...we have descended into complete anarchy. Could be the post-Christmas anticlimax, cumulative lack of sleep, too big a break from the routine, but whatever it is, Lu needs an immediate behavior correction.
She was just throwing an epic fit about...I can't even recall now, but the fit peaked with her hitting Jason in the, er, swimsuit area and consequently losing TV and computer for the rest of the day. Which should be interesting for everyone, as Jason and I both have to work today.
You know that Charlie Brown Christmas song, how it's all sweet and calm and magical-sounding? That's how this weekend felt for me. We had a Christmas party, lunch with the cousins, a date for me and Lu at the Nutcracker (we got to go backstage and meet Clara and see the Sugarplum Fairy), plus a whole Sunday of cooking for friends and family.
Given how little Christmas shopping or planning I have done, I should feel like Charlie Brown, who finds himself strangely depressed and disaffected by the holidays (Linus says to him, "Charlie Brown, you're the only person I know who can take a wonderful season like Christmas and turn it into a problem. Of all the Charlie Browns in the world, you are the Charlie Brown-iest.")
I am not even a little Charlie Brown-ie. I am happy it's almost Christmas.
Lucy and Nathan with "Clara" backstage.
As usual, Jason and I are way behind on both our Christmas shopping and our own wishlists. Everyone wants to know what to buy for Lu, but she hasn't expressed a strong opinion, or even a desire to write a note to Santa. In fact, this morning, she sat in a room full of toys playing with an empty yogurt container and one of Jason's belts. Does this mean she has forsaken material things? Or that she already has so many toys, she's immune to them?
If you're wondering what to get me, I have always wanted a goat.
It is snowing here, which is so beautiful and strange. I woke Lucy up and asked her if she wanted to go outside and see the snow. She was sleepy and practical: "No, let's just look out the window. It's pretty cold."
The first recital. Share your feeling with the group.
It's official: the kid can read! I bought her the "Bob" beginning reader series and she read the first five on our car trip to El Paso. I was amazed not only by her reading, but also by the fascinating lives of Mat, Sam and Dot. Those kids sure do a lot of interesting stuff considering they only have short vowels to work with.
P.S. Jason is greatly relieved. He has been worried that she might not learn to read before kindergarten. I have advised him that he should be more worried that she might not stop peeing her pants before kindergarten.
This morning, as we are frantically packing for El Paso, dresses herself and INSISTS on wearing a pair of pants that neither fits nor matches her shirt.
Jason: "Babe, that looks silly."
Lu: "So? I look how I want to look and you look how you want to look."
How can you argue with that?
We just spent a long, perfect weekend in NYC. We ate, drank and did too much to detail here (and more than anyone wants to read about), but here are the highlights:
The Restaurant Royal Treatment. Megan and Andy made friends with restaurant royalty when they lived in New York, and we were lucky enough to ride their coattails through extra special tasting menus at both Spice Market and Esca. Good. Lord. Better food than we deserved. I had always considered myself, you know, a foodie, a wannabe cook, a gourmand, even. Andy clarified it for me the way it was once clarified for him, "You're an eater." And eat we did, not to mention the great swath of cocktails we cut throughout Manhattan.
Remixing the Ordinary.This exhibit at the new Museum of Arts and Design was among the most accessible and intriguiguing shows I've seen, though my art muscle is admittedly feeble. A chandelier of eyeglasses? A wedding dress of rubber gloves? A tsunami of melted vinyl records? Tribal art carved from phonebooks? Strange and lovely.
An Evening with Ernest. I've known him since we were 11 — he was my friend, brother and frequent accomplice. This evening was markedly more tame than others we've had, but did not end any earlier. It's great to know that 20 years later, we can still have just as much fun.
Upper East Side Families vs. West Village Families. In the course of a day we saw (uptown) daddy-mommy-and-me matching argyles, polos and twinsets pulling up to fancy awnings in town cars and pedi-cabs and (downtown) converse-wearing, hipster pre-schoolers on the shoulders of rocker dads carrying high-end pizza home.
Jeremy Piven Knows My Name. We saw the revival of David Mamet's Speed the Plow and I was in the same (big) room with Jeremy Piven. His costar Raul Esparza stole the show. As Raul was collecting money for a good cause after the show, we had a meaningful exchange about our hangovers. I touched his bicep. I wasn't all, "Look, Raul, I'm married," but I know we had a moment. For real.
The Inside Track. Sudhir has been in NYC less than a year and, true to form, he's infiltrated the food mafia. We actually went to a bar we had to enter through a phone both (absinthe, anyone?) and got a choice lunch table at the NYTimes food critic's new darling, Market Table.
To say it was a good time is an understatement. New York never stops impressing me.
This morning, I left without giving Lucy a satisfactory goodbye, and she and Jason called me on their way to school so she could say, "MOM, you didn't say goodbye to me! So I am calling you to say 'goodbye, I love you.'"
Me: "Thanks, babe, that's so sweet of you."
Lu: "Goodbye, I love you!"
Me:"Goodbye, I love you!"
Lu: "Goodbye, I love you!"
Me: "Goodbye, I love you!"
Lu: "NO, MOM, SAY goodbye, I love you, TOO!"
Me: "Okay, goodbye, I love you, too. I am hanging up the phone now, okay?"
Lu: "Okay, goodbye, I love you!"
Me: "OKay, goodbye, I love you, too!"
[Click.]
I have been a reader my whole life. What is better than climbing into the secret world that a good book holds?! Right now I am reading The Brief and Wondrous Like of Oscar Wao (thanks, Meg) and I can hardly stand to be away from it.
I think Lucy might have the same love of reading: we have started reading her Ramona the Pest, one of my childhood favorites, and she loves it. She is so rapt as we read I can almost hear the movie projector clicking in her mind. I hope this is the start of a lifelong love.
