Slow News Day

5:21 this morning: Jim and I are awakened by a sound that I have been anticipating for weeks- the sound of an elderly dog falling down the stairs to the basement. For that single reader of this blog that has not actually seen our house in person, we have a wooden stairway to the basement that starts just next to the front door, and just next to the tiny stairway up to the upper floor where the bedrooms are. This area of the rest of the house is where Luna likes to sleep, because it's near where we left from (when we leave) and near where we went (when we head to bed). It is the same gap that used to sport a very safety-conscious safety gate, preventing our small children from tumbling down the stairs to the basement, but when the door and window guys came and replaced our front door (with one cunningly customized by none other than Mr. Khooler himself), they had to take out the installed safety gate. So now there is a big dangerous stairway, waiting for someone to fall down it, and the victim I most feared was indeed the victim it claimed, this morning.

So, heart attack at 5:21, but you will be relieved to hear that Luna was just fine, and upon being discovered at the foot of the basement stairs, was ready to prowl around the basement a bit and see what she had been missing. I attribute this resilience to these tasty snacky tablets that the vet prescribed for her at the recent teeth cleaning vet visit- she has been nomming these down every day and has been walking better, begging more shamelessly, and, weirdly, tearing up any kid pictures she can find that were colored with crayon. Make of that what you will. She was fine after the stair tumble. Woo!

One more funny story. We went to a birthday party today, far away from home at a gymnastics place. The kids had a ball, basically running in circles and bouncing on things and doing "forward rolls." (Don't call them somersaults!!!) I watched from the adult viewing platform, like I was on a gymnastics safari. When it was clear that Muriel was losing her ponytail and hair clip configuration, I went down to try to fix things up. When I was yanking her hair back into place, one of the young women who were "coaching" the party asked me, "She is so cute. So, what is she, like, half-Filipino? Half... Chinese?"

"Half Chinese," I said. "Oh," she said, "Half Chinese, and.... half white?"

Dude. I am right here, putting her ponytail in! I am the half! Whatever. It was funny.

Anyway, happy Saturday. I am loving weekends with a fervor usually reserved for Ziggy coffee mugs. Ah, the weekend! Peace out.

Proud Moments at Dinner

Tonight during the ritual telling about one's day, Naomi claimed that she had begged her teacher for "more math." I'm leaving that one alone. Then Muriel taught us the lyrics to "The Chicken Dance" en Espanol. She also showed us a "hip-hop" dance that she had choreographed, which was not exactly distinguishable as hip-hop, but was definitely a cool dance.

Luna went to the vet to get her teeth cleaned today, and while there, had a thing removed from her head. A tumor? A growth? Some thing on her head. So tonight, in addition to uncharacteristically sweet-smelling breath, she has a big weird bald wound on her head, like a meteor strike. Poor thing. She has been drinking water like she could never have conceived of something so wonderful, and is now sleeping in much the same vein. Rough day!

January has been whizzing by, which is strange, because it doesn't really feel as though things have actually gotten started in this new year. Wonder what that will take?