Progress and our Miniature Boy

As soon as Seth conquered the complications of crawling (i.e. you can't move both legs at the same time and expect to get anywhere), it seems he has been developing at lightning speed. He soon thereafter taught himself to stand up on stuff (then he started falling down and bonking his head), and then to get down from standing up without bonking his head. He can crawl over stuff too (i.e. pillows, me, etc.), so barriers have to be a little more creative. He also likes to mimic now, so he'll clap his hands if you do, or shake his head "no" if you do. His latest trick is peek-a-boo. I've been playing it with him for months, and he loves it. This week he started playing it with me--ducking his head behind the couch and then popping back up and laughing his head off. The kid is hilarious, and a ton of fun. I think he'll be walking soon, although Lindsay's not so sure. We actually made an over-under bet: if he walks before the Super Bowl (first week of February for all those who are not inclined to care about such events) then I don't have to do the dishes for a week without feeling guilty. If it's after the Super-Bowl, then I have to do the dishes three times by myself in a week no matter how much studying I have to do, and she doesn't have to feel guilty about it. (We both hate dishes, and she usually does them because I pretend I'm too busy learning about molecules and diseases so I can cure the world of all it's infirmities). Seth already walks pretty well with us holding his hands, and he does some cruising, so I think my chances are good. I wonder what he would think if he knew his own mother was betting against him. Oh ya, he also empties the dishwasher now.

I got tagged too (see post from 12.12.07)

Things I'm passionate about:
1. Lo and Seth
2. Neuroscience
3. Medicine
4. Technology
5. Spirituality
6. Photography
5. Helping people who aren't as fortunate as I am
6. Being passionate
7. Baseball
8. Guitar/Music

Books I've read recently/am reading right now:
Mountains Beyond Mountains - Tracy Kidder
God's Bits of Wood - Ousmane Sembène
A Lesson Before Dying - Ernest Gaines
Hocus Pocus - Kurt Vonnegut (read it again--one of my favorites)
Beasts of No Nation - Uzodinma Iweala
The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness - Antonio Damasio
Immunobiology - C. Janeway
Respiratory Physiology - John West

Things I often say:
1. Screw you for judging me
2. That's so like you
3. That's what she said
4. So's your face
5. Lindsay, you got the body to back it up...
6. But it's my special day!
7. Wait for it...wait for it... (while waiting for the chorus of a song before Lindsay changes it)

Things I want to do before I die:
1. See my kids grow up (assuming I'll have more than one)
2. Feel like I contributed to improving international and domestic poverty and lack of quality health care (i.e. medically treat lots of people whether they can pay or not)
3. Live in Africa again
4. Travel to India, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, Russia, Italy, Czech Republic, Norway, Turkey, Egypt, Kenya, Mali, Senegal, Morocco, Ireland, Scotland, Iceland, Peru, Brazil, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Alaska, Galapogos Islands, Fiji, Tahiti, etc, etc.
5. Live in France and Switzerland again
6. Skydive
7. Drive a car over 200 mph (presumably on a race track; this could actually be the last thing I do before I die)
8. Fly a plane

Songs I could listen to over and over (this one is easy):
1. Since I've Been Loving You - Led Zeppelin
2. La Cienega Just Smiled - Ryan Adams
3. When the Stars Go Blue - Ryan Adams
4. One - U2
5. Hey Jude - The Beatles
6. Let Down - Radiohead
7. 4 + 20 - Stephen Stills
8. Back in Black - AC/DC
9. Little Wing - Stevie Ray Vaughn
10. Whipping Post - Allman Brothers Band
11. Subterranean Homesick Blues - Bob Dylan
12. Clocks - Coldplay
13. I Will Follow You into the Dark - Death Cab For Cutie
14. The Final Countdown - Europe
15. Gimme Some Lovin' - G. Love & Special Sauce
16. Cherry Red Wine - Johnny Lang
17. Amsterdam - Guster
18. Over the Hills and Far Away - Led Zeppelin
19. come to think of it, anything by Led Zeppelin
20. You Belong to Me - Jason Wade
21. Long Ride Home - Patty Griffin
many, many more....

Things that attract me to friends:
humor, love of sports, love of music, silly, mature, real (i.e. not fake), sensitive, generous, kind, philosophical, adventurous, critical, and ridiculously good looking

Random things about me:
1. I can't sit in a restaurant with my back to the door.
2. I severed my right pinkie finger when I was 10. It was reattached in a major reconstructive surgery. It's a little shorter than the other one and doesn't have 100% feeling, but it works pretty regular.
3. I lived in Namibia in the summer of 2004 and hitch-hiked my way around 3 countries in Southern Africa.
4. I clip my toenails 1-2 times a week.
5. I'm allergic to most things that grow.
6. I can tell you all of the hitting statistics of Will Clark and Kevin Mitchell from the 1989 San Francisco Giants season.
7. I don't love fruit, but my favorite is pear.

Scared to travel

They say that love for your own child is unconditional. I think this is for the most part, true. However, there are moments when this statement is challenged. For example, I have never loved my son less than when we were driving from San Diego to the Bay area to visit the fam for Christmas time fun (I still loved him, just not as much as usual). Apparently Seth didn't understand that fun was in store, because he decided to scream for about 4 of the 8 hours it took us to arrive, including a particularly rough 2 and a half hour stretch after the Grapevine. Our car is not huge--his face was perhaps 2 feet from mine, and there were moments at which I longed for death. It made me think about how scared I am to fly anywhere with him and be that guy with the loud kids on an airplane. I guess we'll just stay put for a while and save up to go on vacation 10 years from now when I have a real job. This event also reminded me of a funny french commercial a friend showed me a while back.

(note: I sometimes use sarcasm in an attempt at humor, so please don't think I don't love my kid.)
The next post will likely explain why it's actually worth it to have kids.

Double Tagged

A couple weeks ago I got "tagged" twice, which apparently is a phenomenon floating around the blog world where you answer a set of questions about yourself and then name several blog friends at the end who you'd like to answer those same questions. Well, I got tagged with a "6 facts about yourself", as well as a more detailed set of questions, so I guess I'll just put some hybrid of the two, or whatever I feel like.
Things I'm passionate about:
1. Aaron.
2. Seth.
3. Giving patients a good operating room experience.
4. Cooking
5. Tonsil rock removal (yuck!)
6. Understanding people/ trying to not be self centered
7. Save Darfur
8. Nothing should be heavily spiced with cloves or anise
Books I've read recently/reading right now:
Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines
Things I often say:
1. "Who fed this boy a slice of crazy pie?"
2."That sounds like you."
3."I forgot to tell you, Seth, you're actually not allowed to do that. So stop." (He gets into everything now that he crawls)
4. "fluffy" It's probably my favorite word. I use it all the time. Examples: "Will you change Seth's fluffy? (that means a fat diaper full of pee), "My teeth feel fluffy, I need to brush them."
5. "I'm sick of these dishes. Can we blow up the kitchen and start over?"
6. "You're delicious."
7. "That's what I call a fuss boy."
8. "Who pulled the pork?"
9. "I'm sick of you."
10. "Those bastard people" (everytime a Walmart commercial comes on)
11. "The government bought this for me so I could make milk for Seth." (we get groceries from the WIC program)
12. "I'm junked" (tired), or "this baby's junked"
Things I want to do before I die:
1. Live to be 100
2. Own a cello and learn to play it (When I was 27 I rented one and took lessons for over a year. It's an expensive hobby that I miss)
3. Go on surgery missions to third world countries
4. Become an awesome cook
5. Have a garden and make it thrive
6. Travel to India, New Zealand, Thailand, see more of Africa (the list goes on)
Songs/albums I could listen to over and over:
I love music and if I could remember who sings what and what's on what album, I'd probably fill this in. (Aaron makes fun of me for this)
Things that attract me to friends:
1. not mean
2. not dumb
3. find the same things funny/laugh at my lame jokes
4. will listen to my dreams (i don't mean hopes and aspirations, although that's nice too)
5. enthusiasm for fresh produce (this i mention mostly for my friend marcus with whom i could discuss fruits and vegetables for hours. aaron usually rolls his eyes at us)
6. generous (i'm not looking for friends to give me lots of stuff, i just really enjoy people who have this characteristic)
Random things about me:
1. I love to throw things/give things away. I hate keeping extra stuff around. Sometimes I go a little overboard I guess. Aaron is far more sentimental than me (and more welcoming of clutter). He recently rescued a pair of shoes, a baking dish, and my high school diploma from the trash.
2. It's embarrassing, but I like watching "Kitchen Nightmares" with Chef Gordon Ramsay. I'm ashamed that I've gotten hooked into a reality tv show, especially one with the typical angry British guy formula. Every episode is virtually the same. Half of it is bleeped out because of Ramsay's foul mouth. He's over-the-top mean and nasty, makes the owner look like an idiot, exposes their fridge full of moldy food, and everything is transformed and happy in the end. It's just so satisfying.
3. I love telling stories (mostly my own experiences), and have loved it ever since I could learn to talk, according to my Mom. I guess I'm a bit like my Dad, in that once I've worded a story a certain way, I often tell it the same way on every subsequent occasion. My poor husband. I'm sure once we're married for 37 years like my parents, it'll get pretty old. Everyone in our family can tell my Dad's tale of taking a Spanish pronunciation class, which always ends with "and guess who got the only A in the class?" Hopefully my stories are a little better than that.
Who Am I Tagging?
Aaron, Kelsey and Justin, Allison (I don't know a whole lot of blog people)

Almost Festivus

This will brighten your day. It takes a bit to load, but i guarantee a smile. Click on the links.

Holiday Cheer
Bah Humbug