dontscha love site referral trackers?

Apparently, if you do a search for 'daschunds ack' on google, my blog is the second hit. Pity the poor typo-er who found that out...

Getting ready for the KC trip. Countless loads of laundry and dishes to be done before we leave tomorrow afternoon :)

woot

On Monday, Jon applied for a position at a local academic library. He got a call back this afternoon asking for him to come in for an interview next Monday. Woo-hoo! Way to go, honey :)

And now, photos of undeniable sweetness. And that mostly-gummy smile of Ellie's will soon be gone; her top teeth are quite visible and about to break through.



Oolong and Darjeeling? Poppy and Gerbera? Argh.

wednesday

I taught Ellie the whole, "how big is Ellie? So big!" thing with her holding her hands up over her head. She loves it and just laughs so hard. Tristan was playing one of his typical "games" with her yesterday---give baby a toy, turn around, grab toy (crying ensues), turn around, give her the toy back, etc. When he took the toy away from her, she would do the "so big!" sign before starting to fuss...! My baby girl is signing!!! I am not sure whether it was a, "hey, I'm big too, give that back!" argument or whether she adapted it to mean, "I want that!", but she was definately using it as a sign. She's been nodding and shaking her head lately too, but I hadn't caught on that she was really trying to communicate. D'oh! So, we're going to start working on that more.

I spruced up the ratties' cage yesterday, outfitting it with shelves and such to make the space more usable. I'm trying to find some femme names for the duo; after all the gender confusion, I don't want to call them Bill and Ben, lol. Anyone have any ideas for rat names, preferably fairly pretentious? I am considering the name Lysistrata, but I can't think of one for the other rattie...

bwahahahahaha

One thing that seems to set humans apart from all other animals is our ability to reason. When the barometer falls, for example, we expect bad weather, but we don't think the barometer causes the weather. Scientists have assumed that such an understanding is beyond other animals. But a study of the reasoning abilities of rats now shows that we may not be so unique after all.

Outsmarting Pavlov's Dogs

Oh, turns out that my initial impression of Ben was right and she's a girl. Wasn't apparent until she went into heat yesterday; her bits were a little further apart than the textbook rattie's and several other rat-lovers thought she was a boy too. Woo-hoo! Bill's back and they're enjoying each other's company immensely. It was like, "where were you all weekend? Oh, well. Nooogie!!!"

oh, rats

Quick recap of the week:

Spent a nice quiet Valentine's with Jon; we got PF Chang's take-out and went home to watch TIVO'd Desperate Housewives (romantic, huh?). My grandma watched the kiddos and it turned out that Ellie cried almost the whole time :(

My sister came over for supper last night. Tristan had a ball and it was really nice having her over.

Got together with some other Muslim mamas and kiddos for brunch today. Tristan loved playing with the other kids, especially two 2 year old boys (one of whom was his "best friend" from previous posts). It was my first experience being in a (Muslim) women's-only social situation and was a really interesting, eye-opening experience. I loved it! I think we're going to try to make it a semi-regular playdate.

And a mishap with the ratties: discovered this morning that Ben is a boy. Eeek! I seperated them immediately, but can't keep two seperate rat colonies at the moment. After a lot of emails to various lists and folks to try to find a home for Bill (as she was less attached to me, and I to her), I decided to take her back to the pet store. It was a really hard decision. I was assured by the manager, though, that she would only be sold as a pet---and they have purchasers fill out a legal form to that effect. She was so sweet.

I'm going to try to adopt a friend for Ben from the rattery in KC when we go up.

Oh! And big news---Ellie, at 9 months, is drinking from a straw! And she loves it :)


And, finally, since it's apparently what all the cool kids are doing, I'd love it if you'd take the time to check out my Johari window. I dunno what y'all will say, because I kind of had to guess myself, lol. And, nope, no Nohari---I am so not that masochistic.

resistance is futile.

It would be difficult for a rattie-obsessed woman to run into a slew of adorable rat pups without adopting at least one. Or two.

Yeah.

Meet Bill, a beige variberk, and Ben, an agouti berkshire. Both very young females, named by the resident toddler.

They're getting along splendidly, even doing well with our cat Leia, though it reminds me a bit of the "fish are friends, not food" scenes in Finding Nemo.

ohmigosh!

We have FRIENDS!

For the first time since we had Tristan, we've met a couple that we really hit it off with. Jon and I have both had good friends before (*sniff* mostly left in KC), but we've never found another family that we all hit it off with. They have a 2 year old (who Tristan now calls "my best friend") and a 5 month old. They're the couple whose home we went over to a couple of weeks ago. They came over for dinner Saturday night, then (on the spur of the moment) we met them for dinner on Sunday. The restaurant was pretty empty, which was great because the boys could run around and act their age. Afterward, we went over to their house for tea and ended up staying til 11! Geez. Jon and I are so excited about this. We're having breakfast with them again on Saturday.

Besides that, it's been a fairly uneventful week. Oh, wait! We're getting a second car!!! Jon's mom is giving him a *new* Honda! Gasp! Our single car family days are over. We're all going to go to KC at the end of the month (KC mamas, wanna do anything?) and were going to just fly up, then drive the new car down, but it's ending up being cheaper for Jon to fly up alone this weekend, drive it down, then we'll all drive up in it together for our trip later this month. So, after this weekend, I won't have to drag the kiddos out of bed every morning and end up having Jon late for work anyhow, lol. I can't wait!

And I'm really, really wanting pet ratties again. Sigh. I think it's displaced baby fever, after seeing a few really sweet newborns over the past few weeks. That's ok, though...rats are cheaper and quieter, even if they don't quite scratch the itch in the way another baby would.

Photos of the Week:


Tristan and Ellie playing "the cheerio game" (invented by the former). How do you play it? Well, you get a baby. Then you throw cheerios at her. Then she eats them.


Tristan's self-titled masterpiece, Big Giant and Baby Giant.

friday. again.

Another week gone. Sigh.

Ellie's turning into a speed demon. Last week, working quickly while my back was turned, she decided that she loves the sound that the floor furnace makes when she bangs on it (luckily, it was off at the time). So, she has necessitated the first use of baby gates in our new home. She doesn't quite get her belly up, but she's *fast*. She's also started using "bubba" for "brother", "papapapapa" for "Papa", and "mamamamamama" for "hey, you, with the milk."

I've started working on numbers with Tristan, with the incentive that he'll get his very own wristwatch when he can recognize each of them. So far, he knows 0, 3, 4, and 5 fairly consistently. We've also started doing a craft time after a (very necessary and newly implemented) rest time. It's going well. With his desire for more kiddo interaction, I'm also trying out a new weekly schedule where we go to the playground, library storytime, and zoo, on set days of the week. He's been really enjoying it so far.

Blog quiz thingy of the week:

You Are 29 Years Old

20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences.

What Age Do You Act?