Whoops

So, it's been a while, huh. That's Patrick, post-tantrum. We have to be careful what we say (and do) around him now, because he's pretty much monkey-see monkey-do right now, which is very cute.

Although I refuse to claim responsibility for him learning the f-word. I know I don't swear around him, so I blame television. Yeah. Television.
Not a lot new in the past two months (oops) really. Still working, still ... doing. I don't know how else to put it.

I haven't been doing any stitching, which is a shame, but it has to be put away from little hands, and it's just such an effort, going and getting it and getting all set up and ... argh. So mostly reading, and watching TV, and surfing. And going for 'walks' around the house with Patrick, who grabs one of my fingers, and off we go. Cute. Ridiculously cute.

That's all I have. Some cute. :)

Work. Life. Detritus.

You can't tell from that picture, but he is SUCH a Daddy's boy. SO unfair, but I figure my turn will come.

Anyways .... I've just come back from two days in Wellington for a work course _ that I've done before. But you know, it's nice to get out of the office once in a while. I missed my boys though, and I was very glad to get home today, especially since I don't like to fly. If I think about it too much, the illogicality of the whole thing overtakes me. So I sit quietly in my seat, and do a fair imitation of someone who doesn't hate to fly.

The course was about as interesting as watching infomercials when you lack the will to change the channel, but I did get a sneaky pleasure out of listening to my iPod in my hotel room and reading. That was nice. I could have happily just done that for a couple of days.

I went to the movies on Monday night _ saw Star Trek. Which I liked, not loved, although they totally cheated with their workaround for Trek canon. I admire it, but it's totally cheating. I'm contemplating starting to go to the movies again on Monday nights after work. I finish at 7, and the movie theatre is pretty much around the corner from my office. So maybe Angels & Demons. Not sure.

What else. Seriously, apart from work and family, all I have been doing is obsessing over American Idol this season. It's sad, and a little unseemly (no, really, it is), and I'm even more sad that it's finishing next week. :( Normally we get the episodes a week and half late (totally lame, BTW) but they're cramming a couple together so we're getting the final only a couple of days late.

Otherwise, it's raining, and I'm watching X Files repeats. Nice :)

Easter Sunday

Had dinner with family today. Which was fine, but some days I regret making the life-decision at 15 to never drink alcohol. Some days I can see how it would make so many things (dinner with family for example), go by much quicker.

On the up side, Patrick had a fabulous day. He got chocolate, and ice cream, which meant, from his point of view, it was pretty much Christmas. But boy, was he tired by the time we got home!

Back to work tomorrow. For me, I mean. Not the toddler.

Fragmented posting, but it's getting late. All I want to do is crawl into bed and get some sleep.

I shall now suit actions to words.

Happy Easter.

Time ... hey .... time!!!!!!

Come BACK here! And slow down! Look at my baby! Surely it's only been 10 minutes? Then how can he be climbing the furniture already?

Sigh.

You know, he learned to climb a lot faster than he learned to walk, for some reason. Is it a boy thing? Whatever it is, we can't keep him off the couch, or away from the bookshelves. He likes to pull the books out and drop them on the floor.

It's a strange thing, isn't it, bringing another person into the world, and then watching them grow up, and change and ... yes, yes, I can hear Sunrise/Sunset too. Bite me, invisible Internets people.

I've been toying with doing this: www.scriptfrenzy.org Despite the fact I haven't written anything since ... um ... okay, if you discount the creative writing course I did at the end of last year, which I do, because all we got told was don't do this, don't do that by our largely absent tutor, it's been at least six months since I put any kind of pen to any kind of paper.

Seriously, that course completely derailed me. Ugh. So I'm thinking about it in a similarly vague way that I think about www.nanowrimo.org come October. So I either have terrible, crippling writer's block or I'm terribly, horribly lazy. Because I could make time for it if I wanted to.

Yes, yes I could.

Sigh

Back to work tomorrow. It's been nice, being at home, but I don't feel especially rested or rejuvenated. Just tired, really.

We're entering into the tantrum phase, which is fun for everyone, if your definiton of "fun" is having needles drilled into the base of your skull. It's hard to believe that face is capable of screams that sometimes only dogs can hear.

Sigh. Most of it, I think, is just nearly-two frustration. Our features editor says it's because they find out they're not telekinetic after all and can't just make things (TV remotes, for example) fall into their hands.

And of course, the rest of the time he's being ridiculously cute. One day last week he ran around the living room in circles saying "peeka peeka peeka". And it's nearly impossible not to laugh when he quite solemnly imitates one of us, or points at one of the cats and tells them off _ in toddler-speak, of course.

What else. I'm still stitching on La Ghirlandata, which I'm really enjoying at the moment.

Um. That's it. Sigh.

One long party

Well, okay. That's not true. Mostly I sit around alternating between watching TV and watching Patrick. That really does sum up my day at the moment.

In my defense, sort of, I am on holiday. And the weather's been crap. So I hang out with the boy while Jeremy is off tinkering with obscure things _ computers usually. Then when hanging with the toddler gets a bit much, I get Jeremy to make me a cup of tea and he alternates between watching TV and watching Patrick for a while.

As you can see by the pic, Patrick is as steady as you like on his feet now although he'll still do a drop-and-crawl occasionally.

He likes to pick up books and "read" them; he does the same thing with the TV Guide. I'd love to get a photo of him doing it, but as soon as he hears the camera, he's right up in your face _ Patrick loves having his photo taken.

As I said, I'm on holiday, so haven't been doing a lot of anything. Reading. TV. Movies (Slumdog Millionaire and Zack and Miri Make a Porno, so far), hanging out with my boys and my cats. Stitching.

Um .... yep, that sums it up.

Stitching-wise I've been making fairly good progress on Circe, but I've decided to swap it out for a while, before I get tired of the blues and greens. So now I'm working on La Ghirlandata, by Jan Eaton, based on a painting by Dante Rossetti. I've switched blues and greens for rich reds and browns; very appropo, considering we're going into autumn.

That's it. Not a lot to be said, or done, when you're mooching at home, on holiday. :)

Write it down

Our Features Editor is very intersted in Patrick's progress. He has a son, although his boy is ... eight? nine?

Anyway, I was telling him (the features editor that is) about the words Patrick is saying and what he's doing, and he said write it down, because otherwise I'd forget.

Good advice, I think.

Patrick can say mumumumumum - all run on like that; byedaddy, or da, or byeee, but for some reason never just daddy. If you ask him a question: "do you want your drink? do you want a bikkie?" he gets a big grin on his face and says "geh geh".

He's pretty much walking now, holding one hand up in the air, which reminds me of an orangutan.

He likes throwing things, that seems to be his main interest, when he's not trying to play with my mouse and keyboard. He eats pretty well, if messily at times (but don't we all?) and likes to throw his toast on the floor (sigh). He's figured out (nearly) how to bodysurf the coffee tables, which I'm not delighted about, and seems to have got over his fear of grass.

My bestie from high school, who lives in Australia (near Brisbane) was over last week for a wedding. A flying visit, she said, and I bumped into her in Starbucks, of all places. So we, along with another friend of ours, all went out for dinner on Sunday night and had sooo much fun. The food was good, the company even better. She's gone back to Aussie now, with no ETA on a return visit.

I'm still (apparently) working on Circe; not that you would know it. I also had a (small) spend up on Amazon recently _ something I haven't done for ... a couple of years? Twas fun :)
I bought the Twilight saga _ mostly because it's been too hard to get hold of copies here - either at the library, or the bookstore. So I got tired of waiting. I also bought A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce, which I haven't read yet, but am very much looking forward to. I know her. Well. We post on the same message board. Ipso facto - I know her :)

I got Hogging all the Covers by Band From TV, which is a lot of fun, and I splashed out on a couple of cross stitch books, which I don't usually do _ usually I stick with UK magazines and Jill Oxton's Cross Stitch and Beading for charts, but I couldn't pass up Joan Elliott's Bewitching Cross Stitch, or Ancient Egyptian Cross Stitch, by Barbara Hammet.

Fun and games all round!