Just like that Merritt is sitting up on his own and pulling up on everything. He will definitely be walking before he's a year.

My parents are visiting and we took him to Crescent Beach this morning. The waves were strong so I couldn't go out too far with him but when the tide came in he could sit in the shallow water and splash, and play with wet sand. He will grow up at the beach...when I see surfer kids with sand-dusted skin so brown and hair bleached by the sun, I think that will most likely be him someday. My beautiful child of the sea. How lucky that he was born in a place such as this.

Mary inadvertently left her entire case of CDs here so I have been listening to quite a bit of great music, and burning several CDs as well.

Merritt took a few accidental steps the other day. His mobility is increasing so quickly, in just two weeks he has done amazing things. And it's safe to say his first word is "dada". In the early mornings I nurse him in our bedroom and Andy is usually still asleep; Merritt looks over at him and makes the "da" sound until he opens his eyes and responds. The sound he has come up for me is "na" or "ne" and we suspect it's from hearing "Connie" all the time which sounds a lot like "Mommy". He's stopped going down for his morning nap but I still put him in his crib for quiet time then, and occasionally he gives in to slumber. I've replaced his 5 pm feeding with Cheerios.

I sold my glass and chrome oversize desk and shelves to our friend and now we're in the process of making my office into more of a baby room. Merritt's room is right next door so with a baby gate in place at the hallway it makes for a nice large area to keep him secure. So my personal space is in limbo right now until we move some things and reorganize. I guess I should be bothered by this but I'm not--I knew when I decided to have a child that my life would be different, that I would give up part of my independence and in this case that means my separateness. So right now I'm typing at the kitchen table.

I recently inherited a nice collection of art books and I've been going through them when I have time. It's become quite an education for me; I feel like I'm getting my MFA through home schooling. My appreciation of Picasso, Matisse, and Cezanne has been greatly enhanced. I just can't get enough of looking and learning about art, and it reminds me that no matter how much time I take off from pursuing it, I will always be an artist.

Picasso didn't title his paintings, he let historians and dealers do so. He simply recorded the date completed on the back. Both he and Cezanne did paintings of Mount St. Victoire in Aix-en-Provence, a place in France I really want to see someday. I never thought much of Cezanne until I saw his paintings in the book of the Barnes Collection. I think that Dr. Barnes bought up every exceptional Cezanne there ever was. I hope to visit the Barnes before it inevitably gets moved out of the suburbs to Philadelphia. The history of that unusual museum is fascinating.

Dr. Barnes was also a supporter of a painter I have recently and happily discovered, the folk artist Horace Pippin:

All of the submissions for Projekt30 have been posted. Mine is here. I've spent a while jurying the rest of the exhibition today, and I have been blown away by the beautiful art. It's some stiff competition.

What is it about these things?



Merritt LOVES them. It's the first and only solid food he has eaten with obvious enjoyment.

While searching for that photo I came upon a site that truly amazed me.

Generation X is over. Next comes the Entitlement Generation.

Merritt is really into learning how to walk. He wants to hold onto your fingers and cruise around all day. Every once in a while he lets go of whatever he's holding onto and stands by himself for just a few seconds, then falls on his behind. It's really exciting to observe. He cruises around the couches and other furniture with increasing ease.

I did a drawing in oil pastels of a spaceship. It's small with a shiny black acrylic background. I think I'll paint over the drawing eventually but for now it's cool just to have something new. I also put up a few paintings I hadn't worked on for a while and didn't really like before. They seem a bit better now. Merritt actually noticed them from all the way down on the floor, which was amazing. He has always looked hard at my paintings, even when he was very very small. He smiles at the cat portraits.

We didn't feel any effects from Hurricane Dennis, no howling wind or blowing trees this time. It seems like the ones that hit Cuba first are usually not that harsh. It's shocking what those islands down south have to put up with in exchange for tropical paradise.

Dear Connie,
Thank you for contacting the iTunes Music Store.
Unfortunately your issue falls outside of our scope of support. The iTunes Music Store team answers non-technical questions about billing, customer accounts, downloading music, and iTunes Music Store content.
I suggest speaking with Applecare Technical Support. They can be reached at 1-800-275-2273. Their hours are 8am-8pm CST.
Many questions about your iTunes software can be answered by choosing iTunes and Music Store Help from the Help menu.
For online information, visit iTunes Support at
.
To access the discussion boards for iTunes and other Apple services, please visit
.
For support for your iPod, please visit:

If you require assistance beyond the complimentary support available online, please call AppleCare technical support at 800-APL-CARE (800-275-2273). Help is available seven days a week from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. central time. There may be a fee associated with the call.
Sincerely,  
Clint
iTunes Music Store Support

Thanks a whole hell of a lot, Clint!

Every single song I've bought off iTunes corrupts two minutes into playing. And yes, it only happens in iTunes and yes I've already upgraded to version whatever.

I have not been inspired to write lately. But a lot has been going on.

My birthday was okay. It was raining of course, this on/off sun/rain thing that has been going on for a week now, so we couldn't go to First Friday like I wanted to. Merritt decided my birthday was the day he would refuse to nap so he was cranky baby. But I got to leave him with Andy so I could have a nice leisurely shopping trip at Beall's, where I bought five pairs of shorts, since that is all I ever wear anymore (two pairs of comfy normal shorts and three pairs of low rise trendy ones). Angel had sent me some books from my wishlist and that was a very pleasant surprise. Andy gave me gorgeous black pearl and diamond earrings that I had seen before and fallen in love with when we were Christmas shopping. Andy's mom gave me some cute clothes and my parents sent me some cash money. Honestly though waking up that morning to a beautiful healthy baby was the best gift I could have asked for--it sounds so cheesy but it's true.

Merritt has turned into quite the cruiser as of late. He doesn't pull up on his own yet but if I stand him up he will go around and around any piece of furniture. This morning he mastered going from one item to another without falling. Also this morning he started waving to us and giving high fives. THEN he started playing this cute new game with some toys of his where he throws or bounces them on the kitchen floor then chases after them, still on his belly but he seems to be trying to figure out the crawl. He gets into absolutely everything and any tiny speck he finds on the floor goes right into his mouth. Also going into his mouth are finger foods such as peas and tiny bits of carrot, not expertly yet but he is very into figuring it out. So I think he is just skipping baby food all together and I will give away all the little jars I have accumulated that he never wanted to begin with. His nine month doctors appointment went well enough...his height is 50th percentile, weight 40th, and head circumference 90th! He has his mother's huge brain of course.

I rented some movies--The Motorcycle Diaries, I (Heart) Huckabees, and The Machinist--and watched the G8 concert on TV yesterday. I prepared dinner for Andy's aunt for her birthday. I carefully tracked our expenses for the entire month of June so that we would know exactly how much Andy needs to make for us to get by...it ended up being lower than I thought. I made twice baked almond cookies. I got matched with a sister from Kosova named Sofije for the Women For Women International project. She is illiterate as well as innumerate, meaning she doesn't get numbers which I didn't even know was possible. I've done a lot of surfing on the Internet, read some interesting books, but I haven't picked up a paintbrush in months--except maybe to keep Merritt from eating it.