A few days ago, the LA Times published a collection of articles titled “What’s making us fat?” in which they briefly summarize each of the latest fads…I mean “theories”…about why Americans, specifically those living in the US, have become more and more obese in the past 30 years.
The article left out one important theory–mine. As the title of this post indicates, my theory is that the invention of the Internet has made us fat. All that time in front of computers has made us fat. We are chained to our desk because IM has made us too lazy to get up and walk the 20 feet to our co-worker’s desk. We no longer have to thumb through the yellow pages or actually dial a phone. Google does it for us from the convenience of our browser. Leg work has been replaced by finger work, and we don’t even lift our wrists to type. We rest them on gel-filled, ergonomic wrist rests. We don’t even use dictionaries any more. Just right click the word with the red squiggles under it and the browser will spell it for you.
So, the next time someone asks you why America is getting fatter, blame Al Gore, and rest assured that the rest of the world will be joining us as they become more and more wired.
…agree that Che is adorable, and that he needs to brush his teeth more often. Two days after we started brushing Che’s teeth, he developed a fever that lasted for 4 days. It was definitly tooth related, as his drool was never ceasing during the fever. Che is better now, but I must admit that I’m a little spooked about brushing his teeth. His top two canines still haven’t broken through, and I’m afraid that brushing his teeth will cause him to have a lot of teething related pain and possibly a fever again.
So, all my friends who have had children teething, what do you think? Are the (hypothetical) dentist right? Should I brush his teeth no matter what? Or is there some truth to the theory that you shouldn’t start brushing toddler’s teeth too early in life?
There is a private freshwater beach about 3 kilometers from our house that is only for residents of the town in which we live. We took Che there on Saturday, and I think we will be going back every Saturday through the summer. He loved it, as evidenced by the video below.
We enjoyed the sun and playing in the water. Che is starting to make swimming motions, though he still doesn’t like to get his face wet. After he warms up in the water for a few minutes, he practically leaps out of my arms. I have to keep a good hold to ensure he’s not the fish that gets away.
Though I prefer the crashing waves of an unprotected ocean shore, I think I can be at peace with the local town beach. It’s close enough to walk if we were motivated, relatively peaceful, and Che loves it. That said, I can’t wait to get him into salt water. Maybe he’ll stop trying to drink it when he is in the sea.
My teenager finally made it back home for the summer. Yipee! It is great to have her back and makes me realize how much I miss her when she’s not around. Che is warming up to her too. In fact, he is quite mesmerized when she plays the guitar for him. The look on his face is one of awe and wonder as he tries to participate. I’m so thrilled to have both my children home. I just wish I were able to spend more time at home with them.
Che had a number of firsts over the past couple of weeks. In addition to his first birthday, his first real taste of chocolate, and his first balloon, Che had his first hair cut, and his first bath at home. *Sniff* My little baby is growing up.
You can see all the videos of Che by going directly to our YouTube page. Or, you can watch them below.
Che turned one year old last week, and thanks to a potential whooping cough incident at his daycare, Che got to spend the morning at the doctor’s office with his parents, and the rest of the day home with dad. Then he got a full day with mom the next day. I think he was more pleased with having his parents around than he was with the gifts.
We managed to get some chocolate cupcakes made and Feech wrapped his presents, so it was an official birthday celebration. He was mesmerized by the candle, which we barely managed to keep him from grabbing. I’m sure the magic would have worn off had he managed to grab it.
Che’s Croatian grandparents sent him a Pinocchio marionette from their visit to Tuscany. Che really enjoyed watching it walk around, as if by magic.
Che’s American grandparents sent him a stuffed puppy dog with several balloons tied to it. Che couldn’t take his eyes off the balloons. He loves them. He will look at them, then look at me and smile, then look at the balloons again. He also managed to somehow detach the largest balloon from the bouquet and it is now trapped in the vaulted ceiling. Not sure how we will get it down from there without popping it, but Che still likes to crane his neck back and look at it.
The only difference between magic and technology is your ability to understand it. I haven’t been awed by something in a while, so it is fun to see the wonder and amazement in Che’s face as he experiences new things that are surely magic to him. I can also see the gears spinning in his head as he tried to make sense of what he is experiencing. That magic will fade all to quickly. I’m going to savor it while it lasts.
I did complete the plumbing project on April 29. Here is what the room looked like before:
Notice the less than 2 feet downspout for the washing machine that is in the ceiling. Not very washing-machine friendly. This set up also had the kitchen and washing machine going into the same 200 gallon cesspool, while the 700 gallon cess pool had just the bathroom sink. Let’s just call it poor planning.
Here is the new, improved basement plumbing. I know it’s still ugly, but everything works–without flooding. And we now have a basement sink. The sink is a great blessing since the condensation dryer and the dehumidifier both require frequent emptying. Yea!
Under normal circumstances, I would try to hide the piping. However, based on the set up of our basement, I thought we were safer keeping the pipes exposed. I’m afraid to know what is behind the wood panels.
Also, one minor correction. Teo’s friend who wielded the copper piping for me isn’t a professional plumber. He’s a machine tool maker. Regardless of his title, I really appreciated his help and blowtorch!
The day before I went on vacation, the washing machine flooded our basement flooded. That was 29 March. If I get lucky, and don’t make anymore mistakes, I’ll finally have a working washing machine by 29 April.
The flooding was caused by some “inventive” plumbing done by the previous owners that was against code and just plain shoddy work (which is true of many of the “improvements” that were made before we purchased the house). After a number of steps to ensure that was the cause (such as having the cess pools pumped and snaking the pipes, we decided to re-plumb the basement ourselves. Since my husband still has a metal rod attached to his left hand (which will get removed mid-May, finally), this decision essentially meant that I would re-plumb the basement.
Sometimes I wonder if it would have been better to hire a professional plumber to do the work. But then again, I had a plumber look at the “inventive” plumbing, and he said that it was probably the best solution. That’s why we took it into our own hands. Well, most of it. Teo’s friend from work, Tony, is a professional plumber and he came over and wielded the copper pipes for us. I don’t have the right kind of torch.
One more trip to Home Depot should take care of it. I just need a longer water inlet hose for the washing machine and an adapter to connect the sink strainer to the discharge pipe. When I finish, I’ll post before and after photos.
We signed Che up for infant swim classes at the local YMCA for the winter session. I don’t know what I was thinking. Between snow storms, colds that we didn’t want to make worse, and travel, we only managed to make it to 3 out of 8 classes.
At the YMCA, everyone is required to wear a swim cap, and they mean everyone. Even people with no hair, whether old men or babies, have to wear swim caps. I had to put a pleat in Che’s cap to get it to stay on. Well at last Saturday’s class, he had had enough of the swim cap. When the class was over and we were heading toward the pool exit, Che reached up and pulled his off. We were getting out, so I didn’t bother to put it back on.
The little boy behind us pulled of his swim cap, too. I didn’t think much of it until the boy’s mother said, “Look at that. You’ve started a revolution.” I looked at her and we both snickered a little. I responded by saying, “Che, your a little young to be starting revolutions!”
There are days I question my decision to use Che for a nickname. I fear that it may be to foreshadowing of his future. If he chooses to ride off on a motorcycle with his best friend after college, I don’t know if I’ll regret it or be thrilled for him. But either way, this little boy has a mind of his own.
Every day for work, my husband wears a pair of jeans and a polo shirt. Every single day.
We’ve had some plumbing problems which have caused us to be without a washing machine for a couple of weeks. I’ll have to go to the laundromat tomorrow and wash about 5 or 6 load of clothes. The one benefit of being without a washing machine is that I’ve seen every piece of clothing Che owns. Today we broke out a new outfit that was a gift. It’s still a little to big, but it is oh so adorable that I had to take a picture. Polo shirt and jeans…Che really is his father’s son.
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