The Stitch

Stolen from Amanda's list of her daughter's words. I've been meaning to do this for months, but, well, I have no excuses. Here is a list of all the words Elizabeth can say:

baby
banana (sounds like BALALA)
hole
rock
butt paste
pink
yellow
uh-oh
eskimo (sounds like ECKMO)
juice
milk
shoes
dada/daddy
mama/mommy
uma
mema
papa
grandpa (sounds like geepa)
grandma (sounds like geema)
Uncle Gary (Sounds like UNKGEE)
Colleen (sounds like COLL-COLL)
Jessica (sounds like JECK-A)
David (sounds like DAY-DID)
Brian
Ethan (sounds like E-DID)
okra
car
ball
bowl
cat
dog
duck
cow
Skye (sounds like KY)
up
down
all fall down (ring around the rosie)
open (sounds like OPIE)
closed (sounds like COZ)
fish (founds like FIH)
diaper
rice
ketchup
hot dog
bird (She has trouble with her "R"s, sounds like BEE)
Elmo
Ernie (sounds like EENIE)
Bert (sounds like BEET)
Big Bird (sounds like BIG BEE)
blue (sounds like BOO)
yellow
red
green
blocks
box
bubble
cheese
no (she's an expert at NO)
knee
head
elbow
wrist (sounds like WIT)
hair
hand
foot/feet
toes
nose (sounds like NO)
mouth (sounds like MOW)
ears
teeth
tongue
eyes
belly
bottle
spoon
fork
cup
hello
love you
bye bye
door
wall
hat
sock
more (knows the sign language sign for this)
all gone (knows the sign language sign for this)
glasses
please (sounds like either PUH, PUH or if impatient, PEEEEEEEEEEZ)
thank you (only willing to say it if NOT prompted)
water
eyes
book
Shirt
pants
onesie
Flower
hot (she usually says this as she points to the stove or blows on hot food)
cold
star
moon
cloud
tree
peach
apple
mouse
nose
bathtub
bath
clock
poopy
peepee
potty
corn
button
apple

There are more, but that's all I can think of right now.

Sounds she makes:
Meow
woof woof
moo
Roar
uh oh
yummyummyummy
oink
quack
peep, peep
pppppppppp (horse lips)
bawk, bawk
baaaaaa
hoot hoot
brrrrrrrrrrr like a truck or car
sniffs all flowers with a wrinkled nose

She also knows where her head, hair, shoulders, belly, belly button, knees, toes, elbow, mouth, eyes, ears, nose, butt, peepee, neck, teeth, finger, feet, hands, and tongue are.

Her favorite Sesame Street characters are Eenie and Beet.

She consistently recognizes the colors yellow, blue, red and pink, and the letter X (sounds like ECK)

Me: I got you a surprise for later tonight. ::wink, wink::

Brian: ::perk:: Really?? Is it porn??

Me: No, it's a tub of Ben and Jerry's fudge brownie ice cream.

Brian: ::grin:: Excellent! That's even better than porn.

PS: No, I do not "bring home porn" on a regular basis. In fact, I have never brought home porn before, which makes his commentary even funnier.

It started with her ability to slip her arms out of sleeves. She then figured out how to slip shirts over her head. Pants came next and within a few weeks our pretty in pink pajama'd baby would wake up nearly-naked in a soggy Huggie.

We didn't think much of her need to disrobe. This is normal. Kids learn by experience. She was learning how to dress and undress, so this was to be expected.

What we did NOT expect was to enter our beautiful baby's bedroom and find her covered in a thick layer of her own feces.

It happened yesterday. She has been protesting naps for two days, and after an hour or so of listening to her babble to Snoopy, we decided to check in and make sure she was ok. What I found was a turd-smeared stinkchild, grinning ear to filthy ear, rather proud of her accomplishments.

"Look, ma. I paint!"

I brought her downstairs and hopped straight into the shower with her. No fussing with dainty spot-cleaning baby wipes - this job called for a serious hose-down. NOTE: Squirming poo and soap-covered babies in a shower are EXTREMELY slippery. Proceed with caution if you ever attempt such a job on your own.

We learned a valuable lesson about snap-crotch onesies yesterday: You can never have too many, and babies have a very hard time figuring them out. No more cutesy grown-up tee-shirts for Elizabeth. She's reverting back to the onesies for the next YEAR, or at least until she figures out how to poop in the toilet.

Special thanks to Brian's mom for forbidding her son to post any more baby poop pictures on the internet. Because by the time the baby was clean, I was covered.

For those who don't know me well, this is serious growth. Two years ago I would go into a fit of dry heaves if I saw people eating worms on Fear Factor. Now, not only can I HOLD a poopy child, but I can simultaneously wash her without gagging. Brian was so impressed with the whole event, he decided to give the dog a bath too. Now the whole Piper clan sparkles like the teeth of a crooked politician. Oh, and we smell good too.

I'm battling headaches this week. I REALLY hope it's not blood pressure issues, but I think it might be because I'm starting to swell too.

In my fuzzy headache daze, I'm considering selling off my antique gown collection. All the plans I've had for it seem to be unrealistic at this time, mostly because I don't have the time to devote to them. I would much rather see someone else take them and either restore them or use them to create patterns from them (to preserve the designs).

I will probably list them on eBay, and I'll be sure to keep everyone posted when I have them online. It may take a while - probably not until after Halloween.

I'm swamped with orders, as usual, so I'll just give you a list of all Piper-type news:

* We went to French and Indian War reenactment last weekend at Fort Ontario and it was FABULOUS! I'll post pictures soon.

* Brian went to the doctor yesterday and he is officially healed. No more back brace, and he can mow the lawn again!

* This weekend is my high school class reunion and a family reunion for my Dad's side of the family. However, I've heard that it's supposed to thunderstorm all weekend.

* Yesterday I went upstairs to check on Elizabeth while she was supposed to be napping. She was looking at Good Ole Snoopy, pointing at her rear, yelling (explaining?), "BUTT, BUTT, BUTT!"

* Just one more week and I'll be able to start treating my rosacea. My OBGYN explained that the prescription given to me to treat my face is listed as safe for use during the entire pregnancy, but she said if I wanted to be extra, extra careful, I could wait until the second trimester to take it. So I've waited, just to be safe, and next week I can begin treatment. I've had to stay inside so much this summer because of it, that I feel like a bit of a hermit. Tthe sun causes major problems with the outbreaks. I always wear my hair in a ponytail (because even when I don't have outbreaks, loose hair makes my sensitive face itch), but with this outbreak, it's gotten to the point where one little hair tickling my face causes hours of itching and redness. (even thinking about it is making me itch! ICK!) JUST ONE MORE WEEK! YAY!!!!!!

* Baby names: I like Emily, Sabrina, Adam, Julian. Brian likes none of them.

* Order status: I am completely on schedule. Orders are all arriving by the requested delivery dates. We are currently booked through to the end of October. If you have a simple peasant order, we will be able to meet early October deadlines, but only for a limited time. Our schedule is filling up VERY quickly because of Halloween, so if you have an event before Halloween, you need to order now, before it's too late.

* If you like creepy books, read "The Ruins." I loved it!

* It's the weekend. YAY! IT'S THE WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This afternoon will be one of many pickle-making afternoons at the Piper homestead over the upcoming weeks. Today I'll be making this kind, and Brian will make his traditional bread-and-butters (which are extremely popular because they're so delicious). I've made the Martha green tomato bread-and-butters before and they're divine too. This year we have far too many tomoatoes, and unless we do something now, while they're green, we're going to be overrun with ripe ones in a few weeks. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing better than home-canned tomotoes, or homemade tomato pie (I tried to find a recipe online, but can't find the right now - so I will post it later), but there really can be too much of a good thing.

The corn is on - we picked a few ears last night, but they were too young. We have WAY too much yellow squash and zucchinii? We're planning to sneak around town late one night, visit all the roadside farm stands, and make zucchini and yellow squash deposits. We only planted four plants each - and now we know: ONE plant is more than enough.

We've started harvesting all of the zucchini and squash flowers, coating them with bread crumbs, stuffing them with jalepeno cheddar, and deep-frying them. Not terribly healthy, but bleeping DELICIOUS, and it cuts down on the number of squash we have to deal with! (I don't even LIKE squash!)

So, if anyone wants some squash, beans, corn, zucchini, okra or tomatoes, please feel free to come raid our garden. PLEASE!

This morning I stood barefoot and pregnant, sweating my ass off in front of my ironing board, iron in hand, pressing linen yardage, listening to the radio about the war. Apparently time travel is possible WITHOUT a deLorean.

I had my first (for this pregnancy) sonogram today and was able to see Peanut Piper II wiggling around. He/She has two hands, two feet and one head. We're thrilled! I brought pictures home for Elizabeth to see, and she just wanted to smear bananas on them, so the jury is still out on her feelings toward the new sibling. I'll talk Briguy into scanning the pictures so we can put them online.

As everyone knows, it's hot. We're melting. E-Beth has an air conditioner in her room, and we have a big one in the living room. It's doing a decent job of keeping us cool so far. I think we only have a few more days left of agonizing weather left. I hope we don't have to endure a blackout like the last one a few years back.

My sister, Shannon, is in Malaysia right now. This trip follows a recent trip to Japan. We're going to have to stop calling her MARTHA and start calling her Lara Croft.

We have new goodies on the website:
Musketeer Tabards
A historically accurate Renaissance peasant ensemble for living history/reenactor folks
A budget Elizabethan doublet, pumpkin pants and men's Elizabethan blouse
Eowyn's green stable dress
An AMAZING formal silk wedding gown

HUGE thanks to our neighbors the Sweeneys, for not only caring for the Skyemonster while Colleen is here, but also for mowing our lawn! Every week for the past two weeks I have said to Brian, "I need to mow the lawn tomorrow night!" And the next morning, without fail, the Sweeneys mow our yard for us.

I think that's about it - with the exception of a scheduling reminder: We're already booked through to the second week of October for Halloween orders, so if you have a deadline BEFORE Halloween, you need to order within the next couple of weeks!