2.27.2009

a brief brief

I TOO FAST!
So, what's the deal? A guy doesn't post to his blog for five or six months and suddenly his wife takes the pictures HE wanted to write witty comments on (skeleton sweats! oh, skeleton sweats!) and beats him to it!
I think I have an idea of what went down...
Mama: Okay R, while Dada is busy thinking about the waffles we APPEAR to be making, you go post!
R: Okay, I'll do it. No one wearing oversized lemon yellow diapers could look suspicious.
Mama: You're right!
Oh well...I can only plead conspiratorially orchestrated technical duncery in my own defense. I'm looking at the blogger interface now and I don't have any button icons visible. I only have an empty grid rudely demarcated by dotted vertical lines spread out irregularly. I'm also writing an essay about Ezra Pound, so my prose is suffering latinate vocabulary and nominalizations endemic to universityfication and crumbities.

Here's R charmingly misunderstanding the idea of the "bowl."

His potato masher is his "true Penelope" and bff. Today we were eating bits of spinach and shredded wheat, and R was studiously placing the squares between the serpentine sine-waves of the stainless steel potato masher, staring intently, and then popping them in his mouth, seemingly satisfied at the results of his inquiry.


2.25.2009

first haircut/almost one

R & Auntie Quiche
A tiny, pre-mohawk skeleton (he woke up with this 'do--no stylin' necessary) wishing to read Five Little Monkies.
R con Tio y Tia
R & some (apparently) delicious grub.
R & his bff potato masher. Oh, and dada too.

Ro's in bed, Mercer's en classe, so I am taking the opportunity to update. Mercer actually tried to post the other night, but technology did not agree with him, so the night ended in frustration. We're embedded in another hopelessly long workweek--I worked late Monday, Mercer has class til 9:30 Tues and Wed and then stays late on campus to do research, and then tomorrow (Thurs) is another late night for me. The upshot of all this work is no time for play, so I am really looking forward to getting to spend some quality time with Ro this weekend. Maybe we'll go to the children's museum and capitalize on the last weekend he'll get it free (as a less than one-year-old--that's right: next Friday is the big day! I am in disbelief).

Last weekend we went to Blacksburg, VA. Merc presented a paper at a conference. Ro and I came along for the ride. And the motel cable. Hey, we have no TV, so I binge when possible. The change in routine really threw Ro for a loop. He didn't go to sleep til 10:30 and then spent much of the night wandering off his mattress and crying. Poor dude. Other than that, though, he has been a champion of a sleeper--overnight, at least. He's still not a big nap fan.

In other Rowan news: he's soaking up new words. He still has his little repertoire of recognizable words. He talks a lot, and very emphatically--I just can't always pick up what he's throwing down. We gave him his first haircut last weekend--Mercer was buzzing his own hair, and Ro seemed intrigued. He wiggled around, so we had to give up our dreams of a mohawk and settle for something a little more jaggedy.


2.15.2009

wall street week in review

Okay, * wince, wince*. It's just me again, no Mercer, and worse, no pictures. On the upside, the weekend was prettier than it was forecast to be (at least for those of us residing in the Southeastern quadrant of this fair nation). Mercer had a blessedly shortlived bout with a very mild stomach bug yesterday (it did not have anything to do with love). So our day was pretty calm (at least inasmuch as a day with Ro can be called calm). Ro's latest thing is not napping, so evenings have been a little tough. I have gotten him to nap in the stroller for a few minutes at a time, but nothing too fruitful. Poor dude has been sleeping from around 7:30 til 6 every night, but at this point he's still supposed to be napping it up during the day, too!

Ah well, anyhow, we had a busy day today. Ro & I took an epic walk whilst Dada worked and then we all went to the GSO Children's Museum. Ro gaped at the big kids, alternately trying to tackle them and following them around. HE also met Clifford the Big Red Dog and wasn't quite sure what to make of him. In the end he just gave him a smile & a high-five and sauntered away.

Dangit, I put my plants out on the porch again prematurely--it's supposed to get below freezing tonight. Booo! I am trying to summon the energy to bring em in, but it may not happen.

2.10.2009

guilted!

I need to upload pix something fierce (story of my life . . . or at least of this blog), but just a post to let anyone who still checks this blog from time to time that we have not all perished of carbon monoxide poisoning. No, but seriously, I am scared of carbon monoxide poisoning. What's the deal? Isn't there some sort of alarm you can purchase? Note to self: check into carbon monoxide alarm so family does not perish of c.m. poisoning.

So I have been on the computer all day and am sitting in a very uncomfortable posture because I am too lazy to move my computer. But yeah, it's 7:45. Ro is, oddly, in bed. I saw him for a couple hours this afternoon and then had to go back to work. When I returned I faced a Very Tired Man. Not much napping going on these days--or not on a regular basis anyhow--but he's doing so well with sleeping through the night. We have been having a really fun time at the playground as of late--the slides and swings are both favorites, as is consuming chunks of mulch. Sigh.

Since we don't do anything fun ever during the weekdays, I'll do a weekend update (unfortunately not the SNL kind). We've had several since I last posted! Last-last weekend we were graced by a visit from Aunite Tokesha. It was so long ago it all seems like a happy blur but much fun was had. Kesha kindly came with me to volunteer at a work event for teen girls and their moms/grandmas/big sisters/female role models. At the beginning of the event, Tokesha did want a daughter. By the time the communication game (a version of the newleywed game) part rolled around, she had decided she'd pass on the whole having-a-girl thing. But yes, it was awesome seeing her!

Then LAST weekend Merc, Rowan and I travelled to Pilot Mountain (where Aunite Alyssa, Ro and I had ventured over the summer) for a little hike. On the way back we stopped in Winston-Salem (yeah, like the cigarettes) for some sushi with Tia y Tio. Ro, as always, was enchanted by them. He was also quite the social butterfly, demanding high-fives from everyone in the place (except, inexplicably, he refused a high five to a fellow patron who stopped by the table after witnessing the flurry of high five activity. Dissed!). Afterwards we went and ate frozen custard, which was a first for all the S-Bs. AMAZING!!! I got some huge concoction featuring cookies and brownies and dough and mmmmm. I blew Mercer's mind by telling him you can get Rice Krispie Treat custard with caramel popcorn on top (his two favorites). We're campaigning for Kernel Kustard to open shop in the GSO. If we suddenly get blimpy in our blog pix, y'all will know our prayers have been answered.