...this morning, when me & my mom dropped the childrens off at daycare they both took off to play. And very soon, Miss Squeaky was in the lead, followed by Mr. Grunty, followed by another crawler. All of them headed towards the playroom.
Tonight, they clapped when I came home. Miss S pulled on my finger, and I acted like she was pulling me towards her, she laughed (I learned that trick from MyBetterHalf). Mr. G fed me some apples. Later, you know how if you fake laugh with other people, eventually it will turn into real laughter, we did that.
Mr. Grunty got a tooth. It was not a happy experience for him, and he yelled at us for telling him to get one. We told him the next one would be easier.
Mr. G likes to feed his papa. Cheerios. Yesterday at a picnic lunch he fed me little diced soft carrot pieces. He thinks this is funny, but will now sometimes initiate the feeding of me. Or sometimes, when I ask for a bite, he'll smile, slowly pick up a piece of food, tilt his head to the side, and look up at me with his big blue eyes, and then with a grin, eat the food himself.
Miss Squeaky likes to help with the laundry. The other day whilst I was changing her brother's diaper, she was quiet. When I finally finished w/ diaper, I saw that she was standing next to a laundry basket. She was sorting the clothes, carefully considering,...left, right, behind. Sounded by a growing pile of clean clothes on the floor.
The other day, Miss S had a shirt. She shook it, and laid it down. Then she picked it up, and laid it down again, in a different spot. That wasn't right either, so more shaking, and another spot. She was never quiet happy with her "folding" job on that shirt.
It like, finally got warm here. Mr. G doesn't like it, and woke us up to complain, poor little boy. He does like a cool wash cloth on his head. Miss S gets very started by the cool wash cloth.
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer ...so why did I read this? Allegedly this book is all the rage amongst Jr. High girls, so I hear from MyBetterHalf, who has a friend who is a Jr. High School counselor. The girls raved about the book, the counselor deigned to read it, really liked it, recommended it to MBH...and then I read it.
I'll give it a B+
Much better writing than in Stray. It's the typical girl meets vampire, falls in love, in Forks WA, drama ensues. The first bit was slow, either scenery or girl-thoughs of "he's so dreamy, I wonder if he likes me"...but then, around page 120 something interesting happened that got me hooked.
About the origins of vampires, were they created, or evolved. I'm going to say, "created" because the weapons that they have for their prey, are much more than needed. The way I see evolution working, you need just enough to get the job done, a cheetah only has to be as fast as the slowest gazelle. The shark only has be be strong enough to kill the seal. The owl only has to be swift enough to catch the mouse. But vampires, they are stronger and faster than humans. AND, they can charm humans. Better senses than humans. Supernatural powers to regenerate, maybe fly, maybe transform...depends on the mythos you're holding to. So, who created the vampire? Why? What does Anne Rice say? What about Joss Whedon?
One nice thing about the story, the big climatic fight between the good -vs- the "Big Bad", lasts about two sentences. Meyer seems to know that most readers do not care about the particular details of a fight. That if you keep going on and on, pretty soon you sound like Arnold Rimmer, "...then I rolled a six and a four."
Previously I said my favorite line, "It must be a hard thing, to be a father; living in fear that your daughter would meet a boy she liked, but also having to worry if she didn't." pg 227
Another good line, "Every father's dream, that his daughter will be out of the house before the hormones kick in." pg 296
And another, "Making decisions was the painful part for me, the part I agonized over. But once the decision was made, I simply followed through - usually with relief that the choice was made. Sometimes the relief was tainted by despair, ...But it was still better than wrestling with the alternatives." pg 140
spoilers follow:
Questions I have...
Why do vampires hide? Seriously. Even in the old days, just sell your services, to someone you can trust to not burn you death in your day-sleep, and reap humans at night. Take a page from the Dragons book of "What to do with great power".
And back in the old days, don't you think a low level baron would love to have a vampire on his side? And hopefully the baron is smart enuff to realize that if the vampire is slain, then he too will quickly die at the stake, because he's aided the beast.
I think Joss answered this by saying that The Slayer keeps the vampires in check.
Finally, were any of Joss's vampires (or Anne Rice's) smart enough to use a machine gun. Sure, the slayer has got cool moves, cute skirt and Mr. Pointy, but can she dodge lots of bullets?
I like how the Quileutes Indians have made an agreement with the vampires.
And they'll be watching.
I am curious about the society of vampires, that is only alluded to in this book.
Evidently, Bella is OK with never having sex, because it would be too dangerous to have sex with a vampire. (pg 310)
Sure, she makes him happy, but the vampire clan are fools, fools I tell you, to believe that a teenage girl won't accidentally tell their secret.
Several times Edward tells her that she's doomed, that it is difficult to keep her alive....hmm...that's the problem with 1st person stories, I'm pretty sure that if there's a next book, the hero is gonna live. ( JK could've / almost / maybe did kill Harry Potter, nicely done, JK. )
I liked Edward saying, "I'm not always the most dangerous thing in the woods" pg 192. ...things to come...other vampires, were-wolves.
AND FINALLY, am I the only one bothered by the age difference?!? He's more than a hundred years old!
It is strange, the juxtaposition of teenage girl thought, followed by immersed in a secret world.
We've been sharing whilst playing with blocks. It's a good time. I'll give a toddler a block, they'll put it someplace, and then I'll hold out my hand, they retrieve it and give it back to me with a cute smile (Miss Squeaky) or a little chuckle (Mr. Grunty).
MyBetterHalf was making them laugh the other day, she would kiss her fingertips, blow the kiss to the children, and carry the kiss on fingertips in a spiral pattern while getting closer and making "whoosh" noises and the kiss will land on a check. They find this funny.
Tonight, Miss S was fussy, didn't want to be held, didn't want her bottle, didn't want to be put down, didn't want to read a book. Finally, I was smart enuff to let her grab my index fingers and we went walkin' around the house. It was all good.
I really like tickling Mr. G's nose with my goatee. He laughs loudly.
so...I took vacation Thursday, June 12th - Monday....and I am still recovering from its effects. OK, actually I felt mostly recovered around Wednesday, but Mr. Grunty had a nightmare around 3AM Friday, and they've been sick, waking up crying...it's almost like de ja vous all over again with the interruptions of my beauty sleep. Anywho, less about me, more about my vacation.
First of all, round these parts, we had been calling it June-uary, because it has been cold, overcast, drizzling...seriously, we're like having the coldest June in forever. But, I was blessed with great weather for my vacation. Which is important to have, if you have ten people living in one house. The poor kitties, they hid for most of my vacation.
Thursday, me & my mom took the childrens to visit MyBetterHalf (MBH) at her work. The cute overload of my childrens disrupted a lot of productivity. Later, that night, since it was their birthday, our children had their first taste of ice-cream. They were like, "eh, it's alright, but it's no banana (Mr. G) or American cheese (Miss S)."
Friday, me & MBH took turns cleaning, or watching the childrens. And then her family arrived, her sister T and her kids K, D, C, M. Her parents, and her youngest brother. It was nice, having so many folks to watch the childrens, that we could actually take the baby-gates down.
Saturday, started out early, firing up the smoker, and putting the pork shoulder on. I chatted w/ my sis-in-law about the garden I'm attempting. (Hmmm...I still haven't thinned out those radishes.) Then, in preparations for the party, we decided to have an overflowing toilet, MBH & I yelled at each other...whilst I was cleaning that...lets just say there was a cat "issue" I had to deal with also. (But we have a wet vac now!)
Later, we had Mr. Grunty & Miss Squeaky had their first Birthday Party. There was fire, and hot dogs, and hamburgers and a doggie, and gifts, I got everyone to sing the "gimme gimme gimme, gimme my cupcake" song, and they had their first cake with tasty frosting and everyone laughed, and Miss S naturally put it in her hair, and Mr. G put it in his ear.
They got a few gifts. A cute moon pull toy, from a delightful Moonbeam. A super awesome drum set, from a delightful aunt. Their parents got them both cars and dolls - they both prefer playing with the cars. They got a walker / scooter that only took me 3 hours to figure out how to assemble. They got a down-payment on outdoor toys for the yard from my family. And one of the things they liked the most, the tissue wrapping paper - it like, crinkles so very nice with a great sound and a fun feel when you shake it - SHAKE IT!
Father's Day.
YES! I was visited by the Father's Day Fruit Bat! I got a fruit bat, and a NBA dvd, and some shirts for work, and a new neck-tie for formal Friday. Later we went to the park for a picnic, we rode down the slide with the childrens, and MBH and her family went troll hunting, whilst me & my childrens got to walk around in the park. It was awesome. On the walk, I (because they fell asleep) saw a dog in a wheel-chair like contraption. It's owners saw me with twins, and said, "who's got it tougher." I quickly responded, "I'ld say the dog does." Evidently, the doggie has MS, and the wheels by his hind legs and straps around his body, help him be able to still go on walks, so he's happy. Later that night, MBH her brother, sister, mom, dad, and niece K went to go see Blub host an open mic. I stayed with the childrens, and D, C & M. D, C & M, were very well behaved, and were having a great time entertaining the childrens, sometimes they would crowd a toddler too much in their desire to play with them. After Mr. G & Miss S went to bed, we told a collaborative story. What it would be like if we got sent to Narnia, I asked them questions, and had each wait their turn to answer their own particular question. After a bit, C said, "why are we just sitting here talking when we could be outside playing?!?"
Monday we played "Calvin Ball"...whenever something happens, you get to change a rule. The toughest was, "no touching the ball," luckily for me, I saw some sandals, and so could pick up the ball w/o actually me touching it, but we had lots of fun approaching the ball, and pretending to bounce off of a force field around it. The toughest rule for some people was yell out your favorite vegetable when you throw the ball. Then people left, and we started the process of getting things back to normal.
At some point we also got to play CSI:Shoreline, because a dart head was lost somewhere in the lawn, so we on hands and knees looked for it, then we moved a few inches to the right, and looked again, for half an hour. Gee, I hope my childrens are up to date on their tetanus shots in case they step on the dart latter this summer.
I would like to send a special thanks out to my nieces K & M, and nephews D & C, who helped lots. Everyone helped feed the childrens bottles, and they actually fought for the privilege. Here are some things that went on with each of them.
K - going into middle school in the fall...my advice to her, to focus on math, music and foreign language. And she cracked a lot of eggs, and scrambled them. She learned that when making pancakes for lots of people, as soon as the pancakes are done, some one is hungry again, and it took her forever before she got to eat her breakfast.
D - played catch w/ Mr. G, Mr G loved it and would sometimes push the ball back, and sometimes have his arms together and "catch" the ball. D took Mr. G on walks. I scolded him and made him cry, because he was throwing a dart straight up into the air. I could've handled it better, but I think I embarrassed him. D was very patient, and mastered the technique of getting a Hershey miniature skewered and slowly roasted it until just melting...TASTY! His favorite part of the weekend, "the Fremont Troll"
C - helped take out the trash, and the compost, and quickly learned the difference between the two. He learned how to flip pancakes. His favorite part of the weekend, "playing with the babies and the swings"
M - naturally helped again cleaning dishes. She & C took Miss S for a walk, she held one had, C held the other, and Miss S led the way. Helped make pancakes. Her favorite part of the weekend, "Slide, swings."
I liked it.
The only weak part for me, was in lab class, the arguing couple having a fight in front of Juno & Bleeker. That was dumb. The rest of it I think was pretty good.
( It has been pointed out, that for all of Juno's love of Iggy Pop sure doesn't show in her singing with Bleeker, or in the movie soundtrack.)
grade B
So, what would I do if Miss Squeaky was preggers, or Mr. Grunty got someone preggers in High School?
It's our 4th annual Oliver-versary!
He & I still play chase the toy games. He still keeps the foot of the bed warm on MyBetterHalf's side. He is growing in patience, especially tonight when Miss Squeaky kept grabbing his foot.
I love you Oliver!
Thanks for choosing to live with us!
Miss Squeaky was happy to share her Cheerios with me. Mr. Grunty shared a single Cheerio with me. They were entertained when I played guitar for them.
Mr. G and I played a sharing game. I had a pink block, gave it to him, I held out my hand, he would give it back & smile, I would say, "thank you" and give him a kiss, then hold out the block and ask if he would like it, he would giggle and take the block.
Miss S is starting with the separation anxiety. She was crying when her Mommy left this morning. She cried when I let go of her hands, so that Mr. G could have a chance walking around the house with Papa. She screamed when Mr. G stole the drum head from her. She did have a big smile and big hug for Sohad, our daycare provider.
I played "run, bounce, climb, jump attack!!" with Mr. Oliver kitty.
Not much time for Miss Sophie kitty this morning - though tonight she was a lap kitty for me whilst I read about DnD 4th edition.
Instead of going to work, I went and laid back in a big comfy chair and listened to Sleater-Kinney for three hours whilst well trained professionals worked above me for my benefit. I asked one of them, why she went into her career.
"Because I can talk, and you have to listen. No, seriously, I always knew I wanted to go into medicine - being Indian it is always medicine or engineering...or taxi driver. But I wanted to work with my hands, to be able to solve a problem, and not just prescribe pills and see you again in a month."
They redid three of my fillings, and gave me a temporary crown.
Dear Mr. Grunty and Miss Squeaky,
thank you very very much for being mine.
I love you more and more each day!
Regarding the use of the pacifier.
Well, Miss Squeaky will take one. And use it. And suck contently on it. Mr. Grunty, will take one, and spit it out after a minute, "what's the point," he says, "there's no milk in there." Funny though how Miss S is quickly done with her bottles, but happy to have a pacifier. And pacifier it is. We use it at nap time, because she never wants to nap, "I'm not tired," she will cry out, while rubbing her eyes. And we taken to using one when she is fussy for not getting her way. Either that or give in to her wishes. I am already so wrapped around her finger, I can't imagine what it will be like later.
Banana: Mr. G loves them. Is happy when he sees me get one and bring it to the high chairs, quickly gobbles it out of my fingers, and then yells at me when he wants another bite.
Cheerios: Miss S likes to play the "feed papa a Cheerio" game. It started the other day, when I put my chin on the high chair tray and opened my mouth. She grinned and put a cheerio in my mouth. I made "yum yum" noises, and she picked up another bit of cereal. I opened my mouth. "Silly papa, it's my turn," and she ate that cheerio with a grin. I did get the next one, though.
Trucking: the other day, Mr. G & I were playing with a little toy truck. I would push it towards him, and he would then push it. Sometimes it went back towards, other times away from us both.
Tonight, I got home late. But was greeted by two wonderful smiling childrens. It had been a double-plus-un-good day, which started poorly by me trying my darnedest to be on time to work, but still forgetting the childrens' bottles, so I had to go back home to get them, thus erasing my on-time opportunity! And the work day ended with my boss witnessing me kicking & swearing at the fax machine. ( SERIOUSLY! Why do people use the fax? Is there a reason? It seems like archaic technology. Please, someone tell me if there is a good reason for it. )
Miss S was using a chair as support, and pushing it all around the dining room whilst walking.
Mr. G read me a story.
Miss S wanted to share a book with me, but me, being a horrible parent, ignored her because I was playing ball with Mr. G. Am I sexist, not wanting to read with my daughter, because I was busy playing ball with my son?
Miss S has started learning to share, which usually is her offering something, you taking it, and then she wants it back in a moment. Sometimes, if you hold your hand out, she share. But, I've noticed that if she wants Mr. G to have something, she'll give it to him herself, thank you very much. She does not appreciate you giving something to Mr. G that she gave to you.
Tonight, Mr. G was kissing the glass on the back door, presumably using tongue because they're "French" doors.
I experimented again with the smoker. Still the pork wasn't tender enough for someone without teeth to eat it. The pork shoulder was in there about 8 hours, there was a nice smoke ring, I put a salt-lemonpepper-garlic-otherstuff dry rub the day before. I think I let the water dry out too often, or added too much fuel so that it was too hot.
We had Tiki-Lodge visitors this weekend. And Blub told Mr. G a story that was HI-larious.
book quote:"It must be a hard thing, to be a father; living in fear that your daughter would meet a boy she liked, but also having to worry if she didn't." Twilight Stephenie Meyer
...I really don't understand the ways of business...but I have no sympathy for Sonics' owner Clay Bennett, who claims he will lose $60 million if the Sonics play out the remainder of their two year lease in Seattle.
He didn't know that the Sonics lost $23 million in 2004 and $29 million in 2005? If not he didn't do his homework.
I have even less sympathy for the idiotic community leaders that were "shocked" when it was revealed Bennett wanted to move the team Oklahoma. And we elect these folks to fix grid-lock?
I don't know about things in Oklahoma, but my momma told me that a contract (such as a lease for Key Arena for the next two years), should be honored and kept.
How about this for a compromise? Bennett's group honors the lease for the next two years, and the Sonics move to Oklahoma. Then, on the "home" game nights for the sonics for the next two seasons, Key Area will be open for the Sonics, but empty of fans. Which really isn't much different than things now.
Or the city of Seattle can accept $50 million, and settle the lawsuit. I'm sure we could then use that money for another 100 yards of light-rail service.
This time around, I gotta admit, I really haven't done much research on the candidates. But my friends at Cato, say that's rational.
The size of modern government is often so great that it is impossible for voters--even the most knowledgeable among them--to be adequately informed about its operations
There's a 28 page document supporting the above...but I don't think it's a rational use of my time to read it.
What are some of the issues that are important to me, that I don't think any of the big three have spoken about.
Protection of intellectual property, domestically & internationally.
Ending the "War on Drugs".
Giving more power/responsibility/freedom to the states.
It would be a lot simpler if there was one issue what was paramount to me, and I could base all of my voting on the candidate that aligned best on that one issue.
Public service announcement from GBAtT:
Evidently, a child can drown, hours after they were in the pool.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24982210/>1=43001
The childrens heart the walkin'. So if you see me or MyBetterHalf, all scrunched over, hunched-back and sore. Ya know why.
The childrens love to walk, with a parent behind them, and them holding onto our index fingers. Miss Squeaky can even sometimes walk only holding onto one hand, but that's slower, and she doesn't like to go slow. Mr. Grunty will let out a loud "Ha-Ha!" when he encounters his sister on a walk.
Miss Squeaky asked tonight, "why aren't you super excited all the time when you walk? Because walking is super fun, and you can do it all the time." Good question, Miss S, good question. I suspect, that sometimes adults forget all the fun and joy that can be had in just doing the simple things. But because of you, I have remembered the fun in making "bzzzz" noises at work. And because of Mr. Grunty, I now totally enjoy yelling into a sofa cushion.
And for a kitty update.
Yes, we still heart them LOTS.
It seems every morning, around 7:30, Miss Sophie-kitty needs to be picked up and snuggled.
I try to play with Mr. Oliver-kitty every morning. He does have lots of energy, ya know, and will take it out on poor Sophie if we don't play with him. Luckily, he really likes to chase these plastic toy chain links that the childrens have. So, if he hides it, and they find it, I'm not worried they'll swallow it, because it's built for babies.
sometimes, ya gotta let the Led out. I haven't listened to that song in years, and it still is cool by me.
Anywho...
This morning, the childrens were fighting over a hair brush. Miss Squeaky was being fussy, I watched with a bit of amusement, then Mr. Grunty saw me, so he started being fussy. Later, they fought over blocks. And by "fight", I mean, one would have the object, and the other would lean over and try to take the object. Usually, one of them figures out it's safest to transfer the object to the hand that is further away from their sibling.
Also this morning, it was very cute. Miss S was sitting and looking at a book, slowly turning the pages. Mr. G was at the music table, and would use the back of his fingers to push the yellow lever away from him, then use his finger tips to pull the yellow lever towards him.
My poor little nephew J, the son of a preacher man.
First, he broke his ankle last week.
Today, he had a long seizure (an hour), and they took him to the hospital, there they had to intubate and sedate the boy, and tonight they are moving him by ambulance to a bigger hospital in Syracuse.
Recently, I just finish D.W. Pfaff's "The Neuroscience of Fair Play: Why we (usually) follow the Golden Rule".
The book says that our sense of morality comes from our genetics.
The four steps of Pfaff's theory on our moral behavior (pg 62)
1st - contemplate act towards other
2nd - envision target
3rd - blur difference between self & other
4th - lose mental/emotional difference between self and target
So, by losing a piece of information in our minds, (that we are different than the target) we then treat them how we want to be treated. I'm still not sure how this is going to be tested.
"It is tempting to imagine that primitive man's reasons to chill out were usually obvious and straightforward, but that, in evolving, we created innumerable scenarios that cast ambiguity on whether to agress and obliged us to stop and think." (pg 142) Hmmm...I'm not sure if evolution works like that. There had to be a distinct advantage for the "chill-out / stop and think" gene to come out to a single generation. If you have two choices, between suffer now and ten generations hence prosper, or live the good life now - evolution will dictate that you live the good life now. Evolution isn't for the benefit of our grandchildren, it's for passing on as many fertile offspring to the next generation.
It seemed to me, whilst reading, that there were a lot of inductive leaps. They will point to a study of the effects of one hormone on mice...and imply like-wise in humans. Now, I am reminded, that Sir Isaac Newton was able to take a few studies, and some math...and come up with gravity.
There was a lot of endocrinology in this book. So I didn't really follow it.
There were examples on the interaction between genes and the environment.
He points to a "thrill seeking" gene (pg 171) which reminded me of a part from "Next" .
(Which might be my issue with Crichton, I kept wondering what were the fiction parts, what parts were real.) "A particular genetic variation that tends to leave lots of serotonin in the synaptic cleft seems to contribute to thrill-seeking."
If we are wired for the Golden Rule...then what about war? Pfaff points out that humans show a lot of loyalty to their group, and so, the non-group would be defined as other, and thus not mistaken as self. (pg 148)
As for individuals that break the Golden Rule...chemical imbalances.
Pfaff believes we are wired for the Golden Rule. Things that we are wired for, talking, sucking, walking, smiling. Usually, no one has to teach a baby how to suck...and they naturally smile, ...they want to talk and practice it before they know how. But I'm sure that all parents would say that they needed to teach their children "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." That says to me, that we aren't wired with the Golden Rule, but we have to be taught it. Much like we are taught how to drive a car.
Sorry, Dr. Pfaff...I just didn't follow your reasoning.
glad I read it, but Grade C
things that need to be done
(pg 90) cross-fostering experiments, where one strain of mice is raised by another, to see if good maternal behavior is learned from the mother, or is genetically driven. I am surprised no one has done this.
(pg 174) "Although Caspi's study still needs to be followed up and replicated..." Hey, who does that? Who's in charge of replicating the results of all the studies in all the journals? BTW, Caspi says in Science , that there are two types of serotonin transporter genes, and those with the shorter version seem to be predisposed to depression.
Suggestions to reduce youth violence (pg 155)
1 - reduce extreme socioeconomic disparities and their effects
2 - encourage smaller school sizes
3 - promote rituals that offer youth positive vision of their adult roles
4 - redue the consequences of impulsive aggressive behavior
See also, Pfaff's Brain Arousal & Information Theory .
And pro'lly I should read some Chomsky, on how we are wired for language.
So, I noticed every time I mow a back park of my lawn, a bird flies away. Well, yesterday, I carefully looked. There's a little bird's nest, with three tiny eggs.
A friend visited, to be a guinea pig for me attempting to cook pork in the smoker.
Miss Squeaky is very shy around strangers.
Mr Grunty likes to stare. And then later, show off by talking with an outside-voice.
This morning, trying to get Mr. G to take a nap, I lay next to him on the futon. He wasn't tired. He squirmed around, and got himself pretty far under the covers. I pulled him back up to day light, and he saw my belly. He was very fascinated and amused by my furry belly. Would hesitantly touch it and then laugh. I told him he would someday likely have a furry belly. He didn't believe me.
Yesterday, Miss S had two pacifiers. One in her mouth, and was holding onto the other one. Mr. G wanted it, and took it. They spent a minute stealing it back and forth. Then Mr. G decided the best way, was to let Miss S have the pacifier in his hand, and take the one from her mouth. She was cool with that compromise.
We went to an ABC BBQ tonight, and had lots of fun. Mr. G had loud stories to tell. Miss S borrowed some books to read. We hung out and used a hammock as a swing. The doggies kept the childrens faces and hands clean of food.