Mark is pleased to announce the new Wilson Connection blog! News and thoughts from Mark (in Egypt), and Liz, Andrew, and Caroline (in Truro). Now that he’s made it over to the Sinai as part of the Military Force and Observers (MFO) and settling in, he’s had a chance to post some initial updates. So check it out already!
Anyone want to review a mystery and possibly have part of your review published online at MysteryNet? We’re doing a promotion for three mystery books for BantamDell. Sign up to enter the drawing and 10 people will be picked for each book, and will receive an Advance Reader Copy. Then send in your review by the deadline and excerpts will be posted at the websites.
Go to the Advance Reader Reviews Drawing page at MysteryNet and enter your email address. (You won’t get spam or on any email list.) Let me know your email address; I think I know who’s picking the winners :). Email me at: james {at} prickitt.com
Every time there’s talk of a “‘Con “, there has to be a link to the Tron Costume Guy.
I was getting very annoyed at the spam comments that have been posted to the various blog entries. I was deleting them one by one but realized there were a ton. Thankfully, someone wrote a plug-in to the software that powers this blog to take care of this. I installed it this morning, and it even scanned all the old comments and found bad ones, and removed them. There were HUNDREDS! What a relief they are gone now. So now I can leave the comments open to anyone to post a comment.
My cable modem went kaput this morning. At least that’s what Comcast rep. and I determined after an hour on the phone. Very helpful though. Then they scheduled a tech to fix it that same day. It was 9:30 and they had an 11-2 slot open, and the guy showed up at 10:50! Knowledgeable about networks, too, which isn’t always the case. He was ex-military since 1995, and had actually been “in the Sinai” where Mark is going to be. His main comment was, “Great scuba diving! He’s got to do it. The water is clear all the way down to 70, 80 feet deep.”
Anyway, got a new modem, set up Andrzej on my wireless network so he can stop paying for a separate cable modem, and the guy even added extra cable TV capacity while he was here. I guess the Comcast commercials about reps who say “Yes” all the time are true.
Nathaniel took his first solo steps yesterday afternoon! He and Aunt Liz were on the back deck and he would walk toward her. He was so excited he was laughing out loud and started to get hiccups. He could even stop and stand. Maybe his new, very flat, Teva sandals helped. I got some footage with the video camera so now my duty as a father is done. I no longer need to be in constant alert mode can put the camera away until his high school graduation. What a relief.
That evening, I got out the still digital camera, and caught him on a couple of small videos. So until I get a fresh DVD done and sent out, here are a couple of mini-videos of Nathaniel walking:
Note to amateur videographers: Keep your mouth shut when you’re the one behind the camera.
Check out the new Nathaniel photos, including first birthday… 
Forwarded to me by Liz, who works in the International Terminal at JFK…
This article appeared on the front page of section D in today’s USA Today following a 24-hour visit to T4 arranged by IAT for the writer, Laura Bly earlier this week. It is tied to the release of the movie, The Terminal today. It is a slightly different version than appears in print but nevertheless is another great story about Terminal 4 and the people who work here. Janice
P.S. Nathaniel can ’sit’ now. This sleep regimen taught him how to stand himself up. But it’s no fun if you can’t sit back down. But I kept saying “sit” as I was sitting him down. And today he was walking around with Sophie and she was perplexed that he was plopping himself down. Apparently he was showing off his new skill. We are all impressed that he actually recognizes the words Sit and Stand…
Just a quick update… Night 1 was good, better than expected. After a 45 minute session of complaining initially, Nathaniel woke up a couple of times, and got back to sleep. He had a nursing partway through, which he’s used to at night, and he went back to sleep in his crib okay after that, then woke up at about 7am. Of course, that day, we had two hour-plus screaming sessions at nap times, so he was pretty tired.
Day 2 was not so good. We have all been sleep-deprived and on edge, so we didn’t feel like dealing with the screaming during the day, so he got walks, not a big deal. At night, I got Nathaniel to sleep by reading to him til he got bored and slept, about 45 minutes again. But then when he woke up partway through, he wouldn’t sleep again as nicely as Night 1. Andrzej and Sophie had to get up very early for an appointment, so we tried to put up with the screaming a little, but caved and brought him into bed with us. He was restless, we didn’t sleep well thereafter, and we got up at 6am.
We’re all exhausted and cranky today, including Nathaniel. I am the one who puts him in there and checks him (occasionally Sophie), but “the Book” says the nursing mother shouldn’t be involved because that would make things harder. I spent over an hour at his first nap-time in the morning, and the only result was screaming. He won’t even lie down. He spends the whole time standing at the edge of the crib, gripping the rails, crying, staring at the partially open door, with saliva and snot all over his face.
He now DETESTS that room and the crib and starts looking pitiful and scared if we even go down that end of the hallway. After that session, we brought him to the kitchen. Normally he tends to crawl all over the place. This time he was still edgy, and he kept bumping into me, a signal he wants me to pick him up. I would, then he would hold on tightly to me and relax a little. Then I’d put him down with his toys, but he would go right back straight to me… This is unusual because usually he will pick Maggie first, Sophie second, Andrzej third, and me last for holding. We think he’s feeling that I’m mad at him, and that’s why I abandon him in the crib. Or that I don’t like him anymore, or something. It’s pretty pitiful.
Tonight should be tough.
