Pregnant Brain

Ridiculous things I have done in the last two weeks:

• Lost my glasses
• Three days later lost my 6 year old back up glasses (which have thankfully been found)
• Brought down a heating pad, turned on the microwave for TWO MINUTES ON HIGH, opened it up and spend a solid 10 seconds trying to figure out how the microwave made the heating pad disappear before turning around to see it on the table.
• Barely stopped myself from putting Cayden's dinner plate in the trash can instead of the freezer to cool off
• Realized I was putting the heating pad in the fridge instead of the microwave
• Asked a student yesterday, "You have a grad school interview already? Aren't those usually in January?"

I think I need to hide in a closet for the next six months.

Immunization Season

When I was knocked up with Cayden, I didn't get a flu shot because I've never gotten a flu shot and once every 5 years or do I get the flu. It just never seemed like a big deal to me. These days medical professionals seem to take it much more seriously, and under strong urging of my doctor and his nurses I hauled my butt to the local pharmacy to get the shot. In theory both I and the fetus are now protected, huzzah. Well, knowing that Ty already got a shot at school, I was feeling like we should probably get Cayden taken care of too. I called the pediatrician on Wednesday, then asked Ty to run Cayden over there after school. I had to stay at work s relegate the doctors visit to Ty.

So, Tyson picks Cayden up at school and tells him that they are going to go get a shot that will keep him from getting sick. Cayden is down with this idea, and gets pretty excited. For the twenty minutes they were in the waiting room, Cayden kept asking, "When are they going to call my name?" and "Is it time for my shot?". When they finally call Cayden's name, he cheerfully goes with Daddy into an exam room. A nurse promptly pokes him in the arm and gives him the shot, resulting in an indignant cry of "OOWWW!". But, he apparently took it well and was happy about the tweety bird bandaid. The ordeal over with, Ty and Cayden troop back down to the car and head home. After a few minutes of quiet contemplation, Cayden pipes up from the back, "Daddy.... the doctor wasn't as much fun as I thought is was going to be".

Dinner Time Conversation

C: Mommy, is shazbat a bad word?
J: No, it's a word I use so that I don't teach you bad words.
C: Like, stupid is a bad word and you don't want to teach me stupid.
J: That's right. Stupid is a bad word.
C: Yeah, we don't call me stupid.
J: Yes sweetheart.
C: Because when I pinched Alice (annonomyzed), she called me "STUPID BOY"
J: smothers laughter in napkin
T: That is your son.
J: Well sweetheart, she didn't use nice words, but she may have called you stupid because you pinched her.
C: Yeah. Stupid is not a nice thing to call somebody. Daddy, did you hear what happened when Alice called me STUPID BOY?
T: What's that honey?
C: I told my teacher, "Alice called me stupid"
J: What did your teacher do?
C: Um, she put me in time out.
J: Again, probably because you pinched Alice.
C: Yeah
J: Yeah

Sledding

With our "blizzard" of 6 inches of snow today school was canceled and we went sledding.  Cayden has a new buddy whose family just moved up here from Tennessee and the sledding hill was directly behind his house.  Very convenient. 

And with another stroke of luck the mailman arrived a scant 30 minutes before we left to deliver the snowpants that Vavo had sent down.  Between the super nice, barely used snowpants and the snow boots from his cousins in Maine my kid was warm and dry the whole afternoon.  Which led to a very enjoyable time out on the slopes.

Arsenal vs. Chelsea

After two years running at my parent's place for the holidays, we headed north for the 2010 festivities. We had a luxurious and relaxing three days in Rhode Island, where Cayden had his first CHRISTMAS. I mean, it was actually his 4th, but this year was the first year we bought him new toys. After months of watching him pretend matchbox cars, dice and random oblong objects were characters from Pixar's Cars movie, we caved and got him a selection of his favorites. Christmas bonus for the parents: child was completely occupied all day long. We also had the novel experience of walking around the streets of Newport and seeing them deserted. We were one of maybe 10 people that thought strolling along the docks was a good way to spend Christmas day, but the weather was perfectly clear, sunny crisp and beautiful. Winter beach walks are one of the things I miss most about living in RI.

Just before the "blizzard" hit, we bailed for Boston to start a new family tradition. Tyson is a rabid Chelsea fan, while Z&K are rabid Arsenal fans. I don't actually care, but am a huge fan of traveling to watch the games on each others home turf. This time Chelsea was playing at Arsenal, so we holed up in Boston, got a sitter and headed to a great soccer bar in Cambridge. Tyson did not end the day happy, but otherwise a good time was had by all. Cayden had an exciting afternoon as well. After telling his sitter that he wanted to go on a train and sledding, she bundled him up, inflated the sled, and packed onto the train to Boston Commons. Apparently, as soon as they got there he fell in a puddle and started crying to go home. So she packed him right back on the train back to Jamaica Plain. Maybe the next sledding trip will be more successful.

Our final day in town was my birthday, which we celebrated by looking at dead animals. Taking Cayden through Harvard's Natural History Museum was a thoroughly entertaining way to spend the day. I topped off the celebration by coercing everybody into ordering amazing Indian takeout, which is possibly worth moving to Boston for. All in all, a good holiday break. We wish you all belated holiday cheer and a Happy New Year!

Zak and Kendra brave the blizzard

Dracolichs love sprinkles

Tyson narrowly escaped with his life

Everyone was sad and bitter about the Indian feast

The Knife

Ok. 3 days of exhaustive research on folding tactical knives, Every-Day-Carry knives, the differences between 440A, S30V and 154CM steel, tip up versus tip down carry, the pros and cons of liner locks, imported chinese knives, fully automatic knives, semi-automatic knives, hollow grind versus FFG (full flat grind), and (on a somewhat related tangent) how to construct a figure-4 animal snare from sticks and rocks. At the end of it all i have come to the conclusion that my next carry knife (I've had mine for over 8 years now) will be a Spyderco Manix 2 Combination (1/2 serrated) Blade.

I'll keep everyone updated as to how I like it.