Can you guess?

The Dr. Seuss Foot Book teaches opposites by describing different kinds of feet, such as these "Sick feet."  The other day es was quite taken by this picture and asked me to guess what was wrong with the feet.  I suggested a couple of possibilities, such as the creature had stepped on broken glass or been stepped on by an elephant, but that wasn't enough.  So I tried a couple more.  Perhaps he fell asleep in the sun and burned his feet, or his new shoes gave him blisters.  I tried to encourage her to guess what was wrong, and finally, after I had named many possible causes, she came up with some on her own.  Admittedly some were variations on things I had said, but still she made them her own.

I knew he'd be fine

Hurray for our little dude!  His first day away from home at day care went smoothly!

And what did I do yesterday?  I took a three and a half mile walk with a friend, did grocery shopping, went to the bank to ask about an apparent email phishing, then ironed several shirts before our dinner and game group.  After practicing this morning I hope to get in a bit of quilting on the Grand Illusion quilt that's been pinned and waiting for several weeks now.

Poor little dude

Last night I tore off the final link in my countdown chain, but ec did not go to daycare today after all.   He has apparently caught the stomach bug his sister had last week.  Yesterday we walked down to the farmer's market where I bought a sticky bun, the first one since January, to share with E. ec slept about twenty-five minutes in the moving stroller, waking up as we stopped back at his house.  After a while I was sitting on the floor holding him on my lap as we read.  All at once he opened his mouth and vomited up his breakfast.  After a day or two of mild foods he had eaten a little orange and sausage, but I guess it was too soon.  Fortunately I keep a spare pair of pants at E's for just such an event.  So instead of meeting his new caregivers and playing with other little boys and girls he spent the day with his mom.  We hope he will be better by Friday and begin his daycare then.

Color theory

This quilt was on the wall at the Indiana University medical center where my dad had his treatment earlier this month.  The color scheme and pattern appeal to me.  It reminded me I was signed up for a color theory workshop through our local quilt guild held April 14.  While I learned a bit about color schemes, the best part was meeting some women from the guild and talking with them.  I was disappointed in the presentation; I'm not sure exactly what I thought the art teacher would teach us, but I don't think she presented anything new to me.  Her basic plan for the class may have been good, but her implementation seemed weak.

Homework

K's father, sister and nieces are here for a couple of days.  His dad hadn't yet met ec, so he flew out from Ohio, and Maegan and the girls drove up.  It is such fun to see the cousins together.  Sunday they all will drive to SoCal, and Richard will fly home from there.  Right now cousin v is sitting at the table with her mom's laptop, doing her kindergarten homework.  It involves reading comprehension and knowing how to use the computer.  es is watching carefully; she still has a couple of years before kindergarten.

Counting the days

On Tuesdays when I finish at E's I usually go to the church (which is just a couple of blocks away) to practice, which means I get home about 6.  On the third Tuesday of the month Randy leaves about 5:30 to go to Session meeting at church; supper is served to the elders before the meeting so they can come straight from work if need be, and it also provides an opportunity for them to talk and get to know each other better.  This week after I practiced I ate a chicken sandwich at Burger King then returned to E's.  She helped me begin a photo book of wedding pictures.  So it was after 8 when I arrived home.  I went into the living room and turned on NCIS.  After a bit I went to the kitchen for some water and realized I had walked right past this paper chain.  es and I have made several chains, to count the days till her birthday or till Christmas or whatever.  Now Randy had made one for me to count the days till ec begins day care, and I have two days off each week.  How sweet this is!  What a fun surprise!  I will have Wednesdays and Fridays off beginning next week.

Snow day?

Last night I read that Skyline High School delayed the start of classes for two hours Monday morning due to the hail-icy streets.  Parents had trouble, as did buses, making it up the slick hills to the school.  Some children got out sleds or even pieces of cardboard to slide down the streets.  I didn't take a picture of the streets covered in pellets of hail, but I did copy these from the newspaper.  It was simply amazing to see.  Snow on our hilltops is not that unusual, but this sure is.

Hail!

This morning's weather report indicated we would have unsettled weather today with sun, rain, possible thunderstorm and temps not above 60.  OK, I thought, and put on a fleece jacket before leaving the house.  As I headed north on Island I saw it was apparently raining in the hills, but not where I was.  In a few minutes I turned onto Grand, and suddenly the street seemed to be covered with snow.  What?  Maybe it was just blossoms from trees.  But there were clear tracks where cars had passed, and it really reminded me of slushy streets in the Midwest where I grew up.  So when I made a left turn and it was slippery, I pulled over to the curb and got out to see if I could determine what covered the streets and lawns.  Pea-sized (and bigger) pieces of hail!  Amazing! I don't think I've ever seen so much hail on the ground.  When I arrived at E's she confirmed it had just hailed for a few minutes.  The deck was covered with it, as were the sidewalk and lawn.  We took the children out to see and feel it since they had no experience with slick, icy surfaces.  The hail didn't melt for a couple of hours.  Randy said there was no hail at our house.

More unraveling

Another pair of socks is finished.  The yarn is Berroco Sox, and the color is Dunlewey (name of a small Irish village).  The light colors remind me of a beach.  Small blue stripes run through the green, brown and cream.  When I began this pair I used a new pattern called "Waterfall Rib," featuring lace-like holes.  I tried to follow the pattern, to count my stitches carefully, and I think I was accurate.  But my sock did not look like the picture.  So after maybe twenty-five or thirty rounds and I don't know how much time (60 minutes?  90?  More?) I pulled the trigger and unraveled my work. Perhaps I will try again but use a solid color yarn, or one a bit heavier.  I like this pattern, just thought it might be get be fun to try something different.

Egg hunts continue

We are still hiding Easter eggs, though we have cracked a few of the original twelve eggs, and I've had to discard them due to sharp edges.  I think I counted nine left yesterday, including one that is half blue and half purple.  ec is doing much better at finding eggs than when we first started, and es now is slower to say she can't find them.  She  occasionally opens an egg and looks inside for candy or a prize, but I remind her that this is just for fun and practice, not like at Vivian's other grandparents'.  Who would have imagined this activity would be so popular?  ec carries the little lavender basket with such a smile on his face.  On Monday I think we spent an hour altogether hiding and hunting for eggs.

Travel report, part 2

While I was in the Midwest, E was visiting her sister in North Carolina, a long-awaited trip planned for the days when ec began drinking whole milk from a cup.  While he still nurses at bedtime and in the morning, he does drink cow's milk during the day, so E felt fairly comfortable leaving him for a few days.  K ended up driving down to SoCal with the children, and the week's visit turned out much better than my pessimistic spirit envisioned.  They all enjoyed the time with K's mom and step-dad, his sister and her children.  On Easter Sunday they participated in a huge egg hunt at the home of Maegan's in-laws.  K sent pictures that showed the children having a lot of fun with their cousins and grandparents.  ec even slept through the night a couple of times, which is very unusual for him.  K had to work; I'm not sure where he set up his computer.

Speaking of pictures, after I returned home I realized I had neglected to take a picture of my dad and me, or Dad and Claudia, something I had intended to do.  He is not a fan of being photographed, but I think he would have done it for me.  I toured their guest house, a two-bedroom house across the alley that Claudia recently bought and furnished.  Her daughter and family have come down from Chicago a few times and stayed there.  It's much more convenient for everyone for them to have their own space.  This will not be a rental property but used only for family and friends who visit; since I came by myself I was able to stay at Dad's.

While in some ways spring break was a good week to travel, a lot of families apparently had the same idea.  Of the four Southwest planes I was on, three were completely full, and there was a lot of seat saving happening as families were in different boarding groups.  Airports and security lines were very busy.  And the TSA has some new rules.  Travelers now must remove any device larger than a cell phone and place it in a bin to go through the Xray machine.  Cynthia said when she returned from Louisiana a couple of weeks ago she even had to remove all food items from her bag and place them in a bin.

Travel report, part 1

You might think that a week's vacation would lead to daily blog posts, but you'd be wrong, as evidenced by this ten-day gap.  My first day off, April 2, I did laundry and packed for my trip.  Tuesday I flew to Indianapolis, where they had had 3.9 inches of rain that day.  Bob picked me up at the airport and took me to their home.  After Cynthia arrived home from work, she and I went to a neighborhood restaurant and I had my traditional pork tenderloin sandwich, which doesn't seem to be available where we live.  We watched a couple of episodes of " Chopped," but I was having trouble staying awake so I went to bed and slept well.  Wednesday I ate breakfast then loaded Cyn's car and left in snow flurries, which soon ended, to drive to my dad's.

I enjoyed my visit.  Dad seemed a bit weaker than when I visited last spring.  He uses a cane or walker much of the time, his voice was sometimes very soft, and he got cold even with the thermostat at 71.  He likes to watch CNN with the volume way up.  He seemed to eat well.  He occasionally forgot someone's name or couldn't think of the word he wanted, but who doesn't?  He expressed appreciation to Claudia for her help and her cooking, especially the carrot cake and cherry pie she made while I was there.  Pain pills helped relieve the level 5 or 6 pain.

Although I planned my trip because it was spring break week, it turned out I was able to go with Dad to his first immunotherapy treatment of this second round.  Everyone we dealt with at Indians University medical center greeted us with a smile and was helpful throughout the several hours we were there.  Because they've been there so often, Dad and Claudia knew several of the clerks and nurses, which made the experience a bit more comfortable.  His next treatment is scheduled for April 27.

Easter egg hunt

A couple of weeks ago I took two baskets from the Easter box in the garage, bought a dozen plastic eggs and took them over to E's so es could get some practice looking for hidden eggs prior to attending the Easter Fun Day at Trinity.  The den provides many good hiding places, though I keep the eggs mostly out in the open.  If ec is in bed, I can put eggs on the floor and other low surfaces, but if he's up the eggs must go out of his reach.  What fun we've had with this activity!  When es hides eggs for me to find, she often will place several together or put some in the same places I just did.  One of the best parts is ec walking around the den pointing out the eggs es hasn't yet found.  Boy, he's sharp!  He tends to put the eggs in his mouth, which is OK until he bites into one and the brittle plastic cracks, with sharp edges.  So I hide the hard plastic sorting shapes blocks for him to find.  He's good for two or three before getting distracted by something.

Both children enjoyed looking for eggs in the church yard on Saturday.  ec was content after he found two right off the bat; he had one for each hand!  His sister was much more competitive, moving into the bigger kids' turf after her section was depleted.  Each egg held a small piece of candy, and many had a slip of paper linking to a book or toy prize.