I am finding that taking medication that may cause drowsiness is not a good thing for me to take as it causes me to be drowsy and miserable. A couple of months ago I took a NyQuil - big mistake. I dragged all the next day. Well, Chris told me to take a Zyrtec and that it may cause drowsiness in some people. Unfortunately, I was one of them. I still carried on with my day but boy it was not easy.
I took Makenna to the sing/dance group hoping that would infuse some energy into me. Nope, I couldn't wait until it was over. I still went to my gym appointment and struggled all the way through it. I finally took a short half-hour nap in the afternoon when Makenna was napping. I think around dinner I woke up, not completely, but I had more energy than I had had all day. The bad news is that when I'm like this, I'm very short tempered. All the little things get me frustrated. I had to try really hard to realize that I was over-tired. I didn't succeed very often. I apologized to Makenna when I put her to bed for being such a grumpy mommy today. She called me grampa - I think she thought I said grandpa instead of grumpy. One of the things she did today was kick off her shoes in the car. Every time we got in the car, off went the shoes. This was just so unbelievably frustrating. I think most days I'd be a bit frustrated, but this just really got to me today. Not to mention that she just keeps picking up random things and throwing them in the recycling bin. Luckily it's just non-important things so far.
I think I mentioned a few posts ago about the little "Ice Age" short movie at the end of "Horton Hears a Who." Well anyways, we were watching the short movie and it mentions Global Warming and Makenna went around saying "Gobow Warmeen." I didn't understand her at first as she was watching it while I was in the kitchen cleaning up. After she said it a few times I figured it out. Since the movie was a rental from an on-line company similar to Netflix in the states, I had to return it so we could get our next movie in February. I'm sure when she asks to watch it, probably tomorrow, she'll be quite upset that we no longer have it. I've seen it about ten times at least in the past two weeks so it'll be a nice break.
The other thing she said today that at least brightened up my day was another copycat saying of mine. She started to go up the stairs and she told me to wait downstairs and that she'd be right back. She kept saying "woot here, I'll be right back." I don't know why "woot" instead of wait but it sounded like "woot." She kept saying it and I repeated it back as a question to her. She then went upstairs and then came back down.
At bedtime, we have this routine and at the end I give her kisses all over. Mostly on her belly and cheeks. Lately she's been asking me to kiss her cheeks, then her head, and then her teeth! I laugh and tell her I'm not kissing her teeth. She keeps asking and I just laugh and say she's silly. Thank goodness for cute, resilient kids who put up with their mommies who need to not take any drugs that could cause them to be drowsy and therefore cranky the next day. Here's hoping that I'm back up to full speed tomorrow as we have a big day ahead of us and a very busy weekend planned.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
28Jan2009: Day 247: Crocka-dider
Where to began - so many new things happened today. In the swimming class, there are many toys (balls, swimming boards, swimming noodles, plastic toys such as seal, ducks, crocodile, walrus, etc). Makenna decided that she wanted to play with the crocodile but she kept saying "crocka-dider," like a mix of crocodile and spider. I couldn't help but chuckle at this. I also got extremely lucky in that she agreed to wear the arm bands after much protesting and a little re-direction from me so she forgot they were on. It was a good thing as the instructor decided to do a swimming badge today and they really helped her to do well.
First off, she had to know who Sharon was (the instructor). I didn't even remember that was her name so I find it funny that Makenna "passed" this part. Then she had to be able to enter the water safely, which was to go down the stairs. She had to be able to kick her feet while sitting on the pool side - no problem there. She then had to do the monkey crawl, which again is hold on to the side of the pool and move hands side to side to move along the pool. Since we've been working on that, she did pretty well and I didn't even have to hold her while she did it. She also had to swim across the short length of the pool, swim being a relative term. She basically had to kick her way across with or without help from me which she actually was able to do because of the arm bands. She looked as though she was just walking towards me as she didn't really use her arms. I just walked backwards in front of her and told her to come towards me. She did this a couple of times.
It wasn't really on her certificate that this was required at this stage but I think the instructor was trying to cover the wide range of the different levels that the kids were at. The other things required for her level was to be able to bob up and down while holding on to the rail. I don't really remember the instructor covering that and the last thing is leaving the pool safely - by the stairs I assume. Even though she got this badge, I think that the testing was a bit lax. The instructor does know what the kids are capable of at this point so she may have taken that into consideration.
Also, before class began, different kids were jumping in the pool. All of them older than Makenna and with more swim experience. Makenna decided that she wanted to also jump in. Again, the arm bands helped as I didn't have to worry about catching her so much and they stopped her from going under, too much. She really enjoyed this and I was glad to see that she was willing to try it.
After swim class, I take a quick shower and put Makenna on a bench where I can see her while I shower. She doesn't like the shower as I've tried taking her in, so she doesn't mind sitting on the bench. What's funny is she is really good at remembering the things we tell her as she will start to tell us the whole "scenario." So for this, she'll say, "mommy shower" and I reply, "yes, mommy is going to take a shower." She then says, "bench." "Yes, you'll sit on the bench while mommy showers." This back and forth happens about four or five times. She does the same thing when it comes to lunch. She says, "ooze" (noodles). "Yes, you can have some noodles for lunch." "Hot, no touch, blow, put away." Now she's just run through the typical routine of me saying the noodles are hot and not to touch them and to blow on them. Then when we're done eating, I put away what's left over and put away the dishes.
Well, on to the afternoon. I had to go pick up another car. The car we got when we returned from the states after the holidays was smaller than what we had been driving, plus it's an unleaded car. So Chris wanted the same model that we had prior to leaving. I had to go to the car rental place in Chatham to switch cars. I called the car rental place before Makenna's afternoon playgroup and asked them for their post code. When I later put it in to the Sat-nav, as they call a GPS, it didn't come up. So I called them again and they agreed it doesn't come up in all sat-nav's. So then I asked them for a street name and was able to put that in. The Sat-nav then took me to the place where all Royal Mail trucks park - basically, it was the post office. I was then a bit frustrated. I drove around eventually found it on my own. It was not in the easiest of places to find or get to. We did get a bigger car but not the same kind we had. When I told Chris later - he was not too happy. I'm already nervous about hitting things with this car and rather liked the small car - it had heated seats.
What was funny was both times that I called the rental place, Makenna assumed I was first talking to daddy. When I told her it wasn't daddy she then said, "Bob." I really laughed at that. Bob is a guy from Chris's church back in the states who Chris has talked to quite often lately on the phone. I find it funny that she assumes if it's not daddy, it's the next person who we're on the phone to the most.
Makenna was not in a good mood for dinner tonight - just whining and crying and she couldn't tell me what the matter was. I assumed it was that she was missing daddy or that she was tired. I kept trying to ask her if she had a "boo-boo tummy." But she would just reply no to everything I asked. So when Chris called, she had a very long chat with him and then when she finally let me have the phone back, she ate some dinner. I added a very short video at the bottom of her chatting away to him. The batteries to the camera died so that's why it's short. But you get an idea of how she monopolizes the phone now, like she did yesterday, and again today. What's also cute is she's reclining in her chair. I have a comment in the movie that I was saying for Chris to hear so he could understand what she was saying.
One last thing was during tonight's reading of a Dora book and she was copying some of the Spanish words. Such as Gracias was pronounced "grasses," Delicioso was "disioso." Can't wait to see what tomorrow's excitement may be - hopefully that we have clearer, unstuffed heads from these stupid colds.
First off, she had to know who Sharon was (the instructor). I didn't even remember that was her name so I find it funny that Makenna "passed" this part. Then she had to be able to enter the water safely, which was to go down the stairs. She had to be able to kick her feet while sitting on the pool side - no problem there. She then had to do the monkey crawl, which again is hold on to the side of the pool and move hands side to side to move along the pool. Since we've been working on that, she did pretty well and I didn't even have to hold her while she did it. She also had to swim across the short length of the pool, swim being a relative term. She basically had to kick her way across with or without help from me which she actually was able to do because of the arm bands. She looked as though she was just walking towards me as she didn't really use her arms. I just walked backwards in front of her and told her to come towards me. She did this a couple of times.
It wasn't really on her certificate that this was required at this stage but I think the instructor was trying to cover the wide range of the different levels that the kids were at. The other things required for her level was to be able to bob up and down while holding on to the rail. I don't really remember the instructor covering that and the last thing is leaving the pool safely - by the stairs I assume. Even though she got this badge, I think that the testing was a bit lax. The instructor does know what the kids are capable of at this point so she may have taken that into consideration.
Also, before class began, different kids were jumping in the pool. All of them older than Makenna and with more swim experience. Makenna decided that she wanted to also jump in. Again, the arm bands helped as I didn't have to worry about catching her so much and they stopped her from going under, too much. She really enjoyed this and I was glad to see that she was willing to try it.
After swim class, I take a quick shower and put Makenna on a bench where I can see her while I shower. She doesn't like the shower as I've tried taking her in, so she doesn't mind sitting on the bench. What's funny is she is really good at remembering the things we tell her as she will start to tell us the whole "scenario." So for this, she'll say, "mommy shower" and I reply, "yes, mommy is going to take a shower." She then says, "bench." "Yes, you'll sit on the bench while mommy showers." This back and forth happens about four or five times. She does the same thing when it comes to lunch. She says, "ooze" (noodles). "Yes, you can have some noodles for lunch." "Hot, no touch, blow, put away." Now she's just run through the typical routine of me saying the noodles are hot and not to touch them and to blow on them. Then when we're done eating, I put away what's left over and put away the dishes.
Well, on to the afternoon. I had to go pick up another car. The car we got when we returned from the states after the holidays was smaller than what we had been driving, plus it's an unleaded car. So Chris wanted the same model that we had prior to leaving. I had to go to the car rental place in Chatham to switch cars. I called the car rental place before Makenna's afternoon playgroup and asked them for their post code. When I later put it in to the Sat-nav, as they call a GPS, it didn't come up. So I called them again and they agreed it doesn't come up in all sat-nav's. So then I asked them for a street name and was able to put that in. The Sat-nav then took me to the place where all Royal Mail trucks park - basically, it was the post office. I was then a bit frustrated. I drove around eventually found it on my own. It was not in the easiest of places to find or get to. We did get a bigger car but not the same kind we had. When I told Chris later - he was not too happy. I'm already nervous about hitting things with this car and rather liked the small car - it had heated seats.
What was funny was both times that I called the rental place, Makenna assumed I was first talking to daddy. When I told her it wasn't daddy she then said, "Bob." I really laughed at that. Bob is a guy from Chris's church back in the states who Chris has talked to quite often lately on the phone. I find it funny that she assumes if it's not daddy, it's the next person who we're on the phone to the most.
Makenna was not in a good mood for dinner tonight - just whining and crying and she couldn't tell me what the matter was. I assumed it was that she was missing daddy or that she was tired. I kept trying to ask her if she had a "boo-boo tummy." But she would just reply no to everything I asked. So when Chris called, she had a very long chat with him and then when she finally let me have the phone back, she ate some dinner. I added a very short video at the bottom of her chatting away to him. The batteries to the camera died so that's why it's short. But you get an idea of how she monopolizes the phone now, like she did yesterday, and again today. What's also cute is she's reclining in her chair. I have a comment in the movie that I was saying for Chris to hear so he could understand what she was saying.
One last thing was during tonight's reading of a Dora book and she was copying some of the Spanish words. Such as Gracias was pronounced "grasses," Delicioso was "disioso." Can't wait to see what tomorrow's excitement may be - hopefully that we have clearer, unstuffed heads from these stupid colds.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
27Jan2009: Day 246: Share
Share is Makenna's word of the day. After dinner we were playing with her toys, specifically her puzzles and I was just holding the puzzle base for her to put the pieces into and she took it from me and said, "share." I find this comical because she has said this in the past as she snatches away the thing that you're supposed to be sharing with her. She then went on to say "share with kids." It goes well with her pushing my hand away as she says it. Tonight, she was pushing a toy bus towards Chris and he grabbed a hold of it and Makenna grabbed it back saying, "Share daddy." She also said "easy peasy" that she mimicked from "Horton Hears A Who." She's picking up way too many things from that. She asks for ice cream in the morning and for a drink before bed - both of which are in the movie.
Today she talked with my mom on the phone for a long time, and anytime I tried to get the phone back, she just pushed my hand away. When I said that it was my turn and can I please have the phone, she replied "no" and then would continue talking. I guess I should've said, "share." It was funny to actually hear Makenna just chat away on the phone. She usually smiles and runs away when she hears the faceless voice. My mom was asking her all these questions to which she replied "no" and then went on to talk about other unrelated things. The funny thing was that all the questions my mom was asking her were really "yes" answers. Such as did she have breakfast, did she just get done eating lunch, does she go swimming, etc.
I also took Makenna to the Chatham library today for story time. It was a huge crowd - Makenna, myself, and the librarian. I asked if it was usually this crowded and she said it varies. She said that they are thinking about changing the time and I said that this time was the best time for us, even though most days she'd be taking a nap about now (2:15pm). Makenna enjoyed helping flip the flaps on the book and sat as still as she possibly could during the few books that were read. She also took out a couple of books from the shelves along with empty DVD cases.
I unfortunately couldn't take out any books because I needed a valid ID (which I had,) but also a piece of mail, such as a bill, with my name and current address. Since I don't get bills here, I asked if a Tesco or Sainsbury piece of mail with my name would do as that's the only thing that really comes in my name. Tesco & Sainsbury are the grocery stores over here, among many. They said that would be fine. The bad thing is that they only send me mail maybe once every couple of months. So it might be a bit before we can take any books out. Not sure if I'll go back until I can take out books unless I have the energy and Makenna seems awake enough to go. She was luckily awake enough to go today but by the time we got home around 3pm she definitely needed her nap. She was very cranky and demanding - in other words - a typical two year old.
Today she talked with my mom on the phone for a long time, and anytime I tried to get the phone back, she just pushed my hand away. When I said that it was my turn and can I please have the phone, she replied "no" and then would continue talking. I guess I should've said, "share." It was funny to actually hear Makenna just chat away on the phone. She usually smiles and runs away when she hears the faceless voice. My mom was asking her all these questions to which she replied "no" and then went on to talk about other unrelated things. The funny thing was that all the questions my mom was asking her were really "yes" answers. Such as did she have breakfast, did she just get done eating lunch, does she go swimming, etc.
I also took Makenna to the Chatham library today for story time. It was a huge crowd - Makenna, myself, and the librarian. I asked if it was usually this crowded and she said it varies. She said that they are thinking about changing the time and I said that this time was the best time for us, even though most days she'd be taking a nap about now (2:15pm). Makenna enjoyed helping flip the flaps on the book and sat as still as she possibly could during the few books that were read. She also took out a couple of books from the shelves along with empty DVD cases.
I unfortunately couldn't take out any books because I needed a valid ID (which I had,) but also a piece of mail, such as a bill, with my name and current address. Since I don't get bills here, I asked if a Tesco or Sainsbury piece of mail with my name would do as that's the only thing that really comes in my name. Tesco & Sainsbury are the grocery stores over here, among many. They said that would be fine. The bad thing is that they only send me mail maybe once every couple of months. So it might be a bit before we can take any books out. Not sure if I'll go back until I can take out books unless I have the energy and Makenna seems awake enough to go. She was luckily awake enough to go today but by the time we got home around 3pm she definitely needed her nap. She was very cranky and demanding - in other words - a typical two year old.
Monday, January 26, 2009
26Jan2009: Day 245: 8 Hours - One Load of Laundry
After we moved into this house we are now in, the owner got us a washer/dryer combo. It's the same machine so once a load of wash is done, if you have the settings correct, it will automatically start to dry it. As it's winter here and most days are rainy, we either hang the clothes inside the house to dry, or use the dryer. You have to remember that the washers here are much smaller. So you may be able to get three to four pairs of jeans in a load and that would be it. Thus, I'm constantly doing laundry. Unfortunately, a lot of times, because I try to get as much as reasonable in a load, they might not all dry. I then take out those clothes that are practically dry and set the dryer to continue drying. Well, the problem is that if I'm not paying attention, and don't turn the dial far enough, it could start the whole process over again of washing and then drying, instead of just the dry cycle. The time it takes to do the cycle once is around 4 - 5 hours. I'm guessing it senses the dampness in the dryer that determines how long it takes.
As you can guess, I did a load of laundry with a dry setting. I started it about 8:30am and about 12:30pm it finally finished the cycle. I checked the clothes, some were still moist and I took out those that would dry pretty quickly by air. I then set the dial to just dry - well I thought I did - and then the wash came on. I was a bit miffed but oh well - it finished in about 40 minutes - but it never dried! I looked at what I set the dial to and I had just set it to dry only so I have no idea why the stupid thing decided to wash and not dry at all. I reset the dial and it then finished drying about 4 hours later. Can you say frustrating!
The rest of the day was our normal gym/nursery and then grocery shopping. I bought some ingredients I wouldn't normally buy, for a Tikka recipe, which is Indian. In looking for these ingredients, I was able to find other things like real breadcrumbs. This would've helped yesterday as I made my first meatballs. The recipe I found on-line called for breadcrumbs or said to use toast. So that's what I used. Unfortunately, I didn't have an onion and I totally forgot to use onion powder. So they tasted like beef and bread but when added to the spaghetti sauce they weren't too bad. We, Chris and I were supposed to marinate the meat tonight for the Tikka recipe but he didn't come home until after 8:30pm and we're all sick with a cold - the joys of living in England.
Makenna is at the stage where you can catch her singing bits of various songs. The one's you hear are itsy bitsy spider, hokey cokey (pokey), mary had a little lamb, if you're happy and you know it, twinkle twinkle little star, pop goes the weasel, pat-a-cake, ABC's, and I'm sure there's others. I just love catching her singing as it's a guessing game as to which one she's singing until she hits the chorus. Today was mostly If you're happy and you know it and she mostly stomped her feet to show she was happy. She was especially happy when I brought out ice cream that I bought today (it was on sale for less than a pound). She's been asking repeatedly for days for ice cream so when I told her we could have some she said, "hooray! Ice cream!!" I love being able to make this little girl happy.
As you can guess, I did a load of laundry with a dry setting. I started it about 8:30am and about 12:30pm it finally finished the cycle. I checked the clothes, some were still moist and I took out those that would dry pretty quickly by air. I then set the dial to just dry - well I thought I did - and then the wash came on. I was a bit miffed but oh well - it finished in about 40 minutes - but it never dried! I looked at what I set the dial to and I had just set it to dry only so I have no idea why the stupid thing decided to wash and not dry at all. I reset the dial and it then finished drying about 4 hours later. Can you say frustrating!
The rest of the day was our normal gym/nursery and then grocery shopping. I bought some ingredients I wouldn't normally buy, for a Tikka recipe, which is Indian. In looking for these ingredients, I was able to find other things like real breadcrumbs. This would've helped yesterday as I made my first meatballs. The recipe I found on-line called for breadcrumbs or said to use toast. So that's what I used. Unfortunately, I didn't have an onion and I totally forgot to use onion powder. So they tasted like beef and bread but when added to the spaghetti sauce they weren't too bad. We, Chris and I were supposed to marinate the meat tonight for the Tikka recipe but he didn't come home until after 8:30pm and we're all sick with a cold - the joys of living in England.
Makenna is at the stage where you can catch her singing bits of various songs. The one's you hear are itsy bitsy spider, hokey cokey (pokey), mary had a little lamb, if you're happy and you know it, twinkle twinkle little star, pop goes the weasel, pat-a-cake, ABC's, and I'm sure there's others. I just love catching her singing as it's a guessing game as to which one she's singing until she hits the chorus. Today was mostly If you're happy and you know it and she mostly stomped her feet to show she was happy. She was especially happy when I brought out ice cream that I bought today (it was on sale for less than a pound). She's been asking repeatedly for days for ice cream so when I told her we could have some she said, "hooray! Ice cream!!" I love being able to make this little girl happy.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
25Jan2009: Day 244: Mmm, good! (?)
What's been nice is to hear Makenna become more free with her "I wuv you's." A few months ago we had to say to her, "can you say I love you?" She would then mumble "I wuv you," as if we had just asked her to do something she didn't really care to do. But now we can tell her we love her and she's saying it more on her own. She still seems to show more affection towards her bears or dolls but once last week she did actually just say it without me saying it to her. She's more free to say what she "wuv's" such as scriptures. Which, this makes me just as happy. Tonight as I was just about to read scriptures Makenna came out with "I wuv it." I asked, "what do you love?" and she said "scriptures."
She also has this strange habit of putting the weirdest or grossest things in her mouth and going, "mmm, good!" Yet, as I've blogged about before, she won't even take a bite of a ham sandwich - willingly! She has this banter with Chris about filling the humidifier where she says, "water fill" and then she says "no mouth" because she will put the lid of the humidifier in her mouth. He replies, "right, no mouth." But then she'll do it anyways as she thinks it's a joke. Chris and I talked again about how this child has no fear about trying something that she's never had when she thinks it's candy but offer her a carrot or, again, the sandwich - then you get a high squealed "no!"
Someone at church today handed Chris and I a hard piece of candy and immediately Makenna wanted it. Of course we didn't give it to her but that set her off. I really think this hour of 11am - 2pm is just too hard for Makenna as it's right during lunch and right around nap time. No matter what food I bring, Makenna balks - unless it's candy. Hannah on the other hand, comes and helps herself - which I just laugh at. I was actually holding Hannah today saying how I'll borrow her while she eats as I'd like a child that would eat what I make. I even tried kiddie peer pressure saying, "look Makenna, Hannah is eating her sandwich." Pathetic - nothing like hitting a two year old with peer pressure.
Something I learned tonight from a cooking show we watch here is what we call it zucchini from the Italian word, they call it corgette from the French word. It took me a while to know what a corgette was - they call an eggplant an aubergine - don't know where those are from.
She also has this strange habit of putting the weirdest or grossest things in her mouth and going, "mmm, good!" Yet, as I've blogged about before, she won't even take a bite of a ham sandwich - willingly! She has this banter with Chris about filling the humidifier where she says, "water fill" and then she says "no mouth" because she will put the lid of the humidifier in her mouth. He replies, "right, no mouth." But then she'll do it anyways as she thinks it's a joke. Chris and I talked again about how this child has no fear about trying something that she's never had when she thinks it's candy but offer her a carrot or, again, the sandwich - then you get a high squealed "no!"
Someone at church today handed Chris and I a hard piece of candy and immediately Makenna wanted it. Of course we didn't give it to her but that set her off. I really think this hour of 11am - 2pm is just too hard for Makenna as it's right during lunch and right around nap time. No matter what food I bring, Makenna balks - unless it's candy. Hannah on the other hand, comes and helps herself - which I just laugh at. I was actually holding Hannah today saying how I'll borrow her while she eats as I'd like a child that would eat what I make. I even tried kiddie peer pressure saying, "look Makenna, Hannah is eating her sandwich." Pathetic - nothing like hitting a two year old with peer pressure.
Something I learned tonight from a cooking show we watch here is what we call it zucchini from the Italian word, they call it corgette from the French word. It took me a while to know what a corgette was - they call an eggplant an aubergine - don't know where those are from.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
24Jan2009: Day 243: Orford & Framlingham Castles
Yes - two more castles under our belt. It's hard to find things that are open this time of year that aren't many hours away. We were able to find these two castles that were near each other and only a couple of hours from the house.The first one, Orford Castle was built by King Henry II (1154-1189). This castle is different from a lot of castles in its shape. Most are rectangular in plan but this was more cylindrical. This design was to help with the weakness that the rectangular ones have which is that the corners could be undermined and brought down. The outer defence walls are also now missing. Ther
e's a lot of earthwork mounds that still remain. The castle only took eight years to build, which was pretty quick, at a cost of over 1413 pounds which was pretty expensive for 12th century standards.
e's a lot of earthwork mounds that still remain. The castle only took eight years to build, which was pretty quick, at a cost of over 1413 pounds which was pretty expensive for 12th century standards.Henry II, we found out, was the one who started the "jury system." A story that was told by the audio guide in the castle was that a bread maker was put on trial as the bread he was selling wasn't at the required weight.
There was a chapel within the castle, instead of outside, which was also different. The area that used to be the constable's chamber had an unusual triangular cut-out in the wall that led to the outside - yup - it was a urinal. I guess this way he didn't have to walk to the garderobe to go. Just a few steps out of his bed and he was there.
What we didn't know was that this castle has an interesting relationship with Framlingham castle. Framlingham Castle was owned by a baron, Hugh Bigod, who fought with the king. Hugh Bigod owned four castles in the area and Henry II wanted to get Hugh under control so he took all four castles from him. He gave Framlingham and another castle back to him later, but thought it would be a good idea to build a castle in the area himself, thus came about Orford.
Orford, in the 15th - 17th century became a home and over time started to fall into disrepair. In the 18th & 19th century people started to again take interest in the castle and were looking to preserve it. So by the 20th century it was turned over to the town Trust of Orford
I thought it was interesting that Framlingham has only its walls and towers left whereas Orford has only it's keep left. Framlingham, like I stated above was owned by a very rich baron. The barons were always fighting and befriending their kings. At this castle, since their was no keep, we basically walked along the walls. There were a lot of chimneys around the wall but most of them were for 
decoration. This was so that the castle wouldn't look like a defensive castle but more a royal manor.
decoration. This was so that the castle wouldn't look like a defensive castle but more a royal manor.After much changing of hands over the years, Framlingham came into the hands of the Howards. A Thomas Howard encouraged the marriage between Henry VIII and Anne Bolyen, who was Thomas's niece. When that marriage failed along with another failed marriage of another niece (Catherine Howard) to King Henry VIII, the duke fell from favor. But, another interesting twist is that Mary I, the only surviving child from Henry VIII's marriage to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, waited at this castle while the succession to the crown was being debated. Her half-brother Edward had just died so I think they were deciding whether Mary or Elizabeth (the chil
d from Henry VIII and Anne Bolyen) was going to be queen. When it was decided that Mary would rule, she issued her first royal commands from Framlingham.
d from Henry VIII and Anne Bolyen) was going to be queen. When it was decided that Mary would rule, she issued her first royal commands from Framlingham.
They had a lawn chess set at Framlingham and we asked Makenna if she was the queen. She just enjoyed kicking the pieces - I guess that's queen like. The video at the bottom is of Makenna at the well at Framlingham. It was funny because she heard her echo and would yell down into it. You can hear a bit of her English accent when she says "Hulo."
Makenna, for the most part, was fairly good. Considering both of these places didn't really give us use of the stroller and gave her a lot of leeway to run around. She did give us fits at times but I think the one was because she was hungry and wanted chips but we were being adamant that she had to have some sandwich. She finally relented and agreed to eat the pancake I brought along from this mornings breakfast.
She's at the stage where she repeats her self over and over and over, etc. No matter how many times we reply, she'll still repeat herself. Case in point was tonight on the way home she wanted food. So she kept saying "food?" We kept telling her we were going home to get food. She just kept asking anyways. So finally I said, "Hey, Makenna, want some food?" She said, "okay" and that seemed to keep her quiet for about 10 minutes. When we did get home we cooked some frozen chicken nuggets for her (that have hidden vegetables inside!). She saw daddy eating his chicken (fish really,) and that he was using "sauce" (ketchup). So she wanted some and she actually really liked the ketchup. Unfortunately, part way through we ran out so Chris went to look for some more and came up with BBQ sauce. We put a little on her plate explaining that it was different. She tried it and you could just hear her tongue smacking against the roof of her mouth as she tired to figure out if she liked this new taste or not. She tried a little more and just sat there with a stunned look on her face. Chris started laughing and then Makenna looked at him as if to say, "what's so funny?" She didn't quite like the BBQ sauce and just gave up eating.
We closed the day by reading scriptures which she always enjoys and says "scriptures, scriptures?" over and over. Then she says, "be nice scriptures" as I've had to tell her to be nice to them as she gets a bit rough and she's unfortunately ripped a few pages. In fact, one of the verses I was trying to read tonight was filled in with "something, something" as the piece is missing.
Friday, January 23, 2009
23Jan2009: Day 242: Chris? Water Fill
Today was not too exciting. I took Makenna to nursery and I decided to shop for Chris's birthday during the time she was there. That pretty much took the whole time. When I went to pick her up, she was wearing a different shirt than the one I brought her in and it wasn't the extra one I put in her bag. I asked what happened and her worker apologized and said that Makenna got into some water (colored with paint I guess,) and so they put on this spare shirt and soaked hers. I mentioned that I had an extra outfit in her bag and the worker said she didn't think of it. So I changed her out of that shirt and into the one I had brought. She gave me her wet shirt back and I didn't even notice any different color to it but I washed it when I got home anyways.
The worker did ask me about the mark on her cheek from yesterday's fall. I explained that she tripped and hit it on the wood slats to the stairway. I thought later that maybe she was checking to see if I had hit Makenna. I wouldn't blame her for checking, as I'd probably ask if I saw a mark on a child that seemed minor or major out of curiosity.
Makenna is now trying out her cuteness to get things that she wants. Tonight she kept asking repeatedly for ice cream. I kept telling her we didn't have any. Why do I argue with a two year old I ask myself sometimes. But it's something I seem to do, as if she'll understand if I find different ways to tell her we don't have any stinkin' ice cream. I actually end up saying, "I'm not arguing with you about this," then find myself continuing to argue. I actually said, "Makenna, you want some ice cream?" She said, "okay," I said, "me too." Of course she doesn't get this type of sarcasm but after trying to get through to her that we didn't have any I didn't know what else to do. So I suggested popcorn. That cheered her up.
I also tried to get her mind off of ice cream by offering a cookie. She was okay with this and actually wanted a piece of candy. So I let her have some candy and then when she was done she asked for some more. But the way she asked was what got me. She came up to me and said, "one more" with her little finger pointing. I thought she was so endearing that I gave her two more pieces and said, "that's it." So when she came asking for more, I was again talking to her as if she was an adult saying, "remember that conversation we had when I gave you two pieces instead of the one and said that was it?" I need some adult interaction - some more adult interaction.
Makenna also still yells "Chris" down the stairs as she has for many months now. She doesn't discriminate in that she'll occasionally yell "Chris" asking for me. Anyways, she has this humidifier in her room that we finally bought during her umpteenth cold last year and her and daddy always go to fill it up. After we brush her teeth and get her ready for bed, then she expects to fill up the humidifier. So tonight after we brushed her teeth, she went to the top of the stairs and yells down, "Chris? Water fill!" I just started laughing. I love how she's already giving commands. Now Chris will have two woman bossing him around.
She's also getting very bossy in the sense that if she doesn't want my help she'll push my hands away. Other times she'll insist I have to do things. For example, I might hold a cup or a bowl so that it doesn't tip over and she'll push my hands away. Other times, she insists that I feed her with a fork or carry her up the stairs or from the kitchen to the living room. I comply more than I should to the latter and scold myself for doing so, but then I think there will come a time when I can no longer lift my growing girl and she'll be completely independent of me, or want to be completely independent of me so I might as well take some of these opportunities while they still present themselves.
The worker did ask me about the mark on her cheek from yesterday's fall. I explained that she tripped and hit it on the wood slats to the stairway. I thought later that maybe she was checking to see if I had hit Makenna. I wouldn't blame her for checking, as I'd probably ask if I saw a mark on a child that seemed minor or major out of curiosity.
Makenna is now trying out her cuteness to get things that she wants. Tonight she kept asking repeatedly for ice cream. I kept telling her we didn't have any. Why do I argue with a two year old I ask myself sometimes. But it's something I seem to do, as if she'll understand if I find different ways to tell her we don't have any stinkin' ice cream. I actually end up saying, "I'm not arguing with you about this," then find myself continuing to argue. I actually said, "Makenna, you want some ice cream?" She said, "okay," I said, "me too." Of course she doesn't get this type of sarcasm but after trying to get through to her that we didn't have any I didn't know what else to do. So I suggested popcorn. That cheered her up.
I also tried to get her mind off of ice cream by offering a cookie. She was okay with this and actually wanted a piece of candy. So I let her have some candy and then when she was done she asked for some more. But the way she asked was what got me. She came up to me and said, "one more" with her little finger pointing. I thought she was so endearing that I gave her two more pieces and said, "that's it." So when she came asking for more, I was again talking to her as if she was an adult saying, "remember that conversation we had when I gave you two pieces instead of the one and said that was it?" I need some adult interaction - some more adult interaction.
Makenna also still yells "Chris" down the stairs as she has for many months now. She doesn't discriminate in that she'll occasionally yell "Chris" asking for me. Anyways, she has this humidifier in her room that we finally bought during her umpteenth cold last year and her and daddy always go to fill it up. After we brush her teeth and get her ready for bed, then she expects to fill up the humidifier. So tonight after we brushed her teeth, she went to the top of the stairs and yells down, "Chris? Water fill!" I just started laughing. I love how she's already giving commands. Now Chris will have two woman bossing him around.
She's also getting very bossy in the sense that if she doesn't want my help she'll push my hands away. Other times she'll insist I have to do things. For example, I might hold a cup or a bowl so that it doesn't tip over and she'll push my hands away. Other times, she insists that I feed her with a fork or carry her up the stairs or from the kitchen to the living room. I comply more than I should to the latter and scold myself for doing so, but then I think there will come a time when I can no longer lift my growing girl and she'll be completely independent of me, or want to be completely independent of me so I might as well take some of these opportunities while they still present themselves.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
22Jan2009: Day 241: Try It
Another saying that Makenna got, mostly from daddy, that was repeated back to me today was..."Try it." Let me preface this by saying that I've been avoiding admitting that Makenna was yet again getting sick. It started on the weekend with much sneezing. I was thinking that she's either getting sick or allergies.
Then little by little more signs of sickness started creeping in. By today, it was more of a hoarse cough and more nose running, not to mention whining and crying a lot. Of course, some of the crying was due to her not paying attention and falling or tripping over things, and the vacuum cleaner had something to do with one crying jag.
Anyways, back to "try it." Well, I know I'm so blessed to have this little bundle of joy and frustration that I tend to give her about 100 kisses a day - no lie. This is most likely the reason I'm always getting sick when she does. So in an effort to avoid getting sick, I'm trying to cut back on my close contact to her face and fingers. Today, she had this little toy that she got which are clapping hands. You shake it back and forth and the hands clap. She proceeded to put it in her mouth and then wanted me to put it in mine. If she wasn't sick, I probably would've complied. But this time, I was shaking my head no and refusing to. She then looked and me and said, "try it," and kept trying to push it towards my mouth. She repeated this a few times and I had to smile and laugh at this attempt as if she was trying to get me to eat something. When we want her to eat something, whether she's eaten it before or not, if she's refusing, we usually say, "try it." So kudos to her for turning it around on us.
She was miss accident prone today, as I mentioned today. She tripped over the vacuum that she fears, and fell face first into the wood slats on the landing upstairs. So now she has this nice red mark on her cheek. She fell off a chair, and also either did something that she got hurt, or just all of a sudden decided that the vacuum, even though in the other room, scared her. I heard her crying and went into the dining room and asked her what happened. I thought maybe she stood up and hit her head on the table. She replied something about the vacuum.
I also didn't mention that on Monday I made another recipe from home and it turned out great! I again had to make some modifications. It called for Manicotti noodles and Velveeta cheese. I've searched high and low for Manicotti noodles - they just don't have them here. The few people I've asked haven't even heard of them. Pretty much the same for Velveeta cheese. When I asked some of the girls last Thursday about these ingredients, one suggested that I look on Ebay. I actually did and I could buy Velveeta cheese! - Who knew. I obviously would've been paying quite a bit more than in a store in the states. Not even including shipping and handling.
So I bought Cannelloni noodles which are much thinner than manicotti but still workable. I just bought shredded cheddar cheese. From which I read, that should be even better than Velveeta. Like I said, it went really well and we didn't have left overs. Not a meal I'll make often as it's very rich and fattening I'm sure with all the cheese.
The bishops wife here, Gill (pronounced Jill,) actually stopped by unexpectedly to bring me the same noodles. She remembered my talking (complaining,) about not finding things I'm used to and she had mentioned the cannelloni noodles. She was out on Monday and found some and brought them over to me. I didn't have the heart to tell her I already bought some earlier that day. I thought it was a super nice gesture regardless and really has had me thinking all week if I do things like that for people. I know sometimes I'm really selfish about things and I have to work at thinking about what other people could need/use. I really admire Madonna as she seems to easily think of others and what their needs might be. I hope to really learn from the people's generosity here and to think of what others needs are and incorporate that in my life a bit more.
A picture I took on Sunday that I kept meaning to include was of my cutey wearing a hat she made in playgroup a week ago Wednesday. The dark black lines were pre-done by the people at the playgroup. I helped a bit but she mostly did all the coloring or stamping. What's funny is that she wouldn't wear this hat the day we made it but has since put it on a few times since. I just love her smile, it makes my heart melt.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
21Jan2009: Day 240: My Little Swimmer
Wednesdays are just too busy it seems. By the time we get to her afternoon playgroup, I'm ready for a nap. Anyways, at swim this morning, Makenna made some progress. It mostly had to do with pool safety more than swimming. They have her put her hands on the wall and "monkey crawl" as they put it, where she moves her hands side to side to move along the pool. So I was working on this with her today and she did pretty well. She would let go a little too early, before she got to the steps, but she still did it pretty much on her own.
They also worked on her "falling" into the pool from a sitting position, by singing Humpty Dumpty. Then as soon as they fell in, you had to turn them around to grab the wall and have them climb out. Well, being Makenna is the youngest in the class, she isn't strong enough to pull herself out of the pool. So the instructor had me put her on her belly on the platform and she had to get her leg up out of the pool to finish getting herself out. She was a bit hesitant at first, but then she got her leg up and the rest of her body out. As it looked as though she wasn't going to comply, the instructor got some toys for her to reach for to entice her to come out of the pool. What the instructor didn't take in account was how long Makenna is and how far she can reach. So, Makenna didn't even have to really get out of the pool for the toys. The instructor would then move them a bit further but again, Makenna would just stretch to get them. I finally told her to put them up against the wall.
Some more things that happened today was that I caught Makenna blessing her food. I couldn't help but smile. We typically say a blessing on our food before each meal, and today during lunch, I had already said a blessing. A few minutes later, I heard Makenna whispering quietly and I looked over at her and she had her arms clasped together and then she said, "Amen." I praised her quite a bit for this act. Tonight during dinner, I heard her saying the end of the alphabet. I think she started at "P" and went to "Z." Again, more praise from me.
Another thing that I started yesterday was during her prayers, I had her start them with "Dear Heavenly Father," and then had her end them with "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." I said the middle. I've always, since she was born, said "Makenna prayers." Trying to teach her about personal prayer. So, in tonight's go around, I started to get her to say the ending again and I said, "In the name....of Jesus...." and Makenna said, "Christ" and we said "Amen." Again, lots of praise from me.
I wish I could say the same for potty training. I again tried to get her to sit on the training potty - much screaming and refusal. I then tried before bath time to put her on the big potty and again, more refusal. So I guess I'm just going to keep "preparing" her as I just get frustrated that she won't sit and try and force her and I don't think this is the best idea.
The book I'm reading had a quiz and from the score it says she's ready to be trained but says that I know best - which I agree - and I think she's not as ready. So I'll just keep working on the pulling up and down of pants, and talking to her about being dry and clean compared to dirty and wet (as suggested in the book). The one thing I did like in the book is that I have to remember that it took a while for Makenna to learn how to crawl and walk. It wasn't a one day or one week teaching, it took many months, and so does potty training. I guess I'm just getting in that frantic mode because of hearing other mothers teaching their children of which some are younger or the same age as Makenna.
They also worked on her "falling" into the pool from a sitting position, by singing Humpty Dumpty. Then as soon as they fell in, you had to turn them around to grab the wall and have them climb out. Well, being Makenna is the youngest in the class, she isn't strong enough to pull herself out of the pool. So the instructor had me put her on her belly on the platform and she had to get her leg up out of the pool to finish getting herself out. She was a bit hesitant at first, but then she got her leg up and the rest of her body out. As it looked as though she wasn't going to comply, the instructor got some toys for her to reach for to entice her to come out of the pool. What the instructor didn't take in account was how long Makenna is and how far she can reach. So, Makenna didn't even have to really get out of the pool for the toys. The instructor would then move them a bit further but again, Makenna would just stretch to get them. I finally told her to put them up against the wall.
Some more things that happened today was that I caught Makenna blessing her food. I couldn't help but smile. We typically say a blessing on our food before each meal, and today during lunch, I had already said a blessing. A few minutes later, I heard Makenna whispering quietly and I looked over at her and she had her arms clasped together and then she said, "Amen." I praised her quite a bit for this act. Tonight during dinner, I heard her saying the end of the alphabet. I think she started at "P" and went to "Z." Again, more praise from me.
Another thing that I started yesterday was during her prayers, I had her start them with "Dear Heavenly Father," and then had her end them with "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." I said the middle. I've always, since she was born, said "Makenna prayers." Trying to teach her about personal prayer. So, in tonight's go around, I started to get her to say the ending again and I said, "In the name....of Jesus...." and Makenna said, "Christ" and we said "Amen." Again, lots of praise from me.
I wish I could say the same for potty training. I again tried to get her to sit on the training potty - much screaming and refusal. I then tried before bath time to put her on the big potty and again, more refusal. So I guess I'm just going to keep "preparing" her as I just get frustrated that she won't sit and try and force her and I don't think this is the best idea.
The book I'm reading had a quiz and from the score it says she's ready to be trained but says that I know best - which I agree - and I think she's not as ready. So I'll just keep working on the pulling up and down of pants, and talking to her about being dry and clean compared to dirty and wet (as suggested in the book). The one thing I did like in the book is that I have to remember that it took a while for Makenna to learn how to crawl and walk. It wasn't a one day or one week teaching, it took many months, and so does potty training. I guess I'm just getting in that frantic mode because of hearing other mothers teaching their children of which some are younger or the same age as Makenna.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
20Jan2009: Day 239: Uh Oh, Daddy?!
Usually during the day, Makenna will say, "daddy, daddy?" To which I reply, "Where's daddy?" and she replies, "work." Then I say, "right, he's at work." Well today, every little noise she heard whether it be inside or outside of the house she would say, "uh oh, daddy?!" As if to say, "daddy is coming in the house." You can tell she's eagerly awaiting for daddy to come home. The times when he does come through the door, she's all giggles and dancing and acting silly. So it was quite a disappointment every time she thought a noise was him coming through the door and I had to tell her no that daddy was still at work.
When I picked up Makenna from nursery today, she again acted like a tiger rowring (her noise) and proceeded to quickly try and show me all the different toys there are to play with. They had also told me they painted and that they tried to clean it off her feet as best they could. I assumed they meant her shoes, but when she took her socks off at nap time, I saw paint specks on her feet. So they must've been painting with their feet. That's a pretty good idea. See, I'm so uncreative in that department and so annal about how she'd take off running through the carpeted house, that we rent, that I don't know if I could be "free" enough to let this happen. Her primary worker also told me that she overheard Makenna making up a song about dinosaurs today. I assume that she was just singing a song that we typically sing and that the worker doesn't know Makenna's "speak" well enough to know what song, but I could be wrong. I actually caught Makenna singing Hokey Cokey (what we call Hokey Pokey,) today. I heard her saying, "put arm in, put arm out." Not sure why it's called Hokey Cokey over here, or if I'm even spelling it correctly.
Makenna has now also, as of a few days ago, been requesting a "drink" before bed. She loves to brush her teeth and especially now that she uses a "cup" (a tub toy that can hold water) to drink from and then be allowed to spit in the sink. I think I mentioned yesterday how she unfortunately transfers this spitting of drinks at inappropriate places and times. We have to remind her frequently that she can only spit in the sink when brushing her teeth. Anyways, I'm not sure if it's from the movie "Horton Hears a Who" or if it's from this cup thing during brushing her teeth that she now has been requesting this drink. She asks over and over, even for milk or juice. The first time she asked back on Saturday or Sunday, I relented and gave her something to drink. But now I'm not sure if it's just a delay tactic or if she's really thirsty. But since I'm trying to move a bit forward in the potty training area, giving her something to drink as she's just about to go to bed is not something I think would be a good idea.
Speaking of potty training, Madonna gave me this book that she read about gearing up to train Hannah for the potty. So I started reading it and trying to use some ideas from it today. Before nap and bed I tried getting her to sit on the training potty that we bought months and months ago. She pretty much didn't mind removing the diaper but wasn't up for sitting on the potty. I actually had to force her (which I'm sure is against the rules,) but wanted her to see that it's fine to sit on. Tonight she was a little more willing to sit but when it came down to actually sitting she balked. I just had her sit for what seemed less than a second and then got her diaper back on as I knew she wasn't going to really sit. Plus, I'm not up for the whole "running free" thing as I don't want her to get used to it and I'm too afraid of having to clean up a stream of urine down the hallway. Now I just have to continue with introducing her to the idea of sitting on it before bed times to get her more into the idea. I'm still hesitant, for selfish reasons, about having her potty trained. I know it's a 24/7 ordeal and since we travel a lot on weekends and not all places have restroom facilities easily accessible, it's just easier to have her in diapers and not to have to think about it. So I'm not pushing the issue, just trying to get her to think about it.
They had a two hour coverage over here of the new President being sworn in. I had to record the speech portion, and hopefully will listen to it soon (tonight I hope). I'm hopeful that things will really be able to change through his leadership but we know that it's not just him - it's Congress and the lobbyists that have a lot of say. I can't help but think, and this is just my thinking, that it reminds me of Nicolae Capathia from the "Left Behind Series." I truly hope that is not the case.
When I picked up Makenna from nursery today, she again acted like a tiger rowring (her noise) and proceeded to quickly try and show me all the different toys there are to play with. They had also told me they painted and that they tried to clean it off her feet as best they could. I assumed they meant her shoes, but when she took her socks off at nap time, I saw paint specks on her feet. So they must've been painting with their feet. That's a pretty good idea. See, I'm so uncreative in that department and so annal about how she'd take off running through the carpeted house, that we rent, that I don't know if I could be "free" enough to let this happen. Her primary worker also told me that she overheard Makenna making up a song about dinosaurs today. I assume that she was just singing a song that we typically sing and that the worker doesn't know Makenna's "speak" well enough to know what song, but I could be wrong. I actually caught Makenna singing Hokey Cokey (what we call Hokey Pokey,) today. I heard her saying, "put arm in, put arm out." Not sure why it's called Hokey Cokey over here, or if I'm even spelling it correctly.
Makenna has now also, as of a few days ago, been requesting a "drink" before bed. She loves to brush her teeth and especially now that she uses a "cup" (a tub toy that can hold water) to drink from and then be allowed to spit in the sink. I think I mentioned yesterday how she unfortunately transfers this spitting of drinks at inappropriate places and times. We have to remind her frequently that she can only spit in the sink when brushing her teeth. Anyways, I'm not sure if it's from the movie "Horton Hears a Who" or if it's from this cup thing during brushing her teeth that she now has been requesting this drink. She asks over and over, even for milk or juice. The first time she asked back on Saturday or Sunday, I relented and gave her something to drink. But now I'm not sure if it's just a delay tactic or if she's really thirsty. But since I'm trying to move a bit forward in the potty training area, giving her something to drink as she's just about to go to bed is not something I think would be a good idea.
Speaking of potty training, Madonna gave me this book that she read about gearing up to train Hannah for the potty. So I started reading it and trying to use some ideas from it today. Before nap and bed I tried getting her to sit on the training potty that we bought months and months ago. She pretty much didn't mind removing the diaper but wasn't up for sitting on the potty. I actually had to force her (which I'm sure is against the rules,) but wanted her to see that it's fine to sit on. Tonight she was a little more willing to sit but when it came down to actually sitting she balked. I just had her sit for what seemed less than a second and then got her diaper back on as I knew she wasn't going to really sit. Plus, I'm not up for the whole "running free" thing as I don't want her to get used to it and I'm too afraid of having to clean up a stream of urine down the hallway. Now I just have to continue with introducing her to the idea of sitting on it before bed times to get her more into the idea. I'm still hesitant, for selfish reasons, about having her potty trained. I know it's a 24/7 ordeal and since we travel a lot on weekends and not all places have restroom facilities easily accessible, it's just easier to have her in diapers and not to have to think about it. So I'm not pushing the issue, just trying to get her to think about it.
They had a two hour coverage over here of the new President being sworn in. I had to record the speech portion, and hopefully will listen to it soon (tonight I hope). I'm hopeful that things will really be able to change through his leadership but we know that it's not just him - it's Congress and the lobbyists that have a lot of say. I can't help but think, and this is just my thinking, that it reminds me of Nicolae Capathia from the "Left Behind Series." I truly hope that is not the case.
Monday, January 19, 2009
19Jan2009: Day 238: Thank Goodness for Crying
One of things I didn't ever expect to say is that I'm grateful when Makenna gets hurt and she cries. Reason being is that she took quite a tumble from the stairs today and just to hear her cry was better than her being unconscious or bleeding. I happened to be on the phone with Chris when I heard this thumping and I knew it was her. I threw the phone down and she was at the landing. I think she only fell down about five or six steps (from the number of thumps I think I heard). I was so shook up that when Chris was trying to talk me through something (the reason I had called,) he had to tell me to calm down. She was fine and just wanted her blanket. She has a small bump on the back of her head which again, I'm grateful that it's only small. I think she ended up being more stunned and scared than anything. I know, I know, I should've been watching her - so please don't call and berate me for not doing so. She's been doing really well at the stairs, and I guess one can get a bit complacent.
Speaking of stairs, we've been working with Makenna on her numbers as we go up and down the stairs. We count them and she's been doing really well with that - when she wants to. So now Chris has decided that we need to do the ABC's on the way down. I've been singing her the ABC's since she was little and now we're trying to get her to know them a bit better. Since it works well with numbers, in that she's counting numerically in order up to 14 or so (up to nine consistently,) we figured we'd try with the ABC's. Well, one of the things I was trying to remember to post yesterday was that while she was taking a bath (and yes, I watch her during baths,) she all of a sudden said A through F all on her own. I was shocked and elated.
Sometimes you wonder if anything gets through as when you repeatedly tell her "no" not to spit out her drink all over the place and she still does it, what chance does the ABC's have in getting in to some part of her memory. I do feel that she picks up the words that you least expect. Like today, she wanted to watch "Horton Hears a Who." This would be at least the third or fourth time for her watching it since we've rented it. After the movie, they have a small "Ice Age" movie and she wanted to watch that. The remote for the VCR is not the most responsive thing so when I was trying to get it to work yesterday, I was saying things like, "come on, you stupid thing." So today, what do I hear out of my little one's mouth just after she asks for "Ice Age?" Yup...she says, "come on, stupid." Now she probably has heard me say this a few times for different things like when my laptop screen all of a sudden goes black and I have to shut the whole thing down. I'm fairly sure yesterday wasn't the first time she's heard me say it, but it was the first time in regards to the situation with the remote and movie. It's amazing how quick they can be to pick up the wrong things you say or do. It's like having a parrot.
The other thing that has happened in the past, and today was no exception, has to do with Chris. Every once in a while he has this annoying habit of picking up the car keys and then leaving with them to go to work. In all fairness the last time he did this was in October when his parents were here. But it's very frustrating when you have your whole day planned and scheduled and then you have no car to do the things you've planned. I didn't even realize he had taken the keys until he called me from work and asked, "if I had plans for the day." When I said "yes" he then replied, "you don't anymore." I figured he scheduled some maintenance person to come to the house for something or other but when he told me he took the keys accidentally I was upset (to say the least). He was kind enough to find a rental car at work and drive them back to me so that I could carry on with my day. I was only about 10 minutes late to the gym so it just made my workout 10 minutes shorter. The only reason it's so scheduled is because of the nursery. I've scheduled it ahead of time for a certain length of time that I've already paid for and they have to keep their worker/child ratio accurate.
I guess that's another thing I got lax in - making sure Chris doesn't have the car keys before he leaves for work. Then he has the nerve to come home and tell me not to leave them, where he left them, the night before as he just grabs them without thinking. I know he was joking when he told me this so I took it in stride. But now I have two things to be vigilant in again - watching Makenna on the stairs and checking that my husband hasn't absconded with the car keys.
Speaking of stairs, we've been working with Makenna on her numbers as we go up and down the stairs. We count them and she's been doing really well with that - when she wants to. So now Chris has decided that we need to do the ABC's on the way down. I've been singing her the ABC's since she was little and now we're trying to get her to know them a bit better. Since it works well with numbers, in that she's counting numerically in order up to 14 or so (up to nine consistently,) we figured we'd try with the ABC's. Well, one of the things I was trying to remember to post yesterday was that while she was taking a bath (and yes, I watch her during baths,) she all of a sudden said A through F all on her own. I was shocked and elated.
Sometimes you wonder if anything gets through as when you repeatedly tell her "no" not to spit out her drink all over the place and she still does it, what chance does the ABC's have in getting in to some part of her memory. I do feel that she picks up the words that you least expect. Like today, she wanted to watch "Horton Hears a Who." This would be at least the third or fourth time for her watching it since we've rented it. After the movie, they have a small "Ice Age" movie and she wanted to watch that. The remote for the VCR is not the most responsive thing so when I was trying to get it to work yesterday, I was saying things like, "come on, you stupid thing." So today, what do I hear out of my little one's mouth just after she asks for "Ice Age?" Yup...she says, "come on, stupid." Now she probably has heard me say this a few times for different things like when my laptop screen all of a sudden goes black and I have to shut the whole thing down. I'm fairly sure yesterday wasn't the first time she's heard me say it, but it was the first time in regards to the situation with the remote and movie. It's amazing how quick they can be to pick up the wrong things you say or do. It's like having a parrot.
The other thing that has happened in the past, and today was no exception, has to do with Chris. Every once in a while he has this annoying habit of picking up the car keys and then leaving with them to go to work. In all fairness the last time he did this was in October when his parents were here. But it's very frustrating when you have your whole day planned and scheduled and then you have no car to do the things you've planned. I didn't even realize he had taken the keys until he called me from work and asked, "if I had plans for the day." When I said "yes" he then replied, "you don't anymore." I figured he scheduled some maintenance person to come to the house for something or other but when he told me he took the keys accidentally I was upset (to say the least). He was kind enough to find a rental car at work and drive them back to me so that I could carry on with my day. I was only about 10 minutes late to the gym so it just made my workout 10 minutes shorter. The only reason it's so scheduled is because of the nursery. I've scheduled it ahead of time for a certain length of time that I've already paid for and they have to keep their worker/child ratio accurate.
I guess that's another thing I got lax in - making sure Chris doesn't have the car keys before he leaves for work. Then he has the nerve to come home and tell me not to leave them, where he left them, the night before as he just grabs them without thinking. I know he was joking when he told me this so I took it in stride. But now I have two things to be vigilant in again - watching Makenna on the stairs and checking that my husband hasn't absconded with the car keys.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
18Jan2009: Day 237: Stinker Pot
I'm either getting old (okay I know I am,) or my memory is getting really bad as I know there are new things that Makenna does or says every day that I think, "I'll have to remember that for the blog" and then it's time to write the blog and I'm like, "what was that darn thing I wanted to tell everyone?"
I know one of them today was that she had a really yucky diaper in the evening. It's funny because we know she's becoming more aware of her bodily functions as she'll isolate herself to go number 2 (to put it in "politically correct terms?") and when you ask her if she's going she'll say, "no, no, no" really sweet and quiet like and then she'll wave and say, "bye, bye." As if to say, "look, do I come in when you're going to ask if you're going and hang around?" "Can you please leave me alone?" Well, in actuality, she does typically come in when I go as I have always hoped this would lead her to be curious and interested in potty training early. Nope. She just comes in and states that "mommy's going potty," and then she gets on playing in the cabinet or trying to wash her hands in the sink. So back to this dirty diaper tonight...When she was finally done, she came up to me and stated that she was a stinker pot (or had a stinky butt, I'm not quite sure).
I've started calling her stinker pot the past couple of weeks but it's more in terms of her doing something devilish then to the smell of her bottom. So I was surprised when she related the term back to me in a somewhat "appropriate" manner. I believe I picked up the term stinker pot from my mother using it when I was younger. I also believe I remember this term due more to my brother's being called it then myself. But I could be wrong.
By the last hour of church, we not only had a tired and cranky Makenna to deal with but Hannah was coming over to join the fun (and eat what I brought for Makenna as Makenna didn't want it,) but we had another girl, about five or six join us too. It seemed that I was the "cool" mommy with all the toys the kids wanted to play with. I think Hannah's mom and I just end up feeding each others kids on Sunday now. What ever she brings, Makenna is willing to eat and Hannah, well, Hannah just eats about anything you put in front of her. I wish Makenna was that willing.
Another thing from yesterday that I wanted to add, at the bottom, was this little video of Makenna (sorry that it's sideways). We were down in the vaults of the abbey and Makenna was enthralled by what was dug out (and then covered with plexiglass) - which was a grave and you could see the skeletal remains. So she kept pointing to it and saying "bones, that's bones." She would tell just about anyone walking through the door and also told the guy who worked there, that their were bones. So I caught a small clip of it. Then for some reason, she thought they were hot and she wasn't supposed to touch them. I figure, well, if she thinks that, then she'll leave it alone.
Also, after I posted last Friday's post, I was frantically looking around for a church book that I know I had down in the living room. I needed it to prepare for the lesson I was teaching today. I couldn't find it and I was also looking everywhere for the tv remote. Couldn't find that either. So I was just about to give up when something told me to look in the laundry hamper we have near the bathroom downstairs. I looked - but it wasn't there. As I was walking away, it came to me - check the garbage. Yup - the garbage. Luckily it was the recyclables. There was my book, the remote, another book of Makenna's and I believe a scarf or a sock (again that short-term memory kicking in; or not kicking in). Chris had seen Makenna throwing something in the recycling garbage earlier that night and he took it out and said something. So when I was looking all over it finally hit me that "there was someplace that Makenna had put something earlier in the night - where was it?" Again, I'm glad she picked that garbage bin instead of the one right next to it - the actual garbage. Since then, I've been making it habit to look in that bin every once in a while to see if anything else has made it in there. - Stinker pot!
I know one of them today was that she had a really yucky diaper in the evening. It's funny because we know she's becoming more aware of her bodily functions as she'll isolate herself to go number 2 (to put it in "politically correct terms?") and when you ask her if she's going she'll say, "no, no, no" really sweet and quiet like and then she'll wave and say, "bye, bye." As if to say, "look, do I come in when you're going to ask if you're going and hang around?" "Can you please leave me alone?" Well, in actuality, she does typically come in when I go as I have always hoped this would lead her to be curious and interested in potty training early. Nope. She just comes in and states that "mommy's going potty," and then she gets on playing in the cabinet or trying to wash her hands in the sink. So back to this dirty diaper tonight...When she was finally done, she came up to me and stated that she was a stinker pot (or had a stinky butt, I'm not quite sure).
I've started calling her stinker pot the past couple of weeks but it's more in terms of her doing something devilish then to the smell of her bottom. So I was surprised when she related the term back to me in a somewhat "appropriate" manner. I believe I picked up the term stinker pot from my mother using it when I was younger. I also believe I remember this term due more to my brother's being called it then myself. But I could be wrong.
By the last hour of church, we not only had a tired and cranky Makenna to deal with but Hannah was coming over to join the fun (and eat what I brought for Makenna as Makenna didn't want it,) but we had another girl, about five or six join us too. It seemed that I was the "cool" mommy with all the toys the kids wanted to play with. I think Hannah's mom and I just end up feeding each others kids on Sunday now. What ever she brings, Makenna is willing to eat and Hannah, well, Hannah just eats about anything you put in front of her. I wish Makenna was that willing.
Another thing from yesterday that I wanted to add, at the bottom, was this little video of Makenna (sorry that it's sideways). We were down in the vaults of the abbey and Makenna was enthralled by what was dug out (and then covered with plexiglass) - which was a grave and you could see the skeletal remains. So she kept pointing to it and saying "bones, that's bones." She would tell just about anyone walking through the door and also told the guy who worked there, that their were bones. So I caught a small clip of it. Then for some reason, she thought they were hot and she wasn't supposed to touch them. I figure, well, if she thinks that, then she'll leave it alone.
Also, after I posted last Friday's post, I was frantically looking around for a church book that I know I had down in the living room. I needed it to prepare for the lesson I was teaching today. I couldn't find it and I was also looking everywhere for the tv remote. Couldn't find that either. So I was just about to give up when something told me to look in the laundry hamper we have near the bathroom downstairs. I looked - but it wasn't there. As I was walking away, it came to me - check the garbage. Yup - the garbage. Luckily it was the recyclables. There was my book, the remote, another book of Makenna's and I believe a scarf or a sock (again that short-term memory kicking in; or not kicking in). Chris had seen Makenna throwing something in the recycling garbage earlier that night and he took it out and said something. So when I was looking all over it finally hit me that "there was someplace that Makenna had put something earlier in the night - where was it?" Again, I'm glad she picked that garbage bin instead of the one right next to it - the actual garbage. Since then, I've been making it habit to look in that bin every once in a while to see if anything else has made it in there. - Stinker pot!
17Jan2009: Day 236: Bath
Today we drove 3 hours to Bath. It is way over on the west coast of England on the other side of London. It wasn't that bad of a drive because it was all highway and being that we left around 7:30 am on a Saturday, the roads were fairly deserted. Even when we got to Bath, it wasn't too busy, and it only took a few minutes to fine an empty parking spot in the parking garage. The parking garage was a max 4 hour stay, so we had planned to go to see the Bath Abbey and then move the car and go to the Roman Baths, but we ended up getting most everything done we wanted to in the 4 hours. When we did move the car, there was a line 30 cars long just to get into the parking garage that was downtown. We managed to easily find another parking spot though around the next couple of places we wanted to see, so it was an easy day with regards to that.
The first place we went to was the Bath Abbey. It really wasn't a major Cathedral or anything, but had so
many plaques on the wall as memorials that there was hardly any place to hang something else. They only had probably one major sarcophagus. Sir William Waller made a tomb for his wife Jane, who died in 1633. It was also supposed to be for him as well, he didn't end up being interred there. So while there is a monument with a man and a woman lying there and two epitaphs, one is blank. I can imagine that if they are together in the afterlife, quite a bit of "windging" against him by his wife. Windging is another word for griping, or whining that the Brits use a lot. I guess a possible reason was that he was on the Parliamentarian's side during the civil war and lost Bath to the Royalists. The Royalist apparently hacked at his effigy and made a mess of it, so I guess he didn't want to be there. Next we went down to the crypt and saw a small museum they had setup. The Abbey wasn't really the Abbey and is only a small part of what was originally there. Henry the VIII's handy work again had destroyed most of the buildings and now the city occupied much of it. But, they had dug down deeper in the crypt and found skeletons of Monks and evidence of buildings and structures there back to Roman times. Buildings have been built on top of buildings, on top of even older buildings and the more you dig, the more you find evidence of previous civilizations.
The hot water spring in Bath is what not only gave Bath its name, but also made it a center of worship since before the Romans even showed up. The water comes out of the ground at 117 degrees F and 250,000 gallons per day. The Roman's thought that it was built by the Gods and there was a temple to the God Sulis Minerva there. They have on display as
much of the temple as could be found. Pieces of it had been uncovered over the centuries and much of it was lost when it was destroyed after the Romans left. Some parts of the temple were actually taken away and built into other buildings. A church 8 miles away had a piece of the temple built into a corner of the church. It has been brought back to the museum now.
You can see by looking at the pool that the lowest portions of the walls around the pools are Roman and the pool itself is largely Roman, but everything else above this line was added and rebuilt. The water bubbles up and releases gasses, but it isn't boiling. It flows through various culverts that the Romans built 2000 years ago and into the different bathing areas. The water has a red tinge to it and they actually have a fountain that you can sample some of the water from, but I only tasted it and it was so metallic and warm that I didn't want to drink anymore, but apparently people over the ages have said it was quite good. Teri drank the whole thing (only about a half of a cup). The amount of coins and such that they pulled out from the pools date back to the iron age. They have pulled some 15,000 coins out of the pools so far. This shows how people have made offering to the Gods over the years. There were even curses written on soft metals thrown in asking for the God's help. The Romans had quite a setup of bath houses around the place and there are still some in operation. We walked around the city center and there was a spa there as well.
We moved the car because our 4 hours was nearly up and drove up to where the Royal Crescent and the Circus is. The Royal Crescent is a series of 100 town houses or so that are all connected toget
her in a crescent shape. It was built in the mid-1700's and people still live there. There is a nice park out in front of it and it look down over the city. We walked back down into the city from there and went into a Jane Austin museum, but it wasn't really orientated for children, so we left quickly. Makenna fell asleep while we walked to the oldest building in Bath (circa 1482), which houses the Sally Lunn bakery/restaurant. It's also known for this bun that Sally would make. Sally came over from France in the 1600's and turned this old Roman house into a bakery and would sell her buns (I know that doesn't sound good but that's what she did). I went in to get Teri one of these buns, as she just had to have it, it only cost £1.80. There was a small display showing how they had dug down in the dirt there to find the Roman road beneath and also a basement oven, where I guess, Sally used to work. It was nice with Makenna sle
eping to just walk around a bit and look around without Makenna constantly doing something. We walked back up to where we were parked near the Crescent and not to far from there the is a place called the circus. This is a series of 30 town houses built into a circle. The circle is broken by four streets coming in symmetrically around the circle with a round-about in the center and several large trees center to that. It is something neat to see, but I guess it is something you just check the box on when you come to Bath and then move on.
We left after that and tried to find a couple of castles that our GPS said were near by. We went down some single lane roads and by lots of sheep and stuff to only end up in a dead end for the first one. The second one led us into the Bath Spa University, where there was a fortified manor which is now part of the university. I guess they teach people how to spa there...whatever that is. Probably has something to do with painful massages. You can have it Bath, I can't stand having someone drilling a bony elbow into my back! Al, a friend of ours back home, bought himself a massaging chair. While we were home over the holidays, I sat in it for a half an hour, really trying to like it, but all it did was make my back feel bruised for 4 days...bah!
The first place we went to was the Bath Abbey. It really wasn't a major Cathedral or anything, but had so
many plaques on the wall as memorials that there was hardly any place to hang something else. They only had probably one major sarcophagus. Sir William Waller made a tomb for his wife Jane, who died in 1633. It was also supposed to be for him as well, he didn't end up being interred there. So while there is a monument with a man and a woman lying there and two epitaphs, one is blank. I can imagine that if they are together in the afterlife, quite a bit of "windging" against him by his wife. Windging is another word for griping, or whining that the Brits use a lot. I guess a possible reason was that he was on the Parliamentarian's side during the civil war and lost Bath to the Royalists. The Royalist apparently hacked at his effigy and made a mess of it, so I guess he didn't want to be there. Next we went down to the crypt and saw a small museum they had setup. The Abbey wasn't really the Abbey and is only a small part of what was originally there. Henry the VIII's handy work again had destroyed most of the buildings and now the city occupied much of it. But, they had dug down deeper in the crypt and found skeletons of Monks and evidence of buildings and structures there back to Roman times. Buildings have been built on top of buildings, on top of even older buildings and the more you dig, the more you find evidence of previous civilizations.The hot water spring in Bath is what not only gave Bath its name, but also made it a center of worship since before the Romans even showed up. The water comes out of the ground at 117 degrees F and 250,000 gallons per day. The Roman's thought that it was built by the Gods and there was a temple to the God Sulis Minerva there. They have on display as
much of the temple as could be found. Pieces of it had been uncovered over the centuries and much of it was lost when it was destroyed after the Romans left. Some parts of the temple were actually taken away and built into other buildings. A church 8 miles away had a piece of the temple built into a corner of the church. It has been brought back to the museum now.You can see by looking at the pool that the lowest portions of the walls around the pools are Roman and the pool itself is largely Roman, but everything else above this line was added and rebuilt. The water bubbles up and releases gasses, but it isn't boiling. It flows through various culverts that the Romans built 2000 years ago and into the different bathing areas. The water has a red tinge to it and they actually have a fountain that you can sample some of the water from, but I only tasted it and it was so metallic and warm that I didn't want to drink anymore, but apparently people over the ages have said it was quite good. Teri drank the whole thing (only about a half of a cup). The amount of coins and such that they pulled out from the pools date back to the iron age. They have pulled some 15,000 coins out of the pools so far. This shows how people have made offering to the Gods over the years. There were even curses written on soft metals thrown in asking for the God's help. The Romans had quite a setup of bath houses around the place and there are still some in operation. We walked around the city center and there was a spa there as well.
We moved the car because our 4 hours was nearly up and drove up to where the Royal Crescent and the Circus is. The Royal Crescent is a series of 100 town houses or so that are all connected toget
her in a crescent shape. It was built in the mid-1700's and people still live there. There is a nice park out in front of it and it look down over the city. We walked back down into the city from there and went into a Jane Austin museum, but it wasn't really orientated for children, so we left quickly. Makenna fell asleep while we walked to the oldest building in Bath (circa 1482), which houses the Sally Lunn bakery/restaurant. It's also known for this bun that Sally would make. Sally came over from France in the 1600's and turned this old Roman house into a bakery and would sell her buns (I know that doesn't sound good but that's what she did). I went in to get Teri one of these buns, as she just had to have it, it only cost £1.80. There was a small display showing how they had dug down in the dirt there to find the Roman road beneath and also a basement oven, where I guess, Sally used to work. It was nice with Makenna sle
eping to just walk around a bit and look around without Makenna constantly doing something. We walked back up to where we were parked near the Crescent and not to far from there the is a place called the circus. This is a series of 30 town houses built into a circle. The circle is broken by four streets coming in symmetrically around the circle with a round-about in the center and several large trees center to that. It is something neat to see, but I guess it is something you just check the box on when you come to Bath and then move on.We left after that and tried to find a couple of castles that our GPS said were near by. We went down some single lane roads and by lots of sheep and stuff to only end up in a dead end for the first one. The second one led us into the Bath Spa University, where there was a fortified manor which is now part of the university. I guess they teach people how to spa there...whatever that is. Probably has something to do with painful massages. You can have it Bath, I can't stand having someone drilling a bony elbow into my back! Al, a friend of ours back home, bought himself a massaging chair. While we were home over the holidays, I sat in it for a half an hour, really trying to like it, but all it did was make my back feel bruised for 4 days...bah!
Friday, January 16, 2009
16Jan2009: Day 235: Rowr - I'm a Tiger
Again, me without a camera missed one of the cutest moments today. When I went to pick up Makenna from nursery, she was being held by a worker who put her down and she was all excited and started coming towards me. All of a sudden she stopped and started going, "rowr (it sounds more like rowr than roar,) rowr, I'm a tiger." She was hunched over with her arms up and it looked like she had claws. She did it a couple of times and I was just laughing. She was really adamant in making sure I knew that she was a fierce tiger.
When I got her home, she wanted to drive so I let her go in the driver seat. I went in to start lunch and I came out a couple of minutes later and she had her coat, scarf, and hat off. I was like "wow, you're quick!" She's been getting good at unzipping her coat and taking it off along with her hat and scarf when we get in the house.
A couple of things that also were exciting this week - or at least to me - was that I actually made a meal from a recipe I brought from back home. I brought this big recipe book here and was quite disheartened when I realized I can't find much of what's needed for most of my recipes. So on Sunday, I went through the book and wrote down a couple of recipes that I thought I could at least find the ingredients to, one way or another. Believe it or not, I almost couldn't find sour cream. I did find it - Weight Watchers version - which was pretty good. Instead of canned, chopped chilies, I just bought some fresh ones and cut them up. While I was cutting them I was like, this isn't too bad (thinking for some reason they'd be like cutting up onions). Well when I tried taking out my contacts - let's just say that was a very painful experience!
Anyways, if you couldn't tell, it was a Mexican meal (enchilada lasagna). So being that they have a lot of "foreign foods" (American not being foreign,) it wasn't too hard to get everything I needed. I had to improvise as I didn't have enough sour cream, but I had also put it in a smaller dish. Luckily Chris is the only one who has really ever had to bear the brunt of my "improvisation." Past experiments haven't been inedible but not ones you'd want to eat again. Chris is much better at making up dishes or altering them. So I have to say that I was surprised that this came out so well. I think Chris was surprised as well.
The other exciting thing is that they are actually showing American Idol over here. It's shown on Thursday and Friday but I'm still really happy. I tried watching some of Tuesday's episode on YouTube on Wednesday. I watched a couple of clips and figured I'd come back to it but when I did (a couple of hours later,) YouTube had deleted this one person's clips of the show because of copyright infringement so I was bummed. I didn't want to watch little clips here and there (although I did a few) as I wanted to get the whole experience. I was about to just accept that I was either going to watch bits of clips or nothing when I happened to notice that it was going to play over here. Not to mention that I was miffed at Fox for not putting it up on their website.
When you're a stay at home mom - sometimes the little things can make you really excited.
When I got her home, she wanted to drive so I let her go in the driver seat. I went in to start lunch and I came out a couple of minutes later and she had her coat, scarf, and hat off. I was like "wow, you're quick!" She's been getting good at unzipping her coat and taking it off along with her hat and scarf when we get in the house.
A couple of things that also were exciting this week - or at least to me - was that I actually made a meal from a recipe I brought from back home. I brought this big recipe book here and was quite disheartened when I realized I can't find much of what's needed for most of my recipes. So on Sunday, I went through the book and wrote down a couple of recipes that I thought I could at least find the ingredients to, one way or another. Believe it or not, I almost couldn't find sour cream. I did find it - Weight Watchers version - which was pretty good. Instead of canned, chopped chilies, I just bought some fresh ones and cut them up. While I was cutting them I was like, this isn't too bad (thinking for some reason they'd be like cutting up onions). Well when I tried taking out my contacts - let's just say that was a very painful experience!
Anyways, if you couldn't tell, it was a Mexican meal (enchilada lasagna). So being that they have a lot of "foreign foods" (American not being foreign,) it wasn't too hard to get everything I needed. I had to improvise as I didn't have enough sour cream, but I had also put it in a smaller dish. Luckily Chris is the only one who has really ever had to bear the brunt of my "improvisation." Past experiments haven't been inedible but not ones you'd want to eat again. Chris is much better at making up dishes or altering them. So I have to say that I was surprised that this came out so well. I think Chris was surprised as well.
The other exciting thing is that they are actually showing American Idol over here. It's shown on Thursday and Friday but I'm still really happy. I tried watching some of Tuesday's episode on YouTube on Wednesday. I watched a couple of clips and figured I'd come back to it but when I did (a couple of hours later,) YouTube had deleted this one person's clips of the show because of copyright infringement so I was bummed. I didn't want to watch little clips here and there (although I did a few) as I wanted to get the whole experience. I was about to just accept that I was either going to watch bits of clips or nothing when I happened to notice that it was going to play over here. Not to mention that I was miffed at Fox for not putting it up on their website.
When you're a stay at home mom - sometimes the little things can make you really excited.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
15Jan2009: Day 234: Not Another Trekkie!
I just came back from seeing a movie at this lady's house (Mamma Mia - again,) and I asked Chris how Makenna was while I was gone. He said great! She climbed up the couch twenty or so times as he kept knocking her down and she'd get back up and do it over and over. Then he suggested to watch some Star Trek show and she said, "okay." He said she then sat for about forty minutes straight, enthralled in the show and she then looked up at him and asked to brush teeth. Which is her cue that she wants to go to bed. So he thinks it's great that she loves Star Trek - whatever version of it they were watching. I guess there could be worse things.
I know how people feel when they come into our group of friends and we start talking about things that they have know idea. Usually it's things that we've done together in the past as friends and they feel left out, I'd assume. Well tonight at the movie, these women were talking about this or that and it wasn't things they've done in the past - it was just stuff - that I had no clue what they were talking about. When they finally asked me if we had the same in the states, I had to admit that I didn't understand what they were saying. They were saying "Chatham chaff" (or something to that effect). Chatham is a town here and I guess the reference was saying that there's areas/people in Chatham that are like what we would call "trailer trash." When they asked if I understood their reference of "trailer trash" I was like, "oh - I know that means." So all the gratuitous nodding that I was doing as if I understood was found out. It like one someone is talking and you just nod as if you understand and they are really asking you a question that's not a Yes or No answer.
Today at the sing/dance playgroup, I decided to ignore Makenna's pleas to pick her up and made her run and dance around on her own two feet (except for one song). She gave up and went along and I think she actually enjoyed it. There's one song they do where you pretend you're on a ladies horse that "trots" and then on a gentleman's horse that "canters" and then a farmer's horse that runs really quick and she actually did it really well.
I also decided to tell her prior to getting out of the car what's expected of her in regards to staying with or near me while in parking lots. She did a lot better. When we went into an "off-license" store to pick up some milk she did run away down an isle and I wasn't happy but she stayed out of trouble so I wasn't too upset. Not until I was dragging her back up the isle and she had her hand stuck out and she knocked over all the hair products (shampoo, hairspray, etc.). Then she kept telling me "haave." I said "yes, you can seem to say it but not do it little one."
Her other favorite saying today was grampa AAAAvery." I had to call my dad and I told her we were calling Grandpa Avery and then she kept saying it for the rest of the day. Even when we got the annoying telemarketing calls from the states today she thought it was grampa AAaaavery.
I know how people feel when they come into our group of friends and we start talking about things that they have know idea. Usually it's things that we've done together in the past as friends and they feel left out, I'd assume. Well tonight at the movie, these women were talking about this or that and it wasn't things they've done in the past - it was just stuff - that I had no clue what they were talking about. When they finally asked me if we had the same in the states, I had to admit that I didn't understand what they were saying. They were saying "Chatham chaff" (or something to that effect). Chatham is a town here and I guess the reference was saying that there's areas/people in Chatham that are like what we would call "trailer trash." When they asked if I understood their reference of "trailer trash" I was like, "oh - I know that means." So all the gratuitous nodding that I was doing as if I understood was found out. It like one someone is talking and you just nod as if you understand and they are really asking you a question that's not a Yes or No answer.
Today at the sing/dance playgroup, I decided to ignore Makenna's pleas to pick her up and made her run and dance around on her own two feet (except for one song). She gave up and went along and I think she actually enjoyed it. There's one song they do where you pretend you're on a ladies horse that "trots" and then on a gentleman's horse that "canters" and then a farmer's horse that runs really quick and she actually did it really well.
I also decided to tell her prior to getting out of the car what's expected of her in regards to staying with or near me while in parking lots. She did a lot better. When we went into an "off-license" store to pick up some milk she did run away down an isle and I wasn't happy but she stayed out of trouble so I wasn't too upset. Not until I was dragging her back up the isle and she had her hand stuck out and she knocked over all the hair products (shampoo, hairspray, etc.). Then she kept telling me "haave." I said "yes, you can seem to say it but not do it little one."
Her other favorite saying today was grampa AAAAvery." I had to call my dad and I told her we were calling Grandpa Avery and then she kept saying it for the rest of the day. Even when we got the annoying telemarketing calls from the states today she thought it was grampa AAaaavery.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
14Jan2009: Day 233: Haave
It seems "behave" is a word that I'm constantly repeating to Makenna and she's saying back "haave." She's really trying to get herself killed some days it seems. I've been trying really hard to instill into her the importance, and reason, of holding hands or staying near me when we're in a crowded parking lot or even just going to the car. She has this bad habit of taking off and running down the driveway or running away in a parking lot. Today was no exception. No matter how much I say with a stern voice, or a loud stern voice, she thinks I'm playing. I have to literally grab her, make her look me and punish her by taking something away that she was expecting.
Today after our afternoon playgroup, I had a death grip on her wrist and she still was trying to pull away. So I picked her up and told her that she was going to have no yogurt when we got home. That threw her into a screaming fit and a straight body as I was trying to put her into the car seat. She then cried and whined for the whole way home (all of five minutes). When we got home she was still insisting she get a yogurt and I told her again why she wasn't going to have any. Then she went down for her nap - which was needed - for both of us!
Of course, this wasn't the only time she decided to scream today. Before our swimming lessons, she kept trying to get out of the pool to throw in all the pool toys. I wanted her to stay in the pool with me and she then screamed when I pulled her back in. She also didn't want to wear the "floaties" I bought today. She wasn't really in the mood to do the swimming class too much today. I'm not sure if it was because we she was tired (which was definitely some of it,) or if it was because we were swimming for about ten to fifteen minutes before the class and she just wasn't into more structured swimming. I think she just was interested in the toys and not the structure.
So when we were saying our prayers tonight, I was praying that Makenna would listen to mommy (and daddy,) especially in areas where there's cars and Makenna said, "haave." I said, yes, behave!
Today after our afternoon playgroup, I had a death grip on her wrist and she still was trying to pull away. So I picked her up and told her that she was going to have no yogurt when we got home. That threw her into a screaming fit and a straight body as I was trying to put her into the car seat. She then cried and whined for the whole way home (all of five minutes). When we got home she was still insisting she get a yogurt and I told her again why she wasn't going to have any. Then she went down for her nap - which was needed - for both of us!
Of course, this wasn't the only time she decided to scream today. Before our swimming lessons, she kept trying to get out of the pool to throw in all the pool toys. I wanted her to stay in the pool with me and she then screamed when I pulled her back in. She also didn't want to wear the "floaties" I bought today. She wasn't really in the mood to do the swimming class too much today. I'm not sure if it was because we she was tired (which was definitely some of it,) or if it was because we were swimming for about ten to fifteen minutes before the class and she just wasn't into more structured swimming. I think she just was interested in the toys and not the structure.
So when we were saying our prayers tonight, I was praying that Makenna would listen to mommy (and daddy,) especially in areas where there's cars and Makenna said, "haave." I said, yes, behave!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
13Jan2009: Day 232: Happy Birthday Great Grandma - 99!
My grandmother (Makenna's Great Grandmother) is 99 years old today! I wish I could be there to wish her a happy one. I was grateful for the opportunity to see her over the holidays a couple of times. During one of those visits, my brother Josh and I started to reminisce about the different things that this wonderful woman had done for us. For myself, she used to cook me steak and potatoes almost every meal I had there, even if it was different from what her and my grandfather were having (which it usually was different). She also would make me "real" garlic toast. She would take a garlic clove and rub it on buttered toast.
She also would take me to Phila Sales on Clinton St. and we would go shopping. Sometimes for herself and sometimes she would get me something. We would occasionally take a bus back if she had enough money. It really wasn't that long of a walk, looking back now, but for me being 8 or 9 I of course thought that it would take ages to get back to her house. I think that I just liked to be able to put the money in and pull the line to make the buzzing noise to let us off at our stop. I also liked the times we would go to the Binghamton Plaza because that meant we had to change buses and get a transfer ticket. Plus it meant going to Kmart in the plaza.
She would take the time to do puzzles with me or play "school." She would write arithmetic problems or scramble up words for me to figure out. She also, and this will be quite embarrassing to me, would pretend to be Erik Estrada from "Chips." I had the biggest crush on him and she would pretend to be him and call me up for a date. Or he would be the school teacher. Many, many years later, I would see that she kept many of my drawings or "school work" that we had done.
When I was much older, I asked her to tell me some stories about her and her life as I found it to be very interesting. She went through some really hard times as a young child and older. She is a very strong woman who always showed her grand kids love and gave up quite a bit of her own money (as she never had very much,) to give us what we wanted. She has many other great qualities that I could go on and on about. But we want her to know that we love her so!
As for Makenna and my day, I took her to nursery and I had to go back home and have my "cleaning work-out." We had a painter come to the house to paint the spare bedroom where a water leak stain was showing. I noticed this last October (when Chris's parents were coming to visit,) and they found that there was no current leak. So I'm not sure if it was an old stain or one that occurred while we were here and just dried out by the time I noticed it. The painter was a nice guy and we chatted a bit while he was waiting for his first coat to dry. He said he had a couple of sons go to the states and that one actually took an RV from California to the East Coast. I said that, that son probably has seen more of America than I have. He said that his father was from Scotland and then I started to tell him that we were planning a trip to Scotland. So he gave me a couple of ideas of things to see.
Makenna said a couple of new things today, but if I don't write them down (which I didn't,) I don't remember them. The last couple of times after picking her up from nursery, she seems to want to show me all the stuff she plays with. We were practically the last ones out today. She's also back to wanting to drive after we get home. So I let her drive today and when Chris got home (after 8pm!,) he said that a light was on, on the car. I said that I had checked that they were off but he found out that if you hit the blinkers it turns on some strange light. Something about if you hit the right blinker a light on the right comes on, and if you hit the left, one on the left.
Tomorrow's another busy Wednesday so I guess I'll just close by saying "Happy Birthday and all our Love Grandma Grosek"
She also would take me to Phila Sales on Clinton St. and we would go shopping. Sometimes for herself and sometimes she would get me something. We would occasionally take a bus back if she had enough money. It really wasn't that long of a walk, looking back now, but for me being 8 or 9 I of course thought that it would take ages to get back to her house. I think that I just liked to be able to put the money in and pull the line to make the buzzing noise to let us off at our stop. I also liked the times we would go to the Binghamton Plaza because that meant we had to change buses and get a transfer ticket. Plus it meant going to Kmart in the plaza.
She would take the time to do puzzles with me or play "school." She would write arithmetic problems or scramble up words for me to figure out. She also, and this will be quite embarrassing to me, would pretend to be Erik Estrada from "Chips." I had the biggest crush on him and she would pretend to be him and call me up for a date. Or he would be the school teacher. Many, many years later, I would see that she kept many of my drawings or "school work" that we had done.
When I was much older, I asked her to tell me some stories about her and her life as I found it to be very interesting. She went through some really hard times as a young child and older. She is a very strong woman who always showed her grand kids love and gave up quite a bit of her own money (as she never had very much,) to give us what we wanted. She has many other great qualities that I could go on and on about. But we want her to know that we love her so!
As for Makenna and my day, I took her to nursery and I had to go back home and have my "cleaning work-out." We had a painter come to the house to paint the spare bedroom where a water leak stain was showing. I noticed this last October (when Chris's parents were coming to visit,) and they found that there was no current leak. So I'm not sure if it was an old stain or one that occurred while we were here and just dried out by the time I noticed it. The painter was a nice guy and we chatted a bit while he was waiting for his first coat to dry. He said he had a couple of sons go to the states and that one actually took an RV from California to the East Coast. I said that, that son probably has seen more of America than I have. He said that his father was from Scotland and then I started to tell him that we were planning a trip to Scotland. So he gave me a couple of ideas of things to see.
Makenna said a couple of new things today, but if I don't write them down (which I didn't,) I don't remember them. The last couple of times after picking her up from nursery, she seems to want to show me all the stuff she plays with. We were practically the last ones out today. She's also back to wanting to drive after we get home. So I let her drive today and when Chris got home (after 8pm!,) he said that a light was on, on the car. I said that I had checked that they were off but he found out that if you hit the blinkers it turns on some strange light. Something about if you hit the right blinker a light on the right comes on, and if you hit the left, one on the left.
Tomorrow's another busy Wednesday so I guess I'll just close by saying "Happy Birthday and all our Love Grandma Grosek"
Monday, January 12, 2009
12Jan2009: Day 231: Pretend
Makenna is starting to pretend a bit more. I've been trying to get her to pretend to cook, or pretend to eat or drink something out of a cup, etc. Well, today she woke up and wanted her bear/blanket Kerrigan to come downstairs with her. She was feeding it her milk and said it wanted cereal. At lunch time, she tried doing the same thing with the milk. I love watching her get on the phone (play or real,) and here her recreate conversations. Today, she got on our UK phone and I heard her going, "yup, yup, (a very cute laugh)" and then "okay, see ya."
The laugh is what made me smile. It was so cute. Unfortunately, she doesn't always have her cute moments. Today, I took her swimming to practice some of the things we learned in class and at one point, she was trying to get out of the pool and go to the adult swimming pool. I made her stay in the kids pool and she started screaming very loudly. She screamed a few times throughout the 20-30 minutes we were in the pool. I did get her to blow some more bubbles, albeit once, and I got her to practice moving along the side of the pool with her hands. I was hoping to buy her "floaties" or whatever you call them but the gym was out. Hopefully they'll have more by Wednesday.
She also had a bit of disobeying while we were at the grocery store. We had to go shopping after the gym (and swimming,) and I asked her if she wanted anything to eat. I had brought along a sandwich and some cereal but she was insistent that she didn't. I decided, against my better judgement, to leave it in the car as I didn't want extra stuff to worry about while shopping. So of course she started to have a breakdown in the supermarket. Especially when we started to buy noodles. What she kept doing, and I kept asking her not to, was to keep her mouth off the grocery cart. Even though we had a newer cart (it was cleaner and the seat looked brand new,) I still find it very disgusting to put her mouth on it. She kept doing it. I kept having her look at me as I was telling her to stop this behavior. She kept on doing it out of defiance. I just love it when she's defiant. It makes me wonder how it's going to be when she's a teenager. I'm also worried about getting sick. We've had about a 3 week reprieve from illness. Although, two of those weeks we were in the states. I'm trying really hard, and praying really hard, that we get a break from illnesses for a while. So by putting her mouth on something like a shopping cart is asking for illness in my opinion.
The laugh is what made me smile. It was so cute. Unfortunately, she doesn't always have her cute moments. Today, I took her swimming to practice some of the things we learned in class and at one point, she was trying to get out of the pool and go to the adult swimming pool. I made her stay in the kids pool and she started screaming very loudly. She screamed a few times throughout the 20-30 minutes we were in the pool. I did get her to blow some more bubbles, albeit once, and I got her to practice moving along the side of the pool with her hands. I was hoping to buy her "floaties" or whatever you call them but the gym was out. Hopefully they'll have more by Wednesday.
She also had a bit of disobeying while we were at the grocery store. We had to go shopping after the gym (and swimming,) and I asked her if she wanted anything to eat. I had brought along a sandwich and some cereal but she was insistent that she didn't. I decided, against my better judgement, to leave it in the car as I didn't want extra stuff to worry about while shopping. So of course she started to have a breakdown in the supermarket. Especially when we started to buy noodles. What she kept doing, and I kept asking her not to, was to keep her mouth off the grocery cart. Even though we had a newer cart (it was cleaner and the seat looked brand new,) I still find it very disgusting to put her mouth on it. She kept doing it. I kept having her look at me as I was telling her to stop this behavior. She kept on doing it out of defiance. I just love it when she's defiant. It makes me wonder how it's going to be when she's a teenager. I'm also worried about getting sick. We've had about a 3 week reprieve from illness. Although, two of those weeks we were in the states. I'm trying really hard, and praying really hard, that we get a break from illnesses for a while. So by putting her mouth on something like a shopping cart is asking for illness in my opinion.
11Jan2009: Day 230: Hannah!
Makenna finally was able to see Hannah today and she was very excited. The time that we go to church got moved to 11am so there was no nap in the morning for Makenna. I'm glad it's earlier but it goes right through lunch. So I was sure to pack some food. Hannah had no qualms about seeing what I brought to eat for Makenna and vice versa. Makenna went right into the row where Hannah's family sits and started to rummage through their food.
It's kind of frustrating to go to museums, in my opinion, with a two year old as you can't really stay and look at any one thing. In the museum for the Mary Rose (from yesterday's post,) there was an area where Makenna could turn a ships wheel and press buttons to hear the sounds of old instruments. Another button was of a little girl singing and there was another area where she could pull a rope and it would raise a sail. This other thing they had was a place you could smell the different things from back then. I can't remember what they were, but they all smelled the same. I think one was overpowering the other smells - not that it smelled bad. Makenna thought it was funny to move the pieces of wood and sniff.
I tried walking around to find other things for her to do/press but there wasn't much else and she kept wanting to go back to that area. So I gave up hope and decided that Chris was getting the education and that he had to write yesterday's blog. Not to mention that he hasn't written one in a very long time.
We also seem to pick days to go see boats on cold windy days. It was so cold (how cold was it...?) it was so cold that practically the whole two hour drive down, the trees and grass along the drive were all frozen. It looked really pretty but it wreaked havoc on our windshield wiper fluid. It was frozen the whole trip and with all the gritting (salt) on the roads it was hard to see. We stopped to get more fluid, as I thought we were out. We were low but that wasn't the problem. There was a nice man who cleaned off our windows and explained that it takes a long while for the lines to become unfrozen. I told him we've been driving over an hour and he said that it didn't matter. Of course, by the time we left Portsmouth the fluid worked.
It's kind of frustrating to go to museums, in my opinion, with a two year old as you can't really stay and look at any one thing. In the museum for the Mary Rose (from yesterday's post,) there was an area where Makenna could turn a ships wheel and press buttons to hear the sounds of old instruments. Another button was of a little girl singing and there was another area where she could pull a rope and it would raise a sail. This other thing they had was a place you could smell the different things from back then. I can't remember what they were, but they all smelled the same. I think one was overpowering the other smells - not that it smelled bad. Makenna thought it was funny to move the pieces of wood and sniff.
I tried walking around to find other things for her to do/press but there wasn't much else and she kept wanting to go back to that area. So I gave up hope and decided that Chris was getting the education and that he had to write yesterday's blog. Not to mention that he hasn't written one in a very long time.
We also seem to pick days to go see boats on cold windy days. It was so cold (how cold was it...?) it was so cold that practically the whole two hour drive down, the trees and grass along the drive were all frozen. It looked really pretty but it wreaked havoc on our windshield wiper fluid. It was frozen the whole trip and with all the gritting (salt) on the roads it was hard to see. We stopped to get more fluid, as I thought we were out. We were low but that wasn't the problem. There was a nice man who cleaned off our windows and explained that it takes a long while for the lines to become unfrozen. I told him we've been driving over an hour and he said that it didn't matter. Of course, by the time we left Portsmouth the fluid worked.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
10Jan2009: Day 229: Portsmouth Dockyard
Today we went to Portsmouth, about a 2 hour drive from here. It is on the southern coast. They have dug up the Mary Rose which perhaps you have heard of. It was King Henry VIII's main battleship, the first one built exclusively for the purpose of war. It was sent out in the early 1500's to fight an on coming fleet from France and it was unfortunately overloaded with more than 200 extra men. It was so overloaded, that when it got out into the sea, the water came in the open lower cannon doors and it capsized and sank, killing nearly 700 men. It sank part of the way into the silt at the bottom and what sank was preserved well. The part that didn't sink was eaten away over the years, but there were over 19000 items of every day activity that were recovered that was buried in the silt. One item that was very interesting was the surgeon's chest. The chest didn't fill up with silt and there was still air in some of the bottles. There was a bottle of frankincense, as well as a paste that still had finger marks in it where the doctor had drawn out some. There was Backgammon game, articles of clothing, wooden plates, arrows, and many other items that you would have expected to be destroyed, but which survived and gives the only look into the Tudor lifestyle of the common man. The guns they took off the wreck were very detailed in their design. Each individually decorated with flowers and lions and markings indicating that they were King Henry VIII's.
The wreck was found after a long search in the mid-1960's, and the wreck was eventually lifted out of the silt with divers volunteering their time in the evenings to dig out the wreck by hand. In 1982, they lifted the wreck using a unique frame and it was brought to a temporary housing in Portsmouth. In 1994, they started spraying a wax based material onto it and will continue to do so until 2011. The wax is gradually penetrating the wood and strengthening it. In 2011, they will start gradually drying it and by 2017 a new museum will be completed to house both the dried wreck and all its contents together. It should be quite a thing to visit. We were unable to get pictures of the Mary Rose as it's behind a glass that gets fogged up as the wax spray is constantly pouring out on it.
We also saw the Warrior, which is a steam and sail ship similar to the one that was at the Chattha
m Dockyards only bigger. The ship was from the mid 1800's and was very big. It had 48 cannons on board, and a crew of 700 men. It had 4 main anchors and it took 175 men 4.5 hours to pull up one anchor. Each link in the anchor chain was 40 lbs and each link was around 1 foot in length. Each anchor had 3500 ft of chain with it. So you can see why it took so long to reel it in.
There was a spire nearby that we wanted to get to as well, but we didn't have time. It is apparently
the highest building in England. It is called the Spinnaker spire. It is quite interesting looking, but when I saw it, I was pretty surprised that someone would spend so much money on something that is just to ride up and look out windows on. I didn't think they could really have a restaurant in it, but maybe. We will probably go back down to Portsmouth another weekend if we have time, so we'll let you know.
The wreck was found after a long search in the mid-1960's, and the wreck was eventually lifted out of the silt with divers volunteering their time in the evenings to dig out the wreck by hand. In 1982, they lifted the wreck using a unique frame and it was brought to a temporary housing in Portsmouth. In 1994, they started spraying a wax based material onto it and will continue to do so until 2011. The wax is gradually penetrating the wood and strengthening it. In 2011, they will start gradually drying it and by 2017 a new museum will be completed to house both the dried wreck and all its contents together. It should be quite a thing to visit. We were unable to get pictures of the Mary Rose as it's behind a glass that gets fogged up as the wax spray is constantly pouring out on it.
We also saw the Warrior, which is a steam and sail ship similar to the one that was at the Chattha
m Dockyards only bigger. The ship was from the mid 1800's and was very big. It had 48 cannons on board, and a crew of 700 men. It had 4 main anchors and it took 175 men 4.5 hours to pull up one anchor. Each link in the anchor chain was 40 lbs and each link was around 1 foot in length. Each anchor had 3500 ft of chain with it. So you can see why it took so long to reel it in.The last ship we saw was the HMS Victory, which was Nelson's ship during the battle of Trafalgar. Apparently, Nelson had tracked the French fleet all over and eventually the settled into a Spanish port, when they tried to make a run for it with the Spanish, it Nelson went after them and attacked them at Trafalgar. When he was pacing the deck a sharp shoot
er from a French ship picked him off and he died three hours later, but they won the battle. Nelson didn't want to be buried at sea so they packed him in a barrel of brandy and swapped it out every month, for the three months it took them to get back to England. When the got him back to England and pulled him out, he was perfectly preserved and they gave him a state burial. The HMS Victory was a flag ship for 40 years prior to Nelson and it was commissioned in 1759. It remained in service until dry docked in 1922, where we saw it today.
er from a French ship picked him off and he died three hours later, but they won the battle. Nelson didn't want to be buried at sea so they packed him in a barrel of brandy and swapped it out every month, for the three months it took them to get back to England. When the got him back to England and pulled him out, he was perfectly preserved and they gave him a state burial. The HMS Victory was a flag ship for 40 years prior to Nelson and it was commissioned in 1759. It remained in service until dry docked in 1922, where we saw it today.There was a spire nearby that we wanted to get to as well, but we didn't have time. It is apparently
the highest building in England. It is called the Spinnaker spire. It is quite interesting looking, but when I saw it, I was pretty surprised that someone would spend so much money on something that is just to ride up and look out windows on. I didn't think they could really have a restaurant in it, but maybe. We will probably go back down to Portsmouth another weekend if we have time, so we'll let you know.Makenna was pretty good, but she has picked up this habit of running away, which we really don't like. She thinks its a joke, but we always respond pretty aggressively when she does it, but she really doesn't care what we say. There was one thing that she did that had a few people laughing. To see the HMS Victory, you have to go on a guided tour and we had already done the tour and were outside filming and taking pictures of the boat. Their was a guy yelling that if you wanted to go on the next tour that it was happening now and you had to get aboard. He kept yelling and Makenna finally responded by yelling back something like "yeah." So here he is yelling to people asking them if they want to go on the tour and she yells back - "yeah." He laughed and so did we.
Friday, January 9, 2009
9Jan2009: Day 228: Designer Baby
While at the gym today, I was intrigued by a story on the news about a "designer baby" that was born in the UK. What it means is that this child was genetically selected to be free of breast cancer. There were 11 embryos and a cell from each was removed when they were 3 days old. Six of the embryos were found to have the gene that could cause breast cancer. Two of them that did not show the gene, were implanted.
I wasn't sure how I first felt about this story. I don't think it's "right" to tamper with this sort of thing, but it wasn't as if they were changing anything per se. Just "discarding," in my mind, the opportunity of having more children because the six embryos could possibly have cancer later in life. You have to also know that the family (mostly on the father's side,) has a long history of breast and ovarian cancer so they felt that this was a route that they had to take. Again, I could see not wanting to have your child suffer a potentially fatal disease later in life, but I'm of the mind set that things happen for a reason. Of course, it's easier for me to say this as I don't have or know anyone who's had to go through breast cancer. I most likely would have a different disposition if I had someone close to me who had to go through this disease.
I'm coming from the position of a person who has to go through IVF to get pregnant and would be ecstatic to have a child. I think it's okay to test the child or embryos to know of different complications that could arise to be prepared and keep an eye out on things as the child grows, but not to discard it if it could potentially have illnesses - fatal or otherwise. I have to admit, I feel very blessed to have such a healthy child as Makenna, and that we were able to have her on our first IVF try.
Just another typical Friday for Makenna and myself. She did pick up a new word at lunch time today which was "mato" for tomato. I made her noodles and it had a tomato sauce with chunks of tomato and she was asking what it was and I told her but she kept saying "mato." She also tried saying the word scorpion today. I don't remember how it sounded.
She's also wanting her dolly more and more. She was upset that I had left it upstairs from nap time and made me go get it. She then hugged and kissed it when I brought it down. She wants it to go to bed with her. I find it interesting that all of a sudden, she's really taking a liking to this doll. When she first got it for her birthday, she could care less. She even wanted to put a diaper on it and wash it in the sink today. I explained that dolly was a big girl and didn't need diapers and that she uses the potty. Makenna just told me that dolly was "stinky - p.u.!"
I wasn't sure how I first felt about this story. I don't think it's "right" to tamper with this sort of thing, but it wasn't as if they were changing anything per se. Just "discarding," in my mind, the opportunity of having more children because the six embryos could possibly have cancer later in life. You have to also know that the family (mostly on the father's side,) has a long history of breast and ovarian cancer so they felt that this was a route that they had to take. Again, I could see not wanting to have your child suffer a potentially fatal disease later in life, but I'm of the mind set that things happen for a reason. Of course, it's easier for me to say this as I don't have or know anyone who's had to go through breast cancer. I most likely would have a different disposition if I had someone close to me who had to go through this disease.
I'm coming from the position of a person who has to go through IVF to get pregnant and would be ecstatic to have a child. I think it's okay to test the child or embryos to know of different complications that could arise to be prepared and keep an eye out on things as the child grows, but not to discard it if it could potentially have illnesses - fatal or otherwise. I have to admit, I feel very blessed to have such a healthy child as Makenna, and that we were able to have her on our first IVF try.
Just another typical Friday for Makenna and myself. She did pick up a new word at lunch time today which was "mato" for tomato. I made her noodles and it had a tomato sauce with chunks of tomato and she was asking what it was and I told her but she kept saying "mato." She also tried saying the word scorpion today. I don't remember how it sounded.
She's also wanting her dolly more and more. She was upset that I had left it upstairs from nap time and made me go get it. She then hugged and kissed it when I brought it down. She wants it to go to bed with her. I find it interesting that all of a sudden, she's really taking a liking to this doll. When she first got it for her birthday, she could care less. She even wanted to put a diaper on it and wash it in the sink today. I explained that dolly was a big girl and didn't need diapers and that she uses the potty. Makenna just told me that dolly was "stinky - p.u.!"
Thursday, January 8, 2009
8Jan2009: Day 227: Foggy Day!
Another late morning sleep for Makenna - can I just say - YEAH! I'm starting to actually put her to bed a little bit earlier every night. Most nights we put her to bed between 9 - 9:30pm and she would wake up like clockwork between 7-7:30pm. But with the past two days of her sleeping until 8-8:30am I've been moving back her time. So last night we put her to bed about 8:45pm and tonight we went up at 8:30pm - so we'll see what time she gets up tomorrow.
We went to the playgroup in Ellsworth today - the one where we sing and dance (called Teeny Boppers). Makenna was really excited to see Bex (Rebecca) and Josh (her son) and newborn baby Jake. Josh's dad, Nigel was also their. He was off from work, and Makenna enjoyed climbing all over him. Bex is the one who first started taking me to Teeny Boppers back when we lived in Maidstone. She would come pick Makenna and I up and take us. I'll always be grateful to her as it got me out of the teeny tiny apartment and it was back when I was afraid to drive, and it gave me someplace different to go besides downtown Maidstone.
I did happen to ask Nigel about the lack of people doing anything about the ice where people walk. He said that it's just not something they do. They're not required and people don't sue if they fall. I was surprised to hear that as in the states, people sue for stubbing their toe on your sidewalk. Bex said she was surprised that people over here don't sue as she said they sue for everything else.
I swear the whole town of Gillingham was in a cloud today. As I was driving to Teeny Boppers, I was driving in fog, and then as we got out of the area, it became sunny and clear. Then on our way home, their were signs to slow down as we were getting closer to home, warning us of fog. I was thinking, "yeah right" as it was after 12pm by the time we were getting home, but sure enough as soon as we hit Gillingham, it was like I was driving through the clouds again. It stayed that way all day. I could look out the front window and just see this heavy fog. I've never seen a place where it was foggy all day.
Lately, Makenna has been saying "tummy, tummy" and when I ask what's wrong with her tummy she'll tell me "tummy full." Tonight, after getting up from her nap, she came into the kitchen as I was cooking and she lifted up her shirt and started rubbing her her tummy in circles and saying "yum, yum, tummy full." I think she was just excited that we were having chicken and rice (Indian style - meaning with Indian sauce).
We went to the playgroup in Ellsworth today - the one where we sing and dance (called Teeny Boppers). Makenna was really excited to see Bex (Rebecca) and Josh (her son) and newborn baby Jake. Josh's dad, Nigel was also their. He was off from work, and Makenna enjoyed climbing all over him. Bex is the one who first started taking me to Teeny Boppers back when we lived in Maidstone. She would come pick Makenna and I up and take us. I'll always be grateful to her as it got me out of the teeny tiny apartment and it was back when I was afraid to drive, and it gave me someplace different to go besides downtown Maidstone.
I did happen to ask Nigel about the lack of people doing anything about the ice where people walk. He said that it's just not something they do. They're not required and people don't sue if they fall. I was surprised to hear that as in the states, people sue for stubbing their toe on your sidewalk. Bex said she was surprised that people over here don't sue as she said they sue for everything else.
I swear the whole town of Gillingham was in a cloud today. As I was driving to Teeny Boppers, I was driving in fog, and then as we got out of the area, it became sunny and clear. Then on our way home, their were signs to slow down as we were getting closer to home, warning us of fog. I was thinking, "yeah right" as it was after 12pm by the time we were getting home, but sure enough as soon as we hit Gillingham, it was like I was driving through the clouds again. It stayed that way all day. I could look out the front window and just see this heavy fog. I've never seen a place where it was foggy all day.
Lately, Makenna has been saying "tummy, tummy" and when I ask what's wrong with her tummy she'll tell me "tummy full." Tonight, after getting up from her nap, she came into the kitchen as I was cooking and she lifted up her shirt and started rubbing her her tummy in circles and saying "yum, yum, tummy full." I think she was just excited that we were having chicken and rice (Indian style - meaning with Indian sauce).
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
7Jan2009: Day 226: Sledge
Makenna slept quite late today - just after 8:30 am. Not sure if she's catching up with the time change or if she's going through a growth spurt. She seems to want to sleep all the time. Or at least, she's always saying, "nap, nap," even after she wakes up. Unfortunately, getting up this late meant she didn't see daddy before he went to work.
We went to swim class and the teacher said that the main objective was to make sure the child understands that when (not if,) she falls in, that she can get herself up and out. So that's "our"homework, to encourage her to pull herself out or to "monkey crawl" across the wall to the steps. Makenna was the only girl in the class and thoroughly enjoyed the class. She splashed when they did and even put her face in the water to blow bubbles - something I was trying to get her to do all the times we swam. There was a lot of toys in the water and I think that's what made her so excited. The instructor also told me not to hold her by her stomach and to hold her under her arms so that she realizes that she can float by her own body weight. They recommend that I get her swimmers, and had a couple for her to try out. It did work fairly well as she actually swam to me. They also said to make sure I tell her to keep her head up. She enjoyed the swim/sing time and was screaming elatedly. We stayed after class (as it's only 1/2 hour long,) and worked some more on things. The instructor doesn't mind and it seems she only has one baby in the class after ours (which is for parents and babies).
Makenna then was anxious about seeing Hannah. She kept mentioning it repeatedly and I told her we'd see Hannah at playgroup after lunch. Unfortunately, we got there and Hannah didn't show. Not sure what happened but Makenna was very disappointed and continued to ask me over and over for Hannah, even after we left. One thing that was interesting at playgroup was during the story time. They had a story about a tiger that was in the snow and found an ironing board that he used as a "sledge." I had to keep looking at the book to see if it was really spelled "sleigh" and she was just saying it as sledge. Sure enough, it was spelled "sledge." That's a new word to me.
Makenna was quite upset during dinner - not sure why - but part of it may have been not seeing Chris all day as she kept asking about him. He finally came home, and she wanted to make sure we read scriptures. She had watched the videos I posted yesterday about three times today.
One other thing I've noticed over here now that it's cold enough to freeze, is that putting down "salt" to break up the ice is not something that's done - except on the roads. When they put it own the roads, they call it "gritting." So it will say "Gritting in Progress." Now they need to translate that to the places where people walk. The past couple of days, walking from the parking lot of the gym to the gym itself has been an experience. The parking lot of the nursery from yesterday looked like a ragged ice field. Our front walk isn't much better so hopefully no one falls and gets hurt out there either.
We went to swim class and the teacher said that the main objective was to make sure the child understands that when (not if,) she falls in, that she can get herself up and out. So that's "our"homework, to encourage her to pull herself out or to "monkey crawl" across the wall to the steps. Makenna was the only girl in the class and thoroughly enjoyed the class. She splashed when they did and even put her face in the water to blow bubbles - something I was trying to get her to do all the times we swam. There was a lot of toys in the water and I think that's what made her so excited. The instructor also told me not to hold her by her stomach and to hold her under her arms so that she realizes that she can float by her own body weight. They recommend that I get her swimmers, and had a couple for her to try out. It did work fairly well as she actually swam to me. They also said to make sure I tell her to keep her head up. She enjoyed the swim/sing time and was screaming elatedly. We stayed after class (as it's only 1/2 hour long,) and worked some more on things. The instructor doesn't mind and it seems she only has one baby in the class after ours (which is for parents and babies).
Makenna then was anxious about seeing Hannah. She kept mentioning it repeatedly and I told her we'd see Hannah at playgroup after lunch. Unfortunately, we got there and Hannah didn't show. Not sure what happened but Makenna was very disappointed and continued to ask me over and over for Hannah, even after we left. One thing that was interesting at playgroup was during the story time. They had a story about a tiger that was in the snow and found an ironing board that he used as a "sledge." I had to keep looking at the book to see if it was really spelled "sleigh" and she was just saying it as sledge. Sure enough, it was spelled "sledge." That's a new word to me.
Makenna was quite upset during dinner - not sure why - but part of it may have been not seeing Chris all day as she kept asking about him. He finally came home, and she wanted to make sure we read scriptures. She had watched the videos I posted yesterday about three times today.
One other thing I've noticed over here now that it's cold enough to freeze, is that putting down "salt" to break up the ice is not something that's done - except on the roads. When they put it own the roads, they call it "gritting." So it will say "Gritting in Progress." Now they need to translate that to the places where people walk. The past couple of days, walking from the parking lot of the gym to the gym itself has been an experience. The parking lot of the nursery from yesterday looked like a ragged ice field. Our front walk isn't much better so hopefully no one falls and gets hurt out there either.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
6Jan2009: Day 225: Cheeky Monkey
Sleep, glorious sleep. I went to bed, I think around 9:30pm. I woke up around 2am and didn't fall back to sleep until 3am but that was due mostly to Makenna being up. Daddy finally got her something to drink and she settled back down.
She definitely got back into the swing of things as one of the first things she did this morning after getting up, was to go into the silverware drawer and take out some silverware and put them in her mouth and then leave them on the floor around the house. I then took her to nursery and I went to they gym. She actually didn't have a hard time when I left her. She was a bit hesitant but wasn't clingy and didn't cry. I was surprised, but glad that she's getting used to going now. I was also surprised that I had more energy while working out then I expected after not going for a couple of weeks. I did do one thing before I left, which was to sign Makenna up for swim classes. We start tomorrow.
Today, she was being what they would call here a "cheeky monkey" which is a light-hearted way of saying a "little stinker". Actually, the term cheeky monkey has many connotations but that's my spin on it. She was taking garbage out of the recyclables and then trying to put her coat, hat, mittens, and gloves in the washer/dryer (which she did yesterday too).
She also had a thing for her dolly today. She wanted her dolly to take a nap and she insisted it had to have the soft blanket. So when it was nap time, Makenna took her doll up to bed with her. She wanted it tonight too but I had forgotten it downstairs and her bear/blanket named "Kerrigan" filled dolly's place.
One thing I wanted to work on in the new year was to do family scripture reading. So I read the scriptures while Chris ate dinner and then Makenna, who has this fascination with the scriptures, decided that she wanted to read them also. So here are two videos of her reading scriptures and more or less, flipping through them. In the first one,which is just under two minutes, I think it's really cute how her hands start tapping the book and then at one point near the end, she finally starts reading (which you can't really understand what she's saying) and then she closes with Amen. I then prompt Chris to turn off the camera as that was a good stopping point.
The second movie, about 3.5 minutes, even though distracted by other things around her, says "that's tough" when she's in Leviticus and she copies me when I started reading - which is really cute. She mentions that something is a "good point" when she was in the Topical Guide. As I read in Revelations, she found what I read to be "gross" and Judges was "great." Then we tried to teach her some of the books of the Bible, but she started losing interest. At the end, she made sure to get in her smile.
She definitely got back into the swing of things as one of the first things she did this morning after getting up, was to go into the silverware drawer and take out some silverware and put them in her mouth and then leave them on the floor around the house. I then took her to nursery and I went to they gym. She actually didn't have a hard time when I left her. She was a bit hesitant but wasn't clingy and didn't cry. I was surprised, but glad that she's getting used to going now. I was also surprised that I had more energy while working out then I expected after not going for a couple of weeks. I did do one thing before I left, which was to sign Makenna up for swim classes. We start tomorrow.
Today, she was being what they would call here a "cheeky monkey" which is a light-hearted way of saying a "little stinker". Actually, the term cheeky monkey has many connotations but that's my spin on it. She was taking garbage out of the recyclables and then trying to put her coat, hat, mittens, and gloves in the washer/dryer (which she did yesterday too).
She also had a thing for her dolly today. She wanted her dolly to take a nap and she insisted it had to have the soft blanket. So when it was nap time, Makenna took her doll up to bed with her. She wanted it tonight too but I had forgotten it downstairs and her bear/blanket named "Kerrigan" filled dolly's place.
One thing I wanted to work on in the new year was to do family scripture reading. So I read the scriptures while Chris ate dinner and then Makenna, who has this fascination with the scriptures, decided that she wanted to read them also. So here are two videos of her reading scriptures and more or less, flipping through them. In the first one,which is just under two minutes, I think it's really cute how her hands start tapping the book and then at one point near the end, she finally starts reading (which you can't really understand what she's saying) and then she closes with Amen. I then prompt Chris to turn off the camera as that was a good stopping point.
The second movie, about 3.5 minutes, even though distracted by other things around her, says "that's tough" when she's in Leviticus and she copies me when I started reading - which is really cute. She mentions that something is a "good point" when she was in the Topical Guide. As I read in Revelations, she found what I read to be "gross" and Judges was "great." Then we tried to teach her some of the books of the Bible, but she started losing interest. At the end, she made sure to get in her smile.
Monday, January 5, 2009
5Jan2009: Day 224: Exhausted!
Our flight had to fly around the airport a few times and we were able to finally land at 7am (England time). I was just glad to get out of the plane. When we got all our stuff and stood outside waiting (and waiting, and waiting) for the rental company van, I just stood out there without my coat. It was cold and had snowed (didn't we just leave that!?) - but it felt good. I had Chris call the rental company again and tell them that we wanted them to come pick us up today in case they thought that we wanted to stand outside until tomorrow - Can you tell I exhausted and cranky! No sleep can do that to you.
We finally got our new rental car which is smaller then our old one. Chris was able to get everything in and I enjoyed the leather heated seats. It put me to sleep pretty much right away. We got home about 11am and Chris's coffee had kicked in as he was unpacking and putting away all the loot we brought back. I on the other hand was watching t.v. with Makenna and falling asleep. I finally got up and started to help to try and keep me awake. After lunch, we put Makenna down for her usual nap time to try to get her on schedule. I again, napped on and off. Chris did some work.
We got Makenna up - who was very reluctant and actually started to fall back to asleep on me in the living room - and we went grocery shopping. Back to the expensive food and the carts that move sideways. Chris noted that the first time we shopped, we had no idea what to buy but now we have a set standard of things. Got home and made dinner and now are getting ready to all go to bed. We are beat. As I was typing this Chris finally started to nod off. Hopefully we'll be able to get back into our normal sleeping patterns and routines for the days. We'll have to see if I can get to the gym tomorrow (as I need to from all the food I ate while I was home,) and Makenna to nursery.
We finally got our new rental car which is smaller then our old one. Chris was able to get everything in and I enjoyed the leather heated seats. It put me to sleep pretty much right away. We got home about 11am and Chris's coffee had kicked in as he was unpacking and putting away all the loot we brought back. I on the other hand was watching t.v. with Makenna and falling asleep. I finally got up and started to help to try and keep me awake. After lunch, we put Makenna down for her usual nap time to try to get her on schedule. I again, napped on and off. Chris did some work.
We got Makenna up - who was very reluctant and actually started to fall back to asleep on me in the living room - and we went grocery shopping. Back to the expensive food and the carts that move sideways. Chris noted that the first time we shopped, we had no idea what to buy but now we have a set standard of things. Got home and made dinner and now are getting ready to all go to bed. We are beat. As I was typing this Chris finally started to nod off. Hopefully we'll be able to get back into our normal sleeping patterns and routines for the days. We'll have to see if I can get to the gym tomorrow (as I need to from all the food I ate while I was home,) and Makenna to nursery.
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