Temporal Paradoxes

So how come July just went flying by, but the hour and a half I spent getting a root canal this morning moved like a constipated glacier?!?

Anyhoo, here's Ben's July:

He had his first dentist appointment on the 2nd. He didn't like it much. But he loved the dentist's name, and he repeated it throughout the day with joyful exaggeration (Dr. Boooooooo-eeeeeee!). The 8th is graced with a very disturbing image of what appears to be Mickey Mouse after taking psychopathic drugs and painting himself blue. This was supposed to be one of the Blue Meanies from the Beatles' movie "Yellow Submarine", of which Ben is a zealous fan. My artistic powers were similarly impaired on the 27th, when my attempt to depict Ben in a swimsuit failed on virtually every measure; I meant to go back and tidy that drawing up a bit, but never got around to it. As you can see, a fair amount of swimming seems to have taken place. Actually, it was a very rainy and cool month, so we seized every opportunity we got and it always made it onto the calendar. On the 30th, his daycare provider set up the slip-and-slide in the yard -- and he got to go swimming again when he got home! Starting on the 12th, we made a trip east -- first to Sturbridge, MA, for a cochlear implant convention, and then to NYC for his one-year follow-up appointments with his CI surgeon and the audiologist at NYU. In NYC we stayed with Neil's parents and brother; we didn't take the calendar, but I added a few icons after we got back. On the 15th we went to the Bronx Zoo, with mixed results. It turned out that it was a discount day, so all the daycampers were bussed in from all over the greater NYC area, making for massive crowds, long lines, a lot of noise, and very few opportunities to see non-human animals. We did get a great view of some camels as they were led across the path in front of us from one enclosure to another. You'll notice as per the 23rd that Ben has developed an interest in Home Depot (perhaps not unrelated to his love of Bob the Builder). There were many trips to Home Depot that week, since Neil's brother was visiting and putting in a new hardwood floor in the attic (lovely work, Uncle Fred!).