didionville

updates are on their way … we’ve been pretty busy lately, largely because i decided to begin teething last saturday.

i drool. i wail. i chomp on things.

and i suspect this is going to be a marathon process. mommy and daddy can feel a little lump in my bottom gum, but it’s not swollen or red … so who knows when the tooth is going to decide to make an appearance.

when i’m not in teething mode, i am in eating mode. i eat as much as i can as fast as i can, and mommy’s really been mixing it up with my menu options. she bought yummy organic baby food, and i’ve been wolfing it down. it’s pretty awesome when a turkey-vegetable puree ACTUALLY TASTES like turkey and vegetables.

oh, and i’ve also taught myself how to take off my bib and throw it to the ground with great authority. i like to wrestle mommy over whether i will wear my bib, and guess what? i usually win. can you tell?

o.k., so worry not. i’m meeting with my media team over the next few days, and before you know it, you will be totally in-the-know.

more later …

i’ve had a lot to say lately, which has made for some colorful dinner conversation. here, i’m a little slow to start, but once i get going, i can guarantee you’ll hear me. (oh, and please excuse the jiggly camera work. mommy is certainly no expert in this arena; besides, most of the time she was laughing.)

from vimeo.com posted with vodpod

yet another amazingly fabulous day in an incredible week … should we feel a little guilty batting a thousand in the good weather and good vibes arenas?

this morning mommy and i went to the poughkeepsie public library to our “mommy and me” class … i use “class” loosely. the period lasts only 15-20 minutes, but it’s packed with songs and dancing and stories, and it’s just long enough to keep me and my peers interested, but not so long that we meltdown.

then mommy took me to daddy’s work. (on the way, mommy noticed how, when she blurred and squinted her eyes, she could see a haze of green over the trees … green from their buds!) we picked daddy up and went to lunch!

i loooooove seeing my daddy during the day!

when we got home, the thermostat said it was 66 degrees in the house! without the heat! all by itself, it was 66!!! (and it was WARMER outside!!!) mommy opened a bunch of windows to let in the sun and the warm air. we got a terrific cross breeze, and mommy decided there was only one thing she and i could do:

DANCE!!!

so she put on some michael franti, and she and i boogied. she had me twirling and jiggling and flying through the air. it was super awesome!

mommy also noticed that i am really anxious to learn how to sit up on my own. i squeeze my abs together (you WISH you had my abdominal strength!), but i can’t quite sit myself up … mommy and daddy say i am doing it the hard way and that i need to learn how i can use momentum from rolling on my side and having my arm under me …

o.k., o.k. … i’ll work on it …

it’s 7:20 in the P.M. and our windows are STILL open … the thermometer on the porch STILL says 70 degrees (though it always reads warmer than it really is) … and the sun is STILL out, not quite completely set.

gosh, spring is wonderful!

did you feel it yesterday?

that cosmic energy force reverberating all day long … making everyone’s aura just a little bigger, a little brighter …

come on, you HAD TO HAVE felt it …

IT WAS AUNTIE LORETTA’S BIRTHDAY!!!

duh!

“how old,” you ask? … good question. i asked, too, and mommy groaned, “OLD!” but still a few months younger than mommy …

*** *** ***

we also had a naturific experience with a late-afternoon influx of deer in the backyard … not exactly *IN* the backyard, but just beyond the fence, in the neighbor’s backyard.

mommy counted a total of six deer. they were just chillin’, and mommy was surprised by how close they let her get. a lot of people who have lived here their whole lives think deer are pests. mommy and daddy definitely don’t think this way, and mommy will never get tired of seeing them. who cares if they eat the landscaping … priorities, people!

photos:

closer and bigger …

this deer was the bravest and took the greatest interest in mommy and me …

check out the super-white tail …

and then there was grover …

mommy took me to the pharmacy, and when i saw this grover puppet, i swore I HAD TO HAVE IT!

now we are working on our comedy act …

big stuff happened on tuesday.

big-boy ryan got to go home from the hospital with his mommy. his size definitely contributed to a relatively rough delivery, but his size also helped him get super-strong afterwards.

you go, ryan!

that was in the morning.

in the afternoon, mommy and i had to take izzie to the vet. you see, izzie likes to do this:

and lately his back legs have been giving out. at first mommy and daddy thought his muscles were just sore. then they thought the floors were just too slippery (all of a sudden??? and certainly NOT from being clean!) … but they resigned themselves to the fact that izzie is getting old (9 years), and that he was getting bad hips and arthritis like bigger dogs often do.

mommy was not handling this prospect very well.

so off to the vet we go … and GOOD NEWS!

izzie’s bod is in great shape! his hips and musculature are awesome (as always). he actually has a COMPRESSED DISC! can you believe it? g-pa jer, auntie jen, mommy … they all have bad backs … and now izzie, too?!?!?!?!

the vet says it’s from an injury … mommy and daddy think it is likely from hurling himself into the tree when he jumps on his rope.

but, gosh, does he LOVE pulling on that rope.

prescription: muscle relaxants, steroids, and rest.

prognosis: full recovery.

so i guess it hasn’t been a WHOLE week since my last post, but close enough. my crew and i have been really busy lately, largely because SPRING IS HERE!

and, boy, has the activity level picked up around here.

dog’s happy, cat’s happy (a rarity under any condition), daddy’s happy, and — most importantly — mommy’s happy … daddy says a happy mommy means a happy home, and mommy says daddy is RIGHT!

the weather was so nice that day, mommy put izzie on his rope TWICE, and when daddy came home, he and mommy and i sat out on the deck and watched him play.

witness:

notice no snow!

now notice my amazing blue eyes (and how humble i am) …

mommy’s still holding out hope my eyes go green … feel free to place your bets …

ain’t no thang …

mommy and daddy like to set up these exercises for me (yawn). i humor them because it makes my day easier when they’re clapping and laughing and giggling.

just now daddy saw me reaching for my binky while sitting next to him on the couch, so he gave it to mommy to put it out of my reach. daddy put me on my tummy so i could shimmy my way over to pick it up.

and, of course, i did just that.

mommy and daddy clapped and cheered while i dragged my booty a good eight inches down the couch to get my binky and entertain them.

whatever it takes to keep them docile and content.

oh, and, yes, i am a five-month-old stud.

now i’m going to take a break and poop.

so i think i have come to terms with ucla’s loss. number one, i had to. i can’t be wasting any more mental energy on it. number two, the odds are quite high that if kevin love goes pro, he will likely be out here gracing the roster of one our east coast teams … with all the marbles miami is going to have, he may be on the heat, but i would hate to have him suffer under pat riley. (the state of the heat, i SWEAR, is karmic retribution for riley (or shaq) running van gundy outta town …)

better for all of us over here in didionville would be love’s coming to the knicks … if there is any justice in the universe (and we think there is — see previous parenthetical), (1) isiah thomas is out under the leadership of donnie walsh; (2) walsh can keep skeevy james dolan occupied with some vanity projects; and (3) love lands in new york to be a fresh, professional, magnanimous, driven, and talented force coming out of the garden.

of course, walsh will also have to find a coach who can motivate and manage, who knows a few things about labor law, and who can cull talent from the existing roster.

a girl can dream, can’t she?

The Yankees, Mets, and — most devastating — UCLA all lost today. The first two we are dealing with o.k.; there are 150+ baseball games left.

But UCLA’s season is O-V-E-R.

Leslie is not happy.

Adding insult to injury, UCLA did not even put on a good showing. They did not play like a championship team at all, and the results showed it. Porous defense, soft rebounding, and, most inexplicable of all, uncoordinated offense. It was reminiscent of a regular season game Didion and I watched. UCLA is supposed to be very well coached, but that did not show in this game: no ball movement and few passes into the post to take advantage of UCLA’s big advantage — Kevin Love, who, we suspect is going to announce his entry into the NBA draft, effectively giving UCLA the finger and seriously handicapping next season’s squad. Suffice it to say, the (game) loss has cast a pall; Love jumping ship is only going to thicken it.

I am off to hang some black bunting.

mommy and daddy took me to DIA:beacon this afternoon. the building is so cool. it’s an old factory that is on the national registry of historic places. mommy and daddy were talking about how awesome it is that a museum’s building can be its own piece of art and actually complement the exhibitions inside …

we went through all the galleries. i saw all sorts of stuff: awesomely clever geometric drawings, big blocks of color, huge screen prints, glowing lights, twisted metals … a giant spider! it was really interesting. i have to say that my favorite things to look were the blinking neon lights. they were pretty hypnotic. (no links to those because mommy can’t find any. take my word for it, though; they were really neat.)

mommy and daddy spent a lot of time in their favorite part of the museum: the gallery that holds serra’s torqued ellipses. mommy and daddy took me in and around the humongous rusted metal sculptures. they talked about how cool it was to walk in and around them and see how the light and space change. they also told me that grandpa chuck really likes them, too. grandpa chuck has good taste.

then i did stuff like jabber and laugh and play. i also ate my body weight in food (and pooped same).

it was a good day.