Penelope is almost two weeks old today. We are learning her and she us and the world around her. She can’t quite see clearly yet and isn’t sure what to make of all the shapes and colors and noises and sensations around her, but we think she recognizes our voices at least, Mommy’s for sure. We joke that she doesn’t really know who we are yet, but just knows that there is a deep voice (me) and a high voice (Diane) and occasionally a “medium voice” (Luke) that swirl around her. We wouldn’t trade this time for anything but at the same time can’t wait for her to start interacting more, smiling, grasping, etc. It’s going to be fun.<\/p>\n
I have been completely addicted to crossword puzzles lately. Diane bought a book of “fast and easy” ones for the beach trip and since then I’ve been hooked. We rented a documentary about them called Wordplay<\/i>, which only served to reinforce my enthusiasm. Of course it didn’t hurt that the centerpiece of the film, the annual national crossword puzzle tournament, had strong overtones of Odyssey of the Mind tournaments I used to participate in, especially in terms of the sheer concentration of geeky people in one place, getting rabidly excited about little arcane tidbits of their shared passion. In any event, as I shared with Diane, crosswords are one of the few mental exercises I can engage in and not feel compelled, even (or especially) when stumped, to sneak a peak at the solution. I really enjoy the challenge of figuring it out, and the longer the word the better. I thumb through the puzzle book looking specifically for crosswords with long rows or columns. A few days ago I found one with a row that spanned the whole puzzle: a four-word phrase for “slumbers.” It was “drops off to sleep,” and I was immensely satisfied to have filled in so many letters in one fell swoop, even if it doesn’t approach the cleverness of the higher-end crosswords. All in good time.<\/p>\n