And she'll use a word with clear sense that she knows what it means, then drop it for days. She'll wave and say bye-bye (really more like ba-ba) to DH as he leaves for work on one day, then won't do it again no matter how you prompt her for another 10 days or so. Yesterday she was saying MAH! in clear imitation of our MWAH! when we kissed her; today not a hint of it.

This dropping-it thing is really typical Susan. You can count these incidents as talking--as words on her master list. I don't recall it being covered much in books (Spock might mention it), but it was true, not only of my own three (they did the same thing with the waving bye-bye), but of other baby-toddlers I've known well, too. They use a skill a lot when they first learn it, then they seem to forget it. Honestly? I think they get bored once they've mastered it, and they're busy figuring out the next big thing.

Both of my boys in particular also clearly wanted to know how to do a thing, before they tried to learn to do a thing. This was particularly evident in talking, walking, and crawling. I think I told you, we finally got down on our hands and knees and banged the floor with emphasis, to show Ben how to crawl, because it became clear he was waiting for the ability to be bestowed from on high, rather than to develop through trial and error. And he never once let us hold his hands, while he tried to toddle. Not once. He'd stand, and you could tell he wanted to go, but he wouldn't. If we took his hands, his legs turned to spaghetti, and he sat down.

Much ~ma to Maria's future MIL. I hope everything is ok.

Raquel, definitely hang with us. It's always a good plan.

I go back to work today. For real. I'm actually kind of looking forward to it. Here's to it going well.

Good morning! I am in a good mood today, I am not sure why. It might be because I am wearing a saucy new outfit!

~ma to Maria, DF, and his mom and entire family.

Saucy new outfit, huh? Well, now, it's not fair to tease us like that!

well, it's a pair of khaki-colored pedal pushers, that come right below the knee (so they're almost like shorts, but I can wear them to work!) and a sleeveless red blouse. I feel emboldened by the sleeveless-ness; I hate my flabby upper arms SO MUCH but wearing this, I feel free of my upper arm insecurity!

Also, this is the week before vacation, we leave on Friday! Wheee!

good luck at work today, vw! Glad you are looking forward to it.

It sounds lovely, Nora! And yay for vacation.

Thanks for the luck. I'll probably need it. I went in for a few hours on Friday, because Big!Boss called me claiming an emergency...and supposedly I was the only one that knew how to deal with it. I think it was at least partially her trying to just get me back in the office to get my feet wet again. Whatever it was, it worked, and now I'm not as anxious about going back. I think it will work out.

I'm only going to work three hours a day this week instead of four. So, I'm kind of easing my way back in.

I think I'm also a little less anxious, 'cause I came up with a plan yesterday for fall. I've been panicking about whether or not I'll be able to stay there and do school AND work, considering how *not* well that went this summer. I think part of that was just adjusting to working again, so I don't think the fall will be as bad. But, I also think I'm going to talk to them about only working four days a week for three hours (so only 12 hours a week, rather than 15), so I still get one day off during the week. That really seems to help me. So, it feels good to have a back-up plan that doesn't include quitting. It's like compromising with myself.

Palm Springs. 120 degrees. No, that's not a typo. 120 degrees today. Freakin' INSANE.

Compared with third consecutive day of heat advisory in DC. Meara, you lose weather-wise either way.

Vibing for your future MiL, Maria.

Nora, go on with your saucy-outfit-wearing self! Have a great day.

Daniel observed this morning that the cats weren't nagging me to wake up and feed them. He figured he'd better take my pulse to make sure I still had one. After ascertaining that I was, indeed, still alive, he queried the possibility that I had already gotten up to feed them. Upon finding that this vital task had not been performed, yet the cats were behaving with uncharacteristic forebearance, he generously offered to feed them himself, seeing as the cats must be sensing how tired I was. Harvey was unwilling to leave my side to take advantage of the Daniel-opened food. Dunno whether that was loyalty and concern on Harvey's part, or if it never occurred to him that it was really food for him that Daniel had opened. I finally hauled my tushie down the stairs, and Harvey consented to go with me. But every time I hesitated (to see if he would go on without me) he paused too.

Weird cat.

So, it feels good to have a back-up plan that doesn't include quitting. It's like compromising with myself.

Excellent! I think having a day off during the week will really help you out in the long run.

Yeah, me too. It gives me the weekend to chill, and then a day during the week to run errands when it's not so crazy busy.