zorbs- I usually make turkey meatballs, but I'm going all out and crossbreeding the beef and pork tonight

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH 

rg - that's great R is talking more!  I'm still waiting for L and wondering if it's ever going to happen.  Although he recently started saying bus with an "s" on the end so maybe things are starting to click.

zorbs - I would mommy brag about that too!  DD1 never sings around us but one time I caught her and was surprised at how good she was.

eh - how is your foot feeling?  I feel like we had the same problems, at least from your description of it.  The outside of my foot hurts since the marathon but it's getting better and it feels like it's just a tendon or something over there, so I'm just icing.

ernie - I hope you get the light fixture working!  We are having some work done on our house and I'm finding it's pretty useful to have handymen around the house to do a couple other random chores for me.

CA - I finished DD1&2's baby books but have not started DD3s and L's is just a lost cause.  Poor guy.  I hope DH feels better! Flu is no fun.

stroller - great job keeping the streak going!  Happy Birthday to H!!

spike - sorry on the accidents.  Unfortunately I still carry underwear in my car for my girls even though the youngest is 6.  She has been having more and more bedwetting accidents lately.  Just when everything is going swimmingly they take a step back, no idea why!  Although I don't feel too bad since my neighbor is having trouble with her 9 year old son and accidents lately too.

RR: 9m with 6.2 at tempo and guess what - I PR'd - or well, it was a training run so I guess it doesn't count, but still, it was 47.36 which is the fastest I have ever run a 10k. 2.5m w/u, then for the tempo bit I did 1minute easy (7.30 ish) and then 2 minutes harder (7.05ish) for 4miles and then cool down run back in. It was hilly too and very windy but it went really well. I am so so happy.

NRR: playground and lots of DS led things - I have been doing some chores for days so now he can play with leaves and sticks and rocks to his heart's content.

TR: I read The Discipline Book by Dr Sears last night and it has whole sections on how to tackle the supermarket and transitioning and all sorts of other things. It's pretty big on developing the whole child from the self-esteem to the independent self whilst keeping them safe in an attachment parenting kind of philosophy. It really helped after my struggle yesterday but I think that's all normal and I am doing everything he suggests - it just reassured me. And reminded me that parenting isn't going to be a breeze every day. And DH needs to help me out a bit more which we also talked about.

FR: crab cakes last night didn't bind but I think I needed to dry them out more - made a note. They were delicious. I made extra so will make a salad with them for tonight. DS was woofing them down.

TR2: oh – he is now into doing stunts on his ride on train – this morning at 7am he decided to stand on the train whilst it was going round the track. Epic fail. The circus is not in his future.

Rg great job getting in those miles and glad you are feeling good. You can send clear talking our way – we just about have ‘baboon’ for balloon and ‘bus’ down. And ‘derder” which I think is over there or perhaps digger.

Zorbs – do post pic of pedi. How exciting.

Eh – you amaze me that you run so hard, train so hard, work so hard and have 3 kids and do it all. And you are so mellow. DO TELL your secrets.

Ernie – how was acupuncture?

CA – have you noticed a difference in your girls’ behavior since you have been back at work? Hope your DH is well enough to cook. Please blog your baby book as you make it. I also need to pay more attention to what DS is actually doing. He wasn’t being naughty in WF – he was going to the hot bar to reach up to get a plate, to select the food he wanted – it was as though he thought ‘I know what to do and I can do this on my own’. We just weren’t getting hot bar food and he didn’t like that memo!!

Stroller – happy birthday H!!!!

Spike – I started a knitted blanket for froggie. It’s coming on really quickly. I am so much quicker at skills I have mastered than new ones – like using that rotary cutter – it takes me 6 cuts just to stay along the ruler. Maybe I need to u-tube it to see if I am doing it right. I am just so slow at cutting the fabric for quilting.

Arm – welcome back! Nice job on finishing your marathon! I am excited to read yoru race report – I am going to save it til I have 100% concentration and savour all the details!

Bermy- a trick for the rotary cutter- splay your hand wide, and sorta grip the ruler with your thumb through your ring finger and then brace your hand and the fabrice against the cutting mat with your pinky and the heel of your hand. Try to put your body weight directly over the fabric/ruler so it doesn't budge. Press the side of the rotary cutter up flat against the ruler, push down hard and cut with a controlled motion. You should be able to easily cut through 4-6 layers of fabric with accuracy using the ruler/rotary cutter method.    Glad you are getting some reassurance on your methods from Dr. Sears. I find that I am, in general, more patient with R on workdays- he really wears me down when I'm home with him all day on the weekend and I get more snappish with him.

Bermy - Also for the rotary cutter, I do like spike and splay my hand on the ruler, puting a lot of weight on it, it also might be the height of the counter/surface that you're working on , you don't want it too high because then you don't get as much force when you lean into it.  If your blade is sharp, you don't need to put a lot of force down with the cutter, but I lean it into the ruler slightly to make sure it doesn't go off course.  I think it just takes some practice, but I find it very effective and much easier to cut with than scissors.

Bermy- My cutting table is about desk height/crotch height. Makes a big difference.