Jacob tried a new trick yesterday. At 9 a.m. he asked for a nap, we went through the whole routine and then after a minute of lying down, he got up and started playing with his toys. He eventually did go to sleep at 10:20.
And woke up at 11:00. No amount of singing or soothing would get him back to sleep. Yikes!! Since he did have a snack, I thought we'd go shopping and to the library before eating lunch. The trip went fine and we were home by a little after 1. I had a secret hope that he'd fall asleep during the drive. Unfortunately in the van he sits pretty upright and did not doze off. So I made his lunch and fed him and started a grilled cheese sandwich for me. When he was done eating, he started saying "A nap, a nap!" I flipped the sandwich and turned off the stove and took him upstairs since he was so insistent. We went through the whole routine and then after a minute of lying down, he got up and started playing with his toys. So I decided to bring my lunch up to his room.
The only problem was, by the time I got downstairs, my grilled cheese sandwich was both burnt and cold! I ate it anyway. He did eventually get a good nap from 3 to 5 p.m. Which meant that I finished my lunch at 3. What more sleep experiments can he try?
He did ask for a nap at 9:15 today, but I knew he was faking. He's down for a real nap now. At least, I hope he stays asleep for more than 40 minutes. Say a prayer...
Friday, June 19, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
JACOB'S FIRST SENTENCE
"I need shoes" is officially Jacob's first sentence. He said it this morning when we were going out to Costco. He repeated it tonight when Aunt Rosemary took him out to see the dogs in the back yard. Hopefully "I love you Mommy" or "I love you Daddy" will come soon.
Getting ready for #2--the minivan
It's been far too long since a post. Things have been busy, but the new child has not arrived yet. We are mostly ready for her to come.
In preparation, we have bought a minivan. It is a 2006 Honda Odyssey with lots of space inside and power side doors. The doors open with a click on the key fob, which is pretty cool. The only bad thing is trying to figure out how it works. Seems like it should be easy, just push the button and the door opens. When we picked the car up at Carmax, the salesman tried to use the clicker to open the driver side sliding door. It wouldn't open! Eventually we figured out that the gas tank door was open so the sliding door must be programmed not to open and tear the gas door off. Then we went to Target and my sister couldn't get the door open. The inside button wouldn't work, the key fob wouldn't work, even the door handle wouldn't work. Then I put the van in park and the door worked. So many safety features we'll have to figure out.
Jacob has enjoyed riding in the minivan. His safety chair is forward facing now. He likes to stare out at the window and identify other vehicles. Mostly just trucks. He even calls the van a truck. Hopefully he'll figure that out soon. We enjoy taking him in and out easily from the vehicle.
We sold the green car to Angie's parents. Her dad was up here over the weekend. He got to play with Jacob and he was gracious enough to help out with some chores. We were sad to see him go. He had a quick trip back to Florida. We'll get to see him again in August. We plan to schedule the baptism then, but have not worked out any details yet.
In preparation, we have bought a minivan. It is a 2006 Honda Odyssey with lots of space inside and power side doors. The doors open with a click on the key fob, which is pretty cool. The only bad thing is trying to figure out how it works. Seems like it should be easy, just push the button and the door opens. When we picked the car up at Carmax, the salesman tried to use the clicker to open the driver side sliding door. It wouldn't open! Eventually we figured out that the gas tank door was open so the sliding door must be programmed not to open and tear the gas door off. Then we went to Target and my sister couldn't get the door open. The inside button wouldn't work, the key fob wouldn't work, even the door handle wouldn't work. Then I put the van in park and the door worked. So many safety features we'll have to figure out.
Jacob has enjoyed riding in the minivan. His safety chair is forward facing now. He likes to stare out at the window and identify other vehicles. Mostly just trucks. He even calls the van a truck. Hopefully he'll figure that out soon. We enjoy taking him in and out easily from the vehicle.
We sold the green car to Angie's parents. Her dad was up here over the weekend. He got to play with Jacob and he was gracious enough to help out with some chores. We were sad to see him go. He had a quick trip back to Florida. We'll get to see him again in August. We plan to schedule the baptism then, but have not worked out any details yet.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Movie Review: Drag Me to Hell
It's Saturday night and a full moon is out, so what better thing is there to do than go see a scary movie. I went tonight to see Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell. If I had to sum it up in one word, "awesome!" comes to mind.
The basic plot is a loan officer at a bank refuses to give a third extension to an old gypsy woman for her mortgage, so the gypsy woman curses her to be tormented for three days and then be dragged to Hell (for more of the same ad eternam). Naturally, she wants to get out from the curse and the rest of the movie chronicles her torments and her attempts to get free.
Sam Raimi is quite adept at setting up and paying off the scares throughout the film. He can build up to a scary moment as shadows chase the protagonist across the hall or jump something unexpected and unnerving in an instant. His real brilliance is in mixing humor into the horror, so the audience is at once shouting in fear and laughing at the same time. He did a lot of that in the Evil Dead films, and shows no sign of faltering here. It's an amazing way to build and relieve tension at the same time. And it's a little easier to go home without constantly looking over your shoulder.
He also gives a great fight scene between the gypsy woman and the loan officer, better than any and every fight in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. And he gets more terror out of one handkerchief than other directors can get out of buckets of blood and gore. Which is not to say there aren't lots of gooey, gross bits in Drag Me to Hell. Again, these are tempered with humor so that the viewer isn't just grossed out.
The movie is an intense and humorous thrill ride, like a great roller coaster. It's fun to watch with a Saturday night crowd that is laughing, hooting and screaming with you. I would recommend it, though not if you are too squeamish (like my wife, who didn't come with me).
The basic plot is a loan officer at a bank refuses to give a third extension to an old gypsy woman for her mortgage, so the gypsy woman curses her to be tormented for three days and then be dragged to Hell (for more of the same ad eternam). Naturally, she wants to get out from the curse and the rest of the movie chronicles her torments and her attempts to get free.
Sam Raimi is quite adept at setting up and paying off the scares throughout the film. He can build up to a scary moment as shadows chase the protagonist across the hall or jump something unexpected and unnerving in an instant. His real brilliance is in mixing humor into the horror, so the audience is at once shouting in fear and laughing at the same time. He did a lot of that in the Evil Dead films, and shows no sign of faltering here. It's an amazing way to build and relieve tension at the same time. And it's a little easier to go home without constantly looking over your shoulder.
He also gives a great fight scene between the gypsy woman and the loan officer, better than any and every fight in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. And he gets more terror out of one handkerchief than other directors can get out of buckets of blood and gore. Which is not to say there aren't lots of gooey, gross bits in Drag Me to Hell. Again, these are tempered with humor so that the viewer isn't just grossed out.
The movie is an intense and humorous thrill ride, like a great roller coaster. It's fun to watch with a Saturday night crowd that is laughing, hooting and screaming with you. I would recommend it, though not if you are too squeamish (like my wife, who didn't come with me).
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Jacob has more to say...
Jacob is starting to use more words and is becoming more and more cute thereby.
He can count from one to ten when we read counting books, though his pronunciation is not the crispest and cleanest. We are working on that. I was pretty amazing when he first did it on his own, without prompting from us. Now we try to show him off all the time if we can. We really should bring counting books with us wherever we go. One should go in the diaper bag.
The other day about 10:30 in the morning, Jacob laid his head on the family room couch for a minute. Then he lifted it up and came over to me and said (quite clearly this time), "a nap." So he walked up to his room and I followed. We read a story then he crawled into bed and was out after only three verses of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.
Jacob has also requested many times to go into the basement by saying "bah-men." Of course, he wants to go and play with the cats. He is starting to be more gentle with them but it is a slow process. When he gets a grip on a tail, it is awfully hard to get him to let go. Even when the cat hisses! After two weeks, the cats should probably know better than to go within Jacob's grabbing distance.
He started referring to Aunt Rosemary as "Ah-me." He has lots of fun hanging out with her, too. It seems impossible, but he just gets cuter and cuter every day!
He can count from one to ten when we read counting books, though his pronunciation is not the crispest and cleanest. We are working on that. I was pretty amazing when he first did it on his own, without prompting from us. Now we try to show him off all the time if we can. We really should bring counting books with us wherever we go. One should go in the diaper bag.
The other day about 10:30 in the morning, Jacob laid his head on the family room couch for a minute. Then he lifted it up and came over to me and said (quite clearly this time), "a nap." So he walked up to his room and I followed. We read a story then he crawled into bed and was out after only three verses of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.
Jacob has also requested many times to go into the basement by saying "bah-men." Of course, he wants to go and play with the cats. He is starting to be more gentle with them but it is a slow process. When he gets a grip on a tail, it is awfully hard to get him to let go. Even when the cat hisses! After two weeks, the cats should probably know better than to go within Jacob's grabbing distance.
He started referring to Aunt Rosemary as "Ah-me." He has lots of fun hanging out with her, too. It seems impossible, but he just gets cuter and cuter every day!
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Star Trek Review and Reflection
I saw the new Star Trek movie twice. The first time I was really impressed with the fun and fast pace. The second time I started to notice a couple of things about the movie, now that I wasn't constantly being wowed by J. J. Abrams' masterful direction. He can certainly keep a movie moving.
If you have to pick who was the main character in the movie, the obvious two to choose from are Kirk and Spock. The movie was written by nerdy fan boys, thus Spock is clearly the main character. Consider the evidence: (1) Even though the movie starts with the birth of Kirk (in a brilliantly orchestrated sequence) more time is devoted to Spock's back story. (2) Kirk is legendary for his womanizing, but who really sees the most romantic action in the movie? Spock wins this one hands down. (3) Who is the only character from the "original continuity"? Again, it's Spock (or Spock Prime according to the credits).
I listened to a podcast with the screenwriters (hear it here) which was both enlightening and frustrating. Enlightening was the discussion of what Nero was doing for the 25 years from killing Kirk's dad to going after Spock (Klingons showed up en masse and took him to a prison planet; later his crew frees him and thus Uhura hears about the Klingon fleet being wiped out); why use a Rimbaldi device from Alias (to curry favor with J. J. Abrams); and other fun tidbits. Frustrating was their discussion of why Nero didn't try to save Romulus from the supernova. They had some excuse about how he didn't want to meet his wife as a young woman and he had to wait around for Spock to show up and then it would be too late to save the planet. They seemed to think he only went back 25 years. Of course, the Romulans arrive 25 years earlier than Spock Prime did, but Spock Prime also traveled into the past. If Spock Prime was 125, it seems as though he arrived when his younger self was in his twenties or early thirties. If so, that would leave about 100 years before Romulus's destruction and plenty of time to use the Rimbaldi red matter to turn the supernova star into a black hole, per Spock Prime's original plan.
So I really liked the film, but the more I think about it, the less I enjoy it. Oh well, there are plenty of other blockbusters coming.
If you have to pick who was the main character in the movie, the obvious two to choose from are Kirk and Spock. The movie was written by nerdy fan boys, thus Spock is clearly the main character. Consider the evidence: (1) Even though the movie starts with the birth of Kirk (in a brilliantly orchestrated sequence) more time is devoted to Spock's back story. (2) Kirk is legendary for his womanizing, but who really sees the most romantic action in the movie? Spock wins this one hands down. (3) Who is the only character from the "original continuity"? Again, it's Spock (or Spock Prime according to the credits).
I listened to a podcast with the screenwriters (hear it here) which was both enlightening and frustrating. Enlightening was the discussion of what Nero was doing for the 25 years from killing Kirk's dad to going after Spock (Klingons showed up en masse and took him to a prison planet; later his crew frees him and thus Uhura hears about the Klingon fleet being wiped out); why use a Rimbaldi device from Alias (to curry favor with J. J. Abrams); and other fun tidbits. Frustrating was their discussion of why Nero didn't try to save Romulus from the supernova. They had some excuse about how he didn't want to meet his wife as a young woman and he had to wait around for Spock to show up and then it would be too late to save the planet. They seemed to think he only went back 25 years. Of course, the Romulans arrive 25 years earlier than Spock Prime did, but Spock Prime also traveled into the past. If Spock Prime was 125, it seems as though he arrived when his younger self was in his twenties or early thirties. If so, that would leave about 100 years before Romulus's destruction and plenty of time to use the Rimbaldi red matter to turn the supernova star into a black hole, per Spock Prime's original plan.
So I really liked the film, but the more I think about it, the less I enjoy it. Oh well, there are plenty of other blockbusters coming.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Another play date
Jacob and I made it to our Wednesday play date this week. He had a very good time at Sharon and Chloe's. We played at the house for a while until Sharon suggested that we walk over to the park.
The park is much like other parks in Columbia, with swings, wooden climbing structures, riding animals on springs and lots of mulch. Jacob followed his latest modus operandi and played mostly with the mulch. He did ride on the slide a couple of times and climb for a little bit. But mostly he was handing out leaves and sticks to the parents there. The others enjoyed the equipment quite a bit.
We went back to the house for a snack. The children started playing again. We almost ended in tears when they were all playing in the corner of the kitchen and Jacob tripped on something (possibly his own feet). That wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't reached out and grabbed Eddie, who also fell over. Eddie fell into Chloe, who somehow wound up behind the curtain. Justin was smart enough to have evacuated the area before everything went done. Or, more accurately, everyone went down. There were some sobs but the little ones recovered quickly. All were happy when we finally had to leave.
I hope every play date ends so well!
The park is much like other parks in Columbia, with swings, wooden climbing structures, riding animals on springs and lots of mulch. Jacob followed his latest modus operandi and played mostly with the mulch. He did ride on the slide a couple of times and climb for a little bit. But mostly he was handing out leaves and sticks to the parents there. The others enjoyed the equipment quite a bit.
We went back to the house for a snack. The children started playing again. We almost ended in tears when they were all playing in the corner of the kitchen and Jacob tripped on something (possibly his own feet). That wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't reached out and grabbed Eddie, who also fell over. Eddie fell into Chloe, who somehow wound up behind the curtain. Justin was smart enough to have evacuated the area before everything went done. Or, more accurately, everyone went down. There were some sobs but the little ones recovered quickly. All were happy when we finally had to leave.
I hope every play date ends so well!
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