Playing with food.

Here's a little video of Jackson laughing at the absurd. Enjoy it.

A bit of luck

Yesterday, a man at the bank inquired about the mileage I get with my car. I told him "mid-50's". He said, "Ooohh. You're sooo lucky!"



It's really not a matter of luck, though, is it? It's more a matter of choice, and perhaps making that choice 5 years ago, before it became a necessity.



Anyway, I'm taking some space to rave about my car and how much I love it! A year ago, I was soo bummed about having to sell it and get a "family car" instead. You know, one that I could actually strap a carseat into the bagseat. (Doing so would require a backseat.) The one piece of luck I had was finally going into labor the day I was supposed to sell it. Then having Jason drive it for 2 months while I was home with my little munchkin. During that time, Jason drove it like a video game, become a hyper-miler http://wikicars.org/en/Hypermiler . After 2 weeks, he insisted we not sell it. Of course I agreed. Now, I drive it to work, and hand the keys off the Jason for an evening trip to work. Whoever is in charge of the little one keeps the other car.

All the time, I hear people talking about their cars. Someone always asks how they do on mileage, and they always say, "Pretty good. Like 28". In what world is 28 mpg good?!

Did I mention I LOVE my car?

Crunchy, Red with Black Spots.

Major Breakthrough, Folks. Jackson has for the first (and maybe the last) listened and done what I told him to do. You see, in the fall, on the rare sunny days, the ladybugs flock to our warm, windowed, South facing home. They navigate the labyrinth of siding, ridge vents, and window screens. All winter long, we're infested. I desperately want to vacuum them up from the corners, cobwebs, and light fixtures, but I can't bring myself to do it. It's bad luck to kill the ladybugs.
Then, all winter long, when it warms up enough, the ladybugs reinervate and trade places. Finally, one by one, they die and drop to the floors. Which brings me to Jackson and his love of picking up little specs from the ground and placing them in his mouth, just as I'm shouting "Jackson, No, Yucky" in my crossest sounding voice. Sometimes he will voluntarily try to remove the ladybugs from his tongue. This is no easy task, and I have to reach in for either a whole bug, or the remaining head.
So, I am overjoyed that today when I shouted "Jackson, No, Yucky", my boy quietly put his hand to his side and gave me the same "What? I wasn't doing anything" look he offers when I catch him slipping food to the dog at the side of the high chair.

Jackson-Tube

Hi.
OK, after 9 months, the lightbulb finally flashed on. Our camcorder says it needs firewire to upload the videos, which we don't have. So, after months of annoyance and frustration, I have a solution. Actually, my printer hit me over the head with the fact that it has a cardreader, then hit me again with the fact that it will upload video in addition to still images. Da-da-da-da! Here is Jackson's first YouTube broadcast. FYI, if you want to search for him in the future (and for my own personal reference) the codename is ActionJacksonD. OK, enjoy.



ps. My apologies for the way the clip sort of falls apart at the end, what with the discovery of a giant hairball and all. Guess I need to vacuum and to acquire some good video editing software--I'm open to suggestions.

pps. YouTube uploads take for freakin-ever!! I know this is instantaneous for you, the viewer, but for me, the writer, time is ticking away.

Please work...Please work...Please work

Spice

When I was a baby, the medical professionals were busy telling mothers to eat lots of bland food so as not to offend the baby with pungent flavors. These days, the recommendations have changed (as have so many others). Now they say eat what you love, eat lots of complex, tasty, smelly foods so as to cultivate those tastes in your children. Hurray for me and my peers!! Hurray for Jackson. It's working.

He likes Indian curry. He likes lentil soup. He likes pineapple (something to do with the 1-2 pineapples I ate each week while pregnant?). He also likes mole, argueably the best food ever invented. Last week we had mole--sadly not Blue Iguana, but a passable version from Trader Joe's. Jackson was eating it up!! He ate it and ate it and then made what appeared to be the international sign for "This food is too spicey!". You know, with his mouth open, tongue out, panting. So I gave him a little bite of sour cream. He went back to the mole with gusto, and we repeated. Towards the end, he may have made the connection between the mole and the spice because he refused to eat any more, but he had a good run with it.

Here's a pic post lentil soup. I had to hose him off afterward.