too cold

It's about -27 Celsius outside right now. Feeling lucky that the house came with a (now officially 'permitted' and inspected) wood pellet stove and pallet of pellets in the basement. Feeling lucky that the handy dandy diesel jetta has been starting without a problem, even when left out in the open all day. Especially since they don't have block heaters. Knock on wood. Feeling lucky that my Mom and Ted gave us their old monster snowblower that was inherited from my Dido. Thanks Mom! Feeling lucky to have new monster boots to make the 4+ block trudge to the bus stop each snowy weekday morning. They may not be pretty, but they sure work well. Feeling lucky that Mika fared so well during the usually nasty sickness month at daycare. Just a couple more days. Knock on wood again. Maybe there's something to those ear tubes after all. Or maybe because she's already had every sickness known, she's finally building some decent resistance. Feeling lucky for Mika period. Basement Playroom Stuff: She just loves to make me squirm. One of her current favorite activities is jumping from my Grandpa's old armchair onto her playmats. She waits until she's caught my eye and given me "the look" before making her jump. We have a yet to be unboxed, let alone assembled media cabinet downstairs. The biggest box is Mika's catwalk. She loves stepping up and doing her little turn. She also insists that whomever is with her play the game. She commands you up and you must do your little turn. Over. And over. And over some more. The weird little basket toss game is hot right now too. Mika loves to make baskets, but even more so loves to throw balls at people. I try, I really try to get her to stop, but the harder I try, the more she seems to enjoy throwing the balls at me. Table play is dominated by the wooden shape puzzle and the peg board. Stacking....it's all about stacking. Mika digs stacking those little pegs from the Giant Pegboard. And then throws them all on the floor to serve as little land mines for her parents. It's like being in training for the lego years to come.

Mika has come out of the phase of saying 'no' to anything that you ask her. She's finally saying 'yes'. Very calmly too, I might add. The 'no' is still rather, uh, boisterous. Another cool thing is that she can just tell us when something hurts and sometimes why. Like when she bashed her face into the side of a box while jumping about. Me: "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?" Mika: "OK. Hurt cheek. Hit box."
Or as she pulls partially chewed food from her mouth. Me: "What's wrong?" Mika: "Teeth hurt." Her molars are taking their time and messing with her already finicky eating habits. Her sass is coming along well too. If I select the wrong thing for her to wear in the morning, she'll sometimes look at me and utter 'seriously'. That's supposed to be my cue to pick something else out. She's nuts. I love her to bits.

Tired.