Kid Vocab 101

Molly has been talking more and more - seems she comes out with a new word every day. Here's a few of her more common words. I've given her pronunciation and then the translation.

Peas = please
Danku or Ticku = thank you
gawk = fork
poon = spoon
muck = milk
watee = water
I common = I'm coming
ebant = elephant
mookee = monkey


She's also starting to string more words together. She's mostly doing two-word phrases, but is beginning to advance even more. Just tonight, as she was fighting sleeping in her crib, she asked to go sleep in our big bed. She asked for "Mommy room bed," which might be her longest sentence ever!

Springtime Activities

Two weeks into my unemployment and I'm trying to keep busy. We had a nice spell of weather the other weekend, and decided to tidy up our yard a bit. Molly was a great helper. She spent 45 minutes moving pebbles, one at a time, from the front yard to the backyard. Here's her very proud expression!


We also baked some chocolate chip cookies. Molly was a great kitchen helper, but really was most interested in the results, as you can see from the shot below. It's really not a very attractive shot, I'm afraid. Chocolate mouth overload!


It's back to being cold, but we really really hope that it won't last too much longer.

Tough Times Ahead

Well, the economy has hit very close to home: I've become the latest casualty in the layoff mania that's sweeping the nation. It was quite a shock to go to work at 9 on Thursday and be packing my desk and out the door by 10 the same day, knowing that we'd just lost half our household income (not to mention our health insurance) in the blink of an eye.

It's been a tough few days, and will continue to be tough. There's no doubt that the job outlook is grim. I have no illusions about finding something quickly. Or if I am lucky enough to find something, I know it won't be my dream job. I'm scared about our finances, but I'm also mourning the loss of a job that I really loved - I was learning so much and really beginning to feel more capable and confident at my work. It also completely fit the logistics of my life (distance from home, enough flexibility for a working mom). I had been searching for that job for years - literally searching for a year, but emotionally searching for it for longer. To lose it so quickly after starting is a real blow.

But I'm trying to blast out a lot of applications and resumes to make myself feel like I have some irons in the fire. Most of them aren't even in my field, but I feel a real sense of duty to get any work I can to help keep the family afloat. I have been very lucky to have already received a lot of encouragement and concrete support from friends and family. I hope one day I can get back to a job I love, but I think it will not be for a while.

Wish us luck.