http://journals.neebu.net/andrea/ en-us 2008-04-29T00:27:22-05:00 http://journals.neebu.net/andrea/archives/001059.html Matt: Maya, what does a cow say? Maya: No. Matt: No, a cow says Moo. Moo! Maya: Moo! Matt: Moo! Maya: Moo! Moo! Matt: Moo! Maya: Moooo! Matt: So do you know what a cow says? Maya: No.... andrea 2008-04-29T00:27:22-05:00 http://journals.neebu.net/andrea/archives/001057.html It's come to my attention that the Reading is Fundamental program, which has provided disadvantaged children with free books since the mid 1960s, is in danger of having its funding cut. My life has been incredibly shaped by the power of the word, and it would be a damn shame if a child missed out on the kinds of opportunities I've enjoyed because his or her mother was smart enough to know that buying a book isn't as important as buying the milk. Please contact your congressional representation and ask them to preserve the funding for this venerable and well-regarded initiative.... andrea 2008-04-23T23:43:23-05:00 http://journals.neebu.net/andrea/archives/001056.html Amount of weight Maya has gained over the last six months: 5 ounces Calorie-dense foods she has eschewed so far today: Cheese cubes, fried bean and cheese taquitos, spaghetti What she has actually eaten: Melon, strawberries, cheerios, clementines, sesame crackers, peas and corn, soy milk At least the sesame crackers have a little fat and protein in them? Right? My kitchen is: Grim and getting grimmer. Floor recently mopped but the dishwasher needs cycling in the worst way.... andrea 2008-04-21T13:42:20-05:00 http://journals.neebu.net/andrea/archives/001055.html Yeah, sorry I've been quiet lately. I've got a lot going on (well, when don't I?) and blogging here is generally a low-priority personal project. When I have that kind of time, I'm usually doing some writing or editing, or cleaning, or, you know, whatever. But I'll share with you this little gem from today: Sasha: Mommy? I want to buy a zucchini. Matt: A zucchini? Do you even know what a zucchini is? Sasha: No... Matt: It's like a cucumber. Sasha: No, I want a zucchini swimsuit. Matt: Um, OK. (Later) Sasha: Remember I want a zucchini! Me: Sasha, a zucchini is a kind of vegetable. Sasha: Oh. Well I mean, I want a zucchini swimsuit. Me: OK, I guess we'll look for one. ...What is it, anyway? Sasha: It's a swimsuit! Me: Do you know what they look like? Sasha: Well, um, it's got something on top and... (rubbing her belly) nothing here. Me: Ohhhhhhhh. You mean a BIKINI. Sasha: Oh! OK. I want a zucchini...bikuni... bikini swimsuit. Me: Well, they aren't very good for swimming because it's hard to get them to stay on right. Let's go look for a one-piece swimsuit for you instead. Sasha: Hurray! I want a one-piece swimsuit!... andrea 2008-04-20T16:06:42-05:00 http://journals.neebu.net/andrea/archives/001051.html A dear friend of mine has introduced Talk Hard, a blog intended to help teens with some of the really difficult questions in their lives about sex, drugs, school, racism, and all kinds of other stuff it's hard to talk about... but that could really use the attention. If you don't mind, give a little link love, specifically under the phrase "teen sex blog" or "sex blog for teens" or "blog about teens and sex" or something, to help drive up page rank for an important search phrase that today will only get you porn.... andrea 2008-04-02T21:02:31-05:00 http://journals.neebu.net/andrea/archives/001050.html You may notice over on the side a little yellow box. This box is my Twitter feed, and it features random stuff that I happen to have to say throughout the day. It updates with much greater frequency than my full blog (which, yeah, I know.) I've been a busy bee lately, and digging myself out of a lot of accumulated stuff what needs attending to. But I'm getting closer to having all of the balls in the air again, so maybe... just maybe... I'll be updating here a little more often. Also: I need to take some pictures of Maya. Anyway, no promises, but I'll see what I can do. My kitchen is: Clean except for the dire need for a dishwasher cycle. Also a mop.... andrea 2008-03-30T23:42:16-05:00 http://journals.neebu.net/andrea/archives/001042.html Sasha: Sitting at her craft table, doing her homework. Maya: Trying to climb up to stand on Sasha's chair and grab her crayons. A bad scene, to be sure. Sasha can't get her homework done from the pushing and the stealing of her tools and the potential for the grabby hands what grab the grabbable sheets of homework to rip a page. Maya headed for certain doom. Either she would tip the chair over and crack her skull, or she would poke her eye out with a pencil. Attempts to remove or distract her met with whole-body paroxysms of outrage. Would you believe it took me an hour to find the obvious solution here? (Take a blank sheet of paper and a few crayons and introduce Maya to coloring.) Of course, this introduces the new danger of Maya... coloring. Whenever and wherever the mood may strike her. I better find a higher place to keep the crayons. My kitchen is: Really very nice, if way overstocked with varieties of beer we do not drink. Why is my house always cleaner AFTER a party than it was BEFORE?... andrea 2008-02-04T17:47:35-05:00 http://journals.neebu.net/andrea/archives/001041.html For a class project, Sasha needed to cut out a photo of what she wants to be when she grow up. She wants to be: The President. She was outraged, however, to discover that she could not cut out a picture of a GIRL who was the president, because there have been none. So... we cut out a picture of George W. Bush, and she's drawing long hair on the sucker. This gives me joy on so many, many levels.... andrea 2008-02-02T20:06:53-05:00 http://journals.neebu.net/andrea/archives/001037.html As it turns out, the refund check was in the packet along with the DVD and the nice letter from summer camp. This is what I get for letting Sasha open the mail.... andrea 2008-01-30T14:49:58-05:00 http://journals.neebu.net/andrea/archives/001036.html So yeah, Sasha's summer camp is closing down. Forever! Apparently they sent a letter with the Summer 2007 Memories DVD we just got in the mail, but silly me, I didn't look at the letter. So I was caught by surprise when Sasha came home from ballet yesterday and told me that her camp friend, who is in her ballet class, told her Camp Is Closing Down Forever! And now I'm angry because: 1. No word on if we're getting our deposit back for Summer 2008; 2. We've already missed all of the early registration discounts for everyone else; 3. Given the sudden swarm of kids looking for another camp, we might not get a spot; 4. Sasha has a hard time with transition and change, and going to ANOTHER new camp, followed up by a brand-new school, with probably two whole new groups of kids... well... let's just say we're in for a bad, bad couple of months. It's always one more thing, isn't it?... andrea 2008-01-30T12:55:19-05:00 http://journals.neebu.net/andrea/archives/001034.html Have a video conference about sharks in computer class, in which I got to do a Snack Attack and feed the sharks.... andrea 2008-01-24T22:47:37-05:00 http://journals.neebu.net/andrea/archives/001033.html Maya is 15 months old now, soon to be 16. She is a delight in all ways, and overwhelmingly happy until the second she is upset. No middle ground, and mostly it's the happy. We're really very lucky, I know. These are some of the words she says, albeit poorly in some cases: Yeah * that * sit * snack * done * baby * Sasha * mama * daddy * bye * more * mine * cheese * ball She also says the names of a couple of her friends from daycare. 'Baby' refers to her baby doll. She got one for Chanukkah, and she treasures it. Sasha, however, covets this doll, because it has a goofy little lock of hair sticking out of its head, and none of Sasha's many, many dolls has such a thing. So begins our first serious problem with sibling amity. Sasha tries to make deals with Maya: "We'll trade, see? I'll have your baby, and then you can have mine." or "How about we both play with both of the babies together?" But Maya will have none of it. If she sees Sasha laying so much as one finger on HER baby, her whole body goes rigid and she screams bloody murder. Maya takes unreasonable joy in sitting upon things that are small enough for her to sit on. The degree of happiness this gives her is way out of proportion to the magnitude of the action. She likes to put things inside of other things. Like putting Cheerios inside an empty cup, or putting fruit leathers inside my boots. She often goes into the drawer where we keep her empty bottles and strews the contents, haphazardly assembled, around the house, like bread crumbs to show us where she has been. Maya takes unreasonable joy in brushing her teeth. It is the first thing she wants to do in the morning, and she will tremble with anticipation as you apply the toothpaste for her. It is only recently we have been able to gently remove the toothbrush from her hand after several minutes without inciting a total meltdown. She still thinks peekaboo is high humor. She has six teeth: the two in front, top and bottom each; and two molars, way back on the top. We would be more concerned if her cousin's teeth had not also erupted in a non-standard pattern. Her front teeth on top, though, are decidedly pigeon-toed. It gives her a certain resemblance to David Letterman, and has me thinking an orthodontic experience is in her future. She loves to pull the comforter on our bed over her head and play in the pan-dimensional cave this creates. She still loves to snuggle, and I squeeze her and smell her hair and kiss her feet and worry about the day that will come, not too much longer, when she's going to be too busy to sit still that long.... andrea 2008-01-21T22:51:51-05:00 http://journals.neebu.net/andrea/archives/001012.html So it would appear that I have written a novel. It still needs quite a bit of revising, but if you're interested in reading an early draft (and you have a high tolerance for choppy text and continuity flaws) ping me and I'll send you the file.... andrea 2007-12-21T20:54:05-05:00 http://journals.neebu.net/andrea/archives/000998.html Sasha: Maya just said 'baby' like a human!... andrea 2007-12-09T10:55:09-05:00 http://journals.neebu.net/andrea/archives/000974.html Me: So what do you want for breakfast? Sasha: Waffles! Me: The store didn't have waffles yesterday, so I got something else... pancakes. Sasha: Pancakes! *sticks tongue out with enthusiasm* Me: So you want frozen pancakes for breakfast? Sasha: Actually, I want them to be heated up.... andrea 2007-11-06T08:30:24-05:00