Day 207: Culture 101

A couple of nights ago we were in line at the grocery store - I'm starting to realize that many of my life's most interesting or exciting moments occur at the grocery store checkout; I think that tells you a lot about my life these days - and there was a couple with a 6-month baby in front of us and another behind us. It was very odd. Anyways, while Maddie practiced her new skill of shrieking happily at the top of her lungs and at the highest pitch known to man, the baby in front was saying "mama-mama-mama" over and over again. I swear she was doing it on purpose, just to taunt us.

Babies are everywhere. I mean, at the grocery store I suppose it's to be expected. But a couple of nights ago Maddie was spending some quality time with grandma, so Fernando and I went to the hockey game. Surely this would be a respite from all things baby. Apparently not, because while we're refilling our outrageously overpriced beer and wine at intermission who's waiting right beside us but a guy carrying a tiny baby. And then there was another one waiting outside the washroom. Which of course made me feel terribly guilty, the fact that unlike these other responsible Canadian parents, we were selfishly denying our daughter her first hockey game experience. But who am I kidding? Maddie could not possibly have come with us. She does not sit still and she does not keep quiet - that's just not how she works. She twists and turns and slithers and and yells and grunts and, now, shrieks.

This latest skill is one she's been working on for a couple of weeks but really just perfected during an outing to the art gallery she and I took earlier this week. I quickly learned that what is cute at the grocery store doesn't always go over well with the art gallery crowd - her constant squeals echoing throughout the halls earned us more than one irritated glance. That's what I get for trying to show the girl a bit of culture, I guess! So we ended up leaving about 20 minutes after we got there, which to be honest was fine by me. I just don't get art a lot of the time. Perhaps my sense of artistry is just sadly under-developed, but I don't get how a big canvas painted cream to look like, well, a canvas, and creatively titled Paint on Canvas is all that interesting. Judging from Maddie's particularly aggressive grunts she was not a fan either. Then again, this is a girl who finds a wooden spoon endlessly fascinating, so I probably shouldn't take much solace in the fact that we seem to share a similar aesthetic appreciation. In any case, I think next week we'll stick to the mall!