a HUGE post - get a snack!!!

Yes, as Daran pointed out, we went practically the whole summer without a post. Many things happened this summer, including trips to Grandpa Ed and Abuelita Luisa's house in Annapolis, MD in early July and our annual trip to MI to visit Grandma Pat and Grandpa Jerry, as well as Daran's grandfather and brother and his family later on in July. Schwester Cate visited in early August, from Texas, too.Ruby at Grandpa Ed's house


Hangin' with the cousins


Picking blackberries with Grandma Pat


Chillin' with mom and a popsicle in the late-day Michigan sun


L to R: Ruby, me, Daran, Grandpa Bob (Daran's grandfather), Grandma Norma, Grandma Pat


Also this summer, many trips to the local free pool were taken; tomatoes were grown and eaten and shared and frozen; a chest freezer was purchased to freeze said tomatoes; and oh! the kitchen! That was completed. Thank you Brad, for that.
Lots of summer veggies in an almost-complete kitchen. Dig that counter space!


Rain fell in these parts enough to keep our grass green and our green beans producing. In fact, we staved off several of the most extreme levels of drought. Rain makes a huge difference in a garden. Huge.
Front and center: an almond tree growing from composted trail mix!


Cucumber vines growing up through tool storage


Wildflower wonder by the mailbox


Peaches (white peaches!) from my peach tree - planted last spring (2007) purchased cheap from Whole Foods


A cornucopia of vegetables


I also ventured into running and I can now run 4 miles without stopping (most of the time.) I ran a few trail runs with a local group, but I am a lazy (slow) runner and the pace of this group was a challenge to me. So, a slow roadrunner I am.

Enough about me. Onto Ruby: Ruby has developed a certain meta-cognition regarding Spanish. I don't say this to boast, but she understands when Spanish needs to be spoken, when English needs to be spoken and can verbalize this. She can translate (individual words) and interpret (conversations or events) and knows who speaks Spanish and who speaks just a little and who speaks none. And, she speaks Spanish!

Back to me: Perhaps a return to school means the end of summer to some, but since it's still mid-90's I can consider it summer anyway. But a return to school it is, for me, and now our 2 parents working fulltime/1 child in school fulltime feels everyday and normal, rather than new and interesting, like it did last year. I am working at a school that is mere moments away by car, and for this I am very grateful. Ruby fully enjoys Mi Escuelita and for this I am grateful, too.

Ruby achieved a few firsts this summer. They may not seem terribly impressive, but to me, the sappy mom, they are momentous. Her first "first" was achieved at Daran's brother's in Michigan. After napping in one of the kids' bunk beds, she decided she wanted to spend the whole night in one. That meant sharing a bed with a cousin, which she did, delightedly. So, Ruby bunked with Grace, her 11-year old cousin, in an upper bunk (she slept on the inside). I considered it a first "sleepover" even though D and I were in the next room.

The next "first" happened on our way back from Michigan. We all shared one hotel room!!! OK, I know this is really not all that exciting to most, so feel free to skip this paragraph if you want. Ruby's always been a particular sort of sleeper, and we have acquiesed to this particularity in the interest of getting a good night's sleep, which has become a matter of great importance since Ruby was born, especially for me, a light sleeper, prone to insomnia, and all that. In travels past, we have booked a suite when staying in a hotel, so that the lil' one could get to bed at her decent hour and we could stay up later, as needed. But, our desire to bargain-hunt gained the forefront this time 'round and we tried out a regular ole' hotel room. Ruby went to bed a little later than usual, I went to bed a little earlier than usual, Daran had only the glow of the computer screen to light his way and I won't say sleep aids weren't used (by me). And we survived!

Finally, today Ruby attended her first "drop-off" birthday party. I have off-and-on wondered when this phenomenon would occur. (I didn't think it would be so soon!) But, one of Ruby's good friends from school (turning 3) invited her to a party where parents were not required. I researched some thrift shops in Durham (where the party was to be held), delivered her to the party and headed, somewhat nervously, off. I thrift-shopped and returned 2 hours later to find Ruby with a new princess dress, tiara, jewelry, stickers and magic wand and full of pizza and ice cream and cake.

And now for a few more pictures:

Ruby and Henry


Ruby and Belly (and popsicle)

The blog has fallen on hard times

I accidentally clicked the link to 740 News and see we are coming up on three months since the last post - my word! Somebody make a post!

We intend to post video of the new kitchen (I'm having trouble authoring DVDs at the moment and I have no room on my hard drive for more video). Suffice to say the kitchen turned out great. Ruby is in one of her better behaved phases right now, just chugging right along. Kirsten returned to work and has her own classroom with windows to the outside. Football season has started. Life is good.

Garden firsts

Today: first green bean and first cherry tomato.
A few days ago: first raspberry.

Summer Swimming Season

June 1 means summer is here, for better (Kirsten) or worse (me). One thing we like to do is take Ruby to the public pool about a mile from our house. Here is a video clip of Ruby finding the courage to jump into the pool where her encouraging mother awaits. I filmed this using our 5-year-old camera that has no audio. The silent clip kinda reminds me of an old home movie.

Big Beetle

Just a few quick shots of short-haired Ruby befriending a huge wood beetle:




A closer look at that haircut:


We'll be back later for photos and tales of our kitchen renovation!

We're still here!!!

Zoiks! Over 2 months since our last post! Time for a few updates.

1. Ruby is totally potty trained. No more posts about that. I promise.

2. Daffodils. We bought into a backyard of naturalized daffodils when we bought our house. Ever since we've lived here, there have been hundreds and hundreds of daffodils at the bottom of our steep downhill backyard, different varieties blooming at different times for weeks upon weeks of daffodil viewing pleasure. I carved out a decent path to the bottom and Ruby and I spent some good quality time down there this spring.





3. Brad. Ruby also got some quality time with Brad, as you can see. And Brad is going to remodel our kitchen!

4. Our kitchen. Next time you visit, please feel free to make some toast while in the bathroom. We're remodeling the kitchen. It's gonna be AWESOME, but in the meantime, if anyone wants to invite us over for dinner to save us from culinary and household disaster, and an overabundance of paper plates in the compost pile, we won't say no.

5. In the Garden. All the time I should have spent researching appropriate refrigerators and flooring have been spent on the garden. I can't stay away! Dirty garden gloves at every corner! Spring is such a wonderful, yet misleading, time of year. Everything greens up beyond your wildest dreams. You begin to feel you have the most incredible garden EVER!!! Then July hits and you get 800 days of no rain and temps over 100. 2007 - lesson learned. Don't get your hopes up. Don't go buying a chest freezer for all those tomatoes you'll never harvest. Buy canned tomatoes, frozen beans. And never let April fool you again.

6. But seriously, the garden looks great. I'm (foolishly) hopeful. I made a pea trellis that peas will grow upon and that Ruby (only) can walk through and pick peas at her leisure. Radishes have been ready for the picking for weeks now. Carrots starting to show themselves. Lots of tomato and pepper seedlings planted and awaiting consistent warmth. Beans popping through. Schwester Cate's Jerusalem artichokes are coming to life. Irises out of control, including a nice new yellow one from friend Caroline.

7. In the wild. Poor dogwood in front of our window. It's about out of life. Any suggestions for a beautiful tree that doesn't grow too terribly slowly, grows in low light, and can tolerate drought? We're gonna need to replace this one soon. I thought: redbud, but I guess they're kinda weedy-looking? Also, tent caterpillars are making their marks on the cherry trees of the 'hood and also on some happy preschool teachers. (To explain - Ruby captured a few caterpillars right before they made their cocoons in her critter cage. She took the cage to school for Show and Tell and her teacher, Fabiola, was ecstatic! She'd been teaching the kids about caterpillars, even teaching them the song Cucinita Pepe (=Pepe the Caterpillar) Ruby is now obliged to keep the cage at school until they emerge from their cocoons).

8. Ruby. She's still in a delightful period of equilibrium. I try every day to remember that she won't always be so cute, so loving, so innocent. But today she is, and I try to savor the moment.

I think eight updates is enough. G'night!

As promised...

...hopefully, our final post about potty training:

And again, a warning - if you don't care to read about Ruby's bathroom goings-on, then don't read this post.

Anyway, remember way back when, when I said that Ruby had finally done the #2 deed in the pot and I felt that my day had come? My day hadn't come - that was just a teaser.

The one good thing I can say about the PTing process with Ruby is that she never had accidents - never, ever, ever. (OK, maybe once). She was the type to hold it in til she had a diaper on. Yeah yeah, I've written about this before. But I'm tellin' ya, there was no way to deny that girl a diaper. There just wasn't. Trust me.

So, once #1 had been achieved we knew what our next hurdle was. We figured one day she'd just decide to do #2 in the pot (like she had with #1) and that would be that. Well, by this point in the story she's 3 and everyone's looking at us askance. No, actually, no one was but I felt askance about it and just wanted it done!

At some point, my mom gave me an article by John Rosemond (whom we both sort of love and hate for his practical but sarcastically delivered parenting advice), the jist of which said to corral your kid in the bathroom til they go. This did not work. One can't poop when hysterical. So much for that.

So, onto the next little trick. The cut-up pull-up. For anyone reading this who hasn't diapered a child in a little while, a pull-up is basically a diaper without the straps on the side. It's like underwear with absorbent diaper-stuff inside.

So where were we? Ruby would do her deed in a diaper or pull-up, but not straight on the potty. She'd be in the bathroom, sitting on her potty, but had to have a diaper on. So, I first cut a big enough hole in the pull-up so that things could be deposited into the potty. That went well enough. I gradually made the hole bigger and bigger until the only step left was to cut the legholes off altogether, leaving us with a wide waistband:



And all is well! That's right, in order to poop in the potty, Ruby just pulls this "diaper" on (like a belt! HAHAHA!!!) and sits down and takes care of business. If you carefully inspect the picture, as I'm sure you're wont to do, you might notice some first aid tape which I used to seal the cut edges, lest some absorbent granules fall out on the floor and make a mess.

My plan is to gradually reduce the width of the waistband until even Ruby realizes how ridiculous it is to be putting on this accessory before using the john and then we can call it 100%.

Hey Jude

Have you seen this? A must for Beatles fans or Korean toddler fans:

Guess what?

It's photo catch-up time again! So, without further ado...

In the fall, we had French doors put in connecting the living room and the deck. Here's the doors waiting to be put into place.

Cousins decorating cookies: 2 happy cousins and 1 sad cousin.
Now here's a happy cousin! New Dora and babies - what more could a gal want?


Doing the Santa Stomp! (Notice the nice light coming in through the new doors. Don't notice how we haven't yet primed and painted around the doors.)



Ruby's first sleepover with Iris (just kidding).
The blizzard of '08. Witness - you can barely make out the grass!
That's all for now. Stay tuned for a riveting post about how Ruby is ALMOST potty trained for #2!!!

The girls

I just thought this was a sweet picture of our sometimes-peaceable kingdom.

Music

I want to make a post about the music I heard in 2007 and what I think about it. I'm inspired because I'm trying to put together a CD for SIL Cate because she sends us music all the time. The band names are usually links to their myspace page and the album names are You Tube song links. I recommend clicking the record name links and the links in the paragraphs for the Youtubes. There's some great stuff out there!

This is some of the 2007 music I heard:

1. Nicole Atkins & the Sea - Neptune

I really love this record. I think it's her first and I'm not sure where I picked up on her but I didn't see it mentioned on any year-end lists. Says they're from "Brooklyn & Jerz" on the myspace so I'm not sure where we met but I feel like I got really lucky. As I get older it seems very difficult to find a new artist who doesn't sound just like several others who've already mined the genre for the interesting material. Nicole Atkins sounds very fresh to me and this record really stands out. Her Wikipedia page says she describes her music as "pop noir". She is playing Chapel Hill March 22 at 506 for 8 bucks - I love this town!

2. Teddy Thompson - Upfront & Down Low

Teddy is the son of Richard and Linda Thompson. I'd never heard of him before but heard him briefly interviewed on NPR and they played some of his music. His voice is incredible. His music is fairly straight forward country but he sounds very different to me. Reminds me of Dwight Yoakam and Chris Isaak but Thompson has an amazing sound all his own. I also have his 2005 record Separate Ways and I might like that even better. I've never been able to get into Richard Thompson but man, I never knew he had a son like this! Definitely gets my highest recommendation - 5 basketballs!

3. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black

Winehouse is somewhat of a disaster off stage but as far as musical talent she is in an elite class. Definite cognitive dissonance when you hear her sing and then see her picture. She sounds straight from Motown but she's actually a 24-year-old white Jewish chic from England. I've heard her dissed by some critics for mimicking 60's soul singers but she makes great sounding music. Something hard to find today. Back to Black is a supreme record.


4. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha

I haven't really listened to Andrew Bird much. He's one of those artists that I've heard great things about but never pursued. Maybe you've heard him; he often whistles in his songs but it sounds cool, not Bobby McFerrin-esque. He probably can seem high brow but this nation is returning to a higher brow, right? Andrew Bird stands out in the oceans of music out there.

5. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

This record is on every one's 'best of 2007' list. They're the kind of band critics love - literate, interesting arrangements, from Montreal - and they are great. I LOVED their first record 'Funeral' from 2004. Neon Bible sounds similar but not as fresh to me as when I heard Funeral. I can't describe music very well but I'd put this band in the alternative rock group but they are so much more interesting than anything on the radio under that banner. Great band who I hope to see live one day.

6. Band of Horses - Cease to Begin

Lots of buzz last year on this band from South Carolina. They have a sound that appeals to one of my main music receptors - melancholy, yearning, pensive feel and they combine it with an arena rock ensemble. But in the end it seems a little manufactured and inauthentic, or just not fully matured.

7. Beirut - The Flying Club Cup

Another band that I serendipitously discovered somehow. Their Wiki says the band leader Zach Condon is only 22 which is pretty impressive given the sophistication of this music. I have no idea how to describe them but Wiki says they "combine elements of Eastern European and folk sounds." That's sounds right but I would consider them a rock band of some kind, not folk. The instruments are cello/accordion/guitar/mandolin/ukulele/drums/violin/baritone sax/trumpet/organ/keys/euphonium! Alls I know is it sounds really cool and fresh.

8. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

Spoon is a great rock band from Austin, TX and I am very late to the scene here. I didn't hear them until their last record (thanks Marlo!), the outstanding Gimme Fiction, and I wasn't won over upon first listen. Their sound is distinctive (and uniform across cuts) and accessible but they seemed kind of gimmicky/trendy to my ears. But after repeated listens I've seen the light - Spoon is a great band! They remind me of Joe Jackson/Boz Scaggs, plus their groovy beats make for very danceable rock music. I'm embarrassed it took six records for me to finally catch up to these guys (similar story with another great Austin band, The Gourds).

9. Mavis Staples - We'll Never Turn Back

Wow, this record is really good. The songs are about the civil rights movement in the 60's, containing many traditional songs as well as a few originals. So we have a 68-year-old woman signing 1960's protest songs...not terribly exciting to this Gen X'er! But this record totally kicks ass - like, TOTALLY! Mavis Staples made a comeback a couple of years ago with a well-received record and then did this one with Ry Cooder. The arrangements on these songs are really incredible. It's swampy/bluesy/rockin soul music with incredible back beats driving it along. If you have a good speaker system with your desktop or earphones to plug into your laptop you should check out this Youtube video of Eyes on the Prize. It's my favorite song on the record and the footage is a powerful reminder of what a different world it was back then - it's shocking stuff. My current ultimate fantasy is for Obama to win the nomination and have Mavis Staples play the Democratic Convention, bringing down the house with this song. Chills!

Okay, I'm gonna just throw the rest out there with a word or two because I didn't realize I heard this much music this year.

• Lucinda Williams - West: Good. Much like her other stuff but I liked several of her records better.
• My Morning Jacket - Okonokos Double Live Album: My favorite hard rock band. If you like MMJ you'll love this live record. I wish I was Jim James. While they rawk they don't take themselves too seriously.
• Neil Young - Live at Massey Hall: This is a concert from 1971 when Neil was 25. It is amazing how many classics he had written by then. I guess that happens when you're a genius. This is a great record and it has the concert video to go with it.
  
• The National - Boxer: Interesting sorta quite record. The singer has (I think) a baritone voice which is unusual for a rock band but they're much better than Midnight Oil! They made one of my favorite songs last year, Start a War.
• Townes Van Zant: He died January 1 1997 and I never really caught up to him until last week. I knew he was a legendary song writer and one of Lucinda Williams greatest influences (she wrote Drunken Angel about him) but that's all I knew. We watched Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt the other night and it blew me away. I now love him.
• Update! One more I want to mention
  
• Levon Helm - Dirt Farmer: Levon Helm was the drummer for The Band and sang many of their great songs like Up On Cripple Creek. He was stricken with throat cancer in the 1990's and after long and difficult treatment he beat it but his vocal chords were damaged and he couldn't sing anymore. But a few years ago he was able to start singing a little and then last Fall he made Dirt Farmer. It's really really good! I mean really good!
  

Costochondritis

Ever heard of it? I hadn't either. It means "my ribs hurt like heck." (Consider me your personal Web MD). Nothing's broken, nothing dramatic like that. It's simply an inflammation in the space where the bones of your ribs connect to the cartilage, or some such thing. This "itis" began when I coughed too hard back in December. I remember that after a particularly rough coughing fit, I felt a pain in my ribs. Well, that pain continued unabated but not too badly and without much incident til last night, when I felt a "pop" after getting up off the floor. Intense pain followed, followed by a call to the doc, followed by some prescription pain meds. Xrays followed this morning, followed by a visit to the doc who told me it could be 2 months or more til I'm feeling all better. What followed next was a trip to CVS for some Aleve. Now I'm feeling a bit better and anticipating returning to work tomorrow. All's well that ends well.

Here's a cute picture of Ruby in her early days, just for the fun of it. This was her first bath. This picture is actually somewhat related to costochondritis, in that I had a bad coughing-cold right after Ruby was born. In fact, in other bath pictures in this series, you can see the dark chocolate that my dad gave me sitting on the ledge in the kitchen. Supposedly dark chocolate can lessen coughing. I should have thought of that a month ago.


(Look at those cute little fists!)

Happy 2008 Everyguys!

("Everyguys" being the way Ruby likes to address groups of people).

It is a beautiful sunny December afternoon after a good 24 hours of soaking rain, much needed in these parts these days. My version of coq au vin is simmering, ready for a quiet New Year's Eve dinner at home. Ruby is taking a much-needed long nap, after waking up at 5:15 this morning (what the heck Ruby? thanks Daran for getting up with her). Me, I'm in the middle of employment positions, after deciding that Efland maybe was a little far to drive everyday, my new job being a lot closer (1 mile) and oh, there were some other reasons too. I'm enjoying the extra long break afforded by being in job transition.

Ruby is now three; birthday pictures to come. She's in a period of equilibrium, as predicted by the authors of some of my favorite child development books. The books are called "Your One Year Old" or "Your Two Year Old" and so on. They're from the seventies and one of the authors' last names is Ilg. But what really sticks with me from these books is that young kids go through periods of equilibrium and disequilibrium, with the disequilibrium happening around the half-years. Ruby having just turned three is solidly in a period of equilibrium; thank goodness for that. I've read these books from the start and the authors have never made the case for such a bad case of the half-year disequilibrium blues as the 3.5 year old, so we have something to look forward to, I guess!

But for now, Ruby is mostly all sugar and spice. She's good with manners to a fault, excusing herself with every burp and fart. She has apologized to me numerous times for breaking the sugar holder part of her new tea set (her loss, I say) and thanks me at almost every turn. Tantrums, while not non-existent, have subsided greatly and she's overall just a fun companion, even in the wee hours of the morning, which seem to be her norm for waking these days.

Daran is working steadfastly at being able to put some video on our blogs, so stay tuned for that.


Meanwhile, enjoy this photo of Ruby. It's not our most recent (those are still on the camera, and if you haven't noticed by now, we're both a little lazy about the whole photos part of this blog) but in this photo I think she looks a lot like some kid out of a boy band, maybe like Zac Hanson of Hanson.

Smile Train

I have been looking around for a charity that I would feel good about giving money to on a regular basis. I haven't been too organized with my search and I haven't been trying too hard either, which gives me a gnawing feeling of stinginess . But I see and hear many pleas for money, so many that I'm overwhelmed and a little paralyzed. My giant cynical side makes me suspicious of most pleas; and I worry my donation won't be used wisely or it will be wasted.

One piece of mail that keeps catching my eye is the solicitations from the Smile Train. Maybe you've seen them too. It's the organization that (says it) provides free cleft surgeries to poor children around the world. There is always a "before" photo of a young child with a disfigured face, and the same child after cleft surgery. It's heart breaking and heart warming at the same time, and it really hits home with me. I can't seem to throw the flier in the recycle bin but I have also managed to not donate or check them out. Probably because they ask for $250 (for a whole surgery? doubt it!) and probably because it's for kids so far away that it might as well be another world.

Today I stumbled upon a blog post by Steven Levitt, the Freakonomics guy. In it he answers all the questions I've had about Smile Train that have kept me from acting on my better impulses. Turns out Smile Train is probably the model charitable organization. They use 100% of the donation for the surgery, and he tells how they are able to do these surgery so cheaply. It's really an amazing story and you should read it (it's very short). I'm so happy that Smile Train turns out to be truly fantastic!

So if you're like me and have been looking for an organization to which you can contribute without any reservations whatsoever and actually see results, check them out. You don't have to contribute $250 either, any amount is welcomed; I think they publish the 250 number to show how little it takes to provide a life changing surgery. And if you have a charity you already love please tells us about it in comments!

Merry Christmas!

Ruby-Photo-Catch-up

Some shots of Ruby's Halloween party at school:

Bowling, toddler-style

Going somewhere, holding hands with a classmate and looking up at daddy

Circle time

Pin the nose on the clown. Good times!

The ball tunnel


Later that evening, we went trick or treating with a bunch of neighbors. Ruby got tired. Luckily we got her home in time for me to head out to ref my game.

This picture is from tonight. One of Ruby's favorite pastimes lately is to play with her stuffed animals ("aminals") and dolls - all of them. She carries all 47 from one part of the house to the other, sets them up just so, and then sits down amongst them to comfort, chide and love them. Tonight she discovered the joy of simply being in a pile of them.

Double Negative

When Ruby can't do something, she doesn't say "I can't do that" - no, she says "I don't can't do that." Truth be told, we really love this particular construction. Especially when she's desperate: "I don't can't ZIP IT!!!" or "I don't can't REACH IT!!!"

But she's also getting sensitive, very sensitive. Sometimes when she just says something cute or funny we might giggle a bit at her cuteness or funniness but mostly, she doesn't like this so much anymore. She can even be in a good or average mood, and she still doesn't like it. She will pout, crumple, whimper or cry.

Also, being that she's two going on three, we often have to remind her of the rules: "Don't stand on the toilet, that's the rule." Very often her retort will be "That's not the rule, that's the problem!" Huh?

And now to change the subject:

Did you know that when produce is on sale at Harris Teeter as "buy one get one free" you don't actually have to buy 2? They'll give you the half price discount even if you just buy one! Produce only, though! I like this; it's hard to use 2 heads of cauliflower before it goes bad. I've been shopping at HT for 18 years or something and just found this out. Thought you all might like to know.

Success Number Two!

Or perhaps I should have said, Success with Number Two!

For those of you who aren't totally done with my play by play on Ruby's toileting, we had the ultimate and final success of pottydom tonight - the much-sought-after poop in the potty!

Her "number one" training is over - she's there 100%. Ever since my tentative post last week, she hasn't missed a beat. And then tonight, she took the next and final step. Sigh.

There's something about this particular development which really makes me feel differently about Ruby. She really does seem like a big girl now. Even when she screams all the way home from school because I didn't bring apple juice, or she sheds crocodile tears over a routine fall in the hallway, or gets scared of the washing machine, or still needs her pacifier to go to sleep, she now seems like a different kid to me. She's left babyhood and its most smelly trappings behind.

And of course you were right, Hallie.

Tentative Toilet Success

I only say tentative because I don't want to jinx myself, but I'll take the risk. Last night, Ruby initiated and successfully completed a trip to the potty. Tonight she went THREE times. I forgot to ask what she did today at school, peepee-wise, but I'm betting she starts going regularly here and there. She told me tonight she doesn't want to wear diapers anymore. She sounded pretty sure of herself. I'm pretty darn proud of her, my little growing up girl.

School Dayz

Ruby and I are both well into a fresh new school year, so I thought it was time for a little update on how everything is going.

As you may recall, Ruby attends Mi Escuelita Spanish Immersion Preschool. We are still very happy with her school, and she seems to be as well. Now that she's a full time little student, her spanish has really taken off. We mostly witness this in the form of song (a drawback being that I don't recognize a lot of the songs she sings and can't join in) and it's really cute. Also, she likes to tell us "manitos abajos!" frequently at dinnertime, which means "little hands under the table" - something she's told at mealtime when all the little estudiantes are being served but before it's time to eat. Unfortunately, she likes to order around with this edict in the middle of dinner and we have to remind her that it's time for "manitos arribas."

Other spanish utterances include "Que paso?" and "Como estas?" and other random vocabulary.


She's adapted well to the schedule of school, naps and eats well, and sits on the potty. Sits on - not uses - but hey. She rarely comes home and tantrums anymore and is in fact quite chipper, which takes a load of guilt off of me. Fortunately, Daran drops her off in the morning, and they often don't make it in til 9 or so, so she gets in some good daddy time before being shipped out. And I can pick her up on the early side, usually by 4:15 or so. Her full time day isn't too terribly long.

And me? I have started a new job and a new school year as well. Working for Orange County Schools is a lot different than Chapel Hill and I'll leave it at that. In general, I like getting up and out in the morning, and having something different to do than what I've been doing for the past 2.5 years. I'll admit, going back to work has been easier than I predicted, on a number of levels. Of course, no one's gotten sick yet.

I do have to wake up earlier than I used to (especially on Mondays when I have to be at an Efland elementary school at 7:25) but I find I don't mind it too much. Other lifestyle changes: I take my 4 daily vitamins with me to work and often swallow them while driving or teaching, thus multitasking! I have to pick out my outfits the night before and set them in the bathroom so I don't wake anyone up getting dressed. I don't have a daily 2.5 hours of naptime in which to make dinner, straighten up the house, or just veg, so we've been doing more Morningstar Spicy Black Bean Burgers than before and you may notice a little more dust on the furniture than in the recent past. These are the new realities of my new life. But I love not having to tutor in the evenings and on Saturdays and once I'm home, it's all my/our time. And then there's all that MONEY!!!


And now, for a product endorsement: liquid bandage. I've been thinking about posting about this stuff for some time now, but keep forgetting. I get a lot of little cuts on my fingers (don't know why) and I hate wearing bandaids anywhere on my hands because they get wet and nasty. With liquid bandage, you just paint it on and it keeps that little booboo shut and protected. It will peel off after about a day, but just keep painting it on til it's past the bandaid stage. It's great stuff.

Numero tres

Potty training is going very slowly, but I am happy to report that Ruby went for a 3rd time today, at school, hence the spanish title of this post.

Back later with more tales of Ruby's and my schooldays.