Random updates.

[temporus]

Today, I helped a friend change the brakes on my car.  i am now qualified to help someone else so enknowledged as to be capable of doing said task on their own.  And therefore am able to qualify as "lackey".   This is actually the most complicated thing I've ever done in terms of repairs on a vehicle.  Prior to this, I have managed to replace light bulbs, change fuses, and top off liquids--provided that they are appropriately labeled.  Oh, and yes, I have changed flat tires before too.  So I am slowly expanding my knowledge of vehicular maintenance.  I probably should have taken autoshop in high school instead of electronics, at the time my choice made sense, but now that I think about it, autoshop would have been much more useful over the length of my life.

My son is using sentences now.   They contain subjects, verbs, and sometimes objects.   Recent examples:  "Dada read book."   "Dada sing song."  "Dada not funny."   (This last of course causes him to burst into laughter.   I've let him know that continuing to decry my lack of humor will only make longer his wait to borrow the car, but apparently that is not much on the minds of 21 month olds.  Who knew?)  He's picking up words so fast it's boggling.

I still have some small trees.   I'm hesitant yet to even attempt to qualify them as "bonsai", and I think I'll see how they weather the winter.  Come to think of it, I'm going to need a plan for how to deal with them come the winter.   Normally, I don't manage to keep potted plants alive this long, and outdoor plants even less so.   One of the plants that I thought had been a goner has managed to spring out some new life.  New young leaves are coming out lower on the trunk.  I wonder if I should prune the trunk down some, to encourage stronger growth.  I'd almost tossed this whole plant a few weeks ago, but it seems as if benign neglect has allowed it a second chance.  

The lawn is mowed.  Laundry done.  Car gassed up.  In theory, I'm ready to start the week.

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

They grow soooooo fast....

[blue-23.livejournal.com]

So fast.

Sentences are a great age - they understand you fairly well, and now that blossoms into a dialog. Single words, points, and all that works up to this point, but now you (well, me) end up talking to them more now that they talk back, so they pick up more words. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I remember going gaga (heh) over Mary's first four word sentence. "Daddy eat mine toes." Not quite something to displace Hemingway or Heinlein, but still it tickled me pink and I had to inflict it on all my coworkers and acquaintances.

"Daddy not funny." I'll have to remember that one for next time we talk. :)

[temporus.livejournal.com]

Oh, we talk to him all the time. I think that's why he's so chatty in general. I'll just be happy once he has enough words to tell me what he wants or is ticking him off instead of just screaming and kicking. I'm sure it's a gradual change, but it will be so nice when he gets the idea that if he tells us what he wants we can actually respond quicker than if he just yells in frustration.

[l-clausewitz.livejournal.com]

At least your son isn't repairing cars already.

[temporus.livejournal.com]

He's not in the repairing stage yet. Right now it's the breaking stage.

It amazes me though, how they seem to believe that adults can do anything. My son will break a crayon, then hand it to me and give me a grunt like: "Fix it dad." Except that, without appropriate heat, fixing a crayon isn't really practical. Least of all in the middle of a restaurant.

Cut the red wire!

[blue-23.livejournal.com]

Heh, I did the same choice when it came to electronics or autoshop. I had a friend in called named Carman, she taught me how to change the oil in my car. I taught myself several years later how to jack your car off the oil-changing ramp if you drive too far and go off the end. :)