And She Makes it to 20!

Posts in April, that is.

It came to my attention (or rather, was brought to my attention) that today is the last day of April and I only (prior to a few minutes ago) had 16 posts. Now, that did not seem like a fitting number for the "anniversary month" of this blog -- yes, the blog is now one year old! This makes it the longest running creative endeavor I have ever embarked on. Congratulations, me. Yes, I have an annoying habit of starting things and then not following through. But keeping this blog has been great fun for me over the last year, and I have you, Dear Readers, to thank. Thank you for all of your comments and positive feedback! I will try not to be such a slacker henceforth.

Becca: 18 Months

I was supposed to post an 18-month update on Becca's milestones and of course I forgot. 5 days ago she turned 19 months but we'll just pretend for the purposes of this post that she is still 18 months.

Becca is attempting to run, though it's really more like speed-walking very very fast on the verge of falling down at any moment. She climbs up things (like stairs) but not so much down them. She throws a ball, but does not kick a ball or jump yet (she tries to jump but her feet don't leave the ground and it's very funny to watch).

She is saying a lot more words including "french fry" (which sounds like "pench pie"), "waffle", and "outside". If you ask her to repeat a word she will almost always try and sometimes she'll get it and sometimes she won't. I expected that being a girl she would talk more and have better pronounciation than Ben did at her age but it is not true. I don't actually remember too much what Ben's language was like at 18 months but I know by two he was saying four and five word sentences at least (I think his record sentence by the time he turned two was "those lizards running around in there!" Boy was I impressed). So, we'll revisit that comparison in six months.

She continues to sleep twelve hours at night and take a (usually not longer than two hour) nap in the early afternoon.

Her personality is starting to show a lot more lately, she acts goofy in order to get us to laugh, loves to dance, and loves to draw and finger paint. And oh yes -- the tantrums have started!!

The Birds and The Bees

Ben and I had a round-about discussion about the birds and the bees this morning on the way to preschool. He observed that his friend Matthew is an only child. "Why doesn't Matthew have a baby like I do?" He asked (Becca is, of course "his" baby). I explained that different families have different numbers of children, and that some have only one.

"My friend Johnny's mommy has three babies," he observed by way of supporting documentation. "She has Jakie, Jolie, and.... " he faltered.

"Johnny?" I prompted.

"Yes, Johnny. Why don't you have three babies?" he asked.

"Because I am happy with two babies," I told him.

Then he asked me if mommies always go to the hospital when babies are ready to come out. I told him most of the time mommies want to be at the hospital to have babies, so they can have medicine for the pain.

"Because they have to cut open your belly to get the baby out?" he asked, knowing that Rebecca was born by C section.

"Most babies don't come out that way," I told him, and I explained where most babies (including him) came out.

"MOMMY!" he said, shocked. "HOW DID I FIT THROUGH SUCH A SMALL HOLE?"

"With difficulty, my dear!" I told him.

To Paint or Not to Paint

Oh how I wish I could post a picture of our newly-painted cedar shakes, shutters, and front door... but I can't... because despite the fact that our painter guy has been stopping by the house almost every day for the last five days, nothing is actually painted yet. Let's call this painter "Jose". (Okay, his name is actually Jose).

Anyway we gave Jose the colors names/numbers we wanted to use and he volunteered to take one of our cedar shakes to the paint store so we could see how it would look and make sure we liked it. So we gave him an extra one we had in the garage. He came back two days later finally, with the cedar shake painted to show us. But, he said, since we were using a solid stain and not a latex paint, he didn't know if the stain would cover the existing stain on our cedar shakes (the one he took from the garage was unstained).

So I suggested why not bring a small amount of the stain back here and paint a couple of our shakes to see how it looked? He agreed, and off he went. A day and a half later he came back with a gallon of paint and painted half a dozen of the shakes on the side of the house. But, he said, the guys at the paint store told him the solid stain wouldn't cover our existing stain so he bought a gallon of latex paint instead which was supposedly the same color (but actually doesn't look like the same color).

When I pointed out that it wasn't the same color, he said "Well it has the same name and number as the solid stain." And I said, "Well, it's not the same color and we didn't want to use a latex paint." The discussion eventually ended with him prying a piece of cedar off the side of our house and disappearing with it -- supposedly back to the paint store to see if the solid stain will actually cover it or not.

You might wonder why I am putting up with a guy who would pry a jagged piece of cedar off the side of my house and then disappear for the day, and it is because HE IS DIRT CHEAP.

When I Have Nothing to Blog About I Post Random Pictures

Like this one. I am trying to "hat train" Rebecca. In other words I am trying to get her to keep a hat on her head when I put one on her, and not take it off/put it on repeatedly, etc. With summer rapidly approaching (or is it here already?) I want to get her in the habit of wearing a hat to protect her little head from the sun. Never bothered to force Ben to wear a hat, since his hair is so thick and he tans instead of burning. Rebecca is exactly the opposite. So I got her like 5 hats, which she loves and says "Hat! hat!" whenever I bring one out. But she still tends to futz with them instead of leaving them alone on her head. So we're working on it.

I was hoping by this point in the week I'd have before and after pictures to post of the house, since we're working on getting some exterior painting done. The painter was originally going to start today but we seem to be falling behind schedule. Oh well - maybe later in the week.

Work Those Abs!

Heat Wave

It was supposed to get up to 90 degrees today... I'm not sure if it did but it was definitely hot. By mid-morning it was hot enough to break out the sprinkler, which Ben has been asking for for weeks already. Rebecca pretty much hated the sprinkler, opting instead to sit on the porch and eat sidewalk chalk. Yes, I intervened (eventually).

This afternoon we had some friends over, whose son goes to school with Ben. The boys played in the sprinkler some more, after which we all went out for dinner and ice cream. It was a good way to spend a hot day! Below are a couple of pictures from this morning.