Moved

Well, I'm officially set up at vandeblog.com. So head over and check it out and make sure you're subscribed over there. (You know, if you're a subscriber.)

All the archives are over there, and I won't be posting here anymore.

Daniel update

Did I tell you Daniel's therapist is coming every two weeks now instead of once a month? Well she is, and she was here on Thursday. She's impressed with the progress he's made although, I think part of what she thinks was progress was really just that he was super tired last time she was here. I mean, he is definitely making progress, but he was not up to par at his first July appointment. Also, his caseworker okayed speech therapy starting at 9 months.

He rolls from front to back easily and often. The day before his appointment he started pulling his knees up under himself which is great (one step in a series of steps that lead to crawling.) And, he's rolled front to back! One time. In his crib, so soft surface probably made it easier.

He now naps with no swaddle and on his belly, but we still swaddle him to sleep at night. He's pretty vocal, and likes to "talk" to himself when he first wakes up in the morning. He smiles often, but he'll only laugh for Brian. And I think that's all that's new with Daniel these days.

First books

Good news! Shalini posted a survey about books, my very favorite things. So today I'm answering those questions and you don't have to listen to more ridiculous things my kids say!

First Book I Loved


A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

This wasn't the first chapter book I read, but it is the first one I remember loving. I think I was 8 when I read it for the first time? Or 9 maybe? I still have my copy and you bet I'll be reading it to Kalena.

First Book I Hated


Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

I'm not much of a book hater, and I'm not even sure that I actually hated this one, but I do remember being annoyed by the characters. In particular I felt like all Anna's problems were her own fault and I had no sympathy for her. However, I read this when I was 19 and I haven't read it since so my opinion could be totally different if I read it now. I didn't hate Wuthering Heights the first time I read that (at 17) but hated ALL the characters when I read it a few years ago. So.

First Series I Read


The Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder

I had read this whole series by the time I was 9 or 10, and I've read all the books many times. I love these books. I could probably have put them in the "first book I loved" category, but it seemed like cheating to put in a whole series. And how could I just pick one?

First Fantasy/Sci-Fi Book I Read


I'm putting two books down here because fantasy and sci-fi are very different!
Fantasy: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

An excellent series.

Sci-Fi: Ender's Game

I think I was 12 the first time I read this book. I love it every time. Also, it's one of the few books that I recommend to basically everyone.

First Book That Made Me Cry From Laughing


Um, none? I rarely laugh until I cry and I've never read a book that funny.

First Young Adult Book I Read and Loved


Twilight.

I'm not going to apologize for liking it. Also, it was pretty much the first YA book I ever read, since I don't think anything was labeled Young Adult when I *was* a young adult.

First Horror Book I Read


The Shining by Stephen King

I can't guarantee that The Shining was *actually* the first horror book I read, but I can assure you that if it wasn't, something else by Stephen King was. I'm kind of a Stephen King fan. I've read many of his books.

First Book I Was Completely Obsessed With


I don't know! This seems like a horrible way to end this survey, but I tend not to obsess over things and I can't come up with a book I've obsessed over.

Your turn!

Almost there

Well, my lovely readers, I'm almost set up on my new blog! Very exciting! (For me. For you it's just Elsha rambling as usual.)

Anyway, still a few things to do, but it's getting there!

I know, I keep writing these!

I keep forgetting to put this on my other posts about Kalena:

She says she's "shooting flies" when she shoos them. As in, "Daddy! Shoot that fly away!"

On a completely unrelated note, do you know how exhausting it is to live without kitchen counters?  Exhausting.

4 year well visit

As you know, Kalena turned 4 in May. But because of the way I scheduled her well visit last year, she couldn't come in this year until July. Anyway, it was on Wednesday and here are her stats:

Height: 3 ft 6 inches
Weight: 38 lbs 9.6 oz

I would tell you the percentages, but I don't have them written down. Both still on the higher end, 80-90% or so. They also checked her eyes this visit which I'd been wondering about. Not her eyes in particular, just when they would do it. They used a chart with shapes and had her list the shapes instead of reading letters. (I'm curious how they'll check Daniel's eyes, since he obviously won't be listing shapes when he gets them checked in a couple months.)

I asked about her tonsils since they seem big to me, and we got a referral to an ENT. I lean toward wanting to get them out if they're big since I had to have mine out when I was 22 and it SUCKED. The pediatrician said her threshold is also fairly low because she had hers out at 16. Anyway, she did say that kids can grow out of oversized tonsils, usually by age 5 or 6, so the ENT might ask us to wait a year and see.

Anyway, that's about it. She's healthy happy as always!

I think I'd prefer butterscotch

Did I ever tell you about the time my grandma made my dad a peanut butter and butterscotch sandwich? Well, you may remember she was basically blind, and we had a Smucker's jar of butterscotch which looked a lot like a jar of jelly. So one day my grandma was making my dad lunch (which she insisted on doing) and she got out the butterscotch instead of the jelly. She realized partway through making it that it *wasn't* jelly but she served it to my dad anyway. And he ate it! Despite thinking it tasted funny. We've laughed it that story many times since then.

Fast forward to dinner time tonight. I asked Kalena if she'd like me to make her a sandwich and she told me she'd like a "peanut butter and jellyfish sandwich." Ahahaha! Yuck.

I guess he knows the rules?

Yesterday I was putting something away upstairs while the kids were playing downstairs (and Daniel was sleeping.) All of a sudden I hear Kalena start wailing. As I came down the stairs I asked what happened and she informed me that Will had thrown the egg (a wooden toy egg) at her face. So I continued toward the room they'd been playing in and in my best stern-mom voice I started, "Will..." At which point I heard his little toddler voice say from the dining room, "I sittin' in time out."

Yep, as soon as Kalena had started crying he'd trotted himself over to the time out chair and put himself in time out. That kid man. He always knows just when to be cute.

Kalena tidbits

Yesterday we talked about Will, so today we'll talk about Kalena.

One of my favorite things is that she has picked up the phrase, "Hey! What's the big idea?!" and uses it often.

A while back she started asking for "a big squishy hug" before bed (meaning a hug where you squish her) which was amusing on its own because she made squishing motions with her fingers and scrunched up her face when she did it. But THEN she started calling it "a big squishy pizza hug" and now it just makes me laugh. Also, sometimes after the hug she'll ask, "Was that a big pizza hug?"Why she added the word pizza in there I'll never know, but she does it every time.

She still says "last-er-day" for anything before today. I think I mentioned that before, but it's still one of my very favorites.

She calls her forehead her "fort-head." Always makes me imagine her having a fortress in her head.

And I'm sure I'll think of something else as soon as I publish this.

More of Will

A few more tidbits about Will.

He says many words as if they begin with an "F." Trucks are "frucks" his crib is his "frib" and, of course, his crab shirt is his "frab" shirt. Also, the other day he told me he was "just hiding in the floset." I never want this to stop.

If you ask him what a cat says he'll tell you, "Mee Mow"

He knows he's not a baby. (We already talked about that.) BUT. He also knows (um, maybe because we've been telling him this repeatedly) that "big boys" use a potty instead of diapers. Since he would like to never use the potty ever, thank you very much, he insists that he's a "little boy." We often have this conversation:
Me: Will, are you a baby?
Will (laughing): No, I not a baby!
Me: Oh, so you're a big boy then?
Will: No, I not a big boy; I a wittle boy!

He's pretty much the cutest.