Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Hobbits, drarves, and wizards, oh my!
I saw The Hobbit with De on Saturday afternoon. Dumb fact: Once the small parking lot next to the theater is full, you have to park on the street, where ALL the meters are only good for two hours. Related fact: The Hobbit is nearly three hours long. How do you solve this problem? I parked two blocks away in my office garage, which sounds ideal, but it's at the bottom of a steep hill I had to run up to make the movie in time! Yes, I just complained about running up a hill for two blocks. My lazy ass.
Confession: I fell asleep for a little while during the dwarves eating dinner bit. It was SO LONG, that part!
Follow-up confession: I have never read The Hobbit. I don't have a love of made-up languages like Tolkien does, so I'm not sure I would care for it. And there are 15 people waiting to check out the e-book version of it at the library, so it will be May before I can even try to read it at this rate.
Confession: I fell asleep for a little while during the dwarves eating dinner bit. It was SO LONG, that part!
Follow-up confession: I have never read The Hobbit. I don't have a love of made-up languages like Tolkien does, so I'm not sure I would care for it. And there are 15 people waiting to check out the e-book version of it at the library, so it will be May before I can even try to read it at this rate.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Hockey and hand-holding!
Saturday, January 12, began cool and drizzly. Sigh. Henry was getting stir-crazy, and when Henry goes
crazy, we all go a little crazy too.
“Wanna
go see some hockey?” I asked him.
“Yeah!”
he replied.
We
bundled up, climbed in the car, and drove up to Kettler Ice Complex, which is
perched atop the parking garage at Ballston Mall. We walked into the stands at
the rink and he sat on my lap, watching the players in an impromptu scrimmage,
blue jerseys vs. white. We were on one end, down near the goal, so half the
time they were at the far end of the rink. Each time they would go down there,
Henry would crane his neck to see and ask, “What is hockey doing?” (Hockey players are also called “hockey” by Henry; when
John Carlson and Karl Alzner were chatting down at our end of the ice Henry
pointed and said, “Look Daddy, two hockeys!” 
I
posted a pic of the action on the ice on Facebook, and seconds later our friend
down the street asked if we wanted to meet up with his daughter. I said “sure,”
and as the practice was winding down and the stands were clearing out, Henry
sat beside me on a bench. Between us was a bag of Goldfish crackers. He would
reach in and take a couple and then I would reach in and take a couple. He took
a drink from his sippy cup of water then wordlessly handed it to me. He figured
since I didn’t have anything to drink, the crackers were probably making me as
thirsty as they made him. Sense of empathy forming nicely at 28 months!
We
met our friend and his daughter outside the rink and he suggested a walk around
the adjoining mall. This mall is the place time forgot, generally, but since
the objective was to let the kids visit, the mall was warm and dry.
Within
minutes, the kids were holding hands while we strolled. We rode the escalator
down a level and finished another lap before the kids started to get cranky due
to hunger/fatigue. We found the elevator and started to ride up to the levels
where we were parked (we were on 7, they were on 8). By this point, the girl
had grown tired of holding hands and rejected Henry’s offer of his hand again
(Henry is big on holding hands!). As our floor neared, Henry took two steps to
the girl and embraced her in a hug. To my surprise, and the “awwws” of all the
adults in the elevator, the girl then took two steps to Henry and gave him a
hug in return. The UPS man watching said, “You need a picture of that!”
Of
course he fell asleep on the five-minute drive home and I carried him inside to
his bed.
Wednesday, January 09, 2013
Still Here!
Howdy, folks! Happy 2013!
I haven't abandoned this blog, I promise! I just have a 2 year old and a baby and no time to do anything! If you are a friend on Facebook, I'm still active there, and it's the best place to see what I'm doing at present.
I have the Doctor Who Christmas special on the DVR and haven't watched it yet.
I went back to work full-time on Monday, after two months of paternity leave.
And happy birthday, Elvis!
I haven't abandoned this blog, I promise! I just have a 2 year old and a baby and no time to do anything! If you are a friend on Facebook, I'm still active there, and it's the best place to see what I'm doing at present.
I have the Doctor Who Christmas special on the DVR and haven't watched it yet.
I went back to work full-time on Monday, after two months of paternity leave.
And happy birthday, Elvis!
