A General Update

I guess I need to post an update for those couple of people that read this!

We're settling in well in our house, though there's still a lot to be unpacked. Weekend by weekend it's coming along...

The big news, of course, is that we adopted a dog! I'd post a picture, but my camera is...well, packed. Daisy's a spaniel/lab mix, white with a few big black areas and black spots on the rest of her. She's full of energy and not exactly what you'd call trained, but she's full of love. Kaia and I are going to take her to obedience classes starting on the 28th. Look for many pictures in the future!

I started classes again, so I'm pretty busy. We found a wonderful woman to watch Ben for 2 hours each day so I can take one class during the day and one at night. She brings her 19 month old son with her, and he and Ben get along marvelously. She and I have very similar philosophies on life, which help when sippy-cup sharing (no big deal) and illness (it happens. again, no big deal) come up. Ben adores her, and she bought a double stroller to take both boys on outings to the nearby park!

Kaia is back in school, and doing fabulously. We got her mid-year report, which is very different from a public school report card. It said many wonderful things, and very nicely wrote about her efforts to become less bossy (I'll believe that when I see it!) She has a real best friend (she used to call everyone she met her best friend) and still loves her teacher. Her room is a study in chaos since the move, and this Saturday my goal is to finally tame it (with fire, if need be!)

Ben isn't talking much, but getting into everything. He understands everything you say to him, and babbles happily back. He's getting over a stomach bug (we all had it, but he was the worst) and is happily devouring everything in sight again. Unlike Kaia, he is unsure about the dog, but getting used to her.

Ok, reading back over that, it sounds like a Christmas letter...so Merry Christmas! and I hope you all have a wonderful 2009! My posts will be sporadic, as I am limiting my futzing about on the computer time.

Hair-editary Trait

Both my husband and my daughter have a loose-hair phobia. Maybe not technically a phobia since they are not frightened of loose hair...they are disgusted by it.

I first noticed this in Mike when I had long hair. If I had a loose hair on my shirt, I would pick it off and drop it on the floor. Mike would freak out, get up, search until he found the hair, and throw it in the garbage. I thought it odd, but funny. (Is it just coincidence he finds short hair sexier than long hair?!)

Ever since Kaia was a toddler, and before she could even really talk, she would freak out if hair was in her food or on her person. She would hold out the piece of food, or her finger, and act as if there was a dead tarantula there that I must remove IMMEDIATELY or chaos would ensue. She could find the most tiny pieces of hair ever. If there was any sort of fuzz on her food or self, she'd find it. She is still that way. She hates to find loose hairs anywhere and will demand their instant removal, preferably to be burned or sent out to space, so she will never have to encounter them again.

I have seen both of them actually gag at the discovery of loose hairs in an unexpected place. They cringe when I drop it on the floor, where they could accidentally STEP on it, or worse, pick it up with their socks.

I am constantly surprised by what we pass on to our kids.