We actually don’t have any plans this weekend. That’s kind of nice. KrisDi was trapped in the house Tuesday through Friday afternoon. Her work was closed Wednesday, late start with work-from-home and mandatory no-more-work at noon on Thursday, regular work-from-home on Friday with a four hour late start. Me? I worked from home Wednesday, had two hour late starts Wednesday-Friday. Why? A few inches of snow. Catastrophic…for these pussies.
Of course, I’m being melodramatic. I love to talk shit about Seattle drivers and snow, but there remains one blatant fact: Here there are hills. Unfortunately, here there are also fearful, inexperienced, frankly incompetent drivers. Or, as I refer to them, “obstacles” and “hazards”.
The snow started Tuesday night. Then we got some pretty serious icy rain. Then we got a little more snow. Then it all melted into slush. It’s basically gone now. Our power was out for about twenty minutes the other day, it has flashed a number of times. Cable (and therefore internet) was out for about 12 hours on Wednesday. It was horrible.
The ice was thick and heavy enough that we could just sit and listen to branches breaking and falling under the weight. I went for a 30 minute walk through our greenbelt, and actually saw two significant branch collapses, and heard another six or eight. We heard two thunderous crashes from our couches, but never figured out exactly where they came from. I wonder where birds and squirrels hide in this kind of weather. When it warmed up, ice and twigs and branches were showering our back yard, enough that KrisDi was scared to go outside.
Chilkat turned 11 months old yesterday. She started walking again yesterday, too. She’s getting good at waving and saying good bye, she’ll hug and kiss us (and stuffed animals and inanimate objects) incredibly cutely, and sometimes she’ll blow kisses. She likes to wave good bye when KrisDi’s carrying her up the stairs, and sometimes she’ll kiss the banister when I’m trying to get her to blow me a kiss. It’s interesting to see her learn specific things. Like:
- One step per stair. Even if the stairs come up to your chest (her gigantic strides are hilarious).
- No double dipping. Take a chip out of the bag, dip it in the guacamole, eat the guacamole, put the chip on your plate, and get a new chip out of the bag.
- Wash your blackberries before you eat them, one at a time.
- Say “ahhhh” after you have a drink of water.
- Dental hygiene is very important. Don’t worry about which end of the toothbrush you use.
- Wave hello and good bye to everyone, even if they can’t see you.
- She knows how to work an iPhone. If you press the button, a really cute picture of you comes up.
She’s interested in stacking things, putting things inside of things, putting the lids on things (although sometimes she’s doesn’t get them right side up), opening and closing things. Hats are still hilarious, and she knows what my hat is — she grabbed it and brought it to me when I asked her to. She always seems like she’s trying to figure things out, based on the way she shuts up and stares at new or unfamiliar things. She’s enjoying her new-found ability to communicate, telling KrisDi when she wants to nurse (probably quite a bit more often than she really wants to, but it’s so gratifying to make Mom do what you want).
She’s fake crying now. She’ll put her head down and make totally fake sobbing noises, and she’ll laugh as soon as you call her on it. She probably picked that up from KrisDi, who fake cries to try and teach Chilkat that certain things (like face-clawing, slapping, or clubbing) hurt.
She suddenly has a greatly increased appetite for solids. Sunday, she ate half a piece of pizza. She can eat a whole pierogi or half a banana pretty easily. She likes raw onions more than most apples (Granny Smith are the exception), and she likes onions pickled with jalapenos. Speaking of which, KrisDi pickled some jalapenos, onions, and carrots.
Pictures:
- Chilkat, weird whiskey, and other photos
- Beautiful sunset and a photography experiment
- Around the house and starting to snow
- Icy snowy days
Speaking of apples, I got some yesterday called Orins. They have a texture and flavor similar to Asian pears, though maybe a bit milder. Ever had them?