The name “melancholia” comes from the old medical theory of the four humours: disease being caused by an imbalance in one or other of the four basic bodily fluids, or humours. Personality types were similarly determined by the dominant humour in a particular person. Melancholia was caused by an excess of black bile; hence the name, which means ‘black bile’ (Ancient Greek μελας, melas, “black”, + χολη, kholé, “bile”); a person whose constitution tended to have a preponderance of black bile had a melancholic disposition. (Thank you Wikipedia)

I think lately I have suffered from an excess of black bile in my system. I feel as though my humors are out of balance. I am sure this feeling has nothing to do with having lost a very close friend and my mother in law in the same year, or by the hormonal tango that comes with pregnancy, birth, and nursing.

I am usually a very hyperactive personality, with a touch of OCD and an endless supply of energy. Now I make a list of what needs to be done, and if there is more than one item on it, I wonder if I will get it finished. Hmmm….. I have to get dog food, I hope I can get home in time to meet Monkey at school.

I have great moments of giggling with my kids, but usually I am tired and I seem to be spending most of each day waiting for it to end. I do not like this feeling.

Any ideas on how to get my humors back into balance?

Oh yeah, please remember to enter the contest before the 14th!

Otter has more teeth coming in. Six of them in fact. He has one that has broken through the surface of his gums right next to his first tooth, then another pushing on the gum next to that. He has three right at the point of breaking through on his top gums, and another that is really close. You can see the outline of his little toofies-to-be below:

It is my belief that he is pushing so hard for teeth because his Daddy gave him steak, and he wants more. I think he knows that a whole world of food will open up to him when he can chew more effectively, and given his current love of food, and insane growth rate, I am sure his body is simply ramping up the tooth development to meet the new steak demand.

His teeth aren’t the only thing ramping up. He is getting closer and closer to crawling every day, he has begun pulling up on furniture to try and stand, he grabs everything in reach (we have to park the shopping cart in the middle of the aisle to avoid spilled and broken goods), and his curiosity is intense.

What is that Mama? Can I grab it? Just… hold…still…a…minute…I almost have the blinking, clicking thing….

He is still a very happy baby, despite his sore gums, and he spends a lot of time beaming his super powered rays of cuteness at everyone within reach. Now he is going to beam some cuteness your way:

Yesterday morning Monkey awoke to a brightly wrapped package on her bed. She opened it to find a lovely blue dress inside, picked out especially for her to wear on our date to the ballet.

When she saw it, she looked up at me, batted those baby blues, and exclaimed “Mom! It’s perfect! Thank you!” Excitedly she donned the gown and we began preparations for our trip into The City for George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker“. (Those preparations included spinning like a ballerina.)

It was the first time either of us had been to see the New York City Ballet and we were both very excited. I have wanted to take Monkey to the ballet for a long time now, but waited for her to get old enough to appreciate it. She certainly did.

We got all dressed up, snapped a few pictures together with the fancy camera (which was not coming to NYC with us so I wouldn’t have to keep track of it), and began our adventure.

We drove off to the train to NYC anticipating sugar plum fairies and hours of time just the two of us. We played game after game of I Spy on the ride into the big apple. Our train was delayed a few times by a broken train before it, but we managed to get into Penn Station with an hour left before our show. Sadly this meant we had to discard our pre-ballet lunch plans in favor of timely arrival at Lincoln Center, but Monkey was too excited to care. We dashed up the stairs to 8th ave, stuck our fancy hands in the air, and hailed a bright yellow cab. She cuddled up to me in the back seat as we rushed twenty blocks to our destination. We pointed out pretty Holiday displays to each other while we rode. When we arrived we oohed and aahed over the big Christmas tree out front and snapped a few pictures.

Monkey in front of Lincoln Center:

Mommy and Monkey in front of Lincoln Center:

Mommy in front of Lincoln Center (Taken by budding photographer Monkey):

We got to Lincoln Center 45 minutes before curtain, which left us with enough time to grab milk and cookies at the Starbucks on the corner and have a little snack by the fountain before the ballet began. Monkey really enjoyed sitting by the water and watching all the people go by. She kept pointing out little girls in red coats.

Once we finished our snack we headed inside to the gilded theater and marvelled at the lovely lighting, Marble floors, and towering balconies. Sadly, they didn’t allow any photos inside the theater, even when the performance wasn’t going on, so we will not be able to share the interior of the event.

During intermission we took a picture with a snowflake, which we will add to a scrapbook page, along with our playbill and ticket stubs. Monkey and I both really enjoyed the ballet. Afterwards we walked for a while, grabbed a pizza at a little diner, then spent 45 minutes looking for a cab that would take us down to Penn Station. Every cab we caught was heading uptown until a we finally caught one a few blocks from Times Square. We looked at all the bright city lights while weaving in and out of traffic and I promised to take Monkey back to see the Hersey’s store another time. Once we were safely on the train back home we whiled the time away by talking about the things she did when she was a baby and cuddling.

All in all, it was the best christmas gift I could imagine having.