1/27/2012 Figure Skating

Tonight I met my friend Beth, her daughter Emma and a friend of hers, and took Julian and Katrina to see the U.S. National Figure Skating Championships! Beth is a longtime friend who I used to watch the U.S. Nationals together on TV, so it seemed fitting.

Tonight at HP Pavilion (formerly known as San Jose Arena, where the Sharks play), we saw the Men's Short Program. (I didn't choose, because I got the tickets free through work.) Katrina was so-so on it, but Julian was all over it! And of course my friend's little girls.

We all delighted in seeing Jeremy Abbott sail to a clear win -- even though the 4th-place competitor's father was sitting right next to us as we chatted a lot -- and look forward to the long program! (Which hopefully isn't this weekend, because The Plan is to drive to Bear Valley tomorrow.)

1/27/2012

1/26/2012 The Calendar Record

Yikes! I'm about to break a recorf for how far behind I fall in doing my annual calendar! The good news is, it's almost done, but strangely I have almost no photos for November. And Shutterfly's Web site is having trouble. But I've got to get it done before February, or I'm another month behind and have to wait another month to get photos!!

These life's errands just pile up, don't they...!

1/26/2012

1/25/12 Fashion Disaster

Good thing I don't fret about clothes matching -- color, texture, type or season! Today Katrina wore a light summer sundress with a sweater over it, and a pair of striped leggings under the polka-dot dress.

Adorable!

(Ummm, a friend might recognize all these clothes as hand-me-downs from her!)

Curse this time zone difference -- by the time there was any chance of assembling everyone to make a call to the East Coast, it was too late. Happy !!TENTH!! Birthday to my beloved nephew Aidan!! I can't believe you've been in our lives a whole glorious decade!

1/25/2012

1/23/2012 Odd inheritance

All 3 kids went to the dentist today, and we got the usual reports: they all need to floss better, and all three need braces.

But Katrina's X-ray showed something unusual: probably no wisdom teeth buds. It's not definitive at her age, but it looks like she just won't ever have any wisdom teeth.

Ever heard of that? Dave hadn't, and didn't believe me when I told him that I too never had 3 out of 4 wisdom teeth. 3 out of 4 just didn't exist -- like Katrina, no buds. (The 4th was horribly impacted and removed in a gruesome smash-em-bash'em-break'em surgery when I was 23.)

I already had odd tooth development as a child with them being so late and all (last baby tooth lost at age 17), but come to think of it, while I know it happens, I've never rapped with anyone else who just never had wisdom teeth (well, most of them in my case).

And now I know someone else with this trait. Of all things for my dear daughter to inherit, this is a good one!

1/23/2012

1/22/2012 The Sympathist

One of my numerous logistical errands this weekend was printing the boys' birthday party invitations and getting them to fill them out with their friends' names. I so overshot Julian's birthday -- and now Gabriel's -- that since I'd planned to have their parties at the same place anyway, I might as well combine them. Sort of. The date and time and place will be the same, but each boy will have their own set of friends, and they'll just have to live with the table and pizza being in the same place. Two separate cakes, of course.

This means that each boy invites 4 friends max, which actually works pretty well. That makes it more of a birthday playdate than a "party," and they actually interact with their friends more.

Both boys had an easy time naming party playmates, though Julian easily has a much longer list. Gabriel was decisive, and included a kid named David who was in his 2nd-grade class as well as his 4th-grade class. I didn't think he and David were great friends, though I recall now that Gabriel got in trouble at the end of 2nd grade for fighting -- and his explanation was that David was in a fight and he just jumped in to help defend him, without having any idea what the fight was about. I remember that Gabriel made no excuses and didn't complain about getting into trouble for this, though he'd been to the principal's office so many times, we were still annoyed. David is a nice kid, and your classic bully-target: small and wears glasses.

Tonight Gabriel was writing out his party invitations, and he told me casually, "David told me he never gets invited to birthday parties -- so I thought I'd invite him to mine."

Oh. My. Goodness. This is my son who's qualified for extra "services" because of his weak social pragmatics and not being empathetic? I just about burst into tears. How utterly, totally, sweet. There's such good in him -- it just comes out in a different way than we're all used to.

I took a few photos of Katrina and her beloved "Ditty" today, to print to put in a craft-project frame for her.

Of course she insisted on wearing her "snow hat," which has never been worn in snow. We have a one-night trip to Bear Valley scheduled next week, and it has finally been snowing a little around Lake Tahoe, so maybe this is a good omen!

1/22/2012