So I got a Valentine's Day gift after all. Apparently I was supposed to get one last week -- S had booked a babysitter (our old nanny) and was going to surprise me -- but the snow put the kibosh on it all. So she moved it back a week, and we got to go out last night. Nothing too exciting, just dinner at a conveniently located, mid-scale eatery, but everybody with kids knows how nice it is to do something simple like that (sans children) every once in a while. We sat near a window, and I looked out and saw all the people bustling about and thought to myself, "Right. This is why people live in the city." Sometimes when I'm en route to one of the only three places I go regularly -- home, work, daycare -- I question why we didn't just go the cheaper / easier route and move to the suburbs. So it's nice to actually go out and be reminded of what D.C. proper has to offer.
One thing D.C. doesn't have is a nice aquarium, so for President's Day (thank you for your service, Franklin Pierce) we went up to Baltimore and took Lil' S to the National Aquarium. It was awesome (though expensive: 35$ per adult plus 25$ for parking!). It's a great place to take a 1.5-year old. It's much better than the zoo right now (which is unfortunate as the zoo is free and ten minutes from our house), because it's more interactive and more colorful. Lil' S could get right up to the tanks and point to all the "cockies". Cockie, by the way, is his generic word for all nonhuman lifeforms; it stems from his mispronunciation of the word "doggie".
Lil' S somehow lost a shoe on the way from the car to the aquarium, so he ran around in his socks. It's pretty much carpeted everywhere, so it wasn't a big deal, but it did make me think about some of the admirable qualities little kids have. There are few things more blowhard-y than saying things like "my child teaches me more than I could ever teach him" or "my child is my hero" or some other such tripe, so I'll try to avoid steering into that territory. But there are some things really young kids do that I wish more adults (like myself) did. One, they don't give a shit. Lil' S just ran around in his socks at the aquarium, because he wanted to run around, and he didn't have any shoes; he didn't care that that's unusual.
Two, they'll keep trying something (and look foolish doing so) until they figure it out. Watch any toddler go down the stairs, and you'll see what I mean. They all have their own style -- Lil' S hugs the wall, sits down, slides down a single step on his butt, stands back up, and repeats -- that they crafted through trial and error, mostly the latter. As adults, we're so hesitant to get into something new because we don't want to fail at first (either we lack patience or we're afraid of looking stupid), but that's the only way to learn. The saying shouldn't be, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks"; it should be, "Old dogs are way too self-conscious to learn new tricks."
Three, little kids aren't racist. Charles Barkley once said -- and I'm paraphrasing -- "You can tell racism isn't a natural thing by watching kids. You know what happens when you put a black kid and a white kid together? They play." Well said, Sir Charles. Well said, indeed. My favorite personal story on the matter is that once when S and I went to visit some friends about five years ago, their son, about five years old at the time, thought S and I we're brother and sister. To anybody who knows S and I (and has seen our respective skin colors) this is absurdly funny.
Anyway, one thing that I saw a lot of at the aquarium is people taking tons of pictures of the aquatic life, not of people and creatures, just creatures. A surprising number of people were even recording them. I found this really weird and annoying. Weird because -- When would you ever want to look at those pictures or watch the video? I can understand one or two snapshots of an interesting looking critter, but a whole slide show or video of them? They have these things called "The Discovery Channel" and "The Internet" that can easily satiate even the most rapacious marine-life-viewing appetite. And the quality of the picture will be much better than anything you could do with your iPhone through thick glass.
The annoying part is that people taking pictures or recording take up prime, front-of-the-tank real estate and block others' views for much longer than the average non-picture-taking person. There was one (very large) woman in particular who was standing dead-center in front of a smallish tank snapping pic after pic while a bunch of little kids (Lil' S included) were trying to squeeze around her. It's like, come on lady, it's crowded in here today, take a gander, say to yourself "Wow! That's one fucked-up looking fish," and move along, like all the courteous people in the building. If you're really that interested in alligator gars, take a note of what they're called, and do a Google search when you're at home and not obstructing the views of a bunch of kids.
Anyway, apropos of nothing, this YouTube clip is pretty hilarious, if you are familiar with the comedic stylings of Louis CK. Spot on.
Alright, I gotta wrap this up soon. My wife and kid should be back any minute. They just went to the fabric store. S has taken up sewing, which is really cool. For one thing, I've been trying to get her to pick up a hobby basically since we met. If you (like me) have a bunch of hobbies then it's good if your spouse does as well; otherwise they bother you while you're trying to do your hobbies and then don't understand why you're not ready to hang out with them at the exact moment they want to hang out.
For another thing, sewing is a useful skill. I joked with S that she was going to be on Project Runway in a few years, and her response was, "No. I don't want to design a bunch of new styles or anything like that. I just want to learn how to make everyday things I can wear and hem my own clothes so I don't have to pay for it."
"So you need a show called Project Seamstress," I said.
"Yeah."
Very practical. I like it.
Until next time ...
[The Columbia Heights neighborhood in Washington D.C., across the street from where we ate.]
One thing D.C. doesn't have is a nice aquarium, so for President's Day (thank you for your service, Franklin Pierce) we went up to Baltimore and took Lil' S to the National Aquarium. It was awesome (though expensive: 35$ per adult plus 25$ for parking!). It's a great place to take a 1.5-year old. It's much better than the zoo right now (which is unfortunate as the zoo is free and ten minutes from our house), because it's more interactive and more colorful. Lil' S could get right up to the tanks and point to all the "cockies". Cockie, by the way, is his generic word for all nonhuman lifeforms; it stems from his mispronunciation of the word "doggie".
[The eponymous Franklin Pierce. (I grew up in Pierce County, Washington.)]
Lil' S somehow lost a shoe on the way from the car to the aquarium, so he ran around in his socks. It's pretty much carpeted everywhere, so it wasn't a big deal, but it did make me think about some of the admirable qualities little kids have. There are few things more blowhard-y than saying things like "my child teaches me more than I could ever teach him" or "my child is my hero" or some other such tripe, so I'll try to avoid steering into that territory. But there are some things really young kids do that I wish more adults (like myself) did. One, they don't give a shit. Lil' S just ran around in his socks at the aquarium, because he wanted to run around, and he didn't have any shoes; he didn't care that that's unusual.
Two, they'll keep trying something (and look foolish doing so) until they figure it out. Watch any toddler go down the stairs, and you'll see what I mean. They all have their own style -- Lil' S hugs the wall, sits down, slides down a single step on his butt, stands back up, and repeats -- that they crafted through trial and error, mostly the latter. As adults, we're so hesitant to get into something new because we don't want to fail at first (either we lack patience or we're afraid of looking stupid), but that's the only way to learn. The saying shouldn't be, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks"; it should be, "Old dogs are way too self-conscious to learn new tricks."
Three, little kids aren't racist. Charles Barkley once said -- and I'm paraphrasing -- "You can tell racism isn't a natural thing by watching kids. You know what happens when you put a black kid and a white kid together? They play." Well said, Sir Charles. Well said, indeed. My favorite personal story on the matter is that once when S and I went to visit some friends about five years ago, their son, about five years old at the time, thought S and I we're brother and sister. To anybody who knows S and I (and has seen our respective skin colors) this is absurdly funny.
[That's one fucked-up looking fish.]
Anyway, one thing that I saw a lot of at the aquarium is people taking tons of pictures of the aquatic life, not of people and creatures, just creatures. A surprising number of people were even recording them. I found this really weird and annoying. Weird because -- When would you ever want to look at those pictures or watch the video? I can understand one or two snapshots of an interesting looking critter, but a whole slide show or video of them? They have these things called "The Discovery Channel" and "The Internet" that can easily satiate even the most rapacious marine-life-viewing appetite. And the quality of the picture will be much better than anything you could do with your iPhone through thick glass.
The annoying part is that people taking pictures or recording take up prime, front-of-the-tank real estate and block others' views for much longer than the average non-picture-taking person. There was one (very large) woman in particular who was standing dead-center in front of a smallish tank snapping pic after pic while a bunch of little kids (Lil' S included) were trying to squeeze around her. It's like, come on lady, it's crowded in here today, take a gander, say to yourself "Wow! That's one fucked-up looking fish," and move along, like all the courteous people in the building. If you're really that interested in alligator gars, take a note of what they're called, and do a Google search when you're at home and not obstructing the views of a bunch of kids.
Anyway, apropos of nothing, this YouTube clip is pretty hilarious, if you are familiar with the comedic stylings of Louis CK. Spot on.
Alright, I gotta wrap this up soon. My wife and kid should be back any minute. They just went to the fabric store. S has taken up sewing, which is really cool. For one thing, I've been trying to get her to pick up a hobby basically since we met. If you (like me) have a bunch of hobbies then it's good if your spouse does as well; otherwise they bother you while you're trying to do your hobbies and then don't understand why you're not ready to hang out with them at the exact moment they want to hang out.
For another thing, sewing is a useful skill. I joked with S that she was going to be on Project Runway in a few years, and her response was, "No. I don't want to design a bunch of new styles or anything like that. I just want to learn how to make everyday things I can wear and hem my own clothes so I don't have to pay for it."
"So you need a show called Project Seamstress," I said.
"Yeah."
Very practical. I like it.
Until next time ...
Project Seamstress... the sad thing is, I would watch it.
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