Lordy but it's hard to blog these days

Especially going on day five or six or ONE THOUSAND of a nasty sinus infection that has rendered me dizzy and blocked up and it feels like knives in my ears when Nora shrieks. Which she tends to do.

But Monday, before I knew it was a sinus infection, we went hiking. It was the perfect solution to my desperate attempts to think of something fun to do with the children in the beautiful weather. I would have liked to visit family members, but they all have wee children (newborns, even! I have another nephew!) or are otherwise immunocompromised, so I can't bring over my germs. But the hike worked out beautifully. Especially since we went to the state park that has a farm that sells homemade ice cream.







Not to change the subject too abruptly or anything, but last week Jack tried candy corn. Now, candy corn is gross. I realize this. I also love it, so I allow myself one bag a year. I can only have one bag, because eating candy corn causes me to enter an infinite loop wherein the candy corn leaves a weird taste in my mouth which can only be removed by eating more candy corn, and oops! I ate the whole bag. Traditionally, I get all of it because Andrew hates candy corn, but I was fine with sharing my bag with Jack this year. So I had no complaints when Andrew bought a small bag for Jack after his flu shot.

Jack could barely wait until after lunch to eat it, but when he finally got a taste of it, he said, "I think there's something wrong with this candy corn." I tried a piece.

"Sorry, Jack," I said. "That's what candy corn tastes like."

I think he was just stunned that there could possibly be a CANDY that tastes BAD. Stunned and betrayed.

But hey, good news for me! I got all the candy corn again. Oops.

A bunch of quick takes

1. I never noticed before, but waffle-squares are reminiscent of the holy water font at our church. I know this now because we had Belgian waffles this morning, and Nora repeatedly dipped her fingers into a waffle-square and blessed herself with maple syrup.

2. Here is photographic evidence of Nora’s and Jack’s superhero escapades that I mentioned in the last post:



3. Speaking of photographic evidence, do any of you watch 30 Rock? Remember the one where Pete got his sleeve caught in the candy machine, so he took his shirt off but somehow, his arm was still stuck in the candy machine?



That is the diaper she had been wearing when I left the room. Please note that her outfit is one-piece and snaps closed on the bottom. The snaps are not undone.

4. So long as we’re looking at cute pictures of my kids, we went to a wedding last month.



5. Guess what I was cutting with this happened to my Cutco knife?



MARSHMALLOWS.

Pardon me while I write in my baby book...

Pardon me while I write in my baby book….

At almost 15 months, Nora says:

More – ma (actually, more like MA!)
More milk – MA MA!
Cracker – kaa kaa
Cookie – kaa kaa (this can lead to angry misunderstandings)
Cupcake – kaaaaa kaaaaaa
Jack – Aaahhh (short “a” sound)
Grampa – gampa (could have been a fluke)
Clock – coh
Light – tuh (the “t” sound)
Dog – AH! (usually with excited pointing)
Thank you – dank oo (or some other sounds that rhyme, but with the singsongy intonation and the sign)
Apple – ahh, with sign
Bye – baaah (with wave)
Good night – baaah (with wave)
Shoe - shuh

Caw (what a crow says)
Moo (with lips way puckered out)
Woof – woo woo (deeply)
Cat – mow (for meow)
Eh-eh-eh – what a goat says; she really sounds like a goat
Quack quack – cah cah (with duck-beak hand movements)

Other animal sounds/gestures she knows: elephant, bunny, fish, hippo

EIEIO – eee eye eee eye eee eye
Twinkle twinkle, little star – wah wah wah wah wah wah wah (tunefully)

NOTICEABLY ABSENT FROM THIS LIST*:
Daddy
Mama

She signs “all done,” but it’s usually confusing because she uses it to mean “I would like to change the current situation.” For example, in the high chair, she might sign “all done” because has finished eating, and wants no more cheese. But it’s equally possible that she is “all done with not having more cheese;” that is to say, she wants more cheese. Well, this is a bad example, because if she’s talking about cheese, it’s always “I’m all done with not having more cheese.” But you get the idea.

Her other signs are improving. “More” used to be general pushing of hands together, but she’s graduated to using her right hand to point at her left palm as she brings them together. It’s very clear. The sign for “apple” is incredibly distinct, and she surprised us with it as it’s not one we have talked about all that much. If she’s thirsty, she will drag her finger down her chin if you ask her about it, and if she wants milk she’ll squeeze her little fists when you offer her some. In the past few days she has started to ask for water/a drink without being offered some by hitting her mouth with her fingers splayed; the sign is hitting your mouth with your fingers forming a “W.” And just today, during dinner, she kept putting her hands on her head and saying “Fawhh, fawhh.” She was starting the sign of the cross. (“In the name of the father…”)

She understands so much. If I tell her to go get her shoes, she gets her shoes. Or Pink Doggy, her lovey. She loves to sit on things if her feet can reach the floor, so she spends a lot of quality time in the doorway of the Tupperware cabinet. She tries so hard to play what Jack is playing; Not long ago, Jack was playing superhero with a towel tied around his neck and I caught her wandering around with a burp cloth draped over her shoulders. Jack also started a game where he shoots “goo” at people, and she played too, pointing her little fingers at everyone and saying, “Psshhh psshhhh psshhhh!” She dances by shaking her booty and I swear she sang a recognizable “Twinkle twinkle little star.” She kisses her babies and gives me hugs and and jabs me hard in the shoulder when she wants to nurse.

Fifteen months. I love fifteen months.

*I started this post about five days ago, so in the interest of full disclosure: She did say “Mommy” and “Daddy” two days ago but only with heavy coaching. And it hasn’t been repeated.

Jack never did this

OK, so I realize that Nora is curious and newly mobile and it is my responsibility as the adult to make sure the bathroom door stays closed. It is too much to expect her to resist the siren song of the rolled up toilet paper or the toilet plunger or the toilet itself. And when I forget to shut the door, I have no one to blame but myself when she starts dragging the plunger around like it's a pet she's taking for a walk.

But I think I get sympathy when Nora uses the eight seconds between my using the toilet and putting down the lid, a time also known as "wiping myself," to throw my flip flop into the bowl. Did I mention I had just used the toilet? And not flushed yet? Because I WASN'T DONE?

Scroll down to see my Bump.com post, which is about cooking. But I think it might be helpful! Really! Go read it and tell me if it's helpful.

Kitchen Time Management

Latest post up at The Bump!

I used to be a pretty terrible cook. I could bake with reasonable capability, but cooking was a mystery to me. I think this is because baking requires close adherence to a recipe whereas the best cooking is spontaneous. And I am not spontaneous. I once took an entire month to plan a weekend trip in Florida and thought I was being crazily spur-of-the-moment.

Over the past four years, however, my cooking has improved approximately ten-thousand-fold. Where I once used to be amazed at Andrew’s ability to look at what food we had in the kitchen and then just make something up for dinner, I now find myself throwing together our fresh-from-the-farm-share vegetables in surprising new combinations. Wait, that makes me sound super obnoxious. The combinations aren’t really all that surprising. But I’ve come a long way and dinner is usually a tasty affair appreciated by at least two, sometimes even three out of four members of the household!

Read more at
TheBump.com

I also save elastics

Today I told my friend how I find myself saving twist ties in a little baggie in my kitchen drawer. I do this because I like to feel smug about reusing stuff (Reusing! The only thing that trumps recycling!), but also because sometimes? You need a twist tie.

"So, basically, you're telling me that you're my grandmother?" she said.

Touche. And then I went home and flattened out all the packing paper that came in my Amazon packages so that I can use it later for gift wrap.* And then I ate dinner at 4:00 pm and went to bed.**

*Note: I actually do this.

**Almost.

Things that should not surprise me, a trained scientist, and yet here I am. Eternally surprised.

1. 3:30 pm feels like the middle of the afternoon, but it is only thirty minutes away from 4:00, the start of the suppertime scramble.

1a. 3:45 rounds up to 4:00, so 3:30 is only fifteen minutes away from “almost suppertime.”

2. If you are supposed to be somewhere at noon and it takes thirty minutes to get there, then you can’t leave at noon. You have to leave at 11:30.

2a. 11:00 is only fifteen minutes away from 11:15, which is “almost time to leave.”

3. The empty dishwasher appears to have plenty of room inside, but this is because it is empty. One should therefore avoid putting dishes in all willy-nilly because this will only cause immense irritation later, when the dishwasher is almost full.

4. Ten transactions at approximately $20 apiece adds up to approximately $200. This is true even though $20 is so much less than $200.