I’ve been using some of the under-3 techniques from Love and Logic with Will and have found them to be fairly effective, as long as I can keep my cool, which I’ve generally been able to do. It was such a good recommendation from Michelle. Even when I can’t quite keep my cool, I’m able to use the techniques anyway, and keep myself or the situation from escalating too far. Jay – I thought of you when Will got frustrated, started to raise his hand to me, then he paused, furrowed his brow, and then wrapped his arms around me and gave me a huge kiss, and stroked my cheek. No hitting Mama.

My mother and mother in law were here this weekend for Ellen’s dedication. It was a beautiful service. Rev. Rob said “Many Unitarians have moved away from the idea of original sin and towards the idea of original blessing. We see sin as a uniquely human creation that is learned versus innate. And so we celebrate the inherent blessing in these babies and dedicate ourselves to their nurturance and growth with love.” Ellen was so alert and interested and grinned her gummy grin at both ministers as they touched water and dirt on her cheek, and blew air gently on her, and showed her the candle (earth, water, wind, fire).

My mother seemed well and serene. She did say the numbness is creeping up her legs again, but since she has an infusion this week, she hopes that will arrest it and reverse it. She’s not crazy about stairs since her ankles aren’t as stable as she would like. She has a hard time flexing her foot, so steps are uncomfortable. She was able to pick up both Ellen and Will, but didn’t want to carry either one up or down the stairs. I really enjoyed her company. We talked a lot about my babies, of course, and about being a parent. She said to me several times that she and my father always felt that my brother, sister, and I have turned out “well” by sheer luck, not due to their parenting. This was touching to me, since it indicated the first self-doubt I’ve ever really seem my mother exhibit about her role as parent. It certainly made her seem very human to me.

I had lunch with my former director today and it was great to see him, and tell him about my new role, and hear how he is. Its nice to know that I will probably always be in touch with him.

I didn’t as many pictures of Ellen’s dedication as I wanted, but my mother took a few. It was discouraging to see how I looked in my dress. For being at a relatively decent if not exactly slender weight, I sure looked lumpy and rolly. I’ve put my weight loss on hold, and am maintaining for now. I do want to do another push soon for the last 6/7 pounds, but really want to be psyched up for it because there is very little chance that I can do it without restricting my calories even more. I’ve been fairly happy with the input/output model of the current CK diary for my weight loss up to this point, but post this point, I don’t think I’ll be able to eat my exercise calories back. So, I need to be ready for that.

Steve and I had a date on Saturday without either child. Alone. It was very nice. We left both kids with our mothers (oh to have them here all the time!), got some Leann Chin and a few beers, and had a picnic at a lake. We have another date this Friday (the kids go to a church Parents Night Out – first time for Ellen), and I think we’ll do the same thing if the weather is nice.

Our tenant is giving us some trouble in Wisconsin. I think we’ll need to look into eviction and getting the house on the market and off our hands as soon as we can. It hard to be a landlord from out of state.