local news

It's a ritual of mine to watch the local forecast before I fall asleep at night. There are two channels that have news at 10:00 p.m.; channel 29 (Fox) and channel 17 (NBC 10 does their news). Every night they give a teaser for the weather at the beginning of the program. The weather person will come on and say something like, "The temperature right now is 57 degrees. It was a bit cool and rained in some places today. More Earthwatch forecast coming up."

Then they do a bunch of stories and a few rounds of ads until the meteorologist comes back to give the weather that everyone cares about -- the forecast, fore meaning in the future, what is to come. I hate how the news, especially the weather, acts like it's a drama instead of the news. Why do we have to wait to hear what the weather is going to be. Just tell us at the beginning instead of informing us what the weather is outside our windows at that very moment.

baby Doodle is darn cute, and useful

Today baby Doodle and I met Mr. Doodlebug and two of his/our friends for lunch in Center City. Our waitress was so taken with baby Doodle that she commented frequently on how perfect and adorable he is. I agreed, of course. As she came to our table to refill our waters and check on us baby Doodle would bat his long lashes and smile at her. He stared as she walked away. At one point she asked if we need a babysitter. Sure, I said. I gave her our names and phone number. She lives in Ardmore. Way to go baby Doodle! Score!

hometown hit hard

My hometown, Rutland, Vermont, was hit hard by Monday's Nor'Easter. Trees that have been standing for years were uprooted by the 70-mile per hour winds. Houses were ruined, telephone poles were snapped in half, the downtown was abandoned by merchants and customers alike, and many Rutlanders still don't have power. There are some video clips on the Rutland Herald's website as well as a photo gallery. (Getting to the photos is a little complicated: first click on the lead story, then on the far right there is a panel with links to related articles and media. Under the media heading there is a link to photo gallery. Click on that.) There were no fatalities.

My mother lives in Rutland and her house is without power, but she is currently in Montpelier legislating, hopefully to get help for our city.

a sophisticated eater

Baby Doodle is not only a good eater in that he eats a lot, he's also an adventurous eater. Some of his favorite somewhat exotic foods include:
asparagus
mango
olives
polenta
baba ghanoush
edamame
flounder
artichokes
roasted red pepper (and plain red pepper)
tofu
German mountain cheese

He's also tried hummus and cantaloupe, and doesn't like either. The only other thing he doesn't like is broccoli. Everything else he eats up like a vacuum cleaner with a new bag.

$40 wasted

Baby Doodle has a sty on the underside of his left eyelid. We found this out because I took him to the doctor on Friday to find out why his eyelid was red and swollen only allowing him to open his eye a mere 10% of the way in the mornings. Doctor Watson presribed eye drops and told me to administer them twice to three-times a day waiting for him to blink before letting him get up.

Mr. Doodlebug picked up the eye drops at the pharmacy while I enjoyed a drink at happy hour. He saw that the price of the drops was $40 and made a comment about how expensive they were. The pharmacist said that they were normally $100 without insurance, and that baby Doodle must have something serious to require these powerful antibiotics. When Mr. D relayed the conversation to me I was disturbed because it didn't seem necessary to have something so powerful for a sty.

I called my friend whose husband is an ophthamologist and he said they never prescribe antibiotics for a sty unless it infects the eye. He thought the drops were overkill and that the drops will irritate his eye more than the sty itself. We found this to be true the one, and only, time I gave him the drops. He also said that the most important thing is to put a warm compress on his eye as often as possible to make the sty come to a head and drain.

I called the pediatrician's office and told the doctor that the drops were too hard to get into BD's eyes and asked if they were really necessary. She said, "no." And then went on to say that warm compresses are more important. Thanks for telling me that the first time around!

So we used two drops of the $40 tiny bottle of antibiotics and have been using a warm compress ever since. It seems to be working. His eye, though not completely normal, is looking much better today.

Living with Mr. Doodlebug

I was in the family room rocking baby Doodle to get him to calm down enough to put him in his crib for his afternoon nap when Mr. Doodlebug came in having just left the bathroom. He was laughing quite hard and said, "Do you want to hear a joke I just made up?"
"Sure."
"Knock, knock"
"Who's there?"
"Peon"
"Peon who?"

ha ha ha

He felt the need to repeat the joke while we were eating dinner tonight. Right after we cleaned our plates Mr. Doodlebug unconsciously pounded the table a few times with his fist, burped, then said excuse me. Then he proudly said, "You didn't know I had burped did you?"
"Yes, I did."
"How?"
"You brought a lot of attention to yourself when you pounded the table before you belched."
He looked enlightened, like he didn't know he had hit the table at all. But then he thought about it and agreed, that yes he had in fact acted like baby Doodle does when he wants more food. Earlier in the evening Mr. D had pounded his chest like Tarzan to help himself burp. The burp that ensued was loud and disgusting. Baby Doodle stared at him in disbelief. I hope he's not picking up these gestures from his father.

The Office obsession

It turns out Angela, Dwight's girlfriend Angela, is hot. Check out how hot she is. Jan is hot too. She's the big boss and Michael's girlfriend, sort of.

I am officially 29 and a half

The older I get the more I notice that some people have already achieved professional success who are younger than me. It used to be just sports players because most of them hit their primes when they're in their twenties. I am almost out of my twenties.

Last night Mr. Doodlebug and I watched The Office, as we always do on Thursday nights. I have known that B.J. Novak, who plays Ryan on the show, is young, but for my own sanity I assumed he was in his early 30s and just had a young face. Not the case. He's 27! B.J. not only plays Ryan, but more impressively, he produces and writes for the show. He wrote the episodes, "Sexual Harassment" and "Diversity Day," and last night's episode on safety, among others. He also produced "Conflict Resolution," "Branch Closing" and "The Convict."

As I get older I realize that there are people who are doing exactly what they want to be doing with their lives, they're brilliant -- in the case of B.J. -- or amazing -- in the case of Ryan Howard. I have let life do its thing on me, rather than the other way around. Not that I'm complaining. I love staying home with baby Doodle, and I know when he's older, even now, I have his presence to show for my work. But it's not my calling. It's not what I want to do with my life. It's not what I am brilliant at. I feel so old.

updated pictures of baby Doodle

Sunglasses, his or mine, don't stay on his head for more than five seconds, but he loves to play peek-a-boo with them.

















At our local playground. He loves the swings and going both up and down the slide.

















With me on his birthday.

If you read this blog you know baby Doodle loves to eat. Here he is eating some penne with tomato sauce and clapping his hands.

fortunate

Today at the playground baby Doodle and I had the good fortune to hang out with a little girl who has a brain tumor. She's three. She's been in and out of CHOP since November. She had to relearn how to walk. She had a feeding tube for a while and is now eating regular food like a normal kid. She has a little brother who is 20-months old.

The whole family has been through so much over the past five months. I can't even begin to fathom what it must be like to be that precious girl's mother. They lived at the hospital for more than a month and lived at the girl's grandparents in New Jersey for a while, too. They're finally back home in East Falls, Philly, and they were at our park today.

I have been checking up on the girl and her family through a website her aunt updates weekly. The girl is walking around (with a bit of a limp) quite well. She is in good spirits and just being around her was inspiring. Her mother, too, seemed so put together. She has a great outlook on life, as does her amazing daughter.

I felt uplifted when I left the playground today.

Happy Birthday Baby Doodle

My boy is one today! I can't believe it has been a whole year since I was in the hospital and baby Doodle was just a flexible, skinny, tiny baby who cried and ate and nothing else. He's growing up so fast -- it's such a cliche but it's true. We had a party at our house for BD today. My mother and brother came down from Vermont yesterday, Mr. Doodlebug's parents came from NJ and some of our friends some of whom have babies came too. I guess a one-year old isn't considered a baby any more. That makes me sad.

My brother who works in construction in Vermont made baby Doodle a rocking horse from one giant piece of wood from a sugar maple tree. It is beautiful and BD loves it! We don't have a picture of him riding it, but I'll take one and post it later.

We had good food and company. Baby Doodle ate cake for the first time, in fact it was the first time he's had real sugar (other than fruit). He loved it. He picked up some big chunks and put them in his mouth reaching for more while his cheeks were still packed with the previous bite. But that's how he eats all of his food. He was quite a civilized cake eater.

Some of baby Doodle's developments are:

1. He no longer nurses 12 to 14 times a day. Now he nurses 2 to 3 times a day.
2. He no longer sleeps in our room, and hasn't for a long time.

3. I no longer have to rock him to sleep for his naps. He sleeps in his crib after a little rocking with me.

4. He signs when he wants to be picked up, when he wants more of anything, usually food, when he doesn't want something he shakes head no, but sometimes he does that randomly, he also does the sign for all gone when the story is over or when the food is gone.

5. He puts things away now, instead of just taking them out of their place.

6. He leans in with his mouth open to kiss me, Mr. Doodlebug, his books, pictures of people and pretty much anyone who asks for one.

7. He climbs up the slide at the playground with my hand on his butt.

8. He climbs up the stairs unassisted.

9. He pulls himself up, but does not stand unassisted.

10. He selects a book he wants me to read him and brings it to me holding up. I read it and he turns the pages. With some of the books he knows when to turn the page, with some of them I have to say "turn the page," and he does.

I love him so much. He's sweet and loving and adorable. I feel very lucky.