It’s not infected. yet. The redness is where they marked it with a purple pen.

Trixie was channeling European peasant girl today.

(There’s more up on flickr)

As a side note, I should not be allowed to a spokesman for my company. Somehow I managed to describe Trixie Tracker as “oppressive”. The full context was something along the lines of, “some people may see TT as clinical or oppressive, but if your baby is taking three naps a day, you’ll only have to record three pieces of data and then you end up with rich, beautiful charts.” But that’s not what I said on camera. Oh well. I’m just happy to be able to spread the word a little.

I also realized it’s been six months since I posted anything. We are all doing fine, just incredibly busy. Trixie doing great. She is happy and has a crazy sense of humor. At one point during the news tonight she pointed at the TV and said “That’s YOU!!” I turned to see a mugshot of some local thugs. She’s awesome.

Last week we were driving to school with the kitten to share for a pet-themed show-and-tell. Trixie was holding Miss Cutie Pie in the back, playing with her. Then she told me that “Miss Cutie Pie’s eyes are like… little pieces of chocolate”. That stood out because it was the first time I ever heard her use a simile. And — I confirmed it with Jennifer later — she made it up by herself. The cat has cute eyes, but we’ve never compared them to chocolate. I like that. I like see little glimpses of how her brain works, and I didn’t want to forget it.

This evening I was inside looking for a circle template so I could figure out what size drill bit I needed to attach the rope handle. Trixie was playing outside.

All of a sudden I heard screaming, “DADDY!! HELP! DADDDDDY!!!!!!! HELP! HELLLLP! There’s a WOLF!”

I ran to see a Trixie blur shoot past the window and dart across the backside of the porch. “DADDDY! HELP! There’s a WOLF after me!!! THERE’S A WOLF AFTER ME!”

When your child is screaming an alarm like that, you don’t hesitate to believe the danger for a second. She could have been hollering about Sleestak or robots and I would have been equally convinced. She bounded up the steps straight into my arms. Only then did I glance at what she was running from.

Lo and behold, over off the side of the yard was the neighbor’s huge, blackish-grey, extremely wolf-like Shepard mix docilely watching us. Even though it’s a big dog, they keep it inside so Trixie had never seen it before. Tonight was one heck of an introduction.

I was very proud of her for getting the hell out of there — she never ran that fast in soccer. After she calmed down a little, she was proud of herself also. “Whenever you see a wolf you are supposed to tell a grown-up,” she informed me. I’m thinking maybe more along the lines of animal control, but a grown-up is a step in the right direction.

You were a brave kid tonight, Trixie. Good job!

We just got back from a great trip to the Bethesda and Washington, DC. My sister and her husband are moving from DC (after 5 years) and we wanted to get one last trip in. We did the Air and Space Museum, the National Gallery of Art East Wing, GOT A SNOW CONE, the Museum of Natural History and a CAROUSEL RIDE — all in one day. I’m going to try to squeeze more in next time.

Trixie also got recognized in an art gallery in Bethesda Friday night. That doesn’t happen a lot, so it was pretty cool. (Thanks so much for saying “hi”! The recommendation for eating at the East Wing Concourse was great!)

Trixie had a great time. Look forward to going back sometime. (this was Trixie’s third trip. She visited at age one and age two)

There’s a bunch of pics up on flickr.

The little crash last week sure threw my schedule off, and I’m trying to catch up on photo posting. There’s more up on flickr.

We got rear-ended this afternoon on the way home. We were stopped at a light on 15-501 at Old Mason Farm Rd. The light turned green, we started moving. Traffic stopped, I stopped. In my rear-view mirror I saw the SUV behind me moving fast — and that the driver was turned, facing the back of her car. I knew she was going to hit us hard, but I couldn’t do anything. She slammed into us, the car shuddered and the rear window exploded. Trixie cried out.

I got to her almost immediately. She was shaking and scared, but not in pain. She got checked out and seems to be 100% ok. I’ve got some neck and jaw pain - I think because I saw it coming and clenched my teeth. The back of car is a mess. It protected us, but took a lot of damage. (It’s a Scion xB — it didn’t stand much of a chance against a Pathfinder Landcruiser that, according to the police report, was going 20mph.)

I feel so blessed and thankful that nothing happened to Trixie. She is ok.

And yet, I’m helpless to stop it. The kittens are here.

Some dirt, a spoon and two little tomato plants. That keep her hard at work for about 20 minutes this afternoon.