See, I Told Ya

I said I'd be back, and voila!  I'm on my 3rd computer now, after the 1st two both had hard drive crashes within a week of ownership.  I wrote a nice, honest review on Amazon about our experience, and then Brian came to the suspicion that it may have been our fault after all. The "new" desk I bought off craigslist is secretary style, with a drop-down table.  Well, turns out those magnets that hold the table up when closed, they're pretty strong.  Strong enough to, say, ruin a hard drive if an electronic device was placed over it.  Whoops.  At least I know to avoid setting this laptop on them.

Anyway, it appears I'm back, and man does it feel good to be connected again!  An old, outdated tablet does not compensate fully for a computer.

My sister Kelly and her 3 youngest kiddos came for a quick visit last month.  We seized the opportunity to visit the pumpkin patch.  Although late September, it was pretty darned warm outside.  So much so, that it made me feel lazy and unmotivated to be out in the sun really long.  But the kids had a blast even though we skipped the corn maze.  There was LOTS of other stuff to do which didn't involve being lost for an hour :-)

After not taking many pictures the last several weeks (no computer to load them on to, remember?) I tried to catch up on my little EIGHTEEN-month-old.  I know, holy smokes, right?  She's been to nursery the last two weeks, and is I suppose having a good time.  She hasn't cried once, even though Brian, who drops her off, hasn't stuck around with her.  I had a feeling the lure of the toys and other toddlers would sway her easily :-)  She's been way over hanging out with either of us for a good long time now.

This is a common smile she flashes us.  It's her purposeful smile.  She squints her eyes and exaggerates her mouth.  Melts my heart every time.  She likes to pull this one out when she's about to be scolded.  And it works for her every time.

 She has started saying some more words, though still not a whole lot.  She's a pretty quiet one, at least when you're trying to get her to talk.  She will (but not if anyone else is being shown) repeat all our names.  Mama, Dada, Minna (= Brennan), Ashhhhhh (= Asher), and Hi-a (= Hollyn).  Sometimes I throw in her near-by cousin's name too. :-)  I can tell that she recognizes these as being the names of us, so that's what's fun.  She also recognizes the names of many specific things and if I ask her to find one of them, she goes looking in the places she last saw/put the item.  So even though she doesn't say many words, she's apparently understanding them.

Her favorite thing to say right now, on her own without prompting, is "no".  Oh goody. :-)  The other day in the car she was repeating to herself, "No no, no no..."  She says it sort of accented though, so it's still cute.  For now.  Interestingly, it seems like when she's saying it because she means it, she pronounces it "neh".  Other times she says "neeeeeew" and puts her lips in a little "o" shape to accentuate the vowel.  I think it's how she says "more" but I can't be sure.  It could just be for fun.

Speak of the toddler, I hear her wanting to be gotten up from nap-time.

Until next time...