Carter farts. A LOT. He does not 'pass gas' and he certainly does not 'toot.' He lets fly with some of the most amazing volume. Problem is, it wakes him up at night. Otherwise I would just find this funny. But he wakes up pre-fart, wriggling and squirming and groaning, and there is a good minute or two of this, and then relief. For him. By this point, both Ava and I are completely awake.

He has also been fussy these days--yes, he is mellow, but after he has been awake for more than 20 minutes, he starts sort of whining--he wants to be held, or put to sleep or whatever--he has lost the "i'm just happy sitting here while you cook dinner mom" mode that he had for so long. I do think this is partly teething, and partly the cold, and partly his frustration at not being able to sit up and do things.

We made it through our day stuck at home, and today I am really looking forward to going out. I am even looking forward to the grocery store event, something I usually dread. I was pretty successful in keeping the TV off, all the way to 5 PM when Caillou is on and I really need to anesthetize Ava. She went without a nap, so both kids were sound asleep by 7:30, and I was able to get through almost all of "what do you do all day" -- good book, but makes me really miss NYC. Though I have to say, by all accounts, I am very happy to not have to deal with the mommy pressure and competition in the city. That is one of the benefits of life here in the middle of nowhere. No one bats an eye at your parenting choices here. Well, that's not true, but at least it is so isolated here that no one has to know what your parenting choices are!