Hmm, do you think Happy had pasta with red sauce that day?
There is a rumor going around here that my camera is repaired and ready. If the rumor is true, I promise to attach the strap to it and actually wear it around my neck when wandering and not try to put it down in precarious places between shooting photos. And, lately, I’ve been seeing these gorgeous photos on people’s blogs where they seem to turn their picture sepia and there’s just a pop of color here and there or there is this golden, non-natural light tone to it. I want that magic. Does anyone know how I get it- is it photo software and not the camera? Must get me some of that magic.
Happy holding hands on a field trip.
My friend, Jen, and I have been taking our boys on field trips. This is a win-win for Happy and me because Happy loves Jen’s son and I love Jen. And it’s fun to go places that I might be too chicken to try on my own with Happy in tow. And there is the added incentive that Jen’s son and Happy are such kindreds that it does my heart so much good to watch them together. Seriously, they were cut from the same little boy cloth and they just tumble through the world with this great humor together. And if competitive synchronized joyful shrieking were an Olympic event, Jen and I would be proud Olympic mamas. It is something else.
Happy has a little separation anxiety going on. Anyone else deal with fierce separation anxiety as their tot approached two, especially in very common, so hence, surprising places? Some days, I can’t leave the kitchen if Happy and BF are in there without there being a devastating breakdown.
Preschool starts in September. I am hoping that the separation anxiety diminishes a bit by then and also really excited about everything that Happy will learn– especially socially and linguistically- there. He’ll go three mornings a week.
School starts for me at the end of this month so I am putting together lesson plans (I changed all my readings this year which means I can’t rely on much that I’ve created in semester’s past and that I have a boatload of reading to do. Perhaps that wasn’t my smartest move given that I’ll be traveling a fair amount for the book this fall, but I couldn’t help but feel new works calling to me for the course so I’ll just make it work ala Tim Gunn).
There has been birthday planning going on since Happy turns 2 at the end of the month. Last year, we went for meaningful day with the three of us on the actual birthday and then 2 small family meals– one with my family and one with BF’s family– for celebration. This year, we’re changing it up a little bit and it’ll be interesting and fun to see how it goes (we might have the world’s Happiest kid, but we do not have the world’s most flexible child so we’re hopeful that we’ve planned just enough fun to make it special but not so much fun that he can’t recover for weeks). More on the birthday plans in the weeks to come.
Sepia is a filter setting on most digital cameras. On my camera there is a settings dial at the top that leads you through several preferences including shooting photos in black and white and sepia.Try entering your camera brand, style number and “shooting photos in sepia tone” in google and the published how-to guide should pop up and lead you through the process for your particular brand and style.
Isha, I love that you are still my tech guru after so many years and from a distance. Thank you!
Rosie,
First – WOW. To see Happy in the twos and so so so so beautiful and glowing with joy made my and Gregg’s heart smile just so wide I couldn’t write it here.
I have to say his life and your relationship is what I deem to be one of your greatest accomplishments so just keep doing what you’re doing one day at a time. I heard that one thing that helps with separation anxiety is entering and exiting with very low attention/noise and to do so repeatedly.
As for the techy photo thing and Isha’s perfect suggestion another option to look up (when you’re looking up your camera brand and sepia) is an option called selective color- I’ve had fun with that too.
Also do you happen to have an Iphone? If you do I’ve been taking lots of old style photos (like the ones from Puerto Rico) with the app called Hipstamatic which takes pics in that dreamy style of the old plastic Holga cameras and I just love them. Hope you’re well and hope we get to chat again one day soon :))
Marisol, Thank you. He’s a delight. Even approaching two. Just not delightful 100% of the time right now but still mostly delightful. And thanks for the anxiety tip– we’ll try it for sure.
I am glad you are commenting about photos because your photos are some of the ones that have really inspired me of late. I don’t have an Iphone so, sadly, there is not Hipstamatic for me (and I loved those photos, sadness!) but I am adding selective color to the list of stuff I am looking up today on my camera! Love!
Hey, Happy has more teeth! Truly, I don’t stalk children looking at their teeth. 🙂 I just happened to notice a few posts ago that Happy and Gav have (had) the exact same 8 front and 4 molars, but now it seems Happy has a full upper set!
Ok, truly I probably didn’t need to leave that observation as a comment, but hey, maybe it made you smile. Or roll your eyes. 🙂
Gav and Happy have a little (a lot) different backgrounds in some ways. Gav turns 20 months in a couple days, and only in the past two months (mid-June to be precise) has he started to move past his extreme stranger anxiety. Then again, he only came home 7 months ago. In that regard, some of his developmental milestones are a little mixed up. We’ll see how he does in the next 4 months as he approaches 2.
Jennifer, Oh, that’s funny about the teeth– I totally smiled. Abe is getting his last couple teeth now– those bottom pre molars. They’ve been coming in since June it feels like. I think he’s really ready to be done with the mouth pain which I totally get.
It is hard to gauge milestones with the backgrounds we have– This is our very first experience with stranger anxiety— we had the oppostie for a long time- an “I will please you and make you love me approach” so it’s good that he’s secure enough to display a preference now but it’s so sad to see him breakdown in really common places that we’ve been going to for months and months. Keep me posted!