Alex in the canoe at Merchants Mill Pond

Merchants Mill Pond

This weekend Nana Mary, our hero, came to stay with Molly (the antihero?) for the weekend while Josh and Alex and I, as well as our friend Matt & his cousin Pat, camped at Merchants Mill Pond in northeastern NC. The weather was great, the wildlife abundant, the campfire food yummy. If I hadn't gotten a raging caffeine-withdrawal headache on Saturday necessitating the canoe trip back to the dock for a raid on the vending machine, it would've been idyllic. Good to know that if I'm ever lost on a desert island the first frustration I will face will be migraine-quality headaches due to lack of access to diet Coke. Guess I won't be auditioning for Survivor.

It was fun to dedicate some time to Alex and he really enjoyed the trip, despite not having the proper appreciation for a truly perfectly roasted campfire marshmallow. I mean, if you just prefer them RAW, out of the bag, what in the world kind of taste do you have, anyway? And if you won't even try a s'more because you "don't like chocolate", then you're just a little freak. But we love our little freak, and in homage to him we post a few words he still trips over. There are more that I am racking my brain to remember, but the decaffeination effects must still be with me....

callapitter for caterpillar (which he painstakingly sounded out in a writing assignment to spell, logically, "calupitr"
qweshkin for question -- I don't understand this one as it seems harder than the real word
and new from our camping trip:
allergy for algae
and booty for buoy

A Random Link

Despite my parents' best efforts to haul me to the symphony every year for my annual dose of culture and send us to piano lessons, I remain a person with a tin ear for classical music. But this was a really interesting article about a sort of psychological experiment involving classical music, by one of my favorite guys at the WaPo, Gene Weingarten. No one ever stages psychological experiments along Six Forks Road, so I never know how typically or atypically I would have behaved. But I like to think I would have stopped.

Molly's vocabulary

Hi, this is Josh posting today. We often say that Molly doesn't talk. That's mostly true, but to give her some credit, here is a list of words she says, or at least the ones we could remember this weekend:

Ma - more
Uh oh - something fell. Does not convey that it was an accident.
Mama - Jen. Also Josh, Alex and lots of other people. She's determined not to say Dada.
Ama - not sure. Perhaps it means the same as Mama?
No - she's very good at this one
Nigh nigh -- night night without the Ts
All gone
Juish - juice
Wow
Was dat? - What's that. I have not heard this one much.

And long lectures of baby talk, often delivered into a telephone she's carrying around. Exception: If anyone is on the other end of the line hoping Molly will say something, she gets very quiet.

Christ is risen and the camera is back

What a handsome boy. It is getting increasingly hard to get good pictures of him without him ducking. This weekend he got his first "semi-pro" haircut (no offense, Great Clips). It looks a lot better than the Mama Specials.



A rare daytime sighting of the Easter bunny.

Here is what I bought for Molly to wear for Easter.


Here is what she actually wore for Easter.


Despite the chilly temperatures, we had fun. Here is part of Papa Dennis' coaching of Alex on baseball: "See, when you hear the bat hit the grass like that, you're not swinging right."

There might also be pictures of a couple of folks that I didn't give birth to... I'll post those someday too. :)

What to Expect the Toddler Years' opinion of Molly

So I am consulting this book as part of my investigation into whether Molly is a typically crazy toddler, or an atypically crazy toddler. The book repeatedly says that it can be very difficult to determine, and is probably a matter of opinion, whether a toddler is "unusually difficult" or "typically difficult."

Here is another passage: "Sometimes toddlers who are physically precocious -- the early walkers, climbers, jumpers, ball-throwers -- are later talkers; they put so much of their energy and concentration into physical exploits that they have little left over for verbal exploration."

Here is Molly's vocabulary to date: Mama (applied indiscriminately to all people, including her dad, brother, grandmother, and herself); no; something resembling hello and night-night; mas (more); and some animal sounds.

Here are Molly's skills, to date: running, jumping, walking up and down steps holding the wall, climbing onto tables, opening, running, and climbing on top of the dishwasher, opening the refrigerator and removing yogurts, freeing herself from any sort of buckle such as the kind on booster seats and shopping carts, climbing the ladder on her playground, going down slides, balancing as she walks along walls, climbing onto sofas, and running full tilt into the street.

The camera is on its way, guys. Not for much longer will there be this boringness.

Of digital cameras and disposability

So my digital camcorder (video) has also been on the fritz for a while, it's about 2 to 3 years old now. I finally got in touch with Panasonic troubleshooting who told me I would have to send it in for service -- to the same town full of electronics wizards that I send my Canon regular digital camera to, Elk Grove Village, IL. I guess they killed all the elk up there and had to find a new line of work.

So anyway, for a camcorder no longer under warranty, the standard repair charge is $261.50. As far as I can tell, that is also the approximate midpoint for new camcorders....which would presumably be sold by Panasonic.

Maybe there will be pictures in a week or two

I finally got the camera shipped off and it has been received and promised to be back to me in 7 business days. Also, I got a new cell phone to replace my 2001 model (although the novelty of a grayscreen phone with absolutely no features save a little penlight was kind of retro), and it of course has a camera...but I have no way to currently get those pictures off my camera. I have to get either a cable to connect it to my PC, or a new computer with Bluetooth, or most likely -- they remain permanently on my phone. Oh well. The good thing about the new phone, aside from the camera, is that it is supposedly able, at exorbitant cost, to make and receive calls from the U.S. ($1 a minute). Text messages overseas, however, much cheaper -- $.10 to receive and $.50 to send, so text away. I guess the weird thing is my phone will probably be ringing all the time with calls not worth a $1 a minute to me to accept. I also have to figure out if a Fiat has sufficient power to recharge a cell phone. In case you haven't figured this out, I am really looking forward to going to ITALY next month...but I will miss my littluns tremendously.

Pending further pictures, please accept these Boyer Bon Mots.

Alex, listening to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: This song is so good I can't even SEE.

Alex, while we are selectively reading a long book about space and I have picked a page about "the universe": What's the universe? Does that mean the whole entire world?
Me: Yes.
Alex: Yeah, I don't want to learn about that.

Josh: Molly, sometimes I want to save the bathwater and throw you away. Sometimes I think, that's good bathwater! [Aww. Please note, this thought occurs to pretty much everyone who spends consecutive hours with Molly, pulling her off of tables, out of cabinets, out of the street, out of the dishwasher...]

Me: Molly, your PJ's say "precious". That is some kinda typo. [See, I told you. I think this was following one of her favorite games -- putting something tiny and inedible off the floor into her mouth, showing Mom that she has contraband in her mouth, then taking off running and squealing in the other direction. When caught, twisting violently from side to side with the contraband clenched in her teeth or under her tongue.]

Molly: NO!