Snippets

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

As much as I'd like to be drinking a large margarita right now (yes, it is only 8 am. But I've been up since 5:45 with both kids, so it feels much later), I'm not. But I do have a nice, large, steaming cup of coffee in front of me, so that'll have to do.

I'm on borrowed time here, with far too much to do to be blogging. But M. is out of town - the country, really, as he's in Brussels - and blogging at night is near to impossible at the moment. So instead, I shall steal a few precious moments of work time to bring you.... well, just updates, really.

1) Houston, we have a first word!! OK, possibly third word, as Lucy has been saying Mama and Dada for some time now, but we're not sure if we can count those as real words since she likes to call EVERYTHING Mama and Dada. But sometimes us, too. Regardless, we now clearly have a "used in the right context" word and it is.... MORE! Yes, that's right, my daughter's first word is more. What does this say about her planned future of selflessness and generosity? Not sure. But if she is eating, and she runs low on her food tray, she says "mo." If she has a toy and you take it away, she says "mo" (and/or cries). If she just went down the slide and wants to go again, she says "mo." If she just threw her sippy cup on the floor for the tenth time, and you have picked it up and put it on the table out of her reach so she can't do it again, she says "mo." Basically, she is saying it ALL THE TIME.

2) We have discovered the age at which "ear worms" develop, and it is apparently 3-and-a-half. Finn walks around constantly singing little snippets of songs. It's adorable, really. He is by no means in tune, and the words are often unintelligle as he sort of has a lazy mouth while he does it, but still adorable. Now if only we could get him to sing some classic rock instead of kids' TV theme songs or Sandra Boynton songs, then we'd really be getting somewhere.

3) Operation Re-introduce Dairy has been moving along. Lucy is up to taking 1/3 of her bottle as milk, the rest still formula. We have introduced no other sources of dairy into her diet, just to be safe. So far, no puking or diarrhea. We are doing this very, very slowly, though, so I don't want to assume we are safe from a milk protein intolerance yet. However, things are looking up a bit in that area.

4)There are a plethora of fuzzy caterpillars outside our house right now, and Finn is enthralled. He goes on little hunting trips to find them. He and some of the neighbor kids spent about 20 minutes last night taking turns picking up about 10 different caterpillars, shrieking, and dropping them. Those poor caterpillars must have been having heart attacks. Until they were squished, of course, because one of the little boys kept having a change of heart about his degree of affection for these creatures, and stepped on them one by one.

5) M. is due back this Saturday afternoon, if that Icelandic volcano doesn't go and strand him (Just heard a report today that it has started spewing volcanic stuff again). I can guarantee that by Saturday afternoon, I'm going to be in need of some reinforcements. But also, I am jealous, as the most exotic place my work has ever taken me is St. Pete's Beach, FL. In August. The trip went something like this: I thought about exploring a little, and then I melted. The end. I'm hoping M.'s trip is much more interesting, and that MAYBE he'll hop online and blog a little to let us (me) know what he is doing. He doesn't have an international plan on his phone, and the 6-hour time difference is a little awkward, so our only chance to talk will be if he can somehow use Skype to call my work phone during the day. I'm hoping he'll call me any minute now...

OK, 5 snippets/bullets/updates/random paragraphs seems like a good stopping point. Hasta luego!