Do I have to say Happy New Year if it's already two weeks in?

Happy new year!

(I did it anyway.)

For those who are curious, I do have one new year's resolution, which is to watch my language around my kid. I tend to drop a few cuss words a little too casually in front of Romelie, and I don't want her to grow up with a potty mouth like her mom, so I'm working on it. Feel free to chide me if you hear me swear within her hearing distance. Or even just in general, since it's totally unnecessary anyway.

I was asleep when the ball dropped, which was okay by me. Since I wasn't able to go out, I decided it would be pretty awesome to welcome the new year with a clean home. I ended up getting super OCD about it, though, so I only managed to get upstairs, the bathroom, and the kitchen clean. However, I'm happy to report that the upkeep seems to be working and my She got up and started playing in front of the seats towards the end, but no fussing or crying. Crystal has gone back to Houston and Paul has gone back to Chicago; we miss them both and can't wait to see you again soon!

Thanks, Aunt Martha, for the lovely Christmas gift for Romelie! These are my two favorite pictures I've taken in a while.

On a brief work related note, I moved desks at The Bakken. My new desk is a much smaller than my old one. I'm trying to use words like "cozy" and "uncluttered" as much as possible. You can decide for yourselves...

Time for some Romelie updates. Romelie counts to twenty. Not really consistently--she skips a few numbers--but yes, twenty. I discovered this when she pulled books off of my bookshelf, lined them up on the floor, and then counted them as we walked across. Interesting...

She sings a lot. Her favorite song currently is "Old MacDonald," which she tries to call "E-I-E-I-O" but actually comes out sounding like Iago. I'm happy to say I got an awesome video of her and Chason singing a duet version of this song.



Also, Romelie is getting to be pretty bossy. She demands things (Stand up! Move now. Sing Iago!) and gets really mad if you say no. We try to just remind her to say please, but it can lead to a tantrum when you don't do what she's telling you to do. I'm waiting for the day when logic actually works with her. I know it's a long ways off, but it's frustrating for everyone when I say that mommy shouldn't have to move off of the couch because it's big enough to share and Romelie shouldn't try to pull me off of the couch because that isn't very nice and just because you say please doesn't mean the answer is always going to be yes and--oh, it's way too late, tantrum has begun.

Other Romelie-isms: she loves to jump. On the floor, on the bed, on her parents...at some point, we're going to have to curb this because she's getting too big to be jumping on people, and she really shouldn't be jumping on furniture. She also loves raisins, which we've had to stop feeding her because it has created unfortunate diaper situations, and she eats cereal along with or in place of most dinners.

Finally, we've re-enrolled in Waterbabies at the Courage Center (see blog entries from this time last year) and took her to her first class last Saturday. She had a great time, but it gave her an ear problem (may or may not have been an infection) that kept her up crying for hours after bedtime. And she finally got to play outside a couple of days this week for the first time in a month. Thank you, weather, for finally getting up to 30 degrees.

I'm blanking on other news and updates, so here is a funny picture of me and Romelie with our hair done up. Enjoy.