Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Random bits and bobs, just because I can't sleep

* Today was the end-of-year show. The kids did wonderfully, I'm sure I looked like an idiot. (So what's new, I hear you thinking). Ah, you live, you learn...next time I'll do something different. If there is a next time. Have been sorely tempted by the thought of going into beekeeping. Maybe organic beekeeping. Since I:

-- do not own property, and I'm sure that's a requirement of beekeeping;
-- know nothing about beekeeping or bees in general;
-- am rather a jumpy person and am pretty sure that beekeepers need to be fairly calm

this is more or less just an idea to flirt with until I decide whatever it is that I really want to do. I like working with the kids, but there's still something missing...until then, please keep an eye out at garage sales for those big hats with veils.

* Had the 14-month checkup. Things look good, weight gain was great. The baby tends to (really, really) over-pronate while walking and we'll have to keep an eye on that. Are orthopedic inserts in her future? No big deal, though.

What was a big deal was the screaming fit she threw at the doctor's for the first time, completely out of the blue. I was holding her in my arms and doing my best to calm her down but she was crying and screaming NO NO NO NO NO throughout the entire thing, stethoscope, ear/mouth/tummy check, measurements, the whole bit. The doc said, "She's saying 'no' like that already? Oh, well, she's a bit in advance for this kind of thing" and was more or less goodnatured about it. It made me feel completely incompetent, though. Fun times.

On a happy note, though, she is in general a very sweet baby and has been randomly coming up to me and giving me hugs and kisses. Rarely when I ask for them, but generously on her own. She also has parts of 2 songs down, not necessarily the words but some initial consonants and the general tune, just enough for me to be able to tell what she's singing. If I can figure out how to do it, I'll put them on the blog and let y'all guess the tune.

* The house thing is weighing on us a little bit. We have one we might like but are afraid of making the wrong decision and definitely don't want to rush things. Honestly, though, I have to tell you it would be soooo nice to be able to sleep in an honest-to-god bedroom. When you have a baby, there are plenty of guidebooks on how to feed them and get them to sleep and so forth, but nothing that tells you where to put all the stuff that comes with one. And as they get bigger, they somehow end up with more stuff, no matter how hard you try to avoid it. I am totally not kidding when I tell you that our only option for making more space in the apartment at this point is raising the bed higher off the ground. We've been doing that. As a last resort I guess I can store stuff in the trunk of the car.

* Nouvelle Star 2008 has finished. I think I've mentioned it before, but in case you've forgotten it's the French version of American Idol but so much better. It was kind of a blah year and I didn't really get hooked on any one person as I have in the past, although I did like the last two finalists. Benjamin was a cutie pie of a 20-year-old and Amandine reminded me of Melissa Etheridge. Amandine won, and that's pretty much all you need to know about the show this year.

Except that the judges have changed -- they've grown on me, though -- and I'm surprised that Lio, the female judge, managed to get through the entire year without a single Nipplegate. It's well known that girls make up most of the voting population, and I think the constant tension of "Is one of her boobs going to finally pop out tonight?" was supposed to garner at least more male viewers. Not sure how that's supposed to help them vote, though.

2 comments:

Riana Lagarde said...

good idea to put stuff in the car!! we hate the doctor's office too! nnnnnnnnnnnnoooooo

Sarah @ Baby Bilingual said...

So what language(s) do you use with her? What does she seem to prefer? Or have you already posted about that and I missed it? Oh well, things change so quickly at that age. I'd love to hear more, though!