sitting around the house uploading pictures. I like this one because she looks sort of astonished and concerned. Lazlo is washing dishes and Wren is (contain your shock) pretending to be a puppy dog for about the 56th consecutive hour. There was a little break there when she was actually IN the kangaroo costume and pretending to be a kangaroo, but now we're back to puppy dog.
It's hard to say which of our dogs is actually more whiny. Ramona is giving a strong performance at the moment, after a long night of NOT barking at the group of loud-music-playing loiterers around our front gate. (Lazlo actually went outside, dragged her out of her doghouse and pointed her at them with a whispered "Get 'em girl!" only to watch her do a dog's version of grumbly old curmudgeon going back to sleep...)
Even with Ramona's showing this morning though, I have to give the whine award to Wren- the still reigning champ, just based on perseverance alone.
Last night we went to the annual Fuller Fall Festival. It was fun, although the California Skewers signature dish was pretty disappointing and the miserly portion did not stand up to my mighty nursing calorie need. Worth it for Wren if only for the 30 minutes of Bounce House. I was the only parent who had to go INTO the bounce house and pull a screaming kid out when the time was up. What can I say? She loves to bounce.
Churd is back in town, and occupying his old room. He and Wrennel have had some nice bonding time and it's sad to see him leave again so soon.
We're in the process of trying to get out of the house at some point this morning. The fact the the sky is a weird gray color and our car is covered in ash is kind of dampening. Also the fact that I'm sitting in front of the computer, instead of performing one of the gazillion diaper changes that will have to happen before we get out the door. So I'll stop here.
Okay so mostly they're still sort of pirate-ish grimaces, but ridiculously cute nonetheless.
We're doing great here- just watching Jane grow and trying to keep Wren from peeing on anything irreplaceable. How's the potty training going? Not too well... but we persevere.
Today, in the process of attempting to cull more of our belongings before our move, we were messing around in the storage shed. We emptied a few boxes, but not in time to save our poor housemate Dave L, who was struck in the head by a falling giant barbed-wire Texas. It's really Dave's story to tell, just as it will be Dave's tetanus-racked, lock-jawed body that we will be forced to hide in the shed later tonight. I just want to be clear that it was Lazlo's rusted barbed-wire Texas, and I have no idea who precariously balanced it on that ledge.
Moving on. Jane is progressing adorably, as you will see if you click on this picture and check out our flickr page. And Wren is slowly but surely reemerging. We've had some setbacks: ask poor Rupato about how much fun it is to work from home with a constant whining soundtrack. But in general we're seeing more of fun Wren and less of brittle, depressed and super moody new-big-sister Wren. So let's hope it's a trend.
It's as Fall-ish as it gets in LA right now, and we're taking advantage of it with open windows and lots of hoodies.
What we've been up to:
Yesterday we went to Ventura to pick a pumpkin or two at this cool farm
and had a pretty great time. I had my first wanting-to-beat-up-another-little-kid-for-being-mean-to-Wren moment, and I feel like a joined a big parenting club. The club that's mad at other parents for having mean kids. Lazlo's response was much more, "She's fine. Look! He's not even pushing her that hard!" Whereas I was ready to crawl into the damn hay tunnel and teach that kid to pick on someone approximately 10x his size.
Last weekend we went to the Eagle Rock Music Festival and saw BOW. The show was great and I wish we could have stuck around a little longer, but bedtime was looming. Wren had a fantastic time dancing with all her friends. David dubbed Eisley, Wren, Finn, and Atticus (formerly known as Jackson) the 25 lbs and under mosh-pit and they were really raging. It was a great evening full of friends that made us basically cry all the way home (about 5 blocks) that we have to leave this place.
Lazlo's Psalms class is going really well. In the past he's used boring class times to do our bills and banking and what not, and this quarter he's complained that class is too interesting for him to get anything done. I guess we're getting our money's worth.
It's hard having him back in class again, after enjoying the summer off, but this is the last class, and it's only one day a week, so compared to when Wren was a baby- this is awesome.
I'm registering for my classes soon. They start in January, and I'm looking forward to getting back into the crazy world of librarianship. I'll be taking Collection Development (with a concentration on keeping crazy people from trying to ban your books) and Technical Services. I have no idea what Technical Services will entail, but it sure sounds like a top secret black-ops section of the military. "Next semester- TECHNICAL SERVICES, with Blackwater founder Erik Prince..."
Ha- I bet this blog will be a very unexpected result for people searching that sentence.
Moving on- what's Wren up to? Well I'm glad you asked. Right now she's at the hardware store with Rupato and Lazlo, looking for a humane mouse trap. One cute little mouse has so far made every so-called man in this house scream like the little girls they apparently are. Lazlo actually did a pirouette this morning when little Hunca Munca sprang at him from behind a box of DVDs. Mr. Rupato really really wants to get a cat, but Lazlo has pretty much said that he would use said cat to beat in the giant TV screen in our living room, so great is his hatred for both cats and cable TV. So a humane trap it is, and also hopefully some Diet Coke, because we're out.
The mouse invasion has coincided with a jump in the use of expletives at our house, and Wren has not been left behind. I'd be surprised if Pasadena Day Nursery doesn't say something at our upcoming parent conference. "Um....so your two year old sure says 'shit' a lot... Please drop your check in the tuition box on your way out." Don't worry, grandparents. Her non-R rated vocabulary is also expanding by leaps and bounds. Don't kids say the darndest thing?
In the past few weeks, Wren has asked if we like her new dance "moobs," (moves) has named her Pooh bear "gentle bear," and has begun to "kwa-pa-kwape" (cooperate) when we ask for her help. Continuing cute mispronunciations are : hewicopper-copper, scoop-driber, and of course, strange cheese (string cheese).
Jane has made her first non-cry, non-snort noises, and they are about as cute as you'd imagine. She's a bit of a piglet, and has outgrown all of her 0-3 month clothes, and is working on outgrowing her 3-6 month stuff now. It's that loooooong torso that does it. The last 3 nights she's slept from about 10:30 to 5:30 or 6. Praise God. The overall volume of snorting has diminished, and I no longer feel the desire to put her in the doghouse with Ramona overnight. I'm keeping it in mind though, as a backup. Maybe the fleas would teach her not to snort so loud.
Poor little lady. She's never not had a cold. It's going to be a glorious day for our family when Jane can breathe through her nose.
Lazlo is applying for jobs in Austin, and he's eminently qualified for them so he'll probably be getting some interviews in the next few months. We probably spend a combined total of several hours every day on the Austin MLS, looking for a place to rent when we get to town. I know if we hadn't left Austin we'd think house prices were ridiculous, but after LA (our current mouse infested bungalow was on the market last year for 500k (and Dave swears he sees drug deals outside "like, every other day, for real")) pretty much everything else looks totally reasonable. If anybody has any leads, let us know.
