(no subject)

It's such a strange process, by which children come to be like and unlike their parents. The way that nature and nurture blend and weave together, intershot with random threads from chance experiences, non-parental relationships, cultural contexts, and other even more mysterious sources. What's written in Alex's body? What are we writing into her malleable mind? What will be overwritten a dozen times, and what will be engraved deep?

I haven't the slightest idea how to answer these questions. I only know that sometimes I feel such a deep, joyful shock of recognition and connection that it takes my breath away.

Yesterday evening, Alex brought me a picture book and snuggled into my lap. As soon as we came to the last vividly-painted two-page spread, she called out eagerly, "Say the names, Mama! Say the names!"

With one arm nestling her close against me, I reached the other hand to the page and pointed: "There is the Sun, in the middle. And here is Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars..." She wiggled with happiness as I told them through two or three times.

What made this?

Birthday happy! (Now with a surplus of exclamation points!!)

The first part of my birthday was, shall we say, satisfying only to that part of me that craves challenge, last-minute panic, drenching rain, and toddlers eager to discuss the fact that they don't like any of their former favorite foods.

The second part of my birthday was awesome.

Michael - Michael! Misha! curiousangel! Of all people! - baked me a birthday cake. A real one, spice cake (from a mix) with homemade vanilla icing and a votive candle on top. It was delicious! And this is a man whose pre-existing culinary repertoire consisted of spaghetti with meat sauce, scrambled eggs, and grilled sandwiches. He stepped waaayy far out of his comfort zone to make me feel special and taken care of on my birthday.

And! In my birthday card! Two tickets... to Avenue Q! I've been wanting to see this one since it came out on Broadway, so I am absolutely thrilled. I had no idea that he was planning this.

We decided to have takeout sushi from a new place for my birthday dinner. I put together a large order - the menu prices were a little on the low side, and I was afraid that meant the pieces would be small. I wound up with 30 pieces of nigiri and two rolls. After I read the long list to the restaurant guy, he read it back to me and said in a worried voice, "This is going to be very expensive. The menu you have is old-" (apparently he knew this because the number I called wasn't their main number anymore) "-we raised the price a little. It would be cheaper for you to get the sushi combo. Your order is about $70. The combo has 30 pieces of sushi and four rolls, and it's $55."

I hesitated a moment, because we like to pick out our own pieces. Then I decided, what the hell. "Okay, we'll take the combo."

"You can choose two more rolls." That surprised me a little, because I thought the whole point of a combo was that the chef picked the selection. But I chose two more rolls.

Michael came back from the restaurant with our order. I scanned it, trying to figure out whether there were enough things that Michael and Alex liked. (I am not picky about sushi, so I wasn't worried about myself.) Then I realized: the 30 pieces in the "sushi combo?" Were the 30 pieces I had ordered a la carte. They'd put together the exact selection I had initially requested, plus two extra rolls, for $15 less than the a la carte price. (And, contrary to our initial fears, the pieces weren't small.)

Yaaaay, sushi restaurant! Yaaaay, birthday dinner!