Update

Whew- we just got back from Maine. I have lots to say about it, and I'll post in a little while... There are loads of pictures, which I'll post when I get copies from Marcus.

Margot

This is a picture one of the other moms took of Ari at a playgroup today. It was a crafty playgroup, and it involved a lot of children turning things a lot of colors. Especially and including themselves. :) We near gave Thad a heart attack when he woke up this afternoon, looking at her arm.

We haven't been up to a whole lot the last few days. Ari hasn't made any spectacular messes, nor has her sleep schedule been exceptional. She has given us lots of hugs.

Ari things:

• Ari likes family hugs and kisses
• Today, Ari picked up the phone (which was off) and said "hello? hello?" (or "heh-o? heh-o?" as the case may be)
• I heard her say an [f] the other day :')
• Today, I gave her bread and hummous, and she totally just used the bread as a vehicle to put hummous into her mouth
  

P.S. I have a beautiful new niece! :D

No action or character

Guess what this is? This is us not having couscous for dinner on Wednesday. I think we need to get some more locking canisters to keep that sort of thing in.

Ari had a great time, anyhow. At one point, she even laid down on her tummy and made couscous angels. I went ahead and let her play with it, until she was napping and it was bugging me. And lo, I had a vacuum canister full of dirty couscous.

I meant us to go to the downtown library today, but one of my shoes was irrevocably lost, so we stayed home and cleaned up instead- after Thad woke up, he took her to the park at least, though.

She helped me sort laundry. She figured out that I was throwing clothes, and thought that sounded like a good time, anyhow. Most of the clothes ended up in their proper piles at the end...

Ants in cream

Yesterday was a long day, but to be honest with you, I'm a bit fuzzy on the details. I ended up only sleeping for an hour, and was in that place where I seem to be okay, but I keep forgetting what I was doing, or what time it is, or where I am. I passed out late-ish last night, and Thad- wonderful husband that he is- let me sleep in for a while.

Until Ari opened the door to our room, and came and woke me up. Apparently, she knows how to work doorknobs now! I'm still processing that. :) Funny thing, though- the door to our bathroom doesn't really have a working door latch, so it can be pretty easily opened if you just push it in. Ari's done that bunches of times.

But now, I've twice seen her trying to get into the bathroom by fumbling with the doorknob, and she no longer tries to just push open the door. Go figure...

We went to the arts festival downtown yesterday with Jaime and Brooke. We parked down by the Giant Eagle and walked the rest of the way downtown with Ari in her bike trailer stroller. The bike trailer as stroller thing was lovely (it was nice how we didn't have to carry our stuff; it has delightful storage space) but I did wish it didn't have that long front arm; it was problematic in the crowd of the festival.

There were some bands there, at least one of which we liked. We all danced around and generally had a good time. We also enjoyed looking at all the art stuff, although there's never ANYTHING at that festival that we could possibly, in a million years, afford.

We also walked down by the waterfront, which I'd never been to before. The Santa Maria is down there, and some other neat stuff.

Oh, we ran into Brooke's family, and her little brother Joe had a great time playing with Ari. He had fun pushing the stroller around, and he kept wanting to pick her up and run around and play with her. It was really sweet.

All in all, we had a pretty good time.

Today's mostly been catchup, and house cleaning, and alternate napping.

Choux paste

I am going to pay for this so badly tomorrow.

This is a picture of my baby, asleep, on her bed. Where she arrived just a little after seven o'clock yesterday evening. By yesterday, I mean... Thursday. It was really cute. She just came upstairs, lay down in her bed and fell asleep reading.

Then, she woke up around midnight and was up until 5 AM.

Yesterday, by which I mean Friday, I napped, because I was insanely sleep deprived from her being sick and all.

And then tonight, by which I mean Friday (or possibly early Saturday), I couldn't get to sleep. Probably because of the napping. And here I am, at 6 AM.

Notable non-sleep related things:

• I made even better cream puffs today- thanks for the tip, Max!
• On that note, I also started reading those dragon books Max recommended... I'm enjoying 'em, too. :)
  
• Ari voluntarily helped clean her room tonight. We've been in a routine of picking up her room before bed (first night diaper, then teeth brushing, then room cleaning, then nursies and sleep). And tonight, after we brushed her teeth, I said "What do we do now?" and she ran into her room and started putting her books on her shelf. :D
• Ari knows the color purple. She has been reading the Mouse Paint book that her godmother gave her for her birthday alot lately, and it's all about mixing colors. When we get to that part, she has been saying "puhpuw" for a while. But, today, I pulled a dress out of her drawer, and she got all excited about "Puhpuw! Sauwuhs! Puhpuw! Sauwuhs!" (Purple flowers), so she really knows what it means.
• Ari is cutting a canine tooth. I can see it now.
  

Sweet paste

I graded final exams today, and worked on the draft of The Paper That Will Not End- which I owe Brian tomorrow, so he can look at it before he leaves Friday.

Cute story: today, Ari was reading her Richard Scarry book (which, by the way, she loves absolutely to pieces. Literally.), and she was looking at a page with some pictures of cats*. There were two pictures of cats with hats- one with a too-small hat, and one with a too-big hat drooping down over his eyes. Ari pointed at the first cat, and said, "Dat!" Then, she pointed at the second cat and said, "Seep dat!" Which, for the uninitiated, is her way of saying that the cat was asleep. Because she couldn't see his eyes. :D My baby is smart.
_____
*I know, I know. All the pages in that book have pictures of cats. And disturbingly cannibalistic pigs.

How many blueberries?

This is Thad and Ari yesterday, out on the lawn in front of the house. Still, you'll note, wearing the dress. It was one of those "she fell asleep without having been put to bed properly so oh well she'll just sleep in her dress hmm we're both too lazy to corner her and put her in something new" sort of things.

I took her to the doctor yesterday as promised, for her first sick visit ever. And then, maybe five minutes after we got there, the power went out. I asked if they could go ahead and look at her real quick anyhow, and they did- but all their equipment (save for the ear thermometers) was run on wall power. So, I talked to them and they listened to her lungs and looked her over. The aforementioned ear thermometer confirmed that she was running a low-grade fever.

The doctors said that she was probably okay (her lungs sounded clear, and she seemed to be breathing okay, which was a comfort to me), and that it was probably a viral infection that she just needed to get over. They also said that if she was still fevery today, that we should bring her in again. Fortunately, she's doing much better today. She took a four hour nap, and went to bed at a reasonable hour, even. Wish me luck with her staying asleep, too. :)

Yellow sign

Look what I made today. :) I found this fabric on sale at the Jo-Ann's and bought half a yard and made this. The other fabric is all from my stash, so at least I'm using it up. I think it looks really nice on her. It looks pretty comfy, too.

I think she likes it, also; I caught her flouncing around in front of the mirror.

Ari's been having a pretty hard few days. She's been sick, and I don't know what to do about it... I think it's time to go to the doctor. I'm going to call for an appointment tomorrow morning. She's been having a fever (but only at night), and a cough (all the time). She doesn't act sick all the time, but every time she tries to sleep, the coughing wakes her up, so she's clearly not feeling well now. Hard to tell how much is sleep deprivation, and how much is sick.

This is Ari a few days ago, running around with her duck and my hat (stolen off my very head!). She greatly enjoys having someone chase her with the duck and quacking.

Today, Ari said "Bunny", with the "n" and everything. That's the first time I've ever heard it. Oh, and she knew without being told that Thad was sleeping in our room. When we went upstairs to change her, she ran over to our door, and said "Papa seep! Papa seep!", and then knocked on the door. Where'd she learn to knock on doors?

Later on, I told her that I was going to wake Papa up soon, and she took it upon herself to run up the stairs and knock on the door until Thad woke up and came and got her.

Very belated

This weekend was Marcon... check us out. I didn't take nearly as many pictures as last year- probably because I spent most of the con running after a certain little someone, and didn't have proper time to pull out a camera.

This is a picture of her, napping under one of the tables in the gaming room.

We pretty much spent the whole con in the gaming room, with one of us gaming and the other running after the girl. Ari had great fun seeing all the sights- including escalators, which she enjoyed going up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down.

This is Miss Ari deciding that the Icehouse pieces are her personal playthings. The rep from Looney Labs was nice enough about it, and I had her come away when they were actually ready to play. Brooke, who actually knows how to play the game, said that she was making some pretty good plays.

Matt McFarland (aka Black Hat Matt) brought his wife and daughter to the con, and Ari enjoyed playing with her. She's 10 months older than Ari is. She was really interested in other kids and babies, and every time she saw any, she'd run right up, saying "Bay-ee! Bay-ee!" One girl (maybe 5 or 6?) was getting really frustrated with her, saying, "I'M NOT A BABY!" But anyone not-adult is a "bay-ee" as far as Ari is concerned. :)

Oh, one kinda cool thing- there was a maybe 8 or 10 year-old girl there, dressed up all pretty and with a cat-fairy plushy. Ari kept pointing at her, saying "Seh-ee! Seh-ee! Seh-ee!" I told the girl that Ari thought she was a fairy (that being what "seh-ee" means in Ari-speak), and she held out the plushy, saying, "no, this is the fairy".

So, Ari pointed at the plushy, and said, "Dat!" and pointed at the girl and said, "Seh-ee!" She knew what she knew. :)

Lots of eggs

Urgh... Ari just stayed up until 3:30 in the morning. She spent the last nearly two hours of that having a complete sobbing, screaming, scratching, kicking meltdown. Finally, she just passed out. Poor girl, poor me.

We went to a playgroup in the evening, and she had a really good time there. I wish I could get her out with other kids more often... but lack of a car makes it difficult.

There was no one there really her age- all babies, or somewhat older kids.
She was fascinated by the babies. She kept walking up to them and sort of, checking them out. She had to inspect the latch on one nursing babe (fortunately, the mama involved was tolerant of this toddler girl checking her boob).

Tasty little piggies

This is Ari, playing with bubbles on our porch today. She doesn't know how to blow bubbles, but she sure thinks that playing with the wand and the bubble liquid is fun times.

We actually went over to the park today, bubble bottle in hand, and I (excellent mother that I am) let my child climb all over the play equipment with an open bottle of bubbles. :) To my credit, she only spilled it twice, and it dried very quickly because of the bright sun and nearly 90 degree weather.

Cute Ari things from today:

• She thought the sloppy joes Thad made for dinner were "bacon"
• We had a great time cuddling and playing in her room around naptime (no nap, though)- and she kept saying "kiss!" and giving me kisses all over my face.
  

This is Ari, playing sweetly by herself in her room. Well, insofar as "playing sweetly" involves her ripping pages out of one of her books. While I was crafting (it being my craft night), and Thad was working on the computer, she went upstairs of her own accord, and hung out there quietly, not causing too much havoc, for quite some time.

I'm glad she likes her new room. I like having and adult room room- I don't like sleeping less, though (since I have to wake up to tend to her in the night now). But the tradeoff is about right now- I like not sleeping with her more than I like an extra hour of sleep a night.

Papa Joe's

Here it is, Tuesday already. Let's see... so far this week:

Thad-

• Didn't get a tooth pulled (it was a near one)
  
• Wants Chinese food
• Bought our baby bubble soap

Ari-

• Bit me on the arm today- and drew blood! >:(
• Took a bath without screaming for the first time in ages today
• Had a tasty rice and lemon tart dinner

I-

• Can't freakin' figure out how to copy from DAT to my computer
• Had my DAT recorder mysteriously fail to record 4 out of 5 times
• Made a tasty lemon tart yesterday- I need a proper tart pan sometime

Oh, and I'm trying to work up an abstract for a project I haven't done yet. Whee!

Revenants and ghouls

Look what I turned around and saw this morning! I'm not sure whether she managed to get the lid off, or whether I left it unlocked, but Ari sure thought it was a good time. :) It was all kinds of fun to clean up... there's still kind of flour on the floor. Fortunately, Miss Ari was able to be dusted off with a minimum of difficulty.

We went over to Rick and Brooke's house and hung out for the day while Thad went to Shaintar. Ari was excited to see Brooke ("Bwook! Bwook!"), Rick ("Ick! Ick!") and the cats ("dat dat dat dat dat dat dat!") and had a good time playing there. I made the cake I owed Brooke, and it turned out really good- it had whipped cream/cream cheese frosting and sliced strawberries in the middle.

Here are some cute pics of Ari from today.

And here's an awesome video from after Thad got back from Shaintar:

Tentacles

Here is a fuzzy-headed Ari, having a good time playing with her wagon.

We've had a rough couple of days. Thad is sick, and seems to have a toothache (he's going to the dental school on Monday).

Then, a couple of days ago, we were out biking... which was nice. We went to the library, and Miss Ari was all excited, saying "Be-y! Be-y!" (which is "library", for the uninitiated). She jumped out of the bike trailer and ran for the door in all her darling toddlery 20-month glory- and promptly tripped and face-planted into the concrete. She scraped up the underside of her chin pretty badly. Bleeding on papa's shirt badly, mind, not emergency room badly... but it was clearly hurting her, and it messed up her sleep that night. Since then, all of us have been down sleep. I did make some things that I want to post pictures of, but that'll have to wait.

Crepes and Pastry Cream

This is my daughter, napping in her own bed in her own room. Right now, in fact, she's asleep in her own bed in her own room.

Thad and I had talked yesterday about moving my office into our room and relocating Ari into her own room, so she could have a playspace, and not kick Thad so much, or pull my clothes out of my drawers.

Anyway, when I got home today, Ari was napping upstairs, and when I went upstairs to wake her, I discovered that Thad had done it!

Ari is way into her new room. A little while ago, our stairs gate broke, and Ari seems to be perfectly capable of going up and down on her own, so we just leave them unblocked now. And, several times, she went of her own volition upstairs to play in her room. I hope she continues to like it. :)

Poor Miss Ari has a nasty prickly heat rash on the back of her neck, so we just skipped the clothes today in hopes that it might help. It seems better, mostly. Rashes give me the everlovin' willies... I hope it goes away soon for both our sakes.

Very firm

I just asked Miss Ari for a kiss, and she proceeded to headbutt me like, six times. In the face. And then, she said "kiss nose!" To be fair, I was laughing too hard to stop her from headbutting me the last five times, and so was Thad, who was watching the whole thing.

I had a great Mother's Day. Thad watched Ari while I went to see a movie, and then there was pie. What more could I ask for?

Swiving and thews

Stupid blurry photograph. I'm not sure why I didn't realize I was out of focus while I was taking it...

Nevertheless, this is The Best Creampuff I Have Ever Made (So Far). :D I made it out of the Dessert University cookbook I've been fangirling over for the last month. He really explains how to do it, and what the tricky bits are- and you can see the results!

The puff part is properly puffly, and not sad and deflated and squidgy. The cream filling is creamy and thick, and not the least bit runny. And best of all, this recipe made 12 big ol' creampuffs. Even with inviting Rick and Brooke over, We still have four blackberry creampuffs waiting to be eaten! :D

This is Ari, playing the walk- around- attached- to- mama's- leg game. It was awesome.

Today's been sort of a weird day. I couldn't get to sleep until past dawn last night (this morning?) and Thad had stuff to do, so I was on Ari shift first thing. I spent the whole morning sleepwalking, and then took a nap in the afternoon. When I woke up, I felt totally energized, and made creampuffs.

Ari and I went for a walk over to the post office in the morning. She is hard to walk with, because she doesn't want to hold my hand, or necessarily go in the same direction as me. :) Also, it's hard to carry her unless I whip out the wrap, because she is not such a little girl as she once was, and I am but a little woman. She grew chub (and muscle and bones and skin etc. etc.) faster than I grew muscle?

Thad is off working his first night back at the Target- 10 hour shift, with adset at the end of it. So, yuck.

Happy Mother's Day to those of y'all to whom it applies, by the way.

A lack of tomatoes

Well, before I go on about silly things, I should let you all know: Thad had his hearing, and was cleared to go back to work, which is an enormous, incredible relief. Thad intends to sub as little as possible, of course (he will probably sub some more this year, but not renew his license), but it's so good to not have that hanging over our heads, and not have to worry about it anymore.

Now, back to silliness:

Check out my first attempt ever at needle felting! I feel that it turned out pretty good. The color mismatch is less... apparent in real life, too. I will be making her a little merbaby and a sling to put over those boobies as well, though. :)

She's going to be for the art show I'm buying space in this fall. If I can sell one piece, it'll more than pay for the entry fee, so that would be really cool. I'm going to try to do maybe five larger things (like the mermaid, and the dice gremlin) and then maybe a few smaller things. We'll see what I can get done this summer... I have a million monsters in my head.

This is Ari, having some tasty lunch.

Today, we went on an enormous long bike ride downtown. We went down to the main library, and then Ari and I hung out there while Thad went over to his hearing (a block away). Ari ended up napping most of the time Thad was gone, so I had a nice time sitting outside the library in the shade with a book while she slept in her trailer.

We are loving the bike trailer now that the weather is nice, by the by (thanks, Mom and Dad! :D). It's so nice to be able to get downtown without driving (or, more to the point, parking), and Ari seems to really enjoy going for rides.

Out of ink

These are some pictures from a week or two back, when we went to the Viking festival. Contrast, if you wish, with last year's Viking fest pics... Ari was much smaller then, and trying to climb into things less.

(I swear that I put down the camera and hauled her out of there before she damaged even one of those delightful gay pride foxtails. :D )

Today is interesting, because I couldn't get to sleep. It's now five in the morning (as you can see), and I just haven't been sleepy. Poor Ari also suffered from insomnia; she passed out around 2:30, I guess. But it was clear that she desperately wanted to sleep before then.

Tonight was my craft night- I was pretty busy. I made all these guys. So, that's good. Now I will give them to someone else, and she will try to sell them.

Other than that, I spent all day grading. I promised my students I'd have their papers back to them today, and I shall deliver. Now, I just need to have a decent lecture prepared. Sleep might help.

Midnight pancakes

Let's see- Thad's hearing has finally been scheduled, so we're not in that limbo anymore. He's putting his resume out to a few places, and going back to his Target job in any case, though. He's pretty much decided he's not going to renew his teaching license, though- I can't blame him.

(That, by the way, was me and my suckness at beginning writing things, deciding to just jump in in the middle)

Ari is way into superheroes these days. She flips through her comics (we grabbed her some on Free Comic Book Day) and insists that we tell her the names of all the characters. She can say Hawkman ("haw'mun"), Hawkgirl ("haw'guhl"), Green Arrow ("aaoh"), the Flash ("sash!"), and Superman ("soup-mun"). She can recognize the entire Justice League, though, and also some ancillaries.

She's officially in the two-word stage now- she routinely says things like "papa up!" and "peez nuhs" (figure that one out ;) ). It's very exciting.

She's been on an ungodly weird sleep schedule for the last little while, but we're starting to see hope that it's settling down.