Children's Museum

Hi, I (David) am posting while Sarah is out of the country. Probably won't be as entertaining as Sarah's posts, so just think of it as filler while you wait for her return.

Anyway, some pics from the Children's Museum in Greensboro (where I was doing some painting Saturday). I didn't realize it, but they have a nose section of a dc-9/md-80 in there.


A lot of the instruments have been stripped out of it but you can still sit in it and bang the control columns around.

The co-pilot tells me I have to get back in my seat or I'll be physically restrained:

An escape slide out the galley door:

Hmm, based on the wing and engine the museum added, maybe this is supposed to be a dc-8.

Over on the left you can see a conveyor belt for running your baggage through security. Kids can play at "Profiling", "Please remove your shoes, sir" and "Cavity Search".

glitter bath

At our local summer solstice celebration they were offering "glitter baths". My friends keeping E that night decided to leave her hat on in case I wasn't into it, and that did make clean-up easier.

Notice she's holding onto Victor's sippy cup for him as well as her own. She's very helpful like that.

Victor gets the full-on glitter experience.

cheer up, glitter girl!

punchy kid

restless in the car during a long trip

Harassing "May-mee" the "Meow"

green things

This summer E got a little taste of living in the country when we visited family at various times.

purple hull field peas

Emma's job was to put the empty hulls in the bucket

two blondes shelling peas

snapping beans (what kind?) at Grandma Mickey's house

two sort-of blondes snapping beans

on the farm

tractor ride for E and her cousins with my uncle

box baby

Okay now I'm just going to post pictures from other times this summer, take a break from the vacation pictures. After a healthy meal of French toast (points for Mommy "gooking" or cooking), E is playing in a suitcase right now so I'll post some of her other "boxes are for sitting in" photos.

For those who say they only see David in Emma, the above picture looks a bit like me when I was little.

She likes to lie down and pretend to sleep in this long clear container and it looks a little creepy, like Sleeping Beauty or whoever it was in the glass coffin.

to do list

Well, I am always more ambitious with my time than is realistic. Anyway, I'm getting slowly ready for my trip. I'll be gone July 31st - August 11th. David agreed to post a photo now and then for me/us to see during that time.

train museum

endless vacation pictures

Well, I was reaching the end of my stock of vacation pictures when I got David's set. I don't know if they'll ever end. This weekend, before I go on my trip, I'm going to catch up as much as I can.

At our friends' house. Isn't anybody home?

"Flowers" is one of E's favorite words now (sounds like "bowiz"). She notices flowers everywhere.

morning musings

An update on the mother, this time. It's 6 am and I'm fighting a headache. I think thunderstorms etc give me headaches. We've had storms threatening but not manifesting for a few days. Usually ibuprofen solves the problem, but the one I took a few minutes ago isn't working yet and I feel a little unsettled in my stomach. This makes me feel a certain dread -- oh no, am I getting a migraine?? But it's not the right "time" for one. It's unfair that a migraine hangs over you like a threat, stressing you even when you don't have it. It's probably like that Murphy's Photocopier Law or whatever: the more you need it to work, the more you have to do, the more likely it is that the paper jams or the copier breaks. Nature's way of slowing you down - ha. This would be one of the worst times for me to get a migraine. At work I've got a severe case of the deadlines, and at home I've got lots to do to get ready for my big European trip - leaving on Tuesday!

I went to the mall last night, hoping to stumble upon an appropriate gift for a friend. All I stumbled upon -- actually it hit me in the face -- was rampant materialism and waste. It added insult to injury that I couldn't find anything amidst all this stuff that was special to this part of the world, that came from here and was unique. Everything on sale at the mall, apparently, is something you could get in any Western city anyway. What's the point of bringing a gift to Europe that you could get over there just as easily? So I realized I need to go out of my way to the local stores that aren't open in the late evening when it's convenient for me to shop. We have one or two of them I think. I need to find them and remember to go to them first. I shop so seldom, I don't have these things figured out. And if a store doesn't stay in business for decades, I might not get around to visiting it more than once! I guess I'm kind of the anti-consumer. Not a perfect one, still a hypocrite occasionally, but I really don't buy much. My husband buys even less - except books. He buys tons of books, but mostly used, so that reduces his impact on the planet. What will happen to business when we anti-consumers take over the earth? I want to teach my daughter (or at least lecture her on the topic) how to live without plastic. It's a petroleum product. It's not always going to be cheap and ubiquitous. (is that the right word?) Speaking of plastic, what would a computer keyboard be made of if it wasn't plastic? Wood? If we turned all our plastic stuff into wood we'd deplete the planet in a different way! This is not an easy issue. Anyway, the plastic baby monitor is whining at me, time to go.

new tooth

E has a new fang poking through, upper right canine.

more from train museum

There was a sort of "misting tent" on the grounds, to help with the heat.

E is feeling the spray here.

We took a short scenic/historical train ride.

in the roundhouse, a nice big open space with lots of trains to see

carrying around her special rabbit and wearing her jingle bell

tired on the train, picking fuzz off the rabbit

blogging perspective

On a thundery Monday morning with my head responding negatively to the barometric pressure, and the reality of TooMuchToDoAndThinkAbout hitting hard, it's nice to sit at the computer and post pictures of E. And after a weekend away, I enjoy reading Marie's blog to catch up on Victor. Focusing on the kids helps relax me. It will still be a hard day at work, but now I've at least got enough positive feelings to get me out of my chair and into the shower. Better if I do that before E wakes up.

play train

This is almost the last set of vacation pictures! There was a play wooden train at the B&O Railroad museum in Baltimore. It was a hit.

outside the train, watching 2 boys drive it

my turn!

front of the train engine: 2 steering wheels, a bell you can ring

spinning the wheel - some tight turns on this track

ha ha Daddy I can stick out my tongue too

This was while waiting her turn to drive, taking it all in.

still waiting...

checking on the freight

driving a train

ringing the bell

more vacation pics

We visited one of my long-time friends and her husband in Baltimore (the ones who went to the national aquarium with us). One morning while everyone else slept, E and I walked down to a park in their neighborhood. We came back to a home-cooked breakfast!

One of the main attractions on any playground is the mulch.

Swing ecstasy

There was a perfectly-sized slide that E could get on and go down all by herself.

"beeeeeeeee!"

(this has become her word for "slide")

These pictures are now about 6 weeks old. Since then E has conquered larger slides on her own.

tickling a wiggleworm

This was taken after the aquarium with no nap. She was totally wired for a while and then she just lay down.

food lists

On E's fruit & vegetable list there are 6 items, counting ketchup and the tomato sauce hidden in pizza. The best bets are blueberries, bananas, and applesauce. Anything else depends on how hungry she is and her whimsy of the moment. One thing that occasionally helps the pureed vegetables' appeal is to swirl them in with some plain yogurt (which she loves).

I haven't made a list for her daddy, but I expect it would be shorter.

the done list

So far into my 3 day weekend I have accomplished the following:

Made a list of Proteins and Fruits/Vegetables that E will eat
Made a grocery list
Changed sheets
Vacuumed
Caught up with dishes - twice
Folded laundry
Did some work for my job
Sorted through some digital photos
Vacuumed cat hair off all the furniture
Cleaned up a hairball
Emailed a friend
Cleaned last night's supper off the floor
Mailed back a Netflix ("Life of Mammals" by David Attenborough)
Watched 2 episodes of "Lost" on dvd with my husband
Talked to my husband!
Paid bills
Sent a birthday card - on time!
Read some mail
Played with my daughter
Had my eyes examined
Browsed a bookstore
Made a blog posting
Cooked a squash for E (she tried it, at least)
Emptied trash and the diaper pail

watching the dolphin show

I like this look on her. I think it reminds me of my mom when she was little, or maybe Uncle Doug, rest in peace.

"gash"

E loves to put things in the trash for us. Nice that she's starting to earn her keep.

photo hounds

On our vacation we went to the National aquarium with our friends "R" and "L" who are both, like David, avid photographers. The first exhibit was of tree frogs.

All 3 of them crowd around with long lenses, zooming in on colorful frogs. It was like this for, I don't know, 30 minutes? We tried getting E to look at the frogs but she wasn't into it.

I think the humans are more interesting than the frogs. But I feel peer pressure. Below are my attempts to copy them.

a bullfrog floating

two blurry blue frogs

finally got one in focus

I eventually decided there was no point my trying to keep up. I think this was the last picture I took of an animal. I thought I had scores of pictures from the aquarium, but realize now I don't. I guess I spent all my time trying to entertain, placate, or corral the toddler. I remember being exhausted at the end.