furrin countries

The consensus here is that we should recommend to Sarah Palin that the US invade Kanadastan, in preemptive defense of Israel. This would also make it more convenient for her to drive from Wasilla to Washington with no national borders in between.

Busy weekend

Evelyn is feeling much better. By Friday the fever had faded and she was awake and eating and doing stuff.

Saturday she had two birthday parties to attend, plus a dinner playdate. At the morning party, she and five other girls made dolls at Friends 2 B Made. Evelyn wore her green Diego T-shirt and overalls, because she was Luigi that morning. I warned her that there would be other girls in dresses, but no, she was Luigi. Of course at the party she wined and wined that she wanted a dress. After the party, after lunch, given a choice of ice cream or a dress, she chose ice cream. When not around a bunch of other girls, she was happy to be Luigi again.

In the afternoon she attended her first drop-off party at Carter's house. Carter's mom reports that Evelyn was extra crispy. "And now she's had a bunch of sugar, so good luck this evening."

And for our third outing of the day, dinner at the home of some friends with a boy Evelyn's age. Surprisingly, Evelyn was fine. We all had a very good, relaxing time. Even Eric, who does not like doing more than one outing in a Saturday, was happy.

Today church and then a visit to Jorge and Eva's house, always a hit. Both girls went to sleep on the way home. Whew. Everyone is tired.

Now, back to my mission of Decluttering. I've figured out what to do with some sentimental stuff: photograph it, put the picture in a scrapbook, and give the item away. Good-bye, armadillos. Good-bye, carrots. I can like you without collecting you. It is tough to let go, especially of the armadillos, but the clutter is stressing me out. The houses we visited yesterday were much less cluttered and it was easier to breathe there. I want that feeling in my own home.

Lots going on

Last weekend we went on a retreat with Friends of Missouri Midwives to Lake of the Ozarks. It was nice, although rustic, and Nana didn't go with us, and we had some conflict involving shoes.

On the way back we dropped Eric at the airport for a conference at a resort in Georgia.

Monday Evelyn came down with a pretty high fever. I took her to the new clinic near our house for a strep test that evening. It was negative. On Tuesday the fever was even higher, so I took her to her own doctor. Dr. Salter says that she has an ear infection, and she likely also caught a virus at the retreat. She prescribed antibiotics and immune boosters. She said to put away the thermometer and instead evaluate the child by looking at her. (wonderful!)

Evelyn is still quite sick. The antibiotics have not caused her fever to drop, so it's probably viral. She is sore all over. She is drinking fluids but eating very little. She still wants to play Mario Kart, but much of the day she is too tired.

Meanwhile, in Georgia, Eric broke his foot. He stepped in a gutter. He came back today on crutches and in a cast.

Random pictures

 

I took Evelyn and Lindita to Laumeier Sculpture Park. This is Evelyn's perspective from her carseat.

 

Lindita borrows Evelyn's dinosaur mask at the zoo.

 

"Take a picture of me looking at the elephant's poop."

 

Pictures from Evelyn's first day of preschool

 

 

 

 

Evelyn's first day at The College School

Evelyn walked real slowly to TCS. Kind of taking things in I guess. She put on her backpack and took her lunch box from me (not forcefully, but like dad I'm supposed to be carrying that to go to school).

Went through what I believe is the new cafeteria. No one in there, which I thought was odd for a 1st day and lost parents. Anyway, tried the Spanish class 1st since it had little people chairs. Got directions from ?teacher?. Upstairs. Okay. Stairs on the left lead to 2nd floor. Went right, no left, no right. Finally asked another teacher looking type standing around where the Big Bend classroom was. To the right.

Went in there. More confusion as there is a foyer with cubbies for an older class. Finally saw the sign on glass window for Big Bend room. Evelyn and I went in and lots of people milling about. Found the cubbies. Evelyn just starts unloading her stuff in a random cubby. looks like she has business to attend to. Finally locate her cubby (not in alphabetically order, I think...). Drop off her stuff. Point out her cubby nametag. Dad explains that her water bottle is in her backpack. Okay dad, whatever...Evelyn zips off to a waist high sandbox table filled with dinosaurs or was it dinosaurs an animals or just animals?. 2 seconds in she is commandeering a giant elephant from a boy similarly engaged. She tries the trick of handing him a different toy. He goes for it. Sucker! I tell her that Nana will be there to pick her up at around 12:30. Take two pics, just missed a quick shy smile. Stand around for a moment and realize she'll be okay. Dad goes to work.

Hello out there

Today is a really good day. Yesterday, my sister moved into her college dorm. Wow! She is in for an awesome time. Then Mom came to our house and stayed the night. Evelyn is thrilled to see Mama Cat, but she was anxious to head to Hannibal and see Pa-Pa. Mama Cat enjoyed playing with Evelyn -- the granddaughter ignores Mama Cat when Pa-Pa is around. Plus, Mama Cat got to see Lindita walking around, which is one of the cutest sights ever. Plus, Daddy came home from his short trip.

This morning I had a double cappuccino for extra tastiness. A good evening and a good morning started the day well. Plus work has been fun this week, busy and interesting. Things are great in my world.

Middle-of-the-night questions

Evelyn, at 11 pm: "Hey Mama, after gymnastics, can we see God?"
When I told Nana about that this morning, Nana said, "Did you say, 'Why?'"

the night before, at midnight: "What's the sky for? the sun and sky for?"
When asked what she thought they were for, she said they were for turning light, and turning dark.

Milestones

This weekend has been a big one for Lindita. She is starting to walk! She takes a couple steps before she falls on her butt. Eric saw her take seven in a row, and I saw her travel three feet. She also stands quite well.
On Sunday I woke up to yet another new trick: clapping. Oh, a fat baby who claps and smiles. Does it get any better than that?

4th of July

We had an excellent weekend in Hannibal for the 4th. We made it in time for most of the parade, where Evelyn got the most candy. I cheered Rachel Bringer's float and booed Bob Onder's, my political activity for the day. Next, we walked to the festival. Then Mama Cat and Pa-pa and Daddy took Evelyn to the carnival. She rode all the rides she was tall enough for. Pa-pa was sick from all the spinning, but Evelyn thrust her fist into the air and yelled, "Yeah!" The pirate boat was her favorite.

That night we forgot about the fireworks until we heard them going off. To see them, we crawled onto the widow's walk on top of the house. The view was perfect. They were shooting them off from Lover's Leap since the riverfront was flooded. The show was impressive. Fireworks are cooler than when I was a kid - they used to be multicolored or sparkly or fly in all different directions. Now one firework will do everything!

The weather this weekend was amazing. The 4th and 5th of July were in the 70s, perfectly sunny and comfortable. On Saturday Lindita needed a nap, so we pushed her stroller downtown, where the festival sucked us all in. Mom and I got cool magnetic jewelry. The girlies acquired a wooden tow truck. Evelyn has some very fluffy flip-flops, and Lindita a sock monkey. Evelyn also found a present for Papasan. I won't say what, in case Papa-san is reading this, but it's cool.)

Next, Evelyn wanted to ride rides again. We talked Daddy into coming down to ride with her, but then in a toy store she found yet another Dora beanie. She wanted that more than she wanted to ride rides, so we bought the toy instead. That evening Uncle Seth watched a movie with Evelyn, Aunt Bunny worked again, and the rest of us played some games.

Sunday, church, and then Evelyn went to her first movie at the movie theater, WALL-E. Compared to Go Diego Go Live at the Fox, she wasn't impressed. She did like the movie okay ("Did you like the movie?" "No. There was a scary robot.") and today everything is a spaceship.

The trip home was the low point, as Lindita cried and cried. We made three stops, and still, the baby was miserable in the carseat. She cheered up eventually for The Laurie Berkner Band. Today, the baby is happy to be home. Both girls are happy to see Nana.

Funny and Not Funny

Funny:

Evelyn and I have been playing Pokemon on our Nintendo DS. When a Pokemon runs out of hit points, it faints and disappears from the screen. (No death in this kid-friendly game.)

Today Evelyn said: "Can I have some more cookies Nana? The others I had fainted."

Not Funny:

Today's New York Times article about how Guantanamo interrogation techniques were taken directly from Communist techniques designed to extract false confessions in the 1950s. We called them torture then, of course.

Commonality

Yesterday, we're stopped at a red light. She looks out her window and exclaims, "He's like me. Look mama, he's like me!"

We didn't see anyone there, so we inquired further. "He has two Es, just like me!"

To our right is... a FedEx truck. Sure enough, two Es, just like Evelyn.

We make our own reality

According to the NYT:

Supreme Court: EPA, you must determine whether greenhouse gases are a danger to our health or the environment.

EPA: OK, I did a bunch of research and concluded that yes, greenhouse gases are a danger, and we need to be controlling them.

White House: If you try to send me that report, I'll ignore it.

EPA: (sends report)

White House: (does not open the email) La-la-la, I can't hear you!

EPA: We will reconsider, and talk instead about the legal and economic issues that would result were greenhouse gases hypothetically ever declared a pollutant.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee: White House, turn over your documents that show how you pressured the EPA to conform to your strange reality.

White House: Executive Privilege, nah nah!

Big News for New Babies!

Midwives are going to be legal in Missouri this summer! The Supreme Court reinstated the 2007 law legalizing them. The decision will be effective maybe 10 days from now. Hurray, hurray!

The law allows Certified Professional Midwives to practice. The physicians associations challenged the law, but the Supreme Court ruled that because they are not adversely impacted by the law, they have no standing to sue to block it. Duh! This law hurts no one -- it only gives Missouri families more options.

Doe ray knee fie

Evelyn sings the scale: "Do Re Nee Fie So La Ti Do." If I sing "do re mi fa ..." she corrects me.

Summer is finally here

Lindita helped me wash dishes yesterday. She played in the bathtub, and I tossed her a slightly dirty little tupperware. She played with it until it was clean, then put it in the dish drainer. She put the lid in the dish drainer, too.

Evelyn enjoyed her friend Garrett's birthday party at Suson Park. We saw animals, including a giant pig (who snorted at us) and some crazy turkeys. One had its brain on the outside of its head, and one dug in the dirt.

Cute and disgusting

Cute:
Evelyn, on crossing the street: "You have to look both ways, Mama. Don't get flat, because I like you."

Disgusting:
Politics of Katrina

Free Press my tomato

Here is a great summary of the media in the last few years from Chris of Inside-Out the Beltway.

what I saw pouring from the news stations every single day in 2002 and 2003 was a painfully adolescent, almost crazed, lustful craving for domination and glory. I saw not necessarily an inherent "conservative" bias, but an intense, sweaty worshipping of a government that was promising simple answers, straightforward solutions, and unmitigated displays of strength to salve the deep wounds of a great national tragedy.

Then, the media's naked groveling at the shined shoes of nationalism and military might were smoothly coaxed into a more sustained deference to the party that controlled the government and the message....

Currently the media displays a strong conservative bias. This may flip when the sitting President is not a conservative. While in some ways that would be a welcome change, I'd much prefer a media that stood up to the government when the government is full of crap, regardless of whether it's my kind of crap or yours. An administration that doesn't reward sycophancy would help with this, but the TV networks need to put reporters on the air, not a bunch of suck-ups.

Motorcycle Babe

Papa has given Evelyn the ultimate present: a motorcycle. And knee pads and elbow pads and a helmet. Check it out!

Free Press my potato

Today, Glenn Greenwald has an excellent post laying out evidence of how the mainstream media (especially television) has given up on investigative journalism. The coverage of the Iraq War, from inception to today, has been worthless. Some highlights:

• The military analysts the networks present are all in collusion with the Pentagon. The Pentagon and White House created a special program of briefings and information flow, accessible only to former generals who were friendly and passed on the message the Pentagon wanted the public to hear. Then the TV networks presented these guys as "independent military analysts."
  
• Corporate executives at news agencies pressured their reporters to cover only Bush-friendly stories. Stick to the patriotic line, they said.
  
• News these days is all about passing on statements made by government officials or candidates. Leading newspeople actually state that it is not their job to start a debate, just to report what was said.
  
• Two conservatives for every liberal. Or only conservatives. That's been the rule.
  
• Reporters were fired for revealing to the public that they were pressured to favor the government.
  

What influence does TV news have? Well, in Brazil, people changed their entire family structure because of soap operas. TV has a profound influence on people's opinions, especially people who don't read much.

While it's infuriating to hear about the travesties that passed for reporting while the administration was making its case for war, it is not a big surprise. What is alarming is that they haven't changed. The New York Times broke the story about the heavily biased "independent" military analysts weeks ago, and there hasn't been a peep about it on the TV networks. They continue to pass off these government mouthpieces as balanced commentators. They continue to race to be the first to report a White House or candidate statement.

We need to demand better from our media.