Riley and Avery

So Riley had her eye appointment on Tuesday. Nothing really remarkable. She is too young to do the color vision testing, so it looks like I'll just have to wait. I think that I'll keep working on red and green with her and if I don't see an improvement in six months, I'll seek a second opinion. Riley was really good for the appointment, especially considering all of the weird contraptions that ophthalmologists have in their examining rooms. She even cooperated when they taped over her eyes. She does have a moderate case of pseudostrabismus which only means that the bridge of her nose is extra wide and covers up a little of whites of her eyes, so it sometimes looks like her eyes are out of alignment. Her vision is perfect. They have a machine now that if they can get a child to look into it long enough, it automatically can tell if there's a need for glasses. No glasses for Riley. Hopefully she got my vision and not Rudi's.

Ah, tomorrow is Riley's holiday program at school, since it got snowed out before the winter break. I totally forgot that I was supposed to bake cookies, so I had to run out to Wild Oats and get a vegan cookie mix. I would have made the Cranberry Oatmeal cookies, but I just made those for her school last week, so I thought I'd give them a rest, but didn't have time to look up a whole new recipe.

Avery has a new habit of scratching her butt after I take her diaper off. It's really funny. If she manages to get away from me during this process, she runs away from me whilst scratching her backside.

Riley has nursed once in the past three days. And only that once because she won me over by saying something cute. When she asked to nurse, I mentioned that she hadn't nursed in so long and why don't I sing her a song instead. Then she says "I'm asking for nai-nais because I'm hungry, and if you don't give me nai-nais I'll be hungry forEVER! So why won't you give me nai-nais?" Oh god people, you have no idea what my life is like with a child who DOES NOT STOP TALKING EVER! Even today she said "you can't ignore me, you know." She just never stops, ever. She even has been talking in her sleep lately, and demanding responses. At least she has been involving me in her play in a more participatory way. She used to tell me what to do with her toys, and tell me what to say, and have me tell her what the animals (or whatever) will say next. I would say that I was her slave, but slaves are still human. She treated me more like a chimp trained to play with her toys for her. How offensive. And like a chimp I did whatever she told me, and if I rebelled she would quickly smite me. Now she has me pretend with her to be in a car driving to a picnic. I, of course, have to be strapped in my car seat with a helmet on and knee pads ("knee holders" as Riley calls them) and only Riley can drive. I wonder what kind of driver she's going to be if I have to be protected like that. Well, today she told me "I usually drive fast!"

Oh phooey, I didn't want to write a long post today...till tomorrow.

Okay, so I wrote this and kept it up on the computer and now it's a new day and I want to make a new post, so this one will be posted without pictures for now...

Like a complete retard, I bundle the kids up in the 0 degree weather, clear the snow off my car, warm it up, shovel the driveway so I can get out, put gas in the car, and drive Riley to school only to discover that it's Martin Luther King Jr. Day and schools are closed. Arg. So that was a long car ride for nothing at all.

Riley has her appointment at the ophthalmologist (ha! I didn't even need to spell-check that word for once! I'm learning!) tomorrow afternoon. I'm really eager to figure this thing out. In a completely unscientific test yesterday night, I took all of Riley's red and green crayons out of the box, about fifteen crayons in various shades. I gave them to her and told her to put the red ones in one bucket and the green ones in another. She put two red crayons in the green bucket, all the others, both red and green, in the red bucket. Seems just a little bit strange. Then I take away the green crayons and give her red and blue and she puts all the blue ones in the blue bucket first and then the ones that "are not blue" she puts in the red bucket. I looked online and only .64 percent of girls are colorblind, so the chances are really slim. If she's not colorblind, then maybe they'll have suggestions on how to teach her the difference, or something else that may be wrong. It just doesn't seem right to me. I'm usually the "don't worry about it" type of parent, which directly clashes with Rudi's "give them medicine for the smallest thing and take them to the doctor at the drop of a hat" style of parenting. But something is definitely wrong and if it's not red-green colorblindness then it has to be something else. Or maybe she's just red-green colorstupid. Who knows.

Ah, what to do today. I know I want to go to Joann Fabrics and check out some possible fabric for a baby wrap, although I'm not optimistic that I'll find something suitable. I just don't want to pay a whole butt-load of money for a wrap that someone essentially just hemmed up the ends on. It's not like they require extensive seamstress experience to make these. Man, I am so cheap...

Avery is walking so much today. She walked clear across the house into the kitchen just now. That had to be at least two dozen steps. Way to go!

Rudi is out at the Y today for the first time in several days. To be fair, he has had a pretty bad cough and the Y closes too early on Saturdays and Sundays for him to get there after work. So he's off the hook for now...

Yesterday I made some delicious tarragon chicken with apples. I got a new healthy-eating cookbook on the bargain table at Barnes and Noble. I made pork medalions with cherries a few days ago. They were both yummy. Almost all the recipes involve meat with fruit, so we'll see how long it is before we get sick of the combination, but for now it's interesting. I really have a pork addiction right now.

Rudi has his doctor's appointment on Thursday, so we'll see if he'll be on insulin or not. I hope they were just trying to scare him. Although they've tried that before and it didn't really work. He just really needs some hard education. Yesterday, he took his blood sugar before he ate dinner and it was 120, which is not normally a bad reading, but he hadn't even eaten yet.

Yesterday was a loooong day. I guess it began the previous night when I stayed up late to make cookies for Riley's birthday ceremony at school. The Vegan Spiced Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies turned out marvelously and was a big hit with the children. Riley was upset when they were gone, so I promised to make them again.

Rudi came to Riley's school and observed for about 30 minutes before Riley's ceremony began. We watched the music lesson. As the teacher handed out percussion instruments to each child and told them not to use them yet, Rudi remarked how well-behaved the kids were to resist the temptation and sit in circle nicely. Riley absolutely did not participate when the song said to stand up and shake her maraca. She was in her own little la-la land. I don't know what to do about that. Rudi thinks that she has ADD but I think it's over-diagnosed. She does have certain symptoms, but I'm sure we can deal with them without medication.

Then they lit a candle and put it in the middle of the circle and arranged calendar pages around it. The teacher gave Riley a globe and they walked around the circle three times while the teacher read milestones of her life so far as they passes the appropriate month. Then they all sang Happy Birthday and ate cookies. It was nice.

Then we went home for about an hour to feed the kids and get all of our stuff together, then we hit the road for Denver. I actually timed this, from the moment we got into the car and for 30 minutes after that, Riley DID NOT STOP TALKING not even for a moment. Finally she said that her tummy hurt and I told her that it was probably because she was talking so much, so she put her head down and took a short nap. We went to the Tattered Cover Bookstore and unleashed the kids on the children's section. Avery was a little tornado, pulling books off the shelves and yelling. She found a wolf nesting doll that she adored and yelled whenever Riley touched it. I'll see if I can find it online for cheaper. So we stayed there for quite a while and then headed to the Denver Botanic Gardens for their Blossoms of Light show.

Man, the Blossoms of Light show was absolutely fabulous. It was so beautiful. I can only guess what the Botanic Gardens look like in the spring. They gave the visitors 3D glasses that turned the lights into snowflake shapes. Oh, let me tell you, it was horribly cold. Earlier in the day it was in the mid 50s, but by the time we got to the gardens, it was 15 degrees, much lower with wind-chill!! I had brought the baby slings and Rudi's coat so I could wrap it around Avery and I, but it was so cold that we had to put the girls in their strollers and pile all of the covers we had on top of them. Riley loved looking at the statues. Avery wouldn't let us put her hands under the covers, so she had fun looking at the frozen appendages that she could see but not feel. She was pretty amazed. We warmed up in the visitors center, and then left for home. It was 8 o'clock. Avery and Riley both fell asleep on the way home and transferred right to bed when we got home.

It started snowing on our way home from Denver, and it's still snowing. But it's a normal snow so far, not a blizzard. They are calling this a bad storm simply because it's supposed to be bitterly cold on top of it. I think our highs are supposed to only be in the teens for several days now. Great.

Today we're pretty much going to stay in and clean, to make up for the lack of cleaning done yesterday. We need to go to the Whole Foods Market for more vitamins for Riley, and I'm sure Rudi will be glad to go. Rudi ran out of his Paxil on Wednesday because he was taking two a day instead of one-and-a-half, so he might not be very useful unless we can get our hands on some more. He won't get another refill for a while, so hopefully his doctor will take pity on us. And laundry, I don't even want to think about the laundry that needs to be done.

In the world of nursing, Riley has nursed twice in the past four days. Not too shabby. Although when we were at the Botanic Gardens I went to the rest room and while washing my hands and rearranging my sweater, I noticed that my right side was literally twice as big as my left. I will have to be more attentive to switching sides now that Riley is not really nursing.

I really can't fit any more pictures in this post, but I have a lot more of our trip to the Botanic Gardens, so I'll post them later, plus I drained my camera's batteries downloading these...

So were supposed to get more snow here in a couple of days and it's supposed to get bitterly cold over the weekend. This really sucks. We're going to try to go to Denver tomorrow just in case the weather gets bad later in the week.

We went to the Y as a family yesterday. We decided to drop the kids of at the childwatch at get in a little workout time for ourselves. Avery was sleeping when we dropped them off. Riley just started coloring and doing puzzles. Rudi walked 1.25 miles on the treadmill and I jogged a mile then did 100 crunches on the weight machine. That took about 20 minutes all together, so I decided to go check on Avery since I say and attendant on the video monitor walking around with her. So I get there and they tell me that Avery has been screaming for nearly ten minutes! Ah! I guess it was rude awakening to wake up from a nap with strange people in a strage place. She was traumatized by that for quite a while. So I took the girls into the locker room and got us all changed into our swimsuits and met Rudi and the pool and spent an hour frolicing in the water. Avery really likes to splash around. Riley was apprehensive at first, but then got back into the swing of things.

Riley is having her birthday ceremony tomorrow at school and Rudi is going to come too. I am trying to find a healthy snack that I can bring tht is also fun and special. That's what I'm really supposed to be doing here on the computer...

Riley has an appointment with the ophthalmologist on Tuesday. So we'll see if there's something wrong with her. Yesterday I spread the red playsilk on the floor for Avery to play with and Riley said "Why is the red and green one on the floor?" Like she didn't know if it was red or green, so she called it both. Hmm. There are some things that she has memorized, like that Daddy's car is green, but a lot of other things she just doesn't get. I know that colorblindness is extremely rare in girls, but I've just got to get it checked out. Yesterday we were playing with the game that Grandma and Grandpa got her and I told her to get the red square and she got the green one and showed it to me and I hesitated and she said "It's green, isn't it?" Well, we'll soon put the mystery to rest.

So Riley went back to school today. It was hard for me to get back into the routine, not so hard for Riley. She did pretty well, although she did get weepy when I picked her up, saying that she missed me. Little Miss Avery fell asleep in the car on the way to school and stayed asleep until it was time to pick Riley up. What a nice break, if not a little freaky that she slept for so long. And so early in the morning.

Riley's carseat has become the armchair of wisdom. Whenever we go somewhere, she offers us her little pearls of knowledge. Yesterday, as we were on our way to Barnes and Noble, she said, "Mommy, when I'm grown up, you can sit in Daddy's lap and I'll push you in the stroller. You'll have to hold your feet up and put on your seat belt, otherwise you'll fall out on the street and I'll miss you very much because then I'll never see you again." That is word-for-word. Then Rudi I were talking and Riley says "Excuse me, excuse me, I have a question. Daddy, is your toe feeling better?" That would be a couple weeks ago when Rudi cut his toe. And then she tells the story about how we were at our old house and she was walking in the street with no shoes on and stepped on a piece of glass and got a cut. That was at least eighteen months ago. What a memory. As I was wrestling Avery to sleep last night Riley says "What are you doing to my little sister? Don't hurt my little sister!"

Avery is getting mighty demanding. Whenever I carry her around, she reaches for things and squeals until I get them for her. She has this possessed growl that she uses to indicate an animal of any kind. The sound kind of freaks Rudi out. I got a good look at the teeth that are coming in and they are her stinkin' molars. They are literally the last teeth in the back. How out-of-order is that? First molars are supposed to come in at 13-18 months, which is right on target, but teeth that should have come in a while ago are still missing.

I think that I am going to call an ophthalmologist tomorrow about color vision testing for Riley. When a child who is as cleaver as Riley can't get that a green bean is green, that puts up some red flags (no pun intended). Maybe color isn't her strength. That would be a shame since she loves drawing and painting so much.

So for the past few months I have been limiting Riley's nursing to one singing of the ABCs and that has worked pretty well. Now that she had turned three, I've decided to take it to the next step. The past two times that she has asked/demanded to nurse, I offered to cuddle with her and sing the ABCs. She took me up on the offer both times and cuddled without nursing. Could this be the beginning of the end? We'll see, but I'm not pushing it. I don't want it to be traumatic.

Happy Birthday to Riley! We did end up doing cake and presents yesterday. We had wanted to go to Denver and take her to the science center or the botanic gardens, but who knows if a Friday will come without snow. I called up Walmart at two o'clock to see if we could get a cake in a couple of hours, and they said yes. We got a marble Charlotte's Web cake and a bunch of candles, penguin plates and napkins, etc. Riley has the hang of opening presents now, complete with tossing the wrapping paper over her shoulder. I got some soy ice cream for Avery and I, and it tastes pretty good. I won't have a problem eating the whole tub at all. I had grand plans about what I was going to do with the girls tomorrow, including a swim at the Y and a trip to a toy store in Monument, but to no avail. The car seat base was left in Rudi's car. Good thing I didn't divulge my plans to Riley, she would have been really disappointed. We are going to try and go to Denver next Thursday or Friday, for the fourth week running, to see the Blossoms of Light show at the Botanic Gardens. But they're calling for snow again on Friday. Argh...

Riley got a Strawberry Shortcake doll, a Doodle Bear, and a slinky dog from her great-grandparents. She really really really loves the slinky dog. Grandma and Grandpa got her a learning toy from Discovery Toys which she absolutely adores. We've played it several times. She got a pizza set and The Orchard game from Rudi and I. She likes serving me pretend pizza since she knows that I can't eat real pizza. We've played the orchard game several times last night. The pieces are really nice wooden fruit. I'm really happy with it. And she got a Memory game from Amy, Scott, and Abby so that she can show off how good her memory is. She likes putting the pieces out, but doesn't like giving anyone else a turn. Doesn't matter anyway, she kicked my butt at it three times. Little booger. She got a Frogg is Growing puzzle from Uncle Allan, that shows the development of a frog and it's a three layer puzzle that she is surprisingly able to understand, although she needs help sometimes. Really cool. Now she'll just have to endure the toy famine between now and next Christmas. Maybe I'll get her that stinkin' tea set for Valentine's Day or Easter. When is Easter? Hmmmm...

I ordered four play silks for the girls, and Avery in particular really loves them. She has always been so tactile. She'll definitely be a Montessori child. She rubbed them all over her face and neck and played a whole lot of peekaboo. Riley took a little while to warm up to them, until I tied one around her head and called her a pirate. She likes them now.

I've already attmepted once to upload photos, and failed, so we'll keep trying...until the camera runs out of batteries at least.

Riley goes back to school tomorrow. It's been a long two weeks off, so I hope she doesn't have a hard time adjusting. She should have her birthday ceremony at school sometime next week. We'll have to see. She was supposed to have it on the 9th, but since the last day of school and the holiday party were snowed out, I don't know if they are rescheduling that for next week. I'll just do at I'm told. Thursday would probably be better so that Rudi could come.

I really have to get on top of the thank-you notes. I have two birthdays and Christmas thank-yous to send out. I think I'll really get that going today.

As I walk into the kitchen to take a swig of my coffee, I look out the kitchen window and see a kid out there with a spoon eating snow. Strange.

Today we finally joined the YMCA. At first, I was just going to let Rudi sign up, but once we got there, Riley really really really liked the pool and they have some great programs for children, so we all joined. I told Rudi that he had to go to the gym at least twice a week, and the very first week that he doesn't go twice, we are cancelling the membership. I also told him that I would really like to go as a family once a week. They have crafts and other activities for kids 3+, and a pirate ship for them to play on, in the mornings. I thought we could go, drop Riley off at the activities, drop Avery of at childwatch (they have video cameras in there, with monitors throughout the gym to see what your child's doing), do our separate work-outs, and then pick the girls up and take them swimming. The best laid plans...

Then we went to Manitou Springs, which is a little town that has been consumed by Colorado Springs. More of a hippie hang-out, perfect for us. I went to a Yerba Maté cafe and got an education on Maté and its health benefits, like high anti-oxidants and a "gentle stimulant" that works on metabolism, rather than on the nervous system like caffeine. Hmmm, interesting. Basically, it's espresso made with tea. I'll have to try more of it. I got a Chai Maté with almond milk and honey. Quite delicious. They have a "penny arcade" there, and Riley had fun riding the animals for 25 cents a ride (hence the "penny arcade" in quotations, maybe the actual arcade games were a penny, I didn't look).

When we came home, Rudi went out to work out at the Y. On the way there, he decided to stop and buy some water and a CANDY BAR (!!!) because he felt his blood sugar getting low. Then he couldn't find the 7-Eleven, so he went to the Y anyway and it was 6 o'clock so he couldn't find an available treadmill (nevermind the track there) so he decided to hit the showers even though he didn't work out. Goodness! So when he came home, I put the girls to sleep, went to Whole Foods and went to the Y myself. I did a warm-up jog and hit the bikes. It was pretty fun. I haven't had a good workout in way too long. Anyway, at the Whole Foods Market I bought Rudi some fruit leather to take with him when he works out in case his blood sugar gets low. I told him that with 250 calories in a candy bar, he's have to jog three miles just to burn off what he consumed on his way to the gym. I don't think he really got it. My gut feeling is that this gym thing isn't going to help, and he's going to be on insulin very soon. He is just too hard-headed.

For and extra-special bonus, I got the new issue of Mothering Magazine and it's a BABYWEARING issue! Sweet! Nothing sucks more that anticipating the new issue and find out that it's about something that doesn't apply to me, like pregnancy issues or circumcision issues. Just in time for Amy T's babywearing bonanza! I hope it increases interest even more!:) I've been wanting to try a wrap. I like the mei tai, but sometimes you just want to try something new. I certainly don't prefer the ring-slings, the ring is just uncomfortable and never in the right place and most annoying of all, it bunches up my shirt and messes up the neckline. Yuck. And my short experience with a pouch sling was not favorable. We'll see...I know they sell wraps at the breastfeeding store here in town, so maybe I'll take Avery and try it out.

Here's one of Riley's recent drawings. Grandpa and Riley are supposed to be in there somewhere. I'll have to mail it to them once she lets me.

Argh...Rudi is going to want to get on the computer to go to Blockbuster online and order some movies, so I'd better download some pictures and wrap up...but, but, but, this Mothering Magazine has a list of sling vendors I want to see...whine whine whine...

I took the girls to Old Heidelberg Pastry Shop today, which is sinfully close to where we live. They had so many pastries that looked so delicious. Riley totally loved the chocolate covered ice cream cone filled with chocolate buttercream frosting. I also got some apple pastries for Rudi when he comes home. They also have a cafe that serves German food at nice prices, with a deli of meats, cheeses, and sausages. Mmmm. I might have to send Rudi in there to get something for dinner one of these days.

Then we headed over to Barnes and Noble where I had a store credit to use. The girls made out really well on books. Riley got three paperbacks and Avery got two board books. Avery loves books so much. I've seen her sit and look at a book for twenty or so minutes, gently turning the pages. When we go to Barnes and Noble she is more interested in the books than the train set or the stuffed animals. Rudi says we need to keep her interested in books. I don't think that'll be a problem in our house.

It is really warm today, mid to upper 60s. On our way home from Barnes and Noble we passed the park and saw kids playing. I wish I could have taken the girls. If there hadn't been snow on the ground and wet grass, I would have. I just know that Avery would not have been content to be carried in her sling while Riley played. I wish Avery were just a few months older and could walk reliably. Maybe if the weather holds up I'll take Riley tomorrow when Rudi is off of work so that he can watch Avery.

This is a post from yesterday that I had to save and publish today because I was having problems posting pictures. All is well today, but I know the formatting is all messed up. I just wanted to post a lot of pictures!

Riley and I made some really delicious vegan cranberry-orange muffins this morning. The recipe isn't a vegan recipe, so I had to veganize it by substituting the egg with 1/2 cup applesauce and a couple extra tablespoons of orange juice. They puffed up nicely, but not too much, which is difficult in both vegan and high-altitude baking. I found high-altitude flour at the store. Not sure what makes it so special, but it seems to help. Rudi was like, "oh, yeah, muffins!" until I told him that they were vegan. I shouldn't have told him and I'm sure he wouldn't have noticed. But I convinced him to try one and he said they were really good and he ate several. We did make fifteen of them and only two were left at the end of the day, so the must be pretty good at least. Score!


Wow, look at this beautiful girl! It would have been better if she didn't have a rash and a few crumbs around her mouth, but oh well. She was headed straight for the bath anyway. She was very proud of herself for figuring out that she could put crayons in her piggy and blatantly showed off her stuffed piggy.

Avery has been so happy lately, just bopping and laughing for absolutely no reason. It's a nice change. She still makes for the steps every chance she gets, so I'm getting a work-out constantly going up and down the steps. She struggles now during diaper changes, so that is absolutely no fun. I think that my Prowraps are about to fall apart. That's what I get for only having three diaper covers. I tried using the gerber pants but they are not breathable at all. I like pull-on pants better. For some reason I don't feel like I'm cloth-diapering when I use the prowrap. I think I'll try the Stacinator So Simple pretty soon. I like using the Snappis and a wrap diaper cover doesn't really cover the diaper right. Plus, the leg gussets on the prowrap hold in poo well, but they fold inwards, so they're always covered in poo. Very yucky. Although I'm tempted to try the Bummis Super Whisper Side Snap. I like snaps better than velcro. In fact, I detest velcro, except when it's on my shoes (because I detest velcro less than I detest tying shoes). Ah, who would have thought that my life would be consumed by the quest for the perfect diaper cover? The twenty-year-old me would never have thunk it.

Riley has discovered the joy of colloquial speech. She now says "ya" instead of "you" as in "I made some tea for ya." The "ya" is so emphatic and pronounced that it really sounds funny. She persuaded me to get her the laundry hamper to play with and she piled it full of towels and covers and put a tube from a roll of wrapping paper in it and said that she made rainbow tea for me. How imaginative to work on such a grand scale. I tried to put on They Might Be Giants "Here Come the ABCs" and Riley said "No, those are stupid songs and they won't stop singing the stupid songs. I'm really disappointed with that." I was trying unsuccessfully to brush her hair while she was playing with her kitchen and she told me that I had to wait until she was done. I tried again and she said "Mommy, what did I tell you? You need to wait!" Oh so sassy.

Avery took one 40-minute nap today and that was it. Both girls went down at the same time, and I thought I was the luckiest Mom alive to have some time to myself in the middle of the day. Not so. Avery woke up 40-minutes into her nap and I tried desperately to nurse her back to sleep, but she was having none of it. I decided to give up before our struggles woke up Riley too. She really started falling apart around 5pm and I was just trying to keep her awake and happy until 7pm so I could put her to bed. I enticed her with mixed fruit and she sat in her high chair and ate it while Riley sat on the floor at her feet and read her story after story, and when she was done, Riley would say "Do you want me to tell you that one again, Avery?" She can really be a good sister sometimes, when she really tries. On a side note, Riley didn't nurse at all during the day, and only for one round of ABCs at bedtime. Sweet.

Rudi was home sick today with hernia pain. I really wish that he would get that taken care of. His doctor in Columbia told him like 20 years ago that surgical repair would involve cracking his ribcage. I told him that many advances in surgical procedures would probably be minimaly envasive. I just worry that one day he'll feel what he thinks is hernia pain and it'll really be a heart attack or something and he'll ignore it.

This photo needs a little explaining. Rudi brought home wax worms for Roxy the other day. Riley always enjoys watching Roxy eat, but she was particularly interested in the worm. You can see the tiny worm beside the water dish. Riley insisted that I take a picture of her with the worm.

So we didn't do anything for New Year's. We're so boring. In fact, we both went to bed at about 11:45pm. We were up for a little while after that and heard firecrackers go off, so we suppose that was midnight. The girls went to bed at 6:45pm so I figured that I really couldn't afford to stay up too late.

Avery has discovered the joy of drinking from a sippy cup. Her favorite is white grape raspberry. Diluted of course. Just tonight she got a hold of Riley's sippy cup of vanilla soy milk and she enjoyed that too. It's funny, she's perfectly capable of drinking it herself, unless Rudi's home. She crawls over to him and hands him the cup and insists that he feed it to her like a bottle.

Speaking of Daddies, Riley and I had a bit of a fight this morning over cereal and the fact that she wasn't eating it. She then asked where Daddy was and I said "work" and she said "Well, I want Daddy because you are being mean to me!" Awww, how cute. She also called him a "silly old man" yesterday. That was funny. Then she tells me "My Daddy is so good at singing and reading. He's good at everything!" Rudi puffed up when he heard that. This kid's language skills are so advanced, it's hard to believe that she's only just now turning three. I used to avoid saying that she's advanced, because I didn't want to be one of "those" mothers, but I feel that as long as I also aknowledge her short-comings, then there's nothing wrong with praising her strengths. Her short-comings are a short temper, pig-headedness, and the persistant inability to tell red from green.

Like a complete 'tard, I didn't realize that I could hook the camera up directly to the computer without using the printer, until Jeff set me straight on that one. Duh. So that means more frequent and recent photos on the blog! Wahoo! That is, if blogger lets me post photos.