Magic Cookie: Pitch Perfect

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Saturday, 26 November 2011

Baby on the move

Posted on 18:05 by Unknown
Remember that baby who never bothered to roll over and was content to sit in one place for ten minutes at a time? That baby has been replaced. The new version yells "RAAAAAA!" which is my signal to come over and hold his hands, enabling him to toddle over to his destination. He generally makes a beeline for the next toy. If we don't get there fast enough, he lets out a mighty roar of protest. X is not that steady on his feet yet -- although he did stand for a few seconds unsupported today -- but it doesn't stop him. Unlike K, who  seemed surprised and a little tentative with his first attempts at walking, X motors ahead, his lower lip jutting out and his eyes on the prize.

He army-crawls too, but this is clearly not his preferred mode of mobility. He will only do it with a specific purpose that cannot be met as quickly by walking. We were at my parents' house over the weekend (also present: my in-laws, who promised to come every year; JW's grandmother, whose presence was a welcome surprise since she's increasingly housebound; my aunt and cousin; a friend of the family who we haven't seen in a long time, and who my mom once upon a time tried to "introduce" me to; my sister-in-law's parents; family friends who come every year, and are like family; and of course my parents, brother, sister-in-law and niece). Whenever the big kids were playing with a toy together, X would crawl over as fast as his little arms would pull him. The big kids would move away, annoyed, and he would pursue them.

We've been procrastinating, but it's time to babyproof.


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Monday, 21 November 2011

Inner grammar nerd versus the SEC

Posted on 18:36 by Unknown
Filing a Form D online. The form is asking me for "Issuer's Identified in the Filing."

REALLY, SEC?
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Monday, 14 November 2011

Good to be a woman

Posted on 09:59 by Unknown
Sometimes I tell K, "You're lucky you're a boy."

For instance, I have told him this in response to:
"How did you get the baby out?"
"Did you just stick something in your underwear?"
"You're joking, right? You're NOT JOKING? You PAID someone to RIP HOT WAX OFF YOUR FACE? WHY???"

Yesterday my brother told me about a lecture he was planning for his medical residents. He's going to open with a long example about urinals and the various heuristics for choosing the right one. I've never given urinals much thought, not having to use them. But today, when I walked into a bathroom stall at work, I thought, Women don't have hangups about choosing the right stall. And then I thought, But if I had to be right next to somebody, and we could see each other pee, then I'd care a lot more. So, I may pay someone to rip hot wax off my face, but least I don't have to see anybody (aside from my offspring) pee.
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Sunday, 13 November 2011

Bowling party

Posted on 12:22 by Unknown
Yesterday, K and I headed over to Lanes and Games to attend one of the three Stars Wars bowling parties simultaneously happening there.  I only recently discovered the joys of candlepin bowling, which, if you're not a New Englander, involves cylindrical pins and a small, light ball. Perfect for little hands and people with chronic wrist problems.

We're all familiar with little-kid soccer. A swarm of kids chase the ball, all trying to kick it at once, and occasionally tripping over each other and falling down. (Except my kid. He's the one malingering at the other end of the field, inspecting an ant.) As it turns out, little-kid bowling is similar. At any given time, there were at least three children hovering over the ball return. When a ball came out, a kid, any kid, grabbed it and immediately ran over to the lane and heaved it in the general direction of the pins. After five seconds of monitoring the ball's slow progress down the lane, they would run back to the ball return. About one in ten balls bounced off the metal bar that was clearing the pins and returned to the children, often hitting some of the other balls on its way. It was more like large-scale billiards than anything you would think of as bowling. The kids did manage to rack up some impressive scores. Ten pins are no match for twenty balls.

After a few frames, if you could call it that, K announced, "I'm done with Lanes. I'm ready for Games!" He grabbed my hand and we ran to the arcade room. We played an unsuccessful game of pinball, with each of us controlling a flipper. Then I introduced K to air hockey. I tried to let him win, but he wouldn't cooperate. He didn't care, though. He laughed with glee every time he hit the puck. After our game, he played one of his friends. While the friend's dad was watching them and nudging the puck when it got stuck in the middle, I snuck off to play pinball by myself.

IT WAS THE LONGEST AND MOST AWESOME GAME OF PINBALL EVER. Lights were flashing! Multiple balls were shooting out and ricocheting around! I even triggered a mini-pinball game a few times. PINBALL WITHIN PINBALL. I got so into it that I ended up neglecting K for nearly ten minutes after the boys went back to the Lanes. I can't remember the last time I've had that much fun. And I realized, how sad is that? There are many things in my life that I enjoy and that make me happy. But I honestly can't remember when I last had fun, extended, laughing, excited fun. The kind of fun K was having while playing air hockey. I have fun moments with K, but they're quickly ruined when he either demands something or wants to reenact the moment fifty times.* (Today we had the following conversation: "Say that and then tickle me again. Why aren't you laughing?" "Because it's not funny anymore." "Why?" "Because after a while, when you do them over and over, things stop being funny." "Why?")

 Another thing that happened yesterday: Around 6:30, I was giving X a bath. I called JW in and said, "Can you take over? I feel like I'm going to pass out." I proceeded to do just that. I thought I was just lying down for a minute until I felt better, but at 9:30 I woke up just long enough to take off my jeans (pockets still full of tokens, as I discovered when I did laundry today) and didn't wake up again until a quarter to six the next morning. I thought I'd be refreshed, but I just felt worse. Late nights working, early mornings with the kids, a perpetually sick baby who has passed on his colds -- I've only been back to work for two months and I already need a vacation.

* Edited later to add: On further thought, it's not at all fair to say K ruins every fun moment we have, or to say that I never have fun at all. I've been missing out on a specific type of fun, the playing air hockey, riding a roller coaster, WHEE! kind of fun. So maybe I'll just go back and use all those tokens that I fished out of the dryer.
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Monday, 7 November 2011

Please sir, may I have another

Posted on 20:16 by Unknown
I just got a call from a partner saying that I need to make some final edits to a document when the partner is done looking at it, in about an hour.

X was sent home sick today. We're taking him to the doctor tomorrow morning. He has not been healthy in about two months. Which, probably not coincidentally, is about the length of time I've been working since my maternity leave.

I woke up with a raw throat yesterday and today. Even after stopping nursing, I just don't have the physical stamina I used to. With a baby at home, even with JW taking care of a lot of the childcare duties, I find it much harder to stay up all night working and still be able to concentrate the next day than in my pre-baby days. I get almost no work done over the weekend since I'm running after the kids and doing the chores that didn't get done during the week.

I wish I had a job that did not require constant availability, and did not come with the expectation that I would work nights and weekends. I wish I could come home and just be home. Does a job like that exist, that also pays enough that we can afford daycare? I've been applying for the odd in-house job here and there, but I don't think I have the experience yet.

I know there are worse problems to have. Still, I need to start developing an exit strategy.
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Friday, 4 November 2011

X at 8 months, and Halloween

Posted on 09:10 by Unknown
X has a new cold, but this is a normal baby cold and not the wheezing RSV thing, so we can deal with it. I am feeling much more human these days now that I'm officially done with nursing (the last time was about 6 days ago) AND X is sleeping through the night most of the time. Hooray for getting older! X is also making his first crawling preparations, getting almost-but-not-quite up on all fours, and transitioning between that position and sitting. And he has taught himself how to clap.

K has been candy-obsessed all week. "Can you guess what my favorite is?" he said. "It starts with an S." I know he likes fruity, chewy things. "Skittles?" I guessed. "Starburst? SweetTarts?" No, no, no. "Snickers?" No. Finally I thought back to trick-or-treating and remembered what he was most excited about. "SpongeBob Gummy Mini-Sandwiches!" "That's right!"

I rushed home and made it for about half of the trick-or-treating. I was so excited to see X in his tiger costume, the same one K wore when he was a baby. K and his friend from next door laughed and ran in front of us, racing to each door, while we trailed behind, calling, "Not that house, the lights are off! Don't forget to say thank you!"

K has let me eat one piece of his candy each day. Lucky for me he doesn't like peanut butter.


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