Nothing to do with Monkey-Boy

Monday 24
Originally uploaded by Tiffany Velez.

This post has nothing to do with Brenden. I've written almost exclusively about my son since he was born, and then there were those 9 months that I was pregnant. I think it's time I diversify.

Here's my review of An Unfinished Life. Every once in a while the Cinemablend review staff will have screeners available for review. I always volunteer for screeners - free movies! Plus you never know you might get something good. Like a copy of a movie with your favorite redhead.

Except for one offhand comment about his royal hotness, I didn't make much mention of his role in the movie. It was a small role, and he played an abusive piece of white trash. I was happy when Robert Redford kicked him in the nuts, and I was kind of hoping the bear would come along and eat him. Still, it was nice to see him in a relatively new movie.

My viewing habits are shifting towards tv shows lately. Since Battlestar Galactica won't be back with new shows until November, the Sci-Fi channel is showing Doctor Who in its place. I haven't watched the show since the Tom Baker / Peter Davison days. Thanks to CGI and a bit better budget, this time around the good doctor's special effects are a whole new class of cheese. I'm sorry Chris Eccleston only played the Doctor for one season, because he did a super job. He brings the doctor's cheerfulness to the right pitch - just a tad on the manic side.

We finally broke down and are now subscribing to HBO simply because I didn't want to wait two frackin' years for the last season of The Sopranos to come out on DVD. I still don't like anyone on the show, well not totally, but anything mob-related is like catnip to me.

The good thing about this show is that the mob guys are such evil idiots. Unfortunately just about everyone else (FBI, non-mob bystanders, Tony's family) are idiots as well.

We're still watching 24 even though it went way beyond silly a long time ago. I accept it for what it is and it's an enjoyable way to spend a Monday. I applaud Fox for deciding to run the show on uniterrupted consecutive weeks. Now if only the folks responsible for Lost would do the same.

This season I'm suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder because every character I ever liked (except 2) has been killed off. Everyone has Dead Pools, and it's not a matter of who will die, it's how soon.

And then of course there's American Idol. The great fun of the evening is trying to guess how drunk/stoned Paula Abdul is. It's fun to make snarky comments about the contestants but sometimes getting through the show can be a real chore. Thank goodness for my TiVo remote.

Television Without Pity recaps AI and the poor bastard that has to write those recaps must be suffering from brain damage. His recaps have an almost hallucinatory, stream-of-conciousness quality to them. I was dismayed when I learned that he was to start covering Battlestar Galactica but he's doing a terrific job. He loves that show, and he's actually a quite passionate, articulate writer. I highly recommend his BG recaps.

So we have learned:
Battlestar Galactica: Quality, compelling television!
American Idol: Destroys brain cells!
24: If you don't watch, Jack Bauer will shoot your WIFE!

Walking

Walking
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Brenden and I had our first (of many to come, I am sure) War of the Wills this weekend. He's just tall enough to reach a knob on our stereo receiver. Instead of putting it higher to where he can't reach it, I decided to try to instill some discipline. I kept saying "no", moving him away, and trying to distract him, but he would inevitably walk/crawl right back and start fiddling again. It got to the point where I would stand in front of the receiver and then he would bitch at me while trying to push me out of the way.

Eventually, and I mean some times it took 5 minutes or longer, he would go find something else to do. But he would try again later on and the whole process would be repeated. Finally around 7 last night he did it again, and I said "you know what, Brenden? I don't care. Have fun."

He fiddled, looked at me, fiddled, looked at me, fiddled, then he lost interest and walked away. That whole sequence took less than 30 seconds. Sheesh, kid!

We are going outside in the back yard more. I am letting him go wherever he wants as he is showing less inclination at shoving strange things in his mouth. Matter of fact the only thing I removed from his mouth this time was a rock. After playing in the grass for a while he decided to investigate the pool. I had a grip on the back of his shirt - I figured if he lost his balance I could keep him from falling in.

What I was not prepared for was his attempt to do a gainer right into the pool. He got halfway in before I got my other arm under him and pulled him out. He was too shocked to cry, plus he was busy coughing up that water he tried to breathe. He cried some but no hysterics. I got him dried off and changed with little fuss. On one hand it was pretty funny - you should have seen that look on his face! I think he thinks it's one big bathtub.

On the other hand, if he ever gets outside without me knowing it, he will most likely head straight for the pool and fall in. That's a sobering thought. I'm going to buy a door alarm plus some better latches for the screen door. Damn, I better lo-jack Brenden while I'm at it.

The Pool is Open!

swimming
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

I found a nifty floatie for B at Target yesterday. It was warm enough to try out. It's still a mite chilly but we had fun.

Brenden's bipedal skills have sharpened immensely since he took his first steps. If you are so inclined (or just bored) you can take a look at some of them here.

Mowing the Cat

Mowing the cat
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

I'm sorry this pic isn't centered very well. I bought Brenden a push toy for a walker and he has fun with it. He tends to push it until he hits something, then he bitches and keeps pushing until I help him turn it. Stubborn lad.

I wish I could remember what blog I read that linked to this song. I spent the weekend singing it to Brenden and using the cats as unwilling demonstation subjects. It is stuck in my head, of course.

Brenden is trying to walk! He will let go of the furniture and take 3 - 5 steps and fall down. It was a fun weekend.

BSG Voting Slip

BSG Voting Slip
Originally uploaded by CharlieBrown.

Sweet animal crackers, Lileks has outdone himself this time. And the great thing about it none of his commentary makes it funnier. The ad just speaks volumes for itself.

I know I haven't made any comments about season 2b of Battlestar Galactica. It was damn good, with the cliffhanger from season 2a resolved rather dramatically.

Things we learned in 2b:

1)Being a Pegasus officer is a form of suicide. Hopefully not for Commander Adama, who is now in charge. No, not Bill Adama, who is Admiral Adama now. Lee Adama is the Head Cheese. Him and his new squeeze Dualla.

2)Starbuck goes back to Caprica and rescues Anders. They're married!

3)Boomer 1.0 (the one who shot Adama) and the Model Six who seduced Gaius way back in the miniseries both have been downloaded into new bodies and thanks to their contact with humanity, think the Cylons made a big mistake in destroying humanity and are trying to change things in Cylon society.

4)2 episodes dealt with the squicky subject of Ab0rt*0n. I applaud the writers for not siding with either side of the issue, but merely using it to point out how politicians use the subject to manipulate voters.

5)Speaking of politicians, Baltar is now president of the Colonies. Laura is now a schoolteacher again. Baltar sucks as a president, which shouldn't surprise anyone.

6)Speaking of Laura, she is cured of her incurable cancer. It really doesn't matter how; like many fans I really didn't care all I know is she didn't die. Yet.

7)Speaking of dying, Boomer 2.0 and Helo's daughter was born premature. Roslin decided it would be a big mistake to let a Cylon raise the cybrid so they stole the baby and told Boomer her kid was dead. That's not going to end well.

8)Speaking of ending well, the fleet found a hospitable planet and everybody but a skeleton crew(s) are living there.

9)The Cylons find it too.

10)Because of Boomer 1.0 and Caprica Six, the Cylons don't blow the little colony to smithereens; instead they are keeping it like a little people zoo. I think that's called a 'reservation'. Or maybe a 'concentration camp'.

11) The latest cylon model looks suspiciously like Al from Quantum Leap.

I want to bang on the drum all day

drum
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

I wish I had taken a 'before' photo of the pool because it's starting to look really good. It's a balmy 70 degrees right now so I'm not going to do any swimming yet.

The pool pump had problems over the weekend - just a wiring problem that Jon fixed yesterday - but I went out to look at it on Sunday but instead of trying to fix the pump I decided to commit genocide on a colony of ants who had taken up residence near the pump. Despite the high-powered hose those bastards came back. Jon dug them up and added gasoline on Monday. I wonder if they got the message?


If you look closely at this picture you might see a light blue easter bunny. Dad and Ileana stopped by on their way back to Oklahoma and they brought this toy. If you press it's foot it starts singing 'Here comes Peter Cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail, hippity hoppity Easter's on it's way...."

Brenden of course gets a big kick out of it and tries to attack it whenever I start the song playing.

And by attack I mean he gets a big smile on his face and lunges at the bunny and starts mouthing its face and drooling on it. It took me a while to understand his behavior.

It occured to me on Sunday. What do I do when I'm playing with him? I'll play, then all of a sudden I'll be overwhelmed with mommy hormones and I'll smile, sweep him up in a big hug, and plant kisses all over his face.

Brenden is merely imitating me. Except I don't drool. Much.

Smiley

Smiley
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

I hope your Friday wasn't as fun as ours. I had to leave work early to pick up B from daycare - all the schools were letting our early because of the impending weather.

It didn't really strike until about 9 pm, and from then until midnight, I spent the night glued to the T.V. watching the approaching line of storms. I also spent a good deal of that time in pants-wetting terror because the tornado sirens in town kept going off.

Look, if it was just me at home, I'd pop a beer and find a baseball game to watch. But I had my 10-month old snoring in my arms, and I kept wondering what the hell I would do if a tornado did hit?

Of course I was ready to go into the hallway with something heavy to cover us, but what if something happened to me? Would the rescue people find Brenden before he got hurt? What if he did get hurt but I was unconcious or dead?

Bleah.

Brenden at the DZ

Brenden at the DZ
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

If it's April it must be time to start working on the pool!

Halfway through March the pool looked pretty decent, with just a thick layer of leaves on the bottom to mar its perfection. I spent a warm afternoon fishing out a bagful of leaves around that time. Not a week later, the weather warmed considerably and the algae bloomed. My beautiful pool turned into a swamp. I should have bought the requisite chemicals right then, but yo soy la slacker so I didn't get around to that until this weekend.

So the algae is dead and the pool is nominally blue but the bottom is now covered with a thick ooze. I turned on the pump to 'waste' and started vacuuming the bottom. When the pump is on waste it just sucks up the water and spits it out with no filtering. If I tried to filter and recirculate, I'd have to shut the pump off and backwash to clear the filter every 5 seconds. As it was the pump was spewing nasty booger-green water. I have barely scratched the surface - I mean the bottom - but it will be a month at least before the pool temperature will be tolerable.

So far I have only worked on the pool if Jon was able to watch Brenden. I'm going to have another go at vacuuming this afternoon if weather permits so I'm going to bring his exersaucer out so I can keep an eye one him. An exersaucer is kind of difficult to describe. He can sit upright in it, turn around, and it has a lot of little squeeky / rattle toys on it that he can play with. One thing he can't do is move it around but just to be safe I think I'll tie it to the patio furniture so that he can't bounce it into the pool.

Speaking of El Jefe:

Letter to Brenden Month 10

Holy crapoly, you're 10 months old! And you're sick again! Will you stop it? If you get sick I get sick! And this time instead of a cold followed by a sinus infection, I have a cold with a sinus infection!

Ah, guilt from mommy. I'm starting early, aren't I? It's a good thing you can't read yet.

So what's new with you? Not much to be honest. I don't really feed you baby food anymore - just the fruit. You are refining your grip so that you don't sqish peas too hard any more. Green beans seem to work better, and you just dig the hell out of goldfish crackers. You like scrambled eggs which is a great quick protein fix. Last night you ate scrambled eggs and peas, most of which you fed yourself. I'm truly sorry that the pool isn't clean yet because you were a mess! It would have been so easy just to grab your ankles and dunk you a couple of times after that.

I'm joking, honey. Partways. But it's cool that you can feed yourself so well.

Your new daycare provider has proven to be a mixed blessing. She opens late and closes early, which means your dad and I have split taking you and retrieving you. I mean mixed because your dad is taking care of you more and just like everything else he attempts he does it well! Sonya took an entire week off for Spring Break and you and dad had a great time!

Our favorite game is 'pass the toys' - I hold out a toy, if it's an animal I make the appropriate animal noises (you have an awful lot of ducks, hon. What's up with that?). You grab it out of my hand and stuff it in your mouth. I move onto another toy and we repeat. You are obsessed with you 'Baby Tad' singing frog - you push a button on his belly and he rewards you with a song. At that point you tackle the frog and start chewing on his lips.

But your favorite toy of all time is the TiVo remote. It's the one remote in the house that rewards you with noises when you press buttons. If I let you play with it all I hear is "kerPLIK kerPLIK BONK BONK BONK bing bing bink plikplikplikplikplikplik BONK BONK BONK" for hours on end. Last night I was just trying to change the freakin' channel to watch American Idol and you started crying hysterically, trying to grab the remote out of my hand. I finally dug through the TiVo menus and found the setting that turns off the TiVo sounds. You're going to hate me forever now, aren't you?