Where have we been?

Hello, Blaise fans! You may have noticed that we went missing for a little while there. Anyone who wants to know why is presumably not the parent of a 21-month-old and not planning a cross-country move. Also, Blaise has been "hiding." (This is her "hiding" spot between her bookshelves and the wall.)

We announced it a while ago, but now the gears are really turning on our move to Fargo. We'll be moving in December, which we hear is the best time all year to move to the Northern Plains. We went out there a few weeks ago to rent a house and get day care arranged; both of those things worked out very well. The thing that did not work out well was the effect of the trip on Blaise. She's at an age where anxiety can run a little high and the strangeness of the whole situation (airplane, hotel, no other kids, riding in a car all the time, stressed out Mama and Dad) really put her in a less than fun state. She stopped going to bed well and became very clingy and nervous. It's gotten better for being back home, but it was a difficult week or two.

The nervousness/clingyness has resolved somewhat, although bedtime is still a little difficult. Blaise has been chattering, singing, swimming, running, asking to use the potty because she wants to wash her hands, peeing near the potty (not in the potty, but it's a step, right?), eating pumpkin custard ice cream at JP Licks, coloring, dancing, running and generally toddlering it up. She's very interested in new foods and still refuses to eat most meat. She's a lot of fun, if increasingly "independent" (parenting book code for "capricious"), and she's running in top gear pretty much all the time. As for Ben and me, we're doing well, too (parenting book code for "exhausted.")