January 2007

 

January 12, 2007

 

So Lauren is two. What would our family be without her? She is such a delight. Ornery? Yes. Testy? Sure. But those eyes can just melt my heart. And the big “I wuv you soo much”’s combined with the bear hugs are flat out killing me. She’s also taken to kissing me on whatever exposed skin happens to be showing. Last night, she did it in her sleep. Kissed my belly then rolled over and passed back out. I thought my heart might just burst that very second.

 

Today she started daycare at Ms. Candace’s. She was only there for two and a half hours but we all deemed it a success. She had fun and wants to go back. I got some errands run and a couple of phone calls made. And I think I even completed one full thought from beginning to end without getting interrupted. Do you know how gratifying it is to realize that my brain has not actually turned into a squashed turnip?

 

We almost had her weaned (down to 2-3 times a day) until the holidays when she got the ear infection and was on me like white on rice. Now we are back to the old cycle and as soon as Woody is able to be in town for a couple of weeks in a row, we will give it another shot. For now, I’m going to try to relish the last few weeks of nursing my little girl. She really doesn’t want to give it up but I am ready to reclaim a bit of my freedom back…not to mention my body.

 

January 21, 2007

 

Woody had his Lasik and is now glasses free. He seems pretty happy after the initial trauma of having someone fry his eyeball with a laser while he was conscious. <SHUDDER>

 

Lauren went to Mrs. Candace’s for two full days last week. I asked Candace to call me if Lauren started acting like she was getting unhappy. When I picked her up at 4:30, Candace said that her naptime was pretty rough but other than that, things went well. The next day the phone rang at 1 and I figured it was time to go and pick Lauren up. How’s that for pessimism? Instead, it was Candace letting Lauren tell me how great of a nap she took. Awesome!!!

 

Katherine and I had a lovely morning on Friday when Lauren was in daycare but then Katherine decided that she didn’t need a nap and it all went downhill after that. Maybe next Friday will be a better “big girls day” for us.

 

Yesterday morning, we packed up the family and took a trip to a farmers market down in Bradenton. It was ok but lot smaller than I expected. We did get a bunch of fresh veggies and fruit. After gorging ourselves on strawberries, we had a nice quiet afternoon. In the evening, Woody talked Katherine into getting on her bicycle. She did great and we all took a trip around the block. The training wheels will stay on for a long while since technically, the bike is a little too big, but she did really well. Lauren rode the tricycle. By rode, I mean she rode while I pushed it. Her legs aren’t quite long enough to reach the pedals yet.

 

How pitiful are we? Florida people who don’t know diddly squat about the nearby beaches. Even if we aren’t beach people, which we aren’t’ really, it is probably our job as hosts to out of town-ers to be able to point them to a nice beach. So, this summer we are going to try and hit as many beaches as we can in the area. This morning, we all packed up and headed to Fred Howard Park in Tarpon Springs. It is a lovely state park with playground and picnic areas. After you drive through the park, you come out on a causeway to a little island about a mile offshore. The beach is nice, the area is clean and there are a lot of old people, which is awesome when you are self conscious of your figure like I am.

 

We spent a couple of hours there playing in the sand and trying to fly our kite. Some little girls were playing in the water and started screaming SHARK!!! And sure enough, there was a fin….but it was a dolphin, not a shark. He was feeding in the shallows, on the giant mullet who were flinging themselves out of the water all around the island. We drove over to the sponge docks and had lunch at an outdoor Greek restaurant, which was delish. Then the girls whined most of the way home.

 

January 29, 2007

 

This evening was parents’ observation night at Katherine’s ballet class. The girls did great performing for all the parents, grandparents and siblings. Katherine was just a tad bit distracted by us and was making the cheesiest faces ever. Their spring production theme was announced and Katherine’s class will be the colorful birds in a zoo. That should be interesting.

 

Today was pretty chilly here so we stayed in all day. The girls were pretty good for me. We did circle time, danced, played a game and they helped me clean house for awhile. They both took naps which is always good. Katherine got to go over to Sophia’s house across the street for an hour to play too. It was a nice winter day.

 

January 29, 2007…a little later in the evening.

 

Katherine was eating her after dinner snack and Woody was giving Lauren “the talk”. You know, the one about how shirts are not napkins, napkins are napkins? If you are a parent, you probably know all about “the talk”. Woody looks at Katherine and says “what are we going to do with Lauren?” and Katherine just shrugged her shoulders. I said “send her to live with the gypsies”.  After a bit of discussion about what gypsies are, (I swear you can not say anything around here without going into a long convoluted discussion about it) I mentioned that gypsies have dancing monkeys. Now both of my kids want to go live with the gypsies. So, if you are looking to get rid of your kids for awhile, might I suggest using the dancing monkeys to sell them on the idea?