Sneak Preview: November 2009

Hooverville

The air is thick with despair and whiskey.

The residents are a suspicious lot. They don't get outsiders 'round these parts much.

But. They put on a brave face for the (barefoot) media.

Soldier on, little buddy.

Here, let me help you with that

Word Problem

1) Aaron is in Baltimore presenting at a conference.

2) I arrive in the driveway alone in the car with: Snuffy, Dylan, perishables, chocolate, my computer, a thin layer of garbage, and various other household items.

3) It is hot.

4) Dylan needs to be put down for her nap an hour ago.

5) Snuffy's food has spilled in the trunk.

6) Snuffy needs to pee, and must not be left alone a) with the food or b) in the hot car.

7) It is also considered poor form to leave one's child strapped in alone in the stifling heat.

8) The cheese is melting.

9) The chocolate is melting.

10) I need to pee.

11) The fox already ate the chicken and is in the boat with the grain, so at least that's no problem.

What should I do first?

Hint: correct answers do not involve either myself or Snuffy and a diaper, nor do they include hyperthermia, ruined chocolate, or a psychotic break.

Recently

Today Dylan tried to fit a square peg in a round hole.

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Yesterday Aaron tried to get me to hit the snooze button for him. It's just not right.

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Two days ago we had a nutrition lecture. Did anyone grow up in an area without fluoridated water? Like Ithaca?

I had to raise my hand so everyone could laugh at me. We don't talk usually about that dark time.

quick pretend it's summer before it drops 40 degrees

And again

"M!"

"No, remember, that's an upside down M, which is a W."

"Okay, W, H, O. What word?"

"That spells WHO."

"Daddy?"

"No, WHO."

"Jamie?"

"No, it spells WHO, that's the word."

"Rachel?"

"No, I am not asking you a question, I AM SAYING THE WORD WHO."

"Kylie?"

"AARON! I QUIT."

quotidian

In an effort to get Dylan to eat her food before bed rather than a) waking up hungry and weeping at 3am or b) staying up for two hours hungry and weeping before falling asleep, we started telling her that dinner was her opportunity to eat. So now she'll look up at us in the middle of the meal and ask "is my opportunity?" which we find hilarious, and the other night when I wasn't eating much she casually mentioned that it was my opportunity to eat. Don't sass me, kid.

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This week they celebrated Earth Day at daycare by painting a globe on her teacher's (clothed) 9-months-pregnant belly. And by painting on paper with dirt, which seemed sort of literal to me.

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I have one more week of my pediatrics rotation. It is going well, and I am definitely more confident than I have been in the other rotations. It has been a different kind of experience working with people who are so nice about everything all the time, although it does make it hard to actually figure out how I'm doing because they get even more supportive when you (okay, I) say dumb things.

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The stars aligned in some kind of show of awesomeness, because it was 70 degrees and sunny here today and I got out of work at 3pm. Dylan and I brought her easel out and painted on the front porch, then Aaron got home and we biked to the playground. It's nice to be able to do stuff like normal people sometimes instead of basing our lives around my unpredictable work hours. Up tomorrow: a sheep shearing demonstration (no, not on Aaron, but he did suggest he could just jump in line).

Monkeys and Tea

We had some kind of enchanted visit to the zoo this morning. It was like someone waved a magic wand and told the animals, whatever it is that you might possibly be able to do in your cage that would be entertaining, try that out this morning. The sloth was doing laps on the ceiling. The orangutans were rolling around in a big fluffy ball, shredding a big brown paper bag. The tigers were sprinting around their cage chasing each other and leaping up on the fence to grab fish treats. The polar bear was chowing down on what looked like Snuffy food, the penguins were flapping around in a herd, jumping in and out of the water, the tortoise was ambling around his cage, the sea lions were doing synchronized swimming (seriously, swimming in circles with their flippers in the air and their heads resting on each other's tails), and one of the monkey species was having an apparent gang war. The best part was that it was bath time just as we got to the elephants. The elephant raised each leg on command to be scrubbed, then flopped down on its side to be hosed off. It knew right and left, and when one side was done it lumbered up and lay down on the other side. Aaron thought the trainer was tossing peanuts in its mouth the whole time, but it turned out to be bread (he has some sterotypes to work through).

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Dylan attended an actual tea party last weekend, with frilly dresses and tea and scones and everything. She had been wearing a dress, but it was removed an hour prior to the party when she got a new t-shirt as a present from globetrotting grandparents. Most of the pictures came out pretty blurry, but you get the idea.

Counting teeth

Aaron took Dylan to the dentist last week and e-mailed me describing it:

The dentist was delightful. Dylan really enjoyed the waiting room and peed in the potty. The hygienist and dentist were great, but our daughter's behavior wasn't. Mostly she was scared. They tried showing her the equipment by having her touch the various tools, but she got scared. Then they tried counting her teeth, but she got scared. She ended up on my lap, and was still scared. All they did was count her teeth today, her molars are coming in. The dentist said that her teeth are clean, so we're doing a good job brushing them. Next time, hopefully he can go in for a good cleaning, but didn't want to do it because she was scared. When we were all done she got to pick out a toy, because she did such a great job being scared. She got a sticker and since she didn't have any cavities we put her name on the wall and once a month there is a drawing from the names on the wall and the winner gets a $15 gift certificate to Barnes and Noble or Borders (I wasn't paying too much attention because Dylan was so scared). Actually by that time she was ok. She was happy with her little toy plane and thomas the tank engine sticker. When I wrote her name I asked her what letters she saw. There was a D for Dylan and a B for Blumkin. I told her that was because it was her name. On the car ride back she said her mouth tasted yucky. I said that was because the nice man was counting her teeth, and that although it may not be fun, she did get a sticker and the plane, and Mommy and Daddy have to go to the dentist too to make sure our teeth are ok. She then said that she likes the dentist. But I'm not too sure about that.

Then I guess when he picked her up after daycare she asked if they needed to have anyone else count her teeth, and now she occasionally points to her mouth and starts counting.

Recycling day

Sunday

I had to work most of the day yesterday. Aaron and Dylan had a nice day together -- a trip to Best Buy, running around in the park with Snuffy, and playing with duplos. So wholesome.

Jumping Beans

One thing we learned recently is that there are not one but two facilities in Rochester that, for a fee, allow you unlimited access to giant rooms full of enormous bounce houses, as well as bounce mazes, bounce gladiator courses, and bounce precipitous drops mascarading as slides.




The main problem was the hulking 10-year-olds careening around the place trying to severely injure the wee ones, but with a little glaring they tended to disperse easily enough. If you have a birthday party there there is a big inflatable throne that the birthday kid gets to sit in. We saw one in action while we were there. Someone had wrapped a hula hoop. Hm, what could this one be?

Also, they had a photo booth for suckers who are suckers for getting as many people in a photo booth as possible. I think this counts as 7 people if you round up because Allison is 7+ months pregnant. Note Aaron working his eyes. I guess he doesn't like to watch ANTM with me because he thinks of the girls as amateurs. And check out my pointy tongue. Hissssss.

Happy Snuffday

To celebrate Snuffy's 4th birthday we baked a cake, but it was made of chocolate, which is bad for dogs, so we had to eat it ourselves. Then we gave him no extra treats at all because we need to start experimenting with his food again because his prescription dog food has creeped up in price from extravagant to exorbitant.

Nonetheless, we did take him out for some excellent snuffercise despite the most unpleasant combination of weather conditions, including temperatures right around freezing, pelting rain, and gale force winds. You're welcome, dog.

Dylan grabbed the camera from my neck yesterday to take a picture of him. He was looking pouty because we were a) in a different room from him and b) looking at him. We've all been there.


He still needs just as much exercise as ever, although he's usually calm in the house now. The most notable change as he gets older is that he gets more and more snuggly. We like that in a dog. He is still really really smart and if I had more time I would do more training with him. He and Dylan pretty much act like siblings, and they are really attached to each other. He is sad every time we leave the house and understands "goodbye," "you have to stay here," and "you can't come," all of which cause him to droop down into a sad puddle. But he also does the doggy thing of getting all excited every time anyone enters a room, no matter how briefly they were gone, and I can tell him to "go find Aaron," which he will do. Good boy, Snuff.

The birthday snout

Day 1, again

Hey! Pediatricians are really nice! I think I am not going to be quite as anxious this rotation as in others. I'm going be to be in a newborn nursery with preemies for the next couple weeks, so it should be cool. Newborns are less grumpy than 2.5-year-olds, in my experience. But they also seem to be slightly less personally devoted to me, as far as I can tell from comparing the kid who lives with me to the three little babies I met today.

Back at it

I start my pediatrics rotation tomorrow, so I may disappear for a while. This past month I've been able to work on a lot of my own stuff, and see Dylan a lot, so that was a nice change. Nice, except Dylan recently figured out that whole terrible twos thing and is a little more contrary than usual. Whatever, at least she's sleeping. I'll leave you for now with a tucked-in Snuff and Dylan on a Train.

What passes for pants around here

When it has been winter for the entire span of your child's memory

"Him no wear pants?"

"No, those are shorts. It's a little different than not wearing pants."

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Every night Dylan gives each of us a kiss goodnight, then we each give her a kiss. Then she hops off our bed on her way to her room and goes "Thanks guys!"

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Our friends Kate and Dan (now married for several months thanks to Dylan's flower girl services) were in town visiting last weekend. Kate good naturedly spent an an entire hour-plus car ride on our way to a maple syrup farm chatting with Dylan in the backseat before we stuffed our faces with fistfuls of pancake and syrup.

They are planning to get chickens for their yard, but they want a few different breeds so they won't be able to get them until this summer. Which prompted Aaron to inquire as to whether this means they are counting their chickens before they hatch. Yes, yes they are. We can only hope the pre-chickens are not all in one basket.

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I have been telling Dylan for weeks that it's too cold to go bike riding (she means the big people bikes, with her attached). Today she asked, "Is no cold out?" Since it was 65 degrees and sunny I couldn't really argue. "Big bikes?" So off we were to the little bike shop down the street to get a bike pump, which is the next step before actually being able to use the bikes. The owner saw me and Snuffy waiting outside and said we could all come in, and if anyone who didn't like dogs came in they could just leave. He was really nice to us and gave Snuffy a treat and much admiration. Then the guy in the shop next door came in and told us he would have thought Snuffy was much older than he is (four next week!) because he was so calm. We are such suckers for Snuffmiration. And we got the pump and Dylan and I tooled around the neighborhood for a while and I didn't realize winter actually ended? Is this what it's like? So...light. And warm. Too bad I have to be sequestered away in the hospital again starting next week.

Hobo

When I picked Dylan up at daycare yesterday she was shuffling around the playground pushing a play shopping cart, wearing innumerable layers of clothing, with a hat pulled down over her eyes. I immediately took her home to take a bunch of pictures documenting my little bag lady, but we had to leave the cart at daycare and on the way home she lost the shuffle, so this is all I got. I am a sucker for all the colors so here are possibly more examples than you were looking for.

We won match day

The match is the thing at the end of med school where they put an envelope with your fate in the front of an auditorium and make you stare at it for an hour before you can find out where you're going. Last year our friends Kate and Annabelle got to go exactly where they wanted to and it was really exciting, except after that we had to do some strategizing so as to figure out how to ensnare friends graduating in future years so they would have to remain in Rochester with us. Handcuffs? Ankle bracelets? Brainwashing through subtle manipulative suggestions over the course of weeks and months? I don't know what did it in the end, but we (I assume it was us) managed to trick both Zach (Mochi's dad) and Allison (Maya's mom) and their affiliated families to sticking around for a few more years. Yay! Both our creatures will have their buddies to play with! Sol was a little too wily for our methods and is going to San Diego, so in retrospect we should have spent more time having Snuffy gaze knowingly at him.

In recovery

A lot of people have told me that when they finished their defense it felt anticlimactic--all that work, and suddenly they were done. Maybe I feel different because I've been working on a lot of other things in the past few months, but it definitely seemed like closure to me. So many people were there that I've worked with in so many capacities over the course of six years (I always think of the big group scenes in The Simpsons where all the characters from all the episodes pop up), it really had a similar feel to our wedding, except I guess it would be more of a professional wedding, and instead of marrying Aaron I would be marrying a powerpoint presentation and a 200+ page document. Romantic, no?

I may have thanked the academy at the start of my acknowledgments, but I did refrain from mentioning that it was my special day more than a couple times. Dylan seemed dazed much of the day. There were lots of relatives circling and I had on my party shoes and fancy clothes and she spent like two hours at daycare and people kept talking to her, so I think she was relieved to get to bed.

Then yesterday I went to a couple med school meetings and I was like, oh, right, I still have to do this part too.