Cosmos consequences

We have been watching episodes of Cosmos as a family. (Colleen is now 4 years old.) This is best when Colleen is engaged and asks us to pause the show and answer her questions every other minute. The good thing about that of course is that we can gauge how much she’s absorbing, as opposed to when she’s silently watching or not really paying attention, and then we have no idea. Anyway, one consequence is that she definitely likes to talk about science and the universe, and has incorporated that into her play. These are only good things as far as I’m concerned.

Another consequence by way of a quick anecdote this morning: As we were getting ready to leave the apartment, she was looking at a calendar with animals on each page. (For those who haven’t seen it, one of the recurring themes of Cosmos is an analogy where the lifetime of the universe is broken down into the length of a single calendar year.) She told me it was a calendar with pictures of the very first animals. Then I took a video of her, trying to get her to elaborate on that idea, but instead I just got descriptions of the animals. Some of which are rather… interesting. I particularly liked the unicorn, and “walrus bear”.

Best lunch ever

20130102-120237.jpgIf you’d have told me 5 or 10 years ago that there would be a time in my future when my favorite meal was something I could prepare myself, I would probably not have believed you.

But I’m writing here today to tell you that is precisely the case. I am obsessed with Target’s (Market Pantry branded) Honey Battered Breast Tenders. I would probably eat them for every meal. Oh, but part of what makes the meal for me is that I always dip them in Famous Dave’s BBQ sauce. I made a batch of them for Colleen and I for lunch today, with some steamed frozen corn. Delicious.

Slobber Factory

Tonight we went to Crave for dinner. Colleen ate sushi for I think her first time. Just avocado rolls, but she really liked them. At least the first three or four actually made it most-of-the-way into her mouth. They were nice fist-sized bites.

Fast forward to just a bit ago, and Colleen was chewing on some of the toys I don’t think she should eat. She would move one slowly toward her mouth, watching me the whole time, and when it got to her mouth, I would take it away. Without getting upset or fake crying (what normally happens at that point), she would grab another toy, and repeat the process. She’s figuring out what toys Daddy doesn’t want her to eat!

So then 20 minutes later… she gets a hold of the PS3 controller. I let her have it until she puts it in her mouth. She cries when I take it away, but she’s really cute, so I give it back to her. She’s still sort of crying, so I give her a big hug. She’s being extremely tolerant of this (normally the game is to escape at this point), so I look over, and she’s RIGHT THERE, two inches from my ear, chowing down on the PS3 controller like it’s her last meal or something. So cute. So evil.