It’s late and I’m prowling. Wayne is wisely sleeping given Sara’s desire to arise at 6am. She loves to come into our bed and watch Elmo in the morning. I was talking with another parent who noted that when he’s all alone, he hums the Elmo intro song. I do the same thing. The unfortunate side effect is that we often feel tired from this early awakening. Today, we took a 2 hr nap along with Sara to make up for a late evening with our friends, Jon and Claire. Saturday nights are joyfully either spent in their company or on an occasional date.
We’ve been working our way through the new Battlestar Galactica series from SciFi channel. It’s a fun space opera. It’s much more violent that the original which had a softer, 70′s feel. This one has a sense of desperation (probably more realistic given that the human race is one step from destruction).
One night we enjoyed Saved, a movie about hypocrisy in a Christian high school. I became a Christian at 15 yo through a local youth group. Some of the younger girls in our group formed a clique that was nicknamed the God Squad. This made fun of that concept is a fun, biting way. The morals at the end seems a little flat, i.e. Jesus is really ok with a little sin as long as the celebration of diversity is the highest moral. It was interesting to compare it to Bruce Almight, another movie I really enjoyed (critics didn’t like the 2nd half, too preachy, but I thought it was fun). That preached for self sufficiency and distancing from God. Seems a little cold. It’s interesting to see how Christianity and culture connect.
It wouldn’t be Jon and Claire without food, wine, and good conversation. We haven’t played Mexican train for awhile (no fun without Shirley). One night we cooked eggplant curry with pita chips and hummus. J&C brought lemon cornmeal icebox cookies with gourmet lavender ice cream. We had that desert twice. Delicious! One night we tried fresh baked chocolate chip cookies sandwiched with soy vanilla. Last night, Wayne made a fire, so we had smores.
Some other highlights:
-Wed night date to see the movie Robots (not very good), enjoyed Pho Thanh in downtown Ballard (great cream puffs)
-I tried Zagis, a neighborhood joint with nice NY style ‘za, and will return.
-Got to visit with Sara and Indy & my neighbor Cynthia on Thur (sampled Besalu Cafe again).
-hosted a Bethany Parish Open House with about 20 people on Sat. Met a hiker in my neighborhood. It’s fun to be a part of this community.
-Had Dim Sum with old friend from residency, Doug, Hanna, and his new daughter Freya! Got to see Garrett and Dave and Eleanor. Mostly I got to eat good food with 12 other people at New Kowloon (biggest bonus was parking in Chinatown). Sara even tried a shrimp ball, but not a sesame ball with red bean curd.
-Finished Lawrence of Arabia after 3 nights of effort. Enjoyable. Nice cinematography. Ending a little odd.
I mostly wanted to write this to document my daughters life. It’ll have to be highlights as it grows late.
-Still walking like a champ. She’s certainly exploring her independence, but not as much as I was warned. She doesn’t really run from me yet, though she is getting her own opinion more.
-I’m working on teaching her to look for cars when we cross the street (I realize this is a work in progress) and hold my hand when I ask (we have ‘discussions’ about this one).
-She got new shoes! She actually likes them now. When I bought them, she cried for 30 min constantly in the store while we tried them on. She’s also into ‘putting on’ her own shoes and socks (even though she can’t quite do it; she often asks for help.
-She’s still not very interested in talking. Wayne heard her say ‘doggie’, but that has not been repeated. I guess it will flow when she desires it.
-Her comprehension is amazing. We have one sided conversations. She points to animals in books. She makes the sign for elephant, cat, monkey, dog, and added a sign for rabbit. She easily follows 1-2 step commands. She enjoys helping me do things-put caps on bottles, throw away garbage, etc. ‘Dirt’ and ‘dirty’ are still favorite words after ‘Dahdee’.
-When we read the book ’5 Little Monkey’s Jumping On the Bed’ she’ll hold her finger up vertically and wave it in admonishment when each subsequent monkey receives a head injury. She’s copying me. Very cute!
-She seems very serious at times. She has the habit of walking with both her hands behind her back like a drill sergeant inspecting troops. Yet when she’s sleepy, I can get her to peal out in laughter.
-Luckily for me, she’s ticklish. I give zyberts out liberally. She’s started pushing my face away with her hands. I’ll ask if she wants to be tickled and she’ll foolishly laugh “Yesh!”. I say, “I won’t do it till you put your hands above your head.” Inevitably she does, and I tickle. It’s very cute also.