Trade Offs

So, I'm really NOT ready for the 4 months shy of 3 year old to give up her naps for good, but this week + at home with mom has not been encouraging on that front. She napped her normal 2 hours last Saturday, then not again until yesterday aside from the few minutes here and there in the car. Yesterday, she wailed in the crib for 15 minutes or so, then did sleep for 2+ hours, so she clearly still needs them, BUT, she was awake until 11:00p.m. last night! 11:00p.m.!! This is not going to fly when school/work resume Wednesday! I'm almost inclined not to force the nap, because then she's passed out by 8:00 p.m. or close to, but she's a whiney mess by 5:00 or so when she hasn't napped. For purely selfish reasons, I like to have her down by 8:00 in the evening so I can have a conversation with the husband, watch some tube or read and unwind with some wine, but I don't want to do anything detrimental to her healthy development, and now, it's 2:15 and we're not napping of course....

Ummm..Old Much?

So, My boss gave me a nice little Barnes & Noble gift card and I decided, what better use for it than the Twin Peaks Gold DVD set. Well, when I got it home, the entire plastic case was shattered and I had to return it for a fresh, special order set. When I went in to pick it up today, the clerk said, I can't ring up an exchange, but I'm going to call my manager if you can wait. I said fine. So manager, who is all of 22, comes back and clerk asks me, "what's Twin Peaks anyway?" And I say, 'oh, it's this cult show from the early'90s - like '91-'02...oh, but you're too young for that...and he says, yeah..I'm a 1988 baby..and I just say, 'oh, crap...' b/c that's about all I can muster...

It's an Official Record

I have now seen two movies in the theater in the span of one week. Something I have not done since well before the kiddo was born.

Massi and I saw Atonement last night and it was lovely, so very lovely... I mean, it's hard to not be lovely with James McAvoy and Keira Knightly, but it was technically beautiful as well with flawless cinematography and sound and it was very true to the book. I read the book about 5 years ago, so it's not the freshest in mind, but the only discrepancy I picked out was that the end, when Briony reveals her writing process, was somewhat condensed in the movie.
Cesar and I also saw Charlie Wilson's War Saturday, which was quite entertaining and well played as well, but may be most entertaining to a "Washington Insider" (i.e.: all the jabs at Congress and the CIA cracked me up throughout.) Aaron Sorkin's touch was evident and brought back some West Wing nostalgia and Philip Seymour Hoffman was a trip, so don't rule it out just because you're not a big fan of the Hanks/Roberts marquee names.

Some Xmas Pics

The (momentarily) angelic one:
The haul:
The Xmas morning joy & love:

Radio Silence

Sorry. Neglecting the Blog for Santa duties. Will try to get some pics of the kid and her dozens of gifts up tomorrow. Hope everyone's enjoying the holiday!

So. Ready. To. Get. Out. For. Christmas.

It's too bad the Old Executive Office Building isn't just one block closer to me. Perhaps I could have been evacuated for its fire. But seriously, it is such a grand building that holds such fond memories for me that I hope it didn't sustain too much damage.

And I suppose I need to start talking to Leila about safe-sex in the next year or so with this Jamie-Lynn Spears shenanigans. Lily Allen too. She's not quite so young and fresh as JL, but have people never heard of condoms or oral contraceptives? I know happy accidents happen even when consenting adults are taking precautions, but that wouldn't appear to be the case here. And clearly Mama Spears has made all kinds of bad judgement calls over the years, but what mother lets her 16 year old daughter LIVE WITH her 19 year old boyfriend. Regardless of whether her children bankroll her, that's just all kinds of wrong.

Anyway. That's all I've got.

Who Knew...

I'm reading this fascinating book now, 'The World Without Us'. The writer speculates about how long it will take nature to reclaim the planet if human beings are wiped out. And about how irreversibly changed the planet may be as a result of our time here as humans. It's taking me a while to read, as does all nonfiction, but it is really thought-provoking stuff.

As metro crawled through residual delays this morning, I just learned that most exfoliants are composed of plastic beads. Plastic! I'm not so concerned about my skin as I am about the environment and all those little creatures in our waterways that are going to end up consuming those plastic beads for thousands and thousands of years to come. These polymers don't break down easily. Check your make up drawers to see if your products contain some form of polyethylene!

How you like my 'Pob'?

Of course, it doesn't look nearly so good when I just slick some product in it and go in the morning without blowing it out. Oh well...

Friday afternoon get me the heck out of this office randomness...

I love Jason Statham. Love him. Ever since the Transporter. He is a sexy beast. But... something about him with hair is just wrong. Very, very wrong. Why would Guy Ritchie do that to him? Not that I'm likely to see his movie Revolver. I did like Snatch though. Mostly for Brad Pitt's Irish Gypsy and Benicio del Toro and hey, Jason Statham was in that too. I'd nearly forgotten. Yep, it's too late in the day Friday. I've had entirely too much sugar and I have no tolerance for make-work nonsense. I'm going to get my hair colored and cut for the holidays now. And I'm missing my daughter's school Christmas party to do so. Bad mom, but it was scheduled 3 months ago (my hair, not the party - had the party been on the books for 3 months, I'd be far worse the mom!) Does the trauma fester prior to age 3? Her good dad will be there. And I'm sure I'll be sucking up to her every whim for the next several weeks to make up.

Wow!

Had I only known that I could have had my abs "re-educated" had I been a French woman giving birth in France. The government would have subsidized getting me back into skinny jeans. That is amazing. We are such the backwards nation!



http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/opinion/13druckerman.html?_r=1&ref=opi

My Christmas List

Whatever spare change I may or may not have left after paying down my holiday bills from whatever bonus/gift money I may or may not receive will be going towards this:
and this:
Just in case any one's dying to know what's on my gift list. I do still own some of the Brit pop repackaged in the above collection, but much of it is in the form of ye olde mixed tape. I'm thankful to my daughter for recently discovering my tape player and reintroducing me to the couple dozen cassettes still shoved away in my room, but it will be a treat to dump all these classics onto the iPod. I also expect I'll have plenty of time to revisit Twin Peaks over some damn fine cups of coffee before any new TV resumes.

Call me Bambi...

I'm feeling slightly conflicted about being pegged as George on Facebook's Which Grey's Anatomy Character are You application! Not that I really identify with any of the female characters - maybe Callie - but George?? I thought I'd at least have a little Alex in me ; ) Oh well... T.R. does steal quite a few scenes and he got me with the it's the timing, definitely not the chemistry thing with Izzie last week. RIP Seth Green.

Does anyone think PS I Love You looks to be worth seeing? It's definitely a rental for me with everything else that's out to compete with it over the holiday, but Gerard Butler + Denny Duquette = intriguingly yummy!

And just to make this a completely random post, my daughter told me that she was crying at school yesterday because one of her friends called her 'fea' (ugly in Spanish.) She's not even 3! I thought we had a few years to go before the Mean Girls routines kicked in - not that I think kids are saying things to be intentionally hurtful at this age, but still...I may have to read Queen Bees and Wannabes earlier than planned. Her father's solution is to tell her to reply "tu estas fea tambien" (I'm butchering the Spanish, but 'you're ugly too') so when we came into school this morning she announced in her loudest inside voice with another parent in the room "You know what my daddy said? He said to tell you that you all are fea." Yep, only a little bit misconstrued!

Xmas Card Efforts

I've apparently missed the window of opportunity to dress Leila pretty and get her posed for a Holiday card. Perhaps she'll be into sitting still when she's closer to five or so. We captured a few shots with Santa earlier in the season, but as we were outside at night in what felt like -11 in the wind, she was fully bundled up in hat, coat and boots and that look wasn't doing it for me. I tried to get just one cute picture of her alone Saturday, but she was wired and the resulting shots looked a little like this:
There's always this one where she appears to be channeling an Olson sister hiding in mom's "Cat in the Hat" hat...

Flying in the Face of Controversy

In spite of the warnings that “early ‘Sesame Street’ episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child” I ordered the Old School vol. 1 and 2 DVDs to supplement Leila's Xmas booty. Yes, I'll enjoy tripping through memory lane with her (and I really can't wait until she's ready for the classic Electric Company DVD's - Hey You Guys! - then the Muppets, and Fraggle Rock...) so the gift is somewhat self-serving, but... ...is it wrong of me to want to engage in a little Sesame Street appreciation without the likes of Mr. Noodle?
Or his brother Mr. Noodle?
Or their sister Miss Noodle.....?

In case you missed the brouhaha, there was a NYT Mag. article a couple weeks back that raised concerns about the behaviors characters displayed in the early years. Cookie Monster affecting a pipe as Alastair Cookie then binging on said pipe along with furniture, cookies and everything in arms reach...Ernie and Bert's questionable living arrangements in a dingy basement apartment...Oscar's depression (personally, I wouldn't mind if someone slipped Dora a bit of his downer juice)...

As a parent, I do understand concerns about modeling behavior, but I also know that it's my precise job - not the Children's Television Workshop's - as a parent to tell my child that a cookie or two in moderation is fine. An entire jar finished off with a pipe and some easy chair legs is not. And quite frankly, I don't think my 2.5 year old is going to pick up on the nuances that are raising the red flags as an adult would. I can say, yeah, Ernie and Bert could be gay, or then again, they could be platonic friends trying to save on rent...My kid's not going to pick up on anything odd about their living arrangements at this age - and if and when she's ready to question it, I will appreciate having the platform for discussion. Sure, Oscar might have benefited from a Prozac, but he's a grouch - it's even part of his name in addition to his nature - we all encounter grouches and pessimists in our lives and the sooner my kid learns that different people have different outlooks on life the better she'll be able to find her way in our world. Will we be diagnosing Mr. Rogers - may he rest in peace - with OCD next and slapping warnings on his back episodes in fear of our children wanting to change their shoes and sweaters every time the enter/exit the house?

I'm not sure I credit Sesame Street for contributing hugely to my education, but it sure didn't hurt. Anecdotally, I actually watched full episodes regularly, and I am an avid reader to this day. My brother may have looked up from whatever he was building or pounding on during a commercial (well maybe PBS was commercial free in those days, point is, the program didn't keep his attention) and he was known to get by osmosing books through high school and college. He's a smart, hard-working lawyer today, but the reading bug never quite bit him as it did me. Did Sesame Street contribute, who knows...Anyway...off my high-horse now. And no, I don't plan to deprive Leila of Elmo, we're actually taking her to "Sesame Street Live: Elmo Grows Up" next week. Good times for mom and dad!

Charlie Wilson's War...

... is another movie on my long and growing holiday movie list (but who am I kidding. I may get to see one, then plop the rest in the trusty netflix queue.) It's also been on my reading list for a good long while. I get a kick out of seeing the previews regularly, because I actually interviewed for a job with the real Charlie Wilson about 4 years back (when I first decided I needed a new job - it's been a bit of an extended process here, but things are picking up - Insha'Allah as we say in Morocco.) The job ad I applied for didn't specify the employer, it was a vague legislative associate... International experience a plus... description, but when I was called for an interview, the woman told me it was at Wilson & Associates, former Congressman Charlie Wilson's organization. I mentioned to my mother that I had an interview with a former Congressman Charlie Wilson and she exclaimed "good time Charlie! You can't go to work for good time Charlie." He apparently had a bit of a reputation for booze, and women, and hot tubs and perhaps a little cocaine - back when Congress and Washington was still fun you know...I wore a fairly short skirt to my interview. It didn't work. He was impressed by my time in Morocco, but thought I didn't have enough direct Hill experience for his needs. He had an amazing office on Pennsylvania avenue filled with Afghan and Pakistani tribal swords and guns and clothing and such. Just one of my brushes with the pseudo-celebrity of the political class.

From the mouths of babes...

So I put on my hat this morning - you know, modeling good behavior for the kiddo that we wear hats when it's snowing. This is one I haven't worn yet this season. Our other cold days have been so darn windy that it would blow away, so I've only worn a knit cap. It's a striking red cloche style. Very feminine, jaunty, 1930's evoking...like something Keira Knightly would wear in Atonement (DYING to see that movie. LOVED the book. The preview alone choked me up this morning. And James McAvoy - swoon!) Or so I thought. Leila took one look at me, laughed and said "you look like the cat in the hat." Oh well. I guess entertaining my daughter has as much merit as feigning style on a wintery day.

Blue Christmas Lights

Does anyone understand them? They may or may not be linked to Hanukkah. They could be said to invoke images of peace and serenity. Some may find them soothing. But I just don't get them, really. And there are loads of them in my neighborhood to contemplate. I'm just a boring white lights girl who occasionally thinks nostalgically to those old skool, opaque multi-colored bulb lights of my childhood I guess. And we still have ghost eye decals from Halloween up on our door, so I probably don't have much room to critique.

It's Christmas Eve in Washington...

Well not quite, but for some reason that terrible, horrible, agonizing song is in my head. Seriously, I love my hometown, but that is the single worst Christmas song ever. Ever! "It's Christmas Eve in Washington - America's hometown - For it's here that freedom lives - And peace can stand her ground..." Tears her hair out....


But I do love Christmas traditions in Washington, and I'm glad to be able to discover some new ones with Leila. I'm actually just thrilled now that she's of an age where we can enjoy more of DC's cultural offerings together, because truthfully, in the midst of the daily grind, I often forget what treasures are in our backyard.


Saturday we rode the metro down to the Botanic Gardens for its annual holiday exhibit of model trains and DC's monuments in miniature flanked by foliage. The electric trains winding through tunnels and over suspension bridges were a huge hit! Though when I asked Leila that night what her favorite part of the day was, the response, without pause was "the train that we rode." Disgruntled daily metro commuter that I am, I really don't find much joy in the ride, but I do recall thinking it pretty darn swell as a kid.

And so it begins. Again.

Our lease is up at the end of February. We determined long ago that we need more space. But in addition to space, WE NEED A VERMIN FREE HOME. Yes, it's been 3-4 months now since we trapped our last mouse and I've enjoyed not having to see them dead or dying on a glue trap - the body count reached 9 from August to September - but still, I can sense them. I can even hear them from the living room when it's quiet at night rattling about in the poison under the stove. I live with the creeping feeling that I will be encountering one every time I'm the first one down the stairs to grab Leila's milk in the morning. Thankfully, as Cesar leaves so early during the week, I'm usually only first to the kitchen on the weekend, but still, I turn on every light downstairs and try to make my approach heard so that any critter that may be lurking about can scamper out of sight. It is not a fun way to exist.


I was having a bit of sixth sense that I'd face an unwelcome house guest Friday night. I was sitting on the living room floor watching Cars with Leila and I looked down to see what looked like a dropping. I said ew, Leila, don't touch that, I think it's mouse poop - she looked at it and said, I think it's a rock - I went to get a tissue and picked it up and indeed it was a pebble, so score for Leila, but I had found a true dropping a week or so before...and incidentally, the phantom "Mr. Mouse" is Leila's "notme" - any query of who spilled a bowl of Parmesan cheese on Mommy's carpet, or who took all the pictures off the refrigerator, or who spread three packs of cards out across the floor... receives an "um, I think it was Mr. Mouse."


Anyway...cut to the chase. I stagger downstairs at 7:30 yesterday morning in PJs and glasses, barely round the corner to the kitchen and see the horrific sight of a glue trap in the middle of the kitchen floor bouncing about as a little brown mouse struggles to free itself. It took me a second or two to process, but I only froze briefly in my tracks before running up the stairs to wake Cesar to deal with it. I explained the delay in retrieving milk to Leila and cowered in her room with her while he extracted the poor beastie. She didn't seem troubled in the least as she told me "I like mice. I think they're beautiful." "Yes sweetie, but only when they are outside." "Yeah, not when they're in the house, only when they are outside...." Ugh! With this cycle starting again, I'm not only on a desperate quest to find suitable housing and break our lease, but also exploring whether I'm owed damages from our property manager for post-traumatic stress!!

Oh, and I squashed two bugs in the house this weekend that looked suspiciously like stink bugs. I didn't get a whiff of anything rank, but that could have just been because my trusty swiffer/bug squasher stunned them so quickly. Get me out of here!!!