Counting Down

Last night after my wife came home, we were sitting in the living room with the Boy and his Sesame Street coloring book. It basically has all the major characters with an emphasis on Elmo (Don't get me started on Elmo since that's for another time). At the moment the Boy can say "Ehwo" (Elmo), "Ocker" (Oscar), "Growrow" (Grover), and "CooCoo" (Cookie Monster). He'll easily point them out to you in a book or when the show is on, but we heard a new one yesterday that made us laugh.

The Boy has always been very interested in The Count and although he will only say the numbers 1, 8, and 9, he tries to count along as best he can. So, when my wife pointed to a picture of The Count yesterday, the Boy said what I thought was "Haha!" which is pretty cute by itself, but we soon realized that he was saying something different. If you remember anything about The Count, it's usually his monicle or his bat like features, but his trademark is a very particular laugh followed by loud thunder and lightning. Well, every time you show the Boy a picture of The Count, you get a huge smile and a hearty "Ah Ah Ah!"

Yes, these are the little things that make other people with kids go "Awww!" and people without kids say "Jeeez!" I used to be one of the latter, but now I find such things as cute as buttons. :)

Long Time Gone

I know I seem to write this same entry every few months and I'm sure it's getting boring, but there has been some really heavy crap going on lately that really makes blogging seem very unimportant. I'm not saying that it is since I find posting to be cathartic, but it has seemed that way. It's nothing I really want to write about at the present time, though perhaps I will after some time has passed.

That class I was teaching this past semester finally ended about a week ago and I'm glad it's over. My crop this year was less than stellar to say the very least. That's not to say that I didn't have ANY good ones, but they were much more scarce than last year. It's good for the resume (the pay sucks) and I like doing the planning, so I'll still do it if they'll have me next year. I'm actually hoping to teach some different courses this Fall or next Spring. We'll see.

The boy is as healthy and spry as ever as he nears his second birthday. I'll get the pictures we've been taking up soon for folks to see, but suffice it to say he's developing as he should. He has this thing where he likes to introduce my wife and I to everyone we meet as if they couldn't tell. He points to my wife and says, "Mama", then to me, "Dada", and ends with a big grin. People eat that up, especially in the checkout at the grocery store. He's definitely a boy now as opposed to a baby, but it's just another step along his journey. I don't bemoan the passing of one stage and just look forward to the next with anticipation.

The thing I most want to accomplish in the near future is to explore what it means to say I'm a Buddhist. As I type this I think I said the same thing in my last post, so excuse the repeat if that's the case. I've been reading a book my mother got me last year called "There's Nothing Wrong With You" by Cheri Huber, who is a Zen Buddhist, and it's not your typical book. However, it is very Zen in turning the responsibility for our lives back onto ourselves, but at the same time realizing our oneness with all that surrounds us. Next I want to start reading a book a friend gave me as a gift last year that I began reading but never finished. I had been planning to start reading that book again, but with the aforementioned "crap" the Huber book was much more applicable. I also have to start seeking out other Buddhists to really learn what it's all about.

So, that's it for now. Hopefully my next post (or more importantly the two or three posts after that) won't be another one of these redundant recaps! Breaking from the cycle? That would be cool!