Langer Loksh

And May I Add

that the bulge is back. Charlie's on Bactrim.

Lover of Deer

Last night we had Oscar's naming ceremony with just relatives over in Wellesley. This is our usual thing--we can't get it together until the baby is like six months old. Anyway it was adorable. Some of the best wishes were: from cousin Craig, who is in sixth grade, "I wish you success in school and then in your professional life"; and from future Uncle Eric, "I hope that when the time is right you meet the right girl"; and from Summer, "I wish you won't do what I did and almost get hit by a car crossing the street on your bike."

It was a little weird to not have a deceased relative to lionize; we just liked the name Oscar. But we talked about all the signs that pointed to Oscar once we hit upon the name, particularly the Scandinavian significance. And John made Swedish pancakes for everyone.

Like Time Standing Still

It's our tenth wedding anniversary and Summer's seventh birthday. We had Summer's luau and then my mom and John gave us a gift certificate to Papa Razzi and watched all three kids for us. I had something called a cucumber martini, which I don't particularly recommend. I got a little tiny bit teary talking with Jeff about all of the crap we went through to have these three (thank God healthy) children. But then there was fried calamari.

When we got home our new solar Chinese lanterns were glowing in our crabapple tree and Charlie was--and is--still awake watching Kung Fu Panda.

I would not trade any of the last ten years, not one single minute.

The Conecake Reviews Are In

The first graders say, "Your mom's a GENIUS!"

Two Baker's Dozens Minus One or Two

I carefully counted the conecakes that I made for Summer's classroom birthday treat and somehow managed to eat one, OOPS, and now there are only 24 which means one of the teachers will have to go without. What the hell is wrong with me?

Bees and Babies, But Not Brownies

Today we marched in the Memorial Day parade with the Brownie troop. It was super adorable. Charlie even got a turn to carry the American flag. My camera, which had briefly come back to life, died again as soon as I pointed it at my Brownie and her friends with the felt banner they had made. I am DEVASTATED! I, who still remembers marching in my own Brownie uniform, and carrying that really heavy flag, over 30 years ago. Heading to the camera shop tomorrow to inquire about repair.

To make myself feel better, here are some pictures from when Jim set up his new bee hive in the equipment yard.

This is the little box where the queen hangs out until the other bees eat through the marshmallow and set her free. This buys some time for the bees to not panic or something. I can't remember. Jim, care to comment?

And here is Jim shaking the bees out of their shipping box into the hive. Jim was SO brave! He didn't even wear that goofy hat with the netting.

In an unrelated photo, here is Oskie's first time in the exersaucer:

And Oskie attempting to eat his friend Lucy:

Capital Capitol

Washington is one of those places that does not disappoint. The scale is just awesome, and all the more so considering it was built a couple hundred years ago.

The Capitol building is just gorgeous. We also saw the Lincoln Memorial; the Vietnam wall, where I got teary within seconds, and World War II monument, which did nothing for me; and the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, where we were really annoyed with people for taking pictures instead of just looking at the "charters of freedom." PEOPLE. Buy the souvenir copy and pay attention to the real thing--it will give you goosebumps.

We saw the original Star-Spangled Banner--and it's huge! We saw Dorothy's ruby slippers, Oscar the Grouch, Kermit the Frog, and Archie Bunker's couch. We saw Amelia Earhart's sexy red plane, and we tried to take a girl-power picture in front of it, but Charlie could not resist sneaking into the frame. (Plus Oscar was hanging on my body, and he's a guy.)

Note Charlie's Venom face paint. We happened upon a street fair where Charlie became Venom and Summer got a fabulous henna peacock on her hand. 

In 19 hours (!) in the van, we saw license plates from 39 states plus DC and Quebec.

AND we saw my old friend Missy marry her sweetheart Pete at a gorgeous venue overlooking the Potomac.

Sadly, my camera died outside 'Arack Obama's house so I could not take pictures of the exciting new kitchen garden and bee hives. Not very convenient for my camera to die when, in the next two weeks, Summer will turn seven, march in the Memorial Day parade with her Brownie troop, and perform in a play she has been working on for two months in her after school drama program. Oh well. At least we got this great shot of Summer doing her part to prop up the nation in these difficult times:

Are You Free For Lunch, Mr. President?

Charlie's preschool classroom got a sound field system today. The teachers wear a microphone that's a wand on a necklace. Their voices are amplified ever so slightly through a speaker, so they rise above the four-year-old fray. It sounds fantastic--not at all overbearing. Thank you, town!

Tomorrow we depart for Washington, D.C., where Charlie is looking forward to seeing 'Arack Obama. Little does he know the most exciting person we will see is my summer camp friend Missy, who is getting married.

My Diaper Conspiracy Theory

I used to have this theory that there was a conspiracy at K-Mart, so that whenever I went there to buy diapers, they were out of whatever size my baby was wearing.

But guess what? There is a new, more insidious diaper conspiracy, one that is designed specifically to make you spend more money. Has anyone else noticed this? Huggies and Pampers seem to have stopped making their non-premium diapers in size 2. You have to buy the pricey Swaddlers or UltraCare or whatever the hell they're called, instead of Baby Dry or Baby Shaped or whatever they're called, in sizes N, 1, and 2. Then when your baby hits size 3 you are permitted to choose diapers that are not so thick you can't even tell if he's peed or not. DUDE. I'm not pleased.

[UPDATE 5.18.09: They have size 2 BabyDry at my fahncy grocery store.]

My Unified Theory of Pink Eye

I stopped blogging about pink eye because I was frightening away loved ones. Really. Our house is not a disgusting, festering cesspool of ocular bacteria. I swear! But Charlie continues to have snot blobs in his eyes. Two weeks ago I finally took him to the eye doctor.

Have I mentioned how much I love Charlie's eye doctor? Dr. Bhatt is her name.

Dr. Bhatt said "He does have a little bacteria in his right eye" and prescribed a drop called Tobradex or something like that. Dr. J. had wanted to prescribe this at one point, but I made him give me Augmentin because I was going mental. Dr. Bhatt said to give him this for a week, then do nothing for a week, and then come back. "I would say this might be happening because he can't close that eye, so his cornea might be getting dried out, but his cornea actually looks pretty good," she said.

We followed her instructions, and Charlie continues to have snot blobs. In fact this morning he even had a little flakey crust on his gorgeous lashes. "What if it's not pink eye?" Julie said. "What if it's just snot?" I liked this idea very much. And then I began thinking: what if it's all connected to the extra ear canal and the angry red bulge and all that? Aren't your eyes and ears and sinuses are connected somehow?

Well today we went back to Dr. Bhatt and she pronounced Charlie pink eye free. I jumped up and hugged her. "Since he cannot close that eye, there is not a normal flow of tears, and the eye produces that pustulent discharge," she said. "It's actually helping to keep his cornea moist." I don't have to give him any medicine. He is not contagious. All I have to do is wipe off the snot and go.

When I told Dr. Bhatt about my unified theory of pink eye slash ear bulge etc., she shook her head. "Totally separate," she said.

Charlie lined up Dr. Bhatt's Woody, Buzz, Bo Peep, and Spider-Man figurines and then we said goodbye.