Yule decoration!

Well, I dragged out the tree and found a place to stick it. What do you think?

Here's a wide shot of the wall. On the left hand side is my desk, couch to the right. usually the altar is up against the wall, but I stuck the tree behind it.

Here's a closer shot of the tree and altar. I still need a Yule candle. The doily covering the altar was passed down to me from my great-grandmother. The lights are on, but won't be lit up until Solstice Night (Dec. 21), and we'll put ornaments on the tree on Mother-Night (Dec. 20). as well as make a yule wreath for the altar. (A small one, since I have to burn it on the grill in the backyard.)

Here's the couch. All the holiday teddy bears are compliments of my MIL.

This is the corner above my desk. The sounding horn and coat of arms are always there; I just hung the drinking horns.

Here's a badly overlit backshot of the wreath on the door.

Luthien's Turn With The Camera

Luthien decided to try out the camera. Here are the best of the shots she took:

Chocolate Revel!!!

Yummy chocolate dishes. I didn't take these pictures. I, of course, forgot my camera.
Here's me cutting up pickled eggs. Yum. Luthien was busy playing with Thomas.
More yummy chocolate dishes.
This dragon and his chocolate castle are 100% edible and won best show piece.
So much chocolate, I actually drank cow's milk for the first time in several years to wash it down.
Yet more chocolate. I want a bundt pan shaped like a castle, too!

This was another of the show piece entries, made by Viola, who is in the College of Brymstonne. She admitted that she voted for the dragon.

Luthien did manage to get a hold of some cake when I wasn't looking, and I didn't know for sure all the things I have her were egg-free. She was sick later. I suspect in this case it was worth it. Heck, I was almost sick later. Her favorite part was the dancing. Mine was definitely the chocolate. But between helping set up, helping in the kitchen, chasing Luthien (who played with Thomas until he went home and then with a little girl who got them locked out of the hall for a few minutes--Yikes!), and helping clean up, it was a LOOONG and exhausting day. Also, I think my garb is still ugly even with the new trim I made.

That Was Easy

Well, Luthien's surgery is all done. We actually left the surgical center less than an hour after the scheduled time of the surgery. Easy peasy.

The question now is, do I let her have Hi-Ho Cherry-O, which I bought on our store credit at Bookman's yesterday, or make her wait until her birthday? I'm not good at waiting and certainly don't want to set higher standards for her than I expect of myself. I think it's going to be a recovery day activity.

"I want to go to day care!"

Luthien has declared this several times today.

Maybe she just likes it better than sitting around the house with boring old Mommy.

Someone remembered my birthday!

The in-laws didn't, but we got the box from mom in the mail. I bought groceries and a $5 large pizza from Little Caesar's. Does that count as eating out?

Luthien is scheduled for ear tube surgery on the 15th. I picked a Friday so I only have to miss one class and she'll have the weekend to recover, but David will have to work for sure.

She's turned into Miss Grouch after daycare. I don't know if it's because she' tired, or just because she wants her own way more after all day in a structured environment. Either way, it's really taxing on me.

Luthien's birthday is coming up, and I won't be able to get her any gifts before hand. Some things I think she would enjoy:

Board games for the 3+ crowd (she has Memory and Rivers, Roads, and Rails and plays those well)
Jigsaw puzzles in the 15-30 piece range
Books, as always
A T-ball set


I want to get her a kitchen. Every time we go into Target, it takes a while to tear her peacefully away from the wooden island kitchen. I think it's adorable and loathe the big plastic kind. IMO Target is the only big box store with a toy section worth looking at for more than 2 minutes.

Daycare: week 1

Luthien seems to like it. She didn't nap every day she was there, but the days she didn't nap were days she'd slept late, so I guess it's not too surprising. The only thing that bothers me is that while they have the same 2 people there in the morning, by late afternoon it's different people who are often clueless about whether she ate her lunch or had nap, and who don't seem to be as on top of things in general. Part-timers. They're all nice, and interact well with the kids, but it does seem like a lot of coming and going. For her part, Luthien doesn't seem to mind, though.

LibraryThing

Here's an interesting site. It lets you catalog all the books in your personal library very quickly. Below is my profile. It includes Luthien's books:

http://www.librarything.com/profile/Ravin

Learning Luthien's Likes

One thing about Luthien getting a little older is that she's starting to develop her own idea of what sorts of things she likes and dislikes. She likes frogs. Great. She didn't seem so excited about the castle-themed toys I had my heart set on getting her for her birthday. There was a playset, with dolls of king/queen/princess/prince/jester/wizard/knight, a little folding doll-house castle, and castle blocks.

On the other hand, she is totally enthralled with the toy kitchen every time we go to Target. So, I'm getting her a toy kitchen. The wooden one at Target seems to be the best deal in something compact and not hideous, though there's one at Magic Cabin I think is pretty cool, too. And it'll be a nice thing to make suggestions to others who want to get her something, to get (preferably not plastic) accessories for her toy kitchen.

Maybe I should get castle blocks for MY birthday.

The Number 4

Luthien has been identifying the numeral 4 everywhere she sees it for several days. Today, she had me show her how to write it, and actually did! I mean, it wasn't perfect, but it was vaguely legible. She also tried to do triangles, without as much success.

I don't think she quite gets the purpose of the number 4, as in, counting 4 objects, exactly. But she definitely can identify the symbol.

I'm not sure why "4", as opposed to any of the other numerals, or a letter of the alphabet (though she has, on occasion, identified the letter "O", not with the insistent consistency she goes on about 4).

She has identified "4" on license plates, on a picture of a football player, on a calendar, and in books. She'll start pointing and saying "Four! Mommy, Four!", and if I look, inevitably there it is. The number 4. I guess that's her number. Hmm.

Summer--Where to begin?

Well, I suppose I could begin with our vacation. A definite high there, in that trip out to California. Luthien saw the ocean for the first time, and still asks to go to the beach. I got to feel like I was 9 years old again at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, and the Monterrey Bay Aquarium was amazing for all of us.

There were certainly lows. The restaurant burned down. We're back to where we were 2 years ago. Ugh.

Luthien is really speaking now, she's pretty much dropped baby babble altogether, though occasionally she's still quite difficult to understand. Her speech therapist doesn't think she'll qualify for EI preschool. Not sure I'd want to send her anyway, but I'm keeping options open.

She'll sit and work on a 20 piece puzzle with help. She does the activity cards with her Funtastic Frogs, when she's in the mood. Still haven't figured out why those are labeled age 5+. She's pretty much got her colors down, and a couple of days ago said "Bless you" when I sneezed.

Lesson I've learned: BK Veggie sandwich at Burger King has egg in it.

We're still working on getting the hang of coping with food allergies. Hopefully her new daycare will be accomodating.

Tiffany did warn me

Peace Fleece easily becomes tangled from the nifty twisted skein it arrives in. She did warn me. That's why I started rolling it into a ball. Then it got tangled anyway. Then it broke. Now I'm winding a second ball as I untangle. Very, very slowly.

I had thought to take Luthien to the splash park and go to the Brymstonne meeting tonight. But I'm starting to get queasy again (maybe it's hunger?) and she's still napping. I think we'll just stay home. The only real downer to that is that I wanted to go to the library. Oh, well. There's always tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.

Warning signs

When Luthien pulls a towel out of the cupboard and lays down on it, it is a warning sign.

Warning: incipient vomiting.

Other peoples' blogs

So far, most of the blogs I've looked at online have seemed way cooler than mine. I wonder if that's simply a function of other peoples' lives looking more interesting?

I've been reading this blog the past couple of days: http://lionesshomeschool.blogspot.com/

She's a Pagan doing classical education. It's reassuring I'm not going to be the only one, and her blog is brimming over with fun ideas and interesting links.

Luthien is napping. Ah, sweet bliss! But I hope I don't have to wake her up. We have to leave in 45 minutes to go babysit Xander.

I wish I could find a full-time way to get paid for having fun.

Luthien Loves Frogs and Dogs, I research Classical Homeschooling

I really can't fault Luthien's obsessive interests. I do the same thing. Right now, I have homeschooling on the brain, and have been doing a lot of reading and research.

She's been into frogs, dogs on the TV, and www.starfall.com. I now wish I hadn't given up our copy of Scooby-Doo, which went to my niece Dakota at the height of her scooby groove. It's Lady and the Tramp every day. We had checked out a Wishbone DVD from the library, but the time came to return it and they didn't have any others. I couldn't talk her into Benji or Lassie at the library. I tried putting in the Fox and the Hound instead of Lady and the Tramp, but it just made me cry and failed to hold her interest. And I thought Bambi was depressing!

Starfall is really teaching her things. She's started associating sounds with letters. Too bad the computer network won't work when it heats up around here. Or at all, this morning.

As for frogs, I found a cool area rug at Ikea on Wednesday. Now Luthien can jump from lilypad to lilypad around her room!

Too smart by half!

Last night, fairly late, when I was about ready to herd Luthien off to bed, she asked me if she could have some "flower butter" (sunflower seed butter). I told her no, she'd already had her snack and it was almost bedtime. She threw a brief fit, and then wandered off to talk to Windy.

Windy got my attention, and I came into the kitchen to find that Luthien had gotten into the fridge, taken out the jar of sunflower seed butter, gotten a spoon, opened the jar, and gotten herself a big 'ol spoonful!

I took it away, put it back in the jar, and put the jar up high in the fridge. She was most put out. I told her "no does not mean get it yourself."

I really want to nurture her independent streak, but not without getting run over!

Luthien is vacuuming

I'm delighted. I do have to go turn the vacuum around for her (she can't steer it too well yet), but she's making definite inroads on the pretzels and dried cereal she flung all over the living room floor from the vantage of her high chair (and the couch).

Given how often she's tried to insist that "mommy do it" lately concerning picking up her toys, I'm happy with any volunteerism on her part in cleaning up around here, especially since the place needs to be in order for a friend's graduation party tomorrow.

I'm done, vacation has officially begun!

I'm done. Totally and completely.
No more school, no more books (except fun ones),
no more hurrying, no more day care.

It's just Luthien and me, facing one long, hot, summer of each other's company day in, and day out.

I'm really looking forward to going out to Texas to visit family in June.

The Health Benefits of Procrastination

I wrote a paper today. It was due at 5 PM. I spent most of the morning reading the material I had gathered in my research, and started writing around mid-morning.

I completely forgot about Luthien's speech therapy appointment, so when Jenna arrived the living room was a mess (I usually tidy up before she comes), I was in my pajamas, and Luthien was starkers.

Luthien fortunately went down for a reasonably long afternoon nap, which permitted me to get the paper finished with a minimum of protestation from her (relatively speaking). I finished the paper at ten until four, frantically got Luthien and myself dressed and our bag packed with library books to return, the paper to turn in, and Luthien's towel and swimsuit for the trip to the splash park I promised her as the compensation for being ignored all day while mama focused on homework.

We left the house at 4:12 PM. We arrived at the Anthropology building on campus, approximately 4.5 miles away, at 4:41 PM, a good twenty minutes before the office (wherein lay the TA's box into which I had to place the paper to turn it in) was supposed to close (and about ten minutes before the time they often lock the door).

29 minutes from home to campus, with a fairly strong head and cross wind, and Luthien as well as a laden backpack on board. Yep. Procrastination does have its health benefits.

It's Official

As of today, I am the wife of a restaurant owner.

We now get to see David's sleeping back in bed, and if awake may see him for 10 minutes before bed and 30 minutes upon awakening. The rest of the time, he'll be at work.

But at least now we don't have to worry about him getting fired!