The question of whether this is language or expression is still out. The first claps I saw where right after I got off the phone with Evelin and signed MILK to Celeste to see if she was hungry. She started clapping. I immediately called Evelin back, and she proffered that the clap might be Celeste's MORE sign and that she'd sign it before she's had anything because she knows more food follows the MORE sign.
The next big round of clapping came when I brought the bottle into her field of vision. And there was more as she pulled away from the bottle while feeding. This was looking like language.
But, later in the afternoon, she was clapping while playing with some of her toys. The clapping didn't seem to fit the MORE context, but I can't read her mind, maybe she was trying to tell the rubber duckie to get back into the cup so she could dump him out again.
There was other random clapping including a clap-fest where she started clapping, I'd clap back and then she'd clap some more. So the jury is still out; probably there are elements of both language and clapping here.
Evelin wasn't sure if the clapping, which just started today, was Celeste's attempt to sign MORE or if it was just a fun thing for her to do. For a while now, she's like to watch us clap (either just to praise her or to keep rhythm with a song or for fun or as part of a "Here we go Red Sox!" chant) and about a month or so ago, she started putting her hands over my or Evelin's clapping hands to "force" us to clap, but today she started clapping all on her own.
The question of whether this is language or expression is still out. The first claps I saw where right after I got off the phone with Evelin and signed MILK to Celeste to see if she was hungry. She started clapping. I immediately called Evelin back, and she proffered that the clap might be Celeste's MORE sign and that she'd sign it before she's had anything because she knows more food follows the MORE sign.
The next big round of clapping came when I brought the bottle into her field of vision. And there was more as she pulled away from the bottle while feeding. This was looking like language.
But, later in the afternoon, she was clapping while playing with some of her toys. The clapping didn't seem to fit the MORE context, but I can't read her mind, maybe she was trying to tell the rubber duckie to get back into the cup so she could dump him out again.
There was other random clapping including a clap-fest where she started clapping, I'd clap back and then she'd clap some more. So the jury is still out; probably there are elements of both language and clapping here.
If I Were a ...
I think blog meme things are supposed to help you when your stuck for something to blog about, but Anita stuck me with this a week ago and I've just been too tied up in 過労死 to do anything about it. So, without further ado ...
If I could be an architect, I'd aim to design buildings with Bauhaus-level functionality but with a more naturalistic flair.
If I could be a librarian, I'd try to steer people toward more challenging fiction and a wide variety of history, science, and other books, instead of the latest summer beach books.
If I could be a gardener, I'd be able to do something about the ogräs that has replaced our lawn ...
If I could be an innkeeper, I'd want to have a comfortable place, not overly fluffy or busy, but warm and inviting with a nice great room with a fire for guests to relax around while enjoying a nice port and some cookies.
If I could be a store owner (my addition to the list), I'd be a green grocer with a neighborhood store that offered a variety of fresh local produce, artisan cheeses, a nice mix of staples and slightly exotic offerings with recipes available to help people figure out how to put it all together.
I'll let Anita be the one who analyzes what all this might say about me.... As for sticking others with the meme, I'll just leave it here for anyone who's interested in responding (just leave me a trackback or something), but I am curious what Enjanerd might have to say.
What follows is a list of different occupations. You must select at least five of them. You may add more if you like to your list before you pass it on (after you select five of the items as it was passed to you).
Of the five you selected, you are to finish each phrase with what you would do as a member of that profession. Then pass it on to three other bloggers.
Here's that list:
- If I could be a scientist...
- If I could be a farmer...
- If I could be a musician...
- If I could be a doctor...
- If I could be a painter...
- If I could be a gardener...
- If I could be a missionary...
- If I could be a chef...
- If I could be an architect...
- If I could be a linguist...
- If I could be a psychologist...
- If I could be a librarian...
- If I could be an athlete...
- If I could be a lawyer...
- If I could be an innkeeper...
- If I could be a professor...
- If I could be a writer...
- If I could be a backup dancer...
- If I could be a llama-rider...
- If I could be a bonnie pirate...
- If I could be a midget stripper...
- If I could be a proctologist...
- If I could be a TV-Chat Show host...
- If I could be an actor...
- If I could be a judge...
- If I could be a Jedi...
- If I could be a mob boss...
- If I could be an Avon Lady...
- If I could be a store owner...
If I could be an architect, I'd aim to design buildings with Bauhaus-level functionality but with a more naturalistic flair.
If I could be a librarian, I'd try to steer people toward more challenging fiction and a wide variety of history, science, and other books, instead of the latest summer beach books.
If I could be a gardener, I'd be able to do something about the ogräs that has replaced our lawn ...
If I could be an innkeeper, I'd want to have a comfortable place, not overly fluffy or busy, but warm and inviting with a nice great room with a fire for guests to relax around while enjoying a nice port and some cookies.
If I could be a store owner (my addition to the list), I'd be a green grocer with a neighborhood store that offered a variety of fresh local produce, artisan cheeses, a nice mix of staples and slightly exotic offerings with recipes available to help people figure out how to put it all together.
I'll let Anita be the one who analyzes what all this might say about me.... As for sticking others with the meme, I'll just leave it here for anyone who's interested in responding (just leave me a trackback or something), but I am curious what Enjanerd might have to say.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)