43 posts tagged “the wee one”
The wee one was born in 2004 during the ALCS against the Yankees. I still say she was the determining factor in coming back from the 3-0 game deficit against the Yankees.
The boy was born in 2007 before the playoff started. However, I still find the coincidence interesting. And yes I do still hate baseball (even though the recent World Series win just got me some free furniture).
The Prestige - The wife and I watched this to compare it with The Illusionist. We couldn't recall at the time what the differences between the storylines were, but there was some attributes to the movie that wanted us to watch it. We are both fans of Christian Bale's work and I like Christopher Nolan's work as well. The majority of the movie is told through back story by the two man characters (Bale and Jackman) reading each other's journals. They portray rival magicians with a personal vendetta against each other. While the movie tries to play itself like a mystery, I think that Nolan was trying to have a big hook/twist in the end. However, the movie has too many clues throughout the movie to make the twist easy to guess half way through the movie. Of course, this may be just a side effect of how I watch movies: always processing in the background to figure out the conclusion. This is why I like movies that surprise me and do the unexpected (such as The Usual Suspects). If you are looking for a love story involving magicians, I recommend The Illusionist. If you are looking for a vengeance story/mystery, the I would suggest The Prestige. One surprise that took me off guard in The Prestige is the fact that David Bowie and Andy Serkis are in it.
Dreamgirls - I am not a fan of du-wop music, but I am a fan of musicals. When the wife decided to watch this for the evening, I proceeded to get my Nintendo DS out to play, in the event that the movie completely lost my interest. To its credit, Dreamgirls did keep my attention. Much of the buzz early on regarding Dreamgirls, was that Jennifer Hudson completely upstages Beyonce Knowles in this movie. I completely agree with this observation but I don't believe that it was because Hudson is a better actress than Beyonce. Hudson's character's story and songs had much more emotion and soul. Her character kept my interest in the movie. Her story was not that of the glamorous diva, but of the girl that had it all and lost it only to bring herself back again. I can't argue against Hudson getting the Oscar for this role because I have yet to see the other nominated supporting actresses' movies. If you do decide to see this movie, keep some Kleenex handy, because the ending is a doozy.
My Neighbor Totoro - To demonstrate how quickly movies get watched in our queue, check out this comment thread: ghibli museum, mitake - haruszpapa's blog. Almost one year ago, I put this movie on my queue, and I just recently watched it. Sad, I know. So I watched this movie to screen as parent whether the wee one would be able to handle the movie. I watched it by myself under the influence of Robitussin, a double quarter pounder with cheese meal, and an empty house (wife and wee were up in New Hampshire). This was my second Miyazaki film (my first being Spirited Away). Spirited Away was a bit too overwhelming for me to grasp or at least get the underlying message behind it. My Neighbor Totoro was much easier and perhaps a better introduction to Miyazaki's work. I enjoyed this movie and the character Mei reminded me so much of the wee one. I wanted to watch it again with the wee one but I was not sure she could handle it. While the soot sprites were not frightening, the wee one may be frightened by them by their black color and their "overwhelmingness". Also, the introduction of Totoro in the movie with his roaring and the "camera in the mouth" perspective may have made the character more frightening that it was intended to be. So when I made it to New Hampshire, I decided to give the movie a try. Sure enough, when the wee caught site of the soot sprites, she sat a little closer to me. When Mei and Satsuki investigate the attic and Mei runs into the soot sprites again, she was out of the room asking me to turn it off. She did like the DVD menu opening with Totoro flying around the countryside with the two girls as well as the opening song and animation, but that was about as far as she watch the movie. I did try later in the day to see if she would like to watch the scene of Totoro and his 2 other friends helping the acorns grow. I had to talk her through it and hold her but in the end, the movie got turned off. For the rest of our time in New Hampshire, she kept saying how she didn't like Totoro and didn't want to watch it but kept asking me if we could watch the opening number. Listening to a two year old say Totoro is extremely cute, but for the sake of my own sanity, I sealed up Totoro when I got home so I wouldn't have to watch that intro again or hear her say how much she didn't like Totoro. Hopefully in a couple of years, she will be able to handle it.
Pan's Labyrinth - I didn't know what to expect when I saw this. From what I had read and seen, all I knew was that there was a faun, a crazy guy with eyes in his hands, a little girl, and the Spanish Civil War. Every review that I read loved it. I watched it and enjoyed all the fantasy aspects of it. I wasn't sure the type of audience this movie was going for because of the amount of unnecessary violence in the movie. I know this is not a kids flick and have seen it promoted as a fairy tail for adults, but I didn't need to see a guy's face be the receiving end of a wine bottle multiple times. Also, the scene where a soldier's horse runs back to base camp and you are constantly reminded that the soldier is dead hanging off the horse because of the multiple thuds from every tree the horse passes. A bit unnecessary in my taste. If this was Rambo, then I would have expected it and perhaps laughed at it, but this was high brow entertainment. In the end, I enjoyed the movie. Guillermo del Toro left it up to the watcher to parse everything they had seen to come up with their own conclusion about what had transpired. It was not the ending I expected but after given some time to parse it, I really like being given the decision on whether or not the movie ended "happily ever after".
On Saturday, the wife, the wee one, and I went on a trip down to RI to visit the Roger Williams Park Zoo. When I researched the zoo on Friday, I was a little upset that there were no chimpanzees or a dedicated monkey house. There were a couple of monkey exhibits but I wanted a whole mess of monkeys being crazy. However, the monkeys that were there did not disappoint myself or the wee one. The wife was initially enamored with the zebras, but when she saw the giraffes, she was in love. The giraffes were a wonder to behold, especially how close they got to us, but for me, it was the monkeys. The golden lion tamarins where active and mischievous. However, they were behind a pane of glass so taking a picture of them with the glare was a difficult task. At another area were some white cheeked gibbons. Their "cage" was also behind glass but they had much more space to roam and play around. This was the wee one's favorite exhibit, along with the flamingos.
Seriously considering picking up this shirt for the wee one. I don't think I have ever seen her wear anything black. First for everything, I guess.
A couple of photos of the wee one opening presents at my in-laws, me about to open 2 out of the 3 books in the Jared Rea's Halo Reading List, and the wee one getting ready for her PSA; "I learned it from watching you, Dad."
So I have been postponing this post for some time and now I am stuck with the task of putting down a little over a week of no work in a comprehensive manner. *deep breath* Here we go.
the wee one
The wee one has been in heaven with both the wife and I at home all the time. The wife constantly reminded me that this didn't feel like a vacation but to me it did. The regular schedule during the week was that she would play and have fun until around 1 pm when it was time for a nap. She would go down and the wife would join her, leaving me to entertain myself. What I did for solo entertainment *snicker* will be addressed soon.
Since we are on the topic of the wee, might as well discuss how her presents went down. She ended up with a ton of presents. She started opening presents from the Thursday before Christmas from various sources. Friday was the family of my wife's childhood friend whom we still hang out with. The wee one is like a grandchild/niece to them so they just spoil her. Notable gifts were a Hello Kitty karaoke tape player and a Hello Kitty art set and carrying case. We scrounged up the only cassette tape we could find in the house: The Grateful Dead's debut album and American Beauty. The wee has been walking around dancing to Dead tunes and belting out her own vocalizations to the songs. Saturday, she opened presents from my sister which included the Little People Nativity set and Viva Pinata. Viva Pinata is a joint gift for myself and the wee. After one late night of it playing it solo, I am only allowing myself to play it under the supervision of the wee one. Sunday morning we opened gifts from my parents and she received some great bathtub toys and a great pair of Hello Kitty pajamas. The bathtub toys were such a hit that she wanted to jump in the tub and take a bath immediately after opening them. That Saturday night, we had struggled to get her in the same tub. If only we had opened that gift Saturday night. The Hello Kitty pajamas were never removed (except when she got into her church clothes) until Wednesday. Monday morning we opened presents at my in-laws. There she received some great puzzles. Later that afternoon she finally opened presents from us. We got her the Little People A to Z Learning Zoo, Little People 'Twas the Night Before Christmas Story Set (damn you Fisher Price for sending us your catalogs), and a box full of books. The wee one pulled off a N64 kid when opening the box of books. "Books, books, books, my books" each separated by pants of hyperventilation and followed by squirrel like gathering motions. All she needed was the fist pump and scratching at the boxes and it would have been complete. Those books have been a mainstay of her routine this entire week. The girl loves her books.
getting $%#@ fixed
The holiday did not get off to a good start. The Camry made it into the dealership and they guess that the Check Engine light was on because the gas cap was not screwed on tight enough. Ugh. The light is off *FIXED*. The wife also asked them to look into the stinky AC smell and the loud wind noise that emanates from the front passenger window. The AC is no longer stinky *FIXED* and the wind noise is still there *BLEH*. I think I found the problem area in the rubber stripping so the next time we see them, I can point it out. After a stud finder was recovered, the wall coat hangers were put back up. I also put in two more screws into studs that bad boy, so now it shouldn't be going anywhere *FIXED*. Wednesday, I went to the mall to buy the garage door opener. I am not a handy person but I do they to tackle various repair jobs on my own with the assistance of my extremely handy father-in-law. He had offered to help install the garage door opener but when it came down to figuring out a time when, our holiday schedules were not syncing up. I made an executive decision and paid for someone to come and install the garage door opener when I purchased the unit. The guy came in Friday and did it himself in about 1.5 hours. I hung out and talked to him as he installed it watching the master at work. He ran into a couple of snags from the standard installation but he had all the materials he needed. I think if my father-in-law and I did it, it would have been an all day affair. Also, it was pretty chilly on Friday, not very pleasant working out in the garage weather.
keeping entertained
While the wife and the wee one slept (during afternoon naps and at bedtime), I played World of Warcraft playing with the Vox Guild. Right now, Wrathoras, is level 22. Not too shabby for a casual gamer dad with only a week to play. While I was on playing, I was able to chat with Jared, Caroline, The Wee Jenny, Shelby, and Jamie. I also changed my playing strategy while playing changing from just working on completing quests and leveling to working more on my crafting abilities and harvesting materials. It has been extremely fun playing with the guild and I haven't had this much fun in WoW for a long long time. Don't worry Crystal, I will be on an alternating schedule between WoW and EQ2 starting tomorrow.
My sister gave me (under her children's names) Elite Beat Agents. I love this portable rhythm game. I sneak this in before I go to bed or when I have a moment to myself. The game story and presentation just cracks me up. The songs are fun and it just made me smile and have a good time.
I also did some reading and had some time to catch up on the NetFlix queue. That will be a later post.
Show us some holiday decorations.
Last Sunday, the wife and her sisters were in charge of providing trapeza (a meal after the Sunday liturgy service). One of the items on the menu was donuts. So, before going to church, we hit the Dunkin Donuts to buy a dozen donuts and some coffee. The wife emerged with the donuts, the coffee, and a Christmas ornament. The wee one loved it. She played with it in the car claiming ownership of it.
When we got home, we placed it on the tree. The wee one now points at it claiming it's her favorite. Other times she will just blow on it telling us that it is too hot. Sometimes when I get close to it she warns me to not spill it.
Guess she won't let you take pictures when she is eating her hot dog. This shot really cracks me up.
Show us something seasonal.
Her first year helping with decorating the tree.
Show us a happy memory.
Submitted by Liz.
Two days after the wee launch party. Back when she had my hair. Now, she has her mother's.
