The sweater is done! Look:
I can’t believe I knit a whole sweater in 17 days, that not only fits but looks really great on me too. :)
Done!
Month: February 2010
Snow Day
And another first: Carrie’s first snow day off from school. Between a superintendent’s day, the trip, February break, the past three days when she’s been out sick, and today’s snow day, she’s attended school for 6 days in February. (To be fair, there have only been 13 days when school was actually in session, but still…)
And although I appreciate not having to listen to a long list of school closings on the radio, why does the automated call notifying the parents of a snow day happen at 5:56 AM? The bus doesn’t come until 8:30, surely they could have waited until 7 or so before ringing the phone?
Snowmageddon, 2010
They’re predicting over a foot of snow in the next 24 hours or so. Normally I’d scoff at this (I mean, it’s Rochester, and February, of course there’s going to be snow) but I’ve been stuck in the house with a sick child for three days and there is no milk or bread left. Bread I can make, but I don’t have a cow out back in reserve, so I guess I’ll have to brave the snow and the crowds and go find us some supplies…
Sick Day
Carrie is out sick from school today, her first actual sick day this year. Definitely tomorrow too. Poor kid.
Ice Skating
I took Carrie ice skating today for the first time, so she could wear the pink ice skates Santa was kind enough to bring her. I pretty much remembered how to skate forwards without falling, but I had a really hard time helping Carrie figure it out. She did make it around the rink three whole times, and only fell a couple of times.
We’re both signed up for lessons starting in a couple of weeks. I have to be crazy, but I never managed to teach myself how to skate backwards, and as long as I’m going to be going to the rink every Saturday morning for six weeks anyway, I may as well get out on the ice instead of sitting on the cold bleachers!
Puppy Paws
Yesterday I noticed how big my big girl has gotten recently. You know how puppies – the little 2 month old puppies you bring home – have short little stubby legs and round little bellies and soft, short little faces? And then a few months later, before the adult dog emerges, they become sort of juvenile puppies, with oddly long legs and huge paws and longer, more defined faces.
Carrie has hit that stage. She seems to have grown overnight, into impossibly long legs and really big feet, and something about her face has changed – her nose? the shape of her eyes? – to look older. Suddenly it seems appropriate for her to be watching Arthur and Electric Company instead of Sesame Street and Dora.
They grow up too fast. It’s such a cliché, but it’s true. Much too fast.
Ravelympics
Hello there, I’m Bizzy Sheep…OK, not really, but I’m knitting an entire sweater during the Olympics as Bizzy Sheep (from our Dizzy Sheep daily deal website). I have to be crazy, but the yarn, the pattern, and even the buttons conspired to make me temporarily lose my mind and agree to do this. It’s the yarn fumes, I tell you.
19 Months Old!
Dear Anna,
Today you are 19 months old. You are definitely out of baby mode and full-on into toddler mode…and an independent toddler at that! You are very much done with the walking bit. Now, you run. And when you’re not running, you’re climbing. You have no fear. Not one little bit!
You thrive on our routines. Every night, you climb up the stairs, go straight into the bathroom, climb up on the step stool, and wait (impatiently, I might add) for your tooth brush so we can brush all 12 of your teeth. From there, it’s into your room, where you demand that I turn on the lights so we can get you the rest of the way ready for bed. And you live for the bus, every afternoon. You wait with me (well, at least on the days you wake up from your nap early enough) until we see the bus coming around the corner. And then you light up with excitement over seeing “Dee-Dee”. (We think that means “sister”, but I suppose it could mean “Carrie”.)
You are completely hooked on TV. Your favorites are Dora (still), Mickey Mouse (which you call Nikki’s Mouse), and you even like to watch “Ar-fur” (Arthur) when your sister comes home from school. It does sound like a lot, but I really do promise that most days you don’t watch all of those things.
You are starting to grow out of your 18 month clothes. You have an enormous amount of clothes to choose from: your big sister’s old clothes, Nikki’s old clothes, clothes that I saw and wanted to buy for you…some days I feel like I’m drowning in little girl clothes! And now it’s time to dig out the 24 month clothes and sort through everything once again…
You absolutely can’t get enough books. We sit on the couch and snuggle together and read for a half an hour at a time. At that point you usually wiggle your way down and go play, but that’s a darn impressive attention span for such a busy little girl!
And you are busy. Busy driving cars around while making “vroom vrooom” noises, busy stacking blocks and “reading” books and getting into mischief. You are my little monkey, and you keep me on my toes!
Love, Mommy
Home Again, Home Again
Our Magical Express bus to the airport was scheduled to pick us up at 5:55 AM, which meant we had to get up at oh-dark-thirty to make it there in time.
We were sort of hoping the big storm headed up the East coast would delay us a bit, but no such luck. So, back to winter we went!
The flights back were mostly OK, although Anna was so tired by the end of the second one that she cried for most of the last half hour…and then conked out just moments before we landed. Which meant I carried a very soundly asleep (and heavy) baby off the plane!
So, we’re back in Rochester, where it’s cold…but cold like February is supposed to be.
And now we need a vacation from our vacation!
Epcot, Day 2
Our last day at Disney – this trip anyway – and we headed back to Epcot to see some of the things we didn’t get to the first time there, and to finish our world tour!
First, we headed for The Seas. The Nemo ride was a huge hit with the girls, and Anna has found a new favorite character: “Nee-Moh!” We walked around the giant aquarium, and saw lots of really neat fish. I herded everyone into the Turtle Talk with Crush show, which was “totally sweet, dude!” Really, it was hilariously funny and something to put on our don’t-miss list for next time!
After the seas, we headed for The Land. Anna was too little to go on Soarin’, and we couldn’t actually do a switch off at the entry point like you can for many rides, so we had to take turns – which took forever! But it was definitely fun, although given the option to go again with Denis, Carrie chose not to. After we had all soared over California, we went to Sunshine Seasons for an early lunch, to prepare ourselves to walk from Canada to Morocco!
Canada was mainly a quick stop just to work on the mask, and then we visited jolly old England, where we saw a troupe of performers that were rather Python-esque. In France, we stopped for some delicious pastries, because, really, Epcot is just an excuse to sample cuisine from all over the world, right?
We spent a good deal of time in Morocco, both to let Carrie finish her mask and because the architecture there is so beautiful.
Weary from our world travels, we boarded the ferry to head back, where we ducked into Mouse Gear just as the rain started falling in earnest. It took a while to pick out t-shirts for everyone, and the rain just didn’t let up.
Denis decided to take Anna back to the hotel and Carrie and I ran through the pouring rain long enough to get a couple of Mickey ice cream bars. We tried to wait out the rain, but ultimately decided to call it a day.
We ordered in pizza for dinner and then walked down to the hotel arcade for a bit. Did a little more shopping in the hotel gift shops, and then headed back to pack up and put the kids to bed.
I did one last thing before going to bed myself…our first night, we had heard some strange music out on the bay, and after a little research discovered it was the Floating Electrical Pageant. We’d only really watched it through the windows of the hotel room every night – and the kids were soundly asleep and never did get to see it – so I walked out onto the dock to get a better view, along with some pictures and video. It was even maybe a little stranger out there…definitely an unusual way to end a vacation!