Martin was at a conference this week in New Hampshire, so Camilla and I took the quick drive across the border to visit him Tuesday afternoon. It would be nice to have more family live so close. We visited the beach of Lake Winnipesaukee. It was a nice area and perhaps we should visit more often, however Cape Cod is closer.
Paela enjoyed the cool weather, but especially the water she could wade in. Had we not stopped her, she would have surely gone deeper than she should have. read more »
Toddlers often have security objects, be they blankets, stuffed animals or pacifiers. Paela has an entourage. When she wakes in the morning and is lifted out of the crib she makes the role call: "Dolly, too?" "Kitty, too?" "George, too?" (and often) "Blankie, too?" With her full entourage stuffed into her tiny arms she is ready to start the day, taking at least one of them -- usually more -- everywhere she goes.Paela tells jokes from time to time. Sometimes she will be playing a game of hide-and-seek/peek-a-boo with a toy. Suddenly, she will get a trickster glint in her eye and will put the toy in plain sight on her lap and ask, "Where'd-it-go?" We'll promptly point to it and with a sparkle in her eye and a grin on her face she will shake her head and inform us that there is no toy on her lap. Let the jokes begin.
Her latest joke is a bit of a knock-knock joke, somewhat akin to the infamous interrupting cow joke. She begins by saying "Pig is sad." We ask her back "Is the pig sad?" and she quickly says "Nah!" and then laughs.
We finished the bean bag couch! Well, I mean, it's not filled with beans, but with small pieces of scrap foam because it's cheaper and more comfy that way. Anyway, we'll take a picture later this week of it so we can post one next week. It is HUGE. I'm not kidding. Huge.
I had a couple of doctor checkups this week and otherwise finally felt like I got some "real" work done at work. I guess I'm feeling more in the groove with the pace and projects I have, so that's good. read more »
Rebecca found some clothes through craigslist, but they were in Salem. Lucky for us, Salem is about a 30-45 minute drive away. While we considered the merits of driving out to Salem for a pile of clothes, we reminded ourselves that the best restaurants and cutest stores are always in touristy towns. Those are the only places with enough active money flow to sustain interesting places which would go out of business in any other town. So we drove out to Salem on Saturday morning, primarily to pick up some clothes but also to visit some witch sites and walk through downtown. We met Camilla and Cameron for some seafood lunch, but then had to go home so I could write a talk for Father's Day. read more »
This week the basement was complete enough that we could finally unpack the rest of our boxes (mostly) and get moved in officially. Officially enough that we even threw a small party Saturday night celebrating that we're here. There are a couple of things the landlord is finishing up still (updating the basement windows, caulking our bathtub, replacing the fan in the kitchen), but mostly we're here. And it couldn't be soon enough.
We found a local butcher that makes some pretty tasty brats, cooked up some burgers, made a cake, and had Camilla and Victor and a few friends (old and new) over to celebrate. Paela was a bit nervous by the "invasion" at first, but eventually warmed up. We tossed a frisbee around a bit and played a couple of games, but mostly just enjoyed having company over. Ah, it had been too long. read more »
The park and the library have been what we look forward to each afternoon. In Bedford, there isn't much to do. Some evenings Paela would be able to wait until Rebecca got home from work before we visited the swings and slides.
Like this small town, our week was very quiet. Unfortunately, I haven't heard a word from my advisors and need to find a diplomatic way to chastize them for not reviewing my thesis. We spent some time this week finally unpacking the remaining book boxes. While our basement isn't finished yet, it has carpet now and one (almost) finished wall. We used this wall as our bookshelf wall and have set up a small part of it. When we signed this contract, we were under the impression that our basement would be completed in eight days. Three weeks later, we are hoping that this will be the week when things will be to a point that we can finish unpacking, even if they aren't entirely finished. read more »
So much has been going on in the last three weeks that it seems a shame not to keep everyone in the know about it. Here's the short version:
1. We moved in to a little duplex about a mile and a half from work May 16 and said good riddance to the hotel. We were all (including Star) happy to see our things again.
2. We took a break to go to a family reunion in Cincinnati over Memorial day weekend. Paela learned the difference between "babies" and "kids". We got to hang out with fun people. Paela got tired of hanging out with so many people.
3. We've got about a third of our stuff unpacked, and the other third is still waiting on the basement to be finished. Hopefully this week we can officially settle in all the way....
4. I found a project to work on at work so it's not such a struggle to keep busy. Things still feel quite slow, but I'm sure that will change shortly. read more »
Paela has become more aware of how others are feeling, particularly when they are sad. At nursery yesterday, she turned to me for a bit of comfort when another little boy had started crying hysterically (junior nursery...they miss their parents). "Sad!" she declared over and over.
When she woke up from her nap later, Camilla and Victor and Cameron had just arrived for a visit. I went in to tell her this, and she looked up at me with a worried look and asked "Is he sad?" I had to think back to remember that yes, he had just cried a few moments ago!
I'm a little late with this story, but better late than never.
A couple of weeks ago, Wayne, Paela and I were on a walk with Camilla, Victor, and Cameron. At one point Wayne started running ahead and hiding behind trees. I'd ask Paela where in the world her daddy went as part of the "game". She thought this was a riot and giggled like crazy trying to run after him. And then she said the clearest full sentence we'd heard yet from her:
"Daddy's so funny!"
And I tend to agree with her.
