The Day of Presidents

To celebrate today I spent the day at home with a Bud-let who was not feeling so well. Yesterday started with the big D and moved on to the big V. Our den still smells a bit like sour milk from the evening's big V episode. Today everything stayed down and was coming out in a less explosive manner, but he was a big snugly bunny much of the day, so I know he still was not feeling well.
For fun, we snacked at the table in the den on water and some crackers - he thought it was pretty cool to eat at his table. We watched a little Curious George (George broke is leg and Hunley was a monkey-sitter) and read a bunch of books.
Tonight Davin and I were discussing whether or not to give him a bath. He made the sign for bath, and tried to head upstairs. When we asked him if he wanted a bath - he nodded! That's a new thing.
I love that he can communicate with signs. I know that without them we would have come up with other ways to communicate before speech, but it really has given me an such insight into what he notices and understands as well as giving him a way to communicate what he wants without frustration. He can hear an airplane while we are inside the house, and he makes the sign for airplane. It never would have crossed my mind that he would connect that sound with an airplane without seeing it. Kids are smart.
After the bath that he asked for tonight, we put him in some "too tall" jim jam pants. We couldn't decide if he was Cary Grant or Jules Leotard.


In other news... I am knitting my first pair of adult sized socks - size 13 men's! As my dad would say Davin has "a very large understanding". And you know what they say about men with big feet.... they need big socks.

I've jumped on the sock-wagon

I've seen so many people (online and in person) hooked on sock knitting lately. I have now jumped on the sock-wagon and last week decided to learn to knit socks. I know - it's so trendy - but it looked so fun. First I needed to remember how to knit - I did make a scarf in college, and when Davin decided he wanted to learn to knit last Thanksgiving, I knew enough to teach him what it would take to make a scarf (he recently said that I can now appropriate the yarn he bought to make the scarf).
With the help of www.knittinghelp.com to see double pointed needles in action, I was on my way.
First I made an "ankle" sock (which I didn't actually finish) so that I could figure out the whole heel turning thing - which didn't not end up being as hard as I thought.

For my first real pair, I went for baby sized socks with some leftover yarn I had on hand. They are inspired by Little MissMatched - a company that makes socks that are coordinated, but not matching.
There may be other socks in my future.

In other news... our frozen pipes are working again. For a week we were without the sink in our main floor bath and a working washing machine. Saturday we spent the day at "Grandma and Grandpa's" hanging out and doing laundry (Thank you!!!). Wouldn't you know it, the very next day it thaws enough to start flowing again. Oh well.
It's crazy how suddenly 16 degrees seems warm.

In Radley news... Cat is a popular sign lately. Every time Matty walks by Radley lets us know he saw her. Last night for bath time I happened to put on an "old favorite" shirt. It's a T-shirt I got from the Neilsen's for house-sitting when I was about 12. It has a big Maine Coon Cat on the front (you don't need to tell me, I know it's cool). Radley thought that shirt was awesome and kept letting me know there was a cat on it.

The Story of Orinda

I have not told many people of how Orinda became my online moniker. When I Davin and I first met in college, we would send each other notes in the campus mail system. Once he sent me a note in code. To figure out the code you had to take the first letter of each word in the note. The coded message was a question "Do you..." and the first words of the note were "Dear Orinda". Davin says he has no idea how he came up with Orinda, but since the days of Telnet and ISCA BBS, I have used Orinda as my online name.
It has nothing to do with Orinda, Ca, but when Davin's family took a trip to Ca (shortly after the "Orinda Note" incident) he came back with an Orinda shirt.
John and Sharlene recently returned from a vacation near Orinda. Last weekend they stopped by for dinner, a game of Sleuth and to hand out some awesome souvenirs. I was the lucky recipient of many things Orinda: a "Friends of the Orinda Library" tote bag, photos from around town, an Orinda Books bookmark, and an Orinda license plate holder - so awesome.


In other news:
The first word is officially "Dada". Radley will respond with it when Davin asks "Who am I?" But he is also calling other things "dada" too at this point - like me. Hmmm.

The first haircut happened this morning - just a little trim around the face to get the hair out of the eyes. I don't think it's too noticeable as a "haircut".

I am continuing to work on the Frou-Frou sweater, but I took a break again last night to make a Davin scarf - it's orange and not symmetrical, two very Davin characteristics.


I gave away the secret sewing project last weekend - it was a crochet hook case housing hooks I borrowed a few years ago from Mom. I like the fold-over design better than the one I made for myself. I'm sure the idea came from another blog out there somewhere, but I can't remember where.




Lastly:
Radley as "static man", after back and forth under a "curtain" of a fleece blanket.