Christmas continues
Let's applaud everything!
He taught himself to clap yesterday. It's pretty darn cute.
Taught himself to clap from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.
Germs
I'm sick again. AGAIN! That's three colds in as many months. Jack started a runny nose a couple days before me. What is it with kids and germs? Before Jack came along I went 12-18 months between colds.
I felt crappy and feverish this morning and called in sick at 4:55. By 10 I felt a bit better and was very glad I took the day to rest. With a high of -6 degrees, I couldn't have picked a better day to stay home. I spent a lot of time on the couch building a mountain of soggy tissues, watching Ben and Jack make each other giggle. Perfect entertainment.
Geek Bowl V
Last night I played pub trivia in the largest pub trivia contest in the USA. Roughly 150 teams (900 people) gathered at the Fillmore for an extra special night of Geeks Who Drink trivia.
It was kind of disappointing. The entertainment was pretty bad and the night went on long, despite shortened times to answer each round. It was hard. The categories weren't very fun, like they usually are at our local game. It didn't feel especially geeky. Bummer.
But overall it was a fun night! We placed 27th overall. 27!!! I'm proud of us. We wanted to make top 50.
It was like a normal trivia night. 8 rounds with 8 questions each. Second round is music, fifth is visual, seventh is audio (video in this case, since they had screens). Second and Eighth rounds are work double points. You have a joker you can use one time on any round to double your score. You write your answers on the score sheets provided and turn them in for tallying. No cell phone use allowed during game play. 
Differences from a local game: tons of people, reserved table with our team name and score sheet pre-printed. No repeats of questions. The question was printed on the screen as well as read aloud (wish they could do this locally). Two minute timer after each round to complete your answers. This drastically cut down the amount of discussion and thought we could put into our answers. You have much more time locally. No internet bonus question or free drink speed-answer questions. The drinks were hella expensive and no pub food to order. The chairs less comfortable than at the Bulldog (impossible but true!). Super tight security with proctors watching for cell phone users.
Huh, I sound pretty crabby about it, don't I? It really was fun and kind of a crazy thing to do with your weekend. I'm waiting for them to post the final scores and total list on their blog. Here's a summary of the categories and how we did.
Score = 5/8
2) Music Round. Identify the song and artist or album (as specified) played by the live mariachi band.
Score = 13/14 (They tossed out one song, or else we would have had 13/16).
We should have jokered this round but we didn't know we did so well because a few were wild guesses.
3) True/False about True or False (each statement had "true" or "false" in it, was the statement T/F?)
Score = 3/8
4) Pop, Culture (basically a random knowledge round using those keywords)
Score = 3/8
5) Visual Round "No, Ship!" Name the boat pictured.
Score = 6/8
6) Dowdy with a Chance of Meatballs (Feminism and meatball subjects, but hardly. More like random knowledge. Hated this round)
Score = 2/8
7) Identify the movie clips played.
Score = 6/8
8) Random Knowledge
Score = 8/16 (jokered for total of 16 points)
Eight Months Old
Jack is eight months old today. EIGHT!
Still lovin' life as it comes. A champion sitter, we love using high chairs in restaurants. We have to keep them away from the table or he'll throw everything into his mouth or onto the floor.
We're still practicing crawling.
But it's going slow. Slow, as in, no still learning the starting position. We can get him into the crawl position and he'll hold it for 0-10 seconds, with an average duration of 2 seconds.
Because it's late and I worked all day and Jack was tired too, I stripped him instead of putting on a new cute outfit. He loved the novelty of nakedness on blanket.
You'll have to believe that I took some adorable naked baby pictures. But Ben has rules against nudity on the internet. So I'll tease you with this cropped one. Jack seems to be giving Jem a look of understanding with his breezy buns. Or something. I can't tell. But the look seems full of statement of some kind or other.
You'll have to believe that I took some adorable naked baby pictures. But Ben has rules against nudity on the internet. So I'll tease you with this cropped one. Jack seems to be giving Jem a look of understanding with his breezy buns. Or something. I can't tell. But the look seems full of statement of some kind or other.
Every day I notice him investigating more details in the world around him, and reacting with new facial expressions. Also, I love that his hair is coming in. He's graduated from "peach fuzz" to "wispy."
Ben's internet played some soft music and Jack starting busting moves.
But it stopped and he craned his neck to see where the party went. You see this twisty, arched position? Imagine trying to feed him when EVERY noise causes him to stop and investigate in this manner. Let's just say I'm glad I don't have to nurse him in public.
We tried to get him dancing to the TV show theme song from Psych, as promised. We didn't fail, you'll see it below. But bear in mind:
1. He just endured Mom's photo session, including undressing and dressing. GROAN.
2. It's one hour from bed time. GROAN.
3. He and Ben were sick of each other by the end of the day GROAN (Jack) GROAN (Ben).
Despite all that, he STILL busts out to this song. Take 1 on the floor, take 2 on Ben's lap. I stopped midway but restarted when Ben said I was missing his favorite part of the song. If you saw the prequel the other day this won't be any different.
1. He just endured Mom's photo session, including undressing and dressing. GROAN.
2. It's one hour from bed time. GROAN.
3. He and Ben were sick of each other by the end of the day GROAN (Jack) GROAN (Ben).
Despite all that, he STILL busts out to this song. Take 1 on the floor, take 2 on Ben's lap. I stopped midway but restarted when Ben said I was missing his favorite part of the song. If you saw the prequel the other day this won't be any different.
Favorite Song? from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.
We love you, Jack. Now stop growing up so darn fast.
You guessed right!
I had Kelly put purple streaks in my hair again.
It's very subtle, especially compared to my college days:
I'm happy many of your enjoyed some Motherboy dancing (Arrested Development fans out there? you like that?). Since some of you asked, we were dancing to Kate Nash "Pumpkin soup." I'll have to post some video of Jack dancing to the Psych theme song. He gets his boogie on STAT when you turn it on. Maybe tomorrow, on this 8th month birthdaythingieIvebeendoing. I have a full shift and then I'm on call, but I'll do my best to get photos up. Saturday, if not tomorrow.
Taking a risk
New tricks
Jack spontaneously started doing this.
A New Game from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.
Our amusement will likely be short-lived.Dancing? from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.
After dinner (Jack takes longer to eat, he’s still working on his shepherd’s pie) I finished an episode of Psych. The theme song came on and he started dancing just like that! Ben said he trained him to dance to it. I can get him to dance with me to other songs too.