Monday, March 19, 2012

Muscles in My Toes!

We try to teach Summer that her good qualities are usually the result of something she has worked for and can control.  For example, she's not just good (as in born good) at making things with play dough, she's good because she practices and works hard at making things with play dough.  But I'm not sure how this video fits in.  Is she telling us that she was born good at jumping off chairs because she was born with strong muscles (all over the place), or does she really mean that she's good because she's strong and she's only strong because she practices?  As I'm writing this I am realizing that I'm trying way too hard to think of a clever intro to this video--I don't even care what she's saying, it's just a fun video.

Read more...

Saturday, March 17, 2012

A Day without Summer

On Thursday, I went a bit crazy. This isn't too unusual for me. It typically happens when, for whatever reason (like maybe being 7 months pregnant?), I get really tired, and Summer doesn't take a nap. So Friday morning, my wonderful mother-in-law took Summer away and Nathaniel and I got an entire day child-free! It was glorious, I tell you. I took a shower, without interruption. I took a nap. I read a book. I wrote some stuff. Seriously, it was the best day in a long time.

Then, the day got better. Nathaniel and I went out on a date. I can't remember the last time we did that. We went to Pizzeria 712. Here is a picture commemorating the event:


Actually, we were just spying on the couple behind us. Do you think that is her mom? His mom?

I really like Pizzeria 712. I have been going there since it opened, back when I was still in law school, and the waiters were crazy foodies obsessed with explaining the difference between speck and sopressata. I went there often enough to be recognized by the staff and I loved talking to them about food.

And then, we had a kid. It took us about a year to get back there. "Do you have a reservation?" the unfamiliar dude at the door asked. "Uh, no. I thought you guys didn't take reservations." This guy laughed at me (!) and said that they had been taking reservations "for a long time." Apparently a long time in Pizzeria 712 land is a year. He sent us away.

I still like the food, but it hasn't tasted as good to me since then.

Anyway, after we ate lots of pizza, we got a Redbox movie:

Surely this counts as fair use...plus it in French.
It was called "Take Shelter." I didn't want to watch it at first since it touches on mental illness, which is a subject a little too close to home for me sometimes. And then when we watched it we were too creeped out and we had to read the plot on Wikipedia to manage the tension. But I'm so glad I watched it. I know it sounds cheesy, but it had a really good message at the (almost) end. I keep thinking about it and coming up with slightly different interpretations. And Michael Shannon such a good actor.

So we went to bed and woke up on our own, without Summer coming into our room and singing, "Wake Up Mommy!" at the top of her lungs, which was nice. But I missed her. So bad. So I'm really glad to have her back, because she is a sweetie pie and even though she drives me crazy sometimes I usually can't get enough of her.

Read more...