Sunday, November 26, 2000

Busy Baboos

It's been a long day and I do not have much time except to post highlights.

Today was laundry day (as usual) and Cheryl did manage to get most of the laundry done. However, the big news is that we now have the plumbing in place for our washing machine. Hooray! The next major step before we can begin to wash clothes is having the electrician come in tomorrow to make sure that our circuits can support a washing machine.

Melissa appears to have processed all of the remaining lactose in her system and has settled down (!) to being her usual rambunctious self.

Cheryl took some fantastic pictures of the two on Friday. (Was it Friday? I can't remember...)



This picture now occupies Cheryl's computer desktop: a place of honour few photos have managed to earn any amount of time on.



Cheryl also put Michael into the excersaucer for the very first time. The boy enjoyed it very much until someone found him in the coveted excersaucer. And because he was a captive audience, he couldn't escape a very affectionate kiss!







Q. How many Floridans does it take to change a lightbulb? A. We don't know, they're still counting!

Friday, November 24, 2000

Quick Update

Heavy rainfall warning for today and tomorrow. We have some strong weather systems coming in from the Pacific. At least I haven't had to scrape the windshield more than a couple of times this week.

We got Melissa some boots on Tuesday evening. She looked hilarious trying them on. She did not know how to walk with boots on and clumped around in them until she got the hang of it.

Last night we went for a walk with the double stroller around our neighbourhood.

Melissa climbed onto Cheryl's computer monitor this morning while Cheryl was in the shower.

Monday, November 20, 2000

Washing Woes

After almost 2 weeks of clear weather and freezing temperatures the clouds have returned and we are above freezing temperatures.

Wrap up to yesterday's activities. I ran into our landlord again yesterday and he is promising to get the plumbers and flooring people in to set up the plumbing for the washing machine and put lino into the entryway. I am keeping my fingers crossed. Cheryl is more relaxed about all of this than me. She says that the plumbers are probably working on one of the houses in the subdivision and will show up after one of their jobs to fixup our plumbing for the washing machine.

All the laundry was washed. Most of it got folded and put away except for the loads of diapers which are drying on our racks.

Cheryl made bread too, with Melissa's help. The 4 loaves they made turned out very nicely. We are still getting used to our new stove -- it works! -- because it heats up quicker and hotter than those we have used before.

Sunday, November 19, 2000

Sunday Report

I have to hurry. I woke up only a few minutes ago and this is my only chance to get the web page updated before the kit and kaboodle awake...

Sunday chores today: laundry and cleaning up the Caravan.

We invited our friends Kitt and Gareth over last night and they told us that they were getting married next month! Yay!



Uh-oh. I can hear Melissa fussing. Hurry. Hurry. Hurry...





The CD-ROM drive on Cheryl's machine is not completely dead. I managed to get an audio CD playing in it yesterday, even though the door to the CD drawer no longer shuts automatically. It was ripped open by hurricane Melissa and now hangs open in forlorn and mute testament to her power. (Actually, I think the main reason it will not play CD's or CD-ROM's is because it needs some cleaning.)

Pausing for now because the SB has awakened. (This is one energetic kid!)


Walking in mom's shoes - 1


Walking in mom's shoes - 2

I'm back, but only momentarily because Cheryl is now using this 'puter. Both the children have been fed and diapers changed. The first load of laundry (diapers) is in the dryer and Cheryl has put in load #2 (tans and greys).

Cheryl's sister, Beth, made a quilt each for Melissa and Michael when they were born. Since she is compiling a scrapbook detailing her various quilts, she asked if we could send pictures along of the M's quilts. These are the results of Cheryl's photo-shoot:


Blue Angel


Pouty Model


Melissa's blankey


Little Boy Blue & Sheep


A fun pose


Comparative blankey's


***The Grin***

The last picture is the very first time we have been able to get Michael's wonderful grin in a picture. Eat your hearts out folks because the Grandparents will be seeing it in a few weeks!

Last minute additions:


Bad hair day 1


Bad hair day 2


Return of the Grin


I'm a happy little boy

Wednesday, November 15, 2000

Toddler Tornado

Cheryl writes:

It's been a rough morning for Michael. He woke up this morning with a cold. The poor baby is snuffling, coughing, and is so hoarse he can hardly cry. It's very pathetic. I've ended up holding him most of the morning in between his frequent nursings. That seems to make him feel better. I can't stand hearing him cry and complain when he can hardly make any noise. He doesn't seem to have a fever fortunately.

Melissa has taken advantage of my pre-occupation with Michael practice her "toddler tornado" on our house. Toys are everywhere! The contents of the living room trash can and our bottom kitchen cupboards were scattered everywhere. Then she discovered that the gate to the office was OPEN! Melissa located the permanent red marker. Thankfully, she has learned about coloring on paper, so most of the damage was confined to office papers, receipts, and photographs. She just couldn't resist adding the finishing red flourishes to the couch pillow and the kitchen linoleum.

All of this was much cheaper than the LAST time she got ahold of it. That time she drew on the front of "Chicken Soup for The Expectant Mother's Soul", a brand new library book. I was the first person to check it out of the library. Since Melissa did not write the book, they were not particularly interested in keeping her autographed edition in their collection. I now own this exclusive edition after paying for it's replacement. I am considering giving it as a Christmas gift; it's too bad it has the library stickers to it.

I am going to throw the red permanent marker out. It's cheaper to buy a washable marker than purchase library books. :-)

Melissa found one of Michael's water bottles this morning. She started to drink out of it, then ran over where I was feeding Michael.

"Myhull!" exclaimed the Baboo in a loud voice as she attempted to stick the bottle into his mouth.

My mouth fell open. When I recovered my speech, all I could say was "You said Michael!"

Meanwhile, Michael attempted to communicate to his sister that he preferred breast milk to water bottles by squirming and fussing.

Finally, I said "Thank you Melissa, but Michael doesn't want his bottle right now".

She tried one more time and then, convinced that "Myhull" was not interested in the bottle, she stuck it into her mouth and walked off.

Melissa is in cloth diapers today and pants. These are different pants than she was in at the start of today. Melissa did a huge soft poop in her diaper. She fussed at me while I was feeding Michael (I do that a lot, and little Baboo gets a bit frustrated at times). I could easily smell the problem, but figured it would not kill her to wait a couple of minutes until her poor, sick baby brother finished his meal. He feel asleep, I put him down, and then turned to Melissa.

"OH NO! Yuck! Ack! Melissa don't touch anything!"

Melissa, tired of waiting, had decided to take things into her own hands. Literally. She had pulled down her pants, un-velcroed her diaper wrap, pulled out the poop covered diaper liner and deposited in on our living room rug and was just reaching back in for a large poo lump which had fallen off of the liner on the way out! The clean-up job, I will leave to everyone's imagination.

Tuesday, November 14, 2000

A minor miracle!

The temperature dipped below 0C / 32F the last couple of nights and we've had some frost. This was a fact I did not take into consideration when I started out on my bike this morning. There is this long hill that I get to ride down when I start out. Normally, it is a very welcome part of the ride, but by the bottom of the hill, I knew I should have got some gloves to ride with.

One other funny item was that my front brakes seem to be always on. It was like pedalling through molasses. Wierd. I'll have a look at it when I get home tonight.



Cheryl writes:

It's a miracle! Michael went to sleep at 11:30pm last night and slept until 3:30am! Then he woke at 5am and 8:15am for feeding and changing. Michael had soaked his yellow onesie and fuzzy sleeper this morning, he was so wet. Then he pooped....yuck! I put him into a clean diaper and change of clothes.

Melissa woke up around 5am wanting water and woke up at 8:30 am for the day. She had to wait, a bit unhappily, for her diaper change while I finished taking care of Michael. They are both so happy and rested and I am too!

Allan took his bicycle to work today as I am taking Michael in for his photos. Allan wants Michael to wear his Osh-Kosh denim overalls and shirt from Aunt Cindy. I am going to comply with that even though I kind of wanted "baby clothes". He looks so good in the dark green sleeper from Aunt Mary Beth that I had to take some photos! I managed to catch the begninning and ending of one of Michael's wonderful smiles, just not the best middle part. You can tell he's happy though.

Melissa is also just adorable in her pink and white Osh-Kosh overalls and fountain hair! She squealed and laughed at herself in the mirror when I showed it to her this morning. I could not find a barrette and wanted to get her hair out of her face for her syrupy breakfast waffles.

Michael was sleeping on the floor and Melissa decided to gift him with the rock a stack, she bounced several rings and a soft ball off of various parts of his sleeping figure before I was able to move him into his bouncy chair. She really, really wants him to play with her!

I'm sure Allan will put some of these on the webpage, but I HAD to send them all out right away. I should really start trying to update the webpage at some point myself I guess.

Love, Cheryl, Melissa, and Michael

Sunday, November 12, 2000

Remembrance Day update

Yesterday was Remembrance Day here in Canada. It is our national holiday to honour those who died for our country. At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month we stop for a minute of silence to remember our dead from two world wars, the Korean war, and other conflicts. It is a solemn day to remind us of the price of peace. It is a day I hope you don't take for granted.

Thank-you everyone for the comments and feedback we have received about our site. I enjoy writing these BC Updates as much as you like reading them because I am looking forward someday to reading them again and remembering this very special time in our lives.

Cheryl is sitting on the couch with Michael. She has divested him of his clothes (save his diaper) in order to keep him awake. We are trying this strategy because his normal attire of warm fuzzy sleepers keeps him, well, ASLEEP! And if he sleeps all evening, he wakes up around midnight and stays awake to about 3am. This kind of routine has been somewhat draining to Cheryl, hence this course of action.

I am racking my brain carefully, so as not to avalanche the accumulated mountain of mental post-it notes I have made over the last week of items I wanted to include in this update. You will forgive me then if this posting seems a bit meandering and disjointed.

Michael's checkup at the doctor was quite successful. The boy is now a healthy and chubby 14 lbs. He is still lanky in frame, but he now has rolls of fat on his legs and I have found myself comparing him to a sharpei or chow chow. (You know, those wrinkly chinese dogs.) The boy also took his shot without undue screeching. He did bleed a bit when the needle came out -- surprising both the Doctor and myself, who was holding him. Reassuringly the bleeding stopped almost immediately.

I got my 'flu shot on Thursday. Our office arranged a few weeks ago to have the public health nurse come in and give the 'flu shot to anyone who wished to get one. This is a notable event for several reasons. (1) I have never had a 'flu shot before. My father-in-law advised that I get one this time last year. I didn't and then regretted it all winter and well into the spring. I went through several bouts of illness, as did everyone else, due to the new 'flu strains that went around. (2) The ministry of health in Ontario has bought up pretty much all of Canada's supply of 'flu vaccine because they are offering flu shots to everyone for free this year. Both BC and Nova Scotia are limiting the number of 'flu shots they give out this year due to the shortage. If you are planning to get a 'flu shot this year, you should get it soon before (1) the virus starts making its rounds and (2) supplies of the vaccine run out.

Telus finally made their appearance last Wednesday and we now have a phone number (and INET access) again. Hooray! (Our new phone number and address are available to friends and family. Please email us and we will update you ASAP.) We stayed somewhat connected over the last few weeks since we moved by using our cellular phone. I shudder to think of what our bill is going to be...

Melissa's list of spoken words is slowly increasing. Cheryl told me that the other day Melissa was in the bathroom investigating her potty. She flipped the lid up, sat down on it with her pants still on, then turned to Cheryl and waved her out of the bathroom with an insistent, "go way!"

I apologize if we sometimes devolve into juvenile potty humour here on the Update (have you seen the VILE POO yet?), but it seems to be the topic du jour with our kids.

No (American) president has been declared yet. This is something I think is wonderful in a way. There are places in the world right now where this situation of uncertain national leadership would have deteriorated into civil war. Had this happened here in Canada the political pundits would have laughed us all to death by now. As I said before, this is history in the making.

Cheryl made cinnamon bread today. In spite of my 'help' it all turned out very well. "What kind of help?" you ask. Well, I forgot to add the eggs to the dough, and I put the rising dough overtop the element on the stove that vents the oven and 'baked' the bottom of the dough.

I also helped with the laundry today. Don't worry, I didn't put the forgotten eggs into the washing machine. I did get through 5 loads of regular wash plus diaper pail #1 and diaper pail #2 (you can guess what the #1 and #2 are for). Cheryl had to run an extra load for one of our sleeping bags too.

Some pictures for the GMP


Portrait of a Terrorist


Doesn't this smile look like Debbie?


Still mugging for the camera


That 70's picture


That 50's picture

Tuesday, November 07, 2000

History in the making

According to the weatherman on the radio yesterday, the POP for any given day in November for this part of the country is 70%. So it is no mean thing to describe the sunshine we have had for the last couple of days as "very unsual weather".

I wanted to take advantage of this meteorological anomaly so I rode my bike to work this morning. I'd forgot how nice it was to ride in the morning. Had to take it slow though, because my lungs just aren't where they were before.

Michael goes for his 2 month checkup at the Doctor's tonight. This will be his first set of shots ever. Speaking of shots, the public health nurse will be visiting our office on Thursday and I will be getting a 'flu shot myself.

Our old place hasn't been rented yet so it looks like we won't be getting any of our rent back for November. Sigh.

On the good side, Cheryl reports that she got a lot done today because she had the van. Our mail is now being forwarded to our new address. Cheryl's driver's license address has been updated. Our application for the Canadian Child Tax Benefit was also submitted today.

Across the border our American friends and family are casting their votes for a new president, congress, and a host of other state resolutions and amendments. From the returns on CNN, it looks like it is a very close race between George W. and the Vice president. As an aside, I'm on an ADSL connection and CNN usually refreshes very quickly. Tonight it is taking a good 4 or 5 seconds to refresh: an indication of the amount of people out there wanting the latest information.

I don't know about you, but as I step back and look at everything going on out there, I can't help but feel that we are right in the middle of history in the making.

Sunday, November 05, 2000

Still settling in

Howdy all. If you have been observant you will have noticed that I have put a note at the bottom of this page to show when the last updates were made to the page. As you can see it is very AM here on the wet coast and yes, it says Monday and not Sunday. All I can say is that life's just like that these days...

I'll try and catch you up on events around here since Cheryl's post last Thursday. All I ask is that you, umm, uhh, remember that we're not really good at the short-term memory thing right now due to the extended sleep deprivation experiment we have been participating in since the arrival of uhh, the ems. You know what I mean.

We got quite a lot of mail from folks who read Cheryl's post. Thank-you all for the nice words. Cheryl is indeed a very good writer. Many friends and family have tried to tell her so, but she waves us away, claiming "oh, but I'm NOT a writer. I don't have a creative bone in my body." Well, phooey on that noise says I..

Michael seems to have recovered from his squashings by his overly enthusiastic big sister. He is surely going to turn into a tough little boy, but I must say that he still looks distinctly nervous when she comes too close.

Small correction on the official first bubble bath for Melissa. 'Twas her aunt Gail who lathered her first. If you remember, while we were moving house and home, it was Gail who had the Sweet Baboo and bubbled her. Pictures were taken, but have not been scanned yet. Stay tuned.

In case you were wondering, the squash in Cheryl's post was a spaghetti squash and it made a very tasty custard (really it did). About the only give-away that it was squash was that it did not have quite the smooth texture of pumpkin. Cheryl recommends that you do not tell the diners it is squash until they have consumed their servings with great gusto and lip-smacking.

Cheryl's wrist is feeling better, but only just.

Unfortunately, the drawer-locks provided by the GMP are not going to work in preventing recurrences of last Thursday's "locked in the bathroom" situation. I cannot lock the drawer shut using them. For now we are keeping very vigilant in closing the bathroom door whenever it is not in use. The Baboo has been co-operating by showing very little interest in solitary bathroom expeditions.

Friday evening just before I got home, a fuse "blew" in the circuit that supports most of our suite. Only the stove, hall-lights, and outlets in our bedroom remained powered. Our landlord and I spent about 20 minutes checking the breaker panel in the garage before we gave it up because his family and our family were both going out for the evening. As it turned out the power was not restored until this evening and we spent pretty much the whole weekend partially in the dark.

Melissa handled this reasonably well for a toddler. She was spooked by going to sleep in her room without the familiar comfort of her nightlight. She kept getting up and wailing. We did NOT get much sleep on account of this.

According to the electrician who got the power going again, the cause of the power failure seems to have been our ancient toaster. In all sincerity I doubt it, but since I wasn't home when it happened, I can't prove it. The cause of the power not coming back when the fuses were reset seems to have been a finicky switch in the breaker panel. Sigh. At any rate, our landlord knows which fuse it is, and the outage didn't cost us any money so I am content with that.

I have been busy with my cordless drill and we now have coat-hooks affixed to the wall in our hall-way. No more mass of wet jackets sitting by our door.

Our landlord also brought over his pressure washer from one of his job-sites nearby so that I could use it to clean up our stairwell. Algae had started to grow on the concrete (and moss would be next you know) as well as on the treads of our stairs. I pressure washed the slippery green gunk off both so now our area looks clean and the stairs are safe.

For the sake of the GMP who loves pictures, I am posting some new snapshots from the Polaroid Fun Flash digital camera:


A boy and his dad


Melissa in the Excer-Saucer

Thursday, November 02, 2000

In which the Girl squashes the Boy

Good evening! I'm being somewhat devious here. I know Allan will try to connect at some point later tonight or very early in the morning to send/receive church bulletin information; so I am writing a note and putting it in the outbox to just go. Please pardon all grammatical, logical and other errors. It's quite late and my wrist got strained quite badly the other day so typing is difficult. Also my glasses are in the room where some tired person sleeps, so I am without them at the moment.

I am up with Michael. Everyone else is sleeping. Allan had decided to "nap" for a while before finishing the bulletin and is out quite soundly. I was just drifting off when SOMEONE decided that it was time to be AWAKE! Michael woke up at 10.30 tonight, so at least it is getting earlier again. The time change really helped. He used to wake up fussy every evening around 11.30pm!

Today has been a very interesting and different (not to mention adrenaline packed) day. We have a new schedule for the happy baboo. We got tired of having her up until midnight (and beyond) during Michael's fussy times. It was just a lot of work with both of them. This morning I got up when Allan did, around 6am, I think. Usually I try to sleep as long as possible, but this time I turned on lights and the radio in the living room and kitchen and then opened Melissa's door. Two bright eyes stared back at me. The baboo was right behind the door and really excited to be let out. She was also very happy to see "DADA" before he left for work. She was plunked into her high chair and fed breakfast. Then she played while I fed Michael (who went right back to sleep!). Then we read some stories and put her back to bed. She, Michael, and I all slept in until almost 11am. Then I kept her up ALL day long!



Yesterday, for those who might not know, I heard a strangly SQUACK and went running. I thought Melissa had gotten herself stuck! Well, she had, but it was Michael who was gasping for help.

Melissa had climbed into the baby swing, put both legs through the appropriate holes, and was leaning back swinging herself. The only problem was that Michael was already in the swing and she was SQUASHING HIM!

ACK! Panic! Get Melissa out!

"Melissa you don't go in the swing when Michael is in it! You take turns!"

Poor Michael gasped at me, cried a while, and then sighed and went to sleep in my lap.

Yesterday Melissa also managed once again to climb into his crib with him, so last night we rearranged our room and moved his crib in with us. He will have to stay there until he is big enough to fend for himself. The poor baby was so traumatized after these incidents that he would cry anytime he was put down.



Here are some of the things Melissa got to do today OTHER than being a threat to her brother's physical safety and emotional well-being. I read "Burnie's Hill" to her at least 10 times today. It's her favorite book as of yesterday, not even the "Animal Sounds" book or "The Wheels on the Bus" book would do; only "Burnie's Hill". Sigh.

I gave Melissa a bath this morning and added BUBBLES! Melissa loved her first ever bubble bath! She put bubbles on her arms and laughed at them.

Melissa got to sit at the table and color with crayons on paper until she started eating them. Hmmm... Someone is hungry. So we had lunch: left over soup and pizza buns from last night with lemonade.

We took the stroller out today and went for a walk around the neighborhood for the first time since moving here. It was a lovely walk, though cut short by a small boy's loud demands for an early meal.

Boo played with her bus on the floor (the bus actually GOES on the lino in the kitchen) and her big bouncy ball while I made a mock chicken loaf. Then she emptied Cheerios and Treasure Bars (store brand Capt'n Crunch-type cereal) on the floor.

Melissa likes to get her own snacks. She will expend great effort to locate, get, and access the snack of her choice. Her favorites: dry cereal (esp the sugar variety, but any will do), raisins, chocolate chips, cookies, pears, cooked cold carrots, nutri-grain bars, plain sugar, and (if she can't find anything else) prunes or whatever is on the floor or in the trash. Ugh!

Next she was up to the table for some cereal snacks with a sippy cup of formula and then off to draw on an empty cereal box with washable markers while I fought with the squash. I won and the squash was chopped, peeled, steamed, mixed, and baked with sugar, eggs, and spices. Unfortunatley the squash did some damage to my already sore right wrist. :-(



A STORY

I had such a lovely dinner planned: Mock chicken loaf, rice, steamed carrots and green beans, squash "pie", fresh salad... that I got a bit neglectful. In my rush back to the stove from the bathroom, I left the door open. A few moments later, I heard a door slam and realized my mistake.

Melissa had shut herself in the bathroom -- which was still devoid of cupboard and drawer locks and home to that fascinating and forbidden piece of plumbing: the toilet!

I tried to open the door: CLUNK!

It only opened approx 1/4 in.

Uh, oh! Through the very tiny slit, I could see the problem: the baboo had opened the bathroom drawer, thus blocking the door from opening. I tried to remain calm.

"Melissa, can you please shut the drawer?"

Pause. Thump.

"No!" said the Baboo.

"Melissa, if you don't shut the drawer, you will be stuck because I cannot open the door. You will not be able to get out of there."

Thunk. Thunk. THUNK!

"Nooooo!" (offended tone)

....Increasing panic.

"Melissa shut the drawer!"

....Silence.

"Shut the drawer Melissa; just push back on what you pulled out. PLEASE! You can do it. Come on shut the drawer. MELISSA YOU SHUT THAT DRAWER SO I CAN GET YOU OUT OF THERE!"

...Panicked thoughts.

"What if she doesn't know HOW to shut that drawer? What if something is stuck and it won't shut? What did I have in there.... red flannels, make-up, lotion, hair spray, deodorant, no cleaning stuff there... What else? What else? Allan's razor is on the counter! ...DID SHE JUST OPEN THE TOILET LID? ...Allan. Call Allan. Maybe he can get the door off."

Allan receives a panicked phone call. Leaves work immediately (about 5 min early); rushes home. Cheryl heads back to the bathroom to keep vigil.

Meanwhile the Baboo has emptied the cupboard and drawer. The bathroom expedition is complete. It's time to get out and have a snack. The Baboo shuts the bathroom cupboard door and the bathroom drawer and then knocks on the door to be let out!

Cheryl cleans up the bathroom and shuts the door; tries to call Allan who has already left. Allan arrives home. Relieved to discover a safe Baboo, he picks her up and gives her a hug. He resolves to install drawer locks in the immediate future....

THE END



Supper was then eaten and cleaned up after. Melissa got to play with her Daddy (who read her a story in French!). Then it was 8pm: time for Melissa (who had been up since 11am) to go to bed. Teeth brushed, diaper changed, and another two stories later, the tired Baboo was in bed (8.30pm). Allan went to work on the bulletin. Cheryl fielded a couple of phone calls then fed Michael who went to sleep (around 9.30pm). Michael went into his crib and Cheryl went for a shower, then headed to bed (now just after 10pm). At 10:30... WAAAAAAAAA!!!

So off to the office to get the crying baby away from the sleeping, tired people. I am bouncing the gassy baby on my lap as I write. The bouncing is not really working anymore. He's probably getting ready to eat again: it's 11.40pm. Michael much fussy, so I must go.

Cheryl

Wednesday, November 01, 2000

Our new abode

Not a lot of news today. We got the weekly letter from the OC. It was much appreciated, thank-you very much. I am looking at today's date and am thinking that it's only 6 more weeks until our Christmas vacation! Woohoo!

I took some pictures of our kitchen, but forgot them at home, so you will all have to wait until I get home and can upload them here to the site.

Okay. As you can see, I made it home and have uploaded the pix. This first one is of the main living area from the short hallway that leads to our bedroom and the bathroom.



In the background left you can see the alcove where our washing machine is going to go. There is a shelf there against the far wall.

The middle background shows the new stove, counters, cupboards, and double-sink. Above the sinks there is a window looking out to a groundwell.

In the middle ground is the table and kitchen area. You can see the new fridge just behind the swing.

In the foreground is Cheryl and Michael on her lap. They are sitting in the carpeted area that is our 'living room.' To Cheryl's right is the door to Melissa's room.

This is a closer view of the sink area of the kitchen.



The stove area. You can see our old fashioned 'Vesuvius' toaster on th counter to the left of the stove. Also hiding back there is our rice cooker.



Yes we know that we have to put away our knife block. Cheryl has managed to impress me with visions of the SB managing to climb up onto the counter and doing herself some real damage with those knives... So where to put them so that the SB cannot get them???

Here is the promised close up of Cheryl and little Mischa.