Oct 27, 2008

Elliot has a tooth. Just one so far, but as cranky as he's being I
imagine another one can't be far behind. It's playing merry hell with
my sleep - last night he woke up and cried for an hour and a half
because I couldn't get him back to sleep. It's hard, I go from
feeling bad for him to feeling exasperated that he doesn't just settle
down and go to sleep, to feeling bad that I lost patience, to feeling
exhausted and wishing I could go back to bed, to remembering that I
used to be a competent woman who had a life of her own. Now sometimes
I just feel like a walking mess.

And I notice the oddest things. For instance, Elliot and I were
watching Barney today (Teletubbies is off the air at the moment, and
so we've moved on to the big purple dinosaur as his daily TV fix) and
Barney was singing this song. The song is all about trying, and, if
you try long enough and hard enough, eventually you will get what you
are trying right. While he singing this song, three kids are enacting
"the Sword in the Sandbox" (a sword in the stone rip-off) and trying
to pull a sword out of a pile of sand. And failing. Miserably. Over
and over and over again. Because, of course, they are not the ones
destined to pull it out. The little kitchen boy is. So, eventually,
"Artie" gets to "try" and he, of course, succeeds. And the moral of
the episode is, keep trying, and you'll get it eventually. Except what
stuck with me is that there were three poor little kids who tried
their damnedest to get that friggen sword out and couldn't do it, no
matter what.

Clearly I am not learning the intended moral lesson here, because it
seems to me like they're saying "If you weren't born to do something,
you can try as hard as you want and you're still gonna fail."

And that seems like a bad message for a children's show, doesn't it?


10/24
HOLY CRAP talk about being derailed. I started this email September
19th, and, clearly, it's taken me a while to finish it.

Elliot has five teeth now. That's right, FIVE, and he's used at least
one of them to bite me. Ouch. he also uses them to eat with - this
morning, for the very first time, I gave him a bagel round with cream
cheese and he bit into it and chewed it up, instead of just waiting
for it to dissolve enough so that he could swallow. As I type this I
am pausing periodically to give him bites of cheesecake (yes, I know
what you're all thinking, but it's homemade cheesecake and light on
the sugar, so I don't really care).

The Dr thinks I'm starving him - he's dropped to the 5th percentile in
weight - but I just keep saying "have you SEEN his father?" Also, the
pediatrician seems to be under the impression that all I have to do to
get him to eat more is to just offer him food. Let me assure you, this
is not the case. Elliot is like his dad - he won't eat just to eat. It
has to be something he really LIKES. So grapes? Yeah. Apples? Sure.
Cheezits? Oh boy! Cheesecake? Yipee Skipee!!!! Turkey?

No thanks.

10/26

It's hard to get a block of time to sit down and type this thing, but
I'm determined to get it out this week. Now...

MY BABY IS WALKING. That's right. Hand him stuff to hold and he will
take four or five unsteady steps for you. We've got a video of it on
the camera, so at some point I'll be posting that to youtube.

10/27

Elliot is down for a nap so I am finishing this thing and sending it
out. Ready? here we go...

Waxor still has a job. They're about to get some investments that
will tide them over for another 6 months, but if they haven't made
significant improvements in the next three months he'll start looking
for another job.

Living in the same house with Fuzzy and Dante is awesome thus far. I
don't have to cook every night and I have someone to go talk to when I
get tired of being alone. Also, it doesn't hurt that they have a
dishwasher. :)

We're having a housewarming party on Halloween. If you live north of
the Mason Dixon line and East of the Mississippi I see no reason that
you shouldn't be here, so please RSVP in the affirmative immediately.

Now it's time for me to go finish unpacking the office, at which point
I will, HALLELUJAH, finally be done.