I've got the lovely luxury of a sleeping toddler upstairs, and only one child to work with today. it will be so different! the other one is off on vacation for 2 weeks.

and of all things, M is sound asleep. :) so I have a few minutes before she wakes up.

there's nothing like a nasty troll to enjoy blasting on some level. heh. yesterday was a grumpy day, I'm not entirely sure why. It just was.

K was smart enough to encourage me to blast everybody I could. hehe. very smart man. we both laughed when I told him I wrote a review of a book review and blasted it to kingdom come for daring to use the trite phrase "Elijah loses his innocence." hoo boy. I'll have to tone that down when I edit it.

K asked me if there was anybody else I needed or wanted to blast. nice tactic.

he's been in this work mode and I was figuring it out a bit more yesterday, and I guess something in me snapped and I couldnt take it anymore. he gets in work mode and he cant slow down, cant think of anything but working. He kept asking me what I wanted to do, and I just told him I felt grumpy and didnt want to do anything. going to a movie was too exhausting, as we'd have to load up in the car, get there, watch the movie, then drive home. I was just too tired for that.

K is in such a work mode that he cant even flirt. this irritated me.

fortunately we both know it's just a mood, it's ok to be in that mood, and it will work out eventually. meanwhile, i took some St Johns wort to help balance me out a bit.

so. hoping for a nicer day. M's parents moved some furniture around. apparently M has now broken 2 record needles (they are really music people and have a big collection of record albums). honestly, I expected her to say M broke a couple records, as she can reach right up and take the record off and hand it to you. heh. but record needles are about $100 each, so yeah, they finally decided to get a better furniture piece for protecting their stereo.

I was counting M's words. She is pretty slow verbally, and I've been wondering about this. she can say only 5 words and she's now 20 months old. at 18 months she should be able to say 30 words. however, she's got at least 15-20 words she uses regularly in sign language. she's a strong kinesthetic learner, and to her, signs for words make more sense.

So I told K these numbers and he suggested I could teach her more sign language words. that would at least increase her number of words that she can use.

I'm curious about this language development delay, and have been processing it for awhile. I'm super verbal, and so I know she's gotten plenty of stimulation and interaction with me. most of the babies I've watched have been very stimulated by my constant talking! hehe. after so many families, I can see my effect on children, as their parents'observations have helped me see my own effect, too. I usually have kids who talk well, love books, and love cats, too. haha. many parents have said it was my own interest and passion for books (and their lack of interest) that have sparked this love in their kids. :)

I mentioned this to K, about my talking a lot, and he assured me that I'd found the right line of work to use my excessive verbal ability! hehehe we were laughing about that.

I mention it because I know M has had a rich experience to stimulate her, unlike some children who dont get talked to and all of that. her parents adore her and I know they talk to her a lot, too. (Interestingly I read a fiction juvenile lit book about a boy who had almost no language around him and it broke my heart wondering about his development).

ah M woke up. talk more later!