Thirty Years Later...

So, I'm sort of obsessed with people giving their children horrible names. There's just a mesmerizing quality to the discovery that someone somewhere thought it was a good idea to name their child Ivan Odor or Seal Miranda. (Both of those are real but I'm too lazy to find the links right now, sorry.)

I haven't really thought about this topic too much lately, although I do wonder what some of my pregnant friends will end up naming their children. (Specifically, I'm most interested in what Elin's baby will be named, but not because it will be bad...because I don't know much about Icelandic names and I'm fascinated by THAT also. In a much better, healthier way. Icelandic names are interesting because they're foreign to me, rather than because they remind me of a train wreck.)

But Jimmie brought this name issue to my attention recently, and now I can't decide whether to thank her or curse her. You see, she wrote this blog post about bad baby names the other night, and so I sort of had it in my head when I had to run errands this afternoon. There's a certain place we have to go to fairly frequently, and there's a woman there whose name I always wonder about. You see, her name is Ravyshyng, and I always would think to myself, hm, what country is THAT name from? Or what's the story behind THAT?

And then, today. I was standing there, face-to-face with her nametag, when the truth hit me like a giant flying dog poo. RAVEE-SHEENG, RAVEE-SHEENG, I was thinking to myself.

Ohmygodhernameisravishing. RAVISHING!

Thirty years ago, this woman's mother (parents?) named their little tiny precious defenseless baby Ravishing.

That is so not okay with me. WHY, GOD, WHY?

Random Kids Picture

Yes, I'm still here. But no, I'm not really here much, because our life in the past few weeks has been a firestorm of technological difficulties and a drought of computer time.

And before that I had three very hectic weeks of visiting and partying and such, and then I had three weeks of depression that everyone left and also of shock that IT'S ALREADY AUGUST.

So maybe I'll find time to post more soon. I sure hope so. I miss you, my internets.

Here's a random pic of James and Tyler at the kids' museum, and I'm thinking it's from right after my mom left so...mid-July? I really have no idea. But it's cute, right?

Conversations with a Goose

So, this morning, James went to the potty when he got up. Then we took out a sheet of alphabet stickers. I took off the j-a-m-e-s and handed them to the boy.

He handed me y...o...u.

Makes you wonder.

Then again, he also found a sticker of a penguin and called it "CUCUMBER!" I'm not sure why he always thinks penguins are cucumbers, but I think it has something to do with Mr. Rogers.

If anyone knows anything more about this, or my child's mysterious and slightly creepy ability to spell with stickers, please, let me know.

I am SO tired.

Dreaming of You

When James had a dream about bubbles the other night, this is what I thought of:


We still miss the grandpas and grandmas. All the time.

(Just in case you can't tell, that's Ben's dad blowing bubbles for James at the cabin this May.)

Storytime

Once upon a time, there was a boy named James who brought us endless joy...and precious moments...and adorable utterances. For example...

Scene One: Saturday morning. I'm sleeping in. James asks to "spray," which means playing with the water in the sink. Ben says ok, and since we've done this a million times, leaves James alone for a minute to come in and wake me up. As soon as I wake up I hear James yelling "RAINBOW!" Ben runs out to the kitchen to discover James trying to make a rainbow. This consists of turning the sink sprayer upwards to try to catch some sunlight in it, thereby spraying the ceiling, walls, floor, EVERYTHING with his "rainbow."

Scene Two: Middle of the night. James starts talking in his sleep, waking me up. He's saying "Buuu...bbles....More Bu...bbles" in the saddest, most pitiful voice you ever heard.

Scene Three: Midafternoon. Melinda is here picking up Tyler, and Ben and James are cleaning their ears out with Q-tips. They come around the corner and Ben says, "Tell Mommy what you just told me." James holds up his Q-tip and says, "Ear boogeys!"

Scene Four: Morning of our 2-year-old checkup doctor visit. I'm trying to get James dressed, but he sees the clothes I've selected for him and gets upset. He keeps yelling "Other Pants!" at me, and I keep trying to offer him a choice of what clothes to wear. Finally, I get it. And then he wants to take a picture.

(Removed photo of James in his underpants.)

Oh...UNDERPANTS!

Scene Five: We go to the doctor, sans diapey, armed instead with our big kid Other Pants. The boy keeps asking, "Sad doctor? Funny doctor? Sad doctor? Funny doctor?" while he tries to decide which one he will have, and then finally announces to the doctor that she's actually a BIG DOCTOR. Oh, and he pees in the potty while we're there! =)