Vocabulary Explosion

Ian's vocabulary has REALLY expanded over the past two weeks. He's not where Nadia was when she was this age, but I think he'd now be considered "normal." I'm going to ask his speech therapist about it tomorrow. Maybe we can discontinue the speech therapy? That would be great! I'd say his vocabulary includes at least 40 words now, and probably about 10 of those are pronounced really clearly such as ball, doll, well (said while pointing to a picture of a well), no, and eye. Here are some other things I am thankful for today.

2. When I filled up my gas tank on Monday on the way to the swimming pool, I noticed I had gone a little over 500 miles since my last fill-up, and I only needed to put a little over 9 gallons of gas in my tank. I've been averaging about 51 miles to the gallon over the past month. This would be an even happier thing if the gas prices would go down a dollar or two, but in light of the higher gas prices (I paid $3.61 on Monday), I am very grateful for my hybrid.

3. With the exception of this morning when Nadia woke us up (for a tissue of course) at 6:00, the norm now is that I go get Nadia sometime around 7:00 (she's playing quietly in her bed when I get her), and I get Ian when he wakes up (sometime between 7:00-7:30 most days). This is a WONDERFUL thing!

4. I haven't mentioned it lately, but I'm still really grateful for Money Saving Mom. This week I got two $10 prepaid Discover cards in the mail from a Kellogg's rebate I learned about months ago on her site. I've gotten $30 from that so far, and I never pay more than $1.50 per cereal box so that means I've been paying on average only 50 cents for a box of cereal this year. Other recent "deals" I learned about through her site include two free Christian books that are in the mail, a $10 off $10 coupon for Pier 1 which meant I got $11.50 worth of stuff for the kids (2 puzzles, 1 ball, and 1 little bus) for $1.50, I bought a $50 JCP voucher for $20, I bought a $10 Dunkin Donuts gift card for $5, etc. I'm also still thankful for CVS. We made our weekly trip there yesterday morning, and this week I did a special at our grocery store where I'll be getting a $10 gift card because I purchased $30 worth of P&G products (with coupons of course so I didn't actually spend $30).

5. Monday morning we went to the playground, and on the way home we passed a yard sale. I am not used to seeing yard sales on Mondays, but this was a great yard sale for us because they were mostly selling things for kids (books, games, toys, stuffed animals, etc.). I bought 8 books, 1 game, 10 little cars and trucks (they were 20 cents each), a set of 8 really nice 6 inch wooden road signs for $2.00, and an adorable Tonka truck wooden table and stool set for $10. If I hadn't just purchased some other new furniture for Nadia's room, I would have put this table and stools in the living room (next to the play kitchen), but I had already moved down the table and chairs that used to be in her room. For now this Tonka table and stools are in the basement, and I plan to move them into Ian's room whenever I feel it's time for the glider to come out of his room.

6. Even though I wouldn't have ordered all the new furniture had I known I was going to buy an adorable table and stool set for $10, I do love the new things. Paul put together Ian's new (transportation themed) bookshelf last week, I assembled Nadia's new doll bed yesterday, and Paul assembled Nadia's new rocking chair last night. The kids love all the new items. The only problem is Ian wants to climb in the doll bed, and I'm afraid he might break it. I'm trying to teach him it's only for dolls or stuffed animals. Nadia has really been into playing with dolls lately, so it was perfect timing. I have her new rocking chair and the doll bed in the dormer window area of her bedroom. I had a rocking chair in my room growing up, and I've been wanting her to have one for awhile. This one is larger than the one I had, so it should last longer. Even after I outgrew mine, I still enjoyed it as then I used it for my dolls. I am hoping she'll get a lot of use out of it. I splurged and got a pretty one, which was twice as expensive as a plain one, but it is adorable! Before I had the idea of a rocking chair for that part of her room, I was contemplating get her this table (since I was putting the white one that has been in her room downstairs). I'm really glad I didn't because #1 this table/chair set is REALLY expensive and #2 I love the table/chair set I got for $10, and we don't need 3 small tables in our house! Tonight Paul plans to assemble the final thing I bought - another bookshelf for Nadia's room. As you know, I love to buy the kids books, and since I recently moved some more games and puzzles onto the bookshelf in the living room, I've needed to make room for more books elsewhere!

7. I found out this morning that because I redesigned the social studies online course this summer (someone else taught it last summer), the Dean approved me to receive a stipend for that. It's nothing huge, but it's enough to pay for all the furniture I just bought for the kids!

8. Ian now loves the ball pit (aka our jacuzzi tub), and this has meant that showers have become much  more relaxing for me. Sometimes I take them before 7am, but if I take my shower after 7am, it can still work out alright now that Ian can play happily in the balls while I shower. Yahoo!!!

9. I'm thankful we've never made a trip to the swimming pool and not been able to swim. Twice this summer we've had to leave earlier than planned because it thundered, and yesterday we had to delay our entrance by 30 minutes (made an unplanned trip to Walmart), but we've never had a totally wasted trip (which is good because if we don't hit traffic it takes us 19 minutes one way).

10. Paul got a grant of 1,000 Euros for his conference next month! I had to call our banks this morning to figure out how to accept the wire transfer from Italy. We have accounts in local banks that aren't used to dealing with international transactions.

11. I may have saved the best for last. Yesterday I called Karen because even with Melatonin Ian's nap was only 25 minutes (in his crib), and then he slept about 30 more minutes in my arms. She suggested giving him a half a tablet (I tried to give him 1/3 of a tablet yesterday), and she said if he woke up after such a short nap that I should let him cry in the hopes that he would fall back asleep in his crib. I am not really sure what fraction of the pill I gave him today because there are no markings on the tablets. I just gave him the other half of the one I had cut yesterday. The other difference was I gave him one more sippy cup of EleCare (his fourth for the day) 30 minutes before I put him down. It worked! He napped for 70 minutes straight in his crib for the first time in many months! WOOHOO! Hopefully today wasn't a fluke.

Finally, I'll close with a quote the wife of one of my cousin's shared yesterday on Facebook. The author of the quote is C.S. Lewis. "The homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose only - and that is to support the ultimate career." I am not sure I can agree with the second sentence; it's usually hard to use the word "all" and not think of exceptions, but I definitely agree with the first sentence. I look forward with anticipation to the day when I will "just" be a wife, mom, and the teacher of our children.