The Letter B

This blog is brought to you by the letter B. You know, for book? Bubble? It was a big day for the letter B at the Manna house. While he was in the tub, Robbie said, "Bubble. Bubble." And then he handed me the baby wash to make bubbles for him. Brilliant! If that wasn't enough, after he got his pajamas on, I told Robbie to go pick out a book. He walked right over to the armoire where his books are, pointed at the door, and said, "Book!"

I was so impressed with his new verbal skills that I let him pick out three books to read. After all, how could I turn him down when he slid off my lap, walked to the armoire, and asked, "Book?"

It was a day of many child advancements for Robbie today... One I need to thank Nona for. At least I think I need to thank her; I haven't decided yet if I'm thrilled about it. When we came home, Robbie and I spent some time upstairs cleaning and organizing. Nothing major. I made the bed and Rob pulled the pillows off. I put laundry in the hamper and Robbie dragged a pair of pants out of the hamper and around the floor. You know, productive stuff. I got busy organizing Robbie's dresser, and he ran back and forth between our rooms.

All of a sudden, Robbie's little feet sounded far away. Very far away. Like they weren't even on the same floor. And they weren't. My son climbed all the way down the steepest staircase known to man. Alone. When I started down the stairs to find him, Robbie came running, clapping his hands, yelling, "Yay!" I think we're going to need to invest in a gate for the top of the stairs...

The child has also started climbing. I looked over this afternoon to find him standing on the box containing our new toaster oven, which, incidentally, is too big for our kitchen. But, as Justin explained, we won't always have a kitchen the size of a shoe box. And when we have more than three feet of counter space, we're going to want a solid toaster oven.

Now for the update I know you've all been waiting for: the basement. I decided not to worry about it. After all, Kevin was coming, and he would fix everything. And he did. He suited up and pumped out the basement. He had to empty everything on the other side of the house, pump out the water, disinfect the floor, disinfect items, and bring them back. Except most of the items in the basement couldn't be disinfected. These are sitting outside in the backyard of the other side of the house, waiting for people to go through them and take pictures for insurance. My side of the house gets done tomorrow, but we didn't have nearly as much water. And I don't know that we really have anything worth claiming on insurance.

Kevin also got a plumber out here this morning. He replaced part of the pipe (where the lid came off) and he tried to snake out the main line. But the clog was so far out that they had to call in someone else. The clog was almost to the water main. Apparently this took several hours. I'm hoping for a generous insurance adjuster... The total bill is looking to be around $2300. Not to mention any personal losses there might be... But, things could have been so much worse. And we have water. And a lingering aroma of bleach.