This and that

Week 38 of my Arizona adventure began yesterday.  Eight and a half months of watching e grow and prosper, of seeing her parents cope with this new part of their life together, of my itinerant lifestyle.

One of the tasks accomplished over the weekend was installing locks on the lower kitchen cabinets.  K used magnetic locks that must be opened with a magnetic key.  Cool!  One key is kept on the hood over the range, the other on the microwave, both above e's current reach.  One cupboard is not locked; it contains a whisk, pan, and bowl for e to play with.

Although she is not walking independently yet, e loves to walk along by pushing something.  This might be a big box, a dining room chair, her little Radio Flyer wagon, or even her stroller.  She has learned what to do when the wagon or whatever runs into something like a wall.  She walks around to the other end and goes in the other direction.  Problem solved!

One of her favorite games right now is "pull out the straw."  When E came home from the hospital, she brought the 28 oz plastic cup they gave her.  It has a handle and a lid with a small hole for the flexible plastic straw.  She would fill it with water to drink as she nursed e.  Now e has taken over the cup and loves to pull out the straw, which usually takes more than one tug because she does not yet understand about holding the cup in one hand while the other one pulls.  But once it comes out, she will hand me the straw so I can insert it into the hole, and the process repeats.

Probably the best feature of the Grandma Suite is its location.  It sits at the back of the house, the northwest corner, and has two windows.  One looks out over the lovely back yard, and I usually open the blinds each morning to enjoy the view.  The other window looks out on the side yard and cinder block wall at the edge of the property, so I keep those blinds closed.  At the old house my room shared a wall with the master bath, so when K took his early morning shower I was very aware of it.  Some days I was awake before the water began to flow but I think I was always awake before he finished.  Now my room is far enough away from the master bath that I never hear their shower, though one night last week I did hear E put together the new IKEA dresser in their closet, which is above my room.