May 10, 2013

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Published on: May 10, 2013

Big Milestone: Rebecca is now Three Feet Tall. Not quite tall enough for the WNBA, but on her way. She also crossed the 27-pound threshold for the first time (that we know of; we haven’t weighed her in a while). She’s 2.58 years (31 months) old.

Compared to me: My mother didn’t record my height at two-and-a-half, but I was more than three feet tall on my second birthday. My weight at two-and-a-half was 30 lbs., I was as heavy as Rebecca when I was 18 months old.

(4 images after the jump)

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May 9, 2013

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Published on: May 9, 2013

I woke up early today (because I went to bed on time last night?) and thought that would give me a little more time before RLF awoke. No — her new waking cycle is somehow tied to mine. Perhaps she hears the coffee-maker — I think I’m otherwise very quiet when I get up.

She came out of her room just after 6 a.m., but saw that it was dark and got back in bed — I seized the opportunity. I went in and asked her if she needed to go potty. She did, and did! She was very proud of herself and ran to tell Mommy.

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A Shelved House Is A Happy House

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Published on: May 9, 2013

Houses should come with more shelves, in my opinion. One can never have too many shelves, cupboards, cabinets, closets, and “storage solutions”.

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May 8, 2013

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This is our fourth May in Texas, and it’s been by far the coolest so far. The previous two years, we were regularly in the 90s by mid-April, which prompted the HOA to open the community pool earlier this year — it’s been open for three weeks now, with almost no takers. We haven’t hit 90 at all this year, which is quite odd by this late in the game.

I’m really enjoying it, but we keep getting caught with our coats put away and have to pull them back out again — we’ve done this three times since March, and winter blankets too.

I’m not complaining; it’s just confusing.

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May 7, 2013

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Rebecca was a little sniffly today, but in a very good mood most of the time. She played outside a bunch and watched two tow-trucks (one taking a car and one bringing a car)… And it was more difficult than I expected to type “two tow”.

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May 6, 2013

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Worked on potty training today; several successes, a few accidents. RLF only wore a diaper to the library, for a nap, and then to bed at night.

Because of a training this week, MF’s schedule is odd. Today was the first Monday she’s been home in months.

I saw Iron Man 3 in the afternoon. It was enjoyable, but not quite as spectacular as I’d expected after all the media hype.

Watching our fourth season of The Voice; really like the additions of Usher and Shakira as coaches, especially Usher. I’ve never been a fan of his until now.

WEATHER: 55-78°F here at the house; other local weather stations recorded temps in the 40s, which should be a record low, but it was never that cold here. Mostly cloudy. No wind, which is very unusual.

May 5, 2013

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Shelf I mentioned yesterday:

DIY: Bathroom Shelf
(Copyright © 2013 by Wil C. Fry. All rights reserved.)

It spans the east wall of bathroom #2, over the door. It’s 59 inches long and 7.5 inches deep, made from a 1″x8″ of “select pine” with 1″x2″ rails on each edge and a pipe supporting it in the middle.

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May 4, 2013

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RLF watched 12 straight episodes of Thomas the Tank Engine (“Thoma choo-choo chain”) this morning.

She was patient with me as I painted a couple of boards — one of them was the shelf in the hall closet that I built two years ago. The other was for a new shelf that isn’t quite finished yet — I installed the whole thing in record time, but it needs another coat or two of paint before I take any pictures of it.

In the evening, she clearly wasn’t sleepy. We did the bedtime routine as usual, but knew she wasn’t going to sleep. She talked to me on my bed while Mommy took a shower. She looked at her shadow on the wall, checked behind the bed, and told me repeatedly: “Mommy had go poopie. Mommy tay tower [take shower].”

Eventually, she believed that it was bedtime. I’m hoping it means a late morning tomorrow — recently, she’s been awake before me every morning, waiting to hear my coffee maker before coming out of her room.

WEATHER: 46-82°F, sunny

May 3, 2013: Cold Continues

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Published on: May 3, 2013

For the second day in a row we set a record low: 42°F today, before warming to our high of 69°F. Oddly enough, the record high for Killeen for May 3 was set last year, and the previous record low was set the previous year.

In the morning, RLF and I went to Lowes to get a little more sealant for the concrete expansion joint that I’d mentioned yesterday. I think I’m finished with it now. During that trip out, she was really good, but the rest of the day she pushed all my buttons.

Let me say this: I recognize myself in her behavior. I’ve been known to have the ability to be in a good mood and seemingly doing the right thing while angering someone else immensely — then it looks like it’s their fault. I’ve even caught myself doing it on purpose. I’m sure there’s a name for this kind of behavior. She does it to me. She’ll be in a good mood and even obedient (albeit slowly or incompletely sometimes), but somehow get me twisted up. (I’m not schooled in the terminology of social behavior, so forgive me if I’m not expressing this clearly.)

But it wasn’t really a bad day overall.

She did ask for “The B Book”, which is a Berenstain Bears book we got at the library some time ago, and checked in several weeks ago. Then she asked for a different book that we’d had at the same time. Her long term memory is getting better.

At supper, she asked for a cookie (“dootee”). We told her she could have one if she ate everything on her plate (it wasn’t a lot; just leftovers from the supper she didn’t eat yesterday). She got about halfway through and then began dawdling, as usual. Had to be reminded to eat another bite, to chew, to swallow, to not stuff in more food until she swallows. Basic eating type stuff. The last three bites took 15 minutes and involved pleas and tears, and fake requests to go to the bathroom and fake “I’m sleepy”. It reminded me of six months ago, when getting her to eat was our hugest trial every day. Then she brightened up and asked for a “dootee”. No.

One marked improvement recently is sentence length. I think she set a new record today. It was cool and I told her she needed to wear her hat if she rode her bumper car out of the garage into the wind (30mph). “Daddy, I don’ wun to wear my hat; my teet’s [feet are] hot and I nigh [like] winny [windy].” That’s 15 words, more or less. I’m not sure what her feet had to do with it, but they were indeed sweaty, so I accepted her argument and let her go without a hat.

Lesson: Just because Daddy’s cold and wearing a coat doesn’t mean Rebecca’s cold. Rebecca is rarely cold.

May 2, 2013

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Published on: May 2, 2013

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen 44°F in May, in my entire life, though I don’t remember the weather from Japan when I was a kid. And I’ve certainly never seen it in Central or South Texas in my combined 10 years of living in this region. Yesterday we were at a humid 87°F. By midnight it had dropped to 75°F, and it just kept going down. It was 54 when we woke up and 44 by evening, which is a record low for this date in Killeen. (No rain though.)

In the morning, MF switched out RLF’s toys for a bath that hasn’t been used in a while. Rebecca seemed to like the change.

In the afternoon, I saw a movie (“Pain and Gain”, based on a true story) and then went to Home Depot.

A couple of days ago, I’d noticed that the expansion joint in our concrete walkway was loose. For some reason, the builders of this neighborhood used regular old wood for the expansion joints, even though every site I could find says that’s an outmoded way of doing it. Anyway, the board was rotted completely through and came out easily when I tugged on it. It might have been a 1×4 or 1×6 at some point; it was difficult to tell. So at Home Depot I bought some foam backing rod and concrete sealant. In the evening, I put the backing rods in and added the self-leveling sealant. The joint was a little larger than I’d remembered, perhaps because of the cold, so I didn’t have quite enough sealant to finish the job. I’ll get some more tomorrow.

(This is right where the walkway joins our front porch. All the other wood expansion joints seemed solid enough when I checked.)

Rebecca used extra lengths of the foam backing rod to sword-fight with MF and I. I defended myself with a cardboard tube.

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