One of the many benefits of being awoken two to three hours before dawn each morning, and then kept awake until well after sunrise, is getting to see Venus rising. It's really stunning. It's like, you take the five brightest stars in the sky and mash them together into one blazing ball of light. It pops up in the exact place the sun will rise, but 2 hours or so beforehand. It's the biggest, brightest thing I've ever seen in the sky in my life. I can't tell if this is just because I've always lived in cities and been afflicted with light pollution that we don't have out here, or whether it really is special this year. But in any case, it's remarkable. If you find yourself awake due to insomnia, a small child, strange working hours, or whatever, look east! You can't miss it in the 4:00-5:00 a.m. timeframe.
Perhaps this is how Gallileo got his start? Doubtful. I expect that Mrs. Galliei was the one tending the youngsters in the other side of the house, while The Astronomer did his work someplace else. Probably while running herself ragged with the babies, she took a moment to bring him a healthy snack! Damn that sexist Gallileo… couldn't he at least have gotten her a servant girl?
Anyway, I'm up now for the second time. It's ten a.m. Our first morning went from 4:30 a.m. to close to 8:00, at which point Elias finally began to cooperate with my sleep-inducing efforts. Yesterday we did the 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. shift. I don't know what's gotten into him, but it's damned inconvenient, especially since Ben and Isaac are in NYC this weekend, and part of the idea was that I would get a rest! Well, since Isaac had no school on Friday surely having just one was better than both all day. But what could be more annoying that being dragged from bed well before dawn, when there's no reason to get up! I mean, no school! But babies apparently can't tell time, nor do they know or care about any other scheduling issues.
I think it's teething and a growth spurt at the same time. This kid has been eating adult-sized amounts of food all weekend. Like I make something and we split it. Except one of us is two-foot-one in his sockfeet (25 inches tall, literally), and tips the scales at all of 18 pounds. Sure, he throws more on the floor than I do… and then calls Lena with his adorable only word he knows "NNN-na!… NNN-na!" and she comes trotting over to snuffle around under his chair for goodies. (How people with kids get by without a dog I can't fathom.) But he still ingests a stunning quantity.
Another fun aspect of the weekend was a game I like to call "something is alive in the basement." This is a different game from my other favorite — "there's a tarantula in my kitchen!" In this game, you leave a bowl of cat food in the basement for three months, while your cat is hiding under the garage with a crushed tail. You notice it from time to time, but are "too busy" to do anything about it. (You've left the baby wailing in his pack-n-play and you're trying set the world speed record for laundry-doing.) Then one day, you notice that it's half eaten. The next day you notice that it's ALL eaten. And then you get to thinking, "What is consuming huge amounts of cat food in my basement?" After ruling out the known animals in the house (no access), you have to admit that something… or things…are down there… and are hungry.
It's best to play this sort of thing in a big empty house when your spouse is out of town. Consider the options.. raccoons and possums of course, but there's always SKUNK. Make a policy of bringing the stupid dog downstairs to protect you when you must go down. (I say "stupid" because, as if she could be bothered to actually do some work for once? Like get off the couch and PROTECT someone??)
Ultimately.. I'm happy (?) to report it seems it was just (??) scores of mice. After all, we survived the great mouse siege of '06, didn't we? This shouldn't be any worse. and now Zane "Pricey" (her new nickname) Grey can finally earn her keep.