Ego booster

I got a haircut. I like it, though I haven't yet seen how it performs in real life. (The woman who cut my hair IRONED it. I don't even own a hair dryer, and my idea of serious grooming is to brush my hair before leaving the house.) When I got home, Dutch said "Mom, I can tell you cut your hair! You look like a mop."

Thanks.

Forget the list of nouns- we're on to gerunds.

Apparently, kids develop in a non-linear way - a burst of getting taller, a period of brain growth, a period of just kind of resting up. I think that Skipper may be having some sort of crazy storm in whatever part of her brain is responsible for language - every day she's adding more words to her vocabulary, using words spontaneously that we didn't even know she knew. Today when I got home, Cook emerged from the kitchen with Skipper on his hip, and she said to me gleefully "Mama! Daddy! Cooking!" and before the evening was over, she was pointing out the window and saying "walking!" and pointing at Dutch (scuttling around on the floor) and saying "crawling!"

Brains. They're CAH-RAZY!

Skipper also says:

coffee
cereal
cracker
cheese
soup
sweep
shower
wash
bath
other
sticker
home
out
bicycle
bucket
stepstool
bed
crib
book
no
NO

where was I?

Quitting My Job: I may prolong my job a little - there's been a bunch of sudden upheaval at work and they're more or less bribing me to stay by offering me a big raise. I haven't agreed to anything yet, though.

Bike Commuting: Eh. I've only commuted (one-way) five times - it's a looooong way.* I did sell my old bike and get a new one, which is great. I think I'll end up biking for errands, mostly, until I get an awesome new job that's less than 5 miles from home. Today I rode over to the grocery store (less than a mile) with one of Cook's panniers, and it was lovely. It's 70 degrees today, and sunny, and just a perfect fall day to be riding down a bike boulevard with a load of groceries, the yellow leaves spinning down all along the street ahead of me.

*And I'm lazy.

Skipper says:

mat

hot

cook

ouch

drop

fall

sleep

blanket

mat

baby

cat

dog

crow

truck

airplane

shirt

pants

socks

shoes

stuck

top

bottle

cup

spoon

milk

water

puddle

beach

step

stick

draw

pen

open

help

up

kiss

hug

...

Oh, right.

Yes. Those drawers are 2"x 2" x 3". Inches, feet - whatever.

Heeeeeelium!

I'm pretty sure that it was one of my awesome cousins who introduced me to Strindberg and Helium. Here is Skipper last night, in our spectacularly messy apartment, finishing up her dinner (squash/tofu/spinach/coconut milk soup) and enjoying a showing.

Shameless Begging

We're not going anywhere this Christmas. Cook has no vacation for the first six months of his job, and we're ready to have a leisurely holiday at home.

Since we're not coming to your house, you're probably thinking "Oh, no! How will I celebrate the holiday with those adorable children if I can't be with them!"

Don't worry! I have your answer. I just bought two reusable advent calendars for The Adorable Children.* While I am more than happy to locate and create very small things to put into the little drawers (I love very small things), I'm angling for something that'll be more fun and, you know, meaningful. I would love for the girls to get messages from friends and family as part of their holiday season, rather than spend a month just anticipating a giant heap of LOOT.

So I am inviting you, over the next two months, to consider sending us a very small thing that will fit into one of these drawers (2x2x3' maximum size). I'm thinking a note (Dutch can READ, after all, and loves loves loves to be written to) or a drawing of a robot, or a coin from the country you just visited (you're so cool!) or the koala stickers some wildlife nonprofit sent you, or whatever.** If you want to send me a special note for Dutch*** by email, I'll even print it out and put it in a drawer for you. In exchange, I promise you a handwritten thank-you note. It may take until March (or next October) to get it sent, but it'll happen.

Happy intro to the very long holiday season!

*I've been coveting wooden advent calendars for the girls since we visited one of my most distant but beloved friends two years ago and saw hers. The ones I got for Dutch and Skipper are nowhere near as awesome, but they'll do.

**Or nothing - I'll be making this ask every fall for years, after all, so you have time.

***This year it's mostly just for Dutch. Skipper really only likes funny hats and permanent markers right now, and they don't fit in tiny drawers, so she'll probably get sticks and gum wrappers and bits of toast in her calendar, and be delighted.

Video catchup

It's been a while. Watching some of these older videos, Dutch and I realized that we can tell what Skipper was trying to say, even when we weren't able to figure it out at the time, because we have another month of Skipper-experience under our belts. Poor kid. We're always trying to catch up with her.

End of August:

First Day of School:

Some time in September:

Dutch has launched a cafe in her room. The prices of the menu items are a little erratic.

A houseguest, an electronic hamster, and the way Dutch feels about her sister about 25% of the time.

Earlier this evening:

Two vacation photos, courtesy of Uncle Kayak

Note all the relaxed feet in the second picture.

no more traveling for a little while

We're home! We went on a beach vacation (for two days) and it was lovely. I have no photos or movies, so you'll have to take my word for it that both girls had a wonderful time. Skipper learned how to take all her clothes off and ran around the beach mostly naked, screaming "Wadder! Wadder! More! Wadder! Beach! Beach! Wadder! Beach!" and attempting to sprint straight into the ocean. Once I foolishly let go of her hand so I could help Dutch with something, realized .45 seconds later that I'd made a big mistake, and had to plunge into the water to retrieve her. It was a good weekend, and nobody drowned.