Day 2 of using the cloth inserts in plastic covers - going great! Audrey doesn't seem to mind (I had hoped that she'd find it uncomfortable enough that she'd want to go potty instead, but there's plenty of time for that to set in). I made a little chart to see how much it costs vs. disposables, and for the number of disposables we were using each day, the service is really more expensive. But like I said, if I can pay money to make potty training better, it'll be worth it! and I'm not washing those yucky things - blech!!
Emily had a very academic day yesterday. You never know when the mood is going to strike her to decide to sit and learn to draw numbers, or spell off letters of words, or sit and studiously put together puzzles, but yesterday she did all that. She has been reading off the letters that spell the colors on the crayon puzzle pieces, and is quite proud of herself. I am guessing that her teachers say "be quiet, okay?" a lot, because she will tell us that whether we're quiet or not, as a preface that she's going to read her letters. I'm so proud of her! And of course, Audrey mimics her: she picks up the puzzle pieces and points to them repeatedly, "unn... unn... unn... Ahh! Ahhh!!!" She's also crazy about buckle pig, and I haven't yet tired of unbuckling them for her, but we're getting there! Not much for words out of Audrey still, but it's not like she isn't communicating with gestures and meaningful squeals. She likes making animal sounds for kitties, dogs, fish, and birds, and I swear I heard her say "I did it!" after she helped me turn off a lightswitch. When I noticed, she clammed up and wouldn't say anything else at all. Stinker. She's going to let full sentences loose if we pretend not to notice. :) The singing continues, out of both girls, and it's so lovely. They were singing ABC's together in the shopping cart at Target the other day, and I just let them go on at the tops of their lungs. I figure there's no way anybody else could hear that and not think it was just absolutely lovely. Or maybe I'm biased!
Emily had a haircut the other night, so it's just above her shoulders now. It's a little too short for a good pony tail, but I don't plan to cut it for another 6-9 months so I think it's good. It looks kind of 1940's, somehow, the way it curls under her chin - very cute! Apparently she had her chin tilted way up while I was cutting the back, because it's unintentionally layered and too short back there. Oops. So it's not a professional job, by any means, but it's really just that she wouldn't sit still! I'd get her looking in the mirror, holding very still, and as soon as she heard the sound of her hairs getting cut, she'd turn her head to look at it. Gah!!! This wasn't an experience that I wanted to be full of me scolding her (I guess, what is, really??) but with every cut I ended up snapping at her to HOLD STILL! Wow.
Trav came home from work early yesterday to go for a bike ride, and it was the perfect day for it - warm but not super hot, sunny but with some clouds, perfect humidity, no wind - so he did 30 miles, two hours. This morning was supposed to be my turn, but Trav wanted to hit a bike sale in Beaverdale before I went, so I made breakfast for the girls. He was home right away, so I checked the radar and it looked like a huge storm was aiming to hit in about 30 minutes, so I decided not to go. Well, the storm is moving really super slowly and fading out, so I could have gone after all!! I'm really annoyed!!! On days when I get home from work, I have to hop on things immediately and get supper going, and watch kids so Trav can mow or go for a run or relax and check fb or have a bathroom break, but when he gets home from work, I have to ... watch the kids and get supper going so he can do all those same things!! After supper, I have to keep the kids so he can load the dishwasher (why can't they keep their hands off yucky dishes?), so we end up going for walks or playing in the yard, but it's not like I can bike or play the piano or have a complete thought to myself. I didn't realize how much it annoyed me until my biking didn't work out this morning. Next week, I'll instigate some changes around here. My workload is pretty light at work these days - maybe I'll just take off early and bike those afternoons instead. I've got the vacation, and that's what Trav did yesterday, so why not? Otherwise, I don't see any way I'll get myself in shape enough to do even a day or two of Ragbrai, which looks like it might work out this year! Fingers crossed!! This is the first year since 2006 that I won't be pregnant or nursing during Ragbrai, so we'll see if I remember how to be fun after all.
We're really having a great summer. I biked to Ashby park yesterday with the girls in the trailer. Emily complained the whole time about being hungry (Would you just eat your damn breakfast OR your snack so I don't have to listen to you whine all morning??), we finally ate our picnic lunch and she relaxed... to the point where she had to poop but then she wouldn't use the public restrooms there. *sigh!* so we came home, and again, neither of them got more than their ankles wet. I didn't have a swim diaper for Audrey because one of the girls had taken it out of the bag while I was getting the lunch packed, so it's just as well that they're not really into the water thing. At least they enjoy the playground equipment there, and, like I said it was a beautiful day. And I enjoyed the exercise, too. I wonder how many equivalent miles I biked, doing 4 miles with ~75 lbs behind me? Ashby Park is at the top of a wicked hill, so that's gotta count for something.
And for the most part, we're just hanging out, enjoying lazy days. Travis has a landscaping project in mind for the house, but he's doing it in the style that he really prefers to approach things - lots of forethought, a little bit at a time. Fortunately, this is a project that really goes well with that approach! The girls and I are enjoying our unscheduled days, but it kind of makes me nervous, in a way, that I'm not making the most of them! How do you make the most of days off? It seems like a Catch-22 to me. :)
** Update** I got my first 15 miles in on the year by going immediately after lunch. It was a great day for a ride - no wind, all clouds, good temp, and nobody out on the trails! Trav is such a sweetie. I told him how disappointed I was that I made the wrong call on biking this morning, and he practically kicked me out the door after lunch, even bagging up my license and phone for me. So, it's no big deal - if I want to change something, we just work it out and change it. Everyone should be jealous of me. :)
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Poopiest entry ever
So if you're not interested in reading about managing my daughter's bodily outputs, just skip the first part of this entry. I figured a warning upfront is only fair!
We took Audrey to the doctor last Wednesday because she had started another round of slimy horrendous blowouts. I just couldn't take any more!! The doctor poked around her tummy, agreed that things were pretty squishy in there, and sent us home with a kit to collect a stool sample. After naptime, we had the good we needed for the sample, so I took the dirty diaper to the kitchen counter to put what was needed into the specified containers. I know that in the past I have expressed frustration with Emily's constant questioning, but this time it was pretty funny: "Mom, what are you doing????" Well, "scooping poop into little containers" seemed like an obvious enough answer, but I just told her the doctor wanted to look at it to see if she could figure out why her tummy was giving her troubles, so then it made sense to Emily that we had to drive it back to the doctor's office. As of Friday, the only test results were that everything was normal, and the full results should be in on Monday. Thursday, Audrey's teacher at daycare called me and said she was concerned about the output, which was super nice of her but I have a feeling it was probably based in the same exasperation I had: Ugh, yuck! AGAIN?? This weekend, things have been marginally okay, which makes me fear that we've got a food sensitivity to look for. I was so hoping it could just be a parasite or something that we could fix with a round of medicine. A food sensitivity seems like such a life sentence, you know?
Yesterday, I went to an informational gathering about the diaper service here in Des Moines. I have heard other mothers talk about how they never have blowouts with cloth diapers, and while I still think they haven't put up with the quantity of poo that I have, it's gotta be better. The only part of cloth diapering that I truly object to is dealing with the dirty ones later, so a diaper service is perfect, actually! And really, I've washed so much nasty clothing that I can't imagine this could be any worse. Cloth diapering, even with a service, is the kind of thing that should save money over the long haul, but since Audrey is so old (hee hee, she's so old!) we may end up actually spending more. I've absolved the cost issue in my mind by considering it an investment in potty training. When I was banging my head against the wall trying to potty train Emily, I wished desperately for a solution where I could just pay money to make it go away, and I really believe the cloth diapering will help. Monday, Milo spent the day with us and it was really easy changing and managing his cloth diapers, so I'm feeling pretty good about this. I've bought some diaper covers, and I think I'll start service either this week or next. Cool, huh? :)
Okay, enough poopy talk!! Time for funny stories about my girls!
Emily was SO excited for the opening of Ashby Park on Monday, which happened to be hot and sunny, perfect for going to a wading pool. We counted down the days all weekend, and that morning we got swimsuits and sunblock and the stroller and a snack, and set off for the park. The unfortunate thing about it being a perfect day for the pool was that everyone else thought so, too. There were a ton of people there, and you know, much like her mother and her aunt, Emily does not like people!! She spent about 5 minutes thinking about going in the water, and then told me she was all done. Audrey generally doesn't like changing clothes, so she didn't even get her suit on. The park opened at 10, and we were home at 10:20. I guess it's just as well that I forgot towels, because neither kid got a drop on them!! Wednesday we went back, where I met a friend and her three kids. Her two boys got drenched immediately, tearing around the park like they owned the place, and her baby girl sat in the grass and pleasantly ate her snack. My girls ended the time in the park by howling Mom Mom Mama Mama incessantly until we left. At least Emily got in the water that time, but 5 minutes later I turned around and she was back at the stroller, competely naked, putting her clothes back in. Audrey waded gingerly until she happened to fall down, and she got soaked and was totally done. In addition to all the people, I think they don't like the noise of the water splashing from the fountains, and the constant noise them edgy. So, apparently our relationship with Ashby Park this year is love-hate!
We had a great time over at a friend's house last night, but we didn't get the girls in bed until 9:30. Audrey was up at 6!! She's having a morning nap today, which is great for her but doesn't help Travis, who is pretty zombied from getting up with her. And Emily could use a nap too, but I think we'll just try to make the most of a cranky day with her. I love summer days, but I wouldn't mind if summer mornings were not quite so sunshiney and bright at 5:30 AM. Maybe we'll try out our "new" (craigslist) Burley today and see how the girls like biking!
We took Audrey to the doctor last Wednesday because she had started another round of slimy horrendous blowouts. I just couldn't take any more!! The doctor poked around her tummy, agreed that things were pretty squishy in there, and sent us home with a kit to collect a stool sample. After naptime, we had the good we needed for the sample, so I took the dirty diaper to the kitchen counter to put what was needed into the specified containers. I know that in the past I have expressed frustration with Emily's constant questioning, but this time it was pretty funny: "Mom, what are you doing????" Well, "scooping poop into little containers" seemed like an obvious enough answer, but I just told her the doctor wanted to look at it to see if she could figure out why her tummy was giving her troubles, so then it made sense to Emily that we had to drive it back to the doctor's office. As of Friday, the only test results were that everything was normal, and the full results should be in on Monday. Thursday, Audrey's teacher at daycare called me and said she was concerned about the output, which was super nice of her but I have a feeling it was probably based in the same exasperation I had: Ugh, yuck! AGAIN?? This weekend, things have been marginally okay, which makes me fear that we've got a food sensitivity to look for. I was so hoping it could just be a parasite or something that we could fix with a round of medicine. A food sensitivity seems like such a life sentence, you know?
Yesterday, I went to an informational gathering about the diaper service here in Des Moines. I have heard other mothers talk about how they never have blowouts with cloth diapers, and while I still think they haven't put up with the quantity of poo that I have, it's gotta be better. The only part of cloth diapering that I truly object to is dealing with the dirty ones later, so a diaper service is perfect, actually! And really, I've washed so much nasty clothing that I can't imagine this could be any worse. Cloth diapering, even with a service, is the kind of thing that should save money over the long haul, but since Audrey is so old (hee hee, she's so old!) we may end up actually spending more. I've absolved the cost issue in my mind by considering it an investment in potty training. When I was banging my head against the wall trying to potty train Emily, I wished desperately for a solution where I could just pay money to make it go away, and I really believe the cloth diapering will help. Monday, Milo spent the day with us and it was really easy changing and managing his cloth diapers, so I'm feeling pretty good about this. I've bought some diaper covers, and I think I'll start service either this week or next. Cool, huh? :)
Okay, enough poopy talk!! Time for funny stories about my girls!
Emily was SO excited for the opening of Ashby Park on Monday, which happened to be hot and sunny, perfect for going to a wading pool. We counted down the days all weekend, and that morning we got swimsuits and sunblock and the stroller and a snack, and set off for the park. The unfortunate thing about it being a perfect day for the pool was that everyone else thought so, too. There were a ton of people there, and you know, much like her mother and her aunt, Emily does not like people!! She spent about 5 minutes thinking about going in the water, and then told me she was all done. Audrey generally doesn't like changing clothes, so she didn't even get her suit on. The park opened at 10, and we were home at 10:20. I guess it's just as well that I forgot towels, because neither kid got a drop on them!! Wednesday we went back, where I met a friend and her three kids. Her two boys got drenched immediately, tearing around the park like they owned the place, and her baby girl sat in the grass and pleasantly ate her snack. My girls ended the time in the park by howling Mom Mom Mama Mama incessantly until we left. At least Emily got in the water that time, but 5 minutes later I turned around and she was back at the stroller, competely naked, putting her clothes back in. Audrey waded gingerly until she happened to fall down, and she got soaked and was totally done. In addition to all the people, I think they don't like the noise of the water splashing from the fountains, and the constant noise them edgy. So, apparently our relationship with Ashby Park this year is love-hate!
We had a great time over at a friend's house last night, but we didn't get the girls in bed until 9:30. Audrey was up at 6!! She's having a morning nap today, which is great for her but doesn't help Travis, who is pretty zombied from getting up with her. And Emily could use a nap too, but I think we'll just try to make the most of a cranky day with her. I love summer days, but I wouldn't mind if summer mornings were not quite so sunshiney and bright at 5:30 AM. Maybe we'll try out our "new" (craigslist) Burley today and see how the girls like biking!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Part-er time than usual!
As of today, I am back at pre-crazy work levels, and only 20 hours per week. Phew! What a long haul that was! I sure got a lot of actual work done for my job, though, and I've received a lot of nice praise from my boss for it, both during my mid-year review and at other times when he just drops by to tell me how great I'm doing. He says he continues to be impressed with both quality and quantity of my work, and that I showed "exceptional leadership" for our group during my coworker's maternity leave, which I thought was odd coming from the person who was supposed to be the leader of our group, but it's still pretty great, right?? I'm not really sure what to do with that much positive feedback! Travis tells me I should pick one of those opportunities to turn it around and ask when I'll be getting promoted, then, but of course I'm going to play that more carefully. My boss did tell me that if I wanted to work full-time, he would be very adamant that they place me in a senior engineer position. I'm pretty sure he'd say the same thing for the other part-time person in our department, so, if she and I are essentially splitting one job, and we're both doing senior-level work, then why are they not paying us that way?? I floated that idea past her yesterday (her first day back from maternity leave), and I'm guessing it won't be long before we're conniving to make this a reality. Because, really! My life these days, working part-time and having great at-home days with my kids, is definitely something to savor!
I absolutely love summer. Emily wore a swimsuit most of today, and Audrey had on a blue dress with fishies on it (they say "*smack*, *smack*"), and they looked so comfortable and beautiful. Sandals are so easy to get on, and no coats, and it just makes everything so much easier when trying to leave the house. They run around the backyard in our little utopia out there (the sandbox is done! yay!), and it's fenced-in and super safe, and just awesome. Ashby Park opens next week, and then I'm sure we'll be spending quite a bit of time there, too.
My parents celebrated their 40th anniversary last weekend by coming to Des Moines to hang out with their kids' families. It was such an awesome weekend! We went to the science center, the farmer's market, the sculpture garden and the pedestrian bridges. We spent downtime at my house and Dan's house, just hanging out and enjoying each other, and enjoyed a dinner out downtown with more family and friends. Emily's 3 older cousins slept with her in her room, so she had her sleepover night that she was so excited about, and they had a fantastic time together. It was a great reason to celebrate, and a great way to do it. And because of the holiday, we actually had a day off after the weekend to recover - perfect!
Audrey is finally through her two week tummy illness. This morning, there was finally something flushable in her diaper, and I just about jumped for joy (yes, I was that excited about poop). She had been having 3-4 horrendous, soupy disasters daily that would get on her crib sheets, blankets, clothes, EVERYWHERE, and the amount of laundry I did was just phenomenal. finally, we resolved to take her to the doctor on Monday morning, and she actually woke up clean that day. Emily was suffering from it a little bit, too, so I hope that we made the right call in letting them work through things without a doctor's help. It seems that doctors are quite unsympathetic to the plight of a parent who is concerned about the consistency of her kid's poo. If she had acted sick at all we would've taken her in, but she was totally happy and normal - just very, very stinky.
The more expressive Audrey gets, though, the more she cracks me up. She's SO funny! Tonight I laid her in her crib with one of her (five) blankets, and kissed her forehead and said goodnight, and she gestured and cooed over towards her changing table, where a bunch of laundry was piled up. I asked her if she wanted another blanket, since she prefers to have two or three, and she smiled and nodded. So I went downstairs and found another of her favorites, and when I gave it to her, she giggled and snuggled it and rolled over, went to sleep. She's just so tickled that she can communicate now! I suppose I should've done more signing with her, because it is so satisfying for her, but she'll get the verbal stuff down soon enough. She tells me when she wants to get dressed (or doesn't!!) and when she wants a turn sitting on the potty (all show, no go - no biggie!). And she knows that a good loud squeal will tell me that she's trying to fend off an older sister who is either being inconsiderate or overly helpful. I wish those two scenarios weren't so similar - Emily really genuinely wants to help sometimes, and really sometimes just wants what she wants at other times. If I could reward the former and redirect the latter, it'd be great, but it's hard to keep it all "fair" based on the squalling that alerts me of the situation.
Anyway, that's what's been up here lately. My girls sing, play, and look beautiful, and I love it. :) Oh yeah - Travis finally turned 30, which is the end of the two most awkward weeks of the year where I'm two years older than him. It's hard on my fragile ego ;)
I absolutely love summer. Emily wore a swimsuit most of today, and Audrey had on a blue dress with fishies on it (they say "*smack*, *smack*"), and they looked so comfortable and beautiful. Sandals are so easy to get on, and no coats, and it just makes everything so much easier when trying to leave the house. They run around the backyard in our little utopia out there (the sandbox is done! yay!), and it's fenced-in and super safe, and just awesome. Ashby Park opens next week, and then I'm sure we'll be spending quite a bit of time there, too.
My parents celebrated their 40th anniversary last weekend by coming to Des Moines to hang out with their kids' families. It was such an awesome weekend! We went to the science center, the farmer's market, the sculpture garden and the pedestrian bridges. We spent downtime at my house and Dan's house, just hanging out and enjoying each other, and enjoyed a dinner out downtown with more family and friends. Emily's 3 older cousins slept with her in her room, so she had her sleepover night that she was so excited about, and they had a fantastic time together. It was a great reason to celebrate, and a great way to do it. And because of the holiday, we actually had a day off after the weekend to recover - perfect!
Audrey is finally through her two week tummy illness. This morning, there was finally something flushable in her diaper, and I just about jumped for joy (yes, I was that excited about poop). She had been having 3-4 horrendous, soupy disasters daily that would get on her crib sheets, blankets, clothes, EVERYWHERE, and the amount of laundry I did was just phenomenal. finally, we resolved to take her to the doctor on Monday morning, and she actually woke up clean that day. Emily was suffering from it a little bit, too, so I hope that we made the right call in letting them work through things without a doctor's help. It seems that doctors are quite unsympathetic to the plight of a parent who is concerned about the consistency of her kid's poo. If she had acted sick at all we would've taken her in, but she was totally happy and normal - just very, very stinky.
The more expressive Audrey gets, though, the more she cracks me up. She's SO funny! Tonight I laid her in her crib with one of her (five) blankets, and kissed her forehead and said goodnight, and she gestured and cooed over towards her changing table, where a bunch of laundry was piled up. I asked her if she wanted another blanket, since she prefers to have two or three, and she smiled and nodded. So I went downstairs and found another of her favorites, and when I gave it to her, she giggled and snuggled it and rolled over, went to sleep. She's just so tickled that she can communicate now! I suppose I should've done more signing with her, because it is so satisfying for her, but she'll get the verbal stuff down soon enough. She tells me when she wants to get dressed (or doesn't!!) and when she wants a turn sitting on the potty (all show, no go - no biggie!). And she knows that a good loud squeal will tell me that she's trying to fend off an older sister who is either being inconsiderate or overly helpful. I wish those two scenarios weren't so similar - Emily really genuinely wants to help sometimes, and really sometimes just wants what she wants at other times. If I could reward the former and redirect the latter, it'd be great, but it's hard to keep it all "fair" based on the squalling that alerts me of the situation.
Anyway, that's what's been up here lately. My girls sing, play, and look beautiful, and I love it. :) Oh yeah - Travis finally turned 30, which is the end of the two most awkward weeks of the year where I'm two years older than him. It's hard on my fragile ego ;)
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Another great weekend
Yesterday was about as nice a birthday as one could ask for. I woke up to the sound of Audrey singing pleasantly in her crib, and then the frantic pitterpatter of Emily sprinting into my room, shouting "Mom! It's your birthday!!!" We ate scrambed eggs and toast for breakfast, then I went for a 2-mile run, and showered. By the time I was through with that, Travis had cleaned up all of the kitchen and most of the toys. Emily helped me make an angel food cake in the afternoon, which turned out super tasty! This was my first try doing one from scratch, and my stand mixer made it SO easy. It was the first time I had ever had it cranked up to full speed, and man can that thing go! Emily didn't like how noisy it was, of course, but she sure liked licking the batter off of everything. I don't have any qualms letting her do that, since she only consumes about half of it and the rest goes on her face and hands and clothes. Anyway, I made a delicious supper and we ate the cake, and then put the kids in bed. Emily told me, as I was tucking her in, that we should've had people come over to celebrate my birthday, "like Jenny, and ... LOTSA people." I told her I spent the day with my favorite people, and that's all I needed to be really happy. "maybe another time..." isn't she sweet? Then Travis opened up a bottle of wine and I ate the sour patch kids he bought for me, and we watched some "Sunny in Philadelphia" episodes on DVD, and laughed ourselves silly. See? wasn't that a great day??
This afternoon, I'll be going to see the Des Moines Symphony, because I got a sweet deal on Groupon and the music looks like it'll be awesome - Shoshtakovich and Rachmaninoff. Yay! And tomorrow, Travis is taking the day off to attend a 15-minute hearing about the assessed value of our house for property taxes. Then we'll take the kids to the zoo, and hopefully get a few things planted in our garden in teh afternoon.
Audrey continues to crack me up with her expressive faces and babble. Still no definite words that I can decipher, but I sure understand what she's telling me. The other day, I was doing something silly in the kitchen while she and Emily were having their snack. I looked over at Audrey, and she said (my interpretation) "Mom, you're weird, don't do that anymore" while shaking her head, very seriously. Travis likes to ask her conflicting questions and laugh when she nods "yes" to everything he says.
And one of the great things about yesterday was seeing how many caring things Emily did throughout the day. It's fun to be able to recognize those things for her, and point out that she probably feels good because she did such a nice thing. Then, today I asked her how she felt when she look at Audrey crying after pushing her out of her way, and she said "not good." I am hoping that long-term this will do better for us than time-outs, although that option is still on the table for now. It's really remarkable how much there is to learn when growing up. It's nice for me to remember that it's a HUGE undertaking for little tiny people to tackle!
Speaking of that, Trav brought home a book from the library titled, "Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)." It was definitely out of character, I thought, but then he explained that he wanted to understand the topic in order to be an advantage at work (recovering from a failed project, dealing with people you disagree with, etc.) And then it made total sense, of course. It was good for me to read, too, to get a better understanding of some of the crazy stuff that's been going on in my extended family lately. I've been mulling over and over the way that Trav summed it up: "If you're going to do something because you're angry and you feel justified, then you're about to make a mistake." There was also a section about how different cultures approach learning differently, from an emphasis on getting everything right with no mistakes instead of allowing children to make as many mistakes as it takes for them to understand the right way. I might research that particular topic more, since I think my personality (or my upbringing?) tends towards the first, with getting it all right, no mistakes, and my kids might benefit from some of the other approach. It's interesting, anyway.
This afternoon, I'll be going to see the Des Moines Symphony, because I got a sweet deal on Groupon and the music looks like it'll be awesome - Shoshtakovich and Rachmaninoff. Yay! And tomorrow, Travis is taking the day off to attend a 15-minute hearing about the assessed value of our house for property taxes. Then we'll take the kids to the zoo, and hopefully get a few things planted in our garden in teh afternoon.
Audrey continues to crack me up with her expressive faces and babble. Still no definite words that I can decipher, but I sure understand what she's telling me. The other day, I was doing something silly in the kitchen while she and Emily were having their snack. I looked over at Audrey, and she said (my interpretation) "Mom, you're weird, don't do that anymore" while shaking her head, very seriously. Travis likes to ask her conflicting questions and laugh when she nods "yes" to everything he says.
And one of the great things about yesterday was seeing how many caring things Emily did throughout the day. It's fun to be able to recognize those things for her, and point out that she probably feels good because she did such a nice thing. Then, today I asked her how she felt when she look at Audrey crying after pushing her out of her way, and she said "not good." I am hoping that long-term this will do better for us than time-outs, although that option is still on the table for now. It's really remarkable how much there is to learn when growing up. It's nice for me to remember that it's a HUGE undertaking for little tiny people to tackle!
Speaking of that, Trav brought home a book from the library titled, "Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)." It was definitely out of character, I thought, but then he explained that he wanted to understand the topic in order to be an advantage at work (recovering from a failed project, dealing with people you disagree with, etc.) And then it made total sense, of course. It was good for me to read, too, to get a better understanding of some of the crazy stuff that's been going on in my extended family lately. I've been mulling over and over the way that Trav summed it up: "If you're going to do something because you're angry and you feel justified, then you're about to make a mistake." There was also a section about how different cultures approach learning differently, from an emphasis on getting everything right with no mistakes instead of allowing children to make as many mistakes as it takes for them to understand the right way. I might research that particular topic more, since I think my personality (or my upbringing?) tends towards the first, with getting it all right, no mistakes, and my kids might benefit from some of the other approach. It's interesting, anyway.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
A fantastic day
Today was Poppo's 90th birthday. It was absolutely a great day. I went for a run this morning, and managed to keep the sideaches mostly at bay. I made muffins and scrambled eggs for breakfast, and my girls ate it up while singing together. It was awesome. We got ready and headed up to Ames, where we had lunch at my sister's house and Audrey had a brief nap. The girls were dressed in beautiful dresses, as were Jenny's girls, and we were in such great spirits.
The party was great. There was some angst amongst my mom and her sister trying to get things planned, but everything went great and I don't know when I've seen Mommo and Poppo happier. There were more than 100 people who came, maybe 150. The venue was the annex at the church, which is a funny building across the parking lot, a stage across the end of a big open room. That was all the girls needed to entertain themselves for at least half of the party. Sarah orchestrated the most hilarious play, where she was Cinderella and Emily was the prince. They danced, and then Sarah ran offstage, leaving Emily standing there looking after her, waiting for the next instruction. Then, a shoe is launched from offstage, since Cinderella forgets her glass slipper, but this was a white sandal, chucked from a distance, landing with a heavy thunk. Funniest thing I've seen on stage in a long, long time! Emily went to bed happily talking about how she was a prince who married Cinderella. :)
The girls slept all the way home, and after a lousy, simple supper, they played outside until collapsing happily in their beds. It was a really, really great day. Tomorrow is Mother's Day, but it'll be hard to top today.
The party was great. There was some angst amongst my mom and her sister trying to get things planned, but everything went great and I don't know when I've seen Mommo and Poppo happier. There were more than 100 people who came, maybe 150. The venue was the annex at the church, which is a funny building across the parking lot, a stage across the end of a big open room. That was all the girls needed to entertain themselves for at least half of the party. Sarah orchestrated the most hilarious play, where she was Cinderella and Emily was the prince. They danced, and then Sarah ran offstage, leaving Emily standing there looking after her, waiting for the next instruction. Then, a shoe is launched from offstage, since Cinderella forgets her glass slipper, but this was a white sandal, chucked from a distance, landing with a heavy thunk. Funniest thing I've seen on stage in a long, long time! Emily went to bed happily talking about how she was a prince who married Cinderella. :)
The girls slept all the way home, and after a lousy, simple supper, they played outside until collapsing happily in their beds. It was a really, really great day. Tomorrow is Mother's Day, but it'll be hard to top today.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Spring spring spring!
What a beautiful weekend. Both days were fabulous outside, and it just makes me feel good to finally have the dreary, rainy, cold April overwith. Bring on MAY!! but not necessarily the 31st birthday. I'm okay without that...
Emily konked out pretty easily for bed tonight - we've had a crazy week, and weekend!! Wednesday, I took her (and Audrey) to Cici's pizza because her class was having a field trip there and she was sooooo excited about it. Thursday, the Iowa Cubs mascot showed up to her preschool, and although Emily is generally pretty scared of giant mascots, it turns out that "after all, I like Cubbie Bear!!" Friday was a picnic lunch for the preschoolers, but we had our picnic lunch with Megan instead. We went up to Ames in the morning to pick her up, and ate at a park in Ankeny on the way back to Des Moines for Emily's first ever SLEEPOVER. Can she really be old enough for that?? The great thing about a sleepover with girls this young is that they were so excited that they completely wore themselves out and were asleep by 8:30, without any reminders to quit giggling in their beds. Amazing. However, at 5:50 AM, the lights were flipped on in her room by little girls looking for a misplaced stuffed cat, and I highly doubt they went back to sleep after that. It was a really great weekend, and Emily is ready to have Megan stay over again tomorrow night. :)
It was pretty fun to see how Emily interacts with her class. Her teachers have to overemphasize some things to get all the kids to pay attention, and it's a little bit paralyzing for Emily. You would be hard pressed to pick her out as the youngest of the bunch, though, which was reassuring for me to see. I also liked seeing how much her teachers really like her, and like Audrey, who was confused to see them there but enjoyed being passed around to different people.
I suppose I'm going to sound like That Mom again, but I would swear that I've heard Audrey singing, really singing. Yesterday I thought I heard her matching pitch with one of her toys singing Old McDonald, but wrote it off as coincidence. Tonight, though, I was holding her while I was one-handedly perparing supper, and I distinctly heard her sing the first two lines of twinkle, twinkle. I swear I did. When I looked at her and asked her if she was singing, she did her little nod. Now, the nodding is adorable and generally I think she really is answering what i've asked her, but her answer is yes to probably 90% of the time, so there's that disclaimer. Anyway, she refused to do it again when i asked her to sing more, but i heard more of it later when she thought I wasn't listening. What a stinker! :) And I think I heard her chiming in with Megan and Emily yesterday, when I asked them to sing two songs while they were waiting for me to get ready to go ride bikes with them. They were so sweet, just looking at each other and singing together - it was beautiful. Even poetry, or lines from books that Audrey knows, will cause her to pause and calm down. If she's freaking out, I just calmly start in, "In the great green room, there was a telephone..." and by the time I get to three little bears sitting on chairs, I've got her rapt attention. Pretty handy! what an expressive, beautiful little thing she is!
And, oh yes, the bike!! Emily now has a Bike With Pedals! Travis found it on Craigslist for $10, and went all the way to Waukee one night after the girls were asleep to get it. It's perfect - it's hot pink and has training wheels, streamers on the handlebars and decals of ponies all over it. He hid it in the basement because the next morning he flew to North Carolina for work. He was back the next day, but she managed to find it while we were down there doing laundry. I felt SO bad, because Travis wanted to surprise her with it, but she was certainly surprised anyway. I got such a kick out of her telling Travis on the phone about what she had found, and that it was pink with pedals and "There are flowers on the... on the... where you put your bottom!" and the whole time while she was thinking of the words, she was patting her little backside. So cute!! Anyway, I think when she finally got to take it out to ride on Friday afternoon, she was a bit disillusioned that it was so much harder to pedal than she was anticipating. But she's a trooper - she was determined to figure it out! We took her and Megan (on Emily's balance bike) and Audrey (in the wagon) down to the church parking lot so she could have some room to not worry about traffic or falling off the sidewalk or rolling down a hill too quickly. It was one of those moments for me where I just couldn't believe how fast this little family is growing up. Pictures on picasa, of course.
Emily had Travis and me in stitches tonight. Trav has told the story about the guy who we hired to fix our basement, that was probably 80 years old and scolded us for not having a handrail. He told us (twice) a horrible story about a woman who fell down the stairs on christmas eve and died, so he makes sure everybody has a handrail now, in his deep voice saying, "Gotta have a handrail!" So tonight, when Emily saw Travis coming up the basement stairs, was going on in her little voice, yak yak yak yak, "I told you," then as low as she could, "You gotta have a handrail!" Writing it down makes it sound kind of lame but it was absolutely side-splitting to hear.
I wish, wish that I could think of everything I want to record when I sit down to blog. These girls do adorable things all the time, and sometimes I manage to get a FB post about it but mostly I just laugh and try to enjoy the moments as best I can. I gave the girls a little dish of ice cream after supper tonight, and later, I looked up to find them both holding their dishes up, drinking the last few drops. One pink bowl, one purple. I wish I could upload that mental picture!!
Emily konked out pretty easily for bed tonight - we've had a crazy week, and weekend!! Wednesday, I took her (and Audrey) to Cici's pizza because her class was having a field trip there and she was sooooo excited about it. Thursday, the Iowa Cubs mascot showed up to her preschool, and although Emily is generally pretty scared of giant mascots, it turns out that "after all, I like Cubbie Bear!!" Friday was a picnic lunch for the preschoolers, but we had our picnic lunch with Megan instead. We went up to Ames in the morning to pick her up, and ate at a park in Ankeny on the way back to Des Moines for Emily's first ever SLEEPOVER. Can she really be old enough for that?? The great thing about a sleepover with girls this young is that they were so excited that they completely wore themselves out and were asleep by 8:30, without any reminders to quit giggling in their beds. Amazing. However, at 5:50 AM, the lights were flipped on in her room by little girls looking for a misplaced stuffed cat, and I highly doubt they went back to sleep after that. It was a really great weekend, and Emily is ready to have Megan stay over again tomorrow night. :)
It was pretty fun to see how Emily interacts with her class. Her teachers have to overemphasize some things to get all the kids to pay attention, and it's a little bit paralyzing for Emily. You would be hard pressed to pick her out as the youngest of the bunch, though, which was reassuring for me to see. I also liked seeing how much her teachers really like her, and like Audrey, who was confused to see them there but enjoyed being passed around to different people.
I suppose I'm going to sound like That Mom again, but I would swear that I've heard Audrey singing, really singing. Yesterday I thought I heard her matching pitch with one of her toys singing Old McDonald, but wrote it off as coincidence. Tonight, though, I was holding her while I was one-handedly perparing supper, and I distinctly heard her sing the first two lines of twinkle, twinkle. I swear I did. When I looked at her and asked her if she was singing, she did her little nod. Now, the nodding is adorable and generally I think she really is answering what i've asked her, but her answer is yes to probably 90% of the time, so there's that disclaimer. Anyway, she refused to do it again when i asked her to sing more, but i heard more of it later when she thought I wasn't listening. What a stinker! :) And I think I heard her chiming in with Megan and Emily yesterday, when I asked them to sing two songs while they were waiting for me to get ready to go ride bikes with them. They were so sweet, just looking at each other and singing together - it was beautiful. Even poetry, or lines from books that Audrey knows, will cause her to pause and calm down. If she's freaking out, I just calmly start in, "In the great green room, there was a telephone..." and by the time I get to three little bears sitting on chairs, I've got her rapt attention. Pretty handy! what an expressive, beautiful little thing she is!
And, oh yes, the bike!! Emily now has a Bike With Pedals! Travis found it on Craigslist for $10, and went all the way to Waukee one night after the girls were asleep to get it. It's perfect - it's hot pink and has training wheels, streamers on the handlebars and decals of ponies all over it. He hid it in the basement because the next morning he flew to North Carolina for work. He was back the next day, but she managed to find it while we were down there doing laundry. I felt SO bad, because Travis wanted to surprise her with it, but she was certainly surprised anyway. I got such a kick out of her telling Travis on the phone about what she had found, and that it was pink with pedals and "There are flowers on the... on the... where you put your bottom!" and the whole time while she was thinking of the words, she was patting her little backside. So cute!! Anyway, I think when she finally got to take it out to ride on Friday afternoon, she was a bit disillusioned that it was so much harder to pedal than she was anticipating. But she's a trooper - she was determined to figure it out! We took her and Megan (on Emily's balance bike) and Audrey (in the wagon) down to the church parking lot so she could have some room to not worry about traffic or falling off the sidewalk or rolling down a hill too quickly. It was one of those moments for me where I just couldn't believe how fast this little family is growing up. Pictures on picasa, of course.
Emily had Travis and me in stitches tonight. Trav has told the story about the guy who we hired to fix our basement, that was probably 80 years old and scolded us for not having a handrail. He told us (twice) a horrible story about a woman who fell down the stairs on christmas eve and died, so he makes sure everybody has a handrail now, in his deep voice saying, "Gotta have a handrail!" So tonight, when Emily saw Travis coming up the basement stairs, was going on in her little voice, yak yak yak yak, "I told you," then as low as she could, "You gotta have a handrail!" Writing it down makes it sound kind of lame but it was absolutely side-splitting to hear.
I wish, wish that I could think of everything I want to record when I sit down to blog. These girls do adorable things all the time, and sometimes I manage to get a FB post about it but mostly I just laugh and try to enjoy the moments as best I can. I gave the girls a little dish of ice cream after supper tonight, and later, I looked up to find them both holding their dishes up, drinking the last few drops. One pink bowl, one purple. I wish I could upload that mental picture!!
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Doing drugs as a family
All four of us are on amoxicillin for the next week or so. When Travis got so sick last week with apparently the same thing I had, he went to the doctor and got a strep diagnosis. So I went, thinking maybe I was still carrying it, and I was positive too! We got the girls checked, and while they never actually got sick (Emily had no fever, but her glands were swollen to the point that the doctor was impressed that she wasn't complaining about them) they were both carriers, too. SO! A round of meds for all, and new toothbrushes, too. Why not? This was a particularly nasty germ - my mom had it, my brother, and my sister and her girls all had it. I guess that means I must hang out with my family of origin quite a bit!
We were going to go up to the VEISHEA parade today, but we thought that taking the girls out in 40-degree weather with a 25 mph wind might not be the guarantee of a good time. So, another quiet weekend at home for us!
I am most excited about the video I took of Emily singing along with the piano the other night.
Immediately after we recorded it, she turned to me and said, "I don't want to do that again." :) I guess that was my cue to tone down the stagemom-like pride that welled up in me upon hearing her sing! The craziest thing about this is that Audrey is matching pitch, too! Although her regular babble is pretty lyrical, there's definitely a difference between that and her singing, and if I sing while I'm holding her, she can match pitch -- IF I'm not paying attention. She's such a stinker. :) If you try to interactively do it with her, she just looks at you with her big blue eyes, waiting for you to go back to something else so she can practice without an audience.
Another nice surprise yesterday - Emily called to me from the other room, exclaiming that she had just written her name! Neither Trav nor I have been working with her on writing letters, except that I knew she could do an "E" and copy letters for Mom and Dad pretty nicely. So I was quite surprised to see her whole name spelled out on the magnadoodle! When Trav got home from work, she wrote it out again for him, except she started with the Y and worked backwards. :) So she's not totally there yet, but boy is she proud of herself.
I sure like bragging about my kids. Nice that I have a truly appreciative audience for this blog!
We were going to go up to the VEISHEA parade today, but we thought that taking the girls out in 40-degree weather with a 25 mph wind might not be the guarantee of a good time. So, another quiet weekend at home for us!
I am most excited about the video I took of Emily singing along with the piano the other night.
Immediately after we recorded it, she turned to me and said, "I don't want to do that again." :) I guess that was my cue to tone down the stagemom-like pride that welled up in me upon hearing her sing! The craziest thing about this is that Audrey is matching pitch, too! Although her regular babble is pretty lyrical, there's definitely a difference between that and her singing, and if I sing while I'm holding her, she can match pitch -- IF I'm not paying attention. She's such a stinker. :) If you try to interactively do it with her, she just looks at you with her big blue eyes, waiting for you to go back to something else so she can practice without an audience.
Another nice surprise yesterday - Emily called to me from the other room, exclaiming that she had just written her name! Neither Trav nor I have been working with her on writing letters, except that I knew she could do an "E" and copy letters for Mom and Dad pretty nicely. So I was quite surprised to see her whole name spelled out on the magnadoodle! When Trav got home from work, she wrote it out again for him, except she started with the Y and worked backwards. :) So she's not totally there yet, but boy is she proud of herself.
I sure like bragging about my kids. Nice that I have a truly appreciative audience for this blog!
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