wow life's not getting any slower. i haven't had much time on the computer with thomas being sick. i guess as with anything, it is also as busy as we make it :)
thomas is definitely not slowing down either. he walks as much as he can now. he only crawls if he has fallen down and finds it convenient to crawl towards some item of desire. or like in the photos, when he purposefully falls on his face in order to test the softness of something.
when he is really tired, he does this drunken walk. especially when he is tired but still holding objects in his hands. then it is almost like his feet go in a completely random pattern! plus he loses his balance a lot more so we have to be more vigilent about making sure he doesn't face plant on something that will really hurt.
it took about 2 weeks for thomas to fully recover from his first real cold. for some reason, days were more hectic with him being sick. the worst part was the bad runny/stuffed nose. he was definitely phlegmy and had a cough as well, but luckily, no fever. he first started showing signs of being sick on jan 21st. by this past sunday (2/4), he was pretty clear (except for a little residual stuffiness) and by monday and tuesday, he was back to his old self...
do babies have an old self? he changes so fast! i do know we spoiled him a lot the past two weeks, knowing he was uncomfortable, so i will probably spend the next month undoing a lot of that. especially the TV watching. now that he walks more, he loves exploring the fridge and helping us empty the dishwasher, utensil by utensil. he also loves checking areas that are off limits to see if they have magically been opened to him. he demonstrated on sunday at john & liz's place that he has very keen radar for things that block areas he wants to reach (like stairways). as SOON as they are moved, he drops what he is doing and goes zooming towards the forbidden area.
about TV... when he was sick, i pretty much let him watch TV whenever it was eating time, so that he would have something to focus on other than the fact that he couldn't breathe. i think there are days that he watched 2 maybe even 3 hours of TV (between sesame street, teletubbies and curious george). it takes a long time to get a full meal in him sometimes. in the last month, he has stopped eating as fast as he used to. there are days when it feels like all i have done all day is feed him. blah....
anyways, this week i backed it down to 1 hour in the morning. but he does try here and there to turn on the TV. so i turn it off and tell him it is not time to watch TV. but he is pretty persistent sometimes. luckily, at this age, it is easy to redirect with a book or toy. but man, TV is soooooo hypnotically evil. he just sits there and stares. and at times, he squeals, giggles or grunts in response.
------------books and a not so hot craigslist deal-------------
one thing we have discovered is that he loves books. i read with him at least 4-5 times a day because he just pulls books out and sits down to flip through the pages in his own random way. whenever i see him "reading" it always pulls at my heart and i have to go over, pull him into my lap and read with him. i love it!
to feed his desire for books, i have been searching for used children's board books. i found this lady on craigslist selling 164 books for $100. well, i don't want that many books so i asked if i could pick out 50 for $40. she agreed. once i got there, i found that many of the books were paperback baby books, so they are more like thin pamphlets. and it was not just baby books, everything from 1 to grade school. she did have some larger books (like this colorful tome filled with fables, songs and nursery rhymes. and this 5 pack of HUGE disney classic story books). so i ended up with 71 books for $60. it is not a bad deal at all, but I do wish I could have worked her down to $50. what i did learn is that indian women are the toughest bargainers in the world!!! i know it is a stereotype (like korean women being totally superficial :) ha ha), but i thought i was a pretty good wheeler & dealer. so i walked in thinking i could talk this lady down once i saw what she had to sell. instead, she had me in there for an hour, haggling back and forth. she even pulled out a calculator to try to make sure she was not getting shafted. and she tried to tell me that i had taken most of the best ones (even though i didn't). at least we remained pretty civil towards one another and it never turned ugly (or i would have just walked away). so she softened me a little because she was nice about dealing. but boy, i always thought i could drive a hard bargain... i met my match! :)
7 comments:
Cute pictures! I don't think frugality is just race related. Going to a mixed church now, I've met lots of frugal Caucasians who hold onto their money. I also grew up with quite a few frugal Caucasian families who held onto their money like with a death grip. After the rummage sale I'll let you know if they're tough bargainers as well. ^_^
i think he will love the library - but for now, it is hard to keep track of which ones are due when (ha ha, i have already had to pay one fine), so i am trying to build up a little library for him.
and yes - i agree completely that anyone can be frugal! it is a universal trait. i was referring more to her willingness to tell me to my face that i was not paying enough. i think you can be frugal without being willing to push people to give you more money. you know - the type that will just walk away if they think the person is being too pushy. in general terms, certain ethnicities are willing to get a little more in your face when negotiating prices in an open market system. again it is a stereotype but fits me too, as a korean :)
There's another term for frugality that's relate but has a different take.
"Simplified Living". It's not necessarily being cheap or frugal, but rather a way of thought about how you spend your time & money. Simplicity is not cheap or frugal, it's just thinking through what you really need vs. want.
Speaking for myself..I need to pare down my 7+ bicycles. At least I got my guitars down to just 3 now. :)
Need to clean out the garage before Thomas realizes that Daddy is a pack-rat!
Talk about the Queen of all things craigslist! I think I know who I'm going to when I have kids! Books are the best things to spend money on I think. My parents were always willing to buy me books when we were growing up rather than a toy or a video game. I love books!
I wish we could live "simplified". I'd like to think we do but I know we don't. Every now and then I get this "splurge urge" and go insane with money. Lately I haven't been disciplined at all with money. First the PB curtains, then I just had to have this tea set I saw at Target, and at Costco they had this San Ramon history book that I've always wanted. I have no spending money till April! :P I finished reading the history book and am thinking of returning it since I just bought it yesterday... but then, I really want it! :P
btw, the history book is thin and mostly pictures - in case you were wondering how I'd so quickly finished it. ^_^
oh man i am the same about money. i will be really good for a month and the next month i will blow my budget for the next 2 months! definitely not easy to live simple. esp in ca - no one wants to live simple! even those that can't afford to rack up huge debit not living simple. but one thing william and i are doing is trying to buy as much used as possible - recycle reuse :)
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