Stuff around Vogelfutter

Our patio is awesome. It's really hot at the moment, in more ways than one. For the past week or so, the temperature has been in the high/mid-90s with heat indexes in the 105-area, due to humidity and general awfulness. Also, two pigeons just tried to make babies. It was noisy, both in terms of their vocalization and the fact that they kept running into the bars, so it sounded like someone playing a giant xylophone. Badly.

James' mom visited last weekend, and she and Mal had a great time together. I told James that's what we need to raise a toddler: three adults. There's one to take care of the income, one to take care of the house and primary care of the kid, then an alternate who can jump in and play with the kid during meal preparation and errands.

Patsy got to visit Mal's gym a couple of times (once with Mal's cousin, Tian, in tow), meet Mal's friend Luna while visiting our church, eat at a couple of our favorite places (Kerbey Lane on the patio was such a perfect breakfast for Mal... there was even a 17-month-old who wouldn't sit still except to nurse sitting right beside us!), and see a lot of Mal's nakedness. That's kind of our life right now. That kid hates wearing clothes.

Speaking of that, Mal has had what I've come to believe is a heat rash for like two months now. It started out as what I thought were ant bites, but now it's all over his abdomen, upper legs, and some on his upper arms. I was just reading about it here, and they recommend staying out of the heat and humidity. Okay, thanks. That's really helpful advice here in Austin. The rash doesn't seem to bother him, so we're just putting some Gold Bond on it when it looks red, and waiting it out otherwise.

Mal is trying to talk more, repeating words we say in his own way. One word that he has down pat is "die." Like when he wants to climb up on the cabinet, and I say, "Be careful, Mal. I don't want you to die." Or, "Get down from there or you're going to fall and die!" So now, while he's climbing, he gleefully repeats, "Die die die!" over and over again.

When Patsy was here, Mal started interjecting every time I'd say "James." He'd respond with, "Daddy! Daddy!" and the sign. I guess he knows his dad's name. He still won't say "Mommy," though. 

For some reason, I'm famished like all of the time. I don't know if it's because Mal is still nursing so much or because I'm just trained from the past two years of eating to, well, eat. But I am trying to hold out until dinner (which might be at 6:30 and might be at 8:45; we never really know until James texts that he's on his way home). I had a good breakfast, a snack, a great lunch, an afternoon snack, and, honestly... It's like I've lost the ability to sustain a hungry feeling. I go from mild stomach growl to beginning hypoglycemic occurrence really quickly. 

D recently bought herself a MacBook Pro. She was wanting to write more, and said that she felt like writing sitting on her bed or a comfy chair would be nice. She was also able to hook her drawing pad up to the Mac, so she can do that from the mattress, too. She is rarely on her desktop anymore, except for when her cousin TJ comes over to game. She also just read almost entirely through the Harry Potter series. She's toward the middle of book seven, but the book light I lent her has dead batteries, and she has been consuming the books at night. I need to get her a headboard-mounted lamp.

Done. Gosh, I love the internet.

Today, I was cleaning up my email folders. I actually moved the "writing" folder to my archive. It's kind of sad, but it's a season. I'm sure when Mal is 5 or 8 or 12 or 19, I'll get to write again. For now, the blog is the thing, and I'm really fortunate that I get to watch yet another amazing kid grow up.

Making  friends at Mozart's.

Now that he's older, I think we're ready to try story time at the Bee Cave library again. Maybe we'll hit it next week. This week got away from me, plus I have been so tired. I told James the other day that I didn't feel motivated to do anything, but once I mentally listed everything I'd done that day, I'd done quite a lot! I guess I just didn't feel like it. Anyway, last year, Mal couldn't sit at all to listen to the stories, but I feel like now maybe he would. He doesn't sit to listen to the 5-minute children's message in church, though, so I could be wrong. If all else fails, there is a splash pad right across the street from the Bee Cave library, so we'll have a nice morning, regardless.

One final thing Mal is really into right now: bringing everything from somewhere to somewhere (usually someone) else. It started one night when I was trying to get Mal to go to bed. He had gotten up and gone into the living room where James was hanging out. I stayed in bed. A few minutes later, Mal brought me one of the blocks from the set we keep in an ottoman storage thing. I said, "Thanks, but I don't want a block." However, he sat it on the side of the bed and ran back into the living room. A few moments later, he came back with another block. He set it on the bed, then sped back into the living room. This happened over and over again. 

Eventually, I asked James, "Is he going to bring every block in here?" James said, "It looks like it." I opened my eyes and saw that he'd laid each side by side, so that the to open sides of the bed (the foot and one side) were both bordered with nearly 40 blocks. When there were about 5 blocks left, Mal decided to drag the ottoman into the bedroom instead.

When his grandma was here, he pulled everything out of his kitchen and put it on her bed for her. Last night, while Mal's dad was in the restroom and I was in bed, Mal brought me my brush, then my comb, then some leave-in conditioner, then my pick, etc. He just zooms from one place to the other, then back and again. I think it's his way of running off some excess energy? He's not as big on putting everything back, but it's pretty entertaining to watch, anyway.