The Yellow Park Returns!

It seems like it's been forever since we've been to the yellow park, so today Emily, Benjamin and I walked over to play for a while. Since the summer mostly consisted of

1. Wake up
2. Eat/Brush Teeth/Get dressed
3. Go to swim
4. Eat
5. Swim some more
6. Eat
7. Go to bed

We got in the rhythm, and hardly ever made it out to the park. Of course, it feeling like we were walking on the surface of the sun most days didn't help any either...

So anyway, Leslie was working up at school, so I walked over to the park with both of them. One thing I noticed as soon as we started walking was that Emily could keep up much better than she could during the Spring. It was nice to have her walking with me over there, and not minding too much the tall grass as we went (she used to spin into OCD fits when we did this before... Apparently play time at school seems to be helping in that area). Benjamin was just bee-boppin along with me as well, bouncing to my "Liesenfeld-Mission" walking style (the 'Mission' because I'm always [apparently] walking "with a purpose." If I could have my way, we'd have transporters [yes Star Trek, yes I'm a nerd, yes all the rest of the thoughts that go with it...] so we would never have to walk anywhere, I mean, what a waste of time :) --- of course, it was nice time with Emily... uh oh, paradigm shift coming, abort ---

Anyway, we get just about there, and Benjamin unleashes his "formula-flow" all over my shirt. This wasn't the average chew-it-back spit up he has most of the time, this was one of those gush-down-the-shirt-and-over-everything-because-I-of-course-forgot-any-towels-or-spit-up-rags spit ups. Oh well, nothing new there. We got there and Gavin was playing, so he and Emily ran around and played for a while and I held Benjamin. Gavin's parents were there, and his mother held Benjamin for a while, and asked me, "is he always this chill?"

"Yes, this is not my child." --My standard response when anybody asks if Benjamin is always this calm-- "Emily, now that's my kid: OCD, high maintenance, girly, you know... ME. But Benjamin, I don't know who's kid this is."

And she responded (like EVERYBODY else does, without hesitation) "You mean, he's like Leslie." Yes yes, I get it. I'm a little... high strung.

Anyway, we played for a while more, then Leslie showed up with food, so it was time to walk home. Now Emily wanted to be held (I guess that walking with me was nice while it lasted) so we did the double-hold half way back to the house before I started complaining of my old age and let her down to walk the rest of the way home. The best part was when she got home and said to Leslie and I, "I think I got a little toe jam at the park," and took off her shoes. As she did so, about sixty pounds of dirt, wood chips, grass, flowers, weeds, and I think a little dog food came flying out with them... That was some toe jam :)

After dinner Emily had a quick bath, then we read four books tonight. At school she's keeping a log, and so far she's read 75 books since the beginning of school! We turn the log in each Wednesday (which needs to be full) so at times we have to play a little catch up to get there. Last Tuesday night we speed read ten books. Emily loved it. I felt like this guy:

Leslie wasn't too impressed, but I sure was. Emily just giggled through the whole thing, which made it even more fun.

Anyway, four books done, Leslie had put Benjamin to sleep, and Emily got in bed. Her nightly ritual has changed somewhat... We still do the hugs, kisses, laughs, singing, praying, all that good stuff, but now as soon as I get ready to leave Emily asks me, "Are you going to watch a little tv tonight?"

My answer always depends on what I'm doing, so sometimes she'll probe a little further and say, "Are you going to work on the compuder for a little bit?"

Which ever way she goes, all she's trying to determine is where I will be in the next thirty seconds to a minute, because as soon as I shut her door, make it to wherever I'm going and settle in, there she is right behind me. One quick hug and a smile, and off she goes to put herself back to bed. She runs back, turns off her light, shuts her door, and plops back in bed.

Man I'll tell ya, sometimes I sit here and stare at the blank blog window for an hour before I come up with something like, "lots of fun stuff today," and sometimes I can just ramble on forever... I'm pretty impressed with myself this evening.

And just because I can't get enough, I hope you've seen the latest installment of the Gates/Seinfeld commercial:

Let me just say that I guess I'm in the minority when I say... I LOOOOOVE these commercials. I mean, LOOOOOOOVE them. I agree with some of the deconstructionist views out there on these, and I especially love the comparison between the grandmother and Steve Jobs: The old grouchy one who's been there for 12 years (Jobs has been back with Apple for 12 years). There are so many easter eggs sprinkled in these ads that it only makes sense that Microsoft is going for the top down approach on this one. It seems that EVERYBODY takes shots at Microsoft whenever they can, especially on Vista. If these commercials appeal to the super-nerds out there, the loudest ones when it comes to berating Microsoft, and they start seeing the softer, squishy side of Bill, maybe it'll start turning around the opinions of the people that they talk to, and so on. If nothing else, a LOT of people sure are talking about Microsoft now :)