I learned today that being casein-free means that Vicodin hits me harder than usual. Which is good, because it means it's actually effective. So: Yay! for no pain.

But I want to go to sleep ;)

Elijah is happily, though zombily, watching Dora the Explorer while K works on food plans and I . . . sit here, warm in a blanket, going through my Chrome tabs.

After breakfast, Elijah and I dealt with the kitchen. I put away the clean dishes out of the dishwasher, while he sat in his highchair and watched and babbled. I explained to him what every item was as I dried it and put it away, and he just watched me like, "Why are you talking?"

And he's learning to say "bulgogi". I can't wait to show the lady at our favorite Korean restaurant :D

Quick post today.

Elijah fell asleep in his highchair today, in the middle of eating rice. He's done that a few times lately, if his afternoon nap gets cut short. Normally the afternoon nap is an hour or two, but if it's anything less than an hour, he falls asleep at dinner. And it's really cute.

Hopefully tomorrow we'll have a guest post from B, about things Elijah is teaching himself :)

Newness

I'm sitting in the car while I type this. The second disc of the Broadway recording of CATS is playing, and Elijah is playing with a small die-cast Deisel Ten and staring at himself in the mirror on the back of the driver's seat. B is driving, it's raining, and we're headed to garage sales, estate sales, flea markets. Anyplace to see awesome things and let Elijah interact with the world. And me, too, for that matter. I may use ASL instead of speech--it helps with the anxiety, and if I am signing, people don't expect normal behaviour. The social pressure is off. It's amazing.

The CD is from 16 years ago. It's thicker than today's CDs, it only holds about 30 minutes of music (versus today's 75), it's covered in scratches but it still plays perfectly. I listened to CATS every day when I was 10. My portable RCA CD player was one of the first, before "ear-saving" volume limiting. I listened at full volume, drowning the world out. My ears still ring.

This car is wonderful. It's been the place of so many parts of my new life--all those long car rides while B and I got to know eachother, and the continued long car rides while I was pregnant, when the car and the Sisters of Mercy was the only time I could relax. I still listen to Floodland every day, sometimes twice a day, while Elijah falls asleep.

One of the myriad of reasons I haven't been posting lately is that my computer's cord died. We replaced it with a cheap one, thrilled to get a good deal, and it turned out to be a false economy. That one lasted a couple of weeks and then died. So now I have a new one, with a selection of tips to let it work with a lot of different laptops, and, the best part, is it came with a regular wall plug and a car-cigarette-lighter-thing plug! Hence why I am typing in the car, where there are fewer distractions and I feel more relaxed.

The other reasons are pretty much just that I'm lazy and bad at organization and time management ;)

I have a list of topics that I want to write about. Maybe I'll do a poll.

Elijah says, "Hi! Hi, hi, hi, hi!"

"So first your memory I'll jog, and say a cat is NOT a dog..."

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Steamed Broccoli with Adobo and Apple Cider Vinegar dressing
Vegan, casein-free, gluten-free, cf, gf, cfgf

This isn't so much a recipe as a preparation, I suppose.

-steamed broccoli, cold
-adobo (or fresh garlic, ground black pepper, oregano)
-apple cider vinegar
-safflower oil

Put adobo, apple cider vinegar, and safflower oil in a Mason jar or some such thing that you can shake. Shake! Shake until the dressing is emulsified to your liking. Pour over broccoli. Eat! It's really good.

I assume you could also eat it when the broccoli is hot. I just like it cold.

---

B wants me to make a note about how we still need to go to a used bookstore and a Moroccan restaurant in Old Town Alexandria. I said we would never look at the note. He said, "Put it on the blog."

I laughed.

Hello, Blog Reading World. Welcome to being my personal Notepad.

5Things

1. Plastic boxes with lids (for toy organization)
2. The massive number of YouTube videos of model trains (and 2.5: YouTube on my phone)
3. Cloth diapers (once again!)
4. Honey soap
5. Honey lotion
6. Wegman's
7. Sleep
8. Email
9. Family
10. B having a great job

Insert Title Here

It's naptime, and Elijah brought one of his train cars to bed. He waved it around for the first three and a half minutes of nursing, but as his eyes started to close, he set the train car down on his chest, between us, and rested his hand on me. He's in a mood today because of diaper rash, but this cuddle time is welcome. He'll be asleep when Winamp makes the transition from Suzanne Vega to The Sisters of Mercy.

---

A week ago, in the car, he was exhausted and angry at being restrained, and screamed and screamed and screamed, refusing to fall asleep. I put on his sleep playlist (thank goodness for cell phones that play music!), and he screamed through the first two Suzanne Vega songs. As soon as the first Sisters of Mercy song started, he stopped screaming, listened for fifteen seconds, made an annoyed fussy sound, and closed his eyes. He was fully asleep. I don't think he even stirred when he was removed from the car seat and carried over Daddy's shoulder.

---

Toddler breakfast these days may include a bowl of Cheerios, two bananas, three clementines and some cheese. He loves to eat.

What does one do when the world is falling apart around them?

Walk around DC all day, apparently :)

My feet are happy.

My baby boy is happy.

And the sloth bear is happy, too.

ohaiblog

alive tomorrow? mebbe