Family Resemblance

My daughter at age five looks just like I did at age five.

Here's me at age forty. Let's hope she starts to take after her mom at some point between now and the year 2045.

I'll find it after I pay up.

I don't often lose track of the library books I borrow, but I sure do lose the ones that cost thirty bucks or more to replace. Charles Bukowski's Open All Night is the one that got away this time.

Beach

Watching Trains

Beach

Her big sister calls her Panda Butt

While pondering whether or not to blog anymore...

My daughter poked at my belly this morning and asked, "Daddy, are you sure there's not a baby in there?"

That's a good blog post right there.

Princess Ari

"Some babies do that."

My Sammie has this thing that she does. When she gets mad, she has a tendency to lose her breath. There's this silence instead of a cry and the cry doesn't come. Instead, she simply reaches and reaches for the cry, but fails and then passes out. I've witnessed it twice and I think that Paige has, too. Sammie's pediatrician assures us that we shouldn't worry and that "some babies do that." After she passes out, she'll start to breathe again and everything will be fine.

My second and most intense experience with this was last night. I put her into her swing so that I could have my hands free to tend to something routine and insignificant. She started to fuss and instead of picking her up immediately, I thought I'd give her a minute to adjust and maybe I could get done whatever it was I was trying to deal with. Instead of the cry, however, there was just that pained silence from my little girl. I saw her struggle and I lifted her from her swing. No sound. She was losing color in her face and I felt that conflict between panic and remembering what the doctor said. Remembering tips and tricks I'd heard before, I blew in her face to startle her back to consciousness. It didn't work though and she went blue in the face and limp in my arms. I continued to desperately blow in her face and call her name and she finally came back around but probably no thanks to my efforts. My Sammie was still a bit dazed and it wasn't until a minute or so later when she started crying that I was no longer worried. Just like her doctor said. Some babies do that.

My question to anyone reading: Have you ever experienced this? Sammie is my fourth baby. I've never seen this before and, of course, there's nothing scarier as a parent than to deal with this scenario. "Some babies do that" isn't a phrase that makes it much easier either. Since blowing in her face to startle her didn't seem to work, are there other tips for helping her catch her breath before she passes out again? Making sure she's never, ever unhappy again will be one solution, but probably not something I can count on.

Listening to Brett Rosenberg

I got a new favorite bunch of songs that I'm listening to this morning. Brett Rosenberg, recommended by The Joiners on their site, is exactly perfect for the new music I needed to find. Listen to his muxtape recordings in full here. Here's hoping you dig it. Have a nice day.

The Musical Saw

A melancholy mood snuck up on me tonight. Lucky for me, I can complement that mood with appropriate music played with the perfect instrument: the musical saw. It's used yearningly and woefully on The Black Rider's "November" by Tom Waits. It's also the instrument of choice by the man billed simply as "Tried To Escape" in 1991's wildly eclectic and imaginative Delicatessen, featured below.

Words by Ari

Arianna's not settling down to sleep as she should so I go in and lie down next to her, silently reading The New Yorker on my iPhone and hoping she'll finally close her eyes and go to sleep.

"Are you reading inside your brain?"

I look at her and nod, saying nothing.

She then asks, "Is it too much for your mouth to talk?"

I love that kid and her way with words.

Outside the Frist

Disney for my kids, quiet time for me.

The cat's out of the bag. The initial plan was to not tell the kids
that they were going to Disney until their mom entered the park's
parking lot. Instead, since it was likely they'd find out anyway, they
know now. Boy, are they excited.

They've never been. Josh is six and Ari is five. As into the whole
princess thing she is, this is likely a dream come true for her. Her
mom signed her up for some kind of thing that is special for kids like
her. I forget what exactly, but it involves princesses.

I wonder what Josh will love most about it. The last time I went to
Disney, Pete from Pete's Dragon was in the parade and he waved at me.
It might have been a general wave to the crowd, but I'm pretty sure it
was specifically to this boy that he waved.

While the family enjoys their time in Florida, I'm here enjoying a
very quiet apartment. I unplugged the television and all other
unnecessary appliances as soon as they drove away. This in hopes of a
lower electricity bill and also just for the heck of it.

I might go watch some animated and live action shorts at the Belcourt
tomorrow. Come along if you like.

My cursed mellifluous voice.

Texting with my wife who knows me so well. I'm in green.