3.19.2007

 

Catching up

Sleepy... so sleepy. I tutored this morning, which is often an exhausting endeavor because of the level and type of questions my adult tutee asks, and now I'm getting in some quality library time before my advisor meeting this afternoon. I wasn't ready to get up this morning when my radio came on, but alas — I rose dutifully anyway.

Despite my tiredness, this past week rocked. Jeannette and Toddler Ellis were in town, and I got to be the babysitter while she admirably and successfully defended her thesis. Huzzah, Jeannette! Ellis is at a fascinating stage right now, where he's signing all sorts of things and interacting so purposefully with the world around him. I learned all the signs that were relevant to him: mommy, diaper, cat, bird, dog, cracker, milk, ball, where (to ask "Where's mommy?" or "Where's the kitty?"), and a few others. He became rather taken with a stuffed raccoon that my dad had given me, and at first he assimilated and called it a kitty, until I looked up the sign for raccoon online and taught that to him. When he learns a sign, he usually doesn't get it quite right, using the wrong fingers or whatever, and then he works his way up to copying the sign exactly. I was fascinated to watch this, because it's exactly how hearing kids work through spoken language, and it's neat to see a physical/visual manifestation of the same thing.

On Saturday, we went to New Orleans with them, intending to participate in the St. Patrick's Day festivities but deciding instead to skip the traffic and craziness and just let her enjoy being in her former home city for a little while. We went to her favorite Lebanese restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner and then sped off to the airport.

After we dropped Jeannette and Ellis off at the airport (and I ran in to use the bathroom!), we drove back home to our once-again-quiet house and tried to convince our traumatized cats that yes, the toddler was gone and they could rest easy once more. They weren't big fans of his, which is sad, because he thought they were awesome. Celia protest-peed a few times, even after they left, which is understandable but frustrating nonetheless, especially when we look forward to July and try to anticipate her reaction to having a baby in the house. It'll be especially fun to take all the bedding off the bed and wash it when we're sleep-deprived and overwhelmed by things already!

In spare moments lately, Jack and I have enjoyed watching my belly move, since Kent's kicks and wiggles are now visible from the outside. He's getting more insistent and more mobile, and it's so cool. I just love the movements and hope I never get tired of them. We hit the outlets in a major way this weekend and racked up on sale and clearance baby clothes, including some stuff for next winter that stores were practically giving away, and I also finally found a diaper bag I love that Jack isn't too embarrassed to carry. =) The Kent Box is getting pretty full, but soon we'll have the space in his room to really get things set up, and painting is going to happen within the next month as well.

We have three and a half months (in theory), and so far, things are coming together quite swimmingly.

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Comments:

That is such an interesting observation about Ellis learning sign language! Fascinating! (says the girl who studies the development of children's symbol understanding...) :-)

Poor kitties. They'll get used to it, I'm sure.

Wow, kicks and wiggles visible from outside?! Neat! I'm glad Jack can share in the experience with you now, that's cute. :-)
 
Aww. Hope we didn't wear you out.

It was an exceptional time.
 
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