Lately

(I actually wrote this yesterday, but due to internet problems, was not able to post it until today.)

Things I’ve learned lately: (prepare for the bulleted list, a la JC)

• It hurts when you snap an exercise band in the middle of a set.
• Dirt looks the same when it comes out of baby as when it goes in.
• I’m convinced we’ve got one of the best views in the county for sunsets. Then again, maybe I just love our home.
• I love tomatoes. I’ve been eating a whole tomato every meal, either on Mexican, on pasta, with cottage cheese….. Oh my gosh. So good.

In other news…..
We had a little scare last night. I was fixing supper, and keeping an eye on Nathan while he took a bath. Jacob heard the splashing and went to investigate. I saw him standing in there, holding on to the edge of the tub, laughing at Nathan, but I didn’t think it was a big deal. He was happy. Then I heard Nathan yell, “No, Jacob! No, no!” I rushed in to find Jacob’s feet hanging over the edge of the tub, and him face down in the water, his head lodged into the corner so he couldn’t flip over or slide all the way in. I yanked him out and comforted him - although I think he was madder than he was scared. I know they always say to never leave a baby unattended in the bath, but hadn’t really thought that him watching over the edge was a big deal. I know Jacob hadn’t been there but a second even, because I’d just stuck my head around the corner and looked in on them. But it still gave us a fright. Thank goodness Nathan is a tattle-tale. :)

Jabbering about Jacob: He’s climbing, climbing! He can crawl up into the recliner (much to Nathan’s dismay, as that is “his chair!”), and on to the coffee table. Any time he sees the gate to the stairs is down, he makes a break for it, and will be halfway up them before you can even make it over there. And obviously he can crawl into the bathtub, too. He can stand unsupported, but doesn’t think he can. If he realizes you aren’t holding on to him, he’ll promptly sit down. He still has an unnatural penchant for dirt. We were out in the garden, and I sat him at the edge while I went and messed with the hoses. When I came back, he had a huge clod in his hand and was sucking on it. When the dog trotted by, he held out the clod to him like, “Hey, man, want some?” So disgusting. He’s got 7 teeth now - the 7th came in a month ago, and we’re still waiting on that 8th. He’s got the best smile ever. He's not too fond of the pool - he's got my opinion of water. I love water, and I will get wet...on my terms. DO NOT SPLASH ME.
News of Nathan: I can’t believe he’s almost 3! It seems like only a few months ago, he was the one just learning to stand and climb. He’s got such a vocabulary, and a way of saying things that just cracks me up. One phrase he’s using a lot is, “Pretty good!” - like in response to “How are those pancakes?” One phrase he can get rid of is “Right now!” - as in, “Mommy, I want milk. Right now!” I’ll say, “Excuse me?” And he corrects (sometimes), “I want milk, please, right now.” Okay, slight improvement. He can string sentences together very well, I think, for his age. Paul and I can understand him almost always, but I’m not sure how many other people can. He’s getting very close to being fully potty trained! All the sudden, the last week of July, he was dry 6 out of 8 nights. (He’d only ever been dry one night before.) He goes several nights waking up dry before he'd be wet. He's been dry at naptime for about a month now. We were getting to the point that we’re wearing the Velcro tabs on his diapers out before he’d wet in them, so we graduated to pull-ups last night. He loves them because they've got a big truck on them. Nathan loves water. Since it’s been so hot, we’ve had the little pool set up in the yard almost constantly. If we’re outside and he suddenly feels like taking a dip, he’ll just strip down and hop in. I don’t really care, because the pool is out of the view of the road, but I’m pretty sure one of the neighbors got a full-frontal last night while Nathan was running around post-pool and I was raking the yard.
The yard. (sigh) I don’t get how it can be so hot and dry that the yard is brown and dead in huge patches, yet there’s other patches that the grass is so thick that the clippings kill it out if you don’t rake. I raked just the side yard over the last two days, and the clippings nearly filled the bed of Paul’s pickup. We’re supposed to have a cool front move down tomorrow or the next day, and the high is only going to be in the 80s. Although this has been the hottest summer for quite a while, only this week did the temperature get above 100 for the first time. Been darn close for two months straight, but hadn’t actually broke over.
Paul’s grandpa (his mom’s dad) passed away at the end of July. He went in to have his pacemaker replaced, and passed away during surgery. He was 88 and frail (but resilient), so we knew it could be any time, but still kind of unexpected. We spent a few days in Medicine Lodge for the funeral. It was a touching ceremony. They played “Taps” and folded and presented a flag to his son at the cemetery, which was probably the most emotional part of the day. It was well over 100 degrees there, so I had to spend a good part of the time at the graveside service under the trees in the shade with Jacob. Grandpa Chuck was a great man and he will be missed.
My garden is a complete failure. What didn’t drown this spring fried this summer. I didn’t get enough of anything to make more than one or two meals. Some even less (peas, beans). I had a decent lettuce crop until it seeded out, and my tomatoes look great, even in this heat, but they have yet to turn red, even though there‘s been tomatoes on them for going on two weeks now. My stupid volunteer cherry tomatoes have put on some fruit. I don’t say “stupid” because I don’t enjoy eating them…. I just hate that you let one plant grow one summer, and the next summer you have ten million volunteer plants coming up that you have to pull like weeds.
I recently discovered coconut oil, and I am in love. I originally bought it when Jacob had thrush, because it is a natural anti-fungal that is safe for babies. I made a paste of coconut oil and baby probiotics (good for fighting yeast) and rubbed it on the inside of his cheeks. His thrush is gone (for good, I hope), but I still have a bunch of the coconut oil left, so I’ve been experimenting with it in cooking. It is a good-for-you oil, like olive oil - but a whole lot tastier. Sometimes I take the lid off and just take a deep whiff… It smells so good! I’ve used it for cooking eggs, which adds a nutty flavor, and for cooking French toast, which I can’t tell any difference (so I’m not going to try again, because it’s too expensive to use if you can’t enjoy it). Nathan loves it on toast, and it is to die for on pancakes (oil alone, no syrup). The packaging suggests trying it on popcorn, so I’m going to try that soon. I even put some in my coffee - it was great, but would have been even better with some cream and sugar. I bought this brand at The Merc in Lawrence, but I’m hoping I can find a good brand at our local grocery store.
My little sister is moving back to the little town in western Kansas where she teaches, after being home all summer working on my parents‘ farm. I take it for granted when she’s home, being able to see her every week. It will be a month before I see her again, and who knows how long after that. She’s applied for the Peace Corps, so there is a possibility that in the near-ish future, it’s going to be a year or longer between her visits home.
Well, I’m happy to announce the workout is going well. I’ve been doing the P90X videos for a week now. I am usually sore on some part of my body, but most of the exercises are ones that I can do - maybe not as many reps as the instructor likes, or with perfect form, but enough that I work up a sweat (my shirt is usually soaked by the time I get done). The workout is designed to get you really toned and buff, which isn’t really the results I want. I want to be toned, but not have bulky muscles. There are some girls on the video that are very fit and can do 20 chin ups (I can do um....zero), but I don’t want to have rippling back muscles. I just want to get rid of my rippling back fat. I think there’s a diet that you’re supposed to do with it, but I’m not following any diet, other than cutting out sugar (confectionary sugars, like ice cream and cookies, not all sugars like bread and fruit)(and I make exceptions for special occasions like birthdays and church ice cream socials) and snacking. Trying to, anyways - the sugar is pretty easy (not that I don‘t crave it - I definitely do!), but the snacking, not so much. Nathan is always snacking, and I get hungry/thirsty/bored, so that is hard to say no to.
Paul is working hard. Imagine this heat, in a factory with little to no air conditioning, handling a product coming off the line that is too hot to touch with bare hands. For 12 hours. That’s his day. The air conditioning is good in his office and the break room, but that’s not where he spends the majority of his day. This is part of the reason I have a hard time sympathizing with some people when they talk about how hard their job is… It’s nothing compared to what Paul and his dad deal with (not to mention my own dad’s 20-hour days sometimes). (Unless you work with children. Then you have all my sympathies.) Paul is taking a few days off for Nathan’s birthday, so in a month, he’ll have a whole week off (one thing I love about his swing shift - two days vacation=one week off). I know he’s looking forward to that.
Well, I’ve procrastinated long enough. The house hasn’t been truly clean for two weeks, and I promised Paul it would look better when he got home tonight. I’ve loaded the dishwasher halfway, and hung a load of clothes on the line, but I’d better get going on the rest of it.