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.