the OTHER mother

A Stallion Gallops Beneath the Waterfall

watercolor by Pearl (Aug. 2009)

I think it might be a scene from a movie she likes.

Today I am

home sick. Meaning I am sick and therefore stayed home from work. As opposed to homesick, which is not all that different really. The cars pass by randomly but I don't see them. I hear lawn mowing outside the window. The machinery needs an oil change; even I can tell from the sound of metal whining. The dog is snoring. Time is moving but so slowly. I keep checking on the clocks. Must remember. Brave One DVD too scary. Visitor DVD, kinda slow. Like my me. Maybe perfect? Someone has left fresh cut flowers in a vase. People are living in his apartment. They leave. They return. I watch the movie, minutes passing. I am them. I am me again.

Quotable Pearl

While watching the Wiggles Christmas video with Carrie, Pearl stood up and shouted: Santa, come on out of that movie, okay?

I've Got the Bullets

• No excuses.  Just writing.  Writing it down.
• Somehow last week I twisted my ankle but forgot that I'd done it.  Instead I kept thinking that my shoes hurt my feet.  I kept thinking, I'm going to have to get rid of these shoes that don't fit me.  Then another pair.  Then another. Then Marcia said, "Aren't those bruises on your ankle?" 
• Hmmmm. I thought about it.  The next day I finally remembered what I had done.  Tripped on a curb while walking back to me office after an interview with a reporter.  A heating pad and alleve (twice daily) are helping the situation.  I guess I can move those shoes back into the closet.
• We saw two good movies on NetFlix, WordPlay and Little Miss Sunshine.
• Carrie loves her lovies, a blue blanket and a teddy bear.  Pearl has never had one or wanted one, but she understands that they are important to Carrie.  When Carrie cries, she provides one of these comforting "friends" to her sister.  I wonder why some kids have this need and others don't. Or maybe they (we?) all have this need but find a variety of ways to satisfy it? 
• I cooked for the week ahead.  All simple foods--yams, lentil soup, brown rice. 
• Katie has finally posted photos of the little cricket.  Welcome to the world, little guy.
• I'm learning the words to some of the Land Before Time songs, including "Friends for Dinner."
• Things I'm looking forward to: Marcia's birthday and a trip to the beach.

  

Another Question

Is there a book (or song or video) that your kid loves that you hate?

My least favorite books that we own are the Barney books.  I don't how or know why we have them in the house!  Hand-me-downs, most likely.  In my spare time (ha ha), I plan to confiscate them!

A close friend of mine once told me that Barney (the TV  version) was the best form of birth control ever invented.  However the effectiveness of this method is apparently short-lived because a year after she told me that, her husband got a vasectomy. 

As the world turns....

Greetings from Our Weekend

It's our first true-blue scorcher weekend in Houston.  My car thermometer read 100 degrees yesterday around 3 p.m.  Nevertheless, we had a lovely Saturday which included a walk around our neighborhood, Pearl's montessori class, and swimming in the little blow-up pool in our backyard.

Last night Marcia and I saw our third movie together since Pearl was born--"Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room."  We both liked it for many reasons.  The film's message about corporate lust, however relevant, has been avoided by the media.  We were struck by the overt masculinity of the tragedy, seen in

• the desire for more, more, more
• the valorization of risk
• the need to feel superior, to conquer the "weak"
• and in the end, the refusal to accept responsibility.

It's interesting to think that when the New York Times did the big whistle-blower story a couple of years back, all three were women. Hmmmmm.

Another cool thing was that you don't get to see Houston on film very often.  Also I know two of the interviewees in the documentary.  Those two things also made it interesting to see.

The Dirty Dozen: 12 Details from the Weekend

--> attempted to conquer a veritable Everest of laundry

--> placated (with varying levels of success) an irritable baby and who knows why? is it teething, allergies, insect bites, rainy day syndrome?  we wondered and wondered....

--> discovered a new DEET-free insect repellent that smells less like a chemicalized lemon and more like a cinnamon stick

--> watched in awe as baby Pearl stood on her own holding onto mid-air for at least 10 seconds

--> went to the movies for the first time in 5 months

--> loved the Huckabees movie and was the only one laughing in the theater any number of times

--> examined a Stokke KinderZeat at a store in Rice Village

--> bought some warm clothes for our girl to wear on our 2 upcoming trips to places with winter

--> bought an autographed copy of Rat Bohemia by Sarah Schulman for $10

--> caught Pearl using her sign language (More! More!) for the first time

That's my report. Feel free to add your own list in the comments section below.

Maybe Now I *Get* Baby Einstein

We received several of the Baby Einstein videos as gifts before our daughter arrived.  I assumed from the brand name that they were educational in nature, and we were pleased to have them.

Although we're not big on television for ourselves, occasionally we rev up the VCR and let Pearl watch.  This little girl is completely mesmerized by television, and not just Baby Einstein.  She likes anything on TV, and sometimes when the set is off, she shakes it as if to wake it up. 

I'm not sure what I expected the first time I experienced the Baby E phenomenon, but I was definitely surprised.  The ones we have (Bach & Mozart) show toys, often in motion, against a plain background.  So picture this: 20 seconds of watching a top spin, 20 seconds of watching a candle burn,  20 seconds of a lava lamp gurgling, and so on. 

I may have gone to college forever, but I've never taken a psychology course in my life, so if you can explain the developmental aspect of these videos, please do.  I find them puzzling. 

The most perplexing part, though, is when Madame Baby Einstein (Julie Aigner-Clark is her real name) explains at the end of the tape that the series is meant to be INTERACTIVE.  As she enlightens us, we see a parent sitting beside a baby, and as the baby watches a puppet on the TV screen, the parent waves a puppet-covered hand at baby from the other side.  Who would do that?

But this week brought along an epiphany!  Consult the photo above and you will see Baby Pearl touching and tapping the screen, even kissing it on occasion.  She is INTERACTING with the Baby Einstein video.  I guess this is an example of how the younger generation is going to find the answers to our most burning questions.  She sure solved this mystery.

The Cry Baby Matinee

One of our local movie theaters offers what they call the Cry Baby Matinee. It's the first show of the day. I always think of a matinee as an afternoon showing, but the Cry Baby Matinee begins at 11:45 a.m.

Not a problem! The Angelika offers a special show for all the people with infant children who might possibly cry, ruining the experience for everyone else. We come to the theater at the same time, understanding better the trials and tribulations of parenting the very young. They show these films at a time when nobody else wants to see a movie. If it weren't for the cry baby special, the film would simply sit in the canister, bringing in no revenue. One of those win/win situations, right?

Well! We had a four day weekend with nothing planned, not a single scheduled event. This is something to celebrate. We were very excited about it. We only had one explicit goal, which was to attend the Cry Baby Matinee. We have been wanting to see the movie Super Size Me. Marcia is a documentary film maker and likes to see all documentaries, great and small. I simply needed inspiration to lose some weight.

I could drag this story out endlessly, but it would cost me no few readers so I will make it snappy. We missed the movie, and I'm not even sure why. I hope to write about this topic in earnest one day soon. Cry Baby Matinee, don't go away. We'll come back some other day.