Cheerios underfoot: an Elaine update

We are in the process of turning a corner, as Elaine begins her finger-food stage. We can pretty much give her a pile of Cheerios, chopped bananas, chopped avocados, or stewed apple chunks and she'll gamely attempt the all-important pincer maneuver. It's a pretty complex task, actually. Anyone who's played one of those crane games, where the grabber gets a stuffed animal and has to hold on as it is hoisted up and moved to a far corner of the box, can understand. Often she picks up the item with her right hand and does a transfer to the left, then examines her acquisition as if it was a rare jewel before attempting to stuff it, and most of her hand, into her mouth. It's kind of heartbreaking to see the little Cheerio escape just as she chomps down onto her hand.

We also can play a little chase game of sorts. Despite my best efforts to not make a big deal out of it, she knows that I really don't want her messing with electrical cords. So now, when she's not confined to the baby jail, she crawls around casually until she gets near the tangle of cords connected to my computer. Usually, I begin to pay closer attention at this point. Then, with a mischievous squeal, she sprint-crawls towards her quarry, lunging at the last instant before I sweep her into the air. Then, I place her back on the floor, facing back into the living room, and drop to all fours myself, saying, "I'm gonna getcha!". Another squeal, and laughter as she streaks away from me. Man, those laughs are great.

A bit of good news regarding my time. We met another nice couple, thanks to the board gaming hobby, and they are in a similar situation as us. Josh works a lot, and Megan is trying to finish up her Ph.D while staying at home with a 7 month-old. Madeleine and Elaine get along wonderfully, and are completely cute together. Best of all, Madeleine really likes me, and Elaine really likes Megan. So we're going to swap babysitting duties a few times a week to give each other nice blocks of time to get some work done. This is a huge relief.

Finally, the Vagabond Gingered Dark Ale (recipe in the Complete Joy of Homebrewing) turned out great. Well-carbonated, bitter coffee flavor with sweet malt, slight hoppiness on the nose, medium-bodied, and a clean, dry finish. Absolutely no sourness or mustiness. And it's only going to get better over time (although it's our only brew right now, so it probably won't last long!).

All Fired Up

Lessee here...a few items.

First, we had another awesome Skype session with Jim and Sonja last Saturday (10 days ago). I picked away at a session report over the course of a week, in between putting out fires and working on the paper, so some of the "facts" of the game may be...not quite accurate. I did the best that I could with my addled brain and a few pictures. I also dressed our entire game group down in my report, posted over there on Boardgamegeek. Go give it a thumbs up!

Second, while our Michigan friends are busily digging their way out of another ten feet of snow, I have to do yard work over here. The lawn's getting a bit long in areas, and our camelias are fixin' to bloom...



We also have these grape vines, and I have no idea what to do with them. I'm fairly certain that they require drastic annual pruning, but I'm not finding any pictures online that look like my plants, so I'm still unsure.

Yes, the neighbors are renters, and their yard is a mess. Their landlord should consider getting on them about that...

Thirdly, I found this amusing.

That's about it, for now. Here's a parting pic of Elaine in baby jail with her new friend, Penny (showing off her two new teeth!)

MIA

Man. 11 days underground, yo. It's been pretty busy lately.

I'm trying to finally get some work done on the paper so I can send a draft to my previous boss. Seems like any time I spend on the computer should be spent that way. Plus, Elaine has become a little Tasmanian Devil (the cartoon kind), which makes the whole process go much more slowly. I mean, she's completely nuts. This is the "getting whapped in the face and/or kicked in the sternum or worse" stage. She's not coordinated enough to walk (Lord, help us all), but she has this surplus of energy that must somehow be burned off. So when you offer her a ride on your arm from A to B, she inflicts several hit points of damage along the way. At least she's good-natured about it.

Hopefully, the rate of posting will start to go up soon. I'll at least update the sidebars this week, and there will be a bit of boardgame content in the next day or two.

I have made no secret of my stat tracker software on this site, and I bring this up because I'd like to share with you the Google search terms that lead the most total strangers to this site:

Kennebunkport Wheat Ale
17
(I didn't much care for this Trader Joe's brand beer, but just mentioning it probably will result in 20 hits by month's end.)

"IKEA" or "Crate and Barrel"
35
(I should have seen this one coming)

stroopwafels
5
(You know, those syrup-soaked cookies...)

Band X
9
(Usually the lesser known bands, like Kingsbury Manx and Japancakes, that I mentioned in passing in an old music post)

cutie snuggle song
10!
(Some variation of those words was used by a few people from Poland, which took them to a post about Elaine and a link to my web album. Some of them came back, so I hope they found something interesting. No idea what song they were looking for.)

petes
1
(Most generic search)

hoegaarden grand cru clone recipe papazian
2
(Most specific search)

I hate working at Crate and Barrel
1
(I don't think that I was very helpful to this person)

I'm kind of disappointed that I didn't get any really bizarre hits, but I'll keep an eye out.