A relaxed weekend
We've been back from New York for a week now, but it's interesting to me how Devon keeps mentioning things about our trip there. Just today she said, a propos of nothing, "Henny, Henny soccer game," remembering, I guess, that we watched Henry's soccer game. I'm actually quite surprised at how much she remembers of the trip. Our friends June and David also gave her a wooden toolbox with little tools in it, which turned out to be a big hit (I wasn't sure if she'd like it, but she really does -- it has wooden screws and a hammer and screwdriver and such), and she also regularly mentions Theo and the "toobox." This afternoon in the kichen she was making a total racket pounding on it.
Yesterday we went to our friend Liza's for brunch. Liza had also invited Arne and Keri and their children, Isaac and Mina. Devon knows Isaac and Mina from Kaaren's who occasionally babysits Devon and pretty regularly babysits Isaac and Mina. She had a great time running around with them, drawing and just generally playing around, alhtough we also had a few spats.
Devon is deep in the almost-two "mine" phase, and she's entirely allergic to sharing right now. This can be a bit of a challenge when other children are around, and it came out a few times yesterday, especially when Isaac wanted to play with the aforementioned toolbox (we brought a couple of items in case we needed distractions). I finally had to put that up on a table, since Devon just couldn't bear the thought of someone else playing with her toolbox, and it was too tempting for Isaac to have it within arm's reach. Liza's home is suprisingly well outfitted for children, a result, probably, of her many neices and nephews (who also live in SF). But the good thing about that meant that she had plenty of alternative toys so there were plenty of distractions.
Seeing Keri and Arne gave me an opporutnity to ask about trick or treating, since I was interested in tagging along with what they were planning to do. We're not even sure if we're going to take Devon out at all -- I think she might have fun seeing all of the costumes, but we'd prefer to hold off on consuming all of the candy (at least until our finger gets too big for that dyke). Today at the playground some children were having a costume party, and many of the party-goers were playing on the structures. There was a boy in a Spiderman suit, and when Devon first saw him, she burst into tears. He had on the costume and a full over-the-head mask (so his face wasn't visible), and the entire combination was very scary. But then after she got over her initial fright, she wanted to see more of Spiderman, and we spent then next 45 minutes practically stalking the poor kid around the playground. I think, judging from this experience, that it might be fun for her to be out on Halloween night (and what kid doesn't like staying up past bedtime?)
Unfortunately Mina and Isaac are heading over to a "fairy garden" at Mina's preschool at 5:15 on Halloween, and I don't think I'll be able to get home from work early enough to join them -- I usually can't get in before 6pm at the absolute earliest. But we might still be able to catch up with them to trick or treat and see the kids in their costumes. We'll have to see if I can arrange my schedule to be more Halloween friendly...
Walt has been playing with You Tube, and he managed to upload Devon's favorite movie of herself (maybe because it's the only one she's seen regularly) where she's wearing her pom pom hat and running around her room.
Also, my dad has been bugging me for more pictures of Brooklyn; Walt finally downloaded this photos of Cass and Jim's brownstone as well as their street in the Park Slope neighborhood.
We've actually made some progress on the unpacking, and while one room is still full of boxes, it's now only about 2/3 full. Walt has also unearthed several boxes of things that I purchased during sales at Gump's and in other venues, so we now have some wonderful glasses and other kitchen items that we weren't ever able to unpack at Glover St. We're also starting to unpack our china -- it's been sitting in boxes since our wedding, since we didn't have anywhere to store it. I'm really excited about using it for dinner parties. The tile also got installed in the kitchen backsplash this week, so the kitchen is actually looking quite liveable. The only big thing left to do is to paint the new cabinets and install the water purifier (Walt's been putting this one off because he's got to take the sink out -- again! -- to install this insanely complicated reverse osmosis system that I insisted we buy).
On a different topic, I'm luxuriating in the idea of the GOP running scared in this election, and I'll be absolutely thrilled if the House goes to the Democrats. I don't think the Senate will fall, but it seems like there's a reasonable chance for the House to switch. Something needs but a speed bump in the road of Bush's inane policies, and while they probably can't entirely stymie them, it certainly can't help him. I don't really know if the Dems can pull off a sea change in government -- they've been flailing around for years, and even if they win this time around, I think it will be mainly a reflection of the anti-Bush feeling across the country as opposed to any compelling Democratically-offered alternative. But at least the bulk of Americans are finally starting to realize that the war in Iraq is an utter disaster -- and in my opinion, Bush will be judged very harshly by history and may even give Nixon a run for his money. Now I just have to register to vote tomorrow with our new address so I can add my $.02 to the cacophony.
Yesterday we went to our friend Liza's for brunch. Liza had also invited Arne and Keri and their children, Isaac and Mina. Devon knows Isaac and Mina from Kaaren's who occasionally babysits Devon and pretty regularly babysits Isaac and Mina. She had a great time running around with them, drawing and just generally playing around, alhtough we also had a few spats.
Devon is deep in the almost-two "mine" phase, and she's entirely allergic to sharing right now. This can be a bit of a challenge when other children are around, and it came out a few times yesterday, especially when Isaac wanted to play with the aforementioned toolbox (we brought a couple of items in case we needed distractions). I finally had to put that up on a table, since Devon just couldn't bear the thought of someone else playing with her toolbox, and it was too tempting for Isaac to have it within arm's reach. Liza's home is suprisingly well outfitted for children, a result, probably, of her many neices and nephews (who also live in SF). But the good thing about that meant that she had plenty of alternative toys so there were plenty of distractions.
Seeing Keri and Arne gave me an opporutnity to ask about trick or treating, since I was interested in tagging along with what they were planning to do. We're not even sure if we're going to take Devon out at all -- I think she might have fun seeing all of the costumes, but we'd prefer to hold off on consuming all of the candy (at least until our finger gets too big for that dyke). Today at the playground some children were having a costume party, and many of the party-goers were playing on the structures. There was a boy in a Spiderman suit, and when Devon first saw him, she burst into tears. He had on the costume and a full over-the-head mask (so his face wasn't visible), and the entire combination was very scary. But then after she got over her initial fright, she wanted to see more of Spiderman, and we spent then next 45 minutes practically stalking the poor kid around the playground. I think, judging from this experience, that it might be fun for her to be out on Halloween night (and what kid doesn't like staying up past bedtime?)
Unfortunately Mina and Isaac are heading over to a "fairy garden" at Mina's preschool at 5:15 on Halloween, and I don't think I'll be able to get home from work early enough to join them -- I usually can't get in before 6pm at the absolute earliest. But we might still be able to catch up with them to trick or treat and see the kids in their costumes. We'll have to see if I can arrange my schedule to be more Halloween friendly...
Walt has been playing with You Tube, and he managed to upload Devon's favorite movie of herself (maybe because it's the only one she's seen regularly) where she's wearing her pom pom hat and running around her room.
Also, my dad has been bugging me for more pictures of Brooklyn; Walt finally downloaded this photos of Cass and Jim's brownstone as well as their street in the Park Slope neighborhood.
We've actually made some progress on the unpacking, and while one room is still full of boxes, it's now only about 2/3 full. Walt has also unearthed several boxes of things that I purchased during sales at Gump's and in other venues, so we now have some wonderful glasses and other kitchen items that we weren't ever able to unpack at Glover St. We're also starting to unpack our china -- it's been sitting in boxes since our wedding, since we didn't have anywhere to store it. I'm really excited about using it for dinner parties. The tile also got installed in the kitchen backsplash this week, so the kitchen is actually looking quite liveable. The only big thing left to do is to paint the new cabinets and install the water purifier (Walt's been putting this one off because he's got to take the sink out -- again! -- to install this insanely complicated reverse osmosis system that I insisted we buy).
On a different topic, I'm luxuriating in the idea of the GOP running scared in this election, and I'll be absolutely thrilled if the House goes to the Democrats. I don't think the Senate will fall, but it seems like there's a reasonable chance for the House to switch. Something needs but a speed bump in the road of Bush's inane policies, and while they probably can't entirely stymie them, it certainly can't help him. I don't really know if the Dems can pull off a sea change in government -- they've been flailing around for years, and even if they win this time around, I think it will be mainly a reflection of the anti-Bush feeling across the country as opposed to any compelling Democratically-offered alternative. But at least the bulk of Americans are finally starting to realize that the war in Iraq is an utter disaster -- and in my opinion, Bush will be judged very harshly by history and may even give Nixon a run for his money. Now I just have to register to vote tomorrow with our new address so I can add my $.02 to the cacophony.
posted by Devon Szalva at
10:04 PM
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