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We just bid adieu to J&C after playing Ticket to Ride, Wayne’s b-day present. What a fun game! This evening helped break the cabin fever of our household. Wayne and Mom are still feeling sick. I was not, so I decided to cook this evening. I had gotten my latest edition of Cooking Light and wanted to try some dishes. I was ambitious and made 3 dishes and the fixings for another. Talk about multitasking. In the midst of my madness, J&C called. They got a quick invitation since I had plenty of food cooking. Unfortunately, our dinner wasn’t ready till 8pm. I made a ragu sauce penne pasta casserole first. Then I worked on the CL front page, Three Cheese Penne pasta w/ Chicken. That required a cream sauce using cottage cheese and the blender. I couldn’t find cream of chicken soup, so we had to improvise (Claire was helping at this point). While I was cutting veggies and cooking chicken, I thought I’d make enchiladas. I assembled those after dinner. I also have the fixings for a chicken edamame rice bowl. It’s been a week of bread and butter (or variations) for dinner since everyone has been sick. I needed to break out and make some real food. It’s also my optimism for the upcoming week that this stomach virus will leave our house. Mom is working on her 6th day sick.

This morning was so pleasant. After breakfast, we lazed around in our robes in the living room while Sara played and just talked. We haven’t done that as a family for awhile during this visit with Mom. I made pancakes for breakfast (with chocolate chips).

Sara walked all the way up to 80th. It’s so much fun to walk with her. I hope I can establish a tradition like Mom and me. Especially during my teenage years, Mom and I would walk together in the evenings. It was much easier to talk to her while walking. I got to ask any question. Today, Mom, Sara, and me – 3 generations – held hand while walking. It was a nice scene.

After the 3 Penne Pasta (which was a hit despite it’s lateness), we settled into this new game. You take trains and connect routes across the US. Points stack up based on completing assigned routes. It’s one of those games that combines strategy, but a healthy dose of luck. J&C are slowly wearing down my reluctance to play board games. I realized from an early age that strategy was not my strong suit. I also became very anxious about the outcome. So, I avoided board games. Even at University of Wisconsin at Madison, where card games were cool, I’d often sit out the fun. Jon, Claire, and Wayne have been enthusiastic. Besides the fact they keep buying us games – Tikal, Carcasonne, Ticket to Ride – I also hate being the odd person out. Mexican Train has been a favorite. It’s mostly luck with just a smidge of strategy, my favorite combination.

Sara got woken up midway through the game by a loud siren. I went to get her out of her crib. She wouldn’t stand up, murmuring, “Two Baa-baas!” in a whiny voice. I had to go turn on the light and help her find her second pacifier before she’d let me take her out of the room. A little milk later and I was able to get her back to sleep.

With early church tomorrow, I should sleep. Goodnight!

I just went to go see Mrs. Hendersen Presents at the Metro. By myself. It was supposed to be a fun evening to take Mom out on the town without a toddler. I had signed up for our daycare’s Parent’s Night Out earlier in the week. Unfortunately, a GI virus has been blighting our household. It’s not the type that causes continuous vomitting, just a vague sense of unrest and desire not to eat. Sara has been a little more whiny and had diarrhea once or twice. Mom’s been hit the most. Wayne just returned from a 2 day business trip in the Bay area feeling “a little nauseous”. So Wayne worked from home today and declared that he wasn’t feeling well enough to come. Mom looked her normal self until mid-day when she declared she had been too optimistic. So that’s how I found myself at a movie by myself. Sara got an evening with her Dad, Wayne got to practice making play dough worms, Mom is working on Dying for Chocolate (my latest mystery series about a caterer), and I got a single girl’s night out.

I tried to download another photo of Sara, but the “Transmit” program balked at it. I’ll have to ask Wayne about it in the morning. Most of our recent photos are dammed up. Wayne’s learning about Digital Asset Management (affectionately known as DAM!). It involves organizing and naming your photos. With thousands of photos, this is a VERY good idea. Unfortunately, it means our latest photos are being held hostage until the DAM pipeline can be manufactured. That requires my busy, slightly sick husband. So much for my new found knowlege of placing photos on the blog.

I’ve read 2 organizing books this month. With thoughts of remodeling rolling around in our heads, I’d like the house to be in better order. Most of the house works well, but there are enclaves of vicious disorganization lurking in closets and basements and even on my desk. I been thinking about it since Sara was born (a hormonal thing or something), but not much action has translated from my thoughts. My Mom’s diagnosis is our lives are too busy. My diagnosis is to agree with Mom. Sara has a lot to do with it too.

Today, I wanted clean the kitchen dishes. My eye saw the overflowing trash and recyclable container and wanted to start there. So, I started to gather newspapers to add to the recyclables. With 2 newpapers a day, they stack up quickly. Then I saw the newpapers on the end table that doubles as Sara’s book shelf. I sat beside this to sort the papers. This was an instant invitation for Sara to sit in my lap with a book. “Read, Mommy, read” How do I turn that down. So we read a book. Again, the voice chimes in with a new book in hand. Let Mommy finish getting the papers and we’ll read another book. So I finish and we read about Old Hat, New Hat. Sara now likes chiming in words she knows. Papers gathered. Get shoes on. I walk out the door and notice my daughter following me in her slippers onto our wet and icy deck. “No Sara! Stay in the house.” Big blue eyes fill w/ tears. “Sigh, let’s get your shoes on”. Five minutes later…I get the trash out the door. Now for dishes. But you get the picture. Being a responsive mother takes work. I figure Sara won’t always want to follow me to the trash so I should take advantage of it while I can. It’s a Mary vs. Martha thing.

Of course, Sara doesn’t have all the blame. I like naps. So I sleep when Sara sleeps. Always have and probably always will. Cat naps got me through medical school. They continue to guide me through motherhood. It’s nice to snuggle under the down comforter listening to the heavy breathing of my sleeping daughter over the moniter. So what to do? Try again tomorrow. As God says, “Each day has enough trouble of it’s own.”

It feels like a Sunday evening (though it’s Monday). The long weekend has been used up. We’re about to tip into the work week. It’ll be hectic for Wayne and quiet for me. Wayne is going to sleep by 9pm. I’m going to type a little bit longer.

I made my first complete blog entry today. Not impressed? I am. I’ve authored many entries before, but this is the first time I put the photos in. It was always a multistep process and I relied on Wayne to do it for me. Recently, that’s gotten frustrating due to a) Wayne’s absurd business and b) changeover in our software. Our blog has been a little lacking in photos for these reason. It doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to have 15,000 digital photos if I can’t use them. I see the blog as my “scrapbook”. Wayne has done a nice job of getting us some new software that made tonight’s entry doable (not easy yet, but practical).

My new entry on Whistler is on 1/30/06. Wayne thinks I should place it on the top of the entries. I think of this as a journal, with the entries on the date of occurrence (even if it takes me a month to get to write them).

Mom is here. This is her first visit to Seattle since May of 2005! We took the opportunity to travel to Portland this weekend. That’s this week’s project to blog. Sara did wonderfully with her Nana.

We’ve now completed Love and Logic course. It’s a style of discipline. Google it. I’ve been practicing the techniques. It works very well. It takes the emotion and power struggle out of discipline. That was part of my ongoing birthday present. I think all of February has been a birthday present!

I ask Mom every year what time it was. 6:30am is the reply. Labor started around 10pm the night before. I guess I always celebrate my birthday by sleeping. Sara woke us up at 6:20am so I could appreciate my birth moment.

I work today and go to my Mom’s group today. We have nice evening plans, but I took an early birthday yesterday on my afternoon off. When we first set up Sara’s schedule, Tuesday afternoon has traditionally been time for me to do errands, tasks, projects without Sara around. I remember thinking, “I could even see a movie!” Yet, I never have used the time that way. I decided to make it me time. I had to teach a class during lunch at work so my day started a little later than expected. Wayne kindly agreed to pick up Sara from daycare.

With Bush about giving the state of the Union, I thought I’d give some thoughts to the state of my daughter. This entry has been rolling in my head for many weeks. As is the fate of mothers, it’s often hard to find the time to put thoughts on paper (or html as the case may be).

Physically, Sara still looks like a female version of Wayne with an anti-Italian bent. I’m still stunned to look at her sparkling blue eyes and golden ringlets and realize she’s my genetics. She still sports the wide forehead and up turned nose like her Dad. The big eyes, I claim. The Wooten ears (sticking out from the head) seem less prominent now that her curly hair has branched out. Her hair is not purely blond. There is some light brown mixed in. It’s not Shirley Temple curly, but just an occasional ringlet bursting out the back in defiance of my wetted brush.

Her face easily splits into a smile or a laugh. Her eyes remain blue and sparkle with laughter or defiance, depending the mood. She has a small pot belly in cute toddler sort of way. Her limbs seem slightly long for her body, like in a perpetual state of growth.

Sara’s personality…it’s hard to put into words the emotions and energy that defines my day. It’s like trying to define the moods of the weather. Sara loves to laugh. I’m enjoying toddler humor. She’ll often put her socks on her hands and looks to me to join in the laugh. Often I’ll ask her to repeat a word. If it’s an animal, she’ll look at me mischeviously and say “Baa-baa” (her word for sheep), a color is always “blue”, and a number is only “two”. She’ll often look at me while she’s doing something to see in advance what my response will be, laughter or scolding.

She’s filled out into the two-year-old role well. In many ways, she’s a mellow, compliant, low-key kid. In some ways, she’s not. We’ve just gone through 27 days of rain without sun and several successions of colds over the holiday season. That often meant Sara would spend a day indoors without an outing. Most toddlers would go crazy. Not Sara. She’s quite content to veg with Mom. There was a season in November, when she was throwing horrible, hour-long tantrums that were unrelieved by offers of sustenance or play. She still qualifies as whiney at times.

After 2 years of nannying, we transitioned to daycare in August during my worktimes. She’s thrived. I remember hearing how “horrible” daycare is. That has not been my experience at all. In many ways, it’s been easier than having a person come to the house. She just transitioned to the 2yo room. She did it with a possy of 3 girls, Jourdan, Ella, and Elloise. The transition was so easy. The girls would just giggle their way through the day. When I drop Sara off, she’s always greeted by one of these girls and her name is always squealed in happiness. It’s wonderful place to leave her to play.

Since Xmas, Sara has been attached to trains. We got a set from Ikea and it’s her favorite toy. Every night, it’s “play choo-choo Daddy”. She’s even multimedia. If she sees our kitchen computer she’ll request to play games ont he Thomas the train site or watch the show on TV. She loves to draw. Show her a piece of paper and it’s “draw Mommy”. She’s getting more sophisticated in her drawing, starting to stay more within the lines and drawing circles and jagged lines well. Since her visit with Gabrielle, the precocious daughter of a friend, she’s been interested in letters. She’s recognizing and saying ‘G’ and ‘D’. She can also recognize ‘2′, but that’s the only number she’ll deal with.

She often watches some TV everyday. When she rises super early, it’s definitely a help so we can sleep more or shower. She has always enjoyed Elmo, shunning the rest of Sesame Street. Zoboomafoo became a second favorite, with Thomas the Tank Engine as a recent addition. She’ll only watch Thomas for 5 minutes before she’s begging for a transition to Elmo.

I started praying with her every night before going to bed about 6months ago. Wayne taught her how to bow her head and hold her hands. Often before bed, she’ll stand by her crib (get this, asking to be put into it) with her head bowed and hands clasped. I’ve started asking her what she’s thankful for. Mostly, it’s “ball”. Once or twice, I’ve thanked God for the cat, but overwhelmingly, it’s the ball.