laurushka.org/blog http://www.laurushka.org/blog Tue, 04 Nov 2008 21:47:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 en Election Day http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/11/04/election-day/ http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/11/04/election-day/#comments Tue, 04 Nov 2008 21:47:10 +0000 laurushka http://www.laurushka.org/blog/?p=151
November 4, 2008, 4:00 PM

]]> http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/11/04/election-day/feed/ Boo! Hoo! http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/11/01/boo-hoo/ http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/11/01/boo-hoo/#comments Sat, 01 Nov 2008 17:15:01 +0000 laurushka http://www.laurushka.org/blog/?p=150 I missed the Parade for the 2008 World Champions of Baseball because I woke up Friday morning with a migraine! Boo hoo!! But I did feel better for Halloween Trick or Treating last night.

After wearing the same costume for both her first and second Halloweens, Lilia had TWO costume to choose from this year. After perusing one of her Baby Magazines (aka the One Step Ahead catalog), Lilia announced that she wanted to be Cookie Monster for Halloween. This was in August. I found a half-price one on Craigslist.
Here’s a video of her enjoying the costume back in August.

It’s a 2T, so I wasn’t sure if she’d still fit in it 2 and a half months later, but didn’t have a back-up plan. Until the other week– I saw a super-cute cat costume at Old Navy for $15, and asked Lilia if she’d like to be that for Halloween. She said NOOOOO, so I didn’t get it, but later, she started talking about the costume. So we went back to Old Navy, and they were only $11.75… that’s practically Thrift Store prices! So I got it, and she wore it immediately (and had a nice video chat with her Papa Gram while wearing it).

Of course, she wanted to wear the Cookie Monster costume to the library Halloween party. She really did grow– the feet were definitely much shorter and the elastic seemed tighter. I don’t understand why it has to be a one piece costume… Although I think she looks really cute in a big furry suit, so I guess that’s why. We convinced her to wear the Cat for Trick or Treating last night. She had a Blast with a capital B! Last year, we didn’t really get candy– just walked around a bit, went to the library (Halloween was on Wednesday, so the library was open), and did Trick or Treat for Unicef. This year, we ended up with a HUGE bag of treats. A lot of people gave Lilia lollipops, and called them “Taffys.” Is that a Philadelphia thing? I never heard that before!

How about some pictures!
Cookie Monster paying attention to Storytime at the Library Halloween Party


Lilia has had a runny nose, and her face is all chapped from it!! I am starting to think that her issue is teething, and not a cold, although it is cold season. She started drooling terribly yesterday– after this, she’s done till she’s 6 or 7, right?


This is why it was appropriate that she be Cookie Monster. She LOVES cookies!

The Cat Costume

I was going to put cat make-up (nose, whiskers) on, but with that chapped face, I didn’t want to cause any more trouble. Some people couldn’t tell what she was supposed to be, but they all agreed that she was super cute!

Note Squirrel-Like tail…

Cool pumpkins…

These doggies were dressed as Princess Leia and Darth Vadar!!

Lilia went right into this house, and the woman who lived there took her upstairs to see her cats! She shouted down to us, “Hand out the candy,” and these little kids were all saying, “Wow, You have a nice house!”

Lil and Dad

Lil and Mom

]]> http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/11/01/boo-hoo/feed/ Go Phillies! http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/10/27/go-phillies/ http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/10/27/go-phillies/#comments Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:24:01 +0000 laurushka http://www.laurushka.org/blog/?p=149 On opening day 2000, Joe picked up a Metro with a guide to the 2000 Philadelphia Phillies season and he decided to follow them. Since I knew the ins and outs of baseball from my years as a benchwarmer on the Temple Tomboys, I followed along and got hooked. It was a rough losing season, but Pat Burrell debuted in May 2000, and Jimmy Rollins debuted in September 2000, so we were just on the cusp of something, right? Seats at the Vet were easy to get, and we saw A LOT of games until it closed in 2003. I know it wasn’t a good baseball park, but I loved it there. I’ve been to a few games at Citizens Bank Park, but it’s not as easy with a little one. Since Lilia has been born, we went to one game– I won tickets for the Diamond Club section right behind home plate. The Phillies won that game in September 2007, and they soon became the National League East Champs.
Now here it is, October 2008, and the Phillies are one win away from winning the World Series!


Go Phillies!



Lilia’s First Phillies Game


Lilia’s Lucky Phillies Hat. We misplaced it for a few weeks in July/August, and the Phils went on a skid… we found it (under the couch), and they started winning… and you know the rest!
]]> http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/10/27/go-phillies/feed/ “Your child’s growing brain” http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/10/22/your-childs-growing-brain/ http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/10/22/your-childs-growing-brain/#comments Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:40:09 +0000 laurushka http://www.laurushka.org/blog/?p=148 Just got this email from BabyCenter:
Your Child’s Growing Brain
Fascinating things are happening in your child’s brain right now!

I clicked the link, but it didn’t tell me why Lilia decided to leave my side in a parking lot yesterday and take off behind 7 parked (thank goodness they weren’t backing up) cars, ignoring my pleas to stop, and dart into the road.

I am usually pretty cool in emergency situations, but I had the folded stroller in my hand and a couple bags, so as I ran, I ended up tripping and falling on the pavement while a woman, who is my mystery, unnamed hero, ran from the other side of the parking lot and scooped Lilia up before any harm came to her.

I thought Lilia knew to stay out of the street, to stay by our side, and to always hold my hand when crossing the street, because that is what she has always done. In fact, I thought maybe there was something wrong with her for not displaying what I thought was the typical “toddler dart”. Maybe she was lazy, or maybe I scared her into submission? It turns out she just hadn’t thought of it yet.

Luckily we were near Target. I hobbled* in and bought a leash. Until I’m sure the message has gotten through to her growing brain, the girl is in lock-down.

*My boo-boos on my left hand, right elbow and right knee will serve as reminders to keep her in lock down for at least the next month. At least my expensive no-line bifocals didn’t break when they flew off my face.

]]> http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/10/22/your-childs-growing-brain/feed/ Another Picture Post http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/10/14/another-picture-post/ http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/10/14/another-picture-post/#comments Tue, 14 Oct 2008 21:47:40 +0000 laurushka http://www.laurushka.org/blog/?p=128 Wow, I just realized that graduation is December 13th. Today is the 14th, so that’s less than 2 months away! I’ll save my writing for papers and homework, and just post some more recent pictures!

The new Please Touch Museum opens this weekend. We went to a members’ preview, and were blown away. Wow! I can’t wait to go more often! They even have a carousel! The PTM is in Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park near the Japanese Tea House & Horticultural Center, so afterwards we went for a little walk. Here are a few pictures:

Aunt Maria came up to watch Lilia while Joe and I saw Nick Cave in concert last week. Her payment: another trip to the zoo. (Aunt Maria really likes the zoo!)
We didn’t go in the reptile house, but here’s Lil with a snake statue… sssss…

After I survived class this weekend, we went apple picking. I heard that Hopewell Furnace had a historic orchard with apple picking, so we stopped by there first. However, it was so warm on Sunday that we were bombarded with gnats. We also couldn’t figure out their map of which tree was which, so we went to the same orchards we went to last year. The gnats weren’t as bad there, thankfully!

]]> http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/10/14/another-picture-post/feed/ Picture post! http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/10/02/picture-post/ http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/10/02/picture-post/#comments Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:11:36 +0000 laurushka http://www.laurushka.org/blog/?p=125 Napping

With Thomas

Don’t ask

Masterpieces

Sunrise over the Straits of Mackinac

Penguin and Lil

Taking notes

]]> http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/10/02/picture-post/feed/ “My Crib is Broken” http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/09/28/my-crib-is-broken/ http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/09/28/my-crib-is-broken/#comments Sun, 28 Sep 2008 18:08:51 +0000 laurushka http://www.laurushka.org/blog/?p=124 Lilia’s crib was just recalled, so we had to return it to Target to get a store credit. I broke it down into small parts, but it still wouldn’t fit in our hatchback trunk. As I looked for a phone number to call and ask if we could just toss it and still get the credit, Joe used all the rope he has accumulated over the years and tied it to our previously unused roof rack– I knew there was a reason we had one of those! We carefully drove over to the Target on City Line and put all the pieces in a cart and brought them in to the return desk, where Lilia proclaimed to the clerks, “My crib is broken”! One time I returned a pair of shoes to this Target on a weekday morning, and a line of people had formed behind me as the clerk struggled through the transaction, so I was a little nervous about doing this on a busy Saturday afternoon, but the two clerks who helped us were super friendly, and we had no trouble at all.

We wanted to pick up a Target Weekly Circular, because Lilia’s second cousin Lillian is featured in the toy section (warning– you might die of the cuteness if you click there!) but because it was the last day of the sale, they were all out. :( (We’ll get to meet Lillian for the first time at Thanksgiving!!)

Now, we need to find a new bed for Lilia. Where is she sleeping now?

Well, I have a confession to make…
Lilia still co-sleeps. It’s just easier, I’ll leave it at that.

But, we have a nice crib mattress, and she did sometimes sleep in her crib (it was a convertible– we had taken one side off last year). I think this Ikea toddler bed is really cute, but it is a foot longer than the crib mattress, so we’d have to invest in one of Ikea’s mattresses. Plus, our house is so small, I don’t think we have the room to get a bigger bed. Plus, she is short… she’ll fit in the crib mattress for quite a long time. I guess we have some research to do.

]]> http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/09/28/my-crib-is-broken/feed/ Acrobatic squirrels http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/09/27/acrobatic-squirrels/ http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/09/27/acrobatic-squirrels/#comments Sat, 27 Sep 2008 16:15:43 +0000 laurushka http://www.laurushka.org/blog/?p=123 Well, it’s Fall already! I have not been great at keeping up on this blog lately…
However, remember this post in which I talked about seeing a squirrel cage at a historic house in Philadelphia? Did you know the Philadelphia Zoo has an actual squirrel cage with the most amazing squirrels? My sister, Lilia and I went to the zoo last week and we took a different path than normal, and found these amazing Russian Red Tree Squirrels! I took a little video with my camera, it’s a little shakey, but I think you can see how acrobatic these squirrels were:

Oh, and you might note that in the post I linked to, I complained about bad service we had a restaurant… The restaurant contacted me (see the comments) and wants to make amends by giving us a free meal, but I feel like that wouldn’t necessarily prove that they have good service… if they know who I am and why I am there when I come in. We considered going back incognito, but it was such a poor experience, I don’t feel like paying money to relive it. What would you do?

]]> http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/09/27/acrobatic-squirrels/feed/ Screen Time and Other Things http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/08/22/screen-time-and-other-things/ http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/08/22/screen-time-and-other-things/#comments Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:06:08 +0000 laurushka http://www.laurushka.org/blog/?p=122 I’ve been boring my faithful readers with my writing… I know what you really want… you want Lilia posts!

While I worked through three summer courses, poor Lilia got very familiar with PBS Kids and a stack of DVDs I checked out from the library. She likes absolutely everything that is geared towards kids. If I change the channel to news, she gets very sad– we haven’t watched much of the Olympics, but she was interested in the actual events (diving, gymnastics), and when Bob Costas (ugh, do I dislike him!) would come on, she thought we had switched the channel on her! Her favorite shows: Curious George, Teletubbies, Sesame Street, and Barney. *Edited to add: we don’t have cable, so we don’t get Phillies games on TV often… but there is one tonight, and Lilia is very excited!* The videos from the library were my favorites.

  • A Tomie dePaola collection with a story called, “Charlie Needs a Cloak“– he shears the sheep, cards the wool, spins the wool into yarn, dyes the yarn with berries, weaves the yarn into cloth, and sews his own cloak! This is one of those cases where the video is better than the book… they are both great, but seeing it come to life is more entertaining than my reading of it, I’m sure.
  • I also loved Sesame Street: Old School, Volume 2 (1974-1979). I loved it so much, I bought it, and have just ordered Volume 1 (which the library doesn’t have). Our favorite clip: Two little dolls (enjoy!)
  • And Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and other stories, which had Rosie’s Walk by Pat Hutchins and The Foolish Frog by Pete Seeger. Pat Hutchins is great! We have Good-Night, Owl! already, and I just checked out The Wind Blew, which is a new favorite. Lilia loves wind!

    • Speaking of Pete Seeger, did I mention that Lilia recognizes the sound of a banjo? Seriously, I spend most of the day in awe of Lilia. I don’t care how she compares to other little kids– it just amazes me that in less than 2 and a half years on this planet, this little girl can hear a couple strums on a banjo, and say “Banjo”!

    The “Fall” semester starts Monday, and I anticipate we will be watching more PBS and checking out more videos from the library. We did manage to get out of the house a bit during my classes, and more after I finished on August 9th.


    Walking with Daddy at the Schuylkill Center


    Lilia STILL loves swings!


    Driving the Trolley at the Please Touch Museum

    Last Saturday, we went for a drive and saw three beautiful hot-air balloons in the sky. We managed to catch one of them landing!

    On Sunday, after a really nice brunch at a restaurant Bonnie Mac recommended (Ida Mae’s Bruncherie), we went to a playground and a community garden. Look at this goldfinch chowing down on this flower:

    Well, I hope that satisfies all you Lilia fans for now! As I said, classes start again on Monday… but my anticipated graduation is December!

    ]]>     http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/08/22/screen-time-and-other-things/feed/     Secret Lives of Cats http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/08/15/secret-lives-of-cats/ http://www.laurushka.org/blog/2008/08/15/secret-lives-of-cats/#comments Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:16:13 +0000 laurushka http://www.laurushka.org/blog/?p=121 For the storytelling class, I had to tell a story, tell its history, and tell a personal story that related to it. I did King of the Cats, which you’ll find in the previous post. This is the personal story I told:
    ——
    The Secret Lives of Cats

    I’ve always wondered what my cats do when I’m not home. Are they just moping around, waiting for me? Or are they plotting to take over the world? A few years ago, my cat Stripe escaped out the back door and didn’t come back for seven days! We searched the neighborhood, and hung Missing Cat signs on all the telephone poles. We searched animal shelters—looking in all the cages for Stripe. Every day, we walked around the block with a can of cat food, calling his name. And finally one morning, he meowed at our bedroom window. We asked him where he was, but he wouldn’t say. And ever since then, Stripe tries to escape… and when he does, he is gone at least a few days. One time he was missing during a hurricane. And when he returns, he never tells us where he has been… one of life’s mysteries is the secret lives of cats!

    ——

    Stripe, pictured in the previous post, was once called the Cat Who Would Be King. However, since we moved to this house, and we’ve limited his outside time (since whenever he goes out, he’ll go out for days), he has gotten kind of soft. In 2006, his left ear blew up with a hematoma and is now a shriveled stump. A few weeks ago, the same thing happened to his right ear. His breath is horribly stinky. He likes to lay on the dining room table, and shake his slobbery mouth all over everything. I was sitting on the couch (a futon), and it STANK of Stripe, so I pulled off the futon cover to wash it. In doing so, I found Lilia’s Phillies hat wedged under the futon mattress– it had has been missing for almost a month! So, Mr. Stripe, although your stinky slobberiness is annoying, I guess it was useful for something! I still love this darn cat!

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