Just some pretty pictures

The apartment building that Austin and I live in now has some GORGEOUS landscaping. I had to take some pictures to gladden my soul (and to put in places where I'll see them, like my desktop, FB, and G+). I kinda wanted to show off as well, though, so what better place to do that than on my blog?

Azaleas were probably the flower I missed most while living in UT. These make me happy :)

Just trying to be artsy!

There are gardenias ALL OVER the place here, and BOY, do they smell good!  It's like yard-size air freshener. Mmmm!

Elephant ears. I thought this swirl looked neat.

I like the rainbow effect around the edges of the leaves

Japanese maple are so neat with all the colors in the leaves - I couldn't pass up this one!

Not Your Regular Friendship

So, today is the birthday of one of my friends from high school. I haven't really stayed in touch with him (except through Facebook), so I don't really know much about what his life is like now, but he was a really great friend then. He was my friend when I didn't know how to make friends. It meant a lot to me that he was my friend.

We were kind of unusual friends. I was shy, a model student, and strictly kept away from all drugs, including alcohol and tobacco. He was outgoing, an average-to-poor student, and was a regular smoker and drinker, and (I think) had tried illegal drugs a few times.

But those things, thankfully, did not define our friendship. We both got to school about half an hour early, so we'd hang out before school started. Mostly we just talked; sometimes we walked around the halls as we talked, too. He was fun to hang out with, and had a great sense of humor. He thought I was cute, and tried to stop smoking so I'd think he was more attractive. It was difficult because all of his family members also smoked, and I probably told him that I wasn't going to date him even if he stopped smoking. I liked him just fine as a friend who smoked. At that time, the term "friend zoned" wasn't in use. I liked him, but only as a friend.

One time I was working on my calculus homework when my friend got to school. He looked at all the summation symbols and integral signs and said (humorously) that it looked like satanic symbols. The summation sign ( Ʃ ) does look pretty creepy, doesn't it? Anyway, we had a good laugh over that one.

Another time when we were walking through the halls, one of my teachers saw us and gave us a funny look. I'm guessing that the teacher either had my friend in some of his classes or had heard about my friend from other teachers. It made me laugh to myself at the time, because although my friend might be considered a "bad influence," he wasn't a bad influence. He respected what I believed and cared about and didn't try to persuade me to compromise those things.

I keep hearing how important it is for young people to choose friends who have their same values. Yes, I think that's important, but I think that young people will also benefit from having friends that have different values but respect their beliefs. Let's remember to be kind and to stop stereotypes from defining our friendships with others.

Teething ... wow, what a looooooong day.

Why can't babies/toddlers teethe once and have done with it?

I wish.

Levi's first teeth came in without a fuss. Easy peasy! I thought Levi's bout with teething was over and that all the rest of the teeth that came in would come in just as easily.

Not so!

Every few months or so, Levi gets really picky with his food and will only eat really soft things. I didn't realize what it was until I complained about Levi's pickiness on Facebook and another mother suggested that his pickiness might be caused from teething. I realized that teething was definitely at the root of the problem. That wasn't good because Levi eats less when he's teething because it hurts more. Then he's hungry and cries and fusses more because he's hungry and his gums hurt. Sounds like a great combination, right? Add toddlerhood in the mix and there you have it -- a recipe for a difficult lesson in patience and keeping calm.

Anyway, when I realized that we didn't have any food prepared in the house that was soft enough for him, Levi was already a bit fussy. By the time I was halfway through cooking, he was desperate. I tried offering him some of his other snacks (cheese, crackers, etc), but he would have none of it, even though I could tell that he was so upset because of being hungry. Those last 15 minutes of cooking were very difficult. Thankfully, when the food was done and on his tray in front of him, Levi gobbled it up! He loved it! He's been cheerful ever since. Thank goodness for over-cooked pasta!

LOL! Online gaming as a woman, Part II

So you probably remember my first post about online gaming and getting lots of friend invites right after I made an account with the user name keighdee lady (just trying to rhyme here, folks!). Here is another adventure!

So I'm just going around and minding my own business in the game when all of a sudden I get a personal chat from another player that I've never encountered before, saying, "Will you be my girlfriend?"

Yes, it was THAT brazen. Just out of the blue and not even following the usual game etiquette for making friends--playing at least one game/level before sending a friend request, or at least knowing SOMETHING about the other person.

At first I wasn't sure what to do or say. Then I said in public chat, "lol I'm married." There were a couple of people in the public area that responded, obviously a little stumped by my out-of-the-blue statement. There were at least two people that said something like, "Haha that's so funny," or "lol, marriage is a funny thing."

The person that asked me to be his girlfriend, obviously feeling sheepish, said, "Sorry ma'am," and exited the scene. Poor kid. He was probably some middle- or (young) high-schooler that didn't know much about social norms. He was probably very shocked to have hit on a married woman instead of a single teenage girl ... hehehe.

Image from this site

Disaster Averted!

During a quick bathroom break, I realized that I had left my chair close enough to the table that if Levi climbed up on it, he'd be able to access the things on the table. I also hadn't pushed in my chair. My first thought was of the cup of water I'd left on the table. Levi loves drinking out of regular cups, but he's not very good at it. I do give him opportunities to drink out of cups, but I always supervise him or give him just a little bit at a time.

Sure enough, I soon heard the sound of the cup coming down heavily on the table (one-year-olds aren't really that great at fine motor control), followed by a satisfied, "Ahhh!" Levi had found my water.

Then, in a moment of terror, I realized that my computer was also on the table, just inches away from the water! My knowledge of a toddler's difficulty with fine motor control suddenly changed the situation from cute to desperate. I washed my hands in record time and ran to the table in time to find Levi peacefully playing with the keyboard while my half-full mug of water was safely relegated to the uninteresting part of the table. Whew!

High Five!

One of the best social skills that I've taught Levi is how to give a high five. 

There have been so many situations where people have asked him for a five and Levi was able to delight them with his compliance to the request. I even wrote a post that illustrates one small way Levi's skill has helped him to bond with others around him.

I've seen people who don't really know what to do when they first meet a toddler ask for a five. Since Levi knew what "Gimme a five" meant, he was able to make those people love him more.

I like it when people love my child. Therefore, high fives are important.

Levi being cute

Yesterday when Levi and I were walking (yes, Levi was walking, too) to the car from our apartment, we heard some people come out of their apartment behind us. Levi stopped and turned around to see what was going on, and we saw two young African-American men (probably college age; we live really close to Georgia Tech) approaching us. Levi was very interested to see what they were going to do, and just stared.



Of course I started to get uncomfortable that my child was so rudely staring, so when Levi lifted his hand (probably to point), I said, "Are you saying hi?" and then to the men approaching us, "Hi!"

Levi caught on to that and said, "Ai!" in his breathy little toddler voice. The young men smiled, waved, and said "Hi," back. They were obviously enchanted by Levi's adorable cuteness.

At this point, Levi decided to say hi again, but didn't give them a chance to get a word in edgewise. It went kind of like this:

"Ai."

"Ai."

"Ai."

"Ai."

"Ai."

At this point, I said, "He only knows one word," and the young men laughed. I could tell they thought Levi was really cute.

As they passed us, one of the young men held out his hand and said, "Gimme a five?" Levi tentatively put his hand on top of the palm and quickly drew away. The man was delighted that Levi was comfortable enough around him to give him a five and chuckled as he said bye to Levi.

What a fun experience!

It's an unrelated picture, but seriously, who can resist the cuteness???