Hi

It's been busy around here getting everything ready. We need to find a renter before we move. We need to tidy up the place for pictures so we can put an ad on craigslist. I was hoping to take the picture when it was sunny but I can't wait any longer. The downstairs neighbor had her baby last week so there is even more urgency. She is home all day now and surely exhausted with a brand new baby. She doesn't want to hear kids running around. Unfortunately, that is there favorite thing to do together. Bohdin even came up with some solutions to our request of not chasing her. He tries to coax her into chasing him or makes her run and squeal by popping up when she's running.

Nyla has some new words in her vocabulary. Her most frequent word now is uh uh (as in no). She uses it a lot with Bohdin. "Do you want to play party now?" "Can you give me the cup?" Everything is uh uh. They were even arguing (as Bohdin put it) in the car about saying uh uh. That was a loud day. Her other word is hi. Bohdin thinks she is saying I and that he taught it to her. I haven't told him it's not true. He's so proud of himself and is trying to teach her other words now.

ISO Beach

Buddy had an email a few weeks ago asking if he wanted to stay here one extra year. That means we would live here through November 2010. After some thinking we may agree to this. My term would be that we move as soon as possible. We drove around a bit on Sunday and found a house with a private beach. Bohdin and Buddy loved that house. Well not the house, the beach. Who wouldn't? It was amazing. Unfortunately the house attached to the private beach is 827 sq ft. That would be a really tight fit. So today and yesterday we have been in search of a house with community beach access. There are no other houses with private beach access so the next best thing is finding a house in a beach community. It turns out that the beaches in these communities are tiny but way better than the one public beach in the area. Most also have nets to keep the jelly fish out.

We toured several neighborhoods and are still considering the options. We also need to find somebody to take over our lease. That might be difficult since there are a ton of rentals on the market right now. In fact, in our building 2 of the 3 units next to us are available.

We'll keep looking until we find something we can all agree on. Bohdin has different criteria than I do. He liked the private beach house and another house near the beach that had a huge outdoor deck for running on. One house we looked at today that I liked Bohdin didn't because "there was nothing cool outside". Although it was a very short walk to the beach and playground he did have a point. The yard was on the smaller side. We still have several more candidates to explore.

Guessing wrong

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Tree
Tree who?
Tree come to eat you!
(Feigning fright) Oh no! A tree is coming to eat me?
It's just a joke. Trees can't eat you.

Now after every knock knock joke I get "Did you think a car was really going to come eat you?" in a tone that makes me feel like an idiot.

When we were in Colorado Bohdin asked a question about the number of something. I can't remember what. I threw out a number without giving it much thought. Bohdin guessed a number as well and after thinking about it I told him his guess was better than mine. Now he keeps wanting to compete to see who can guess better. The number of restaurants in Colorado and the number of jeeps in the world are two conversations I never want to have again. Especially if it is just a contest to see who has a better guess.

Nyla is 6 weeks older in these pictures.
 

 

Back in Maryland

Before we left for the airport I wanted to weed, clean, and mulch the front bed of Paul's house. Bohdin and I enjoy gardening more than he does. This year we will do some sort of container garden for Bohdin. He loves growing and harvesting vegetables so much. We have good sun exposure. It's against the rules to have it on our balcony we'll risk it. Almost everybody has something on their balcony that is not allowed.

 
 

When I was looking for flights I confused myself with eastern vs mountain time. I subracted two hours from the flight start to get Colorado time. Obviously the flight was already listed in Colorado time. That meant that instead of leaving at bedtime we were leaving 2 hours after bedtime. Nyla fell asleep on the way to the airport. We arrived at the airport with plenty of time so we could eat, walk slow, and get ready for bed before boarding. Bohdin pulled him Thomas suitcase along in one hand and the other hand held Nyla's hand. They walked together through the airport most of the way. He even helped her onto the train. I wish my camera wasn't packed. I received several comments about how cute they looked walking through the airport together.

Bohdin fell asleep soon after takeoff. We were given a whole row and he was able to lay across two seats. Nyla was completely energized from her nap. She wouldn't go to sleep. She wasn't crazy though. I ended up mostly watching the movie she showed while she played in my lap. About 30 minutes before landing she finally fell asleep. She was not happy to wake up. Bohdin had a tough time waking up also. We were helped off the airplane because I was struggling with one fussy and one groggy child and heavy bags. It took us a long time but we managed to make it out to our car. We arrived home at 1:30am. Bohdin was excited to see his toys and instantly started playing. I put an end to that quickly and we were all asleep within minutes. Since Bohdin had lost at least 3 hours of sleep the previous night he managed to sleep in an extra hour in the morning. It's better than nothing.

There was still a bit of snow on the ground and Bohdin played in the snow a bit outside the comissary yesterday. He threw snowballs, made tracks, and I think even ate a little (he denied it) on brown island. I need to take a picture of brown island before we leave. He plays in that area for a few minutes every time we leave the comissary. Now Nyla is starting to run around the area also.

When we went to the comissary yesterday Nyla sat quietly in the basket nearly the entire time. This has been a gradual maturation over the past month or so. She used to try to stand up multiple times and want to be carried or get out numerous times. I give a lot of credit to Bohdin here. Nyla copies Bohdin's actions frequently. This is wonderful in the store where he stays close to the basket. It's funny at other times. Last night she tried to pee standing up in front of the potty. That obviously didn't end well. Bohdin was mad last night just before bed and marched to the bedroom door and sat down in anger with his arms crossed. Nyla followed him to the door and sat down right next to him. Overall, he's a pretty good role model.

Playgroup

Monday I went to Longmont to visit a dear friend whom I haven't seen since Nyla was an infant. Bohdin did not really want to go. He was grumpy the whole time. Later he said he didn't want to talk to her. Noboby was forcing him to interact. We walked over to the Sonic together to get a drink. We don't have Sonic in Maryland so we take advantage of those half price slushes when we're here. Bohdin was also a little bummed out that day because I told him it had snowed at home. We had 7.5 inches of snow. That's more snow than all of the other snow storm the past 2 winters put together. Instead we were stuck here with crummy 70 degree weather. Bohdin was sad. It's been pretty cold there and I would be surprised if it was all gone when we get back home late tonight.

Tuesday we attended our old playgroup. There were some new faces there. The other big change is that in Bohdin's absence, Tyken has befreinded the other kids. Bohdin prefers a one on one situation so he never looked like he was having much fun. He said he was but he didn't look it. There were two interaction of note. At one point a girl told Bohdin that she didn't like him. They had never met prior to today. Bohdin stood there and just turned his head away. I talked to him about it afterwards and I think he is okay. Four year olds aren't very good at understanding how words can hurt. Bohdin isn't anyway. The next incident was a little girl trying to take the ball Bohdin was playing with. We had been kicking it back and forth. When she picked it up from the ground Bohdin told her that he was playing with it. I'm glad he stood up for himself. Luckily she gave the ball back. I don't think Bohdin would have fought her for it.

 
 
 
 

This morning we are just getting ready to head out by doing some last minute things. I sent a 35 pound package containing the thrift store clothes I found for Bohdin and Nyla. I bought all of his 5 year old stuff and a few things for 6. I didn't get as much for Nyla because I'm going to keep making things for her. I did get quite a few sweaters in the 99 cent sale. I can't pass up that kind of price. The thrift stores in Maryland carry very few kid clothes. Most people don't donate their stuff around there so I have to get here in Colorado while I can. In addition, we picked up lots of books (the ones our library doesn't carry) and a few videos. I also bought some tea that I can't get out there.d

Weekend Update

We spent Friday at a friend's house. I saw many of my old playgroup friends. While I had a lot fun seeing everybody, Bohdin didn't care about the rest of the kids. He played only with Tyken the whole time. Nyla spent some time with G who was playing doctor.
 

When Nyla gets mad she likes to lay on the floor. She got mad Friday night while she was sitting in my lap. She wanted to get down on the floor so she could lay. She made it safely to the ground but when she layed down she hit the back of her head just above her neck on the chair. Understandably, she cried. I picked her up and she cried in my arms. Then she stopped crying, her body was still and her eyes had a glazed unfocused look. I thought I was going to have to take her to the ER. It was a long few seconds but then she recovered and started crying again. She hits her head so often I don't see how she'll make it past toddlerhood without a brain injury.

Saturday morning I went to the thrift store with Nyla but left Bohdin at Paul's house. I found Tyken there and brought him back. Bohdin and Tyken played together really well for a few hours but after lunch, Bohdin started having problems. He suddenly didn't want to share his toys anymore. Then he got really mad when he couldn't watch his Chicka Chicka Boom Boom video again. Tyken left and Bohdin started feeling better after a while. I think he needed some quiet time. We've been on the go so much. We spent the rest of Saturday playing in the yard.

Sunday was another quiet day. Stevie came over in the afternoon after Nyla took a long much needed nap. We walked down to the Sonic for a drink. On the way back we picked up trash from the wetland area next to the road. Bohdin and I used to do this when we lived here. He still talks about doing it. We made a good dent in the trash. Stevie found a shopping cart from Walgreens. I told him we had to return it. Walking down the road with a shopping basket was a bit embarrassing but we made it and did our good deed for the day.

 
 

Upon returning, Bohdin continued building his rock and soil structure from the previous day. He needs a yard so bad. If nothing else we should get a small pool and fill it with soil and rocks for him to put on the patio.
 

Just pictures now

I'll come back later and add words.