Snow Days

The snow seems to be following Squeaker this winter. We are visiting her Momzie this weekend and once again the Daddy person is contemplating how long it is going to be until he has proper use of his car again. I knew it was going to snow this weekend both at our home near the mountains and at our tidewater destination, but I left a little unprepared. We have plenty of food and squeaker has a coat, but...





... her winter mittens, her favorite pink scarf, her boots are warm and safe in the closet at home. For the record, the Daddy person didn't just overlook her preparations. Those are my driving gloves and the pictures are a little blurry because I am shivering in a shell.

We are having a nice weekend despite the weather. We had buckwheat "yummy-tummy-blueberry pancakes". That's her name for them not mine. She's been doing well with making it through the night. The trick seems to be taking her to the bathroom somewhere between ten and midnight. Usually I carry her (while she snuggles and pats my back) and then "insists" on "walking" herself back to bed. I say "insists" because she takes off with out a word as soon as you have pulled her pjs up. I say "walked" in the high tradition of drunken sailors throughout history.

Don't tell Brite, but I let her play with my computer for a few minutes. I helped her with the spelling but she typed up her first document.



Squeaker did get bored and freestyle a little bit after the first three words (yes, I can count, but cut off her name). It is about time for me to dig my car out. Have a good week.

Challenges

Squeaker is working through the final frontier of potty training bedtime. She had no trouble with nap time, perhaps because she frequently caries on conversations with what sounds like either a lively group of friends or a small orchestra. So frequently she isn't sleeping, but even when she does, she doesn't have a problem.

At night, when she finally chases her friends out and crashes, success isn't quite so universal. Most of the time success comes with Brite carrying Squeaker into the bathroom and back to her bed. She's at least mastered that part of the transaction, but we're still working on getting her to handle the sleepwalking herself.

Squeaker generally picks up things fairly easily, so for her part, she wants to go back to pull ups.

That's about all the news I've got. I recognize that my eyebrow to eye ratio will probably fall below one at some point when she reads this post, but it is worth it for journalistic integrity.

Back to Work!

The Daddy person is back from his travels and headed back to work. Squeaker has been earning her keep this weekend. She and Brite made meatballs for dinner. She likes doing it, but it takes hear a while to let go of the stickiness on her hands and get down to business. On the other hand, she had a blast doing the dishes.



Last summer when I was traveling for a while my return and absence was harder for her. She's a much more talkative on the phone now, which helps. I think she understands now that I miss her too and that a herd of wild camels couldn't keep me from coming back. Speaking of phones, here's a little clip of her chatting with Brite about her trip to the Aquarium. Enjoy the descriptions and pay attention to the body language.




Have a good week!

Coming Soon ... Maybe

Sorry folks, but the Daddy person is off traveling in an ancient land and Brite isn't feeling well, so we might not get a real post up this week. Squeaker is doing well though, we assure you.

Song Time With Squeaker

As I mentioned last week, Squeaker continues to sing much of the time. Right now I am getting my computer ready for a trip abroad (yes this means playing operating system bingo, but y'all aren't here to read about that....) and she is coloring with her markers and singing:

"Oh happy day, all the dogs have run away!
dibble, dibble, dabble, dabble."

Later, she asked me "Do you want to do 'Snow Cotton White'?" It took three times of her saying it before I both understood her and was sure that was what she was saying. For those of you who don't know 'snow cotton whiting' is coloring in the holes left when stickers are removed from their pages.

One of her christmas presents was the "Tea Party Game" you see below. As you can see, we had a tea party today too.




And yes, the Daddy person has played the "Tea Party Game". No, he didn't win. She cheats, I tell you...

On the Road Again

On the way home from our trip on Thanksgiving I sang the first few stanzas (all I really know) of Willy Nelson's "On the Road Again". My copilot loved it and has been asking me to sing it for her every time we get in the car. I have put it on our playlist and I am trying to get her used to hearing WIlly sing it. For her part, Squeaker sings much of the time, perhaps like Elvis her dialog sounds best when sung instead of said, but mostly her singing is soundtrack to 'autopilot mode' when she is busy playing by herself.

Yesterday she started to convert the "Three Wise Men" song (from the Christmas program) into a song about her friends. She hasn't change much yet, so far the song is simply about her 'friends' following a star.

Here (or perhaps here soon) is a video of her 'travels' this holiday season.



Enjoy the rest of 2009!

The Blizzard of 2009 - Report I

We here at Squeakerpants.com have been watching the snow fall for going on thirty hours, as of Saturday night. As of this posting it is still falling [Saturday at 6:00 pm].

Shortly after I started this post, the power started to flicker. We lost power Saturday night through Sunday afternoon. Before that we explored the snow a bit. Strictly speaking, the Daddy person had already played in the snow. His beloved Volvo couldn't handle the mix of gridlock and snow, so he spent Friday night at a hotel, then got a ride as close to the house as possible and jogged remaining 3 miles home in the snow.



The men spent yesterday digging out, though it will still be a while before the cars can be used again. After we get some work done this morning, we will take Squeaker out to try a luge run we created with my kayak.

Look for some movies and more detail this weekend.