Wednesday, November 29, 2006

This is only a test

The commercials say one should have enough food and water to last for 72 hours in case of an emergency.

We are hoarding kibble in the credenza.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Things you never thought you'd hear yourself say

The following are contributed by H, who is busy dealing with J just now and cannot come to the computer:

"The whole cheese fiasco was a social experiment gone horribly awry".

"Welcome to the African safari. Be very quiet, for we are approaching the habitat of the notoriously fierce Jungle Sucky. Please keep your arms and legs in the vehicle, as the Sucky is known for its habit of leaping at its prey and attaching itself to the mouth, where it remains forever. Or until you are weaned."

Monday, November 20, 2006

Smart people are good at things

I, however, excel at nothing. Ergo ...

Tonight, I am a little black raincloud. Had a bad day at work and got stuck there late. Some jerk in a Smart Car flashed his high beams then flipped me off on my drive home - and I wasn't even doing anything! Bumper to bumper traffic for miles, all because there was a stalled vehicle in the shoulder on the freeway. (Why people can't drive properly, I'll never know.) Nearly ran out of gas trying to get through the gridlock, which took about an hour and a half. Somehow, my bookbag got all wet and soaked through; my textbooks are nice and ruined. Working on my quiz, but I just don't get it. And a well-intentioned email just rubbed salt in an old wound.

I feel dumb. And ineffective. And generally useless. And sad. And angry. All at once.

And I wonder if I'll ever actually graduate, or if I should just stop the whole stupid endeavor now. Apparently, I am incapable of understanding anything or applying even that small bit of knowledge that I have. Stupid people can't get professional designations. Maybe I shouldn't even try any longer.

I need chocolate.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Quick baby update

Not much time to post these days. Busy busy. Exam coming up. But I must jot down a few of J's latest antics.

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J can talk more clearly now. He says "orange" and "apple". He can tell us what sounds cats, dogs, sheep, and lions make. (The lion noise is particularly entertaining - especially when he confuses the lion with the cat. "What sound does a kitty make?" "ROOOOAAAR!!")

J has a little blue rocking chair with the Pooh-bear gang painted on the back. He will sit in his chair, with his teddy-bears piled around him, and say "Rock". J loves to rock.

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J has two favorite teddy-bears these days. Panda is forever a favorite. But he also has a little beanie-baby Pooh-bear. He loves his Pooh-bear, and will ask for it periodically. He gets very excited when he sees it. He refers to it as "Pooh Baby".

The other day, J surprised us by uttering a 3-word sentence: "Hi Pooh Baby".

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Yesterday, H took J to the grocery store. H was putting apples into a bag. J said "apple". And then, much to H's chagrin, J reached forward and pulled an apple from the bottom of the pile. You've seen what happens on TV and in the movies when that happens? It is not an exaggeration. A nice bunch of people came to my poor husband's aid, and started to help him put the apples back. And a store clerk was kind enough to come around and let them know that the store would deal with it (they didn't want the bruised fruit back on the shelf anyway).

H was mortified. I, of course, laughed hysterically when he told me.

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J gives kisses and hugs. He enjoys having his teeth brushed. He has almost a full mouthful of teeth now! His cold seems to have dissipated, though he still has a yeast rash going on. Hopefully, that will clear up soon.

J also really loves bath time and swim time. He blew bubbles in the pool for the first time two weeks ago, and thought it such fun that he often tries it in his bath too. Very sweet!

J loves stuffed animals and music. If music is playing, he will grab his stuffed animals by the paws and dance around the house with them. He particularly enjoys spinning about in circles and getting all dizzy. And at bedtime or naptime, he needs all of his stuffed animals for cuddling. If one is missing, he becomes quite irate.

J also really loves his iron drops. He will sit up like a big boy and wait expectantly while I dose them out to him. This is fortunate, since he seems to have inherited his mommy's tendency toward anemia. I hope he doesn't have to be on the drops for much longer, but it seems as though he'll have to stay on them for a while yet.

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J's appetite is picking back up, now that he is feeling better. This morning, he ate a whole slice of toast with peanut butter and crabapple jelly. He quite enjoyed that. An issue for J is that he wants to eat like a big boy; we can't cut his food into little pieces nor seat him away from the table.

Earlier this week, J ate with a fork for the very first time. He had maccaroni and cheese, and he fed himself with his safety-baby fork from his very own plastic bowl. He insists that he sit at the table with us and eat large pieces of food, just like mommy and daddy. I am glad that his booster seat is adaptable for this. We just don't use the tray any longer.

Favorite foods include peanut butter on toast, grilled cheese sandwiches, and french fries. He quite enjoys pita bread as well. (But he wasn't too keen on humus!)

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J is generally a pretty happy little guy these days. He is lots of fun! Somehow, though, he decided that he should be carried about instead of playing and running, as he once did. He's looking for more attention and snuggles.

I can't wait for this class to be done, so that I can spend a bit more time with my boy. Exam prep takes up too much time.

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Enough break-time now. Back to work!

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Thought for the day

Isn't it amazing how easy some people make it for the rest of us to feel superior?

Just sayin'.

I used to secretly judge those people. Now, I have no time left in my day for secrecy. And if they weren't so blasted stupid, I wouldn't have to use my valuable time for judging them either. But they have really earned it, so judge them I must. And I shall.

They should be smarter. It would be more convenient for me. ;)

And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming ...

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

I hab a code

Adudder wud. Wit J id daycare, we're boud to keep gettig sig here. Bud I'b tired of id, ad I wish id wud stop dow. I do't feel gud ad all. I'b tired, ad by doze is all plugged ub.

Stoopid doze.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

And the award for "stating the blatantly obvious" goes to ...

... my FA3 Lesson Notes, for the following passage:

"Regardless of how earnings relate to share price, higher earnings are considered more desirable than lower earnings".

It is worth noting that the same module provides a calculation of the price-earnings ratio (market price / earnings per share). And then, in the following sentence, states:

"To obtain market price, earnings per share is multiplied by the price-earnings ratio".

Hence, my FA3 Lesson Notes also win the award for "circular reasoning". (But thank you for that riveting example of cross-multiplication, which I think was first covered in grade 3.)

Monday, November 06, 2006

Yes and no

Full marks on quiz 4. Yes!

J is sick. No!

Almost done my midterm assignment now. Yes!

It had a case analysis on it. No!

Working on Module 8 and expecting to be done on time. Yes!

Still have much catch up work to do on other modules. No!

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We had to pick J up from daycare today. He wasn't feeling well. He was up all last night, wanting to be cuddled. We brought him home and let him sleep for a very long time. Generally, we cuddled him as he slept to make him happier. Then we played for a bit. And then he had his bath and went back to bed.

He seemed to be feeling a bit better after he'd slept for awhile. But he's still not quite his usual self. I hope he feels better in the morning.

And I also hope he doesn't wake up every two hours tonight, screaming his tiny lungs out, and demanding snuggles. You know. Like he did last night.

I love cuddling my baby. But I have homework. And a job. And really, sleep is also a good thing. And it's hard to manage sleep with the way J cuddles. I'm sure those parents who are reading will totally relate to that!

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Arson, good. Gorillas, not so much

J's speech is advancing. He can say puppy and kitty, and he can tell you what they say ("Meow"; "Woof woof"). He imitates sounds that he hears (today, H fastened him into his carseat and said "Clicky", and J responded: "Kicky").

One of his favorite words just now is: "Yeah". (He also likes "No" a fair bit, but he uses it a bit more discriminately.)

Tonight, a very sleepy J was sitting in his booster chair eating (or more accurately, trying not to eat, as is usually the case with J).

Enough with the brackets!

In any event, here is the conversation that ensued at my dinner table this evening:

H: Are you sleepy?
J: Yeah.
H: Do you want to go to bed?
J: Yeah.
T: Do you want to eat your dinner?
J: Yeah.
T: Do you want to visit the moon?
J: Yeah.
T: Should Mommy light the house on fire now?
J: Yeah.
H: Should we all run around the house screaming "Gorilla, gorilla, gorilla"?
J: [Stony silence]

J does not enjoy the gorillas.

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J was in a very Daddy mood today. Sure, he had his moments when he wanted me too. But generally, he just wanted Daddy and no one else would do. I was not permitted to touch J's sippy cup; only Daddy. I was not permitted to take J's piece of bread that he no longer wanted to eat; only Daddy. And I was not permitted to cuddle J to sleep tonight; he wanted Daddy.

Daddy was thrilled. I felt rather rejected by the whole thing, though. Especially when J tried to push me off the bed during snuggle time, so he could be alone with his Daddy.

Babies are fickle!

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Halloween Parade

J had a wonderful Halloween yesterday!

His daycare had a Halloween parade for the seniors, and J got to wear his little frog costume and go for a nice ride in the turtle-bus. He received a goodie-bag and some cookies from a witch. And as an added bonus, he also got the opportunity to brighten the day of several people who really needed it. I really like J's daycare because of that particular focus.

Later, we went trick-or-treating. J was very sweet in his little costume. He really enjoyed all the decorations on our street. Our neighbours had a row of lit-up pumpkins up their walkway which he found quite entertaining. And he also enjoyed their ghost that moved its arms and made "Oooooooo" noises as we passed. We carried him from house to house, with his little black-cat goodie basket over his flippered arm. He never ceased to be amazed that people would give him special treats just for ringing their doorbells and looking cute. He smiled happily everytime something landed in his basket. And then he tried to pull it out to take a look. He got lots of candy (mostly chocolate) and a little tin of play-do, which I think is a great idea!

When we came home, he sat on the living room floor with his basket and went through it. He was just so happy! Then he chased the cats around with his candy and scared them. And that was around the time that we decided it was time to go and see the family.

A nice car ride later, and the family who lives nearby had gotten a good look at little J in his Halloween outfit. He received a few more treats, had some Smarties at Grandma and Grandpa's house as a special snack, and then came home for a nice cuddle and bed.

It was a wonderful day. And made even more special by the fact that I got to leave work early to attend the Halloween parade and take pictures. I haven't posted pictures in awhile, and it's about time I got to it. So here are some of the pictures from J's Halloween parade.

Ribbit!!