Month: September 2006

Barktober Fest ’06

Sarah Dogs


Molly and Murphy would like to thank those who sponsored us for our Barktober Fest walk. It was a beautiful morning to walk, and we all had a really good time. We decided Carrie would have more fun riding in the wagon than walking (read that as: we would have more fun with Carrie strapped into the wagon than chasing her all over creation in a big crowd of people) so Denis walked both dogs and I dragged the wagon. I think Denis got the better end of that deal – my arm hurts!

Carrie learned a hard lesson about balloons today. She got a pretty blue balloon from someone dressed up as a squirrel (that must have been a hot costume to wear) and I did the sliding knot thing around her wrist. At some point when I was talking with someone I heard a little squeak, looked over and saw Carrie staring up at the sky, with the blue balloon getting smaller and smaller. I think it took her a few seconds to realize that the balloon was never coming back, and it was the longest, slowest, saddest pout you ever did see…which turned into a quivering lip, and then tears, and then all out sobs. I about cried along with her, it was so very sad to watch her lose her balloon forever.

Later on, the purple balloon she got from someone else was tied quite tightly to the seatbelt on the wagon! I have no idea how she got the ribbon off of her wrist in the first place, but I wasn’t taking any more chances.

Knittin’ Along

Sarah Knitting

I feel a little like my knitting has been floundering. Christmas projects, too – I haven’t worked on those in almost three weeks! But obviously something is getting done when I’m not paying attention:


Behold! The finished Jaywalker socks! I’m very, very happy with how these came out! I have realized, however, that I need a pair of sock blockers desperately. Carrie already promised to buy some for me for my birthday, but since she doesn’t have a credit card I’m hoping her Daddy will help her out…

And then there’s this:


A matching hat to the candy corn sweater. Carrie saw me making the little curlies for the top (I’ve added two more since I took the picture) and insisted on wearing it all morning, unwoven ends sticking out everywhere. I’m glad she likes the things I knit for her – I’m going to take full advantage of that while it lasts! Oh, and I only have a couple of yards left of this fabulous yarn, so that’s the end of the candy corn goodness. I’m not sure what else I could have knit to match the set anyway!

Finally, I’m joining the Warm Hands knit-along, because I’ve been attempting to create my own mitten/glove pattern to go with my so-called scarf & hat set. Since I’m knitting mittens anyway, I may as well join another knit-along, right?


They’re mittens with a fold-back top, but I haven’t decided if they’re going to have fingerless gloves or standard gloves as the lining. I’m using stash Koigu to line them (here’s hoping one skein is enough!) and I think that would be thin enough to have full-length fingers. But it would probably be easier to buckle Carrie into her carseat with fingerless gloves. I’m kind of stalled because I can’t decide – of course, I’m nowhere near the fingers, but that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. As always, this would be a much smoother process if I actually had a pattern to follow! (I just hope I can follow my hastily jotted down notes for mitten/glove number 2!)

Another Barktober Fest Plug

Sarah Dogs

Just a reminder: Barktober Fest is this Saturday. So if you were thinking of helping us meet our goal (we’re nearly there!) and have $5 to donate, now would be a good time to visit our sponsor page! At the moment, Saturday looks like it’s going to be in the low 60s and non-rainy, so it will be a good day for walking!

And thank you so much to everyone who has already donated to this wonderful cause!

New Knit-alongs and Swaps!

Sarah Knitting

Because I obviously can’t get enough sock knitting (my jaywalker socks are this -> <- close to being done, I just have to graft the toe of the second sock and weave in those ends) I joined two new groups earlier this week:

Socktoberfest, a month-long celebration of all things sock-y, and Hot Socks Swap, where we will exchange sock yarn and hot drink goodness. Go join up, you know you want to!

Also, this weeks’ Knitter’s Review newsletter had a review of a children’s book about knitting, Knitting Nell (which is already on Carrie’s birthday wish list) and it had a link to a project the author started called the Good Scarf Project. I really want to participate, and since I was going to knit Carrie a scarf this fall, maybe I can use that?

“Carrie more hungry!”

Sarah Carolyn

I think we’ve entered the land of bedtime delay tactics. Carrie is *just* falling asleep, two hours after we kissed her goodnight – the first time. First it was “Mommy, Carrie a diaper change!” which was legit. Then she was sobbing “Carrie more hungry” over and over. I decided to take her at her word – despite the fact that she ate well today – and bring her down for a few crackers. After a snack, some water, and a quick toothbrushing, she was back in her crib. A bit later, it was “Daddy, Carrie a diaper change!”, which turned out to not be necessary. A while after that she started screaming something about a boo-boo and needing ice. We didn’t find any boo-boos, of course. Finally, after one more desperate plea for a diaper change she finally settled down.

Total number of trips upstairs by both Denis and myself to get her down: 11. I really hope this is a fluke, because I am *so* not doing this tomorrow night!

Twenty-Three Months Old!

Sarah Monthly Updates

Dear Carolyn,

Today you are 23 months old, just one month away from your second birthday. I just realized today that I ought to get started on your birthday party plans, since I should send out invitations within the week!

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In the past month you’ve started speaking in longer and longer sentences, and even stringing together two or three sentences at a time. You still refer to yourself in the third person most of the time, which I’m trying really hard not to blame on Elmo. And I’ve taught you the inelegant “yeah” as a response to everything instead of “yes”. I never realized that I said that so much until you started speaking just the way I do. Ah, well. At least it’s cute when you say it.

You’ve really started into the imaginative play thing. Not only do you pretend to be a mommy to your baby dolls and pretend to cook food in your kitchen – things you’ve been doing for a while – but you act things out with your little people and have your stuffed animals kiss and hug each other. You still like to build with legos, but you’re really into your kitchen and dolls right now. And I was trying so hard to avoid the girly stereotypes, buying you cars and balls and blocks. Sometimes I wonder if it might just be built into your brain to be a girly-girl, and whatever I do or don’t do won’t change that. (Not that there’s anything wrong with girly stuff, I just want to make sure you know that you can do or be whatever you want.)

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You love to draw on your magna-doodle. You’ll scribble for a bit, say “Mommy, see that!” and tell me you drew an airplane, or a pumpkin, or a “2”. And if I squint and tilt my head just right, I can see what you’re seeing. I’m trying to remember to ask you to describe your picture, rather than saying “what’s that?” because I want to encourage your budding artistic ability. Just today, you started drawing circles too! Real, honest to goodness circles. It won’t be long until you have the fine motor control to knit…
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Your last bottom tooth came in a couple of weeks ago, so you now have all but your two-year molars. You came with me to my dentist appointment last week and got to play with their bin of plastic bracelets and necklaces. After a bit you looked like Mr. T, you were covered with so much bling. Luckily, you were happy enough to help put everything away and just pick out one bracelet at the end.

Oh, and I tossed caution to the wind and gave you peanut butter this month. You absolutely love it, and now I feel guilty for having deprived you of it for so long. At this point the only thing we’re still holding off on (and will for probably another year) is shellfish. I also recently switched you to 2% milk from whole. It’s a little earlier than the pediatrician recommends, but you drink at most 6 oz. a day and I’m more comfortable giving you the BHT-free 2% vs. the non-BHT-free whole milk.

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Sometimes I look at you and you’re acting so grown-up and independent I have to remind myself that you’re not even two yet. Other times…well, there’s no need for any reminders when you’re in the middle of a meltdown. You definitely want to have more control over your life than is necessarily good or safe at the moment. I don’t mind if you want to wear mismatched clothes or would prefer a PB&J sandwich to grilled cheese. The clash of wills comes when you refuse to hold my hand walking down the stairs or insist on a blue cup instead of the green cup you chose and I already poured your milk into. Those are the times I really try hard to remember that you’re not quite two and I’m the adult. Those are also the times when it’s a really good thing that you’re the cutest thing since mini-pumpkins. :)

Love, Mommy

Strong Museum

Sarah General

We finally went to visit the newly re-opened Strong Museum today. I like the changes a lot, although it was a little overwhelming in places. We got there right around when they opened and spent a little less than three hours there, including having lunch, and we didn’t nearly see everything that was new.

The new Field of Play area had some fun things, but it was the most crowded so we didn’t spend too long in there. Carrie really enjoyed the toddler area there despite the fact that there were several kids who were way too big to be in there and were crowding out the smaller kids. (This is a real pet peeve of mine. If your kid is a foot taller than the very prominent “you must be shorter than this line to enter” sign then they shouldn’t be in that area. And if you see that sign and let your kids play in there anyway, shame on you. Nice example you’re setting for your child about following rules.)

Carrie, as always, loved the “old” area. We spent some time in the Sesame Street exhibit, where Carrie sang the alphabet with Elmo and played chess with Mommy. Of course, no trip to Strong is complete without a shopping trip to mini-Wegmans. Carrie picked out a peach, a fig, some oatmeal, a brick of cheese, and a carton of orange juice. And before we left we went back to let her ride the train. We skipped over the other parts of the original section so we could move on to…

Reading Adventureland! There were neat costumes in this section, wizards and princesses and royal capes. A play kitchen with green eggs and ham, as well as velcro’d fruits and veggies that could be cut apart (Carrie *loved* those) and a stove that had a talking chicken in it…I couldn’t quite catch what it said over the noise, but that was a little odd. A chair shaped like a hand next to a pillow shaped like a banana with a small selection of books to read aloud. And there were just tons of little hidey-holes, things to climb into/onto/under, knobs to turn, pulleys to pull. It was all storybook-themed, and I got the impression that it was all fabulous, but this was the part that felt pretty overwhelming.

If Denis hadn’t been there to be another pair of eyes and hands on Carrie I would have been worried about her disappearing somewhere. I’m sure a fair amount of that was just the sheer volume of kids running around and the rather high noise level. A weekday should be much calmer, and when I’d normally take Carrie by myself (or with friends) anyway. All in all, we’d give it 6 thumbs up! (Out of 6, of course – the three of us each have two thumbs, get it?)

I uploaded a few photos to Ofoto Kodak EasyShare Gallery. (Sign-in required.)

Bzzzz

Sarah General

You know it’s bad when the pest control specialist (aka “the bee guy”) says, “This is strange…”

We’ve had several yellow-jackets in both of our upstairs bathrooms and a few scattered in other rooms on that side of the house (but mostly upstairs) for a couple of weeks now. None of the windows in any of those rooms are open, and the only place we could see an active nest was where the garage connects to the house. The bee guy says that it’s pretty out-of-character for them to walk along the house inside the walls or anything that would get them to where we saw them going in to where we saw them in the house. And they’re pretty sluggish once they’re indoors, so it’s unlikely that they’re flying from room to room.

He sprayed a bunch of outdoor areas, around the windows and doors, and a little attic area in the garage. Hopefully that will reduce the indoor yellow-jacket population to nothing within a few days. I’m not afraid of them – when they’re outdoors, anyway. I’d just strongly prefer that they not live in my house!

(Oh, and I’m totally mortified about where the bee guy was in my house – the living space and bedrooms are all in pretty good shape, but I’ve been a little nervous about cleaning the bathrooms with all those stinging insects crawling around so they haven’t been done in a couple of weeks, and he went in my closet. My closet. The “walk-in” closet that you’d have to be two inches wide to actually be able to walk into if it were clean, and that we use as a place to deposit stuff we have no other place to store. Clothes, too, but not much that we actually wear. I am the worst housekeeper (and pack-rat) ever.)

More Carrie-isms

Sarah Carolyn

A couple more interesting words:

oh-pah-mee = oatmeal
lickurd = yogurt

Carrie’s also starting to say things like “Mommy, are you?!?” (as in “where are you?”, not “do you exist?”) and “Look-it!” The longest sentence I’ve heard from her was 5 words long (“Carrie sleep in Mommy bed?”), and she’s starting to string a couple of sentences together at a time now.

Welcome Baby!

Sarah Family

My cousin had a little boy today, Ryan Nicholas. He wasn’t due for a couple more weeks, so I haven’t even picked out yarn yet, let alone started knitting his sweater! I guess it’s time to hit the yarn shop!