From Sept. 26, 2001
Eric and I are just home from a busy morning. I left for school at 6:30 this morning (Eric was still snoozing, cuddled up to David in bed) to make some copies and do some grading before my 8:00 class, and then I picked Eric up and we went to a chiropractic appointment, my first, so the x-rays and consultation took over an hour and a half, and then we went directly from there to another doctor appointment. Eric is now crashed in his playpen--he's exhausted from being charming for receptionists all day long. The receptionist at one doctor's office even gave him a bottle! It's a good thing he hasn't gotten afraid of strangers yet. When I came out from having my x-rays at the chiropractor, Eric, who had refused to smile back at me all day, was laughing uproariously for the receptionists.
David has a cold, and I think I am coming down with it, too. Perhaps we can protect Eric from it--or perhaps he'll get it. I read recently that most babies have had their first cold by four months. Eric will be four months old tomorrow, so if he catches this one he will just be squeaking in under the wire.
Eric slept contentedly in his crib last night. I left him in there as an experiment, to see what would happen. What happened is that he did just fine, but I brought him into bed with me around 4 because I thought he might be chilly. We're having a cold snap here in Michigan. A good excuse to dress Eric in all his cuddliest clothes.
The Count of Monte Cristo has turned out to be a disappointment. After that terrific opening, with him being flung into the sea tied to a cannonball and whatnot, the book has gone downhill. You see, the Count escaped from prison having learned from another prisoner (who then conveniently dies) the location of a fabulous fortune. For the rest of the book, the Count uses his vast fortune to vex his enemies and help his friends by, for instance, manipulating the European bond market. Woo-hoo.
Never mind that 450 pages in, I keep having to flip back to the first chapter to remind myself who all the characters are. It doesn't help that Dumas (or his translator) calls every character by several names: Mercedes is also the Countess So-and-So and also Mrs. Somebody. I think I was 300 pages in before I realized they were all the same person.
I subscribe to a magazine called Brain, Child, "The Magazine for Thinking Mothers." It's more like "The Magazine for Stay-at-Home Mothers Who Are Frustrated Writers"; even the letters to the editor are like carefully crafted little essays. One fun thing they do is a feature called the (Un)Help Desk, which quotes directly contradictory advice from child rearing experts. This month's is on the subject of feeding toddlers, and features tips from two books published this year by the same publisher, one of which says "food should be available all day long, within your child's easy reach, so that your child can choose food and pick it up as the urge directs," while the other one says, "Offer no food between meals. No snacking. When meals are over, food is no longer available." Helpful.
Posted by Su Penn at December 5, 2003 09:21 AM | TrackBack