Blog Stalking

Blog stalking has shamed me into compliance. As I read through friends' (both those real and those imagined) impressive blogs, I am thankful for their efforts because it helps me stay connected with them. And then I think of what a blog mooch I am - to be so one-sidedly involved in the blog world whilst our own blog sits in the Blog Cemetery. What follows is my attempt to bring it to life by cutting and pasting from my journal.

January 20, 2008

A pearl of wisdom I learned this past week: "If you're at the store, and you find a Thomas the Tank Engine toothbrush that plays a catchy tune, and you buy it, then, hey, it's your funeral." Because since it is catchy, it will. You push a button and the toothbrush plays a little ditty for 2 minutes. Most of the words are undecipherable. Talmage loves it. And his oral hygiene is thorough. I find myself going to sleep with the toothbrush song going through my head. Over and over. "Just because they're pulling freight..."

Sydney Ruth is due on January 22. I am anxious for her to come so I can get to know her. I’m scared about labor pain. I wonder when she will come. I feel extremely pregnant right now. When I drop things on the ground (often) or see something that needs to be picked up (often) it seems very far away. The exertion required to squat down and pick stuff up is monumental. Monumental enough, that this sentiment prevails: “Don’t worry about it, man. It’s gone.”

Talmage. What a delightful kid! He is 19 months old this coming week. His vocabulary is expanding – up to over 100 words by now. He is starting to put two words together (“blue car”) and he is pluralizing some of his nouns. His favorite toys are cars. Most of the Matchbox we have in the house have been hijacked from other kids at church. In the past couple of weeks he has learned how to play with the Duplo Legos. He can get absorbed in stacking and re-stacking the Legos on a car. This is wonderful for assuring a productive day for myself. For example, the other day I was sanding and refinishing the molding on his window and he happily played Legos behind me – must have been for over 30 minutes. He is very attached to Mr. Bear and is considerate to teach him things. Mr. Bear, by the way, is a gift from Briton's computer engineering buddies at work. Those Intel folk sure know how to do baby gifts! Talmage will hold Mr. Bear up to the window so he can see the cars outside as well. When we read books, he’ll tap Mr. Bear’s nose against the pictures so he can “see” the pictures, too. Talmage explains to Mr. Bear that that is a picture of a “fork”. He’ll pretend to feed him food and sometimes has him do signs with his paws, like “thank you” and “hat” and “please”. He loves playing “rocketship” and “tick-tock” with Briton. Briton will crawl through the play house and tunnels (that Heather gave Talmage for Christmas) with Talmage, sits him on his lap when he playing the piano, reads to him, stays up with him during the nights when T is sick and can’t sleep. The other night that meant being awake until 2:30 a.m. Talmage had a case of the Rocky Mountain Two-Step.