Pink Eye!

Sophie has pink eye. Woo hoo! She was puffy-eyed Monday morning but we thought that was a result of her bad cold and restless night and then, when I picked her up at daycare, she had yellow-ish "sleep" in the corners of her eyes. Oh great.

So, I went to work for a couple of hours yesterday while I tried to call the doctor's office to get them to call in a prescription.

And then I went home to stay with her because Aaron had to be at school.

4 pm and the pharmacy finally had the prescription. All frickin' day we waited!

Despite being miserable with a cold and sore, red, puffy eyes, Sophie was in a a really good mood. Lots of playing and making forts and space ships.

So now she's home with Aaron today because we have to wait 24 hours for the eye drops to kick in.

And I have a thyroid appointment today with a new endocrinologist. I'm expecting the worse - which is she won't be helpful at all and will laugh at all the research I've done.

More on that later.

Happy Easter!

I will have to post pictures of Sophie's Easter basket and the doorway/arch we made to let the Easter Bunny know he was welcome in our house. Sophie left a carrot out for him and a very specific note: "Dear Easter Bunny. I love you. Please will you bring me some animal crackers?"

We're not sure where that request came from, but it was very definite. Not chocolate, not flowers. Animal Crackers (which we never have in the house, so it was interesting).

I also made some fabric eggs from an old sweater, some old flower fabric and I experimented with painting muslin. I like the effect a lot and made Sophie a bunny as well with a pink sweater made from more of the old wool sweater.

I have photos, but my camera's batteries died and they need to recharge.

Sophie has come down with something - cold-like - and so she was trying very hard to not be miserable yesterday with Gammy and Gumpa and my brother and SIL and their two boys. There was lots of toy-playing and egg-hunting and food-eating. It was FRIGID outside - it maybe reached 30 degrees when we were outside. So cold. Still, the men hid the eggs and the kids went searching. They abandoned the Easter basket for push trucks and had a ball. Despite all the parents and grandma outside shivering.

I had Friday off due to a Catholic CEO. Aaron and I went shopping while Sophie was at daycare. It was a nice day. We had hoped to catch a movie but the timing didn't work out. So we bought some wine and some brisket that we cooked all day in the crockpot on Saturday. It was the first time I've eaten beef in about 10 years. But it was organic beef - so that is okay, right? It was yummy, I'll admit. And very tender due to cooking all day long.

ALSO, Sophie wrote the first four letters of her name Friday morning! I was getting ready and Aaron was distracted working on some homework and Sophie was drawing on one of his manila envelopes. He looked down and she had written SOPH all by herself! With no prompting! I have a photo of that as well.

In other news, this is Sophie two years ago today:

Plastic Easter Eggs - toxic levels of lead

Plastic Easter Eggs could have toxic levels of lead.

CLEVELAND (AP) -- A chemistry professor who raised an earlier warning flag about toxic lead levels in toy jewelry didn't have to look far for evidence of similar risks in Easter items such as plastic eggs. Thirteen of 45 items purchased off store shelves and tested by Ashland University chemistry students had paint made with lead, according to Jeffrey D. Weidenhamer, who has made the toy testing an annual spring rite for his students. Lead, a highly toxic element, can cause severe nerve damage, especially in children. Two years ago Weidenhamer and his students produced a low-profile study showing many common toys and trinkets, most made in China, had hazardous lead levels. The next round of testing last year got more attention as the issue of tainted Chinese products including toys, pet food and toothpaste made headlines. ''It certainly demonstrates that the problem is still there,'' Weidenhamer said. At Ashland, the biggest lead hazards were found in Easter egg spinning tops, plastic Easter eggs that typically are filled at home with treats, bunny hair clips and chick-style sipper cups -- all exceeding the government paint standard of 0.06 percent lead content.

I'm definitely sewing eggs this year.

Obama: A More Perfect Union

I can't imagine Hillary or John giving this speech

I can't remember the last time I got chills from a politician.

That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, “Not this time.” This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can’t learn; that those kids who don’t look like us are somebody else’s problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.

This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don’t have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.

This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn’t look like you might take your job; it’s that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.

This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should’ve been authorized and never should’ve been waged, and we want to talk about how we’ll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.

Hillary - it's time to stop

Just step away. Go take a long vacation. It's over.

from DailyKos:

It is Clinton, with no reasonable chance of victory, who is fomenting civil war in order to overturn the will of the Democratic electorate. As such, as far as I'm concerned, she doesn't deserve "fairness" on this site. All sexist attacks will be dealt with -- those will never be acceptable. But otherwise, Clinton has set an inevitably divisive course and must be dealt with appropriately.

To reiterate, she cannot win without overturning the will of the national Democratic electorate and fomenting civil war, and she doesn't care.

That's why she has earned my enmity and that of so many others. That's why she is bleeding super delegates. That's why she's even bleeding her own caucus delegates (remember, she lost a delegate in Iowa on Saturday). That's why Keith Olbermann finally broke his neutrality. That's why Nancy Pelosi essentially cast her lot with Obama. That's why Democrats outside of the Beltway are hoping for the unifying Obama at the top of the ticket, and not a Clinton so divisive, she is actually working to split her own party.

Meanwhile, Clinton and her shrinking band of paranoid holdouts wail and scream about all those evil people who have "turned" on Clinton and are no longer "honest power brokers" or "respectable voices" or whatnot, wearing blinders to reality, talking about silly little "strikes" when in reality, Clinton is planning a far more drastic, destructive and dehabilitating civil war.

People like me have two choices -- look the other way while Clinton attempts to ignite her civil war, or fight back now, before we cross that dangerous line. Honestly, it wasn't a difficult choice. And it's clear, looking at where the super delegates, most bloggers, and people like Olbermann are lining up, that the mainstream of the progressive movement is making the same choice.

And the more super delegates see what is happening, and what Clinton has in store, the more imperative it is that they line up behind Obama and put an end to it before it's too late.

Tonight

I'm going to be making spinach bread for my friend's green-themed party (S: yes, I'm coming!) and I'm going to watch the premiere of The Return of Jezebel James. A show with both Parker Posey and Lauren Ambrose? Sign me up.

Sophie Vignette - Red Phone Edition

Sophie has a red phone rattle she's played with since she was a baby. She likes to take it with her in the car to call people while we're on the road. Gammy, my sisters, Aaron's sisters, Aaron's parents; everyone has been called at some point.

Yesterday, she discovered it again when I drove her home from daycare. We were about to walk to the store to get garbage stickers* and she wanted to take it with her.

We're walking along the sidewalk to the store and Sophie's talking into her red phone: "Hi Daddy! What's up? I walking to the store to get garbage stickers for my POOP! Okay, bye!"

I explain that now that she's using the potty all the time her poop is now going in the toilet and not the garbage. The garbage is mostly filled with cat poop.

So she calls Aaron back and excitedly tells him: "Daddy! Is Sophie! We need stickers for Otto's POOP!"

Just as we were walking into the store. I think the lady behind the counter was quite amused.

*our town makes us buy stickers to put on the top bag in our garbage can. They won't take it if you haven't bought a sticker. At $3 a pop, we usually put out our garbage every other week. Which isn't bad in the winter because everything stays frozen. We'll see what happens in the summer.

No more diapers!

We've been quietly working with Sophie on the no-more-diapers front. She is doing amazing. Beautiful Jen sent us some of Charlotte's old cloth diapers with a waterproof (or maybe just resistant) outer shell. Perfect timing, too, because we had Sophie in underpants during the day and were almost out of disposables.

So, Sophie wears "night pants" (the cloth diapers) at night and then underpants during the day.

Three dry nights so far! And only one accident during the day for the last 4 days!

AND, Sophie and Aaron called me at work this morning to tell me that Sophie pooped in the potty this morning. That, in itself, isn't that exciting. What's exciting is that Aaron was upstairs when Sophie had to go. So she went, by herself, over to her potty, pulled down her pajamas and used the potty!

Aaron came downstairs and Sophie said: "Daddy! I went poop!" and Aaron thought, "ugh, great" (thinking she had gone in her pajamas). But then she showed him the potty and, lo, there was much celebration.

My sweet little girl is growing up so fast! If I had known that chocolate was going to be such a motivator we would have tried this sooner.

Uh, It's SNOWING again.

Who told Mother Nature?

Aaron and Sophie actually went to the playground after work and now everything is covered with snow again.

There was about 1/2" out there this morning to push off the car. It's a thick, sticky snow. Heavy. Kind of like sugary frosting.

So sticky that the walk across the parking lot at work added about 3" to the bottom of my shoes. I just kept getting taller and taller until one of the stacks broke off and then I hobbled the rest of the way.

Shh - the snow is melting!

Please don't tell Mother Nature I've noticed. I think the big snow banks surrounding our house have melted to almost half their size from last weekend.

In other news, I'm giving up on the month of lists. Woo - made it almost a week!

I'm having issues with my thyroid medication and it's taking a lot of effort to even make it through the day with my sanity in check. Trying to think of a list every day is throwing me over the edge.

I'll still keep trying to post every day. And maybe throw in the occasional list. Wait until I list the thyroid symptoms. That list's a doozy.

Absolutely Amazing - Stephen Wiltshire

This amazing artist draws a panoramic view of Rome from memory.

For lack of another idea...

• I could never do this kind of drawing from memory
• I was literally sitting there watching the video with my mouth agape
• I really, really want to go to Rome someday

Holy Crap - scariest story of the day

I'm glad I don't eat meat. Sophie's daycare does give her meat and this is making me panic a little.

Who thought this was a good idea?

Cows being fed ethanol-biproducts.

Increased sulfur in the distillers grains comes from adding sulfur to the ethanol machines ... High levels of sulfur can cause sulfur toxicity in cattle. While that doesn't taint meat, cattle suffer neurological damage that causes the animals to ram their heads into the wall, stare up at the sky and, if not treated, die.

Sunday

Today was...

• extremely windy. Gusty, blustery, bitterly cold.

• a day for making bread. I made two loaves of whole wheat bread today! They were easy! They taste yummy! I forget where I got the recipe but I'll find the link (Orangette, of course) and update tomorrow! Oh, and I made some flat bread last night that I baked today. Also yummy but it didn't rise at all. I blame our cold kitchen. It ended up tasting a bit like pretzel dough. We all munched on the flat bread on the drive down off the hill to do some shopping.

• another banner day for Sophie with no potty accidents! We even went shopping at several different stores in a nearby town and she was amazing! We brought extra clothes just in case, but she didn't need them. I'm so proud of her.

• very tiring. Aaron stayed out really late last night (almost 2 a.m.) and I stayed up having a panic attack when he didn't come home at 10 like I had imagined. And then all the worst-case-scenarios running through my head made me feel like I was having a heart attack. Not fun at all. We were both beyond exhausted today.

• fun, despite the previous. Sophie was in a great mood and it rubbed off on us. Is it my imagination or does she just get cuter every day?
  

Rain, Rain, Go Away

(or is it "Rain, Rain Go Away"?)

Aaron had to do graduate school stuff today so it was Sophie and I ruling the roost.

• Sophie made it through the day without one single accident!

• AND, except for one time, she told me each time she had to use the potty!

• We made "Monkey Muffins" - essentially healthy banana bread muffins.

• We played with her Duplo blocks.

• We played with her playdough.

• She asked to watch the "Old School" Sesame Street video collection I got from the library.

• She took a bath.

• Oh yeah, before that, we went to dance class for the first time in three weeks. The first one was school vacation, the second was canceled due to snow.

• AND she wore underpants to dance class and didn't have an accident!

• She's now asleep and I'm here drinking wine.

• And then I made a list about it.
  

Friday Finds

Things that made my day:

• Be Polite
• Another way to stack wood
• Keith Olbermann on Hillary
• Jen sending Sophie a very generous box of Charlotte clothes. Thank you!

Also, an article to read when I have time: Go Solar and Save Big! - about using passive solar energy.

Toss the Toddler*

Here is video evidence of what we do for fun in the great tundra of the North East.

Snow Tossing:

I highly recommend it if your toddler is willing because it's:

• fun
  
• exhilarating
  
• hilarious
  
• good exercise
  
• makes a great video to share with grandparents in California who can't imagine living in these conditions
  
• sure to make Aaron panic about snow getting into her sleeves and pants
  

*No toddlers were harmed in the tossing. In fact, said toddler asked for and was tossed all the way to the playground about 4 blocks away.

Losing more respect for Hillary every day

Wow. This is just awful. Not race-baiting at all, though, right? (that was sarcasm)

Hillary's campaign darkened and widened a photo of Obama in one of their ads to make him look more black.

And then they lied about doing it.

I wanted to like her because we share a birthday - Scorpios unite! But this win-at-all-costs attitude/strategy is a complete turn-off.

Make Your Own

• Dishwasher Detergent - a great way to save money. We already use a lot of baking soda and vinegar around here for cleaning.

• Swiffer or oMop pads

• Naturally-dyed Easter eggs

• Egg-shaped Sidewalk Chalk

• Crocheted Dish Scrubby - Great because you can throw them in the washing machine when they get messy. I have yarn and everything at home right now, so I'm going to try some of these this weekend.

  
  

Toilet Training Article

Dr. Sears has helpful tips on potty training - before you start.

I think we're on the right track - but I'm going to talk to Sophie about what it means to "hold it" until we get to the potty.

Uh, Hold the Lemon. Thanks.

Study finds lemon slices covered with bacteria.

Mmmm, sounds yummy.

Things I Didn't Buy Today because we are on a strict budget

• Emma Jeffs "Otto" window adhesives. Even though they would look great in the panels of the sun porch door. And because they are called "Otto".

• I also really love the "Pixel" window film by Emma Jeffs.

• This floor lamp with shelves to replace the stupid torchiere lamp in the living room. Plus! More place for trinkets and doo-dads!

• The Bauhaus Arc Floor Lamp. Lovely.

• And last, but not least, the eco-friendly Pacifica Dining Table.
  

Design Items of Interest

• Fonts For Peas - FREE handwritten fonts
• Coolest Door in the Neighborhood - a door with openings for adults, kids, and pets.
• Cool knitted ottomans and a rug that looks like it came from the sweater of a giant. Scroll down to see the artist at work with the biggest knitting needles I've ever seen.
• Lovely flower rings to add to my covet list. (via Aesthetic Outburst)
• Fabric Gift Bags - so you don't keep wasting all that paper. They have gorgeous fabrics from which to choose, too. (via Green Mom Finds

The Screamer

Sophie had a very grumpy weekend. There was lots of screaming and yelling and we tried hard to think of ways to stop this from happening. We think a lot of it was about control as we are still working on the potty training and maybe we're pressuring more than we know. We are trying to stay very low-key about it. On a side note, she had two accidents yesterday - one pee and one poop (and cleaning a poop/underwear accident is not pleasant). Today, however, she made it the whole day without an accident! We had to watch her like a hawk to anticipate when she was going to pee, but it was worth it. 4 times in the potty!

But, it's a month of lists, so without further ado, here is a partial list of the things that made Sophie scream "NO!!!" at us:

• Sophie, do you want some juice?
• Sophie, do you want to put some socks on your feet?
• Sophie, do you want a peanut butter sandwich?
• Do you want to paint?
• Do you want to play with your blocks?
• Sophie, let's go outside and kick some snow.
• Sophie, it's time to get in the bath
• Sophie, it's time to get out of the bath
• Sophie, it's cold; let's put on a sweater.

In reading this over, maybe we shouldn't say "Sophie" so much.

Today was slightly better than yesterday because we had a talk with her about talking nicely to people and if she didn't want to do something, then to just say: "no, thank you." It worked for the most part today.

On a tangent, for the record, we got about 7 inches of snow Friday night.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that she spiked a fever Friday afternoon after her nap at daycare - hit about 102 degrees when my daycare provider emailed me. I left work a bit early to get her and she was miserable. But she had no other symptoms so we kept an eye on her and gave her ibuprofen. No fever the next day; just extreme grumpiness.

Aaron just noticed this morning that a molar broke through over the weekend at some point. Aha! I had an inkling that maybe it was a tooth but it is very hard to get a good look in her mouth.

It always goes back to teething, doesn't it?

Pet Peeves

A few things that were particularly annoying to me yesterday:

• When someone asks "How are you doing?" instead of "How are you?" because I always automatically say: "I'm well, thank you. How are you?" but it doesn't grammatically work with "how are you doing" and it leaves me walking away muttering to myself.
  
• People who don't use turn signals and then slow down to almost stopped and then turn.
  
• When I don't make a grocery list and then forget the one thing I specifically went to the grocery store to buy.
  
• People who stop their shopping carts in the middle of the aisle and then pay no attention to the people trying to get around them. Please be more aware of your surroundings, people!
  
• When it's so cold outside that the thin layer of ice on my car sounds like nails on a chalkboard when I try to scrape it off.