Here we are, Thursday afternoon, a week into our new Texan life. I'd say things are going swimmingly, even great, except that time is passing ridicufast and I spent the whole day yesterday thinking it was Tuesday and therefore not a big deal that I didn't apply for a job, since I applied for one Monday, but then I found out last night it was actually Wednesday and that meant a WHOLE OTHER DAY had somehow gone by!! A whole other day during which I DIDN'T scour Craigslist and write passionate cover letters for my future career! A whole other day during which I DID make earrings and chocolate chip cookies!
Anyway, here we are, Thursday afternoon, another day of monumental progress from an earring-making perspective. Joedy and Lula just came home from the park, dropped the dogs off, and headed to H.E.B. (our new grocery store--the "B" stands for "Butt"), leaving Malko and me to continue fighting--I mean, having enriching dialogue--about which bits of string and crap he's allowed to eat off the floor and whether or not the laptop can be used as a springboard. In the last couple of weeks Malko's proven that he's very willful: if, while feeding him yogurt, you DARE stand up to, say, put more yogurt in the bowl or, god forbid, pour yourself some coffee, he launches into a screaming session whose intensity is matched only by the repeated, hard, loud banging of his head against the back of his high chair, making him seem, frankly, like he's going to die IF HE DOESN'T GET MORE YOGURT IN HIS MOUTH NOW! NOW! NOW! YOGURT! NOW!
When I see my 10-month-old son making such a fuss about yogurt, I get a little frisson of worry about the future, when he's in his early sixties (no sooner, if I can help it) and experimenting with much more addictive and much less healthy substances. Will he need those other substances as badly as he seems to need yogurt now? I don't want to get ahead of myself or--the worst--make problems out of nothing, but I can't help wondering: are we seeing the beginning of a pattern here, or are we just seeing a gluttonous little fatso who loves his food?
Speaking of food, in the middle of that paragraph I went to Whole Foods to buy some organic baby formula. I'd heard a lot about the Austin Whole Foods market, most recently in the New Yorker, but I wasn't quite prepared for the sensory overstimulation effect of Colors! Glittering lights! Smiling, soft-spoken staff! Sake, boysenberries, and hand-drawn signs! Wine-drinking amongst the cheeses! A sage-colored hemp coat that was on sale that I actually considered buying! I must have been insane! Knocked off my rocker by the smells, and the sights, and all the...stuff, all that lovely edible stuff. It was quite an experience, and I was proud of myself for walking out with only the formula, some zucchini, a loaf of bread, and some, um, perfume.
Driving back from downtown, the city lights were coming on and it was sprinkling a little. When I drove over Town Lake I yelled "Whoo-ee" out the window because the water was glassy and beautiful and I felt so happy. I really like Austin so far--I'm so happy to be here!
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