Update Day

Otherwise known as boring blog day.

Potty Training: I have backed off for a little while (who am I kidding, backed off… I never put the heat on). Leif was sick last weekend. I love the age of language, actually hearing your child say “ear hurts” is so much more efficient. A quick trip to the Urgent Care at 7pm Friday night, our favorite broad base antibiotic 30 minutes later after $15 and a quick peak by our favorite Urgent Care doc.

Suffice it to say, antibiotics and potty training? Just not a good idea. Even though I have decided to give it some time, Leif hasn’t. He still goes about 50% of the time both at home and at daycare. He is still doing this on his own, often without telling us. Suddenly it dawns on AB and I, “where’s Leif?” Sure enough, in sitting on the potty with a poopy diaper on the floor. Lovely. Oh well, it is part of the learning process.

He will finish up his antibiotic this weekend. The weekend after this coming one we are traveling so I won’t push it then either.

Mice: Three as of this morning. I truly hate killing them. I told AB he had to deal with the mousetraps, because I just wouldn’t. After mouse number one I really hoped that was it. After AB got rid of the one he admitted that he was having a hard time with that, admitted that they really are cute little things. But the fact that they are getting into my dried goods and leaving their little droppings all over my canned goods, they have to go. I have fears of Hanta virus and will be buying a face mask to clean up the droppings when our traps quit filling.

Leif in general: He is doing great! He is very opinionated and can be pretty bossy. Today his teacher told AB that he is really starting to talk in full sentences suddenly. I have noticed this just a little. Evidently today someone threw something and Leif yelled, “Don’t throw that, it can hurt!” Gee, I wonder where he has heard that before…

Miscellaneous: I officially started my Christmas shopping today and am ultra-thrilled about that. I love Christmas and can’t wait to start decorating. I will have my warm up decorating with Halloween, then pull down the scary things, leave the fall things for Thanksgiving, and then I get to dig into the big prize, Christmas decorations! Last year I hit the after Christmas sales hard at Target and at a few stores online. I got some major scores, two sets of silver chargers for like $4 each (AB doesn’t "get" them and still moans every time he has to move the boxes in the utility room cupboard, but he will appreciate their beauty, I will make him appreciate them.) I got some decorations from Pottery Barn that I not so secretly coveted with V… I think between the two of us we nearly bought their stock on clearance.

During my online shopping foray I was surprised to find that TRU is no longer Amazon affiliated. I am an Amazon addict, so I am disappointed to hear that I have to go to another website for toys now. And most of my disappointment is in seeing that Amazon’s toy selection has subsequently taken a nosedive. I took advantage of the buy two get the third free sale on GeoTrax at TRU for my train obsessed little boy. He has finally found “his” toy. He will play with the GeoTrax every night and most mornings before we leave. I think AB and I are as anxious about adding to the set. We like it almost as much as Leif does.

I also gave in and bought the Little People Christmas Story set. This will be our in utero baby’s first Christmas present since well, it would be totally lost on Leif. Not the story of Christmas. Last year he loved the Advent calendar and we have been talking about Jesus and God. (We have this Advent calendar if you are interested… ) I do plan on opening the Little People set early and if Leif wants to play with it, he can, but I don’t expect he will, other than to put Baby Jesus on one of the train cars and haul him around the train track.

Things are good here. Two more days of the fiscal year left. I suffered a major setback on my deliverable for my main project thanks to a mechanical engineer with little vacuum experience and my not checking every single little detail. Actually it was something I debated with him, but I really should have just put my foot down and said, “I feel more comfortable using these components I am used to, this is what we are going to do.” It doesn’t really matter, the report says the unit is complete, it really is very close to complete and we have money to continue working come October 2 to tide us over until our year two funds arrive in January. Most of the headache comes in that I really need to sit down with my mechanical engineer and explain to him what went wrong with his design, just so it doesn’t happen again on another project.

We are really, really looking forward to heading off to the West side of the mountains for Oysterfest on October 6. I need some R&R. Leif needs some grandparent time. Winny needs some fresh seawater air. Four (ofr five) days of life in a cabin with grandparents. I am looking forward to cooking with my mom, beachcombing (since I grew up in the mountain states, the seashores never cease to amaze me), clamming, BBQ’ing some oysters on the beach, and sitting around playing Mexican Train Dominoes each night. 9 days and counting!