Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Expensive, and bossy (and new house pictures!!)

It is expensive here! I had no idea living in Vegas would cost so much more than living in Tucson did. I don't know why I had no idea...guess I was just living in my own little world. Of course living in a big city like this would be more expensive! Gas is probably the biggest shock: Tucson was consistently below the national average ($3.73 today), and Las Vegas is decidedly above the that number ($4.12 today). Add to that the fact that we will be living a little further from base, and gas prices are going to be adding up to a larger expense than I anticipated. And as a result of higher gas prices, everything else costs more: milk, eggs, soda! Oh, Tucson, I miss you already.

Kate is decidedly bossy. I had seen little strands of this character trait over the past few months, but it is quite apparent now. It is pretty cute, in many ways, and will probably help her to meet people (sure, they might be meek, timid kids, but hey). The other night at the TLF park, she was chasing other, much older, children around with her spray bottle. Then she would yell at them: "C'mon, guys! Over here!" in a way that really wasn't a question, but more of a command. They obeyed, probably a little out of fear. I suppose it helps that she is the size of a 4-year-old.

Claire has mostly mastered her ABCs, although she can't say every letter clearly. The alphabet song is probably her favorite melody, and she lights up when you sing it. She also sings Twinkle, Twinkle, and Row, Row, Row Your Boat (complete with arm motions). She is determined to do all that her sister does, and can keep up in some events. She even has her ways of dealing with Kate's tyrannical attitude: she has become quite sneaky. She will walk up and steal a nearby toy away from her older sister, and when Kate gets up to retrieve her prized toy, Claire will drop it and take one of the toys Kate dropped in order to chase after her. It's fairly amusing to watch.

Claire is still taking a morning nap, and I can't figure out if this is normal for a 17-month-old. I don't remember when Kate dropped down to one nap a day. I would let her keep taking one as long as she wants, except that it really infringes on our activities. And being that we are stuck in the TLF for another couple of weeks, outings are essential to everyone's happiness. I think I'm just going to have to start dragging Claire out in the mornings to do things, and hope for a longer afternoon nap as a result. This would probably work better if they were not in the same room - one or the other of them is constantly bothering the other one, and it seems like it takes at least an hour for them to get to sleep.

Tim is at the (greenbelt) house with the inspector right now, and we will join him shortly. Here's to hoping that nothing major is wrong with it!

***

The inspection went well! I have no idea what they told Tim was wrong with the house (haven't had a chance to talk about it yet), but he was happy with what the inspector said, so I think we are good! In light of that, here are some more pictures. This is the greenbelt house (the last house we saw on the Very First Day we started looking back in MARCH). Ummm, I'm going to do a new post. Formatting mess if I don't.

2 comments:

Elizabeth said...

She's probably still taking a morning nap because she's EXHAUSTED from her own giftedness. Knows the ABCs? Sings multiple children's songs complete with arm motions? Able to out-sneak her older sister? AT 17 MONTHS? Holy cow. She's clearly MENSA material.

Love Kate's managerial and organizational gifts. :)

Ugh TLF living.

Katie said...

I think Becca had a hard time dropping that morning nap too...seems it was around 18 months I just kind of made her drop it. That sucked. I would just do whatever keeps you the most sane at this point!!