Radiohead's "In Rainbows"

Jef from Himalayas sent out a bulletin recently pushing Radiohead's newest effort "In Rainbows". I was just talking to my great friend Corey the other night on the phone about this release. We both agreed that we probably only listened to "Hail to the Thief" a handful of times, if that, and might each grab a copy of this latest release just because it was Radiohead, even though neither of us were excited about it. Jef has set me straight. For a limited time, Radiohead is offering this gem on their website for whatever you the consumer wishes to pay for it, even if you want it for free. I chose the deadbeat option and downloaded it for the hey of it. Now, after listening to it several times, and having fallen for it, I'm going to shelve out the bucks to get the real thing, in which they are offering on their website as well with a 12" vinyl, a second disc with some more new tunes, and some artwork. Go check it all out at their MyS page.

Faster Painted Pussycat

I had just finished painting the floor of our sleeper porch that is right off of our bedroom. I put up a baby gate to keep our dog out of the wet paint, because he had been nosing around trying to figure out what I was doing. I then grabbed a bite to eat down in the breakfast nook when Emily came in from some errands. She asked if I had the room shut off upstairs, and I told her about the gate. She asked if I thought that was really going to keep the cat out. Without comment or question I took off running, bounded up the stairs, ran though our room, and looked upon my freshly painted floor with horror. Apparently the cat had indeed jumped the gate, freaked out upon hitting the wet floor, flailed around a bit, and then jumped back into our bedroom. The painted floor was an absolute mess that would have to be quickly redone in front of the door if it was to be salvaged at all. She had then tracked paint through our bedroom, down the hall, down the stairs, down a second hall, through the kitchen, into the butler's pantry, and onto the shelf where her food is kept where it looked like she performed a number from River Dance. I've tried to kill her, but she's too fast. So it goes.

My friend Corey told me tonight that music mogul Tony Wilson of Factory Records and founder of The Hacienda club passed away last Friday after a long battle with kidney cancer. This guy was so influecial to the Manchester scene. He signed such acts as Joy Division, New Order, and the Happy Mondays. If you get a chance, rent 24 Hour Party People, which is about his life. Here's a blog with more info.

Ida will be playing @ Schuba's on Monday the 27th of this month. Tickets are only ten bucks. The last time I was able to see them was in Champaign in '99 on an acoustic tour and they were simply amazing. Their music is absolutely beautiful. They have several albums available on iTunes if you want to sample their wares. Anyway, they rarely make it to this area, so this is a must see show! Emily and I have to find someone to watch the kids and get the two oldest off to school, I will have only started a new house the week before, we're driving back the night of for work the next morning ----it's going to be extremely difficult for us to pull this off, but it's that big of a deal!!! So get your mouse a'clickin' and buy your tickets now!

Quote of the Week

I just heard Emily over my shoulder talking to Rohan: "If I pull that tooth out, you're gonna look like an idiot." Brilliance.

......and I think I'm being summoned to do the dirty deed.

TRANSFORMERS AND THE POLICE

My brother called me Sunday evening as Emily and I were playing goofy golf with the kids at our city park. He told me that he had two tickets to see The Police in St. Louis on Tuesday night. I'm sure they were good seats as he had spent $220 on each of them. He had bought them, because at the time they hadn't announced any dates in Chicago where he lives. Later he ended up getting tickets for a Chicago date, but couldn't get rid of the St. Louis tickets. He said that he would let me have them for $50 a piece. I jumped at it.

The Police broke up when I was 11 years old. They had always been a staple on Kasey Kasem's Top 40 Countdown, and radio in general. I remember the summer that Return of the Jedi came out, and an hour didn't pass on the radio without hearing Every Breath You Take. They also ruled Friday Night Videos on NBC. Hey ,we didn't get MTV yet. Wow...now, so many years later, I was going to get to see Sting! Sting! Man, are you listening to what I'm saying?! ...and better yet, Stewart Copeland! One of the greatest drummers of all time! Prior to six o'clock that evening, none of this reality existed. It was truly to be a beginning to July that I would not soon forget.

Later Sunday evening, I called my friend Corey who lives in St. Louis to tell him my good fortune. I knew Corey was also going to the show, so I knew he'd think it was pretty cool. Corey did think it was cool, but informed me that the show wasn't on Tuesday, but Monday the 2nd. I immediately called my brother and told him what Corey had said. Ryan assured me that the show was on Tuesday...the 2nd. I told Ryan that is was already July 1. Ryan wasn't so pleased. Of course, here I am, the guy who is about to miss out on a great show, because there would be probably no chance at getting those tickets delivered in time for the show. I then knew what I had to do. I told Ryan that I would get up early in the morning, drive to Chicago to get the tickets (almost a five hour drive), drive back to pick up Emily, and then head to St. Louis which is about two hours away. Of course, Ryan honorably said that wasn't necessary, but I assured him that I had done crazier things. Hey, what's a little road trip? Even if I would spend almost twelve hours on the road before the show started.

I called Corey to tell him that all was good, and even called my good friend Joe, who I knew would also be at the show. We agreed to text eachother to see what sections we were in. Emily and I discussed what we would do with the kids. We would ask my Dad to watch Elena and Rohan, and we knew that a lady from our church would be glad to watch Riddick. Allie was going to go to her Dad's for a week, so she would be taken care of also. I knew Rohan would be upset that Allie would be gone, but I knew that he was going to have an exciting week as well. His Uncle Ryan was going to come in to visit on Friday...he was going to get to see fireworks on Wednesday......his last ball game that I had almost forgotten about was on Tuesday night....and I was going to take him to see the new Transformers movie on...YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME.

I had totally forgotten.

I had gotten tickets over two weeks ago on Fandango to see a sneak preview of Transformers on MONDAY....JULY....2nd.

I sadly called Ryan and told him that I wasn't going to be coming up to get the tickets. I called Corey and Joe and told them that I wouldn't be joining them to bask in rock glory. Corey laughed at the situation and came up with the crazy scenario, saying he could just picture Rohan waiting on the front steps of our house in an Optimus Prime t-shirt, waiting for his Dad to pick him up to take him to the theatre as all the other kids in the neighborhood went racing by in cars in their t-shirts with their dads on their way to see the movie...and he would continue to wait in tears as his Dad was rocking out at the Police concert.

I'll never be THAT kind of Dad. I'll never break a promise to my boy.

Tonight I took Rohan to Target and bought him a new Optimus Prime t-shirt. Then, Rohan, Emily, and I went to see Transformers.

AND IT ROCKED HARDER THAN THE POLICE.

After all, I had been waiting for this movie just about as long as the Police have been broken up.

I did give instuctions to Emily though. When Rohan is a teenager, and tells me that I suck, for whatever reason, since he inevitably will, she is to tell him about the time that I sacrificed going to see one of the greatest rock bands of all time playing what would probably be their only reunion tour ever to go take him to see a Michael Bay car commercial called...

"TRANSFORMERS"

Terry

The song I've got up was recorded on Easter Morning at my church. It was sung by Terry Sprague, backed up on vocals by his son Chris, with Chad Harlan on piano and vocals. Terry was killed in a motorcycle accident yesterday, April 22, 2007. Please listen to the entire song, to pay respect to Terry, whether you knew him or not. Terry was a great man, husband, father, and grandfather. To me, he was a great friend that I looked forward to seeing every week. He was a musician with few peers. It was an honor to play with him every Sunday in our praise band. No one will ever be able to fill his shoes in what he did, and nothing will fill the void that has been left now that he has gone on to be with the Lord. He was an awesome guy. I wish it could be made clear why the Lord wanted to bring Terry home when he did. It's something that people will slowly accept, but I don't think we'll ever understand it. There's a reason for it...but...I guess I'm still at a loss, trying to even talk about it. So please pray for Terry's family, his wife Shara who is still recovering from surgery due to the accident, his son Chris, and his daughter Carrie.

Is this Thirty Something?

Where does string come from and how did it get all over my floor?
There is more toothpaste dried in the sink than there is in the tube.
The dish washer runs every day.
There is always a mountain of clean clothes to be folded that tries to merge with the dirty to be washed.
Somehow my desk is always littered with toys.
The trash is never empty.
Flashlights are always dead.
The gas tank is always on empty.
I don't know where we keep kleenex, but it's easy to find them wadded up.
When I go to use the bathroom there are towels laying everywhere; when I get out of the shower, there are none to be found.
There are always dead batteries where the fresh ones should be kept.
I swear dust-bunnies multiply faster than rabbits.
My leather car seats always have toddler footprints on them.
I'm always stepping in goldfish crackers.
I hate balloons and the fights that they cause.
Every room in our house is infested with Legos.
How does my two year old find chocolate anywhere she goes?
If it's plastic and makes crinkly noises, the cat will find it at three in the morning.
There are no sharpened pencils in our house.
I never remember as a kid asking my parents during the week, "So are we doing anything tonight?"
I think I'm the only person at my house who executes the final step of changing a diaper: dispose of in waste receptacle.
Every light in the house is left on during the day, yet they all seem to magically turn off after sunset.
Above all, children should never have been given instruction on how to use a DVR.
Who knew a two year old could break so many DVDs in half?
My kids can't finish a glass of anything.
They also ignore loose change.
How do we manage to simultaneously start every checkbook in the box?
I used to listen to music that I liked.
When was I not tired?

Greatness from Rohan

When I want comedy, I look no further than dinner time conversation. The other night at dinner, Allie said, "I know who Rohan likes!" Rohan just stared at her as she proclaimed, "Her name is Emily." Rohan barked, "How do you know?" Allie replied, "I looked her up in the yearbook!" Rohan smacked his own forehead and exclaimed, "They've got names in there?!?!?"

Riddick Edward Cook was born this morning, January 31, 2007 at 9:52 a.m. He weighed 7 lbs, 1 oz., and was 19.5 inches long. Emily was induced last night around 10:35 a.m, but remained at a 2 all night long, as they checked her every three hours. Emily's wonderful friend Jenny Walker was with us the entire night, and slept very little in one of the other rooms. Emily's mom Joyce and our oldest Allie arrived sometime before 7 a.m. The mid-wife broke Emily's water a little after 8. She was then given an epidural at 8:45. She had delivered our oldest three without any drugs, so with that and her abdominal hernia in consideration, she deserved the smooth ride. We (Joyce, Allie, & myself) were asked to leave the room for about half an hour while they administered the epidural. We got back around 9:20, and Emily was in much better spirits, not really feeling her contractions at all. Joyce commented from the monitor readout that the contractions had really picked up intensity. Less than ten minutes later Emily gripped the bed rails and said that something felt really strange. Her friend Lynn, who did all of her sonograms, came into the room, and Emily told her something was going on. Lynn got her nurse who then checked Emily and announced that she was complete. The midwife came in and along with her nurse and Lynn got everything ready. Lynn grabbed one leg, I was asked to grab the other, and simultaneously we brought her legs toward her chest. They asked her to push and hold for a ten count, and Riddick came flying out. The midwife said as his head first came out, face down, "There's her head!" At that point I knew we had a girl and looked to Emily. I glanced and saw the entire body come out, but didn't watch them flip him over. Then Emily cried out laughing, "It's a boy!" I looked back as they placed him on Emily's chest, and sure enough, there was his stuff. I still don't understand why you would want to know the sex of your baby! This is one of the most incredible "good" surprises anyone could ever have! As I write this, I am at home with Allie, Elena, and Rohan, while my beautiful wife and new baby boy are still at the hospital. I can't wait to bring them home tomorrow afternoon. I thank our Lord Jesus Christ that we have been so blessed with a safe delivery. I had worked out in my head any number of different outcomes and asked God to give me strength, no matter how this played out. It was all in his hands. I am so thankful that this delivery couldn't have gone any better for Emily. It was her best. I still can't explain the exploding feeling of joy that is in my chest. Praise God! and thanks to all of our friends and family who kept us in their thoughts and prayers. May God bless all of you! We love you all!

Gravity seems to have lost it's effect on my body cavity. I rarely feel this way. The cat meowed. Corbyn is scampering after her. Rohan is singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". Elena is repeatedly saying, "Mommy!" Emily finally replies, "What?!" I'm slouched to one side of my office chair, with my elbow on the window sill. I'm going to see my Uncle for the last time tomorrow. I haven't seen him for over a year I guess. Life is for the living they say, yet life gets in the way of seeing the living, and then they're gone. It would be useless to rehearse a conversation. What do you really say? It's just...something I haven't contemplated for a while. My grandparents are all gone, and two of my Dad's siblings have passed as well. Even when you see it coming, it still catches you off guard when the reality of that one last visit hits you. I guess some don't get that one last time. Rohan asks if I want to help him do his homework. And so it goes.

Some time ago I bought some shirts from ThinkGeek. If you send them an "action shot" of their product, they usually post it. "Here I am!" said the small brown-eyed cow.

So last year, Emily and I were asked to participate as judges in a beauty pageant. Certainly a first for me. I played the part, albeit a strange one. I felt we were fair, and picked the right girl, but we got out of there as soon as we could so as to avoid angry mothers. Now I get a call. They want me to emcee the event this year. Strange things are afoot at the Circle K. They said it's all scripted. Thank goodness for that.

We just got back from a great weekend in Chicago. We took Emily's Mom, Dad and Brother up north with us. We hit the Field Museum for the King Tut exhibit, the Shedd Aquarium, and an awsome Blackhawks vs. Blues game with my Bro ---front row seats on the glass, no less. I won't write about all that we did...there wasn't much that we didn't do. C'mon, walking 10 blocks in the rain trying to catch a cab, walking around the Chicago Water Tower, Eating Awesome food, 9 year olds trash talking us at the hockey game, Giordano's pizza, hanging out on the roof of my Bro's place (39 floors up), Eating more food, Sponge Bob in 4-D, Hiking up and down Michigan Ave, Eating even more great food, 40,000 people running underneath my feet in a cold drizzle..of course, they were running a marathon up Columbus and I was standing over them on E. Wacker, but it had never happened to me before. Check out the new pics and videos.

It's been a while since my last post. Maybe I'll post more frequent, but the odds are I won't.

I'm going to try to keep the typing down ---Emily is asleep close by, but tossing and turning. I just turned on the ceiling fan. Hopefully that'll help, but who can tell? Pregnancy is a weird thing.

I watched an old ('94) Cruces video tonight, or pieces of it. I really have never watched one of those things in their entirety. It's an odd thing, knowing that you've aged and that you don't resemble that person that is supposed to be you on a recorded piece of history like a video tape. I wonder if my kids will ever watch any of those tapes. I'm sure they'll laugh.

Oh, Rohan got attacked by a volleyball net rope at church. Rope burn right over his left eye. I don't know how he does it...

I bought the Chronicles of Riddick trilogy this weekend. I had only seen Pitch Black out of the three flicks. The animated short film was okay, but not necessary. It's something that I'm ashamed to say thatI would have done ---throwing something in that you think people will find interesting just because you have the ability and means to do it, yet that doesn't make it a good idea. Anyway, long story short, I actually liked CoR. I know that the critics hated it, but come on, what is this movie anyway? It's not Gone with the Wind, it's just plain old action/sci-fi. Hey, I liked Alien 3 when no one else did. I kinda like the character anyway. He's an outer space Mad Max. I hope they do another sequel, even though I'm probably the only one.

I don't know if I ever posted this before, but I found this in a text file from a little over two years ago. I was quite amused, as Rohan had just started to really talk in full sentences. He's still fond of monsters...although I think he now makes the distinction from girls.

2003.11.18 age 3yrs.3mo.
Rohan, as he's putting a female action figure in a thomas the train car: "He fits!"
Daddy: "Yes, but that's a girl, so it's a she...boys are he's and girls are she's, and that's a girl."
Rohan: "Yeeaaah! And He fits!"
Daddy: "No, boys are he's, and girls are she's."
Rohan: "Yeeaaah! Girls are mossers."

The Amazing Rohan Does it Again.

This time he managed to fall into the Ohio River. Yeah. Not something I've ever done in my lifetime, but we are talking about the Amazing Rohan. Remember, he's amazing, because after all of his misadventures he's still alive. My dad took Allie and Rohan to Fort Massac at Metropolis, IL. and while walking along down by the river (no there was no van) Allie got up on a washed up log and walked along its length. Of course, Rohan tried to do the same and fell with one foot in the water and one still on the log. Dad said that Rohan panicked, tried to scramble back onto the log, and flipped head over heels into the water. He started screaming hysterically, and it took awhile to calm him down. Dad told him not to worry, that they would dry him off as soon as they got back to the truck. However, upon regaining his composure, Rohan informed him that he had been upset only because he was worried that "the sharks" were going to bite him.

I am absolutely amazed that my son Rohan is still with us. He flirts with death all the time...and he's five. Tonight, he and his sister Allie shouted their "goodnights" from their bedroom, and then we heard what sounded like a boulder crashing through to the first floor. Rohan had managed to flip head first off the top bunk, over the safety rail mind you. He smashed though the keyboard shelf of Allie's desk, ripping it from the desk itself. On top of that, or should I say underneath it all, a shattered bottle of nail polish. That's gonna bring up the varnish on the wood floor. We ran into the room and found that he was already on his feet crying. He ran to Emily as I knelt over the whole mess. Allie was standing beside me, and I asked her to grab Elena and take her to her room. Allie then proceeds to try and walk barefooted though the rubble. I throw up and arm, barring her way, and advised her intelligent self to go around the other way. Rohan managed to almost do the same thing about ten minutes later. Then as he was sitting in Allie's lounge chair with a bag of ice on his head, he managed to flip it over on top of himself. After I got though cleaning the mess, Allie advised us that Elena's foot had been bleeding, but that "it was almost dried now"......just wonderful. I'm just blown away.

My friend Kirk has included this blog in one of his links, so I thought that I ought to put up a little update.

My daughter Elena Estelle turns ONE today!!!!!! Rohan had his birthday two weeks ago (on some other person's bday :D ) and had a pretty good time. He starts kindergarten this year. Allie is almost done with her last bit of vacation with her dad, so we're looking forward to her getting home.

We're going to be moving soon. We're buying our first (most likely last) house and we close in two days. It's a great house built in 1920, and we can't wait to start working on it. We're turning the attic into a bedroom for Rohan, and we're combining two rooms on the second floor into a master suite. We'll hopefully tackle the kitchen this coming spring. Some people keep saying,"Oh, get ready for a huge headache..." even knowing that I do this sort of thing for a living every day. I've been demolishing and rebuilding since I was thirteen. Guess to be me is a real headache.

Saw one of my aunts yesterday for the first time in many years. Mentally challenged. Pulled up in my Mom and Dad's driveway in a mini-van as we were making pieces for a pergolla. Didn't know she could drive ---really didn't know who she was for that matter. My mom reported updates to my Dad later that night. Her oldest is almost out of juvey since he's almost twenty-one. Won't tell you why he's there, and don't ask if he forced some boys to allow him to perform felatio on them in a jr. high bathroom under threat of violence, because I won't comment. Her daughter is back home with her, since being in foster homes since the age of twelve. She's eighteen now, and I guess she thought it was smart to go home to mom, even though mom's boyfriend was the one who raped her six years ago. Sure that dude's gone, and my aunt's current husband is in prison for fifteen, but I'm just thinking that "home" would not be the best place to be living if living is what you want to do. I haven't even seen these kids for over fifteen years. Craziness. God be with them.

The band finally got a decent rehearsal space, all thanks to our drummer Joe. Maybe we'll get back to playing out. Who knows?

What else....what else...

We've said goodbye to our landline, and I don't think we'll be picking it back up at the new place. Kind of a nice feeling.

I guess I'm about to dive back into the joy that goes along with moving. Ordering new checks, throwing away all the free address labels that we've collected over the past two years from VFW mailings :). Calling ump-teen places to change our mailing address. Changes our mailing address at ump-teen more places online. Doing the mailing address change thing with the post office. Then hoping no bills get lost in the mail. Yea.

Something died somewhere hidden in the hall bathroom this past weekend. Now our bedroom closet which is beside the bathroom is eminating a nice sweet odor of death. Lovely, lovely, lovely. We've been having to sleep with a candle burning at night, hoping that the cat doesn't decide to burn the place down.

Guess that's all for now. Gotta go start baking Elena's cake, so Emily can frost it when she gets home.

So I haven't blogged in forever. Oh well, what can I say.

I copied this short bit from an email that I sent to some friends. It's about my trip with the wife and kids to go see "Batman Returns". Enjoy...

Just saw it. It was pretty good from all that I gathered. I say this, because of course it was a typical night at the movies for the Cooks.

We stop at the good ol' IL Center 8, and I run in to buy tickets. One girl is tapping a stack of Father's Day Sith posters on the counter, and while I'm wondering how I could score one, I almost miss the other girl short change me a ten dollar bill. I question the amount of change given, and she apologetically slips my ten-spot through the window. After walking out I kick myself for not asking for a poster to make up for the small misunderstanding. We drive around for a bit to kill time, knowing that the less time spent sitting in the theater, the less fussy Elena will become. I tell Emily about the two movie girlies, the posters, and the short-changing. Emily tells me I should have been cute and gotten that poster. Imagine ---my wife shaming me for not flirting.

We return to the movies after Emily and Allie argue for ten minutes about where some friend of Allie's lives. (??? ---such important issues.) We walk into the building, and Rohan bee-lines for the water fountain. Nothing good will come of that, I know. We file into the theater and shuffle into a row near the back of the room, but not near enough. Allie has a spiral fracture below her left elbow, and because of it's location (or dislocation I should say) from the growth plate, she doesn't have a cast, but a robot arm thingy that when bumped she's in tears. This does happen while we're trying to get the kids seated, and she does erupt into tears. After some verbal caressing, she settles down to her usual somber self.

For fifteen minutes, we sit through the bad theater trivia advertising slide-show, which loops at least three times. I look over and Allie and Emily are starting to fight. Emily is telling her that she can't go swimming with her Dad's family like he said that she could next weekend (what a moron), and she's starting to do her quiet mopey crying bit like her favorite slacker rocker has blown his head off and she can't find a candle to light and has no flannel to wear to the vigil. After trying to assure her that we're only thinking of her well-being, we get her to stop crying (again), and she drops her head to stare at the floor.

Previews start. Rohan keeps rubbing his eyes and says that they're burning. I tell him if he's tired, he may want to close his eyes. He says he's not tired. Elena keeps wanting to be passed back and forth between Emily and myself. Emily has brought fries in from Sonic to give to Elena to keep her quiet, so we take turns with one of us holding her and one of us shoving fries into the lil' guppies maw. Allie the 9-year-old vacuum keeps eating the fries, Emily keeps snapping at her, and Allie returns to more staring at the floor like it's full of reflections of happiness lost. I can't imagine what she's going to be like as a teenager. I'm definitely hiding my Cure cd collection.

Rohan's Velcro movie booster seat keeps falling over to one side, and although he requests my help in the matter, his simultaneous attempts to remedy the situation thwart my efforts to help him out. The result is something out of a Peter Sellers flick.

During the Dukes of Hazzard trailer Rohan says his eyes won't stop burning and starts to cry. I get up, take Rohan to the bathroom, rinse his hands, rinse his eyes, let him do his usual cycle with the hand dryer, let him stop at the water fountain (please let him have an iron bladder), and then march him back to his seat.

Movie starts. Rohan wants to know when does he turn into Batman. Elena starts crying. Emily leaves the theater with her. The kids are more concerned where their mother has gotten off to than what's on the screen, and so they keep turning one-eighties in their seats thinking that they'll find her. Rohan's movie seat slips to the side at least several times during these visual recon missions.

Rohan still wants to know when does he turn into Batman. Rohan then gets on my lap for round one of the twenty minute twist and squirm game (at least ol' B.W. turned into Batman.) Rohan then has to go pee. My Dad claims the kid sat all the way through Sith and then hit the bathroom running after the credits started to roll, but I guess Batman doesn't hold the same curiosity for him. I take him to the bathroom during the Arkham Asylum fight; guess I'll have to catch that one on the dvd. I look in the stall to tell him to hurry up. This is what I see: Rohan levitating over the bowl gripping the bare rim of the toilet like a prize gymnast on the parallel bars. I checked...just because...and we'll say that the guy before Rohan didn't have good aim. Hell, the last twenty guys. Anyway, this means of course I definitely can't skip the ritual of the washing of the hands. However, I did make him skip the hand dryer much to his disappointment and gave him a quick lesson in shaking them dry.

After being reseated and watching more of the movie. some gunther guy gets up to go to or go do whatever and trips on our diaper bag that Emily has forgotten ---both ways. I locate the bag and shove it under the seat in front of me. Rohan is thirsty. I tell him he can wait.

Rohan declares that he is now tired and wants to sit on my lap for round two of twist and squirm. After twenty more minutes of this wonderful activity Emily returns from the outside world. She hits Allie's arm on the way in. Allie starts to cry. Emily hushes her up. This probably happened during a meaningful scene; I wouldn't know. Emily asks for her keys. I throw Rohan into his booster seat. It slides to the side. He starts to complain, I shush at him. I fidget through all of the wrong pockets trying to locate the keys, while of course Rohan is trying to tell her that the guy has turned into Batman, and not quietly I might add. By this time I'm sure that the people behind us are just loving their choice of seats. After giving her the keys, she asks where her purse is. I'm sure that gunther guy kicked it high and low, and for the life of me I just cannot feel where it's at. No other choice. I get on my f***ing hands and knees and start to peer under the seats. Even as a kid I never crawled on a theater floor. What a lovely place it is. As soon as my eyes start to adjust to my new surroundings, Emily hisses in my general direction that she meant the diaper bag. I look at her, soooooooo happy that my hands are coated with theater floor residue. I shove the diaper bag at her and hope that she catches my glare. Emily hustles off and I climb back into my seat.

After a while the movie ends, we get up and walk to the lobby. There is Emily at the box office counter with three movie girlies, including the human calculator. Elena is on the counter, holding one of Emily's hands, bouncing up and down, waving to the drooling girlies going ga-ga over baby party tricks. In Emily's other hand is a Father's Day Sith poster.

Score: Mommy 1 --- Daddy 0.

Up next, Fantastic 4.