Pedigree

So Lauren and Mina are officially pedigreed. Kate and I went down this morning to get the official copies of their birth certificates. Only took 19 months for me to get around to it! Now she can get her passport one of these years...

Mina was very cute and slept most of the time, but she smiled at Lauren at one point. Kate was adorable, too.

In other news, lots has been happening but probably most noteworthy: we took L to her first professional basketball game, which also was our first professional basketball game. We saw the Clippers vs. the Rockets. Man, Yao is tall! I had to google Dan Dickau later to find out if he was truly short and midgety or if he just appeared so next to him. Dickau is 6 feet exactly.

In other excitement, I found out today that my employment contract has been extended another year. Since I'm this weird hybrid of semi-university employee and semi-contractor, it's a good thing. I don't have to pay my own taxes or anything, but then again I don't get health insurance or other benefits. But it was this way last year, too. And I get to work in my pajamas as ever. I have never in my adult life earned so small of paychecks but then again, I've averaged only 20-30 hours per *month* total. My hourly isn't bad, I just don't have many hours. I've had some interesting freelance offers come my way lately (and fulltime offers too. BTW, what is the deal with me and job karma and Pasadena?! I've out of the blue gotten calls from 3 separate Pasadena employers wanting to hire me! No thanks, I'm not looking to spend over 2 hours a day on the road commuting, but how random is that? All in the same city by people who each knew separate people I used to work for who recommended me. Can someone recommend me for Sony, please, so I can walk to work?!)

Alright, I'm veering off on side tangents having nothing to do with the subject of this post, so I'll stop...

the 1800's around here again

On Friday our phone & DSL went down again. This required several calls to AT & T to get it fixed, and of course I was routed to India. The phone reps with their calm, overly polite demeanor annoy me so much! They had a voice activated system. They would ask questions requiring a yes or no answer, and Lauren, nearby, thought it was funny to shout "no" so that eventually I got routed into business billing questions or somesuch place. Anyway, when I did finally get to the right person, while I was on hold with my connection issues question, they played all sorts of "did you know?" messages all about how I could get help on their website. Well, duh, if I could get ON their website, I wouldn't be calling them with connectivity issues!

Lauren & Mina

The background story is that Kate came over with Mina last week. When Lauren was getting dressed, I had some nice outfits selected. She reached past them and pointed at this Syracuse cheerleader dress in the back of the closet and insisted, "this please! THIS!" so I let her put it on. This odd wardrobe choice was a gift from one of my cousins who went to Syracuse and still lives nearby. So did my dad, so they sent this for Lauren, maybe in hopes she'd go there too? Anyway, Lauren LOVES it and would probably wear it every day if it weren't conveniently in the laundry for long periods of time. Orange is not one of my favorite colors, neither is yellow, but Lauren likes them both a lot.

Back to little Mina, Lauren loved loved loved having her visit and has asked for her several times since the visit. I have another shot of Lauren trying to lick her face (her new way of kissing, she thinks it's funny to pretend to be a doggy) and Mina looking quite skeptical. Mina's an agreeable little baby who put up with it. She's only 7 weeks old, so how would she really stop it anyway? :)

Newman

A few nights ago, Steve & Melissa came over for dinner and Ryan was telling them Jake stories. I told them, "it's like Ryan is Seinfeld and Jake is Newman." That was on Monday evening. Lauren was there, evidently listening. We didn't talk about it again, but out of the blue yesterday, she pointed at Jake and said "Newman!" and then laughed.

She also has a lot of books memorized. To quiz her, I will stop right before a word and she'll finish it for me. But she still slurs words like a toddler, so that often I am the only one who understands her (other times, it's perfectly clear). "Boon" is balloon, "tak ew" is thank you, "wawa" is water, etc. We went to Ryan's aunt's house on Monday and when their new dog came running up, Ryan was racking his brain trying to remember the dog's name and Lauren (who had only seen the dog twice) said "Nimo!" So she is listening, and she doesn't miss much!

Tonight we were talking about Todd (who got in a car accident today, but is fine) and Lauren said "Todd, Todd, TODD!" perfectly. When I started to ask "who is Todd's girlf-", she interupted, "Jenna!" and then continued "Todd! T!". Don't know if she was spelling his name, or if she wants to have a tea party with Todd. =) Either way, we are glad to hear Todd is okay!

Big hips=smart babies?

Why didn't the midwives ever tell me this, instead of worrying about my 35 pound weight gain? Apparently, having a low hip-waist ratio (in other words, bigger hips than waist, "curvy") is good for the developing baby's brain cells.

Go see Finland Station!

How exciting for Alex's band! They got a write-up in L.A. Weekly! I can get you his autograph. :)

19 month Lauren update

Laurenific is 19 months old today. Let's see what's different this month since last month...
2 constant companions: Amy and Penguin. (doll and stuffed animal who sleep with her and play with her and yes, even breast feed from me per her request.) An obsession with pumpkins. A transition to cloth diapers and more experiments with the potty. A doubled affection for "Dee Dad" and a if he's not there when she wants him, outraged cries of "MY daddy" implying you had offered someone else's. New skills: drawing with crayons (but then still trying to eat them). Easily and effortlessly stacking blocks, no longer having the necessity to knock them down immediately afterwards. Walking up and down steps by herself holding a hand or the railing, without scooting on her butt to do it. Finishing mother goose rhymes and making up her own ("Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of..." "Wah wah" "...Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling..." "later!")

A love for: rice (fairly new), Jake (continued and redoubled), Frankie (neighbor's new puppy), "Doolee" (Julie, our neighbor, whose door Lauren likes to bang on), purses (mine and her own) and lately...saved the best for last...MONEY! Yes, the little capitalist child loves the green stuff and the shiny coinage. She will get very excited if she sees it and she'll say "Money! Please? Please! Money!". She likes to be the one to pay at the store (on rare occasions we use cash) and she no longer tries to eat cash. She still loves to carry around "The Motley Fool Investment Guide".