Tooth status update

Spaces are starting to fill in. By the way, Tessie enthusiastically brushes her teeth twice a day.

New Poll Question

A new poll question is up at right; voting is open until Tessie's birthday, but I'll be watching to see if any trend emerges. Feel free to add comments to any videos, or any other posts, for that matter.

Results are In

The first Travels with Tessie poll is now closed. Actually, it's been closed for almost a month, but, hey, we've been busy.

Here's the final tabulation of all 13 votes in answer to the question "Is Tessie the cutest baby ever?"

1. Hell yes! (5 votes, 38%)
2. absolutely (4, 30%)
3. of course (3, 23%)
4. yes (1, 7%)

Not a decisive victory for any one faction, but I think we're all agreed that Tessie is, in fact, cute. No real shocker there. (These results are tabulated by Blogger, so it's not my fault that they don't add up to 100%.)

A new poll question will be posted soon.

Artist at Work

It's "Staff Appreciation Week" at Tessie's day care, so she took the time to personalize some thank you cards.

To Boldly Go...

...where no Tessie has gone before.
We took Tessie to see Star Trek: The Tour down in Long Beach a couple of weekends ago.

Star Trek: The Tour is an exhibit featuring memorabilia from all of the Star Trek TV series and movies. (That's five live-action TV series and ten motion pictures; Star Trek: The Animated Series didn't seem to be represented, nor were any of the Star Trek video games.)

This show is very similar to the Star Trek: The Experience show at the Las Vegas Hilton, which Hannah and I visited back in 2000, only ST:TT seems to cover a much larger floor area than ST:TE, and it isn't a scripted, linear experience. In Las Vegas, ST:TE was essentially a performance by costumed actors on a replica of the Enterprise-D bridge and all the displays of memorabilia were meant to keep you occupied in the long, winding line to the stage; here, in Long Beach, the memorabilia displays are the attraction, and guests are welcome to roam around the floor at will.

Since the show is held in the Queen Mary Dome, there's lots of floor to roam. (For those of you wondering what a Queen Mary Dome is, no, it's not part of the permanently moored retired passenger liner. It is the gigantic dome next to the ship, in which was once displayed the Spruce Goose. That legendary airplane has been packed off to Oregon, leaving behind a giant, largely empty dome as an exhibit space (a small portion of the dome is used as a cruise ship terminal). Anyway, there's lots of space to fill with lots of artifacts - 50,000 square feet of space.

Tessie was probably pretty confused by the whole thing, but she remained her typical tolerant uncomplaining self as Hannah and I went from exhibit case to exhibit case viewing all manner of phasers and disruptors and bars of gold-pressed latinum, as well as costumes worn by major cast members and alien prosthetic make-up. She got a little more interested in the ship models, and she really liked running down the corridor, a recreation of a section of the Enterprise-D from which could be viewed Captain Picard's lounge, Dr. Crusher's Sickbay, and the transporter room. The display cases show that resin-cast props like phasers or Geordi's VISOR don't look anywhere near as high-tech as they do on TV. There's also a "History of the Future" timeline along one long wall that shows the chronology of the events of the Star Trek universe, beginning with the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969. No mention is made of CBS cancelling the original series after only three seasons, also in 1969.

We waited in two short lines for the opportunities to be photographed on two bridges: The Original Series' Enterprise and The Next Generation's Enterprise-D. Tessie has now sat in both Captain Kirk's and Captain Picard's seats, but she wasn't able to pull off either Kirk's intense, emotive dynamism or Picard's reflective, thoughtful brooding long enough to be captured on film (er, bytes?). In fact, she wasn't able to sit still long enough to compel us to buy the pictures at all. Perhaps we'll visit at the last stop - wherever it may be - of the five-year tour and try again.

Details abound. All those data display screens all over the ship? Laden with in-jokes, like the panels in the mock-up of Main Engineering that referred to "Overthrusters" and "Infinite Improbability Drive," references to Buckaroo Banzai and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, respectively. There's a section drawing of the Enterprise-D along the corridor, and shown in the main shuttle bay, parked behind the familiar Starfleet shuttlecraft, is an even more familiar Volkswagen Beetle. There's also a giant rat roaming the corridors, and lots of other details far to small to show up on TV.

[*** SPOILER WARNING ***]
(O.K., I admit a spoiler warning may be excessive, but some folks sure do take this stuff seriously.)

I took a spin in one of the simulator rides - Lt. Cmdr. Worf and I disabled a Borg hive by uploading an infected data node into its central core (or something like that) - it's amusing to think that data corruption may be the weapon of the future.

That theme was also used in the last part of the show we visited, the Encounter Theater, in which Wesley Crusher and Tuvok defeated the Borg, again through the use of bad data packets. (Those guys need a better firewall.) Tessie gave me a fright when, after I checked with the attendant to ask if the show would be suitable for her, she started fussing and crying anyway. The show has a multi-part video display, fog/smoke generators, a moving floor, and bright flashing lights, so I was expecting a full meltdown once it got going. Nope; wrong again. Once things started getting dicey for the ol' Enterprise-D, Tessie calmed right down and paid atttention, and soon enough we were all out of danger.
[*** END SPOILERS ***]

Here we are, about to leap through "The Guardian of Forever" from the City on the Edge of Forever [TOS].

Despite claims on the website, anyone expecting Klingon bloodwine or pipius claw will be disappointed. I was looking forward to some raktajino and hasperat, but all the dining service had was thematically renamed pizza, burgers and hot dogs. A marketing opportunity missed, as was the gift shop. I was all keen to buy Tessie a tribble, but "there be no tribble at all" for sale.

Another opportunity missed: Our visit coincided with a Scottish Festival, complete with competing pipe bands. Did anyone dress like Mr. Scott? Not a one!

Tessie and Raisins

Tessie loves raisins, but she is willing to share:

The Lexicon of Tessie

Tessie's vocabulary seems to be growing by leaps and bounds. Here's a snapshot of her current words and phrases, and their meanings:

• "all done" - As noted previously, this runs the gamut from "No, thank you" to "I have lost all interest in your pathetic attempts to amuse me. Stop it. Now."
• "yea" - For "yes," commonly heard after "Do you want a cookie?" or "Do you want to go to Mars?"
• "no" - Frequently heard as we guess at what she wants next: "Do you want more peas?" "No." "Do you want more sweet potato?" "No." "Do you want more water?" "No." Do you want a cookie?" [See above].
• "agua" - Water, in Spanish. She picked this one up at day care. She's bilingual.
• "shoes" - If they're on, take 'em off, or vice versa.
• "Mama" - Mommy, of course
• "Dada" - This one gets used to refer to Mommy, Daddy, random strangers, people on magazine covers, etc. Basically, all adult humans. Need to work on this one.
• "da" - Any large quadruped, e.g. dogs, horses, elephants, etc.
• "fishy" - Fish in any condition, e.g. swimming in a tank or poached on a plate. She loves both watching and eating them, as do her parents. This is good.
• "circle" - The shape, or a pufferfish, which is used to illustrate the shape in one of her picture books.
• "Tessie" - She does know her own name.
• "milk" - Preferred beverage.
• "yay" and "wow" - All-purpose sounds of enthusiasm.
• "nose" and "eye" - Body parts she can name on herself and others; usually accompanied by a finger being thrust at the part in question, whether it's hers or someone else's.
• "messy" - This one comes up a lot, especially when she's reviewing her accomplishments at dinner.
• "owl" - Every story book seems to have one, and Tessie loves to point them out.

Tessie & the Alphabet

One of Tessie's favorite toys is this alphabet board. Each letter has a picture under it, which is visible when the letter is removed. Most of the pictures are of animals, and Tessie has impressed us by learning it quite well. As the video shows, she's become quite adept at knowing which letter goes where. Sometimes it's hard for us to remember she's only 18 months old!

Medical Update

Egad. We're almost mid-way through February and I haven't made any updates this month.

Apologies.

We've all been a bit sick, and while Tessie's mood hasn't been at all dampened (she's as bright and cheerful as ever), her travels have been curtailed, and she's just not as photogenic with trickles of snot running out of her nose. Our chief family activity of late had been buying off-brand Kleenex, but Tessie's nose got rubbed raw, so we've switched to the "Puffs" brand; that's the kind with the moisturizer built-in. Pre-moistened facial tissues sound as appealing as ABC gum, but Tessie seems to appreciate the effort. Buy Proctor & Gamble stock; we've been going through a lot of them.

Speaking of medical news, Tessie had her 18 month check-up today and, runny nose aside, is fit as a fiddle. She is 23 lbs, 11.9 oz. and 2'-9" tall. That's 40th percentile in weight and 90th+ in height; in other words, she's tall and thin, just like her father (used to be). She had an injection (flu vaccine) and a blood test, so she really didn't enjoy the doctor visit much, but Mommy reports that she cheered up soon after.