Our little performer

Last night was the first time Atticus was a conscious, proud, little performer. Po po was here was Uncle Cary & Joy, & Atticus performed his regular tricks and new ones at the dinner table:

1. He points to himself when someone asks, "Who's Atticus?" (He learned this one at day care.)
2. He kisses me on the lips, sometimes just leaning forward with his mouth open. (Began yesterday)
3. He started taking food from my mouth, like a bird. (Began yesterday)
4. He smiled at them & then shyly leaned against my arm.
5. He snapped his fingers. (He's been doing that for months)

We took him to the beach yesterday afternoon, & he was so frightened that he refused to put his feet on the sand. We even set down a towel to let him sit. When his foot touched the sand, he pulled it away quickly. A few times, he tried to stand, but he would hesitate in squatting position, then sit down again. Robby held him over the sand, & he'd hold his knees up so his feet wouldn't touch the sand. We're in trouble if he doesn't like sand because we're doing a beach trip this summer!

Back to our regular schedule tomorrow. Back to school for me. Two meetings at USC - one on Monday & one on Tuesday. This means I see less of Atticus. :(
We're all going to be a little sad before we become inured to the busy-ness.

Recent photo of Atticus

It has been awhile since I've posted a photo of the Boy. I fed him 20 min ago at 6:30am. He is now humming away in a his crib, occasionally saying "da da." I love picking him up, setting him on the ground, and watching him teeter over to our room, where he gingerly pushes the door open and peers over the bed for Robby.

He sometimes likes to make a pouty face & breathe loudly through his nose. This is his angry face. He looks like a villain from an old cheesy Chinese martial arts show. Bruce Lee does it sometimes too. It's a haughty, defiant expression. I think he learned it from me.

Mean Drivers

Obama is coming to Culver City tomorrow! He is going to be at Sony Studios then dinner at Brentwood. So cool. But the streets will be closed, which means that mean grumpy drivers will be on the loose.

Speaking of grumpy drivers, a few lanes have been closed in downtown Culver City, and the drivers have been awfully mean to each other. When we had dinner at Native Foods (Robby's favorite unhealthy vegan restaurant) tonight to celebrate Robby's dissertation submission, a woman in a BMW hit a woman in a red sedan from behind. They were belligerent toward each other before the collision, with one woman flicking the other one off. Then the collision, then two screaming women who nearly go into a fistfight in the middle of the street with a line of cars patiently waiting in one open lane. The BMW driver just bought her car, so she had no license plate. But the driver of the red sedan was so angry that she didn't ask for insurance information. The BMW driver sped away after the altercation. She was clearly in the wrong, but she won.

BMW drivers in California are notoriously obnoxious. They drive arrogantly fast, tailgate, and weave.

He Say She Say by Lupe Fiasco

Another good one. I put this on as a homework assignment to my students, but it's not homework. I just want them to appreciate the lyrics. & at the end of the song, I added a link & wrote, "I miss you all!" I do miss them.

She said to him
"I want you to be a father
He's your little boy and you don't even bother
Like "brother" without the R
And he's starting to harbor
Cool and food for thought
But for you he's a starver
Starting to use red markers on his work
His teacher say they know he's much smarter
But he's hurt
Used to hand his homework in first
Like he was the classroom starter
Burst to tears
Let them know she see us
Now he's fighting in class
Got a note last week that say he might not pass
Ask me if his daddy was sick of us
Cause you ain't never pick him up
You see what his problem is?
He don't know where his poppa is
No positive male role model
To play football and build railroad models
It's making a hole you've been digging it
Cause you ain't been kicking it
Since he was old enough to hold bottles
Wasn't supposed to get introduced to that
He don't deserve to get used to that
Now I ain't asking you for money or to come back to me
Some days it ain't sunny but it ain't so hard
Just breaks my heart
When I try to provide and he say 'Mommy that ain't your job'
To be a man, I try to make him understand
That I'm his number one fan
But its like he born from the stands
You know the world is out to get him, so why don't you give him a chance?"

So he said to him
"I want you to be a father
I'm your little boy and you don't even bother
Like "brother" without the R
And I'm starting to harbor
Cool and food for thought
But for you I'm a starver
Starting to use red markers on my work
My teacher say they know I'm much smarter
But I'm hurt
I used to hand my homework in first
Like I was the classroom starter
Burst to tears
Let them know he see us
Now I'm fighting in class
Got a note last week that say I might not pass
Kids ask me if my daddy is sick of us
Cause you ain't never pick me up
You see what my problem is?
That I don't know where my poppa is
No positive male role model
To play football and build railroad models
It's making a hole you've been digging it
Cause you ain't been kicking it
Since I was old enough to hold bottles
Wasn't supposed to get introduced to that
I don't deserve to get used to that
Now I ain't asking you for money or to come back to me
Some days it ain't sunny but it ain't so hard
Just breaks my heart
When my momma try to provide and I tell her 'That ain't your job'
To be a man, she try to make me understand
That she my number one fan
But its like you born from the stands
You know the world is out to get me, why don't you give me a chance?"

He Say She Say by Lupe Fiasco

Heritage pics

As busy and swamped I've been this past year and as much as I LOVE LOVE LOVE and APPRECIATE Spring Break, I miss my students. I send them the lyrics to "Brand New Colony" last night via the homework message on our school website.

Here are some pictures of the school. I sent them to our pen pals at Palo Alto High School recently:
The building is less than a year old.





Here's the view from the corner of the school at
Broadway Ave. & 101st.
Sometimes I have supervision here in the morning:









This is a view of the building
from the corner of Broadway & 101st.
Pretty, isn't it?

There is only an upstairs and downstairs hallway in our building & 500 students in total. I teach 160 sophomores.









Period 4









Some Period 4 boys. Adorable.









Some adorable Period 3 kids. My student teacher lent the kid on the right Tortilla Curtain & Catcher in the Rye, & he loved them! Then he transferred. :(









We're about six exits south of USC, so I hope on the 110 to get to class.

Robby is finishing his dissertation today! After reading some edits from a psychology colleague about his psycho-physiology data & after a talk with Omi, he will read the dissertation once through and send it to his committee members. He is very intent on completing it today.

I'm revising Chapter 2, which is getting longer and longer. But I am thinking about cutting one section of it. I have to complete most of Chapter 1 today. I think that our group is behind the other dissertation groups, but I think we doing a more thorough thinking job. I'm glad my committee chair isn't a dissertation-cranking machine. I want to write about something I care about.

I'll talk about my diss later.

Atticus is up & humming in his crib. He chills in his crib after a 6 o'clock bottle. Sometimes he goes back to sleep. With my being at the computer in the morning, he is usually unlikely to go back to sleep. He LOVES being outside, loves to explore the sidewalk. He'll pick up twigs and dried berries, touch all the leaves and tree trunks.

I should start my morning work now.

Ciao!

I Heart Postal Service!

Beautiful lyrics!

An excerpt from "Brand New Colony" by Postal Service

i'll be the grape's fermented bottle served
with the table set in my finest suit
like a perfect gentleman
i'll be the fire escape
that's bolted to the ancient brick
where you will sit and contemplate your day

i'll be the waterwings
that save you if you start drowning
in an open tab
when you're judgment's on the brink
i'll be the phonograph
that plays your favorite album back
as you're lying there
drifting off to sleep
i'll be the platform shoes
and do what heredity's done to you
you won't have to strain
to look into my eyes
i'll be your winter coat
that buttons up straight to the throat
wear the collar up so you won't catch a cold...

All White babies look the same?

Our day care nanny Espe told us that Atticus gives hugs the only two White babies at his day care. She thinks that he can't tell them apart.

I saw a black mini Cooper today with the license plate "VMP GRL." I looked closely at the license plate frame. It read, "I drive like a Cullen," in reference to the vampire family in Twilight. Ugh.

Spring Break...Yay!

Robby and I took the baby to day care and worked for 6.5 hours at our computers. I revised 13 pages of Chapter 2...Yay! I am making some major revisions, so it has taken very long. I put the chapter down for a month because I was afraid to revise it, but looking over it and creating at backward outline (Robby's advice) has helped me hone in on my topic. 15 pages left to revise!

Baby Blues

Atticus woke up at 2:30pm this morning crying uncontrollably. I went into his room & tried to shove the pacifier in his mouth, but he wouldn't take it. Tried to change his diaper, but he wouldn't sit still. He wouldn't even allow me to hold him. Robby got up, conjectured that the baby wanted milk, and we forcefully put him down & went back to sleep.

The baby has been throwing little tantrums lately. We can't figure out if it's physiological or brattiness. It could be a little bit of both. He wants sweet food when we feed him, so we mix little bits of grapes with his chicken or small dollops of yogurt with his egg.

So it's 4am, & I haven't gone back to bed yet. Today is the last day before Spring Break at Heritage, & I have a long list of things to do over vacation: revise Chapter 2 of my dissertation, complete Chapter 1, grade essays, get come Mommy-baby quality time, plan for the rest of the year...

Robby will scold me for being up, I know it. He just finished Chapter 7 of his dissertation. He is hoping to finish by next week. I can't wait to celebrate! After so many weeks of sitting raptly at the computer, he has finally crunched out this tedious dissertation. Mine may be more onerous because I'm gathering qualitative data, which means observations, which means transcribing dialogue, which means analyzing hours of observation notes... oi...

All of Westside LA was congested with impatient cars yesterday afternoon. Drivers looking for short cuts zoomed down our normally placid street. The weather was finally pleasant and sunny (it can never get too bad in LA, can it?), so Robby thinks that people were anxious to enjoy the sun.

It's been ages!

It has been ages since I've posted an entry in this blog.
Since my last entry, lots have happened.

Robby's mom & stepdad spent 2 glorious weeks with us in January. His grandmother also came for 4 days. Our cozy family crowded the apartment, but every inch of it was filled with warmth and sound. We loved the company and the busy evenings.

Atticus turned one and had a birthday party. Robby organized a knife-choosing ceremony. Out of 10 knives, Atticus chose the one with chopsticks, which signifies that he will be a big eater. We got a delicious tart from Porto's and invited lots of friends and family members. Two out of the three godfathers drove down from the Bay Area, & Atticus received four letters that will be opened ten and twenty years from now.

He can now walk pretty well. He loves to open cabinets and touch stuff. He can say "agua" pretty clearly. He can feed himself, imitate others, & blow kisses. He is getting over an ear infection right now, poor thing. We've bonded this weekend with Robby gone to his aunt's wedding.

Robby is still writing his dissertation & should be done by this summer. He'll be walking in May, so we will both cut our hair by then. My hair is so long that sometimes I sit on it. I can't wait to have a short do again.