I came across Hilary Lang’s Wee Bunny pattern (it’s free! it’s easy! even I could do it!) and thought that perhaps I could make one, put a totoro face on it (from My Neighbor Totoro), call it a totoro and maybe be able to pull the wool over my kids eyes that they’re ACTUALLY supposed to be bunnies. (it hasn’t worked, Jocelyn called them “little BUNS!” during the construction process, although she has readily adopted the “totoro” title now that they’re made.. )

I’m pretty pleased with how they’ve come out, actually! I am going to make a few more, one more at the very least, because I WANT ONE TOO. A little “sad” totoro! More on that below.

Jocelyn’s Totoro when it was still clean (completed).

Ethan’s Totoro still in progress

I tried out a few different mouths when finishing up Jocelyn’s totoro. The totoros in the movie are never exactly giddy, except in certain scenes. Mostly they have a serious sort of look to them. Almost grumpy. So the first mouth I did, Jocelyn took one look at it and said, “It’s a SAD totoro!” and demanded a HAPPY totoro.

Ethan however, wanted a sad totoro. “Not too sad. Just.. sad.”

I like the “sad” totoro better myself. (Jocelyn has already had 24 hours with her completed totor, and it already had jam on it by the time Ethan’s was finished, and there was daylight for photo taking with both completed totoros.)

I don’t know why this picture tickles me so, but it does. they look so cute looking at each other.

And now, some real totoros, for reference (for more totoro goodness, visit totoro.org):

Yes. I am way off. But still, I think I did ok on the faces 🙂 Honestly, IT COULD BE WORSE! SO JUST SHOOSH!
-amy, hey let’s GO! HEY LET’S GO! WE’RE HAPPY AS CAN BE!

Ethan has always enjoyed puzzles. He has been doing puzzles for quite some time, including the huge floor type puzzle with the train and the first car that has “Aa” on it and it goes all the way to “Zz” and by the time it’s done it stretches from the family room all the way to the front entry. We have always indulged his fondness for puzzles, and he has gotten pretty good at them. We have a whole cupboard of puzzles.

Saturday, I sat down to make some Totoros. My kids love the movie, “My Neighbor Totoro” and I thought that Hilary Lang’s Wee Bunny pattern could easily just be called a totoro as well as a bunny. If I were snazzier, I would be able to adapt it so that it looks JUST like a totoro, but I’m not that snazzy.? So I was starting out, and Ethan decided he wanted to do a puzzle. Not any puzzle, but the 100 piece, age 5+ yellow cement mixer puzzle (a photograph, not an illustration). We get it out occasionally, but it is pretty difficult, being mainly yellow, and green (the trees in the background) without a lot of variation on these two colors. The ones he usually does are in the 50-60 piece category with several bright colors (usually with characters on them) that are age 3+. Anyway, when we do the cement mixer, one of us usually sits down with him to do it also, because it definitely is too difficult for a 4 year old.

I was getting started on the totoros, and told him, “I can’t help, because I’m going to be making totoros.” and he was fine with that, so we both sat working, he at the kitchen table and me in the family room for about 15-20 minutes, in silence. I called out, “How’re you doing?” and he sighed and called back in a wan, frustrated voice, “This puzzle is very hard. I really need some help.”

“Ethan honey, I told you I wouldn’t be able to help, because I’m making totoros, remember?”

(weary:) “I know. (pause.) It is just very tricky, mommy.”

Of course, I gathered my stuff and carried it into the kitchen to help him / work on cutting out the totoro pieces. I was astonished with what I saw.. in 20 minutes, he had about 60% of the truck done. The wheels were all together, though separate from anything else, he had the entire back end of the truck (which I think is the hardest part, and I always do it last) and a couple of sections of the front worked together.

I was truly amazed. I expressed my astonishment and lavished on the praise for doing so well and he positively glowed. It was like I had flipped a switch. Instead of seeing how far he had to go, he saw just how much he had accomplished, and he got excited and very proud, and eager to keep working.

So the next half hour, I cut out pattern pieces and helped him now and then with the puzzle, and then together, we finished up the surrounding background pieces. Ethan very proudly showed James the puzzle when he came upstairs.

The next morning, we slept in a bit. Ethan usually gets up and goes and plays by himself on the weekends. James got up and went downstairs to see what Ethan was up to. He had taken the puzzle apart, and was just finishing up the last pieces. I was a little dubious, actually. Could he really do the whole thing by himself? I thought maybe he had just taken some of it aparat and James saw him putting that together, but I was WRONG. Later that afternoon, with me sitting next to him sewing away on totoros, he completely destroyed the puzzle, making extra careful that every piece was disconnected, and then started working away on it again. And again, he did every piece by himself.

Judging from when Ethan usually wakes up and when James went downstairs and found him, we figure it took him about an hour to get to the 75% point where James sat down and helped with the finishing touches. When he did it again that afternoon, it took him about 45 minutes.

I am still flabbergasted that he did this puzzle – not so much that he COULD do it. The boy has been working on puzzles for a long time now, and he really does know the HOWs of it all, but he would have the patience and determination to keep at it until it was finished. I am so proud of him I could just burst.

_________

I took the kids in to school today, which is a juxtaposition from what usually happens – James takes them in every other day of the week, and I pick them up. Fridays, I drop off, and James picks up. It’s the only day I get to actually see their main teachers, because by the time I pick them up, they’ve already gone and it’s the more general caretakers in charge.

We got to Ethan’s room today, and he ran right in to start playing with the Legos. His teacher was leaning on the door, and I asked how he’s been doing.

“He loves the blocks,” Mrs. M. said, “I put them out in the morning just for him. He is doing very, very good. He is so smart. So intelligent. He tries very hard. He was a little sad the first few weeks of school, I think because he didn’t know any of the other children, but now, now he is playing with the others. He is doing very well.”

She showed me a project they did of picture of themselves with a family member. Ethan did himself with Jocelyn. They cut out fabric and glued it onto the paper. She showed how he cut out very small pieces to make the details on the legs and shoes.

“See these small pieces he did? I was very impressed. He is very patient, VERY determined, which is very unusual for this age. He is a very smart boy.”

I told her how the puzzle and she agreed that it was impressive. Being that I’m only around my son, and of course, I’m horribly biased, I do wonder if some of the things he does actually are advanced for his age or am I just being motherish about it all. It’s nice to hear that it’s not just all in my head.

Today is going to be a WONDERFUL day.

– amy, wallet schmallet – I AM RAISING A GENIUS!

Jocelyn is growing up so quickly. She speaks in pretty complete sentences now, but still in a babyish way. We can pretty much understand everything she’s saying, or make a pretty good guess, which she can then confirm or deny.

Looking back though, it’s funny to see how some things she says began, I’m sure, as her saying something, us not understanding and saying something else, then she ended up using THAT phrase and attributing it to her original object.

Then sentence was convoluted. Why don’t I just get right to it, shall we?

This one happened around Ethan’s birthday, back in May.

James went out with Jocelyn to get balloons for the shindig. She came back, saying what we thought was, “RED HOT BALLOON!” Well, she kept saying it over and over and we kept repeating it all day long. After the party, I realized she was ACTUALLY saying, “WE GOT BALLOONS!” But it was too late. “Red hot balloon” stuck, and we still have this ‘red hot balloon’ thing following us around wherever we go.

Here’s another one that I have no idea how it originated.

We got a new cat carrier earlier this year, for, well, carrying cats. It is pink (never let the kids come along or you will be forced to pick a color that you would normally gouge your eyes out before looking at yourself), and it had a long shoulder strap which I immediately took off, deeming that a cat carried in the carrier by the shoulder strap would be too jostling than holding it carefully by the shorter handles.

Anyway, that shoulder strap got picked up by Jocelyn, and she started carrying it around, and oohing and aahing over it, calling it something that sounded VERY much like, “treasure”. And to this day, if she sees that shoulder strap lying around, she squeals with delight and hollers, “MY TREASURE!”

Next, we’ll have to get her a “precious” and teach her to refer to herself as “We” as if she were royalty. I still wonder what she was saying which we thought was “treasure”.

I had another one, but I’ve now forgotten it. I was thinking over all these little wonky language things, because I don’t think she’ll have any more of them. My baby. So big. Sniff.

I have Bunko tonight, a date with James tomorrow (our babysitter who is now a senior, and NEVER is available to babysit, HAS A YOUNGER SISTER!!!! OH JOY OF JOYS! I AM SO EXCITED! TIME! ALONE! WITH MY HUSBAND! AND NO CHILDREN! IT’S BEEN SO SO LONG! We might just sit there and stare at eachother going, “So. Nice weather we’re having.” for about 5 minutes before we decide these childless moments are better spent making out.)(what was I saying again? oh yeah), this project to get started on, a Totoro to make per Ethan and Jocelyn’s demands, and probably actually no craftiness going on because I will probably have to WORK this weekend. Yuck.

I know that paragraph is a mess, but I am just going to grin and bear it, and that means you will have to too. You can do it. Just go get your treasure, and it will help you through these hard, hard times of reading blogginess by amy. I’m sorry. There there.

– amy shakes her money maker

Another edition of Vacation Pictures that were NOT taken by the blurry camera phone. This edition features our visit to the Mystic Seaport, in Mystic, CT.

First, we saw some lovely flowers in the parking lot.

Nice huh? I knew you wouldn’t realize how HUMONGOUS these suckers are, so I made Ethan go out and stand next to them so you could see that they are GINORMOUS.

Once we were “inside”, they had big boats…

And they had little boats…

Battles were fought…

Precious cargo was looted…

Mommy and Daddy were also very glad to have paid a total of $2,468 just so the kids could play dressup..

swab a PRETEND boat’s wall…

play in a pretend kitchen…

(while grabbing one’s crotch)…

… because, you know, why go outside and see REAL boats when Mommy and Daddy can catch a break from chasing after Jocelyn trying to FLING herself in the water by letting them play in what is basically a House O Toys?

I also tried to go to see a show at the planetarium with Ethan, but it was a bit too technical and after being amazed for exactly 4.75 minutes, he wanted to go, so we did.

Stay tuned for the next episode in the Unblurry Vacation Photos Slide Show series…. “Submarines, Periscopes and Gagdets, OH MY!”

THE ART OF THE SCALE

Weigh-in: 263.5 I am down 2.5 lbs. That is for a total of 5 lbs. HOORAY! Now, I don’t know how “true” this was, because I didn’t have my glasses on. When I can actually see, I step on the scale, and it kind of hovers around several numbers, usually within half a lb or two, and then LOCKS on whatever number is showing after 1 second, and that’s what it decides is “the” number.

This means that if you step off, and step back on again, you might get a different number. You have to stand very still and watch and see what is going on. With no glasses on, the LED on my scale is just an unreadable blur and I just had to hold very still, wait a few seconds, and then hop off and crouch down to see what it said.

It could have been hovering around 264, or even 264.5 and then blipped down for a second when I breathed in (or out) or some tiny shift of my balance affected the reading.. I don’t know. But I DO know that when I saw the number I was very pleased, and so I am TAKING it and not asking questions 🙂

Five pounds. This is great. I have to say, that the second week has been a lot easier than the first. The impulsive urges to just pick up that muffin near the register in the cafe were nearly OVERPOWERING the first week, and the second? What muffin? Where? Didn’t even see it. Weekends are definitely harder, but saving a lot of flex points for the weekend helps a good bit.

Here’s to week three!

SCHOOL’S OPEN HOUSE

Sunday afternoon was pleasantly filled with various activities. Ethan spends “naptime” nurturing the budding architect within by shunning his bed and building all varieties of creations out of his wooden train tracks or maybe his blocks. Jocelyn sometimes sleeps, but didn’t on Sunday. I heard her over the baby monitor singing and laughing and reading books, and finally, a loud THUMP! and then the loud, crying of a toddler who was not just crying to milk out every vestage of sympathy possible, but the loud insistent wailing of someone who is actually hurt. I nearly dropped my laptop on the floor in my flight up the stairs to her room, where sure enough, she was laying on the floor, apparently having fallen while trying to climb over her bed rail.

She wasn’t TOO hurt though (probably just more scared) because when I picked her up, she said through her tears, “I want to come downstairs Mommy!” (not, “ow” or “I have a boo-boo” or “I need a band-aid” or “I FELL!!” just “I want to come downstairs!”)

Since everyone was so SOLIDLY, DECIDEDLY awake, we decided to head over to the kids’ school’s annual open house.

Ethan’s teacher told us that Ethan is very smart, and has a very strong character. She added that he tries very hard, which was all EXACTLY the right things to say to us, and we were very proud of our boy. We spent some time playing with all his favorite toys, which SURPRISINGLY, all seemed to match the transportation or architect theme. Oh, or puzzles. The boy LOVES puzzles. I was especially excited, when we sat down at a table with paper and crayons, when Ethan decided to draw “our house!” by himself, with minimal involvement from me. “First draw a line up. Then over. Then down. Now the roof. Can you draw a door? How about a window?” Whenever Ethan decides he wants a picture of something, he normally hands one of us the paper and crayon and demands that we do it for him, no matter our arguments that “we’ll help, YOU can do it!”

My baby’s first drawing of a house. Next stop, college. Sniff.

Jocelyn was quick to show us the bin filled with My Little Ponies “Here’s the mommy, and here’s the baby!” and was sweeping busily in a corner when it was time for us to go. I mentioned to her teacher how we’ve been really cracking down on any whining, “I Waaaaaant a DRIIIIIIINK!” “Ask nicely.” “May I have a drink please?” “SURE!” and was excited (and stunned, actually) to hear that she doesn’t whine too much at school. However, she does say, “LEAVE ME ALONE!” which she says at home as well. I explained that unfortuately, she got that from her brother, who says that to her entirely too often, and instructed them to definitely not tolerate that sort of attitude because we certainly don’t.

Overall, the visit to the school went well, and then we were off to our next destination, Tamara and Andrew’s, where we dropped off a crib mattress and a pack and play. “You sure you won’t need it?” Tamara asked.

“Nope. Not unless something goes dramatically astray!” I replied.

STILL AFRAID OF ANY TOILET OTHER THAN HIS OWN

Since we were in the area, we called up Ann and Kurt to see if they wanted to risk life and limb and have dinner with us and the kids. I joked that eating with the whole family will be like an additional dose of birth control. Feel the need for babies? Oh just have dinner with us, and you can stave off that feeling for easily, another 2-3 years! I don’t know how it looked to them, but the kids actually did fairly well, with Jocelyn only trying to escape from the high chair a few dozen times at the end, and Ethan behaving remarkably well. The tale of How Dinner Went might have an ENTIRELY different perspective from their side of the table of which I am totally unaware! Hee hee!

But I digress.

We drove around a bit before heading to the restaurant so as not to get there too early, and Ethan started showing concern about what was going on.

“Where are we going?”

“We’re going to drive around a little bit and then go to the restaurant and have dinner with Kurt and Ann. Look a caboose!”

“Yeah. Sure. Caboose. Um, I don’t want to go to the restaurant. Let’s drive around and then drive HOME.”

“Well, then we will be hungry. We’re going to have dinner at the restaurant. Don’t you want some dinner? They might have PANCAKES!”

“I don’t want dinner. I’m not getting out of the car. So THERE. Humph.”

This went on the entire (short) drive.

When we got to the restaurant Ethan REALLY started acting up. He started to pitch a fit over nothing – he wanted MOMMY to get him out of the car and not Daddy, and he wasn’t going to get out unless MOMMY got him out.. James and I were starting to get pretty testy with him until I saw how he was crossing his legs.. I thought it was to prevent James from touching the buckle (because he wanted me to get him out, not James) but then I realized what it was.

The boy had to pee, and was afraid of being forced to go to the bathroom in the restaurant’s bathroom. I tried to make it as casual as possible, and at the same time alleviate this fear, by saying, “Do you need to go potty? Maybe you could water the grass.” And sure enough, all of a sudden the attitude dropped and he and Daddy found a protected area and he did some business.

Ethan has a major phobia of strange toilets, as you can tell from all the photos I posted from vacation of Ethan’s bare buttocks while he “watered the grass”. Sometimes I try to help him push his comfort level a bit, but this time, I could tell that he was really really worried about it. Jocelyn and I went in and got a table, and when he and James arrived in the restaurant, the surly defiant attitude was gone.

I wonder how much longer before foriegn bathrooms are acceptable. Because while peeing in the bushes is (kind of) OK for a 4 year old, I think the clock is ticking on that one.

– amy conquers strange toilets with ease, is conquered by strongly scented bathrooms, alas!

ps – I’ve not forgotten about Saturday, but damn, I can only write so much (and so often) and expect you to listen, so later it will have to be.

Mystic, CT is home to a lot of touristy attractions. We arrived early one morning to go visit the Aquarium, and had a little time to spare before it opened. So we drove down to the main street, parked, and walked around a bit.

It was a stunningly beautiful day.

When we got back to the aquarium, again, we were too busy chasing after Jocelyn to be very handy with the camera. After a few hours looking at fish, we came back to the main drag and lunched at Mystic Pizza before we headed back to the yellow house for naptime.

There are no shots of the interior, because we were too busy chasing Jocelyn from room to room while screaming, “DON’T TOUCH THAT!” and tearing out our hair. We were very grateful when the time came to strap her back into her carseat.

Gillette Castle is located in Gillette Castle State Park in East Haddam, CT. It was about 40 minutes away from our vacation house in Old Saybrook. It was built by William Hooker Gillette, who had a thing for portraying Sherlock Holmes on the stage. That is all I can tell you about him, because instead of being able to stand and listen to the nice lady who was relating all the pertinent details of the castle, James and I had to stop Jocelyn from climbing all over the roped off furniture and wiping her boogers on the beautifully tapestried walls.

One thing I do remember though (although I had to look it up to be exact), the castle was purchased by the state from his descendants, which would probably please him, because in his will, he stated his wish for the property not to fall into the hands of “some blithering saphead who has no conception of where he is or with what surrounded.”

He probably would have kicked Jocelyn out post haste.

More information can be found here.

CRIKEY!Astonished was I, when I read the news that Steve Irwin (The Crocodile Hunter) died a few days ago of a stingray’s barb straight to the heart. I heard on Monday, and every time I think of it, I get a little choked up. Steve was so full of personality and energy it is hard to beleive that he is really gone. Everything he did he did with such single-mindedness, and I have learned so much from his shows – and even more importantly, grown to LOVE the wild creatures he introduced to me. He loved wildlife so much, and the respect he held for animals taught me as well. His death was tragic, in that one would imagine it would come at the hands of some of the more dangerous creatures he handled.

Steve Irwin joins Jim Henson, Shel Silverstein, and (I know I’m forgetting some more) Dr. Suess in the “WHY GOD, WHY?!” category. When I think about his wife and 2 kids, tears come to my eyes.

He was on a radio talk show in the DC area a few years ago, and I only caught the tale end of it, but let’s just say, he totally KILLED, he was so awesome. A few minutes after the interview was over, the producer came in. He had talked to him a few minutes to ask him how he thought the show went, and to thank him for being on the show, etc. The DJs were astonished to hear how Steve was afraid he wasn’t “peppy” enough (can you imagine Steve Irwin not having enough energy?) and had actually gotten up a few hours before the interview (the time difference meant that it was sometime during the sleeping hours in Australia) to make sure he’d be “awake” enough to give a good interview.

Ah, crikey, I’m going to miss him.

WHY GOD, WHY?!!

CLASS NIGHTS

I spewed all Pollyanna-ish about making James’ gone-class-time to use for me, for craftiness, and really, it wasn’t a good comparison to the situation last summer. I was freaking out because I would have a Saturday with the kids, just as if it was a weekday, and I could see the whole summer droning out in front of me with a summer of all weekdays and only 1-day weekends, and I had to do something to keep it from feeling like a weekday.

That really isn’t the case here. It’s the dealing with the kids all myself that is tiring, with no buffer to keep Jocelyn from trying the bathroom door while I’m trying to pee, or going to inspect the newest creation that Ethan has built while I’m trying to get dinner on the table, or getting the jammies ready while the baths are in progress.

My plan for being crafty doesn’t really work, because it doesn’t alleviate all that, the way going on special expeditions alleviated Saturdays feeling like a weekday last summer.

So, I am taking the spirit of that post, but not the goals. I can’t really do crafty things before tehy’re in bed, not enough time, really, it’s filled with dinner, playing, tidying, baths, bedtime, etc. And after they’re in bed, that’s my time, just like any other day after they’re in bed. So while I may do crafty things in this time, I might not, the point is to make the CHOICE to not be grumpy about doing the evening routine by myself. And really, I am not, they are both old enough that it doesn’t feel like the chore it did last year. Ethan is helpful and can get into jammies and play until I’m done getting Jocelyn tucked in. The routine with a 4 year old and a 2 year old is infinitely better than with a 3 year old and a 1 year old (or younger).

SO, I’m just letting you know. Tuesdays/Thursdays, I may or may not do crafty things. Last night, I had more important things to do, like FINISHING getting my entire CD collection ripped to MP3 (i’ve been working on this all summer off and on) and getting pictures off the camera, converted to jpg, and up to flickr. YOu’ll be seeing some of our vacation pics over the next week or so.

STILL KIND OF CRAFTY

So, while I’m not dedicating Tuesday/Thursdays to craftiness, I still managed to do a cute thing for Ethan this past weekend. He has several pairs of pants that have holes in the knees but are otherwise perfectly fine, so…

MY NOSE! AHHHH MY NOSE!!

I have mentioned my super sensitive nose before. My nose is like a being unto itself. If it smells something it doesn’t like, it decides to punish me for putting it into contact with such abomination. Thus, my limited use of hairspray, and my abhorrence for the hand cream the Mary Kay lady leaves in the bathroom at work (it hasn’t been seen for sometime, thank god).

So yesterday we arrive home. It is the day the cleaning ladies come. Maybe I am just getting over my initial euphoria of having the house cleaned magically while we’re gone every 2 weeks, because I’m starting to get a little picky. I probably wouldn’t have been this picky yesterday though, if they hadn’t PUT STINKY CARPET FRESHENER POWDER on our carpets, or maybe it was just SPRAYING AIR FRESHENER EVERYWHERE, I don’t know WHAT IT WAS, but it STINKS. It REEKS of powdery floral stench ALL THROUGHOUT OUR HOUSE.

My nose is a very delicate organ. Do not accost the nose, or the nose will turn on you. This is not the first time the cleaning ladies have contaminated the air in my home, but after they had done it a few times, I called the office and requested that they not do it again. Ever. That was a month or so ago. And now they’ve done it again. I have a feeling that Jocelyn has the same delicate nasal passages that I have, because after I put her to bed, she spent the next hour coughing every 5 minutes, poor girl. Every time she coughed, I got angrier and angrier at the cleaning ladies.

Maybe it’s because of the stench that I started getting uber picky. They always leave a checklist of things they did on our kitchen table. I’m sure they go through the house, do their thing, then on their way out, whip out this sheet and quickly check off each box. Because I know they have never wiped down our kitchen cupboards. The reason I know this? Because they have cobwebs on them. I know they have never wiped down our baseboards. I know sometimes they don’t wipe all fingerprints off the woodwork and wipe off all window sills.. The reason I know this? BECAUSE THEY ARE STILL FILTHY.

I started getting all cranky about this as I was looking at their sheet, but then later i got a bit more reasonable. It’s not that I mind that they didn’t do these things, because honestly, the state we leave our house the mornings they come is probably not the best. If they didn’t have to spend time rearranging our piles of junk all throughout the house they probably WOULD have time to wipe off the cupboards, but as is, we’re only paying for X amount of hours, and if they can’t get to the baseboards without going over and charging me more, then yes. Please skip them. I’m just happy that the major things are getting done.

But really. Don’t kid yourself and try to put one over on me by checking every single box, because I’m not a dummy.

And if you put that stench in my home again, I’ll be calling up Merry Maids and dropping your ass.

– amy MY NOSE! MY NOSE!

http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/soydangers.html

I’m not in a full fledged panic now (as I was before).

James pointed out the homepage of this website to me:

> *NEXUS is an international bi-monthly alternative news magazine,
> covering the fields of: Health Alternatives; Suppressed Science;
> Earth’s Ancient Past; UFOs & the Unexplained; and Government Cover-Ups. *

So, anyway.

I’ve been, ONCE AGAIN, trying to introduce Jocelyn to dairy. She can eat cheese. She can eat yogurt. But in the past, when she consumes milk (or close derivatives thereof, like mac and cheese (lots of milk in the powdery stuff, so even made with soy milk is no good) and kraft american cheese (let’s face it that stuff is basically congealed milk)) she gets the runny nose like you wouldn’t beleive that leads to a cough and fever and sometimes ear infections.

I was going super duper slow this time. The last 3 days, I’ve added 1 tablespoon of milk to her soy milk. that’s it. And only to one drink, not to all drinks.

All was going well, until last night, when Jocelyn woke up crying at 3am. That’s right. Snottified. She woke up again at 5am. I went in and held her in the rocker, all wrapped up in her pink blankie that my mom made for her when she was born.
“Are you sick Jocelyn?”
“Yes. I’m sick.”
“Is your tummy sick?” (touching her tummy)
“Yes, my tummy is sick.”
“Is your throat sick?” (touching her throat)
“Yes, my throat is sick.”
“Is your nose sick?” (touching her nose)
“Yes, my nose is sick.”
(mommy frowns)
“Are your legs legs sick?” (rubbing her legs)
“Yes. My legs are sick.”
“Are your feet sick?”
“Yes, my feet are sick.”
I don’t think I’d put her on the witness stand.

I’m exhausted this morning.

I sat and rocked her for a while, the sky still dark with night. She has always been such a good sleeper, that we never really had to get up with her in the night. Her curls were all flung every which way from sleep that she looked like a sweet adorable baby medusa. Finally I put her back in her bed and fetched some cough syrup for her. She slept the rest of the night (a whopping 2 hours). She is getting so big and capable and already knows how to instantly throw her big brother and thus, the rest of the household into a fuss. Where did my little baby girl go?

Anyway.

This no dairy thing is driving me INSANE. I really thought maybe this time she’d outgrown it.
Anyway.

-amy wishes she knew all the answers

So, we are home. We left the “yellow house” (as Ethan called it) at 9am Saturday morning, and got home about 7ish. Hit yucky traffic in NY and also in DE, of all places. The kids didn’t sleep in the car at all and despite the constant TV entertainment, they were really cranky as we drove through our neighborhood to our house. Ethan was so wound up he cried several times before going to sleep.

First thing I did: go grocery shopping.

Second thing I did: Water everything in my yard, except the grass. It’s brown. Oh well. It’ll come back. My neighbor watered for me once while we were away, and our cat sitter watered everytime she came as well – everything looks pretty good. Tomatoes – yum. I’d forgotten how good they were.

Third thing (and actually, first, since I started on it last night) go through mail / bills / finances.

And now, here I am, blogging. I managed to hold off until it is FOURTH! Astonishing!
Hey, look all those blurry camera phone pictures showed up! Some even look pretty good. Shocking! I looked a few times on James’ uber fancy phone, and the images weren’t showing up, so I worried. Never fear, we have lots of non-camera-phone images that I’m sure I’ll be sharing as well.

Speaking of photos. A little experiment I did early on showed me just HOW little I know about taking pictures. I usually just keep it on the “P” setting on my Canon 30D with RAW pictures, and then fiddle with some other stuff.. I took a shot of the sound, and then on a whim, switched it to the little landscape preset setting, and took another shot. Of course, the landscape shot turned out much much better than the first. I need to learn about all the things that camera can actually DO. Anyone want to a) show me or b) take a class with me?

It’s naptime now, but I can hear Jocelyn calling upstairs, “I WANT TO GET OUT! I WANT TO GET OUT!” They’ve been in their rooms for a while, so I guess I’ll go get them out.

I’m sure I’ll write more later. At GREAT length. Y’all will be wishing for the blurry camera pictures to come back.

-amy