The News in Brief

1. Jarrah did her business in the new potty this morning for the first time. So, it only took her 10 days to get the idea. Sarcasm is hard to detect in blog posts, I know. ;) Ever the multi-tasker, she simultaneously...

2. Read Old Hat, New Hat out loud. It was a thrilling day for Jarrah's text-analyzing mum when she chose this fine volume for her first recitation about a week ago. The book has no plot to speak of, just a Berenstain Bear trading in his tattered fedora for a fine new chapeau...if only they weren't "too beady, "too bumpy," "too feathered" and whatnot. She has the whole thing memorized except for a couple of adjectives she has no previous context for, to which she charmingly admits, "Don't know." Until I actually heard my child reading a book aloud, I didn't realize it would bring a tear to me eye.

3. We rode an antique train! From the '40s or even further back; it was hard to concentrate on the historical details while supplying two toddlers with snacks and walking up and down the aisles. Luckily, the train was swarming with children who were all doing the same. The windows were open, inviting the hot, dusty breeze of Campo, a town near the U.S./Mexico border that certainly has an impressive array of shrubbery. The ride was about 90 minutes out and back, and made even more charming by Joy's Grandma and Grandpa in special train costumes, narrating the journey for us. Jarrah especially liked when the "yellow bus" detached from the front and trundled around to the back via a parallel track.

4. We went to see Jarrah's third feature film in the theater! And we didn't have to flee to the lobby even once. The movie was Shrek the Third, and Jarrah wasn't scared a bit. I think we owe this circumstance to her previous ogre initiation via an episode of Charlie & Lola, in which Lola helps an insomniac ogre fall asleep with an improvised lullabye. Whenever Shrek left the screen (luckily not often) Jarrah would call out "Where ogre gone?" The movie was in a stadium theater with a section of trio seating, and it warmed my heart whenever I glanced over at the tiniest member of our movie-crazed family, the one who announced on the way home, "Watch ogre movie again. Peez." Now, we have a whole new category for reviewing this sequel that the critics ignored: it's the only one we've seen with Jarrah, so it's the best!

5. David and I celebrated our sixth anniversary! He treated me to dinner at the Parkhouse Eatery in my old neighborhood and a play at the Diversionary called Bunbury. Discerning Oscar Wilde fans will want to know: yep, THAT Bunbury--the one who's "more of a concept, really" in The Importance of Being Earnest, which is my favorite play. In this play, the character exists in parallel to the others, and meets up with Rosaline from Romeo and Juliet (another character who never appears in her play) and the two of them run amok through literary history, altering details so that poignant, thoughtful tragedies end up cheerful and bland. It was funny but also had us discussing themes in the middle of the night.