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November 2005 Archives

No sleep 'til london

Emmie’s all smiles, these days. Maybe it’s due to the holidays, or something, but she’s giving out these cheeky little grins with a generosity that rivals the reformed Ebenezer Scrooge. All you need to do is walk into a room and her eyes start to sparkle; the fact that she’s got no teeth only makes it cuter.

Better yet, the opposite rarely happens when you leave - Emmie’s been pretty good about entertaining herself in our absence. Dunno if this will change soon; I’m expecting it might, once she makes the cognitive leap towards ‘object permanence’ or whatever. But right now, things are pretty easy with her.

Sleep, however, remains the sore point. Emelyn simply isn’t a fan of the big doze. It’s hard to keep her down for more than 45 minutes if she’s alone, and she gets squirmy and fussy whenever her naps last less than that. Plus, getting her back to sleep once she’s up for more than 5 minutes is super-tough, so recent nightlife has consisted primarily of sitting quiet in the living room, and bolting up the stairs if we hear any noise from the bedroom. (No, no, we’re not taking a cry-it-out approach… not just yet. However, our attached neighbors move out in a week, so things may well change.)

The amusing bit, of course, is that we’re on an already-noisy street (and this is one thing that’ll be weird about returning to the US - the sonic buffer of a suburban front yard and a free-standing house will feel a bit eerie, I imagine) so we’re falling for a lot of false alarms. The cry of a cat, the squeal of a bike tire, the high-pitched giggle of pub-goers - they’ve all sent us running for the crib.

Not quite sure this is sustainable. We’ll see…

Another weekend

Emelyn drools a lot, now. It happened fast: I don’t recall her drooling anything at all, and then a couple weeks ago - bang- her hands and mouth became permanently slobbery. More often than not, her clothes are damp when we change her, and she’s quite the bubble-blower at times.

None of this seems to have diminished her adorability quotient, however. (At least in my opinion.) I think this is partly due to her discovering a new series of very cute noises made by putting her hands/toy/bear in her mouth and trying to talk. (Bear, incidentally, really needs a good washing-up, soon.)

Anyhow, I’m not sure what odd germs Bear carries at this point, but Emelyn was immunized against another set of nasties last Friday. Since I worked from home, I had the honor of holding her when the nurse gave her the jabs, which was absolutely no fun for either of us. I’m still impressed, though, with how little Emmie cried - she calmed down within a minute, though she whimpered on a bit longer. Tough girl.

As for excursions, on Saturday, we took Oma on our regular family walk to Grantchester. It’s gotten too cold for The Orchard, now, so the four of us hung out at the Rupert Brooke pub instead. They’ve just finished a remodel, there, and the pub now features a smoke-free family area, an immaculately-clean changing table, free WiFi, and excellent cod & chips. Hard to argue with any of that.

Sunday was a more typically British day, in the sense that we didn’t do much on account of rain. We took Emelyn out in the Bjørn for lunch, with mittens and hat on. Her little nose still got red, though.

And I guess that’s it. Happy Monday…

bear.jpg

Fish kebabs

It’s been a busy week, though I’m quickly learning that these things all become relative. (How I yearn for a quote-unquote “busy week” from grad school days.) I haven’t seen all that much of Emelyn or Oma for a few days, but that’ll change tomorrow.

See, I’m taking the morning off to accompany the ladies on a trip to the US Embassy here, so that Emelyn can obtain her citizenship. (I guess she’s in some weird limbo at the moment, not unlike the guy from The Terminal. Emelyn, however, has the advantage of not having to live at the airport.)

Azure and I have been discussing the logistics of this little adventure for some time. Our appointment is first thing in the morning, so this’ll be a rush hour journey. Madness, really. Plenty of the debate has centered around how we’ll be trucking Emmie around town; a pram is ideal in some places, but a nightmare in others. Baby Bjorn-ing is good on for the Underground, but then again unmanageable for long lengths of time. Right now, I think the smartest option is to take a pram, and pay out the nose for a taxi to take us around town.

Not much else to report, save that the gastronomic adjustment coming back to the UK has been a bit more challenging than the jet-lag. I get a free lunch at work, so I have no business complaining, but today’s entrée was (microwave-steam-cooked) fish kebabs. Honestly, it’s like whoever makes up our corporate menu is using Mad Libs.

January 27

  • Jason checked in @
    Stumptown Coffee Cafe

January 21

  • Angry, upset, and frightened by the Big Mac Snack Wrap.
  • Jason checked in @
    Glo's

January 8

  • Am in the Tiki-Tiki-Tiki-Tiki Tiki room.

December 30

  • Jason checked in @
    Luscious Dumplings

December 24

  • Mannheim Steamrollin'.

December 22

  • Jason checked in @
    Tapas & Wine Bar C
  • Back in Pasadena for a couple weeks. Mentally prioritizing and optimizing my must-visit restaurant list. (Burrito Express = already done.)

December 20

  • Jason posted The Higo
  • Jason posted Tyrolean

December 13

  • Need a sniglet for this here feeling of trepidation/dread after wolfing down a post-midnight (Pike) street-vendor hotdog. "Nachtwurstangst"?

December 12

  • Kindle'd "And Another Thing...". So far, the reading experience has been like watching good movie with bad dubbing.

December 10

  • Jason checked in @
    Cafe Presse

December 9

  • Jason checked in @
    Philly's

December 7

  • Jason checked in @
    Slim's Last Chance Chili Shack

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