So, I know I promised an update containing Holly's Birth story, and that will come, but first - this:

Willow is in a definite Princess phase. She only wants to wear pink. She has maybe 3 or 4 pink outfits, and they are the only things she wears day in and day out. She got a kid's disney princess jewelry set from my dad last year, and over the last 2 months, she's started wearing the rings, earrings (clip-ons), and necklaces constantly. And add on to that her addiction to Barbie movies.

The fine folks at Mattel have released a slew of direct-to-DVD movies 'starring' Barbie, and we accidentally caught part of a commercial for one a few months ago, and ever since, that's all that Willow has wanted to watch. So, we borrowed a few via Netflix, and wound up giving her one as a Christmas present, and now my father just gave her 3 more for her Birthday.

On the whole, the movies aren't all that bad - they're all computer animated, Barbie usually stars as the main character or as herself telling the story, the music in them is better than some movies I've seen, and the content is strictly on the up-and-up - no winking in jokes to the adults watching. But the thing that gets me is the triplets.

In almost every one of these movies, there is a group of three girls around the age of 5 or 6, who play triplets. One is always blonde, and one is always brunette. The third has waffled from red to blonde to tan to whatever in the various movies. And their names are different in each flick. Yet, they are always there!

So, what's the deal????

No Worries,

Matt

So, this morning for breakfast, I made myself a homemade Egg McMuffin - a fried egg with an english muffin (raisin), a slice of cheddar, and 2 strips of bacon. I got less than half of it - Willow ate the rest.

So I made another. And another. And another. I think all told, I only had 1 to 1.5 of the 4! that I wound up making. Willow ate all the rest, and still wanted more! This girl is in serious growth spurt mode! ...and she's already the size of a six year old!


Also, today, she drew her first recognizable picture of people, with heads, eyes, nose, mouth, body and feet. Obviously, I'm not talking Picasso here, but I am very impressed with her attention to detail so far.

Recent Willow quote: "Daddy, Mounds bars don't get up and walk away by themselves! They don't have legs!" - which she said while her pregnant Mommy was upset because I had lost the Mounds bars I had just bought for her.

I know there were a few more things I wanted to put here, but for the life of me I can't remember them. oh well. I'll remember later.

No Worries
Matt

Both from last night...

"Girls don't play Ghost Recon, because it doesn't make them graceful. Graceful is when your heart blossoms."

"Mommy, you can be a bigger bitch. You just have to try harder."

That is all for now.

I just got home from running a few errands to find salixmom reading a story to Willow. It's a tale of the Big Bad Wolf trying to catch the Three Little Pigs, but its apparently some type of sequel story, where L'il Wolf is Big Bad's son, and he's friends with the pigs. And Brer Bear is some type of manual laborer nearby.

Anyway, to amuse Willow during the story (and I think mer to amuse herself), every time the story says "The Big Bad Wolf", salixmom substitutes a random other animal name instead of wolf. Willow finds this both hilarious and offensive, and insists, "No! That's the Big Bad Wolf!"

So, apparently, it's not the:
Big Bad Koala
Big Bad Kangaroo
Big Bad Agouti
Big Bad Polar Bear
Big Bad Panda
Big Bad Iguana
Big Bad Nematode
etc. etc. etc.

The two of them are having a blast, and I am loving it. =)

No worries,
Matt

So, here are a small handful of images of Willow and her Halloween costume for this year, placed behind the cut to spare your flists. This year, she wanted to be a werewolf. We had a hard time finding a decent (or any) werewolf costume, so we decided to make one for her. A quick trip to Michael's Arts&Crafts store and $14.06 later, we had all the necessary ingredients for a werewolf costume. Enjoy the photos.

( here be werewolves )

No worries,
Matt

[EDIT]: Broken links have been fixed at this point. We Apologize For The Inconvenience.

• No, I'm not dead. I just have little-to no internet access during the day anymore, and my evenings rarely provide time for me to post anymore. Hoping this will change, but we'll see.
  
• Voted this morning at around 8am. Only 3 people in line in front of me, no hassles. Cool.
  
• Started my post-doc this week. Still not finished in old lab, have a bit more work to do, but not much. I just need to figure out how to juggle both positions
  
• New post-doc is in a frog lab, and involves surgically removing testes from male frogs, inducing female frogs to lay eggs, and then combining them in a petri dish.
  
• The frogs we use are more aquatic than amphibious, so they are always very wet when we use them, and therefore very slippery.
  
• I am covered in frog-cum and frog eggs, because one of the females I was 'massaging' eggs out of got a little feisty today.
  
• I wanted to link the above to a clip from the Broken Lizard movie "Beerfest", about manually stimulating frogs, but apparently, youtube has an age-restricted section, and this clip is hidden within it. I don't have a youtube account, so I couldn't access the clip.
  
• If youtube has an adults only section, which is what the above comment basically purports, why isn't this clip in it? (sorta SFW, sorta NSFW, depending on how much imagination you have.)
  
• On a completely unrelated note, I have Halloween photos of Willow, and related story to go along with it, will post sometime this week.
  
• Finally, will be spending Thanksgiving in Ft. Lauderdale Boca Raton, FL this year. anyone going to be in the area Fri-Sun?
  

No worries,
Matt

Quote from Willow, just a few seconds ago.


"Mommy, I want to dance on stage in front of people."


Uh-oh. I knew we shouldn't have let her watch Hairspray! last night....

I know most of you aren't reading salixmom's journal, so I'll repost her post here:

Willow is three today!!!!! She went to daycare this morning with a homemade cake :). Although when we told her it was her birthday this morning, all she did was grunt like a forty-something, saying "meh, I am not a year older".

Her auntie gave her tinkertoys (I forgot how much fun those were...) and the first season of smurfs and my parents brought her much cute things from their South Africa trip.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUNCHKIN!


So, yeah, let me reiterate - Happy Birthday Willy-Elly!!!!!!!

No Worries,
Daddy


in other news - I have a racking chest cough that won't go away. pout.

Well, reyvin interviewed me last week, and so I owe her some answers.

Here they are....

1. What was the first book you read that you remember? Well, the first book I remember reading is actually the first book I ever read. When my sister was in (first?) grade, somewhere around 5-6 years old, I remember laying on the floor next to her watching her learn to read out of her first reader. It was a 5x7 book with an orange cover and black binding. She would get bored with it and go outside to play, and I would basically just pick up where she left off. She's 3 years older than me, so I guess I was 2.5-3ish. Actually, I think it was the other way around. I would start taking over for her reading, she would get frustrated, and then go outside to play.

2. What is your favorite book to read with your daughter? Is it also her favorite? Anything by Sandra Boynton. She tends to have a different favorite each week, but the Sandra Boynton books are always a big hit. "The Going to Bed Book", "Birthday Monsters", "But Not the Hippopotamus", "Moo, Baa, La La La", "The Belly Button Book", and a few others.

3. How do you think your life will change once you finish school? Are you excited or scared about that? This is a very difficult and loaded question that got a helluva lot more difficult as of this morning. I'll be posting about this in more detail later. I promise.

4. If you had to choose...would you want your daughter to be happy or educated? Happy. Without a doubt. In fact, the more I learn, the more I tend to believe that that really is an either or proposition.

5. What do you most love about your wife?
That's probably the easiest interview question that I've ever had to answer. Out of all my women, she gives the best bl Sorry. Don't know where that came from.... It's how she can make me laugh. No matter what the topic, no matter how un-PC, or how absolutely off kilter, out of nowwhere, or whatever, she has a way of making me guffaw. A lot of times, she's not even trying to, she just makes the most random observations.

Case in point - one of my favorite quotes from her was about a relative of mine, a stereotypical spinster aunt, who just happens to use hula-hoops as belts... "How emotionally destructive can anybody really be with an ass
that big?"

If you want me to interview you, just ask, and I'll give you 5 random questions too.

Hey - just to let everyone know, I'll be in Philly next month, from Sat, July 26th to Wed, July 30th. I'll be attending the annual SDB Meeting (Society for Developmental Biologists), which is being held on Penn's campus. (note to Penn alums - it's actually being held in Houston Hall, and they were offering housing in the high rises. I'm sorry, but I did my 3 years in those buildings. Not going back....)

I'd love to be able to get together with people, if anyone's around. That said, the meetings run from 8am to 11 pm Sun through Tues, and I'll have Willow.... Actually, I'm going to be dumping Willow on my Dad and his girlfriend during the days, but that's a different story altogether. But, they give 2 hours each for lunch and dinner, so if anyone is in the area, I'd be free to get together for meals.

let me know.

No worries

Matt

Funny things she's said or done in the last few days....

"Mommy, you make the best milk in the world!" - said while nursing

This morning during breakfast, while she was running around in her Dora the Explorer panties, she grabbed a lump of modeling clay, put it inside the front of her panties, and said, "Look, Daddy! Now I have a penis like you!" At least she was smart enough to grab a large lump of clay.

"Aww, Daddy! You've ruined my life again!"

There are plenty of others, but at the moment, that's all I can remember.

No worries,
Matt

So, Willow recently started in her new daycare in NY, and much like the previous woman, the woman running this daycare started off with a bang, giving us a small group of photos of Willow's first days with her. And, here they are:

In this photo, the boy is another of the kids in the daycare, who is just a few months younger than her, and apparently has the same hair color.

No worries.

(X-posted to willy_elly and mdunnbass)

So, as salixmom recently mentioned, Willow is on a Snow White kick, where she insists that we call her Snow White. Well, with Halloween around the corner, you can guess what happens next... Here's some photos of her wearing her new Halloween costume. As always, click on the photo for a larger version.

(X-posted to willy_elly and mdunnbass)

As salixmom beat me to it, I will post a link here for those of who don't have her flisted: The latest cute Willow quotes

She has also developed a fixation on Ikea over the past week or two. Granted, we've gone to the various Ikeas in the area 4 or 5 times lately, but still. She keeps saying, "We will have to go to Ikea to get them" or "They are at Ikea, you will have to buy me one."

Oye.

No worries,
Matt

So, we went to salixmom's sister's wedding last weekend, up in Nahant, MA, which is just outside Boston. It was pretty cool, on the ocean. There was a DJ, and a lounge singer/emcee. That part was pretty pathetic, as he was constantly trying to get people to dance, but his antics and personality were doing the exact opposite. Oh well, no worries. Here's a photo though of salixmom's family:



L-R we have salixmom, willy_elly, mdunnbass, and then her mom, the groom (uncle Marky-Mark), behind him is her dad, then the bride (Auntie Nessa), her brother Frank, brother's son Calvin, and brother's wife Bonnie.

Willow was not in a mood to have her picture taken, she wanted to collect rocks and play in the water, but this pic at least has her looking at the camera. Also, it highlights the color of her hair quite nicely. =)

Anyway, more to come about other life events later.

No worries,

Matt

So, last night was a repeat of Willow's dancing with Meetdya from the other night. OK, great. But, in addition, she added a twist. This time, she started leaping from the top of salixmom's bureau into my arms, knocking me over onto the bed. That was really fun, and got her laughing and giggling, yelling "I knocked you over! We fell down together!", and letting me know that Meetdya was doing the same to her daddy. After the first 3 or 4 times though, she added a wonderful twist.

Each time she leapt into my arms, once we fell over onto the bed, she'd say a tender, "I love you Daddy", and kiss me on the forehead, then she'd get up to do it again.


This girl kills me, I love her so.

No worries,
Matt

Willow likes to sing and dance. Especially on tables. I'm hoping it's just a phase.

The other night, as I was trying to get her ready for bed, she decided she wanted to dance on salixmom's bureau (which has a decently large mirror attached to it, portrait, not landscape). She wanted to dance with her reflection. I thought. Nope, it wasn't her reflection, it was her friend, Meetdya (I'm guessing on the spelling). Apparently, Meetdya is a 2 year-old red-headed girl living on the other side of the mirrors, who looks just like Willow.

So, Willow climbed up on top of salixmom's bureau, and danced in circles while singing 'Twinkle Twinkle', 'Mary Had a Little Lamb', and 'Hey, Julie' (by Fountains of Wayne). After every song, she (and Meetdya) clapped gleefully. If I tried joining in on the singing or the clapping, she thrust her hand out to stop me, saying: "No! You not clap! Not you, just us!". Over the course of the next 15 minutes, I was introduced to Meetdya's father (me), named Frimda (??!?!), and when Nugget, our orange tabby cat joined her on top of the bureau, i was introduced to Zsa-Zsa, Meetdya's orange cat. It's the happiest I've seen her (Willow, not Meetdya) in quite some time.

When it was finally time to get her teeth brushed etc., the only thing that was successful was to convince her that Meetdya was brushing her teeth too. And, lo and behold, when Willow, toothbrush in hand, went to look, there was Meetdya staring back at her, with a toothbrush in her hand too, wearing the very same very pretty Cinderella pajamas. That got Willow to brush her teeth with a level of gusto never before seen in this house.

When I was that age, I started talking randomly to my mom about an Indian named Misu and a Viking who's name I forget, who would watch over my Dad when he was away flying. Randomly on an excursion to the mall (Mom shopped constantly, with me in tow), I ran into a candle store and grabbed a novelty candle in the shape of a little Indian brave holding a surfboard, shouting that it was Misu. Mom bought the candle, and ever since, she treated it like a revered ancestor, claiming it was a guardian angel, watching over (interchangably) me or my dad. Now, my father (who for some reason still has the freakin' candle) believes that Meetdya and Frimda are Willow's guardian angels, sitting in heaven, bickering with my Mom over who gets to watch over her and keep her safe.

No worries.

Matt

This weekend, the short version:

Saturday:
90% humidity, 90 deg (F) temps
spent day outside, in sun, re-doing, completing, and cleaning up job we had already paid someone else $430 to do 3 weeks ago.
Painting, scraping paint, climbing on roof, cleaning up scraped paint
Fell off 8 ft ladder holding 1 inch razor blade
have lump on arm, bruises on knee and belly, tremendous pain in hip.
House looks 1000% better.

Sunday:
took salixmom, willy_elly to Six Flags New England.
Met up with mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and SIL's fiancée.
Rode water slides
took Willow swimming
Rode more water slides
Had a blast
stood in line ~45 min for ~45 sec Batman roller coaster.
got scalped out of $40 on small servings of crappy food
got nasty nauseous on last ride of night
Ate dinner at 10pm at Taco Bell, made nausea worse
Drove 1.5 hrs. home

Monday:
Overslept ~1 hr.
was almost as sick as last week's food poisoning
took 2 hrs to get ready for work, instead of usual 35-45 minutes. (see line above)
Came to work.

No worries
Matt

As Willow was standing on the stairs trying to get my attention she called out repeatedly: What f**k you doing, Daddy, what f**k you doing?!


Oye

No Worries,
Matt

Just a quick post for right now, more to come later, prolly tomorrow.

Happy 2^nd Birthday to willy_elly today!!!!!


And a happy birthday o lil_pixie tomorrow too!


More later,

No Worries,
Matt