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Monday, October 25, 2004
At five and six you learn some tricks...
posted by Dorothy 5:49 PM
Guess who likes to drive...
posted by Dorothy 5:48 PM
At the Pumpkin Patch on a hayride
posted by Dorothy 5:47 PM
OK, so there have been fewer blog entries this year than seasons. WHAT ELSE IS NEW?? So much, it seems, that I haven't had the chance to talk about it all. Details, details... we live in Seattle now, in a cute little neighborhood called Wallingford, near a cute little lake called Greenlake. It's actually all quite cute. Even "downtown," which extends about the distance from Bryant Park to Union Square, and is so much less dense that to my jaded eye it resembles nothing so much as a set for a romantic comedy set in "An American City." Seriously, the buildings are so square and clean, and the streets are so devoid of trash, crowding, noise, homeless people, pigeons and rats, that at first it almost felt creepy to me. Then I realized that I was detoxing from NY. I love the fact that we can take in downtown in exactly one eyeful when we drive down the hill to pick up Javi at work.
We, of course, refers to Galen, Alejandro and me. Galen, who turned 5 this September, just started Kindergarten at Greenlake Elementary school, and is forging ahead with all the amazing things five year olds learn, like riding a bike, jumping rope, reading, tying shoes, debating with parents, hunting bugs and much much more. He's growing like a weed, and loves it here now that he gets all the benefits of being somewhere other than the only place he remembers (NY). Having a front porch with handy spots for strategically placing lots of pumpkins is only one example of the Galen's-eye benefit of living here.
Alejandro also can count a birthday to his credit here (1), and celebrated it early by walking at 11 months. He really had the Franken-baby thing going for awhile, but he has since refined it to a seasoned sailor's rolling gait, designed to keep him on his feet no matter what. And he is ready for it too! There is pretty much nothing he won't try, climb, taste, splash in (if you get my meaning) or fall over. Papa's slipper took a little bath in the toilet. Of course we had told him that he couldn't play in the toilet, but THAT was the one DOWNstairs. He is actually quite remarkably canny for a little one. And demonstrative of feelings: he enjoys asking for objects from you so that he can throw them on the ground in disgust (food, spoons, toys etc.). I SWEAR TO YOU that he didn't get that from us. We pay for those things now -- we wouldn't dream of throwing them!
Javier is now the big-time head-poobah senior mid-management something or other at Adobe. I haven't a clue what his title is; what I DO know is what he's doing: he is doing a complete visual redesign of the DV Suite. And apparently he rocks. Which comes as no surprise to me, of course. What's even more impressive is that he still manages to create watercolors at night. This during the period that I manage to lay on the floor like jello staring at a t.v. screen, or fall asleep over my first paragraph...
Which is pretty much all I have to say about myself these days. Well. You know. I did get passed over again for the Nobel Prize, but I'll keep working on that one. OK, kidding! I'm at-home at the moment, which doesn't come with a simple, five-word definition anywhere on the box. It essentially translates to, "manager of everything, overtime and weekends required, no pay, benefits. Dress is casual. No, REALLY casual. Ok, wear what you want, but it WILL somehow acquire snot- and food-stains (inexplicably BEFORE breakfast) and if you really want that laundry folded, maybe you can do it before school, when the kids are doing their level best to spread toys evenly across both floors." Yes, as I predicted, I am quite definitely not the incredibly put-together supermom who somehow manages to scrub her own floors while building the new sun-porch during which time she homeschools her six children and tends her organic garden. Nope. Somehow I'm forgiven (most of the time) by the end of the day (most days).
I'm starting a list of favorite things about Seattle, not in order of importance, but simply in the order that they occur to me:
1. Drive through espresso stands
OK, that's it for now. I'll post some pix in a few.
posted by Dorothy 5:05 PM
