16.09.07

So, I totally missed the fun because I was at work but last week Liam got to chat on iSight with my parents (in Norway) and Mitch (in Korea). Technology is freakin sweet!

I’m catching up on blog reading and I just got to Chrissy’s post about “perfection” and dealing with the “lulls” in life. She just recently finished her MLIS too (in addition to several other accomplishments). I like how she questions “well, what’s next? Is this it?” because I’ve done a lot of this myself lately. We spend a lot of time trying to accomplish things and despite how rewarding the achievement may feel there’s this initial coming down period afterwards. It kind of reminds you that the best part is often the process, not the result. I think sometimes we grow up thinking that happiness is a state of being. Something that just happens but only after a certain mixture of ingredients or specific variables have been combined. The media certainly makes us feels this way. Buy this, be this, look like this. Maybe it’s better not to think about happiness as a state, but as a learned skill that has to be practiced. Continuously. Not that I’m an expert on this but it would seem to make more sense if we thought of it that way more often so we’re not constantly looking for something external to create that specific state of being. On the other hand, it’s also very likely that it’s almost midnight and I should probably go to bed. Either that or waaaaay to many of those Buddhist focused self-help books.

We’re trying to teach Liam sign language. Although he hasn’t done them on a repeated basis, he has signed “dog” and “bird”, also “milk”, however I don’t think he really understands that he can use these signs to communicate with us. He just copies. I think he just sees it as playing. He has, however, created his own sign. We have a DVD of nursery rhyme songs that he loves to watch. His favorite is Wheels on the Bus. Whenever we pass by the DVD player or he’s playing around it he’ll do the “swish swish” motion for the wind shield wipers. I got him another DVD for his birthday of animal cartoons…all based on famous children’s books. But he won’t sit still for those, I think, because there’s no music.

Liam’s new thing nowadays is getting into the pantry and pouring cheerios on the floor. He then proceeds to eat the cheerios off the floor until the dogs come running…the dogs love Liam. They follow him virtually everywhere, especially during and after feeding times. He’s great at sharing, constantly dropping pieces of his own food onto the floor for the dogs to enjoy. We’ve had a lot of trouble getting Turbo to eat his meals here lately…for obvious reasons, who wants dried kibbles when you can have pumpkin and applesauce, or chicken and rice.

In other happy news, this time next week I’m going to be an aunt for the first time. Mikes sister, Kim, is due on Friday. She’s having a girl. They’ve chosen a really snazzy name…I love it. Syndey Theresa…I have no idea if I spelled that correctly but hopefully Kim will correct me. Mike is getting real excited about this too. It’ll be so neat for Liam to have a cousin around his age.

I had to go to OSU Stillwater for a workshop on Friday. I prepared meticulously for this trip, printed out three different maps, two to get me to Stillwater and another of the campus. I got lost. Twice. Once on my way to Stillwater and again on campus. Didn’t help that there was construction everywhere and nowhere to park that didn’t require a permit. I felt pretty traumatized by the time I made it home. I am hopeless when it comes to reading maps and following directions. On the first day of our honeymoon, it was Mike who got us from our hotel in Oslo to the port to catch the boat to the island where the Viking Ship Museum was supposed to be. This would be a city I have visited a total of three times in my life. Mike had never even been in the country before. And it’s not like finding the port in Oslo is all that difficult. You can see it in the distance, you can smell it. Just follow your nose…I just don’t understand how I get so disoriented. I think it’s just the map thing. I do a lot better when people just give me landmarks and tell me “right” or “left”.