bad news from Al Jazeera

Oh sports fans…it is good to be passionate about the game. But we must restrain our passions if our passions bring harm to another….I’m looking at you British football hooligans, Lakers-fans-post-NBA-championship, and I’m also looking at Africa. I heard about this from our daycare provider, she told me Egypt & Algeria might be going to war over a soccer match.

So, I investigated.

Thanks to Youtube, and the small video recorders that are ubiquitous, we see that the Algerian team’s bus was attacked after leaving the airport in Cairo.  I don’t care who is visiting you, you make for damn sure they are treated with respect and travel safely. Shame on you Egypt.

Don’t worry, Algeria won the match, thus qualifying for world cup.

And now Egypt has recalled its ambassador to Algeria after World Cup qualifying football matches between the two countries resulted in a number of outbreaks of violence.

Have I mentioned that I don’t like soccer?

good news from Al Jazeera

Hey sportsfans, I am very happy about this!

After months of hand wrangling, rumors and stupidity by the International Association of Athletics Federations, has granted fast-runner-girl the right to keep the gold medal she won back in August.

Details from our friends at Al Jazeera.

federal overreach

Not all good ideas are good laws.  (wait, that doesn’t apply.)

How about, The Tenth Amendment of the US Constitution.

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

However, in trying to make the nation a safer place…

Citing an increase in the number of subway and light-rail crashes and resulting passenger injuries, the Obama administration will push for legislation that would allow the federal government to set and enforce safety standards on the nation’s transit systems, officials said on Sunday.

Each branch of government should have clearly defined roles. And the role of the local government is to supervise local transportation. If the local government can not do that, then that is the fault of the local voter.

Will that mean that different areas will have different safety levels in their community transit? Yes.  But in life, we make choices, and we get to compare and try and match our purchases with our priorities. Our neighborhoods have different safety levels. Our food has different safety levels.

One of the main benefits of states-rights, is that voters can compare their state against another state, and see if there is a better way. I view the fifty states as fifty little laboratories in action.

President Obama, your administration has enough on its plate.

 

rum & coke at the FDA

once upon a time, I drank a rum and Coke. It was disgusting and I decided that the best way to enjoy the worlds most popular beverage, is unadulterated Coca-Cola straight from the can. No ice, either, thank you.

Now, the FDA wants to regulate that awful drink. What? you ask. Well, first they’ll come for the come for the Liquid Charge ™…and I suspect that eventually they’ll outlaw the 182 alcohol and coffee drinks .

FDA press release explains their power to regulate:

“…a substance added intentionally to food (such as caffeine in alcoholic beverages) is deemed “unsafe” and is unlawful unless its particular use has been approved by FDA regulation, the substance is subject to a prior sanction, or the substance is Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS)“

I think, using Starbucks as our main argument, that caffeine is Generally Recognized As Safe by our society.

Why the concern? I suspect because some crazy college kids are drinking high energy alcoholic drinks and then acting crazy.

But don’t worry, the a few scientists wrote a letter…the best parts are:

“there is emerging evidence that increased exposure to psychoactive drugs in general (including alcohol and caffeine) is associated with an increase in the risk for later drug dependence.“  (Yes, Irish Coffee is a gateway drug. )

“The methodological limitations of these studies make extrapolation of the findings very difficult.“

Yes, we must protect the college age kids. Well, unless of course they join the military. It amazes me how much trust we put in an 18 year old when she’s paid to carry an M-16, but how little we will trust her two years later when she’s carrying a college textbook.

Yeah…before you know it JackDaniels&Pepsi & Hot Toddy will all be subject to FDA purview.

By the way…I think the ATF’s ban of “flavored” cigarettes is also a horrible idea.

This goes back to one of my core political philosophies:

Not all good ideas are good laws.

kitty story

the other morning, after MyBetterHalf left for work, and while the childrens were still sleeping…

Sophie-kitty approached me, and rubbed up against my leg. Oliver kitty trotted over, stopped, sat, and looked at us with his head tilted to the side.

Sophie-kitty then charged him.

Last night, when everyone else was sleeping, I played with the kitties. I was tossing a tiny wiffle ball close by Sophie, who was hanging out on top of the kitty tower, she would either bat it away, or catch it with her claws. Then using a new & different piece of string, I had Oliver running all over. When I went upstairs to write, the kitties were playing tug-o-war with the string.

making me happy

You know the answer. It’s my childrens.

The other night, at bedtime, Mr Grunty wanted “papa sing song”. I asked him what he wanted, “ABC”, and when I asked him if he would sing with papa, he said yes. You have to sing slowly, because he can’t remember the words fast enough, but he gets about half of them, with a big smile on his face. I told him goodnight, and he wanted another song, “driving song”. (“Are yu dwiving, are yu dwiving, on de woad, on de woad…”)

That was one he learned from a toy. I didn’t like that toy at all, the song was so annoying, and then my toddlers started to sing along with the “driving song”, and my heart melted and I appreciated the toy. ( I even put up with the randomly selected other annoying songs they had to go through to get to their song.) Then I turned to Ms Sqeaky, “would you like to sing a song with papa?” She smiled a shy little smile and whispered “star”, and we quietly sang “twinkle twinkle little star”. I was very happy, usually she doesn’t sing when her brother is around. (Gee…I’m tearing up a bit now, thinking of it.)

Last night, we finished the big foam coral reef fish puzzle. Then, as celebration, Mr Grunty stood on the foam puzzle and started running in place, “papa stomp”. So, me, Mr G and Ms Squeaky spent the next few minutes playing follow the leader on the puzzle, “touch nose!…touch ears…jump…touch feet…tickle mommy’s feet…dance”.   Mostly they were giving the instructions, except for the tickle mommy’s feet, that was me. Then, at their mother’s requests, they gave each other, their parents, and their baby brother Mr Cuddles, hugs.

Mr Cuddles is getting better at moving around. He can roll over, turn around. He is crawling. Not a pro, but will get the motion going for three or four “crawl-steps”, and then fall forward on his belly, scoot a bit, and then push his butt into the air to start another crawl. His favorite thing to crawl towards: papa’s pink indoor shoes.

stories

This morning, Mr Grunty said he wanted to feed his baby brother. Yay! So, after I pried Mr Cuddles from Ms Squeaky’s arms, I sat MrG down, gently laid MrC on his lap, a pillow propping up MrC’s head, and handed the bottle to MrG. Many times I had to remind him to hold the bottle higher. After a few minutes Mr G told me he was done.

I was trying to get us out the house, I had Ms Squeaky at the diaper changing station, and she looked at me, sad, and said, “Papa, wanna go read with Grunty”.  How could I refuse that. So I let her go read. I peaked in their room a few minutes later, and MsS and MrG were sitting on a bed, facing each other, Mr Grunty had a book, was flipping through the pages and telling MsSqueaky what was on each page.

Mr Cuddles had a poo diaper, and was fussy whilst I was changing him, pro’lly because I wasn’t letting him just scoot naked all over. MsSqueaky went over to him, kissed him on the head, “its OK baby guy, baby-guy its OK”, then she looked at me and said, “baby guy owie butt”.

Ms Squeaky has a new super fun game. She tosses a kitty toy, and laughs and jumps with joy when Oliver kitty chases it. She had gotten strong enough for a decent toss, and patient enough for the kitty to go get it. She is so happy when he pounces on the toy.

The other morning, both toddlers wanted to be held and wanted papa to read to them. Mr G got to my lap first. Ms S looked sad for a second, and then dramatically threw her head down onto her arms. Mr G tried to remedy the situation, by pointing to my other leg and saying “sit here Squeak, sit here”.

Soon, my wonderful Sportsfans, I will be going into the crazy land of NaNoWriMo. Wish me luck. So far, I have two to travel with me, so it won’t be totally terrifying.

But a few stories before I go.

The other morning, MsSqueaky wanted into the bathroom, it was time to get ready to go, but I let her in. A few minutes later, I returned to see her holding her baby doll, while the baby is sitting on her potty. Yes, it is time to start the potty training for MsS. Then, Ms S took the baby to the changing pad, and got a wipe, because her baby doll had “owie butt”.

Mr Grunty, the other morning, wanted me to draw. “Papa draw ping” (or did he say “pain”?) Mr G politely lasked. This went on for a few minutes, Mr G would get more and more upset, until finally, I realized he was saying “plane”.

The other morning, Mr Cuddles woke up around 4am, had a diaper that needed changing, and after we changed it, with a big smile on his face, Mr C did a little kicking-dance laying on the bed, looked at MyBetterHalf and me, as if to say, “Mommy, Papa…I’m awake, you’re awake…let’s hang out! It’ll be awesome!”

Bedtime rituals these days:

• Mr Grunty has been falling out of his bed. This doesn’t wake his siblings.
• Ms Squeaky has been sleep walking, we think, she’ll wander around, and sometimes go back to her room, sometimes just go to our bed and stand there. (If she’s awake, she knows how to crawl in, or ask for help.) Once, MyBetterHalf saw MsS just standing at a doorway, eyes closed.
• Mr Cuddles, usually nurses a bit before bed, and then will either sleep through the night, or, wake up at either midnight, or 4am. If midnight, I can usually cuddle him back to sleep. If 4am, he’ll want to be nursed back to sleep.

This morning, Mr G & Ms S, had their baby dolls, (Mr G has “pink-baby” and Ms S has “blue-baby”), and they were teaching their baby dolls how to crawl on the floor in front of Mr Cuddles.

At lunch time, Mr G & Ms S were happy to take turns and feed their baby brother prunes & pears whilst they sat on papa’s lap.

 

breakfast time

Mr Cuddles gets a bottle in the morning. Ms Squeaky likes to hold him and his bottle. She’ll get on the sofa, scoot over to a side, so she’ll have a pillow, and I’ll lay Mr Cuddles on her lap. Usually by this time Mr Cuddles is very excited and wants his bottle. She holds it, I sit by, just in case, even though, so far I have not been necessary. She smiles, looses concentration and the bottle isn’t level, I adjust the bottle. Then Mr Cuddles and Ms Squeaky get into their routine. He starts either hitting her face, pulling her hair, or grabbing for her nose. She just squints her eyes, smiles, and turns her head.

Mr Grunty prefers his english muffin without butter. The first few times he threw a fit when I handed it to him with butter on it. I wonder if he likes his toast done on one side?

This morning, Ms Squeaky saw the bunch of bananas, pulled one off, and tried to open it for a minute. Then she gave it to him “papa holp”. I peeled it a bit, and she was happy to eat it like a big person, still with some peel attached. She was very cute. (But don’t leave those stringy-fibers on the side of the banana, she does not like those!)

Making my life more difficult, I tried to define “coco” as “chocolate milk that is hot”. Naturally Ms Squeaky likes chocolate milk, and Mr Grunty likes coco.

Happy 8 months

Happy Eight months of living with us, Mr Squeaky.

I am happy that Mr Grunty has taken an interest in feeding you dinner. And I was surprised the other day, that MsSqueaky could feed you all by herself.

You got your second tooth a few days ago.

To celebrate today, I held you, you were in super-man flying position, and I would lean close to your Mommy’s face, and you found that super funny.