My mom's visit was going really well until the 22nd. That day she skipped lunch and ate chocolates instead. Also, she didn't take her nicotine patch. The straw that broke the camel's back was the continuous screeching and battling of her grandchildren. Anyway, she felt like Jill was at fault for the poor behavior of her grandchildren. Jill and I felt differently and Nancy had to take a trip to Brooklyn on e day earlier than planned.

My cousin Michael sent us a game, Cariboo, that I played with May and Jill's dad, Sandy. The game evoked high drama at our house. After matching her drawn card to the appropriate tile, May would press the 'magic key' and open the game board looking for a 'treasure ball.' This worked well the first couple of times, but, in later rounds, after she matched her card to the tile, the tension was too much for her and she would screech and cover her eyes until I unlocked her tile with the 'magic key.' At one point, Sandy went through a dry spell in which he recovered no 'treasure balls' and he pretended to be sad. May was very sympathetic and offered to share with him her next 'treasure ball.'

After we finished playing and before I put her to sleep, May told me, "I really like to win games."

Jill got May and Ben picture albums for Christmas. May hasn't looked at her album very often, but El Destructo ripped right into his. He tore it immediately and we took it away from him.

Jill feels guilty about my mom's early departure. I feel a little bad, and I hope mom doesn't feel that bad about it.

I had a very "east coast" moment at the bagel shop the other day. I was buying some bagels and had everything picked out. The clerk was standing at the register and I had my money in one hand and my son in the other. All of a sudden, a pushy east-coast-woman steps in between me and my intended financial transaction and begins ordering her bagels from a different clerk.

I could not believe the nerve of this woman. She's got the whole store in which she can order bagels, so why does she have to order in such a way that it interferes with my business? Politely, I said, "Pardon me." And she kept ordering.

A little louder now, "PARDON ME!" Still this east-coast woman ignored me.

Finally, I have become one with the east coast, "PARDON ME!!!!!" The lady gets the hint. I think if I had never lived out East I would have let her cut in line. Still, the nerve of this lady. I'm holding my enormous fat baby and can barely hang on. All I want to do is get my bagels and get out of there. Where does she get off standing in front of the register right before I pay.


My cousin Micahel also sent me 'The Diving Bell and The Butterfly,' and I enjoyed it terrifically. A few of the neurologists who lectured to us last year mentioned it, but it wasn't at the library (vast as the holdings of the Collingswood, NJ library might be) so I didn't read it over the summer. Anyway, I really enjoyed it. The writing was economical and poetic.

Right now, I'm almost done with 'White Teeth' By Zadie Smith.