Quick Bits

Mali is starting to get hair. When people ask Seymour what she looks like, he still says "bald," but that dark little pelt is definitely starting to come through. Looks like she'll be a chestnut or brunette girl. Right now she looks more like my mom and her kin than anything else. Except those huge cheeks--not sure where those came from. She looks like she's hoarding hamster feed.

Starting to realize that she's not necessarily an easy baby, she just sleeps a lot. When she's awake she's fairly demanding. And awake is an increasingly more common state these days. Time to break out the sling, if I can figure out how to use it (tried once when Iz was a babe and gave up in disgust after an hour of fruitless reconfiguring).

She is on the tail end of being sick. The snot is almost completely gone. I will be grateful if she goes back to being a weekly pooper, instead of ejecting a mucus-lubricated bum-irritating streak after every meal.

Leelo was okay with being dropped off at school this morning. Whew. I only had to stay for 15 minutes. Eventually Therapist F was able to distract him, and I crept out.

We've had some success with him this past week in terms of keeping choking hazards out of his mouth. I bought him a ton of "chewies" (i.e., teething toys), and keep them in a special basket. Now, when he has something in his mouth, we ask him to go get a chewy. And he does, sometimes.

I finally posted an ad for someone to come engage Leelo in play for 10 more hours a week. So far I've receieved 15 replies. Damn. I forgot that merely posting an ad doesn't mean that the job is done--I have to manage the details of the interview and hiring process, too. Farts.

Seymour and I are trying to be more thoughtful in our daily dealings with Leelo. It is far too easy to drift into a reactive pattern, where, because of the busyness of the other two, we mostly engage him when he is doing something wrong. I have noticed an increase in his attention-seeking behavior, and so need to be very careful about not conditioning him to seek negative attention. Although it's difficult not to yell when he's finally succeeded in pulling out and ripping the car's windowshade, the one that probably costs $500 to replace. GAAAAAAH.

Iz has been making a real effort lately to be polite and helpful, especially with Leelo and Mali. Her ability to do this breaks down by day's end, but she is trying so hard and I really appreciate it (and tell her so). Although I really hope it's not a shiny happy cover. Much as I complain about her, she truly is a sensitive, loving, thoughtful girl. It's just hard to remember that she's emotionally a very little girl when she talks like a child who is so much older. Wanting to have critical discussions about the differences between the filmed and written versions of Seriously Unfortunate Events, etc.

I leave you with a picture of my office. I am trying to shame myself into cleaning it up, yet again.