December 2006

 

December 5, 2006

Katherine and Woody are in IL at Nana and Grandpa’s farm. They had snow the day before they arrived so Katherine is having a great time making snow angels and just playing. I miss my little chatterbox so I called today. She’s got a bit of a cold and sounded very stuffy but through the snot, the excitement and wonder still came through loud and clear.

 

I told her I missed her and she said “guess how much I miss you? All the way to the sky and back a hundred ninety nine thirty five times!”. Wow! I miss her that much…squared.

 

December 8, 2006

 

Dylan is the little red haired boy from Katherine’s class that says he’s her boyfriend. Katherine says “daddy is my boyfriend but Dylan is my friend”.  I had invited Dylan over for the gingerbread decorating party on Sunday but his mom just called and said he won’t be able to make it. We had a fun chat though. She said Dylan is in love with Katherine and he’s introduced him to her. Katherine is a lovely little girl and she thinks Dylan has good taste. LOL Apparently Dylan is suffering for his love. He has an older brother named Spencer and Spencer is ribbing poor Dylan to no end. Spencer drew a picture of Dylan rescuing Katherine from a big snake and he drew little hearts all around them. Dylan was ticked. I was laughing really hard when she told me that. I did not tell her that Katherine’s daddy and I are watching her son closely. J

 

Katherine and Woody are due back tomorrow from Illinois. I’ve gotten a lot done around the house and for work while they were gone as well as spending some quality time with Lauren. We’ve had a great time but I’m ready for the other half of the household to be home. I just don’t sleep well when my family isn’t all together under the same roof. Ok, so I’m a chicken. Go ahead, you can say it “bwack bwack!!” I haven’t been to sleep before 1am all week. I swear, I lived on my own for many years and now I get all whiggy….whatever. So last night, Lauren was sleeping and I was working at the computer. I hear a CRASH which sounds like someone has thrown a rock through a window. I FREAKED OUT! After summoning all of the bravery I have, I finally made it to the playroom where the stupid rats had pushed their ceramic bowl over the edge and dumped it on the next level of the wire cage. Grrrrrr.

 

December 11, 2006

 

Katherine has a great ear. Today, we were watching the Muppets Christmas Carol and Kermit was on for about 2.2 seconds when Katherine said “mom. That’s Earnie’s voice coming from that frog!” I listened for a few seconds and realized she was right. Kermit and Ernie are obviously done by the same puppeteer. I called my mom and she said that yes, she’d just heard something about how they were both done by Jim Henson. So funny that Katherine would notice that. I’ve been watching the Muppets and Sesame Street for oh…30 some years, and I’d never put them both together.  It reminded me that a long time ago, she heard a song and said “that’s the same man who sings in my little people video” and it was.

November 2006

 

November 1, 2006

 

Ok. Lauren is killing me with cuteness. Katherine has a game where she says “guess what” and you say “what” and she says “I love you”. Super adorable…I know, Right? Now, if you say “guess what” to Lauren, she says “I wuv you” then grins and buries her head in your shoulder. Killing me I say.

 

October 2006

 

October 7, 2006

 

Lauren is still being the type of kid that you can’t take your eyes off of for a second. She’s really great at seeking out trouble and making messes.

 

The girls and I are gearing up for Halloween. We spent a while this morning cutting out shapes to glue together next week. We are making pumpkins, bats, witches and ghosts to put on the front door and windows. Katherine is getting better with the scissors.

 

I had my first parent-teacher conference with Katherine’s teacher Miss Anna. I wanted her input on what she thought about Katherine’s academic and social adjustment. She confirmed that Katherine is a teachers pet, doesn’t participate in large group activities, does play well with one or two other kids at a time, is very imaginative, very very bright and ahead of some of her older cohorts, she knows how to take care of herself when rough kids are bothering her, she is chatty and sweet as pie. The only negative things she said was that K was that she’s not as independent as some of the other kids and she misses me when I leave. Those aren’t really negative things but we are working on the independence thing. Katherine does love to ask if she can do everything…wash hands, wipe butt, go pee, etcetera.

 

Miss Anna thinks that waiting until Katherine is 6 before we put her in Kindergarten is probably not in her best interest. She thinks that socially, she will be fine with older kids and academically, she will be board to tears if she’s held back. So, since the state will not accept her in public school due to her missing the date of birth cutoff by one day, our options are either home school her for Kindergarten and then test her into first (or maybe keep home schooling if it seems to be working for us all) or send her to private K then test her in. Since private Kindergarten is about $8k in our area, we are thinking home schooling. There are a lot of programs available and support groups here in our area. I need to get cracking on researching which program we will use.

 

 

 

 

October 12, 2006

 

Some of K’s latest quips:

 

“When I grow up, I want to be a mommy like you….or a flashlight” “Know why they call them chipmunks? Because they are monks and they like to eat chips!”

 

Boy howdy this kid!

 

October 25, 2006

 

I called the school district yesterday. There are state statutes regarding age and enrollment in Kindergarten and First grades. Kindergarten is 5 years old on or before September 1^st and First is 6. There is no such age rule for 2^nd grade. So after speaking with the guidance counselor, we will homeschool for K & 1^st then she will test into second. They have levels even in 2^nd grade so no matter where she tests, she should be in challenging classes.

 

She was saying that she didn’t want to go to dance class on Monday. I chatted with her about it on the way and finally ferreted out that she enjoys dance but she doesn’t like it when the kids run around aimlessly to the music and run into each other. I guess she got knocked on her bottom one day and it’s stuck with her. So, in an effort to help her enjoy the class more, I made an appointment to chat with the teacher, Miss Joan. We met her this evening while her daughter was taking a dance class. She talked with K, showed us her toe shoes and how to stand en Pointe. She showed us a video of her dancing in the Nutcracker last year. She talked about falling in classes and how much practice being a ballerina takes. She also told K that there won’t be much more of the running around since they are going to start working on their rehearsals for the spring recital. She complemented K on being quiet in class and following directions so well. K’s interest in dance is re-established. Whew!

 

After meeting with the teacher, K and I went to a local bistro for “big girls dinner”. We ate a lovely meal and K was super good. On our way out, I told her to tell the owner (who was at the front door) “my complements to the chef”. She wanted to get it right so she asked me 3 times “what is it again?”. Finally she got there and she said “my competence to the chef!”. Hahahahaaa. Of course, I called Woody to tell him and she got all mad. “that’s what you told me to say mom”. Oh man.

 

I took the girls to the pumpkin patch today. Lauren was being kind of whiney so we didn’t get to stay long but we did get some good pictures.

 

October 31, 2006

 

Last weekend we went to the Pumpkin Fest in Bradenton. It’s about an hour away at a farm and it was really fun. There was a petting zoo, pony rides, magic show, punch and Judy show, a butterfly tent, bounce house, giant slide, clogging, tons of food (including homemade pumpkin ice cream…yum) crafts, old fashioned stuff like like ladies making thread with spinning wheels and a blacksmith. We had a blast.

 

The girls went trick or treating tonight. Aside from the bigger, ruder kids (where are their manners?) we had a blast. Lauren really got into it for about 15 minutes, running up to doors giggling, saying “Twick or Tweet!” then running to show daddy what she got in her bag. Katherine had fun running door to door with her two friends, Sophia and Selina. They were 3 little puffs of tulle and sparkles. Sophia was Minnie mouse, Selina was Ariel as a bride and K was a princess on a unicorn. We now have enough candy to last us for a year.

 

September 2006

 

September 13, 2006

 

Wow! How lame am I? The real question is “how busy am I?” and I don’t even want to discuss it. All I have to say is how dare work interfere with my journaling? Hrumph!

 

So, here we are almost half a month past Katherine’s 4^th birthday. My little girl is 4. I can not believe it. Day to day life is pretty much the same as always but I am noticing the lovely little lady that she’s becoming. She’s an observant little smarty pants and just as loving as can be. She really enjoys babies and she’s very gentle with them. She’s obsessed with dogs. As I noted a long time ago, she is showing signs of being a teachers pet but there are worse things to be in my opinion. It may not make her terribly popular with her peers but I wasn’t ever popular and I think I turned out pretty ok. She seems to prefer smaller quieter groups over large boisterous ones as evidenced by a recent visit to a new daycare that I was enrolling Lauren in. I wanted to at least offer K the option to transfer from Miss Ana’s class to the new school if she was interested. The classroom was loud and full of kids getting ready for recess. Katherine looked at me, with the stress visible in her eyes, and said “mom get me out of here. I do not want to come here”. 

 

She’s learning her letters and has quite a few that are easily recognizable. Her name is coming along and she is now writing MOM on everything that she does at school. She brought home her first homework assignment yesterday and we worked on that today. Yes, I took pictures, did you expect less?

 

We had a big birthday weekend. Susan and Brad (grandma and poppy) came down for a couple of days and we did the whole birthday cake thing. We’d opened presents throughout the day so that she wouldn’t get overwhelmed. Her favorite gifts were books, a Leapster L-max learning game (handheld computer with cartridges for drawing, writing, etc), a puppet theatre that I made from a bookcase and clothes.  She got a lot of books since parentingclub.com was doing a fundraiser for a members son who has leukemia. I’d forwarded the link to a lot of people and many bought her books for her birthday. The puppet theatre was the best as far as actually giving it to her. Mom and I sat behind it and had the puppets sing happy birthday to her. For some reason my mom was channeling Edith Bunker and by the end of the song, I had tears running down my face from the insanity of it all. Our cleaning lady brought over a giant bag of dress up clothes for her and that, coupled with the Doctors Kit that Vel and Drew got her, has kept her little imagination going for days.

 

On the Sunday after her birthday, we packed up the car and headed to the All Stars Music resort at Disney World. We met the Dennis’ and got rooms with a door connecting them. It was madness but fun too. Imagine 2 four year olds (birthday’s within 2 days of each other), a 20 month old (Lauren), a 16 month old (Nora), two harried moms and two tired poppas all crammed into an area about the size of an average living room for 3 days and two nights. You’ve got the makings for two things…fun or major meltdowns. Luckily, we had mostly fun. We spent a lot of time at the resorts pools. We brought the karaoke machine and that provided about 10 minutes of entertainment. We went to downtown Disney and walked around a bit and just hung out in the room and tried to see how many juice boxes, cereal bars, goldfish and grapes we could mash into the hotel carpets. The big surprise for the 4 year olds was a “big girls day”. Amy and I took Katherine and Sophia to Downtown Disney and we spent some time shopping and snacking. Then we went to the bibbidi boppiti boutique and the girls had princess makeovers. Katherine chose the long hair extensions which the “fairy godmother” teased on top making her look like a munchkin 1980’s country music singer. Katherine took the look even further by choosing blue eye shadow. It was all topped with nail polish and a hefty dose of glitter. Too funny. The girls really enjoyed that. We then took them to Planet Hollywood for lunch to show off their looks before we headed back to the hotel. All in all it was a good time. We went to Sea World the next day and spent a half day visiting our pal Shamu and the Happy Harbor play area, then we headed home.

 

Lauren is being a nut lately. She’s starting to count but she always skips “one” and her three sounds like “fee”. This has caused a new family joke. The girls were running laps around the couch one evening with daddy watching. Lauren would stop and count, then go. So it was “too, fee, go!!” Woody interpreted it at “go two feet go!” so now Lauren is two feet. It’s quite fitting really. I mean she is about two feet tall and she has two feet. How perfect! She’s also working on colors. I am beginning to suspect that she likes pretending to not know things. She always says things are green and I’d swear she doesn’t know her colors at all but the other day she was watching my computer and some fish were swimming around on the screen. She said “two fish! Blue and green!” and she was right, there were two fish. A blue one and a green one. She’s a stinker.

 

I have noticed her hitting lately so I’m going to have to keep that in check. Her jumping skills are getting better and she’s almost getting some air. She is enjoying dancing and singing and reading. This child loves to look at books. Katherine was reading to her today and it was way cute.

 

September 18, 2006

 

It’s starting. The sibling stuff that you always hear about but swear that your kids will not go through. Today, all the way home from the store we hear “mom! Lauren’s touching me! Stop it Lauren!” We turn around and Lauren has her hand on K’s arm…then we pull her arm away (as she smiles and you know she would roll her eyes if she knew how) and 2 seconds later we hear “Mom! Lauren’s foot is touching my leg!” and sure enough upon inspection, Lauren is in fact stretching her leg out to touch her sisters leg with her pinky toe. Oh the torture!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Katherine had a good one today. When we drove into our neighborhood Woody said “hey! We are in our neighborhood” and Katherine said “do you know why they call it a neighborhood? Because the people wear hoods”. Wha? Hua?

By the way, this is one of her things. “do you know why they call it Busch Gardens? Because they have bushes and gardens!”  She’s always coming up with things like that but the hoods were pretty funny.

 

oh! we did have a breakthrough on Sunday. Every morning when Katherine gets up it's "mom. I want Caillou (or the show du'jour) and chocolate milk" god forbid I dare to go pee or heat up a cup of coffee before I jump up to make her stupid chocolate milk. As a certifiable non-morning person, it always put me in a snit right away. So, I put her milk on a lower shelf in the fridge, set a cup, the chocolate (slightly opened so she can tear it the rest of the way easily), a spoon and a towel for messes. She's so proud that she can make her own chocolate milk. The only drawback is that she was so excited with her new skill that she got up at midnight on Sunday, made her chocolate milk and left the milk on the table all night. She didn't spill a bit though and frankly, I'd rather wipe up a bit of milk than be directed by a 4 year old immediately upon waking.

 

September 26, 2006

 

Lauren is potty training. Poops and all…yahoo!

 

I finally got meds for my anxiety and I’m feeling like a new, happier woman.

 

Katherine has been in sweet girl mode for about a week. She had some homework this week. 25 words. Most of them two-three letters. Hi, Me, Mom, And, If, Be etc. She and I were working on the first 5 tonight and she sounded out cat! She actually read it. I was so proud of her and you could tell she was proud of herself…which is even better in my opinion. She said, “daddy! I read cat!”

 

Grandpa Henry has been visiting this week and the girls are really enjoying his company. I suspect he’s played more rounds of Go fish, Candy Land, High Ho Cherry-O and the fishing game, than he’s ever played in his entire life.

 

Last weekend we all went to Tarpon Springs and took the eco boat tour to the gulf. We didn’t see much wildlife but watching Katherine and her daddy on the prow of the boat as it sped through the water, his strong arm supporting her little body. Her pigtails were flying backwards and her little arm was clutching his back…it was almost too much for my heart to take in. It was beautiful. Lauren slept through the whole thing.

 

September 27, 2006

 

I took Katherine to have her blood drawn this morning. I’m having her tested for allergies. She was so brave. She wasn’t exactly happy but she didn’t cry at all and she was still as can be. There was another little boy getting his blood drawn at the same time and he was FREAKING out. Katherine was quite proud of herself.

 

September 28, 2006

 

It’s a phase….right? It has to be a phase or I may go utterly mad, and soon! Lauren is not only hitting her sister and engaging in typical irritating little sister antics, she is also unable to be left unsupervised for a split second. Doing such things as going to the bathroom or checking your email, while she’s under your care, may result in such things as; all of the wipes in the wipe warmer being pulled out and spread all over the house, the emptying of all Kleenex boxes within the confines of the home, climbing on the kitchen table or up on the top bunk, or drinking something and then promptly spitting it back out on whomever (sister, pet rats) or whatever (carpet, tables and clothes) may be in her way. Today, I made the mistake of staying on the couch when she ran past me into the bathroom. She stayed a little too long for my comfort so I called out…nothing. I got up to check on her and guess what? The little stinker had emptied the bathroom trash can into the toilet. Let me add that pull ups, all 6 of them, are very absorbent when wet and will actually soak up all of the water in a toilet. How’s that for a useful nugget of info?

August 2006

 

August 3, 2006

 

Tuesday, Woody picked K up from school because Lauren was sleeping and because it’s on his way home anyway.  She came into the kitchen where I was making dinner (so June Cleaver, No?) and we exchanged hugs, kisses and head scratches. Then I asked how her day was. Her response, “I told the boy that I didn’t want to be anyone’s girlfriend”.  My eyes met Woody’s and he could see the abject horror mingled with a desperate attempt to keep from laughing out loud.  “Who? What boy? Girlfriend? Do you even know what that is?”  Yeah, I freaked out. It was funny but not so funny at the same time. I really wish that preschoolers were not allowed to talk to their older siblings…ever. Geez. I thought I had a long time before I had to worry about that kind of stuff.

 

So then today comes along and we get ready for school and finally leave about an hour late. Note to self: work on this. The public school system is a big fan of punctuality. Daughters will suffer if they are this tardy all of the time. When we get there, the kids are eating breakfast in the cafeteria. I see that table one is full of chattering preschoolers stuffing their faces with crumbled…is that nilla wafers? for breakfast?...and juice boxes. Table two consists of one very sad looking red headed boy and Miss Anna, K’s teacher. Miss Anna looks up and says “Oh look who it is Tristan (or Trevor or Tee pee…whatever) it’s Katherine! Do you want Katherine to sit with you?” The boy, who was sad because he had gotten a boo boo and Miss Anna was putting a band aid on it when we walked in, nods gleefully. Boo Boo forgotten. I left the cafeteria and let the drama unfold.

 

When I got in the car I started thinking about it more. Wow, that teacher really kind of put K in a tough spot. I mean what if I was in her shoes? What if a person who I respected and trusted, tried to make me sit with some guy who had expressed an interest in me? Someone who I really despised but I was too polite to say so?  I would be ticked off. So I decided to just ask her about it later. I did and she didn’t make a big deal about it. But like DeNeiro’s character in Meet the Parents, I am keeping my eye on that little red headed boy.

 

August 21, 2006

 

Just a heads up, my “N” key is being really sticky so if a word looks odd, throw an “n” into it to see if it makes sense. J

 

It’s been another busy one around here this month. Katherine started dance classes on Monday nights and she’s really enjoying it. She is super duper cute in her dance outfit. We Went to Sea World again to meet up with our friends, The Boston Family, who came down for a short vacation from GA. The new Shamu show was pretty cool and the Happy Harbor (kids’ area) has added some rides so the kids (and Woody) really enjoyed that. Ummmm what else….seems we’ve been so booked lately…uh, we made a playhouse out of a box a few weeks ago and the girls have been having fun with that. We bought Katherine two pet rats as starter pets. She was begging for a dog again so I told her we’d see how responsible she is with these then maybe when we get a fence, we can get a dog.  She was trying to come up with names for the rats. Wiggles was the first name she came up with and it stuck but the other one was a bit trickier. Puppy and strawberry were two of her first options but then...the light clicked on in her head..."BUSH! Bush the rat!"
Oh Lord ya'll I was cracking up. I was like...now that is a great name! However, Busch came from Busch gardens and it was vetoed in the end. hee hee Bush the rat. Carrie-Ann and her girls Jade and Jordan, spent the night here yesterday. Woody is in Buffalo for work and it was nice to not have to be alone.

 

Katherine has started picking her nails and it’s driving me nuts. I think it’s a nervous habit but I’m just trying to keep them filed short and hopefully it will stop soon. Lauren had her first trip to the dentist last week. Her bottom left canine and incisor are coming in weird. The dentist confirmed that yes, the two teeth are fused. Not that uncommon apparently. When Lauren gets old enough to sit still for an x-ray, they will check to see what the permanent teeth look like. The three options are 1) normal adult teeth. 2) fused adult teeth or 3) only one adult tooth under there. Let’s hope for #1 eh? I don’t even want to think about the dental bills. UGH

 

Lauren is a blabbermouth. She just chatters away…which is great because you know what? Our house is waaaay too quiet. NOT!!! Between the two of them, it’s like there is some contest to see who can say the most words in a minute without taking a breath. Oh, and it goes on all day. Insane. Really insane. I tell the girls that my ears are full at least a couple of times a day. I almost lost my bananas yesterday when Lauren was holding two fisher price animals and saying, in a high pitched voice, “mommy mommy mommy daddy mommy!”. HEY! Did you see that? The flashback to Katherine at this age? Oh man. Earplugs, invest in earplugs immediately…they are going to be flying off of the shelves and into my medicine cabinet.

 

We are trying to eat healthier around here and we are taking baby steps. We’ve gone more organic in some things, whole grain all the way and we are phasing out High fructose corn syrup which is impossible if you don’t cook everything from scratch. Did you know that Campbell’s Tomato soup has high fructose corn syrup in it? Of course it does, Katherine loves it. Well, I decided to try making tomato soup from scratch and it was yum-a-licious. The girls and Woody actually liked it. It’s kind of labor intensive though so next time I make it I’ll make a vat and freeze some.

 

I spent a day or two earlier in the month, trying to coordinate a fund raiser for a ParentingClub board member whose son has Leukemia. He’s had a relapse and one mom on the board organized a kid’s book sale with proceeds to go to Spencer and his family. I wanted to do more than just order books so I posted his story to the Mothers and More Social loop and one of the lady’s is a salesperson for Creative Memories Scrap booking supplies. She’s donating all profits for the month to him too. So, I did my good deed.

 

I’ve found the downer side of living in the burbs. Most of the moms are really artificial and stuck up. A nice friendly mom who wouldn’t think twice about going to Super Target on a Saturday without a full face of makeup on….that’s what I’m looking for. A real get sweaty playing on the playground with the kids kind of mom. There aren’t that many of us out there apparently. I’m sure I sound like some sort of desperate teen-ager who doesn’t have a boyfriend right? But it seriously would be nice to meet someone that I had some things in common with. Who I could go have a drink with once in awhile. Or have coffee together once a week while our kids play together. Sigh. I suppose that some of our parenting choices, namely extended breastfeeding with Lauren, have kind of put us on the fringes but know what? My kids are the best and I think that they’ve responded quite well to our philosophy.  I’ll just keep on keeping on. J

 

July 2006

 

July 2, 2006

 

Tonight I was putting Katherine to bed. Trying to distract her from the monsters by talking about all of the nice things she can dream about and telling Teddy and Lion to keep the bad dreams away. She was almost asleep when she heard the “pop! Pop! Pop!” if nearby fireworks going off. Of course she woke up and this is the conversation we had.

K: “what was that knock knock sound?”

Me: “it was fireworks”

K: “why are there fireworks?”

Me: “because it’s almost Americas birthday and people shoot off fireworks to celebrate it. Our neighborhood is just starting the party a few days early”

K: “America? I don’t know her”

Me: “America, the United States, Where we live”

K: (I could see her trying to process this) “our house has a birthday? Nooooo. That’s silly! I never heard of a house having a birthday”

Me: “No honey. Our country. We live in a house, in Tampa, in Florida, in the United States”

K: “is our country a dog?”

Me: “uh. No”

K: “do we get to do fireworks too?”

Me: “do you want to do fireworks?”

K: (nodding excitedly) “Yes. Is it a rule (pronounced whul) that we do fireworks?”

Me: “not a rule but we can. I’ll get on the internet tonight and find a good explanation about the 4^th of July and why we celebrate it and we can learn all about it tomorrow ok?”

K: “ok.”

 

How does that brain work?

 

July 20, 2006

 

Let’s take a little test to see if you’ve really been paying attention.

 

When did this appear in my online journal?

 

“I expect that Lauren will be my exciting baby. The one who I will be spending time with in the emergency room. :-)”

 

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Right! We have a winner. It was in January 2005 immediately following her birth. Now, I ask, do you think that was:

 

a)     A mother’s insight into her daughter’s future based on the trouble said daughter gave mom in utero & labor.

b)    Just a lucky guess

c)     A self fulfilling prophesy

d)    What my fortune cookie said that day

e)     All of the above

 

Ok, I don’t really have an answer but all I have to say is this kid is going to be the death of me. Today, she took off running into K’s room and slammed the door. I hear giggling and that’s never good. I go in there and the little monkey is up on her sisters loft bed jumping!  Yesterday I caught her standing in the bathroom sink. This afternoon she was standing on the toilet and she’s always trying to climb into the dishwasher and onto the dining room table. What, the ground isn’t good enough for you dearie? Seriously?

 

 Besides the minor heart attacks she’s giving me, things are good. She’s talking more and being quite the cutie pie in general. She is still very strong willed and can throw a tantrum to rival the best. She’s trying to jump, enjoys dancing and coloring, peek a boo, chase, hide and seek, coffee (or anything that you have) is a treat, she’s getting more teeth and being a pretty good kid.

 

Katherine is writing her name. Nope, not in a straight line silly but she does have the letters of her name down to a recognizable pattern. Sure, her R’s look like a big circle with two legs sticking out of the bottom but she’s sticking with it and I know what it is. I asked if she’d like to go by a shorter name (I thought it may make it less frustrating for her to write her name) and she chose Katie, so now she’s writing that on all of her work. She’s also starting to read. When she’s able to concentrate for a bit, she can sound out the letters of the word. She has a bit of trouble putting the sounds together but if she keeps at it she can get it. She read cat and ball yesterday. I was so proud of her.

 

Her pictures are becoming more recognizable. People have eyes, noses and mouths in pretty much the correct spots. They have two legs and arms, hair, circles for hands and feet. They lack bodies which is kind of freaky to me but whatever. All of her people look the same but she differentiates them (usually mommy, daddy, Lauren and Katie) by color or size.   My favorite are the extra circles that sometimes appear on the bodies. Sometimes where elbows should be, sometimes near the head area…those just crack me up…the wandering body circles. LOL I lied. My very favorite is when she brings a bunch of wiggly lines with some letters interspersed within and reads it to me. It’s usually “I love you very much mommy” or “I love all of my friends”. Awww.

 

We signed Katherine up for dance classes. It’s a 10 month program and it’s “creative movement” which is basically ballet for dummies….oh wait….not dummies, for people with short attention spans. My bad. I went and picked up her outfit today, all pink and girly and outrageously expensive, and left it out as a surprise for her when I picked her up from school. She saw it, ripped off all of her school clothes and put it on then proceeded to prance around the house for a good 30 minutes. She looked like a little piece of pink cotton candy that has escaped the spinner and was floating around, bouncing as it catches air. Man was she happy. And can I say that those tiny little ballet shoes are just too much? God she’s a cutie!

 

When I picked her up from school today, I asked another one of her teachers if Katherine was doing ok. She said yes. “She’s quite bright and very polite. She tends to hang back and observe more than most of the other kids and when she does get into a group, she leans towards hanging out with the boys.” Hmmmm…so what the teacher is telling me is that my daughter is just like me?

 

I never have gotten along with most women. Frankly, the reason I even ask about her socialization is because I am beginning to come to terms with the fact that I may suffer from social anxiety. From my reading, it seems that it can be genetic and lord knows I don’t want to pass that on to the girls. I’m just doing my uncomfortable best by taking her to playgroups (which I despise), school (which is good since I don’t have to talk to anyone really), the indoor playground and other places to encourage socialization. I’m not enjoying it at all but I’m going to do it for both of them. I seriously doubt I’ll ever be head of the PTA, welcome wagon or anything like that though.

 

And as long as we are talking about my freakishness…how ‘bout this. This is an excerpt from one of my emails to an old friend who is now a mom. I got kind of depressed today. I had to go to the Gyn for my annual exam and it's the same office as my OB. There was a young couple leaving and it was pouring rain. I sat in the waiting room and watched as they stood on the stoop until the deluge let up. He hugged her and rubbed her flat little belly and she laid her head on his shoulder and then they kissed. I'm assuming that they just confirmed a pregnancy and I got kind of sad that I won't be having any more babies. To make it even worse, I told Woody about it and he said he was sad too and he misses having a baby in the house. So, I just cried and got it over with. How dumb is that? I can't handle the two wild chimps that I already have and I've not slept a full 8 hours uninterrupted for almost 4 years but I want another. What the heck? If I didn't know better, I'd swear these kids have put a spell on me and bewitched me into forgetting all of the nastiness and recalling only the warm fuzzies. Must....remember....the....bloating...stretch marks....barfing....sweating....newborn tar poops....unending pediatrician appointments in the first few months…lack of sleep...saggy baggy belly...ahhhhh I am starting to feel better. Lol

In fact, I didn’t really start to feel better about it until I re-read my birth story.  That made me feel much, much better. It really is weird how you forget the really horrible parts of   pregnancy and L&D. I guess it’s a good way to ensure that women get themselves into that spot again. I’m really glad that I chronicled every nasty/embarrassing/scary moment now. It was a really good cure for that wicked bout of baby fever.

 

Oh well, enough about that. On to our upcoming fun. Amy and Shawn and their girls Sophia and Nora are coming to town on Saturday for Shawn’s High School reunion. They are staying with us and Woody and I will have all 4 girls for the night. YIKES! I’m hoping that since they are all so close in age, that they will entertain each other. We’ll see. I know that Katherine is looking forward to her friend staying the night.

 

When they leave on Sunday, the girls and I will get on a plane to go to Illinois to visit Myrna and Carl for a week. Yes, I know I’m insane for even considering flying with two kids by myself but hey, I’ll manage. Even though I may be a sweaty, grumpy, rumpled mess by the time we get there. No, this will be fun. really. Oh, did I mention that there is a heat wave going on and it’s even hotter there than it is here in sunny Florida? A good 10-20 degrees hotter. Booooooooooooooo!!! I’m actually looking forward to being at the farm because it is quite peaceful and rather refreshing to not have a computer to take up my time. I can really spend time with the girls without worrying about dishes, laundry, work etc. It’s just the getting there that I’m having issues with.

 

We are gearing up for Katherine’s 4^th birthday too. Yes, I’m in total denial about it but it’s going to happen weather I recognize it or not. I know that I say it a lot but this year has really flown by. I swear it was just yesterday that we had her 3^rd birthday party.

Amy called and asked if we’d be interested in joining them at the Disney resort for a two night stay with the girls. Sophia’s birthday is on the 4^th so to celebrate we are going to take both girls to the bibbity boppity boutique for hairdo’s, makeup and manicures. It will be too too really. I called yesterday to make the appointments for Princess Katherine and Princess Sophia. I’m looking forward to that too. We think we will probably just hang by the pool and do the salon one day and then go to Sea World the next day. I want to see the new Shamu show.

 

That’s my novel for tonight. I am astonished that Lauren slept long enough for me to write it all. LOL Since the rest of the month looks pretty busy, I will probably not have any more journal updates until next month…but then I’ll try to include all of the vacation stuff.

 

July 30, 2006

 

We just got home from our trip to visit Grandma Nana and Grandpa in Illinois. We had fun on the farm and the girls really enjoyed the animals.

 

Katherine really enjoyed flying. On the return flight, once we got in the air, she announced in her highest and loudest voice "I fahted mommy" giggle giggle squeal. She did that twice more. Then she had to go see the bathroom. That was fun. She and I in that tiny little stall while some stranger held the sleeping Lauren for me.

But she lost one of her stuffed animals so we were the last people off of the plane. The pilots were just leaving and I asked if she could peek into the cockpit. They said sure and actually put her in the pilots seat, made the plane talk to her and made the wheel (or whatever it's called) shake while she was "steering" the plane. It was awesome! I really didn't think that they'd let us do that because of the security, but they were so nice. She was excited beyond belief

 

July 31, 2006

 

At daycare, they say grace before lunch. She wanted to say grace today so we sat at the table and she said "gone is great, gone is good, let us thank him for our food, amen" Then I said "dig in!" and she looked at me with "mom, you are nuts" face and said "no mommy, not dig in. It's AMEN!". 

 

Bwahahaha! I’m working in the office just now and I hear Katherine tell her daddy “I want to be a fireman when I grow up…or a horse” What a goofball

 

Hooo…these kids are on a roll today. I was just playing Peek a boo with Laruen. She ripped the blanket off of her head and said “beek-ee-loooooo” with an overabundance of glee. Hysterical.

 

Lauren is learning her colors. With Katherine, everything was purple .For Lauren everything is green (geeeeen). It is her default reply. Often she will mull it over for a few seconds and say the correct color. She also says ”hey!” a lot. Anytime she feels she’s been wronged, which is quite often when you are a toddler. We’ve been trying to catch it on tape because it’s awfully cute. As of this moment she is not complying.

 

June 2006

 

June 2, 2006

 

We just got home from our beach vacation to Sanibel Island. It was a lot of fun. Katherine’s favorite parts were the pool and playing in the sand. Lauren enjoyed the pool after a while but she didn’t seem to care much for the beach once she tossed a handful of sand in her eyes within about two seconds of arriving there. I had fun looking for shells (found some good ones) and Woody just enjoyed not having to work for a while.

 

We played go fish a few times with Katherine who is now a smarty pants and has some pretty good strategies for the game. It’s actually fun to play with her and you don’t have to let her win…she can do that perfectly well all by herself. However, you do have to pretend you don’t see all of her cards since she can’t hold them in one hand. She lays them out, in a perfect line, face up. Totally funny.

 

Katherine and I took some girl time and we took a long walk on the beach yesterday to look for shells. Then we just sat in the path of the waves and got splashed. Lots of giggles to be had there.  During our vacation, we flew her “dragon kite”, ate lots of ice cream, swam in the ocean and the pool, went on a tour of the wildlife refuge (lame-nothing we couldn’t see in our own backyard), built sandcastles, ate lots of ice cream, napped a lot, explored the island, played in the grass, and did I mention that we ate a lot of ice cream? It was really nice to be able to disconnect and spend time with the family and not be distracted by the daily grind.

 

June 7, 2006

 

Ok, I’ll admit it. Lauren’s been a twit lately and it’s really unlike her. Sure, she will have moments of toddler induced frustration but this has been about a week of real fussiness. I attributed it to teething since her sixth tooth finally broke through last week and I figure there are a few more about to explode out of her gums. She’s been nursing and refusing solids for the most part too and my boobies are SORE and unhappy. Can boobs be unhappy? Maybe not, but mine sure feel like they are in need of psychotherapy.

 

Last night she woke me up for a 1 am nursing session and she touched my face. Her had was on fire. I feel her head. I feel hot, dry skin. Really hot. I dare not take her temperature. I nurse her and rock her for an hour or so. She’s wide awake with fever. Finally we both fall asleep. Fast forward to this morning and she’s still hot and very cranky. Nurse, sleep for a few minutes, wake up screaming in pain and crying. This goes on most of the day. I convince myself it’s still teething pain but begin to think maybe it’s something else. Finally I call to make a pediatrician appointment after Motrin only brings the fever down to 102. Pediatrician not available so I make the call to take her to the ER. Since Woody is going out of town for two days, I’d rather just know if it’s viral and nothing to worry about or what. Besides, I know from experience that daytime sick, while bad, isn’t so terribly worrisome. It’s the dead of night sick that allows all of the irrational fears to creep into a mothers mind. I’d rather get an answer and be done with it.

 

The ER in the country up here is really slow and it’s actually not too bad. We go in, her temp is 104.5. They give her a double dose of Motrin and a dose of Tylenol and her temp finally drops to normal. She has an ear infection and a viral throat infection. Poor cookie. She got a shot of antibiotics and a prescription for that lovely antibiotic that causes wicked diarreah and diaper rash. Hooray. Note to self…buy tub of super diaper ointment.

 

Now I’m wondering how long the poor dear has been in pain. Kinda feeling guilty.

 

A couple of other things. Katherine was great with Lauren today and quite patient while I was playing nurse all day. We went to our neighbor’s house on Monday and swam in their new pool with their daughter Sophia. That was fun. Lauren is singing twinkle twinkle little star all the time. Ok, it’s really “Tinkle winkle winkle winkle winkle winkle winkle winkle” you get the jest. All to the correct tune though.

 

She’s also picking up the boppy pillow and bringing it to me before demanding NUM NUM’s.

 

June 17, 2006

 

June has been a busy month so far. I am working on finishing up painting all of the trim and doors in the house in preparation for our new flooring installation. I’ve also changed all of the door hardware, including the front door, to more modern fixtures. In fact, these door handles are so modern that the packaging touts “hands free installation”. Although I was skeptical, I did try to will them on to the doors but they just laid there like lumps of metal and screws. So then I sat there and waited until the genie/handyman-who was apparently supposed to show up to install them for me- appeared. I finally got tired of waiting and since the screwdriver was a bit tricky to manipulate with my toes, I eventually resorted to using my hands to install the doorknobs. So, that, along with working, taking care of the girls (who have both been sick this month) and just the day to day time-filler-uppers, It’s been a bit hectic.

 

Katherine was being a bit of a handful for a few days while Woody was working in Buffalo and I think I know why. I realized that she’s usually pretty good the first night he’s gone but the second day is almost always a total bust. I suspect that she does not like the fact that she doesn’t get as much attention as she does when daddy is home. She loves her daddy and really misses him. BUT that is no excuse to run mommy into the ground. So we’ve re-introduced the rocks to get her behavior back on track. I’ve wanted to get a sand and water table (more on this stupid idea later) for the girls to play with on the patio. So I decided that 20 rocks would get her one. She didn’t know what she was working towards but she earned the rocks in a week and so we picked up the table on Friday.  The girls were both naked on the porch playing with the sand and flinging both sand and water everywhere within about 4 minutes of getting it set up.

 

Note to any moms out there who may be a tad bit, shall we say, OCD when it comes to tidiness. A sand and water table is probably not the best choice for you. I sat outside with the desire to watch the kids enjoy themselves. Within seconds I felt the “no’s and stop it’s” rising in my throat. Seeing the sand flung onto the floor and dumped into the water made me cringe. I tried my best to keep my stupid trap shut. Yes, I realize that the irrational urge to keep things clean is my problem and they shouldn’t have to pay for it. Finally, I knew that I just couldn’t help myself so I went inside and left the screen opened enough so I could hear them. They are kids. I want them to have dirty, wet fun without worrying about what a pain it will be for mom to clean up. I want this even if it kills me (which it might). Perhaps I should look into medication?

 

I remember watching a Discovery Health Channel show when I was pregnant with Katherine. It was about childhood development and it was fascinating. One of the things that I clearly remember was the part about lying. The experiment was showing when the ability to purposely lie began to show…it was at about age 4. Guess what age Katherine is? Yeah, almost 4. On Friday, I was in the office doing an upload before we went to the toy store. She got into the “memories drawer” in the office and pulled out a map of her dads. I told her not to open it because we don’t want it to get torn but that she could ask her dad to show it to her when he got home. The little stinker took it into the playroom and a few minutes later I arrived to find the map opened up in a pile on the floor. I asked her how it happened and she said “I didn’t open the map. Maybe Mr. Nobody did it”. I pulled her aside (and I even did the thing that I hated my mom to do to me, held her chin so she would look me in the eye…oooo I used to hate that) and I said “Katherine, I’m sure you wish you didn’t do it since you think I will be angry with you. But it’s called lying when you say something that isn’t true. Now, as long as you tell me the truth, I will not get angry but when you lie that makes me very angry. Now tell me. Did you open the map?”. “Yes momma”. I trotted her into the playroom and had her attempt to refold the map, which was comical to say the least, and then that little problem was solved. I’m sure we will be having replays of that discussion for the next year or so. 

 

Lauren is starting the slow road to independent urine evacuation, otherwise known as potty training. She’s been coming up to us saying “ewwwie” and grabbing her diaper. Nine times out of ten, it is indeed dirty or wet. So, I picked up a Winnie the Pooh potty chair and set it in the bathroom. On Friday she came up to me and said “ewwwie” while grabbing her neither-regions so I checked and she was dry. I asked if she wanted to use the potty and she said “yep” so I stripped her down and sat her on it. She played with the flusher toy on the potty seat, she stood up and sat down about a million times but finally, she tinkled just a tiny bit. Katherine and I did the “Lauren went pee pee on the potty” chant and Lauren looked so proud! We haven’t had a repeat performance yet but it will come. No rush.

 

June 19, 2006

 

I’m such a weenie. Katherine got her first spanking today. I know it hurt her pride more than it hurt her butt because I've smacked a bug harder than I smacked her butt.

 

She waited too late to go pee and peed in our bathroom floor.  I’d told her the last time that it happened (twice in one day) that the next time she peed on the floor because she was waiting for someone to go pee with her, she would get a spanking. I had to follow through but I really didn’t want too. I would never spank her for a true accident but she was jumping around asking me to come with her for about 5 minutes before the actual event. I’m so over that.

 

She was fine once the embarrassment wore off. Hopefully I won’t have to do it again. I really hated it. I really never have a desire to hit either of my kids.

 

I think Lauren is allergic to something. I don’t know what but she’s had diarrhea for almost 5 days now and a rash to beat all. Poor thing is just  pitiful.

 

Fathers day was spent at Busch Gardens after daddy woke up from his peaceful slumber at 10am, ate a breakfast of bacon and eggs and showered at his leisure. He wore his new shirt and I saw a few people checking it out while we were at the park.

 

May 2006

 

May 2, 2006

 

Lauren is really into “this little piggy” lately. She’s also very ticklish under her chin. That’s good stuff.

 

May 18, 2006

 

A lot has gone on in the last few weeks. We’ve been gearing up for our trip to Sanibel Island at the end of the month, still painting and working on the house, calling animal control about gators, socializing and work. All of that has kept us really busy.

 

We have painted the kitchen now with just a few touch ups needed. The master bathroom is next. Anyone care to enlighten me about why the previous owners of this home did most of their DIY stuff in a manner that is less than perfect, but they managed to hang their wallpaper borders with the un-releasable glue? It took me almost two days to get the wallpaper border out of the kitchen. The bathroom has a border too and now I’m not so interested in getting that job done.

 

I joined a mothers group last month and the girls and I have been going to playgroups every Monday. Tuesdays and Thursdays are Katherine’s school days. Wednesday and Friday are our free days.

 

Katherine started at Creative Times Academy on the 9^th. It is a daycare center but they prep for school. Since Katherine missed the school enrollment age by one day, she can’t actually start state operated preschool until the day before her 5^th birthday. She will most likely be bored out of her mind at that point. So we still need to figure out if we are going to homeschool or not. No decision has been made yet. She’s really enjoying the playground and the teachers said she’s very poised, polite and smart.

 

Katherine also called me the first name ever. She was mad at me for making her take a nap and later that afternoon she said “I called you stinking mommy”. We had a discussion about name calling and then daddy talked to her about respect. I know it’s pretty normal but I wasn’t really prepared for it.

 

One of Katherine’s goals lately has been to eat enough to grow taller so she can ride the Rhino Rally ride at Busch Gardens. She was just a smidgen too short last time and the attendant wouldn’t let her on. She was bummed. We went to Busch Gardens on Mothers Day afternoon and she made it! 39” tall (Shhhh…don’t tell her but I think her new strawberry shortcake shoes may have had something to do with it) She got a red bracelet saying she was 39” tall and we rode the ride twice. Boy was she happy.

 

Most everyone who reads this has received the email about the gator in our back yard. For those who don’t know, there has been a big gator, big meaning 10-13 feet long according to the trapper) in the pond out back. I called the nuisance gator line on Monday after hearing about the 3 deaths by gators lately. The trapper was coming out Tuesday night. Tuesday afternoon, the babysitter took her daughter and Lauren for a walk in the stroller. The neighbors waved her back in. The gator was on the sidewalk just around the corner three doors down. (YIKES!). It’s mating season so the gators are acting kind of crazy right now and this one in particular has exhibited signs of aggression lately. So a neighbor called the sheriffs, I called the trapper and the Fed Ex guy drove his truck into these peoples yards to chase the gator back into the water. The Tampa Tribune heard the call on their scanner and they showed up too. It was a party in my back yard. They set up bait and then the gator left. Haven’t’ seen him since Tuesday night. I’m guessing he went to another pond nearby but I’m keeping my eyes peeled when I check the mail. Made me a tad bit jumpy. Death by gator sounds so unappealing to me.

 

On to Lauren. She had her 15 month appointment a bit late. Her 16 month stats are:

Still only 5 teeth but the 4th top one is coming in now. It's right there.

Saying a ton of words-Mostly “NO!” but also body parts, animals, animal sounds etc.

Understanding lots of stuff & follows direction (when it suits her)

Runs

Tries to jump

 

Height 32.25 inches 75-90%

Weight: 20.44 10%

Head Circumference: 17.32 in 5%

 

So she's smart, tall, skinny and has an itty bitty little head.

 

The only thing he told me to keep an eye out for is her "W" sitting. It's when she sits on the floor with her knees forward and her feet out behind.

It looks terribly uncomfortable to me but it’s her modus operandi. The ped said that it can lead to orthopedic problems later so I need to just correct her when I see it.

April 2006

 

April 18, 2006

 

So the month is half gone and here I am finally getting to update the journal. It’s getting tough to get much time at the computer these days. Between the girls and work and attempting to have some semblance of a life as a family, I just don’t get the free time to hang out and email, chat or update my journal as much as I’d like. So, with that said (and in between updating my work database) I’ll give you the scoop on what’s been happening with us so far this month.

 

I went in for a blood draw and it came back that I was extremely hypoglycemic. Extremely like normal is 100, they consider you hypoglycemic at 50 and mine was 30. So they had me do a fasting blood draw which came back fine and dandy. In reading about hypoglycemia however, a lot of the symptoms do seem to fit me…just not all 24 hours of every day. When they did the first draw, I had just eaten. I’m thinking I may have food responsive (or something like that) hypoglycemia. I’ll have to mention that to the doc tomorrow since I’m going back for another fasting blood draw. Basically, I turn into a mush brain after I eat anything. That would explain why the fasting blood draw came back normal. I’ll keep you updated on that.

 

My work is keeping me really busy lately. The audits seem to just be rolling in every week. It’s a nightmare but luckily I keep really good records so it’s not impossible to answer the auditor’s questions, just time consuming. Time=what I don’t have.

 

I got the hallway painted and some of the trim in there done. I planted a butterfly garden in the back yard last week and I’ve already seen a few butterfly’s and a hummingbird out there. I’m also waiting for my enrollment package for a local moms group. They have playgroups, moms nights out, family stuff, book groups and lots of other things going on. I am mainly interested in meeting some other moms who may be willing to trade off child care duties occasionally.

 

For fun so far this month, we’ve gone to Bush Gardens again, went to the Taste of New Tampa festival, went to the Italian festival in Ybor City (which was bad), played in the sprinklers a few times, hunted for the Easter bunny and eggs and just been our regular silly old selves.

 

Woody is doing well. He’s going out of town for two days this week to the Ft Erie office and then he’s taking another two day trip to Pace next week. Work is keeping him busy and he’s helping a lot with the girls since my work has put the pressure on lately.

 

We are heading to Tallahassee this coming weekend for Sarah’s 30^th birthday party. My mom is going to watch the girls while Woody and I have a much needed kid-less social hour. I’m really looking forward to that.

 

Lauren is saying more words and bouncing around like an upside down grasshopper. She’s trying to dress herself and although she has the undressing down pat, the dressing part seems to be causing her some distress. She will rip off her diaper; scream “nakee ba-beee!” and run for her life if you dare to get up and try to put the diaper back on. But if you tell her to put her diaper on, she will comply by sticking her foot into the diaper and letting it hang limply off of one leg like some sort of diaper flag. She has also kind of gotten the hang of feeding herself. Kind of.

 

She’s also become quite fond of things that latch. Especially her car seat. My number one goal in life right now is to limit the number of stops we have on any given car trip. She will climb into her seat, try to latch herself (prepare for the screams if you attempt to help her latch in until she’s darn good and ready to give up the fight) and then unlatch herself when it’s time to go. Sometimes getting into the seat is the issue. She does the rigor-mortis shuffle which involves her making her entire body impossible to conform to the carseat at all. Sometimes getting out of the seat is the issue. It’s really a bummer of a phase though.

 

Lauren’s Easter egg hunting skills are superior. If nothing else, this kid can find a brightly colored egg. The Easter Bunny hid some eggs on the patio and the playroom just for Laurens hunting pleasure. She found all of them right away and reveled in her chocolate bunny, jelly bean and marshmallow breakfast. As did I…yes…As did I. mmmmmm

 

Speaking of Easter. We tried to go to an egg hunt at the church but we thought it was at 10:30 on Saturday. I got the girls dressed and we started to leave when Candace called to let us know that they missed it too, it was at 10. Since we had the girls looking fine and their hopes up, we tried to find another egg hunt. I found one listed online and we went there but there was no-one to be found. On the way to the non-existent egg hunt however, Katherine made up a new figurehead. The Easter Rooster who can often be seen in the company of the Easter Bunny. Maybe eggs=chicken=rooster? I can not claim to have any idea how this kids brain works but it was funny none the less. She even expressed great hopes that she would have a chocolate bunny and rooster in her basket. Note to ALL: if you happen across a chocolate rooster in the coming year, please let me know. I’d like to start a new tradition befitting our kookiness. J By the way, the non existent egg hunt actually happened in 2003. When I googled “egg hunt Tampa area” I did not enter in the year (doh!) and I didn’t bother checking it. Smooth move mom!

 

So, we missed the Easter egg hunts but we thought we should at least take the girls to the mall to meet the bunny so we did. They sat on the bunny’s lap, had a train ride and went berserk in the 75% off toy store full of junk. We got a giant bag of bouncy balls, rubber snakes and the like for about $25. Good stuff to pull out for long car rides and such. After all of that excitement we went to Ruby Tuesdays for lunch and registered the girls to win an Easter basket. Katherine won the drawing so we went and picked up her basket last night. It had a Barbie type doll and some candy in it. She was very excited about winning something.

 

On Easter Morning, Katherine was beyond excited. Most mornings she comes to the bedside and whispers “mommy, time to wake up” but Easter morning you could tell she was trying desperately to keep her voice quiet enough to not wake Lauren when she said “I found an EGG!” Wonder, awe, shock and amazement all describe her face. She was so excited by the first egg in the hallway outside of her door that she totally missed the basket full of stuff in front of her bedroom door. She was literally shaking with excitement and her pupils were humongous. It was kind of weird really, but fun at the same time. She found all of her eggs, even the one that the sly old bunny had hidden in moms shoe. Good hunting kiddo.

 

We went swimming that afternoon and while we were at the pool, she was shivering again. But this time three was a reason, it was cool and the wind was blowing. She proceeded to tell a few older people who were sitting by the edge of the pool that “today the Easter bunny came to my house, and we went to Busch gardens, and tomorrow we are going to the beach and my mommy and daddy are getting married!” I immediately blushed and corrected her by saying “the Easter bunny did come to your house today and we did go to Busch Gardens but we are going to a beach wedding next weekend of one of mommy and daddy’s friends. Mommy and daddy are already married”. She is obsessed with weddings since the Little Bear episode where they have a pretend wedding. She puts her pillow on her head and says “who wants to marry me?” and stuff like that. Yeah, she’s nuts.

 

But then she’s brilliant too. Like today, she started reading. We were sounding out letters and I made the words cat, hat and boo boo. She got cat and hat and with some prodding she got boo boo too. I was astonished. She’s growing up. She also got her big girl bed earlier this month and she picked out some lovely pink and pale green lacy flowery bedding. It’s actually pretty cute.

March 2006

 

March 2, 2006

 

Lauren has been extra clingy and kind of fussy since Monday. Monday night, she didn't go to sleep until 3:30am. I attributed it to teething and gas (she had some serious gas going on whew). Yesterday, I picked her up after her nap and she was on fire. I took her temp and it was 101.7 axillary. I had an aha moment and thought, it all adds up, ear infection. So I called the ped and scheduled an appt.

We get there and our regular ped is off so we see a new lady...who I now HATE and hope I never have to see again. After she decided that L's ears were in fact fine, she stuck the popsicle stick in Lauren's mouth to get a look at her throat and she gagged her so I was covered in barf and holding a squirmy, upset baby and trying to calm K down because she was freaking that her sister was so upset & barfing. Oh, K was also wearing her dragon costume...Thanks Amy! LOL

So the ped decides that there is no obvious reason for the fever and she gives Lauren Tylenol and tells us to wait a bit. They come in 45 minutes later and now Laurens temp has not gone down. In fact it’s gone up to 103.8 but she's still acting ok. Kinda fussy but pretty normal. So I'm not terribly worried. Until the ped tells me that it could be an infection and she wants to catheratize Lauren to get a urine sample for testing. Well we do that, much to Lauren's dismay and K's disbelief. "why are they sticking that tube in Laurens bahgina mommy?" asks the little dragon with fear in her eyes, who I'm SURE will NEVER go to the doctors again without a fight.

That came back fine so the ped sends us to after hours urgent care for blood work and x-rays. I'm still thinking that it's all a bit extreme but when the ped is talking about possible blood infections and stuff...it's hard not to worry. We get to urgent care and they take L's blood (which she hated of course) and then they put her in that baby xray torture contraption (the little plastic tube with her arms in the air? way too much for me) all to have the dr tell me that it's something viral and to follow up with the ped today.

We have an appointment at 1:55 with our regular ped who I love. I'm really ticked off about torturing poor L for nothing.

 

Oh, and Lauren’s 5^th tooth has finally popped through. The top to the left of her first front teeth. And, she was almost 20 lbs at the peds yesterday. I may be able to turn her carseat around soon.

 

March 17, 2006

 

Last month we ended with a cliff-hanger. Turns out Lauren had Coxsackie virus also known as Hand, foot and mouth disease. It causes painful mouth sores and high fevers for a few days. It sometimes also causes a rash on the hands and feet which she did not have. It’s highly contagious and the only place I can figure that she got it from is the gym daycare.

 

After she got all healed up, all of us girls caught colds again. They were more the runny nose, itchy eyes types of colds so no biggie. In fact, after the flu, these viruses are really going to have to bring it if they have any hopes of making me terribly miserable. As I’m typing this I’m realizing that the “colds” have been around for about 10 days. Wonder if they have anything to do with the fine dusting of yellow pollen on our outside furniture. Hmmmmm?

 

Tallia is gone. She went to live with someone else (wink wink). The kids loved her and K gave her big giant hugs on her last day but the barfing and constant coughing was getting to be too much. She upchucked in the middle of our bed for the second time in a week and that was the final straw. I have enough secretions to deal with, I don’t really need additional work. Rest in Peace fat furry one, you will be missed. Here’s to hoping there is an all you can eat tuna buffet and no barf-ies wherever you are now. 

 

What have the littlest Wright’s been up to this month? Lauren stopped giving open mouth kisses yesterday. It’s all about the pucker now. I’m sort of sad to see that go.

 

She is now napping in her crib and she actually just put herself to sleep without help. I know you can’t see it but I’m actually doing the happy dance. I didn’t have to pat, rub, sing or anything. Ok, I did do something; I laid down on the bed and watched her play for a few minutes until she conked out. I figure at some point, I’ll be able to just put her in there and walk away. Of course by that time she will be in the toddler bed and I’ll have to rework the entire plan.

 

She is saying “Nakie bay-bee!!” with great enthusiasm now whenever she is nude, just like her big sis. Caught that on video. Good stuff that I’ll have to share if you ever visit.

 

We turned her car seat around. I haven’t received the official “she’s 20 lbs” from the pediatrician but she was 19 lbs 11 oz the last time we went in and she’s been eating like a horse. I’m sure she’s 20 now. She’s 15 months old for the love of Pete! Let the child turn around already.

 

We went to Sea World with a couple of the families from the message board I frequent. We had fun but the highlight of the day (for Woody and I anyway) was Lauren’s reaction to the Shamu show.  As soon as she caught sight of that whale, she was standing on the bleacher, craning her neck, pointing and screaming “ISH! ISH! ISH!”. I believe there were even a few foot stomps thrown in there too. Wow was she excited. It was great.

 

Katherine is having her room decorated. I painted it a lovely shade of pink and put some green circles on the walls. But now I’m painting over the green circles. I need to find some bedding and then do the polka dots. Guess we need a bed too. I’ve found a few I love but who wants to spend $300 on a bed? Our bed doesn’t even cost that much. Ok, our bed was free from Mom and Brad but really, $300.00? man!

 

Katherine is no longer taking naps but she is supposed to do quiet time. That’s been not working so well lately though. One hour in her room playing quietly, that’s all I ask. I’m getting frustrated. I also made a call to the pediatrician earlier this month. Katherine had licked the peanut butter off of a piece of toast at breakfast and had one cup of apple juice. Then she wouldn’t eat for the rest of the day. I asked if it is possible for a 3 year old to be anorexic, he said it’s not likely and basically told me to back off and relax. Easy for him to say, he’s not the one cooking meals all day and watching his kid stay small. Oh well, I’m taking his advice and trying to not stress.

 

Other than that, she’s been fine. She was a wonderful hostess for Jade when she came to stay a weekend with us. She shared as well as could be expected and all in all was awesome. She keeps surprising us with these big words like “delicious” and “abominable”. I swear she has the vocabulary of your average 7 year old and she actually uses the words in context. It’s hysterical to hear some of the things she says.

 

March 22, 2006

Lauren made her first sentence. She stood by the rocking chair and said "wok baby". I said "you want me to rock you?” and she said "yes

 

March 23, 2006

Today was a good day. Well, besides Lauren’s ongoing case of the fussies. We’ve been working on the crib thing for nap and bedtime and she gave me a good long screaming fit for naptime today. I was in there with her….well, not in the crib, in the room….but you’d think I’d gone to timbucktu. Geez.  I’m wondering if she isn’t cutting another tooth. This is the third day of her being really whiney and clingy.

 

We all got ready and went to the gym. I rode the bike for 7 miles in 35 minutes. Got the girls out of the gym daycare and took them to the park. They ran around for awhile then we came home for snack and naptime. They both took naps. Wahoo!  I think the key here is that I took them to the park in the morning and let them run themselves ragged before naptime. I’ll test that theory tomorrow.

 

Katherine has started to show interest in dressing herself and picking out her clothes. I moved all of her clothes to the bottom three drawers of her dresser so she can get to them and told her to go at it. She did good today everything matched and she put it all on by herself. Ok the panties were backwards but I seem to recall having trouble with that when I was a kid too. In fact, I believe GiGi had to sew ribbons on the left side (or maybe it was the back) of every pair of panties I had so I would put them on correctly. Maybe it’s inherited suptidity? Probably time to bust out the ribbon and the sewing kit.

 

Grandma and Aunt Carol are coming for a visit on Saturday and we are taking the girls to Busch Gardens. Katherine is so excited to show “her park” to them.

 

March 24, 2006

 

Oh boy is Katherine ever funny. Her favorite game right now, besides the stuffed animal social hour, is Cinderella. This game consists of Woody or I sitting on the couch and barking orders to her. We also have to be very mean and make her do lots of chores. It’s so funny to see her run up and say “what next stepmother?”. Way funny.

 

Katherine’s art and writing are coming along nicely. She often will color at the kitchen table while I cook lunch or dinner. Recently, her scribbles are looking more and more like real things. Tonight she drew a butterfly on the magna-doodle and I knew exactly what it was. It was quite detailed. So of course I took a picture of it. Man I love digital cameras. At lunch today, she was working on the letters of her name. Most of them were really good but the K and N were giving her fits. In a creative mommy moment, I came up with “K looks a little like a big mouthed frog”. So now the poor girl is awfully confused. I’ll have some ‘splainin to do when she starts school & she’s starting her name with a drawing of a frog.

 

She actually has started to do chores. She clears the table after dinner and puts some things in the dishwasher. She then wipes the table off with a wet rag. She’s quite meticulous too. She not only wipes all of the table top. She also wipes down all of the chairs, including Lauren’s booster seat which seems to have a magnetic force that attracts sticky food items. Katherine’s positively beaming when she’s done.  It makes my sweeping and mopping a bit less painful once I see how much pride she takes in her chores and the excitement that they elicit.

 

I can see it now. Whaoooooo I’m going to sweep now! See me sweeping? Oh, wow there’s a very big chunk of dried fish stick from lunch right next to that blob of congealed macaroni & cheese! See me sweep it up? Did I do a good job? I did didn’t I? I didn’t miss a spot!  Can I have a cookie and chocolate milk please ma’am? If only.

 

March 29, 2006

Let me preface this by saying that Lauren has not slept well for 4 days. I'm taking her to the ped this morning since she is just not being herself lately. So, I was a little grumpy this morning after the third day of 4 hours or less of sleep. I snapped out of it though. So, on with the Katherine show.

She made this one up all by herself this morning.
Knock Knock.
who's there?
Horse
Horse Who?
Horse you glad you aren't a grumpy mommy anymore?

And her other one...it actually took me a minute to get this one but once I did I thought it was quite clever.

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Cow
Cow Who?
Noooo...Cow's MOO Owls Who.

 

March 31, 2006

That Katherine is a bugger. She now says that she got the above jokes from Little Bear. I thought that was pretty advanced. J

 

Lauren has started getting time outs. She’s been hitting and standing on the couch. Got to nip that in the bud. On the other hand, she’s been napping in her crib exclusively. That’s wonderful.

 

April 18, 2006