Wet Shirts, Curly Hair, Stairs

OMG I am so tired of writing about quadratic transformations, systems of equations and inequalities, common student errors, and how to create good lessons about these topics. I'm working every night and weekend but the good news is that I should be all done by Monday! I am really earning the new basement bathroom we are going to install...someday. I guess there are things like building permits and design decisions and product purchases that make installing a new bathroom a kind of lengthy process. Who knew? But I feel good and motivated to do my consulting work. Every time it sucks I think, bathroom, bathroom.

On Sunday afternoon there was a bike race around the Capitol. Actually it lasted all day, beginning with a little kid race in the morning and ending with the pro race at 4:30. We went to the pro race with the kids and watched the bicyclists whizz around the Capitol in tight clumps again and again. It was very exciting. Meanwhile Milo and Nora had a blast running around on the grass. Then Milo, who I should mentioned was being shadowed by Jake, not me, ran out onto the sidewalk. Then he tripped up a curb and sprawled face first onto the cement. It was a real face plant and he got road rash:

I took this picture tonight, after 2 days of healing. It looked a lot worse on Sunday night. The poor kid had road rash just like the racers! My colleague organized the race and later he told me that we should have taken Milo to the medical tent because there were 6 doctors just sitting there waiting to deal with road rash cases and other mishaps.

You might also notice how Milo's entire shirt is wet. Nora's is too actually. They both thought it was a lot of fun to slurp water out of a straw cup and then let it spill out of their mouths all down the front of their chests. I didn't even realize what they were doing until I took off their bibs and saw their wet shirts.

Curly hair:

Climbing up the stairs:

I am really struggling with Nora right now. When I'm not around, Jake and the twin whisperer report that she's pleasant and cheerful. But when I am around she literally has to be on me all the time. I mean all. the. time. If I am not holding her, she whines and cries. If I leave to go to the bathroom, she whines and cries. If I have to make dinner or wash the dishes, she whines and cries. This morning I let go of her for 10 seconds to rub my eyes, and she whined and cried. I cannot do a single thing without incurring the wrath of Nora. It is a lot of whining and crying to listen to. It is very, very wearing to listen to all of that. When I get tired of holding her, I sit down and she just crawls all over me and climbs all over me. She might venture out for 30 seconds or so to get a book or a toy, but then it's right back to my lap.

I'm starting to worry that maybe Nora is not getting enough time with me or something, and that is why she is so clingy. I wonder if she would be less clingy if I were with her 24/7? I feel like I am with her a good amount of the time, but maybe it is not enough for her? I feel kind of guilty about this. I hope it is just a normal phase and not a sign that Nora is not getting enough of me.