"Night-night, Daddy" *EDIT*

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Just wanted to add a few videos I took tonight. (They're all short--about 30 seconds each.) I don't have a video of Ari saying "night-night, Daddy" but I do have one of her saying a whole bunch of other stuff. She was in the mood to repeat after me, so I took full advantage. Then, at the end, she gets annoyed because she can't reach her raisins.



Here is a perfect example of how she totally ignores me... but then she hugs Sasha, so it's all OK.



She has recently fallen in love with Finding Nemo. Here, we were getting her to point out Nemo. And I think she tried to hug him at the end...



And here, we're trying to get her to say "Nemo."



And a random picture of me, just because.



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A quick Ari story to sucker you in... I was getting ready to take her to bed the other night, and I told her to go give Tony hugs and kisses and say good night. She did all of that willingly, and then as I picked her back up, Tony said, "Say 'night-night, Daddy.'" She looked right at him, and clear as day, said, "Night-night, Daddy." You know how when kids are this age, it seems like their parents are the only ones who can understand what they're saying? For example, when Ari says "please" it sounds more like "bees," but we know what she means. Well, this "night-night, Daddy" was perfect--any stranger who would have walked in the room would have understood her. As I took her upstairs, I took advantage of the chance to try to get her to say "night-night, Mommy," but all I got was, "nigh, Moh-ey." Eh, close enough.

Tony took my car into the shop to get checked out on Thursday--oil change, basic tune-up, etc. They also checked the stereo, and much to my dismay, the problem is with the stereo itself, not with the wiring. So it truly is "all dead," not just "mostly dead." We only paid about $100 for the stereo at first, since we got it during a Black Friday special. But seeing as we have lots of other, more important, bills to pay, fixing my stereo is not going to be very high on our priority list.

I was watching Celebrity Apprentice last night (which, for some reason, was a 2-hour show, instead of the usual one-hour), and I have to say: If there was ever any doubt in my mind that this show is scripted, it's gone. I'm not saying the celebs are memorizing lines or anything, but it's so obvious that they're being told how to act and being pushed into certain situations and dramas. Not that I don't still enjoy the show--it's just interesting. Anyway, last night (WARNING: spoilers ahead, for both Celebrity Apprentice and the series finale of The Sopranos, if for some reason you're a fan who has not yet seen that--please proceed to the next paragraph if you don't want to know), Vinny Pastore decided to resign rather than risk being fired. (If you don't know who he is, he was an actor on The Sopranos.) And there was all this drama during the show, where Vinny was being a "rat" (spying on the other team, but pretending he was on their team, and then changing his mind--apparently, very similar to the character he played on The Sopranos). And here's where I need to explain how the series finale of The Sopranos went down. I never watched the show, but there was such an uproar among fans who were dissatisfied with how it ended, so I heard about it via the great Internet. The last scene showed Tony Soprano and his family in a diner, while the camera panned around to several different suspicious-looking people. They played Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" in the background, and then the screen went black and silent, very abruptly. This is important to know, to understand the insanity that is Celeb Apprentice. So anyway, Vinny resigned, and as he left the boardroom, some odd music started playing--much different than the usual "dramatic mood" music they usually play. It took me a second, but then I recognized it as "Don't Stop Believin.'" I chuckled, but that was only the beginning. As he walked out the doors of Trump Tower, the camera zoomed in on a couple random people standing around on the sidewalks. Then, just as Vinny was about to climb into the cab, the screen suddenly went black and silent. I nearly fell off the bed laughing. It was so completely corny, but hilarious.

Anyway, that's enough about that. One last bit of news (I saved the best for last)... my brother Dave and his wife Jess are pregnant! Dave called me yesterday at work to tell me, and I thought it was really sweet that he went out of his way to track down my work number to tell me right then and there (even though he did harass me on the phone a little). They're only about 8 weeks along, but they just had their first doctor appointment, which is what prompted them to start sharing the news. I'm so excited for them, and I'm excited for myself too, because this will be the first niece/nephew I'll have that I will actually get to see on a regular basis (Dave graduates med school in May, and they will be moving back into the area).

And that's all I've got. It's Friday, and as long as I survive my icy drive home (I loathe winter), tonight should be a nice, relaxing night. (Though I suppose if I die, that will be fairly relaxing too.)