Updates

We've been so busy lately that I haven't had time to write in the blog! So here is a big dump of things...

Firstly, let's go back a few months to my pottery class. I finished a whole bunch of bowls just as the class ended. I'm happy to say we use them everyday! Two of them were an experiment...I borrowed some porcelain clay from a classmate (I had been using Black Mountain which is sandy and rough as you can see in the 4 brown bowls) and used a clear under glaze. Over top, I painted (with pigment, not glaze) floral designs. Once fired, they settled into the clear glaze and blossomed into subtle subdued hues. I'm going to do more experimenting this fall...!

Next, a long overdue Elliot update.

He officially started walking about a month ago as was chronicled in the previous video. Now that he is more sure on his feet, he has started to run. He runs after Sadie (dog), he runs after Nino (cat), he runs up the sidewalk, he runs to the playground. He also falls a lot.

Two of his molars have been coming in for the last few weeks or so. They are still coming in... and coming and coming. Those molars never quit! Poor feller.

We've been doing baby signing with Elliot since he was about 6 months. It didn't pay off until he was about 12 months. Then, it was a flood gate of understanding. He has 7 signs: more, finished, hungry, diaper change, story time, bath, sleepy/nap/nurse. The more obvious ones he learns quickly, but with the more abstract ones ("am I hungry? I'm not sure") it takes a few days. Along with this, he has learned the words for his favorite foods, names of our animals among other things. He also answers questions. His answers aren't always reliable, though, I've discovered. Sometimes it goes like this:

Me: "Do you want some toast?"

Elliot: Shakes head no.

Me: "Do you want some banana?"

Elliot: Shakes head no and points enthusiastically at toast.

Me: "Do you want some toast?"

Elliot: Nods head vigorously yes.

Last week, we took our first family camping trip. We went to a beautiful car-campsite as a trial run to see how it would go. Elliot had a blast playing in the fire pit (no, there wasn't a fire in it at the time!!) and mucking around in the dirt. Sadie guarded the campsite all day and night and only had one mishap with another dog. (The other dog started it by walking by.) We all feel confident that we could go out on a backpacking trip now and maybe stay more than one night?

Then, there's my garden. The zucchini had a rough start, but finally some male flowers have bloomed therefore allowing the fruit to grow, and not get blossom rot like what happened at first.

The beans also had a hard time growing, but seem to be off and running. I also planted another row of beans which is growing rapidly. I have high hopes that this batch will grow better. Also, I think I'm keeping the caterpillars at bay on the broccoli. A robin comes by every night and picks around in there, too, so between the two of us, I hope to get some good broc.

Lastly, if you are still reading this, Jeremy and I did our first 10K race last weekend. We trained for 2 whole weeks for it (!) and did pretty darned well. In fact, I got a silver metal for my efforts. Never mind that there were only 3 people in my age group. I still beat one of them!

THE END