Do you not know what causes that?

Tabub

This is what Isaac and Hilary used to call the bathtub.

Hanitizer

This is the word that Ada uses to mean hand sanitizer.

Lasterday

I don't want to forget this one, Owen and Clara used to say it a lot to mean yesterday.

Over my head...

My friend Marci and I share a love of reading. I'll admit she often does more intellectual reading than I do but we do share a fair bit of taste in similar titles. So when she recommended a "fun" book, The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel by Jasper Fforde, I figured it sounded like fun. This pregnancy must be wiping out every brain cell I own. It took me forever to read about 10 pages and I'm not sure I understood most of it.  It's early days for a book, but I'm thinking I may have to put this one away until my brain cells come back. *sigh*

Never Trees

This is what Owen and Clara were discussing in the back of the van today.  I couldn't figure out what they were saying right away. Then I figured out that never trees are "Trees that never loose their leaves..."  We had a mini-science lesson in the car...

SWACK

It's really not a typo, I don't mean SWAK as in sealed with a kiss.  But this is what Clara thinks lives in her ear.  Kevin said, "She has all the sounds, just in the wrong order."  Which of course, means he's worried about an auditory processing disorder.  I'm not, I think she misheard the word wax and was delighted with herself for trying to remember!

What are you reading?

I love to read.  I read a couple of books each week.  This week I'm reading Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult and Happier by Tal Ben-Shahar.  I also have several books that just arrived for review...

So, what are you reading?

Where do I start?

Well, it's been a wild couple of weeks to say the least.  It started off at the Lamaze International Conference in Phoenix, Arizona.  The good news is that I figured out how to fly and NOT drool on myself for days afterwards - Xanax!  I actually worked on a plane.  It was great to not have panic attacks.  And lest you believe it to be a one time trick - it worked every time. I rode four, count them, four airplanes in two weeks!

In AZ I gave two presentations and lead two special groups. They were fun and exciting. I also enjoyed just relaxing with my good friend, Pat. I also picked up some goodies for friends who are CBEs. My room was way far away and it felt like a real hike, but it had a nice view of the mountains.

I came home for about 40 hours.  In which I went to HS open house, had a dinner date, shopped like a mad woman, fixed dinner for 15 guests for Rosh Hashana, did a radio interview, and went to services. I left services to go to the airport, and changed my clothes in the parking lot.

ICEA was fun, though I was wiped out. I had a good time with my room mate, Teri Shilling, even though I think I drove her a bit nuts.  She did get some good laughs in, mostly at my expsense. We had dinner with Penny Simkin, Kathy McGrath and Rachel Miller one night which was so fun to just sit and talk. We also spent a lot of time talking to Debby Amis and Jeanne Green while at ICEA, though they had led a training seminar at Lamaze, but they were busy then and unavailable for converstaion. I did two more presentations and helped Teri lug her two 74lb (EACH!) suitcases to her sessions.

I made it home in time to spend some girl time with Laurie and Paula.  We stayed out until 2 a.m.  Then back on the road with the kids for school, brunch, our first book club and stamping!

Some memorable highlights from the week:

• Ada insists on telling me how to drive. If I go the "wrong" way she tells me all about it.
• Hilary apologized for a flare up she had - which was very mature of her.
• Grandy (my mom) had a birthday and I took grandma to see her.
• Grandma informed Mom that she wouldn't live much longer. (Grandma didn't know why we were laughing so hard.)
• Clara and Owen are loving soccer and ballet.
• Lilah has fallen and scrapped up her knees again!  Poor baby. Though she is pleased with her new shoes.
• Isaac is not liking homework, but glad to be back in Tae Kwon Do and chess.
• Benjamin, after a lengthy conversation about the role of electricity in the body, including the ability to pass that electricity on, concluded: "So if it's a lightening storm outside, don't walk around holding hands..."
• The fish is alive, even after I cleaned the tank, but the boys declare that the tank still smells.
• Kevin is very, very, very glad I'm home.

I love you!

Yes, it's getting to be that time in my toddler Ada's life where she learns to say I love you.  It's actually very sweet, even if I know she's mimicking me and not really earnest.  But how could she not truthfully be injecting meaning, the way she looks at me?

She's done a great job of learning to say I love you in the same sing song voice that I use.  She even repeats it to me.  It's my morning ritual.  (After all, did I not have kids so that someone would love me back???) I go in and pick her up.  We snuggle.  That hot, wet toddler breath on my chest.  The way she snuggles under my chin.  Even how mushy her diaper is when I wrap my arm around her bottom.  I love it all.  So I take her back to my bed for some pre-dawn snuggles.  I wrap her in my blankets and coo to her.  And as I work her up into actually opening her eyes and being awake, I stare at her beautiful brown eyes and say, "I love you, Ada..."  She smiles and says, "I love you, my mommy."  How much better could it get?

Well, her old sisters have graduated from the vocal I love you.  Not only do they want to hear it, they need to see it.  So we use the I love you in American Sign Language (ASL).  They love it!  Now, they can proclaim their love or receive my love from a distance.  It's perfect for them, least either of us forgets how we feel about the other in the 30 seconds between the living room and their bedroom, from the kitchen window to the swing set... You get the picture.  Well, they have managed to teach this to Ada.  Ada, who can barely hold up two fingers to proudly exclaim her age...  So now she shows me she loves me with her fingers.  Though this is a decidedly more alert activity that doesn't happen in the early morning.

So this morning as I'm going through the ritual, I whisper I love you to Ada.  She looks at me. She grins, flashing her new teeth.  And as she opens her mouth I hear: "Eyeball." With that she snickers, slides off my bed and runs away giggling...

Lesson learned: Never take I love you for granted - as one day it might just be eyeball.

A word from Ada

I love collecting the adorable words that kids say, even if it is picking on someone who hasn't mastered the language.  There is something adorable about a new mastery of one's vocabulary that I find so enticing.  Here is one from Ada:

Wuffle

This is supposed to be waffle.  She goes to the freezer doors and bangs, saying, "Wuffle!" over and over.  Very adorable...