All the News that Fits, We Print
I just updated my website! (er, to include the story that came out two months ago...) But this means that after more than a year, I finally have an FTP program that works on my computer again, so theoretically I can post pictures here as well as on twitter. (For those who are looking for Megatherium pictures & effluvia, it's here) I also rediscovered a set of notes for a thinky post I was going to post months ago, which I might even still be able to reconstruct. (This is still not that post.)
We have achieved potty trained!!! I eventually had to resort to saying that children who pooped in their underwear didn't get read books, which lasted for about three days and then once she actually used the potty I could do the positive reinforcement thing. (And then we had three days of peeing where she stood before I managed to get across that this was not ok either, but we got there, thank goodness.) She's rocking the boy underwear-- we got two day-of-the-week sets with tools on them, which are grand, fit pretty well, and are sturdy enough that she can pull them up by herself. We have our toddler-included preschool orientation night next week, and then jump on in the day after Labor Day. Other people keep expecting the Megatherium to be nervous about it for some reason, but she is quite excited. Other children!! Yay!! One of them lives right down the street from us and was born 4 days after she was, but we haven't caught them at home since we got the class list.
We weathered Pennsic-- first week mainly, as grauwulf's amazing moving work trip to Germany finally settled on the week we were supposed to be on vacation. Her Megatheriosity had a blast after she figured out about tent pegs the hard way and had her eyebrow glued back together. (Fortunately we were camped two blocks from the EMS station, & she's a very good patient-- she spent the rest of the war reminding us that "there's where the water is, and the misting tent, and that's where we went to get my boo-boo fixed." (She named it her boo-boo; the terminology was not adult imposed)) The new camp (Ravenstreet) is full of cooks, which confuses me; I am used to wandering about & buying snacky things or ice cream for lunch, and they have 3 meals a day in camp, but no firepit. Anyway, we're already planning on going for both weeks next year. Though, there was also talk about the Helsinki Worldcon, so we'll see.
We have been escaping the heat (kind of) by visiting mall playgrounds so the Megatherium has something to climb on that isn't me-- she bonded with a slightly-larger boy last week & they played self-initiated hide-and-seek and some run around & jumping games before his adults took him elsewhere; we came out of the mall & she announced that she "wants a boyfriend who lives right down the street from us." (I mentioned child-in-her-preschool-class, but we still haven't met him yet.)
Meanwhile I have been reading Greta Eagan's Wear No Evil-- in the mall, no less, for extra irony. On the whole I like the concept of eco-fashion, but like so many of these things I am not quite the target audience. About half her fashion needs just don't apply to my life, and her basic wardrobe evaluation techniques don't take into account the possibility of making one's own. So my closet is about 90% "eco-fashionable" already, since that's how much of it is either secondhand or made by me (or both, or in a few cases made for me as a gift, or made in USA by independent crafters.) My dresser is mostly split between thrifted and 100% problematic cotton things. So, I guess less buying cheap t-shirts is about where I go from here. Or investigating organic or low-impact dyestuff sewing fabrics. (tho, mostly not buying more fabric for the next year is on my goal list. Gotta sew some of it first!)
I also tore through rereading Rose Daughter the other day and am now wishing that McKinley would write something pastoral with sisters in. All this beast and ancient sorcerer's battles nonsense was getting in the way of the family gossip! (Also, did anyone else find the marriage bit kind of tacked on? I don't think it's explained why this solves anything...) And then I started reading Binti which was very much Not That. Yeah.
Green fashion leads to green beauty stuff, & I've been poking at where to find what (and what beauty products I'm actually interested in, which is mostly not a lot, but it's in the interesting kitchen chemistry sort of field, and maybe when the Megatherium & friends grow into starting to experiment we can do make & take parties?) and also fancy mocktail drinks. Toddler cocktail parties!! (I mean, this is really for me, since I don't like alcohol, but hey, excuses to dress up and stab appetizers with tiny forks! What's not to love?) I got vanilla stevia on someone's pinterest recommendation and while I like having a liquid sweetener where I can dose a whole giant mug of limeade with about 5 drops, I then go and add a teaspoon of vanilla as well. Plus usually using the chilled sun tea in the fridge instead of water. And I'm squeezing my own limes, very glamorous, and nobody else in the family is actually that interested. Whatever. I also got Republic of Tea's vanilla dandelion tea which I quite like.
So, things, as advertised.
Xposty from dreamwidth.
We have achieved potty trained!!! I eventually had to resort to saying that children who pooped in their underwear didn't get read books, which lasted for about three days and then once she actually used the potty I could do the positive reinforcement thing. (And then we had three days of peeing where she stood before I managed to get across that this was not ok either, but we got there, thank goodness.) She's rocking the boy underwear-- we got two day-of-the-week sets with tools on them, which are grand, fit pretty well, and are sturdy enough that she can pull them up by herself. We have our toddler-included preschool orientation night next week, and then jump on in the day after Labor Day. Other people keep expecting the Megatherium to be nervous about it for some reason, but she is quite excited. Other children!! Yay!! One of them lives right down the street from us and was born 4 days after she was, but we haven't caught them at home since we got the class list.
We weathered Pennsic-- first week mainly, as grauwulf's amazing moving work trip to Germany finally settled on the week we were supposed to be on vacation. Her Megatheriosity had a blast after she figured out about tent pegs the hard way and had her eyebrow glued back together. (Fortunately we were camped two blocks from the EMS station, & she's a very good patient-- she spent the rest of the war reminding us that "there's where the water is, and the misting tent, and that's where we went to get my boo-boo fixed." (She named it her boo-boo; the terminology was not adult imposed)) The new camp (Ravenstreet) is full of cooks, which confuses me; I am used to wandering about & buying snacky things or ice cream for lunch, and they have 3 meals a day in camp, but no firepit. Anyway, we're already planning on going for both weeks next year. Though, there was also talk about the Helsinki Worldcon, so we'll see.
We have been escaping the heat (kind of) by visiting mall playgrounds so the Megatherium has something to climb on that isn't me-- she bonded with a slightly-larger boy last week & they played self-initiated hide-and-seek and some run around & jumping games before his adults took him elsewhere; we came out of the mall & she announced that she "wants a boyfriend who lives right down the street from us." (I mentioned child-in-her-preschool-class, but we still haven't met him yet.)
Meanwhile I have been reading Greta Eagan's Wear No Evil-- in the mall, no less, for extra irony. On the whole I like the concept of eco-fashion, but like so many of these things I am not quite the target audience. About half her fashion needs just don't apply to my life, and her basic wardrobe evaluation techniques don't take into account the possibility of making one's own. So my closet is about 90% "eco-fashionable" already, since that's how much of it is either secondhand or made by me (or both, or in a few cases made for me as a gift, or made in USA by independent crafters.) My dresser is mostly split between thrifted and 100% problematic cotton things. So, I guess less buying cheap t-shirts is about where I go from here. Or investigating organic or low-impact dyestuff sewing fabrics. (tho, mostly not buying more fabric for the next year is on my goal list. Gotta sew some of it first!)
I also tore through rereading Rose Daughter the other day and am now wishing that McKinley would write something pastoral with sisters in. All this beast and ancient sorcerer's battles nonsense was getting in the way of the family gossip! (Also, did anyone else find the marriage bit kind of tacked on? I don't think it's explained why this solves anything...) And then I started reading Binti which was very much Not That. Yeah.
Green fashion leads to green beauty stuff, & I've been poking at where to find what (and what beauty products I'm actually interested in, which is mostly not a lot, but it's in the interesting kitchen chemistry sort of field, and maybe when the Megatherium & friends grow into starting to experiment we can do make & take parties?) and also fancy mocktail drinks. Toddler cocktail parties!! (I mean, this is really for me, since I don't like alcohol, but hey, excuses to dress up and stab appetizers with tiny forks! What's not to love?) I got vanilla stevia on someone's pinterest recommendation and while I like having a liquid sweetener where I can dose a whole giant mug of limeade with about 5 drops, I then go and add a teaspoon of vanilla as well. Plus usually using the chilled sun tea in the fridge instead of water. And I'm squeezing my own limes, very glamorous, and nobody else in the family is actually that interested. Whatever. I also got Republic of Tea's vanilla dandelion tea which I quite like.
So, things, as advertised.
Xposty from dreamwidth.