“Take whatever lies ahead/The good with the bad, and leave the rest”*
Posted on May 13, 2007 - Filed Under Adult swim, The Daily Doodle, Travel
*Catching On by Son Volt. I have a kind of ‘love/not really into’ relationship with this band. I really liked their breakthrough album Trace but some of the stuff since then has been kind of so-so. The lead singer, a guy named Jay Farrar, is supposedly some kind of musical and lyrical genius. Anyway, if you’re curious, there’s a free download of a live concert over at the site for the coolest thing in the world, NPR. And if you’re even more deeply curious, you can read about the musical genre they exemplify, alt-country; I highly recommend it, especially in the midst of today’s computer generated crap which so many tweens think of as art.
As most of you know, we recently completed a whirlwind tour of our people in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. We began by visiting friends Jill and Jack and their kids Lauren and Ryan. We then moved on to Rob and his new bride Jamie. Moving on, we next visited my mom and stepfather, at whose place we stayed for several days. One of the highlights of this visit was a trip to the Pittsburgh Zoo. Maggie really enjoyed it; we’ll put up pictures in the next couple of days. Then came seeing my dad and stepmother for a little while. Finally, we headed to Baltimore to see my grandparents, aunt, cousins, and, much to our surprise, my uncle and aunt. As a last connection-maker with family, we had lunch with Erin’s brother. It was really great to see everyone and for everyone to see Maggie. It especially warmed my heart that she and her great-grandparents were once again able to see each other. There were costs to this trip, though, to include the plane trips. Maggie did really well, considering her inability to comprehend what was happening. Also, it was a supreme example of bad timing on account of today’s events.
Erin’s Mother’s Day was absolutely awful. Both her and Maggie somehow contracted some kind of stomach virus, which came on full throttle today. Both of them can’t keep anything in or down, if you know what I mean. This was so much the case for Erin that the doctor at the ER kept her there for four hours with an IV of fluids. Fortunately, I have been able to make arrangements to not go to work tomorrow so I can stay home and try to be of some assistance to them.
A final negative thing about this trip wasn’t related to the travel itself. Maggie began a new behavior which I find very disturbing: When I stop her from doing something, she reaches up to my face and grabs it in a kind of five finger, full handed pinch. She does this with a blank look on her face but with seeming aggression. This really bothers me because of what it seems to imply, that she is attempting to gain what she wants through physical intimidation and the infliction of physical discomfort. This is obviously not how I want our child to act. I have no idea where she would have gotten this, how to stop it, or how much to worry about it. Any thoughts?
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