The Ladder Herald

Rye & I

Brooklyn with Rye. And Stupid Baseball Metaphors!

The world's worst Mama took the barfing baby on a six hour plane ride yesterday. Yo, Brooklyn! The stewardesses were nice, but I pretended it had come on him all of a sudden. "Wow! So weird! To think he was perfectly fine this morning!" (And by "perfectly fine" I mean that I had his vomit on my shirt this morning when I called the airline to see if I could postpone my flight.)

It's freezing here. In a good way. I actually love the brisk, biting cold when it's just a visit. It's hard to even believe in it. I've got the right coat (for once). Actually, now that I think about it, I don't really have a warm coat for Rye, either. Heh heh. Strike two!

He's having fun though, the little sugarplum. 100% attention from 100% ladies.

The Aunties place is dope. Sweet, all the nice details and funky touches, great location near the train and the park. Their landlord brings them pepper-marinaded tilapia. And their combined Noah's Ark rainbow menorah and tannenbaum tree holiday display is all good.

I got sent over to Opal Opal Massage for an AMAZONAZING birthday massage. I bought some of their "revery" oil blend to take home. Aaaah.

OK, crying babe, better not get an out.

O is for Octopus and Orion

Obsessed with the outrageous and overwhelming octopus, lately. And therefore, seeing them everywhere. This is from the Ferry Building:

A funny little part of the page on octopus from wikipedia:

"Octopuses are highly intelligent, probably more intelligent than any other order of invertebrates. The exact extent of their intelligence and learning capability is much debated among biologists,[1][2][3] but maze and problem-solving experiments have shown that they do have both short- and long-term memory. Their short lifespans limit the amount they can ultimately learn. There has been much speculation to the effect that almost all octopus behaviors are independently learned rather than instinct-based, although this remains largely unproven. They learn almost no behaviors from their parents, with whom young octopuses have very little contact. [...]

In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practice observational learning,[4] although the validity of these findings is widely contested on a number of grounds.[1][2] Octopuses have also been observed in what some have described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them.[5] Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs.[3]"

wikiOctopus

And just got this odd, outstanding t shirt for Rye, too (heard about it on some shopping blog, can't remember, so sorry!):

I love how the word is printed upside down so the kid can see it correctly when s/he looks down at it! So clever! (I hope they make grow-up ones soon.)

Find all the letters at—

Biome5

It's Four in the Morning, the End of September...

That's just a Leonard Cohen song.

Second night awake with Rye, who has been literally climbing the walls of his crib. He hoists himself up and then cries when he gets stuck (and yes I've "shown" him how to get himself down). Some force in the universe is compelling him; the same bright force that he just channeled to learn to crawl. (He is now crawling so beautifully!) And this energy is waking him up (this is the second night starting at 3AM and ending God knows where) and saying, "Rye! Remember what we can do? Let's do it!"

My sleepy guy is being awakened by his own energy to be alive, to be moving. I can see how it is amazing, but, Energy, please, a little rest for us. A baby and a mama need sleep.

This earth—

"This earth is crammed with heaven." —Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Pumpkins

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What Rye and I Saw At 6 AM This Morning From the Back Window

Babies Who Wear Glasses, Are Gasses.

Also kind of wanted to call this: Rye-Colored Glasses.

Wry Rye.

Here is Rye in my favorite picture ever. Wearing the pipe cleaner glasses that Jonah and his teacher Miho made for him. They made a pair for everyone in our family. Mine are yellow and pink. Maybe we'll all wear them for a Christmas/Hannukah card photo.

I think it is so cool that Jonah includes Rye in our family. He's new, but he's already one of us. When we get glasses, he gets them too.

I am sure I am going to learn about rage and destruction in my Human Development class at CIIS when we study siblings, and I certainly have memories of my own, as the older sister of two younger girlies. BUT, it is still a blessing when your kids love each other, in addition to the other feelings they may have or will have...