A pair of Twins games

Because my job is The Best, I got free tickets from our CEO to attend a couple of games at Target Field this year. And because Jenna's mom is the best, Natalie got to play with grandma while we got some rare time alone together. The new stadium is great and we had perfect weather for outside baseball.

The first set of tickets were for a night game. We met at the MOA and rode the light rail--after figuring out where the bafflingly unmarked station was located, and where to park--all the way up to downtown. I ate some walleye fingers and fries, washed down with a plastic cup of Grain Belt. The seats are 16 rows behind home plate. It was glorious. Foul balls were popping up over the net all around us. The game dragged on and we left after the seventh inning, which was a good decision, because the Twins lost anyway after 3 1/2 hours. Through some bizarre coincidence, my MIX-planning partner Sarah and her boyfriend were sitting just three rows behind us.


The second game started at noon so we got the full sun-baked summer baseball experience. On the menu this time were the veggie stir-fry (not that great) and a couple of beers, followed by a shared soft-serve ice cream cone (so perfect). One of my work colleagues happened to be there with his dad, so we met for a drink and chat. To cap it off, Twins stomped the Indians 6-0 and we got to enjoy the celebratory fireworks at the end. BASEBALL!

Roller Coaster

Dueling Dragons, originally uploaded by brownek909

Negotiating the sale of our house was a long, nauseating ride, and not fun at all. Well, it was a little bit fun at first when we put the house on the market and got it clean and were all excited. And then getting the offer was great. It all went downhill after that, though, through a series of loops and drops that made us almost physically ill.

I was exceedingly glad to get off that roller coaster when we finally closed on our new home. There was a bit of stress around the move. And we've been busy with projects around the house ever since. But compared to the drama of buying and selling, my overall feeling has been one of incredible calm.

Has it really only been two months? In that short amount of time we've done much to make the house our home. And I haven't missed living in the city for even a second. That's a ride I don't want to get on again for a very long time.

Shogi

Shogi Game, originally uploaded by Erik Anderson

My dad taught me chess at a young age. I haven't played a full game for many years, but I recently brought a board to work to set up endgame problems on my desk. I like to puzzle through them when I need a break, and a few of my coworkers have taken a crack at the solutions too.

Once I got my chess skills dusted off again, I learned to play Shogi, or "Japanese Chess." After a few games, I actually prefer it to chess for a few reasons, including:

1. Promotion rules: nearly all pieces can be "upgraded," which makes promotion a major part of the strategy.
2. Capture and drop: pieces you capture, instead of being permanently removed from play, can be returned to the board under your control.
3. Quick endgame: it is much easier to put the king into checkmate, which can be one of the most frustrating and drawn-out parts of playing chess.

There's a free applet to play Shogi online here. After watching a few videos from Hidetchi's "How to Play Shogi" series on YouTube, I can reliably win in games against the server. The next step is to find some real live opponents to play against. Who wants to give it a try?

Manual Labor

Natalie helped me bury the pole for our bird house. She was really good at digging. She watched what I was doing very carefully and copied mostly everything. The only thing she couldn't do was lift the dirt up into the wheelbarrow. What a great helper!

Verbs

There was a golden era of bath times when Natalie was old enough not to instantly drown herself but young enough not to pay much attention to what I was doing. It was a wonderful time. I could read a book, play the DS, or make a phone call if I wanted. Sadly, that time is no more.

Last night I grabbed my copy of Back to Basics and settled down on my reading chair (toilet) to learn about traditional cheesemaking, when suddenly Natalie piped up. "Daddy, stop. No book," she said. "Step up" (which means "get off your butt and come over here"). I set the book down and sat by the side of the tub. "Play," she demanded. So we played.

Our toddler has become very demanding (I'm sure you're as shocked as I am). I guess it goes along with her discovery of verbs. I started listing all the action words she uses, to give examples, and I was surprised when I realized how much her vocabulary has grown.

Whether she wants us to "pushyou" in one of her many cart toys or "carry you" when she wants to be picked up, she can clearly articulate her desires most of the time. "Buckle," "ride," and "wash hands" are commands I hear on a daily basis. Although she gets opposites confused, she frequently uses "Up/Down", "Open/Doot", and "In" (I've never heard her use "out" but she does say "outside"). She pulls us by the hand and announces "let's go" when she's ready to leave. And we know when she's really angry because she will tell us huffily to "go 'way!"

But she can also use her words to be sweet and endearing when she wants to. After the forced play time in the tub last night, I dried her off and put her in a fresh diaper and pajama shirt. She lay still in her crib for a while after I sang her usual lullabies ("Twinkle Twinkle" and "Rockabye Baby") and then she abruptly sat up. "Oh great, what is it now," I thought to myself. I bent over the crib to try to get her to sleep.

Natalie looked me in the eye. Her hands sleepily made the ASL sign for "more" that she had learned as a little baby. "More," she whispered. "More song." I patted her pillow, she immediately laid her head back down, and relaxed silently while I rubbed her back and sang her to sleep.

Double Rainbow Song

This is my summer jam.

A typical exchange at our house