29 December 2013
Bonus Post: Side-by-Side
Merry Christmas! Since we have been (and still are) traveling, I haven't really had time for an update. To hold you over until next week's post (which will cover two weeks), I've put together a picture-heavy (read: only pictures) side-by-side view of the girls. I'm really last to the party on this one, as several others have done it already. Regardless, here it is:
22 December 2013
December 15-22
We're trying to get Olivia to eat better vegetables. After a rough start a couple of weeks ago with a carrot soup that she absolutely refused to touch, we broke out the raw veggies and dips. First termites on a log (because all I had was golden raisins), then carrots and peppers with dips. She's now progressed to willingly taking at least one bite of whatever raw or steamed veggie I put in front of her, though soups still send her running. We're also trying to cut out the demands for different food and we've discovered that she eats better when foods are presented one at a time, so we've evolved a kind of course system to dinner. Closest to Olivia is the night's vegetable, followed by the main dish, with a fruit or bread option on the other side of the table. She can move on to the next thing after she's had a bite or five of whatever is in front of it. It's been going well, and meals are much more peaceful. As a bonus, Bryan gets the sides he's always wanted. :)
Some time ago, Olivia decided she absolutely could not sleep unless there was a light on in the room. We had a small lamp, so we used that to keep her from turning on her bedroom light. Over time, though, it became apparent that she does not sleep as well with a light on (shocking, I know). Since we're also hoping to night-potty-train her eventually, I decided to get her a toddler clock that doubles as a night light. To keep her from turning on the bedroom light, I rearranged the room so the bed is in a different corner. Her new clock changes color (from yellow to green) when she's allowed to leave her room in the morning. Once she gets used to that, we'll be able to take the gate down so that she can go to the bathroom whenever she needs to. The only problem? She unplugs the clock. At least she's sleeping in the dark again, though.
Olivia made the bread for dinner the other night. This is where you say, we know, Johannah, that Olivia helps you make bread. There was a 15-minute video about it once, remember? That's not what I meant, though. Reread the first sentence, pretending that you don't know that Olivia is only 2, and you'll have a better idea of what actually happened. I measured the water for her (3/4 cup in a 4 cup container so she wouldn't spill getting it to the table), helped her remove some especially sticky dough from her fingers, and provided verbal direction. That's it. Olivia measured the yeast, salt, and flour, stirred everything up, kneaded the dough, put it in a pan, used her fingers to poke holes in the top of the loaf (for some reason known only to her), and put it in the (still cool) oven. We ate it for dinner that night and it was delicious.
Lest you think something happened to Gretchen, we still have her. She had a lull this week and didn't really do any new and exciting things, so I don't have any stories. I took some pictures, though, so that you can see that we don't completely ignore her! :)
Pictures:
Some time ago, Olivia decided she absolutely could not sleep unless there was a light on in the room. We had a small lamp, so we used that to keep her from turning on her bedroom light. Over time, though, it became apparent that she does not sleep as well with a light on (shocking, I know). Since we're also hoping to night-potty-train her eventually, I decided to get her a toddler clock that doubles as a night light. To keep her from turning on the bedroom light, I rearranged the room so the bed is in a different corner. Her new clock changes color (from yellow to green) when she's allowed to leave her room in the morning. Once she gets used to that, we'll be able to take the gate down so that she can go to the bathroom whenever she needs to. The only problem? She unplugs the clock. At least she's sleeping in the dark again, though.
Olivia made the bread for dinner the other night. This is where you say, we know, Johannah, that Olivia helps you make bread. There was a 15-minute video about it once, remember? That's not what I meant, though. Reread the first sentence, pretending that you don't know that Olivia is only 2, and you'll have a better idea of what actually happened. I measured the water for her (3/4 cup in a 4 cup container so she wouldn't spill getting it to the table), helped her remove some especially sticky dough from her fingers, and provided verbal direction. That's it. Olivia measured the yeast, salt, and flour, stirred everything up, kneaded the dough, put it in a pan, used her fingers to poke holes in the top of the loaf (for some reason known only to her), and put it in the (still cool) oven. We ate it for dinner that night and it was delicious.
Lest you think something happened to Gretchen, we still have her. She had a lull this week and didn't really do any new and exciting things, so I don't have any stories. I took some pictures, though, so that you can see that we don't completely ignore her! :)
Pictures:
15 December 2013
December 8-15
If you're receiving this by email for the first time, see the beginning of this post.
I remember having little cupcake crayons when we were kids. Mom would take all the broken pieces, toss them in a muffin tin, and melt them down into new crayons for us to use. Olivia has a lot of broken crayons, so I decided to do this. I wasn't able to mix the colors with the same reckless abandon that my mother did, but I did pair a couple up to fill the tins a bit more. This ended up being a good thing, because I didn't know how long (or how hot) to bake the crayons, and managed to melt them down until the colors were completely mixed. So instead of the swirly colored crayons we had, Olivia ended up with some new solid colors. At least I was cautious, so she didn't end up with six shades of brown. She was intrigued by them and seems to like using them better than her regular crayons.
Gretchen has been practicing her consonants. She's especially good at mamamamama. Her other favorite right now is ba (usually just one at a time). She held up a ball the other day and said, "ba," sounding especially smart. We'll just ignore all the other things she labels as "ba." :)
A follow-up appointment for a second flu shot and a check on her ear infection gave us the opportunity to weigh Gretchen again. At 7 months, she was 16 lbs, 10 oz, which is still over a pound lighter than Olivia was at six months. This surprised Bryan, because Gretchen eats meals like she might never get fed again. She puts away more food at one meal than Olivia does in a week. Apparently she also burns it off faster.
Olivia sounds more like a big person every day. I'll call her from the other room, and she'll answer with, "yes, mommy?" She also says, "bless you, baby Gretchen" when Gretchen sneezes, says thank you without being prompted (not all the time, but sometimes), and asks Bryan to "brush the girl's hair" when he puts her to bed.
It's cookie walk time again, so I have more Spritz notes:
-I use medium eggs and the chocolate recipe calls for 2 large eggs. This year my batter seemed especially dry, so I put in an extra medium egg. This was a good decision.
-Soften the butter in the microwave before adding the sugar.
-Roll the dough into a log. It's not that hard, and the time saved is tremendous.
-The chocolate batter is easier to work with if it is slightly chilled. Do not chill the vanilla batter. The recipe didn't lie to you. (Side note: If you're one of those people who buys the Pillsbury cookie dough just to eat the dough with no intention of every baking it into cookies (that's everybody), you should make vanilla spritz and put the dough in the fridge. I tasted mine, and I'm pretty sure that's how Pillsbury makes their cookies.)
-Don't be afraid to use more than one click per cookie. One and a half is often the magic number.
Also some notes about Austrian chocolate balls:
-Double batches are very workable. Larger than that would be unwieldy.
-The recipe says to dip each ball in the frosting, but I get impatient and stir them all into the frosting instead. (Bonus to this method: the whole cookie gets a chocolate coating, instead of just the top.) Six batches at a time is a bit much for this technique, though. Actually, how does using some sort of frosting tip sound? That might be easiest.
-Large eggs make the batter a little too moist and the cookies flatten in the oven. Add a little extra flour and you're good to go.
Pictures and Video:
I remember having little cupcake crayons when we were kids. Mom would take all the broken pieces, toss them in a muffin tin, and melt them down into new crayons for us to use. Olivia has a lot of broken crayons, so I decided to do this. I wasn't able to mix the colors with the same reckless abandon that my mother did, but I did pair a couple up to fill the tins a bit more. This ended up being a good thing, because I didn't know how long (or how hot) to bake the crayons, and managed to melt them down until the colors were completely mixed. So instead of the swirly colored crayons we had, Olivia ended up with some new solid colors. At least I was cautious, so she didn't end up with six shades of brown. She was intrigued by them and seems to like using them better than her regular crayons.
Gretchen has been practicing her consonants. She's especially good at mamamamama. Her other favorite right now is ba (usually just one at a time). She held up a ball the other day and said, "ba," sounding especially smart. We'll just ignore all the other things she labels as "ba." :)
A follow-up appointment for a second flu shot and a check on her ear infection gave us the opportunity to weigh Gretchen again. At 7 months, she was 16 lbs, 10 oz, which is still over a pound lighter than Olivia was at six months. This surprised Bryan, because Gretchen eats meals like she might never get fed again. She puts away more food at one meal than Olivia does in a week. Apparently she also burns it off faster.
Olivia sounds more like a big person every day. I'll call her from the other room, and she'll answer with, "yes, mommy?" She also says, "bless you, baby Gretchen" when Gretchen sneezes, says thank you without being prompted (not all the time, but sometimes), and asks Bryan to "brush the girl's hair" when he puts her to bed.
It's cookie walk time again, so I have more Spritz notes:
-I use medium eggs and the chocolate recipe calls for 2 large eggs. This year my batter seemed especially dry, so I put in an extra medium egg. This was a good decision.
-Soften the butter in the microwave before adding the sugar.
-Roll the dough into a log. It's not that hard, and the time saved is tremendous.
-The chocolate batter is easier to work with if it is slightly chilled. Do not chill the vanilla batter. The recipe didn't lie to you. (Side note: If you're one of those people who buys the Pillsbury cookie dough just to eat the dough with no intention of every baking it into cookies (that's everybody), you should make vanilla spritz and put the dough in the fridge. I tasted mine, and I'm pretty sure that's how Pillsbury makes their cookies.)
-Don't be afraid to use more than one click per cookie. One and a half is often the magic number.
Also some notes about Austrian chocolate balls:
-Double batches are very workable. Larger than that would be unwieldy.
-The recipe says to dip each ball in the frosting, but I get impatient and stir them all into the frosting instead. (Bonus to this method: the whole cookie gets a chocolate coating, instead of just the top.) Six batches at a time is a bit much for this technique, though. Actually, how does using some sort of frosting tip sound? That might be easiest.
-Large eggs make the batter a little too moist and the cookies flatten in the oven. Add a little extra flour and you're good to go.
Pictures and Video:
08 December 2013
December 1-8
Justine recently discovered how to send out the weekly blog post in an email to specific people, so I added a couple of names to that list. If you've started getting emails of the blog posts, that's why. There are opportunities for change:
-If you don't want to receive emails for any reason (you already visit the blog on your own each week, my witty writing incapacitates you for prolonged periods of time, you can't handle the insane amount of Olivia and Gretchen propaganda, etc), let me know and I'll remove you from the list.
-If you currently visit the blog periodically but would prefer to be on the email list so that you don't have to remember to check for your weekly pictures, let me know and I'll add you.
-If you know people who would appreciate the emails (probably because they don't have a gmail account, so logging in to read is unreasonably difficult), give me their email addresses and I'll add them to the list.
We have something outside one of our windows that Olivia refers to as "the mouse." Bryan and I cannot figure out what she means. We've speculated that it may be one of the few stubborn leaves still clinging to the tree, or perhaps the bump on top of the street lamp... No amount of questions or examinations provides enlightenment. Almost every day, though, Olivia comments on "the mouse" that she sees outside. (At least she specified that it was outside... The first time she brought it up I thought maybe she found a mouse in the house!)
In addition to recognizing most of the alphabet, Olivia also recognizes several numbers. She has a book that has numbers only on the even pages, and she was pointing out all of the numbers to me as she read (nevermind the story, mom, look at these numbers!). She went through 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and then got to twelve and said, "Oh, a ten and a 2!" This does lead me to wonder whether she thinks that 1 is called "ten." However. I told her that a ten and a two was twelve, and she replied with her typical, "oh, okay" before turning the page. "A four and a ten!" "That's fourteen." "Oh, okay. *page turn* Look! Mom! A six and a ten!" "Sixteen." "Oh, okay. *page turn* Mom! Eighteen!" That's right. She said "eighteen," not "eight and ten." We haven't had this discussion again, so I'm not sure if it was a fluke or not.
-If you don't want to receive emails for any reason (you already visit the blog on your own each week, my witty writing incapacitates you for prolonged periods of time, you can't handle the insane amount of Olivia and Gretchen propaganda, etc), let me know and I'll remove you from the list.
-If you currently visit the blog periodically but would prefer to be on the email list so that you don't have to remember to check for your weekly pictures, let me know and I'll add you.
-If you know people who would appreciate the emails (probably because they don't have a gmail account, so logging in to read is unreasonably difficult), give me their email addresses and I'll add them to the list.
We have something outside one of our windows that Olivia refers to as "the mouse." Bryan and I cannot figure out what she means. We've speculated that it may be one of the few stubborn leaves still clinging to the tree, or perhaps the bump on top of the street lamp... No amount of questions or examinations provides enlightenment. Almost every day, though, Olivia comments on "the mouse" that she sees outside. (At least she specified that it was outside... The first time she brought it up I thought maybe she found a mouse in the house!)
In addition to recognizing most of the alphabet, Olivia also recognizes several numbers. She has a book that has numbers only on the even pages, and she was pointing out all of the numbers to me as she read (nevermind the story, mom, look at these numbers!). She went through 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and then got to twelve and said, "Oh, a ten and a 2!" This does lead me to wonder whether she thinks that 1 is called "ten." However. I told her that a ten and a two was twelve, and she replied with her typical, "oh, okay" before turning the page. "A four and a ten!" "That's fourteen." "Oh, okay. *page turn* Look! Mom! A six and a ten!" "Sixteen." "Oh, okay. *page turn* Mom! Eighteen!" That's right. She said "eighteen," not "eight and ten." We haven't had this discussion again, so I'm not sure if it was a fluke or not.
Gretchen desperately wants to be crawling, but can't figure out how to get her knees to stay underneath her. She is not helped by the cold weather, because her pants slip all over our wood floors. Olivia learned to crawl when it was warmer out, so her sticky little bare knees couldn't get away from her. As compensation for not being able to crawl, Gretchen is discovering alternate methods of locomotion. On a soft surface (such as the bed), she tends to just roll all over the place. No edge is safe from Gretchen's exploration. On hard, smooth surfaces, she sits and watches the world go by, spinning herself around on her rear to better catch the action. By the end of this last week, she was also attempting to pull herself along the floor (while still sitting).
Pictures and Videos:
01 December 2013
November 24-December 1
We took family pictures last Saturday, which was an adventure. Of the 75 pictures snapped, Olivia was smiling in exactly two of them, and those two were individual shots. We did manage to find one group picture where Gretchen was smiling and Olivia seemed more contemplative than whiny, so we ordered that one for the Christmas letter. As Jacque (who was visiting) and I looked through the pictures, she pointed out that at least Bryan and I smiled the whole time. The photographer agreed, noting that we were often looking at the camera as well. We're so talented. :)
Last week we traveled to Bryan's parents' house for Thanksgiving. We were able to spend four days there, and got to see his brother and sister in addition to some extended family. He also got to see some exciting football games, which made him happy.
Olivia is potty trained. She's worn diapers only at night-time for a little over a week now and has been (mostly) accident free. We did have some trouble during naptime at Grandma and Grandpa's house because the house was so big that we couldn't hear her quiet waking up noises in order to catch her and stick her on the potty right away. Other than 2 naptimes, though, she's been fine. I even have a nifty waterproof pad that I made for her carseat in case of leaks in the car.
Gretchen loves food. You already knew this (I think), but it bears repeating. To date, she's enjoyed green beans, carrots, zucchini, sweet potato, spinach, yellow squash, pumpkin, mango, pears, peaches, applesauce, oatmeal, apricot, and zweiback. She's tried leeks, but not enough times to be convinced she likes them. This is in addition to whatever soft foods we happen to have on our plates when she's finished her food (bananas, tomatoes, mushrooms, lasagna...). She also happily takes bites of whatever she can grab out of her mother's hands, which means she sampled melon, bread, and crackers when I wasn't paying attention.
Enough updates. Time for pictures.
Pictures and Videos:
27 November 2013
Bonus Post: 30 Before 30
There's something being popularized by bloggers (especially those of the mom variety) lately called "30 before 30." It's similar to a bucket list, but with a finite number of goals and a more easily predicted deadline. I thought it would be fun to try and, after showing my list to him, convinced Bryan to try it, too. When I started my list, I saw it as a way to put some things I've been wanting to do down on paper so that I'd remember them and (ideally) actually do them. Looking over the finished list, it looks like I also tried to use it as a way to balance all the parts of my life. :)
Presenting, in no particular order, my 30 before 30:
1. Genuinely surprise Bryan at least once.
2. Record the psalms.
3. Run a sub-2:00 half marathon.
4. Sell at least one thing I've made (at the Farmer's Market or on Etsy).
5. Learn Spanish.
6. Record all 6 cello suites.
7. Sew Christmas and/or Easter dresses for the girls.
8. Minimize (eliminate?) the need for disposable products in our house.
9. Have a compost pile.
10. Play with at least 2 professional orchestras.
11. Go 7 days in a row without letting my temper get the better of me.
12. Make an honest attempt at clean eating/real food.
13. *Skipped because knowledge by some of my readers could skew the results.*
14. Go on an overnight vacation with just our family.
15. Grow a garden.
16. Write a book.
17. Sew a skirt that becomes my favorite.
18. Volunteer to host campout.
19. Go through RCIA.
20. Attend Seekers' Group (similar to RCIA, offered by the Orthodox church in Lima).
21. Complete at least 3 things on my (ever growing) Projects List.
22. Start a soup kitchen.
23. Make pectin-free jam. Make up the recipe.
24. Go on an overnight vacation with Bryan -- no kids.
25. Use up all the coupons Bryan gave me (I still have some from when we were dating).
26. Learn one of the 3 big concertos.
27. Arrange a regularly recurring get-together with the Lima folk.
28. Have a religious conversation with Bryan that doesn't end in tears.
29. Make a new friend.
30. Improve a stranger's day.
31. (Because I thought of one more and it kind of fits in with several of the above goals) Join a co-op.
Presenting, in no particular order, my 30 before 30:
1. Genuinely surprise Bryan at least once.
2. Record the psalms.
3. Run a sub-2:00 half marathon.
4. Sell at least one thing I've made (at the Farmer's Market or on Etsy).
5. Learn Spanish.
6. Record all 6 cello suites.
7. Sew Christmas and/or Easter dresses for the girls.
8. Minimize (eliminate?) the need for disposable products in our house.
9. Have a compost pile.
10. Play with at least 2 professional orchestras.
11. Go 7 days in a row without letting my temper get the better of me.
12. Make an honest attempt at clean eating/real food.
13. *Skipped because knowledge by some of my readers could skew the results.*
14. Go on an overnight vacation with just our family.
15. Grow a garden.
16. Write a book.
17. Sew a skirt that becomes my favorite.
18. Volunteer to host campout.
19. Go through RCIA.
20. Attend Seekers' Group (similar to RCIA, offered by the Orthodox church in Lima).
21. Complete at least 3 things on my (ever growing) Projects List.
22. Start a soup kitchen.
23. Make pectin-free jam. Make up the recipe.
24. Go on an overnight vacation with Bryan -- no kids.
25. Use up all the coupons Bryan gave me (I still have some from when we were dating).
26. Learn one of the 3 big concertos.
27. Arrange a regularly recurring get-together with the Lima folk.
28. Have a religious conversation with Bryan that doesn't end in tears.
29. Make a new friend.
30. Improve a stranger's day.
31. (Because I thought of one more and it kind of fits in with several of the above goals) Join a co-op.
24 November 2013
November 17-24
Gretchen has top teeth. They're super tiny and barely poked through, but they're both there.
Something rather big I forgot to mention last week: our freezer is broken. I went to get Gretchen some breakfast from the stash of ice cube purees, and discovered ice cream melting all over everything. I put the veggies and broth in the cooler, moved the meat to the upstairs freezer, tossed two soup bones and a roast in crockpots in desperation, and put everything else in the fridge. Monday night we ate the hamburgers that were in the fridge, Tuesday for lunch we had a ridiculously tender roast (because it had been in a crockpot for over 24 hours), Tuesday night we had friends over to help us eat the sirloin steaks that had been defrosting in the fridge, and Wednesday night we had soup with the broth I'd gotten from the soup bones. Steph and her kids came over and took my cooler full of veggies to their house to live in their deep freezer until we replace ours.
Josef and Alison came to visit last weekend. When we were at Mass on Sunday morning, a woman stopped Bryan and asked if Josef was his brother. She was impressed by their matching "biblical look." We assume she meant their beards. Unless dress pants and dress shirts are biblical. Alison and I about died laughing and spent the rest of the day teasing the boys about their biblical fashion sense.
Olivia had 3.5 accident free days in a row. Thursday morning, I got brave and took her to church in undies (she had been wearing a diaper anytime we left the house). That went fine, but then she peed all over the kitchen floor later that evening. Friday she wore undies for her nap (another new thing), but had another accident in the evening. Still, 2 accidents in the whole week isn't bad.
Pictures and Videos:
Something rather big I forgot to mention last week: our freezer is broken. I went to get Gretchen some breakfast from the stash of ice cube purees, and discovered ice cream melting all over everything. I put the veggies and broth in the cooler, moved the meat to the upstairs freezer, tossed two soup bones and a roast in crockpots in desperation, and put everything else in the fridge. Monday night we ate the hamburgers that were in the fridge, Tuesday for lunch we had a ridiculously tender roast (because it had been in a crockpot for over 24 hours), Tuesday night we had friends over to help us eat the sirloin steaks that had been defrosting in the fridge, and Wednesday night we had soup with the broth I'd gotten from the soup bones. Steph and her kids came over and took my cooler full of veggies to their house to live in their deep freezer until we replace ours.
Josef and Alison came to visit last weekend. When we were at Mass on Sunday morning, a woman stopped Bryan and asked if Josef was his brother. She was impressed by their matching "biblical look." We assume she meant their beards. Unless dress pants and dress shirts are biblical. Alison and I about died laughing and spent the rest of the day teasing the boys about their biblical fashion sense.
Olivia had 3.5 accident free days in a row. Thursday morning, I got brave and took her to church in undies (she had been wearing a diaper anytime we left the house). That went fine, but then she peed all over the kitchen floor later that evening. Friday she wore undies for her nap (another new thing), but had another accident in the evening. Still, 2 accidents in the whole week isn't bad.
Pictures and Videos:
17 November 2013
November 10-17
I don't know if I mentioned this yet... Olivia says "Gretchen." It's quite clear, actually. And she's just starting to say "Olivia," though that one takes a bit more practice to decipher. I am going to be a little sad when she stops referring to herself as "the girl."
And speaking of things I'll miss, I want her to call Bryan's parents Manga and Bahga forever. Grandparents get all sorts of weird names that aren't grandma and grandpa, so why not just teach our kids that they have Oma and Opa and Manga and Bahga?
Gretchen can sit. She got a lot of practice when we were sequestered in the hallway for potty training. I still stay pretty close when I put her down because we do have hard floors and there is a toddler running around... But generally my presence is superfluous, because Gretchen balances just fine. Her biggest problem is her tendency to push all of her toys just out of her reach.
Potty training... Some days seem so promising and then the next day Olivia pees on the floor again. Remember my feelings about regression? She should not be allowed to successfully make it to the potty in time twice (Wednesday!!!) and then go back to not even making it to the bathroom (Thursday). Just when I think she's getting the hang of things, she does something that leads me to believe that she actually has no clue and has just been getting lucky. Olivia is well and truly attached to undies now, though, so there is no going back. This is happening. Hopefully before she marks territory in too many houses. Good thing we're home for a couple more weeks still.
Bryan has begun compiling an Olivia-to-English dictionary:
agalayo = alligator
ahpus = octopus
dagalolo = caterpillar
netano = rectangle
teegle = triangle
innies = undies
Leeba (or Leebya) = Olivia
lololo = roll over
Pictures and Videos:
And speaking of things I'll miss, I want her to call Bryan's parents Manga and Bahga forever. Grandparents get all sorts of weird names that aren't grandma and grandpa, so why not just teach our kids that they have Oma and Opa and Manga and Bahga?
Gretchen can sit. She got a lot of practice when we were sequestered in the hallway for potty training. I still stay pretty close when I put her down because we do have hard floors and there is a toddler running around... But generally my presence is superfluous, because Gretchen balances just fine. Her biggest problem is her tendency to push all of her toys just out of her reach.
Potty training... Some days seem so promising and then the next day Olivia pees on the floor again. Remember my feelings about regression? She should not be allowed to successfully make it to the potty in time twice (Wednesday!!!) and then go back to not even making it to the bathroom (Thursday). Just when I think she's getting the hang of things, she does something that leads me to believe that she actually has no clue and has just been getting lucky. Olivia is well and truly attached to undies now, though, so there is no going back. This is happening. Hopefully before she marks territory in too many houses. Good thing we're home for a couple more weeks still.
Bryan has begun compiling an Olivia-to-English dictionary:
agalayo = alligator
ahpus = octopus
dagalolo = caterpillar
netano = rectangle
teegle = triangle
innies = undies
Leeba (or Leebya) = Olivia
lololo = roll over
Pictures and Videos:
10 November 2013
November 3-10
We visited my family this past weekend. Olivia impressed everyone with her spectacular letter, number, and color skills. Gretchen impressed everyone with her willingness to smile at and be held by people who weren't her parents.
Regression should not be allowed. I'm of the mindset that once a child has mastered a certain skill, then that skill should be a permanent addition to her lifestyle. Especially if said skill has been present for a week or more. Gretchen, I'm looking at you. You are perfectly capable of sleeping all the way from when I put you down at night to when it's time to wake up the next morning. I accept the need for a couple of pacifier reinsertion maneuvers, but that's it. You don't need to be rocked or fed in the middle of the night anymore. We had some beautiful weeks a while ago where you did fine every night, but then you thought maybe you needed to spice life up again. You would be mistaken. Sleeping through the night is possible. Night weaning has happened. If you don't believe me, read my blog. You actually proved my point by having a couple wonderful nights again this week. Keep it up.
Bryan sent me a text that I'd like to share with you: I've created a monster. I started letting Olivia pick the animals while we sang "Old McDonald." She eventually got to "koala." Not knowing what sound a koala makes, I took the lazy way out and said, "with a koala here and a koala there..." This introduced a revolutionary concept: if the word doesn't have an associated sound it makes, you just sing the word again. We've had "pottys here" and "raisins there"... They aren't even all objects anymore. The last one was "a be right back here and a be right back there." It's been a half hour.
The other day I had the car to myself, which meant I had sole control of the CD player. I could listen to whatever I wanted. Amazing. My options were so varied, but the only thing I could think of was "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall..."
Olivia has a performance mode. Her Uncle Brad came to visit briefly, and she stood next to the computer and gave him a recital. As songs came on Pandora, she sang every single one without moving from her spot unless the lyrics told her to. Along the same lines, her word association is pretty spectacular. She listens to conversations until she hears something she can identify, and then she jumps in with a (sometimes relevant) comment about whatever it was.
Last week I was going to write about Olivia's newly perfected tantrums, but this week they were practically non-existent. She was falling apart at every little thing. -- Mommy is going to say the prayer, too? Terrible. It's time for lunch? End of the world. Gretchen is touching something? How does everyone else not notice these atrocities? Mom said to put on a shirt? I can't take this anymore, I'm going to bed. -- Happily, she's been less prone to collapsing in fits of crying this week.
We've entered into hardcore potty training. Olivia has been half potty trained for probably nine months now, but she'd recently fallen off the wagon and regressed back to zero potty training. This, of course, caused her rash to come back and we decided it was finally time to force the issue. On Monday we stuck her in underwear and let thefun puddles begin. After two messes, I closed some door, put up the gate, and confined Olivia, Gretchen, and myself in the little hallway right outside the bathroom. Olivia and Gretchen had a couple of easily washed toys each, and I had a book. Olivia also got a cup of juice, and I had a phone alarm set to go off every 20 minutes and a stash of fruit snack bribes in the bathroom. One fruit snack for sitting, two for going. By the end of the day, she had (accidentally) been successful several times in a row. The rest of the week I didn't require confinement. I discovered that the timer wasn't working, either, so out that went. Instead, I opted for frequent reminders and hoped she would figure out how to tell she needed to go. By Friday, all the puddles happened in the bathroom after she ran in there but couldn't get her undies off fast enough. I'll take it.
Pictures:
Regression should not be allowed. I'm of the mindset that once a child has mastered a certain skill, then that skill should be a permanent addition to her lifestyle. Especially if said skill has been present for a week or more. Gretchen, I'm looking at you. You are perfectly capable of sleeping all the way from when I put you down at night to when it's time to wake up the next morning. I accept the need for a couple of pacifier reinsertion maneuvers, but that's it. You don't need to be rocked or fed in the middle of the night anymore. We had some beautiful weeks a while ago where you did fine every night, but then you thought maybe you needed to spice life up again. You would be mistaken. Sleeping through the night is possible. Night weaning has happened. If you don't believe me, read my blog. You actually proved my point by having a couple wonderful nights again this week. Keep it up.
Bryan sent me a text that I'd like to share with you: I've created a monster. I started letting Olivia pick the animals while we sang "Old McDonald." She eventually got to "koala." Not knowing what sound a koala makes, I took the lazy way out and said, "with a koala here and a koala there..." This introduced a revolutionary concept: if the word doesn't have an associated sound it makes, you just sing the word again. We've had "pottys here" and "raisins there"... They aren't even all objects anymore. The last one was "a be right back here and a be right back there." It's been a half hour.
The other day I had the car to myself, which meant I had sole control of the CD player. I could listen to whatever I wanted. Amazing. My options were so varied, but the only thing I could think of was "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall..."
Olivia has a performance mode. Her Uncle Brad came to visit briefly, and she stood next to the computer and gave him a recital. As songs came on Pandora, she sang every single one without moving from her spot unless the lyrics told her to. Along the same lines, her word association is pretty spectacular. She listens to conversations until she hears something she can identify, and then she jumps in with a (sometimes relevant) comment about whatever it was.
Last week I was going to write about Olivia's newly perfected tantrums, but this week they were practically non-existent. She was falling apart at every little thing. -- Mommy is going to say the prayer, too? Terrible. It's time for lunch? End of the world. Gretchen is touching something? How does everyone else not notice these atrocities? Mom said to put on a shirt? I can't take this anymore, I'm going to bed. -- Happily, she's been less prone to collapsing in fits of crying this week.
We've entered into hardcore potty training. Olivia has been half potty trained for probably nine months now, but she'd recently fallen off the wagon and regressed back to zero potty training. This, of course, caused her rash to come back and we decided it was finally time to force the issue. On Monday we stuck her in underwear and let the
Pictures:
03 November 2013
October 27-November 3
All my faithful readers should thank the internet for being helpful. Blogger had a glitch when I sat down to write this post. For some reason, I could not access my own blog. Justine could access her blog, Justine could access my blog, and I could access the (never used) blog attached to another email address. But I could not get to the page that let me regale my Olivia and Gretchen's fans with the latest Barhorst exploits. Fortunately, after about 7 Google searches, I found a group of people having the same problem (well, a similar problem, but without the fabulousness of Olivia and Gretchen), and someone figured out a way to get all of us into our respective blogs. So here I sit, composing yet another weekly episode in The Lives and Times of Olivia and Gretchen. :)
We had Halloween here last Saturday, so we got the girls all dressed up and I took Olivia to about 6 houses while Gretchen helped Bryan hand out candy. Gretchen was a lion (the costume should look familiar), and Olivia picked out a witch costume at the store. Pictures below.
Sicknessswept crawled through our house beginning the end of last week, and I emerged victorious as the only one who didn't get it. Of course, that left me taking care of a cranky baby, an "I don't know how to be sick, so I'm going to pretend I'm not" toddler, and a sleeping Bryan. We all survived, though, and have (mostly) ditched the germs.
Gretchen's 6-month appointment was Wednesday, and she's definitely smaller than Olivia was. 15 pounds, 7 ounces, and 27 inches long. No mention of starting her on any kind of food, which is funny because Gretchen loves food. The nurse seemed mildly disappointed that Gretchen doesn't sit very well yet, but she doesn't get a lot of practice. I want to know why they always ask the wrong questions at appointments. For Olivia they asked about rolling over (which she couldn't do), but not about sitting (which she could). For Gretchen they haven't asked about rolling over at all, but sitting is suddenly a big deal. If you had hardwood floors and an overly affectionate toddler, would you let YOUR 6-month-old spend a lot of time sitting?
And speaking of overly affectionate toddlers, that's the reason Gretchen doesn't spend much time in the Johnny-jump-up. Sure, we say it's because she doesn't like to jump as much as Olivia, or because it's inconvenient to move the table to the middle of the room all the time now that Olivia plays in the middle of the room... But the main reason I don't get it out is because I'm afraid that Olivia will use Gretchen as a tether ball.
Pictures:
We had Halloween here last Saturday, so we got the girls all dressed up and I took Olivia to about 6 houses while Gretchen helped Bryan hand out candy. Gretchen was a lion (the costume should look familiar), and Olivia picked out a witch costume at the store. Pictures below.
Sickness
Gretchen's 6-month appointment was Wednesday, and she's definitely smaller than Olivia was. 15 pounds, 7 ounces, and 27 inches long. No mention of starting her on any kind of food, which is funny because Gretchen loves food. The nurse seemed mildly disappointed that Gretchen doesn't sit very well yet, but she doesn't get a lot of practice. I want to know why they always ask the wrong questions at appointments. For Olivia they asked about rolling over (which she couldn't do), but not about sitting (which she could). For Gretchen they haven't asked about rolling over at all, but sitting is suddenly a big deal. If you had hardwood floors and an overly affectionate toddler, would you let YOUR 6-month-old spend a lot of time sitting?
And speaking of overly affectionate toddlers, that's the reason Gretchen doesn't spend much time in the Johnny-jump-up. Sure, we say it's because she doesn't like to jump as much as Olivia, or because it's inconvenient to move the table to the middle of the room all the time now that Olivia plays in the middle of the room... But the main reason I don't get it out is because I'm afraid that Olivia will use Gretchen as a tether ball.
Pictures:
27 October 2013
October 20-27
Olivia counts things. She doesn't just count while she points to things like most toddlers do. She actually counts. If she counts something twice or misses something, she starts over. The only trouble she has is remembering the order of 6-10. Her counting is usually 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 2, 3, 5! When I look at her, she'll usually tack on 10 and then glance at me for approval. We're working on it. :) She also labels each of her fingers with a specific number. Her Uncle Joseph pointed to her thumb and asked if she knew what it was called, and she responded with, "five!"
The other day, I was getting Gretchen's zucchini from the microwave after heating it up a bit. I stuck the spoon in the container and began walking to the table. Gretchen, who was in my arms at this point, saw the spoon sticking out of the food and grabbed it, aiming it towards her mouth. All the zucchini that had been on the spoon ended up on the floor, and the spoon changed course halfway to her mouth and ended up crash landing on her forehead, but it was pretty funny anyway. Since then, I've been letting her carry her own spoon to the table, making sure to keep anything that might spill well out of range of her flailing attempts to locate her mouth.
One day at lunch, Gretchen was watching me eat and began tipping her head back and opening her mouth as I brought food to my mouth. Then she started bumping my arm with her hand, apparently (we decided later) trying to get me to drop food in her mouth. I did drop some, but it landed on her shoulder instead. As we found a snapkin to clean her up, she threw all subtlety to the wind and lunged forward, managing to grab a fistful of Mexican chicken off my plate before Bryan and I were able to capture her limbs and clean her up. Perhaps I should put out some steamed veggie sticks or make some of that zweiback that Justine used to give William.
Every now and again, Olivia decides that she's going travelling. One day after we got out of the car, she gathered her baby into her arms and began walking down the sidewalk. I asked where she was going, and she replied, "Manga Bahga's house." For those who don't speak fluent Olivia, that means "Grandma and Grandpa's house." Usually we're inside when she decides it's time to leave, so she picks up her purse (or some other bag that's lying around), gives kisses all around, and heads to the door. When we visited Justine and Joseph, she packed some treasures ("Hop on Pop" and a ball) in a lunch box and took off. Luckily for everyone, she can't reach and/or operate deadbolts, and she always announces when she's leaving.
I'm not sure if I've mentioned it on the blog, but Olivia is a very neat toddler. She might be the tidiest toddler in the existence of toddlers. Well this is good news for me right now, I see it backfiring later in my life. Never again will I have a child this concerned about being clean. I love that Olivia hates being sticky and gross almost as much as I hate her being sticky and gross, and it makes me sad to see her occasional bouts of grossness and know that it's only getting worse from here.
When Steph and I did all that canning a while ago, we put a card table in the kitchen to give ourselves more counter space. I liked it so well that the card table kept living there even after we were done. The problem with the card table, though, was that it was a little TOO big. We couldn't completely open the door where we kept pots and pans, and navigating through the doorway was trickier than we wanted it to be. Then one day I realized that this is why kitchen islands exist, and I started looking things up. I needed something affordable, preferably with shelves, that was both large enough to give me some extra counter space and small enough to not be in the way. I selected my island (which I think was actually referred to as a "baker's rack"), ordered it, waited impatiently for it to arrive at my front door, and put it together in a slightly different way than the manufacturers intended to obtain a perfectly acceptable solution. :)
Pictures:
20 October 2013
October 13-20
Gretchen is smarter about rolling front to back than Olivia was. Olivia used to prop herself up on her elbows and then tip to one side until she fell over and hit her head. Then, if she was lucky, she'd wiggle just right and be on her back. Gretchen puts one arm down against her side, places her head gently on the floor, and begins curling her body up until the curve of her back allows her to gently nudge herself over. Then she immediately gets interested in something over her shoulder and rolls back to her stomach. :)
Gretchen's sitting skills are improving. She's still prone to limb-flailing and sudden balance failures, but she's doing better. The most important part of being better at sitting, at least from her point of view, is the ability to use a high chair. This is vital to her plan to be eating all the food in the house by the time she's 7 months old.
You may remember Olivia's first reaction to solid foods. She made hilariously disgusted faces and spit out all her cereal. Since she was obviously uninterested, we didn't push the food issue and she gradually just started sampling whatever we were eating until she turned into the woefully picky but generally bribe-able cereal and fruit snacks loving toddler she is today. Gretchen is completely different. We're not sure if she just loves the idea of food that much more, or if maybe we just eat around her more than we did around Olivia. Whatever the reason, Gretchen has been jealously eyeing every bite I've put in my mouth since she was about 4 months old. I've been waiting to let her start solids until she can sit in a high chair, and that day has now arrived. She's had green beans and zucchini (as well as bites of our soups and yogurts) and seems pleased to be eating the same way as everyone else.
After re-reading this week's post, I noticed that it'spretty Gretchen-heavy only about Gretchen. There are some pictures of Olivia below (and also some of Gretchen), and I'll have more Olivia updates next week.
Pictures:
Gretchen's sitting skills are improving. She's still prone to limb-flailing and sudden balance failures, but she's doing better. The most important part of being better at sitting, at least from her point of view, is the ability to use a high chair. This is vital to her plan to be eating all the food in the house by the time she's 7 months old.
You may remember Olivia's first reaction to solid foods. She made hilariously disgusted faces and spit out all her cereal. Since she was obviously uninterested, we didn't push the food issue and she gradually just started sampling whatever we were eating until she turned into the woefully picky but generally bribe-able cereal and fruit snacks loving toddler she is today. Gretchen is completely different. We're not sure if she just loves the idea of food that much more, or if maybe we just eat around her more than we did around Olivia. Whatever the reason, Gretchen has been jealously eyeing every bite I've put in my mouth since she was about 4 months old. I've been waiting to let her start solids until she can sit in a high chair, and that day has now arrived. She's had green beans and zucchini (as well as bites of our soups and yogurts) and seems pleased to be eating the same way as everyone else.
After re-reading this week's post, I noticed that it's
Pictures:
13 October 2013
October 6-13
Last Friday, some women from church took the girls and me to see the sunflowers. I didn't even know we had a giant field of sunflowers. There was a hailstorm earlier this summer, so the flowers were apparently shorter than usual. That turned out to be a good thing, though, because they were more Olivia's height.
Olivia knows her ABCs. I did not realize this. She listens to them on Pandora, but other than that we haven't really worked on them. One day, though, she was singing in the stroller, as she is wont to do, and I very clearly heard, "LMNOP Q R S, T U V, W X, Y and Z." I listened when she went through a second time (which is pretty much inevitable), and she also knew A through H. I, J, and K simply don't exist in her alphabet. Anyway. She practices her ABCs periodically, usually mixed in with Baa, Baa, Black Sheep (but never with Twinkle, Twinkle, oddly enough). This week I also discovered that she can identify B, D, E, L, M, N, O, R, S, T, and W. Those are the only ones I tried before she got bored and I ran out of space on my writing surface. You will notice, though, that using those letters you can spell "Browns," which makes her father happy. Actually, I'm guessing that one reason she knows B, N, O R, S, and W is because of the large wooden letters on the wall in our room at Steve and Murry's house. :)
Speaking of Steve and Murry's house, we were there all week. I had rehearsal almost every night in Lima, so we just moved in with them to cut the driving time in half. Bryan was able to work from home one day and stayed at our house instead of driving back another night, so that helped with his commute, also. Everyone had work still, so the girls and I just hung out and pretended we were at our house. We even made it to the local storytime on Friday.
I'm awarding the points for Gretchen's sleep to Bryan and Stephanie. 10 to Bryan for suggesting that we just keep her up when she's crabby instead of letting her take a late afternoon nap, and 15 to Stephanie for informing me of the day care schedule: wake up, 2 hours awake, nap, 3 hours awake, nap, 4 hours awake, bed. We don't get the numbers right all the time, but we've found that getting close to the 4 hour mark at night helps significantly. I feel a little silly awarding points this week since Gretchen's bed-time routine has been pretty lousy because we're not at home and I've left before she goes to bed every night. We had a good thing going, though, so I'm hoping we can return to it once we're home again next week.
Monday night I left for orchestra a little early so that I would have time to find everything. I grabbed a couple of runzas on my way out the door, put in a CD that wasn't little kid songs, and munched and sang my way down the freeway. Traffic was normal except for a tow truck on the side of the road, and I remember passing a police car and thinking, "I hope it's okay to eat and drive at the same time." This was immediately followed by two thoughts I always have when passing police cars: 1. "Why are people slowing way down? We're allowed to drive the speed limit. *checks speedometer* Only 65 (in a newly 70 mph zone). I'm good." 2. "What if I got pulled over and the only thing I that came out of my mouth was the lyrics to the song I was singing at the time?"
One minute later, I got pulled over. On the plus side, I didn't quote song lyrics. As I waited for the cop to come to the window, I began regretting the runza I'd been eating as I drove past. Perhaps it wasn't okay to eat and drive at the same time? He didn't open with the stereotypical "do you know how fast you were going?", but rather with his own oh-so-original variation: "do you want to tell me why you were driving that speed?" I glanced at my speedometer, as if the needle now resting on zero would somehow provide me with a recollection of blazing fast speeds, and asked, "65?" Now I was worrying that maybe I'd get a ticket for going too slowly, driving along at the glacial speed of 65 in a 70 zone. "I clocked you going 87, ma'am." ... 87?! 87?!! I don't even know how to drive 87. It scares me. It's like being on a roller coaster, only I have to steer, too. I generally have to expend effort to drive 70, hence the 65 in the 70 zone. I explained as much, but he insisted that he'd checked my speed "at least 15 times" as I was coming over the bridge (side note: the only bridge at this section of road is one you go under, not over). Apparently I was passing a semi and that's when I sped up. He knew because he caught the semi going 55, and I was the only other car there, so I must have been the 87. I asked if he was sure it was me, thinking maybe he saw some other light-colored minivan, but he thought I was implying that maybe I was going 55 and the semi was the one doing 87, so he repeated his explanation. I told him that I hadn't passed anyone yet this drive, and that the only time I'd even been in the left lane was when I moved over for the stopped tow truck (and you thought that detail was unimportant!), but he just repeated "15 times." All the time he kept telling me that I couldn't drive that fast, because "it's just not safe." (Another side note: I KNOW IT'S NOT SAFE, THAT'S WHY I ONLY DRIVE 65!) I asked if I could contest the ticket, and he said I could go to court and tell them whatever I want, which filled me with great confidence in our judicial system. I could tell the truth or not and he didn't care because it wouldn't matter against his radar gun. He took my license and went back to his car to write a ticket. I called Bryan and told him I always wondered exactly how a person could prove they weren't speeding if a cop said they were, but I never thought I'd get to figure it out myself. He told me to ask if they ever checked the calibration of the radar guns. The cop came back, and I asked about the gun. He told me he checks it at the beginning and end of each shift. Then he handed me my license back and said "I'm 99.9% sure it was you, but I only write a ticket if I'm 100% sure. Your record is clean, so I'm just giving you a warning. Be safe." I thanked him and drove away, now making sure to go no faster than 64, just in case.
As I completed my drive, I had a revelation: We have one of those monitoring devices installed in our car for insurance purposes! Our old one (with All State) didn't tell exact speeds, but it told us the top speed for each trip and made special note of all speeds over 80. I hadn't logged in to our new one (with Nationwide) yet, but it must have a similar data log. The next morning, I figured out how to check the data on the new one and looked up my trip. It turns out that Nationwide's charts and graphs are better and more detailed than All State's, so I know exactly how fast I was going at every minute of my drive. My top speed? 68. Take that, Mr. Policeman. Your 99.9% is looking pretty weak. Also, I figured out how to prove to a judge that you weren't speeding: have one of these devices. I think Nationwide only lets us keep it for 6 months, but there are commercial ones you can buy (usually to monitor teen drivers) if your insurance carrier doesn't supply one. (A bonus to getting it through your insurance: most companies offer a 5-10% discount for the first 6 months just for agreeing to have it plugged into your car. Your discount for later terms is calculated based on your driving habits and could be as high as 30%. Even if it's close to zero (like ours is because we drive too many miles over the course of a year), that's still no worse than what you were paying originally.)
End exciting story and shameless product plug. I should become an insurance agent or something.
Orchestra went well. I worried at first that I'd be struggling to keep up (for lack of a better term) with all the official, actually-in-the-symphony-and-not-just-subs musicians, especially since I thought my Lima audition was weak. I'm definitely not the best player there, and there are a lot of performance majors (as opposed to general music majors) with higher degrees than mine from more intimidating schools than Eastern, but I felt like I fit in, especially by the end of the week. Vaguely related, my stand partner is also a sub and was also at Springfield auditions this year. She said that she thinks they don't actually have an open viola spot (which would make sense since they already have 7 violists) even though they keep saying they do. I accept this as an appropriate reason for not choosing me for the (not really existent) spot even though my audition was fabulous.
Pictures:
Olivia knows her ABCs. I did not realize this. She listens to them on Pandora, but other than that we haven't really worked on them. One day, though, she was singing in the stroller, as she is wont to do, and I very clearly heard, "LMNOP Q R S, T U V, W X, Y and Z." I listened when she went through a second time (which is pretty much inevitable), and she also knew A through H. I, J, and K simply don't exist in her alphabet. Anyway. She practices her ABCs periodically, usually mixed in with Baa, Baa, Black Sheep (but never with Twinkle, Twinkle, oddly enough). This week I also discovered that she can identify B, D, E, L, M, N, O, R, S, T, and W. Those are the only ones I tried before she got bored and I ran out of space on my writing surface. You will notice, though, that using those letters you can spell "Browns," which makes her father happy. Actually, I'm guessing that one reason she knows B, N, O R, S, and W is because of the large wooden letters on the wall in our room at Steve and Murry's house. :)
Speaking of Steve and Murry's house, we were there all week. I had rehearsal almost every night in Lima, so we just moved in with them to cut the driving time in half. Bryan was able to work from home one day and stayed at our house instead of driving back another night, so that helped with his commute, also. Everyone had work still, so the girls and I just hung out and pretended we were at our house. We even made it to the local storytime on Friday.
I'm awarding the points for Gretchen's sleep to Bryan and Stephanie. 10 to Bryan for suggesting that we just keep her up when she's crabby instead of letting her take a late afternoon nap, and 15 to Stephanie for informing me of the day care schedule: wake up, 2 hours awake, nap, 3 hours awake, nap, 4 hours awake, bed. We don't get the numbers right all the time, but we've found that getting close to the 4 hour mark at night helps significantly. I feel a little silly awarding points this week since Gretchen's bed-time routine has been pretty lousy because we're not at home and I've left before she goes to bed every night. We had a good thing going, though, so I'm hoping we can return to it once we're home again next week.
Monday night I left for orchestra a little early so that I would have time to find everything. I grabbed a couple of runzas on my way out the door, put in a CD that wasn't little kid songs, and munched and sang my way down the freeway. Traffic was normal except for a tow truck on the side of the road, and I remember passing a police car and thinking, "I hope it's okay to eat and drive at the same time." This was immediately followed by two thoughts I always have when passing police cars: 1. "Why are people slowing way down? We're allowed to drive the speed limit. *checks speedometer* Only 65 (in a newly 70 mph zone). I'm good." 2. "What if I got pulled over and the only thing I that came out of my mouth was the lyrics to the song I was singing at the time?"
One minute later, I got pulled over. On the plus side, I didn't quote song lyrics. As I waited for the cop to come to the window, I began regretting the runza I'd been eating as I drove past. Perhaps it wasn't okay to eat and drive at the same time? He didn't open with the stereotypical "do you know how fast you were going?", but rather with his own oh-so-original variation: "do you want to tell me why you were driving that speed?" I glanced at my speedometer, as if the needle now resting on zero would somehow provide me with a recollection of blazing fast speeds, and asked, "65?" Now I was worrying that maybe I'd get a ticket for going too slowly, driving along at the glacial speed of 65 in a 70 zone. "I clocked you going 87, ma'am." ... 87?! 87?!! I don't even know how to drive 87. It scares me. It's like being on a roller coaster, only I have to steer, too. I generally have to expend effort to drive 70, hence the 65 in the 70 zone. I explained as much, but he insisted that he'd checked my speed "at least 15 times" as I was coming over the bridge (side note: the only bridge at this section of road is one you go under, not over). Apparently I was passing a semi and that's when I sped up. He knew because he caught the semi going 55, and I was the only other car there, so I must have been the 87. I asked if he was sure it was me, thinking maybe he saw some other light-colored minivan, but he thought I was implying that maybe I was going 55 and the semi was the one doing 87, so he repeated his explanation. I told him that I hadn't passed anyone yet this drive, and that the only time I'd even been in the left lane was when I moved over for the stopped tow truck (and you thought that detail was unimportant!), but he just repeated "15 times." All the time he kept telling me that I couldn't drive that fast, because "it's just not safe." (Another side note: I KNOW IT'S NOT SAFE, THAT'S WHY I ONLY DRIVE 65!) I asked if I could contest the ticket, and he said I could go to court and tell them whatever I want, which filled me with great confidence in our judicial system. I could tell the truth or not and he didn't care because it wouldn't matter against his radar gun. He took my license and went back to his car to write a ticket. I called Bryan and told him I always wondered exactly how a person could prove they weren't speeding if a cop said they were, but I never thought I'd get to figure it out myself. He told me to ask if they ever checked the calibration of the radar guns. The cop came back, and I asked about the gun. He told me he checks it at the beginning and end of each shift. Then he handed me my license back and said "I'm 99.9% sure it was you, but I only write a ticket if I'm 100% sure. Your record is clean, so I'm just giving you a warning. Be safe." I thanked him and drove away, now making sure to go no faster than 64, just in case.
As I completed my drive, I had a revelation: We have one of those monitoring devices installed in our car for insurance purposes! Our old one (with All State) didn't tell exact speeds, but it told us the top speed for each trip and made special note of all speeds over 80. I hadn't logged in to our new one (with Nationwide) yet, but it must have a similar data log. The next morning, I figured out how to check the data on the new one and looked up my trip. It turns out that Nationwide's charts and graphs are better and more detailed than All State's, so I know exactly how fast I was going at every minute of my drive. My top speed? 68. Take that, Mr. Policeman. Your 99.9% is looking pretty weak. Also, I figured out how to prove to a judge that you weren't speeding: have one of these devices. I think Nationwide only lets us keep it for 6 months, but there are commercial ones you can buy (usually to monitor teen drivers) if your insurance carrier doesn't supply one. (A bonus to getting it through your insurance: most companies offer a 5-10% discount for the first 6 months just for agreeing to have it plugged into your car. Your discount for later terms is calculated based on your driving habits and could be as high as 30%. Even if it's close to zero (like ours is because we drive too many miles over the course of a year), that's still no worse than what you were paying originally.)
End exciting story and shameless product plug. I should become an insurance agent or something.
Orchestra went well. I worried at first that I'd be struggling to keep up (for lack of a better term) with all the official, actually-in-the-symphony-and-not-just-subs musicians, especially since I thought my Lima audition was weak. I'm definitely not the best player there, and there are a lot of performance majors (as opposed to general music majors) with higher degrees than mine from more intimidating schools than Eastern, but I felt like I fit in, especially by the end of the week. Vaguely related, my stand partner is also a sub and was also at Springfield auditions this year. She said that she thinks they don't actually have an open viola spot (which would make sense since they already have 7 violists) even though they keep saying they do. I accept this as an appropriate reason for not choosing me for the (not really existent) spot even though my audition was fabulous.
Pictures:
06 October 2013
September 29-October 6
Last Friday, Olivia got her second hair cut. The back of her hair had grown out enough that she was rocking a mullet again, so I got out the scissors. Since this was the first hair cut I'VE given her (my mom did the last one) and only the second hair cut I've done that didn't involve the buzz cut clippers (ask Jacob how that first one went), I was grateful for the link Stephanie sent me explaining how to cut hair. I think it turned out pretty cute, although my scissors leave something to be desired. I didn't take any pictures specifically of the haircut, so you'll have to settle for glimpses pictures of other things. Jacob, I think we need a do-over now that I kind of know what I'm doing. What do you say?
The girls and I took a trip to the apple orchard with the Kleins last Saturday. We took a tractor-pulled wagon ride out to the trees and then enjoyed watching Olivia and Eva help pick apples. The branches on the apple trees were low enough that the girls could grab apples without being lifted up. They generally needed two hands, though, and neither one ever really got the hang of twisting the apple off the stem. Olivia's solution was to pull as hard as she could until the apple shot off the tree and landed on the ground. Then she'd go pick it up and put it in the bag. Good thing these apples were slated for applesauce and not for eating. :)
Saturday night was my Springfield Symphony audition. It went fabulously. Everything went just how it was supposed to and I didn't trip over my fingers at all. I'd put it in my top three auditions ever, with the other two being my first Springfield audition (two years ago when they were looking for a principal as well as section players, so all the section spots went to people who auditioned for principal) and the audition that got me into Civic the first time. There were only four people auditioning for the open section spot, and none of the other three seemed blow-everyone-else-out-of-the-water amazing. One of the other violists just got chosen as a Lima sub, same as me. Anyway. I went, I auditioned, and I went home to wait for results. Unfortunately, the results said that they decided not to fill the spot after all. At least it wasn't just me they didn't like. I told Bryan that I need to stop wasting all my good auditions on Springfield since I apparently don't have the sound they're looking for. Oh well. Maybe next year.
Wednesday was applesauce making day with the Kleins (because of the apples we picked). All four kids were... less than cooperative. Add that to the fact that we were canning quarts instead of pints, and we felt remarkably unproductive. At least we had the spiffy applesauce making machine to speed things along. And we did end up with 10 quarts of applesauce, which sounds better when you realize that it's 20 pints. Scott says we should just think of everything in ounces: "Yes, we made 320 ounces of applesauce today. No big deal." :)
Gretchen has discovered her hands. A couple of months ago, she discovered her hands in their capacity as teething toys. Then she learned that they also make useful toy acquirers and transporters. This week, she's starting to appreciate their value as modern art. She will be bopping along, playing with toys or looking around the room, and suddenly she'll catch sight of her hand. Then she'll hold it up and stare at it. Sometimes she turns it back and forth to see different angles, sometimes not. After about two minutes of careful observation and admiration, she will be distracted by something else and move on with her life.
Olivia got a belated birthday present from my grandparents Fenton this week. They sent two packets of kool-aid and a recipe for playdoh. On Thursday, Olivia helped me make the playdoh and then spent 45 minutes playing with it. She sat at the table and kneaded it and broke it up into dozens of little pieces and put it all back together and kneaded it some more... She didn't want to stop playing with it to do anything else (including eat lunch). I think I want playdoh for my birthday, too, so that I can give it to Olivia. :)
Gretchen has been working on pretending she can sit. Some days go better than others, but she tries. Her limbs are still a little unpredictably spastic for sitting, and sometimes she just falls over for no apparent reason, but the potential is there. She'll be sitting sometime soon.
Pictures:
The girls and I took a trip to the apple orchard with the Kleins last Saturday. We took a tractor-pulled wagon ride out to the trees and then enjoyed watching Olivia and Eva help pick apples. The branches on the apple trees were low enough that the girls could grab apples without being lifted up. They generally needed two hands, though, and neither one ever really got the hang of twisting the apple off the stem. Olivia's solution was to pull as hard as she could until the apple shot off the tree and landed on the ground. Then she'd go pick it up and put it in the bag. Good thing these apples were slated for applesauce and not for eating. :)
Saturday night was my Springfield Symphony audition. It went fabulously. Everything went just how it was supposed to and I didn't trip over my fingers at all. I'd put it in my top three auditions ever, with the other two being my first Springfield audition (two years ago when they were looking for a principal as well as section players, so all the section spots went to people who auditioned for principal) and the audition that got me into Civic the first time. There were only four people auditioning for the open section spot, and none of the other three seemed blow-everyone-else-out-of-the-water amazing. One of the other violists just got chosen as a Lima sub, same as me. Anyway. I went, I auditioned, and I went home to wait for results. Unfortunately, the results said that they decided not to fill the spot after all. At least it wasn't just me they didn't like. I told Bryan that I need to stop wasting all my good auditions on Springfield since I apparently don't have the sound they're looking for. Oh well. Maybe next year.
Wednesday was applesauce making day with the Kleins (because of the apples we picked). All four kids were... less than cooperative. Add that to the fact that we were canning quarts instead of pints, and we felt remarkably unproductive. At least we had the spiffy applesauce making machine to speed things along. And we did end up with 10 quarts of applesauce, which sounds better when you realize that it's 20 pints. Scott says we should just think of everything in ounces: "Yes, we made 320 ounces of applesauce today. No big deal." :)
Gretchen has discovered her hands. A couple of months ago, she discovered her hands in their capacity as teething toys. Then she learned that they also make useful toy acquirers and transporters. This week, she's starting to appreciate their value as modern art. She will be bopping along, playing with toys or looking around the room, and suddenly she'll catch sight of her hand. Then she'll hold it up and stare at it. Sometimes she turns it back and forth to see different angles, sometimes not. After about two minutes of careful observation and admiration, she will be distracted by something else and move on with her life.
Olivia got a belated birthday present from my grandparents Fenton this week. They sent two packets of kool-aid and a recipe for playdoh. On Thursday, Olivia helped me make the playdoh and then spent 45 minutes playing with it. She sat at the table and kneaded it and broke it up into dozens of little pieces and put it all back together and kneaded it some more... She didn't want to stop playing with it to do anything else (including eat lunch). I think I want playdoh for my birthday, too, so that I can give it to Olivia. :)
Gretchen has been working on pretending she can sit. Some days go better than others, but she tries. Her limbs are still a little unpredictably spastic for sitting, and sometimes she just falls over for no apparent reason, but the potential is there. She'll be sitting sometime soon.
Pictures:
29 September 2013
September 22-29
Bryan often makes Olivia "pay" to do things. For example, before he reads her a book, she has to give him a kiss and/or hug. Olivia is on to his system now, though, so whenever she wants something, she kisses his cheek and says, "a kiss, okay?" and then runs off to get a book or a toy or music or a movie...
Gretchen reaches for specific things. She knows what she wants, and she knows that she has to wave her arms in that general direction until she connects. Her favorite things to grab are my cereal bowl and her ball. She also enjoys trying to catch my hair.
Tuesday night Bryan grilled and, as is his habit, left the grill outside to cool off while we ate dinner. A little later I heard a noise outside. Thinking it was the neighbor's cat (or the other neighbor's dog), I went to investigate. It was an opossum. Sitting on the grill. Guess we'll be cleaning that off before we use it again. Bryan thought the possum was cute and talks about how maybe we should keep it for a pet. I say it can be a pet that always lives outside and finds its own food. :)
Olivia can now go up and down stairs standing up. She does require a wall for balance, but lacking that will wait patiently until a hand is offered. She only crawls up and down stairs when absolutely necessary.
Pictures and Videos:
Gretchen reaches for specific things. She knows what she wants, and she knows that she has to wave her arms in that general direction until she connects. Her favorite things to grab are my cereal bowl and her ball. She also enjoys trying to catch my hair.
Tuesday night Bryan grilled and, as is his habit, left the grill outside to cool off while we ate dinner. A little later I heard a noise outside. Thinking it was the neighbor's cat (or the other neighbor's dog), I went to investigate. It was an opossum. Sitting on the grill. Guess we'll be cleaning that off before we use it again. Bryan thought the possum was cute and talks about how maybe we should keep it for a pet. I say it can be a pet that always lives outside and finds its own food. :)
Olivia can now go up and down stairs standing up. She does require a wall for balance, but lacking that will wait patiently until a hand is offered. She only crawls up and down stairs when absolutely necessary.
Pictures and Videos:
25 September 2013
Bonus Post: Flashback -- September 25, 2010
Setting up the reception hall the day before:
Rehearsal:
Rehearsal Dinner:
Getting ready Saturday morning:
Pictures before the ceremony:
Pictures after the ceremony:
Reception:
The car:
Rehearsal:
Rehearsal Dinner:
Getting ready Saturday morning:
Pictures before the ceremony:
Pictures after the ceremony:
Reception:
The car:
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