jennanddave.com

Earlier this afternoon we went to our town's annual Easter egg hunt. It's organized by the university and is held at a downtown park. Dave and I were curious to go for two reasons. The first one's pretty obvious: Henry's never been to an egg hunt before so we were dying (ha! punny!) to see what he would make of the whole thing. The second reason is the hunt happens to coincide with the university's annual student shindig called House Party Weekend. To sum up: there's lots of beer; lots of students driving in from other universities; a few live bands who all play the same Pearl Jam songs; and lots of all night partying. (As an aside, I think it's sad that the grunge music of my high school years is the same stuff that's speaking to college kids fourteen years later. Even I've moved on.) Some locals dread this weekend and try to get out of town but I kind of like hearing all the ruckus, especially since this town's usually really quiet. Anyway, back to the second reason: we wanted to see how hung over the students who volunteered for the egg hunt were.

When we got to the park there were plastic eggs strewn around the park as far as the eye could see, at least relative to a toddler. Henry immediately ran for them and tried to pick them up. We told him he couldn't do that yet, so he wandered around, pointing at all the different colored eggs. Then he discovered if he stomped on them they'd pop open, which technically isn't picking them up, right? Dave steered him back towards the sidewalk and distracted him from the glory of Easter eggs by pointing out a duck while I stayed behind and put back together the ones he'd stomped on.

Henry loved running around with all of the other kids. He was not enamored with the Easter Bunny so we didn't get any pictures of them together. He was, however, extremely fond of Bucky the Bison. Bucky tried a couple of times to coax a high five out of him, but Henry prefered to admire him from a distance.

At one o'clock everyone gathered around the grassy area in preparation for the hunt to begin. When the opening bell sounded a bazillion kids ran out with their baskets and started grabbing eggs. A bazillion kids minus Henry, that is, who stood on the sidelines and was either confused, or was doing a very good job of obeying his mom and dad's advice about not picking up any eggs. Obviously he was confused. I stood in front of an orange egg and encouraged him to pick it up. The other parents were very nice about steering their kids clear of that particular egg. Finally Henry ran over and picked it up. Then he ran over to a purple one and picked it up. After that, there were no more eggs to pick up. It was over that fast. Seriously. I'd guess the whole thing lasted 30-60 seconds and then everyone cleared out. Further up the lawn were a couple of empty eggs that had been looted and dumped, which Henry spied and ran to pick up. That's what's great about Henry's age. It's not about what's in the eggs, it's all about the thrill of finding them.

And in case you were curious, the students didn't seem at all hung over.

Posted by Jenn at 02:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I have this problem whenever Henry and I go into Toys'R Us: I want to buy him one of everything in the store. Today we went there so I could pick up some things for his Easter basket. I was thinking of getting him something cat-oriented because he loves them THIS MUCH. While perusing the aisles, we eventually found ourselves facing a big wall filled with stuffed animals. Henry squealed with unabashed glee and pointed his finger. This was not your average finger point, oh no, it was a finger point full of great purpose. I spent the next few minutes picking out animal after animal and watching him vehemently shake his head in the negative, until finally I got to a huge stuffed bear. His arms shot out and he grabbed it, rubbed his face in the bear's belly, then he cooed a few times. I thought about getting it for him, but then I remembered the last time he went ga-ga for a doll. It was a koala bear. He killed me with his cuteness in the store so I forked over the money, and by the time we got home Henry was all "Whatever, mom." It has since sat untouched on his book shelf. So today we left without a bear. And yet, I still want to buy him everything in that store.

Posted by Jenn at 07:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I'm making great progress on Henry's cable and rib sweater. The back is complete and I'm almost done with the front. I thought by the time I had finished knitting the 16.5" worth of the cable pattern that makes up the back I'd be ready to take a nice long break from this project, but instead I immediately cast on for the front. I'd show you pictures but I can't seem to locate the camera.

There were a couple of hours worth of knitting excitment that took place Monday night that was pure Jenn. For the size I'm making, I cast on 98 stitches, then knit up to a certain length on the front, after which I knit 38 stitches following the pattern, turned, and then worked those 38 stitches until the length matched that of the back. Then I had to go back to the row I first took the 38 stitches from, bind off 24, then work the other side of the front the same as the first side. No problem. Except when I counted how many stitches I was going to have left after casting off the center 24 stitches, I came up with 36. I thought that was pretty weird, because then the two sides wouldn't match. I decided that there was probably a mistake and that I'm only supposed to cast off 22 stitches at the center front, except I can't just go ahead and make that kind of earth-shattering decision on my own without checking online to make sure that yes there was a mistake in the pattern and that other people out there bound off only 22 stitches without having their sweaters spontaneously combust. So the next hour was spent alternately scrutinizing people's pictures of their Cable and Rib Sweaters to see if their fronts looked even and going back into the living room to curse over the pattern. To add even more fuel to my fire of unwillingness to just go ahead and cast off 22 instead of 24 stitches already was the fact that Debbie Bliss's website doesn't show any revisions for this particular pattern on her errata page. So it must be right, right? I went back and calculated how many stitches were supposed to be on both sides of the front for the other sizes and found they were all even. So finally I sucked it up and cast off 22. Then I exhaled and worked a couple of rows. Then I went to bed because, man, was that exhausting.

I like to follow the rules, especially when it comes to patterns, because although I feel like I know what I'm doing, I'm still not entirely certain that my changing one tiny little thing is going to screw up something much later in the pattern. Unfortunately, my desire for perfection is equal to my desire to not mess with the pattern, which is why Monday was a bit of a nightmare. Every time I decided to cast off 22 stitches, I was worried I was messing up the pattern. On the other hand, every time I decided to cast off 24, I was irritated that the sides were going to be two different widths. It was like a perfect storm.

Posted by Jenn at 01:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Henry turned 19 months old last Friday. To mark the occassion, I thought I'd share with you some of the things I've discovered about him since we've started going to playgroup:

1. He can stack things. At his 18 month checkup the nurse asked if he could stack things. We had no idea; we don't really have stackable toys at home. We said "Uhhh, sure." The nurse also asked if our home life was happy and we hemmed and hawed so much that by the time one of us said yes, she was looking at us funny. For the record, we have a very happy home. Also for the record, we always manage to somehow blow the important questions. There's probably a big, red flag in Henry's folder now. Anyway, at playgroup there are big cardboard bricks, which one day Henry started stacking. So there you go.

2. Henry can sit in a chair all by himself and eat a snack. At the same time! Which is more than I can say for myself.

3. He can eat apple slices. He nibbles his way through the middle of a slice then shoves each remaining half in his mouth while I stand next to him quietly having a heart attack.

4. He likes bug-shaped graham crackers, but seriously, who doesn't?

5. He's way more naturally social than his mom is. That's not really a surprise though is it?

6. He can stick a whole ping-pong ball in his mouth. I couldn't be any prouder.

One of the four year old girls who attends the same playgroup came up to me this morning and said "Hey! It looks like you brushed your hair today!" I told her I had, then I asked her if it was an improvement over how my hair usually looks and she said very vehemently "Yes!". I'm going to go sit on the couch and work up a complex now.

Posted by Jenn at 01:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

me: Their mouths are shaped like that because they eat insects from the surface of the water.
dave: You know, I think you have a little bit of your uncle in you.
me: If I had a little bit of my uncle in me, he'd be skewered on a pin in a display box by now*. Roscoe's mouth makes him look so grumpy.
dave: He's perfect for this family.
me: What do you mean?
dave: He's a grumpy loner.

*My uncle's a biologist who collects insects. "Ewwwww!" has been my official take on his hobby since the age of five.

Posted by Jenn at 06:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dave and I have agreed on the name Roscoe for our fish. Once upon a time there was a spider that lived in our kitchen window which we named Roscoe. The next summer, another spider showed up, so he became Roscoe II. Last summer no spider showed up at all and I was sad. Since I personally find spiders to be icky, I decided that it was the lack of something, anything, named "Roscoe" in my life that weighed most heavily on my heart, so Roscoe the Fish it is.

Last night I went online and looked up information on how to care for a Betta fish. Thanks to this site and some advice from my Grandma, I went to Walmart this morning armed with a list of things I need to get besides water conditioner and fish flakes. Our fish is going to be living in style. MTV Cribs is going to be knocking on the side of his tank soon, looking to get a tour. Or he'll be dead by Saturday.

How Roscoe has changed our life: every afternoon (since Tuesday, so, twice) Henry and I have a post-nap snack at the dining room table where we munch on goldfish, feed Roscoe, and then have a very animated conversation about him while watching him swim. It really is as cute as it sounds.

Posted by Jenn at 02:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I was flipping through some of my mom's photos last fall and came across one of my uncle when he was a kid. I was immediately enamoured of his totally rad haircut. It was cut really short from his neck up to the top of his head. The hair on top was left longish and tousled looking. My dad told me it's called a "high and tight", a common military haircut (usually the military version is a lot shorter on top, more like crew-cut length). I decided that would be Henry's next haircut. Did you know that watched hair never grows? I learned that the hard way. Finally, this month Henry achieved a proper state of general hair disheveledness (only the second time it's ever happened), so out came the clippers. This morning, in fact. Yes, even though I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing when it comes to hair, I decided to cut Hank's myself.

Before I unveil the "after" pictures, I'd like to point out one thing that's probably pretty obvious and doesn't need to be said but I'll say it anyway: it's hard to cut an eighteen month old's hair. Especially when they're running around instead of sitting in a chair which in hindsight probably would have been a good idea. The initial cut only took about five minutes, followed by a half an hour of stealth swipes which took place while he was sufficiently distracted by something like a book. Or the Wiggles. I think it came out all right though. It's not perfect, but he's cute enough to pull it off. Next time I think I'll just take him to a barber.

Posted by Jenn at 01:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The town we live in prides itself on being pedestrian friendly, which I'll concede it is, but only as long as you don't want to do anything as wantonly crazy as cross the street. Once you want to do that, you're in trouble. I've been almost hit by cars while crossing the street within the supposedly safe confines of a crosswalk more times in the almost four years we've lived here than in the twenty years I lived in Boston. This particular characteristic of the town used to irritate me to no end. Now it's just a fact of life, as is the panic-stricken/defensive look most people get when they come to the end of a sidewalk.

One of the ways the town attempts to achieve pedestrian friendliness is with an abundant use of the four-way stop sign. Every intersection in the residential areas surrounding downtown's main street has a four-way stop. (Off the top of my head I can only think of one intersection that's a two-way stop.) This means every time you come to the end of a block, you have a stop sign. Most people just slow down a little bit, whip their heads around in every direction, then step on the gas until they get to the next intersection, where they repeat the whole process. Woe be the day you get more than one car at a four-way stop. Sometimes people navigate them the way you're supposed to (first car to stop at the intersection has the right-of-way), but more often the drivers look at each other and wait for the other person to go ahead and do something already. All of this happens over the course of a few seconds, but always I end up banging my head on the steering wheel while yelling the "Rules of Stop Sign Engagement", memorized verbatim from the PA Drivers Manual at the top of my lungs. It isn't as pretty as it sounds.

While we were in Charlottesville something earth-shattering happened around here: a Super Wal-mart opened. Now we can indulge in the convenience of grocery shopping and buying junk all in one giant, soul-sucking store. On Saturday the first thing we did after breakfast was jump in the car and drive over as fast as we thought we could without risking getting pulled over. There were long lines of traffic trying to get into and out of the parking lot. We couldn't figure out what the problem was until we got closer to the store. The traffic flow is regulated with four-way stop signs, followed by tons of stop signs in the parking lot itself. It was a total disaster. Part of the problem was it was the first Saturday after the grand-opening so everybody was there that day. I'm sure that once the excitment dies down it'll be more manageable. On the other hand, Henry and I went grocery shopping there this morning to see what it was like and it was still kind of a nightmare. We ended up parking really far back and away from the main entrance to the parking lot so that we wouldn't have to contend with as many drivers.

The whole point of this post is to get Dave in such a huff over the state of traffic in Small Town Pennsylvania that he won't be quite so annoyed when he comes home to find this on his dining room table:

What should we name him? How about "Reason Number One Why Jenn Shouldn't Food Shop at the Super Walmart"? It's kind of a mouthful. Maybe we should go with something like "Bo".

Posted by Jenn at 01:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The only way to keep Dave from working is to physically remove him from temptation, so we decided to head down to Charlottesville to visit with his parents. Henry came down with a cold the Friday before we were supposed to leave. We briefly contemplated canceling the trip, but since his runny nose wasn't damping his spirits at all, we decided to go after all. Best decision we could have made because the three full days we were there, the temperatures were in the upper-70's. Of course, we drove into a snowstorm on the way home, but it was totally worth it.

We took Henry to a Japanese steak house for lunch on Tuesday. A chef came out and cooked at our table whatever it was Dave had ordered. Because Henry was overdue for his nap, he was a bit grumpy so we were worried the big bursts of flames from the grill would frighten him, but he was completely enthralled. Gape-mouthed enthralled. The chef also razzle-dazzled him by spinning and tossing around an egg which he eventually cracked and cooked for some fried rice. It was a lot of fun. Henry ate some miso-soaked tofu and two pieces of tamago. Next time we're in town, we're definitely going back.

Posted by Jenn at 04:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Since Dave's on spring break I think I'll take the rest of the week off too. You know, to make sure he doesn't sneak any work in. I may be posting pictures to our flickr site though. You'll have to check it out to see if I actually do. See you all next week...

Posted by Jenn at 03:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Since I managed to finish one knitted project last week, that meant I got to go ahead and start another one. I didn't have anything particular in mind so I sat down yesterday with a bunch of pattern books and started flipping through them for inspiration, and what do you know? I was inspired:

The pattern is called "Cable and Rib Sweater with Hood" from "The Baby Knits Book" by Debbie Bliss. Because I was overwhelmed with the excitement that accompanies even thinking about a new knitting project, I immediately bundled up Henry and headed to Mad About Ewes to scope out some yarn. The pattern calls for a cotton yarn, and lots of it. Libby had some cottons, but none of the colors really screamed "Henry" to me. She suggested I look at a new brand of washable merino that she's carrying. It was like fate because not only did I find the perfect color, but the guage matches the pattern perfectly so it should be totally straightforward. The yarn is called Summit Hill and it's put out by Kraemer Yarns. The color is officially called "Jade" which makes me think of greenish blue, but it's more like a bright heathery blue. Yesterday during Henry's nap I swatched and then cast on. Then after he woke up, I snuck in a few rows here and there until he went to bed, after which I plopped on the couch and really reveled in all the cable-y glory. As of right now, here's where I'm at:

and here's a closeup of the cable pattern:

This is what I'll be working on at tonight's knitting group. I think I'll get more props with this project than I did with the toilet paper cover. The conversation last week went something like this:

Knitting Group Lady 1: Oohhhh, what are you making?
KGL2: A sweater for so-and-so!
Entire knitting group: Oohhhh! That's going to be soooo pretty!
KGL3: What are you knitting?
KGL4: A curtain!
EKG: Oooohhhhh! That's so clever! Can I see the pattern? What yarn are you using?
KGL3: Jenn, what are you making?
me: A sushi toilet paper cover!
EKG: *crickets chirping*...ummm....neat....

Later I felt compelled to bring out Salina just to save face because yes, I am that weak. And sensitive.

Posted by Jenn at 03:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Henry's a youtube junkie. Here are his current obsessions: 12 Days of Christmas reworked Indian style; I'm a Kitty Cat; Hot Potato by The Wiggles (pre-hot Anthony).

Yesterday evening Dave and I had the following conversation:

me: You know, I've gotten so used to your late-night work schedule that when you do come up to bed while I'm still awake, I get a little annoyed.
dave: I've been getting annoyed when I go up to bed ten minutes after you do just in time to see you close your book and turn out the light.*

Last night I went upstairs at 11:04. I spent the next hour reading, waiting for Dave to come upstairs. Meanwhile, Dave took the dog for a walk, cleaned up the kitchen, and did who knows what else. At 12:10 I finally gave up waiting, put my book away, and turned off the light. At 12:15 Dave came upstairs. I listened to him fumble around in the dark and asked if he'd like me to turn on the light. He said no. Then we had the following conversation:

dave: Did you wait up for me?
me: Yeah, I turned the light off five minutes before you came up.
dave: I was staying downstairs so you could chill out and go to bed before I came up.

Then we laughed. A lot. That is how completely in tune with each other we are.

*We both like to read before we go to sleep.

Posted by Jenn at 01:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Saturday night was the best night. We didn't do anything special, but everything we did was totally off the cuff. While Henry was napping, Dave and I decided we would go visit Mr. L because we hadn't seen him since right before our three week stretch of stomach flus, head colds, and ear infections. Henry is getting less and less shy around Mr. L. This time he only spent a few minutes with his head tucked into his daddy's armpit as opposed to the ten minutes he spent there last time we visited. Also, after snacking on some cheese, he dug my water bottle out of his diaper bag and insisted on drinking from it, a sport which he enjoyed immensely but which made me and Dave break out in hives. (We both have lingering gagging/choking fears from the days when he would gag and choke on everything. You know, last week.) Every time he'd take a sip he'd stomp his feet a few times and smile real big because he was JUST SO PROUD OF HIMSELF (stomp! stomp! stomp!). He's been practicing every day since then, but not around Dave because his heart can't take it.

When we headed back to the car after our visit, I suggested we drive by a new cafe that just opened up because I was feeling a hankering for their Cobb salad, and since the words "salad" and "craving" very rarely come together, I thought it would good to indulge. The place was empty so we had a relaxed dinner of salad, sweet potato, grilled cheese, and a reuben. After that, we headed out to a huge local gift shop that also has an amazing bakery so we could get a couple of cookies and some cupcakes for dessert. Later that night, after we'd put Henry to bed, I mentioned to Dave how great it was that everything we had done after Mr. L's we did just because we felt like it.

The next day I was talking to Megan on the phone. She mentioned wishing they were at a point where they could get more of a schedule going for her kid, which I thought was ironic because I had just been waxing poetic to Dave about how great it is to not have to be on so much of a schedule. Which leads to the breakdown of the last stages of pregnancy through the first 18 months of a kids life, from the point of view of, well, me:

Late pregnancy: get this kid out of me already! I'll do anything! I just want to be able to get out of bed without having to ask my husband to give me a shove...

A couple of weeks after giving birth: I love you, kid, but do you think you could be a little more consistent?

18 months after giving birth: OMG! Do you realize we just went out to dinner and then shopping, not because we planned it all out this morning, but because we just decided we wanted to? How awesome is that? We have the best kid. EVER!

Posted by Jenn at 01:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Friday night knitting session was a big success. Lots of good conversation, lots of good food, lots of good knitting going on. In fact, I managed to finish my toilet paper sushi cover. Here's a before:

"Good grief, what an unattractive roll of toilet paper. Somebody should do something about that."

and here's the after:

"Big improvement. I wish I had one!"

It's good to finish a project, even a small one, and this one was a lot of fun, so that's a plus. I'd like to find one more color to fill in a little more of the top. I'll have to continue digging through my scrap yarn pile.

On Saturday we headed out to the mall in search of some new pants for Henry. He's outgrowing all of his current ones at an alarming rate. We went to Old Navy where Dave picked a few pairs out. He got a few in large-looking 2T's and a few in 3T. When we got them home it turned out that although there's lots of length for him to grow into with the 3T's, the waists are already a little tight. I put him into the 2T's yesterday and they fit perfectly. It's very odd. Anyway, one of the big attractions at the mall we went to is the indoor carousel. My dad and I took Henry on one when we went to Edaville last year and he seemed to enjoy it. This time around though, it was bad news. He was fine until Dave put him on one of the horses, at which point he started to sob. He had calmed down ever so slightly by the end of the ride, but he was still pretty unhappy. Poor kid.

Sunday morning Dave took Henry out to lunch. I loved it because not only did I get a few hours to myself, but I think it's great that they got to spend some time alone together without me breathing down their necks. When they got home, Dave said they had a great time, then he mentioned something about making it a regular thing, after which I started doing a happy dance then plotted out all the things *I* could then make a regular occurrence. Here's what I've got so far: nap, take a long bubble bath, nap some more.

Next week is Dave's spring break. We both want to get out of town but can't think of anywhere to go. We have so much we should be doing around the house that we should probably stay here, but we're both pretty burned out so a change of scenery would be great. Plus, if we stay around here, Dave'll just go into work, whereas if we physically remove him from temptation, Henry and I get him all to ourselves. Also we're broke. Anyone have any suggestions for interesting places to visit that are inexpensive and sort of close to Central PA?

Posted by Jenn at 01:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

My local yarn shop is starting up a Friday Night Knitting night and tonight is the first one. I'm very excited. It's going to be great to get out of the house, and it's going to be extra-great to have an opportunity to sit down and really get some knitting done. All of my projects have fallen by the wayside since early last Fall. I can't decide what to bring, the sushi toilet roll cover or Salina. It would be nice to get the sushi cover done because what knitter doesn't get a rush of satisfaction over finishing a project. Plus, it doesn't require lots of my attention so I can focus on chatting. On the other hand, I've been working on Salina forever and it would be nice to get back into it. I think I'm at the point of starting the second lapel, which would require staring at my notes and the pattern to figure out what I have to do, which leads to having to keep track of where I am as I'm going. Not the hardest thing in the world, but it would probably detract from the chatting aspect of the evening. Probably I'll throw both in my extra-large knitting bag and decide when I get there.

I asked Libby if I could bring anything for snacks. She said she was trying to go as healthy as possible. I'm not kidding when I say that threw me for a total loop. It took me five days to come up with something remotely healthy (hummus and pita chips). I'm a cookies and cakes kind of girl.

Posted by Jenn at 02:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)