We haven’t gotten the hang of how much Chinese food to order yet for the four of us. This sounds simple, and I agree, it should be but it seems as though we keep reducing or order to smaller and smaller amounts and we still have far too much left over.
Two “meals” that come with white rice and a soup was too much. We dropped down to one meal and one “combination” that included in a single container a smaller portion of the main item, a side of rice, one egg roll and a small soup. This too, proved to leave us with more than one additional meal of leftovers.
Next we’re planning on ordering one single “combination” meal (designed for one person) and add in an additional small soup and see if that’s the right amount of food for our family of four.
We’ve gotten to the point our order is small enough it doesn’t qualify for delivery, which is fine as the restaurant is quite close. I’d rather get the right amount than look at those red Chinese food containers in the refrigerator three days later and wonder why we ordered so much.
The Big Boy Update: This morning shortly after I got up my son looked quizzically at me and said, “mom, who do you have more cuts all over your face?” Cuts? I was confused. I asked him to show me where and then looked in the mirror. I said, “oh, those are wrinkles from where the pillow pressed into my face while I was asleep.”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter, overhearing the above conversation jumped in and said, “you can also get wrinkles from the bath tub too.”
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Monday, May 30, 2016
The 3D Puzzle Memory
I helped my husband put a 3D puzzle together today from the company https://ugearsmodels.com. It was a combination safe made entirely of wooden pieces. I was the piece preparer, locating the pieces for the upcoming steps, removing them from the laser cut sheets of wood and laying them out in order so he could do the assembling. We’ve done this type of work together before with Legos, but this particular model brought back memories of a similar project I’d helped with when I was a child many years ago.
On Christmas day we always went to my parent’s best friend’s house for dinner. Their son was four years older and one of my good friends, albeit a friend I looked up to because a four year age difference when your a child is a big difference in both knowledge and maturity. So basically, I looked up to him in every way.
That Christmas he’d gotten a clock that needed a lot of assembly. It told time via small metal balls and lots of black plastic parts and chutes to make it work. Richard and I sat at a desk with Richard diligently following every step of the instructions while I helped in what must have been a nominal way until the project was completed.
When it was done we sat and marveled at how it worked. Every minute a ball would roll through the machine. At five minutes the weight was shifted by the five balls in the minutes area and a “five minute” value ball would be added into the larger minutes stack. At sixty minutes twelve balls would roll around the chutes and an hour ball would be added into the hour slot. The most exciting event of all was when it was 11:59 at which point all three areas would be full and one minute later every ball would empty itself out to reset to twelve o’clock.
It was an exciting little machine. I did a quick web search and it’s apparently called “The Time Machine". Here’s a picture:
On Christmas day we always went to my parent’s best friend’s house for dinner. Their son was four years older and one of my good friends, albeit a friend I looked up to because a four year age difference when your a child is a big difference in both knowledge and maturity. So basically, I looked up to him in every way.
That Christmas he’d gotten a clock that needed a lot of assembly. It told time via small metal balls and lots of black plastic parts and chutes to make it work. Richard and I sat at a desk with Richard diligently following every step of the instructions while I helped in what must have been a nominal way until the project was completed.
When it was done we sat and marveled at how it worked. Every minute a ball would roll through the machine. At five minutes the weight was shifted by the five balls in the minutes area and a “five minute” value ball would be added into the larger minutes stack. At sixty minutes twelve balls would roll around the chutes and an hour ball would be added into the hour slot. The most exciting event of all was when it was 11:59 at which point all three areas would be full and one minute later every ball would empty itself out to reset to twelve o’clock.
It was an exciting little machine. I did a quick web search and it’s apparently called “The Time Machine". Here’s a picture:
I haven’t seen one in decades, but it looks just like I remember it, black plastic and all. That was a fun Christmas and an exciting project to help with. I think Richard kept it for years. I wonder if he still has it.
The Big Boy Update: My son is good at throwing a frisbee. I got a large nylon flying disk (which I’m incorrectly referring to as a “frisbee” because that’s the word I associate with all things classified as “flying discs). My son was playing out in the yard with our sitter and then later with my husband and me in the evening. He could even aim and hit the tree trunk.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter said in the car today, “Mom, do you know who I’m going to marry? I’m going to marry Madison”. My son said, “no, you can’t marry a girl”. My daughter followed up with, “yes you can!” My son thought for a second and said, “but I don’t want to marry a boy.” My husband and I explained the important thing was to marry someone you loved and we knew they’d make the best choice for them when the time came. They both thought that made sense.
Sunday, May 29, 2016
When You Don’t Let Them Do What You Want Them To Do
Sometimes as a parent you have to not let your children do something you actually want them to do—something that you might even have difficulty getting them to do in the first place. Sometimes, this tactic is a long term win for a short term lose.
I’ve had an angry child who didn’t want to go to school and after being unceremoniously removed from the car on the side of the road, wanted nothing more in the world than to go to school. Children are smart, but they don’t get some of the more involved schemes we use to get desirable behaviors.
Friday night both children were tired after a long day at school, the pool and then playing with their friends. My daughter didn’t want to brush her teeth (or do anything else for that matter) and decided to be uncooperative on every level possible. I was hurting her she said, this being one of her favorite complaints when she’s tired, cranky or just wants to get her way. She didn’t know how to brush her teeth, she needed my help to do it, I was hurting her by helping her, she wanted to spit at the mirror, you get the idea.
I decided to make a point of her not getting to brush her teeth—something she very much insists on doing every night as well as insisting on flossing her teeth. I picked her up and said in that case, she didn’t get to brush her teeth and she could go straight to bed. The operative word in that last sentence was “get” to brush her teeth instead of “have” to brush her teeth and she realized it immediately.
She was crazy upset. She kicked and screamed, she said her mouth hadn’t been rinsed. I had put her into the bed and told her if she wanted to rise her mouth she could get up and get some water from the sink in her bedroom. She was livid. She screamed some more. She didn’t want to rinse, she wanted to brush her teeth. I told her she could brush her teeth tomorrow. She wailed. She cried for daddy. She went on and on, inconsolable because she wasn’t being allowed to do the very thing I tried seven different ways to get her to do only moments before.
She finally settled down and cried herself to sleep, still muttering about brushing her teeth and the total injustice of it all. The next day she didn’t complain or protest when it was time to brush teeth.
The Big Boy Update: During the above tooth brushing incident, my son was great. He got into his bed without complaints. However, he didn’t like how things were going down with his sister and me on the bunk below so he calmly informed me, “Mommy, you’re not getting any presents for Christmas.”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: During my daughter’s wailing about not being allowed to brush her teeth she tried many tactics to get me to reverse my decision and let her have a second (fifth?) chance to brush her teeth. My favorite was, “the only thing that cheers me up is brushing my teeth.”
Rock Tumbler Update: Today was the end of the second week of tumbling. We’re in the pre-polishing phase now for another week. Our two-thirds full tumbler is now about one-third full, but the rocks don’t look too bad. They’re wet and look shinier than they would dry, but here’s what we have as of today:
I’ve had an angry child who didn’t want to go to school and after being unceremoniously removed from the car on the side of the road, wanted nothing more in the world than to go to school. Children are smart, but they don’t get some of the more involved schemes we use to get desirable behaviors.
Friday night both children were tired after a long day at school, the pool and then playing with their friends. My daughter didn’t want to brush her teeth (or do anything else for that matter) and decided to be uncooperative on every level possible. I was hurting her she said, this being one of her favorite complaints when she’s tired, cranky or just wants to get her way. She didn’t know how to brush her teeth, she needed my help to do it, I was hurting her by helping her, she wanted to spit at the mirror, you get the idea.
I decided to make a point of her not getting to brush her teeth—something she very much insists on doing every night as well as insisting on flossing her teeth. I picked her up and said in that case, she didn’t get to brush her teeth and she could go straight to bed. The operative word in that last sentence was “get” to brush her teeth instead of “have” to brush her teeth and she realized it immediately.
She was crazy upset. She kicked and screamed, she said her mouth hadn’t been rinsed. I had put her into the bed and told her if she wanted to rise her mouth she could get up and get some water from the sink in her bedroom. She was livid. She screamed some more. She didn’t want to rinse, she wanted to brush her teeth. I told her she could brush her teeth tomorrow. She wailed. She cried for daddy. She went on and on, inconsolable because she wasn’t being allowed to do the very thing I tried seven different ways to get her to do only moments before.
She finally settled down and cried herself to sleep, still muttering about brushing her teeth and the total injustice of it all. The next day she didn’t complain or protest when it was time to brush teeth.
The Big Boy Update: During the above tooth brushing incident, my son was great. He got into his bed without complaints. However, he didn’t like how things were going down with his sister and me on the bunk below so he calmly informed me, “Mommy, you’re not getting any presents for Christmas.”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: During my daughter’s wailing about not being allowed to brush her teeth she tried many tactics to get me to reverse my decision and let her have a second (fifth?) chance to brush her teeth. My favorite was, “the only thing that cheers me up is brushing my teeth.”
Rock Tumbler Update: Today was the end of the second week of tumbling. We’re in the pre-polishing phase now for another week. Our two-thirds full tumbler is now about one-third full, but the rocks don’t look too bad. They’re wet and look shinier than they would dry, but here’s what we have as of today:
Saturday, May 28, 2016
The Cloth Confusion
I experienced something today that happens from time to time. It’s not a good or a bad thing, it’s more about preference and the “what you know is what you like” mentality. It has to do with white cloths.
At our house we use twelve-inch square white hand cloths for many purposes. They’re cleaning cloths, drying cloths, dusting cloths and napkins to name a few that come to mind. In almost all cases, when many people reach for a paper towel, napkin or other disposable item, we use white cloths. We wash them and use them again and again. It’s the most ubiquitous tool in our house, used by parents and children alike.
Today we were at the house (and pool) of close friends for a cookout and pool party. As is common with parties, much of it happens in the kitchen. I had brought a cheese plate that needed setting up and some watermelon. There were finger foods and drinks to be served. My children wanted food, more food, and then even more food.
Throughout the afternoon I would need to wipe my hands, mouth, clean up something, clean up a very messy post-cupcake child’s face, or dry something. In each of these situations I wanted to have a good, sturdy cloth with lots of absorption power to get the job done and then stick around with me because I was surely going to need to use it again in sheer moments.
The only option I had at their house was paper towels. Paper towels work well, it just wasn’t what I was used to. One paper towel would likely do the job, even when wet, but it felt weak and flimsy and it’s absorption powers were questionable in my mind. Did I need two paper towels? I didn’t know because I truthfully don’t use them very often. I think we change paper towel rolls out in our house about once a month.
I also don’t know when to throw the paper towel away. Sure, you’re using it for a meal and when you’re done eating out it goes, but what if you just dried your hands on it after washing them? Is it good to then clean the counter top with after lunch? Do you always throw them away after a single use? Where do you store them if you’re still in the “usable window” of a particular towel?
All those questions I know the answers to with white cloths and how we use them in our house. Sometimes, when we go on trips, I bring along a few cloths of my own so I can have them for me or for the children in the case of a red sauce pasta dinner because that is a two cloth minimum meal for them—I can’t imagine how many napkins or paper towels they’d need to make it through the meal.
The Big Boy Update: I asked my son if he wanted to help me with laundry folding this morning. I offered a quarter for the assistance. He argued about how many quarters he should get with numbers ranging as high as twenty. Finally he said, “I’ll do it for a dime”, in a tone that told me that was the last compromise he intended to make. I chuckled and told him he’d convinced me and I would be glad to pay him a dime for his help. He folded a very tidy stack of white cloths.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter has been less interested in using her iPad on the stand that lets her lie on her back to watch it. She prefers to sit or lie on her stomach and look at it that way. Tonight she asked if she could not use that iPad stand anymore. Hopefully something is improving visually that makes her prefer to watch in other ways.
At our house we use twelve-inch square white hand cloths for many purposes. They’re cleaning cloths, drying cloths, dusting cloths and napkins to name a few that come to mind. In almost all cases, when many people reach for a paper towel, napkin or other disposable item, we use white cloths. We wash them and use them again and again. It’s the most ubiquitous tool in our house, used by parents and children alike.
Today we were at the house (and pool) of close friends for a cookout and pool party. As is common with parties, much of it happens in the kitchen. I had brought a cheese plate that needed setting up and some watermelon. There were finger foods and drinks to be served. My children wanted food, more food, and then even more food.
Throughout the afternoon I would need to wipe my hands, mouth, clean up something, clean up a very messy post-cupcake child’s face, or dry something. In each of these situations I wanted to have a good, sturdy cloth with lots of absorption power to get the job done and then stick around with me because I was surely going to need to use it again in sheer moments.
The only option I had at their house was paper towels. Paper towels work well, it just wasn’t what I was used to. One paper towel would likely do the job, even when wet, but it felt weak and flimsy and it’s absorption powers were questionable in my mind. Did I need two paper towels? I didn’t know because I truthfully don’t use them very often. I think we change paper towel rolls out in our house about once a month.
I also don’t know when to throw the paper towel away. Sure, you’re using it for a meal and when you’re done eating out it goes, but what if you just dried your hands on it after washing them? Is it good to then clean the counter top with after lunch? Do you always throw them away after a single use? Where do you store them if you’re still in the “usable window” of a particular towel?
All those questions I know the answers to with white cloths and how we use them in our house. Sometimes, when we go on trips, I bring along a few cloths of my own so I can have them for me or for the children in the case of a red sauce pasta dinner because that is a two cloth minimum meal for them—I can’t imagine how many napkins or paper towels they’d need to make it through the meal.
The Big Boy Update: I asked my son if he wanted to help me with laundry folding this morning. I offered a quarter for the assistance. He argued about how many quarters he should get with numbers ranging as high as twenty. Finally he said, “I’ll do it for a dime”, in a tone that told me that was the last compromise he intended to make. I chuckled and told him he’d convinced me and I would be glad to pay him a dime for his help. He folded a very tidy stack of white cloths.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter has been less interested in using her iPad on the stand that lets her lie on her back to watch it. She prefers to sit or lie on her stomach and look at it that way. Tonight she asked if she could not use that iPad stand anymore. Hopefully something is improving visually that makes her prefer to watch in other ways.
Friday, May 27, 2016
Six Months
My dog, Lucy, is about twelve-and-a-half years old. She’s a long-haired chihuahua who has never been high-strung like some small dogs are. She gets edgy around small children because their quick movements frighten her, but overall she’s friendly, liking people and other dogs alike.
When she was a puppy we discovered her patellas dislocated more so than not so she had two patella attachment surgeries, resulting in pins and a future of arthritis when she became older. She’s been in good health otherwise aside from a tick incident when she ran into a next of nymphs and had over eight-hundred baby ticks on her a few years ago.
About two years back her veterinarian did bloodworm and some x-rays on her to see how her knees were doing. At that time he discovered she had an enlarged heart. We’ve been treating it with medication and she’s been doing fairly well.
Recently my husband and I’ve noticed she’s been sometimes lethargic, sometimes breathing heavier and coughing. We took her in today to make sure her arthritis wasn’t getting worse and to have her checked into overall.
I got a call from her doctor mid-day saying he’d like to do another x-ray to see if her heart had grown larger because from what they could tell, her knees looked about the same. The harder breathing and coughing were more likely related to the heart size. I told him to go ahead and he said he’d follow up in a few hours.
He called back and said her heart was larger, but that was something that happens over time with the condition. He said he wanted to put her on a diuretic medication to reduce some of the surrounding fluid, which was connected to her coughing and would help reduce the pressure of her heart on her trachea so she could breathe easier and wouldn’t need to cough.
When my husband picked her up he talked to the doctor who told him the Vetmedin medication we’d had her on for the last two years was a marvel in that dogs with this condition historically weren’t able to survive long. Unfortunately, when your heart continues to grow while on the medication, it’s a sign the heart is moving into heart failure in the relatively near future. He said Lucy more than likely has six months longer before her heart can’t sustain her body any more.
Next week after the diuretic course is complete our veterinarian will reassess and see what additional medications to put her on. Then, we’ll monitor her and make sure she’s happy, well-loved and comfortable, understanding she isn’t going to be with us that much longer.
The Big Boy Update: My mother sang songs to the children over the phone last night as they were in their beds. My son told her, “Mimi, I want to marry you.”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My son loves Legos. I discovered the other day that his sister does as well. I got a grocery store and ice cream shop set for young children to do with my daughter. She was very interested, did a lot of the pieces herself and helped me when she got tired of trying to visually align things. She could find the pieces by color and shape and enjoyed the whole project. When we were done with it she played with it for a whole day before an “invisible friend” broke it all apart and mom, do you think we could put it together again? She had just as much fun the second time putting it together.
When she was a puppy we discovered her patellas dislocated more so than not so she had two patella attachment surgeries, resulting in pins and a future of arthritis when she became older. She’s been in good health otherwise aside from a tick incident when she ran into a next of nymphs and had over eight-hundred baby ticks on her a few years ago.
About two years back her veterinarian did bloodworm and some x-rays on her to see how her knees were doing. At that time he discovered she had an enlarged heart. We’ve been treating it with medication and she’s been doing fairly well.
Recently my husband and I’ve noticed she’s been sometimes lethargic, sometimes breathing heavier and coughing. We took her in today to make sure her arthritis wasn’t getting worse and to have her checked into overall.
I got a call from her doctor mid-day saying he’d like to do another x-ray to see if her heart had grown larger because from what they could tell, her knees looked about the same. The harder breathing and coughing were more likely related to the heart size. I told him to go ahead and he said he’d follow up in a few hours.
He called back and said her heart was larger, but that was something that happens over time with the condition. He said he wanted to put her on a diuretic medication to reduce some of the surrounding fluid, which was connected to her coughing and would help reduce the pressure of her heart on her trachea so she could breathe easier and wouldn’t need to cough.
When my husband picked her up he talked to the doctor who told him the Vetmedin medication we’d had her on for the last two years was a marvel in that dogs with this condition historically weren’t able to survive long. Unfortunately, when your heart continues to grow while on the medication, it’s a sign the heart is moving into heart failure in the relatively near future. He said Lucy more than likely has six months longer before her heart can’t sustain her body any more.
Next week after the diuretic course is complete our veterinarian will reassess and see what additional medications to put her on. Then, we’ll monitor her and make sure she’s happy, well-loved and comfortable, understanding she isn’t going to be with us that much longer.
The Big Boy Update: My mother sang songs to the children over the phone last night as they were in their beds. My son told her, “Mimi, I want to marry you.”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My son loves Legos. I discovered the other day that his sister does as well. I got a grocery store and ice cream shop set for young children to do with my daughter. She was very interested, did a lot of the pieces herself and helped me when she got tired of trying to visually align things. She could find the pieces by color and shape and enjoyed the whole project. When we were done with it she played with it for a whole day before an “invisible friend” broke it all apart and mom, do you think we could put it together again? She had just as much fun the second time putting it together.
Thursday, May 26, 2016
The Continents Song
My children like to select a song to play when we’re going places in the car. Commonly it’s one they’ve heard before and want to hear again. This is made much easier now via on-demand radio such as Pandora. The one that comes with our cars is Slacker Radio but it works the same way. I press down the voice command button and say, “play <insert name of song/artist/album>”. I’m prompted with suggestions based on my search phrase and select the song we want to hear from the list.
Any time you select music in this way the following songs are ones that would match the same musical category in one way or another. This is how we stumbled onto my daughter’s new favorite song, “Japanese Banana” by Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Sometimes one of the children will ask for a song I’ve never heard of before. They don’t know the artist and they may not even know the name of the song, only the key line in the chorus. It doesn’t hurt to ask and see what Slacker can find though so recently we have two new favorites, “Shake Shake Maracas” and “The Continents Song”—the latter being a guess on my part because the only lyrics my daughter was singing to me were continent names.
Sure enough, there’s “The Continents Song” which my daughter recognized immediately. This evening after swim practice my children asked for that song and as it played my daughter said, “Asia is my favorite continent.” My son had his own opinion and followed up with, “I like Europe the best.”
After the song finished a new song I’d never heard, by the same artist, began to play: “The States Song”. This was a fast-paced version of the fifty states in alphabetical order. My children didn’t have one favorite state though because as the song progressed they each would cry out, “California, I love California” or “Florida is my favorite because that’s where Nana and Papa live”. There were other states that got on their top list—about as many as they could shout out given the pace the singer was moving at.
The Big Boy Update: At dinner tonight my son voiced his displeasure by saying to my husband, “my ketchup’s warm and not hot. I’m upset.”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Yesterday morning my daughter wanted to have yogurt for breakfast. She can get it out of the refrigerator herself, but as we were running low and the few that were left were at the back of the shelf, she needed assistance. She asked us what flavors were available. My husband and I started saying outrageous options like, “mongoose flavor” and “pine tree flavor.” She wasn’t interested until we got to “orangutan flavor” to which she replied, “ooo, orangutan?” in a tone that clearly said she’d made her selection.
Any time you select music in this way the following songs are ones that would match the same musical category in one way or another. This is how we stumbled onto my daughter’s new favorite song, “Japanese Banana” by Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Sometimes one of the children will ask for a song I’ve never heard of before. They don’t know the artist and they may not even know the name of the song, only the key line in the chorus. It doesn’t hurt to ask and see what Slacker can find though so recently we have two new favorites, “Shake Shake Maracas” and “The Continents Song”—the latter being a guess on my part because the only lyrics my daughter was singing to me were continent names.
Sure enough, there’s “The Continents Song” which my daughter recognized immediately. This evening after swim practice my children asked for that song and as it played my daughter said, “Asia is my favorite continent.” My son had his own opinion and followed up with, “I like Europe the best.”
After the song finished a new song I’d never heard, by the same artist, began to play: “The States Song”. This was a fast-paced version of the fifty states in alphabetical order. My children didn’t have one favorite state though because as the song progressed they each would cry out, “California, I love California” or “Florida is my favorite because that’s where Nana and Papa live”. There were other states that got on their top list—about as many as they could shout out given the pace the singer was moving at.
The Big Boy Update: At dinner tonight my son voiced his displeasure by saying to my husband, “my ketchup’s warm and not hot. I’m upset.”
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Yesterday morning my daughter wanted to have yogurt for breakfast. She can get it out of the refrigerator herself, but as we were running low and the few that were left were at the back of the shelf, she needed assistance. She asked us what flavors were available. My husband and I started saying outrageous options like, “mongoose flavor” and “pine tree flavor.” She wasn’t interested until we got to “orangutan flavor” to which she replied, “ooo, orangutan?” in a tone that clearly said she’d made her selection.
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Cool Toys
As adults I think we’re still into toys. The toys become more expensive or more advanced, but they’re toys nonetheless. Neighbor has a new television? Let’s go have a look. A friend installed a pool table in their bonus room and wants to invite you over for a game? Definitely! A colleague got the latest in running shoes you haven’t seen on the market yet? Bring them in to work so I can see. The new, the upgraded, the latest and the fun—it’s what adult toys are made of.
Tonight we had some good friends over for dinner. My husband made Indian butter chicken from a new recipe he found. I had two-and-a-half bowls it was so delicious. Then, we got into toys. We talked about the latest things we’d been reading about, seen or had bought. My husband took them downstairs to show them the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset and software he’d recently gotten. This is a very, very impressively cool toy. Everyone who’s seen it has been more than impressed with the realism and the feeling of being in the scene, even though some of the scenes are cartoon graphics. The fight or flight and vertigo messages your brain sends to you, even though you know darned well you’re standing on carpet in a safe room speaks for the technology itself.
We talked about the camera at our front door and how easily and quickly it reports video to our phones when someone is at the door—so quickly, you can call to your child to tell them which friend is there so they can run to greet them.
Then, we played with some gallium, an element that is a liquid metal at eighty degrees and a solid at room temperature. It’s non-toxic unlike mercury and it melts in your hand. We didn’t quite know what to do with it other than watch it change states, but it was fun to see a metal behave in such an uncommon manner.
I think all adults like toys just as much as kids do.
The Big Boy Update: My son has a new favorite cereal—it’s called, “five cereals at once”. One day a while back he told me he wanted “every cereal mixed up” and after deciding five was enough for one bowl I told him he had five different kinds. He’s decided he likes cereal mixed now and has been requesting it frequently for breakfast. He doesn’t pick the cereals so we get to put in the ones we prefer for him while adding some that look more interesting to his pallet on top. Everyone wins.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter wanted to talk to Brek, who was visiting for dinner tonight. She couldn’t remember her name and didn’t know where to find her so she came over and whispered to me, “where’s that lady who’s in our house that doesn’t live here?”
Tonight we had some good friends over for dinner. My husband made Indian butter chicken from a new recipe he found. I had two-and-a-half bowls it was so delicious. Then, we got into toys. We talked about the latest things we’d been reading about, seen or had bought. My husband took them downstairs to show them the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset and software he’d recently gotten. This is a very, very impressively cool toy. Everyone who’s seen it has been more than impressed with the realism and the feeling of being in the scene, even though some of the scenes are cartoon graphics. The fight or flight and vertigo messages your brain sends to you, even though you know darned well you’re standing on carpet in a safe room speaks for the technology itself.
We talked about the camera at our front door and how easily and quickly it reports video to our phones when someone is at the door—so quickly, you can call to your child to tell them which friend is there so they can run to greet them.
Then, we played with some gallium, an element that is a liquid metal at eighty degrees and a solid at room temperature. It’s non-toxic unlike mercury and it melts in your hand. We didn’t quite know what to do with it other than watch it change states, but it was fun to see a metal behave in such an uncommon manner.
I think all adults like toys just as much as kids do.
The Big Boy Update: My son has a new favorite cereal—it’s called, “five cereals at once”. One day a while back he told me he wanted “every cereal mixed up” and after deciding five was enough for one bowl I told him he had five different kinds. He’s decided he likes cereal mixed now and has been requesting it frequently for breakfast. He doesn’t pick the cereals so we get to put in the ones we prefer for him while adding some that look more interesting to his pallet on top. Everyone wins.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter wanted to talk to Brek, who was visiting for dinner tonight. She couldn’t remember her name and didn’t know where to find her so she came over and whispered to me, “where’s that lady who’s in our house that doesn’t live here?”
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