Random ramblings

We really need to find a house out in the country where we can fence some yard in.  My poor little imp is desperate to go outside and play.  And neither Odysseus nor I have felt like sitting outside, recently.  I've been dealing with on and off headaches, and Odysseus is horribly allergic to catalpas, which have only just today finished blooming. 

He's also been trying really hard to learn how to write his letters and numbers.  We got him this, and something like it from somewhere else that has instructions and trace-overs for letters and shapes, also with numbers and basic addition.

The pixie really wants to try.  I'm figuring that, after I've finished my coffee, I'll probably strip both kids to the waist, give them each a marker, and a dry erase board book to work with. 

We got the dog brushed, bathed, brushed again, then her hair cut to half an inch long.  It's incomplete, far from even, and it took both Odysseus (to hold the dog down and still) and me (wielding the clippers) to get that much done.

The cats are being...cats.  They sleep a lot, and even at a year  old, still play a lot.  Frantically.  There are times when they're chasing each other up and down the hall that you'd sweat they were Maine Coon cat sized, rather than part-Siamese domestic shorthair size (10 pounds for Shadow, 11 or 12 for Cricket.)