Unsullying Mr. Wizard's Name

Birthday, Etc.

Today is my birthday! But that is not really why I am writing. I have a lot of catching up to do. I think I will go in reverse chronological order to keep things straight.

This morning, Joel surprised me with a nice little breakfast and a new book. Then, he took care of Dane so I could sleep a little more, which was definitely appreciated. It was definitely the start of a very happy birthday.

Dane has also been growing up super fast. His top two teeth are about to burst forth, and he is saying mamamama and dada die die, though we’re not sure he’s attaching real meaning to them. Last Monday, he started crawling.

So that’s pretty crazy. It has opened up a whole new dimension of parenting. Here is some of what he’s been up to:

Once he has crawled up to something, he likes to pull himself up to a standing position. The problems with this are threefold: First, he loses his balance a lot, so he falls down a lot. Second, he doesn’t know he can’t walk yet, so he sometimes tries to walk away, so he falls down a lot. Third, he doesn’t know how to sit back down, so he will either scream until one of us saves him, or he falls down. Poor guy. But he is getting smarter and has learned to fall to his bum instead of his back.

The day before was mother’s day, my first official one. And it was quite wonderful, if I do say so myself. Joel made me Crème Brulee French Toast for breakfast, and it was as yummy as it sounds. Then we had a nice meeting at church, and we had a nice, relaxing day.

Hm. Now that I’m actually writing things up, it doesn’t seem that interesting. But oh well. Here is another picture of Dane:

We were playing scripture master memory for FHE, and Dane entertained himself with a scrap of paper. And doesn’t he just look really grown up in this picture? What a big boy. He is growing up so fast.

Stay tuned for another go at the egg-crushing experiment. (Aren’t you glad I didn’t say egg-speriment?) I’ve had a few tips on how to make it work this time. We’ll find out soon if they are liars, just like Mr. Wizard.

Lies, and Other Mishaps

We have had a few unfortunate incidents stemming from scientific lies. And probably a little bit of ineptitude on our part.

First, Joel, with his keen mind, once observed at a restaurant with copper topped tables that hot sauce dripped onto the copper will clean off tarnish. Well, back when we got married (four years ago last week, by the way), my aunt gave us some nice copper bottom frying pans. Over the years, they have become a little tarnished. So Joel got the brilliant idea to clean off the tarnish with some Tapatio sauce we have. He very attentively applied an even coat to the entire bottom of the pan and let it soak for a while. Then he excitedly rinsed off the Tapatio, and voila! The tarnish was gone!

And so was the copper.

So if you’re looking for a cheap, easy way to get rid of copper, now you know.

Also, following this pan problem, Joel and I were laughing about it, and it reminded me of something that happened when I was probably ten or eleven years old. I had watched an episode of Mr. Wizard in which he explains the structural integrity of an egg and how it is impossible to crush and egg with your bare hands. The dorky looking kid even tried it on the show to no avail. I excitedly want to show this amazing trick to my mom while she is making dinner. She says, “Don’t do it; you’ll break it and waste an egg.” Full of faith for Mr. Wizard, I say, “No, I won’t, see?” and proceed to crush the egg in my bare hands. And my mom got mad at me.

After he finishes laughing, Joel insists that I must have done it wrong, that if you put your palms on the ends and squeeze together, an egg cannot be crushed by human hands. Cannot. Since I was making rice pudding, I grabbed an extra egg and thought about trying it again. It was definitely possible that I did it wrong the first time. But I chickened out. Joel eggs me on (no pun intended). So I carefully place my palms on the ends of the egg and squeeze.

It instantly crushed. And the spiky edges of the shell cut me. I’m pretty sure that happened last time, too. That hurt.

So Mr. Wizard is a liar. Or crushing eggs with my bare hands is my super power.

Nihon Matsuri

Last weekend, we went to the Japan Festival in Salt Lake. Although it wasn’t quite like the memories of festivals in Japan, we still had a good time. It was much more crowded than we expected, which was cool to see. There were also a lot of different food vendors. We got a little sushi plate, a couple of onigiri, and plum and ginger ice cream. Joel was really excited about the ginger ice cream.

The festival was also a good opportunity for us to dress Dane up in his jinbei. Nate and Biz got the outfit for us before Dane was born (so we actually have a really cute girl’s jinbei, too!). Here is our photo shoot:

Banzai!

Thanks for the quarter Japanese genes, Mommy!

Daddy makes me laugh!

This is my ninja stance.

Haha, a cute boy.

One thing that really struck me was this little girl in the kimono show. She is probably half-Japanese and had this really long brown hair. It was weird because she reminded me of how I looked when I was little. Long hair in pigtails, summery yukata…I don’t know. It was weird seeing my doppelganger. She made me happy and a little weepy at the same time. I hope she didn’t think I was too creepy when I asked to take a picture of her.

Her face doesn’t look so much like me, but everything else. I don’t really know how to describe it. It was like being little again but being an adult at the same time, wondering if I should tell her what’s in store or if I should just leave it a surprise. And then feeling weird because she’s not really you. I don’t know. I’m not making sense.

Anyway, we had a good time. I also saw this American man with a little half-Japanese daughter, which also reminded me of my family for obvious reasons. I am glad for my cultural heritage.

Happy boy with closed-eyed Mommy.

Also, I have no pictures from the Phantom of the Opry because, like an idiot, I forgot my camera every single night. People will be sharing their pictures, but I haven’t gotten them yet, so. No pictures yet. Hopefully soon.

Also, we had left all of our costumes and props and stuff in the living room because we were exhausted. When I decided to clean everything up, I just put Dane on the ground to play. When I turned back around, I found him like this. I thought it was pretty hilarious:

Kilt him a bar when he was seven months…(that is a cap gun, by the way.)