(no subject)

Two years ago, when I first discovered Let's Dish, minnehaha B. commented that he doubted that it could be a sustainable business. I went back tonight, for the first time in a year and a half, and am happy to report that they're still going strong.

A little too strong, actually. The biggest change since I was last there was that I repeatedly had to wait for a station to open up. Understandable when I was down to my last dish; not so understandable when I still had five recipes to choose from.

Other changes: There are now two sets of directions at each station - one for people making the full-size dish, and one for people splitting into two smaller portions. I don't have trouble dividing fractions on the fly, but it's easy to make mistakes when you're rushing, so the half-size instructions are nice. They've started selling more freezer-ready stuff on the side - side dishes, desserts, and even meals prepared-by-them. And when I went to get my stuff out of the freezer at the end, a nice young man leapt forward to take my checklist (preprinted by them with what I'd ordered) and check each item off, "to make sure you've got everything." Or, presumably, to make sure that I wasn't leaving with anything I hadn't ordered. Maybe they've had problems.

I am sooooo exhausted. But it's awfully nice to have a full freezer.

( Here's what I made: )

(no subject)

Michael did some painting this afternoon, and hung out with us afterward in his painting clothes. Alex noticed some paint spots on his knee. "Oh, no, Papa! Red dots."

We told her that it was okay because they were his painting clothes. I showed her some spots of blue.

"Oh, Papa!" she said, in exactly the tone that she tends to hear Oh, Alex. "Colors everywhere!"

She ran into the kitchen and came back with the broom. (Not the whisk broom, but the full-size broom that's much taller than she is.) "Mama sweep!"

At first I didn't get what she wanted me to do. I told her that I didn't want to sweep because I was too tired. So she picked up the broom and applied it to Michael's paint-stained jeans. "Mama sweep on Papa. Sweep the colors."

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I've been noticing lately that it seems like Alex has reached a tipping point. She now has enough background knowledge about the world that she can, at least to some extent, understand most of what she encounters - which, in turn, makes those encounters easier to remember and feeds her background knowledge even further.

So, she understands about messes (Me: "Alex, what are you doing?" Alex: "Making a big mess."), and she has an idea about what you should do when you notice one. Next time, she might remember that messy clothes follow a different protocol than messy floors, or that sometimes people don't worry about being messy. Her conversations are taking huge leaps forward every day, as she assimilates more and more information about how things happen. Already, the language development post I made last week seems out-of-date.