Bench

Today Megan helped me build a bench for the herb garden. She was a great help with the unpacking and she mostly entertained herself while I worked. As an added bonus she got to eat a few small pieces of styrofoam while my attendtion was diverted.

After the bench was finished, Megan showed me one more reason I've got to keep a close eye on her: she climbed onto the bench all by herself. Maybe she isn't so motor retarded after all.

In other motor milestones, Megan actually built something with blocks today instead of just destroying (ok, so it was only two blocks high) and she's learned to stack one of the super legos. This is all fine and good, but Megan has yet to take more than two steps on her own.

Aquarius

On Friday and Saturday I had a conference at OHSU. So we stayed at the Heathman hotel, charged it to the company, and had a great family weekend in Portland (oh, and I went to a conference for a few hours).

On Thursday we took Megan to OMSI. Meg love, love, loved all the water tables.

As it is a science museum, Megan had a few academic pursuits of her own. In fact, she definitively proved that the protective properties of a plastic smock could be overcome by large enough quantities of water (like, say, for example, if you try to drink from a bucket...repeatedly).

Megan also liked all the buttons, but what the heck is all this gritty stuff??

Tongue

Megan is rapidly accumulating new tricks. She is happy to show you her tongue on cue. Now if she would only learn to walk!

Sun

We've only had one day of rain, but already we miss the sun!

Lucky to be Alive

Some days you just have to feel lucky to be alive. For me, today is a prime example. Just look at the e-mail I got at work:

Yesterday while making a Building Safety Inspection I came across a hazardous condition that I feel it is important to warn you about. A recycle container for used batteries also contained waste aerosol cans. This can be potentially dangerous to the point of causing an explosion. Even recycle batteries can still carry a charge. The waste aerosol cans are metallic and can cause the battery to short circuit. This will heat up the metallic can causing the residual pressure to expand. These cans have been known to have serious explosions under this type condition. Please make sure that batteries are kept in a separate container. The health and safety of our patients and staff depend on our vigilance.

Thank you

No, No, Thank you, Greg Glowe, Diligent Safety Inspector. You certainly saved our workplace from complete and total annihilation. The ground could have opened up and swallowed the hospital whole if we had continued to let dead batteries mingle with empty aerosol cans. I plan to nominate you for employee of the month.

And now knowing that the hospital's discarded waste was plotting my destruction yesterday, I am, indeed, lucky to be alive.

P.S. - I am also lucky to finally have some free time at work again so that I can screw around and write cynical blog entries.

P.P.S - How much do you want to bet that Mr. Glowe has never used his cell phone at a gas station?

The Future Dr. Smith

Megan actually loves teeth, so maybe we should get her a toy dentist set as well.

A cold day in ...

The only thing worse than Canada losing to the U.S. in hockey is the U.S. losing to Canada in Baseball !!! I always thought it would take an act of God for this to happen. I guess the snow in Salem today is about as close as we'll get.

In other news...
"Look Mom! No Knees!" (2 videos 3.0 and 3.2 MB each, respectively)