december wrapup
Books:
43. The Charm Bracelet (by Melissa Hill)
44. Beautiful Ruins (by Jess Walter)
Reviews (and yet another year-end wrapup) up at the book blog. It was kind of a weird year for books!
Movies:
Brave--Loved the main character and the idea but the plot was pretty boring--felt thin.
Silver Linings Playbook--Really enjoyable. That dance routine was my favorite thing ever. (I do think Bradley Cooper’s character is slightly problematic at points, but his performance sold me.)
Lincoln--Daniel Day-Lewis was as amazing as expected, and the acting and writing were both great. Honestly I just wished it were shorter. (I watched it late at night on a screener and I was tired. Plus there are a lot of speechy scenes.)
Les Miserables--I could talk about this all day. I will just say Anne Hathaway made me weep and weep and weep, and Russell Crowe sucked as my favorite character, Javert. (Also this "Les Miz Geek Out" is great, thanks Eliza! and “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” was amazing, Marius was awesome for like the first time ever, and “I will stay with you til you are sleeping” made me weep. Imagine if there had been an awesome Javert! Norbert Leo Butz could have been Javert! Oh, What could have been!)
I finished the year with 44 books read and 45 movies watched. Almost equal! I have no idea what this means.
TV:
The usual, no new discoveries or obsessions in December.
Birds:
Song Sparrow
Western Meadowlark
Painted Redstart
Orange-Crowned Warbler
Cedar Waxwing
I'm actually kind of disappointed in my birding December. My first birding trip to Landfill Loop could have been great, except that I forgot my long lens and didn't get any identifiable bird pictures. (A very cool raptor flew right past me, but the one picture I got was just a blur. No idea what it was.) I thought I would see a whole bunch of new birds in L.A. but I really didn't. We went to one birding hotspot and I guess we were just in the wrong place, because I saw only two birds and they were super common (Black Phoebe and Yellow-Rumped Warbler). We did also follow one rare bird alert and see the Painted Redstart (a rarity) right away, which was cool. My sister also had some Cedar Waxwings in her trees, which was a new bird for me. I would have liked to do more L.A. birding and see more birds!
Of course, the highlight of December (especially photograph-wise) was the " pinecone."
Socializing/Travel:
We had a gift exchange at our house for our parents' group, which was very successful. Originally I had ambitions to make it a larger party, but then everyone in our group RSVPd yes, and I then realized we would have seven toddlers, which was ambitious enough! Other people in the group regularly host game nights, Halloween parties, and other get-togethers, so I think we will make the gift exchange an annual event. (I was about to say that we needed to schedule something in the summer, and then I realized that spring and summer are birthday party season--next May through July, all the babies will be turning two at roughly the same time.)
I also got together one night with David and Tyler to go see the stage production of Hedwig, which was terrific. It was a very small theater with kind of an interactive feel (one of the Hedwigs took a sip of David's beer and then spit it at us, which was less gross than it sounds). There were eight different actors playing Hedwig, of many different shapes, sizes, ages, and genders. We have such great local theater in the Bay Area, hopefully I will see even more productions next year.
And then of course was the big holiday trip to L.A.! I ended up having a cold through much of it, so was not at my best or most energetic. I made plans to meet up with friends but most of them fell through, probably because with this trip coming right on the heels of Singapore and the end of the semester, I just didn't plan all that well. But my parents loved seeing Mina, and I got to spend lots of time with my family, and I guess that's the important part.
Toddler:
She changes so fast, I can't keep up; I hope Ian is keeping daily notes. She loved her Christmas presents, especially this giant animal encyclopedia we gave her. She likes looking at the "el-fweet," "ow-ull," "hippo," "zebra," and most of all the "gaway gaway gaway!" (iguana). I've been trying to take more videos of her regular repertoire, but it's difficult to capture all of those moments. I keep trying though.
The big thing is really her speech, since she can repeat basically anything (including Dutch words) and does things like sing "Wheels on the Bus" to herself spontaneously. It's amazing how much she remembers. (We told her that one of the elephants in her encyclopedia was the daddy elephant, and now when she gets to that page she points out el-fweet, baby el-fweet, and daddy el-fweet.) (There is also a picture of zebras on their hind legs sparring with each other and out of nowhere she pointed at it and said "zebra hug." SHE THINKS THEY ARE HUGGING OMG CUTE.) She's really on the brink of speaking in sentences. Right now it's a string of nouns that basically makes a thought, but sentences are just around the corner.
Oh, she also has been doing one super cute thing, which is that when she sees a picture of us, she points at us in the picture, "Mina! Mama! Daddoo!" and then points at us in real life and is so pleased with herself. And she is walking everywhere, totally done with scooting. She also loves her Christmas presents, especially the encyclopedia, a singing mouse my parents gave her, two pretend laptops, and a light-up moon.
We have to order her a potty and some potty books, because she is now starting to identify when she has pooped. I don't think potty training is immanent, but we should start laying the groundwork for it. And we also have kept giving her bottles since the Singapore trip, which we need to now get her off of. We tried to skip it last night at bedtime but it did not go well, she basically sobbed herself hoarse until I gave her a bottle with water in it. Any suggestions? My heart can't take the sobbing, especially now that she sobs words like "Mama mama water water mama."
Resolutions:
See previous entry!
Some more December pictures:
43. The Charm Bracelet (by Melissa Hill)
44. Beautiful Ruins (by Jess Walter)
Reviews (and yet another year-end wrapup) up at the book blog. It was kind of a weird year for books!
Movies:
Brave--Loved the main character and the idea but the plot was pretty boring--felt thin.
Silver Linings Playbook--Really enjoyable. That dance routine was my favorite thing ever. (I do think Bradley Cooper’s character is slightly problematic at points, but his performance sold me.)
Lincoln--Daniel Day-Lewis was as amazing as expected, and the acting and writing were both great. Honestly I just wished it were shorter. (I watched it late at night on a screener and I was tired. Plus there are a lot of speechy scenes.)
Les Miserables--I could talk about this all day. I will just say Anne Hathaway made me weep and weep and weep, and Russell Crowe sucked as my favorite character, Javert. (Also this "Les Miz Geek Out" is great, thanks Eliza! and “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” was amazing, Marius was awesome for like the first time ever, and “I will stay with you til you are sleeping” made me weep. Imagine if there had been an awesome Javert! Norbert Leo Butz could have been Javert! Oh, What could have been!)
I finished the year with 44 books read and 45 movies watched. Almost equal! I have no idea what this means.
TV:
The usual, no new discoveries or obsessions in December.
Birds:
Song Sparrow
Western Meadowlark
Painted Redstart
Orange-Crowned Warbler
Cedar Waxwing
I'm actually kind of disappointed in my birding December. My first birding trip to Landfill Loop could have been great, except that I forgot my long lens and didn't get any identifiable bird pictures. (A very cool raptor flew right past me, but the one picture I got was just a blur. No idea what it was.) I thought I would see a whole bunch of new birds in L.A. but I really didn't. We went to one birding hotspot and I guess we were just in the wrong place, because I saw only two birds and they were super common (Black Phoebe and Yellow-Rumped Warbler). We did also follow one rare bird alert and see the Painted Redstart (a rarity) right away, which was cool. My sister also had some Cedar Waxwings in her trees, which was a new bird for me. I would have liked to do more L.A. birding and see more birds!
Of course, the highlight of December (especially photograph-wise) was the " pinecone."
Socializing/Travel:
We had a gift exchange at our house for our parents' group, which was very successful. Originally I had ambitions to make it a larger party, but then everyone in our group RSVPd yes, and I then realized we would have seven toddlers, which was ambitious enough! Other people in the group regularly host game nights, Halloween parties, and other get-togethers, so I think we will make the gift exchange an annual event. (I was about to say that we needed to schedule something in the summer, and then I realized that spring and summer are birthday party season--next May through July, all the babies will be turning two at roughly the same time.)
I also got together one night with David and Tyler to go see the stage production of Hedwig, which was terrific. It was a very small theater with kind of an interactive feel (one of the Hedwigs took a sip of David's beer and then spit it at us, which was less gross than it sounds). There were eight different actors playing Hedwig, of many different shapes, sizes, ages, and genders. We have such great local theater in the Bay Area, hopefully I will see even more productions next year.
And then of course was the big holiday trip to L.A.! I ended up having a cold through much of it, so was not at my best or most energetic. I made plans to meet up with friends but most of them fell through, probably because with this trip coming right on the heels of Singapore and the end of the semester, I just didn't plan all that well. But my parents loved seeing Mina, and I got to spend lots of time with my family, and I guess that's the important part.
Toddler:
She changes so fast, I can't keep up; I hope Ian is keeping daily notes. She loved her Christmas presents, especially this giant animal encyclopedia we gave her. She likes looking at the "el-fweet," "ow-ull," "hippo," "zebra," and most of all the "gaway gaway gaway!" (iguana). I've been trying to take more videos of her regular repertoire, but it's difficult to capture all of those moments. I keep trying though.
The big thing is really her speech, since she can repeat basically anything (including Dutch words) and does things like sing "Wheels on the Bus" to herself spontaneously. It's amazing how much she remembers. (We told her that one of the elephants in her encyclopedia was the daddy elephant, and now when she gets to that page she points out el-fweet, baby el-fweet, and daddy el-fweet.) (There is also a picture of zebras on their hind legs sparring with each other and out of nowhere she pointed at it and said "zebra hug." SHE THINKS THEY ARE HUGGING OMG CUTE.) She's really on the brink of speaking in sentences. Right now it's a string of nouns that basically makes a thought, but sentences are just around the corner.
Oh, she also has been doing one super cute thing, which is that when she sees a picture of us, she points at us in the picture, "Mina! Mama! Daddoo!" and then points at us in real life and is so pleased with herself. And she is walking everywhere, totally done with scooting. She also loves her Christmas presents, especially the encyclopedia, a singing mouse my parents gave her, two pretend laptops, and a light-up moon.
We have to order her a potty and some potty books, because she is now starting to identify when she has pooped. I don't think potty training is immanent, but we should start laying the groundwork for it. And we also have kept giving her bottles since the Singapore trip, which we need to now get her off of. We tried to skip it last night at bedtime but it did not go well, she basically sobbed herself hoarse until I gave her a bottle with water in it. Any suggestions? My heart can't take the sobbing, especially now that she sobs words like "Mama mama water water mama."
Resolutions:
See previous entry!
Some more December pictures: