Moving and Shaking

Well, the big move from Minneapolis to Northfield is now over, and oh the tales to tell (like the one about the buyers threatening to postpone the closing 16 hours before it was scheduled to happen, or the one about how, on calling to see why our phone hasn't been hooked up yet, the Qwest "customer care" rep told me not to use Qwest.com to transact business like them). Anyhow, a better one as an appetizer:

Poor Julia is entering the strange-fears phase of toddlerhood. Yesterday morning, after looking at a new book which includes a picture of a tiger, we pretended to be tigers - crawling on all fours around the living room, growling softly ("like the kitty does"), and curling up on the couch (again, "like kitty") to pretend to take a nap. Cute, fun, and fifteen minutes well spent. Then, last night before bed, Julia suddenly got very worried about tigers outside, a worry she kept up this morning. She barely has a concept of "tigers," yet she points apprehensively at the windows, eyes wide, and says, "Deega? Deega?"