Cold Spaghetti

H/T: The Curvature

Kate fell… actually, more than once… tonight. The first time, she took out her cheek. (See the big bruise on her right cheek?) I wanted to document the Big Fat Bad Bruise, the camera came out, and Kate gave me her signature move: CHEESE!

She’s not wet from tears (although there were some) — she’s wet from the ice pack we put on her cheek… she ripped open the bag and ate the melting ice. And asked for “More Ice, Please” for the rest of the night.

It seems everyone around me is pregnant! I’ve actually been dreaming of pregnancy lately… it’s got me a little on edge. Some of my friends’ unborn babies have been part of my dreams, too… which has led to some predictions on my part. Annoying, I know, but I’m putting it out there in the hopes it will all get out of my system and I can go back to more indulgent dreams. And just ’cause I’m curious about how these predictions will end up.

EO: It’s a girl.*
KY: We know it’s a boy. But I bought that panda outfit the week after we saw you, with your baby in mind, because I thought it was a boy. I was terrified to admit it to you!
LM: I’ve already told you. Boy.
RM: Truthfully, I’ve thought this one out both ways, but I want for you to have a boy, so I’m going with boy.
HF: We know it’s a girl and she’s due in what… 3 days? I think she’ll be 6.5 pounds.
CR: Girl.*

In other news: anyone have suggestions for a good urologist?

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* I think these two will be the same sex, so if I’m wrong, I think I’ll be wrong for both.

I just read Schroeder’s interesting post about climate change (well, really, it’s about an endorsement, but there is a lot of good stuff in there with it). He excellently shows cool graphs about spring onset and other global climate-related data. What I found interesting was the reference to China, specifically, that “China [is] on a course to match the entire world’s carbon output by 2050” and another, in a graph, related to China’s need for coal, which is suppose to match that of the remaining world totaled by 2030.

In Reproductive Health and Population Studies (all areas of focus for us Global Health folk) we talk about China quite a bit. One of the issues that is raised involves the great global hand-smacking we laid on China for it’s “One Child Policy,” where Chinese families’ reproductive rights are limited by law: couples register for permission to have a child and pay steep fines if they have more than the allocated One Child. Interestingly, I’ve not met many from China who have had much of a problem with this policy… that they are willing to share, at least. While I am not advocating a limit on anyone’s reproductive rights, ever, there is an undercurrent of a whisper among the demographer and population studies circles of the world that is sort of like the elephant in the room whenever China is discussed. It goes something like this: “we can’t support the policy, but thank goodness they did it…because imagine what we would be facing if they didn’t.“

In the face of all the current discussion on global warming, and the continued discussion that should rightfully occur, China is a particularly interesting subject.

I’m researching thermostatic valves and fixtures for the bathroom (we’ve got to be able to get them cheaper than the crack-smoking local supplier!) and I decided to put the ‘tube on actual live TV on the background, something we do only when staying in hotels. The guide showed that South Pacific was on, and while it’s not my most favorite musical, (I prefer the actors from the original stage recording) it does have some of the finest music of any musical, so I put it on.

But what is this??? It’s a television re-make with Harry Connick, Jr. (as Joe… sort of believable, but yet unbelievable that they managed to make a man so naturally pretty look so damn awful on screen) and Glenn Close. As Nellie. Seriously, Glenn Close! It’s not the age that bothers me… it’s that she’s not acting her age. She’s dumbed the part down as if she’s “acting” young and it comes across as totally stupid. Just change a few words and add a few pounds to Honey Bun and work with it. But Bali Ha’i? They cut it in half. And Some Enchanted Evening? One of the most beautiful songs of the American Theatre? Utterly destroyed. As painful as that Kristi Lee country-take on Lennon/McCartney on American Idol. In a world with so many wonderful tenors, I have no idea why they didn’t cast an Emile who could sing the part.

Some things are just sacred, people, and the MUSIC is what is sacred about South Pacific. The plot? No way, baby, have a field day. I’ve always hated that Joe gets killed (if not, he may recognize his idiocy and marry poor Liat, whose role is just to be used and abused, ’cause a white guy can’t marry a woman of color, can he? That alone is good enough reason to NOT use the original plot in this day and age.) So change that end. Let Joe live, play up an aged Nellie if you want to go that way (something I like, in theory), and have a big wedding at the end with Bloody Mary throwing the party!

The IRB head-honcho (note: not his official title) sent email notification that my dissertation has been granted Full Board Approval (meaning the recently received consent form changes were accepted), as of TODAY. The Official Letter will be ready for me to pick up in their office next week.

Green light! GO!!

Um…. could someone please remind me what comes next?

25 years ago: “Wow. Those big kids are SO COOL.”

15 years ago: “Like, do you need a keyboardist?”

5 years ago: “Look, Honey! Remember when we were all funky and offbeat and alternative?”

Today: “Wow. Do you think our kids will be that plucky when they are teenagers?”

Two chains of traded snack day brought me to bringing snack tomorrow… the last school day of the week for the kids and the day of their hunt on the levee. Did you hear that the Rainbow Chicken lays eggs on the levee for kids to find? Yup, it’s no lie!

A few months ago, teachers and students sent home a pleading request that we parents step up our snack offerings beyond the cheese & cracker rut. Based on a sample of pure convenience, I have discovered that this request gave all of us parents Snack Anxiety. It’s a formidable threat to our sanity.

Paul and I have dealt with this by making blueberry crepes (Paul did this — and at one point, lifting the top of the blender up without the base and spilling crepe batter all over himself with one of our favorite cookbooks going out as a causality). I’ve been going the D-I-Y route with snacks… cream cheese on muffins with veggies and fruit cut up to decorate (clown faces! ladybug picnic!)

Now the challenge was Spring Theme.

Tomorrow’s snack offering: plastic eggs filled with yogurt raisins (current preschool fave), dried cranberries, goldfish, and banana chips. This is for the morning egg hunt… 2 eggs per kid with extras for teachers. Afternoon? Cream cheese sandwiches cut in spring shapes. I meant to shave carrots and have them be cream cheese and carrot sandwiches… but I ran out of steam. Instead, they’ll get served with a bag of carrots.

My Mom was worried about doing the halfway pick-up and drop-off tomorrow due to the ominous weather reports coming in. That, and her major organs were shutting down to accommodate the extra energy required to watch our kids. So, Paul drove us both out to Gulfport tonight to meet my Dad… who handed over the kids. They’re baaaack!

On Tuesday night, my Dad took Will to see the “Horton hears a Who” movie. (Paul: “You saw ‘Horton hires a H… nevermind.”) Upon entering the movie-plex, Will turns to my Dad and says, “OH, PapPap… I smell some DELICIOUS POPCORN in here!” Tricky little rascal, that one. So, Will tells us, he and PapPap watched the movie — with popcorn AND A SODA!! Will reminded us of both (the popcorn and THE SODA!!) once every 10 minutes during the entire ride home. The SODA was always discussed by Will in all caps.

Kate is covered in boo-boos which require band-aids. These are microscopic boo-boos, which no one else can see. But don’t try to tell her that she’s fine. She’ll say OWWWWEEEE over and over again until that band-aid is applied.

Will told us that he couldn’t brush his teeth tonight because he had been at Granna and PapPap’s for SO LONG that he didn’t remember WHERE the bathroom was in our house!! Luckily, Paul and I, senile as we’re getting, managed to remember for him.

Kate is talking more and more. In general we understand about half of what she says, mostly because almost half of her speech is the word “MY.” Examples from tonight include:
“My Bath” (The tub in Granna and PapPap’s bathroom)
“My Daddy’s Phone” (Paul’s cell phone)
“My Baby” (Her name for herself)
Kate slept in both nights at my parents’ house. She also went down to sleep easily and slept through the night.

She has never done any of the above in our home.