Marjane Satrapi (author of Persepolis) has a blog now! I’ve updated her link on the right. But the coolest thing is that you can see the (French) trailer for the animated version on her Myspace page. It says “coming July 27″, and the English version was recorded the same time as the French, so I’m hoping that means we’ll see it this summer.
Also exciting is that there are 3 sequels that haven’t made it to the U.S. (WHY?) and so there’s that to look forward to also.
So…we’re moving. From a 1.5-bedroom apartment to a 3-bedroom rental. From the mid-cities to Dallas. From squalor to…less squalor.
It’s not a rich neighborhood; it used to be a richer one, but hit hard times somewhere, so now immigrant families have moved in, and renters like us. The houses are still nice, but the city is doing a crap job at keeping up the sidewalks, and there are dollar stores in what used to be exclusive strip malls. But we’re out of the DFW flightpath, away from a major trucking artery, and in a place that has trees. A BIG backyard. And a decent front yard, where I am, yes, actually going to attempt to plant something in the flower beds.
We’re so close to the center of Dallas…we can go to the museum, to the arthouse movie theaters, to the original Half Price Books store. There’s a Progressive Parents Group in the area that we’ve hung out with a few times, who all have kids around Nathan’s age. I’m excited. Excited to be living in Dallas.
Weird.
(See more Nathan pictures at my flickr page.)
The Bottle Wean-Off is…off. For today. He came up this morning with a fever and the sniffles, so we’ll wait till we’re done with that (and possibly till his father and I are also done with that). Still, even when he’s well, night-feeding is a giant pain, so that bottle’s days are numbered.
I just wish he had a lovey like all the baby books say he should. No favorie blanket or toy does it for him; he doesn’t attach to anything else but a bottle, not even a pacifier. Maybe he’ll find something when the bottle goes away but I’m not looking forward to the transition. Not at all.
My niece, who is only 12 years younger than me and has 3(!) children mentioned that she bought one of those cheap door mirrors and hung it horizontally next to her kids’ cribs. Gave them something to talk to. It’s narcissistic, but it works for her. Maybe we’ll try it. I try not to make Buying Something the automatic solution to Nathan’s problems, but maybe there does need to be some kind of new cool thing about bedtime* to take the bottle’s place.
*Things that have failed to make him like bedtime more: stories, blankets, music, songs, baths, toys of any kind, a pillow, white noise, darker window shades. We’re pretty much out of ideas here.
Friday is D-day for me; last night was IT. 4 times I got up with him…he’s getting worse, all of a sudden, with the night waking. He’s not sick, or teething, or even growing all that fast right now. He’s just addicted to the moo-sauce. I have, meanwhile, gone right past crabby to….whatever comes past crabby. I don’t know what that is because I’m SO FREAKING TIRED.
I think it’s time for Night Bottle Detox. Which means even more no sleep, but at least it will be no sleep with a cause. He’s ready. Lord knows, WE are ready. So Friday night, bye-bye baba. It will be sippy cup with water (which he will HATE) or nothing. We’ll still have daytime bottles for now, but eventually those will go too. He eats like a horse; the bottle’s just extra calories at this point.
If all this sounds like justification, it is. I don’t like listening to him cry, it puts a real damper on the evening, and after about 10 minutes, you start wondering Wow, he’s really crying hard! What if he’s hurt? What if he’s crying because he has just hurt himself in the crib? Better go check! And of course he’s not hurt, and going in to check just cranks him up again more.
I KNOW he can sleep through without the bottle. Now I just have to teach him that he knows it too.