For those of you unfamiliar with this sling, the way it holds the baby causes baby's legs to spread pretty far apart. I had to laugh when removing Henry from the sling because his legs stayed that way after I laid him down.
Anybody use these things? Got a recommendation? We're looking for something to buy with our 20% off REI coupon plus dividend check.
Obama - "Mr. Obama came out strongly for broader financial regulation, which might help avert future crises. But his proposals for aid to the victims of the current crisis...are less sweeping than Mrs. Clinton’s: he wants to nudge private lenders into restructuring mortgages rather than having the government simply step in and get the job done. ...[He] continues to make permanent tax cuts — middle-class tax cuts, to be sure — a centerpiece of his economic plan. It’s not clear how he would pay both for these tax cuts and for initiatives like health care reform, so his tax-cut promises raise questions about how determined he really is to pursue a strongly progressive agenda. ...Mr. Obama is widely portrayed, not least by himself, as a transformational figure who will usher in a new era. But his actual policy proposals, though liberal, tend to be cautious and relatively orthodox."
Clinton - "...the substance of her policy proposals on mortgages, like that of her health care plan, suggests a strong progressive sensibility. ...Mrs. Clinton wants a modern version of the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, the New Deal institution that acquired the mortgages of people whose homes were worth less than their debts, then reduced payments to a level the homeowners could afford. ...Mrs. Clinton, we’re assured by sources right and left, tortures puppies and eats babies. But her policy proposals continue to be surprisingly bold and progressive."
On train tracks
Top of the hill at edge of forest
Sitting on dock of sewage-filled river
The bear must have stepped out from behind the tree nanoseconds after the first photo was taken*. Many thanks to Mr. Wagner for bringing this to our attention.
Thought I should make a note that we've just passed the 800 entries mark. Woot!"The Easter bunny is a mythological rabbit who brings gifts and candy to children on the Easter holiday, most likely based on the pre-Christian customs honoring the fertility goddess Eostre...The etymology of the word "Easter" comes from an ancient pagan goddess of the spring named Eostre, related to German Ostara. According to popular folklore, Eostre once saved a bird whose wings had frozen during the winter by turning it into a rabbit. Because the rabbit had once been a bird, it could still lay eggs, and that rabbit became the modern Easter Bunny."O.K. Egg-laying rabbit. Got it.
"A Congressional study by the Joint Economic Committee found that the sums spent on the Iraq war each day could enroll an additional 58,000 children in Head Start or give Pell Grants to 153,000 students to attend college. Or if we’re sure we want to invest in security, then a day’s Iraq spending would finance another 11,000 border patrol agents or 9,000 police officers."Each day. EACH DAY, people. What are we doing?
What do you enjoy the most about working with Henry?
What's a typical day of shooting like?
Of course, then you need to get to wardrobe so the actor to get into the costume that has been selected.
In Huck Finn Meets His Doom we had to do a little costume adjustment because Henry was a touch on the slim side and we noticed his pants kept falling down. In a comedy we might have been able to use that but for this piece his pants dropping around his ankles just wouldn't have worked.
And then it's on to hair and makeup.
Once those are done, you're ready to roll.
And when the movie short wraps? What happens then?
So, we should expect to see Henry Finn in future movie short projects? 
Yay! I ordered these cool MiniCards by Moo using photographs from our Flickr account and they arrived this morning. For $19.99 you get 100 cards with up to four (or six?) lines of text on the back. Now I can pass out ones bearing Henry's pic to moms I meet around the neighborhood. Since I ordered some less baby-focused cards as well, I'll have cards to give to study group partners and potential mentors at school so they have my contact info. Oh, and judges when I apply for judicial clerkships. There's nothing a judge values more than a potential clerk who had the foresight to order ultra cool cards made with beer photos.
Those two words would be closely followed by these four, "Clearly wants to walk." Because it is clear that you intend to walk one day, sooner rather than later, even though your stomach muscles aren't strong enough and your coordination isn't coordinated enough to have you do so just yet. A recent game of ours involves me holding you up, placing your feet on top of mine, and "walking" around the room. There are times when your feet will slip off. It is those times that lead me to believe we'll see you taking your own steps before the one year mark. You understand the motion that is involved and will continue to place one foot in front of the other without my assistance. Which could also mean that you are ready to move out on your own, eat ramen on a nearly daily basis, and only call home collect but I hope not. I enjoy having you around, even with your occasional bouts of CDF (a.k.a., Catastrophic Diaper Failure).
Your energy has saddled you with the label "kinetic". We have turned this into a nickname so get used to hearing it, Captain Kinetic. Something tells me this attribute is only going to be further realized as you age. We hadn't actually considered being leash parents but we might revisit this idea in the coming months, if only so we don't lose you in a crowd.
Given your propensity for curiosity, you use your hands to grab whatever is within reach be it my hair, your dad's glasses, the cats or everything else. This, of course, means we have to be very careful with where we place things in your presence, particularly at the kitchen table. You are definitely letting us know in no uncertain terms that you are nearly ready to begin eating. Our dinner ritual involves placing you in your high chair, surrounding you with a variety of utensils, sippy cups, and the like, and then retrieving the items you drop to the floor. Why splat mats are a necessary baby item is clear - everything is introduced to the floor at one time or another. We have reached the conclusion that you will need to take the place of your father at the head of the table. Then, collection duty can be shared by each parent as opposed to how it is now with your father constantly bending over to pick up whatever you have tossed aside. Pops needs to eat, too, son.
To enrich your rapidly growing brain we have begun to sign to you. We've actually been doing this for some time but it was only recently that we noticed you paying attention to what we were doing. The list of words is small and includes the basics for now - mom, dad, kitty, dog, milk. If I had to guess what your first sign is going to be, I would put my money on "kitty" because you are fascinated by these fuzzy creatures that streak past you when you're on the move and cuddle with you when you nap. For as energetic and curious as you are, you can be surprisingly still whenever one of them approaches to sniff your nose. The latest addition to your vocal repertoire includes an almost-blowing-bubbles "mmm-bwah" sound. It is this sound you choose to practice when you wake up around four o'clock each morning.
You constantly search for me and your pops when someone else is holding you. I don't want to think this is the beginning of antisocial behavior but rather that you just prefer us. When I am holding you, you turn to your pops. When he is holding you, you turn to me. I have a feeling you'd like to make a game that involved going from one parent to the other and back again. Repeat. This gesture was made infinitely sweet when you started reaching for us with your arms. It suggests you are now picking us as your favorites and we love every second of it. So often, yeah, I can say we do get wrapped up in passing you back and forth. Want to go see dad? O.K. Wait, want to go see mom? O.K.
Bath time has grown to be a favorite because you are now interested in bath toys. You don't seem to be a fan of bubbles because they effectively provide shelter for those floating objects of fun but you don't seem to hate them, either. One thing we did notice is that bath time with bubbles provides you with great bouts of enthusiasm for staying awake. So, we try to give you baths earlier in the day rather than right before bedtime. It is nearly impossible to get you to sleep after vigorous play time with your rubber ducky.
You amaze us every day and we adore everything about you, more than mere words can express.Jill Bolte Taylor, a Harvard neuroanatomist, eavesdropped on her own stroke. As I wrote the day of her talk, she walked us through what she felt and thought while her brain was going wild, from the borderline-metaphysical ("I can't define where I begin and where I end") to the borderline-hilarious ("I'm a busy woman. I don't have time for a stroke"). Her description of her time in that strange state, caught between two worlds, the rare researcher who has been able to chronicle a brain-changing event from the inside, was astonishing.
"The more you learn about him, the more Obama seems to be a conventionally opportunistic politician, impressively smart and disciplined, who has put together a good political career and a terrific presidential campaign. But there’s not much audacity of hope there. There’s the calculation of ambition, and the construction of artifice, mixed in with a dash of deceit — all covered over with the great conceit that this campaign, and this candidate, are different."
I got the idea for writing an entry about breastfeeding after reading Cathy's write-up of her own experiences at Mine. We are nearly five months into our experiment with breastfeeding at Life at the condo and things are going along splendidly. I would have told you otherwise if you'd asked five days into the process.
This story is a few years old but the documentary recently came out about Marla, the young girl who became a sensation in the art world when her creations started selling for big bucks. There was some controversy that the father had in fact helped Marla complete her paintings. For the most part I'm pretty dense when it comes to abstract art. I don't understand the genius of Jackson Pollock (see pic at left). I can't imagine paying $300,000+ for a painting that was drawn by anyone, adult or child, particularly when the piece doesn't depict anything but paint splashed on a canvas.
And here's a piece that was completed off camera:
I'm convinced after watching this that it'll work out well financially for Darren and I if we just throw some paint in Henry's direction when he's old enough to hold a brush. Order now while the price is still cheap.
Is Clinton actually making a statement about androgynous folks who dress poorly at 3A.M.? Are they the real threat to America?
The moment to introduce Monsieur Henry to the joys of food is rapidly approaching. The little man has been showing an interest whenever he notices us eating and drinking. When Noodle was beginning to eat foods, her mom used this mesh food holder (see picture) to hold a piece of whatever food was on the menu for that day - if memory serves avocados were a favorite - so we were more than happy when we located one for Henry. I've been rereading the opening section of First Meals and taking notes. While the author advocates rice cereal as a good starter food, I've heard from others this can cause constipation. Thankfully another friend mentioned using an oat cereal instead. Looks like pears and sweet potatoes are baby-friendly foods (as opposed to apples and regular potatoes) so we'll be sure to have plenty of those on hand to share with H. There's just a little over a month to go...
