A Collection of Thoughts

Just a little bit of an around-here update:

Been thinking more and more about Thumper's room.  Currently he still sleeps in his crib, in our room.  We have an area of the apartment that's meant to be a den.  I'm not sure yet if/when he'll be sleeping in it, but I do think it needs to be turned into his "room," so he has his own space and furniture and when we do eventually move and he gets his own room, he'll have his own "stuff" that's familiar.  And on a purely selfish note, we can get shelves and bins for his toys so the living room doesn't have every single one in there at all times.

I've been getting pretty excited about the idea of decorating it.  I never got to put together a nursery, but Thumper's still pretty young, so this is still probably more about my taste than his.  We seem to have stumbled upon a space theme; his crib sheets are mostly green, but I hadn't found any green toddler bedding that really seemed like him.  Then a friend gave us a TARDIS throw and I, separately, bought a Gallifreyan throw for Thumper's eventual room; then, last night, I found some space-themed bedding that I loved, and today I found a night light I loved.  I don't want to be too matchy-matchy, but it looks like space it is.

Then I realized how funny that actually is.  While looking at space-themed decor on Pinterest, I realized I was discounting this or that because "I'd already done that."  Wait, what?  Well, when I was in college, for three years my room was based around a comforter set I had that was red with galaxies and stars on it.  In fact, I had always intended to keep it as a play blanket for potential future children, but alas there was a basement mouse incident five years ago.  I hadn't consciously thought of it while choosing stuff for Thumper, and his bedding is different, but I guess my tastes are limited. Oh well; the Yeti signed off on that bedding too, and, as mentioned, I am trying to avoid College 2.0, even subconsciously.  

Have I mentioned that Thumper is walking now?!  Just a few shuffling steps here and there, but still!  We knew he was close, because for weeks he'd been standing up on his own (just standing up under his own power, not pulling up on furniture) and looking like he wanted to walk.  Then one night about a week after his first birthday, he actually moved forward a few steps before plopping down.  I was happy because it was a weekend and the Yeti was there too, and said as much.

"Are you sure that counts?" he said, doubtful.  "I mean, he barely shuffled."

"Yes!" I exclaimed.  "He's not just going to be wandering around out of nowhere.  Haven't you heard the term 'baby steps'?"

He hasn't made much forward progress since then, though we're still getting two and three steps here and there.  But he's also practicing standing up and doing squats whilst holding heavy objects, so I like to think that in his brain, it's a montage from Rocky, building up to taking a victory lap.

I haven't been reading all that much in the last month but I was quite a bit right after Christmas, reading a few of my Christmas presents.  By far my favorite of what I've read thus far are two mystery novels by Tana French, an author who was new to me (the Yeti likes to go new for Christmas).  The first one, In the Woods, was her first novel.

My ultimate dream is to be a published mystery author myself, and I'll be honest, there are definitely times when I'll read something in the subgenre I write in and think to myself, "Yes, I could do this.  With enough time and editing, I could be this good, and this person is published.  I can get here someday."  When I read In the Woods, my thinking was more along the lines of, "This was her first novel.  Granted, it's not my subgenre, but I feel like I could never be this good."

I read the first two novels, featuring some of the same characters, and then stopped because she can be a little dark and I needed a breather.  But each novel managed to leave me satisfied, even though the endings were far from neat and tidy, while still wanting to move on to the next.  Even writing about it now is making me want to hop on my Kindle and get the next one.

The Super Bowl was on Sunday.  Yes, the Seahawks lost.  Yes, it sucked.  But I'm okay, actually.  The only thing I really hoped for in this season was for them to win the Thanksgiving game, which they did handily.  Everything else has been a bonus.  Someone suggested rooting for another team and I was aghast; win or lose, this is still my team and I still count myself a major fan.

And finally, putting things on one's head is once again the funniest thing in the world, whether it's me, the Yeti, or Thumper, and whether it's a stuffed animal, a sock, a bowl, or a hat.  Which makes me happy, because it means we get to see this hat a little more, even though it barely fits on his head anymore.