update

Surgery time tomorrow is 12:15, have to be there at 10 am.

Home Thursday night. Blogging again...??? We'll see.

E was happy to leave with her grandparents tonight, so excited. That was less traumatic than I feared. In fact it wasn't traumatic at all. It went very well for all of us, I think.

Talk to you soon.

tedium

I try to take care of one simple to-do on the list, renew my anti-virus subscription. But it aborts partway through because I don't have enough free disk space. I have deleted all the programs that I don't use, or tried to. I guess I have too many photos and movies on here. I started trying to archive them all to cd, but it is SO tedious! (to try to do it in an organized fashion) And it won't let me move things into folders or delete them off the cd. I bought a dvd burner so I could put loads and loads of photos on a disk, but I don't have enough free disk space to install it either! I've been sitting here for an hour with nothing to show for it, which I could have used in a much better way tonight. Bleahhh.

Plumber comes tomorrow to start replacing the water main. Surgery in 2 days. E has been sick. I had a migraine on Friday and a cold all week before that. When it rains it pours. Only a few of you are probably at all interested to read this kind of update, but oh well, I feel less lonely when I type to you all!

surgery - small update

I had my pre-op appointment yesterday. I have to call the night before surgery to find out what time it's scheduled for and what time to arrive. It will probably take up to 4 hours. I'll stay in one night; usually people get discharged around late afternoon.

This morning E asked to see my breast scar again, my boo-boo. I mentioned to her that I'll have a different boo-boo next week and she whined that she liked this one and didn't want a different one!

preparation for surgery

I realized I needed to talk to E about not kicking mommy in the chest when we do a diaper change!

She's been learning the difference between a hit and a pat, and tries to figure out where the line is between them.

at Pop's pond

The kids loved throwing pine cones in the water. What a peaceful place this is when it's not yellow-fly season.

playing at cousin's house

sports fan?

Today out of the blue E said, "Mine want to watch football game!"

So when we got home I pulled up YouTube and asked her if she wanted to watch American football or rest-of-the-world football. She butchered it but she chose the latter option. Turned out neither game satisfied her. She liked basketball better but still whined eventually. Marie had told us about garbage truck videos on YouTube and those really pleased her, especially the one set to loud music with instant replays (Garbage Truck Time! it was called - some parent made that for sure).

Before this we had been to take a walk, where E spent all the time picking blades of grass or throwing things into the lake. The throwing practice was very good for her though. That's one area where she isn't very precocious. She also discovered helicopter seeds and tried to scrape bird poo splats off the asphalt path because they looked like star stickers.

one way to wear them out

video from our farm trip - running on this old metal trailer made such a cool loud noise

amazing yourself

Thank you, Helen, for channeling your new running hobby toward a cure for breast cancer!

mine drive a few minutes

E drives a boat, a lawnmower, and a moving tractor.

misc.

Sorry I haven't been posting much. This was a productive weekend. I went back to yoga after 2 years and it was quite a workout. With LOTS of help (thank you all!) our hallway got painted yesterday. It looks great - it looks CLEAN. Funny that E had a new game just the same day: scratch the hall wall with her fingernails to pretend to be getting ice out of a fridge-door ice dispenser. Yes, the paint was dry, but it bothered me - for the sound of fingernail scraping if nothing else.

My own words I now hear coming back at me:

"hold still"
"just ONE bite"
"be right back"
"hmm?"
"... for a FEW minutes"
"drink!" (holding sippy cup to my mouth and other hand to back of my head)
"No, (you've) watched tv all MORNING" (I use as reason for no more tv. She used as reason for not watching a new and different video that she assumed she wouldn't like.)

Next post (if I remember): thoughts on "independence"

more pics and update

More pictures from the farm trip. Victor loved the tractors and equipment. E just loves to drive.

First day in "preschool" (i.e. group daycare) went well. She didn't nap, but she rested. She told me, "Teacher gave me a snack!" When I asked what it was, I think she said "flowers". She played with puzzles and in the sand outside. During the few minutes I stayed in the morning, she went up to a girl sitting by herself and asked "Want to play puzzle with me?" I didn't have any idea that she knew how (or cared) to go up to someone and ask them to play! But this was completely spontaneous, out of the blue. The girl obviously wanted to be left alone so she didn't answer and E wasn't offended - in fact I don't think she waited for an answer. She also tried to give the girl a blue wooden bead she found. She tried to pry the girls fingers open and place it in her hand, without saying a word. The girl was stoic. When I explained the girl probably didn't want the bead, E gave up with no hard feelings.

Last night she seemed to be running through all the songs they had sung: Ring around the Rosies, Pat-a-Cake, Row Row Row Your Boat, and London Bridge (maybe - she said "Mommy sing don-don," and it wasn't Frere Jacques she wanted).

going to see boys

E starts pre-school (group daycare) today! They called yesterday and said they have a space on Tuesdays and Thursdays like I wanted, starting immediately, so here we go. I drove E by the building on the way home last night and she cried because she couldn't go in (she was crying about everything last night). We visited before, all 3 of us, but it was in January or December, so I don't know how much she remembers. One of the things the teacher told us at that visit though was that she would be glad to have a little girl in the 2 year old class because all she had was boys. And last night when E and I were talking about going there today, E said "Mine going to see boys."

I know she's ready for this, but I'm nervous, because it's a big change for her. I wish I could stay with her all day but I don't want to set that precedent. When I told her I would go to work while she stayed there and played, she whined, of course. I hope she'll eat her fruit at lunch and drink enough water. Wish I could be a fly on the wall!

My surgery is April 30th, so hopefully E will be comfortable with this new routine by the time I disrupt it! :) She will still go to Miss Erma's house on Mondays and Wednesdays.