May pictures

A baker's dozens of pictures from May. Occasionally--these days--we remember to take out the camera. We'll try to do a good job taking pictures in June.

mid-May musings

Loyal reader, you may have noticed that our blogging has slowed in recent weeks. It's not just your imagination. Here are a number of factors, in no particular order:

1) Some of us have been sick. Off and on. Nothing horrible. And we're feeling better now. But every time one of us is sick it sets us back on everything else, farther and farther into the red.

2) More happily, the weather is nice! Gorgeous, even! And Derek has been consumed with tearing out bushes and sod, planting the garden, scraping long-peeling paint from the garage in the continued quest towards painting the garage, and other outdoor tasks instead of blogging.

3) We had a garage sale last weekend. I don't think I've ever had one - they are a surprising amount of work! And this may be our last, because they are also not economically sensible. We may have made minimum wage. But we did sort through and rid ourselves of a variety of things, which needed to be done. And doing it jointly with our neighbors was fun. We even made T-shirts (yes, as if we were in high school.) And the kids found a toad, which was not caused by the garage sale but which kept them very busy during it. Poor toad.

4) We have had guests. Not a lot - you are also welcome - but Derek's folks came for a long weekend and we've had a couple of friends to dinner. I forget how much I like our friends when we are too busy to call them. And then it's so fun to see them. I wish I could find a better balance there.

So, in a nutshell (or four) that's what we've been up to! Happy Memorial Day to all!

-JRR

Elaine's communication skills

Unlike her big sister, who acquired new words in an orderly, almost dogged fashion, Elly is a much more freewheeling communicator. But here is our attempt to catalogue the words and signs that she spontaneously uses (as opposed to those she has repeated after us, which is a much greater number) so far:

Words:
--dada
--mama
--dog [doh]
--kitty [kee-tee]
--no
--car [cah]
--down [dow-nuh] (when she wants to be put down)
--hi
--there (dar?)
--that (dah)
--all done (ahd or ah-da)
--yes (ya) (showing her Norwegian heritage?)

Signs:
--milk (often made while drinking or milk is mentioned (as in, "I know what you're talking about!"); we hope she learns to make it when she wants milk soon!)
--all done (a one-handed version, with flair, sometimes accompanied with 'ada!')
--a wave for 'bye-bye' or 'good night'

And, for fun, here are the words that, if someone says them by accident, make Sadie start jumping with excitement:
--walk
--outside
--go
Meredith has learned to say, 'Are we going to take the dog for a [stage-whisper:] walk ??!!" Or, better yet, "w-a-l-k," or a similar combination of letters. We know what she means. But Sadie usually doesn't, which is good. Very perceptive of Mer, I think.

-JRR