Doc's visit and some

Erin got to see a doctor for her 2-year-old appointment. She is 36 inches long (94 %) and wights 26 lb ( 46 %). Despite her unpredictable eating pattern she is doing just fine. She is also doing just fine developmentally. Even her language skills are normal despite the bilinguality (I made this word up :). A 2-year-old is expected to say 50-200 words. We estimated that Erin's vocabulary has about a hundred words or more. It's kinda hard to count at this point.

We almost escaped the office without a vaccination. My baby was on her way out, but the nurse returned us 'cause it turned out Erin did not get one of the Hepatitis shots during her last visit. Andrew played the role of a bad guy and held her on the table for the nurse to stab her in the leg. Daddy told Erin that she was going to have an ouchy. That made Erin cry even before the needle made her cry. The tears did not last long. Pooky-pie was very gracious and even said "thank you" and "bye" to the nurse. I have to say this by far was the easiest doctors visit. Erin behaved! She did not attempt to bite the doctor and did not scream at him either. She was actually curious about what was going on. Anyhow, no vaccination until kindergarten now. The flue vaccine does not count. I am not sure if we'll even get it if the H1N1 vaccine is not ready by the time fall comes.

I haven't been taking that many pictures this month, but here is a couple. Erin and Papa played "Killer Bunnies" (our favorite card game). Erin needed a little help and kept inventing her own rules, but they both enjoyed it.

Erin got her sandbox and we play in it in the mornings while it is in the shade. We are still working on keeping the sand inside the box. Erin and her friend have this urge to just dump it out. Usually we build hats, at least that is what Erin calls sand structures constructed by overturning bucket full of sand. The sandbox has a lid, so we do not get visits by both domestic and wild animals. Around here we have cats (various fluffiness), dogs (mostly small, loud and rude), skunks, chipmunks, squirrels and apparently rats (I saw a huge dead one in the canal).

On Thursdays, our downtown hosts a little farmer's and local crafts market. They also have a band, food and kiddish activities. Erin and I went to check it out today. What can I say...Around here local crafts are represented by 3-4 baby bow, tutu and similar stuff booths, a couple booths selling fabric totes and cute aprons. Off course there is 2-3 jewelry stands and some carved wood. These are the items that can be called local crafts (though baby bows.... come on! local crafts to me means unique). The rest is occupied by Pampered Chef, some health drink (but not Xango or Noni, apparently there is a third one out there), a massage tent, photography studio and heavens know what else. The farmers market looked pitiful-4 booths. One was selling cherries (the best cherries I had this season) and the rest-squash, zucchini, peppers and cucumbers. I surely hope that there will be more produce. We got 2 lbs of cherries.

We had fun though. We listened to the band and Erin made me push her on a swing for good 20 minutes. On the way home we devoured about a pound of the cherries. Erin ate them! Cherries did not interest her before, but she was hungry enough to try something new and she loved them. We still need to work on those pits inside. I would estimate that Pook swallowed about a half of them. Oh, well! She'll live.

Andrew would have come with us, but he had a long basketball game, that left him too tiered for the walk. For the record-his team won.

Ta ta for now

There really has not been much happening worth blogging about. This has been a rather hot and slow July--way too many days in upper 90s. It's been so hot that my tomatoe plants started dropping their blossoms and there is nothing I can do to prevent it.

What is it with 2-year-olds and their blankeys? Erin has this pink super soft blankey that she won't sleep without. In fact some days she insists on keeping it close even while awake. Sometimes, it will just lay on the floor or couch without Erin acknowledging its existence, but if Mom tries to pick it up and haul it upstairs she screams bloody murder. I have to be rather sneaky in order to wash it.

This morning I had to do just that. Pook noticed it's disappearance only by the time I put it to dry. But, oh boy, did I get it for daring to laundry it! A full blown tantrum came my way! There was a plenty of tears, whaling, thrashing on the floor. I have to admit I have not seen such behavior before. Showing her that the blankey was in the dryer and trying to reason with her made matters only worse. It was too wet for her to have it and apparently our 2-year-old still struggles with the concept of "just wait ten minutes and you can have it". Can't say that the latter is news to me. However, every time I attempt to explain that she can have something later I have this secret hope that this will be the moment when she'll stop her screaming, look up at me and say "K, Mama!" What can I say, I am a dreamer. Anyhow, I locked her in her room until the cause of the scandal was dry enough.

Andrew got to stay home earlier this week. It was so nice to spend some time together when we could just hang out, play card games and do nothing. He got two of his wisdom teeth pulled on Monday. And yes, he asked the dentist to save them so he can take them home. I am not sure what he plans on doing with them, but I told him he can not keep them in my jewelry box or make a necklace out of them ( the other two wisdom teeth will be joining his collection in a couple of weeks). The pain still bothers him some, but he is doing better. After living on soups, jello, apple sauce and root beer floats for about two days he could finally eat "real food", aka something you have to chew. It is amazing how sometimes your biggest desire can be just to sink your teeth into something, usually happens when you are not allowed to do that. I had to abide by a clear liquid diet in the beginning of July for 3 days and that sucked! I made it for 2 and a half. I though I was going to die.

This medical starvation got me thinking about hunger in this world. I knew that the end of my fast was near and that I can pig out as soon as its over. Too many people in this world do not have this luxury. They do not know when or what they'll eat next. I beg God to never put me in such circumstances, though it is not the worst. The worst would be to see my Erin asking for food but having nothing to give her. I can not imagine how much a mother's heart bleeds when this happens. The scary thing is that it is a reality for so many every single day...

PS: Erin learned to spit and finds it rather entertaining. Attempts to make her stop have so far been unsuccessful :(.

I got to go and do some research at Family History Library in Salt Lake last week. I love diving into old church books! I wonder whether any of these individuals I find in the records are the ancestors of people I actually got to meet in my life. This world is so small and our lives are so intertwine, that it has probably happened. I do not get to work as much due to being Mom and the current recession. By the way, I think that I, as a genealogist, am one of a few people who will benefit from the dumb econ decisions made by politicians (throw the health care reform and cap-and-trade into this pile). This decade will wipe out most of my competition and when the times get better, I'll have a lot of work. This is a joke, but there is some truth to it.

I got to meet quite a few colleagues in the days before Erin was born, some became my good friends. They worked almost every day of the week. Yesterday, there was only one other professional genealogist on the floor! Though, I was pleased to see that there was a plenty of patrons, mostly old people. FHL is a great place to go when you need to feel young again. You get to see a plethora of examples what being old really means, he he!

Andrew had to do quite a bit of driving that day. First we raced to the bus stop to drop me of, than Andrew drove to leave Erin at aunt Theresa's for the day and than he went to work. At the end of the day he drove to go rock climbing, picked up Erin and later me.

Aunt Theresa took Erin to Life Science Museum on BYU campus ( the place with the stuffed animals...not the toy kind). According to Pooky every tall animal was a cow and every fish was a shark. Funny, how easy it is to classify the world around you when you are two years old.

Plus it is that age when you are allowed to put your underwear on your head and call it a hat.

Birthday photos

We had a little celebration for Erin's birthday. We had uncle Gibb and aunt Theresa over, and for dinner I made an Elmo cake and Texas hats (chili on top of corn chips topped with lettuce, cheese and olives. Yummy!). I tried to make something Erin would actually eat and chili used to be one of the few menu items she enjoyed.

Here is us with the Elmo cake. Though only its tiniest corner was visible from Erin's height ( I got on the floor to make sure I hid it well) Erin spotted it on the counter where I tried to conceal it. Somehow she knew it was a cake. She must have a cake radar inside her head. She would not stop saying "Cake, Cake!" while pointing at it until I lifted her up to show what it was. She liked what she saw! So...where do you put the candles if your cake is a face? Andrew decided to stick them in Elmo's eyes. Bad idea! Erin though Papa was hurting Elmo and tried to set him on fire! That brought tears and deep concern for Elmo's well being! We sang the song and put out the candles. It was decided not to cut Elmo as that could traumatize Erin's gentle heart. It was a lesson to me not to make face cakes in future until everyone involved in eating it is aware that it's just a cake! For dessert we ended up having root beer floats! Pooky had no problem with that. She was so excited that the Dyers could come. She showed her balloons (both whole and popped ones), made them read her books and just hung on them. After dinner Erin got to open her presents. Technically, I was openning all of them, but she got what was inside. Erin's earthly possessions increased by a number of new dresses, a shirt, a jacket, a baby doll, a blanket and a tricycle. She also has a sand box coming in mail. It was a fun birthday!