The Christening

Today I ruined Sally's new stove.

Allow me to elaborate. Last Friday we discovered the thermostat on the oven died when I tried baking some meringue cookies at very low heat and they burned after just 10 minutes of the full hour they were supposed to bake. So yesterday Howard brought home a new-to-us oven with a smooth-top stove, just has Sally had hoped he would find. I used it for the first time at dinner tonight, trying out a new recipe for a sticky-sweet sauce over chicken. The sauce is mostly honey, and had to be boiled on the stove before pouring over the chicken and baking. The sauce boiled over, burning honey all over the stovetop. Argh! It was a blackened mess! And so, the new stove was christened. I felt SO bad. Fortunately, it actually cleaned up much better than I could have dreamed, so the stove isn't ruined after all. Unfortunately, that was just one part of the eventful meal. I also splashed some of that same sauce on my shirt and pants when I was trying to move it out of the way. Lillian got into repetitive mode, telling me and everyone else over and over again, "Mommy dirt on." Then when I went to serve myself some chicken from the pan, I tipped it and the juices spilled all over the counter. This sent Lillian into a meltdown, since she seems to panic when messes happen. To top it all off, the recipe was a bit of a flop! The sauce was supposed to thicken and get nice and sticky on the chicken, like messy restaurant chicken wings. Instead we got a watery but still nice tasting sauce. Ah well. The salad was yummy!

In other, much more exciting news... I felt the baby move today! I was mid-sentence talking with Sally when I stopped with my hand on my belly, and she knew - she asked if "we're moving." I hesitated, because as you Moms know, there's a fine line between the sensation of a baby moving this early in pregnancy and, well, gas. But in that moment of hesitation, it happened again! I was sure that time and right away called Ray. He hung up on me without even saying hello. Yep. That's what I'm going to remember about this momentous occasion. He returned the call pretty quickly, explaining that just as he was going to answer, someone at work started talking to him so he hung up. Oh well. At least this time I got to talk to him - when I first felt Lillian's movements, I was at work and had to leave him a voice mail because he was in Ontario with that Team Canada football team, then I called Lori so I would have someone to be excited with! This time, I had Sally and Ray close at hand. The timing was wonderful, because it had been a bit of a frustrating day with Lillian, who had just quite unwillingly gone for a nap. Hooray for the moving avacado-sized munchkin!

Lillian is showing her independence (i.e. throwing fits big and small) more often lately, but mostly she spends her time expanding her vocabulary exponentially. I was told this stage would come, but I am still frequently surprised at some new word she comes up with. She now says "Gramma" instead of "Amma" most of the time, and when she used to do this odd lip-popping noise to indicate it was yogurt time with Papa, now she clearly says "yogurt." There are so many more examples, way too many to document. Sesame Street characters, Pooh and friends, the alphabet and lots of standard words that start with them (apple, bed, and carrot, according to one book). And her latest milestone - sitting on the potty! No success using it yet, but it's been in the bathroom for months and yesterday was the first day she voluntarily sat on it with a bare bum. Yay! Baby steps, as they say.

Time to sign off so I can go watch last night's episode of Lost - man I am so confused but so addicted!

PS - sorry no pictures this time, I just haven't been picking up the camera as often lately. Maybe next time!