Son of a mathmommy

Usually when Noah visits my office, we play with bubbles, blocks, or balls -- all toys for my geometry class. But last week he found something new.

Ooooohhh... protractors!

(I think it's as weird as you do, I promise.)

Sign of a Good Weekend.

You know you've played hard all weekend when Sunday evening finds you here:

Rockin' Grandma

Look what we caught Noah's Grandma doing!



We've been having fun playing Guitar Hero lately, so a few weeks ago we took it over to her house to share with the cousins. Of course, I couldn't resist snapping these shots. Grandma was a natural!

Noah has decided it's pretty fun to watch and dance and sing along with the music. And since he started clapping this weekend, he dutifully claps after each song. Of course he's also decided that maybe he needs to help with the strumming and fret-pushing, which has caused mommy to get boo-ed off the stage more than once!

Oh, No!

\

This morning we found him on top of the toilet paper, which was in the middle of the floor at the time.

This evening I found him IN the full laundry basket, and by the time I grabbed my camera, he was on the toilet paper again.

At Aunt Elaine's house this afternoon, he was on his way up the stairs by the time I caught up with him from the living room (and then he proceeded to climb --supervised-- all the way up to the third floor tower room!!!!!)

And as I'm typing this, he's climbing up daddy, onto the ottoman.



HELP!

Crabby

Noah's wearing his "crabby" shirt today. How come they don't make shirts like this in adult sizes??

Here's some math for you:

sick baby stress

+

end of semester stress

+

piles of papers that need to be graded

+

grumpy baby that needs to be cuddled

=

one overwhelmed mama

I think my students might like a little warning when they come into class today... the t-shirt might do the trick.

MIA

I haven't had a lot of time to post lately, or haven't had much to post about, but we're still here. This week Noah is battling an "unidentified virus" that has brought him a high fever, random bouts of irritability, and a streak where he'll only eat fruit. The good news is that, even though we can tell he feels downright crummy, he still finds ways to laugh and giggle and play and snuggle, and warm our hearts in the way that only Noah can. Plus he's had two playdates with Grandma because he can't go to daycare, and those are always a treat.

In other Noah news, we're making progress in the sleep department. I don't want to get into the details here because sleep is one of those parenting issues that's worth treading lightly, and I just don't feel like choosing my words carefully right now. I will say that Ms. D. has helped tremendously, and she had a fairly successful two-week run of full days. Now that Noah has been out of commission for a bit, we're crossing our fingers that he remembers how to nap for her when he goes back. Also, mommy and daddy had a taste of success this weekend when Noah put himself to sleep for a nap in his crib on Saturday morning! I'm sure it was all Ms. D's doing, but it made us feel pretty good anyway.

Also, Noah attended his first birthday party last weekend, for his little friend Massimo. They're only a couple months apart in age, and they don't interact much yet (aside from sharing leaf-"snacks" in the yard), but we think they're sure to be fast friends in the future.



ETA- Somebody's cheeks are starting to get pudgy again. I hardly recognize Noah in this photo! (He's the little one on the right.) According to the doctor's scale on Monday, he finally tops 20 lbs.

Really?!

Bulldog
The Comedian

You may look like the troublemaker of the pack, but it turns out your tough guy mug is worse than its bite. You're really a softie, loyal to your friends and family and A-OK with meeting new pooches, but you prefer to do so with a high-five instead of a paw-shake. Proud of your great sense of humor, you've got a whole litter of jokes you draw from to keep the mood playful and the positive energy alive. A perfect afternoon for you involves a leisurely stroll with a pal, followed by a little downtime in an easy chair with a frosty can of brew and a remote control within easy fetching distance. You shed accusations of being lazy, knowing perfectly well that you're kenneling the energy you might need for... well... something.


Thanks to Robyn & Tara for the website. Fun!

Bluebonnets!

We found this awesome patch on the campus of Dave's work (in fact, his wing is appropriately named "Bluebonnet"). Noah, all boy, loved sitting chest-high in weeds, and he took great delight in dissecting the flowers. He still had fistfuls of blue petals when we got him back to the car. Shhh... don't tell anybody. I think it's illegal to pick bluebonnets!

Blog?

The word "blog" has been on my radar for about half a decade or so. At first, I didn't get it. Why would I want to read about the daily humdrum of a virtual stranger, especially one who's not a professional wordsmith? Then one day, the stars collide: you're bored enough to read anything, you happen across a blog that's not half bad, and before you know it you've been sucked in like quicksand, and you just. can't. stop. reading. It's a lot like reality TV in that sense. There even a TiVo of the blogworld: Google Reader.

I remember the first blog that sucked me in, The Trixie Update, by Ben MacNeill. Back in the day, it was the masterpiece creation of graphic designer turned stay-at-home-dad, where he not only kept track of all the earthshattering things that his newborn did (eat, sleep, and poop), but he found astonishingly cool ways to analyze the endless data and depict it in graphic form. But alas, like puppies, blogs grow up, and the sleep cycles of a 4 year-old just don't make the same pretty artwork. BenMac posts a couple of times a year these days.



Someday, I should post some of the sleep charts (a la Trixie Telemetry) from Noah's early months. They're kinda cool, in the same geeky way the dot map is cool. Besides, at some point, I might ought to earn my "Math Mommy" title. If it makes you feel any better, I wasn't able to keep up with my data collecting very long. Life gets in the way of silly stuff like that.

Be a Dot!

I just added a SiteMeter widget to my page, so I can see exactly how many people are(n't) reading it. It's really nothing more than a geeky gadget, but it's fun for us math-type people. One of the coolest things SiteMeter can do is show where my visitors come from, on a world map. So come visit my page, and become a Dot! Oh, wait, you already have! Better yet, leave me a comment and say Hi! (see that little link at the end of each post that says "143 comments"? I know you're hiding out there!)



Unfortunately, the SiteMeter people are clever enough that I can't show the dynamic map here, so you'll have to use you imagination to see YOUR dot until I post a more updated version.

ETA: Thanks to all my dots! I feel so loved today!!!