Succubus mistresses

We did a whole ass-load of nothing much today. For most of the day, I was suffering from a nasty sinus thing that caused me to have horrible sharp head pain every time I tried to move around. As a result, I spent most of the day sitting in the computer chair. Ari didn't like that...

Thad corrects me. I did a whole ass-load of nothing much. He did dishes and finally got his license renewed.

This is Ari last night, before bed, playing with blocks. She built the whole tower... not the big one you can see, but the tall skinny one that's mostly obscured by her arm. Anyway, I thought it was cool. :D

Stacking blocks

We had another up- till- four- slept- until- noon- everyone- is- vaguely- sick day... which is to say, we didn't do much of anything.

We went out to the Apple store in Easton to resolve some last stuff with my most awesome computer (exchanging the .Mac Thad bought for an iPod Shuffle!). Easton is usually an abomination on the face of the land, but it was really packed, and extra... abomination-y.

When we got home, Ari was asleep in the car, and we went and picked up R&B. I don't think I've mentioned this, but their car died a death, and they are thus without transport.

Rick helped us install Boot Camp and Windows, which lets us be able to boot my beautiful new mac with Windows on it. Then, we played Boggle (which I won handily), Set (which I lost, but not badly) and Carcassonne (which I got murdered at).

The BMV printer was broke

Merry Christmas, and a happy Boxing Day, y'all. :) We had a lovely Christmas here. I've posted a whole set of pictures on the pictures website for your perusal. Ari wasn't much interested in opening presents, but she sure seemed to enjoy playing with them! She's played with and seemed to enjoy pretty much everything she got.

I was a little worried that it would be a bit much for her, opening so many presents at once, but she was fine. I think it helped that we didn't even bother trying to get her to open anything- we just opened them for her, and she got around to playing with them in her own sweet time. :)

As for me, I got the best present ever- a new computer! This one does everything that I want it to, and all fast and spinky. I've done it up in a Batman theme already, and everything. In fact, I've spent most of today playing with it and the printer Thad got to go along with it. Tomorrow, I intend to actually do work.

Thad had a less nice birthday than I wanted, because I was really feeling unwell yesterday. I didn't make him dinner, much less birthday pie. :( He did get steak, at least, though, and we'll try to make him pie later this week.

In any case, here's the movie I whipped up real quick this morning on my spinky fast computer. It's less good resolution than I would like, but I hope y'all enjoy it. I'll try to send better versions to some of you in ye olde snaile maile sometime soon, along with more pictures and vids.

Shedding

I hope all y'all had a great Christmas Eve. :) Ours was pretty low-key, with it just being us, and all. We cleaned up some, and I made Ari a stocking, and we went on a nice walk downtown. It's surprisingly warm for this time of year, here, and the walk was very pleasant.

In this picture, Ari is wearing one of her Christmas presents from Brooke- which is so appropriate to us. Have I mentioned that our games shelf is full? It has no more room.

On our walk, Ari actually stopped traffic. A couple in a truck were waving at her and making faces, and didn't notice the light had changed until Thad pointed it out. Anyway, we walked down to the North Market, where we got pheasant pot pies to bake up for dinner, and some stollen for breakfast from the Austrian bakery, and some delicious ice cream from Jeni's. Ari very much liked the ice cream.

Then, we came home, and baked our pot pies (pheasant and morels, very tasty) and watched a movie, and played a game of Carcassonne. Then, I went and did Super Secret Christmas Stuff in the basement while Thad played with Ari.

Despite getting a late post-walk nap, Ari went to bed at a relatively okay hour, and we just spent time getting the house cleaned up so we have a nice place to have Christmas in. We'd best get to bed soon, so Santa can come. Since no one will see this until tomorrow at the earliest, Merry Christmas, y'all!

Last night

Today, we finally did Christmas cookies (about time, right?). Jaime and Kelly and Rick and Brooke came over to help... we made a batch of gingerbread and a batch of Mom's sugar cookies. I even made green coconut to use. :)

We have an enormous bunch of cookies now... we already gave a plate to our next-door neighbors. They were kind of shocked and happy- I hope they enjoyed them. We have a plate made for the library people and the night staff at Target and Thad's roleplaying group. Now, we just need to figure out something to do with the other three plates of cookies!

Ari is really doing so totally much better. As soon as we took her to the doctor, she perked right up, right? :) Brooke and Rick brought over a whole bunch of presents for her- including some new books, which are always welcome. I think we're planning on hiding a few of her current books after the holidays (for example, Where's Prancer can go to hell, and it can die).

We, on the other hand, seem to have caught whatever it was she had. We've got coughs, sore throats, insomnia, etc... It's not enough to incapacitate us, just enough to make us uncomfortable...


Here's Ari playing with her friend Jaime. :)

Ari wasn't much help with the cookies- in fact, Thad took her out for a walk a few times to get her out of the house- but she was fun anyhow. This is her playing with the fuzzy puzzle that Brooke gave her. For some reason, she kept sticking the cow piece under her chin, and then clapping for herself. Later, she graduated to walking all around with the puzzle piece under her chin(s).

Sometimes, I really wonder what's going on in her head. :)

At long last

This was my baby a few nights ago, trying to pass out asleep under a chair... shortly before she threw up all over Brooke. The last few nights (weeks, really) have been really rough on all of us. This week, Ari's just been fussy and not feeling well all the time- hence my not writing. It's really been quite horrible.

Tuesday night, she was up all night with Thad. Wednesday night, she was up all night with me- plus, she threw up twice. She barely ate solid foods for about three days (yay still nursing!) and has just been clingy and whiny and totally un-fun to be around.

This is a picture from Wednesday night, when she was carrying around a book and trying to hold it to go to sleep. The girl only marginally cares about teddy bears, but she wants to cuddle a book when she's not feeling well. She didn't want me to read it- she just wanted to hold it. She did the same thing on Thursday morning, except with the "Safe Baby Handling Tips" book that Max gave us last year for Christmas.

Last night, she wouldn't pass out until about 1:30 (in the sling with papa, she didn't want me) but she slept like the dead until I had to wake her up to make our doctor's appointment. It was actually supposed to be a well baby visit, with some shots, but clearly that wasn't happening. They checked her over, and said it was probably just a viral thing, and they expected that she'd be better in a week or two (argh)... and then Ari threw up all over Thad as we were getting ready to leave.

Despite the fact that she threw up, and that she barely napped today, by the evening, she was so much better! Better than she's been in ages (aka as long as my sleepless, fogged brain can remember). She was interested in food, and ate a whole bunch of nibblies I got for her. She was cheerful and playful and her old self again! She even fell asleep easily, upstairs, before midnight. Check it out:



This is her dancing to the new CD that her Uncle Darren sent. :D

Well, it's been a busy few days even aside from baby craziness. We've had packages flying in from all over with presents from everybody- the Christmas Crib is now full of shiny things. Oh, and yesterday we had our solstice dinner. Andy, Krista, Ray, Jaime, Kelly, Rick and Brooke all came. I made a turkey, with pear stuffing (for the first day of Christmas, as we're counting it). We also had rosemary garlic mashed potatoes, crab/shrimp things in fillo shells- my first time working with fillo, and it turned out great!- green beans cooked with bacon, oyster mushrooms cooked with roasted garlic and bacon, and Jeff's mother's chocolate pecan pie for dessert. The chocolate pecan pie was much less sweet than I would have expected- it was really delicious. Oh, Jeff made it- it was just his mum's recipe. She lives in Massachusetts, and wasn't making pie for our solstice dinner at all.

After dinner, we played a few games of Carcassonne (Jaime's Yuletide present to me! :D) and generally hung out. It was really lovely, except for Ari not feeling so well... but I'm glad she seems to be doing better! I wasn't sure how much more I could take, quite frankly. :)

-5 Valorous

Ari's been up late the last few nights... She's still sick/teething and is generally pretty miserable to be around. Additionally, tonight, she tripped and smacked her forehead into the edge of a chair. A big, blue, nasty bruise rose up immediately (although no goose egg to speak of), so I imagine that's also bothering her. Between that and the hacking cough and the stuffy nose... it's no wonder she's not sleeping well. Poor, poor little girl...

Cool things: She can build stuff. We played blocks today, and she helped me build a tower. Every time she put a block on, she clapped for herself. I love it when she claps for herself... it's like, "Yay! I'm awesome! *clap clap clap*" She even does it sometimes when she's playing by herself.

She woke me up this morning with Whose Mouse Are You?, which is her current favorite book. I hate hate hate it. :) I was sitting there, going "wha? huh? *grog*" (because I was up until nearly 4 AM with her last night, and she woke me up at 9:30 this morning) and she's going, "my BOOK, mama, read my BOOK!"

She grabbed my hand, shoved the book into it, and then started to cry when I didn't immediately start reading to her. Stupid book.

Some corn for popping

For once, the time stamp on this post is actually accurate. My baby is asleep... mostly... and it isn't even midnight. Whoo! :D

I say mostly, because she's sleeping kinda fitfully. Having so many teeth come in at once is making her nose run like crazy. It got to the point where she wanted to lie down and nurse to sleep, and she couldn't nurse! She couldn't breathe through her nose long enough. In fact, the only way I could get her to stay asleep upstairs was to have her sleep on a pillow for the first time ever. Having her head more upright seemed to let her breathe a little better.

This is a picture of our Christmas tree. :) We went out to a farm outside of Columbus, and Thad cut it down. We would have had a nice running around and picking it out and all, except that poor Ari passed right out in the car (I think, again, sitting upright let her breathe well enough to nap at long last) so Thad just went out and cut it while I sat in the car and planned my solstice dinner. I quite like it, though.

Putting it in the crib was a stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. Ari can look at it, but not get at it, and it also provides a safe place to put presents. We have to be careful which presents go where in the crib, though- smaller ones, she can fish out through the bars. We figured that out when we suddenly noticed Ari playing with one of her presents across the room... When Christmas is over, I think we shall dismantle the crib until it is needed again.

Oh, poor girl. I can hear her coughing upstairs. But she doesn't seem to be waking up.

Well, I'm'a go put a movie on and start sewing. I have a few personal projects I'd like to work on, in my precious baby free time before I head to bed.

Update!

Well, as previously mentioned, Ari was up till 1:30 in the morning again. She currently has four (count 'em) teeth coming in, including two molars and two incisors, one top and one bottom of each. And this is not even counting the two more molars that are clearly ready to burst forth from her gums at any moment. Yay! She's mostly okay, but her sleep is totally messed up.

Let's see... in the last week, Thad and I went to see the new Bond movie (rock star awesome!). Ari is becoming more verbal- she can do "more" and "eat"... kinda mostly. I'm told that tonight, she was clearly saying "tiptoe tiptoe" along with the Bear Hunt story.

We have spent time trying to get presents done and out- most of you should be getting packages in the mail relatively soon. :) Now, I feel like I can relax and have Christmas. We're going to get a tree tomorrow, and we're going to make cookies on Monday. That means, we have to clean the house before people come over! Yay! It's kind of a mess in the aftermath of present making. Although, at least the basement is clean!

I wrote about this in the entry that got deleted, but I had a great exchange- one of our friends needed some cash moneys for presents, and we needed a non-scary basement and kitchen. Our dollars and her obsessive-compulsive tendencies got together and had a party, and voila! Clean basement! The kitchen is... erm... no longer clean. Let us say. Best investment of dollars ever!

Here is Ari, building a tower of dice. I'm told she was able to build it four dice high, which is pretty impressive. The woman holding her is Kelly, she who cleaned the basement. She is Jaime's new lady, and gets on with Ari wonderfully. Ari likes to make her read the same book over and over and over and over and over... come to think of it, she likes to make everyone read her the same book over and over and over. :) Kelly is just willing to do it. Well, and so is Brooke.

Brooke watched her while we saw Bond, and poor Miss Brooke had to read the Good Night Butterflies book upwards of 37 times, I hear.

Absence

Sorry I haven't posted in a while... Ari has been staying up till 1:30 and 2 in the morning, and that's my time to write. She's on and off really unhappy with these four molars she has coming in...

Liver

Well, I wrote a whole post. With pictures. And just as I was hitting the button to post it, Thad accidentally unplugged the computer while he was attempting to figure out what was going on with our Christmas lights. And now it's two in the morning, and I can't face writing it all over again...

The most wonderful time of the year

Today, Ari and I went over to another mom's house for a playgroup. This is Ari, having apparently gotten over her fear of animals, stalking their cat. She followed the cat across the whole house, as fast as she could, and was much frustrated that she couldn't catch her.

She had a great time playing with other peoples' toys- although she did steal another kid's snack. To be fair, the other kid (a 3-year-old) had just left it lying on the floor, where she found it and munched it up. Hmm... it's just now occurred to me that I might, perhaps, be reasonable to be concerned about my daughter eating off the floor.

Then, she refused to take a nap. She was desperately tired from not sleeping last night and not napping... between that and the molars coming in, the evening was pretty miserable. At least she passed right out at 9:00...

So much Dunwich Horror

Oooh, man. I just stayed up way too late. The date tag lies, but it's 3 AM. Wheee! :D

We went to the department Christmas party tonight. Ari was sweet mostly. There was another mama there with a tiny 7-week-old little girl... so little. It was kinda cool to run into another mama who wraps and cloth-diapers and breastfeeds, outside of my existing hippy mama group.

Ari things:

• She has another sign- she's definitely done "more" a few times now.
• She has two molars coming in. Ow, the lack of sleep.
• She likes to clap for herself when she thinks she's done something good.
• She imitates us shaking our heads 'no', but doesn't seem to actually understand what it means.
• She likes to play a game where she points at different people, and we say their names.
• She knows where our noses are, but not other face parts.
  

Happy birthday, Dad

Aaah- I'm back again, with much to report. Finals are over (although I still need to get my grades in...). It was a harrowing few days there, including such exciting events as:

• A fire alarm going off in my building while I was trying to work. For an hour and a half.
  

and

• My laptop dying.

Yup... my laptop all of a sudden froze up when I was trying to work on it Sunday evening. I was able to force-quit out of things and try to restart, but when it was restarting, it wouldn't boot. It would just hang on the grey apple screen, with the little gear going 'whirly whirly whirly'. I spent an hour on the phone to AppleCare discovering that we weren't going to be able to fix it without doing a clean reinstall and reformatting... he did tell me how to retrieve the data, though, although it involved a frantic late-evening trip to the Apple store to buy an expensiver-than-it-should have been Firewire cable. Now I just need to sit down and pull everything I care about off the laptop and go about wiping it clean and reinstalling.

I was able to finish despite my computer woes, however, and I stand before you (write before you?) a free woman! At least until I have to work on my third-year paper and the course prep for Winter Quarter. But before that come the Christmas cookies.

Ari and I celebrated yesterday by... going to the library. Where we always go if it's not sufficiently nice out to go to the playground. She loves those fuzzy chairs. :) In fact, she mostly just loves the library. I *think* she tried to sign "library" today, but I'm not sure... she was just sort of waving her hand (library is an "L" shape that you move in a circle, so hand-waving is a reasonable approximation).

Today, we went to much shopping with that papa. Mostly Christmas shopping... including a very nice toy store in town, and the children's bookstore that we love. We barely managed to squeak our way out of the bookstore without a bunch of new books for Ari. :D


Here's Ari with something on her head. I'm not sure why she wanted to put in there, but she stuck it on her head and walked in circles, making these little hooting noises. Repeatedly. I love my little girl. :D

There was snow on the ground for the first time this season today. They immediately responded by dumping mass amounts of salt on the roads, though, so all was well.

Well, that's what you get... we stayed up very too late trying out the Dunwich Horror expansion of Arkham Horror tonight. It was awesomely fun... we all agree that it improves the play of the game immensely. We had a real nailbiter and ended up barely defeating Yig in combat.

Put some clothes on and call me

Well, this is going to be the last time I even try to post until Tuesday or Wednesday- I just have too much to do in terms of trying to finish finals crap. Tuesday evening is Pendragon, and it should be all over by then (though I may collapse from exhaustion that night).

In any case, I give you cute baby pictures to tide you over. :D This is Ari stealing my hat and trying to wear it. For some reason, she likes wearing hats. Particularly mine, as you've seen in the "Pirate Ari" pictures.


And this is Ari from this morning, playing with pots and spatulas in the kitchen. Aside from the adorable baby qualities of this picture, I really like how it turned out, with the reflection in the oven and all.

I had a study group over here, and all my fellow students kept going on about how adorable and sweet Ari was.

What can I say? It's totally true. ;)

Swelter

This is what happens when you leave the tupperware full of veggie booty too close to the edge of the table! Note Ari stuffing these in her mouth- Thad tells me that the was scoopin' em in one- handed. She's also wearing her jammies in this pic because she insisted on being put back into the jammies she wore at night.

Dang, I can't even type straight. It's bedtime.

P.S. I need to add something, but I cant='t remember what.... Oh, yeah- today was the last day of class! Now, if I can just finish all what I'm supposed to finish for my classes.

Six-legged

We had an okay (albeit rainy) day today. I put up a whole lot of laundry (four loads, including diapers). Boy, am I glad that I don't fold. Sort-n-stuff is bad enough to deal with.

After not sleeping for several days, Ari slept okay last night, and even napped today. Which was good, 'cause it let me get some school stuff done. We went to the library in the afternoon, on account of the rain. Ari ran around and flirted with the library staff.

Argh! I am sick of this computer being so gimpy. It's late, late, late and I've been trying to do something simple for about an hour now, and the damn thing just isn't working. Stupid Jetta. If you hadn't died, we'd have had the money to buy a new computer.

Brightly colored

This is the picture you get today. It's of a baby who's been inordinately sweet today, given that she only got two hours of sleep and didn't nap.

Let's see... today, my baby walked all the way to the library with her papa- by which I mean, we walked on her own two chubby, adorable little feet. I'm told she had a Grand Old Time while there.

She also showed an interest in stuffed animals for the first time- she hugged and cuddles them. I find it sort of hilarious that she played with action figures before teddy bears.

Also, she is so proud of herself about being able to sign "milk". When I got home today, she came up and wanted hugs and then signed it to me, and kept signing while I took my coat and bags off. Usually, she cries and whines, but today, she just signed "milk milk milk milk". :D

Cucumbers

This is a picture from this morning/last night- about 3:30 AM, in any case. You'll notice that she has her strawberry hat on; I didn't put it there. Lately, she's been all about putting her hat and shoes on. Her hat, she can put on all by herself. Her shoes, she has to come make me put on for her.

She's been using the "milk" sign bunches today. She even did a two-fisted version of it. It's been great! She'll try to pull my shirt up, and I say "What do you want, honey?" In a concerned voice, and she signs "milk". :D She even did it once totally unprompted- just walked up and signed it to me.

MY BABY HAS LANGUAGE!!! :D :D :D

Can you tell I'm excited?

We had a reasonably nice day, given that neither of us got more than 5 hours sleep, and she refused to nap. We went over to the park so she could play. The weather was not as nice as over the weekend, but still perfectly good for running around in, as long as one had a sweater.

I then got some work done. This is my last week of class- this upcoming weekend is going to be hellish, as I try desperately to finish all what needs finished for the quarter and my finals and my class...I am definitely looking forward to the Christmas break.

Here is a picture of a very sad baby. In this picture, she has just happily devoured a heaping pile of noodles and cheese, and is waiting for papa to come back with the damp washcloth to sponge her off. 'Cause she's a little cheesy-head.

She went to bed fairly early (around 8:30), and I'm going to try to emulate her. I have veritable assloads of work that I need to get done tomorrow, in between all my classes, and the teaching. At least my students are doing a presentation tomorrow...

First word!

Today was an exciting day of firsts. Not first lobster, as the pictures might lead you to believe (the lobster was Friday night, and I'll get back to that in a minute), but the first call to the poison control center.

Ari is fine, by the by. Somehow, she got hold of an ibuprofen tablet (adult dosage). I noticed the red on her face and found the tablet, all sucked-on, on the floor. I wasn't sure whether she might have gotten others, too, so I called poison control. They tell me that a child her age and size can swallow up to 1000 mg of ibuprofen before anyone worries... since that would be 5 tablets, my fears were much allayed.

I wouldn't have worried at all, except that she was being a little lethargic and funny- I wasn't sure how to separate possible druggedness from it being 4 AM and my baby having her 6th tooth come in. Did I mention that part? Yay seeing the wrong side of 5 AM! Actually, come to think of it, is there a right side to 5 AM?

As for less nerve wracking firsts, today is the first time my daughter clearly, unmistakably and recognizably used a word. :D

For the record, her first word is "milk". This is unsurprising, I guess, given how much this girl loves the boob. She signed the word three times today, and the third one was totally clear. The first two, I was unsure of (it was just her waving a chubby fist at me) but the last time, she totally held out her fist and clenched it, and it was crystal clear that she wanted some nursies. I'm so totally excited!!! Maybe it'll mean less of her trying to pull my shirt off. I know, forlorn hope, but maybe... ;)

The lobster was a lovely dinner we had Friday night- I offered some to Ari, but she was kinda tired and uninterested in trying new things. She was dubious of the claw, also. You'll note that I was in no way dubious about the crustacean on my plate.

Thanksgiving

Well, the Papkes have left, and I finally have a chance to slow down and write, and post a couple pictures. Tomorrow, I'm going to work desperately on school work; today, though, I'm going to write this and then go to bed early (before midnight!) and catch up on my sleep.

This is a picture of several of us sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner. The Papkes were there, of course, and Ila. Angelo didn't make it this year, but Jaime and Kelly came. The dinner turned out awesome, and our fridge is still stocked to the gills with delicious leftovers. I have no intention to cook for the next several days.

It was a lovely visit altogether, with the Papkes, and I decided to make it a no-work vacation for me (god knows, I needed one), so that was good for me. Ari had great fun with all her relatives there paying attention to her. She got them to read to her and play with her. Oh, and the weather's been crazy warm (for Ohio in November, anyhow) so we've been out to the park every day.

This is Ari having her first Thanksgiving. She didn't actually eat all that much; I offered her different things, but all she wanted was bread. I keep trying to remind myself that she's getting everything she needs, but boy is my child a carb junky.

So. Tired. Going to bed now; will write more and post more pics tomorrow.

A bird, or a plane.

Spent today trying to get ready for the big Thanksgiving... cleaning, cooking, shopping, etc. Will post (with pics!) tomorrow.

Stupid monkey bars

Recognize this facial expression?

The shirt she's wearing is a shirt that a local mom I know made, but ended up being just a little too small for her boy. As you can see, it fits Ari great! She's also taken to wearing her hat indoors- I think she gets a kick out of being able to put it on all by herself.

Ari's totally walking everywhere, now. When we leave the house, I just let her walk beside me rather than picking her up. She thinks it's the Best Thing Ever... I'm just enjoying the fact that walking, in and of itself, can be adequate amusement for her.

I've mostly been trying to work today. We did go out to the thrift store while papa was sleeping. Ari was remarkably well-behaved (for a toddler) walking around the store- until we got near the Christmas trees. I certainly can't blame her (she is a toddler, after all) but we had to leave lest Ari do serious damage to some glass ornaments. :)

The weather was really nice today (for autumn), and I wanted to take my girl out to the playground and let her run around. When we got home, however, she passed straight out and had a glorious two hour nap. So by the time we got over to the playground, the sun was starting to set (aka: 4:30 in the afternoon). There was still a reasonable amount of light left, though, and she had great fun running around and climbing on things until mama decided it was too cold, and time to go in.

Then, I proceeded to work on school stuff for the rest of the evening.

Pfeh. Our house is a mess, but Jaime says he's going to come and wrangle the baby for us on Wednesday so we can clean and do Thanksgiving prep. He is currently my Favorite Person. :D

Poozer

I have a strong suspicion that we're going to be seeing alot of this particular facial expression in the future... I wonder, is this her way of blocking out the flash? Anyway, I thought I'd take a picture of her in her pretty outfit, as we were heading out the door for our enormous shopping trip. I have no idea what the red down her front is; I've been trying to figure that out all day. I found it all around her mouth but was unable to locate a source.

We have a turkey in hand now. Or, more properly, in fridge. I'm not entirely certain how Thad managed to fit everything (even a flat of IBC!) into the fridge, but I'm a little afraid to open the door.

Ari and I spent most of the day together while papa slept. It was cold but not over wet (at least until later, when little bits of ice started falling inexplicably from the sky) so we went over to the playground which is conveniently located across the street. She ran around like a crazy girl, and even went down the somewhat taller slides.

One of the things we bought out on our shopping trip was frames for the art we got at Con on the Cob. That's "Vengeance", "L'illusion du libre arbitre" and "Vision de la Nécessitée" from Nigel (going clockwise from the top). The little one off to the side is a low-res printout of "Toucanacondor Flaminguez", the character Thad played in Andy's Low Life game at the Con. We'll get some actual prints from Andy one of these days... I love his monsters.

"Vengeance" we got because... well, I mean, we'd have to, wouldn't we? The other two, I splurged on because I liked them, and they're a matched set. Nigel gave us a little bit of a break on them, too, which was sweet.

Oh, which reminds me- Nigel's about done with the design for Thad's tattoo... it looks really, really cool.

Well, I'm off to do some token grading and then hie me to bed.

n of 1

This is a picture of my baby having apparently learned that one smiles for cameras. :) I'm not sure how she picked this up; it's not like I have ever tried to get her to smile for the camera or anything. I suppose she has seen me and Thad do it, out of habit and is copying... smart girl.

Anyway, today she's taken to mugging for the camera. :D I pull it out, and she gets this exaggerated HUGE grin on her face- as seen above. I have about 5 more shots of that facial expression at other points today. I think it's really funny.

Also note that she is wearing one of my socks as a legwarmer again. She brought it over and demanded that I put it on her.

This is Thad and Ari playing Justice League action figures. Ari's favorites are Shining Knight, Zatanna and Wonder Woman (and, by the by, the shot right after this had Ari mugging in it again :)).

Ari decided she didn't like Darkseid much, so she ate his head for a while.

Today was mostly a Julia-working day... tomorrow, we need to go shopping (and buy a turkey!). We did go to the library today, which Ari loved. She likes going for walks- and she actually walks during them, these days. And she loves the children's area in the library, with its tempting letter magnets and fuzzy furniture.

Thad took this picture while I was working today. It's awful cute.

Oh, and OSU won the big Michigan game. I'm so, so, SO glad that I live reasonably far away from the big tailgait part of campus.

On the upside, Thad got to go into work late because his bosses were involved in game-related festivities. :)

Teeny time to eat

This picture was taken very early this morning... somebody didn't want to go to bed at a decent hour. I'd been up till 3:30 in the morning with a teethy babe the night before, and Thad had gotten a nap when I came home, so he stayed up with her. Apparently, it wasn't too long until she fell asleep of her own accord in the middle of a pile of books.

So. Cute. :D

Books are totally still her favorite thing, if anyone's stumped about what to get her for the upcoming holidays. She's in a phase of wanting us to read the same book over and over and over and over and over and... The other night, I read Brown Bear Brown Bear about four times (I hate that book so much), Going on a Bear Hunt 8 times (okay, but too much repetition), and Ben the Bee upwards of 18 or 20 times (at least it's short). We now hate every book we own. We'll learn to hate new books, too, I'm sure, but at least it'll take a little while. :)

This last week has been hellish (hence the lack of writing). NWAV put me behind on my schoolwork, and I've been desperately playing catchup all week. Ari's been teething, and her sleep's been disrupted. And Thad has an extra work night this week.

Oh, and to add to it all, tomorrow is the Michigan game. We here at OSU hate Michigan (is it UofM? Or Michigan State? I never can remember) and Michigan Week is a big deal. People may be leaping into Mirror Lake half-naked as we speak. Anyway, this is the biggest deal OSU/Michigan game in many years- both teams undefeated, yada yada. Upshot? I can't get near my office tomorrow. I can't get together with other students for study groups. Oh, and I better the hell not wear blue tomorrow- Michigan fans coming in for the game have been officially advised not to wear their school colors on the streets, or drive cars with Michigan plates to the game- lest they be assaulted. How sad is that?

Ari is way fun to play with these days. Favorite games:

• The growl-like-a-monster game, where mama/papa and baby go "RAAWWRRR" at each other
• The "I'm gonna blurble you!!" game, which seems to cause much more hilarity than actual blurbles/tickles
• Papa being slapstick... apparently, Thad whacking himself in the head with things and falling down is the height of hilarity
• Ring-around-the-rosey. Although, she only remembers to fall down part of the time
• Rockin' out to music

She's not signing yet, but she will consistently respond to my signs. So, if she's upset, I'll ask her what she wants, and sign various things- if it's not what she wants, she'll grab my hand and push it away. If she does want whatever it is, she'll grab my hand and force me to repeat the sign... I've tried making the signs with her hands, but that goes over about like you'd imagine (here, little toddler girl- let me force your hands into complex shapes!).

A pomegranate as big as your head

This is a great picture. Not only does it show my baby playing with the broom (she loves that thing), and not only is she really happy (look at that smile!) but you can also finally see her top teeth! She's had them for more than a month- I just checked on my blog archives, so I know- and I've never been able to get a shot. And not only can you see top teeth, but you can also the the new tooth she's cutting, if you look closely just to the left (your left) of her bottom teeth.

Today was mostly a cleaning day. I cleaned the bedroom and the bathroom. We kinda cleaned the dining room for people coming to game. Ari and I went to meet Brooke, and she had sooooo much fun running all around while I worked out. She's pretty much happy any time she gets to roam free, really.

Here Ari is, being the youngest Seeker in Fuzzy Flowers United's history.

Cute, true story: After Jaime zoomed her around on the broom for a while, he set her down on the floor. She grabbed the broom back up, very carefully straddled it (harder than it sounds like for a wobbly little toddler) and then sat there bouncing with her broom. :D

Today, she also kept laughing at jokes... someone would say something, we'd all start laughing, and bam, she'd start laughing (really loud!) with us. Little sweety; she's learning to accommodate!

Hair smelling

This is the one picture of Ari I took today. This is the outfit she picked out to wear! She picked out the shirt, and then later, she insisted on wearing the hat. I think it's an adorable and well coordinated outfit. ;)

The expression on her face is due to the two new teeth that are coming in on the bottom. She was super grumpy and irritable and whiny today, and I could figure out why until I finally got a decent look at her mouth, and went "Oooooooh....." Poor girl. Here's hoping (futile, vain hope) that she doesn't wake up tonight. The last two times she had teeth coming in, she stayed up all night for it.

Today was the last day of NWAV; I spent the morning there. I went to several interesting talks, one really awesome talk (about how to teach standard English to kids who speak non-standard dialects) and got to meet someone who may be really helpful for my research. Yay! Oh, and I had some tasty orange juice.

This afternoon, I spent trying to cope with a grumpy baby (although she did, at least, nap) and we went over to R&B's for delicious chili and cornbread Sunday dinner. Ari was pretty happy while we were over there, and wasn't too scared of the cats. Mostly.

Can't touch this

I'm typing this one-handed while Ari sleeps on my lap... she fell asleep in the car on the way home tonight, but then she woke up on the way in (stupid cold, damp wind) and I nursed her right back to sleep in my lap.

We've had a busy day- first, we woke up and went to a mom's house for a playgroup while papa slept. Ari had soooo much fun wandering around like a little crazy girl. Highlight of the morning: we were eating beans and salsa on tortilla chips, and I wanted to try to feed her some black beans- she usually likes beans. They were kind of soupy, though, so I was trying to feed her some on the end of a chip. She wanted to do it herself, though, and she ended up grabbing the chip too hard, and PLOP! Beans in the face. Messy, yet hilarious. :)

Then, we went home (once papa was awake) and Ari stayed with him while I went to NWAV. Listened to some interesting discourse talks†, and then caught the bus home. It was really drizzly and cold and horrible, too.

Then, we kinda cleaned the living room and failed to eat dinner... At least the Halloween stuff is finally put away. Huzzah! Then, Ari and I packed up to go to the NWAV party! Ari had a fun time- no one was on the dance floor, so she monopolized it. She rocked out to M.C. Hammer and the Ghostbuster theme. :) Walt Wolfram was standing near the dance floor, though, and she kept beelining for his legs... I should probably have used it as an opportunity to say "hi", but we all know what kind of wuss I am.

Case in point: at one point in the evening, Bill Labov came up and shook Ari's hand. Did I say, "Hello, sir, I'm a grad student here. Pleased to meet you."? No. I choked all up and said something incoherent about Ari just learning to walk, and he looked at me a little funny and went away. Well, it wasn't quite that bad, but you get the idea. I need to get myself not to be so intimidated by these guys...

Anyway, it was a great party, and Ari had a good time. Several people commented on how well behaved she was- despite the beelining for Walt Wolfram's legs, which may have been just good taste in sociolinguists.
__________
†One of which that was about intensifier use in blogs and forum postings... believe it or not, at one point, the researcher categorized different subcultures according to, I kid you not, "so/fuckin' space". Anyway, I find myself slightly self-conscious about my intensifier use now!

Tell me when you go to bed

Here's a picture of me and Ari from last night- NWAV is going on right now, and we went over to the reception on the opening night. We mostly failed to chat with other linguists, because I suck at the whole shmoozy thing we academics are supposed to do at conferences.

Anyway, I call this my Amazing Velcro baby trick. No hands!

We've had a pretty busy day today; I did four loads of laundry and cleaned the bedroom. Then, we went over to the playground, and Ari ran around like a little maniac. Forget walking across a room- my baby walked across a whole basketball court! She had great fun on the swings. Oh, and she went down the slide a few times. She was such a little pro at the slides- she climbed right up there, and even swung herself 'round to a sitting position before she pushed herself off!

This picture is from this morning, when Ari found my socks on the ground, and demanded me to put them on her. :D She seemed to think they were quite stylish.

After the playground, we came back home and found out that Grandma Colleen had sent us some new books! Ari enjoyed them a great deal- in fact, at bedtime, she insisted that I read the Mother Goose one over and over and over and over and over and over and over...

Tonight was a Shaintar night, so Ari and I went and had movie and pizza at another mom's house, which was nice. And I'm told that Thad's ogre adequately killed things (or at least held even with them until the archers could shoot them in the head).

Got the design

Well, this is from Con on the Cob. We didn't actually get many pictures. This is her dressed like a fairy princess (her purple shirt there in fact says "Fairy Princess") and wearing the Black Hat, of Blackhat Matt.

We all had such an incredibly good time at the con. Cavan was there (yay!) and R&B, and Andy Hopp and Nigel, and so on. Mostly, though, it was just such a friendly little convention. It was bigger this year, but not too big. And a LOT of the people there were older and/or had kids. It made it really easy to game, because we could let Ari just walk around alot more without worrying about her getting into trouble or bothering people.

There were also a whole group of little girls (8, 9 years old?) who thought Ari was the sweetest thing and desperately wanted to play with her. Ari played ring-around-the-rosey for the first time, and helped break a pinata†, and generally got carted all around by these little girls, loving it all the while.

We pretty much spent the con gaming or watching the girl or both- Saturday was non-stop gaming for me. I ran a Werewolf: the Apocalypse game- it marked the first time I've ever run a game for strangers. I had five people (the max) sign up for the game, and I think it went pretty well. In the evening (till 3 AM) I played in a Promethean game that BH Matt ran- very fun. Fave quote: "It's like watching someone roleplay a Turing test."

Awesome note about that- this was the kind of Con where, when the filking got too loud next to the gaming room, we were able to just go back to our room to play, which allowed me to put my baby to bed and keep playing.

Thad tried to run Hellboy (again) and failed (again), and played in Andy's Low Life game. He also ran a session of Changeling for three guys on Friday, which went pretty well (I hear). All in all, we're definitely going back next year. Of the cons I've been to this year, it's my favorite.

The last few days have been pretty hectic; going to con was awesome but robbed me of my ability to get anything done schoolwise, which has in turn robbed me of my ability to do anything but school now.

In Ari news, she's walking everywhere now, but still not talking or signing. She can eat apples now, and is carting them all over (how she gets them out of the apple baskets, I have no idea). Lately, she's taken to feeding me apple, which is adorable.

Tonight, she chomped the hell out of my finger, and I screamed (on accound of, it hurt like a bitch- she bit down right on the knuckle). It scared her, and she started sobbing, and I was holding her and telling her it was okay, but it hurt when she bit me, so on and so forth. In the meantime, she had to go get her apple, and start feeding it to me! D'know why that was, but awwwww.... It seemed like she was trying to make amends, anyway.

Oh, on the "talking" note, the other day she was waiting for dinner (impatiently, hungrily) and I was telling her that papa would bring her food very soon. I was signing "food" to her... she didn't sign back, but she did keep grabbing my hand and making me sign "food" some more. Again, I don't know if it was a real attempt to communicate, but it seemed like it...
_____________________
†Well, perhaps "went and looked at the pinata and patted it a few times" might be more accurate... it was an awesome pinata, though. Homemade and shaped like a big eyeball monster.