New doors and favorite blankies

Here's how Stace spent much of his weekend - working on the house again.

It started Friday when we went to the carpet store to sign the contract for the new carpet for the playroom and bedrooms. The playroom and Cora's room are being covered by insurance for the smoke damage (discoloration) from the fire, and we're paying for the other two bedrooms.

I had no idea how much work Stace had ahead of him for us to get the carpet installed in the bedrooms! (He knew, but we just hadn't talked about it.) All the baseboards in our room and the spare bedroom have to be replaced first, and to properly do the baseboards, we need to put in the new six-panel doors and moulding around the doors.

(OK, we don't have to, but we definitely want to, and this is the only right order to do it in - it's hard/impossible to put in new pretty baseboards over existing carpet.)

So, Stace did some demo on Saturday and we bought the new doors, and on Sunday he installed them. Cora was a good girl and helped her Daddy clean up. In the third photo, you can see our new bedroom door, and all the mess Cora managed to brush into her dustpan, by herself!

Stace also installed the new six-panel door leading to Cora's bathroom this weekend. Last weekend, when he removed the old door, he told her, "Cora, go look at what I did to your door." She replied, "Oh dear. What's wrong?"

It cracked me up - she sounded like she'd already lived through too many DIY projects gone awry - and so far, she hasn't!

In the next photo, you can see how Cora's been entertaining herself a lot this week. This brochure advertising all the Thomas products came in her new train package. She calls it a "map" and loves reading through it, pointing out all the different trains and tracks she "needs."

You see her blanket in the picture? That is Cora's very special "blankie." Cora loves her blankie, and insists on taking it around the house with her, and often, in the car. (We don't let her take it out of the car.) She talks about her blankie a lot. ("I love my yellow blankie. It's soft and warm. You feel it, Mummy? See how soft it is?")

And, Stace has had to give in to her name for the blanket. He tried to insist that she not call it "blankie," thinking that a soft, annoying American term. But, by herself, Cora chose that name and is very firm in her use of the word.

Cora thinks it's fun and cute to put "ie" on the ends of lots of words. "Can I have some juice, Mummy? Juicie? I say 'juicie,' " and she giggles at her inventiveness. Or, "Milk? Milkie!" and "Where's Somie?" Actually, she calls the cat "Somie" all the time.

A fabulous thing Cora has been saying for the last few weeks is, "I love you." What a great treat!

On Friday, we missed Cora's "My Buddy and Me" class because Cora had a wet cough. Instead, we met Elissa and Harvey at the mall - the toddlers had a great time together, as always, and we had lunch together. It was so wonderful to feel well enough to get out of the house like that.