Let the Clumsiness Begin

My foot-eye coordination is starting to diminish. I fell today at work. While walking. Twisted ankle and foot and bruised skinned knee, with a healthy dose of embarrassment to go with. D2 seems fine, well padded in his/her home. So now I'm home icing my foot and knee. At least I wasn't supposed to be doing procedures today.

This American Crisis (cont'd)

Following their overview shows on the bad economic news, This American Life gives you more. This week's show has cheery stories about shady condo developers and closing down a Circuit City, and a fascinating behind-the-scenes look as the FDIC takes over a failed bank (accountancy special ops).

I used to listen to This American Life every week. I've heard bits or more of half-a-dozen shows in the past couple months, and I remember why I liked it so much.

Grapefruit

1. "Grapefruit" - what an odd name for a fruit that is clearly not a grape. Apparently it's not just puzzling to me. See Wordcraft, about halfway down the page.

2. Kerry got some fantastic grapefruit last weekend. No sugar needed, they really are great fruit.

Word Explosion

Owen is getting more and more interested in talking.

Some of his favorite phrases:
- mommy go work
- daddy go work
- mommy go peepee
- let go
- put it
- get down!, which he uses with the cats
- nursery rhyme, which is his favorite book right now (more on this later)

He's branched into multisyllable words, with popular ones including
- temperature
- helicopter
- screwdriver

I had no idea how much little kids liked nursery rhymes. Owen LOVES them and we read from his nursery rhyme book every night before bed. I now dream about Peter Piper and his Pickled Peppers. Owen likes to talk about
- humpty dumpty wall, which he likes because it's a game from swim class that lets him jump into the pool. Unfortunately for our nanny, he's tried moving this game to the couch and flinging himself at her which is 1. dangerous and 2. painful for the recipient of the jumping.
- baa baa black sheep, which then becomes unintelligible after the first line but is one of his favorits
- peter piper
- twinkle star, also a favorite

He also sings his own version of the ABCs, which includes some letters in the proper order and gibberish at the end. He also counts in the same way, 1,2,3....8,9....14,15, etc. Surprisingly fun to listen to, although maybe it's because he's my kid.

24 hours after

Guess what happens 24 hours after the 'World's Largest Toddler Breakfast'? That's right. We woke to our very own superfund site in O's room. Phew. At least the diaper stayed on. And he does love the oddly timed baths.

This American Crisis

This American Life and NPR News produced a series of three programs on the financial crisis, aired on 9 May 08, 3 Oct 08 and 27 Feb 08. Though the programs aren't up-to-the-minute at this point, it's a big story, so it doesn't hurt to look back and remember how this started and where we've been. I was a little disappointed that they didn't connect the dots between the big increase in overall indebtedness at the end of the third show and the "giant pool of money" in the first, but overall it's a good couple hours of radio.

For thems what want a much more detailed discussion of what "bank insolvency" constitutes, see Bronte Capital. (Hat tip to Angus) (The "Geithner Plan" in that post is the one from a month and a half ago, that everyone panned for lacking detail, not the one announced yesterday.)

Crafty

Owen is getting crafty. Or maybe trying out his had at manipulation? He likes to play with things in the refrigerator. If we close the door and he's not done, he'll then put his finger in the space between the refrigerator and freezer door and pretend like it's stuck. This fooled mom and dad exactly one time, but the lack of tears was a tipoff that the finger wasn't actually smashed. Crafty.

Big Eater

Breakfast for Owen today:
1. one pancake
2. one biscuit
3. one egg
4. one piece of bacon
5. one banana
8. a few pieces of grapefruit
9. 8 oz of milk
He's like the very hungry caterpillar

How many hotpockets can one woman eat?

Hopefully 16 or so, since I accidentally bought that many. We had some in the freezer that I'd forgotten about. And then I bought more yesterday when I went to the store to get diaper cream.
What else did I buy? Hot fudge, cottage cheese, frozen hotwings, Le Petite Ecolier chocolate cookies. And an US Weekly. And a Life&Style.
When I'm not pregnant, I never eat HotPockets. Hopefully I've gained some weight.

Owen's favorite website and computer game

Facebook.


No, just kidding. I logged in for the first time in months and just can't get into it. I look at photos of my friend's baby and read a few comments, then end up doing something else. Maybe I'm old and not cool enough. Or maybe I'm too busy.

Anyway, Owen's favorite website is www.sesamestreet.org. It's the official Street website and they have every sesame street short every made on it, in a searchable fashion. Want to see Andrea Bocelli sing Elmo to sleep? Check the site. How about Robert DeNiro discussing acting with Elmo? It's there. Want to get Owen to brush is teeth? Have him watch Elmo do it and toothbrushing goes much smoother.

Owen's favorite computer game is called 'Baby Smash'. Travis found it on Lifehacker. It turns the keyboard and screen into toddler fun. Any key O bangs on makes a shape on the screen and announces the shape, ie 'red circle'. Fortunately, it's only installed on one computer, otherwise I'd never get to use my computer.

The Count

Owen is getting more interested in numbers. We count going up and down the stairs (one number for each step). The best way to get him to lay still for a diaper change is to count to 20, which will cause him to stop contorting like an escape artist and hold still and listen. He now repeats certain parts of the number sequence and does some of it himself. I say '1', he says '2', I say '3'...... then he'll randomly pick up with '8' and '9'. Sometimes he'll pipe back up for '14' and a few other bigger numbers.

At this point, it seems to be mainly pattern repetition, more than an actual grasp of numbers (although he does understand '2'). Hopefully he won't get OCD in the future from all the counting practice....

And they shall know her by her hand-washing

Owen was on the changing table with Carla when Kerry got home last night. His bedroom door was closed, so he couldn't see Mom. Nonetheless, he said, "Mommy."

Carla asked, "How do you know it's Mommy? It could be Daddy."

Replied Owen, "Washing."

Eager to keep cooties off the boy, Kerry always washes her hands when she gets home from the hospital. Owen heard her washing her hands and knew exactly who it was.

So there, yet another benefit to being a germaphobe.

(And I can't wait for the converse moment, when I come home. "How do you know it's Daddy?" "Stinky.")

Friday Laffs (even the calendar can't stop them)

"80s New Wave music was the best!" Tom said adamantly.

Friday Laffs (cont'd)

"I will get these grass stains out!" Tom shouted.

The Waffle Moment

Owen is starting to cross over from the mild-mannered early toddler stage to the 'i'm almost 2, hear me roar' stage. Yesterday he had what Carlie and Scott (my sister-in-law and brother) call 'The Waffle Moment'.

The Waffle Moment occurs when a seemingly normal cute little toddler suddenly just loses it, goes ballistic, crying hysterically (typically with dry eyes), and goes all red in the face over seemingly trivial slight. In my niece Lili's case, it was a torn waffle that sent her over the edge.

In Owen's case, it was a screwdriver (the tool, not the drink). He was playing with a screwdriver, pretending to fix his kitchen set, which he really enjoys. This had been going on for awhile and it was time to have dinner. Since it's time to stop playing, the screwdriver goes back in the kitchen drawer. And then it happens. Suddenly, Owen is pacing around the kitchen, wailing, red-faced, going from Travis to I and then to the living room, having his Waffle Moment. This lasted a few minutes and we let him do his thing, and then got him redirected. It wasn't nearly as easy to refocus his interest as it was, say... 2 days ago.

Huh. Welcome to almost 2 I guess.

Friday Laffs

Things took a turn for the better last night when I thought up a Tom Swifty: "You're the sorriest excuse for a massive, semi-aquatic ungulate I've ever seen," Tom said hypocritically.

Don't read the news

On a tangent to an email at work, I read this: "LaHood dismisses gas tax increase - The US Secretary of Transportation said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that a 10 cent increase in the gasoline tax is ‘not going to fly anywhere in America’ due to the recession. ..."

But the administration's cap-and-trade system, that will raise the price of carbon-emitting stuff - like, oh, say, gasoline - that's just the ticket.

Look, I love me a good Pigovian tax, and I've got nothing against a cap-and-trade system. But the unwillingness to acknowledge that cap-and-trade will be equivalent to a carbon tax drives me to distraction. Do the politicians really not understand it? Do they really think that citizens can't understand it? Or worse, _can't_ citizens understand it?

And worst of all, how can this kind of thing still bother me? Nihil novum sub sole. It must be late.

Colorado on the Chesapeake

Last night I made a quick trip for groceries and was strangely reminded of ski trips with Dad during high school. March, single-digit temperature, fresh snow, cloudless night, and it seemed like Colorado. Go figure.