Hot Date

After spending some time at dinner tonight talking to a single neighbor about the ups and downs of the (online) dating world, I had to realize that today I had one of the nicest dates I've had in a long time. While Adam was off fishing, Micah and I went to our local farmer's market, where we sampled lots of goodies that daddy probably wouldn't have approved of (pie and waffles at 10 AM -- yum!), followed by a quick prenap shopping trip at America's largest clothing recycling shop (AKA the Goodwill). Then while Micah napped, i enjoyed a lovely salad on the deck and caught up on back issues of Oprah without anyone making fun of me.... After Micah woke up and had some lunch, we met my sister and her family at a free outdoor folk concert. It was a little hot for sitting in the full sun, but lots of fun. Stranger anxiety is not a problem for my little guy.... he was all over the strangers sitting around us, including climbing across the crotch of one fellow, then peering into the guy's sunglasses to see his reflection and tugging at his cap. Micah also enjoyed kissing this enormous dog, who luckily was very goodnatured.

Review for CNS Stores Coming Soon

Following in the footsteps of the Mikes, I am excited to announce an upcoming review for CSN Stores. With a toddler in the house, I anticipate that we'll be needing some new furniture, perhaps even a coffee table. I plan on spending hours looking over the 200 different websites that make up CSN Stores. The products at CSN Stores are endless! Disclosure: I will be receiving an item of my choice valued at $35 or less so that I may conduct an honest review of CSN Stores products and service. You might remember that the Mikes reviewed a very cute play mat for one of the girl's bedrooms.

I'm Faklempt!

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Milestones and Frustrations

It has been an interesting, challenging, tiring, and thrilling time here in the Kingdom of Micah. (Stick with me while I vent and I'll reward you with some photos at the end!) We transitioned to a new daycare a few weeks ago -- a big center that comes highly rated by our local quality agency. He's one of the youngest children in his new room -- everyone else is walking and a bit more verbal -- and in the new room (and all toddler rooms) they only offer one nap a day compared to the two and sometimes 3 he was taking at the old daycare. So we probably bit off a bit more than Micah could handle, though, by also trying to transition him to cow's milk from formula at the same time. He had no problem at all getting used to new caregivers and a new room; there was no sign of separation anxiety at all.

BUT.... and this is a big but, he's had some, er, intestinal adjustments ever since all these transitions started.... and each time it happens, daycare calls us to take him home. They have a very very strict policy for sick kids and draw the line at one diarrhea incident, after which he can't return for at least 24 hours. So far they've sent him home I think 3 or 4 times, despite my obtaining notes from our doctor stating that the symptoms in question are being caused by the milk transition, not a contagious disease. I am so lucky to have a job that understands my need to be flexible for my family, and I certainly enjoy spending time with Micah, but after having a very healthy and playful kid home with me for 6 or so days while I'm paying VERY good money to the daycare, I was NOT feeling the love for this new daycare, which is supposed to be inculcating my kid with a values-based education, but was not making me feel kindly towards them.
Today was a nice milestone where he was at the daycare for two continuous days, but only because I took him in late so that he could get the messy business done at home instead of at school. Gross for me, but the rest of the day was phone-call free, at least until they called to tell me that he'd lost his balance and hit his forehead.


No, that does not mean Micah is walking. He stands up well and is balancing without holding onto things for longer and longer stretches, can lower himself down with the grace of a yogi, and has an amazing amount of proprioseption, but is showing no interest at all in walking. That's OK with me -- even though he's heavy, I'm still enjoying carrying him on my hip like a little gorilla baby. Daddy is eager for him to walk, but daddy hasn't the faintest idea of how much trouble that will bring. Even without walking, he's getting into more and more trouble: climbing up onto surfaces not meant to bear his weight, doing pull-ups to reach something on top of our TV cabinet, opening kitchen cabinets to explore what's in. It is going to be a busy time here as we scramble to stay ahead of him!

And below, the promised reward photos from our recent vacation to Massachusetts!

Unimpressed as we take Micah to the spot where we got married a million (I mean 3) years ago...

OK, not a Massachusetts phone..... a trip to our local JCC pool where we met up with a good friend and her newborn baby.

Cute pre-haircut photo that I staged to illustrate the Q page of Micah's ABC book. This is the only photo I had to stage for the purpose of the book!

Micah was not exactly the best company at our long-awaited vacation lobster dinner. Our staging this photo caused quite a few laughs at the surrounding tables.

Ooops I did it again

Remember a few weeks ago when I said that Adam had told me that I was in charge of no haircuts? Well, unfortunately, I just couldn't leave well enough alone. Fresh off a frustrating week in which Micah was banned from daycare not once, but twice due to explosive bodily fluids caused by the transition to milk, I had a little extra time on my hands on Friday afternoon. So Micah and I headed back to Jack and Jill for a little trim. They still had his (adorable) photo on the wall from his last haircut, and I casually mentioned to the new stylist that the last cut had been just a tad too long, and I'd like it just a little shorter this time. Well, before I could realize what was happening, she had the electric clippers out and was sheering my little guy like a helpless lamb, leaving him with what can most generously be described as .......well, there's no generous way to describe it. It's a little 3rd Reich haircut. Waaaah! How's that for a bad attempt at irony, just as he starts off at a Jewish daycare. OK, I know it will grow back, but with a cut this short, it is going to take quite a long time.

And it might seem even longer than it actually is, due to a new development in our house: the arrival of whining. Remember when wine was a beverage you had with dinner, late into the evening? Well, lately we seen to have it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Not sure why it has developed; I think he might be teething, and perhaps the aforementioned upset tummy isn't helping. Hope the little guy is feeling better soon; we miss our easygoing little guy.

And just so I don't sound ungrateful, I've been so excited this week by the miracle of speech starting to appear. So far we have the words "quack" and "duck" which are hard to tell apart, "hiya" and a little wave that goes with it, and now we also seem to have "gog" which means "frog." It is also so amusing to see new reactions to things. We have a book that has pop-up animals with big, hungry mouths that open up when you turn the page; I've shown it to him a dozen times or more, but this week when I showed it to him there was a little shiver of delighted fear with each turn of the page. He's on the verge of walking too, cruising with a bit more purpose, and realizing that he can reach things that were previously out of reach by climbing on things or stretching even further.

Anyone know where I can get a wig for a 1 year old?

Micah ABC book

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I had a lot of fun making this, because I got to use some of the crazier papers and realistic objects in my scrapbooking stash than I usually use (and some slightly girly colors, too, sigh.....) I'm nearly finished with Micah's first-year book, too (just waiting for a friend to give me some photos she took of his birthday party), and waiting for a really big sale at Shutterfly to print it!

For those interested in how-tos, I used an inexpensive program called Scrapbook Max. It does many of the same things that more expensive, difficult programs like Quark do, at a fraction of the cost (about $40) and effort. All of the "papers" and elements were downloaded for free (a great website that compiles a daily digest of freebies is http://www.craftcrave.com/; another one I used when I needed to find specific elements needed for this project (Quill, anyone?) was http://www.digiscrapdepot.com/.) You will need lots of room on your harddrive for these freebies, as it is addictive to download them! Fulfills all of my "hunter-gatherer" and bargain-hunting needs. Once you've downloaded stuff, you just drag it into your layout and re-size, re-color, and re-arrange to your heart's content (or until your baby wakes up from a nap!)