Garden Phase II Complete

So after all the hard work and research (on pricing) to draw the schematic, I finally went and bought all the supplies for the AWESOMEST 20' x 20' Garden Plot EVER. That's 12-8' landscape timbers, 10-2"x4"x8', 4-2"x4"x9', 3-3'x50' rolls chicken-wire, bow tine rake, and round point shovel (not pictured: lumber tie-ins, galvanized nails, 3" outdoor wood screws, 2-T-hinges, and bolt clasp for gate door). Thank you to the In-laws for the gift card to Home Depot, and to my wonderful wife for indulging my super OCDness in order to give me the AWESOMEST 20' x 20' Garden Plot EVER! And a minor shout out to the person we share the garden plot with for paying for half of this.

Phase III to begin this weekend...More pics to follow!

While we were gone...

Chris was busy sketching out his ideal garden plot. It's...um...detailed. My particular favorite part is the top and bottom of the chicken wire.

What happens when you travel alone with a two-year-old

This is what I found when I got out of the shower at our hotel in North Carolina (which, by the way, is beautiful and I'll post pics at a later time).

When funny goes too far

Last night, Carter was tooting in the tub because, well...because I encourage gross behavior. But this time, he tried too hard. And he squoze out more than he bargained for. And I can't stop laughing today thinking about the surprise on his face.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

From our little leprechaun to yours.

Busy month!

Wow, March is a really busy month for us.

This weekend I get to see my friend D, who I haven't seen since I was first pregnant with Carter (like, eight WEEKS pregnant), my friend Heather who I haven't seen in probably, um, 8 years, and my BFF Heather (a different one) who I only get to see every few months. Gonna be a great weekend!

Then, next weekend, I'm headed down to Raleigh to see my dear friend, Marty. I got to meet her in person for the first time last year, but we've been friends for several years now and I'm so excited to see her again and smooch her two boys over and over. Plus, I'm looking forward to spending time in Raleigh again. I love that town.

The weekend after that, my grandparents are in town for my grandmother's 80th birthday. Carter video chats with them every once in a while, but that's not the same as them getting to kiss and hug on him in person. It keeps 'em young.

And THEN, the weekend after that is Chris' birthday and Easter.

Busy, busy days ahead of us! But they're filled with family and friends, and that's all that matters.

Sweater Update

A few people have asked how my sweater is coming along. So far, no MAJOR mishaps. Well, except for the part where I thought I had to knit for 41 inches and was about 20 inches in when I realized it was 14 inches, not 41. Um, oops. There are worse mistakes that can be made, I suppose. So I ripped out 6 inches and finished off the back. Here's a pic of the finished back. It looks really skinny because the sides are all curled in from the stockinette stitch (it tends to do that).



I'm now about 3/4 done the right front (or is it left front?). The pattern is super easy so far and I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out.

Thumbsucker

Carter used pacifiers as a baby. But once he turned one, he stopped using them with no issues. It just sort of happened. Then he started sucking his thumb, but only in the carseat or when he was laying down to go to sleep. He's started doing it more often recently. The moment he gets in the carseat he sticks his thumb in his mouth, as soon as he lays down to watch tv he sticks his thumb in his mouth, as soon as he gets in his bed he sticks his thumb in his mouth. I'm not TOO worried about it at this point but it does concern me a little because he always has raw skin and calluses on that thumb from sucking it. But his doctor said as long as the skin isn't breaking that it's okay and we don't need to worry about infection or anything. And his dentist isn't concerned at this point, either, about it impacting his teeth in any way. So, I've sort of ignored it and let him have his comfort. It's very cute and sweet to watch him lay on my pillow watching Monsters Inc. sucking his thumb and letting me stroke his hair.

Last night while he was sucking away, I asked him why he sucks his thumb. He looked at me, paused a moment, and said, "Because I love it!"

Can't argue with that.

That kid

Sometimes, he's THAT kid. The one from that movie Parenthood that walks around with a bucket on his head, banging into walls. And all I can do is laugh.

I have sick

Carter came home from school with a cough yesterday. When my mom and I went there on Monday for his Valentine's Day party I noticed the little girl sitting next to him coughing all over the place, so I wasn't surprised when he got it. I asked him if he had a cough, and he said, "No, I have sick." LOL

A little pic from this morning to brighten your day:

My First Sweater

A few days ago I started knitting my first sweater. It's also my first experience with cabling so I was nervous about how it would go, but I'm happy to report that so far it's going really well. Here are some pics of the first three days worth of knitting. If you're on Ravelry, you can find me as "amyradish" and follow my progress. If you're interested, that is.

Domestic Goddess

What with there being a hundred feet of snow outside, and our having been stuck at home since Friday, plus my computer being broken, I've had some time to work on my domesticity. I've been knitting a lot. Just finishing a pair of socks, and started gauging my sweater yarn. I'm really looking forward to knitting my first sweater!

I've also been cooking a lot more. You saw the bread I made, which I still swell with pride over every time I think about it. Tonight I made glazed salmon with roasted asparagus and rice, and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Pretty damn delicious, if I do say so myself! And I think Chris would agree.

SNO-M-G 2010

When there's over two feet of snow outside and you've been stuck in your house for two days, it's hard to find entertaining things to do. Tonight we had a photo shoot.










And I also did this (FROM SCRATCH!!):





I never thought I'd be able to bake bread without a machine, but apparently I can! I'm so insanely proud of myself. And it turned out delicious, if I don't say so myself.

One of Carter's teachers takes pictures every once in a while and she posts them for us parents to see. Here are a few from his first few weeks of school.

Cups

If there's one thing that stands out that Carter has learned these past two weeks at school, it's learning to drink from a regular cup. They don't allow sippies at his school so they have the kids drink from Dixie cups. That quickly transitioned at home to him using big boy cups and he's doing really great with it. In fact, he's doing so well with it that we finally got rid of all of his sippies except a few to keep for car rides and such. It's nice to have that cabinet space back!

Toddler Talk

Before I was a mom, it always amazed/amused me at how parents seemed to understand their toddlers perfectly well, while I just looked at them in confusion trying to figure out what, "Myfdakl;afdkajfdkda;aaaad no!" meant. Now? I speak Toddler. Or, rather, the Carter dialect of said language. I can understand my kid perfectly fine, but other kids? Not so much. I still look at them with a big smile and said, "Really?" in a very excited voice, but have no clue what they just said to me.

And what's funny is that I don't even notice the words that Carter mispronounces until it's pointed out to me. To me, he's speaking perfect English. For instance, I never thought twice about the way he said, "What are you doing?" until my mom laughed about how he says, "dooning" instead of "doing." Sounded right in my head. It's like when people are immersed in new languages and they stop translating to their first language and start to dream in the second language. Carter is my second language.

So now I'm trying to keep an ear out for how he says things, just so I can remember these toddler days and how he sounded. For example:

girl = gwer-uhl
doing = doo-ning
ladies = wadies
Miss Dorothea (his teacher) = Miss Dor-fee-fah

There are many more, but as I'm paying closer attention, I'm actually finding that he really does have good pronunciation for the most part. If you talk to him on the phone, you can have an actual conversation and understand what he's talking about. In fact, he even speaks dog. He talked to Uncle Brian's dog Remi on the phone the other day. They had a whole conversation. For real.

Catching Up

I've been offline a lot recently. I've gotten back into knitting and find that I'm doing that more at night, rather than getting online. I miss my online friends but I'm really enjoying knitting again. I just finished a pair of fingerless gloves for work. My hands get freezing and I'm hoping these will help. I've also finished a sock, and am getting ready to cast on the second one. I love knitting socks. They're quick, fairly easy, and don't require a lot of "finishing" work.

On the Carter front, he's doing really well. He took about two weeks of training for him to stay in his bed but he's consistently staying in there through the night. He calls for me or Chris and waits for us to give him permission to get out of bed. Usually. There were several times in the beginning where he'd just stand next to my side of the bed and quietly wait for me to wake up and notice him. Scared the crap out of me more than once. Imagine opening your eyes at 2 a.m. and a little person is right there in your face. Makes me shiver just to remember it.

He's enjoying school a lot. He's participating and making friends and learning all sorts of new songs and games. His teachers are great and give us a positive report every day. I take him in the morning, and sit with him in the multi-purpose room while he eats breakfast, and then I either leave then, or I walk him to his classroom and then head out of there. I try to wait until he's done eating because he gets VERY upset when I go to work. According to his teachers, he recovers fairly quickly, which I'm sure he does, but it's so hard leaving him like that. He never even noticed when I left him at Shaista's. But I realize it's a very different environment for him and it'll take some getting used to. I just hope it happens sooner rather than later. It breaks my heart every morning to see him so hysterical about me leaving. Chris gets to pick him up in the afternoon when he's happy and smiling and life is good. In fact, the other day Chris sat down right next to him but he was so enraptured with Story Time that it took a full two minutes for Carter to even notice Chris was sitting there. One of his teachers takes pictures of the kids every few weeks and it's so cool to see what they do all day long. I can't wait for Carter to be in those pictures. Hopefully this week I'll have a few to share.

And in other happy news, my dear friend Canape had her baby boy Colin Henry this morning. I couldn't be happier and can't wait to meet the little dude. He's gorgeous, of course. I'm a thrilled "auntie"!

First Day of School

Today was Carter's first day at his new school. I was nervous about his adjustment from the small group at Shaista's to a larger class with multiple teachers and new routines. We've been talking about his new school for weeks and he's gone to visit and play a few times with Chris. He pretty much knew what to expect and was as prepared as we could hope for.

We got there at 8:00 and his teacher saw us out there (we were waiting on Chris) and Carter took her hand and went with her into the multi-purpose room for breakfast. He was given the choice of cereal or a Pop-Tart and he chose the Pop-Tart and some milk. He sat with the other kids and ate breakfast and when he was done, we took him down the hall to his classroom.

He played for a little while, always making sure at least one of us was in very close range. He colored a little bit, played with trucks, read some books (or, rather, had me read him some books), and looked at the posters with shapes and colors on them.

Chris went to school and I stayed for a little while later. He did Circle Time where his main teacher sang some songs, and he sang along as best he could and even imitated the hand motions the other kids were doing. He caught on really fast! He wanted to sit in my lap but I made him sit on the carpet with the other kids, but he turned around a lot to make sure I was right there.

After Circle Time it was time for their snack and I thought that was a good time to leave him there. I got him situated and explained that I was going to work and that I'd be back for him later, just like when I would leave him with Shaista. He got very upset and started crying but I left anyway, knowing that he'd be okay after a little while.

About two hours later, I had to come back to drop off a copy of his birth certificate, and I saw him in the multi-purpose room eating lunch with everybody and he was doing great. One of his assistant teachers came out and told me that he cried for a little bit after I left but then he was fine. They played outside and he enjoyed that. That made me feel better about leaving him while he was so upset. But I couldn't stay all day and he has to learn that when Mommy and Daddy leave, we always come back to get him.

Anyway, Chris and I went to get him together at 5:00 and he was having a great time sitting at a table with a few other kids playing with Magnadoodles (which happens to be one of his favorite toys at home). He was happy to see us but when I asked if he was ready to go, he said no. He wanted to stay and play with the kids. We stayed for a little bit longer and then told him to say goodbye and give his teachers hugs. So he walked up to another kid's mom and gave her a hug. It was hilarious. He didn't know she wasn't a teacher; he was just looking for big people. She was a good sport about it and thought it was funny too.

His report for the day was good. He had a few crying episodes, and got upset each time it was time to change his diaper, but all in all he had a great day. He even was able to take a nap, which surprised me. I thought being in a new place, in a new bed (they sleep on little cots), with a lot of people around would be too much for him but he took a little while to fall asleep, but he eventually did.

It only gets easier from now on. I'm so happy he's at this school.

Some pics from his first day:











And for comparison, his first day with Shaista, and his first day with Miss Dorothea:

This is how we entertain ourselves

This is how we entertain ourselves on cold winter nights.

Bed Update

Okay, so Night #1 didn't go so well. He went to sleep just fine, as I said in the last post, but at 12:30 I heard him thump out of bed and next thing I know, he's in our doorway. I let him come into bed with us because he kept whining/crying every time I suggested he get back into his own bed. He laid with us for a while but I find it impossible to sleep with him, so I offered to lay down in his room with him. He said that was okay so I laid down on his new toddler blow-up mattress that we use when we go away, which is more like laying on a pool raft. It sucked. But I dozed on and off for an hour or two and then snuck out back to our room. He slept the rest of the night in his bed and around 7:00 (maybe earlier?) I woke up to a little boy breathing in my face staring at me.

Last night we spent the night in Baltimore and he slept on his blow-up bed. He fell out around 12:30 (something magic about that time, I guess) and slept for another 15 minutes on the floor, but then wanted to come into bed with me. I let him lay with me for just a little bit and then put him back in his bed while I laid on the floor next to him for a few minutes. I told him I'd be right there in my bed next to him and he watched me get into bed and seemed fine. He fell out of the bed/mattress a few more times throughout the night, but both times put himself back in. Thank goodness!

Hopefully each night will get a little easier. We're bringing home a bigger toddler rail from my mom's house to use for a little while and maybe that'll keep him from falling out so easily. The rails that came with his crib are pretty tiny.