Kiesa's Mutterings

Ever noticed that every so often I get serious about my grocery store habit? I'm once again trying to cut back. Also, I'm trying to get rid of all the extra ingredients I have around our house so I don't have to move or trash them. I've decided to go ahead and cook all my dried beans and then freeze them. I use dried beans fairly often but sometimes run out of time so I grab the canned ones. However, freezing works well when I'm organized enough to do it. My slow cooker lets me cook them without paying too much attention to the process.

You'll notice that both Brussels sprout and asparagus are still on the menu even though they're high cost vegetables. That's because they're one of three vegetables Calvin consistently eats, the other being broccoli. He refuses to touch sweet potatoes though I keep trying. Yes, our child is weird.

• Sunday - Sicilian Lentil Soup


• Monday - Aloo Gobhi with Naan


• Tuesday - Garbanzo Pot Pie with Broccoli


• Wednesday - Southern Style Black Eyed Peas, Toasted Millet, and Brussels sprout


• Thursday - Leftovers


• Friday - Chick peas with a coconut sauce and asparagus


• Saturday - Spaghetti with Edamame and bread

Every day I think, "I should write an update for my life." However, by suppertime I'm rarely coherent enough to write anything. I don't feel coherent at the moment either but should probably jot some sentences down.

Not surprisingly, life got very busy around the holidays.

• Work got a little insane in the rush to try to finish every project before the last two weeks of December when it's hard to get anything useful done.


• It seems a tradition that Calvin have problems sleeping in November/December. This year was no exception. As a result, I often ended up too tired to get up any earlier than I absolutely had to. Unfortunately, this basically eliminated my morning exercising which makes the rest of the day seem less productive.


• The Logan's all congregated here for Christmas. It was a tight squeeze but mostly worked.


• This was the first year that Calvin really got into Christmas. Though, he doesn't seem to know what to think about a person dressed like Santa Claus yet. Jaeger and I aren't big proponents of presenting Santa as "real" but it's incredibly hard to get everyone else on board with this philosophy. In any case, Calvin really enjoyed the presents and got more than is probably good for him


• After Christmas, we went to visit my parents in Washington. Calvin got Christmas part 2. My mom went a little crazy with buying Duplos on ebay and as such, Calvin now has a fantastic Duplo collection. I don't think Duplos can ever be better than Legos but we still have enough pieces to do reasonable projects now. For example, the train viaduct Jaeger built for Calvin. Calvin can also to pretty reasonable projects at this point but still typically has structural integrity issues to deal with.


• Jaeger and I left Calvin with Grandma and went up to Seattle for a couple of days. It was nice to get away but I did have a bit of niggling worry in my head the entire time. I'm not much for big cities, Boulder is too big for my tastes, but Seattle seems pretty decent for a big city. I love the hills. I feel like I can get a good workout just walking a couple of blocks


• Saturday evening we got back to my mom's house and Calvin glued himself to me for the rest of the evening. In fact, he seems awfully clingy ever since. I'm starting to think the couple of alone days might not have been a good idea. This makes me nervous about our Hong Kong plans next year . . .


• Both the flight to and from Washington went really well. I think it may have been the best plan trip ever. Calvin didn't really fuss at all during the trip. Plus, we survived it all without any potty accidents. Calvin was amused by the airplane toilet which I think helped.


• Since we've gotten back, Calvin has been sleeping very poorly. He is taking forever to fall asleep and waking up in the middle of the night and insisting on sleeping with me. This is exhausting for everyone concerned.


• We're working on getting the house ready for sale. We're hoping to move down to north Boulder in spring or summer this year. We've been donating boxes of stuff that for some reason we thought we needed at one point and now know we don't. It's amazing how much junk we've accumulated. It's really true that your stuff expands to fit whatever space you have available.

I've sure much more has been happening but my brain isn't cooperating and coming up with any more bullet points. Calvin continues to be cute, frustrating, and lovable. Sometimes I alternate between exasperation and pride within seconds of each other. At least he keeps our life interesting.

Downs

• Calvin's temper has gotten worse the last month or so. I think a lot of this has to do with not getting enough naps. However, some of it is probably just being 2 1/2. I'm working on deciding what behavior I let slide and what I think is unacceptable. It's tricky. I think this is one of the big upsides to being in a relationship when you have a child, you have someone else to brainstorm with you and tell you when a stance is reasonable or not worth the effort.


• I started exercising more consistently after daylight savings ended. That extra hour was helpful for both Calvin and I. However, this last week has been pretty bad. I don't think I've gotten up early to exercise since before Thanksgiving.

Ups

• We had swim class today and Calvin participated in most of the exercises. Calvin loves playing in the water but actual classes are hit or miss because he usually doesn't want to follow someones else's schedule.


• When Jaeger got a raise this fall we assigned most of it to hiring bi-weekly housecleaning. It's so nice having someone else worry about dusting the piano, etc. The weeks they don't come I still clean the toilets and the bathtub but that doesn't take too long.


• I'm happy it's the Christmas season. I bought a fake Christmas tree this year with my expenditure allocation. Jaeger grumbled but told me I could put it up as long as I used my allowance for the tree. I really would prefer a real tree but Jaeger's mom told me it's really hard to keep a tree alive in Colorado and I wanted to put it up the day after Thanksgiving and not take it down till the New Year. It turns out that buying a tree this year was a good idea as the Logan's are going to be visiting us for Christmas instead of us having to travel to east Washington.

Cute Calvin Moments

• Calvin is excited about Christmas. I've wrestled with how to address the Santa Claus issue as I don't see any reason Calvin should believe in Santa Claus. I know people think you can't have a magical Christmas without Santa Claus but I don't agree. I never believed in Santa Claus and I always loved Christmas. However, I don't want Calvin going around and ruining other kids' day if their parents teach them Santa Clause is real. I've compromised by starting most sentences with "some people believe that Santa Claus . . . " We'll see how it goes.


• Calvin is picking up more of my speech patterns. It's weird hearing myself parroted back. When he drops something now he'll say, "Oh bother!"


• Calvin wants to help with everything. His two favorite phrases are, "I can do it" or "Can I help?" It's charming but would be much more useful if he was coordinated enough to do much.

I've been wanting to take Calvin to a concert, a play, or some other cultural event for a while. However, finding a child-friendly event at a good time of day, i.e. not at night, has been tricky. A couple of months ago I stumbled across Colorado Symphony's Drums of the World concert. It was for the last Sunday in November at 2:30 pm, a good time if Calvin isn't too cranky from lack of a nap. I put it on my calendar but didn't get tickets in case we ended up traveling for Thanksgiving.

By the time I went to buy tickets, it claimed that there weren't 3 seats placed together. Or, more precisely, the website failed every time I tried to buy 2 adults + 1 child but had no problem with 1 adult + 1 child. Jaeger seemed less than enthralled with the concert idea, probably fearing Calvin would throw a tantrum in the middle. I was also nervous at the prospect of taking a 2 1/2 year-old to a concert but it was specifically geared towards families so I figured this was as good a time as any to try it out. In the end, I just bought tickets for Calvin and I. Jaeger agreed to drive down with us and hang out in Denver during the concert then end the day at Watercourse restaurant.

The plan today was to leave for Denver as soon as I finished working, at 1:00 pm on Sundays. It did not start out auspiciously as Calvin completely refused to wear the outfit I thought was appropriate for the concert (think "business casual" for a toddler). In the end, we compromised on a Thomas the Tank Engine shirt with nicer pants. However, Calvin still wasn't happy and protested the entire way to the car. Given the clothing fracas, we were running later than I hoped. However, we got to Denver in plenty of time. Jaeger parked the car and walked us to Boettcher Concert Hall before departing for The Tattered Cover.

When I bought the tickets, I was trying to avoid the balcony areas for fear Calvin would try to launch himself over the edge. So, I paid for orchestra level seating and was surprised, and a little nervous, to discover we ended up in the 3rd row from the front. Normally, I'd consider this great but I was nervous Calvin would find it too loud. My fears appeared confirmed as the babble of voices, pre-concert, were loud enough for Calvin to insist that I cover his ears with my hands. An usher stopped by and asked if we'd like earplugs but Calvin threw a fit when I suggested he put them in his ears.

I had brought a small backpack in with us containing essentials such as his potty seat, books, etc. I had that in "Calvin's" seat as the seat backs were so high that Calvin couldn't see over them. When I sat Calvin in my lap, he was barely high enough to see the stage. They did have booster seats available but Calvin isn't very good with boosters. He tends to fall out of them because he wiggles so much. I tried reading one of the picture books to Calvin but all he wanted was to keep my hands over his ears. I made sure the backpack had all our stuff in it in case I had to grab it and go the instance the concert started.

The concert started with a piece called "Take That" composed by William Albright. The lights were dimmed with spotlights on two performers on the stage with 2 performers behind us in the audience. It was very dramatic and loud. To my surprise, Calvin uncovered his ears about half-way through the performance. By the second movement in "Threads", by Paul Lansky, Calvin was opening enjoying himself.

I felt myself relax until a couple of movements later when Calvin started insisting he needed to go potty. Normally, when he tells me this, I race him to the nearest restroom, no questions asked. However, we were in the middle of a concert. I asked him if he was sure, he was. I asked him if he could hold it until the next song was announced. He agreed but squirmed during the rest of "Threads." As soon as it was done, he and I raced, hopefully without too much notice, out of the concert hall to find the nearest restroom. I was amused to discover that we weren't alone as at least 4 other families also headed for the restrooms.

Unfortunately, we missed the next piece which sounded like it was fun. However, we made it in time for a piece titled "Martian Tribes" by Emmanuel Séjourné. It was fantastic. Probably Calvin's favorite. All four percussionists came out dressed wacky with knitted winter hats that looked like they had frog eyes on top. One person started playing the marimba and the others skulked around until their turn came and then they jockeyed with each other for space at the marimba. It's hard to explain but this video gives you an idea of what it sounded/looked like.

After that, they played a piece called "Eine Kleine Tischmusik" involving, among other things, wooden kitchen spoons to bang against a table. It turns out that kitchen spoons aren't as sturdy as drum sticks. Near the end, one performer was so enthusiastic that part of his spoon broke and went flying. There were several other pieces after this but I think Calvin was getting a little tired at that point. He didn't complain or anything but he laid back against me and didn't seem quite as into it as he had the first part. Of course, I thought he did very well for such a young child.

After the concert, we met Jaeger and went to Watercourse for supper. As usual, the food was great. Right as we were getting ready to go, Calvin lost it. I think the day had just been very long for him and he was ready for it to be over. We hurried him back to the car and had to forcible put him in his car seat. He hollered for a couple more minutes but then settled down. I was afraid that he was going to fall asleep but we managed to avoid this by finding an adulterated Thomas the Tank Engine story to download from the library and read to him (sometimes smart phones are worth their weight in gold).

All-in-all, I would say the concert experience with Calvin was a success. There were some nervous moments but it's something I'm ready to try and repeat again.

Someday I'm going to post more than just menus. However, this will have to wait till Calvin goes back to a normal sleep routine . . .

• Sunday: "Curried Squash Soup" from The Roasted Vegetable by Andrea Chesman with Steamed Asparagus and Bread


• Monday: "Millet and Chickpea Pilaf with Saffron and Tomatoes" from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison with Stuffed Acorn Squash and Halloween Candy (Double the Millet dish for freezing)


• Tuesday: Takeout


• Wednesday: "Ratatouille" from Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen (double for freezing)


• Thursday: Leftovers


• Friday: Braised Tofu with Wild Rice and Edamame in the Pod


• Spinach and Cheese Ravioli with Broccoli

• Sunday: Been Burritos (made extra to freeze)


• Monday: Garbanzo Pot Pie with Green Beans


• Tuesday: Takeout


• Wednesday: "Thai Tofu & Winter Squash Stew" from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison (try making double portion and freezing)


• Thursday: Leftovers


• Friday: "Tossed Spinach Lasagne & Goat Cheese Gratin" from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison (try making double portion and freezing)


• Saturday: Store-bought Ravioli or Spaghetti and Edamame

• Sunday: "Mathura Palak Paneer" and "Sesame-Flavored Green Tomatoes" from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer


• Monday: Variation of "Garden Paella" by Rose Murray


• Tuesday: Takeout


• Wednesday: "Stuffed Pumpkin" from Dr. Sukol's website and "Braised and Glazed Brussels Sprouts" from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman


• Thursday: Leftovers


• Friday: "Slow-Cooked Creamy Black Lentils with Whole Spices" by Raghavan Iyer with a variation of "Stir-Fried Okra with Tomatoes" by Suneeta Vaswani


• Saturday: Store-bought Spinach and Cheese Ravioli and Sauteed Spinach with Sesame Seed oil and Garlic

Additional Notes: Soak the beans for Friday overnight. Make a double recipe and freeze half for later.

When Calvin was an infant, the daycare center we found didn't offer part-time daycare for infants. So, even though I worked part-time, we paid for full-time daycare. Most of the time I'd pick him up after I finished work. However, since he was full-time, I basically was able to choose which set of hours during the day I wanted to work. Plus, if I was sick or for some reason got overloaded with work, I could keep him in for the full 8 hours. I got use to this flexibility.

As most of you know, Calvin has always been an intense child that needs to know he's the center of the universe. This makes it difficult to do anything useful when he's around. As a result, I got in the habit of taking an extra hour after I stopped working to clean the house or do other essential things such as pay bills. Once he graduated from the infant room, I debated changing him to part-time care. However, the cost savings weren't enough to off-set the work I wouldn't get done while he was home. Plus, Calvin only takes naps at daycare now. He probably hasn't taken a nap at home, unless he's in the car, for more than 6 months now. Apparently, Jaeger stopped his naps at 2. However, it's very obvious that Calvin still needs his nap. He's an absolute terror when he doesn't get one.

I mentioned that I can't do anything while Calvin is home, right? This includes supper preparation. I've tried all sorts of ways to get dinner on the table when Calvin is home but the only thing that actually works is letting him watch TV. We don't have broadcast or cable tv so the only "tv" Calvin watches is from DVDs I've checked out from the library. I do like this method as it prevents him from seeing commercials and it's easier to vet exactly what he's watching. However, increasingly I noticed that he'd throw mini-tantrums when I turned off the TV. This worried me but I wasn't sure what else to do.

About a week ago I was listening to the Freakonomics podcast episode title The Upside of Quitting. In it, they discussed sunk costs. I've always been pretty good at not letting monetary sunk costs determine my future actions. However, I realized that daycare was a huge sunk cost that I wasn't fully utilizing. I had been picking Calvin up between 2:30-3:00 everyday. However, if I kept him in an extra hour, I could use that time to pre-make supper. Then, once I picked him up, I could completely devote my full attention to Calvin without having to worry about doing anything else. It got even better. I took a look at the daycare schedule and realized that the extra hour Calvin was there is during outdoor play time. So, I'd be swapping him sitting on the couch watching TV for running around on the fantastic playground equipment that daycare has.

This was the first week we've tried this schedule. However, it's been a weird week in a couple of ways so I'm not sure this was a really good test. Monday, Calvin slept in till almost 9 (usually he gets up at 7:30) so I didn't really have the extra hour I was planning. Tuesday is swimming lesson day and this is the one day we consistently get takeout. So, I used the extra hour to clean the house. Wednesday, Jaeger and I went to evaluate a potential prescohol for Calvin. The person I talked to said most parents take about an hour. I should have realized I would take longer. We took a full two hours. I probably spent more than an hour of that just asking the director questions. This meant that I was much later for work than I planned so I spent the extra hour working instead of fixing food. Today, Calvin slept in again, though not as much as Monday, so I was late to work again. Plus, Thursdays are the day that I go work at the library and that takes an hour in commuting time (30 min each way). So, I didn't really have much extra time today either. Given that it's past 9pm and Calvin's still resisting sleeping, I suspect he's going to sleep in tomorrow also.

Even though this week hasn't gone exactly as I envisioned it, I think this schedule is going to work out well for us. In general, it just gives me more flexibility in my day. I'm hoping that next week things will be calmer.

Downs

• Calvin still isn't consistently falling asleep in a timely manner. However, he obviously needs the sleep. I think he fell asleep around 9pm last night, which isn't bad compared to some nights, but he didn't wake up till some time after 9am this morning. Given that my mom was here, that wasn't a big deal but normally I have to get him up by 8 at the latest for daycare.


• I really would like more time in the day.


• A little over a week ago our dishwasher took 3 tries in order to wash a load of dishes. This probably could be fixed by an appliance repair person but I've never liked this dishwasher and figured we might as well replace it. On one hand it might not make sense since we're only planning to be here another year. However, our current dishwasher looks old and grubby so I think this would help the kitchen appear more attractive if nothing else. After a fair amount of cross referencing, I found a fairly low-end model that got decent ratings on Consumer Reports. I went to Lowes but it turned out they only stocked the stainless steel version. I needed white since everything else in our kitchen is white. So, they ordered it for us. I figured I could wait two weeks since it was still mostly working. Except, the next day it completely stopped working. So, we've been without a dishwasher for more than a week now. I'm hoping our new dishwasher arrives very soon.

Ups

• My mom was here for the past week and Calvin loved having another person around to cater to his every whim.


• I'm continuing to enjoy the Tai Chi classes.


• Autumn is coming! The temperatures are starting to get back to humane levels. I can't wait for the crisp fall air to come back (though I might be in the minority).

Cute Calvin Moments

• Calvin's vocabulary and sentence structure continue to expand. This morning he told Grandma, "The garbage truck picks up my trash and dumps it in the truck." I thought that was a pretty good sentence. Now if only his pronunciation would improve.


• When it was time to go to daycare today Calvin crawled into the driver's seat, sat up, and pronounced that he was going to drive us to daycare. I told him that he wasn't allowed to drive to daycare till he was 16.


• Calvin is continuing to enjoy going to the pool. He doesn't particularly like the swimming lessons because he doesn't like being told what to do. However, he really enjoys splashing around in the water.


• Since we're planning to move next spring, I've been looking for preschools in the Boulder area. I've narrowed it down to three choices based mainly on distance from where we'll probably live. We are scheduled to go to an open house at one of them and I need to arrange visits for the other two. Should be interesting . . .

September has been very busy. We started out with a Megafest over Labor Day weekend. I think this is probably the best one yet with Calvin. We got a babysitter for 4 hrs two of the days and for the last two days he was in daycare for the full day. This left Saturday as the only day for which we were trying to fest and entertain Calvin at the same time. It worked out reasonably well by me taking him to church for the first half and meeting up with the others on Pearl street and letting Calvin wander.

While I'm still sad that Borders is going out of business, that hasn't stopped me from going and looking for bargains. To my surprise, I found quite a few that I hadn't read from authors that I have enjoyed in the past. I'm looking forward to a chance to read them.

Toward the beginning of September I started going to a Tai Chi class at the rec center. I checked out a DVD of Tai Chi many years ago and, while I liked the concept, it was obvious this wasn't something I was going to be able to pick up from a video. I was looking over the rec center guide because I was interested in getting Calvin enrolled in swimming classes and saw this Tai Chi class. It fit into my schedule so I decided to give it a shot. It's a drop in class so everyone is at different levels. Fortunately, a whole bunch of new people showed up the same day I did so the teacher decided to start at the beginning. It's pretty slow going. Reminds me a lot of learning the piano. At the begining you're awful and change happens so gradually it almost isn't noticeable. However, I knew it wasn't going to be simple and it is interesting.

Jaeger's mom visited us this week. She arrived on Sunday and just left this morning. She and Calvin had great fun amusing each other. We also celebrated Jaeger and my birthday (since she was in person, she wanted to do both at the same time). We had mini-German chocolate cakes that were very fun. Jaeger's mom also gave me a duvet comforter which I've been wanting for almost a year. It's white with a grey pattern and I think it lightens up our room more than our blue duvet cover does.

I did manage to find a swimming class for Calvin. In addition, I found a "tumbling" class for him. Each is only once a week so it's not too overwhelming.

We went to his first Tumbling class on Monday. I wasn't sure what to expect. The class was held in a medium-sized classroom. There was all sorts of equipment scattered around such as a trampoline, balance beam, mats, etc. They started with 10 minutes of "free time" where the kids got to explore everything. Then we did a warm-up. Calvin seemed to know exactly what he was doing even though this was his first class. Daycare must have them do some of this stuff or something. He's not learning it at home . . . After the warm-up, she demostrated a little routine that she wanted them to all go through. When she first demonstrated I didn't believe that the kids could do everything but Calvin proved I was wrong. It was chaos but controlled chaos. Calvin had a lot of fun and we got back home later than I was planning.

The next evening was swimming lessons. It turns out that Calvin is a little fish. He was fighting my hold on him most of the time trying to get me to let go. Given we were in 3' deep water, I didn't. He enthusastically splashed and paddled and threw a fit when it was time to get out. I think I'm going to buy him a pass and come early on swimming days and also go to the pool another day a week. At least, I'll try that schedule out and see if it works. Calvin was also fascinated by the group showers. I turned the shower on and expected him to object since he doesn't like them at home. However, he didn't complain and started experimenting with how far out he could get before he no longer got wet. Then he'd back up until the shower was spraying the top of his head.

Jaeger's mom babysat Calvin after the pool and I met Jaeger in Boulder where we went to eat and then wandered into the Boulder Bookstore where we bought even more books.

Calvin Moments from Today:

• We went to the library today and one of the books Calvin wanted me to read was ABC Kids by Simon Basher. It's a cute ABC book where there is a child, whose name starts with the first letter of the featured alphabet letter for that page, that sits on top of the letter. When we got to the letter C, Calvin said, "you get off letter! My letter!!" I didn't even bother telling him that it wasn't a real person. I just told him we needed to share the letter. He was not impressed by this logic. (To see the picture he objected to, go to the Amazon link then click Search inside this book. After that, in the "Search Inside This Book" search box, type Claude.)


• On the way back to our house, Calvin announced from his car seat that he wanted to go home. I told him that we were going home. He then said, "Step on the gas mommy!" I was incredulious that I had heard correctly so I carefully asked if he wanted me to go faster and he concurred. It's not a phrase that I've used in his presence but Jaeger informs me that he probably picked it up from Cars and Trucks and Things that Go where it says, "Step on the gas, Bunny Rabbit!"


• Today at supper Calvin eyed my glass and then said, "May I have some water." This astonished me for a couple of reasons. First, it's a complete sentence with no words missing. Second, he properly used the word "may" instead of "can."

September is going to continue to be busy. I play for Sabbath School tomorrow and then have practice at someone's house later in the afternoon. I play for church the following week and Bethany and Josh will be here for Bethany's reunion. Then the week after that, my mother arrives to get her Calvin fix.

Last week I had almost finished an update when my computer suddenly died. Of course, I had not been saving my epic entry. Jaeger helpfully pointed out that if I had been using a smart text editor, something would have saved anyway. However, while I like Vim for some things, copying and pasting into a browser is not one of them. Jaeger suggested I should try gVim for this purpose so we'll see how well it works . . . Below is a quick recap of what I had typed last week as well as my new up/downs.

Our King Soopers store has been adding NuVal to many items. Their rating system doesn't really match my own personal rating system. For instance, a product can get a pretty high rating for being low in sugar even if this is entirely due to artificial sweetners being used. I'm more of a whole foods type person. I'd much rather buy full-fat, full-sugar ice cream and eat a small portion than eat a larger amount of no-sugar, no-fat ice cream.

However, I was fascinated to discover that even though I don't really believe in the system, it still influences my buying decisions. I buy a package of individually wrapped Dove Dark Chocolate pieces every week. I've discovered that if I don't have something sweet within the house when I'm craving sugar, I will instead make brownies and eat half the pan the same night. Not a good idea. Instead, I compromise by allowing myself several pieces of Dove chocolate every day. I usually get the dark chocolate variety but two weeks ago I was contemplating getting milk chocolate. Then I saw that it had a slightly lower NuVal number than the dark chocolate. I couldn't make myself by the milk chocolate variety. Same thing happened last week. I was reaching for the milk chocolate and got stopped by seeing the NuVal number. It's really odd since I haven't been impressed with the rating system so you wouldn't think a number it assigns would stop me from buying something.

In other grocery story news, I was taught that, in general, buying larger amounts of items tended to mean you paid less per ounce for it. For instance, a gallon of milk tends to cost less per cup than a half-gallon of milk. However, I've noticed that this is less likely too be true these days. Quite a few times within the last month I've picked up the larger size without thinking and then just do a quick sanity check on the price per oz and discover that I'm better off buying two of the small sizes. This has been true for frozen orange juice, oil, and shampoo. I'm wondering if this has been going on for a long amount of time or if it's a new trend in grocery stores. I'm use to a smaller size being a better deal when it's on sale but in all of the cases mentioned above, I was comparing non-sale prices.

Down

• Calvin stayed up later than normal for a couple of nights last week. He refused to stay in his bed and instead would bring out a book and quietly flip through it at the top of the stairs. On one hand, I can remember reading after I was suppose to be in bed when I was a child. However, he obviously isn't getting enough sleep when he does this which is disastrous for the following morning. Also, the only way to get him to sleep like this is for me to go and fall asleep next to him in his room. Then, when I wake up, I sneak back to my own bed. It's not very restful.


• I lost my cell phone about a week ago. Somehow in the five minutes between checking the time on it to actually leaving the park, I managed to lose it. It hasn't turned up. Several days ago I gave up and ordered a new unlocked phone. I took it into T-Mobile and was impressed by how painless they made it to transfer my existing prepaid account to the new phone. I think I actually prefer the new phone but I would rather have not spent the money for a new phone.

Ups

• Calvin and Jaeger went to an airshow today which left me alone. I used the time to make a trip to Costco, where I spent too much money, and then cleaned out the fridge in anticipation of our next Fest.


• I've had quite a few good books to read recently. I loved Ghost Ship, the newest Sharon Lee and Steve Miller Liaden book. I also enjoyed A Lady's Lesson in Scandal, by Meredith Duran, Hounded, by Kevin Hearne, and Heart Search, by Robin Owens. Currently, I'm re-listening to Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie. A couple of weeks ago I had been listening to Faking It which reference characters in Welcome to Temptation and made me want to re-visit the first story Not sure what physical book I'm going to read next but I'm queuing up Visions in Death, by J.D. Robb, as my next audio book. I love Robb's Eve Dallas series but I have to take breaks between each book before I can listen to the next one.


• It turns out that I had maligned Calvin when I claimed he lost my iPod. It had fallen into a box while I was cleaning the basement last December. I just found it. Since I already bought a new iPod that I like, I've decided to give this one to Calvin. That is, I'm loading it with "Calvin Music" and playing it in the car when he's with me.

Calvin Moment
Calvin seems to be getting more into books recently. I checked out a copy of Richard Scary's Best Storybook Ever from the library about a month ago. It's not really my preferred type of book for Calvin. To be frank, I find the book to be a bit mediocre. The illustrations don't speak to me and the stories are extremely simplistic. However, Calvin loves it. He's spent up to a half-hour at a time flipping through those pages which, for a toddler, is incredible. So, when I stumbled across a used copy at The Boulder Bookworm, I immediately snapped it up. At this point, having Calvin enjoy the concept of books is much more important than nitpicking about quality.

Calvin is also becoming more involved in book selection at the library. When we visit, I'll sit down at a couch in the children's area and Calvin will scamper off to a book bin and pick out a book for me to read to him. Once we're finished, he'll scamper off to find another book. He still plays with the toys in the library some but obviously is becoming more interested in the books themselves.

Well, it turns out that Calvin is refusing to go to sleep again tonight. So, I must head upstairs to fall asleep on his floor as an example . . .

I may have mentioned that Calvin is a very intense child. When he's happy, he's very happy. When he's sad, he's very sad. I have two incidents today to relate that I find amusing but probably shouldn't.

We are getting a table, 8 chairs, and a sofa today. This is furniture we ordered a couple of months ago so I'll be very excited to see how it looks in our home. Originally, I was hoping that our current sofa could be moved to the basement. However, the sofa appears too big to navigate around the corner. So, we posted an ad on Craigslist saying it was free for anyone who wanted to pick it up. However, we did this yesterday night so it's still here. As a result, we needed to move it so there would be room for the new sofa. This morning, before Jaeger left for work, we took either side of the couch with the intent of moving it so it'd be flush against the entertainment center. Calvin threw a fit. Apparently he really didn't like the idea of the sofa moving. He ran over screaming, "No mommy! No!" and then braced himself against the other side of the couch and tried his best to move it, by himself, back into the position had been. Both Jaeger and I had to hide our faces to keep from laughing. It was just so ludicrous looking seeing a little toddler trying to move a heavy sofa by himself. We eventually compromised by giving Calvin "a ride" on the sofa while we moved it.

This afternoon when I arrived at daycare, Calvin was still sleeping. His teacher informed me that he hadn't gone to sleep until 2pm so I decided to let him nap till 3pm. (I had to wake him up after that because the furniture delivery is suppose to happen between 3-5pm). Calvin was not happy when I woke him up. He was even unhappier when we got home and I took him out of his car seat. He kept insisting that he wanted to stay in the car seat but it's hot outside. On the way inside, he threw his little duplo train against the steps and some of the blocks came apart. I continued into the house holding the screaming toddler. Once inside he sat there and cried and cried and finally went back and opened the garage door and went into the garage. I followed him and picked up the duplo train that was lying on the stairs. I put it back together and temporarily left Calvin in the garage by himself to put the duplo train with the rest of his duplos. Calvin was incensed, "No! Mommy! No!!!!!" He ran inside, found the duplo train, opened the garage door again and then threw it against the steps. We repeated this twice more. I have no idea why it was important that the duplo train stay smashed on the garage steps. Once Calvin was assured that I wasn't going to try to pick it up again he started yelling, "Go Way Mommy! Go Way!" I explained to him that I was not going to leave him in the garage by himself. If he wanted alone time, he had to go upstairs to his bedroom. He did not like this response and kept telling me to go away.

Calvin's mood has just recovered as he has discovered the fun of playing in our car. He just discovered the garage door opening. I should probably go rescue the car now . . .

Down

• I took the cats to their yearly vet appointments last month and the vet said they needed their teeth cleaned. This didn't surprise me because the prior year a different vet (that use to be at the clinic but isn't anymore) had told me that Willow would probably need her teeth cleaned next year. Up till now, I haven't had any experience with cat teeth cleanings. I have no idea if this is usually done on an annual basis or if they just do it when they see a problem. Willow had her teeth cleaned first which was fairly expensive but also pretty straight forward. Cat5 just got her teeth cleaned today and it turned out to be a much bigger deal. She had to have five teeth pulled. Last year the vet hadn't said anything about Cat5 needing her teeth cleaned so now I'm wondering if she needed it and it just wasn't mentioned or if her teeth really deteriorated that fast. I feel bad for 5 and annoyed that I didn't realize I needed to be paying attention to this earlier. The new vet, who I like so far, also said that Cat5 throwing up all the time might be due to allergies. I hadn't thought about cats being allergic to their food but it makes sense since humans can react poorly to food allergies by throwing up. She suspects that 5 might be allergic to chicken so I'm now buying special rabbit-based food for her. We'll see if this helps. Hopefully this is the end of our cat expenses for a while since the two cat cleanings (and teeth extraction for 5) added up to about $700.


• I'm really sad that Borders is closing. I know it's a chain bookstore but it's one of the few places I enjoy that catered to people interested in some solitude and a book. When Jaeger was gone for some reason or another I would often hire a babysitter and then go to Borders to drink their hot chocolate and read a book. When I went, I always bought a book as sort of an entrance fee. Now I feel like I should have bought more books there sigh The Longmont library doesn't have a cafe or any particularly relaxing place to hang out (they also have an aggressive "no cell phone" policy which, while no doubt well-intentioned, is a non-starter for me when someone is babysitting my child). In addition, they close at 5pm on Fridays and Saturdays and aren't even open on Sundays during the summer. The other bookstores in Longmont are small and aren't really designed as places to hang out. I guess I could go to a coffee shop and have mediocre hot chocolate but then I don't have the special treat of buying a new book to read. I suppose I could drive to Boulder which has several good bookstores but driving 1/2 hr away means I have less time at the bookstore itself. I could also go to Carbon Valley Library but they also close early on the weekends and isn't quite as relaxing since I work there Anyway, I'm pretty annoyed about the whole thing but haven't figured out a good solution yet. What's particularly exasperating is I believe the Longmont store made a profit.

Ups

• Today was my "day off" and I couldn't handle doing my normal exercises today. So, I walked to the Longmont Library and checked out a copy of Don't Throw It, Grow It. While there, I found a used copy of Cry Wolf, by Patricia Briggs, that was in good condition. Cry Wolf was the first Briggs I ever read. I think I like the Mercy Thompson series a bit better but this one is still pretty good.


• Jaeger was gone Thursday-Sunday to climb Kings Peak in Utah with his brother. To my surprise, I survived alone with Calvin perfectly fine. In fact, I think it was less work than when Jaeger's here because I didn't have to make supper most of the nights. Calvin and I require substantially less food than Jaeger so we're fine if I just whiz up Tomato Bean Soup. Nighttime was still a problem. Jaeger does put Calvin to bed easier than I do. The first night I didn't get Calvin asleep till it was my bedtime. I finally dragged our "yoga mat" into his room and slept on that and he happily slept next to me. The later nights I lay down on the mat as soon as it was time to go to bed and listened to my iPod until he was firmly asleep. This worked fairly well.


• Several months ago we ordered a sleeper sofa and a new dining room table with 8 chairs. They're suppose to be delivered this Thursday. It's the most expensive furniture we've bought so far but hopefully it's worth it. Our current couch was used when I bought it in college. It has lasted pretty well but the fabric is almost worn all the way through in some places. Our dining room table and chairs were bought at the thrift store right after we were married. The table has lasted pretty well but the chairs have been breaking for years now. Jaeger was able to patch them together for a while but at this point we're only left with two functional chairs. As a result, anytime we entertain we have to pull out the folding chairs which are a little tacky. At the moment, we're planning to keep the sofa and just move it down to the basement. However, we need to get rid of the old table and chairs.

Calvin Moment

• Jaeger likes chopsticks. I think he feels my inability to properly use them is a moral flaw. Calvin appears to be taking after his father. He adores chopsticks. This summer his daycare had an "around the world" theme. Last week, their theme was China. Since it's zucchini season, we had Ratatouille for supper. Calvin was already at the table preparing to eat when Jaeger arrived home. Jaeger glanced at Calvin's daily report card and noted they had done something with chopsticks at daycare. Calvin heard Jaeger mention chopsticks and immediately demanded we provide him with chopsticks for his Ratatouille. Ratatouille is not something I would normally consider eating with chopsticks but Calvin insisted. He certainly doesn't have the technique down but he does have the motivation to learn how to use the chopsticks.

Down

• It's hot. Hot. Hot. Hot. I don't like hot. I miss the misty Oregon beach (It seems a bit cooler today but still, too hot.)


• I'm getting increasingly annoyed by all the machinations around the debt ceiling issue. Very unhappy with my representative at the moment.

Ups

• A got a chance to clean the house for the first time in two weeks. I feel much better now.


• My tomatoes are starting to ripen. Like last year, I doubt they'll be able to keep up with Calvin's appetite but he's very intrigued by eating tomatoes off a plant. Unfortunately, it's hard to explain the "no, they're not red enough" concept.

Calvin Moment

• I referenced this next anecdote on twitter a couple of weeks ago. However, it's funny enough that I think it deserves it's own mention. Calvin usually watches kid DVDs while I make supper. This time, the show had ended and he wanted me to start it at the beginning again. I told him no because it was almost supper time. He insisted but I kept declining. Finally, he became so upset that he literally stomped up the stairs, opened the baby gate at the top and then closed it, ran into his room and slammed the door. When he heard me coming up the stairs, the baby gate is very squeaky, he poked his head out of his room and yelled, "Go way! mommy! Go way!" while gesturing me frantically away. It was the funniest thing I had seen in a long time. I'm sure his mood wasn't improved by my helpless peels of laughter. I went back downstairs and waited for him to cool off, which he did fairly quickly, and then he wanted to cuddle.


• Calvin has started picking his own books. I took Calvin to Pajamara Story Time at the Carbon Valley library last night. Its theme was trains so he was entranced. On the way out, he veered and grabbed a book from the bookshelf and then demanded we read it immediately. Since it feels like sacrilege to deny such a request, I complied. We then checked it out and he's asked me to read it three times since. There's a segment in the book where Molly, the protagonist, is being carried away by helium balloons. Each time we come to this section Calvin tries to pinch her friends between his fingers and move them up closer to Molly to help her. I'm not entirely sure what he thinks he's doing. He does have a sticker book so maybe he thinks he can peel them off the page and put them closer to Molly and everything will be better.


• This evening Calvin decided he wanted to go on an expedition on the path behind our house. I shrugged and hopped the fence to follow holding the book I was reading. Cat5 decided she wanted to join the walk also. When I was a teenager, I developed the ability to walk and read at the same time. So, 5 and Calvin walked side by side with me following slightly behind with my nose in a book. (5 follows us when we walk better than many dogs I've seen.) However, once Calvin got closer to the busy road beside our subdivision, I stopped reading to keep a better eye on the two small mammals. There's a pretty wide grassy area between the busy road and the first houses in the subdivision so I let Calvin run around in circles giggling to himself. All was well until, for some reason, both Calvin and 5 headed straight for the busy street with the fun vehicles. I shoved the book under my arm, scooped up 5 with one arm and Calvin with the other and firmly started walking back toward the walking path. Neither mammal was pleased by my interruption of their run and protested loudly. Eventually, once I felt we were a safe(ish) distance away, I set them back down. I told Calvin that we needed to find "daddy" at which point we started our journey back home. However, it was a very long meandering one, very like the story of the Israelites in the dessert. I'd suggest going one way and 5 and Calvin would protest and run squealing in the exact opposite direction. (Well, Calvin ran squealing, 5 just followed Calvin.) Then I'd catch up and Calvin would reverse direction and run circles around me before falling down in the grass. It was exhausting but Calvin seemed to have a lot of fun.

Down

• Jaeger's mother, her sister, and their offspring made plans for a family vacation this summer. As mentioned by Jaeger, hail at the Denver airport disrupted our original plans so we ended up flying in two days late. Not only were we late, but the only flight available left at 6:40am which means I had to wake Calvin up at 4am. He seemed excited by the adventure but I wasn't happy to deprive him of that much sleep.

Ups

• All things considered, I think the vacation went pretty well. We stayed at Oceanside, near Tillamook, OR. I think I might have been the only one to appreciate the weather properly. I've been dying of heat in Colorado so it was wonderful to get back to more misty climates. However, it was never quite cold enough that I could justify pulling out the hot chocolate.


• We got back yesterday but I took today off in order to unpack and recover from vacation. I got most of the items on my "to do" list checked off including taking Willow to the vet to get her teeth cleaned and cleaning out the car.


• My herbs didn't die while we were gone. I was worried about leaving them that long outside without water. While they did look awful when we got back, I watered them yesterday and they look like they'll recover. In fact, the Thai Basil went a little wild while I was gone. Prior to going, I had harvested as much of the herbs as I could and froze the leaves just in case our trip killed them. Hopefully I'll get another harvest out of them though. I also have two tomatoes plants. Given that I general grow herbs, not vegetables, I'm having to remind myself not to nip the flowers off the tomato plants in order to promote more leaf development

Calvin Moment

• Calvin enjoyed playing with the three other children that were on vacation with us. They were all older them him but they were very good in helping him play and he ran around in an excited tizzy most of the time we were there. He also appeared to bond with Jaeger at the air museum "the men" went to and afterwards would worriedly ask where "my daddy" was anytime Jaeger left the room. Jaeger went climbing Mount St Helens on Tuesday but Calvin was distracted by a visit to the cheese factory. I'm not sure how much he was able to process of the visit but he was mesmerized by the cheese packing process which we could see through the glass walled balconies. He also highly approved of the ice cream treat afterwards.


• Upon arriving in Portland, we made a quick stop at Target to pick up a booster seat (it was more cost effective to buy a new one then try to pack it in our luggage). I had brought Calvin's sand shovel but couldn't fit the bucket in so I thought I'd pick up a cheap bucket at Target too. However, on the same row there was a plastic sand dump truck which Calvin fell in love with. After consultation, Jaeger and I decided it would be an appropriate buy for Calvin to have on vacation. Calvin loved that dump truck. The first day we were there he pushed it all over the beach and kept running into the ocean with it. I was following closely behind and several times had to scoop Calvin in one arm and the dump truck in the other to prevent them from being washed out to sea. Unfortunately, it was a very cheap dump truck and the wheel broke off after a couple of days. Calvin was devastated. Upon returning to Colorado, I stopped by Toys R Us and picked up a sturdier Tonka dump truck which hopefully will last longer. However, even this dump truck has a large number of plastic parts so I'm dubious it'll last as long as I think it should.