LP antics

Now that he talks pretty well, LP says crazy stuff all the time. He seems not to recognize that usually what something is not is not as useful as what it is; for instance, sometimes out of nowhere he'll say "there's no people in there" about, say, the closet or a toy car, or "that's not an elephant". He likes to bug ELP, and I think he's her favorite person. Today ELP was practicing sitting on the bed, and he pushed her over and got a time out. Then he told her "I'm in trouble". TE told him that he didn't have to push her over to watch her fall down, he could just wait and she eventually falls over on her own. So he waited and he watched her fall over, and thought that was quite the great game. He is working on the one-to-one correspondence of counting. He knows the numbers in order to the mid teens, but when counting things he just says numbers and puts his finger down on the counted objects randomly and not in correspondence with the number he's saying. So the other day, I tried to explain that you touch each ladybug in the counting book and you say a number.

LP: [touches the first ladybug]

me: [whispering] say a number

LP: [whispering] number

me: no, like this [touching the ladybugs] one, two, three, four, five

LP: [touches the first ladybug] one

LP: [touches the second ladybug] two

[LP touches the third ladybug, at this point I get really excited that he's getting the picture]

LP: one [I'm thinking, well at least he's touching them, he touches the fourth one and I think maybe he'll get back in the game and say four next, or even two]

LP: YELLOW!!!

[I am now trying not to laugh, but hey, at least he's touching each of them]

LP: ALL DONE! [actually I'm not sure what he said]

me: Good job! [What else does one say about that? He's making progress, and he's cute!]

news in place a

Well, it's been awhile since my last post, but I guess it really wasn't that long--ELP is still at the half-laughing stage, and can't really do a full belly laugh. Actually she can, but only if LP is prompting her--I am just not cool enough no matter how long I hide behind my hands or how excitedly I say "peekaboo!!!".

We are all settled in in Place A (or as settled as we'll be for now), and have already had our first visitors--my sister and brother in law. We had a great time showing them our new city last weekend.

Here's news for each of us: TE and I are both really enjoying our jobs. ELP can roll front to back sometimes, coo back and forth, transfer things between her hands, and is about to start eating solid food. LP likes his new daycare and knows all of his classmates' names. He is in a bit of an odd place right now, in that he's the oldest in his room but would be by far the youngest in the preschool room. Sometimes he goes to the preschool room if his room is getting a bit overfull, and he loves it, but he can't stay all the time since he's still in diapers (and not making much progress to get out of them, btw). He's somewhat behind the others in the preschool room, due to being so much younger--for example, they asked him at circle to name three things that are blue! He knows the number three, mostly, and might understand the direction to "name something", and definitely knows what blue things are, but putting that all together in his head is several levels of abstraction above where he's thinking right now, it seems. It's not a big deal, though, as he likes both rooms, so I'm happy.

daycare webcam

Usually, you don't find out much by looking at the webcam. Often the toddlers are outside or in a different part of the room. Today, though, I found out that LP is not wearing any pants. I can only guess that an incident occurred requiring removal of the pants he was wearing this morning, and that in our general disorganized bad-parent fashion we don't have any pants left in his cubby. Luckily, there are some in ELP's room in her diaper bag; I am really not concerned about pants-wearing in general, but it is cold out!

LP now has both bottom 2 yr molars, and ELP can almost sit up, can make cooing noises back and forth, and can almost laugh! Baby laughs are really funny; I can't wait!

I wonder what it's like if you don't have insurance

I just paid more than two thousand dollars of hospital and clinic bills, and those were just the bills that happened to come today ...

Updates

We accepted our jobs in place A, ELP is learning to vocalize and smile more, LP said an 8 word sentence and counted to 11 on Saturday (though he was tired, and I think he was trying to do something impressive so we would let him stay up or something--typically he only has the focus for about 3 or less, but it proves he can theoretically do it). Now to find a place to live . . .

insufficient milk as an excuse to eat spiced apples

My pumped milk has not made up for what ELP has drank for the last few days, and I have been bummed about it, since it makes me feel less than perfectly healthy in some sense. With LP I never had this problem, though I had an oversupply problem for awhile! ELP has cut a bit into the frozen supply of LP's old milk which was left when he weaned suddenly.

So last night I was trying to work fenugreek into my menu because they say it helps make more milk. Though, some people mentioned fenugreek tea, which makes me wonder if they are talking about the leaves (methi) instead of the seeds (which is what I used because I think that is what helps, and also because methi didn't fit with what I was making). Anyway, dinner was great last night. Since we have hardly any space, I didn't feel like getting out the rice cooker last night, and without flatbreads and needing a quick dinner that precluded most Indian food that I make. So I made spiced apples to go on top of buckwheat pancakes. They were just cut up apples that we picked last weekend with my pseudo-step-sister and her kids (which was tons of fun, btw), which I cooked in a covered pot with a bit of butter, allspice, cinnamon, and fenugreek seeds. I was kind of hoping not to notice the fenugreek much because I thought it might not go well with apples, but actually it added something nice, and I was quite happy. The pancakes were from a buckwheat pancake mix that my uncle made and gave me in 2007 that has since been in the freezer, and it went excellently with the apples. Such a great dinner for so little time!

must finish thesis

I have a lot of stuff to do on the thesis in a short time. I'm not sure if knowing that TE has more to do makes it better or worse. We still don't know where we're going to live a few months from now, and we lost our digital camera with ELP's one month picture on it :(. Oh well. I'm happy with myself because I just pumped 6 oz of milk. I am trying to build up some extra for ELP in case she has some long days at daycare and needs more, or if some gets spilled.

All is well with the little ones. LP talks really well now, and keeps saying "hi" to ELP, and likes to give her a pacifier. ELP likes to look at him blankly. She can smile a bit, sometimes. LP is talking like crazy--I think he put 6 words together the other day "kitty cat go up the tree" or something. He's sure that honey is an imaginary food that Pooh eats, and thinks it's funny to suggest that he might eat some. We've been taking the bus to daycare, and he loves it.