Goings on – family update

Josie is transitioning to her preschool class now that she is turning 3.  She is having some trouble and has been fussy, waking some at night. It is a better fit for her though. She is smiling when Reena picks her up. Her birthday is tomorrow!

Xavier is a boy scout and I helped him do his food drive Saturday. We picked up food in two neighborhoods, one poorer than the other. Interestingly, about the same percentage of people give from the poor neighborhood as the richer one. Generosity seems  not to be  a function of what you have. hmmmmmm.

The kids soccer is over and though I won’t miss running them around,  I do like to see them on the weekends they are with their mother. I guess I’ll be doing more phone calls. I do want to get Gabrielle involved in something she will like.  She’s been talking about volunteering.

The kids are getting their H1N1 vaccination at school tomorrow. Josie had her 1st mist  a few weeks ago.

I am playing on a men’s basketball team at the YMCA and we are 4-1. We are an old group compared to most of the teams we play, but we have very competitive guys and even though we are sucking wind no one beats us by out-hustling us. I got a technical foul two games ago for being a wise ass. I had to pay a $10 fine –  42 year old man acting like I’m 14.

I did this 15 minutes of hell workout for the first time this morning that I ordered on DVD.  I feel tired this morning in a good way. I definitely can’t keep up with the guy. It has Japanese origins though the guy is from southern New England. www.closecombattraining.com I plan to do it daily except for ‘game day’.

Reena has been busy completing Clara Rose’s quilt and a panda blanket to match her sister’s.  We still expect to travel sometime in December but are not sure if we are going to go before or after Christmas.  I am still trying to learn some Chinese daily. Going to China is a motivator.

 Did I say Reena is a great Mommy? I know I seem like a kiss ass, but  she really is… she’s one of those fun moms. She loves to dance to this wiggly song tape with Josie, and Josie loves it.

Yummy

The ‘before’ (left) and ‘after’ images of a poster promoting curvy actress Kelly Brook’s appearance in Calendar Girls. The poster had to be changed because the iced buns covering her breasts were deemed too small and left too little to the imagination

Crap Snap Traffic

Like all kids her age, Josie is a parrot, so I get to listen in   on her mother’s adherence to common rules of decency when dealing with traffic. Mommy doesn’t do so well.  Josie gets real bent out of shape when cars dare to be stopped in front of us at a traffic light.  She yells, ” Move it! Let’s go!” and ” Don’t park there cars!” She also yells, ” God” and “Shoot” ( it may be shit, but I give Mommy the benefit of the doubt). I can’t be so generous as I share Josie’s tendency to say “Crap…Snap”. She says them together because we tend to say them together, trying to correct ourselves  and really just fooling ourselves.

After her tirades, Daddy calmly and patiently explains to Josie that we need to share the road with our friends, and that the road is for everybody, and we can all just get along if we can learn to calm down.

OK…. Mommy?

Only Words – DSMIV vs Team America

From a colleague on a listserve I am on:

We just had a visit from an editor of the Brit J of Psychiatry who is something of “expert” on so-called personality disorders.  He was claiming that although the research on the existence of the various disorder was poor, there was some empirical support for the clustering.  As you may recall the DSM clusters personality disorders into 3 clusters – as I recall cluster A being the ‘schizoid’, the ‘schizotypal’ etc., folk who are a tad out of touch with the sensitivities of those around them.  Then there is cluster B, which is the ‘Borderline’ and the anti-social etc, folk who go round shitting on others.  Then there is cluster C, which are avoidant and anxious types, who mostly just want to get along with others but are a bit wet.  These are my descriptors, but they are what came to mind as he droned his way through his powerpoint on personality disorder.  I began to chuckle to myself as it occurred to me that he was describing the same 3 clusters that are described in the puppet movie ‘Team America’.  If you have seen that movie there is a lovely scene where they describe the 3 types of people in the world – dicks, assholes, and pussies, and how they interact with each other.  I have found that many folk I have interacted with have related better to the Team America descriptors of personality than the DSMs.

This chili needs to calm down

Reena made some chili on Monday and Josie and I got our own special mild version. It was pretty spicy nonetheless and Joe was very vocal about it saying her tonge was hot. She called it ’soup’ because to her chile means cold and this was anything but cold. I was egging her on and upsetting Reena because I was acting like it was the hottest chile ever. Then Josie said, “this soup needs to calm down.”

 

This morning she saw some birds in a parking lot and she said , “those birds not supposed to park there.”

She went all day yesterday without a diaper and had no problems. Only concern, no poop. So she woke this morning  and I slapped a diaper on her.  I have only so much risk tolerance.

Bein’ weird

Gabrielle was goofing around  the other morning, brushing her teeth and jumping up and down in the dining room while Josie and Xavier were eating breakfast. This is the conversation that ensued.

Josie:  Gege (older brother) , Jiejie(older sister) doin’?

Xavier:  I don’t know.

Josie:  I don’t know either, bein’ weird.

 

She doesn’t just know her colors and shapes, she knows weird when she sees itt.

Racoon Kitty

Gabrielle had her physical and she definitely needs glasses.

Last night we were drving home and say a big racoon lumbering in the road. Gabrielle said, “oooh , kitty.”  She sounded like little Boo from Monster’s Inc calling Sully “Kitty.”

So it’s official – she needs glasses.

My teeth are hot

Josie was just explaining why she needed Dad to give her some juice.

Xavier did a car wash for his Boy Scout troop yesterday. He was holding up a sign to attract people to the fundraiser. Most people smiled and/or waved, so he was a little shocked when someone flipped him off. People feel real brave when they are behind a steering wheel. He told the older Scouts and they laughed.

Gabrielle got a nice compliment from her English teacher about her presentation of her summer written assignement. She said it was the best one she EVER heard

 Reena and I are watching DVD’s of this TV series called Weeds. I think it is in its 5th season now. We finished season 3 last night. It is pretty funny. We don’t smoke pot any more but it is fun too watch people who do.

Reena is working on Clara Rose’s quilt this afternoon. She’s making an apple pie with Josie this morning. They went apple picking at an orchard yesterday.

I have been putting some time into learning guitar – trying to get a minimum of 20 minutes 3 times a week. I end up doing it more often because it is fun and relaxing. I can play songs like Amazing Grace and When the Saints go Marching In.

I saw ‘em choo train

 

I yike ‘em choo choo train!

Josie said this at the breakfast table this morning to Gabrielle and Xavier. Just making conversation with them. Very cute the way she purses her lips when she says ‘choo choo’.

How about you? Do you yike ‘em too?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y2pLSC1__g  (48 seconds)

What can I say – I was raised on Bambi – I have a dark side.

Speaking of missing Mommy’s,

Josie’s comes home today.

WWWWD (What would wonderwoman do?)

I got this from http://althouse.blogspot.com

Lynda Carter eat your heart out.

 

 Lynda Carter I’ll put your eyes out with my boob armor.

I wouldn’t want to hug her though, not from the front anyway.

I would have hugged Lynda Carter, back in the day.