I just love the little surprises Erich leaves for me. For example, last year, a week before Valentines Day, he made a little heart shaped poo in his diaper. (Naturally we used the photo for E-valentines to our closest friends.) He's also been known to store his little toy treasures behind the sugar or inside the pots and pans. And today, he left me a slug in his apple. 
It's about time I said something on here about Twilight (loved it).
I enjoyed this equation/"explanation of Twilight" courtesy of this week's Newsweek:
Start with the achingly pretty,
irresistibly sexy Brad Pitt from
the 1994 movie
"Interview With a Vampire."+
Add Leo DiCaprio and Claire Danes
in Romeo & Juliet," in which the
young paramours know that their star-
crossed love is dangerous.
x
Multiply by "High School Musical,"
not for the singing and dancing
but for its utterly chaste take
on adolescence.
=
And there you have "Twilight,"
the most wholesome,
bloodless vampire story this
side of the Count on
"Sesame Street."
I was recently interviewed by the owner of Alphabet Garten, an online German-language bookstore for children. For anyone interested in our efforts in learning German and teaching teaching it to Erich, you can read the full text of the interview here, at her blog.
I subscribe to Amazon.com emails because I like to believe that I'm a "reader". Sadly though, I am not. At least not anymore; I definitely was in my pre-parenting days. I do have a couple books I've been working on slowly (i.e. a parenting book I started this summer and a book club book from last May... I haven't been to book club since.) In my view, reading is a luxury I simply can't make time for - except for the Twilight series. I somehow managed to make time for that.
At any rate, I thought I'd share this: Amazon.com's top ten books of 2008. Not only haven't I read any of them, but I haven't even HEARD of any of them. I feel so out of touch right now.
Top 100 Editors' Picks Out of the thousands of new releases that came into our cubicles this year, we've chosen our 100 favorites, from an elegant pop-up alphabet and a deliciously dishy guide to fragance to an enthralling biography of an iconic leader and an encyclopedic history of a sport and the world that plays it. Here's our top 10:
Even though things didn't turn out so great for Marius and the revolutionaries, I couldn't resist posting this. (Thanks, Annie! :) )
Even though I'm not an Anderson (honestly, I don't know if I'm cool enough, and I certainly don't blog enough to even apply, but I sure do love watching from the sidelines), I've decided to join the revolution. I've made a list of 20 reasons why I suck, and in the process I've decided that I really do suck. Was that the point?
Now I don't feel really great about this, but I'm going to post my list anyway -- all under the assumption that admitting my weaknesses will only make me stronger. So here's to a tougher backbone:
1. I feel like I never come across as sincere even when I am. I just get the idea that the person I'm talking to thinks I'm full of crap. I am sometimes, but definitely not always.
2. I have a terrible attention span as a result of putting too many things on my plate. I can't finish anything quickly because I constantly feel the need to move on to and work on other projects. This is also why none of my million-dollar ideas have come to fruition. (This is also explained by the fact that I haven't put any effort into any of them.)
3. I have a lot of trouble remembering things that I don't write down. Tasks to do, groceries to buy, promises I made, lines from movies, names of movies, if I've ever even seen a particular movie, where I put the keys... And then I often forget what I wanted to write before I get to a piece of paper. I'm amazed some days that Marc trusts me alone with our child.
4. I yell at Jaeger for whining when I know perfectly well that all he needs is a walk. And on the same note, I wanted him because I knew he would force me to exercise every day, and I often resent him for it.
5. I usually don't even try to remember the names of people that I don't think I'll see again. Which makes things a little awkward when I do see them again.
6. I don't wear sunscreen, like, ever, except for the piddly amount in my face lotion. I never burn OR tan, so I don't even think of it. It's just plain stupid of me, really.
7. I'm terrible at keeping in touch with people. If you don't live within a 10 mile radius of me, consider yourself special if I've called you once so far this year.
8. I only have about 5 stations on Pandora and they all play basically the same music, but I still listen to them interchangeably because then I feel like I'm getting something new. I'm perfectly happy with this.
9. I forget to wash Erich's hands before feeding him meals most of the time.
10. I'm one of "those people" that got a Chinese symbol tattoo and didn't know exactly what it meant.* This is only embarrassing every time the conversation turns to tattoos, because you can always count on someone scoffing at "those people".
*Sidebar not intended to demonstrate my suckiness: The tatoo is really small and I got it when I was 18, but the actual meaning ("someone who doesn't fight") is very close to what I originally thought ("peaceful"). I still like it and I'll never get it removed. And rather than wish I'd never gotten one, I only wish I had gotten something else.
11. I don't like like being Poked on Facebook because I think it's a cry for attention, and I feel like I'm obliged to poke back. I don't respond well when I'm forced into playful aggression (like tickling for example, just ask my husband). But, ironically, I haven't removed the application from my page, because I still like knowing that people are thinking of me, even if they'd rather throw an Obama at me than initiate a conversation.
12. I leave clean clothes in laundry baskets throughout the house, and I only put them away when I need the baskets for more laundry. And the cycle goes on and on...
13. I'm an aggressive driver. I cut in and switch lanes at the last second. I'll even run the occasional red light if the coast is clear.
14. I can't stand basketball and complain whenever it's on TV. This makes Marc very sad.
15. I slouch while giving massages and then tell my clients to watch their posture.
16. I'm really picky about my chicken, especially in soups and Chinese food. If it looks remotely fatty or twisted, I'll pick it apart or give it to the dog.
17. I'd estimate that my grill cost $10,ooo, and yet I will still open anything with my teeth. I'm also a lazy flosser.
18. I almost always fall asleep reading something non-fiction - even when I'm not tired.
19. I don't really like listening to classical or jazz music (with the exception of live performances) and I'm afraid that means there is something wrong with my soul.
20. I censored this list. There are at least a dozen things I could've put on here but ultimately decided that they were either too embarrassing to share, or that I don't want to be encouraged to be better. Besides, now you all know about my tattoo and that's more than enough honesty for me.
There, I did it. And I dare you all to do it, too.
Time: During McCain/Obama Presidential Debate.
Setting: In the car on the way home from dinner. Listening to the debate via NPR.
Players: Me (Moderate. Obama supporter.), Hubs (Depends on the setting; in DC: Moderate. In Utah: Hard-core liberal. Obama supporter.), Opa (My pops. Republican. McCain supporter. Listens to Rush Limbaugh "for fun."), and Lil' E (Undecided).
Earlier in the car ride, while passing the White House, Marc successfully trained little E to say "Bush" on command. This brought Opa great delight, and it was so dang cute, even the "liberals" had to smile. Marc wouldn't let this stand though, and tried to rectify his doings before things could get ugly. He was too late.
Marc: Erich, say Bush!
E: Bush!
(cheering and laughter ensue)
Marc: Bush!
E: Bush!!
Opa: Erich, say McCain!
E: Cane!
(cheering and laughter again, and Marc cuts in)
Marc: Erich, say Obama!
E: Bush!
(we look at eachother, laughing with our jaws on the floor)
Marc: Erich, say Obama!
E: BUSH!!
We couldn't help it, we were all roaring. Of course, little E thought he was quite the comedian and laughed right along, repeating his punch line a few times to see if it still worked.
I just love that little man - even if he is a Republican.
Poor dog.
And yes, E was victorious in his refusal to sleep, so we let him stay up to watch America's Got Talent. Go Nuttin' But Strings!
Just in case anyone hasn't seen this SNL clip of Poehler/Fey as Clinton/Palin, I'm posting it here for your amusement. It's absolutely hilarious - Tina Fey nailed it!
And was I the only one convinced that Amy Poehler was pregnant after she covered her belly with a pillow in that "ugly children" sketch (and during her closeups on the Weekend Update)?! (Her face looks smooshed - I wonder if it'll be a girl!). Hubs confirmed my suspicions this morning, and apparently she's 8 months along. She didn't look THAT pregnant, but I defintely think she carried the weight better in Baby Mama. That's some pretty dang good breeding though, and you gotta admit with Poehler and "Gob" Bluth as parents, this kid is going to be pretty rockin'.
I recently saw a commercial titled "Obama Mocking the Bible" which really rubbed me the wrong way. Go ahead and watch it if you must, but I guarantee you'll be vomiting 10 seconds into it. At any rate, I realize my blog is thus far entirely A-political, and I have decided that, at for least today, it's time for change. Yes we can.
For starters, that video is so full of bile that I think I'm going to throw up. Everything in it is a complete distortion and mischaracterization of the truth. The very first thing I did after watching this piece of garbage (I really can't emphasize that enough) was to read the entire speech online. (Find the video here.)
It turned out to be a pretty great speech, about pluralistic democracy and how by acknowledging and respecting the diversity of religion and interests in our society, we can bridge the political divide along religious lines. I'm very glad I was guided to read it in order to learn the truth behind the appalling accusations listed in the "Sermon on the Mount" ad. His speech (the whole thing, not just 20 cut & pasted seconds) enlightened me with a greater understanding of how to heal that divide and ultimately, a greater respect and appreciation for Barack Obama and his spirituality. So, I'm grateful I was exposed to this piece of trashy sensationalism. It significantly helped to solidify my vote.
By the way, the organization that produced that video claimed on their website that they are "hoping to become the 'Swiftboat' 527 organization of 2008". Purely aspiration: nothing at all on their site about what's good for the country, just efforts to take down the other team no matter how unethical or dishonest the attempts become. I find it incredibly ironic (and quite horrifying) that the driving force behind this ad is the very religious/political divide that Obama's speech was trying to heal. And it's so full of lies! (Certainly makes you wonder if they've been reading THEIR bibles, now, eh?)
If you haven't already, I urge you all to go to the source and decide for yourselves. At least then you'll know the truth and not what someone else is telling you to believe. This commercial will be aired after the Democratic National Convention, and I really hope people don't fall for this crap.
For those interested in learning more about cloth diapering, this is a really great blog. (Scroll down past the nursing stuff and you'll see it, I promise.) The author is what I would call "normal" and really knows her stuff. She certainly taught me a lot - and made me wish I'd seen this a year ago. It's really nice to learn from someone else's trial & error rather than your own (really messy) T & E.
(I should probably just go ahead and rename this blog to "The Erich Days" since that's all I write about lately...)
To track Erich's progress in learning German (and hopefully to translate at least a little bit of his gibberish for everyone else), I've documented all of his current vocabulary. As you can see a few English words have slipped in there - 'no' being his favorite. I only wish I could include some recording of him saying these words, but this kid simply refuses to be a trained monkey. So I just wrote the phonetically spelled version of how Erich says the word, then the correct German word and the English translation in parenthesis.
Much to my chagrin, today marks the beginning of the end of binky use in our house. No binkies will ever be allowed in Erich's mouth again. My once beloved and trusted soother and scream stopper has slowly been doing it's dirty work on my son. I felt so betrayed by my little assistants when the pediatrician told me today that they have given E a pretty significant overbite. Ah!! Stupid me - of all people, as someone who wore braces for 3 years to repair the damage of my own finger-sucking, I should have known better. But he is so young and it's something that I never really considered, especially since he really only uses them at night (and occasionally as the previously mentioned screecher plug). Sorry everyone for being away the past few weeks. Every once and a while I have to go anti-internet and focus my energies elsewhere. Just something that keeps me sane.
Hoping you'll forgive me, here is one of the latest things my adorably awesome kid has been doing. Regularly, I might add. I seriously doubt anyone else's child does this and I couldn't be more proud.
Have you ever thought to yourself:
1) This is not how I want my child to act in public, and
2) Maybe he's getting mixed messages when I tell him to stop from behind the camera?
For me, this was one of those moments.
If you know my husband fairly well, then you are well aware that I have been stalking you for the past 6 months. In January, I began shaping my thoughts: what to say and how to say it. In February, I sent you the first email. The first of many, many, many emails. I begged and pleaded with you to send me something, anything, about my husband's younger days. I compiled all of these entries and created a 100 page book and an hour long video; my goal: sum up Marc's 30 years on this planet. And, if you know my husband fairly well, then you are well aware that this is no light task.
"Now that my mission is accomplished, I'm entirely resolved on two things:
1) I could never be a double agent. Leading a double life is absolutely miserable, and
2) I'm married to the most wonderful man in the world. . ."
The project turned out amazing, and each story and picture I surfed through gave me a deeper understanding of Marc and the experiences that shaped him. And when I finally presented the masterpiece, he was blown away. He loved it, and I was even able to throw him a little surprise party/movie screening (even though I got lazy in the end and he sensed something was up). He was also pretty surprised that I was able to find the doll he had as a boy that his parents threw away, "Penny" - a 40-year old antique that I've already had to give stitches to twice. (She's still wet in the picture from her 10 hour Oxy Clean bath.)
... for my new diaper bag!
I really like these Reese Li bags, but my husband is NO help. (He hates them both.) Help me!
I'm not sure if any of my readers will be interested in this besides me, but after an exhaustive search I was finally able to find German translations of some of my favorite English nursery rhymes. Up until now I've been singing my own rough and pathetic versions to Erich. (Reason #27 that I may have already screwed up my kid before his second year.) Boy am I excited to actually be saying them correctly! You may notice though, that most of these aren't literal translations. This isn't uncommon. I suppose the charm of lines like "the old man is snoring" must get lost in translation. How unfortunate.
For anyone interested, I found the translations here. The site also translates nursery rhymes into a bounty of other languages, so it's a definite keeper for any multi-lingual families. And while we're on the topic, this is also a fabulous site. Pick your language, and pull up pictures. As you scroll over the picture, you see and hear the word. Erich loves this and we do it almost every day!
Bruder Jakob (Are you sleeping?)
Bruder Jakob, Bruder Jakob,
schläfts du noch, schläftst du noch?
Hörst du nicht die Glocken, hörst du nicht die Glocken,
Ding Ding Dong, Ding Ding Dong
Funkle, funkle kleiner Stern (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)
Funkle, funkle kleiner Stern,
was du bist, das wüßt ich gern.
Stehst hoch über aller Welt,
ein Diamand am Himmelszelt.
Funkle, funkle kleiner Stern,
was du bist das wüßt ich gern.
Tickedi tickedi tack
Tickedi tickedi tack,
die Maus läuft die Uhr auf und ab.
Die Uhr schlät eins,
die Maus rennt heim!
Tickedi tickedi tack
Es regent, es regnet (It’s Raining, It’s Pouring)
Es regnet, es regnet,
es regnet seinen Lauf.
Und wenn's genug geregnet hat,
dann hört's auch wieder auf.
Ringel, ringel, Rosen (Ring-around the Rosie)
Ringel, ringel, Rosen
Schöne Aprikosen
Weiß und blau
Vergiß mein nicht,
Alle Kinder setzen sich.
Das ist der Daumen (This Little Piggy Went To Market)
Das ist der Daumen,
der schüttelt die Pflaumen,
der hebt sie auf,
der trägt sie nach Haus,
und dieser kleine Lümmel ißt sie alle auf!
Die kribbel-krabbel Spinne (The Itsy Bitsy Spider)
Die kribbel-krabbel Spinne kriecht in Wasserrohr,
dann kommt der Regen und spült sie wieder vor,
dann kommt die Sonne und trocknet das Wasser ein
und die kribbel-krabbel Spinne kriecht wieder ins Rohr hinein.
A, B.... Y, Z, oh weh, jetzt kann ich das ganze ABC!
My friend Nancy let me review some of her yummy chocolate. Mmm-mm! I could get used to this.
Go ahead now, cry your eyes out. It'll probably make the polar ice caps melt that much faster.If you know me at all, you probably know that I have something of a poop obsession. So you understand why I have to share this post with you from my sister's blog. I've also decided that poop is funniest when it doesn't happen to you. I'm still rolling on the floor on this one!! (My sympathies are with you, C.)
p.s. - "Poopsucka" is an endearing term we call each other, created by my nephew (to the great delight of his aunts and mother) when he was learning his first words. The child is a comedic genius!
"No, no, you shouldn't drink out of that cup! You see over there, how they have paper? You must drink only from the paper!" she implored in her hushed tone.
Okay...
"The plastic cups, the Arabian men, they bring them to the bathroom so they can pour water on their [insert meaningful head-tilt-and-double-glance downward], you know."
Oh My...
"You see, they no use toilet paper. Only water. So they take cups into the bathroom and leave them there. Then, later, the cups are washed in here with everything else."
YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!
"So you must only use paper. If there is no more paper, you must ask for paper."
Truer words were never spoken.
Customer Service Agent,
I am very upset about your "Keep-it-Kleen Pacifier". When my 14-month-old son awoke in the morning a few days ago, I went to his crib and discovered your KIK Pacifier broken into 5 pieces right next to his head. I don't know how it broke, but the fact of the matter is, this product is too fragile and hazardous for children. I hate to think of what could have happened had he awoken and felt around him in the middle of the night or if I had waited longer to enter his room. This could have been a lethal situation had my son ingested any of those pieces. There were two pieces in particular that gave me tremendous cause for concern: the nipple, which would have blocked his windpipe instantly, and a small, sharp, metal ring. The ring is not much larger than a Cheerio, but the damage and internal bleeding it could cause is sickening. Hypothetically, if my son had ingested that ring and nothing else, I would have examined all other pieces and assumed that nothing was missing. If he began crying I would have had no idea what type of internal damage was occurring and may not have realized that he needed immediate medical attention.
The Keep-it-Kleen Pacifier that you have on the market is extremely dangerous and inappropriate for use by any child, especially infants. I plan to tell everyone I know not to purchase this product until the item has been recalled and all potentially hazardous parts have been removed.
For sauce, heat a deep skillet over medium heat with extra-virgin olive oil. Add garlic and cook 3 minutes, then remove. Add onions and cook 5 minutes then add cauliflower, chicken stock and the rosemary. Cover the pan and cook 15 minutes. Uncover the sauce, add 1 to 2 ladles of pasta water and mash the cauliflower with the back of a wooden spoon or potato masher. Add the pasta and cheese to the cauliflower and toss to combine. Season the dish with S&P.
Stir cream into the vodka sauce. When sauce returns to a bubble, remove from heat. Toss hot pasta with sauce and basil leaves. Serve with crusty bread.
