Wednesday: Aldi's

I recently choose not to renew my Sam's club membership.  I'm not sure that I was saving a ton of money, especially by the time you add in the membership fee.  I didn't do a spreadsheet or anything so I'm not completely sure that this is true, but it was my gut feeling.

So I went to Aldi's today for the first time.  I was medium impressed.  They had a lot of the staples that I buy, but were missing several things too...and I'm not really sure that I want to go to two grocery stores to get all of my groceries every week.  I was really impressed with the speed at the checkout lane.  The prices also seemed good.

So my plan might be to go there when I just need a few things that are common food items and I'll get more used to it.  Then maybe I'll go more often, maybe I won't.

Oh, I also have this cute video of Isaac talking from two days ago.  I think he's been talking more, but it is hard to get it on video.

Tuesday: grading

Tonight was a marathon grading session.  The class I'm teaching is a half semester class, and the registrar's office doesn't give any extra time between the class ending and having grades due.  (One of the classes was actually scheduled to meet after grades were due...we got around it.)

Anyway,  the final project was a toy car.  Most of them were really cool.  Some of them were amazing.  I wish I could show you some pictures, but I don't have permission.  But there were DeLoreans, gliding cars, dump trucks, hardware-mobiles, Hope cars, banana cars, drag cars, and your "normal" cars.  I had the students include a short paragraph with their car, mainly so that I'd know what part they imported, but that part turned out to be really interesting.  It was cool to see what they were thinking and really helped me grade better.  (For example, in one of them it wasn't that the person in the car was too small but that it was a monster truck.)

There are a few things that I'll change for the class again during the second half of the semester, but overall I thought it went really well.

Monday: a problem

Isaac had a problem today.

Two hands, two spoons, two bowls, but only one mouth.

Sunday: toys

Today I moved Isaac's toys from the main room upstairs into his bedroom.  I had them out before so that I could watch him, but now he is allowed to be without visual supervision a little more and I'm hoping it will be a little easier to keep everything clean.  Although I really expect that the toys will just migrate out of the room.

Note: He's not allowed out of sound supervision.  When he's too quiet he gets checked pretty quickly. :)

Friday: walking

Today I put my pedometer in Isaac's pocket.

The pocket on his leg.

Showing off that he is wearing a whale and playing with a whale

Now, the number is probably off.  The pedometer probably logs the number of steps that I carried him around.  (My guess is about 400 because we went on some odd errands and I carried him more than normal.)  It probably also logs each crawl as a step because it is based on the movement and doesn't care which direction it goes in.

At the end of the day, it said 4908.  It was a pretty good day of walking. :)  It helped that he took his walker and went from one side of the house to the other side and back to the first side and then back to the other side and then stopped in the bathroom and then to his bedroom and then back to the first side.  I watched him while I was sitting, exhausted from shoveling.  (As a side note, our driveway is shrinking.)  He can walk without the walker, but he can almost run with it.  And I'm not so worried that he will fall over backwards.

Thursday: dragging

I'm going to admit, today dragged.

Class today was just a time to work on projects.  So there were a few questions, but not a ton.  It was boring.  Then I forgot the library books to return to the library, so Isaac and I just went home.

I was excited to take a nap, but Isaac was determined not to.  I thought he should take a nap around 10:30am, but it took until 2:00pm.  I kept expecting him to be sleepy and so when he wasn't the day continued to drag.

Once we left for racquetball the day sped up.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a little better.  If we can at least stay on a semi-normal schedule it would help.

Wednesday: a few pictures

As promised, I took a few pictures today.

He likes his chair, but rarely uses it as a chair.  I more often see him pushing against it like a football player practicing blocking.  But he wouldn't do it with the camera out.

He also likes his spools.  They're all over the place, but they're just right for his little hands.  So we're making a collection.

Tuesday: today

Today had its ups and downs.  I couldn't find several things that I wanted to use (although to be fair, they weren't really very important things).  Isaac seemed to be feeling weird.  Bible study was canceled.

But...it snowed most of the day.  Isaac slept a lot.  I got some quilting done.

Hmm.  I thought this would be a more exciting post.  But really, it is pretty boring.  It's my half birthday today.  I think I'll try to take some pictures tomorrow to post.

Monday: falling

Isaac is still walking, but hasn't learned how to fall well.  He often falls backwards but forgets to bend at the waist, so he bonks his head.

We've managed to limit it to about once a day, but it is still really sad each time it happens.  The only good thing is that I get some great hugs afterwards, but I'd rather forgo them.

Sunday: Dominion

Today we played online Dominion with our friends.  It was fun.  Nothing special to report I guess, though.  Isaac always goes to bed before it starts (unlike the other children) so it's a little sad that we don't get to show him off.

Doug won the first three games, but Ryan and I managed to beat him on the last game.

Saturday: feelings

Isaac is starting to figure out his feelings.  Yesterday and today the feeling he is learning about is frustration.  Frustration that his walker ran into a wall.  Frustration that the end table ran into the wall.  Frustration that I wouldn't pick him up.  Frustration that he had to wait for his food.

It's annoying, but I suppose part of growing up.

He also got to experience some happy feelings with Ben today though.  Notice that he even has his own controller.

Friday: aqua fit II

Today during aquarobics we were supposed to hold a Styrofoam noodle in front of us and then push it down while our arms were extended.

The noodle and I must have about the same buoyancy because I could not push it down without jumping on top of it.  I looked around and no one else seemed to be having any problems.  Maybe I was in water that was too deep.  I was laughing in the inside because I probably looked hilarious as I fought with the noodle while trying to keep my composure.

Thursday: Happy Valentine's Day

Isaac got a small gift from Dad and Pat for Valentines. He read the card.

And ate some M&Ms.  He loves M&Ms.  Although I tend to only give him half candies because otherwise he has a tendency to drool colored drool and that is gross.

Wednesday: overheard

"My alarm clock is old enough to vote."  ~Ben

Tuesday: success!

Isaac has a few responsibilities around the house.  He (sometimes) has to put away things he's gotten out.  He stands by the correct drawer, I hand him the item, he puts it in...hopefully.  The whole process takes about twenty times longer than just doing it myself.  Isaac also has to put away his clean silverware from the dishwasher.  Usually this happens after he's played with it and I've emptied the rest of the dishwasher.

Today he motioned that he wanted to put the silverware away right away!  (It's in the top drawer, so I pick him up to do it.)  And there were two bottles that I asked him to put away and he did it.  I think the latter one might have been a fluke, but I'm going with it.  He also proceeded to take out a ton of stuff after putting the bottles away, but one step at a time.

Monday: keys, monkeys, and dogs

A few days ago I realized that I had lost my keys for the car I'm currently not driving.  How annoying.  I drive that car when it isn't snowing, so it would be nice to have them.  But since I'm not currently driving it, I had no idea when or where I lost them.  I found them today!  They were in my Bible Study bag.  It took me a while to figure out how they ended up there, but I think they fell out when I put my purse in the bag.
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We've been doing more walking.  He likes to attack the blue monkey.  This isn't a very good attack (or a great video), but it shows that he can walk more.


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We were also reading a book that had dogs in it today and I said "where's the dog?" and Isaac pointed to the dog.  Again and again.

source: Amazon

He can't (won't?) point to Mom or Dad or cats or kitties when questioned, but he'll point to dogs.  How did that happen?  He only sees dogs once in a while.

Saturday: another first

Yesterday morning I noticed Isaac stand unassisted several times.  He has done this a few times with our coaxing, but hasn't been very excited about it.  Yay!

When Ben came home from work they were playing and did it again.  Then he did it and Ben moved his walker forward a little bit...and Isaac took his first steps.  The rest of the evening included lots of standing by himself and trying to walk.  (When he stands he's really cute...he puts his arms up in the air in a "look!  no hands!" gesture.  We clapped every time.)

Today was more of the same, but he's able to go farther.  At this rate, he'll be speeding along within a week. Once again, it's amazing how fast something seems to just click.

Friday: aqua fit

Today I went to the water aerobics class at the gym.  (I finally got a new swimsuit that would be appropriate to wear to such a thing.)  I really enjoyed it.  It wasn't as aerobic as spin was, but probably about the same as when I use the exercise equipment.  The people were very friendly.  There was also some light strength training thrown in, which is something I could use.  And it was fun!  We were switching activities all the time so it didn't get boring.  I'll be going back.

I also met my music teacher from elementary school.  She looked familiar and I had placed her as a teacher but then she came over to see me and see if I went to Holland Christian.  I was really surprised that she recognized me, since I look a lot different than my 5th grade self.  At least, that's what I thought.  (Nathan, she remembers you too.)

Thursday: driveway

Today I snowmanned the driveway.

Isaac and I had gone out to shovel, but the snow was so heavy and wet that I rolled it into large snowballs instead.  The sad part was that I made six snowballs, but only ended up with one snowman because they kept breaking.  I'm not really sure why.

Anyway, it would have been more fun if Isaac was able to walk.  But between a bulky snowsuit, slippery ziplock bags on his feet*, and not being able to walk, he didn't seem to care too much about it.  But I had more fun.



*I couldn't find boots that are actually boots (vs. slippers called boots) for someone his size that were a reasonable price.  Add to that we weren't sure how much we would need boots.  So I just put ziplock bags over his slippers.  He can't walk, so it works for now.

Wednesday: starting young

"A level 1 wizard joins your party."

Tuesday: carrying

I have decided that I am an expert carrier.  Look at the things I can carry all at once...

Yesterday - a random trip to Hope
1. Isaac in a car seat
2. Isaac in a car seat.  It is awkward enough to deserve two bullet points.
3. Teaching supplies bag
4. Purse
5. Empty travel mug

Teaching time
1. Isaac
2. Diaper bag
3. Purse
4. Teaching supplies
5. Toy bag (sometimes)
6. Hot drink (sometimes) (in a safety cup)

Racquetball time
1. Isaac
2. Diaper bag
3. Purse
4. My gym bag
5. Ben's gym bag
6. My racquet
7. Ben's racquet

Racquetball time is about my limit so far though.  I could probably do a few more bags, but it's the non-bag things that get me.  Sometimes I use the stroller just to cart everything around and carry Isaac.

Monday: snowman

Today there was some sun and so the snow got slightly sticky.  Not enough to roll well, but enough to make a snowman.

Sunday: videos

Here are a few videos from the last few days:

Saturday: snow and racquetball

We have a lot of snow here again!!  We probably have about as much as we did before it melted earlier in the week.  Most of it came down last night, so we borrowed Jamie's snow blower for our driveway.  That was really nice.  The snow was light and fluffy, but it went a lot faster with the snow blower.

Then I finally beat Ben in racquetball.  He has a handicap, but even with the handicap I haven't been able to beat him.

Friday: note to self

Note to self:

When your child is still hungry after eating their dinner, remember this wise adage...

"Beans beans the wonderful fruit.
The more you eat the more you toot"

...so that you don't have to change a dirty diaper every three hours the next day.