Conundrums...

Have you ever just wanted to say: "Has this ever worked? Has flailing yourself about, screaming, and crying EVER gotten you out of wearing clothes, having your diaper changed, or getting in your car seat? In fact, this just makes it take longer!" Why couldn't I have had a Vulcan?

Also, if you have bought the 4 pack of TODDLER wheeled items, do they really think you have the time to free each of the 16 wheels from plastic doodad, twist tie, and individual impenetrable fortress? If they can't withstand shipping without all this, I am beginning to doubt if they can withstand the attentions of Charlie.

Zounds! A non-baby post!

So, Charlie and I listen to Morning Edition during our start of the day activities. My husband came back in for something he had forgotten the other day and was startled to be greeted by a loud "bull shit" from me. He astutely figure out that I was actually conversing with the radio. I have yet to figure out if this ranks above or below conversations with the dogs. I miss the days when I could converse with my belly... Anyway, US automakers are claiming that they can't possibly make cars all that much more efficient because US consumers don't really want efficient cars. There is more to it but, might I say, that I totally would have bought a Yugo minivan if it had gotten 40 MPG. As it is, we went with the Odyssey, in large part, because half the pistons shut down when you hit a cruising speed and fuel economy goes up. The story is here. These are the times that I begin to really see why protectionism really wasn't the way to go.

Useful links...

Baby Cheap Skate looks out for good bargains on baby stuff- particularly diapers. She focuses on Atlanta but has some good tips in general.

Pandora Radio will generate playlists and stream your own radio station for free based on a song or artist preference that you tell it. It's made putting away the laundry rather pleasant.

On the move...

Charlie has reached the point where he is constantly frustrated. He desperately wants to walk but can't quite pull it off. So, he cruises about until he gets "stuck." He reaches the end of one cruising item but can't reach his next destination and cries because he is now much too good for crawling. I have spent the last few days feeling little hands wrap themselves around my calves, loaning my hands and arms as suitable walking aids, and administering hugs and cuddles liberally as it all gets to be too much. I am waiting for walking with mixed feelings. I am hoping that it will offer a bit of reprieve of sorts, like when he started crawling. We had several weeks where I could use my computer, do dishes, etc, as he poked around. It will be nice to have a constantly frustrated, regularly wailing child but it is sure to be a challenge to have him even more mobile than before. His father and I are frantically babyproofing. Cabinets are getting anchored, clutter is getting cleared, china is being put up. We also bought a wire crate for Shirley to use in the family room. She was having a great deal of trouble with evading Charlie while also napping so, we're in the process of teaching her that her crate is a refuge. She's starting to get the idea but it can't happen soon enough for me.

Charlie is also developing quite the will. Never a child to go quietly into the night, he has taken it to new levels in the last week which don't bode well. Today there was a 5 minute screaming fit involving a red face and crocodile tears after he was cruelly interrupted in his pursuit of removing an outlet cover.

In cute news, Charlie has also started really making a go at consonants. In the last week my ears have been showered with "ma" and "ba" (although no da, which is supposed to come first- our little non-conformist- I'm so proud!). While "mama" has absolutely no meaning yet, it warms my heart every time I hear it and Charlie delights in hearing me echo "mama, that's me!" in a delighted tone.

Nesting Part 2...

So, I seem to be going through some sort of second round of nesting. I have an insane desire to see all our windows sparkle and all the projects that I started pre-unexpectedly early baby to be completed. I think it's because Charlie is totally on the move at this point. He's got a solid crawl and is worryingly close to walking. I have taken to examining our floors from a "gee, what could I put in my mouth" perspective and it is alarming. However, I figure that you really only have to do a whole house re-organization and baby proofing once and then it's mostly maintenance. Also, I have taken to watching How Clean is Your House and the show that used to be Flip That House (the one on TLC instead of A+E). While the cleaning show makes me feel much better about the state of my house in some regards, seeing women so completely fired up about cleaning and then seeing the fabulousness that follows is quite motivating to the reluctant duster. Watching Flip That House has brought home to me just how much we'll probably need to do when we want to sell the house. They're all things that we've been wanting to do but haven't been able to because we had to replace (I kid you not) the washer, dryer, heat pump, dishwasher, and water heater and install new duct work (the previous system had the cold air return at the highest point in house- do you need to know anything else?), hook into the water main, do a very necessary bathroom remodel to turn the 1 completely dysfunctional bath into 2 bathrooms, and add a closet to the master bed room, which was inexplicably lacking one. All of this has taken oodles of time and scads of money. While the house was a very good buy and we still stand to make at least some profit on it, I'm not sure we would buy it again. So, I have suddenly gotten completely sick of feeling like we were still moving in. I want to sort things out and I want to do it right now.