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Oscars alone

Feb. 23:  I love watching the Oscars.  And usually I have a party or at least a friend over to watch it with me.  Back in the 90s, Mom and Maretta and I would watch together.  Oh, how I love the dresses.  I haven’t seen any of the movies, but for me, it’s not about the movies (except to know what to add to my Netflix que).  It’s about the fashion.  (See here for some favorite dresses from the past.)
So last night was a little bit sad because Oscar night totally snuck up on me and I had no plans.  Grace informed me of the impending glamor the night before while we were chatting on Facebook.  Bryan sat near me and played chess online while I watched, but it’s just not the same as having girlfriends to dish with.
So here are some of my thoughts on this year’s Oscars…

First off, I think Hugh Jackman did a great job hosting.  I loved his opening number!  You can catch it here.

Second, I thought that the re-do of the theater was beautiful…it really looked special.  I didn’t like, though, how they had the band playing while the presenters were talking.  It was distracting for both the speakers and the audience.

Third, I am a fan of the new thing they tried this year where past actors offer a personal tribute to the acting nominees.  It seemed like a lovely way to honor all the nominees in a way that was really very meaningful to them.  And several times it made me cry, which I consider a big plus.

I was hoping to post some of my favorite and least favorite dresses, but I’ve got a request to play. That’s more important! You can see some of the pictures here.

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I love to laugh

Feb. 22: The kids and I have been listening to Mary Poppins a lot recently.  I just love that movie.  And I also love to laugh.

Today I enjoyed a few quite moments with my favorite magazine: Wondertime.  One of their contributing writers, Catherine Newman often has the ability to totally crack me up.  And this month’s article really tickled my funny bone.  I always like to share good writing, so I encourage you to check out the following article on The Birds and the Bees.

By the way, to my great sadness, Wondertime is going under.  March is going to be the last issue.  I really appreciate blogs, magazines, and other resources that celebrate the magic and challenges of parenting.  Hopefully when the economy recovers, Wondertime will make a re-appearance.

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Sylvia’s first birthday

Feb. 21: It’s hard for me to believe that my little girl is one year old.  I had a lot of fun going through her photos and putting together slide show of her first year.  Time just flies (At least when it’s not the middle of the night and the baby is crying.  Then it certainly doesn’t fly.).
It’s amazing to watch Sylvia learn things each day.  She can point to her toes now.  And my purple-painted toes.  And Daddy’s toes.  The girl is infatuated with toes!  And she can do the sign for hat (patting her head).  And the sign for “milk” and for “all done”  and sort-of for “more” and for “flower” and for “eat.”  And she makes it very clear that she wants to be picked up. Her whole body requests it.
In the last couple weeks, she’s mastered the fine art of pointing.  She points at everything.  All the time.  And she can direct me all around the house (she likes that game!).  She often points with two fingers as that seems to convey the energy of her request a bit more fully.

While we were in Texas, Sylvia learned how to nod.  Whenever she heard a question, she would nod, and it was so funny to watch.  Her head moved like a bobble-head doll.  Instead of nodding with her forehead like adults do, she nods with her chin, leading to some rather exaggerated, smile-inducing movements.

She’s just started standing unassisted for a few moments here and there.  And she can walk around very fast when she’s holding on to fingers.  No unassisted steps, yet.  I’m glad she waited until she was one.  Now I’m ready.  She got some cute shoes for her birthday, and once she’s walking, they are going to be so sweet on her feet!  When we go places like Olbrich where the ground is damp and dirty, I find myself starting to think that walking would be a good idea.  I’m just glad she has stayed a crawling baby as long as she has.  Crawling is so cute!

Sylvia got a couple drums for her birthday, and boy does she like to beat on them.  She really likes to toot on horns and shake shakers and bang on drums.  I think we’re going to sign her up for a Music Together class next month.

I’ve posted some sweet photos of my little 12-month-old in her birthday party gallery.

Oh, in other news, Sylvia has taken to enjoying a couple more books.  She really likes the Karen Katz lift-the-flap books, especially Nose, Ears, and Toes.  Yay!

Yesterday, we discovered that Sylvia can repeat several sounds on command.  When asked, she’ll say, “Mmmaa mmaaa” “Dada” and “baa baa.”  And she’s also (sometimes) following some simple requests.  Like, “Sylvia, can you pick up that toy and give it to Mama?”

These kids, they grow so fast.  It’s a pleasure and an honor to watch.

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Fun memories from Texas

Feb. 21: Andrew turned to me today, and said, “I miss Texas.”  “You do?” I said, “What do you miss most?”  Wistfully, Andrew replied, “The Bounce.”
He’s referring to a place we went twice where kids can play on inflatable bouncing houses, big slides, obstacle courses, etc.  He loved it.  Photos are here.
Here in Wisconsin, we’ve had five or so inches of snow falling today.  Makes me think back fondly on car washing, barefoot tree climbing, and crawling-with-no-snowsuit.
Andrew had a good time playing with Grandad’s toy animals.  In fact, some amazing things happened with them.  Apparently, at Grandad’s house, when you leave the animals outdoors overnight, they get big and play while you sleep.  Andrew discovered this when he came out the next morning and found that the animals had magically moved around.  Andrew was in complete awe of this situation.  His eyes get all big and his whispers about how the animals get big overnight at Grandad’s.  They sometimes climb up into the trees or put their heads in the dirt!

The kids had a great time playing with the miniature kitchen cabinet that LuAnn’s dad made for her when she was little.  Sylvia loved pulling out the little dishes so they would make great crashing noises as they fell on the floor.

Andrew really enjoyed playing songs on Granny’s beautiful piano.  One game that he particularly enjoyed was to take decorative vegetables out of a display basket and “play their song.”  So there was radish songs, carrot songs, and here’s a picture of Andrew playing a “cabbage song.”

Andrew’s little heart has been oozing love these past weeks and months.  Not to diminish the sincerity of his expressions of love to to any individual, but he gushes on a near-hourly basis statements like, “I love you more than you can even imagine.” or “I love you up to Jupiter.” or “I love you so much I can’t even tell you.”  One of my favorites though, was when he told Granny, “I love you as far as from where macaroni comes from.”  That’s far, my little guy.  That’s very, very far.

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The skinny from Sri Lanka

Feb. 21: There’s a recent wave of news from Joe while on his study abroad program in Sri Lanka.  He called me early last week, and we had a great 15 minute chat.  Sounds like he’s doing really well.  It was fun to hear his voice and to hear him relate some stories.  He got to hear Sylvia screech at him from across the world.  She wanted to hold the phone.
Joe has several blog posts that I have copies below.  See the originals here.  He’s planning to reply to comments, so if you’d like to leave him a little howdy-do note, you can do so here.
Joe just completed the first session of the program, and the ISLE program website has been updated with lots of nice pictures of the students and descriptions of their activities.  There’s also another page of pictures for those who just can’t get enough.
Also, for those of you who aren’t up on your world events (I’m raising my hand here, I only get my news on my 8 minute drive to Curves in the morning), there’s been some intense changes to Sri Lanka’s civil war.  The Tamil Tigers have been fighting the Sri Lankan government since the 1970s.  Fighting has escalated since 2005, and in the last week, the Sri Lankan government announced that they captured some important territories in the Tamil Tiger area.  The fighting…and there’s lots of it…has been limited to the northern edge of the island – about 150 miles from where Joe is staying in Kandy.  The BBC has some good info on this conflict if you’d like to learn more.

Continue reading “The skinny from Sri Lanka”

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Etsy find

Feb. 20: I have lots of things I want to post about.  The fun things we did in Texas, the cute things Sylvia is doing (pointing, nodding, standing unaided for a few seconds, repeating sounds).  But instead I read blogs and responded to emails.  Sylvia took a nearly-two hour nap.  Andrew’s at preschool.  I’m feeling better.  So it’s a good day.
Partly because this pretty bag made me feel so happy:

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Sylvia’s birthday cake

bearcake.JPGFeb. 16:  It’s 11pm, and I should be in bed.  I told Bryan that I would get off the computer around 10:30.  But he’s asleep, so he’ll never know!!!!
I’ve been editing and uploading photos from our Texas trip.  It’s all part of my plan to pretend that I’m still there.
You’ve now got around 100 photos in my Texas trip album to peruse.  There’s a sub-album of pictures from Sylvia’s first birthday party and another sub-album of pictures of the creation of this wonderful panda cake.
I think this cake is just the cutest thing.  LuAnn made it for Melanie for her first birthday.  She’s held on to the cake pan for the last 27 years, and it made a come-back for Sylvia’s first birthday on Saturday.  I asked LuAnn to make it, because while I love to have hand-made things for my family, I really prefer someone else to make them:)  That’s a secret, so don’t spread it around.
I’m so glad to have a mother-in-law who makes such wonderful things for my kids.  Sylivia has two new pairs of overalls that are just adorable.
Oh, be sure to check out the last two pictures in the panda cake album.  When Andrew saw the cake in the morning, he pulled himself up on the counter and got his tongue as close to it as he could without touching it.  What a card!

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Back, safe, home again

Feb. 16: I’m writing to you from my sofa in wintery Wisconsin. We flew back home from our wonderful stay in Texas. I’ve missed my kitties and my friends, but I think I could have stayed with Bryan’s parents for another couple weeks!
Our flight home went super-smoothly. Andrew drew in his connect-the-dots, trace-the-letters activity book for hours, and Sylvia charmed the pants off our fellow travelers while we were at the airport, and she did alright on the flights. She doesn’t like toys a lot, so amusing her on my lap in an airplane is a little dicey, but she slept most of the flight from Dallas to Madison.
I’ve just downloaded 400-some photos onto my computer, so processing and uploading those should keep me busy today!
Bryan is home from work today because he has president’s day off (who knew!). So we’re pretending that it is Sunday, and we’re having a good morning petting the kitties, and getting re-settled in our sweet home.