Of Mice and Weeds

Abi enjoys kicking soccer balls. She also enjoys pretending they are hats. Why? I don't know, but apparently it's hilarious to her.

It's been another busy week. If you're on FB, you may have noticed that we had some baby mice in the house. Yes, eww. Robin had spotted the mouse race under the basement futon one night - with George quickly following. We've not seen the mouse since. Nevertheless, Robin conducted a thorough cleaning of the rec room (WOOT!). In the process, he found these newborn mice.

He was too grossed out to move them, so I used some cardboard to scoop them into this box and delivered them outside under a bush (not in my yard). I'll be honest, I'm sure they didn't survive the cold night (despite it being summer) and if they did, I'm sure some local animal would have found them a tasty snack. But I wasn't about to kill them directly.

You may also have heard that I had a friendly visit from a municipal by-law enforcement officer informing me that my backyard is too weedy. Now it's not - and that was a major job! First step was to severely prune the rose bushes just so I could get to the backyard. Next, pruning shears still in hand, I began to tackle the prickly plants. Sorry, but I'm too embarrassed to have taken before and after pictures. It ain't pretty now since the stupid hill is being held together by the wild-plant (they're only weeds if you don't want them there!) roots - so I chopped down the plants by hand (for the Goldenrod and Thistles) and weed-wacker (for the Colt's Foot) but left the bases. Once again we will try to cover the hill with Creeping Thyme for next year. Last year's seeds seem to have taken well. I've also scattered Columbine all over the bottom of the hill and some Musk Mallow in one of my former gardens for next year.
For the sake of context, here is the known history of that backyard - a previous homeowner (about a year before we bought?) had used Roundup to clear the hill than covered it over with sod. Needless to say, the sod didn't take and the grass has been dying since. I tried to create some garden beds along the sides, but the only things that will take well are herbs - which I am now going to focus on. The whole time we've been fighting with Colt's Foot (an annoying rhizome) and Thistles. Last year, with Abi's birth, I didn't get out to tend the hill as I had in previous years. This year I had better intentions... but, well, didn't get around to it. Late summer with sudden rains and sun provided the perfect environment for the wild plants to grow quickly - so that by the time I had a child-free opportunity, the back hill was too frightening and some other chore quickly became more important...
Next year... next year I'll tame that hill with Abi's help.

Another Beautiful Summer Day

I realize some people are lamenting these cooler summer days, but I love them. I would rather throw on a cozy hoodie to block the cool breeze than sweat in a humid heat and hide in my house out of the sun. Abi also much prefers these cooler days when I feel comfortable letting her play outside. She's going to love Autumn!
This morning she took Darla for a walk. Yes, Abi walked Darla (with a little help from me). She insisted not only that we take Darla on a walk (with her usual method of finding the leash and trying to put the Halti on Darla), but that she hold the end of the leash (while I held it in the middle at our short-leash knot). It was adorable. As an added bonus, Abi wasn't wandering off on the walk.
After the walk and some lunch for Abi, we drove out to New Hamburg to meet Connie at Meme's Cafe. Delicious! Abi had a well-deserved nap, and I had a wonderful lunch. Next we popped into Shall We Knit, a LYS conveniently located in New Hamburg. I picked up some sock yarn as well as some "leftovers" ends of Koigu for Abi's Leftovers Blanket. You see, I had this idea a couple weeks ago to use up my fabulous sock yarn with a pinwheel-style blanket. I imagined it would grow over time. I quickly ran out of leftovers... Buying a full skein or ball of yarn just for the blanket would defeat the purpose of a leftover blanket, so I either need to churn out more socks and wait, wait, wait to work on the blanket, or... Needless to say, when I noticed the small "leftover" skeins I snapped up a few. They are leftovers of a form (from winding skeins) - just not from my socks. By the end of the blanket I'll certainly have to buy full skeins because as it grows the circumference will be very large and leftovers might not make more than one round, if that. So far it has a radius of 10". If I aim for a 30" radius, that means I'm 1/3 of the way finished, right? SHHHH. No math please. Leave me alone in my deliberate fantasy.

After New Hamburg and dinner at home, we headed to Waterloo Park to join fellow knitters. While Abi spent 3 hours (!!!!!) playing on the slides, I knit 7 rounds on the blanket and used up one whole "leftover" skein. Granted, my knitting was slowed by the fact that I was walking around a play structure for 3 hours, but 7 rounds and a leftover skein in 3 hours is not a lot. Abi had a blast. While other kids and their families came and went, Abi played on - always excited by new kids arriving.

While Abi and I played, Robin was out Geo-Caching with a buddy after work.

Tomorrow we're going to visit a friend's new home. If the rain holds off I imagine we'll walk the dog, maybe play a little ball in the yard, chase Abi around... same old, same old.

Not just words

To follow up from the last post, I thought I would make clear that while there are some words that Abi says, there are far more that she understands and others that she signs.
One of those is bath. She loves signing for a bath lately. In fact, she's having one right now after asking for it. She still signs for nursing (her first sign), although she's more inclined to use her word (na-na-na) for nursing.
She also has a thing for feet. She doesn't quite say "feet", but she tries to and she pays a lot of attention to them - feet and shoes.

I've already shared videos demonstrating how she will find a cup and her food when asked (as well as on her own if she wants it). This applies to most things in her life - toys, food, drink, shoes...

Already she has a new word to add to the list "wa" for water.
I edited the last post to add "bubbles". We really don't know where that one comes from since she doesn't have bubble baths and she's only seen bubbles a couple of times. I think she just likes to repeat the word.

And you should see her soccer skills with a ball! She has some fancy footwork.

Abi's First Haircut

At last it is done. Abi has received her first hair cut.


Here comes the first snip...


And it is done. No turning back now.


Not too shabby for my first haircut.


Almost done...


The end result is a cute bob and now most of her hair is the same length instead of two very distinct layers far apart.


I think she likes it... I do.


Yes, I saved it. There is already a lock in her baby book.

Words

I recently realized that I haven't updated you on Abi's vocabulary. She started with:
Mama and Dada
Darla
No
Those are old hat for her now. She has added the following to her repertoire:
Yes (though she far prefers "no")
Shoes
Hat (often accompanied by patting her head)
Hot (sounds similar to hat of course, but you know by context)
All Done
George (which is much easier to say than Fenwick)
This
What's that? (more like "dat", but you know what she means)
Ball
mum-mum (food)
more
na-na-na (nursing; accompanied by sign for milk)

AUGUST 19 edit: Must add bubbles to the list. We have no idea where she got this one.

Next post - I gave Abi a hair cut.

Proud about Pee

You may recall me writing about Elimination Communication some time ago. (I tried to find the old post, but can't locate it.) You may also remember the cute picture of Abi sitting on her potty, or maybe on Corey's toilet (did I post that one?). Incase you don't remember, Abi has been peeing and pooping in a potty (or bowl or toilet) for over a year now. I don't recall right now when we started and I can't be bothered to look it up. It's been a long time, enough said. We practice what is called Elimination Communication. This does not mean that Abi is being "potty trained". In fact, she won't need to be. Rather, it means that as parents we are aware of when Abi has to pee or poop and we provide an opportunity for her to do so in a container. (This is called "catching" in EC terms.) It is so much easier than changing a dirty diaper! Since we are out a lot, Abi was really only part-time ECing and otherwise wearing cloth diapers. However, as summer came along and Abi had more opportunities to run around diaper-free, she quickly took to using the potty all the time. At first we only had the small red potty and I was always bringing it up and downstairs with us. It is very portable and came camping with us. Abi did so well using the potty camping that I barely used any diapers and even when I did put on a diaper (for sleep, meals, rituals, etc), she often did not use them as she prefers to use the potty. This summer I bought her a classic wooden chair potty for the living room. Once that was set up, there was no diapers necessary at home most of the time. When she has to go, she walks herself over to the chair and does her business - even if I'm not nearby. If she does start to have an accident, she will stop herself and move to the potty. (Spills are easily cleaned on the laminate flooring.) This was all well and good, but the real indication that she is almost done with diapers was when she awoke from a nap while we were downstairs and went pee and poop in her potty all by herself. We did not even know she was awake until we heard her crying. (She was sleeping diaper-free on a very large change pad on our futon on the floor.)
Needless to say, I am very proud of her. And I am very pleased to think that she will soon be done with diapers!! No "potty training" for us.

In unrelated footage, here is a cute video of Abi exploring a slide. At first she was going down feet-first on her belly (just like she goes down the stairs), but she quickly shifted to sitting up. Unfortunately, now she also tries to go down stairs this way, and if you hold her hand on the stairs, she will try to slide down them on her bum.
Abi on the slide:

Busy Week

I thought family would be curious to hear about all the fun we've had with family and friends this week - even though we're still mid-week and there is more yet to come.
Abi's Aunty Corey arrived Friday evening for a long-weekend visit. Saturday we went to a local water park. [pictures coming from Corey; check Flickr later] Sunday we went for brunch at Boa Nova with Corey and some cousins as a belated birthday celebration (for Corey). Monday we drove out to Port Dalhousie where Abi had her first ride on the carousel.

We also met up with Abi's great-grandparents and great-aunt as well as some friends while we were there.
Later that day, Abi's uncle Ian arrived with aunty Melanie. We found a local geo-cache that evening and Tuesday we visited St. Jacob's for breakfast and a tour.

Ian and Melanie left Tuesday afternoon.
Wednesday we took Abi to the Toronto Zoo.

Tomorrow Abi and I are visiting my Aunt Rita and cousin Natassia. Friday we have a fire-pit party with friends... and Saturday I think we'll sleep. All day. Unless we have plans.

More updates to come - there have been many exciting developments for Abi.