More snow

So we got another big snowstorm Sunday night. This storm was different from the other storms that we've had this winter because it was heavy, wet snow. The kind to take down trees and power lines..which it did. Fortunately the power stayed on at my house (yipee for being close to the substation and the electricity producing dam. I've decided that when I sell my house, I am going to feature proximity to the electric substation and the El Weir dam prominently in the sales ad. Around here, it's a BIG SELL.). I got up at 4:30 am to shovel, managed to get to work, and at 4:45 PM when we got home, I was working on finishing shoveling. When my Great Snowblowing Neighbor came home from work and fired up his snowblower to finish removing the Great Wall of Snow from the end of the driveway. Just before that, Jupiter pointed out to me the half a maple tree laying on the garage roof. It's still there, at the moment. It's hard to get to at the moment considering the mountains of snow out back. Since there isn't an actual hole in the roof, I'll let it go for awhile.

We have some new neighbors who are moving in up the street. I haven't met them yet, other than a quick wave last night when we were driving by on the way home. I'll have to go introduce myself, because while I was driving by, I happened to notice the license plate on the car was from Iowa.

I lived in Iowa from 1990 to 1995. I went to college in Iowa. And it kind of works like this. Anytime I see a car from Iowa all the way out here in Maine, I assume that somehow I know them. I think this stems from my first fall in Iowa. Iowa car license plates all have their county of registration on the bottom. BTW, in case you're interested, Iowa has 99 counties. I always tried to memorize all 99. I could get up to about 75 or 80. That's the kind of stuff I used to entertain myself with when I was working allnighters at the Super 8.

Anyway, back to the memoir...my first fall in Iowa, my friend and I went from our college town to Des Moines, and while we were walking around I saw a license plate from the county where my friend was from. (She was from a very rural area. And part of the actual Mormon Trail was on her family's farm.) So jokingly, I said, "There's a car from Decatur County..Do you know them?" And of course she did know them. And so I determined that everyone in Iowa knows everyone else.

When I was flying back and forth between the two states, I could count on seeing somebody I knew at the airport in Chicago during the layover. It got so I came close, a couple of times, to not bothering to have someone pick me up at the airport in Des Moines, because the odds were so good that SOMEONE I knew was going to be on the plane. ( I went to the college in my town and worked at the gas station on the town square. I knew just about everyone.).

I've moved back to Maine, but I still assume that if I see a car from Iowa, I will know who is in the car. So driving down my street last night I saw an Iowa license plate, did a double take, and promptly stopped in the middle of the street so I could see what county they were from. Polk County. Which generally means Des Moines. There are a few towns in Polk County that are not Des Moines..but Des Moines is by far the largest. So anyway, if it turns out I actually DO know them, I'll let you know.

BTW, Maine has 16 counties. We even have a song to the tune of Yankee Doodle to memorize all 16 counties which is part of the fourth grade curriculum. I never could make 99 counties fit to the tune of Yankee Doodle. I only ever got as far as "99 counties in our state..Marion, Mahaska."

Today was blood drive day at work; I may be a little punchy from lower blood volume.

Jupiter finally went back to school today...she missed the last Friday before February vacation because she was sick, had all the next week off, and then missed Monday because of the snow. I was afraid she would balk at the seperation for the first time in two weeks, but she did fine. She got some of the Valentines she missed because she was sick, and it was her show and tell day. But tonight she was very tired and the ATTITUDE started to come to the surface. So she rocked to sleep with her music tonight..

She's added a series of hugs and kisses to our morning goodbye routine...I LIKE this routine!!! I hope it lasts!! AND she's been sleeping better at night since the viral crud went away, so I've been sleeping more as well. And it's gotten warm enough she can have some outdoor time. Every bit of that pays off. Tomorrow she goes to the pottery paint shop with B for four hours...better clear off another shelf for a ceramic something that she'll come home with. Gotta love the Free Shelf!!

My favorite baby pic's

referral photo..October 2004

October, 2005

September, 2005

September, 2005

August, 2005

July, 2005

The night we came home. At midnight. 8am Moscow time!!

19 months old. In Ekaterinburg.

Leaving the baby home!!

Leaving the baby home!!

The photos all uploaded in the wrong order, but I tried. I also tried to do a slideshow, but couldn't figure out how to get the slideshow to accept the photos that were already on my computer. It wanted me to send the photos out to the web, and then get them back. Hmm.

But anyway, we were looking at baby pictures the other day, so I decided to post just a few of them for fun. And it gave me a good reason to look at them again :). Enjoy!

Earache

Last night Jupiter woke up around midnight. Her ear hurt. She whimpered about her ear hurting for the longest time, while I cajoled, begged, requested, etc...her to take some bubble gum tylenol so she could go back to sleep. But apparently she no longer likes tylenol. She also does not like orange advil, grape tylenol, anything liquid, or anything remotely ressembling medecine. So we rocked in the rocking chair for awhile, while she cried about her ear hurting and then whimpered for the kitty to come in (who, sensibly, was staying far away from the noise). She didn't go back to sleep while we were rocking, and finally I bribed her with a full Lindt truffle ball. She still hesitated to take the pink tylenol, but finally did. At least two of them...I'm still not convinced that the third one made it to her mouth. Then she talked about missing her Valentines Day party at school on Friday, and she was sad because she missed the "round crackers" they knew they would have. After some more conversation, I determine that they are Ritz crackers. Which we have in the cupboard. So then she wanted Ritz crackers. Then she wanted me to go back in my bed so she could rock and sing her heart out to Troy for the 39 and a half minutes until the tylenol kicked in and she went back to sleep. But at least the singing kept me awake so I could go back in and put the blankets back on her. It's 2:3o before I truly get to go back to sleep.

So tonight, I'm a little tired. Jupiter isn't tired, since she got to have a nice nap this afternoon. I ended up skipping exercise in favor of a nap today, because I suspect it will be close to nine pm before she goes to sleep tonight. And besides, its going to snow overnight, so I get to wake up early to shovel. I intend to dose her with tylenol before she goes to sleep tonight, just on the off chance she'll sleep all night.

I don't know what's up with the medecine refusal. I know better than to try liquid medicine, and after the liquid flagyl fiasco, I understand her reasoning on that. But she's taken tylenol in the past, so I don't know why the last couple weeks she's outright refused to take it. I even asked her if it was more important for her to get her own way, or to feel better. I have about every kind of children's pain reliever known to mom's in the cupboard, and she doesn't like any of them. Her doctor suggested buckwheat honey for cough if she didn't like liquid medicine. But she doesn't like honey either.

Yesterday she used her tball bat to hit balls that I pitched to her. She got some good hits, but does not want me to sign her up for tball in the spring. She even let me coach her a little, when I suggested that she use her eyes to look at where she wanted the ball to go. Otherwise she just closes her eyes, swings her whole body around, and the ball either goes into the snowbank or right at my head, depending on the trajectory. It didn't last long, since it was about 28 degrees and I can't pitch wearing mittens. But it was a fun few minutes.

Spring update in Maine: I smelled skunks yesterday and this morning on the way to work!! You know it's been a long winter when the first smell of skunk is exciting.

Goodbye for now from germ central...

Mr. Monk and Jupiter

Did anyone else see the Monk episode a few weeks back..the one where Natalie made Monk investigate a stolen bicycle and in the process of the investigation Monk got shot in the leg and was confined to a wheelchair?? I think it was the best Monk episode I've seen in a long time. One of my favorite parts was when they dragged Monk off to the scientists house and he was trying to get out of the car. He kept whining..."I can DO it!!!" and trying to get out himself, and then going "I can't do it." But as soon as the others tried to help him, it was right back to "I can DO it!!!!" And I said, "Whoa, it's Jupiter!!" And he blamed poor Natalie for absolutely EVERYTHING, and complained about everything, and Natalie was pushing him up and down the hills of San Francisco in the wheelchair (while he sat under a sun umbrella and drank bottled water through a straw) and STILL he complained.
It may be I identified a little with this episode. I saw a lot of Jupiter in this particular Monk. At the end of course, Monk was able to see it wasn't Natalie's fault that he got shot. (and then, it being a TV show, Natalie herself did accidentially shoot Monk in the other leg). And I'm sure at some point today, Jupiter is going to figure out today is the day we were supposed to go to the Children's Museum to see the preview for The Magic Flute, and the fact that we did not go will be my fault. (Still coughing and runny nosed and the snot had blood in it for awhile this morning. So no, we're not going to the Children's Museum.). And on Friday I said she couldn't go to school so she missed her Valentine's Day party. Yes, my fault too. It's tough being 5 sometimes.

Yesterday, Jupiter said something nice to me. We were painting, and I am not, in any sense of the word, an artist. And I said something to the effect of not liking my painting, and she said "It's beautiful."

Whoa. I wondered if she was just being polite...but then again, tact and politeness are not high on her list of priorities. If she thinks your painting is ugly...she'll let you know. So maybe she really meant it.

Today she's been playing the keyboard with her toes....very talented!!

Conversation of the week

Jupiter: "Mom, look out for that ice down there."

Me: "Thank you, Jupiter. That was really nice of you to warn me."

Jupiter: "I wasn't being nice. I was just being bossy."

Sick Day (again)

Jupiter has a viral cold/cough/ thing. I am going to put a kleenex factory in my backyard. We have gone through BOXES of kleenex since Wednesday. The front of her face is irritated from all the kleenex. She does NOT want me to put any vaseline on the front of her face to make it feel better. She does NOT want any tylenol, advil, or cold medecine. She does NOT want me to wipe her nose for her. The cold is stupid, stupid, stupid. And I am stupid too. Because, of course, I GAVE her the virus germs on purpose so she would get sick.

Wednesday morning, she had a cough. She went to school anyway, and while she was there her teachers decided she had chicken pox. She does NOT have chicken pox. If she did, she would be scratching herself to death. Wednesday afternoon, she had a fever. Wednesday night, she called me to lay down with her and she was shaking under the blankets.

Thursday, we stayed home. She did NOT want her oatmeal. She did eat some ice cream. We watched a few hours of Lassie with Ranger Corey ON DEMAND. I used to love ON DEMAND. Then Jupiter figured out what ON DEMAND means. She KNOWS we can watch Lassie any time she wants, because it's ON DEMAND. We saw Ranger Corey and Lassie save a stray dog, a stray baby bear, and a stray human hermit. We saw the stray human hermit episode twice. We went outside for a half an hour for fresh air. We watched the Goofy Movie. She fell asleep during Wow Wow Wubsy. She didn't want supper, but wanted more ice cream. She didn't want her blue raspberry slushie Mimi brought her.

She will ALWAYS drink a slushie. So Friday morning, her temp was still up and she still wasn't eating, so I called the doctor and made an appointment. Just because it was Friday, and the option of waiting another day wasn't there. Two hours later, her temperature went down and she started eating. I should have known. We went to see the doctor anyway, just for kicks. Jupiter has a viral crud and an inflamed tonsil and a little fluid in one ear. Nothing which required antibiotics..YAY. Trying to give Jupiter oral antibiotics is always such a treat..I try to avoid it.

Today her nose continues to run non stop. She does NOT want me to put any vaseline under her nose where it's sore. And the cough which didn't appear one second while we were in the exam room is well apparent today...of course.

I'm dreaming of a good hot day so I can open all the windows and air out the house....but I'll settle for the day I can go look in the garden and see the signs of a real live chive poking out of the ground. February is half gone.....

The Magic Eagle

Jupiter has a new plan. She's a great one for planning. Parties, mostly. But today, she's embarked on a new plan.

She is going to make up a "singing ballet." At the moment, the singing ballet is called "The Magic Eagle." She has talked nonstop about it for 45 minutes. She's assigned various parts to members of her nursery school class. I told her that's called the cast. She's described the plot to me. So far it seems to contain elements of Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, (she told me who Cinderella's evil ancestors were, but I think she means stepsisters...)Swan Lake, the Firebird, Nutcracker, and Magic Flute. We haven't seen Magic Flute, but we've been talking about going to see BLO do a preview of it. She's brainstorming costumes.

And it's going to be on a real stage. With lights. And curtains. And real seats where people can sit. She will have stage fright, but she'll have her friends with her so it's okay. And we have to make fliers so on the big day people can come watch. And when its the big day, she can wear makeup.

I told her I would help her write it all down, if she wanted to write it down. If only I were half as creative as she is!!! I can't wait to see the big show!!!

Valentine Delivery

Yesterday after church, the Sunday school kids visited a local nursing home to deliver Valentines. They made lots and lots of Valentines and when we got to the center, they went around in groups of twos and threes to deliver Valentines to the residents.

Jupiter didn't say much...she did hand out some Valentines but didn't really talk to anybody. We weren't there long, so she didn't have much chance to get used to the environment. After we had visited all the rooms, we went to the dining room and delivered Valentines to the rest of the residents while they were getting ready to have lunch.

Which is when I had the flashback to the baby home. I saw a plate with pureed meat and mashed potatoes and I was right back in the baby home, getting ready to feed Jupiter her pureed meat and mashed potatoes and broth. And I looked around at the environment of the nursing home some more, and the similarities jumped out at me. A few residents had visitors, but Jupiter asked me later, after we got home, why the people in "that place" (she couldn't remember what it was called) had dolls and stuffed animals. And I told her that most of those people don't get to see their families very often, and the dolls and stuffed animals help them feel less lonely. The explanation made sense to her, but I remembered again how lonely my baby must have been in the baby home.

Father Tim asked the kids, before we left, if anybody would be interested in coming to visit the nursing home again, and Jupiter's hand was the first one in the air. All the other questions I had to hold her hand up to answer, but not that one. If she were to come out of her shell, I can only imagine what a ray of light she would be to them...she really does love older people.

Later on Sunday, we were looking at a picture hanging on my living room wall of my Great Nana. Nana died in 2001, but I have a picture of her holding a baby on the day she received the Boston Post Cane, so we talked about Nana, and how she loved holding babies, and got into an interesting conversation somewhere along the lines of:

"Where is your Nana?"

She went to heaven and her body is buried in the ground.

"Where?"

In Peru. (Maine. )

"Can we go see her?"

If you want too. We can leave flowers there. Maybe some chrysthanthemums.

"I think roses are better. How is she in the ground?"

When someone dies and doesn't need their body anymore, we put the body in a special box and bury it in the ground.

"What kind of box?"

"A special very heavy box."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I think it helps keep the bones from coming out of the ground."

"Why?"

"Because when the gound gets really cold, and then gets warm again, over a long time, lots and lots of years, things like rocks and bones can come back out of the ground."

"Can we dig up the bones, because I would like to touch them."

"No. They have to stay in the ground."

"Why?"

"Because it's disrespectful to the bones to dig them up."

"Why does it bother the bones?"


etc......

What Jupiter wants to Share

This Jupiter's blog entry~as dictated to me.

I had a good day today. I sended lots of letters to Troy. He's the guy from high School Musical. He's cool.

I went to school. I painted a heart picture. A heart made of tinfoil. I played with Amelia and Isabelle, or IzzIzz.

I had chicken noodle soup for lunch. I had a nap today. I only had a quiet time. (not true. She slept.) I had pizza for supper. Kind of. Then I had plain peanut butter.

She's done now :)

The BIG GAME

On Friday night, we went to a girls basketball game in the town where I work, to see my friend's daughter C play basketball. Jupiter has been enthralled with basketball ever since she watched HSM and fell in love with Troy. So Friday morning, Jupiter packed her basketball costume so she would be all set to go to the game. Friday I got out of work early, and went home and scraped six inches of snow off the driveway from Wednesday's storm that I haden't had time to do yet, and then went to pick up Jupiter to go to the game.

Jupiter decided she would rather be stylish to go to the game, and was wearing a skirt and fancy tights and a shirt. It should have dawned on me that Troy was likely to be at the game. For the first hour or so, she made me sit with my hands clamped over her ears while she got used to buzzers and whistles and squeaky shoes. I was almost ready to leave when they started getting ready for the varsity game.

The varsity game had a BAND. The varsity game has CHEERLEADERS. Jupiter made friends with a couple of kids that had come to the game and forgot to be worried about whether her ears were covered. At which point she determined the game was the best fun ever and didn't want to leave. She cheered for the cheerleaders the whole time.

My favorite part of the game happened when the girl Jupiter made friends with covered her ears (either because of the noise or because Jupiter was covering hers..not sure which) and Jupiter reached over and gently rubbed her shoulder to make her feel better. I was SO proud of her!!!!

Its not January anymore

Good thing, too. See the picture of the snow at my house? Jupiter thought it was great being able to climb the snowbank and TOUCH THE ROOF!!!

I just love looking out my living room window and seeing nothing but snowbank. It does have an upside...it keeps some of the heat from escaping through the window. Normally when the snowbank gets this high it doesn't last very long..it's the south side of the house and gets more sun than anywhere else in the yard. But it's been cold enough this year we haven't done much in the way of melting.

At least today's storm went out to sea and we only got flurries. YAY!!!