Tankless, operational

As of yesterday, I passed inspection on the tankless water heater install (with only two minor and now completed revisions). Inspection included the house re-plumbing I had completed a few months ago and the new gas line for the water heater, which passed without any changes. Drained the old tank heater and capped off the gas line to it, freeing up freeing up most of a guest room closet.

Throughout these projects, ensuring Mabel was able to have a bath before bed determined what work I could do each day. And last night, her bath was hot. Good times.

Beach Bum

It is beautiful in Seattle today - 60's and sunny. While Brett did some work on the house, Mabel and I went to the beach.

** Side note: Mabel is very much in love with her dad these days so if I don't take her out of the house when he has stuff to do she will insist he hold her the entire time. It makes putting in gas lines tricky when you only have one free arm.

Anyway, to the beach we went. About a mile from our house is a little beach right on the lake. It is very convenient and cute. She and I have been before, but always when the weather was unpleasant so there was never a desire to really play there. Today we went to play. We brought her pail and shovel and watering can (and a doll) so she could do it up beach style.

How did it go? Well...Mabel hates to get dirty but loves jumping in water. I can't explain it. She bee-lined for the lake saying "water water water" the whole way. One she got there she was a little timid because of the waves so she held on to me. I quickly realized that there were good odds she would be knee deep in the lake as soon as she warmed up to it so I took her shoes and socks off. (We have lost several pairs of shoes due to her puddle jumping tendencies.) This is where things got interesting.
She hated that there was sand stuck to her feet. I tried to rinse them off and put her shoes and socks back on, but she wasn't into that either. So I put her back in the sand. Which made her feet dirty again. Which then I tried to rinse off. You see the pattern? I finally convinced her to just let me put her socks on so she could run around the beach with dirt free feet, but allowing us to have the shoes as backup footwear for the trip home. That worked for her. We now know that beach trips must include "beach socks" for the dear child. The rest of our time there was nice. M was very happy playing in the sand with her shovel and pail.

Easter fun

Today Mabel and I dyed Easter eggs. I made dye using beets, red cabbage and tumeric. As I was making the dye I was wondering if I had officially crossed the line into the land of crazy mama. Who makes their own dye? Is the stuff from the box really so bad? I quickly realized I made the right choice when M stuck her hand in the dye and then straight to her mouth. I thought the white vinegar in there would keep her from trying it again, but it didn't. She double dipped about 5 times.

My helper


We also made little bird nests out of coconut macaroons. This one of our favorite recipes because all the stuff goes in one bowl and you mash it with your hands. This is extra fun for Mabel. She dumps the ingredients in and does a lot of hand mashing. After the nests were made we filled them with "beans" and delivered them to some friends for a little Easter treat.

Her Mother's Daughter

Our nanny, Diana, sent me these photos of Mabel today. They were at a local mall that has a great indoor play structure. On their way back to the car Mabel showed she has female Sigafoos DNA in her by getting distracted...


You can see the pure joy on that face. Diana said she walked by the display then backtracked to get a better look.


Then she got closer and told Diana "sit down, sit down" so they could both get a really good look.

Tractor rockin'

Tankless progress

Our new tankless water heater arrived on Friday. Big box!
Before mounting it to the wall, I hung a board of mold resistant drywall. With it mounted it was easier to measure where to call a hole in the wall of the house for the vent. The vent is now connected and (I hope) sealed for both fumes and outside weather. Water connections are all set for the eventual changeover from the current tank water heater.

Next up - running a gas line, which I am hoping will be relatively straightforward.
Then it will be time for inspection. After that our hot water will come from the tankless, we can reclaim the closet where the tank water heater is, and I can drywall the rest of the wall.

Somersault

Mabel has been doing this funny headstand thing for a couple of months. She bends at the waist and puts her head on the ground. Sometimes she puts her hands on the ground by her head, sometimes she lifts her arms with a lovely flourish. Every once in a while she flips sideways, doing what she thinks is a somersault. One time I said something about "this summer" to her and she did it. Pretty cute.

Tonight she was having some naked run around time after her bath and started to do her trick. This time, she actually flipped over and did a real somersault! Brett and I clapped and cheered and she beamed with pride. Then she did about 40 more naked somersaults.

Big day at our house.

First potty success

On Saturday, Kate went to a friend's baby shower so Mabel and I kept ourselves busy. We took the dogs to the dog park, singing about the wheels on the bus both ways as I'd forgotten her baby CD. Had a nice lunch and, as she'd skipped her morning constitutional, adjourned to her bathroom with a stack of books. She normally sits briefly and then walks around, gives herself high-fives in a full-length mirror, and knocks on the door as we've worked on that as the precursor to them opening. She was happy to sit and read and after a quick stand to shake out her legs, action - I hurried her back to the potty. Success! Lots of rejoicing and praise, a quick text to Kate, and I had something new to clean. Skipped taking a picture.

Midnight snack

After skipping dinner and screaming at the monitor until I took her to the kitchen for some more agreeable food. Like most of a tub of cottage cheese while she sat on the counter asking for vitamins and insisting that everything in the room was blue. Still working on those colors.

Framed laundry room wall

The laundry room work continues. Swapped the original windows so I could move the dryer to the right of the sink. Some prior owner had punched out a glass frame to duct the dryer out. Eventually will replace the windows, but not just yet.

Framed in the wall, adapting to lumpy walls and original drain lines. Re-wired a 220 for the dryer, adding a washer box, a couple outlets, and a faucet for the laundry sink.



Need a rigid duct for the dryer and insulation board for the wall, then on to plumbing in the gas line. Can't put drywall up until after the plumbing inspection occurs, which I am not ready for yet.

Poop

We have poop in the potty people!!!! It's a big day at our house!

For the last couple of weeks M and I have been working with the potty more. Usually in the morning after breakfast she and I will head up to the bathroom for some baby pants off potty time. This is basically 5 minutes of her running around the bathroom, not sitting on the potty. One extra special day it was her, pants off, hitting me in the face. I told her that wasn't ok and moved to the other side of the room. She cried and pissed all over the bathroom rug. That was a good day.

Today I was co-hosting a baby shower so M was left home with Brett for most of the day. At about 1:30 I got a text from Brett "Poop in potty!!!" and delighted the other moms at the shower with the big news. I am going to claim that it was my two weeks of practice time that got her ready for the big move, but I have a feeling Brett is just better at coaxing the poo into the pot than I am. Lucky man.