Out of Africa

Annie's back from the Peace Corps, where she honed her skills as a toddler yoga instructor.

Rochester Baby

Crackers?

Sorry kid, we don't have any.

Wegmans?

**********

From the "It's not the first time I'm have this conversation" files

Dylan has just been shooting up lately! I can't believe it!

**stunned silence**

Baby's first heroin is a special time for us all.

**********

She won't go to sleep. Under any circumstances. We are all starting to get that glazed zombie look about us. She yawns all the time, followed immediately by "Dylan not sleepy!" It's not until she is truly exhausted that she'll crawl up to one of us and whisper "Dylan really tired." She wakes up 2-3 times a night and if one of us isn't in her room she screams in terror and wanders out into the hall like a ghost. She actually slept better while we were traveling, which really wasn't so great either. As far as she will reveal she is scared that thunder will wake her up when she goes to sleep, which has not actually happened in at least six months. Aaron has a big deadline later this week and I am trying to finish up my thesis in the next month, so I think the next step is going to be to break out the cradle swing and jam her back in it.

Installation art

These heartlifting, if abstract, scenes celebrating the history of Thanksgiving should speak to us all.

Local news

The big headline on our local newspaper's website is currently "Rochester airport already getting busy." Suddenly chatting about the weather seems downright newsworthy.

The story then starts with "So far this week, the Greater Rochester International Airport has seen high volumes of people flying into the airport, but lower than average numbers flying out." WHAT DOES IT MEAN? Are people getting sucked into a space time vortex centered in the Rochester area where you can fly in anytime you want but you can never leave? Oh wait...

I am on a Research Time elective right now. Oh autonomy, how I have missed you.

Bleisentraz

Was that Aaron who commented about putting the crib back together? It's not happening. I am not physically capable of hauling 50-hundred pounds of kid up over that rail. Also: she doesn't need to be in a crib. The problem now is sort of removed from the initial bed transmogrification. She's just so anxious about going to sleep in general that she wants one of us in there all the time, and I'm not sure changing it back would even help. The solution as I see it is to conveniently disappear for the two hours after bedtime while your spouse takes care of matters. I'm all about action.

Another phase that Dylan has entered recently is the compulsive lining up of things. She has always been into organization. Her daycare teachers told me recently she has always been the best cleaner and I was not surprised because give that kid a bucket and a pile of stuff that needs to go in the bucket and she is never happier. A doting grandparent suggested that assembly line work may be her best career option. But now she's got these flashy fine motor skills to back it up and what do you get?

An interpretive spice rack. I'm sure if she knew more letters it would be alphabetized. She also carefully empties the plates from the dishwasher, clean or not, into different sizes. Over the weekend she took every item of clothing she owns and carefully laid it out on the floor of her room. I thought it would be a big mess to clean up, but she had been so meticulous that it was already all sorted when I went to put it away. Other recent piles of debris around the house have included diapers, assorted cooking implements, and stuffed animals.


The thing about the stuffed animals was, she was not just lining them up. They were Not Nice. Each one of them had hauled off and smacked her (really, I saw it) and required Discipline. You know how it goes. There was not a lot of repentance either so they had to stay put for quite a while. Then Dylan hit herself and had to join the wall of shame. I'm glad someone is doing something to keep that kid in line. This is sounding like a healthy game, right?

Then they all said sorry and things took a psychotic turn as they were released to the other side of the room, where a maniacal choo choo train awaited.

Hey, now there are two of them making me feel like I am living in a psych experiment.

Choo Choo!

I'm resorting to chatting about the weather

You knew it was coming. A week after a post about a seamless transition out of the crib (fine, a seamless removal of one side of the crib) and Dylan has not slept since. We now have 1) a bed rail and 2) a tired and sick (but currently asleep!) child. She has not had trouble sleeping at home like this for many months and it is a whole different world at this age. There's not a lot we can do to actually help her sleep, and she is now really anxious starting a half hour before bedtime. Also, we're sort of out of practice with the not sleeping, so we've been bumbling around a bit. She weepily asks Aaron to sing her his old medley (you remember...baby beluga and rock a bye baby, melodiously interspersed with long black veil) to help her, but the key to that was carrying her around and putting her down asleep and...it's not happening with a child of her girth. And steadfast determination to remain awake.

I am also out of practice with: winter. Do you recall real winter beginning in mid-November? I do not. What I recall is wanting it to snow in early December and not actually getting any until January, which then melts after a week or two and comes back again later that month. It has snowed here every day for a week (hm, could it be somehow involved with Dylan not sleeping? you decide) and the temperature has been in the 20s and now it is 19 degrees out. I love winter, but it's not as much fun when you have to wrestle a struggling gremlin into her snow things every time you want to go outside. And then when you turn around to put your own boots on you turn back to find she has ripped off her hat and mittens and is hiding in the teepee. I guess duct tape is the answer, as usual. Also, it starts getting dark at 4:30pm, but I'm not sure how duct tape can solve that problem.

Misunderstandings

Dylan: Pee potty?

Kate: Really? Of course!

...

Kate: YOU CAN'T PEE STANDING UP WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

Dylan: Dylan stand up. **Tries to figure out how to pee standing up**

Later, at daycare

Dylan's teacher: Did you mean to give us a surprise today?

**Kate realizes she forgot to ever put a diaper back on Dylan after the lengthy standing up/sitting down argument of the morning that resulted in no one actually using the toilet.***

*******


Dylan: What's this?

Kate: That's your jacket from Annie in Morocco.

Dylan: MoroccObama?

The Full Monty

where monty = snowsuit

Correspondence

Dear Dylan,

If you
do not
keep your mittens on,
I will
superglue
them to
your hands.

Love,
Your Attendant

***

Dear Snuffy,

You ran
four miles
today.
And had
a play date
in the park.
Plus
any number
of walks.
If you ask to go out
one more time
I will put
you out
all right.
For the evening.
You can't get enough
of the snow
right?

Love,
Your Attendant

***

Dear Aaron,

I
would like
to be the sole member of the household
engulfed in an unfortunate
spasm
of work.
Could you please
move
your busy season
to June?
You cannot
pander to me
appropriately
if you
are also
stressed out.

Love,
Your wife

***

Dear House,

I cleaned you
two days ago.
Did it not stick?
Or what?

Love,
Your adversary

writing writing writing

But not here. Mostly on my dissertation. Those things take a long time, don't they?

Meanwhile, in med school, I have a whole new personality! In this part of med school it doesn't really go over well to be brooding and reserved, so now I am outgoing and chatty! Hi there!

You know, Dylan is not actually being that evil. I think the in-tune-with-the-devil idea was just too much fun to resist. She's really just being slightly more defiant (and grumpy) than usual, and she's generally so responsive to discipline that I try to be very sparing with it so it keeps working as well. Also hard to resist: she has taken to telling me she's proud of me when I accomplish things such as using the toilet. Just think, my own little gremlin life coach.

Big gurwl bed

We were at the children's museum yesterday and I noticed these gorgeous pictures of kids in one of the galleries. I went over to read the captions and realized they were children who need foster homes. Each picture had a description of the child's interests. It was hard not to compare to fliers from an animal shelter. I wonder how many kids it actually works for. It seems like a cool idea though.

*******


We converted Dylan's crib into a bed yesterday due to: my inability to heave her over the side anymore without injuring one or both of us. I thought conversion would involve some fancy transformer-style machinations, but it turns out you just take the sliding side off. We took the wheels off too for good measure, but it's still a bit high for her to get in easily.

Oh, right, here's a stool.
Aaron started explaining how big girl beds work and how you can get in and out by yourself, but as soon as the word "out" crossed his lips I lept across the room to stop him from revealing anymore. Best that she doesn't know about that part.

FM 66.6

One thing about the rotation I'm currently doing is that the residents are highly aggressive about sending med students home early in the day. There was one resident who tried to send me home several times last week even though we were just passing in the hallway and I wasn't working with him. I'm not complaining, as I feel like I have about three full time jobs at the moment, but it's funny that they all do it.

Dylan, on the other hand, is not being as easy on me. She has 1) tuned into the two-year-old satan channel ("all evil all the time") and 2) decided she needs me to carry her all day every day despite weighing approximately three tons. Also, the channel only gets reception near me. She is rather easygoing both at daycare and for Aaron.

Last night, 7pm, re: the new Bond movie

Having just called my brother for a consultation

"One thing that's nice about Tommy is that he is both very good at accurately summarizing a movie, and he knows what I like."

"Yes, but what you fail to appreciate is that it's opening night."

It's Gorges, You Know

In case you are in the market for a second home.

Photo Booth

At the time Aaron repeatedly emphasized that how thrilled he thought our parents would be to receive these pictures as gifts. So here, think of this as my gift to the Internet.

Rochester Rockette

I have more pictures from the wedding because there was an actual photo booth at the reception, but they were transported back to Rochester via Aaron's textbook, where they currently remain. Since Aaron's textbook is at work and they need to be scanned, the amount of work required to post them is insurmountable at the moment. I would also like it to be noted that Aaron participated in a kick line during the reception, which unfortunately was not documented on film, but was seared into my brain in a seemingly permanent fashion. Aaron becomes uncharacteristically outgoing after enjoying one glass of wine after another, and another, and was told that he was too articulate to possibly be drunk. I imagine most people fancy themselves more articulate after a few drinks, but that probably does not actually reflect reality. In this case I'm afraid it's true. Perhaps we should start having mimosas with breakfast?

***********

I am doing an anesthesiology elective this week and next. I've known several people who did a similar elective, unexpectedly fell in love with it, and decided to go into anesthesiology as a career. I'm probably not headed in that direction, but it is pretty fun. I got to do an intubation today, and start an IV, and use the breathing bag and mask for three different people, and everyone is really nice and supportive. I really had a tough time during surgery even though I learned a lot, so it is nice to feel more comfortable asking questions and trying to do new things.

***********

Dylan is used to having me around more again and is basically cheerful and happy, yet still wants to be carried all. the. time. I'm not sure my back is going to hold out for too much longer since she is like some kind of actual child or something, weighing many many pounds. I'm afraid that means she's too big to strap to Snuffy's back either.

Pictures in lieu of several thousand words

We're home as of yesterday. Dylan slept for 13 hours last night, and as I look at the pictures now I can see her getting increasingly glassy-eyed as the trip wore on, culminating during the actual wedding. People keep asking if she had fun dancing at the wedding reception, but that was Day 3 of the trip so by that night she was down for the count at 6:30pm.

We had a great time at the wedding and visiting the area. There is a nice children's museum and the best children's bookstore ever, including a roving chicken, cats, lizards, birds, and ferrets. It was like being in harry potter. We also got to visit the Walker museum, briefly, which is really cool, but not if you're two. Which one of my traveling companions was.

I should probably work on my thesis rather than spending my evening giving you a lovingly crafted post about our trip, so instead here, have some pictures. Note the bundling up of the child due to: snow. And cold. I think they are a month ahead of us, winter-wise.








Congratulations Kate and Dan. We had a wonderful time.

Flower girl, motion sickness version

MN

Dylan got to live the dream today. I got her up at 5:30am and when I told her it was the day we were going to ride in a plane the first thing she said, while rubbing her eyes, was Dylan not sleepy.

Getting from the arrival gate to the rental car involved no less than two elevators, two escalators, two moving walkways, two trams, and about half a mile of walking. We joked that the only thing there hadn't been was a submarine, but we ended up running into one later in the day here.

At the hotel, Dylan was crawling around on the floor like a good puppy as I exclaimed about what a good puppy she was and could she roll over? She obediently went somersaulting across the room (Snuffy: I have not noticed you doing any somersaults). A few minutes later the phone rang. It was the front desk. Did we have a puppy in the room? There had been a report of barking. Heh.

I guess as long as we're in a different state, Aaron is exploring a new look.

Fame, with presumably fortune to follow

The flu study I linked to has been in the news a bit this week, although something about an "election" for "president" seems to have some people distracted. It was on the CBC and USA Today websites and mentioned in our local paper today, and I did a couple of radio interviews with Voice of America and a Health and Human Services radio show and had a local tv interview canceled because of "breaking news." I assume the way it works now is that people start sending me checks in the mail? Possibly with flowers? I prefer dark chocolate, if that helps.

Dylan voted today, twice.

We figured we would teach her more is better.

under where?

Every year when Daylight Savings ends, we like to think back on my med school classmate who arrived an hour late to anatomy lab, claiming he had forgotten to change his clock. That was probably true, but it should have made him an hour early. We also like to think of my former officemate from India, who actually did arrive at school an hour early on Monday.

*******

Dylan is obsessed with wearing Elmo underwear, but is in no way interested in being toilet trained. I'm not sure this is going to end well. For the moment I have taken to putting the underwear over her diaper. She periodically looks down and tears at her pants to make sure the underwear is still there. She spent a good two hours over the weekend clutching all seven pairs from the pack to her chest, occasionally showering them all over the living room with delight. Perhaps she's practicing for being a flower girl? Kate, would you like her to throw Elmo underwear this weekend instead of whatever you had planned?

ESP

Some combination of Word and Vista is making my computer freeze every time I even think about opening a new document. It's amazing! A mind-reading computer! Also, how can I possibly do any work? I will be forced to spend some quality time with ANTM. Or my child. Or something.

**********

I'm still waking up at 5am, a little anxious about whether I need to leap into the car and drive across town to start immediately waking up patients lest they get too much sleep in the hospital. Dylan has taken a cue from my computer and has taken to reading my mind; she responds to any hint of anxiety on my part with a death grip on my leg and a very vocal lobbying campaign to be elevated to my hip.

Snuffy II, reprise

She is...skeptical of wearing a costume.