I've been reading a lot of mommy blogs

[petmoosie]

And I am determined to write more about my life and my child.

I am tired of the way children's books express surprise by saying "[the character] gasped". Every time T reads it in a story, he pauses and looks at me before reading it. I am ready to dig out our thesaurus to find a synonym. It is a common action. At least, I am laughing now instead of frustrated.

The leaves keep falling and falling and falling. Some trees are completely bare and some are completely full of leaves. It just depends on the species and the sun/water balance of that particular tree.

We have four pumpkins (down from five) on our porch. Time to cook them or compost them.

Emily and I read a book last night. We were reading the chapter on the Earth's environment and how to preserve it for future generations. It is a British book and so the chapter on composting was very interesting. In Britain, they tend to use peat for fertilizer.

Comments

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

Heh. I have a similar problem. Characters on TV show puzzlement by saying "huh?" no doubt because it's hard to animate puzzlement. I'm trying to get the kids not to do that, because it sounds low-brainpower.

[petmoosie.livejournal.com]

"I don't understand", "wait, where did you make that connection?", "What's going on there?", "I don't get it"

"I don't get it" sounds a little low-brainpower also. Hmmm.

"Huh?" is just so much more succinct. :-)

I've been trying "[The character] inhaled sharply in surprise." It makes T laugh and Emily is picking up on that.