lists

Tools we have used to operate the furnaces at our last two residences, in order of frequency of use

Thermostat
Wooden chopstick
Hammer

Popular culture references for baby

You want your kid to grow up culturally literate? Skeptical of advertising? A savvy maven of underground trends? The type of person who throws around references to the Bhagavad Ghita and Taxi in the same conversation?

Best to start her off at birth, then. (Gold star to anyone who identifies the source of all references in the comments)

When nursing, announce which breast you're going to offer by chanting "Left side, left side, we gonna set this party off right."

When joining two or more toys together for the child's amusement, refer to it as a "Wu-Tang toy."

When she is trying to stand and is swaying from side to side, ask, "Viola are you ok? Are you ok? Are you ok Viola?"

Aw shoot, I know there are more, but I can't think of them right now.

My world of spit up

Since my day and my clothes are both full of spit up, I offer these thoughts on the subject:

• It smells really bad. Angie warned me, and I did not believe her, but it stinks, even when dry. I thought we had a lot of burp rags, but there are somehow never enough clean ones.
• There is a lot of it. Turns out Viola has a touch of the old acid reflux, confirmed by her pediatrician yesterday. One or both of the sphincter muscles in her esophagus is immature, so lots of her meals come back up to greet us. Joe gets the gold medal for receiving a load inside his sweatshirt and in his slipper, which he subsequently stepped into, both in one night.