the white crayon as babysitter

maple loves the white crayon ("PEN!"). initially i fought this love affair since the white crayon is basically impotent, but now i have realized the incredible potential of the white crayon as babysitter. i can walk away and go to the bathroom while leaving the white crayon in maple's grip because it doesn't write. of course, anytime we are playing with crayons ("PENS!") maple is strapped into her high chair with only a spiral bound artist's sketchbook and one crayon. we duct tape her mouth and arms in order to reduce the destructive potential.

in other news... we're stuck in a waiting game that is really difficult for us. we're impatient. i can't really say anything about IT except that IT could be cool but IT seems a long way off and IT is uncertain.

maple lives on "cookoos" and "rindies" (cookies and raisins) some days and there is not much we can do about it. today she ate rice and beans with her dad, but when it's my shift, she refuses most things. cookoos and rindies notwithstanding.

maple talks all the time and understands most of what we say. the other day i was explaining recursive algorithms to sean and she started writing code with her white crayon. of course i could not read her code, but it compiled, and now she's refactoring.