Friday, January 27, 2006

Well, I've recently been besieged by a certain friend of mine (you know who you are!!) to update my blog, and I'm sorry for the delay! McKenna's playing quietly and actually letting me do this, which is a rare event. So, my little girl now has 6 teeth. 4 on bottom, two on top. She can stand up by herself and delights in hearing our applause when she does so. She usually will go from a 'triangle' position with her feet and hands on the floor and her butt in the air to standing up. She likes to cheat and sometimes will just lean back and lift her hands off of the floor a couple of inches. She's pretty funny. :) McKenna loves her puzzles and her books, and can't get enough of either. She's always handing a book to me to read to her. She can get off of the sofas now by herself without help, but of course can't quite get up on her own yet.
Every Wednesday night her daddy puts her to bed because her Mommy has a gardening class that she goes to. It's through the extension office for the University of Idaho and is called the Master Gardeners program. I'm thoroughly enjoying myself. The course goes until April and covers Basic Botany, plant propogation, soils and fertilizers, composting, greenhouses, different types of ornamentals, fruit trees, insect management, entomology, landscaping, vegetables, just to name a few. I'll be doing about 30 hours of volunteer service in exchange for this wealth of information, which could be almost anything. Some projects include working with youth, like 4-H groups, going into a school to teach young kids the basics of gardening, working with elderly, for instance helping to create a raised flower bed for wheelchair-bound patients to plant in. Other things include public speaking, creating and building landscape projects, doing clerical work and answering phones in the extension office, or being on call to go out and troubleshoot problems for the individual gardener. There's a lot of information to absorb and if I like it I'll probably continue to go every year and keep getting my Master Gardner certificate. They had advanced courses, so you're always learning something. Anyway, it's fun and gets me out of the house and gets my brain working on stuff a bit more complicated that 'hmm, what should I make for dinner tonight?' Anyway, McKenna seems to do fine without me on those nights. The first night I was away she made Noels life miserable. She cried so hard she threw up, and helpful man that he is, he wadded up the blanket that had puke on it and stuffed it into the corner of her crib for me to deal with later. Thanks, hon! Anyway, since that first night she goes down beautifully for him, so that's great. Well, looks like my break is over... she wants my attention. I'll try to write more often!

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