Mama, why?

We have officially reached the 'why' stage! Last night, and I honestly cannot even remember what we were talking about because it seemed every conversation veered off into why territory, Alice started asking us why. So many of her baby sounds were classic coos, and it seems the language will continue with the classic toddler why conversation.

I, ahem, finally carved her pumpkin 2 nights ago. (I feel that from now on I can blame everything on being a homeowner, so it was the fault of the new house since we closed on Halloween). So every night since, Alice wants her Jack-O-Lantern lit while she eats dinner. The minute Tom lights it, she will start singing "Happy to You" to the tune of Happy Birthday. Then, she likes to blow out the candle. Over and over and over again.

She also is really into smelling things. She will ask/tell us, "Smell it! Smell it!" about the pumpkin, or Tom's freshly ground coffee beans. This is especially true of anything she cannot have. If we deny her a sip of my wine/beer, she requests to smell it. It is very cute.

Today I had the day off, but daycare was open. I was torn between taking Alice out of daycare and playing all day, going into work and getting caught up from the days I had the flu last week, or helping Tom out at the new house. I decided on the latter and it was definitely a good decision. Although I missed an extra day with Alice, and sigh over the missed opportunity of a day with no meetings or drop-in questions in which to power through on my projects, I was so glad to be bonding with Tom and the new house (and the electrician . . .) I was able to get all the room measurements done, and to run a lot of errands for Tom. One of our new neighbors sent Tom home yesterday with Irish soda bread she made, and we toasted it for breakfast this morning. It was delicious!!! As I was getting ready to go to work at the new house, I took off all my rings, and Alice noticed and pointed at her own fingers and said to me, "No rings." She is so amazing. I cannot wait for our new home to be ready (although of course we realize that the house will never be done! There will always be SOMETHING that we can do to improve it!).

Ok, that's the update!