lollardfish

Nico and I have a cold. Actually, we each have one cold, which makes two colds total.

We've had them since we got back from Minnesota.

We are not amused.

Home again by the way.

Sometimes Shannon and I just stand in Nico's room and watch him sleep. This time he was lying on his back, hands above his head, right foot kicking absently up and down one of the bars of his crib. After a few minutes, he rolled over onto his stomach, and then sat up. My hands reached down to lay him back down and he reached up for me to hold him (eyes closed the whole time). I gave him a pacifier and laid him down on his belly then fled the room.

He is such a beautiful little man. It's still breathtaking, 14 months later.

Can anyone find me a website that shows all carrier's international flights from Chicago? Thanks!

Please take me off any commercial filters (in terms of you trying to sell me stuff).

Please also take me off any twitter filters.

Thanks!

World's best mozzarella filled with toxic waste!, government corruption (i.e. organized crime) to blame.

Bastardi!

I heard the final part of this episode of This American Life while driving back home from Pastoral.

You can click on "full episode" to listen to it for free, though downloading it costs 95 cents.

The first bit is The Onion staff throwing headlines at each other and trying to get from 600 jokes to 16. The final bit, from Gladwell, on making up stories and phrases at the Washington Post, is wonderful.

When I have some free time (perhaps while playing with the boy on the floor tonight), I look forward to listening to the rest.

Nico would like to share this drum solo in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

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I am not especially interested in re-enactment professionally speaking (as opposed to personal long-time ties with many people in re-enactment groups, and a general fondness for them), but sometimes re-enactors can do just terrific work that we academics would not replicate. Here's a report of tests done with a viking-style axe and shield. It's neat.

Today, Nico saw his first real penguins. The penguins saw him, too, but they (and the gulls and terns) were really more excited about the fish that the keepers were giving the penguins. Nico, on the other hand, grabbed the front of his stroller and rocked back and forth with great glee. It's a "free flight" area, so the gray gulls (from South America) were wheeling about and shouting, and Nico looked up a lot and was very excited.

He also loves the fish, big fish swimming about in their tanks evoked similar reactions of concentrated excitement. It's a lot easier to focus on the fish in the blue than an animal in the rocky yard, and boy was Nico focused.

This means, I think, that we need an aquarium. We can't actually afford one right now, but maybe in the fall when we come back from Europe. Anything that stimulates my boy's brain is something we need. Fortunately, I did spend the money to get a zoo membership, so we'll be back. Maybe tomorrow afternoon! It's gonna be nice and warm.