Random notes:

Well, we survived Gertrude’s first Thanksgiving. It sounds monumental, but it isn’t. We stayed home to avoid submitting the child’s immature immune system to deadly germs. Or something like that. It just didn’t seem right toting a one-week-old baby around to family events and passing her around like an artifact from the now defunct nation of Neonatia.

It was nice staying home, for the most part. I’ve been so down recently that spending time with just my family was something I desperately needed. I only wish it could have lasted longer before I had to head back to my internment in corporate America.

Look, it’s not that I don’t like working. And it’s not that I don’t enjoy writing email (official company spelling . . . no hypen. They also don't know the difference between an em dash and an en dash. Incorrect usage all around. Oy!) campaigns.

Ah . . . the good things in life.

Enough of that. I was supposed to be talking about fun stuff like cute babies and technology. The things I love.

It’s been unseasonably warm these last few weeks. By unseasonably I mean that I’m checking the skies for the telltale fiery streak of the Earth-shattering meteor, which will surely rain fiery death upon us.

Wow! My underlying happy demeanor keeps creeping in here, doesn’t it? I’ll stop, I promise.

ANYWAY, it was suddenly very hot in the house so we decided to free Gertrude of her requisite clothes and let her lounge about on a blanket with nothing on but her diapers.

Talk about a happy kid. She kicked her legs, stretched her arms and made a contented little face that said, “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. Nature state!” It’s at these moments when you see how small these little babies are. Their tiny little toes scrunching up, fingers stretching in every direction, chubby little thighs and those little baby folds of skin. You must resist the urge to scoop them up and just hold them. You must allow them the freedom to discover their own movement. It’s amazing to watch. I take my ability to control my body for granted. Poor Gertrude seems to be aware of these things attached to her, but unable to control where they go next. It’s pretty cool. Kind of like watching Jell-O discover it can wiggle itself.

Makes you wonder . . . how self aware is an infant? Not too much, I hope. Otherwise Gertrude thinks I’m an idiot.

We were able to watch a few movies this weekend too. That was nice. Being a movie addict and not having time to watch anything is a killer. But, little Miss Gertrude slept straight through them. Good kid.

We never had any problem with her big sister. Matilda sleeps like the dead. Always has. Makes watching a DVD in Dolby Digital 5.1 rather nice. I get complaints from neighbors, but my daughter sleeps like a log. What a good kid.

Last night, while Chris administered Matilda’s bath, Gertrude and I watched the end of The Phantom Menace. I had to explain to her why this is such a bad movie. As fate would have it, Turner Classic Movies was playing selections from the National Film Archive (job #31 on my list of dream jobs). Made me realize how blasé we are about movies and technology. In 1894, when some of the Kinescope films were made, people were truly amazed at the simple movement. Just watching pictures move fascinated them. The closest thing to this I’ve seen in my life was visiting a mall, watching people try to figure out those old 3D posters. Thank God that trend ended.

But, this is what life is like for Gertrude. Everything is new. In a way I envy her. I wish I could go back and experience that again . . . and remember it. To be lost in the wonder of how the world works again . . . bliss.