long time no see
It's been a busy year here in the cake and cookie household. You wouldn't know it from my LJ posts, though. It's not as if I'm not available on the internets, it's just that sitting and composing an LJ post (which can take me an embarrassingly long time!) is difficult with an attention-seeking toddler around. I use Facebook quite a lot because the format lends itself a bit easier to this situation.
On that note, if anyone here has a FB account and would like to be friends there, let me know. I think you can find me under cakeaccounts at gmail dot com but if not I'll share my other email. I'm on Twitter as well which I don't use as often, but I do post in fits when I'm somewhere bored with just my phone handy, so if you're there let me know.
Does anyone use Tumblr? I'm a million years behind on that but it looks like a happy medium. Any feedback on it (I have an account but literally have not used it, only looked at friends' accounts) is appreciated.
We could say I've turned into one of those parents whose life has been usurped by that of her offspring, but I'm not sure that's entirely the case. For the purposes of LJ, though, it's going to look that way, as I'm mostly typing this up so I can remember all the omg cute things he's done. Because some of them are already starting to slip my caffeine-deprived mind.
When we started the year, he wasn't yet talking, and this was a Big Deal. He had his 2-year checkup and was given Serious Looks and we were told he'd be referred to a pediatrician if this carried on. I was open to that (please, send me to someone who has some knowledge beyond the ticklist in front of them!) but it never materialised, and I never chased it up, because once I realised we hadn't had a letter in the post telling us of a new appointment, we were due to leave for Peoria. This being the UK, getting a referral can take months (not complaining, I love the NHS, etc) so I didn't want to start the process again just before leaving.
So we went to Peoria, and it was lovely. Hot as hell. Lots of time spent at the Residence Inn we were stationed at, as there wasn't a whole lot he wanted to do outside. Oh, and the local mall. We did of course venture out to the local playgrounds, but only in the evenings once the equipment had had a chance to cool off. We attended a few fairs. Oh, and shared quite a bit of TCBY. :D He obsessed over his car collection, and it needed to be carried everywhere we went. His favourite waitress at breakfast even bought him another one to add to the group. She's now a friend on FB and is expecting her own baby, which is great because she really is good with kids and clearly wanted one. My father and his partner made a couple of trips out to visit us, which was great. B showed him a few dance moves which he can still pull off very well.
In August the dude and I drove up and down the east coast visiting family and friends, and it was lovely. xeven had her second son, H, earlier this year so this was our first official viewing. Her eldest is close in age to the dude and it was really good to see them getting along so well.
Back in the UK, we resumed our normal toddler group schedule. We had a letter in the post from the health visitors as well, saying they'd like a follow-up visit with the dude to check his progress. This time, though, it was a home visit, and he had a few words to dazzle the lady with. It helped that we had the slightly more laid-back health visitor, Jan, who even if she's thinking "holy hell he'll never function in normal society" that doesn't actually appear on her face, if you know what I mean. However, he did do loads better than before, played with all toys normally, and spoke, and that's really what she wanted to know. He also trotted out some of his German, so la-di-da. go dude.
As of now, well, he's obsessed with letters and numbers, and can write most of them. They aren't always the right way around, of course. :) His interpretation of the letter W is 'doddle-doo" which is the most adorable thing, evar. He loves doing puzzles and drawing on his Aquadoodle, so much so that I really ought to buy another one as it's actually starting to wear a bit. He likes pickles, calls them 'tickles.' He'll speak in sentences if he has to, and responds really well now, which is exciting to be honest, after so long of just one-sided commentary by myself.
I might add to this later but this is good for now.
As for my own year, it's unsurprisingly not too different from Himself. However, I did manage to achieve my Bachelor's degree, finally, in Business Studies and Economics. (How's that for burying the lead? I don't even think I ever announced it on FB...) I can walk to collect it, which I might do this coming summer.
I also made a solo trip to Denmark to visit a group of internet friends, and it was so much fun. We rented cabins and just had a good time at a seaside resort. Was September, so not much use of the sea was made, outside of a few Scandinavians who taunted each other in to having a quick dip.
We're still running a monthly playgroup for the children's charity I volunteer with, and I update their website as needed. Keeps me off the streets.
Enough of this for now. I won't make any promises as to how often I'll update here, but as I said, let me know if you're out there on other social media, and I'll find you.
On that note, if anyone here has a FB account and would like to be friends there, let me know. I think you can find me under cakeaccounts at gmail dot com but if not I'll share my other email. I'm on Twitter as well which I don't use as often, but I do post in fits when I'm somewhere bored with just my phone handy, so if you're there let me know.
Does anyone use Tumblr? I'm a million years behind on that but it looks like a happy medium. Any feedback on it (I have an account but literally have not used it, only looked at friends' accounts) is appreciated.
We could say I've turned into one of those parents whose life has been usurped by that of her offspring, but I'm not sure that's entirely the case. For the purposes of LJ, though, it's going to look that way, as I'm mostly typing this up so I can remember all the omg cute things he's done. Because some of them are already starting to slip my caffeine-deprived mind.
When we started the year, he wasn't yet talking, and this was a Big Deal. He had his 2-year checkup and was given Serious Looks and we were told he'd be referred to a pediatrician if this carried on. I was open to that (please, send me to someone who has some knowledge beyond the ticklist in front of them!) but it never materialised, and I never chased it up, because once I realised we hadn't had a letter in the post telling us of a new appointment, we were due to leave for Peoria. This being the UK, getting a referral can take months (not complaining, I love the NHS, etc) so I didn't want to start the process again just before leaving.
So we went to Peoria, and it was lovely. Hot as hell. Lots of time spent at the Residence Inn we were stationed at, as there wasn't a whole lot he wanted to do outside. Oh, and the local mall. We did of course venture out to the local playgrounds, but only in the evenings once the equipment had had a chance to cool off. We attended a few fairs. Oh, and shared quite a bit of TCBY. :D He obsessed over his car collection, and it needed to be carried everywhere we went. His favourite waitress at breakfast even bought him another one to add to the group. She's now a friend on FB and is expecting her own baby, which is great because she really is good with kids and clearly wanted one. My father and his partner made a couple of trips out to visit us, which was great. B showed him a few dance moves which he can still pull off very well.
In August the dude and I drove up and down the east coast visiting family and friends, and it was lovely. xeven had her second son, H, earlier this year so this was our first official viewing. Her eldest is close in age to the dude and it was really good to see them getting along so well.
Back in the UK, we resumed our normal toddler group schedule. We had a letter in the post from the health visitors as well, saying they'd like a follow-up visit with the dude to check his progress. This time, though, it was a home visit, and he had a few words to dazzle the lady with. It helped that we had the slightly more laid-back health visitor, Jan, who even if she's thinking "holy hell he'll never function in normal society" that doesn't actually appear on her face, if you know what I mean. However, he did do loads better than before, played with all toys normally, and spoke, and that's really what she wanted to know. He also trotted out some of his German, so la-di-da. go dude.
As of now, well, he's obsessed with letters and numbers, and can write most of them. They aren't always the right way around, of course. :) His interpretation of the letter W is 'doddle-doo" which is the most adorable thing, evar. He loves doing puzzles and drawing on his Aquadoodle, so much so that I really ought to buy another one as it's actually starting to wear a bit. He likes pickles, calls them 'tickles.' He'll speak in sentences if he has to, and responds really well now, which is exciting to be honest, after so long of just one-sided commentary by myself.
I might add to this later but this is good for now.
As for my own year, it's unsurprisingly not too different from Himself. However, I did manage to achieve my Bachelor's degree, finally, in Business Studies and Economics. (How's that for burying the lead? I don't even think I ever announced it on FB...) I can walk to collect it, which I might do this coming summer.
I also made a solo trip to Denmark to visit a group of internet friends, and it was so much fun. We rented cabins and just had a good time at a seaside resort. Was September, so not much use of the sea was made, outside of a few Scandinavians who taunted each other in to having a quick dip.
We're still running a monthly playgroup for the children's charity I volunteer with, and I update their website as needed. Keeps me off the streets.
Enough of this for now. I won't make any promises as to how often I'll update here, but as I said, let me know if you're out there on other social media, and I'll find you.