The Brookston Family Blog
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After a break of over four months, Porter was again interested in using the camera to take his own pictures, with some interesting results. He’s finally figured out that he has to hold down the button to snap a picture and he literally took around seventy pictures in less than hour.

Naturally he took a photograph of Melman.

Then he specifically asked to take a picture of me with Melman.

After that he wanted me to ride Melman.

Then we went upstairs to Alice’s room.

Where he became obsessed with photographing himself in all of the mirrors upstairs, like this one in the bathroom mirror.

And the hall mirror.

Seriously, he literally took several dozen of these.

This is our bedroom mirror.

Porter was jumping up and down on his bed with the camera held sideways when he snapped this one.

Here’s a Quicktime movie Porter accidently shooting a movie of me and Melman. You can either download the movie to your desktop or just click on the link to play it in your web browser (assuming your web browser has the quicktime plug-in installed).

I’ve written lately about how attached Porter is to his new stuffed giraffe, Melman, and that continued Friday afternoon, too. He’d wanted to take Melman to Montessori for show and tell and he was a big hit there. I had barely opened the door when the kids started pointing wide-eyed and ran to us surrounding Melman, petting him and even trying to run off with him. It was pure pandemonium. Afterwards Ms. Liza told me Melman was a huge hit with everybody and especially Parker, whose birthday party was the next day. Apparently his birthday party was going to have a Madagascar theme. Parker asked me if I would bring Melman to his party on Saturday.

When we got home, Porter wanted to put on his pajamas and then, more surprisingly, asked for a brush to comb Melman’s mane. Sure enough, when I gave him a brush, Porter slowly brushed his giraffe’s mane until it was smooth.

Porter with a brush.

Combing Melman’s mane.

He just kept combing him.

Until his mane was smooth.

Porter riding a freshly groomed Melman.

The trip to the mall was quite musical for Alice and she loved banging on the red piano.

Alice sat down at the piano to play.

While Porter was at Montessori, Alice and I went to the mall — I needed to pick something up — and after we got my errand done I took Alice for a walk. She went straight for the toy store. While ambling around there, she fixated on a guitar lying flat in an aisle and kept plucking at it.

Alice playing the guitar.

Despite our telling Porter that he could not ride Melman because the giraffe wasn’t strong enough to carry him, Porter figured out a way that he could ride him after all.

Porter riding his pet giraffe, Melman. And yes, that is Firehouse Tales on the TV.

Alice took Mommy out for a ride Friday morning. Luckily, Sarah trotted quite well and it should be many years before we have to put her out to pasture.

Sarah always had a thing for horses and now she gets to be one.

Ride ‘Er Cowgirl!

Did you remember to turn you clock one hour forward last night at two? If not, it’s hour later than you think. Six months ago, when we turned the clocks forward, the kids did not adjust and we lost an hour of sleep every night. Fast forward six months and they still haven’t adjusted so we’re hoping we’ll be getting another hour every morning for the next six months. But don’t get too attached to it, it’s all changing again next year.

According to the California Energy Commission:

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 was passed by Congress and then signed into law by President George W. Bush on August 8, 2005. Under the new law, Daylight Saving Time begins three weeks earlier than previously, on the second Sunday in March. DST is extended by one week to the first Sunday in November. The new start and stop period begins March 2007.

The original House bill would have added two full months, one in the spring and another in the fall. According to some U.S. senators, farmers complained that a two-month extension could adversely affect livestock, and airline officials said it would have complicated scheduling of international flights. So, a compromise was worked out to start DST on the second Sunday in March and end the first Sunday in November.

There’s a movement afoot to do away with this clock changing nonsense and I’m beginning to agree with it, albeit for somewhat different reasons.

About Daylight Saving Time:

• End Daylight Saving Time
• Gov’t Explanation
• InfoPlease
• Time and Date
• Web Exhibit
• wikipedia
• World Times Zones