Homesick

Bohdin was crying last night before bed because he was "so sad". He said he was feeling homesick again. He misses his recycling truck and wants to play with it. Today he is with his cousins again so at least right now he feels happy. Buddy and I on the other hand don't want to go back to Maryland. I'm not looking forward to the gray dreary skies and cold temperatures again. I'm enjoying the drier climate and expanse of outdoor space. We've cleared out some of the small trees and vines near the perimeter of the yard. It's just been a small drop in the bucket. There is work for 10 years out here.

There have been several requests for pictures but I am unable to oblige. Our camera did not survive the trip out here. The autofocus is not working. The Christmas shots I posted were kind of blurry and I haven't even tried to take pictures since. I'm hoping the fix won't be too expensive. There will be no more pictures probably until after we get back home and get it figured out.

Bohdin comes up with different reasons to not eat something. He says "It is too __ ". The reason runs the gamut from pokey to red. The other day he had an apple on his plate and wouldn't eat it because it was "too soaky". The apple had touched some liquid on the plate. I've heard too many excuses to pay much attention but Buddy's dad thought it was a little funny.

Nyla has increased her spinning. There is a large kitchen here and she spins and spins around. Sometimes she dances across the room. There was a comment about how she likes to be upside down so I must not have mentioned that before. Nyla loves being upside down. She can hang by her feet for minutes and then ask for more. In fact she often likes to sleep with her head downward tilted by resting her neck on my arm.

Nyla is not in the mood to let me sit here for any longer. It's time to play chase.

No sleep for the weary

I am typing this in the parking lot of Home Depot while Bohdin is asleep in the car. When he takes a nap he is up forever at night. That should match Nyla. She has slept horribly ever since we arrived in Texas. Last night she went to sleep 3 hours after her regular bedtime. I don't know what is going on.

Bohdin today has behaved like Bohdin for the first time since we arrived. He has been moody, sad, demanding, and generally disagreeable. Today he was himself. He was amiable, chatty, energetic, and nice. He finally spent some time outside today. We coudln't drag him out there earlier. He picked up some shells on the property and earned some money. He bought himself a drink from Sonic. He misses not having Sonic in Maryland.

I was writing this because opportunity presented itself as opposed to actually having something interesting to say.

Christmas

Bohdin was homesick the first few days we were here but the arrival of his cousins on Christmas afternoon lifted his mood. In the morning we opened presents. We were up early since we are still on eastern time. Every morning we wake up while it is still dark outside. Bohdin was pleased with his presents since he received the three things he wanted: a forklift, box truck, and Isabella (from the Thomas line). Nyla liked her presents as well.

 
 
 
 

Part of the reason we came here was to do some landscaping work. Buddy has been cutting down trees because the forest outside the house is quite overgrown. There are also many thorny vines and wild grapes. It's a lot of work to be done but the finished product will be nice.

Made It

It took 26 hours, 5 airports, 3 airplanes, and 2 trains but we finally made it to Texas. It would have been even longer if an airplane hadn't been held for us. I don't even want to get into the details. Our first stop was Chicago where there was snow on the ground. Bohdin was so excited to see the snow and finally thought it was winter. It sure felt like winter. The temperature was just below zero with wind chills about -30. I didn't know it was possible for it to feel so cold. Bohdin couldn't enjoy any of the snow because of the very frigid temps. Bohdin also enjoyed the train ride and commented "this is just what I wanted to do". At least one of us was happy.

Upon arrival at Nana's house Bohdin became overwhelmingly sad. It took him several minutes for the tears to end. After bath and dinner he played for hours with his cousins. He had a blast. They spent the night so Bohdin was glued to them all day long. It was weird to be around Bohdin but hardly acknowledged. He's sitting next to me now. Bohdin says "I ate and played and watched tv. We played spinning chairs, hide and seek, and Candyland." Bohdin has really great cousins.

Nyla is not being her typical outgoing self. The same baby that was showing strangers her belly last week does not want to see her uncle. It's odd. She also now has tooth #16. I can't remember if I reported that already.

On one flight I was sitting next to a lady (Buddy and I were separated on every flight) who was sort of helpful. She also made the situation worse at times but many times she was very helpful. At the end of the flight we sat on the runway for quite some time waiting for a gate to open. Nyla is not a patient sitter and had been struggling for much of the flight. She wanted to get out of her seat and explore. At one point the lady asked me if Bohdin was the same at that age. I'm not sure what she meant but Bohdin was full of energy and curious at that age also. I told her that Bohdin did have the attention span of a one year old at that age also. She also has young children. I guess her children must be perfectly calm passive little people. That's not the hand I was dealt and I'm glad except when I'm on an airplane.

Spinning

Bohdin has several Playmobil people. Several weeks ago he asked Buddy what their names were. Buddy came up with names which can be quite hard. There is Chuck and Larry, Hans and Frans, Pippi, Susan, etc. At the time I'm not sure that Buddy knew that these names would stick. I have renamed one, Susan, because Susan is a boy. I just wanted to be more gender appropriate. Since Buddy and I disagree on the gender we ended up with Pat. Pippi and Larry are the ones we play with the most.

Here is Bohdin spinning Larry and the sailor.
 

 

Buddy brought home an office chair to replace one that had broken. It is a spinny chair and Nyla wants us to spin her all of the time. In this picture she put on the hat herself. It's her favorite hat even thought it's a little small.
 

We're off to the airport in a few hours. We'll fly to O'hare tonight and then fly to Dallas in the morning. That's the plan anyway. Standby travel is always iffy.

More

When Buddy comes home the kids or at least Nyla goes running to the door. Yesterday was no exception. Buddy picked Nyla up and was swinging her by the arms. She loves that kind of play. She also likes to jump off the bed into my arms. So Buddy was spinning her around and Bohdin wants a turn. Buddy was getting dizzy but Nyla kept signing more.

 

 

When we were in the car yesterday I asked Bohdin what he saw outside. He named a few things including wires.
Me: Those wires carry electricity to peoples' houses.
Bohdin: No. When they build a house the builders put it in the walls.
Me: These wires carry it to the wires in the house.
Bohdin: NO! They don't.
Me: Yes. They ...
Bohdin (interrupting). NO THEY DON'T!
Me: These wires ....
Bohdin (interrupting): NO THEY DON'T!

We went to the store yesterday and Nyla was walking around while we looked at the toy section. There was a lady there who said hello to Nyla when she came close to her. Nyla pulled up her shirt to show off her belly. This wasn't the first time. When we dropped off lunch at Buddy's work last week, Nyla picked up her shirt for everybody she saw.

When we go to Costco, Nyla takes my Costco card out of my wallet and shows it to the greeter. She's getting better about choosing the right card for the right occasion. She took my debit card out yesterday at the grocery store. She didn't get the library card out yesteday because she was laying on the floor mad that we couldn't go up the elevator again. When we go to the library we ride up the elevator and then race Bohdin down. Nyla and I take the stairs and Bohdin takes the elevator by himself. We always win and he always gets upset. The elevator is slow. Nyla walks down the stairs with help. It's not like we're running down the stairs.

Better sleep

Tooth #15 has made an appearance. The last tooth shouldn't be far behind. It's hard to check her bottom teeth because when I try she sticks her tongue out. She's been sleeping much better this week. I'm glad we'll have a nice long break before the last four. Actually this set of four caused her more trouble than any others so maybe the last ones won't be so bad.

Nyla was on Bohdin's tricycle yesterday and when he saw that he wanted to do it also. He calls it the copy game which Nyla doesn't hate yet. He was sitting on the bike and Nyla was pushing. He excitedly called out "Look! I'm doing it!". Nyla gave him the confidence to do it because when she let go he was dong it. Bohdin doesn't like to do things that are hard which basically comes down to not liking to fail. He had tried pedaling this summer once but became frustrated. It was exciting to see him finally get it. We'll go outside later and hopefully watch him zoom.

Paul asked if Nyla is saying any more words. Not really. She said whoa the other day at the playground after I said it. We went to the library today and she said "ooh" after pcking up a video just like Bohdin does. She's been signing more frequently. I think she is at a point where she can pick up signs rapidly.

One night Bohdin was frustrated because he couldn't find the perfect snack. The next time we went to the Commissary I let him pick out snacks. He chose salad, green beans, pears, tuna fish, cheese, and veggie chips. When he was looking for a snack a few days later I offered the things he had chosen (except the chips which were long gone). He said no to everything. Then he said "I want to eat a snack I love. I want endamame." So we made endamame.

Last week Bohdin asked for a sliced up avocado with soy sauce to dip it in for breakfast. We didn't have an avocado so he had tuna fish with soy sauce.

Candy Pants

I hold Nyla's snappi in my mouth when I'm changing her diaper so I don't misplace it. Nyla has become my Snappi holder.



Bohdin has a pair of really cute shoes that I bought on sale before we left Colorado. Bohdin doesn't like to wear them. Instead he wears his previous pair of shoes which he really liked. Since the old red ones were becoming way too small we agreed that a new pair of shoes would be his Christmas present. He picked them out (he picked pink at first but I managed to change his mind to a darker color that wouldn't get dirty). They arrived yesterday on the package truck. I thought Bohdin would be excited to open them and gave him the package as soon as it arrived. He opened it and then his world crashed. The package was shoes instead of the toy he was hoping for. He cried inconsolably for about 15 minutes. I completely ruined his life. We went out later and he put on his new shoes. He does like them. He was just disappointed that it wasn't the box truck or fork lift. He told me these new shoes were better than the brown shoes he doesn't like. "The other shoes make my waist hurt. They're too tight." He knows where his waist is so it's a bit of a puzzler. The style of shoe he likes is very lightweight and flexible.


Nyla found some candy last night and was playing with it by putting it in her diaper cover. The turquoise thing peeking out is the diaper. She stuffed 10 little pieces of chocolate in there. It was so funny. She did pull them out to share but then would put them back in.

Santa

Bohdin told me he didn't want any presents from Santa. He wants presents from Nana and the package truck. Bohdin has never been a big believer of Santa. He is very logical and afraid of strangers especially adult males. When he was younger we had to make a wide berth around Santa. There is no Santa here (not much Christmas stuff at all around here) so maybe he's over that. When I told Buddy he was sort of trying to convince him to believe by bringing up the tooth fairy.
Buddy: What about the tooth fairy? What happens when your tooth falls out?
Bohdin: You grow new teeth.
Buddy: But what about your old tooth?
Bohdin: It falls out.

Now a few days later Bohdin still doesnt' want a present from Santa but says he can bring Nyla one. He also says that Santa can come visit and have a beer with daddy because Santa LOVES beer.



Bohdin and I found a spot for our leaf collection.


Nyla was helping me cook yesterday. She was mad that the onions were hurting her eyes


Her anger was short lived.

Teething

I went to court yesterday and my ticket was dismissed. I knew it was a stupid ticket to begin with. The clerk and prosecutor agreed. That's a savings of $85.

Bohdin was telling me his heart was beating faster from exercise. It's something we've talked about before after seeing it on tv. He showed me how slow his heart was beating and then made it beat faster. He said it's hard to think when your heart is beating slow. To show me he sat down and said "See. It's hard to think.". Then he stood up and moved around to demonstrate how much easier it was to think. Bohdin does tend to move around quite a bit when he's talking. It's even more pronounced when he's really thinking hard about what he's trying to say. I never knew that he did it to help him get his thoughts out.

I was trying to brainstorm Christmas ideas with Bohdin yesterday for Buddy. Bohdin suggested a bed for daddy's office so he could sleep there. When I pointed out that daddy's office was too small he suggested a potty so daddy could pee at work. Bohdin also suggested a toy catalog. He and Nyla have been poring over the Playmobil and some random toy catalog that I found. None of my suggestions for Buddy met with approval even though they were more thoughtful and practical than Bohdin's suggestions.

I bought Nyla and Bohdin new toothbrushes at Walmart. Nyla opened hers last night, brushed her teeth and then put the toothbrush in the toilet. It's possible it was an accident. When Bohdin spits during brushing he does it into the toilet. Nyla, of course, copies him. She prefers Bohdin's toothbrushes anyway so I'm not sure I'll even replace it.

When I came home yesterday Bohdin was in his bedroom singing little bunny foo foo and reenacting it with a stuffed bunny and his playmobil people.

Nyla has been sleeping poorly recently due to teething. Her top two teeth poked through yesterday, well probably the night before actually when she couldn't sleep. Those are teeth #13 and #14. I expect the bottom two to come through any day. At least she slept well last night.

Busy

I've been busy trying to sort out Christmas gifts for everybody. Talking to Paul yesterday he said I was spending too much time thinking of this and that is probably true. People tend to forget most of the gifts they receive anyway. I can't stop though.

Talking to Bohdin yesterday, I asked if he was excited to see his cousins again. He said he didn't want to play the scary game again. This is the first I heard of this. He didn't go into much detail but it was about being monsters and then running down the stairs. He wouldn't tell me anything else about it.

Nyla has a few teeth about to erupt. These have really been bothering her and she wakes up crying a lot at night. I'm assuming the crying is tooth related. It could be something else. We'll see when these teeth arrive.

I saw an idea for a present the other day which is giving somebody a list of questions and a journal so they could record their history for future generations. I thought that sounded great and I wondered if Bohdin would be able to think of some questions. I was met with silence when I asked what he wanted to know about Nana. So then the question came up about what we like best about Nana. I said her caring hear. Bohdin said her videos. I don't think he's quite ready to be interested in another person's life story. Maybe when he's a bit older.

Bohdin made his Christmas list yesterday and then spent the rest of the morning bugging me about when the package would arrive. I made him a special calendar so he could mark the days off until he would get his presents. When he saw the long amount of time he got mad and threw the calendar. Today he hasn't mentioned it at all.

Winter

Bohdin mentioned it was cold the other day and I told him it was winter. He said it wasn't winter because there was no snow. We did get a dusting of snow on Saturday. Sunday was cold and super windy. It was not possible to go outside. When we went out this morning he was disappointed in the lack of snow. He said "I LOVE snow. There are so many things you can do in it. Splash, throw it. make snowballs." I wish I could make it snow for him.

A book we were reading a few days ago mentioned snow also. Bohdin said he wanted to live somewhere snowy and sunny. He's stuck with cloudy and no snow for at least one more winter.

We have been here one year now. The leaves are long gone and it is cold and overcast. There is a common familiarity to it now. When I drive down the road I can remember our first time seeing the area.

We finally turned the heat on this morning. It had been pretty chilly yesterday and the lows last night were supposed to be around 20. Our thermostat is pretty useless. It was at least in the low 60s in the house maybe even the 50s. It was a good sleeping temperature but eventually we have to get out from under the covers.

Bohdin woke up Saturday morning and decided to take Buddy breakfast in bed. I had forgotten to run the dish washer the previous night so the dishes were dirty. That meant I had to get out of bed to get a bowl so Bohdin could pour the cereal.

On Thanksgiving I took a nap with Nyla. Bohdin was tired and wanted to take a nap also. Buddy told him to go in the bedroom and lie down with me. Bohdin refused. He said he didn't want to wake me up. Nothing Buddy said would convince Bohdin to come in the room. He took a nap in the other bedroom. When I found out about this I was touched by his consideration. I also had to laugh because he had already woken me up once during the nap. On a regular basis he also manages to wake Nyla up as well.

Bohdin has been making an effort to not ask for things repeatedly. It's something I find very annoying especially when I am already in the process of getting the item or I am unable to at the time. One night he asked for a popsicle while I was taking a bath. I told him I would get one once I was done taking a bath. He asked and asked and asked again. He has thankfully become better about this. When he does a good job he points it out by saying "Wasn't it good that I only asked one time?". Yes. It certainly is.

Aspirations

Bohdin has a book titled Busy Workers that mentions several different professions - electricians, musicians, doctor, etc. The last line of the book says "Which busy worker would you like to be?". This is a question that Bohdin had a hard time answering. The illustrations in the book show animals as these professionals so at first his answer was he wanted to be a beaver. Weeks later he changed his mind and said doctor. Later he said he didn't know. Now he has a new idea. He wants to be a pine cone delivery man. He will take broken pine cones and load them on his airplane. He will fly then to a repair warehouse where they will be fixed. Robotic arms will place them one by one on a truck for delivery. At this point the details get pretty fuzzy.

I was with Nyla in the bathtub the other day and she picked up the razor and tried to shave her face. She also emptied the potty filled with pee into the toilet and proceed to wipe the bottom with a sliver of toilet paper.

Yesterday I found her in the bathroom unrolling toilet paper directly into the toilet. She was mad that I took her away and then closed the bathroom door.

When we came home from the playground the other day I started dinner as soon as possible. Nyla was hungry for some of the chicken I was cooking. She was gesturing and I knew she wanted some chicken but it wasn't ready yet. Nyla went to the drawer and took out a little bowl and handed it to me once again gesturing for some chicken. I told her it wasn't ready. She was so frustrated because she didn't think I understood what she wanted. I understood she wanted raw chicken but she wasn't getting any.

Bohdin : What can you watch and smell at the same time? - Smell-a-vision
What can you taste and watch at the same time? - Taste-a-vision
What can you smell and wear at the same time? - Clothes-a-vision

Silence

I have been so tired lately. It turns out that I had a giant blood clot in my nose that obviously affected my breathing. I was up for hours during the night not able to breath. That has since cleared up. The other morning the kids were up but I was so so tired. Bohdin was watching tv, Nyla was playing quietly in the other room and I was laying in bed wishing I could just sleep longer. The quiet play that Nyla was engaged in involved a black marker.


Bohdin likes to have me make things talk. It used to be stuffed animals but it has now moved on to his Playmobil people. The moment I wake up I begin hearing requests to play. Look how awful I look in this picture. I'm exhausted and just trying to enjoy my breakfast in peace. Bohdin has already set up the people so they can have class. This morning he did it again and I told him I wanted to eat my cereal in silence. After I was done eating he said "I played over there with the crayons so I wouldn't disturb you".


The weather wasn't too bad yesterday so we headed to the playground. It has been about a month since my last visit. After we had been there a while a group of boys showed up together. They were about 5-6 years old. I suggested that Bohdin join them. I walked over with him. The boys were climbing all over the play structure and one boy exclaimed "Let's play fire pole". Bohdin looked sad and said he wanted to go home. I picked him up and talked to him. He was sad because he didn't know how to play fire pole and was too scared to ask. Lots of people have a hard time joining an established group doing an unknown activity. We ended up walking around the pond and stopping at the other playground.




Bohdin enjoys pointing out tree stumps. Several trees have been cut recently. I showed him some wounded bark on a tree and told him that tree might be next. We also saw a tree that was suffering and had lost some of it's branches. One was on the ground with mushrooms growing on it. I explained to Bohdin the mushrooms were aiding decomposition and eventually the tree would become soil.
Bohdin : Then when it's all soil it will turn into a new tree
me : Not quite. It will turn into new soil and then a seed can grow in the soil into a new tree,
Bodhin : Oh. I was wrong.

Birthday pictures

When I was looking for pictures to post yesterday I noticed that the birthday shots weren't very good. Yesterday's pictures are no different.

Bohdin's pink and orange robot cake. Bohdin decorated it. We had to do it really really fast because Nyla wanted to help.


Bohdin opening his package. He had been wanting the Playmobil recycling truck. He was so excited to receive it along with a conveyor belt and some coal that he stayed up hours past his bedtime playing. Nyla watched Bohdin open the package with scissors and copied him later. She walked around with the box and scissors trying to "open it".


Blowing out the candles. He was so excited by his toy that he had opened minutes earlier that he didn't finish his cake and ice cream before playing again.

Progression

2004


2005


2006


This was the year that you gained a lot of independence. You've become more opinionated and more capable. In the past few months your social skills have started blossoming. You're becoming more self-assured. I can't believe you are four. Happy Birthday.

Bohdin 4.0

Bohdin is four today. Buddy says this feels like the biggest milestone birthday so far. I'm congested and ended up waking up Bohdin and Nyla in the 5 o'clock hour (not on purpose). We'll have a special birthday nap later. Bohdin denies that he is four yet. He said his birthday can't start while he is in bed.

He has already opened his presents from Nana. When he opened one of the presents which had been on his list he declared his love of it. When he opened one that wasn't on the list he started crying. He said he didn't want another Thomas. After several minutes he decided he would keep it. Now he says he loves it.

Bohdin has already started on his birthday candy. He said he wanted candy for his birthday so yesterday at the commissary he picked out a box of candy canes. I said he could have one yesterday while Nyla was sleeping. He ate three.

Today we'll be making a chocolate cake with pink and orange frosting per Bohdin's request. He also wants chicken and broccoli for dinner. His last birthday was spent in a hotel room and wasn't very festive (top picture). We'll try to do better this year. I guess one thing didn't change from last year. He's busy watching tv while I take his picture.

Changes

There are two events that made me realize how much Nyla has changed in the past four months. Last week I received a call from Tyken's mom. She has a baby that just turned one and is going through the same fussy/crying stage that Nyla went through at that age. That feels like a lifetime ago now. I'm also putting together a book with photos and blog posts. I've read some of the old posts (sorry they were so boring).

Four months ago Nyla went through a really rough stage when she communicated everything by crying. If I was holding her and she wanted down, she would start crying and squirming. It wasn't enough to just squirm. She cried about every 3 minutes about something. I always thought of her as my drama queen because frankly she sort of was a drama queen. How things have changed. She doesn't cry nearly as much as she used to. Buddy thinks she still cries a lot but it's a drop in the bucket compared to earlier. I think Nyla has learned to communicate better with us. All babies copy others but Nyla seems to do it better than most. She is always studying us, noting our actions and reactions. She still can't talk much but she is much better at communicating what she wants using a series of gestures and expressions.

Nyla has been using more signs lately. She signs hot and more quite frequently now. It may be the time to teach her more. She still only says two words. Buddy is getting tired of being called mama so perhaps daddy will be the first new sign we try to teach her.

Flying

Bohdin has a new game of copying Nyla. She moves around the house like a typical one year old - constantly on the move from one thing to another. Bohdin thinks it's fun to follow her and do what she does. She realized what he was doing and moved around more deliberately. She would climb up on the bed and then get off on the other side, run to the other bedroom, come back and sit against the door. This sort of game went on for a while. Buddy came in and started playing with the kids. He threw them on the bed into the super fluffy comforter. Nyla was having a hard time waiting patiently for her turn.
 
 

Buddy plays amusement park with Nyla by pretending he is a roller coaster. She sits on her belly and puts her arms up. Then Buddy moves her from side to side. She loves it. Last night Buddy had two passengers on his ride.
 

At one point Bohdin was accidentally hurt. Here is Nyla trying to comfort Bohdin by gently stroking his head.
 

I've spoken to Bohdin before about nobody touching his penis but him. The other day Bohdin was naked. Nyla swatted his penis. In a growly voice he said "Don't touch that. It's my penis." He uses the exact same tone of voice when Nyla touches a toy he's playing with.

History of our Thanksgivings

I was laying awake last night in the middle of the night unable to breath due to my terrible congestion. I hate being congested. I have a very low tolerance for not being able to breathe through my nose and that makes me sadder faster than anything else I can think of offhand. While waiting for my nose to clear I realized that being awake in the middle of the night prior to Thanksgiving was nothing new for me. Last Thanksgiving Bohdin got sick that night and threw up about a dozen times. Right before he was born I awake because of my terrible pregnancy pain (it hurt to lay down and eventually the pain would be so bad I would have to get out of bed).

We've also spent Thanksgiving in a different location for many of the past years.
2008 - Odenton, Maryland
2007 - Broomfield, Colorado - Buddy's parents and Brody's family came up for a very brief visit. Bohdin was throwing up and I was tired.
2006 - Trinidad, Colorado - We drove back up to Broomfield later that day. I then went to Walmart to get a pregnancy test. This was the day I found out I was pregnant with Nyla
2005 - Lubbock, Texas - we spent a few days with Brody's family and Buddy's parents. We came back with a terrible virus that included an eye infection and throwing up. We went back down for Christmas anyway.
2004 - Belton, Texas - Buddy's parents came up. I was hugely pregnant and Bohdin was born a week later
2003 - I don't remember. Either Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri or my dad's house in Arkansas. I remember making several pies that year so maybe we stayed in Missouri.
2002 - Clarksville, Tennessee. I don't remember anything about this one. It must have been even duller than this one.

We seem so nomadic. Our lease is up the end of next October so we won't be here next Thanksgiving. I have no idea where we'll be.

Today we had a quiet low key Thanksgiving. We had a small turkey, cranberry sauce, green beans, and mashed potatoes. This is the first time in a long time I haven't made a dessert. I usually make a cranberry cheesecake at least. It was kind of nice to not cook so much especially since I'm still not feeling well. Buddy and I were reminiscing about our favorite Thanksgiving meals. Mine was a national guard event we went to while we were in college. That was the best turkey I've ever had. Buddy's favorite was a few years later when I was living in Dallas and he was in Missouri. I bought takeout Thanksgiving from a local deli/restaurant place and drove it up to Missouri.

Buddy went on sick call Tuesday morning. The military doesn't allow a person to just call in sick. They have to get up early and go to the doctor to prove they are sick. Buddy woke up early and went in. The doctor thought he had bronchitis which I had thought previously. The treatment is rest and fluids. The doctor did also give him antibiotics but I'm not sure why. It was clearly a result of a viral cold but whatever. He came home early on Tuesday and stayed home on Wednesday. He seems to be feeling quite a bit better today. If only I could get some rest. I'm so ready to feel better. I spent yesterday running errands in the cold windy weather. The day before I took Bohdin and Nyla outside to play. The wind picked up after we went outside. I really need to stay out of the cold wind until I'm better. It's just exacerbating the problem.

Nyla has been sitting on the potty quite a bit although she never actually does any business on there. Sometimes she wears clothes and sometimes not. When Bohdin sits on the potty he holds his penis down. Nyla copies him by putting her hand in the potty while she sits. It seems so hilarious to me. It took me a while to figure out why she was doing that but now that I've figured it out it makes me smile.

Nyla has become more cooperative about getting her diaper on. When I tell her I need to put a diaper on her she will come and lay down. There are times she has something better going on and prefers to run around a bit. As long as I don't chase her or pressure her she comes soon. When she is feeling uncooperative it's impossible to get a diaper or clothes on her so I'm glad she is mostly willing.

Brain

On the way back from Costco yesterday Bohdin wanted me to make the stuffed bears in the car "talk" again. It's something he has been asking for a lot recently so he has somebody to talk to. In a way, that sounds kind of sad and lonely but really me masking as a bear is probably a better listener than a little kid anyway. Our conversation steered toward the fact that Bohdin is real and that the bears were not. Bohdin mentioned a stomach, heart, and white blood cells. He then mentioned the brain. I took this opportunity to give him a broad overview of what the brain does. He did not believe me at all. I told him that the brain tells all of the other body parts what to do. He commented that brains couldn't talk. When I told him they use a special system he then said that the body parts already know what to do. He mentioned that his teeth already know how to chew. Nothing I said would even allow him to consider that I could be right. Some other time I suppose.

There was a picture of Nyla at 12 months that Bohdin found the other day. I don't know why but we were playing around with him by telling him that the picture was of him and not Nyla. Bohdin said "Was I in Nyla's belly?".

Bohdin ended up watching an infomercial after his video ended last weekend. He came running in to tell me that there was something that "can make curly hair straight without crushing it". He was so excitied about the product.

Gas! Gas! Gas!

Yesterday while the kids were playing together a compact fluorescent light bulb broke at their feet. Buddy scooped them up and took them outside. Luckily they were still mostly dressed from our walk earlier. I covered my nose and mouth and threw out some additional clothes. It took some time to clean up because I was trying to be pretty thorough. It broke near the play kitchen. They were frozen by the time they came back in. Buddy had already been disappointed with the CFLs prior to this incident but this really sealed the deal. The mercury vapor I think is even more dangerous than injected mercury. The light bulbs just don't live up to their long life promise. Our electricity bill doesn't reflect any savings. From our standpoint they're starting to become a dangerous scam.

Nyla and I went out to the grocery store early yesterday morning in the hopes of beating the rush. Instead I joined the crush of people who were doing Thanksgiving shopping. I couldn't get near the meat because the line was too long to enter that area. The checkout line snaked around the bread aisle. It was so busy. I had less than 20 items so I used the much faster self checkout. We're not going to have a big Thanksgiving this year. How much turkey and stuffing can the 4 of us eat. Instead we'll donate the money we would have used in creating a large feast to a food bank.

We're still all a little sick here. Well Buddy more so since he is in the middle of it. I can't believe what a long cold this has been. Nyla feels the best so far. She has a little bit of a runny nose. Bohdin has a bit of a cough. I have congestion and a cough. I don't think colds can last forever. Surely I'm in the home stretch by now.

Whatever It Takes

I read the book Whatever It Takes a few weeks ago about the Harlem Children's Zone. I learned about the book after hearing a story on NPR that brought tears to my eyes. If you have 30 minutes you can hear it here: Going Big

The Harlem Children's Zone is operating in a poor area of Harlem and is trying to follow a child from birth to help break the poverty cycle. Even before these children enter kindergarten they are at a disadvantage academically. It's a disadvantage that is difficult to impossible to overcome. One of the features of the program is teaching parenting skills. They don't know that they are supposed to talk to their child and not hit a 2 year old that asks why. It's an interesting read and I recommend it.

I had been discussing an article from the newspaper with Bohdin to just expand his horizons a bit more. I've slacked off here the past couple of days. We've talked about things like living next to a stinky landfill to saving race horses from the meat factory. Sometimes it is hard to find appropriate stories in the paper. In just the past few days there has been a quadruple shooting in town and another armed robbery at the mall.

We went tot he library yesterday to return some books and videos. Bohdin and I ended up with a relapse in our colds. He looked so sick at the library while Nyla was running around. I had horrendous sinus pressure upon returning home. Today we'll stay inside yet again. Buddy is getting sick now. I hope he's better by Thanksgiving. The severity of his illnesses seem to be the worst of the four of us. I hope that isn't true this time.

Bad Influence

I'm finally on the mend today although still feeling sick. It's taking longer to recover from this than the flu. I hope Buddy doesn't catch it. Nyla took advantage of me being out of commission. She's emptied almost every drawer and shelf within her reach. I'm running out of pantry space because she can now reach the bottom three shelves. Nothing in the pantry is Nyla proof. There are ripped tea bags, flour, and beer everywhere. The real bummer is I can't put stuff too high because the stool is banned also. Well we have less than a year here so perhaps it's time to start emptying those shelves anyway. This morning I found socks in Bohdin's cup drawer. I haven't found the cups yet. I should check the sock drawer I suppose.

It hasn't just been emptying drawers. She's also been unrolling toilet paper and emptying tissue boxes. Bohdin thinks this is genius. She's been teaching him so much. It goes both ways though. Bohdin has been sticking his hands into cups and sucking the liquid from his fingers. Now Nyla does also. I've lost my train of thought because I started writing this about 15 minutes ago. Since then I've made more popsicles, put Nyla to sleep, and found Bohdin a cartoon(Tom & Jerry - he thinks it's hilarious).

Bohdin and his toilet paper pyramid.
 

Nyla eating dinner last night. I took the camera out after she put her whole face in the plate as if she was in an eating contest that forbid the use of hands. She didn't repeat it for the camera.
 

Nyla cleaning the table with her tea and hands.
 

I went through the toy box this morning to find toys that weren't played with anymore. My list was longer than Bohdin's list. I still managed to get rid of a handful of toys. I told him we need to make room for birthday and Christmas toys. Going through the toys is a messy endeavor. I put some of those toys away 3 times while going through the box.
 

Still sick

This has been such a long cold. I wonder how much of that can be attributed to the lack of rest. This is my first time being sick while having to take care of two small children that hardly nap. Bohdin rarely takes naps anymore and Nyla is just an hour per day usually. I just want to lay in bed all day and sleep. Unfortunately I can't. This morning we went to Pizza Hut with the local mom's group (they also do the playgroup). I couldn't really cancel because we were part of the group count. I also didn't feel bad going sick since these were the same people that were responsible for our sickness. They've already had it or were exposed last week. The girl sitting across from Bohdin had giant yellow streams of snot coming out of her nose. Bohdin's nose is no longer runny and Nyla has a bit of clear snot.

The tour was okay. The manager was really nice but his voice wasn't loud enough. Or maybe that was just me. I felt like my ears were stuffed with cotton balls. He showed the kids the walk in refrigerator, walk in proofer and computer system. Then they were allowed to make their own small pizzas. I thought Bohdin would put together a nice pizza since we do it at home but he didn't put enough cheese. It was mostly crust. I had to put more cheese on for him at the employees request. Nyla made one also. She would take a bite of pepperoni and then pound it into the dough. Then she would take another pepperoni and repeat. She put some cheese on her pizza but I had to help also.

I was not in the socializing mood. I couldn't hear well and my eyes were hardly open. I just followed Nyla around. Bohdin had a great time sitting near N-. I don't know what they were laughing about. Later the manager came out and demonstrated throwing the pizza dough. He did an amazing job and that was my favorite part. I could see Bodhin's face and he was mesmerized. I forgot to mention it in the car so I don't know what he thought about it. I do know that one of his favorite things was the number they gave him so he knew which pizza was his. He made sure to bring it home.

When everybody was getting ready to go Bohdin and N- got out of their seats. Bohdin wanted to hop while N- wanted to run. For whatever reason Bohdin didn't want to run. I'm glad since it was not the best place for running. N- was getting a little mad but Bohdin held his ground. Bohdin suggested something else and they did that for a while but soon started running anyway.

I forgot to mention an incident at playgroup last week. At one point Bohdin and N- were fighting over the same ball. N- was holding it tight and Bodhin was trying to pry it out of his arms. The ball didn't belong to either of them. After a few seconds, N-'s mom took the ball away for a time out. Without missing a beat Bohdin asks N- if he wants to play chase. The mom next to me thought it was funny. He wasn't sad for even a second. They happily moved on to running around.

Since we were out I stopped to get some tissue. I now have the nice lotion ones which will hopefully make my red nose happier. My cheap toilet paper was not made for sensitive noses.

Trapped

Stupid playgroup. I'm sick. Bohdin is sick. Nyla is sick. How can we get sick every single time we attend? The weather for this week is described as blustery cold. We can't go outside. We can't meet with others. We're trapped indoors for the winter. I hate living in an area where we can't go outside for long amounts of time for the weather. I knew that it would be colder here than Colorado but I wasn't prepared for how much colder. This is our last winter here and hopefully it is warmer than average and passes quickly. The worst part of this is that we are out of tissue. Nyla's nose is running like a hose. Perhaps we'll go back to the old fashioned handkerchiefs so we don't have to go out into cold and cough all over people at the store.

Color Slide

Friday morning, N-'s mom called me to say she was going to playgroup. There is a playgroup biweekly in the community center just down the street from us. We had gone twice in the past. Both times resulted in sickness. In addition, Bohdin hated the crowded loud room and spent a majority of the time on my lap asking to leave. I decided to give it another try. When we arrived, Bohdin started playing with N- right away. Nyla went off and played. I met some great new moms who just moved to the area. It was a pleasant surprise. I'll go back again.

Yesterday we went to the mall to use a coupon I had. I thought I could stock up on more socks now that they were on sale and I had a 30% coupon. It has been raining for days and the rain finally let up in the afternoon. On the way there we saw a rainbow. There are not many rainbows around here since it remains overcast after raining. In fact it's overcast this morning. We pointed out the rainbow and Bohdin said "It looks like a color slide." I love that description.

When we arrived at the busy parking lot Bohidn said he needed to poop. I dropped him and Buddy off and we were supposed to meet inside. We couldn't. There were zero parking spots. There were cars going around waiting for somebody to exit but there were more cars waiting than people leaving. No sign of recession around here unless people just had fewer shopping bags than usual. There has also been 5 armed robberies there in the past month. That didn't deter anybody either. I could not find a parking spot anywhere. I circled the mall and finally just gave up. Those cheap socks just aren't worth it anymore.

More teeth and another word

I realized after I wrote yesterday's post that I have been in the same cleaning/admitting defeat cycle before. Apparently every so often I get grand ideas forgetting my formidable foes. In another few months I'll try again I'm sure.

Nobody has asked what Nyla's first word was although several already know. Around here we call breastmilk la la (boring story). Nyla's first word was "wa ha, wa la, la ha". Although her pronunciation was a little off the intent was clear. Last night she came up to me put her arms up and said "up, up up".

Two bottom teeth are just beginning to break through the surface. These are #11 and #12. Again she has skipped a spot on each side.

Rain Rain Go Away

We stayed inside all day yesterday because the kids still had a runny nose. Today we had to go out despite the rain because library books were due and I was out of vacuum bags. Since Nyla took out the previous one and made a bit of mess of it the new bags couldn't really wait. Plus I was watching Oprah yesterday and it was about cleaning your messy house. I tried. I put away almost everything that was in the clean laundry basket. That pile had been there for a while. Nyla thought that was a dreadful idea and alternated crying to be held with making some sort of mess. That's why the house in never clean. I have two kids who are determined to keep it messy. The odds are against me.

Here are more pictures from Texas. Buddy's mom pointed out that she likes the way Nyla sings in the shower. That's not something I mentioned before. Nyla does tend to "sing" a bit. She is actually quite vocal. She has her one word well two if you count "meh meh". She calls Bohdin and Buddy the same thing as she calls me though so it's more of a catch all than a real mama.

Nyla getting pushed on the wheel thing by Aunt Angie.
 

Bohdin and Nyla playing or helping with the moving.
 

Nyla with Uncle Brody
 

Nyla pointing at the cat. The cat felt threatened by Nyla's pointing earlier and bit her. Nyla kept a bit of distance afterwards. She gets so excited by animals.