K walks!

K took her first steps today. As always with my children, Mr. K got to see it before I did, but I've seen it now, too. She took two steps on her own before sitting/falling down. K is 10 1/2 months old. I think J was a month younger than that when she began to walk, and N was about a year old.

K's still not feeling all that well. This evening Mr. K has taken N and J to N's school's winter carnival. K is so fussy that there didn't seem to be any point in bringing her there. Hopefully K will feel like herself by Monday morning if the antibiotic works.

I'm roasting some squash for dinner. I love squash. Mr. K tolerates it. N and J hate it, but I can probably mush it up and K will enjoy it. Assuming Mr. K doesn't fill up at the carnival, we are having ham, mushroom, and cheese crepes that I assembled at the dinner-making place as our main course.

Mr. K's brother and his girlfriend are planning to drive here for a visit on Monday. They'll probably come over on Tuesday and Wednesday, and just use Monday to recover from the drive. I haven't seen them since I flew home to Michigan with the kids in June of 2005. They've never seen K.

Our neighbor, the one with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other, who doesn't work anymore, is getting a roommate. I met her today. It's all very strange. Our neighbor's friend purchased his house from him when he ran out of money, and I guess he now pays rent to his friend with the money that had been equity in his house. When it is convenient to his friend (now his landlord), the landlord stays in the upstairs of the house. The house is about one mile from where he works. His actual home is a cattle farm a long way from here. I think he pretty much only goes there on the weekends to take care of his cattle. This saves him a lot of money in gas.

Anyway, the landlord has found another tenant. She'll be living there in addition to our neighbor and his landlord. He's renting the living room of the house to her to use as a bedroom. Our neighbor's house is very, very nasty. I was stunned to find out a woman would be renting a room. I guess she did cleaning at the landlord's office. The landlord works for his brother as a surveyor. Perhaps she'll get the place cleaned up. I think she's stunned by the mess. She must be going through hard times in her life to want to rent the living room. It's all very strange. As I said, I met her today. She's getting ready to move in next week. She didn't seem a lot older than I am, but she mentioned a grandson a month older than K. I, though, am old enough to be K's grandma. She's Russian, and her English seems to be quite good.