Nervousing

Lindita loves buttons. She likes the power buttons on Evelyn's computer and on the TV. Yesterday, Nana reports, Evelyn was playing Mario Kart while Lindita hovered near the TV. Evelyn called out, "Nana, she's nervousing me!"

Lindita has learned to pour water from one cup to another. She likes to put lids on things. She tries really hard to dump out cereal boxes, to get at the food.

Evelyn has been under the weather the last few weeks. She's well enough to go to school, except she's short on sleep. The child will not nap until she collapses.

Last Sunday Aunt Bunny and I took Evelyn to a party at the zoo. It was a very nice party. I have a bunch of pictures - one of these days I'll upload them. Now, at the zoo, we pointed out the word "ZOO" in a few places, and went over how it is spelled. Yesterday, Evelyn spotted the word "zoo" on a magazine and read it! She also recognized the word "zoo" in Good Night, Gorilla. This is progress.

Lindita says "Hot" when near the oven. She knows that my coffee cup and steaming pitcher are hot. This morning she touched her eggs and then pronounced them "hot." Then she attempted to blow on them, unsuccessfully.
She loves to listen to music, but when we turn on the CD player she tries to unplug it. She dances and claps when not chasing electricity.

Evelyn's Christmas wish list

I'll put toys that Evelyn wants on this wish list. It'll show you what she likes. Don't feel obligated to buy from the list directly; some of the stuff is way cheaper elsewhere, and the toys are available in many forms. This will show you some of her favorite Pokemon. She also loves anything related to Mario Kart.

Lindita is 1

Don't mind me -- I'm cranky from too little sleep.

Lindita is now one year old. Hurray Lindita! We never did get a proper birthday celebration in this weekend. She had a cupcake on the deck. Mama Cat brought her a toy laptop with lots of buttons. Nana reports that she likes to use it as a seat.

Pa Pa worked his butt off this weekend to install a swing set in the back yard. The kids are crazy about it.

Evelyn is Luigi today. Each day, she is Mario or Luigi or King Boo or Princess Peach or Rosalina. Occasionally she's Yoshi or Donkey Kong. She is all about the Mario Kart characters. For Halloween we're preparing for any of the above. I just ordered her a blue dress and silver shoes for Rosalina days. She's going to be thrilled.

Lindita is interested in dogs (she pants huh-huh-huh to say "dog") and cats ("Daa!") and books ("buuuh") and balls ("buuuh"). She enjoys pulling things off of shelves and dumping food on the floor. She usually has a scrape on her forehead from a sidewalk encounter.

Eric says that he is tired too.

Health care

Here's a summary of a report about the health care plans of the two candidates.

It hypothesizes the insurance situation in 2010 and the costs over the next decade if each plan is implemented.

McCain -> 21.1 million fewer uninsured
Obama -> 26.2 million fewer uninsured

McCain -> $2 trillion cost over 10 years
Obama -> $1.1 trillion cost over 10 years

The distribution of those insured changes, too: in McCain's plan, those with chronic conditions are less likely to be insured than they are now. In Obama's plan, the sick are more likely to be insured than they are now.

And this report was "more optimistic" about McCain's plan than other comparisons have been.

Which plan is better? DUH!

OCD

Evelyn, yesterday, very sadly: "At school, it wasn't a very good day, because Daddy didn't park in a red spot."

The parking lot at her school is brick, sort of, and it alternates between red and white for each parking spot. Evelyn strongly prefers the red spots.

Eric: "Rrrrgh. This happens every day when I park in a white spot. There weren't any red spots open."