December Chit Chat - Page 14 « Back to Group Discussions

[Abraisme]

We never intended on settling down here.  We were thinking of buying a house to renovate and flip in 1-2 years, but we've since changed our minds.  We looked at houses when we first got here and then we came into an issue with financing.  Because George is newly self employed, no one will give us a loan..  Even though we have enough to buy a house in cash!  We still need a renovation type loan to fix it up..  Anyway, we decided that it would make more sense to just use the money we have to buy a place where we want to settle down.  We are likely going to go back to WI in March/April and going to hang out there until we pick a place to settle.  We can't handle saying here with my sister for much longer, but we do have to stay until after all the puppies are sold and I'd like to wait until the weather starts to turn in WI.  

[seraf]

Gotcha. I missed the flipping part of the plan. Conventional home loans are not easy to get anymore. Moving out if the country sounds exciting. Do you speak Spanish?

[KaliShanti]

Enoch has zero words. :) He babbles like a maniac and we love it. He's not walking either. He is our late bloomer in many ways but our sweetest yet!

[Mal85]

So we are in the middle of this wonderful phase. We can lay the girls down for bed at the same time and they lay in there talking and giggling until they fall asleep. It is amazing!

Also, Christmas break is here! We had a snow day today and I just got the message we are out tomorrow too. Yay!!

[LunaLady]

Mal, that sounds WONDERFUL!

Abra, what fun! I'd LOVE to live somewhere else. I'd pick the South of France. How typical is that? ;)

[CDsMom1031]

Abra, super jealous. I'd love to go to a different country.

Jaimee, why don't you just drive up to Chicago and get them? Is that out of the question? I *think* you're only 3-4 hours away from there... Because I'm 6 hours away.

[Becky Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Abraisme 

That sucks Jaimee!  I seriously hope that all goes well from here and they are home by Christmas.

We have finally made the decision to scout other countries to move to. We have always wanted to move to a foreign country, mostly somewhere in South America, but it's just never panned out. We bought the plane tickets yesterday for my DH and step-father to go to Costa Rica/Nicaragua and Uruguay.  We are majorly leaning toward Uruguay, but really feel like he should visit 2 different places and get a real feel for them.  He'll be gone for 16 days in February, so I'll have my share of single parenting in a couple of months.  Luckily I do live with my sister, so she will be around to help me, which is nice.  Although, our dog is pregnant again and we'll be in the hectic middle of puppies!  

Oh wow! What a great adventure! So cool!

[KayPea]

Oren only says Mama, Dada and more (which really sounds like ma! ma!) He's an amazing mimic for gesture and intonation, but can't mimic sounds at all. He's a champion babbler, though. He'll tell you a whole story with pauses and inflections and hand and head movement.

Poor kid, he's having a hard time, too. Teething, illness and so much frustration. He has spent the last few days screaming in anger. Tantrums nonstop. Poor sleep. Separation anxiety. This is my least favourite time in all babyhood, this transition to toddler, and pre-verbal toddler. I struggle with it.

Oren is also not yet walking, nor does he seem anywhere near Walking. He does push things and walk around, and cruises all the time, but is not interested in walking at all.

[KaliShanti]

Ight as I was nursing nochy to sleep last night he throws up alllll over me. Awesome. :/

[Jaimee]

Originally Posted by CDsMom1031 

Jaimee, why don't you just drive up to Chicago and get them? Is that out of the question? I *think* you're only 3-4 hours away from there... Because I'm 6 hours away.

If that were the only problem, they would have rented a car and come down.  Their flight INTO Chicago was cancelled.  Pretty much everything into Chicago was cancelled yesterday.  We ended up getting some serious wind and then several inches of snow.   Since they cancelled so many flights there are hundreds of people they have to reschedule.  There were no openings for three seats until the 24th.  They won't allow you to switch destinations and an attempt to get a refund and book a different flight didn't work out either b/c flights into Indy or St. Louis are twice the price of the refund and many were cancelled as well.  So he's stuck in Washington.

[Jaimee]

Oh, I forgot to mention... Avery took 2 steps last night!  Too bad dh wasn't here to see them.  I wonder if he'll keep working on walking or give it a break for a while like he did with crawling.  It would figure that this is the moment he decides to work on it, while dh is gone.  But maybe he needed some space away from the olders in order to make it happen.  LOL!

[CDsMom1031]

Originally Posted by Jaimee 

Originally Posted by CDsMom1031 

Jaimee, why don't you just drive up to Chicago and get them? Is that out of the question? I *think* you're only 3-4 hours away from there... Because I'm 6 hours away.

If that were the only problem, they would have rented a car and come down.  Their flight INTO Chicago was cancelled.  Pretty much everything into Chicago was cancelled yesterday.  We ended up getting some serious wind and then several inches of snow.   Since they cancelled so many flights there are hundreds of people they have to reschedule.  There were no openings for three seats until the 24th.  They won't allow you to switch destinations and an attempt to get a refund and book a different flight didn't work out either b/c flights into Indy or St. Louis are twice the price of the refund and many were cancelled as well.  So he's stuck in Washington.

Ohhh. Okay. =) I misunderstood. Well that stinks. I'm sorry. =( At least they'll make it home (barely) before Christmas.

[birdhappy85]

I love love LOVE having a walking baby! Sora decided this week that she's walking for good and giving up crawling. OMG walking babies are the cutest thing... The first time she followed me into the kitchen, I nearly shed a tear. LOL. If DH or I sit on the floor while she's playing, she walks up to hug us with the most excited expression. I can't get enough of the baby love and how much happier Sora is now that she can walk and talk more. She communicates really well. She mimics like CRAZY, especially our tone of voice. She says Mama, Dada, Nigh-nigh, Bye-bye [waving], Good girl, Ba-ba [if she's thirsty], Yeah, No, and MONKEY! Monkey is my favorite word she says because she says it so clearly and says it a million times while I'm reading the 'monkeys jumping on the bed' book. DH has taught her to make the "muuuuah!" sound (with the drawn out muuuu part) but she hasn't figured out the kissy sound or lip movement yet. DH is also teaching her how to say thank you. She mimics his inflection exactly but it comes out more like "dink-du".

I just can't believe how much calmer and relaxed Sora is now. It's a night and day difference from when she was a newborn. The tough part now is going to be bedtime. Ever since she began walking, she has an insane amount of energy and just wants to keep walking and playing nonstop. She isn't getting super tired at her usual bedtime because she's so wound up with excitement, and she suddenly protests naps more often. Gah!

[Becky Wheeler]

Levi's decided it's time to walk! However, he sidesteps instead of walking FORWARD. haha 

[Abraisme]

No, we don't speak Spanish yet, but we are practicing.  I've had my DS doing Rosetta Stone spanish all year and now DH and I have started too.  We are trying to slowly add more immersion, like I'm only letting Olivine watch cartoons in spanish (which she doesn't seem to mind at all).  

Coralie still isn't that close to walking.  She finally started to take a few steps while pushing a toy around, but that's pretty much it. I suspect she still has awhile.  

[LunaLady]

What is your draw to Uruguay? I'm curious.

[Jaimee]

Anthea, how are you doing?  I wanted to ask you about your thoughts on anthroposophy since you were planning on sending your daughter to a Waldorf school.

[LunaLady]

We are starting a partent/tot class at our local Waldorf school in January! I'm really excited :)

[Mal85]

Jaimee-- I was really into Waldorf while I was in school. I spent quite a bit of time at a nearby Waldorf school and loved it so much I was just sure I would go on to get certified and really considered opening one here. Then I started looking into anthroposophy since it's such a big part of the teacher training, as well as Steiner himself. I was more than a little disturbed by many things I found out. I brought up some of my concerns with the school I had been spending time with, hoping to find out they were not teaching or instilling these beliefs. I was given very vague non-answers to my questions. It was enough to make me take a step back from Waldorf. I love the vibe in the schools but you can create that vibe without subscribing to the system completely. I love DD1's school. I like to describe it as a Montessori preschool with a Waldorf vibe

[Jaimee]

Yeah, I love the feeling of Waldorf as well, but when I read about the "religion" I got really confused and was really disappointed.  Though according to me research, the teachers do not bring it into the classroom, they are all required to be trained in it, so I thought that very strange.  I also was concerned about their reading philosophy and how they don't push reading until the student is ready, which might not be until they are 7 or 8 years old.  It seemed to me that while this would be fine if you continued in Waldorf all the way through, that if you needed to switch to another school at some point, the student could end up being significantly behind in certain areas.  And in all the places I've been, Waldorf schools have been several thousand dollars a year upwards of $9000 a year in Baltimore.  So there was zero chance that we could afford to send even one of our children to Waldorf school through high school.  But for preschool, I think it would be great!