A rather chilly Saturday morning here. There were some frost warnings way up north. Eek! It's nearly June!

Rhonda is out getting her hair done, so I'm riding herd on the herd. John is playing with a little leappad-like Disney toy Rhonda found at a rummage sale. Hanna is bringing me every toy and book in the house. Right now she is hugging the talking Cookie Monster.

I'll need to mow the lawn later. Since the kids have been keeping me busy, I've been mowing only once a week on Saturdays, and the grass is getting a tad long. I'll probably mow and when John gets up from his nap, take him with me to unload the grass at the compost heap.

As I mentioned before, John likes playing "hide-and-seek" at bedtime after we put him in his crib. I'll cover him with his blanket, then count and pretend to look around the room. "Is he behind the door? no..." and so on. Well, part of the routine now is he wants me to pick him up one more time, and John will keep saying places, like "behind curtain? behind animals? behind Daddy?" and so on, but then he takes the "behind" concept and expands on it like only a 3 yr old can. He starts saying "behind Barney songs? behind scare you? behind bump head? etc... Funny. Then lately, after saying his behind whatever, he'll say "no, he isn't there".

he's started saying please when he really wants something, like "daddy, I want some milk please", and sometimes he'll just plead. He's so cute, it's so hard to resist. "Of course you can have a pound of sugar before you go to bed, here..."

I took John to Sue's house yesterday, so he could have fun with Julia.

Rhonda had gotten this one outfit for Hanna at a rummage sale, and it almost looks like a clown outfit. Bright colors, yellow and red, etc...

Last night Hanna was sitting on the kitchen floor, and I started saying to her "The cows are in the meadow, eating buttercup, ashes ashes, they all stand UP", and doing the hand motions, and she started doing it all by herself. She'd sit there, tap her hands on the floor, and say "aaah aaah aaah aahh", and then she'd stand up and say "AAAAH!" Then she'd sit back down and do it again. Ha.

Yesterday John wanted to get his little pacifier, I suppose cuz he's seen Hanna with hers so much, but I suppose too one way he's regressing a bit. He'd put it in his mouth and sort of pretend to cry, just having a little fun. Rhonda took him to the library last night, and they got a couple of Thomas music cds. They have the familiar songs you hear on the tapes.

Looks like I'll move to my new group here at work starting June 9.

Had a nice little visit with Mom and Dad in the airport last night. They were on their way back from NC, and Brian's graduation (congrats again Brian!), and they had a layover, so we packed up the kids and went down to see them. John has not gotten over his obsession with elevators though, and so was bent on going up and down the elevators, and not so much on visiting. It's like a switch goes on and he is possessed. Hanna fell asleep in the van on the way home, as it was her bedtime. John was still awake. He just didn't seem to need as much sleep.

Rhonda might bring the kids down here to my place of employment later this morning, just for a quick visit, so my coworkers can meet the little munchkins.

Well, the process has begun. I've started in on writing the novel I've been thinking about for awhile. I've put the first words to paper. The prologue and first two or three chapters are in my head, so it's almost a matter of dictation, and getting them written down. I know the ending, and a bunch of scenes in between. In the end, it will probably clock in somewhere between 80,000 and 100,000 words. Yesterday I wrote the first 340. So, a ways to go. There will have to some pauses for more research though. Since it is inspired by Leviticus, I'll have to read through that again. For some of the book I want to read letters and other accounts of people in Europe as they experienced the Nazi invasion, to get a feel for what they were going through, as some of that will end up in the book.

Well, another nice holiday weekend gone by the boards. This morning as I was saying bye-bye, John pointed at Mommy and said "Mommy", and then pointed at me and said "Daddy bigger".

Hanna is so funny when she sees us getting ready to go outside. She'll immediately run to get her shoes and bring them over to me to put on her. She doesn't want to be left out of anything. Yesterday she had taken off her socks, and when she brought her shoes, I said go get your socks, they're over there, and by gum she went over and got her socks and brought them to me.

Last summer Rhonda had gotten this ride and run little 3-wheeled cart. The kids sit in it, and you can push, or it has a kit for hooking up to a bike as a trailer. So, yesterday I got it hooked up to my bike and took the kids on a couple of rides. They seemed to like it, although John always wants to stop by the park.

Mom and Dad will be stopping in the airport for a layover on their way back from NC. So, we'll probably bring the kids down and meet them in the airport for a little visit.

Good morning. As you can see, it's Sunday morning. Rhonda went to church, and I'm home with the kidlings so she can go. Actually, she was going to go to a Baptist church that is just a few blocks away, just to check it out. (For those familiar with our neighborhood, the church is on 65, but the entrance is off Aberdeen Street. It is just south of that Holiday gas station.)

We'll probably go to Walmart when Rhonda gets back. Better make sure we have some quarters so John can go on the little rides. It's something special for him to do.

John just continues to progress rapidly in his verbal skills. He can say so much more, and carry on little conversations. Yesterday he said "big Daddy, I'm little."

Hanna is about like Ellie when it comes to mealtimes. She will let you know when she is hungry. Almost right on queue, she'll start crying or whimpering. John never really does that. He might ask for some milk when he's hungry, but he doesn't really whine like she does.

The weather is almost ideal this weekend. Will do some grilling over the weekend. Yesterday we had some brats. I also got some steaks, and might do some kebobs.

Let the long weekend begin. Need to go to the store yet and get some steaks and other sundry items for grilling this weekend. Sounds like the weather will be rather nice, especially Sunday and Monday.

Congrats to Brian for succeeding in all his hard work!

Rhonda took Brian to the "bacon and egg" kiddie play area in the mall last night. He was a little wild, seemed like he needed some attention. So, I stayed home with Hanna and had fun with her.

Rhonda says sometimes the kids will be playing, and John will come up and sit on her lap or something for awhile, and then leave, and then Hanna will do the same. They're both clamoring for attention! Sometimes Hanna will walk around and play well, and then come up to us and cry and hold her hands up to be held.

Rhonda was coloring with Hanna the other night, and she really seemed to like it.

Dad at one time brought this little green rubber hose, and both John and Hanna love playing with it. John is so funny when he "jumps rope" with it. He kinda hops up and down and shakes the hose, and counts "1..2..3..14..18.." Hanna likes to have it wrapped around her fairly tightly and then she loves to "escape" from it! We'll wrap it around and tie it, and she likes to either walk till it falls off of her, or she'll pull at it till she's free. She's going to be another Houdini!

John learned another little song in playtime this week. There's a baby shark, and he makes little pinching motions, a momma shark, and makes larger bite motions with forefinger and thumb, etc...

I had a dentist appt this morning. Appears I have a little cavity spot I'll have to get filled in a couple weeks. Argh.

No real big plans for the weekend. Just stay around the house, maybe do some grilling, etc...

The Peanuts character this year in St Paul is Linus! They put up a number of plastic/rubber/vinyl statues all over town. They are the same statue, but each is painted a different way. They have artists paint them, and there's often a theme for the statue relating to something near where they are placed.

Sounds like security at the Canadien border is being increased with the recent threats. I wonder if Mike/Joni will have troubles.

Rhonda brought John into bed with me this morning while I was still snoozing, trying to avoid having to get up and go to work. He was funny, he would say "what's the matter? why are you sleeping? taking a nap..." stuff like that.

I got Hanna out of her crib this morning. she had her back to me and was on her tummy, and when I said good morning, she started bouncing up and down. She had her socks off as usual. She always pulls them off.

I took Hanna to the grocery store with me last night. She enjoyed riding in the cart.

I've been working my way through all the extras on my Fellowship of the Ring dvd. I got through all the documentaries, and am now working my way through the commentaries. I'm through the director/writers one, and am on the cast one. After that is the design team, and the producers. (One of the producers is a Carleton grad, and screened both the movies here for a Carleton fundraiser.)

Looks like I will be moving to this other programming group. I will probably stay in my current group for a couple more weeks to wrap things up.

When I got home from work yesterday, Rhonda said John hadn't had a nap. He had laid down, but never went to sleep. So, when I got home, he was a hyper viper. Just bouncing off the walls. He calmed down after supper. We let him watch some Veggie Tales. Hanna had got up a bit early from her nap too, so both of them were ready for bedtime and we put them to bed early, and they both went right to sleep. Hanna was tired and fussy and screamed pretty good when first put her crib, a mad kind of fussing. She doesn't usually do that, she was just wound up.

Speaking of Veggie Tales, the last couple days John has been singing this little song, sounds like he says "gotta be..broccoli" and then some other stuff we can't really make out, and Rhonda thought he was singing the Veggie Tales song!

When we do Ring Around The Rosey with John before bed, when I "fall down" I usually just sit down with one leg folded under me because it is easier to get down and up quickly. When I do that, John usually tries to fold his leg in like mine! Just like Daddy!

Had the kids down in the family room last night while watching Veggie Tales, and they were playing, and I turned away for a bit, and looked back and Hanna was standing on top of the end table by the couch, in front of the fireplace. Eek! Get down from there! She's a little monkey. I'm sure she was up there because she saw John get up there. John likes to jump off of that onto the couch.

Yesterday was warm enough, but cloudy, which prevented it from being an ideal day. Plus a little bit of a breeze.

Saturday was the annual air show at the airport just south of us, so various planes flying overhead all day. Some WWII planes (hard to tell, but looked like some torpedo bombers, and maybe a B-24 and P-38) and some jets. Looked like some kind of jet team along the lines of the Thunderbirds (but not one I recognized) was there.

Kept the kids home from the nursery on Sunday. I went to play for orchestra. Second service had a full schedule, so didn't get home till noon or so, even though I left as the sermon was beginning. I'm done playing for awhile, so I'll stay home with them and let Rhonda go. We'll probably try John again, by himself, and see how he does. I suppose by fall he'll be ready to go to the 3-5 yr old class.

John does have fun with Hanna. They'll both bang their sippy cups on the table and laugh with each other. Sometimes I'll be walking with Hanna holding her hand, and John will take her other hand and help her walk. Once I was helping her up the step and she put out her other hand to John and he took it and helped her climb up the front step.

Wow, Funny Cide just ran away from the pack in the Preakness. It will be fun to watch him in the Belmont. The Belmont is a tough race though because of its length. There have been 4 or 5 horses since 1997 that have come to the Belmont with a chance to win the Triple Crown, and they all lost. The Preakness coverage was really plugging the upcoming movie Seabiscuit. It was a great book, I'd highly recommend it. So, am wondering if they will butcher the book like movies usually do. (Am curious if Grandma Schultz remembers Seabiscuit. The book says the horse was nationally known, etc.. even though I'd never really heard of him till I read the book.)

It's a beautiful weekend here. In the 70s, might reach 80 today and tomorrow. I took the kidlings to "Golf Ball ParK" this morning. That's the park that's over in the golf course. It has 4 big golf balls on pedastals, so that's why we call it golf ball park. They had a blast as usual. Rhonda went to the grocery store while I had them. Came home, and I mowed the yard while they had lunch.

I took John with me to dump the grass, and now everyone else is down for their naps. I'm going to go sit outside, listen to the radio, munch chips and do some reading for tonight, as my writing group meets. (We decided to call ourselves the Ministry of Speculation.)

I play with the orchestra tomorrow, but I don't know yet what we'll do with John and Hanna as far as nursery goes.

It looks all but certain I'll move to that other group. They're only 15 steps down the hall, so it's not a move in that sense, and I should be able to stay in my same cube.

By the way, you'll note I refuse to even mention the Wild. Ugh. Well, they might as well get shut out in the 4th game as well and make history. No sense in letting such a nice scoreless streak go to waste...

The other night as I was getting John in bed, he was saying things like "rocking horse, table" etc..., and I realized he was talking about finding his Easter eggs on Easter morning! He still remembered that! And last night, he was saying "jelly beans".

We've been saying to him a number of times now to come give us a hug instead of being wild, and now he'll smile and come give us a hug and say back to us "give hug instead being wild". So, he may not do it on his own, but hopefully he's realizing there is another outlet for his feelings. Yesterday he kinda gave Hanna a shove and instead of getting mad, Rhonda just calmly said he had to sit on the couch for awhile and that she'd have to hold Hanna because she was crying. And, he never bothered her again for the rest of the night, so maybe reacting that way is a way to diffuse his acting out.

I put Hanna to bed last night, and I said "let's say prayers" and she immediately put her hands together, and when I said "Amen" she started clapping all by herself, cuz when we're done I'll usually say "yay" and clap my hands, and now she does that too. She is such an imitator.

We took the kidlings to Walmart last night to have some pictures taken. Rhonda had them in some cute outfits. I'm convinced, those pictures with cute kids just sitting there smiling, etc.. those have to computer-generated images. No kid just sits there quietly and smiles sweetly for the camera. We had a time of it getting them to sit still long enough for a decent pose. We did get a good enough picture though. John is smiling, and Hanna has an acceptable expression.

Last night I was going to toss a ballon we had blown up to John. So, he put out his hands and cupped them together like when we show him how to catch. It's so cute, but it was funny because the balloon was bigger than his whole upper body, and he's trying to catch with this little tiny cupped hands. What a sweetie.

Last night, when he was trying to trick me into going into the bathroom so he could turn the reading light on, he said "go in the bathroom, sit on potty chair". ha, where did he come up with that?

Hanna almost fell out of the cart at Walmart. She was trying to get out, and Rhonda caught her. She also fell on the stair last night. Ouch, a bump-filled day. She just continues to be happy and giggly and a little sweetheart.

I came in early today, as some changes were being made to the Infranet database, so I had to stop it and bring it back up when the dba was done with his work. I got here about 5:50, and took advantage of the opportunity to treat myself to a MacDonald's breakfast. (Typing out that word made me think of seeing MacDonald's spelled out in Russian in Moscow. The letters were all Russian, but they translated exactly letter by letter to spell out MacDonalds)

I was poking around the Web yesterday, and saw some things on helping kids deal with adjusting to a new sibling. This is a slightly different situation in that Hanna is already a toddler, not a newborn, so comes in immediately as someone who can move around and get at his toys and whatnot. A couple things mentioned were to spend time just with him, one-on-one, maybe as much as 30 minutes a day. Rhonda does that mostly already, and I try to be alone with him when I'm home. Another thing said when the child is acting out, to say to them if you feel mad or wild, come give me a hug instead. So, we're going to try that with him. We did that a few times last night, when he started to get a little wild. And, he'd always come over and give us a hug. He never stopped himself from being wild and came to hug us on his own without any prompting, but it's only the first day. We'll stick with it and see if it has any impact. He did seem to settle down after doing that.

He is regressing a bit too. He's been spilling water on the floor if drinking from an open cup, and letting his milk dribble out of his mouth when drinking from his sippy cup. Those are things he did awhile ago, but had pretty much gotten past. On Sunday when I returned to the nursery to get him, they were having snack time and I got there just in time to see him dump his water on the table.

At night he's also been asking for me to rock him and sing Rock-a-bye-bye baby and Lullaby to him. He never really asked to be rocked and sang to before, so that is something new since Hanna arrived.

One of our neighbors came by last night, they have a 2-yr old girl, and a 1-yr old. They said their girl is a little aggressive to the boy sometimes too, and she is regressing somewhat. So, we're not the only ones on the block!

But, he isn't like that all the time. He's his happy self a lot of the time too. Lately when we've had happy joy joy time, he'll tell me "Daddy, go in the bathroom", and he'll point to the bathroom. I know what he wants, so I go in, and pretend to be busy. He wants me to go in so he can turn on the reading light when I'm "not looking". He thinks that is great fun. Sometimes he'll call me back, or I'll just go in when I hear the light click, and he's standing there with this big grin on his face, and I'll say "hey, you turned on the light!" and he'll just laugh and laugh.

Gave the kids a bath last night. Goodness, Hanna is quickly becoming a little fish. Now she just splashes and plays, even puts her face in the water. She likes to stand up and stomp her feet in the water. Hard to believe just a couple weeks ago she'd scream bloody murder when put in the tub. She doesn't even want to get out now.

And the Wild again. Ugh. Two games in a row now at home, and they haven't scored a goal. They have just not played well at home throughout these entire playoffs. It doesn't look good.

Hopefully all mothers had a very nice day yesterday! Happy Mothers Day once again to all! Here in Casa del Kouba, Rhonda wanted some of my secret recipe stir fry, so after she put Hanna to bed for a nap, she took a nap too, and I got John some lunch and put him to bed, then started getting the stirfry ready. It turned out well, if I do say so myself.

Saturday I went out and raked the front yard. Eek, I'm still feeling it, slightly sore muscles and hands. But, the front looks better, and I got it down before the rains started Saturday night, which really helped. The grass seems to be perking up already. I should say, I raked in fits and starts. It is a bit hard to rake with two small children outside playing. They weren't keen on leaving me alone.

At one point Rhonda took John off to do an errand, and it was just Hanna and me. She wanted some attention a few times, but other times would play on her own. One time she was on her little toddler vehicle, pushing herself around the driveway, and I saw her edge toward the dropoff in the driveway. I told her to stop, but she's not quite responding to commands yet. So, over the edge she went, picking up speed to the street. By then I was running to head her off, and saved her life. Well, probably prevented some big scrapes and bruises cuz she probably would've tipped over. As she was heading down, she got this wide-eyed, alarmed, oh-no-what-is-happening look on her face, which might have been amusing if not for the situation. Well, I put the truck away after that.

We had rather a rough morning in the nursery yesterday. I went early to play in the first service, and when Rhonda came with the kids for sunday school, Hanna started crying even before they got to the church, like she knew where she was going, and she didn't want to be there. When they got into the church, she was still crying and would not settle down. Rhonda tried just holding her for awhile, but nope, Hanna did not want to be left there. So, Rhonda ended up taking her home, and had some nice quiet time with her.

Then there was John. After ss, I went up to the stage to play with the orchestra again, and someone came and got me saying John was having a tough time. I went in there, and the couple who do the sunday school for them said he was aggressive all during the ss hour, he would push carts or something into other kids, etc... knocking them over. He had to be kept away from the others. Boy, I'm not sure what to do. He's obviously trying to express some feelings over the change with Hanna coming into the house, but how do we help him throught that? We give him lots of love and attention, we can't beat him silly, so I don't know what will work, other than to wait it out. But I wish there was something specific we could do, other than wait, cuz what if he just starts to resent her rather than accept her? Right now he doesn't seem antagonistic to her, specifically. A few times he's pushed her or otherwise gotten physical with her, but he doesn't seek her out. When he acts out or gets wild, he may push others simply because they are close by. And he's not like this all the time. Seems like if I'm around he's less likely to be that way. So, John needs some prayer.

Over the weekend, John was asking for something, I forget what, and it sounded like John said "Jeff, Jeff, I want... (whatever). Ha. That's the first I've heard that. He always calls me Daddy, but maybe he was trying to get my attention. Rhonda has been working on getting him to learn our names, in case he ever gets lost or something and is found by the police or whatever, and maybe he's heard Rhonda call me Jeff.

Hanna is learning to kiss! When she sees us kiss or something, she'll kinda smack her lips, like she's trying to do that too. I'll make kisses at her, and she'll try it, and then giggle and giggle. She likes to laugh!

Was helping John get dressed this morning, and Hanna came in, rummaged through one of John's drawers, grabbed a shirt and left the room. Ha. I went after her, and when she saw me coming she laughed and spun around and tried to get away.

And the Wild. Ugh. They lost 1-0 in double overtime. Not the most exciting of games. Yeah, the Ducks goalie was hot, and made a few great saves, but overall, the Wild didn't threaten the net too many times. They play again tonight.

Wow, the Wild are becoming quite a story. You have to admire their refusal to roll over and die. I thought they were done last night. After a scoreless, listless first period, Vancouver got a goal, the place was jumping, and only a minute later, they scored again to go up 2-0. Vancouver had all the momentum, the fans were going nuts, I thought it was over. I thought the Wild couldn't come back from that. But they did. They got a fluky goal to finish the second period at 2-1. Tied it up later, and ended up winning 4-2. Wow. So, now they play Anaheim on Saturday, at 2 pm I believe.

Had our bible study over last night. John was a bit wild, I suppose with the added attention.

We've started including Hanna when we do Ring Around the Rosey, and she already understands it! When we walk in a circle she lifts her lift and kind of stomps real quicky, and she knows to "sit down", and tries to stand up, but needs some help.

I've been saying prayers with her in her crib, and last night I laid her down, and said "let's say prayers" and she put her hands together all by herself! She's learning...

Happy Birthday to Kristin yesterday! Sounds like she was able to get out of the house for a spell!

Sometime in the middle of the night, I thought I heard saying John "outside..outside". (that's what he says when he wants to go outside and play, and he said it in that tone of voice) Strange. Don't know if he was talking in his sleep, or if something woke him up and he was just saying whatever came to his mind first? He didn't say anymore and went back to sleep.

Last night we went around and said goodnight to the bedroom and the bathroom, something we haven't done in awhile. He said good night to just about everything. In our bedroom, he said "good-night spinning (ceiling fan), good-night rewinder", etc... in the bathroom, he said "good-night potty chair, good-night poops" etc... Like I said, he said good-night to everything!

We were outside last night, and had a ball out, and John was kicking it (he seems to prefer his left leg for kicking). It was about the size of a kickball, so a little big, and once John swung at it and missed and ended up stepping on the ball, and lost his balance and fell backward, and kind of conked his head on the driveway. Ouch ouch. He cried for a bit, but thankfully he didn't hit it as hard as he might have.

Sometimes when Hanna is in her high chair, there's times when she tosses food or her cup off the chair. (Something Ellie has figured out). So, sometimes I'll just give her hand a swat and say "no". Now, in the last couple days, she might toss something, and I'll look at her sternly, and she'll take one hand and kind of tap it on the back of her other hand. ha! She knows she did something wrong, and would get her hand swatted!

The Wild won last night! So, they play Game 7 tonight in Vancouver. That team is the story around town these days. No NHL team has ever come back from 3-1 deficits twice in the same playoff year, and they could do that tonight. (They were down 3-1 to Colorado, and came back to win.)

Well, had a quiet Birth Remembrance Day. Had some good german chocolate cake. The kids enjoyed it too, judging from how much of it got smeared on their hands, faces, and the table. John enjoyed it when Rhonda lit the candles and I blew them out. He also liked singing to me.

Earlier he wanted to watch Veggie Tales, but I said as soon as Star Trek is over, but just when it finished, Rhonda had him come up and take a bath. Well, I forgot about veggie tales, but later, about 9 pm, after we had cake, John said "Veggie Tales!" He remembered. So, I let him watch for a little while.

Lately he's wanted to do Ring around the rosey and Teddy Bear touch the ground (another song with actions) before getting into his crib. Maybe it is another of his bed delaying tactics, but it's short and fun, so why not.

I got Hanna out of her crib this morning. She was awake, but quiet, not fully revved up yet. She likes to be held for a bit when she first gets up. She had her socks off as usual. She just loves to pull off her socks and be barefoot.

Went to Cub Foods and Walmart last night, and took along the kiddies (John says "Cub Foods" now when we go in). At Walmart John made a beeline for the little kiddie rides they have out front. On the way out I put quarters in the helicopter, but I didn't have any for the little car, which dismayed John greatly. John walked on his own in Walmart (Hanna was in the cart), and John likes the freedom. He stays close for the most part, but once in awhile the temptation to mess with things on the shelves becomes too great. Once he messed with some sunglasses, so we put him in the cart for a short timeout, and he wailed, and pointed to the floor and said "get down, walk in store", and started climbing over the side of the cart.

And of course, when Hanna sees John walking, she immediately puts up her hands and says her "aaaahh, aaaah", and wants to walk to.

She's so funny when she sees John doing something. Last night I tossed John on the bed so he could jump a bit, and Hanna had come up the stairs on her own, and immediately walked up to the bed, looked at me, and said "aaaaah, aaaah". Yes, I could tell what she wanted! So I tossed her up to and tickled her. John doesn't always like it when his time on the bed is shared with Hanna.

I'm starting to look at going to another group here in the building. This would be more of a programming job, which would be good for me. I'm not doing a whole lot of actual coding right now, and probably won't be in the near future in my current group, so I'd like the chance to improve my skills. This would be mostly in java, which I haven't done a lot of, so again it would be a chance to add some marketable skills. I like my current group, and if I did go to this group, I hope easing out of my current group wouldn't be awkward. I know it might leave them kind of short, as there is a lot of work to do, and we're not exactly swimming in bodies right now, as we're about down to a skeleton crew after laying off so many. So, we'll see what happens. May know more today or in the next few days.

happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear me-eeee, happy birthday to me...

A Happy 60th Birthday to Dad (last Saturday!) Sounds like he got some golfing in. I had tried calling, and was gone when he called back, but John was able to sing Happy Birthday to Grandpa! He likes to sing that song.

I didn't have to play in church yesterday, so we went to the early service and then to sunday school. We put both John and Hanna in the nursery, and she did great! Didn't cry, played happily. I think the last couple weeks helped to get her used to it, but I'm surprised she was ready to be left alone this soon. It took John awhile before we felt comfortable leaving him by himself in the nursery.

We have several touch and feel books, and Hanna likes them. She'll often carry them over and wants us to read them with her. But, she usually won't touch the various things herself. She wants us to take her hand and then touch her hand to the book. Funny.

Cool and rainy here again. Ugh. Will it ever warm up? I'm all for global warming, where is it? So, the kids get kinda cooped up. I took them to the park on Saturday. There is a tall metal slide, and John just scampers right up, and goes flying down, and just plows into the sand at the bottom. He just loves it. And of course, a couple times while sitting there in the sand he'd pick up handfuls and dump sand on his head. Hey!

Last night put John in the tub, and Hanna climbed up to the side of the tub, and just stared fascinated, and then wanted to get in herself. So, we put her in, and she was just fine! Didn't cry at all, I even poured water all over her, and she was just fine, she was playing with toys, and splashing. So that was the secret, she has to do whatever John does. But then, she poohed in the tub, so everybody out of the pool!

Well, for the 7th year in a row, the Timberpuppies lose in the first round of the playoffs. Ugh. Tonight the Wild take to the ice again for Game 4, after losing a snoozer of Game 3.

I told John it will be my birthday next week, and so lately he's been singing Happy Birthday to me. The whole song, and on key! (Happy Birthday, dear Daddy.... sniff) And then he says "cake". He just wants to eat birthday cake. And I told him it is Grandpa's birthday soon too, so I'm sure he'll enjoy singing Happy Birthday to Grandpa.

Took the kids to the park last night. While pushing John in the swing, Hanna was wandering around, and ate some dirt. Hey! I thought girls were dainty and didn't do things like eat dirt.

Finished up a training course on C# here in the building at work. That was from Monday-Thursday. These kinds of things are mostly useful for the book and CD with the exercise solutions, as you usually cover so much so fast, it's the proverbial drink of water from a firehose.

Yesterday Hanna went to the doctor for a couple of shots. Apparently her memory works just fine. When she went into the clinic she started to cry, and when she saw the person who gave her shots last time she cried, and when she saw Dr. Kuku she cried. And didn't seem to like getting stuck with a needle any better than last time. Rhonda said she howled pretty good.

The shots might have made her a bit off kilter the rest of the day. Rhonda went to look at some rummage sales last night, so I had the kids alone, and she was a bit fussy. She had a messy diaper, so I changed that, but she was still fussing, so I gave her a bit of Motrin, and that seemed to help. She was more her usual happy self after that, but by bedtime she was fussy again. She slept good though.

Her skin is looking better. Rhonda has been putting cream on her regularly, but she said ecsema is maybe something that just doesn't go away? I don't know. So maybe it's something we'll have to keep an eye on for awhile? The doctor mentioned putting Vaseline on her after baths.

John went over to Sue's house yesterday. He enjoyed that, as he hadn't been there since before we left to go get Hanna. We told him the night before he was going, and he said "go now!".

The last few nights after I put in him in his crib, he's said "hide and seek", and pulled the blanket over his head. Last night though, he told me, "go hide in Legos", so I went over there, and Rhonda helped him count, and then he looked over and found me. I wonder when Grandpa was here, if he played hide and seek with John, and he remembered that?