a non-update

Our Internet connection seems to have stopped working at home, so I'm just writing this for my loyal fans to let you know, in case you don't see anything new the next few days. This weekend E and I are off to the beach with 2 friends, and next week I'm on "vacation" at my parents' house. I'm planning to spend a few days trying to be a Writer, while E will probably spend the time climbing stairs with her grandparents and picking up sticks in their yard.

few more pictures

Grandma Mickey and Grandpa Bud visited in March.

Grandma Mickey let me play with her camera!

Ohhhhhhh....

Is this how you take a picture?

Grandma Mickey reads to me. We're both worried about Dennis the Menace's crazy antics.

This was my grandma's birthday and none of us remembered it!
HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!

And here's one more picture from the park.

I can get on the teeter-totter by myself and make it bounce too.

the tykes support Virginia Tech

Our hero and heroine spent the day together Friday and we tried to dress them in maroon and orange in support of Virginia Tech - it was a nationwide observance I think.

"rock rock"

The playpen on its side makes a funhouse for Victor, but Emma still thinks it's for taking naps. That's the tv remote that she's holding.

V in a still moment, considering E's quiet influence. Later he tried - for a moment or two - curling up in there by himself, but he really didn't experience the fun she promised.

miss self-sufficient

E has come a long way in self-feeding. And she's learned the camera-ham smile.

If I had only turned the jar around I could have sent this to Gerber!

noticed the doll

This morning E was walking down the hall where a doll she's never played with was deposited after having the cat vomit washed off its butt. She was on her way to her room to do something, but she turned her head and noticed, for the first time since Christmas, this doll. She stopped, looked at it, picked it up and hugged it to her neck, and then carried it against her chest like a baby into her room.

I don't even know where she learned to do that. Either someone else has shown her what to do with a doll, or she's suddenly clicked that it represents a baby and she's treating it that way. It reminds me of the day the puppy I had suddenly had a need to bury his toy -- some kind of instinct kicking in. But of course maybe David and Erma play dolls with Emma all the time and I just don't know about it.

migraine day

My hormonal migraine hit one day off of prediction. This time the headache was not as bad but the nausea was worse. I saw the doctor about this on Friday and there are several things I can try. I'm going to try taking magnesium supplements daily and a very low-dose estrogen patch for the few days before my period - the migraines are caused by a drop in estrogen. Other options, in case you're wondering, include a migraine drug taken 24 hours before you expect the headache, and various types of birth control.

Luckily David was able to handle everything today, even getting up at 6 am to feed Emma breakfast. She lay in bed with me a little bit and I thought that was going to be sweet and nice, but then she started slapping my face while she sucked her thumb! And all the rolling over with elbows digging in my stomach didn't help the nausea.

They went to the park in the afternoon, and by the time they got back, about 4 pm, I had tentatively surfaced and made it to the kitchen for some saltines and fresh water.

First things first, find some good carrying sticks.

Yay, I got great sticks, but Daddy wouldn't let me go on the slide with them; so I just posed.

On the old-fashioned merry-go-round. Our park may be the last to have these metal "hazards" but I kind of like them.

oopsie! (David did go help her, after he took the picture!)

First scraped knee. She seemed to have forgotten about it, so I decided not to interfere with a band-aid.

Earth Day Festival

Earth Day is actually next weekend, but our city had its celebration yesterday. Grandma and Grandpa were stopping through town so they went with E and me. David stayed home -- he has the cold now.

strolling in happiness

at the taxidermy exhibit of NC wildlife (raccoon in a cypress swamp)

selecting small sticks

beside the solar cooker, holding her sticks

enjoying running around outside on the Earth

We also went inside the library that's in the park here, took a nature trail, and practiced stepping on and off curbs in the parking lot. This 17-month-old had a wonderful time. She was so tuckered out that when I put her down for a nap at 4:30 when we got home, she slept right on through the night!

music lesson

We had a friend's daughter over for dinner last night, J. She's a year older than E. I taught her how to get a noise out of the old trumpet David has lying around. E was thoroughly impressed.

short video - amusing and meaningful

(video is less than 2 minutes)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8453442377878175440

I hadn't heard of Blue Man Group til I saw this. They look like fun.

joy of crayons

Did you know Crayola makes jumbo-sized, washable crayons? The marks wipe right off of floors, tables, apparently walls though E hasn't discovered them yet. She loves to climb on a chair at the dining table and sit and "color," sort papers, or read a camera manual or pocket calendar. This means another lifestyle change for me. The dining table is no longer a safe storage area! This is probably a healthy change.

Easter part 1

Scenes from the egg hunt at our church...

I don't know if she's dancing or looking at something, but she's clutching her treasures: a rock and a stick.

Wait, that's not a rock. It's a dirty piece of styrofoam.

But no less a treasure!

The egg hunt was in the graveyard. There were lots of other kids, but they don't appear in this picture. They were off finding the eggs -- we never saw a one!

I guess some people think it's creepy to have an Easter egg hunt in the graveyard, but I think it's kind of nice. Easter is about resurrection, triumph over the grave, right? And besides, death is part of life and we should get as comfortable with it as we can. I bet all those souls (who of course aren't still there in the ground) are tickled to see little kids running around having fun.

Easter part 2

This was her Easter outfit. She's playing with the Lego's and toy cars of our friends Patrick and Sean.

A charming view of E climbing onto the computer chair, with 2 pieces of Easter candy.

first carnival

Today we went with Victor's family to the kids' carnival at the coliseum. Saw some other friends there too.

Victor rode the Panda Chase all by himself - what a big boy!

Emma was exhausted even before she got to ride any rides. This non-expression was on her face most of the time, but I could tell she still enjoyed it.

wheeeee!

And now for a ride on a real pony! His name was Andy. They went surprisingly fast.

We also went down a burlap-sack slide but didn't get pictures of that. And we stood in line for the helicopter whirl thing but found out that us adults were too big to get on.

creative way to help people

Yesterday I found a website for Kiva (www.kiva.org) and am now telling everyone about it. Kiva partners with non-profits in the developing world who do "microcredit" (loaning small amounts of money), and provides a website profiling different entrepreneurs in these countries and allowing individuals anywhere in the world to loan them money. You can loan as little as $25, and most of the loans seem to be around $1,000. When enough small loans are raised to meet the total needed, the microcredit organization (all of these are vetted and approved by Kiva) gives the money to the local person and they are able to set up or expand their small business. The businesses include bakeries, tailor shops, refreshment stands, bicycle repair, shoe stores, etc.

Then the hard working business people set to earning money to pay back the loan, a little bit at a time. So if you give your $25, you get paid back (without interest). It's not donating, it's loaning. There's photos of all the entrepreneurs and details about the organization doing the financing, and there are journal updates posted on the person's progress. A small amount of money goes a long way in places like Samoa, Senegal, or Azerbaijan. Microlending is a huge benefit to women, especially. It's a way for them to gain some economic power, a bit of independence, and to care for their families. And microloans are almost always paid back -- I've heard there are much fewer defaults (hardly any, ever) among poor people than among more wealthy people. It's not high-risk lending.

These people know "how to fish". This is just loaning them money to buy poles and bait!

A journalist from the New York Times loaned some money and then went to Afghanistan to meet the person he loaned to, and he wrote about the experience. (Go to the website above and you'll see a link on the home page to his video clip.)

You can lend with your credit card or use PayPal to transfer the money. I'm going to set up an account and get started! I'm loaning $25 to a seamstress in Mexico.

cold

Not much news this morning. E caught my cold over the weekend. It seemed like a really long incubation - I was starting to tell people she escaped it. Guess that was the jinx....

updates

(despite what it says at bottom, this post was written in the afternoon and evening)

E is calling "Daddy" to get his attention now. It sounds like Dah-ee or even Diiii (long i). And she'll say the sound "Mom" but the two or so times I've thought she was calling me were so isolated that I'm not sure. But I guess she really never needs to call me. I'm always there, anticipating, noticing.

She eats pretty well with a spoon and gets the idea of the fork, but when she gets tired, her hands go in the bowl. She loves to hold the bowl and the spoon, and to tip the bowl up and try to drink from it. Her tastes are changing some. No more pasta please, but the more bagels the better -- dry is just fine thank you.

Because I've had a cold, she knows what tissues are for now and will pretend to blow her nose. She even took a tissue over to one of her stuffed animals and let him blow his nose. I can sometimes get her to put in her own saline drops, and insert the aspirator in her nose for me. But then she insists that she do it to me too (ick).

She likes to try on shoes - anyone's. This picture is with Grandpa Bud's shoes.

She wants to go outside all the time, and climb on everything. Today she learned to grab my finger and lead me around like an overgrown puppy. I felt like Clifford the big red dog.

Inside, the thing she wants to do the most is play on my computer. It's getting dangerous. I keep coming over and seeing the Control Panel open, or some confirmation box for a downloaded something or other. This afternoon I held her attention for a few minutes here at the computer by playing videos from "Catster" (it's like MySpace for cats - www.catster.com ).