Basque to the Future

Monday, December 1, 2014

It's been a long time coming, but the basement is finally just about finished. When we did the house renovation a few years ago, the foundation was fixed up and some basic framing was put into place down there, but we haven't managed to get the resources together to actually make it into a livable space until recently. We had a little bit of work done on it last summer, putting in a window into the future bedroom space, but then things were on hold again until earlier this year. We had originally thought we would try to do the work ourselves, but eventually realized that it would take forever and take up all of our free time and still might not end up the way we wanted. So we brought Larry back in to start work on it part time while he was finishing up a different job. He started at the end of May and progress was initially slow while the time was split with the other job. Full time work started in September, and by the end of the month drywall was up, the bathroom was mostly assembled, and the cork floors and tile work were all done. October covered trim and painting, and was the end of what we had contracted Larry to do. Finally, at the end of November we had new carpeting installed in the bedroom and tv room, and it was all ready to use.

Looking south through the bedroom in Jan 2011 and in Nov 2014.

There are still a few things remaining to do, including putting tops on the half walls, finishing the wire terminations for the cable/internet/speakers, and eventually getting some cabinets and counters for the laundry room and furniture/electronics for the tv room. But it's still all useable for now, and we're loving having all of this new living space in the house including a big tv room, bathroom, guest bedroom, laundry room, and little playroom.

See photos from the past year and a half of work after the jump.

Peace in our time

Simon and Lillian are finally starting to get along much better. Simon still isn't the best at sharing - his version of sharing is usually just taking whatever Lillian's playing with - but he's not really getting angry and yelling at her whenever she comes by. And just in time too, since she's recently started copying his yelled "NO" that he used to do to her all the time. We talked to Simon about how he's teaching Lillian how to act and we don't want her to turn into a mean person, and he really seemed to take that to heart... he's been significantly nicer to her since then.

Helping her put on her shoe

Not only are they not fighting as much anymore, but lately Simon has been actively trying to play with her and she's finally gotten to the age where they can have some fun together. One of their favorite games is to chase each other around the island in the kitchen, but they also play with the blocks or stacking buckets or play food together. I hope this cease fire lasts... it's been nice to see them being happy together (and to get a break while they keep each other entertained).

After the jump are a couple more recent videos of the two kids getting along.

Lillian's New Slippers

I got Lillian some slippers while I was at Target the other day and she loved them! She walked and walked in them for the first 20 minutes or so. Then she realized she could take them off and they haven't both spent more than 15 seconds on her feet since. As soon as you put them on she pulls them off and kisses them (aka eats their faces). She still loves them though!

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Lillian gives kisses

Lillian gives kisses to everyone now as she heads off to bed. She laughs and laughs when she gets close to Simon though, so he usually just gets giggles. Most of the time kisses are actually licks, but there is a certain charm to them just the same. She gives kisses to her baby doll all the time and will often bring her over to us to help shhhh, rock and pat and while we do that she kisses the baby.

Lillian stacking blocks.

Lillian and I were stacking blocks and then I realized that I hadn't posted on the blog about it so I pulled out my phone and found that she really didn't want to stack blocks for the camera (thus the first video). I put the camera away but close by and then when she started stacking blocks again I gave it another try.