My Name Is Now Mom

We've had a busy few days.  TerraDactyl found some new toys to play with outside.  In the time we've been here she hasn't noticed the collection of figurines and tractors beside the garage.  But she finally wandered over to them and started to play.  Now, every time we go out front she stops to play with the tractors.   It could have been a coincidence, but immediately after Grandpa and I had been discussing the slipperiness of the wet concrete and whether or not he would use textured paint to give it more traction, TerraDactyl picked up the paintbrush and began pretending to pain the concrete.  She even dipped the paintbrush in the (empty) pain tray between swipes at the driveway.  Eventually, she found the bucket of water for the dogs and dipped her brush in the water so she could see where she was painting.  It was pretty sweet.  Of course, once the brush was wet, she managed to get her clothes totally soaked, but it was still really sweet. TerraDactyl's first taste

It always cracks me up when TerraDactyl talks on the "phone".  Not only is it adorable to watch her hold random objects up to her head, but the way she talks...  it's just so sweet.  She gets more melodic, almost like she's singing.  And instead of using her almost words (she can kind of say "sit", "dog", "hi", "ma", "da", etc) she just sort of hoots at different pitches.   Super comfy just chilling with her back bent in half.  TerraDactyl just hung out here for a few minutes, playing with her remote.   The wildfires in Oregon are still burning.  Thankfully, there has been some more rain this week, hopefully it will help the firefighters get the blazes under control and/or put out.  The rain has definitely helped the air quality.  However, since so many hills no longer have trees to hold them together, the rain brings its own hazards like landslides and floods.   Some of the larger fires are getting more contained.  Th

TerraDactyl nosing about in Grandpa's desk.  Check out just how high up on her toes she's standing.  Maybe she'll be a ballerina... TerraDactyl found another tiny spot to cram her little body into.  It was pretty impressive watching her get into and out of this little table.   TerraDactyl snuggling with her second cousin.  She had so much fun with her second while I was out of the room.  But once TerraDactyl saw me, she just wanted me to hold her.  Part of the problem might have been that we ended up pushing her nap time back a bit because they were visiting, so she was probably sleepy.   We played Wise and Otherwise the other day.  It was really funny.  It's very similar to Balderdash.  The game gives you a country of origin and the first half of a saying.  Everybody writes what they think the second half to the saying is, and then you all vote for which answer you think is right.  For example: An old Sicilian saying "A kiss without a beard is like..." A clea

Some days I swear I can tell that TerraDactyl is walking faster than the day before.  Her steps are longer and she can move those little legs with a bit more coordination...  She is so close to running.  It's getting harder to take pictures of her because she's moving so fast that she's out of frame/focus by the time my camera takes the picture! TerraDactyl found Grandma's awesome room of stuff (AKA the storage room)!  She's carrying around a little case that holds little 45 rpm records.  She loves that little box, it's just the right size and weight for her.   Another exciting find...  MATCHES!!  This was very exciting because they rattle.  It took a lot of effort on my part to get them away from her.  There were some very strong words exchanged (on her part).  I'm not sure what she said, but she was very unhappy about the loss of her find.  It was probably along the lines of "But...  FINDERS KEEPERS!" TerraDactyl is already multitasking.  Here sh

TerraDactyl has been playing "phone" lately with different objects.  The first time it was with my phone, but she's also tried out remote controls and other rectangular objects.  Oddly enough, she hasn't used her own phone.  But I guess we always just play music on it, so it's a music player to her. TerraDactyl has had a blast exploring and rearranging Grandma and Grandpa's house.  If it's not nailed down, she'll drag or push it all over the house.  Including me!  She has started pushing on my legs to try and get me to go somewhere if I'm not quick enough following her cues.   TerraDactyl likes having her own comfy chair.  Although she doesn't always sit properly in it.  She's pretty good about sitting in it instead of standing, but she does like lounging and draping herself all over it.   Grandma's washing machine is much more interesting than mine.  Ours doesn't have a window where you can stand and watch the clothes spin around f

  The Oregon National guard owns six CH-47 Chinook helicopters which are ideally suited for fighting wildfires.  On the National Guard website they have an article about their firefighting training and equipment where they state "The ORNG (Oregon National Guard) has HH-60M Black Hawk helicopters and the newer F-Model CH-47 Chinook helicopters to support the ODF (Oregon Department of Forestry) "  (emphasis mine).  Staff Sgt. Tyler Meister also said that due to Covid-19 "Oregon will have to utilize all available state assets this year, including the National Guard , to ensure we can successfully fight the wildfires this season." But as over a million acres are burning in Oregon, more than 40,000 people evacuated from their homes, 5 Oregonians are dead with dozens more missing (27 in the Santiam area alone), and we have the worst air quality in the world... these helicopters are not helping the firefighting effort.  Why not?  They're over in Afghanistan moving

The entire west coast has been on fire for quite some time now.  It's been awful since Labor day really.  We've got a three stage system set up:  Stage 1 is "you're on notice, start getting ready", Stage 2 is "be ready to leave at a moment's notice", and Stage 3 is "leave NOW".   We're not super close to any of the fires, but we're not that far away either.  We're 15 miles from one of the smaller fires and we're about 40 miles from the giant fire that has burned a record number of acres in just a few days.  We've been able to smell the smoke since Monday and as the days progressed we've been able to see the air quality decrease.   One of DH's college friends (Uncle Stinkybadass) was forced to evacuate because they were too close to the fire.  The red picture at the top of this post was taken at his house with NO filters.  He's got a baby that's only a few months old and he also lives with his mom, so he w