I am too lazy to take pictures these days. Sorry.

Lizzy is a sweet girl. She is usually pretty easy-going and happy. She like to smile and giggle. As she begins to assert her independence, however, she has her moments of rage. These usually occur when I don't give into her every whim. We have explained many times (and invoked the power of the time-out a time or two) that she is not allowed to hit Mommy and Daddy (or anyone else, for that matter), so she has to find a different outlet for her aggressive feelings. Usually it's the coffee table that receives to abuse, but sometimes it's a random toy. She beats it repeatedly with her little hand, all the while staring into my eyes and her expression as she pummels away clearly says, "This is your face, mom. YOUR FACE."

Hey check this out. My friend (who unfortunately lives waaaay down in southern California) is an amazing photographer, and she's doing a great give away. So check it out, 'cuz she's really good. (And I should know. She did my wedding pictures, after all.)
Here's her blog:

http://www.ludikus.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

Watch out, she bites

Is that a light I see at the end of the tunnel?

Isaac just got an email from his professor telling him to schedule his thesis defense. That only leaves comprehensive exams and a dissertation before we're out of here! Wa hoo!

What a big girl

The night before last I was lying in bed trying to fall asleep, staring at the ceiling. Suddenly the music mobile turned on in Lizzy's room. Without even crying out, she must have stood up, turned on her music, and lain back down. When I went to check on her a little while later (I wanted to make sure she really had fallen back to sleep) she was even curled up under her blankets. I was impressed, pleased, and just a tiny smidgen hurt that she hadn't needed me at all to soothe herself back to dreamland. Every day I am amazed by the things she can do. Her personality cracks me up, too.
After I changed her diaper yesterday, she refused to let me put her pants back on her, so I folded them up and left them on the floor, in case she wanted them later. About on hour after that, I went to throw something in the trash, and there on top were her pants. She was trying to make very sure that I wouldn't make her wear them again. I can't blame her, though. They are probably the most hideous sweatpants I've ever seen. They remind me a lot of a pair that I wore all the time as a kid...

Under New Management

I guess I wasn't fired so much as I was put under new management. The company Frank works for no longer wants to pay for his English lessons, but he is perfectly willing to continue to pay for them himself. At least I know now that he is satisfied. Today he took our family to see the project he is working on. He works for a German company the makes round concrete forms. They're currently building a digestor at a big farm north of town. Even though I must confess I didn't really understand any of how it works, it was neat to see. It's huge and round and concrete. When it's done, the farmer can fill it up with corn waste and it will create methane which will then be his energy source to power his farm. At the construction site, Lizzy just wanted me to let her down so she could run around and fall off stuff, trip over things, and generally get herself hurt. Eventually we were able to let her play in some gravel. The rocks fascinated her, and she gave everyone there handfuls of them. She is so generous.

Tomorrow Better be Sunny

Today should have been a good day. But then I got fired. I (used to) tutor an Austrian man in English three days a week, but his company called me today and said they no longer wish to pay for this. Is it bad to hope this is a result of the weak economy? I'd rather assume that they're desperately trying to save pennies than think they were dissatisfied with my work. English is a hard language. It can't be learned in only a couple of months. Oh well. So now I find myself with free time in the evening and no spending money. I'm sure I can find enough projects to fill the time, and I'm trying not to feel sad about the money. It really doesn't affect our financial stability, but it was nice to be contributing something.
The other thing that was not fun about today was the WIC appointment Lizzy had. She was fine- happy, playing, smiling - until we walked into the room where they weigh and measure her. She threw one of her biggest tantrums yet. For some reason, nurses and doctors TERRIFY her. She clung to me, sobbing and screaming while I tried to get her clothes off and put her on the scale. It took a very long time, and we never did get an accurate reading, because she never stopped screaming and thrashing around. Once her clothes were back on, she was fine. Maybe she's just very shy.
And if her behavior wasn't bad enough, she fell off the chart as far as weight for length. She is basically tall, and very, very skinny. I'm not shocked by this (the child won't eat), but I can't help but feel a little bit like a failure. Why can't I get my child to eat? Anyway, tomorrow has to be better.