Monday, August 31, 2026

Happy Second Birthday! (Hoppy Doo-Ooh!)

   It's hard to believe how far you have come over the last year.  We discovered that you favorite animals are cows and your current favorite body parts are butts and elbows.  You know what trash is and how to throw it away, where before you just wanted to try and sample anything you could get your hands on.  Tank really appreciates that you have learned how to pet him in a gentler fashion, even though we all know you just want to hug him and carry him around.
  Unlike other toddlers I have heard about, you are very good at holding hands when it is needed, mostly staying within view when you run around, and staying near us when we need you to.  We all need to work on stopping ourselves from throwing things when we are mad, but you don't throw things that shouldn't be thrown on the regular, and we thank you for it.
  You love picking out what to wear in the morning and I love that, even if you don't always pick seasonally appropriate things.  You have really come around to hats.
  We admit that we are all doomed because of how smart and observant you are.  You know that we need a key in the lock to get out the front door and know how to unlock and open the door to the porch.  You know how clothes should go on and can sometimes manage it on your own.  You can get your socks and Velcro shoes on all by yourself as well.  Colors are easy for you, as are animal sounds.  You know to pick out your morning apple and that we need to rinse it and put on an apple-bib before we can eat it.
  You love with all of your being and I hope that doesn't change.
  You may be able to down flamin' hot snacks like they are no big deal, but we need to work on keeping you from rubbing your eyes until they are clean again.

  For her actual birthday we went to Ikea to wander around and get meatballs for lunch.  She had a great time sitting in every chair, laying in every bed, and doing laps in the "sustainable home."  She loved the meatballs and only liked the peas and mashed potatoes well enough.  She ate some of the lingonberry jelly on its own before we split a princess cake.  We somehow missed all of the stuffed animals the first time through, but when we got back to the box pickup area I knew we had to go back.  I was going to let her pick out a stuffie for her birthday.  When we were about to turn back, she found a panda and a turtle in a random bin near one of the stacks of chairs.  She tried to get the panda out.  I helped her, but she didn't want to leave the turtle.  When I offered them to her two times she grabbed the panda first, so we picked that one.

  We got to the Ren Faire and she immediately started collecting rocks from the parking lot.  It was lunch time, so we found a turkey leg place and also got a Scotch egg for Miss Spud and I to share.  She really liked the egg and turkey leg.  She was able to take better bites of the turkey leg this year, but it's still a little too tough for her to get through on her own.  We watched Vixens en Garde while we ate.
  She loves running around and watching people, so this is always a good time.  Before the knighting ceremony she had fun with another little girl because they were both interested in rocks on the ground.  We got her knighted again, and this time she wasn't scared of the king.  She was also pretty tired by the time the knighting ceremony happened, so she also looked pretty out of it.
  We told her that she could nap, but there were too many exciting things to look at.  She was able to fight it, even though I rolled her small towel up and had her lay her head down on it.
  We got to the stage early, so Mary and I went shopping while everyone else hung out. While we were gone, Miss Spud was gifted some mushrooms. She loved Jacques ze Whipper because of all of the songs and clapping.  
  Mary got her one of the bird whistles.  With a lot of help she got it to work a few times.  The problem was that she wanted to put more of the whistle in her mouth than would let it work.
  We didn't make it to the joust because there was no place to sit and it was too hot to stand in the sun for the second show of the day, and the last one was going to be too late.  When we got home she got some of her lemon cake and opened some of her presents.  I figured we would let her play with some before we just opened all of them.

Monday, August 24, 2026

She's now a 2T!

Week 99:
  If she can see me when I am waiting for her to nap she will just want to bounce in her crib, even if I tell her to lay down and go to sleep.  I usually let her be and hope she goes to sleep.  It usually works but we have had some days where she doesn't get a nap.  A few times I have tried to tell her to lay down and go to sleep over her crib-camera, and it seems to work.  I had to laugh because the last time I tried it, she dropped what she was doing so she could lay down and just closed her eyes.  I guess she is waiting for the voice from the sky to tell her when it's time to nap.
  I usually call Tank's litterbox his Cat Box.  Before brushing her teeth one night she grabbed Pete the Cat, which is unusual to grab him, but not that she brought a friend.  She meowed a few times and then tried to put Pete in Tank's box.  To be fair, Pete is a cat, so it would make sense that he would need to use the Cat Box, like Tank does.


Week 100:
  When I went to get her on Saturday morning she had already pulled her PJ pants off.  After she handed them to me she sat down so she could pull the edge of her diaper aside and peak at the poop inside of it.
  I joked with Bill after one of her diaper changes about where she was.  He came out of the bathroom after I changed her and I had forgotten to close the gate.  He asked where she was and I told him that I wasn't sure, but I did find a baby deer and brought her home.  Spud had insisted she wear her deer headband after the change.
  We went to Mission BBQ to get some dinner with Steven.  She liked her food well enough, but not as much as the strawberries and whipped cream off my strawberry shortcake side.  As we were getting ready to leave we got asked if the food was good.  After we said it was he commented that it was good as long as Miss Spud liked it.  When I mentioned that she really liked the strawberries he got us a small side container of them.
  I was streaming while playing a game and Tank decided he needed to lay on my desk.  I moved Miss Spud's keyboard because she hasn't been helping me type as much recently and it gave Tank space.  The next morning she saw that her keyboard was on the floor and was not happy.  She grumped at me as she picked it up and handed it to me so I could put it back on my desk.
  On Tuesday, after dinner, I caught her teaching her plastic lion how to cross the road.  She said 'Top, Loo, Go-go-go!  Those are all the steps I tell her whenever we cross an area with cars or sometimes in busy stores with lots of carts.
  It is so much fun watching her piece together words and language.  She likes to hold her hands under the water to wash them while I'm trying to brush her teeth.  Her sleeve got wet and she wanted me to know.  She said water and I told her it was wet from the water.  She then repeated wet and water back to me.
  We had to rescue cat-cat, her little plastic cat before she could take her nap.  She had attempted to place it on top of her headboard, but it was small enough to fall down the back, but it was too big to make it all the way to the floor.  Cat-cat would have had to live there until we changed her crib into a toddler bed if she hadn't remembered where she saw him last.
  She joyfully squealed "eye-ceem" when she saw the red lights as we pulled into the parking lot of Smiley's.  We got the peach to share and she knew the cone was for her.  Every few bites she had me put another dollop of ice cream into her cone.  She even made sure to share some with her plastic moo-cow.  She was so happy to be there. 
  She managed to reach up high enough to reach the light switch and turn on the light over the table next to the kitchen.
  When we were playing a board game and Miss Spud was supposed to be napping, Bill went to check on her.  He saw she was crying and naked and went in to investigate.  She had taken off her sleep sack and her diaper before pooping her bed.  Some of it was outside of her playard and some wasn't.  She then insisted that Bill wash Corduroy's hands after he put a new diaper on her.  I cleaned off her sheet and put it in the wash.  She was crying and wanted to rock at first, but then I saw we had to clean the floor.  I laid her down and told her that her job was to hold on to her friends.  She just laid there on her side holding them.  I wiped her hands since we weren't totally sure how poop got on the outside, but we had a good idea how it would have happened.
  She ate all of her grilled cheese when we went out to eat, but she consumed all of it except one bite.  We left and were going to let her finish her sandwich on the way to the game shop.  She crammed the last bite in as we were leaving.  It then sat in her mouth for the whole walk to the game shop, shopping, walking back to the car, the drive to Lowe's, and some sitting in the parking lot of Lowe's.  She poked at her mouth and opened it some.  I told her to eat what was in her mouth.  She smiled and poked at it a few times.  I told her that if she didn't eat it, I would take it.  She then shoved it out with her tongue before I was ready.  Luckily we had wipes and car napkins.  She then proceeded to chug half of her water.  When we got back she ate a few chips, so it wasn't the feeling of being fully full that stopped her from eating the last bite of her sandwich.


Week 101:
  Miss Spud and I went on a rock collecting expedition.  It was supposed to be a walk, but she had to stop every few inches to get more rocks.  She filled one pocket and got frustrated when they started falling out.  She then moved them to the other pocket, but instead of then trying to fill the first one again kept trying to put rocks into the second and got frustrated again.  She then started to fill both of my pockets with rocks.  She kept asking for cows, so I ended up picking her up and carrying her to Earl's cows.  Luckily they were in the nearest pasture.  The two nearest were curious but cautious.  Some that were farther out heard Miss Spud looking and came running over.  They encouraged the cautious ones to get closer too.  She got seven cows to come over to the fence.  We also confused a deer who was passing through at the time.  Bill came to rescue us when we didn't come back as quickly as he had assumed we would.
  The big Bucky was in when we stopped at Buc-ee's.  I decided we should get in the short line to get a picture while Bill waited for the Chicken & Fries boxes.  When we got to the front I tried to get her to go over, but she grabbed my hand and tried to get me to go alone.  I then grabbed her and we went over together.  She wasn't as excited to see him as I thought she would be.  We both got stickers for our bravery.
  When we got back from the cabin she was acting grumpier than usual the next day.  I gave her the light-up ball and a felt ball to throw since she wanted to throw things.  When throwing she started saying Whoop, which made me laugh and brightened her mood some.
  On Monday she went down for her nap super easily.  To make up for that she did not want to sleep at night.  It took us over an hour and a half to get her down.  She would throw her friends and then be scared that they were gone.  She would just throw them again when we handed them back.  She just kept screaming or wiggling when we would put her down.  We could get her to calm when holding her and rocking in her chair, but it would just start again the second we tried to lay her down.
  I don't know what happened, but she did not want a bath on Thursday.  I was filling her tub up and put her in it.  She said it was too hot and climbed out onto me.  I turned it down and kept filling her tub.  I put her back in and she almost sat down but then started screaming.  I put her fish in there to show her it was nice in there, but every time I tried to get her back in she would crawl out, and cling to me while screaming.  I offered to take a bath with her, but that made her scream more.  She also kept saying Poop before farting and screaming even more.  I was able to get her clean by having her stand next to the tub and used a washcloth on her.  She even ran out of her room to yell Nooo, Stooopp at the bathtub another time after I got her in some PJs.  I was able to calm her down enough so that she wasn't screaming and trying to climb away while also trying to get snuggles.
  She really wanted to throw Miss Moo, but didn't want to be away from her either.  She was laying in bed crying for her, so I would pull her off the railing and try to give her to Miss Spud.  Miss Spud would then cry more and move her hands to indicate she wanted Miss Moo back where she was.  She then would cry for her and act like she was reaching for her.


Week 102:
  At knitting Miss Spud got to spend some time with a baby.  She was not entirely sure how to act around the baby, but figured it out.  She shared a dump truck and also a stuffed bunny.  A few times she crawled around like the baby did.  At one point the baby's toy was on the ground and she brought it over for Lucy to play with.  The main concern was that Lucy kept trying to steal her snacks until Miss Spud decided that Lucy needed a pretzel and wanted to feed her the pretzel.
  She was complaining that her socks had dirt on them, so I went to see if we had any clean ones.  I tried her Hello Kitty socks, but they are designed for older kids and don't have the grips on the bottom.  I took them off after she slipped and fell for the fourth time.  She was not happy with that, but eventually accepted dog stickers for her hands instead.
  We are having to do an interesting balance between giving her what she wants and also being firm on bedtime.  She wants 97 dollops of lotion and 117 layers of lip balm all while being rocked in her chair while she tries to escape to chase Tank.  She thinks it's funny to stand up and have the blanket fall off her herself, but wants to be snuggly under it.
  Bill was working from home and Miss Spud was helping him.  At one point they found an empty fruit snack bag.  Bill asked if she could show him what they do with trash.  She ran over to the baby gate yelling Mama!  It was so funny.
  I forget when she started calling it show-shown, but that's what she says when she's asking for lotion.  At one point it was "shun", which isn't too far off.  It then morphed into "show-shown" at some point.
  It's been hot and humid out, which means there are spots on my forehead that get pink.  On Monday morning she noticed it.  She pointed to my forehead and asked "Hurt? Hurt?" in a concerned voice.  I assured her that it didn't hurt and she was pleased by that answer.
  On Wednesday morning she woke up from what I assume was a nightmare.  She was scream-yelling about a truck, or her duck, and sometimes Buck-Buck.  Bill went in to comfort her and ended up coming back into the bedroom with her.  He put her under the blanket next to him, between us, and we all went back to sleep.  She slept through me being a potty-buddy for Tank, but didn't sleep through Bill getting back into bed after using the restroom.  She then jumped on us and tried to hug Tank.  The adults didn't get much sleep and while she got more than we did, it was probably still not enough.
  We had a successful bath.  I started filling her bath and she started to whine and crawl out again.  Since her bath wasn't very full I sat her on the towel and pulled it out.  I then filled the regular bath and climbed in with her.  She crouched for a bit, but then I convinced her to sit down.  We had a nice bath playing with her fish and splashing each other.


Week 103:
  We had another upset tummy on Sunday night.  We were reading books on the LoveSac when she stood up, got off, and threw up.  She then threw up on her way away from the first time.  Bill got her outfit off and snuggled her while I started cleaning.  She then threw up on his keyboard.  We kept thinking she was done, but then more would come up.  It really doesn't help that she wants to throw her head back and arch her back.  I had to try and lean her forward with my entire body while holding on to her and the trash can when it was my turn to snuggle her.  It wasn't until after 11 when she was acting like she was feeling better by commenting on the animal videos I had been playing for her, and not until 11:40 before she was fully back to acting like normal.
  She kept trying to share her fruit gummies and "juice" with Tank.  He was unimpressed with her offerings.  I did tell her that she did a good job sharing, even if he didn't want any.
  She has started to like throwing out trash.  When she finishes a packet of gummies or her apple she tells me that she has trash.  I used to have to help her open the trash can, but she can do it on her own now.
  I went to put ice into her water before her at her request.  When I got back up she was standing in her crib with her blanket over her head.  I said "Ahh, a ghost" and startled her.  I saw her jump a little then she turned around quickly while trying to move the blanket enough to see.  She saw it was me and started laughing.
  

Week 104: First Part
  Bill told me that she wouldn't go down for her nap without him brushing her hair.  She got the hairbrush out from the hallway bathroom vanity and brought it over to him.  She usually does it for herself at bedtime before we brush her teeth.
  On Saturday night I noticed that Miss Moo was missing.  I can usually go down and spot her pretty quickly.  I wasn't able to find her this time.  We distracted her with all of her other friends enough that she settled down without her.  I heard her wake up at 3am asking for Miss Moo, but then she saw her water and exclaimed that she had ice, drank some, and went back to sleep.  We were not able to locate Miss Moo before naptime and Miss Spud kept asking for her.  I tried to distract her with all of her other friends again, but it didn't work as well a second time.  Turns out Miss Moo was hiding in the bin of wipes under the book area of her bookshelf.
  At dinner on Saturday, she got to sit in a booster seat right next to Bill.  She kept leaning into him and being so snuggly.
  We were on the porch on Sunday and she kept hearing planes go by.  She tried to look for them, but between the ceiling, the trees, and the clouds, they were too hard to see.
  On Sunday after lunch and also after dinner she decided she needed to spin me.  I had to make sure I was clear, but then she would grab one of the arms of my chair and walk around to slowly spin me in a circle.  I got a bit dizzy, but it wasn't too bad.
  She found my pair of broken glasses and had to try them on.  She kept putting them on top of her head like a headband.  Bill put them on her the regular way, which she thought was really funny.
  When we were getting her PJs on she said "Mama, ice!"  She asked so nicely I had to get her some ice, but I did wait until after we brushed her teeth and she was reading a book with Dada.
  The last few nights she has asked for lotion on her tummy have ended badly.  She pushes her blanket down and pulls her shirt up.  She then asks for lotion and points to her stomach.  However, when I put some on, it's horrible.  If I rub it in, it's worse along with adding more so she could rub it in.  I was able to put some on mine and have her rub it in, so that made her happier again.

Tuesday, August 11, 2026

It Seems I'm Just Confused

Pattern: Jason's Cashmere Hat by sweet fiber - Size: 96 stitches - Yarn: Lion Brand Woll-Ease in Pines - Needle: US 8 (5mm)
  I know I usually don't like to make a hat with a pattern and a fold over brim, it seems silly to cover up all that work with ribbing.  However, I wanted to be able to use as much of the skein as I could.  I had purchased this yarn to make a felted bag, but since there is 80% acrylic, it didn't work.  I think it's funny how I usually want to get through the ribbing on a hat as quickly as possible, but lately I've been making fully ribbed hats.

Pattern: Jason's Cashmere Hat by sweet fiber - Size: 108 stitches - Yarn: Caron Simply Soft Sunkissed in Grape Tonal - Needle: US 8 (5mm)
  I set up an appointment to get quotes for new windows for our house.  The guy came out and it was fine at first, he measured our windows, then moved on to the spiel.  I tried to not zone out too much during his PowerPoint presentation about some recognition they got in 2023 or how many other people in the area they have done work for, which I'm not sure why we needed because we were returning customers.  After talking about how their windows are better than everyone else's, he finally got to writing down some numbers.  He showed us the amount that would indicate that a company wasn't going to do a quality job and how much would be the top we should pay anywhere.  Then he started doing some high-pressure sales tactics, but I apparently missed some of them.  He said he could leave us with a price good for a year, and I thought that sounded good so we could get a few other quotes.  He then went out to his car to get a sample of the window.  It looked a lot like the ones we already have.  He told us he had to go out and talk with his project manager.  I thought it was weird that he was interrupting our appointment to go talk to him, but didn't say anything.
  He then collected a bunch of information from us to "save us time".  He then wanted to make sure someone would be available on Tuesday for them to double check his measurements.  I got really confused because I wasn't fully paying attention to things and I didn't know if Bill had changed his mind on thinking on it.  He then said that he needed the guy to come out so we could get the job done in two to three weeks.  We were both very confused then.
  I said that we can schedule that if we decide to go with them.  He asked why we gave him the information he was asking for if we weren't going forward with it today.  I said that he asked for it, so we gave it to him and Bill said it sounded like they were running a credit check.  We again said that we were going to take the one-year guaranteed price and think about it.  He then reiterated the lower price we would get if we went with it today.  We then, once again, told him we planned to wait and he once again showed us the lower price.  He also emailed us links to their customer portal at some point.  He tried to say he wasn't using high-pressure sales techniques when Bill called him out on it.
  After the fourth or fifth time of us telling him that we were going to think about it, and then having him re-explain that the smaller quote was for the first consultation only we had to kick him out.  He kept saying "I'm okay with that(waiting), but..." and was just starting to annoy us because he wasn't actually taking the answer we were giving him, even though he said either option was fine with him.  He was there for two hours when I was told by the person making the appointment that it would be quick and simple to just get a quote to think about.
  We really liked the people who gave us the quote for the roof and back door from the same company, but this guy was something else.  Bill looked up reviews online and it seems ours wasn't an isolated incident.  I even talking to an online friend who had the same problem with them.
  
©pieceofcakemoving (Instagram) - ©u/Aspy17 (Reddit) - ©madam_librarian2037 (Instagram)
  On our way to the cabin I looked up from my knitting and saw this going the other way.  I didn't get a chance to snag my own photo, but there were some good ones online already.  The only thing about it I can find on the Piece of Cake Moving & Storage's website is that they are a New York based company and that "something big is coming."

 
Yearly Yarn Tracker:
Yarn In: 22 (3)
Yarn Out: 42 (1)
Total: -20