Early Childhood

There Remains Unadulterated love for the Cat though

The experience of dealing with a newborn compared with the travails of a two year old makes for an interesting dichotomy when observing from afar ( one of the defining luxuries of grandparenting). My two granddaughters provide that fascinating contrast, both of which provide a very different but no less ardent challenge for the parenting effort involved.

The BRS Charming her Other Grandma

Flexing for the Camera

Showing Off her Newest Shoes
They Do Start Young

Last night my wife and I received a FaceTime call from my daughter which opened with a primordial scream of displeasure from the FBR. We were not the people she wanted to talk to and she had no qualms about letting us know that in no uncertain terms. Her dad was out with some friends and when we appeared instead of Wingman the screams began. Her very harried mother apologized profusely and prepared to terminate the call which brought about a complete reversal of fortunes. She now wanted to talk with us and to come up and visit us. She then took over the IPad and carried us into the living room to show us some of her toys. At this point something must have distracted her because she left the IPad in the middle of the floor leaving us a perfect view of the ceiling but little else. Our daughter eventually came in to rescue us and once again apologized. We couldn’t immediately respond because we were laughing so hard remembering another headstrong two year old who was even more challenging. That of course would be the young lady who had just picked up the IPad. She could tell what we were thinking and only nodded resignedly. There is a little bit of sneaky pleasure in seeing your offspring forced to deal with some of the same stimulation they themselves provided.

the Most Patient Cat

Or Resigned

Back at the movies last night to see Annihilation. I was interested to see how this very complex novel would be translated to film. It’s always a challenge when a very dense, albeit excellent, novel has to be condensed into a two hour movie. I was more than pleasantly surprised to see the basic story line survive but modified enough to keep the audience fully involved. If anything, I liked the movie’s take better than the book’s; that is rare indeed and a tribute to the screenwriter. Natalie Portman plays a scientist on an all-female team sent in to investigate a mysterious extraterrestrial zone that is threatening to encompass the earth. Her husband recently returned from an earlier effort into the same zone and lies stricken by the effects. As soon as they enter the zone they’re exposed to time distortion as well as fantastically mutated plants and animals. This was science fiction done well without sliding into the trap of over emphasis on CGI although there is plenty of that. It was a little jarring to see Jane the Virgin (Gina Rodriguez) swearing like a sailor but she was excellent as were all the members of the team. The women were all kick ass and it was nice the filmmakers didn’t feel the need to have men come to their rescue. I also really liked the ending.