Nonlinear Girl

Fun with Photobooth

2008-11-17T10:16:00.000-08:00

Photo Booth is one of my favorite applications. Ada and I used it to document the moustaches we painted on one another. (She gave me more of a full beard, but she is only 3.)

Ada, still mastering the art of the fish-face.

Ada and Chris having fun with the Mirror function.

Random quote and unrelated photo of the week

2008-11-12T10:33:00.000-08:00

For the last half-century, Cuba has been America's cultural Other, a nearby example of what capitalists dread most (Communism! revolution! beards!).

Susann Cokal
Livin' La Vida Local

Candlelight

2008-11-11T07:09:00.000-08:00

To celebrate a blustery and rainy evening, Chris decided to make a fire in the fireplace. Ada loves helping carry wood and crumple newspaper for the fire, and they had a good time setting it up. Shortly after the fire started blazing and crackling, the power went out.

Ada had lots of questions about why there were no lights, and how to bring them back. Once she'd satisfied her curiosity and been sufficiently assured that the power would come back when it was ready, we gathered candles and flashlights and curled up in front of the fire.

Ada loved the specialness of being in the dark with us, and she was even more thrilled when she got to have (no cook!) PB&J and veggies for her candle-lit dinner. We brought candles into the bathroom and filled the tub with enough warm water for a nice cozy bath. We read books by flashlight (Ada proving herself an unreliable and easily distracted flashlight holder) and tucked her into bed.

Just as Chris and I were trying to figure out how to convert our dinner plans to work on the stovetop, the power came back on.

It was the best two hours of my day.

The Puzzle of "Before Ada"

2008-11-10T05:45:00.000-08:00

Chris and Ada, getting ready to walk to the store to buy eggs:

Ada, pointing to Chris's sweatshirt: What does that say?

Chris: Chicago. Do you know who lives in Chicago?

Ada: Barack Obama! Did Barack Obama give you that shirt?

Chris: No. A long time ago, Mama and Papa lived in Chicago.

Ada: When I was a baby?

Chris: Before you were born.

Ada: When I was in Mama's tummy?

Chris: Before that even.

Ada: Where was I?

Me, piping up from the couch: You were like a puzzle that hasn't been put together yet.

Ada: But where was I?

Chris: I had part of you and Mama had the other part.

Ada appeared momentarily satisfied with this answer, though it clearly made no sense to her. For those of you who have kids who are starting to ask this kind of question, how do you answer it? How do you explain the days BC (before child)?

In an unrelated thought, I got Ada to put the bat costume back on so I could get some wing shots:

You can see the ears on the hood, but I will settle for these pictures and rest on my laurels for a while.

Another Potty Post

2008-11-07T05:20:00.000-08:00

Pop quiz: what is more fun than being first-trimester nauseous?

Answer: feeling queasy while suffering a stomach bug passed on from your daughter. So much for that compulsive hand-washing.

Speaking of feeling queasy, I finally called Ada's pediatrician's office for advice on potty training. For those who have not heard me complaining about this before, Ada (at not quite 3.5) has rebuffed all of our efforts to get her to use the potty. Or to even ever sit on the potty, for the most part. We've tried cold turkey no-more-diapers, progressive rewards, outright bribes, peer pressure and pretty much everything else we could think of. Most recently I put all the potty related materials, including all her underwear, on a shelf and told her that when she was ready, everything was here for her.

Nothing has moved her. Lately one of her teachers has taken matters into her own hands. Although this has gotten Ada to sit on the potty (no peeing involved), it has also led to Ada's repeated declarations that she does not want to go to school.

So after hearing my "we've tried everything and I am going to have twins" tale of woe, the peds nurse suggested a few things.

Back off. Don't mention the potty too much, or push her to sit on or pee in it. When other kids are around, let her watch them use the potty.
Switch to cloth diapers, which will allow her to feel the cold wetness.
Try a no-pants day. Hole up in a room without carpeting and have her not wear any pants. Don't leave the room. When she needs to pee, she'll pee. Not necessarily in the potty, but peeing on the floor may be enough of a shock to help convince her.

As I've mentioned, I am desperate. Here's my response to the nurse's advice:

We've been doing this, although I have probably mentioned the potty more than the nurse suggests is okay. Ada is always interested in other kids potty use, and already sees her friends use the potty on a regular basis. We can keep trying it, but I am not sure what this is going to do on its own.
For her first two years, Ada was in cloth diapers. The summer she was two she decided to be no pants girl. When it was time to put diapers on, the difference between no diaper and cloth was pretty great. Ada declared she didn't like the cloth, so we decided to switch over. Foolishly, we thought with all this no-pants time, how much longer will she be wearing diapers anyway? I am willing to go back to cloth, even though I know (a) Ada will HATE them and no doubt pitch an enormous fit about the switch, and (b) I am going to have to buy a bunch of T5 pants to accomodate her huge cloth diaper. It could be a long winter of sweats and screaming.
I am not entirely sure how this is different from the "no more diapers" thing we did (to no success) at the end of the summer. I am willing to try it, but only on a day when Chris is around. If we hole up in the kitchen (the only room in the house with no rugs), how am I going to pee? This definitely sounds like a tag-team event. In any case, I don't put much stock in its ability to move Ada along, so I think we'll try cloth before trying this.

The whole conversation with the nurse took place in my local Walgreens, because of course she chose that moment to call me back. Thank goodness for cell phones, and for stores where people don't notice a tearful woman wandering the aisles finger the merchandise and talking about her potty.

Random quote and unrelated photo of the week

2008-11-05T09:13:00.000-08:00

If you are going to be a grammar pedant, you are gonig to lose a lot of the joy of the language.

Paul McFedries
Quoted by Natasha Singer
A Label for A Pleather Economy

Hopefully not side by side

2008-11-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

Ellen and Monkey Boy were talking about babies. Ellen told Monkey Boy that I had two babies growing in me right now.

Monkey Boy said: "That is so cool. I have never seen two babies come out of Nora before!"

Costume? Check. Picture? Eh, not so much.

2008-11-02T18:46:00.000-08:00

A month ago I asked Ada what she wanted to be for Halloween. She immediately replied: "a bat!" This thrilled me, because a year after I saw this costume idea I was still excited to try it out. I happened to have an old purple umbrella. Luckily Ada is a big fan of purple, so the suggestion that she be a purple bat went over swimmingly (flappingly? what would be the right bat metaphor?)

Chris and Ada found a purple hoodie in her size, and I dismembered the umbrella. I had to make a few adjustments to the original instructions, as Ada's arms and torso are a bit smaller than the woman's pictured in the Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories pictures. Still, it turned out pretty well and Ada was even willing to wear the costume (a change from last year).

The weather - which earlier this week turned from the amazing, glorious beautiful fall warmth we'd enjoyed for a month to more seasonably rainy and cool - cooperated and no little ghouls, gobblins or bats were rained on.

After the work I put into Ada's costume, I failed to document the success appropriately, taken as I was with our thundering horde of costumed children as they rampaged down the street in search of ever more sugar. I snapped a few pictures, but in the twilight I got mostly fuzzy images. Here is one look at Ada's battyness.

You don't get a good view of the wings in this picture, but maybe later this week I can get Ada to put on the costume again so I can document the impressive flapping.

All in all, it was a great Halloween. This was the first time Ada got the idea that she could knock on people's doors and receive candy. The collection was almost as fun as the eating. Almost. We had a great time trick-or-treating with friends, including Monkey Boy (who went as a yellow Shrek ghost with muffins - his idea). Actualy, he only wore the costume for a few minutes, because he quickly realized that it impeded his candy intake. After that he wore it around his waist and went as a kid who really needed some more candy. To be fair, all the kids went as that.

Random quote and unrelated photo of the week

2008-10-30T06:03:00.000-07:00

"Why do some of them feel like they can wear black spandex pants and a puffy shirt and be allowed to call themselves pirates?" said John Macek, a member of the Pirate Brethren.

Michael Brick
Can I get an Arrgh?

Once a Month Is Not Too Much To Ask

2008-10-29T07:02:00.000-07:00

Last year I wrote about my friend Stephanie's battle with breast cancer. I hoped that more than a wagging finger demanding people conduct self-exams, Stephanie's story might get a few more women to take action on a monthly basis. It has helped me remember, and I tend to be terrible about that kind of thing.

This year I want to encourage you to conduct self-exams by telling you something happier. At last summer's Blogher, I met two fantastic women who have become daily reads: Laurie and Susan. These women are articulate, funny and kind. And they have both battled cancer. Both have had good news on that front in recent weeks and months. I so much enjoy reading their blogs and am thrilled by their good health.

I hope my female readers will start or continue to do monthly self-exams. Those of you with blogs bring me a lot of joy, and my readers without also add to my life through your comments and good wishes. (Also, as a health policy wonk, I have a professional as well as personal interest in good health.) Take this small step. Hopefully you'll never find anything, but if you do I hope it is caught early and is but a small bump in your road.

Good health and good wishes to us all!

From Indonesia, With Obama Rap

2008-10-28T13:27:00.000-07:00

A local friend of mine works on some environmental projects in Indonesia. He forwarded me this video made by some friends of his in Bogor. It made me smile, and I thought that at the very least Gwen would be interested in this.

Cue the Paul Simon

2008-10-27T06:39:00.000-07:00

How fun is this? (Very.)

Oh I love Poladroid. It almost makes up for the loss of Polaroid film production.

(via HappyMundane)

How to be Helpful

2008-10-27T05:27:00.000-07:00

While chatting with an old friend last week, we talked about the ways in which people say inadvertently rude things. We were specifically talking about fertility and pregnancy, and discussed the ways people can be well meaning but still say the wrong thing. (Last time I was pregnant, several times I had one person tell me how big I looked, just to have another say I looked small. On the same day.)

When I was pregnant with Ada, the response was overwhelmingly positive. Now that I am telling people I am carrying twins, I have heard more versions of "boy is your life over" comments. I'd like to state for the record that this is NOT HELPFUL. I know that the next few years are going to be challenging in ways I can and can not imagine. I am still reeling a bit from the news that I will be a mother of three. Hearing that my life is going to change for the worse is just not useful.

Almost every parent will acknowledge that having an infant is a life-changing event, and that those changes are not uniformly positive. However, something about the rarity of twins or the fear it causes in other people is enough to cause otherwise polite people to try to scare the crap out of me.

I Smelled the Pinon Wood and Lost My Mind

2008-10-24T05:32:00.000-07:00

I spent the first part of the week in Santa Fe (one of my favorite places). I wish I could bottle the smell: part pinon wood, part . . . oh, who cares what else, have you smelled pinon wood?

I was in New Mexico for work, and it was a pretty productive, interesting meeting. The meeting did not start until 1pm on Monday, but in order to get there in time I flew out on Sunday. This meant that I had some free time in NM. My colleague and I decided to check out Tent Rocks. It was beautiful and totally worth visiting, even though it made us a bit late for the start of the meeting.

I foolishly took only my old camera (the one that freezes up when I try to zoom in). I was not sure I would get to go for a hike, and I was not sure it would be worthwhile to lug my SLR all over. That was a mistake. (Which Chris helpfully pointed out to me just now.) Had I taken the good camera, the above picture would not have those weird smudgy marks on it, but I will just let that go now.

As happens almost every time I travel, I felt an initial surge of love for my destination. Looking at (other people's) pictures of Tent Rocks, this is probably easy to understand. But I am not talking about my experience in the great outdoors. I am talking about the first 20 minutes of my drive to Santa Fe. While I was on I-25, not yet outside of Albuquerque.

Driving north out of town, I recalled the first time I visited New Mexico ten years ago. I remembered bringing Chris there for the first time, and a more recent visit during which we accidentally conquered the highest peak in the state. My heart swelled and I felt simultaneous wistful nostalgia and joy. A little crazy, I know, especially because I still had 40+ minutes of driving on an increasingly dark highway where the minimum speed is higher than Oregon's top allowed.

By the time I got to my hotel my head had cleared some (thanks in no small part to the radio selections, which included a Spanish language version of Singing in the Rain and a few minutes of Christian broadcasters talking about why people should get involved in electoral politics). I had a fantastic dinner and worked hard for most of the next two days. But I still have a schoolgirl-crush on New Mexico, and went so far as to inadvertently suggest to the state's Human Services Secretary that she should hire me. Really, it came out wrong, I was just trying to explain the warmth of my feelings toward New Mexico. In any case, her state government is under a hiring freeze, so I got back on the plane this afternoon without having to figure out how to tell Chris that we need to move. His skin gets so dry, after all.

7 Thoughts Since Wednesday at 10:30 AM

2008-10-23T05:56:00.000-07:00

Laurie tagged me for a meme, and since I was in the middle of making a list of the stuff that is filling my head in the wake of the twin news, it was easy to play along. The rules are:

Post the rules on your blog.
Write 7 random things about yourself.
Tag 7 ~~people~~ the one person you think might not be annoyed about it.
Pass on the tag.

1) I guess we won't be moving Ada into the big bedroom after all.

2) I hope my close pal's future daughter doesn't mind having two best friends.

3) Now that gas prices are going back down will all the good deals on mini-vans be disappearing?

4) I am really not going to fit into any clothes in a few months.

5) Maybe leashes for children aren't so horrible after all.

6) How funny it is that once I come to terms with not having a second baby, I find out that I will have a third too. Not funny ha ha, but funny, am I going to be tired.

7) I'd better start paying attention to those twin blogs. I think Sarah drinks more than I do. That could be important.

I tag Rebecca, who is a few weeks ahead of me in her twin pregnancy. And anyone, pregnant or not, who wants to do this (email me or comment and I will link to you).

Making a List

2008-10-22T11:53:00.000-07:00

I know I have a while yet to worry about this, but I am not crazy about any of these names.*

*yes, that is a sneaky way of saying the OB scan showed two little fetuses with two strong heartbeats. Oh my.

Random quote and unrelated photo of the week (Non-Kosher Edition)

2008-10-22T06:05:00.000-07:00

Milk has few enemies.

Rob Walker
Consumed: Milk Carton

Don't Notice It

2008-10-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ada took a big spill the other day, scraping up her knees and chin. The moment itself freaked her out, sending her into a mood tailspin that lasted most of our breakfast with our pals. The pancake helped cheer her up, thankfully.

Ada was upset enough in the moment that I did not try to wash off the scrapes. I figured I would be able to clean the wounds later, when she was less worked up. I was wrong. Not only does Ada resist anyone touching her sore knees, she does not want us to LOOK at them. If I mention the existence of her scab, she tells me: "don't notice it."

The Joys of Childhood, Fall Edition

2008-10-20T05:00:00.000-07:00

Random quote and unrelated photo of the week

2008-10-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

At Brown . . . Mr. Levine majored in English and art semiotics ("That's sort of half reading Foucault and Bauldrillard and half making stuff." he explained)

Charles McGrath
Hazy Halcyon Days of Pot and Puberty

The Muddiest Corner of the World

2008-10-15T06:02:00.000-07:00

After a quick descent into rain, Portland has been basking in the joy of autumn sun for the past few days. We enjoyed some time outside with our pals.

They did warn us.

Pumpkins and mud = child paradise

Ada, contemplating which was the exact best pumpkin

This one didn't have to get down in the mud, but still looked concerned about it

Post-pumpkin purchase (king of the hay-bale hill)

Not As Painful As You Would Think

2008-10-14T05:57:00.000-07:00

For the past month or so I have been thinking that I should do something to support one of the candidates for whom I will be voting. I finally took the plunge Monday night, and I am here to say that it was a lot easier that I thought it would be.

I called people on a "friendly" list, which means they have either said they supported Obama or previously volunteered for the campaign. Once I realized that I did not have to ask people for money, the whole thing got a lot easier. I was asking people to volunteer: to register voters, to make get-out-the-vote calls or to canvas their neighborhoods. I told people it was even kind of fun, which it was. I met some nice people and drilled through a list quickly thanks to the large number of people who are not home at 5pm. Or who are using caller ID. In any case, the people I talked to were nice, and several even agreed to volunteer. I felt great, and it took very little time. You should try it.

If you live in Oregon, you can volunteer for the Obama campaign (even for just an hour at a time, if that is what you have) by calling (503) 236-2008. Or by stopping by a campaign office.

By the way, Tuesday (Today!) is the last day to register to vote in Oregon. If you are an Oregonian and not registered, DO IT TODAY.

Mysteries revealed

2008-10-13T10:19:00.000-07:00

Ada and I enjoyed dinner with friends at the kid-friendly patio of a favorite local restaurant. The patio is covered with small rocks, which are super fun for toddlers to arrange and re-arrange while their parents eat and try to ignore the funny looks of childless diners.

On the way home, Ada declared: I'm mysterious. Do you know what mysterious means?

Me: Yes. Do you know what mysterious means?

Ada: It means that when you put rocks in your pants, you have to take them out.

When we got home and she took off her clothes before the bath, two small rocks fell out of her diaper. So much for mysterious.

Considering maybe being a little excited, maybe

2008-10-09T22:37:00.000-07:00

People keep asking if I am excited. Thrilled. Very very happy.

I feel a little weird saying, "um, not yet."

I do expect to get excited, but I remember this caution from four years ago. Sure, I got a positive pregnancy test, but what about the follow up? Ok, today I got a good follow up test, but what will I see at the ultrasound in a couple of weeks? What will the tests say about genetic mutations or other deformities? I didn't really feel comfortable with the idea that the pregnancy was for real until about 14 weeks. This time I hope it will be a little easier to relax, but I am still a litle stunned.

After a year of failed attempts, I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around success. I am able to wrap my head around the need to hurry, however. Knowing that in a few weeks I will be exhausted, I have a mental list of all the things I need to get accomplished before then. I planted bulbs and transplanted some of the plants that were unhappy this year. I still have a bunch of fall gardening to do, including getting in a cover crop in the veggie beds. I need to give the guest room a good scrub down and reorganization. I need to tackle the headboard I have been thinking about making. There is so much to do, but all I want to do is sit on the couch and think about how this could possibly be true.

Yes, I think I will be excited, once I get over the shock. For now I am relying on how excited my friends and family are; their responses are lifting me out of stillness. I am working on it, but for now forgive me if I look a bit dazed when you ask if I am excited. I have gotten what I wanted, I just can't believe it is true.

Random quote and unrelated photo of the week

2008-10-08T10:48:00.000-07:00

We basked in complacency.

Teresa DiFalco
Modern Love