(Why am I naming days?)

9/12/14, Day 14,010 (Mercena Day 28): Shalimar Diner

With the help of the Moby and her new ducky pacifier, we managed to have our first meal out with Mercena at the Shalimar Diner, a classic Queens-style diner in Rego Park.  While we didn’t finish our game of Cribbage, we did manage to eat our meals, pay and return home without her melting down, a much needed balm after the difficult night before.

As if she realized that we’d spent much of the day researching sleep training, she slept well last night: so well that I didn’t wake up when Heather changed and fed her, and she had several extended sleep sessions. A lucky night isn’t the same as proper sleep training, but still, it was another blessing. When she’s up in the afternoon, it means she sleeps better in the evening, but that common sense doesn’t always translate into reality. Our latest baby book is The Baby Whisperer (thanks, Devon!), and we’re also eager to chat with Allan and Sarah at their visit next weekend to hear how they managed sleep training with our nephew Robert.

After some preliminary plotting yesterday, I started writing a new play late last night, and it’s off to a great start. While I don’t have much time to write in babyland, I do have a fair amount of time to think about writing while engaged in the many repetitious tasks infant tasks that fill our days. I think this is part of the reason why I’ve been able to write well on so little sleep without much time, and I’m not sure how well I’ll be able to keep going once I return to work. But I’m enjoying it now…

Technique never stands still: it only advances or retreats…

Writing: 142 out of 179 days (Untitled new play)
Spanish: 129 out of 179 days
Music: 47 out of 84 days

What small things did I do yesterday to help build the Honeycomb?
(And what does it mean to “Help build the honeycomb?”)

• Ate and cooked local, organic, vegetarian food (besides the Shalimar), and used cloth diapers for Mercena;
• Asked Google to stop funding ALEC;
• Signed a petition in support of taking the threat of a government shutdown off the table;
• Asked the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to ban the use of DOT-111 tanker cars for hauling Bakken crude oil;
• Signed the “Walmart Free NYC” petition;
• Wrote to Congressman Pittenger in opposition to his comments on LGBT civil rights;
• Asked my Senators to approve the FOIA Improvement Act.