So right now I am on an island near Charleston, South Carolina. The weather finally warmed up enough today to sit by the pool for a while. Some pictures I have taken: The last photo shows a turtle dozing in a pond.
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This woman downstairs keeps complaining that our toilet is leaking on her. So maintenance came and ripped our toilet out and did a bunch of work. Silence for a while. Then maintenance came back. She is still complaining. So now they are ripping off the medicine cabinet to explore a pipe behind it. Never a dull moment around here.
I am really looking forward to the day when Zoe is toilet trained. Apparently, it is faster and easier with girls. This is the method they use in Vietnam: In a two year study, Swedish researchers followed 47 Vietnamese infants and their mothers in Vietnam where potty training starts at birth and infants are usually trained by nine months of age. The technique is based on learning to be sensitive to when the baby needs to urinate. "The woman then makes a special whistling sound to remind her baby. The whistling method starts at birth and serves as an increasingly powerful means of communication as time goes on." According to the study, most babies can use the potty on their own by nine months of age if they are reminded, and they can generally take care of all their toileting needs by the age of two. (from Wikipedia) Unfortunately, I can't whistle :(
Ugh...I used to be healthy as a horse before I had a kid in nursery school. I just finished a course of antibiotics for strep throat. A night after I got off the antibiotics, my throat started to feel sore again. Plus chills and decrease in appetite (always a sign that something is wrong). So I'm going back to the doctor tomorrow morning. Another mom in the neighborhood is having the same problem with her daughter. She's had strep 3 times in one month. So people on Facebook are suggesting getting her tonsils removed or a penicillin shot. The thought of surgery makes me uncomfortable, so hopefully a shot or a 2nd course of antibiotics will work for me. I'll find out tomorrow.
I just finished Tin Horse by Janice Steinberg and now I have that sad feeling you get when you finish a really good book. It was set in the Boyle Heights community in Los Angeles in the 30s and 40s. It seemed so real that I assumed it was based on the author's childhood...but no, in the acknowledgments she thanked all the people who helped her learn about the neighborhood. She actually grew up in Wisconsin herself.
The snow is falling. Always reminds me of that Robert Frost poem, "And miles to go before I sleep." I tried a new mac-and-cheese recipe, from one of Rachael Ray's cookbooks. The sauce seemed just about perfect and then I added the Dijon mustard and it turned...strange. Still good, though. I started a book by Janice Steinberg, The Tin Horse. It seems promising. (Just finished Mariana by Susanna Kearsley.)
I'm feeling proud of myself right now :) I ordered some artwork recently and hung it up in the living room. Then tonight, I remembered that a Babar painting has been sitting in the corner of E's room forever. I checked the back of the painting and it had one of those easy strings. So I found a nail and a hook and hung it up! It looks much better on the wall, and that corner is less cluttered. I also took Z to music class today. It was a real breakthrough. Usually she sits on my lap for the whole class. Today she got up, danced a little, shook her tambourine, and grinned at the teacher as she shook the little eggs (they make a shaking sound when you move them, like there are Rice Krispies inside or something). So she is getting more comfortable.