Happy New Year (taken yesterday)

My favorite picture is of Eleanor giving Henry a kiss.  She's such a sweetie.  If you ask her for a kiss she leans in and plants her whole face on you and then smiles really big afterwords; so proud of herself.  I also really love the shot of her two little teeth.

I included a picture of the pomegranate tree in our front yard.  The weather this winter has been very wacky.  It's like one long extended Fall.  It's been in the 60's and 70's.  The leaves have been incredibly beautiful and they are still not all off the trees.  I raked the front yard today.

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Taken last Sunday, December 19, 2010

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13 months...

Hello, Diane!

Whether your toddler's been walking for months or is still happy just cruising, one thing's for sure: She's not about to slow down. With great delight, she'll soon learn that walking frees her hands to unroll reams of toilet paper, knock glasses off coffee tables, and empty your bedside drawers. What to do? Spend lots of time at the park, and notch up your childproofing efforts so your toddler has plenty of space to explore without getting hurt.

I just got this in my inbox today, right after seeing Eleanor remove all of the Kleenex from the box I just bought today.  She is giving me one good work out.  I am constantly putting back the books she unshelved, the clothes she removed from the drawers, the laundry she removed from baskets, the shoes she removed from the shoe-shelf, the rags from the rag drawer, and so on.  Henry did not prepare me for this.  He never one time took a book off the shelf.  He never unraveled toilet paper, he didn't rip things, knock things over, throw things, etc.  He was perfectly content to just be.

I vividly recall being at my friend Liz's house and watching in horror as her son Josh did all of these things and thinking how lucky I was to not have to deal with that.  Ha! I do now!  When Henry was a toddler I did notice he was not like the other toddlers.  He was not rambunctious.  He was uber-compliant.  He sat in my lap and liked to be read to for over an hour (I still have yet to be able to read one single book to E before she rips it out of my hands and tosses it).  I just can't get over how different they are.  It's actually cool.  It sounds like I'm complaining but really I'm just pointing these things out so the kids can look back one day and know about their early years.  I know this will all be over so quickly.  I am just trying to ground myself in the now.

Sleeping and eating are not worth noting at this time due to her week-long cold.  But needless to say, neither are good.  Eleanor has shed many of her former words (haven't heard her say mama in forever) and now she just says, "This!" and "That!" pointing at things for us to take her to or get for her.  She also says "Up" a lot and then "dog" .  She will say "Yes" and "da-da" but not often.

(Update: By the end of today, Yes and DaDa were said frequently.  Da-da when I showed her pictures of them together and "Yes" in the same manner she says "This" and "That".  So now we have three words from her that mean exactly the same thing= "Give me".

Meh...

Eleanor is still sick.  Justin and Henry just left to go to Dallas to have Christmas without us at his family's house.  This makes me sad because I was really looking forward to going.

But what is really really making me sad right now (besides the both of us having pink eye) is we have a cluster fly infestation.

What is this you ask?  I have never heard of these in my whole life and even the exterminator we've used for years never heard of them.  I've done all sorts of looking on the internet and they are very common up north or anywhere it's cold--and the websites even say they are not found in states bordering Mexico.  But, we have them.  Badly.  So the deal is, they do not breed or lay eggs or any of that indoors, they do that in the soil outside, they carry no disease, and they do not bite or eat anything but flowers (so weird!).  But they winter in people's attics, and the cracks and voids in walls, windows, etc.  And they emerge when they think it is Spring.  Well, since we've had unusually warm weather, they think it is spring.  They mostly hang out on the windows,  they are larger than houseflies, and they are slow and easy to kill.  But we are having to kill about 60 a day to stay on top of them, and this could go on for months.

I try to enjoy my day and then I look over and see one or two or 5 and I HAVE to kill them.  It's become a very OCD-like thing for me.  I am constantly angry at these things--they're loud--you can hear them, and since they are so big and slow, when they fly in front of you you can't just ignore them.  When you leave the house and come back 2 hours later, there will be 20 more of them scattered throughout the kitchen.  There's some satisfaction in killing them --like, ah, now your dead, I can move on, but they just keep coming back, and will for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks.

If it's not one thing it's another.  My new mantra.

 

84 degrees...(AKA Big Brother and Little Sister. AKA "I want a robot")

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Lady Longhorns...

A week ago, we took the kids to see the Lady Longhorns look pretty sloppy against the Lady Vols. It was Eleanor’s first game and she was pretty excited by the whole experience. The cheering, the band…the awesome bounce passes…she loved it all. Henry was pretty excited about going to the game until he realized we were going to watch someone else play and that people weren’t coming to watch us.[gallery]

Polaroids!

I've been really missing this guy lately...

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Still sick

Henry seemed better (no fever since Wednesday) so we sent him to school today.  He complained of a headache and I thought, okay, he's still sick but once we gave him ibuprofen, he was completely fine.  So I thought, well, it's dumb to keep the boy home b/c of a headache he may or may not have, and today was the Christmas pageant we were all looking forward to.  I stayed home from work b/c I have a raging cold, and Eleanor stayed home because she got shots yesterday and was absolutely miserable today.  She went to sleep at 5PM last night and did not wake up till 8AM this morning.  And when she did, she was NOT happy.

Anyway, as I was getting ready to head over to Henry's school to see my sweet little Shepard and gush with pride, we got a call from the school that he was not feeling well.  I dashed over there, saw all the parents getting their seats, and walked in my boys classroom and he was slumped in a chair in the back, while all the other children were in costume and excitedly flitting around the room, to Christmas music.  Henry burst into tears when he saw me.  He had been holding it in.

Tonight I was reading to him and he said, "After this book I want to go to bed."  My poor little guy!

My little Bobblehead...

I took Eleanor to her 12 mos well-check appointment today. I am trying not to worry, but Eleanor is growing at a very slow pace.  She is in the 25% for height and 10% weight and in the 75% for head circumference (the doc told me it might be a few months before she walks because of her head size in proportion to her body and that this was why she was late-ish on the crawling).  It does comfort me  that 20lbs is the 50%, so we're not talking a huge difference.  If E had eaten a big breakfast and had a full diaper, she'd weigh that:-)

Weight 19lbs
Height 28 1/2 inches

The doc was not the least bit worried, so that's good.

Sick boy...

Henry and Eleanor were both fever free yesterday and then around 4:30 AM today he woke up on fire.  He had a 103.8 fever and the shakes.  He wanted to lay in bed or on the couch all day.  He had no energy and did not eat much.  He said his body felt heavy and his eyes felt "wiggly" and his head hurt.  We were trying to get him outside for some sun and fresh air (it was 76 degrees today) and at first he didn't want to (unheard of) and then we said he could sit in Eleanor's stroller and dad would push him.  He got in with a blanket wrapped around him and was happy.  I fear this is the flu but hope I am wrong.

Tonight when I was cuddling with him at bedtime he told me "When I am a grown up I'm going to buy you a sheet.  A pink one that's your size." And when I showed that I was obviously moved by this statement (his lovie is a shredded up sheet he's had since he was a baby and he sleeps with it and needs it when he's sad, sick or injured) and then he said he was going to give me TWO sheets.  I told him that would make me feel so happy.  And it would.

Friday is Henry's school Christmas pageant.  They've been rehearsing this whole week (their songs) and today they got their costumes.  I'm so worried he will miss it.  I've been looking forward to this pageant since last year.

That's what I get...

Both of my children have fevers.

Oh, Christmas Tree

We put up the tree yesterday and decorated it this morning.  We tried to put all the decorations safely above the grabber's reach, but Henry decided a tiny section at the very bottom is where all of his ornaments should go.    We've been clandestinely moving them to safety ever since.

Feeling better...

Most of my life I've had an incredible amount of good fortune. I think that's why the month of November was so jarring. Our house/cars/health have rarely had any problems. We have had to spend almost nothing on the house in years (besides optional cosmetic stuff). The cars are both a decade old, so that's just a given. And it's Fall/Winter--so of course the kids will take turns getting sick. Eleanor has been so healthy and nary a runny nose until this past Fall, so we were just lucky to go that long without her getting sick. Same with Henry. He's rarely sick. And Kitty disappearing for 3 days--pretty common occurrence for indoor-outdoor cats, as I've come to learn. So, while it was overwhelming at the time, in hindsight I see it was just...normal stuff that happened all in one month. Maybe it's better that way. I will say my concept of money is really warped now. When you have to drop close to 10K in one month --every other sum seems tiny. My car troubles were about $700 and I was like, "Oh, phew, that's not so bad."

Speaking of money and spending...it's that time of year again. When I do none of it. I can't stand to shop (except for food, which I sort of enjoy). I don't get a shopper's high that I've had some former clients describe to me. I get something more like shopper's hives. So, we're only giving photos this year (as if this were different from last year). But, rest assured the grandparents are covering the children on Christmas. Henry is already in a panic state about all the wrapped presents my mom brought this past weekend.

But I do very much enjoy one thing about Christmas giving, and that's our tradition of giving lots of money we do not have to Henry's teachers. I LOVE it. That gives me a high. Why?  Because their work is SO important and they are not compensated enough.  Because Henry's favorite teacher also moonlights at Home Depot.  Because  I'm pretty sure of all the kids in Henry's class, our son comes from the least affluent family--by a wide margin, and we are (probably) giving the most, by a wide margin.  There are few things in my life I get to feel smug about, but gifting a wad of money to the people who spend the bulk of their day with my son--that makes me happy.

Catch up...

Apparently Henry has entered into the cross-dressing-daredevil-raccoon stage of preschooler-hood. He loves to walk around in my heels, wants his nails painted, he's fascinated with me putting on makeup and begs me to put it on him, and he wants to wear my clothes. He's also, something very new to him, become quite the daredevil. He's getting injured a lot more. Taking more chances with climbs and jumps and gotten a lot friskier with friends. They think it's funny to punch kick and hit each other (just with the older boys at school, for some reason). He's also started ransacking every single nook and cranny of our house. I found him digging through the trash yesterday and then screeching, "A KITE!" and he pulled out a long piece of colorful plastic, coated in the soggy remains of the morning cereal. He's also been doing this thing where he'll find some little object, appliance, thingamajig, and then mess with it until it breaks. If you see him concentrating on some small thing in his hands, that's what he's doing. He's thinking, "Hmmm...how can I break this?"

He's also pretty out of whack on sleep, lately. He all of a sudden, out of the blue, stopped napping at school. This is from the boy, prior to last month, I could count on three fingers how many naps he's missed, in his entire life. I don't know what's going on but it is not fun for us in the evening. He's now getting about 11 hours at night. And on non-school days he'll still take a two hour nap and then sleep ten at night. So 11-12 hrs is what it is these days. Hope it's enough. It certainly doesn't feel like it's enough but there's not a whole lot I can do about it.

Lastly, Henry is a very protective big brother. He is terrified of her falling down the stairs on the front porch. I'll run back in the house b/c I've forgotten something and come back to find he's got her in a head-lock b/c she's gotten too close to the stairs (she actually is pretty careful and does not attempt going down stairs yet--she's still in the examining stage of just starting at them, trying to figure them out.) He calls her "Sweetie" and will randomly kiss her at times, and uses this really sweet voice with her. When she's not around he always asks where she is. He can also be really grabby with toys and yells at her when she touches him, but that goes without saying.

Eleanor has really come into herself these last two months. I've found myself falling pretty head over heels for her lately, and maybe that's not something to admit out loud about your child who is already a year old, but better late than never, right? She makes me feel so happy inside--just looking at her, watching her be her own person. She's so happy and smiley and lets me give her the mandatory 20 kisses per hour. She is so independent for a little thing--and really has been from the get-go. I can put her down in the front room, by the play-kitchen or train-table, and she will entertain herself for 20 min and then crawl to another room in the house, find something else to do, and then crawl to the back out of the house and find Henry or play with the toys in that room. She can now go up steps, easily stand up and get down, and knows enough words to communicate her agenda. When I dropped her off at school yesterday, she did her excited kick-laugh thing when she saw her teacher, and I put her down and she crawled over to her and got lots of hugs and kisses and I left. What a relief to see her so attached to her teacher.

I really hope to remember this image of Eleanor: When I go in her room after she's woken from her naps, she squeals and kicks her legs wildly--sort of like a right-side-up inchworm. She is SO EXCITED. Then I scoop her up and immediately she reaches her arm out to something..anything and says, "That!".

In other news, E has finally regained her weight following illness and now weighs what Henry did at 4 months old.

Scenes from a party...

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Some classroom updates...

We have been enjoying exploring with rocks.  We used the balancing scale to test the weights of the different rocks we collected.  We also had fun painting some of those rocks.  Then we used some of the rocks to make miniature rock gardens like the ones we look at on the computer.  We also got to pretend to be rock hounds as we excavated rocks and mineral from earth mounds with chisels and brushes.  We used our rock chart to identify what type of rock we unearthed.

We'll continue exploring with rocks next week.  We will also begin talking about our family traditions and how different families celebrate this special time of the year.  On Monday, Adele's mom will come and read us a story about Hanukkah.  Have a wonderful weekend.

We are enjoying learning about what advent means and why we celebrate the season.  We will be making ornaments to decorate our tree.  You are also welcome to help your child make ornaments at home to bring to our daily service.  As we prepare for the Christmas season and our pageant celebration we will be talking about our family traditions and traditions of different faiths around the world.

Along with celebrating this special season we will be exploring a topic that all our friends are interested in - rocks.  I'm sure all of you found several hidden in your child's pockets or buried in their cubbies.  Preschoolers love rocks.  They are all budding geologist and rock hounds.  They love digging for rocks, sorting rocks, counting rocks and so on.  So we will spend time over the next few weeks using rocks to build on our skills in the areas of science, math, social studies, literacy, technology.  We filled our sensory table with various types of rocks and are learning the names of these rocks and learning some of the characteristics of the different rocks. We also used the rocks to count and sort by color, size, texture, etc.  We read the story Everybody Needs a Rock, then went of a rock hunt to find a special rock by applying the ruling laid out in the story.  I really love this story because the central theme of the story involves believing in your own choices and respecting the choices of others.

Crystals seem to be one of the favorite types of rocks.  A fun cooking activity that demonstrates how crystals are formed involves making rock candy.   Today we made our own batch of rock candy which is simply formed sugar crystals.  Everyone helped pour in the sugar and water.  Then we voted on what color to make and what flavor.  The rock candy will take 5 to 7 days to form.  Not only will be using our scientific observation skills to record the changes we will be forced to use self control as we patiently wait for the candy to form.  If all goes well we will all get a small piece to sample next week.

We had a fun sensory rich day exploring with corn and popcorn.  We not only played with popcorn in the sensory table, but we popped some in a popcorn popper which I think is so much better than microwave popcorn.  It's also much more fun. We were able to use all our senses for this activity.  First we touched the kernels with our hands before pouring them into the popper.  We talked about how they felt and compared them to the ears of corn we have on hand.  We then waited with anticipation and listened with our ears as the popper begin to heat up.  We watched with our eyes as the popcorn kernels whirled around and around in the popper.  Then we could smell the popcorn with our noses as it popped up and into the bowl.  Lastly, we got to use our taste buds to sample this tasty treat.  Tomorrow we will make our own corn chips out of cornmeal.  Have a good evening<div

We've been enjoying sampling different varieties of apples.  So far we've tried Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, and Red Delicious.  We discovered that they each have a different taste and texture even though they are all apples.  Next week we will try other varieties.  We will also do a couple of simple cooking activities with the apples.  So, please one apple of any variety with your child by Wednesday. We will use them to make applesauce and an apple crisp.

We have also been exploring with gravity.  We put a small ramp in our room and have rolled different items at different levels to see how fast and how far they would go.  We've had a little extra outside time since the weather is so pleasant.  Besides, we have really enjoyed hunting for acorns and pecans on the playground.  This afternoon we will start to paint the clay leaves we made.  We'll leave them here over the weekend to dry.

What will it be next?

The clutch went out on my car this morning.

I'm thinking health problem.  And not some little pansy cold, either.  It's gonna be good.  Something chronic.

Let's do this.

The haps...

On Eleanor's birthday, I made cupcakes and we sang to her. ( Her birthday party is now rescheduled for this Sunday evening.  Let's hope, after 2 reschedules, this actually works out.)  Then at 1:00 I went to work and Justin stayed with the kids (kids and Justin both had off for Thanksgiving) and they went to the park (after naps) and met up with the cru.  I got off early and joined them.  As everyone was leaving, I sat on a park bench and fed Eleanor with my friend Sarah, as she was feeding her baby Jane.  I looked at the park and thought about Henry's second birthday party being there, and was glad to still be surrounded by the same people.

About 1:00 AM Eleanor woke up with a fever.  I can't remember if that was the one that was in the 104's.  It's all cloudy now because she ended up having 4 nights in a row of high fever.  She ate almost nothing but frozen blueberries the last several days.  She lost a pound.  She started nursing like a demon; this after almost weaning herself the week before.  Her sleep was very erratic.  She was miserable.  On Thanksgiving, my MIL, Justin and I each took turns holding her while we ate our delicious meal (Thank you Paula!).

Henry spent his first night ever away from us.  He went with grandma back to her hotel room and I believe they stayed up pretty late watching cartoons, playing games, reading books and eating snacks.  The next morning, grandma cut his hair and they went for the continental breakfast, which I'm sure meant Henry ate nothing but bread.

Saturday morning, I took Eleanor to the doctor, while Justin took Henry downtown to the Thanksgiving parade.  We were there two hours and were told to come back again the next morning to try to get another pee sample.  Justin took her and she pee'd and then fell asleep in his arms --which made the hour and 30 min they were there go much faster. The doctor just called and she did not have strep or a UTI.  She must have just had a very nasty virus.

Eleanor is now fever free.  Seems mostly back to her old self.

Happy First Birthday Eleanor!!!

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Thanks for the new wheels, Aunt and Uncle Sligb

Must be somebody's birthday

Cue the flies and stench...

I believe our rat problem is resolved.  Now we have a fly and vomit inducing stench problem, due to the dead rat population underneath our house (or in our walls?).  We used poison and traps and the poison is what did him/them in (I still have not actually seen a rat).  But last night we started noticing very large vulture flies.  The really gigantic slow kind that just sits there looking stupid when you approach with a shoe.  Very easy to kill but gross nonetheless.   I don't like killing anything that has a visible face.

Yesterday we had the gigantic hole in our drywall fixed (the hole the plumber had to create to get to the pipes). After fixing the wall and making a colossal mess, he said, "Mam, I'm not going to lie.  I'm not really prepared for this job.  They pulled me off another job to come to your house and I don't have anything to clean this up.  Can I borrow your broom?"  So after he swept up the large chunks of crumbly sheetrock, he asked me for a mop and I just told him not to worry about it because I needed to go to work.

I got home last night and looked at what needed to be done,  saw there were dollops of hard, dried cement-like goop all over the NEWLY tiled bathroom floor, the baseboards were not sealed to the wall, and goopy hard cementy stuff all over the hardwood floor outside the bathroom, and I decided to wait till this morning to deal with it.  I wheeled E's high chair over to the hallway in front of the bathroom, gave her her breakfast to smash all over her face and toss on the floor, put the TV on for Henry, and got to work with a butter knife and lots of soap and water and rags and it took me almost 40 min to clean up.  I still could not get it all out.  Grrr.  But whatever.  It's my fault for going easy on that guy and not fully checking his work.

Ever since the gas leak and all that's lead to (sickness) and the time change, both of our kids have been waking up at night.  The whole last week E has been waking twice a night.  I'm ready for the dark cloud to move on now.

Yesterday at work, I could tell this teenage client of mine was holding back on something.  I've been seeing her almost a year so I could tell something was up.  She confessed feeling like I was perfect--I had a husband, two children, a house, a career, I went to college, etc. and I looked at her and said, "Yeah, but I have rats."

 

I wanted some privacy...

But wordpress would not cooperate.  I tried adding my closest friends/family and it would not allow some of them but would for others and I'm sick of fighting with it.  The blog was getting hundreds of hits per day (over 300 the week of Halloween) and after I made it private it got about 5 per day--so hardly anyone was able to log on.

The funny thing is I don't mind total random strangers reading this blog.  It's the distance (laziness?) the blog has enabled amongst certain people I care about (why spend time with loved one's when you can just read about them online?).

So, here's my request...  If you want to know how my family is doing, call us, visit us.  The blog is an online baby book and your reading it is wonderful and maybe makes you feel closer to us, but it's a one-way medium and we do not feel closer to you.  I don't mind strangers or acquaintances lurking, just not loved ones.  Don't be lazy--don't abuse the blog.  You know who you are.

New stove...

After talking to a stove repair guy and further internet searching (and upon closer stove inspection) we decided there was no salvaging the stove.  Justin ordered a new one that will be here Saturday--hopefully early Saturday since Eleanor's birthday party is this Saturday and it's a spaghetti dinner for about 20 adults/children.

I called a guy to come check out the giant hole in our wall from the gas repair men.  He'll be here tomorrow.

Next, I'm going to start tossing money from the front porch if you want some.

Continuing saga of suckage...

So, we sealed the holes, cleaned up the rat poop/pee and put out poison, which did get eaten, and we have not seen any more rat(s), however, the rat(s) got into the stove and made a cozy home out of the stove insulation.  We discovered this yesterday after placing pecan pies in the stove (made from our own pecan tree) and then the whole house began to reek of rat pee.  This makes cat pee smell like flowers.  It's so god awful I had to step outside a few times just to breath.

I've done some looking on the internet and it looks like our practically new stove is toast.  Apparently you can't ever get that smell out.  It seems to me all that would need to happen is replacing the insulation and cleaning the surfaces but apparently that's not good enough.  I put in some calls to appliance repair shops to see if this is possible --but I don't have much hope.  I think we'll have to...sigh...buy a new stove.  Because of pee.

Now if only the car engine could go out...or maybe we could have a small kitchen fire?  How about some flooding.

In other news, our kids are awesome and I love them.  Eleanor is a standing up and sitting down genious and loves to walk across rooms with her push toys.  She shakes her head "no" now and does silly faces and waves and claps and is just so sweet.  She loves to rest her little head on our shoulders and laps.

Henry has been a trouper these last few weeks of Ho-Vo hardship.  He did not go to school last week because of illness (thank god for sick leave) and has really had very little fun lately.  But he's doing fine now and will be back with his friends tomorrow.

The longest two weeks...

After 13 days, we got our gas back on last night.

We now have holes everywhere and this attracted a rat.  Hopefully it's just one rat.  Justin says he's very cute.  But he's going to have to die real soon.

My tire is flat.

All four of us got sick.  Very sick.  Stomach bug.  First Henry, then me then Eleanor and then Justin.  And we had no hot water.  A lot of work and school has been missed by all.  After the stomach bug cleared, they both got colds.  Bad colds.  Stay home from school and work colds.  This is what happens when you can't really wash your dishes or hands or laundry.

Kitty got trapped in my car overnight.  Justin discovered this when he was leaving for work and saw that my hazard lights were on.  There is now cat hair everywhere.

I am so uninspired and exhausted.  Bye now.

 

More Henry classroom updates...

We had a fabulous day.  Before going to movement class with Ms. Felicity, we brought out the balance beam to walk across.  Not only did we get to test our balancing skills, but we go to practice taking turns which is a skill we are still working on.  Though we are getting better.  We also started working on our spooky name cards.  This is a fun activity practicing name recognition and letter tracing.  We used a paint brush and glue to trace over the letters in our name.  Then we poured the colored sands over the letters to add texture to our name.  When they dry, we will be able to trace over them with our fingers as another prewriting activity.

Wow, our day just seemed to fly by today.  We've been enjoying playing with "spooky" sand in the sensory table which we made by mixing black, orange, green and white sand.  We had fun pouring,stirring and sifting the sand.  We also practiced making shapes and letters in the sand.    Several of our friends got together to build haunted houses  out of the blocks.  I really enjoyed watching them work together and problem solve as a team.   We took a couple of pictures of their work.  I could tell they were very proud of it.  It really was a great day.

Last week and this we are focusing on real vs. fantasy.  Our goal is to help them differentiate between reality and fantasy.  During the preschool years, children go through several stages of pretend play.  At 3, they "are" the princess or the firefighter - and love to dress and act the part.  As children mature, they begin to "take" the role of the princess or firefighter, adding to the persona with props and costumes.  They are able to understand that they stay themselves even when they have the costume on.  This progression from being the character to acting like the character shows children's process in separating real from pretend.

We have been enjoying exploring with different material both liquid and solid in the sensory table.  Last week we played with rice and beans and tested our fine motor skills as we tried to pick them up with chopsticks.  Was not an easy task.   Yesterday we played with water and measuring cups.  Today, Ms. Laura and the class made clean mud with bars of soap.  They talked about how it felt on their hands.  It was a fun experience.  Later in the week we will make goop.  Have a good evening.

We had a fun busy day.  We started our morning by giving our fingers and toes a workout with bubble wrap.  Some friends played with the clean mud while others read stories and built with the wooden blocks.  We had a fire drill before going outside to the playground.  Everyone remembered to walk quietly and quickly to our meeting stop.

While we were outside we got to show off our creative side by decorating hats with various art materials.  We made princess hats, wizard hats, and witch hats.  This afternoon they made special magic wands.  Tomorrow we will talk about the special powers each of us have.  On Friday we will have a special treat.  We'll have a dress up party and wear our hats.  Mary Jane's mom is bringing cupcakes for us to decorate and take home.  We will also decorate mini pumpkins.  Have a good evening.

We had another fun day.  We finished decorating our hats and magic wands.  We talked about some of the special powers we have inside us like the power to control our body; the power to control our emotions; the power to be brave and try new things;  the power to make good choices; and my personal favorite the power of patience to be able to wait for something we want.  We decorated our wands with special magic stones to help remind us of these powers.  Tomorrow we will have a little dress up party and wear our special hats and sprinkle "magic dust" on our wands to make them work.

What an exciting day!  We really had to test our power of patience to wait for our special dress up party with our magic wands and hats.  We sprinkled magic dust on the wands to remind us of the powers they hold.  Some of our wands are in need of repair and playing with them outside.  We will fix them after rest time.  We will also celebrate Zella's birthday.  We'll decorate her birthday banner and enjoy a treat.  We have several things that can go home today along with the bedding.  There are hats, wands, decorated cupcakes, and decorated pumpkins.  Also, please check the folder for the pictures from our photographer.  She got some really nice shots of the class.  Have a Safe and happy Halloween.

We'll spend the next few weeks focusing on signs of fall and fall harvest time.  We've been talking about the changes in the weather and changes in the environment.  We'll sample different variety of apples and examine different types of gourds.  This is a great time for us to working on our classifying and sorting skills.  Today we sampled a honey crisp apple which is my personal favorite.  Most of the class really like the taste.  You are welcome to send a variety for us to sample and talk about.  We have talked some about the changes in the colors of the leaves.  This afternoon Ms. Laura and Mr. Dillon were going to let the class play with clay and make leaves from cookie cutters.  When the clay dries and hardens, we will paint it the colors of the leaves we've been observing.

Language aquisition...

Amidst all the heckery going on around here, I am excited about Eleanor's new words.  Yesterday I picked up a book and said "Book" and she repeated, "ook", and this morning I read to her again and she said "ook" without me prompting the word.  She also says, "at" for "that".  And she regularly says "up" when she wants someone to pick her up.

So, at 11 months, we got:

Mama, dada, ki-ki (kitty), up, at (that), ook (book), and uh-oh (her first "real" word).

I know for sure she understands:

Food, milk, no, bye bye,  Henry, and her name of course.

I guess I'm surprised by what all she knows because I have made zero effort to teach her anything.  The two times I have were when I told her "book" and when she started pointing to things and I said, "That" and then she said it.  I suppose if I stayed at home full time with her like I did with Henry, she would be saying much more, but this is pretty cool.

The other thing about E is she has the opposite of autism.  She is constantly trying to socially engage others.  She loves to play little games with us and always makes eye contact and loves to laugh and smile.  She displayed coyness the other day when I took her to work and she was being admired by the secretaries and she gave a smile but buried her face in my chest while peeking out.  I'd never seen her do that.  It was cute.  At night when I rock her before placing her in the crib, she stares up at me.  I put my face really close to hers and make a silly sound and she laughs laughs and wants me to keep doing it.  She has a little boyfriend at school named Daniel.  The sleep in a row on mats on the floor and Daniel and E always nap next to each other and D likes to pat E.  They eat their meals together and crawl around together.  They are the oldest of the babies, so they go way back.

Day 6...

The plumber thinks he might be done on Monday, but possibly Tuesday.  That would be 10 days of no hot showers, no laundry doing, no dishwasher, no stove, and no heat.  It's supposed to get into the 30's tonight!  I slept with Eleanor last night because she was so cold.  Henry woke up this morning saying, "I'm tired.  I didn't get enough sleep.  I was cold everywhere."  We have space heaters but they actually get the room too hot unless you stand by them and adjust them all night long, and that's not going to happen.  But tonight it probably will.

Everything I make in the crock pot tastes exactly the same.  Like moosh.

The plumber just ran past me saying, "Can I use your bathroom?  I have an upset stomach."

YES!

Ugh....Ugh...Ugh...

Hammering, drilling, pounding, shouting....all day.  Day after day.  Today they destroyed our new bathroom.  I put E down for her nap about 30 min ago.  Right now the plumber is sawing something right next to her room.  Oh, now he is hammering as hard as he possibly can.  And still...she sleeps.  I have no idea how.  Oh...now he is yelling at the top of his lungs so the elderly guy underneath the house can hear him.

I am so ready for this to be over.

Halloween Polaroids

[gallery link="file" orderby="rand"]

More of the same...

Justin boiled water on the grill tonight so the kids could have a bath. I am about to go to the gym to wash my hair (maybe I'll lift a weight or something too, we'll see.)

This afternoon, E and I were playing on the lawn and the plumber crawled out from under the house looking very dismayed. He told me that our water heater is leaking and the wood underneath it is so rotten it looks like the floor may collapse. I'm thinking of a used Volvo... or a trip to Paris. (Funny, when I was a teenager I thought of money only in terms of how many CD's I could buy. As in, "That speeding ticket is costing me like 8 CD's!")

Our plumber is enormously, morbidly obese, and his coworker is elderly. I try to picture those two spending hours in the dark, burrowing tunnels underneath my 60 year old house, while I play with E and H above. This is going to be one long week.

We might have gas again by Friday. I'm going to try crock pot mac and cheese tomorrow.

It gets stupider...

The plumbers are back for another full day of destroying my house. Today they are going to have to drill a giant hole in my hard wood floors and a giant hole in the wall in the bathroom that we just had re-done. So we'll have to get the contractor back to fix that and repaint--or I guess we could probably do it in all our spare time.

I just got Eleanor to sleep and now they are using something that sounds like a jackhammer under the floor in her room. I can feel the vibration from the back of the house. So I guess there will be no napping today.

I'm going to go attempt a freezing cold shower now. Here's some trick or treating pictures for your delightment. (not sure why this word does not exist yet).[slideshow]

Goodbye October...

I hate October. It's been a bad luck month for me for probably two decades and maybe more if I could remember back that far. I thought we'd escaped it unscathed by the return of our Kitty (saving my complicated grief for a later date...probably another October) but wouldn't you know it...discovered on Saturday by my mother in law, we have a gas leak.

I've suspected this for about...six years. The back bathroom has always...always...reeked of a gas-like substance. It did not smell like natural gas though. It smelled like sewer gas or the fumes that might escape from underneath the house. We have an alarm that should tell us if there's a leak and it never did, and it didn't always smell like gas. Only in cold weather and only in that back bathroom, sometimes. I remember it was particularly strong when I was pregnant with Eleanor and sleeping in the back bedroom. I'd have to use the restroom for the fifteen millionth time during the 3rd trimester, which was this time last year, and the gas smell was so strong I would have to immediately open the window so that I would not gag. I complained to Justin about it for years and even recall complaining about it strongly last winter and saying "It's gas, I know it is and our baby is going to come out deformed because I've been breathing it in this whole pregnancy."

Still...neither of us did anything about it. I don't know why. I think we did not want it to be gas so badly. I know you must be thinking what terrible fools we are. I would agree. When gas was confirmed this past weekend and the city took our meter and told us we could not have our gas back until we fixed it, I was so upset I wanted everyone to leave. Justin's best friend was here and my mother in law. I still have not fully accepted that we've all been inhaling low doses of gas for over half a decade.

The plumber came out today to determine where the leak is coming from. He told me they are going to have to dig a tunnel under the house because the crawl space is too low to get to the pipes. This will cost about the same as a used Honda. We have not had hot water since Saturday. My children look dirty to me. Henry wet himself last night. We probably will not have gas again for several more days. I'm trying to think of grilled vegetarian meals.

Feisty...

Halloween 2010

[slideshow]

First dog show with grandma...

Justin's mom is a breeder/groomer/dog show-er.  She breeds and shows chihuahua's.   She was in town this weekend for a show and she entered Henry and her dog Poppy into the costume contest.  They won.  Henry kissed his trophy when he got it.  Henry will be talking about this one for a loooooooong time.[slideshow]

Kitty Came Home

He's tired and hungry....but safe!

Kitty contd...

I went to talk to some of the neighbors this evening to see if any of them had seen Kitty.  Our cat was very well known on the block because he's so friendly and will go into anyone's house.  The next door neighbors let him in , the neighbor across the street let him in, etc.  He's also extrememly large so he was pretty noticeable.  Anyway, the next door neighbors are ridiculously nice.  It's three guys who are filmmakers and they work from home.  They are in their mid 20's  (I feel so geriatric around them) and are just so so kind and friendly.  The neighbor James told us that yesterday they saw Kitty get chased by two large dogs and he ran into our backyard and climbed about ten feet up a tree.  He was stuck there so they went to get a ladder but he fell (landed on his paws) and then he ran under their house (a favorite spot of his).  Justin and James spent about an hour searching under there tonight but no luck.

We told Henry.  He is sad but of course doesn't really get the seriousness of it--that he will probably never see Kitty again.  He was so sweet with that cat.  He loved him dearly. He always always mentioned Kitty as a member of the family.  He talked about his cat at school.  He was so cute ordering Kitty around like Justin and I and he was also so nurturing and would lay down with him and cuddle on the floor--give him kisses.   I want to write more about Kitty and my memories but right now I'm just too sad.

Light a candle for Kitty...

He's missing.

Happier Daddy Time

H and E were very content to do their own thing tonight while I was making dinner. It was so quiet at one point, I went to see what horrendous scene was just beginning or just ending....and found this.

Driving Ms. Daisy

But I just saw her...

Last month a mother I know died.  She had stage IV breast cancer.  She discovered this when her daugher Nella, who goes to Henry's school, was 9 months old and she was still nursing.  Her oldest daughter is in the 4-5 year old class and Nella is in the 2-3 year old class, so Henry knows them both.  We went to her birthday party 2 weekends ago--her mom died on Sept 20th.  I was sitting next to Nella when she blew out her candles and I got choked up because I was so sad her mom was missing it.  I also wanted to scoop her up and cuddle with her because if I died and left babies behind I would want some other mother to love on my kids.

As soon as I found out Adelea died I could not stop saying over and over, "But I just saw her."  I JUST saw her.  She would often drop off her kids (late) at the same time I did, and we would chat in the breezeway, joking about what slacker-moms we were, always being late.  I remember her telling me about living in Germany and I remember her telling me about her part time job that paid nothing but maintained her sanity (sounded familiar).   She had huge dimples and the bluest eyes I've ever seen and she was always smiling.  I know people do that when someone dies--they bring up these amazing things about the person and they go on and on about it, but I would have said those things before her death.  I didn't even know she was dying.  She looked so good.  Tan, carefree, YOUNG.  She was only 32.  Her death must have come very quickly b/c she was still dropping off her kids the week or so beforehand.   She was bald, but I figured she was just cool like that. Her hair was always shaved very short so I thought nothing off it when it was suddenly bald--(it's Austin).

I wanted to attend her funeral but I couldn't do it.  I had Eleanor with me and I would have been a sobbing mess.  The family requested donations be made in her honor to Henry's school.  They are building a separate playground for the 2 year olds and dedicating it to Adelea.  Right now the dad and children are being surrounded by love and support.  I plan to make myself useful at some point to this family who does not really know me and in the interim, I will steal looks at those two beautiful babies flanking Henry's classroom and hope they are doing alright.

First tooth!!!! 11 months old today!!!

Our blog is undergoing some changes so stay tuned for more pics.  But Eleanor got her first tooth!!  She was so fussy on Thursday and now I feel terrible for not recognizing the signs.  In hindsight it's obvious she was teething but by now I stopped even suspecting teeth.  Her sleep was not off (in fact she slept ever longer than usual--13 hours last night with an hour and a half morning nap and a two hour afternoon nap).  She's been really packing it in with sleep this past week--maybe she was in pain and just wanted to tune out?  My sleep books say teething does not affect sleep --and it never seemed to with Henry.

Eleanor pulled herself up on the train table today, which is not an easy thing to do.  She's also doing this caveman bear crawl thing because she wants to stand up and walk so badly but she can't yet so she stands up with her arms on the ground still.  It's hilarious.  As for regular crawling she's getting smoother and faster everyday.

I took Henry to a Halloween Howl last night at The Austin Nature Center.  We met up with his friend Moses and they had a great time tackling each other in the dino (sand) pit and sharing the flashlight.  They roasted marshmallows and played in green slime.  Henry pet his first snake and a hissing cockroach.  On the drive home he was really fascinated by the Austin skyline, "Mom, look!  The CITY!"  The moon was almost full.  I can count on one hand how many times Henry has seen outside in the dark so he was VERY excited by all the lights.

This afternoon we went to Mayfield Park and Jack Black was there with his family.  He looked absolutely ridiculous and at first I did not know it was him and really wanted Henry nowhere near him.   Once I realized who it was I just wanted to ignore him.  I'm terrified of being an idiot fan.  I once met Henry Thomas at a bar (the guy who played Elliot in E.T) and my friend insisted I talk to him and finally I did (I was 23 at the time) and he was happily talking to me but I said, "Well, I won't keep you from your friends." and he said, "No, it's fine.  My friends don't mind". But I spun my bar stool back around while he probably sat there starring at the back of my head thinking, "What a weirdo" and walked away.

Leaves...

More Polaroids

Eleanor and I have been going on a lot of walks in the wagon now that it is perpetually between 70-80 degrees every night...and we often go by this very cute, well-maintained house just down the street from us. Last night, the woman who lives there and two guests (her daughters?) were on the front lawn when we went by...and E was charming them up pretty good. When we turned around and came back, the older woman came dashing across her lawn with the hat seen below in her hands. She puts it on E's head, which Eleanor would usually immediately rip off but never did, and the "awwwww"s really start flowing. Ms. Neely has lived in that house since 1968. She makes these caps for the cancer patients at Dell Children's Hospital also just down the street.

I see a lot of kids with ADHD...

...at my work.  One of the first things I ask about is sleep.   I've done so much research about sleep that I feel something akin to fundamentalist Christians--dying to get the word out.  Most parents do not realize the role of sleep in behavioral health problems and learning disabilities.  If I get a kid in my office who is bouncing off the walls and yet is taking stimulant medication for ADHD, I know a sleep disturbance could be lurking.

I had a dad in my office two weeks ago who was presenting depressive symptoms and I (as always) asked about sleep.  He told me he sleeps about 4-6 hours a night.  I asked how long that had been going on and he said as long as he could remember.  He said, with some amount of pride, he didn't need to sleep as much as others.  I begged to differ and listed all the ways in which he was functioning poorly (unemployed, hx of relationship problems, multiple health problems, chronic depression and hospitalizations, etc.).  Because of a lack of appreciation for the body's need for sleep, he was not concerned about his 6 year old only getting about eight hours a night (he needs 3-4 more  hours than that). The child was a mess.  Presenting all sorts of scary symptoms.  The dad wanted a psychiatric eval so his kid could get meds. Now,  I am not a hand-holding therapist with parents.  Sometimes the situation calls for that but for the most part, mental health problems in very young children are typically related to the parenting (not always!!!!!) but typically.  And I can narrow that further and say parenting related to diet and sleep.  I tell parents, "You wouldn't deprive your child of food, so why do you deprive them of sleep?  It's just as important."

Anyone who knows me knows how much of a big deal I've made sleep for my kids.  It is not convenient to be home-bound for naps or for early bedtimes, believe me.  But the work I did researching sleep back when Henry was a baby and such a terrible sleeper, scared me enough to make it a parenting responsibility on par with feeding, exercising, educating and hugging and kissing my children.

So love and feed your kids.  Sleep your kids, too.

Anyway, here's what led me to post this--now back to the usual programming.

Chervin's work isn't the only research to indicate that early sleep disturbances are related to long-term psychological problems.

Researchers have determined that a preschool boy with sleep problems is more than twice as likely to use alcohol and drugs and to smoke by the age of 14. He's more likely to be a bully in middle school and more depressed during high school. And he's also more likely suffer from anxiety in his 20s.

And we have liftoff...

She's crawling!  She's crawling!!!  I saw her do it last night in the bath tub and I realized she didn't want to scootch (army crawl) like she normally does because, obviously, she would go under water.  So she could do it if she wanted.  I decided this morning  I was going to see what would happen if I put my hand under her tummy when she went on fours, and not let her lay flat.  So I did that and it worked and then I removed my hand and she stayed up and continued crawling.  We were outside in the grass and the "thing" that motivated her to move was a pecan (in it's shell).

When we went inside she was not as happy about crawling on the carpet so I enticed her with one of Henry's Earth's Best Grover bars.  She really really wanted it and screamed like a maniac for me to get it for her but I didn't budge.  I brought it closer to her and then as she got closer to it I would pull it out of reach (how my mom taught me to swim) and we did this all the way across the room!

The teachers at her school were so excited when I told them.  The lead teacher said, "Everyone at GS has been waiting for her to crawl".  I know that sounds bad but it was not said offensively.  They were very excited and happy for her.  Justin told Henry on the way to pick E up that she was crawling and even he was excited.  "Oh that's good.  I'm so proud of her."  And, "Mom's going to be so proud of her!" was what he said when they got home and he saw her do it.

I'm so proud of her!

And..she is saying "uh-oh" correctly!  (She's been saying uh-uh when she or anyone else drops something but as of today she figured out the "oh").

She is also standing on her own for a few seconds at a time now, just like how Henry did at 10 months.

And as of today she needs two hair clips. One for each side.

My baby is growing up.

Oh by the way...

We've moved the blog here. Wordpress is better.

The address is:

http://henryandeleanor.wordpress.com/

Polaroid Worship (Henry edition)

Polaroid Worship (Eleanor edition)

Sibs...

This morning Henry was telling me how his name was Henry but I call him Bear. Then he said Eleanor's name was Eleanor but she didn't have a special name from mommy. I said maybe we should give her one and he said sure. I asked him what we should call her and he said, "Roast beef." ??????!

He wanted her near him all morning. He was in the laundry basket so I had to put her in there too. They were laughing at each other and being so sweet and funny. He RUNS to comfort her anytime she's upset. Today he said, "Eleanor is a little bit sad in that eye. I will make her feel better." And he started jumping up and down until she began laughing.

She's in love with his lovie-sheet now. He let her hold it in the car on the way to school. That's a BIG deal.

Old...

We have a serious back-log of photos so I'm trying to catch up. These were taken about 8 weeks ago.

Oh by the way...

We've moved the blog here. Wordpress is better.

The address is:

http://henryandeleanor.wordpress.com/

Polaroid Worship (Henry edition)

Polaroid Worship (Eleanor edition)

Sibs...

This morning Henry was telling me how his name was Henry but I call him Bear. Then he said Eleanor's name was Eleanor but she didn't have a special name from mommy. I said maybe we should give her one and he said sure. I asked him what we should call her and he said, "Roast beef." ??????!

He wanted her near him all morning. He was in the laundry basket so I had to put her in there too. They were laughing at each other and being so sweet and funny. He RUNS to comfort her anytime she's upset. Today he said, "Eleanor is a little bit sad in that eye. I will make her feel better." And he started jumping up and down until she began laughing.

She's in love with his lovie-sheet now. He let her hold it in the car on the way to school. That's a BIG deal.

Old...

We have a serious back-log of photos so I'm trying to catch up. These were taken about 8 weeks ago.

Lunches...

Above: I make these 3 nights a week. Four for him, four for her. Below: Staples of her diet.

Pictures!

My friend from HS was in town and came by and brought her beautiful daughter Kennedy. Eleanor was curious.

Leo and Joe came over for a visit and the boys took turns pushing baby Joe in the swing.

Batman love.

Camping...

...as close as Henry has come to it anyway. After spending all week talking about it, we "camped" in the back yard on Saturday night. Diane and Henry went to the library and birthday present shopping in the morning and Eleanor was asleep, so I pitched the tent and dug what is sure to be an illegal backyard fire pit. For the rest of the afternoon, Henry kept running back to see if 'the fire was on yet.' After nap, they went to get marshmallows and a new flashlight. And then... just as soon as we could get Eleanor to sleep, we were off to whatever wild adventures awaited us five feet from our back door.

Henry actually did really well about not getting too close to the fire. We talked a lot about how bad it would be to burn our hands...and it worked. He decided he would rather not burn his hands and stayed away. It didn't stop him from throwing every stick he could find into it all night, but I couldn't blame him. I always wanted to (and still do, obviously).

Then we roasted marshmallows, which he ate about half of one before losing interest. Then he and Diane got into the tent and read his new library books by flashlight. Then he and
I got our pillows and our sleeping bags and got ready for bed. He told his usual funny bedtime stories and then started talking about how awake he was. He was not tired at all. After the third mention, I asked if he wanted to go sleep inside. He immediately agreed. That ended our first camping trip. We both fell asleep in his tiny bed until Diane came to get me about an hour later.

First fire

Keeper of the tent door

No photos.

Lunches...

Above: I make these 3 nights a week. Four for him, four for her. Below: Staples of her diet.

Pictures!

My friend from HS was in town and came by and brought her beautiful daughter Kennedy. Eleanor was curious.

Leo and Joe came over for a visit and the boys took turns pushing baby Joe in the swing.

Batman love.

Camping...

...as close as Henry has come to it anyway. After spending all week talking about it, we "camped" in the back yard on Saturday night. Diane and Henry went to the library and birthday present shopping in the morning and Eleanor was asleep, so I pitched the tent and dug what is sure to be an illegal backyard fire pit. For the rest of the afternoon, Henry kept running back to see if 'the fire was on yet.' After nap, they went to get marshmallows and a new flashlight. And then... just as soon as we could get Eleanor to sleep, we were off to whatever wild adventures awaited us five feet from our back door.

Henry actually did really well about not getting too close to the fire. We talked a lot about how bad it would be to burn our hands...and it worked. He decided he would rather not burn his hands and stayed away. It didn't stop him from throwing every stick he could find into it all night, but I couldn't blame him. I always wanted to (and still do, obviously).

Then we roasted marshmallows, which he ate about half of one before losing interest. Then he and Diane got into the tent and read his new library books by flashlight. Then he and
I got our pillows and our sleeping bags and got ready for bed. He told his usual funny bedtime stories and then started talking about how awake he was. He was not tired at all. After the third mention, I asked if he wanted to go sleep inside. He immediately agreed. That ended our first camping trip. We both fell asleep in his tiny bed until Diane came to get me about an hour later.

First fire

Keeper of the tent door

No photos.