We have been visiting my grandmother Bettina since Sunday and it's been very pleasant. The week before my last exam, Grandma was in a car accident and totaled her car. She had to be pulled out by the jaws of life. She thinks that she blacked out and then ran off the road. Good fortune and a graceful diety guided her car so that no one else was hurt. She told her hearing aid technician that she's decided to give up driving.

She has not yet decided to give up being driven, however, and we've been running a lot of errands with her.

Grandma has had some limited nursing care since we've been visiting, but is feeling a lot better. Apparently she cracked a few ribs during the accident and is quite sore. She's been complaining about her chest being sore the entire visit. I said to her, "Well it ought to be sore; you cracked a few ribs didn't you?"

Grandma replied, "Yes I did, but they're down here." She pointed at her hips.

Yesterday May got to watch an Animal Planet show hosted by the late Steve Irwin's ten-year-old daughter. She thought it was utterly fascinating and is the only non-cartoon television show in which she's ever really been interested. This morning May was eating her breakfast and she pointed at Jill, Grandma, the nursing aide, and her self and said "We are all females. They," pointing at Benjamin and I, "are males."

We had a terrifying moment in the bathtub a few nights ago. Grandma's bathtub is very slippery and has a slope at one end. El Destructo was scrambling around the tub and slipped, landing teeth first on the side of the tub. There was a little bit of blood on the gumline and the tooth was chipped. Jill and I were totally freaking out. I wouldn't have felt so guilty but had had a few glasses of wine and my reflexes and consequence-prediction-ability were both impaired. We took him to Grandma's dentist who said that his adult teeth would not be harmed, nothing further needed to be done, though there was a possibility that Ben's tooth would change color. Grandma's dentist didn't charge us for the visit.

El Destructo has also learned how to climb out of his pack-and-play. He climbed out during his 'nap' yesterday, ran around his room screaming, and locked the door so Jill couldn't get into the room. Jill finally picked the lock with a paper clip and took him and his sister to the park.

Last weekend (or was it the weekend before last?), the Forrest family took us out to the Academy of Natural Sciences for the morning. The kids had a great time.

Ben is a *huge* fan of Josh Forrest, the second eldest of the Forrest children. Most of the time El Destructo babbles and screeches all his communications, but I've noticed that whenever Ben thinks something is really important, he enunciates his demands or comments much better than usual. For example, when we parked at the Academy of Natural Sciences, Ben said quite clearly, "Mom, there's Josh! Mom, that's Josh! Mom, that's Josh!" He also has been none to speak quite clearly the names of other kids on the block when he wants to go play with them. When he's hungry, he let's us know, "French fries."

At the top of the Academy of Natural Sciences is an interactive display where you can look more closely at animals. May really liked this part and got to pet a guinea pig, a snake, a tortoise, and a box turtle. She really wanted to pet the legless lizard, but I didn't ask the museum lady to get that one out.

May has also been obsessed, for the last few months, with an ancient grouchy cat who lives two doors down. Frida, the ancient cat, is missing most of her teeth and mostly just sits around on the couch or the radiator. May likes to pet Frida and swaddle her gently in blankets. All the attention May gives to Frida attracts the other kids who are not quite so gentle with Frida. Everytime I see the kids flinging that old, arthritic cat around the house, I become the "Frida-Avenger."

"Put Frida down!" I shout.

Yesterday, I worked on the bathroom sink, which has been draining slowly. I got the plunger and plunged and plunged. Large greasy, gray-black, blobs of soap scum came swirling into the sink. Some were as big as a large marble. Jill was grossed out by this, and quickly came to clean the sink after I was done. We are both happier about the sink draining better after the eviction of the soap scum.

Jill fixed the doorknob on our bedroom yesterday too. It was a little loose, leading us both to fear that one day you would try to turn it and it would fall off in your hand. Anticipation of this event lends to oneself an unnecessary anxiety. After all, if it does happen, one simply picks up the pieces and sticks them into the apparatus, convincing the gears and latches to fulfill their ambitions. I suppose we have a little more anxiety about doorknobs falling apart because the kids are around and they could destroy or lose a doorknob propelling a despondent father to make yet another trip to Home Depot.

Our neighbors had us over for fondue last night. We had bread and cheese for one course then swordfish and chicken in broth for the next. Dessert was chocolate and fruit. It was fun and the kids had a great time. Ben found some Toxic Avenger dolls (action figures - sorry) and enjoyed playing with them and thinking about them. May always had a good time visiting with their friendly, ancient (17 yrs old) cat, Frida. She wraps Frida in blankets and kisses her everytime they meet.

News Of The Kids

This morning, as I was getting ready to leave for school, May came downstairs and said to me, "Di, I have a surprise present for you."

"Oh, what is it?"

"Here you go!" She said, as she gave me two pennies.

"Oh, two pieces of money!" I replied. "Do you know what Daddy likes to do with money?"

"Give it to the bank." She told me.

Benjamin came downstairs to see me off to school, too. After I put my backpack on, he put his on too. Then, he pointed at the door and asked me, "Eh?" When it became clear to him that he was not going to go to school with me, he got pouty and sulky. He was angry enough to refuse me a goodbye kiss this morning.

News Of The Weekend

On Friday, we went to the Asian Students group Lunar Banquet. It was a lot of fun. I drank a lot and there was a ton of really good food. My favorite dishes were a creamy sweet broccoli and shrimp dish and a really sour pork dish. Also the eggplant in garlic sauce was to-die-for.

Saturday we went to the grocery store and then in the afternoon I went for a run. I took May in the joggin stroller (rather than Ben0 and she seemed to enjoy it. She fell asleep near the end of the run.

Sunday, we made a roast beef and watched some TV. Then Jill and I had a fight about whether or not we would fly to wisconsin for a fundraising party my dad is having for his chamber orchestra. The jury is still out on who won the fight.

Despite having a fight on the tail end of the weekend, it was very relaxing and fun.