Winter Blues

Just as Spring was starting to share its warmth and greenery with us, Winter has returned with more snow, ice, cold winds, and dreary skies. Robin is sick with a cold, Abigail is teething (number 7 soon) and I'm sick with my usual mystery illness of swollen lymph nodes, sore throat, pounding in my ears and head. It's what used to always turn into 2 weeks in bed before I had my tonsils removed. It makes for a cranky household. At least it is reading week and I don't have to teach.

But enough griping! There are many good things going on around here. Take the beautiful (if I may say so) baby blanket blocking (drying pinned out to take its shape) on Abigail's bed, for example. Sorry, you'll have to wait to see it. There are also Abi's fabulous teeth to admire, not to mention hugs. Okay, so hugs still tend to take the form of gripping mommy's hair and holding tight - but I'll take what I can get. She also successfully stacked a disc on her train this week, so we are working on refining those fine motorskills and encouraging putting pieces on her train instead of just pulling them off. (Ha, and they say this is a 2 year old's toy!) I think she would really like a stacking/nesting toy of cubes or cylinders. I know Plan Toys makes some wooden ones. I'll wait until after her birthday. I've also gathered a wonderful assortment of patterns to knit and crochet toys. But these too I must wait on... If I give her everything now I'll have nothing left to make/give in the years ahead, but it's hard not to. Baby stuff is just so cute.


I am also enjoying working on my dissertation. I've taken myself out of the field (although I am still hoping to find and interview more participants if I can) to start analyzing and writing. I have started drafting a blog post (long ago now) about my research, which I will eventually share.