i'm going to make my own ice cream house!

...so abby says. i don't know what she means, but it makes as good a post title as anything else.

we've been struggling here the last few days with some behavior issues. they're the same issues we've been struggling with for a long time, everything's just coming to a head right now and no one knows what to do. the primary issue is with abby's interaction with ian. she will bother him to the exclusion of all other activities, including playing with toys. i would think that at 10+ months, the novelty would have worn off, and she would be over him already. but not so. books like 1-2-3 magic and parenting with love and logic have been no help. the love and logic book quoted the bible on page 3, and that was it for me.

we've instituted "no-timeout day," which yesterday was the first one of...she made it until mid-afternoon. today made it to about 11am. so, tomorrow we start again with a new reward, and we'll see. tomorrow is school as well, so that ought to help. school has been going very well for her, and as far as we know, she's doing well in the classroom.

last week friday, she was playing with brian, and somehow bent one of her big toenails back, which caused some trauma and bleeding. for those who are new here, abby has had issues with her big toenails since birth...they're thick, discolored, and not as attached as one might hope. so, after almost 4 years, we've decided (with the podiatrist's input) to have her big toenails permanently removed. this happens on october 10th at the children's hospital sedation clinic, so she'll be asleep for the procedure. we're sad that she'll be growing up with no big toenails, but mostly it's a relief to know that the end is in sight. these things have caused no end of problems, and i won't be too sad to see them go.

this weekend we travel up to superior for brian's cousin's wedding. it's apt to be a stressful drive up, but we're determined not to stress once we're there, and just enjoy ourselves. most of the people there have never met either abby or ian, so it'll be a fun time and we're looking forward to it. expect pics a-plenty.

10 months

ian turned 10 months today! hard to believe that there are only 2 months to go till he turns 1...

current skills: pulling up, crawling, waving

current likes: pulling up on anything and everything he can find, peas and carrots, cheese, baths, books, getting into things, making messes, making loud noises, big sister, car rides, music, drinking water.

current dislikes: getting his diaper changed, getting his diaper changed, getting his diaper changed. also getting his clothes changed. being held by anyone other than mom, napping for more than an hour at a time.

he is still our super-mellow, laid-back baby, but he is definitely way more active than abby was at this age.


in other news, abby started preschool last week. she went for a half-hour on thursday for "orientation", then for an hour and a half on friday. everything went fine, she had absolutely no problems. they had pictures taken on friday, so i'm very curious to see how those turn out.

we went up to appleton friday night and did quarry quest on saturday. very damp, some rain, and not too warm, but a fun time anyway. pictures to come...

masked meat marauder

well, summer's officially over. temps here have already dropped into the high 60's, which is just fine with me. i've never been one for the super-hot weather.

we had a great summer...trip to minneapolis, several trips to appleton/menasha to see the grandparents, and lots of little things too.

last friday we went to janesville to the thresheree with my parents and my aunt and uncle. we went last year with abby, and i sweated myself silly in the 90-degree weather being hugely pregnant. not so much fun. much better this year, though. not hot, and overall a great time. we all rode the train there, which everyone enjoyed.

the 3rd was brian's birthday, the big 3-9. we've been celebrating for the past 4 days. :) abby made him a crown to wear, and colored him a comic book for his present. last night i made his birthday dinner: manicotti, garlic bread, and salad. turned out pretty well. today i made the cake, which we'll probably have tomorrow.

thursday night we had the parent meeting for abby's preschool. grandma and grandpa rogers came down to babysit so both of us could go, which was awesome. they even took us to dinner at culver's. :) the parent meeting went pretty well...we learned some stuff, signed up for our "helping parent" days (it's a co-op), and signed up for our committee. we wanted the book committee, but were not aware of how hyper-competitive the committee sign-up is. we ended up on the cell phone/toner cartridge recycling committee, which is just fine. it's just us, which is even better, since i don't work well with others. :) her first day is the 11th, where she only goes for a half-hour. i don't understand it, but whatever. then for the next week or so, she goes for slowly increasing periods of time. i know that she won't have a problem adjusting, and the biggest problem is going to be getting her out of there. :) there are several fundraising opportunities through the school, which i will post on here, just in case there are people interested.

ian's doing fantastic. he's burning rubber with the crawling, and is getting very good at pulling himself up. starting to cruise a little bit too, so i'm expecting walking around a year. last night he had his first "all finger food" meal with no baby food. he had cheese and peas and carrots. he's definitely showing his personality too, very goofy and mellow. hmm, remind you of anyone? ahem, ahem...his DAD. :)

this month will be filled with preschool stuff, but we'll also be going to brian's cousin's wedding in superior at the end of the month. long long drive, and another hotel stay, but i'm definitely more optimistic about it this time. we've learned from our experiences, and are ready to try again.

and for your edification: