This and That

I think we are starting to get partied out. Bonesteele's birthday, Mr N's birthday, our anniversary and my birthday all fall within a 10-day period in late April. Too bad my birthday is the last of the bunch, I predict I will be too tired to do much of anything. Besides, Mr N has graduate school class all evening on my birthday. This is adulthood! Woo! Ha ha My ability to party hardy has been hampered by the worst allergies of my life. On Thursday, I went outside for 20 minutes and came back in because my nose was getting stuffy. By that evening, I was in a dreadful fog of congestion and pain which lasted until Tuesday!!! This is serious motivation for me to eventually get out of the Willamette Valley. I weaned Bonesteele this week so I could start taking allergy medicine. The weaning was surprisingly easy and took a day and a half. I kid you not. He was ready!

Miss E has started reading out letters everywhere she sees them. Thanks Sesame Street! My friend EK made cute puffy letters that spell out the kids' names; these are up on their bedroom walls. Miss E read them off to us this morning easily. She read me our license plate. She reads out "DVD" while she anxiously awaits the beginning of Cinderella.* I have been quizzing her on letters for a while now, I guess I should move on to the next step of sounding things out.

Miss E's new catchphrase is "Poor (fill in the blank with a suffering creature)." If Bonesteele is unhappy because I dare to clean him off after a meal - "Poor Buddy!"** If I stub my toe and yelp with pain - "Poor Mommy!" Then she blows me a kiss. It's very sweet. (Who wants to actually kiss a toe? Yech!)

*Please tell me, how did Cinderella happen here? I hate Cinderella. I keep making up alternate responses for her. I keep muttering under my breath while Miss E watches this movie. How she should have just kept her mouth shut in front of her stepmother, and then snuck out of the house after her wicked stepfamily had all left. Oh but Miss E loooooves Cinderella. She even chose a Cinderella book (actually a strange compendium on D!sney princesses) at the library! Part of me wants to tell her no, but I know there will be time enough to gently show her that Cinderella is not the paragon of femininity. Ha ha

**If Miss E is happy with Bonesteele, she calls him Buddy. If she is mad at him, she shrieks his name. It sounds quite similar to fingernails on a chalkboard.