Monday, August 24, 2009

IKEA, Dragnet, Thoughts.

Last night, I was thinking of the days when my apartment was a mess, the kitchen not getting cleaned for days, the floors never got swept... but I might watch five episodes of the X-Files in one day.

Last night, I wasn't sure which was better--having the time to clean the house now, while Elijah plays with his toys and Cheerios in the playpen, or lying around nursing and watching things and reading and... not even getting my email done.

Heh. I think I prefer now. The house is clean, the floors are swept, I get dinner made most nights, Elijah and I have nice lunches together, and we go for walks. And the guilt sure is much reduced :p

But a growth spurt day of nothing but nursing would be enjoyable just about now. I haven't finished the X-Files yet.

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Yesterday's shopping trip was bafflingly successful. I had a Harry & David gift certificate from Christmas (thank you guys--you know who you are. I hope :) ) so we ran off to the mall to see what we could find. Harry & David yielded a wonderful travel tea infuser thing, and the most bafflingly amazing smokey mozzarella cheese dip ever o.O

Also some cranky old woman who whined at the woman behind the counter for the chips on the shelf not all being close to the front. And then she sneered at everyone who mentioned tea that wasn't PG Tips of all the boring-ass dessicated tea leaves in the world. WTF.

Here are the candidates for highlight of the day:

Getting $700 worth of suits, shirts and jackets from S&K for... wait for it... $45. S&K was going out of business. They were desperate. It was aweseome.

or

Going all through the IKEA Showroom and Marketplace without buying anything.

I'm not sure which is more amazing :)

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Right now, we're watching Dragnet. One of these days, I'll remember that Dragnet was before the Miranda Rights were instituted, and I'll stop being surprised.

I doubt I'll stop being surprised by the bad acting, the dizzying back-and-forth camera work, or the naivete of the victims.

Elijah has finished his Cheerios and is actually watching Dragnet. He's showing more interest in television now than he has before. I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. He seems to like high colour and/or high contrast, and movement.

It's probably time to get serious with the Your Baby Can Read DVDs. That would be easier if I could get them to play in the PS2--Elijah is definitely more interested in watching things on the television screen than on the computer screen. I'm wondering if there's some sort of difference in his physical ability to see the different screens.

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I haven't kept up with the baby book. I know I should. And maybe when the basement is done and there's a crafts room set up, or maybe if I ever get the house cleaned up, or maybe if I got organized enough to cook enough meals in a day to feed us for a week, or, or, or... sigh.

I do have things recorded here in this blog, and lots of pictures and videos.

It'll do.

What I will do when the basement is ready and there's a room for my sewing machine is: I WILL make a quilt out of Elijah's old clothes. I still intend to do that.

2 comments:

Kristen said...

Hey, Elijah is soo cute. I was watching the video and saw him do the sign for "more". I have read in previous posts about you using the baby signing videos. I take it it's working? When did you start with him? Is it pretty easy intuitive or a lot of work? Tell me your experience. I am also interested in what you think of the baby can read videos. I was checking these out too. The signing and reading are of much interest to me as well, but I am one of those that get too wrapped up in Internet reviews and the videos actually seems to be a bit of a hot button issue with people and it's all "should you, shouldn't you...too regimented...to much time in front of t.v. Etc..". The people who say all of this are probably totally anal and don't eat bacon but still. I wanted to ask a real world person that I can relate to their actual experience. Thanks! Kristen

Mama Coyote said...

Signing was actually incredibly easy once I committed to doing it. We'd talked about it for a long time, and meant to be doing it since the day Elijah was born, but we just... sort of... didn't. Then one day, I said, I'm doing this, and Elijah and I started watching the Baby Sign DVD every morning. That was mostly for me, not him--so I could learn the signs. And after about a week of using the "more" sign consistently at him, Elijah picked it up. He still does it wrong (with his finger to his palm), but he does it wrong the way a lot of other babies do it wrong. He figured out "more" during our 12 hour car trip, when we were eating Cheerios. Once he got that, I realized we needed to work on more signs. I think it took about 24 hours for him to get "milk" ;)

About Your Baby Can Read -- I don't know yet. We haven't watched it consistently yet. I'll let everyone know if and when it works out :)

Now, as for watching too much TV... I DID watch entirely too much TV as a child, and I don't think it hurt me too awful much. I also had a loving, supportive, engaged mother--I think that's key. I had a TV and VCR in my room from the time I was three. I never really turned the TV off except to sleep. And then when I was about 22, I turned it off for good--because I realized it was eating up way too much of my time.

I love these days of TV-on-demand. We don't have cable. We just have DVDs and hulu.com :) That seems to be the best way for me, personally, to deal with TV shows and movies.

So Elijah will have limited TV time, but there WILL be TV time. I hope to teach him that it is a tool that he can master, not be mastered by. You know?

Thank you so much for your questions and comments :D