News from the home front (or Friday kid-blogging)

Wednesday Speck discovered consonants. That is, she went from sounds like "aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh" and "hah!" to distinct series of "dadada bababa," out of the blue. Some of the phrases even have a sort of conversational intonation. For some reason, this gives me the first sense of what she will sound like when she finally talks (tomorrow, or four months from now, whenever) -- will be amusing to watch the gradual progression from Chat Only She Understands to real words . . .



Meantime, the day passes mostly like this -- a series of things put into her mouth (plastic, wood, metal, cloth). All those advanced grabbing, reaching, and bending skills in service of turning the world into her chew toy. heh.

Good stuff

I didn't watch any of the convention speeches last night after Clinton, but have been watching John Kerry's speech this afternoon (see here) and it was more lively and feistily engaging than anything he managed when a candidate himself. Worth a listen, not least for the way he called McCain on his double-talk and actual record. If only we could have nominated *this* guy four years ago...

Line of the night

From Bill Clinton: "The world has always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power." Ah yes, I remember that America . . .

Monday giggles

Well, the video is a couple months old, but when, exactly, do baby videos cease to be amusing?? Here we see the kinds of random tricks that Speck can teach her parents by giggling in response...


Tee hee!

My half cent

I guess I always sort of thought it would be Biden, for age, experience, general feistiness. Yeah, those gaffs could be problematic here and there, but I suspect he'll be pretty tightly handled. Anyway, the man who brought "Noun, verb, 9/11" to Guiliani during the early debates might just have something to say to "P.O.W. is the answer to all things" McCain in days ahead...

Quote of the day

Wisdom tells me I am nothing.
Love tells me I am everything.
And between the two my life flows.

- Nisargadatta Maharaj

(via whiskey river)

Hah hah hah

Just this. I hate to revel in stupid issues, but if we're fighting about image, I guess we're fighting about image. Tee hee/sigh.

(via dailyKos)

Ouch! (the latest)

This amateur political ad seems to me to be extremely on point: the more unpopular Bush becomes, the more McCain supports him and his policies. Something for the Undecideds to think about.

Who speaks for the troops?

John McCain likes to say he does, but apparently active military folks are a bit leery of his foreign policy viewpoints: they're donating to Obama at a 6:1 ratio. Put that in your conventional narrative and smoke it.

(via Atrios)

My kid's cuter than your kid

...or maybe not, but still pretty damn cute. Here she is within a day or so of having learned that she could sit up under her own power (5.5 months old). Look at me!



Unfortunately, we have hit a bad patch of stranger anxiety just as Grandma is about to become part of a three-person child-care plan, and the extended screaming is taking years off the lives of the adults in the picture. All quite unexpected, given her otherwise sunny disposition. Wish us well...

The man behind the mask

It's pretty clear that McCain isn't the "maverick" that the press would have you believe, but this piece from Digby makes clear that he's not even a very nice man (ok, and a vindictive hypocrite). I'm not sure that the traditional media can let go their well-established narrative slant to allow for such realities to come out, but I think that the voting public deserves a more balanced picture.

Too bad

A year or so ago, I was really rooting for John Edwards to win the Democratic nomination. Obviously, current news indicates that that would have been a disaster. I find myself too weary to read the details of all the coverage, but suffice it to say it tarnishes the moral credibility he's built through his work on poverty, and it also raises questions about his overall judgement. Feh.

Quote of the week

First things first, but not necessarily in that order.

- Doctor Who

(via Honest Tea)

Miscellaneous bits

Several things that have caught my attention lately and been waiting for me to blog them...

• A piece from a couple of years ago that encapsulates some truths about the healthcare debate in a useful and enlightening way -- why economists aren't always the best people to evaluate various policies, say.
  (via rc3.org)
  
  
• The trend toward green building in a good one, but equally important may be recognizing the resources already tied up in existing buildings, and finding ways to minimize the waste of them when planning new development. "Embodied energy" seems both obvious and totally overlooked; could be a next wave in thinking.
  
  
• Am very intrigued by this union publicity effort to set the record straight on a number of lies and distortions being spread about Obama. No idea whether they can target the sort of people who have become convinced by the "he's a muslim" rumor mill, but could be a powerful effect if so.
  
  
• And, in case I had forgotten why I love The Internets, this video reminds me -- enough crazy folks around the world with time on their hands, and a few will produce a twisted kind of random brilliance. Mmmm-mmm.
  (via Bitch, Ph.D.)

Potty training

I know that legislators have staffers, but there's something to be said for using them for research more intensive than a one-second Google search -- this is just a bit sad...

Painfully slow reorientation

I'm already pretty tired of the fact that the media describes as "far left" a host of views that are held by most Americans -- somehow the Republicans have brainwashed journalists into shifting their goggles to the right and leaving most of the country behind. The thought of how this dynamic will play out during the fall coverage of the Presidential election already makes me feel queasy...

You know you wanted it!

More gratuitous cuteness! Speck wears a sunburn-preventing bonnet while visiting the local playground -- it's almost too much!

Leaving the world a little less hateful?

I note the passing of Jesse Helms. One hates to express pleasure at anybody's death, but I will say that I threw a party when he retired (it was full of red, white, and blue foods and scary-looking flowers), so I can't feign admiration now. Still, a striking figure with an unmistakable impact in his time...

Quote of the day

Anybody can become angry -- that is easy
but to be angry with the right person
and to the right degree
and at the right time
and for the right purpose,
and in the right way --
that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.

Aristotle

(via NowThis)

This photo deserves its own post

For some reason, she now likes to put her hands behind her head all the time -- it's an amusing effect. She has also decided that bath time is fun even though she can't yet sit up enough to splash in the water or take advantage of the water toys...


(14 weeks)

Have a good weekend, all!