Well, the garage sale wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be. Not something I'm penciling into the calender for next year either, though! People came early, of course, but they weren't going for the big stuff we had out - crib, kitchen table and chairs. They wanted the books and cds. The crib and table and chairs - our big ticket items - did sell relatively quickly, and the majority of the people came in the first couple hours. We sold barely any clothes, which really surprised me. We ended up making about $200, which is just a little short of the new front door we want. Cory still has a bunch of cds he's going to sell online, though, since he knew he'd get a better price for them.

After the sale, we took a few boxes to Goodwill and ran a couple other errands. We have a couple more boxes that I'll take to the childrens' consignment store and hopefully make a bit of money. And we have a few items that we're going to put on eBay. At least we got rid of some things!

I think it was a pretty boring day for Accalia. She conked out pretty early this evening, too. Cole took a late nap and has now just fallen asleep in my arms. Tonight we watched "Minority Report" with Cory's parents. Pretty good movie.

And so the sale is finished. Now I'm going to have to turn my energies to planning Cole's birthday party on Saturday and our own family celebration on his actual birthday (Wednesday). Cory's taking his birthday off, so that'll be really nice :)

This morning Accalia spilled her pink nail polish on our green recliner. Aargh. Usually she's pretty good about staying on the floor and putting a paper towel underneath her hands or feet. Not today, though. Most of it came out using non-acetone nail polish remover and then a mixture of detergent and warm water. Any other tips are quite welcome! Thankfully Cory was in town today seeing inmates at the trustee unit, so he picked up some nail polish remover (we were out) and brought that and lunch for us very quickly. I would have run out myself, but Cole had just gone down for a nap.

Yesterday, when we were driving through town, Accalia started a rather amusing and potentially annoying backseat driving behavior. Every time we passed another vehicle, Accalia would yell, "We're going to crash!"

And yesterday afternoon, she came up to me and started playing "I spy". She's never done that before, and it was rather fun.

Okay. Bunch of stuff left to do before Cory's parents arrive later this afternoon. And then there's actually getting stuff ready for the garage sale. Fun, fun, fun.

This would have been the perfect morning to just snuggle under the covers and sleep in. It was thundering and lightening and raining. Unfortunately Cole was ready to be up before 7 a.m.

I was hoping the dish elves would have made an appearance overnight and taken care of the dishes that have been piling up. Surprisingly, the dishes were still there in all of their splendid dirty form this morning. So I loaded up the dishwasher with my assistant Cole. I've also managed to clean most of the downstairs bathroom and put in a load of towels. Cory's parents are coming to stay again this weekend and help with the garage sale on Saturday, so I'm trying to make the place look somewhat put together - lived in yet hygenic :)

My musical confession for the day: I loved Walk The Dinosaur by Was (Was Not). Catchy little tune for my pre-teen ears. The other night when Cole and I were coming back from the store, it was playing on our incredibly contemporary radio station and I turned up the volume so Cole could hear it better. I have moments of clarity where I really can see my potential for coolness. Unfortunately, this was not one of them.

On a slightly less embarrassing note, Norah Jones has been my musical artist of choice while working in the kitchen lately.

Cole's found his voice, I think, and has discovered he can say a few things. He's been babbling a lot more these past couple weeks and saying very definite sounds. Tonight he's said both "mama" and "baba." He says baba a lot - and it's a pretty typical baby sound to make - but it seems as if he's referring to Cory as "baba". While I was on the computer, he was by me on the floor and was making the "gimme" gesture with both hands. Then he said "Baba, baba, mama, baba" and started laughing like crazy. Cory just went up to bed a few minutes ago - he's rather sick with a cold - and Cory said "Night Cole" and Cole replied, clear as can be, "Night, night." It's just too cool and rather scary thinking about two children talking nonstop!

Accalia just seems to be having a harder day than usual. Maybe she's tired or maybe she's catching the cold that Cory has. Accalia asked to go to Peek A Boo Boutique (childrens' consignment store), so we headed downtown to do that. After hanging out there for a while, we walked around and went into The Vineyard, a new Christian book/gift store. The Vineyard has a huge childrens' area with benches, chairs, tables, cushions, toys and videos. The owner asked if Accalia wanted to watch the latest VeggieTales movie and Accalia said yes. She watched about half of it - VeggieTales usually doesn't hold her attention for long. By the time the video was over, Accalia was ready to go but not ready. She wanted a sticker book, but there wasn't really anything there that she was looking for. She ended up having a bit of a meltdown and dissolved into tears with those really heart wrenching gulping cries. I'm sure we'll go back again and hopefully have a better ending there. The owner said they want to start a storytime and craft time. Not sure whether Accalia will be interested in that or not. She's getting psyched up for us signing up for storytime at the library next week.

Today as we were leaving Wal-Mart (Cory needed deoderant), Accalia was becoming increasingly frustrated because she wanted to get all sorts of things that we couldn't afford. The last straw was when she asked to buy something out of one of the quarter machines at the front of the store.

Me: I'm sorry, sweetie, but I don't have any quarters.
Accalia: But I need to buy something!
Me: I'm really sorry. Next time we come I'll be sure to have a quarter along.
Accalia: Shut up!

Well. That was a glimpse into life with a child that thankfully I don't see on a regular basis. I wondered what would be the best way to handle it, but the only images that came to mind were parents yelling, "Don't you dare talk to me that way!" and followed by a spanking or being sent to their room. Nope, not the way I want to do things.

So I just told her the truth:
Me: Accalia, I don't like that you told me to shut up. That really, really hurt my feelings and made me feel bad.

She didn't have much to say on the ride home, but at home we hugged and kissed and talked about it some more.
Me: You must have been really frustrated at Wal-Mart in order to tell me to shut up.
Accalia: Un uh! (so she's not always a big talker, but the hugs and kisses said much more).

For those who may not know, we do not parent in a punitive manner. We don't punish, as that seems to be a great way to make life into a huge power struggle. We don't spank, do time outs, etc. Some may be thinking, "Her kids must be hellions! Running around wild, doing whatever they please, treating everyone like garbage."

Uh, no. So far my kids are like most other. They have good moments and bad moments. I have good moments and bad moments. And when my children have bad moments, I try to handle them the way I would want to be handled during my bad moments. And I don't want to be hit, yelled at or sent away. Sometimes I would willingly go away, though...

I try to imagine if Cory and I were cranky with each other and one of us told the other to shut up. The last thing that would make sense would be for a. one of us to hit the other; b. one of us to send the other away to "think about what we did" or c. continue yelling and calling names. So why would I do any of that with my children? Because they're children and therefore need to be told exactly what to do and be physically coerced into acting how we feel they should act? No, I don't believe that. And I've never seen that need with Accalia or Cole.

And what would be the best way for me and Cory to handle the hypothetical I proposed above? Maybe we would both agree we need a few minutes apart to cool off. Maybe we would kiss and make up (like Accalia and I did). And maybe we would talk about it (like Accalia and I did).

Let's say I was the one to tell Cory to shut up (because I think I'd probably be more likely. LOL!)

Cory: You must have had a pretty hard day, huh?
Me: Yeah, the phone wouldn't stop ringing. Lucy was barking at every thing that moves, and the kids were acting like they were on speed today. I'm sorry I said what I did.
Cory: That's okay. I'm sorry I was cranky, too. I think we both had hard days.

Yes, that sounds very Plesantville-ish, I know, but you get the point - I hope!

Okay, I'd better stop before I becoming a blathering idiot. This whole post feels rather fragmented since Accalia has been talking to me for most of it.

Our neighbor passed along bunches of cucumbers and tomatoes from her garden. Yay! At least someone is able to grow a decent supply of veggies. Of course Cory's parents will probably bring a bunch this weekend, but that's okay.

Accalia and I went out to look at Mars tonight. She was more excited about being outside so late than looking at a really bright, slightly red dot of light in the sky. It's too bad we don't have a telescope or even better - a telescope and a place in the country where we can avoid most of the light pollution.

As you probably know, Accalia prefers to run around the house naked. Lately she has taken to announcing "I'm nekkid! Nekkid, nekkid, NEKKID!" And she's been drawing a lot of pictures of people lately, including herself, and always tells me that's she's naked in the pictures. She also reprimanded me today because I called her "sweetie" rather than "puppy".

Cole finds it extremely amusing to stand up, throw his arms up and fall down on his bottom. Not quite sure if he's trying to tell us something or just enjoying gravity. One of his budding teeth is almost through. He's knawing like crazy, and I'm almost out of teething tablets.

I should really be heading to bed soon. Accalia's fallen asleep on the couch, and Cory and Cole are snuggled up in bed already.

Yeowch! The kids and I were up on the bed cuddling after Cole woke up from his nap. Accalia and Cole were starting to roll around and play when Accalia's heel connected with the bridge of my nose. I seriously wondered if it was broken at first. Now I just have a whopper of a headache.

Just a couple more days of hot and humid weather - hopefully! Towards the end of the week we're supposed to have highs in the low 70s. Woo hoo! Perfect weather for camping, although we aren't planning to camp this weekend. No, this weekend will be our long awaited garage sale! Cory's parents are coming to help out with it and to sell some things. We're trying to make it as painless as possible by having it on only one day - Saturday - and for only part of the day - 9 a.m.-2 p.m. I'm truly lazy enough that I would just pack it all up and give it to charity and forego the money that will hopefully come with selling a few things. I think it's good that Cory's insisting we have it. We're planning to use some of the proceeds to buy a new front door. Lovely! Our current one is a wretched old wooden door without any windows. I really do miss our front door at the house in Mitchell. It was a beautiful wood door with lovely etchings and a large oval window. Now we can't afford to buy a door like that, but at least we'll have a window to see out of now!

Okay, Lucy's barking and Accalia is sitting in my lap squirming around, so I'd just better try to write more later.

Accalia's picks from the library today favored knock-knock/riddle books and hot-to-draw books. i finally get a chance to learn with Ed Emberly just like I said I should!

Both kids napped at the same time this afternoon, so that was a nice slice of quiet for me. Accalia took a whopper of a nap - close to three hours - so she's going quite strong still as the evening progresses. Cole went down about 8:30 after managing to injure himself a number of times in a row and getting increasingly distraught. He was even too tired to say his constant "ba, ba, ba." He'll experiment with this sound using different consonants. I think he likes to say it over and over because of the sound his mouth makes smacking together. I catch him doing the motions silently sometimes. And I think he's progressing toward saying actual words. He's said something resembling "mama" before, but that's about it. And unless he's absolutely desperate to have something and doesn't have much patience, he'll simply go to the place he wants to be or motion to the thing he wants. Tonight he crawled over to his highchair, held on to the tray and waited for me to put him in for a snack. I found that pretty amusing since he usually eats on the run. He lasts about two minutes if I put him in his high chair at a meal.

Yesterday we spent part of the day at the fifth birthday party of Accalia's friend, Zachary. Accalia had a really fun time sliding into the pool and everything else that goes along with birthday parties. She's really looking forward to Cole's birthday next week because we told her Cole will need her help opening his presents.

On the way to the party, we stopped at Barnes and Nobles in Sioux Falls because I wanted to pick up the September issue of Harper's Magazine. John Taylor Gatto has an article in there titled "Against School: How Public Education Cripples Our Kids, and Why." Too bad it's not up on the Harper's website yet. This gives me a chance to finally get a subscription to Harper's, too. I was very close once, except I received a subscription to Harper's Bazaar instead. No thanks!

It should be a somewhat lazy day today. We're going to the library once Cole is awake, and we have to pick up a few items at the grocery store.

Parts of today and last night could have been much better, but it's also been a good day in many ways. Last night Cole went to be early - before 7 p.m. - so I knew he'd probably be waking up early. I went to bed at 10:30 after Cory and I watched Robin Williams Live on Broadway (pretty funny!). About 11:30 Cole decided he was ready to be up. Aargh! You know when you reach that point where you've just fallen into nice, deep, relaxing sleep and don't want to get up for anything? Well, that's where I was. So I stomped downstairs with Cole and sat there until close to 1 a.m. when he finally went back to sleep.

This morning Cole was ready to be up at 6:30. I was not. Came downstairs to discover a vase of flowers and a card waiting for me. Today is our sixth wedding anniversary :) For each anniversary, we don't buy each other gifts (although Cory usually sneaks in flowers and we exchange cards), but we buy something for the house. This year (it happens to be the wood anniversary) we're going to buy a tree to plant in our front yard. On one side of the front yard is a huge, old cedar tree. We have two more huge, old cedars in the backyard. Since I was a child, I've always wanted a weeping willow. We're going to research, though, and ask people we know who have weeping willows what they think. I've heard negatives about them, but I can't remember what they are now. If we don't buy a weeping willow, then we're going with a red maple.

We'll be buying it right before Cole's birthday (Sept. 3) because we're going to plant his placenta with the tree. You're probably wondering what we're still doing with his placenta after nearly a year (not too uncommon, though, I've discovered). As you all probably know, Cole was born at home (planned). We couldn't just throw the placenta in our garbage since that could lead to some police investigation if someone discovered that. And we didn't want to bury it in our yard in Mitchell since we were moving in less than a month and didn't want our tenants digging it up. So we've had it wrapped up nice and tight in our freezer all this time. And as part of his birthday celebrations next Wednesday, we'll be planting the tree and placenta.

So that was a long explanation of our trip to the nursery today. We also had Cole's picture taken at good old Wal-Mart. Took forever, but I think we got some great shots of his killer smile. This will actually be the first professional picture of just him.

We had a few other plans for the day that we gave up on because it was just too hot and humid - our van thermometer read 100 degrees at one point. We wanted to wander around the Lewis and Clark Festival, but after last weekend outside so much in the heat and humidity, that just didn't sound good. We also wanted to stop by a meeting at a nearby park that that the South Dakota Safe Childbirth Options group was having, but again, it was just too miserable to subject the kids to being outside that long. My midwife had invited us to attend, and I feel bad that we didn't get to see her.

We went out to supper, came home and Cole fell asleep shortly thereafter. It was past 7 p.m., though, so he should be down for the night. Now to work on Accalia...

Today Cole grabbed a sandbox toy that had found its way inside, crawled to the back door, stood and banged on the door and yelled. So we went outside to play :)

Cole also helped me unload the dishwasher today. He sat on the door of the dishwasher (something Cory probably isn't too thrilled about) and handed me clean dishes to put away. He put a brilliant smile on his face each time I said thank you. Hmm, maybe it won't be long before he's loading and unloading all by himself!

Cole's drinking water out of a sippy cup and letting out big "Ahhs" of satisfaction after each gulp. Too cute.

We joined Netflix a few days ago, and our first DVDs arrived today. It's such an exciting moment for us! We picked out Jungle Book II, Jonah: The VeggieTales Movie, and Robin Williams: Live on Broadway. Cory saw the Robin Williams thing on HBO when he was in Pierre working and had that channel at his motel. Said it was hilarious. We shall see...

The hot and humid weather has broke for at least one day! Woke up this morning, turned off the air conditioner and opened up all the windows. It's a lovely, somewhat warm day with a nice breeze. And tonight we'll be able to sleep with the windows open once again. Ah!

We did go to Vermillion today, which Accalia was very excited about. We got there a little bit before the library opened, so we went to a nearby park. It was really nice - lots of space, shade and trees. Reminded me of the park that was just a few blocks from our house in Mitchell. We didn't stay long at the library. Accalia really just wanted to go to play with the assortment of toys and puzzles in the children's area. They also have puppets and a puppet theater, and Accalia spent much of her time there. Then we grabbed lunch on the road and headed home. Cole was getting quite cranky since he hadn't napped yet. He slept on the 20-some minute ride home and is now napping again.

Accalia's Brighter Vision shipment also arrived today. All about music! She immediately wanted the poster of musical instruments hung up in the living room, so there it is. And she's also decided she wants a violin. I wonder if there are any relatively inexpensive toy violins out there. I'll have to look around... She's very impatiently waiting for her craft - a washboard - to dry. Why an activity aimed at preschoolers has to include things that require an hour's drying time in beyond me. Accalia doesn't have the patience unless she gets distracted by other things and just forgets :)

Cole is down for the night and Accalia is happily working on these huge connect the dots/joke books I found at the dollar store today.

There hasn't been much going on today. We had to run a few errands, but otherwise we're just taking it easy and staying out of the heat and humidity. Supposedly it's going to be a bit cooler tomorrow. We'll see...

I hung out diapers today after going for way too long without doing so. Cole's diapers are blindingly bright once again.

Accalia continues to use her two favorite phrases waaaay too often, it seems: "I didn't hear you" and "What did you say?" Please tell me this is just a four year old thing! I've asked her if she actually can't hear what I say or if she just likes me to repeat things, and she said it's the latter. At least I don't have to worry about hearing problems at this point.

Tomorrow we were going to go to our friend Karen's house for our monthly playdate with a few of us, but there have been some sickies in the family and we're probably going to reschedule. Accalia has really wanted to go back to the library in Vermillion, so maybe we'll make a fun trip out of that. We'll see how the mood strikes...

Doesn't it always happen that the time you need to be able to get a few things down, everyone else seems to need you more than usual? I've been trying to catch up with a few things after having Cory's parents here last weekend, and it's very slow going. I guess it doesn't help that I've been inundated with correspondence from some of the Leader Applicants I'm working with as part of my Coordinator of Leader Accreditation (CLA) duties. I'm about halfway caught up with that now.

Yesterday we ran around a bit. Had to stop at the newspaper to put in an ad for the garage sale we're having in a couple weeks. And let me tell you, I'm *so* excited about that. I also was able to get Accalia signed up for dance class in the fall (had a hard time getting in touch for a time) and just have to return the registration once I receive that. Last night we went to a barbeque for Senator Tom Daschle. Okay, and now I'm sending cyber smelling salts to all of my Republican friends :) Cole had his 15 seconds of fame there. Daschle pointed him out as "the future of South Dakota." Don't worry, kiddo, no one's going to force you to stay!

We also went to the library, and Accalia wanted books about the stars, the planets, anything up there in space. I think she's showing this sudden interest because I found an online memory game for her to play that consisted of different space pictures. Some of the books she picked out were a little boring for her once I started reading them, so I ended up sitting there and reading about Mars for a while :)

Today I've been trying to catch up with everything still. Not extremely easy with the kids. Accalia seems to be in hyper everything mode. I seriously doubt she's been quiet or not needing my input for one minute today. Seriously. I wouldn't exagerate just to get sympathy. And Cole has decided that sleep is yet again not important, and on top of that is really resisting going to sleep. I remember this with Accalia, too, and it really drove me nuts then. Every little noise distracts Cole from sleep. It would be so much easier if he were content to rock and nurse to sleep in a dark, quiet room, but he needs motion. So I usually walk around the house, putting away laundry, when trying to put him down. If he's really tired, that's not a problem. But when he's tired but willing to be distracted from slumber, it's not so easy. So I guess I should just wait until he's too tired to stand, huh? That, or tie down every member of the family until he's asleep :)

Cole's becoming more verbal lately. He's started "talking" a lot more and trying out different sounds. The only word that I think he's said has been "mama". He's been more of a screecher than a babbler so far, so it's fun to hear him trying out different sounds.

I dug out my old electric typewriter today and Accalia's been having fun using that. Cory asked if we should sell it at the garage sale, but I thought we should keep it so the kids could enjoy old fashioned technology.

Oh, and lest I forget the biggie from this weekend - Cole has started stepping around! The most he's gone on his own so far has been four steps. He's loving it, though, and gets awfully goofy when he stands up now.

Well, it's the end of a pretty good weekend - hot and humid, but good. Cory's parents arrived on Friday and left this morning. They came to enjoy Riverboat Days with us.

After supper on Friday, we headed to the festivities to look around. Mary (Cory's mom) wanted to sample deep fat fried Oreos, so we all tried them. Not really worth the sampling. Accalia also wanted to throw balls at the dunk tank that the Yankton Homeless Shelter had set up as a fundraiser. She did hit the target and dunked the local "celebrity". The best part - for Cory - is that the dunkee was a former State employee who is referred to as "the evil one" by my darling husband.

On Saturday, we headed out to watch the parade and waited and waited for it to begin. It finally did, and Accalia and Cole enjoyed parts of it (particularly the marching bands), but they were getting bored and hot and tired (temps were in the upper 90s yesterday and again today). So we headed to the park to eat lunch (pizza for Accalia, turkey sandwiches for me and Mary, turkey drumsticks for Cory and his dad, Myron). Then we headed out so Accalia could check out the kids' activities. Over the course of the weekend, she rode on a kiddie "train" and ferris wheel, bounced in a big inflatable room and rode on a miniature horse. We looked around at all of the crafts, too. We came back after supper so we could have ice cream from Cory's alma mater.

This morning, we went back after brunch (Cory's parents had left already) to look around a little more. Accalia picked out a wooden toolbox filled with wooden tools, and we got Cole a wooden truck. This afternoon has been fairly quiet so far. Cole just woke up from a monster nap, and Accalia has played upstairs most of the time. Cory and I watched a movie - One Hour Photo. We're heading out in a little bit to do a few things, but that's been our weekend!

Waiting for Cory's parents to arrive. Probably will be back after the weekend...

My drawing skills are truly dreadful - horrific. Accalia asked me to draw each member of our family today so she could have little people on popsicle sticks to act out scenes. My stick people look the same as they did in grade school. Maybe I should start out doing the Ed Emberly books and go from there. I think Accalia's already more talented in the drawing department than either Cory or I. She has a Winnie-the-Pooh sing-a-long video, and at the end of it there are instructions for how to draw Pooh. She came up to me one day to show me she drew it, and she hadn't watched that video in ages. Amazing thing that memory :)

I love, love, love watching natural learning - learning without coercion - in action. For the past week or so, all Accalia has wanted to do is work through activity books, coloring books, printables she picks out online, etc. Tonight she asked me to print out number and letter worksheets, and she's never really expressed an interest in that before. Now, though, she seems to want to write letters and numbers all of the time.

In the previous weeks, Accalia has wanted to read and read and read. Now she doesn't so much, opting instead to write. Today at one point I asked if she wanted to read and she refused. Doesn't happen often :)

WARNING: This is a post about one of my children's bodily fluids.

For those of you who have been blessed to experience the difference between breastmilk poops and formula/solid food poops, you know there's most definitely a difference in smell. While I don't think you could ever say that fecal matter is pleasant smelling, breastmilk poops have a much less offensive odor than others.

Well, today for the first time Cole's poopy diapers smell nothing like those typical breastmilk poops. Waaaah! I have no idea why. He's not eating any more solids than usual - and he's not eating a whole lot to begin with. I guess the good news is that Cory definitely won't be able to say he wasn't able to smell that Cole was poopy :)

Not sure if I've ever linked to this site before, but if not, go have a look! I enjoy reading other mothers' nursing experiences, and since I'm a tandem nursing mom and a LLL Leader, breastfeeding plays a pretty big role in my life.

Accalia decided she wanted to take dance class at the other dance studio in town almost as soon as we stepped foot inside. Classes at Judi's Dance Studio are taught by Judi (a sweet, older woman) and Lisa (I think we met her - college age). The places was filled with children and parents, but Judi took the time to give me information and to take us on a tour of the studio. It's in an older building than the Academy of Dance where Accalia took lessons earlier. It has two separate rooms - one for tumbling classes and one for ballet. Judi held Accalia's hand the entire time we were walking around, and Accalia was just staring at her adoringly. I think part of it is probably because Judi reminds Accalia of one of her grandmas (except not wearing a velvety pink leotard).

As soon as we left, I asked Accalia which studio she preferred and she said Judi's.
Me: So you want to take classes here?
Accalia: Yup.
Me: It is a little different from the other studio because the parents sit up front and wait while you have class, and I won't be able to look through a window to see you. Are you okay with that?
Accalia: Don't worry, Mommy. I'll be okay!

I do think she'll be okay. When she was taking classes before, she rarely looked at me for reassurance. The only thing is that she won't say her name when asked. She always comes to me and asks me to say it. Which is perfectly fine with me. I just explained to her that I wouldn't be in the room to answer for her, but I would tell the teacher before class started. I think part of it is that Accalia is a little shy about answering questions and part of it is because Accalia doesn't speak as clearly as many kids her age or even younger and sometimes people don't understand her. Her speech is becoming clearer each day, but she wasn't one of those precocious toddlers having full on conversations with anyone and everyone at the age of two.

I have to say that these restless nights on Cole's part are getting VERY old. I just hope those teeth pop through quickly.

More fabulous news on the friends having babies front! I can't say her name, though, since they're keeping it quiet for a while longer, but it's spelled the same as mine :)

Tonight, if Accalia is still awake, we're going to go outside and look at Mars. I would love it if one of my kids shares my love and interest in astronomy, but obviously I'm not going to push it on someone who doesn't want it. At least Accalia thinks it's fun to go outside in the dark and stare up at the sky (and most likely sing a rousing rendition of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.)

Accalia was a bit sad when we went to the library today. Apparently the summer reading program is finished, so she doesn't get to pick out a small prize each week. It didn't stop her from picking out a mountain of books and movies, though. This week she seems to be focusing on Richard Scarry. She cleared out our library's paltry collection and promptly added the three Scarry books we own to the pile once we arrived home. I loved Richard Scarry books when I was young. Lowly Worm was definitely my fave.

Accalia's most frequently used phrase as of late is "What did you say?" I'm not sure if she says it because she actually doesn't hear what we say and wants to know, or if she just wants me to repeat it so she can place her own emphasis on part of whatever it was I said. It's good to know she enjoys listening to me (most of the time, at least) :)

Finally a day where I can open up the windows and leave the air off. Not that it's always gotten so hot over the past few weeks - usually somewhere in the 80s - but the humidity leaves it too uncomfortable. Not today, though! It's supposed to be pretty icky the rest of the week, though, which only makes sense since it's Riverboat Days this weekend.

Cory's parents are coming to stay for the big festival. Accalia's very excited about the prospect of pony ride and a parade. And I, of course, am looking forward to cleaning the house for our guests :)

Accalia is now asking me to print out page after page of connect-the-dots. And Cole is obsessed with utensils. He has to feed us with spoons any chance he gets. He loves to pick up pieces of food with a spoon while dining in his high chair. I find it very cute since he'll easily pick up food with a spoon and then pick that piece of food off the spoon and pop it in his mouth.

Okay, this day definitely didn't start out very great and isn't really getting any better! Cole woke up almost every hour last night (getting his eye teeth), and then Lucy woke me up by sitting on the bed and panting at a ridiculously loud volume after Cole finally had fallen back asleep. I walked onto the upstairs landing to discover that Lucy had used it as her personal toilet during the night, and the upstairs smoke alarm was chirping because the battery was low AND the dishwasher was beeping downstairs because something had apparently prevented it from finishing its cycle last night. And, and, and....

I guess I could keep complaining since I'm apparently very good at it right now :) Cory took the kids with him to Kmart, and while they were gone I started watching "Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood". Have to finish it before it's due back at the library tomorrow, I think. Plans for the afternoon include a tentative trip to the beach. Cole hasn't really napped today yet, so I'm hesitant to head out when he's probably overtired. I've tried to put him down for a nap, but he starts screaming whenever I pick up the sling.

Okay, enough.

Well, my deductive reasoning has failed me. No bat. Cory was up late thanks to scurrying noises he heard in the ceiling. Apparently the broom was a precaution. And the mesh screen covering our attic access wasn't ripped - just looked like it because of the way the light was hitting it. Feels like our house is turning into Wild Kingdom, though.

Accalia was extremely excited when the mail came because the fall dance class schedule has arrived. Talk about expensive - $94 for a 13 week session. Ouch! Okay, it's expensive to us, at least :) It's something Accalia really wants to do, and I want to encourage this passion for dance she has as much as I can even if she decides sooner rather than later that it's not for her. I am going to check out the other dance studio in town to compare classes and prices. The other studio is within walking distance of us, too.

If my keen deductive reasoning is correct, I'm thinking that Cory battled with a bat last night. I remember him coming to bed really late - between 2-3 a.m. - and when I woke up this morning there was a broom by our bed's headboard. And when I looked up at the wire mesh stapled across our attic access, it's not all there anymore. Everyone's asleep right now, so I'll have to wait to find out. Ooh, I hear movement upstairs. Sounds as if someone's awake!

Yesterday afternoon we went out to the lake for an hour or so. I think we all definitely prefer that to the public pool in town. Cole enjoyed being in the water for part of the time, but he also wanted to sit up on the beach digging around in the sand with a piece of driftwood and watching all of the people.

Last night when we took Lucy out for a walk, she spotted something big and white underneath a bush and started to lunge at it like she might if she were close to a cat or rabbit. Mid-lunge, though, she realized she was going after a giant squash. I think Lucy was actually embarrassed!

The best part of yesterday was definitely the call from my dear friend Heather telling me she's expecting her first child! I'm so, so excited for her and her husband, Jeremy. I know they are going to be fantastic parents!

Cory should be home any minute now. He's getting off early today because of some extra time he put in last week. He's been in town all day working at the trustee unit, so he doesn't have a commute either.

No big plans for the weekend. Hope everyone has a good one!

Another good day around here. It feels like the dynamics between Accalia and i are changing, and that's really helping. I think I had been going through a bit of a slump in parenting lately and not at the top of my game, and that didn't help any of us. And maybe I'm just imagining it, but it almost feels like Accalia has gotten through some developmental stage and has hit a new level of maturity or something. It's just really, really nice right now.

This morning Accalia had her hair cut. She just loves having it done, and she had it cut just a little below chinlength again. This time, though, the stylist went all out and fixed up her hair with ribbons, used a curling iron and even hairspray. Accalia's eyes were so huge! She didn't know what to think. LOL!

This afternoon we spent about an hour at the kiddie pool at a local park. Our first time there. We usually just go to the beach. She really liked it, and maybe next time she'll find someone to play with for a while. She had a few encounters but nothing that lasted too long. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but it seems as if everywhere we go where it involves children, the parents are always doing the least amount of interaction possible. I was the only parent in the pool. The others just sat on the benches around the water. A lot of the kids were older and having fun playing with other kids, and that's perfectly understandable that they don't care if their parents are in the water with them. But there were a few kids who just looked lost wandering around all by themselves. It just made me wonder if their parents interact with them at home on a regular basis.

Time to put my boy in bed.

Today did turn out to be a pretty nice day. I guess we were all just content to be with each other for the most part. Storytime this morning was apparently the last one of the summer. Not sure when it'll start up again in the fall. Accalia seems to have the heart of a performer. For the past few weeks, we've been getting to the library just a few minutes before it opens. So we stand outside along with the other assorted people waiting to get in, and Accalia dances - does her "ballerina moves" for everyone. I'm surprised she's being so patient waiting for the fall dance class schedule to come out.

The plumber came later in the afternoon and took care of our leaking pipe. Looking forward to the bill, of course.

I was so excited to get two packages in the mail! One was a birthday present for Cole: this puzzle from Ecobaby. I also stocked up on Earth Friendly Baby shampoo/body wash. I'm disappointed that Meredith doesn't carry it because I love to support her. I would buy California Baby products from her, but Cory doesn't really enjoy the scent of calendula too much. Ah well.

Accalia's helped me discover a new author. Whenever we go to the library, she runs to the bookshelves and picks a bunch of books to check out. This week she was in the W section and selected a bunch of books by Douglas Wood. I've really enjoyed his environmental message books. And he's a boy from my home state :)

Today is going to be a good day. A really, really good day. I just have a feeling. Gosh, I feel almost giddy! I think I could even belt out a show tune if I wanted.

Nothing too exciting is on the schedule. Story time at the library this morning. I have to call the plumber because Cory discovered a pinhole-sized leak on the pipe behind our outside spigot. I have to call the extension office about our apparent bat infestation.

You know, it completely rocks having children. Here I have my girl constantly telling me I'm her best friend, wanting to sit on my lap and play computer games, having me print out every single coloring page from the Sesame Street site. And then there's my boy who can't seem to get enough of being in my arms, who thinks it's the funniest thing for me to put a cloth diaper (clean!) on my head, who wants to share his half eaten piece of cantalope with me, and who wants to brush my hair or my teeth or imitate whatever he's just seen me do.

Now, I could be really negative and just whine about how all of those things mean I never have a moment to myself and I'm feeling touched out and and and... And I'm sure I'll be feeling that at some point in the future. But right now I'm just going to soak it all up and feel good.

Last night I was reading "The Unprocessed Child: Living Without Schooling" by Valerie Fitzenreiter and came across this passage: "We all make choices in life and the choice I made was to be a mother. Being a mother meant freedom to me; freedom to be so in tune with a child that I knew her every want and need. Why would I give up this freedom for even an hour? I didn't need freedom from mothering; mothering was my freedom." Love it!

Accalia and I were on the couch last night and we were both pretty tired. I was sitting there and Accalia was lying down poking her feet at me. I asked her to stop a few times, but she didn't. So I told her I was going to move to another chair because her feet poking me was really bothering me. After a few minutes, she came over and I could see she was trying not to cry. She had such a look of confusion and hurt on her face, too. "You're my best friend, Mommy?" she asked me in this little, quivering voice. Oh, that just about broke my heart! I scooped her up, said "Of course we're best friends!" and apologized for being so short with her. I told her that I was just really tired and didn't have a lot of patience, but that was no reason for me to not be nice to her. Then all was better. I can't tell you how special that made me feel, either, that Accalia told me she's my best friend. Of course she's also said that Cole and Lucy are her best friends, so it's apparently not an exclusive position :)

This past weekend must have gotten away from me or at least severely limited my computer time since I haven't posted in a few days.

Our roof was finished on Saturday. It looks fabulous! I think I almost reached my breaking point with all of the noise, though, on Friday. The banging sounded as if it were coming from everywhere around the house, so I decided if I couldn't beat them I'd join them. The kids and I picked out some music, turned it up, and started to dance. Accalia didn't approve of my choice of the Indigo Girls' Shaming of the Sun album, so we went with her "ballerina" music, in this case a cd of Mozart. The really neat thing about it was that Accalia and I started talking about how dancers tell a story with the music and their movements and expressions just like writers tell stories with words. She really got into that and turned one song into a horse race with her being the winning horse :)

Unfortunately, the roofers informed us that we have a bat infestation in our attic. Lovely. They put wire mesh over the chimney tops and sealed up any openings they could see, and that should help clear the bats out. I have to call the county extension office to find out what else we should do. We have friends in Wisconsin who had a major bat infestation, and they've been offering us words of wisdom. We haven't had any bats actually inside the house since we moved back last September, and hopefully it'll remain that way.

On Saturday, we went to Sioux Falls to eat at Naps Alabama BBQ - one of my favorite places. Cory suggested it as a treat to "reward" me for dealing with all of the noise of roofing for the past week. It was really nice, too, because Cory took over the majority of the childcare during the meal so I could just sit and eat :) Then we went to a few different stores around town and headed home.

That night we decided to rent a movie. For Accalia's sake, we've always differentiated movies by saying the movies she watches are Accalia's movies and the movies we get for ourselves are Mommy-Daddy movies. After she picked out a Hello Kitty movie, she was wandering with us looking for our movie. There were a few movies on the shelves that showed a man and a woman kissing or hugging, and Accalia would pick those out and say, "Here's a Mommy-Daddy movie!" We didn't end up with one of those, but we picked out "How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days". Cute, no thinking sort of movie.

Sunday was a fairly lazy day. I think we all have slight colds/sinus stuff. I know Cory will probably come home a little early today since he's feeling the worst. Lucy started barking like crazy at 4:30 a.m. No idea what was happening, but it woke Cole up. His diaper needed changing anyway, but I wasn't in the mood to be up and getting a wiggly 11-month-old to sleep. I did get to sleep until 7:30 this morning, though, so that was nice.

Cole's napping right now, and Accalia's eating noodles and watching "Between The Lions". I think I'm going to grab some lunch now myself.

A few of the roofing crew were here before 7 a.m., but it was raining on and off so the boss decided they would start at noon. One guy had no way home and was not very happy about the prospect of hanging around the house for five hours until work started, so I offered him a ride home. Amazing what you can learn about a person from a five minute ride. He lives about 2 1/2 miles outside of town and walks to work every day. That means he's up at 4:30 in order to make it to the site on time. He and his wife rent from an elderly farmer who lives in the same place where he grew up. It's all fairly run down now, but he has three trailer houses right by the old school that he went to as a youth. The roofer, Bill, was born in Mexico City and traveled all over since his dad was in the military. He got married at 15 - met his wife in Louisiana - and has been married ever since (nearly 30 years now). They have six girls and a dog, and the best part is that we think his dog and Lucy were litter mates. We each got our dogs five years ago from an ad in the paper, and they're both lab/chow mixes and look almost exactly alike (I saw his dog when I dropped him off). Of course there could have been a bunch of other litters of chocolate labs who are good hunters and chows, but who knows?

This morning we went grocery shopping. Cole pooped just as we pulled up to Hy-Vee and I didn't have any diapers along, so it was a fairly quick trip. This afternoon we went to an exotic petting zoo that's in town for a few days. Accalia loved it but was afraid to hold out her hand to feed any of the animals. We saw a baby zebra, a kangaroo, a couple camels, an emu, a water buffalo and a zebu (very funny if you're familiar with Veggie Tales songs), and a bunch of other animals. We might go back after Cory is home from work so Accalia can ride a camel named Nathan.

I should try to do some of my CLA work while Cole is napping.