Monday, October 27, 2008

10.27.2008 -- Need to check the label?


Milk and egg free? Yup!

This last weekend, I was again reminded how big of a pain it is for people dealing with food allergies to figure out if something is edible or should be avoided. I just wanted to post a link again to zeer.com.

Zeer is free.

You can look up many/most foods easily and find out ingredients as well as nutritional info--everything that is on your standard label.

Click here!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

10.19.2008 -- Lucyisms


An idea I got from Ashley:

Things that Lucy says her own way that I love. I, like Ashley, don't correct her because I know she'll be flawless in her language all too soon. It's a little hard to come up with these...Lucy seems to have a talent for talking. But what do I know, being just her mom?

In this picture (taken today), Lucy is wearing her "girl" earrings. Lucy also has a "girl" necklace that matches. She wears her "girls" all the time.

Me: "Lucy, can you help me pick up the toys?"
Lucy: "I mam!" (I am!)

Lucy calls her throat her "throwup." As in, "I swallowed my broccoli and it's going down my throwup to my tummy."

Lucy is very good at enunciating the word, "actually." She likes to use it for emphasis in lots of creative ways. Once in a while, she'll use it in a way that's conventional.

"Young." Not sure what this means to Lucy. She often uses this in contexts that are not clear to me. Me: "How was school, Lucy?" Lucy: "Um, it's kind of young, so..."

It cracks me up when Lucy says "seriously." She uses it perfectly. For example, "Mom, we need to go to the park..... seriously."

"Matoes." For some reason, this is only a two syllable word to Lucy. These are frequently discussed, as we have several "mato" plants on our deck which she can see from her window. Similarly, bananas are "nanas."

"Feathering." Lucy's word for dusting with a feather duster.

"Scrubber." Lucy's word for our push and pull diamond shaped hoe.

"Leggies." Leggings.


That's it for now, I guess. I'll add more as they come up.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

10.18.2008 -- Recycle Anything? Really?

While I was waiting to get the oil changed and tires rotated for our station wagon, I picked up a "Real Simple" magazine and found an article that I have been waiting for for a long time:

HOW TO RECYCLE ANYTHING

How cool is that?

Saturday fun for me: cleaning house. Hey, I never said that it's the only thing I like to do. But there is an enormous level of peace and satisfaction that comes from bringing all into shiny order. It makes me feel sane.

I cannot believe that we will soon have another body in the house. It's so exciting and a premise so loaded with hope that it's a little scary. A lot of times, babies die. I know that chances are very, very good that this little one will make it fine. There's just that little part of me that wants to take nothing for granted... Nevertheless: I have the crib set completed. I only did the bumper pads and the dust ruffle. My sweet mother-in-law did two sheets for me.

Monica has been coming to help me each Tuesday and she is responsible not only for the completion of the crib set (catalyst) but for lots of other projects that I'd been putting off. (See Blog on a Bog, where I said I was overwhelmed.) Yay for her (and for me).

This whole Tuesday help day thing was all her idea, but I had ideas that the goodness might not all end up in my lap. For me, at least, when I get a chance to help someone out at their place, it often carries over into my (our) place--home. Well, Monica caught the nesting fever and did some major work at her house this week. So much of the time, completing these projects
(that make such a difference) is only a matter of starting and keeping at it, even when it feels sort of hopeless.

Brian's day: Up early to ride his mountain bike with buddies, lunch date with Lucy, plant shopping with Lucy, planting trees, shoveling gravel, picking up Lucy from Aunt Rebecca's house, and a late movie with friends while I finish (finish!!!) my lesson for tomorrow. He's going to sleep well....like some other people I know:



This is how Lucy came home from Aunt Rebecca's: asleep with papertowel curls going for tomorrow. Gotta love that sister-in-law.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

10.09.2008 -- Little Social Climber

For the past few nights, Brian has been planting. The yard is coming along, thanks to him.

By far, the coolest plant he's come home with is something called a pinus strobus 'nana.' What I thought he was going to get was maybe a globe blue spruce, which looks great, but is a supremely prickly beast. This plant though--or the two of them that he brought home--these pinus strobus 'nanas' are the chinchilla of the pine world. Lovely. Anyone who reads this is hereby invited over for a feel.


Neither of these photos are mine, but...
see the similarities?



These nights in the yard have been great for me. Not only is there a welcome bite to the air, but progress is made toward completion of the yard, and when Brian gets home from work, Lucy attaches herself to his hip--leaving me some free time. She's always so happy to see her daddy when he gets home. Not that I have been keeping her at home veiled and sequestered, but Lucy has been craving the company of others more than ever lately. It's getting rare that Lucy is content to be at home alone with me.

One way Lucy gets in time with other kids is her twice-weekly preschool (which she loves). This involves four hours of the week. The rest of the time, Lucy asks to see if her friend DJ can play, or Natalie, or one of her cousins, or one of a dozen other kids she routinely asks about. Because I'm relatively tired a lot of the time, I mostly go for easy solutions. Therefore, the kids that live closest are the kids she sees most. Fortunately, we seem to be surrounded by good kids.

We have a little game: Lucy asks what a certain person is doing and I, instead of answering, "I don't know" every time, say what I think they might be doing. For example. If Lucy asks what Ben is doing, I might suggest that Ben may be playing with cousins, or helping his mom, or brushing his teeth. My dirty little secret: I am guilty of playing this game with an agenda: none of Lucy's friends or family ever watches TV or eats candy or does anything extra exciting (when it's not in the cards for us). In this game, everyone loves broccoli, goes to sleep early, and is very helpful.

So last night, after playing with friends, as Brian planted some shrubs along the footings of our house, Lucy discovered that our neighbor's retaining wall is very climbable. It didn't take long before she was sessioning the three-tiered stacked boulder wall. The crux of the route she had going up the wall was up at the top, and not too difficult. It was enough to get me up to spot her the first 5 or 6 times, and mild enough that I felt okay just watching her the rest of the times she wanted to climb it. I was happy because, once at the top, she didn't have to downclimb at all.

Each and every time she reached the top of her route, Lucy did a little celebration dance on our neighbor's driveway. She was having so much fun. Watching Lucy climb is fun for me too-- makes me happy. At least if I can't really do it right now, she can.

When I told Lucy that it was time to go inside to change into her pyjamas, she wasn't thrilled. However, when she learned that she could come back outside, she went without a fight. While we were inside, because the sun was setting fast, I pointed out one of her flashlights. I thought maybe she'd like to play with it outside. She thought that was a good idea, apparently, because she grabbed it on the way out (after she dressed in her purple footed sleeper and some comfy slip-on shoes). Once outside, Lucy wasted no time: She gave the flashlight to Brian for safekeeping while she again climbed the wall over and over.

Of course, the light gradually faded as the sun set and eventually was noticeably lacking. I figured that it would be an easy and natural end to the Climbing of the Wall, but I was surprised. Lucy asked Brian for her flashlight, turned it on and handed it to me. She explained how I was to hold the light so she could keep climbing. "See?" she told me, beaming, "Now it's not dark!" I'm pretty sure that at that point, I had a big grin on my face, too.

As Lucy climbed over the top of the wall again, I turned to Brian and said, "She may look like you, but she loves climbing like me!"


A reminder for grandparents--if you see a picture that you
want to see bigger, just click on the picture!
xoxo

Saturday, October 4, 2008