Christmas in Florida

Unsilent Night 2008

It's definitely winter in Baltimore now. Mila is ready for the snow with an array of adorable hats and coats (seen in above photo wearing her Abominable Snowbaby coat and special cap from our friend Julia).

Last night was the annual holiday boombox parade, "Unsilent Night", which my friend Brian organizes here in Baltimore. It's a piece by NYC composer Phil Kline for unlimited boomboxes, with copies of 4 syncronized tracks passed out on CDs or tapes for the participants. Everyone presses play at the same time and proceeds on a planned route through the city streets. It is done in cities all over the world (not necessarily on the same night) and has been organized by my friend here in Baltimore for the past 3 years. Marie and Mila were able to do the entire route with me this year, along with our friend Ben and his son Silas. A jolly time was had by all, though Mila fell asleep before the end-- could it have been otherwise in the cozy back carry Marie has her in? About 40 people participated in the happening this year (see video below).

The route started just 3 blocks from our house, in front of Penn Station (under the infamous "man/woman" statue), proceeded south on Charles Street to the Washington Monument in Mount Vernon Square, then went back north on Charles to Penn Station, finally circling through the station and back out to the front to the statue. Not seen in this video is the moment near the end when we walked through Penn Station and an Amtrak officer stopped me (in particular) to ask what was going on. He was the same guy who I had to deal with when my sound class at MICA did a stealth sound installation at the station (involving hidden boomboxes and laptops, manipulating sounds recorded in the same space) about a month ago. I must be on a special list by now!












Check out www.unsilentbaltimore.com

Scrapes and new modes of playing

Mila has had an increase of scrapes and bruises lately, resulting from greater physical ambitions. The top half of her body is often moving faster than her lower half, as she looks forward to where she wants to be without always looking at where she is. She is anxiously pursuing a new stage of physical interaction with the world as a runner and climber. Her legs are not always up to speed. It is difficult to see her get hurt, but I know that the head and knee bonks are not as bad as they seem to me. It is all a part of her learning to inhabit the space around her.

Another recent development is her new role playing with toys. I first noticed this yesterday with her enactment of a conversation between her stuffed tiger and her new "Rogue" (of the X-Men) action figure, given to her recently by my friend Jon. I was able to capture a little bit of this new mode of playing today in the car, although the video clip here does not represent the full range of her role playing with these toys.

It's snowing, and Mila can say it!

Thursday Field Trip

While I don't have any photos or video, unfortunately, I just want to document a fun day that Mila and I had together yesterday. She has been very interested in dinosaurs lately, and has frequently requested to watch a YouTube video of a clip from the Disney "Dinosaur" movie [other top YouTube requests from Mila: "Moose", "Babies", "Zee-zee" (Chimpanzee)]. Anyway, I had recently seen a bumper sticker advertising "Dinosaur Land" in Winchester, VA. I looked it up online (it's actually in White Post, VA-- just north of Front Royal, in the Shenandoah Valley) and figured that it would be a nice drive. We piled into the car around noon and Mila fell asleep, shortly after getting around DC. I woke up Mila just as we were pulling up in front of Dinosaur Land, and she was awed by the giant fiberglass beasts towering over the parking lot. Tickets were bought inside a gift shop, where we were ushered through a door into the large yard that featured a "Prehistoric Forest". First, closest to the road, was a giant shark being attacked by a giant octopus with big cartoonish eyes. Make no mistake, this place is unparalleled in the field of tacky roadside attractions. Mila was nervous at first, but soon got into the spirit of the place-- climbing over and crawling under tentacles. We followed a pathway that brought us to dinosaurs of all stripes and colors, life-sized painted statues standing alone or in battle with each other. Mila displayed great courage, walking under T Rexes and poking the eyes of velociraptors, walking up a ramp to sit in the hand of a giant gorilla... wait, that's not a dinosaur. Oh well. There was also a giant praying mantis and a giant king cobra.

After leaving Dinosaur Land, we had some fun walking around a pet store in the area. Mila had her shopping cart, as is her preference these days. She especially liked the small rodents. Mice look so cute when they're not pooping on your stovetop. The Russian tortoises were also a hit. Since we haven't been able to go to the zoo recently, the pet store combined with Dinosaur Land seemed to be an acceptable substitute.

On our way back we stopped at the Apple House, just east of Front Royal, for apple donuts and a pork BBQ sandwich. Eating out is getting more difficult with Mila, attempting to keep her in one spot that is not under the table. She has also become a more picky eater, and didn't eat any of the sandwich. Driving toward home, I decided to wait until rush hour was over before getting onto the Beltway. We stopped at the Manassas battlefield and walked around there as the sun went down. There was plenty of grass for Mila to roll around on-- sadly, grass is a rare treat for us in our urban existence. We also had the pleasure of discovering a huge herd of deer (at least 20), hanging around the area where Stonewall Jackson's reinforcements allegedly made their surprise attack. Mila also liked sitting on the front stoop of the old Henry House in the middle of the battleground, and enjoyed saying "old house"-- a new word combination. Our last stop was at a large mall in Fairfax, where we rode the glass elevators and looked at a big Polar Express area with fake snow and Santa, a waterfall fountain, and another bunch of life-size animal figures (giraffes, pandas, lions, etc.). Mila also got to climb around the mall's play area. I go to the mall so infrequently that these things are a rare novelty.

On the last leg of the drive home, Mila and I talked about the new baby on the way. Mila said "baby hands" a few times, and talked about taking her younger sibling to the zoo.

Baltimore Celebrates Obama Win

Here is a field recording that I made out in my neighborhood tonight, between 12:30 and 1:30 AM, after Obama wins the election.

Chalk Action Drawing

One of Mila's birthday presents this year was an easel for drawing, with both paper and blackboard surfaces. Mila is seen here drawing what she describes as a fish ("shishu"), perhaps in a mass of seaweed, through quick strokes using two hands. Kind of like action painting, but with chalk.

Mila says "happy birthday"to her Nani.