More random thoughts

1. The new pope: Is it me, or is the statement "A dictatorship of reletivism" an oxymoron? Just asking. (Because it could be me...I could be an oxymoron.)

2. I recently started watching "Law and Order: Special Victim's Unit." I'm not sure why. Maybe I find it to be compelling, suspenseful television. Maybe I find watching "Cop Killer" Ice-T playing a cop oddly ironic (though he would be more believable if he didn't have that silly ponytail). Or maybe it's just because it's on all the time and if I'm just watching non-dvr'd TV I'll almost always come across an episode I haven't seen before.

3. Zoey talks so well these days, I can almost have complete conversations with her. Now, if she wants something, or wants me to do something, she just tells me. But sometimes she lies.

Me: "Zoey, are you going poo-poo?"
Zoey (squatting with scrunched up face): "No."
Me: "Are you sure?"

Ah well, we are not potty-trained yet. My mom says it'll be like a light going off, that one day she'll just suddenly get it. Right now, though, I think she just so loves wearing Elmo diapers that she's reluctant to give them up.

4. Her favorite doll is her Ernie doll. He goes everywhere. She walks around holding him by his little waist, so he can look out and see the world. It's like he walks around with her. It's very cute, but I dread the idea of losing this doll. One time, after my dad took her to a neighborhood park, Ernie got lost. We went all over their house yelling "Ernie, where are you?" But he didn't answer. I finally went back to the park, which was full of after-school program kids at the time. I had horrific images in my head of third-grade boys using him as a football. But Ernie was no football. I found him right away, face down in the street next to the curb. Such a sad sight, like he'd passed out after a long, drunken night of doing X and poppers at a gay disco. Zoey didn't care; she took him back right away and the tears stopped. I just can't say the same for Bert.

Toddlers move very quickly

Okay, a couple of funny Zoey stories. I have to find them funny, or I will lose my mind. I was busy cooking dinner for us (chicken, spinach), so I wasn’t keeping my two eyes on her. I saw her climb onto a chair and start exploring the stuff on top of the dining room table. We don’t eat there very often, so it had a good bit of junk, but nothing dangerous that I could think of. Then I saw her scramble down very quickly and scamper into the living room. No big deal, I thought. I kept cooking, and after a minute or two I went in to check on her. She had grabbed one of the chocolate bunnies on a stick left over from her Easter basket, chocolate bunnies that I had actually gotten for Trey because I don’t give her candy. And yes, she was eating it. Her face was covered in chocolate and aluminum foil. Two-year-olds, especially ones that don’t get candy, don’t know that the foil is supposed to be taken off.

I got whatever foil was in her mouth and took away the chocolate bunny. I was terrified that she could choke on some candy foil. Okay, so maybe I’m a bad mommy for not letting her have the chocolate (I put stickers and alphabet letters in her Easter eggs). Fortunately, I found a bunch of foil on the ground later that evening; Zoey probably decided it tasted bad.

During dinner, I came back from the kitchen to find Zoey dunking her chicken in the milk. I gasped and she dropped the chicken into the milk. She did this because Zoey loves the idea of dipping food into things; she watches with such curiosity as I put my French fries into ketchup or cream gravy (mmm…Whataburger chicken tender combo meal). I let her dip, which she does eagerly, only she doesn’t then actually eat the French fry, instead just sucking the ketchup or cream gravy off and then, yes, double-dipping. I try to explain that the condiment is actually there to help the food taste better, and demonstrate the method over and over again, but she has yet to grasp the concept. The other day, my sister and I were eating dumplings and dipping them in the soy sauce. Zoey loves the dumpling sauce, but instead of eating the dumpling, she just continuously dipped her fork into the sauce like it was soup. After a few minutes of her getting into little plastic container (and spilling much sauce) I got her onto Sarah’s, and then I got her a little ramekin of her own. She spent the rest of the dinner eating the “soup.”

“Mmm, good soup,” she said. Zoey loves soup.

Hmm, maybe the stories aren't so funny, really.

Things are happening with us; possible move to Austin on the horizen. Very possible move.