The Other Stuff

The past couple of weeks have had some highlights, other than broken baby bones. Here we go:

**Katy has entered the age of the Whys. Everything I say is then followed by, "but why?" It makes for some interesting conversation, in which I am asking myself, "Hmmm....why IS that?" Here's one from the other day:

We were walking past a duck pond and she spotted a duck turd (sorry, that's the best word I can come up with) on the ground.

K: Mommy, can I pick this up and feed it to the ducks?

M: NO! That's not duck food, it's duck poop! Don't touch it!

K: Why?

M: Because poop is very dirty. Usually poop goes in the potty, but ducks poop on the ground.

K: Why?

M: Because they don't have a potty. And they don't know any better.

K: Why?

M: Only people poop on the potty. Animals poop on the ground.

K: So they can get a sucker?
(She's got a point there, at least they didn't go in their diaper)

**Speaking of the potty: we're in a major "two steps back" mode. She keeps telling me that she likes going in her diaper, that she doesn't want to use a potty. And in my current state, I'm not pushing it. Once we are settled in the new house and have a new routine, we'll get something going.

**David is maturing on a daily basis. Baby signing finally clicked for him and he's using a few - all food related, of course. He loves the sandbox, dancing to music, climbing (obv), and doing whatever his sister is doing. He colors (really makes marks!), drives cars around on the floor (making a sound that resembles "vroom"), and points and squeals at every animal he sees. He's such a cutie and I feel so sorry for him because he is mad at the world right now. It's frustrating for us all.

**One day last weekend, the kids stayed with my step-mom at our house while we were painting at the new house. When I walked in the door, David was really excited to see me, so I stood at a distance from him and held my arms out. He surprised us all by walking 6 steps right to me! I couldn't believe it! And then he did it several more times of the next couple of days. Unfortunately, now with his arm bundled up, he doesn't have the balance to do it, so I guess we'll be delayed again for a while.

**I took the kids to get portraits taken at JCP for their first and third birthdays. We debated about whether to go to Portrait Innovations, because I think they do a much better job overall, but they are significantly more expensive, and we've had good luck in the past with JCP. So we went, and it was our worst experience yet. The photographer was brand new and she gave no direction - we were placing the kids ourselves and asking for props. Truly ridiculous. In the end there were a few decent pictures so we bought some, but JCP is just a shot in the dark sometimes.

**After posting our place for summer rental on craigslist, we had 3 groups of people who really wanted to rent. I am blown away at how it all worked out. So we have until May 31st to be out of here.

**So the BIG ONE: last Friday, we closed on our new house! It's a done deal, we now own 2 properties! Everything went well and we felt very excited about it. The weekend following the closing had a few highlights of its own:

--My sister-in-law called me five hours after closing, and I was standing on a ladder stripping wall paper from the bathroom. It was only a double decker border, but it took several hours to remove - what a pain!

--We painted Katy's room, the master bedroom, and 2 bathrooms, finishing up with the basement floor. We could NOT have done anything even remotely close to this without my Dad and Sue helping us all weekend (with childcare and hard labor).

--Of course, as with any home purchase, as soon as you get the keys, you discover a few problems. So far, knock on wood, they've been minor. First, there was a fist-sized hole in a pipe that had been covered with duct tape (how did that pass inspection?). Then, we quickly noticed that we have a groundhog (or gopher? same diff?) making himself very comfortable under our front porch.

--We instituted the Van Plan. We have moved the car seats from the van into the Corolla and removed the seats from our minivan. Every day, we (and by "we", I mean "Brian") load the van with stuff and take it to the new house in the evening. We're hoping that this will result in a reasonable work order come moving day.


**There's still so much to do that it feels overwhelming. With all the extra attention David has needed this week, it's been all I can do to keep up with the day to day, let alone packing and moving. It feels like I am standing in the middle of work zone with my hands tied behind my back. Of course, I'm certainly happy to meet the needs of my Bubby, but this moving task feels impossible at times. Let's just hope that his follow-up appointment next Thursday (why is it so far away?) brings good news. At LEAST can he please be relieved of his arm being attached to his body? Because that's really stinking frustrating.