Just wanted to let those of you who read this know that we're still in the process of painting our new place...

It turns out there are lots of other little details (or not-so-little details) to sort out, too... It took us three days to strip a couple of of walls of wallpaper (eeek!), but now we're in the process of painting. By Sunday, we're hoping to have finished painting and wallpapering (is that a verb? Well, it is now) the four main rooms of the house: living/dining room, our bedroom, K's bedroom, and my study (possible future baby room... no, I'm not pregnant! Stop asking, will ya?). On Monday, my brother-in-law is coming to help us put down new laminate flooring in the living/dining room , so that room will have to be finished by then.

Apart from the painting in those rooms, there are many other things to sort out: the bathroom, toilet, hall, stairways, stairs (argh!), and Maik's studio/the attic will all need a fresh coat of paint. Also, we've bought two new radiators but haven't found anyone who could possible help us install those - looks like we'll have to pay a plumber to come and do that for us. And we're planning to change the sink in the bathroom into a square one that takes cabinets underneath (serious lack of storage in there). I'm not quite panicky yet, although I'm close... *sigh*

Anyhoodle... Lots of work to be done, and we're tired already. Less than two weeks till the move-in date. To make planning more difficult (this ties in with the "mom blog" element) is that we found red bumps on K today - chicken pox! It's all over daycare, so it was just a matter of time of course, but it's such bad timing! Thank goodness for my mom - she is "trying out retirement" as she calls it, and she is coming to take care of K tomorrow so we can do some work. No daycare for at least a week, though... He's not very itchy yet (we did buy a natural remedy for the itching), so I hope his soft skin doesn't look all horrible by next week... Poor baby.

So.. gotta go get some sleep while I still can! Anyone up for some painting?

Hilde

.. a house, that is.

Actually, we have already decided we're going to buy a house. But when, we don't know. Our apartment sold in three weeks (that must be some kind of a record in this economy) but unfortunately the buyer pulled out. Luckily, we  hadn't made an offer on a house yet, but we had already found our dream house... Which we  now cannot make an offer on.

We're trying very hard to fight the disappointment - there are worse things in the world, right? At least we still have a roof over our heads - but I had so hoped to be in our new house by the summer! Ah, to have a garden... *sigh*

We're in the process of getting ready for another day of viewings on Friday. We want everything to look just so (which is what we did last time, and it worked - initially anyway). But pulling off a look like that involves catching up on piles on laundry (okay, it's not that bad, but you know what I mean), hiding our little and big messes in overstuffed closets (why do you think we want to move out?) and cleaning every inch of this place in a more than thorough fashion.

And I'm sick of it.

I guess I'm just writing this to find the courage to go through this process all over again... *sigh*

Have you sold a house lately? What did you do to make it look/smell/sound appealing to potential buyers?

Okay, so I need a little help here... Any tips are welcome, thanks!

Yesterday, my 18-month-old son stayed with my sister and her two kids for the day while I did a (rather disastrous, but that's another story) vocal performance. My son is easy enough to take care of; he plays happily on his own or with his cousins and eats pretty much anything (apart from certain vegetables) you put in front of him. So far, so good...

The only problem was, my sister needed to run to the store - well, cycle to the store, actually (we are in Holland after all) - and she needed to take all three kids with her. My niece and nephew may be a little on the boisterous side at home, but they always, always listen when they are out with my sister. They never, say, run into traffic, or refuse to hold  her hand.

Not so with my son.... He refused to hold my sister's hand, ran out onto the street while my sister was picking up my nephew, who had tripped, and ran away from her in the store. He does this with my husband and me, too, but since we only have one child, we can usually grab a hold of him/the hood on his winter jacket. In the store I also grab his hand/arm if necessary.

Still, for his safety, I'd like to teach him how to behave outside ASAP. When we are at home and he doesn't behave, we give him a one-minute time-out in the h all, where he can't hurt himself or break things. Before we go out, we try to sit him down and explain (as much as you can with an 18-month-old) how we expect him to behave outside, but as soon as we are outside, he is distract by leaves, cats, cars, and everything else that is so appealing to a toddler. I need help! My sister even suggested putting him in one of those child harnesses with a leash, but since we only have one child right now, I don't see the need for that. I would consider it in situations where I couldn't keep him safe otherwise (like if I had to carry lots of luggage maybe, but then I'd consider putting him in a buggy or something). But what I'd really like to do is teach him the importance of staying close to me when we're out and about.

How did you teach your child how to be safe outside? How did you get them to hold your hand, wait at the curb before crossing, and stay with you in the store?