Sunday, February 27, 2011

jonesing for another 3-day weekend

We're not excited about going to work tomorrow. It's been a great weekend.


This morning we took advantage of the aftermath of the storm and took Baby outside to play in the puddles. She had a great time and we did, too. Took lots of pictures. Borrowed a lesson from my cousin and managed to get her hair into pigtails with the help of certain candies that start with the letter M... (and can't lie, there is some pain in my heart that I used chocolate as a bribing award, but it worked!).

The Hater went to see the Thunder play this afternoon. He was bummed that they lost.

After Baby's nap I took advantage of him being gone and made a lovely mess. Started working on Mother's Day presents. Learned a lot after Christmas crafts - mostly that I need to give us far more time than I think we need.

Monday, February 21, 2011

bleary-eyed

The faultless plan was a bust. At 4:38 this morning Baby decided that it was five o'clock somewhere and that it was time to get up.

Thank goodness for redness reducing eye drops.

I may be driven back to drinking caffeine if she continues the early morning reveille.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

decadent

We had another fabulous day today that started about 4:55 am. Baby's alarm clock has been going off earlier since we moved her to the big girl bed. Bless her heart. I tried keeping her up a little later tonight, but that just didn't fly at all. She kept saying, "Mommy, (insert her name) tired." I kept trying to change the subject and talk about more exciting things and she'd raise her voice and say, "Mommy, I sleepy!" "Bed!" I ended up keeping her up about 20 minutes later tonight and she was pitiful by the time I put her down - she cried, which she rarely does, off and on for about 30 minutes until she finally went to sleep. I'd almost rather just let her get up early because it just seems tacky to make her stay up when she's ready to go to bed. We'll see in the morning if this torture made any difference, but I'm not holding my breath.

The last month or so I've changed her nighttime routine to include saying the Lord's Prayer. For about the last week she's been saying the last couple of words of every phrase with me. Today in church she said just about the whole thing when we prayed it as a congregation. I was so excited I wanted to jump up and down and run the aisles, but seeing as how that's not a tradition in my church, I just quietly beamed from my pew.

At the end of about 97% of the services we end with the same song. It's upbeat and I'd never heard of it before we started going to this church (which really is saying a lot - I know a lot of hymns!). Anyway, out of the blue today she started singing with us... and sometimes matching pitch! I can hardly wait for her to sing with me. She sings with me some now ("Sing" is her favorite - circa Carpenters), but she's getting better at matching pitch if it's a whole note.

After church we hit the grocery store for some staples and then we went out for lunch. I took a gift card that we'd received for VD. I'm back on the Weight Watchers wagon, so I knew ahead of time what I could get -- and it was really good. At first I didn't think that Baby was going to eat, but she scarfed most of it down. This girl could eat her weight in oranges if you'd let her. Anyway, when it came time to pay I put the gift card down and the lady came back later to say that it was empty. I laughed and told her it had been a gift from my mother-in-law. She thought it was funny, too. Baby laughed, but that's only because she likes to laugh when everybody else does.

So our adventure after nap was baking a practice batch of oreo chocolate cake. I like to cook, but I'm not a baker. I don't do sweets. This is a recipe that Sister sent me - it's complete chocolate goodness. And the icing , oh the icing, homemade icing, had crunched up chocolate in it, too. This is the first time I've ever used confectioner's sugar in my life, and I liked it. I've got a half dozen cupcakes iced in the fridge to take to work tomorrow to see if they're worthy for a birthday #2 celebration. The rest of it has been frozen. If it's approved by my distinguished panel of coworker judges then I'll have one of the four birthday party celebrations done.

I took the obligatory pictures of Baby licking the beater, placing cookies in the baking cups, and using the wooden rolling pin. She really wasn't as into the whole cookie/chocolate/icing/sweet thing as I thought she would be. After supper tonight I tried to ask her if she wanted to try some of her cake and she was certain that she didn't. She wanted a popsicle, specifically a green one. She settled for red and I'm thinking that I should have more of those when we have our parties because she's more likely to want those. At about 30 calories a pop compared to all of the chocolatey goodness in the cupcakes, I'd much rather let her have a green one.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

crabs and duct tape

Gross.

Baby and I took advantage of our new diapering situation and played at the mall today. She ran, I ran, we had a great time. She played in the petri dish for nearly and hour and I took some fun pictures. The best part about being the early bird at the mall is that usually that means we get the petri dish to ourselves and we can be extra silly. Sometimes big kids who are really entirely too big to be playing there will run in and be far too rough (coincidently, these are usually the kids whose parents just sit there and say nothing about their rough play around the little ones or their inability to share).

We ate lunch at the food court and on our way out I found a new skirt that I just had to have. Actually, I found it yesterday when I got out of work early, but I thought about it all night and decided to go back and get it. Baby didn't mind humoring me because this particular store also has a large section of hermit crabs. They kindof give me the heebie-jeebies.

She konked out before we left the parking lot. Actually, it was before we even got to the end of the row where I was parked and before I could turn to the road behind the mall.



Before we left for the mall we killed a little bit of time by getting out the duct tape dress, et voila, it still fits! (Actually, it's still a little big -- so we'll have more opportunities to dress it up later this summer.)

Friday, February 18, 2011

an amusing aside

So guess who looked at me shortly into supper tonight
and declared that she needed to poo poo?

The universe cracks me up sometimes.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Pottypalooza Round One: Things Learned

The Hater and I had a very long heart-to-heart last night. When we kickstarted potty boot camp Baby had several definite signs that she was ready to potty train. Unfortunately, most of these disappeared in our second week of training. Here we are a month later and we're not convinced that she's physiologically or developmentally ready for this step.

Nobody failed. No disappointments.

Really it's not that big of a deal. Just like the fooler, we'll try again in a few months.

I was anxious to tell day care since they've been so insistent that we persevere, but she agreed quickly without me having to go through my well-rehearsed story. Baby wore diapers today and did fantastic, really enjoyed being able to participate in all of the group activities. I went to work very much relieved.

The best news of all is that we can spend more time playing now! It was 77 and windy this afternoon and we played hard at the swingset. Mostly she crawled around under the picnic table looking for clumps of dirt to label as "rocks", but we also attacked the slide and gave lots of love to the neighbor's dog. We came back and The Hater had burgers on the grill. I could get used to this!

I've not yet decided what our exciting weekend adventures will be. We've not really been out of the house in the month that we've been doing this, other than to go to church or day care. As of now we have call for rain both days, but we'll see how that pans out this weekend. It's all up in the air for now, but I can promise you that we won't be home all weekend. Nosireebob. We're going to celebrate being 100 weeks old.

That's right. Guess who turned 100 weeks old this week! What Nana said was true, "The days are long but the weeks are short." And what a wonderfully blessed 100 weeks we've had.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

big girl bed success

I don't want to jinx myself and actually use the word "success", but I'm going to because I'm excited. Baby chose to sleep in her big girl bed for her nap and stayed there for her whole nap. Then tonight after our prayer I asked her where she wanted to sleep and she pointed to her bed! I was so excited. No cries, no screams. Hopefully she'll stay there all night!

We needed a success today.

The Hater has been gone all weekend and I'm sure I've lost at least 40 IQ points. Don't get me wrong - I have loved every minute of playing and reading and watching Elmo. I'm hurting for real two-way conversation. I don't just miss The Hater because he's helpful and he can carry on a conversation, but I really miss him today. Good news is that he'll be back tonight!

Pottypalooza update: This morning in church Baby announced "Pee Pee!". I questioned her and she assured me that she needed to go. I halfway wondered if she was just trying to get out of sitting in church, but jerked her up and grabbed the bag with the wipes and potty seat, and ran to the potty. Sure enough, she was dry when we got there and peed in the potty!! I was so excited, such real progress! It was the first time she told me that she needed to pee.

And then the rest of the day was a bust. Maybe not a total bust, we did have several accidental successes. But we also had about a half dozen accidents, too. She's just not getting it. More on this later in the week after we consult with day care again. Do we persevere or go back to diapers? Time will tell.

Happy early VD.... I hope yours doesn't itch or scab over! For a blast from the past, here's the VD post from five years ago.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Baby climbed out of her crib Wednesday night.

Had a long night that night. Baby was up about 10:30, screaming for me. This hasn't happened for MONTHS - I bet it was last summer the last time she cried or called out for us in the night. I went to her room, rocked her for a few minutes, and put her back down. I went back to bed, settled, and was one sigh away from going back to sleep when she started again. I sent The Hater. He didn’t make it back to the bedroom before she started screaming for me again. I waited a few minutes, then went back and checked her diaper. (just pee – no poop) Rocked for a while, but she flipped out when I tried to put her back in the crib. (She was so upset that I thought in the back of my head that I shouldn’t leave her.) I ended up with her in the living room cradling her in the recliner for about 30-40 minutes. She was quiet but awake the whole time.

At one point she told me she heard sounds. When I asked her what sounds she said “doggy – woof woof” (then pause like she was listening) “woof woof” and pointed towards her bedroom. I told her there were no dogs in her bedroom.

Finally I took her back to the crib which went over like condoms at a Catholic school. I walked out of the room and back to our bedroom, told The Hater that we’d let her scream for a bit, and went to potty. While I was away from the monitor he said her screams escalated, then he heard a thud followed by bigger screams. He thought OH NO on his way to the bedroom to check on her, but when he rounded the corner her bedroom door knob was wiggling.

Sure enough, he opened the door to her at his feet wanting to be picked up. About that time I was done on the potty and just knew that she was still screaming and The Hater wasn’t in the bedroom. As I walked out of the bathroom he brought her to me, screaming. He told me she climbed out of bed and he heard a thud and he was worried that she was hurt.
She came to me, put her head on my chest, and immediately stopped screaming. I assured him that she was fine.

He turned off the tv and the three of us went to bed. She started out on my chest, but I moved her between us. It took her 30-45 minutes to go to sleep, but after she was asleep she was out for the night. She’d wake up and change positions (get on my pillow with me), but not pat us or try to talk to us.
Thursday morning I asked her if she remembered crying last night, and she said yes. I asked her if she could tell me why and she said “sad”. Granted, she only knows how to label two emotions right now – happy and sad – so I’m wondering if maybe she had a nightmare? Who knows. The neighbor on that side of the house has a dog, but we've never heard it when we were inside our house.

I reported this to day care Thursday morning and they were convinced that she should be in a toddler bed that night. I was hesitant to make that change right now because I’ve read about people who freak out after one fall and move their kid too early out of the crib and it takes them forever to transition, but on the other hand I don’t want her to fall out and get hurt (climbing out and not getting hurt doesn’t bother me so much). I've also read lots of stories about babies with broken bones and concussions from climbing out of the bed, and who wants to do that?

So after much hem-haw'ing and emailing just about everybody I know with children (and those I know without children who have a good head on their shoulders) - I had The Hater at home on his snow day Thursday taking apart the crib and putting together the toddler bed. He called me at one point to tell me he was in "allen wrench hell".

We weren't eager to make this move, but here we are.

Thursday we picked up Baby at day care and told her about her awaiting "big girl bed". We came home and she went nuts over it. She was so excited. She climbed in and out, pretended to sleep, covered up baby, had big fun. And she was big into the new bed - that is - until it was time for bed. Then she screamed. Bloody murder. Like the world was ending.

I let her go on for about 15 minutes before going in, but I had to scoot her back because she was up at the door trying to get out. She was scared to death. She clung to me like a koala bear. I couldn't stand it, so she slept with me Thursday night (The Hater was out of town).

Friday morning I updated day care at our strike out through bleary eyes. They told me I needed to put her in bed, shut the door, and not go back until the next morning. I just didn't think I could do that with The Hater gone. It just seemed cruel. But about that time I received a wonderful email from a brilliant friend and Mom to three boys. She suggested we set up the pack and play in her room and give her the choice every night of where she wanted to sleep. They did that with her oldest son and (although it took months), he eventually moved on his own. She's my most brilliant friend EVER.

So Friday afternoon I set up the PNP and told Baby she could either choose to sleep in her big girl bed or the pack and play. I left it at that. She continued to play in her bed. ... Fast-forward to bedtime, when she refused to choose either. I put her in the PNP and closed the door. She screamed for 24 minutes before going to sleep. She slept the whole night. I slept the whole night without being kicked or nudged or patted. It was wonderful.

At naptime today I gave her the choice again. And again tonight at bedtime. Let's just say that the screaming is getting shorter in duration and intensity, but she's still sleeping in the PNP for now.

And we're okay with that. And thankful for all of our friends and family who answered our frantic email of what to do next.

It should probably be noted that she gets all of this honestly. Somehow my eggs must have been affected by the adrenaline rush I had when I went sky diving three months before Baby was conceived. She's already showing signs of being almost as stubborn as I can be. And I was a terrible sleeper, a light sleeper.

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

seven more inches

This is Cortez, our Spanish Sabre.
He's cold and slightly confused as to our crazy weather.

We've gotten seven more inches of snow today. We're fortunate because people in the NE side of the state have gotten 42 inches between the last snow and this snow. The Hater shoveled the driveway before lunch and this afternoon the sun took care of what was left (on the driveway). Hopefully the sun over the next few days will take care of everything else.


Baby had a big time today playing inside and outside. She was really pleasant and every kind of busy fun that a 22 month old should be. Today she was especially brave and took off walking through the snow on her own, without insisting that we hold her hand.

Tomorrow the plan is to go back to the grindstone, albeit slightly frozen. The Hater will play the role of Jeeves and tote Baby and I to daycare, and then me to work. He'll then return home to nap and work on things that need to be done here.

I'm not tired of the snow yet. For the record.

Saturday, February 05, 2011

baby, it's cold outside

It was another beautiful day. We ended up with about 0.5-0.75" of more snow yesterday. It really didn't make things worse in town or the roads. Today the high was in the 40s, so we bundled each other and went outside to enjoy what will be the last of the big snow. (Of course we're due to get 2-4" more in a couple of days, but it won't be as crunchy as nearly knee-deep snow.)

There's just a dusting over yesterday's clear sidewalk.


Baby likes to walk in the snow, but she insists on holding our hand when she does it.


These boots were the greatest buy for me for 2010. They're technically rain boots, but served me well in the snow, too. Paired with sweats that are two sizes too big, they're even more fabulous.

The Hater hopes the roads will be good enough to get the car out on Monday. He's not crazy about getting up earlier and playing Jeeves. Personally, I love being toted around town.

Pottypalooza: Baby finally showed day care on Friday what she's been doing for us - which is not using the potty. I think they thought we were just making it up, but I swear that sometimes I think she holds it until we're NOT sitting on the potty. I was just glad that it wasn't just us... but Friday evening she was a superstar for me and peed on the potty twice - no accidents. Today she only had two accidents, which in my world is fantastic. We plan on persevering and day care swears that we'll be able to tell a huge difference by next month... so for now we stay the course. Potty training is not for the faint of heart.

Thursday, February 03, 2011

snow cream heaven

My aunt rocks. Not only is she one of my five dedicated blog readers, but she is an all around awesome lady. She suggested as a comment in an earlier post that I make some snow cream for Baby. Except I've never had snow cream, much less made it.

I emailed her today about it to see if she had a favorite recipe or I should just google for one. She had some suggestions for ingredients, but also told me to google it to find an actual recipe. My grandfather made it for them when she was little and how fun it would be to rekindle that tradition!

There were several recipes, but I opted for a Paula Deen "Snow Ice Cream" recipe on foodnetwork.com . The Hater (AKA Jeeves) picked me up from work and I insisted that we stop at a grocery store so we could pick up the needed milk. He thought I was crazy, but humored me because he's a good man.

It was fantastic. All three of us had our own spoons, huddled over the bowl, feeding our faces with cold, smooth goodness. Oh, yes, this will be a tradition we continue. Thank you Marian!


Snow taken from the middle of a drift in the front yard.


What else do you do with a ton of snow that's too powdery to stick to itself to make a respectable snowman?


We opted for the Fat Free condensed milk. Sorry Paula.


Everything tastes better when mixed with a wooden spoon that belonged to your grandmother.


Technically yellow snow, but we're going to eat it anyway.


"Yummy Mommy!"
"I turn. I spoon."
The family tradition continues.


Dear Paula Deen,
I have made a lot of fun of your recipes in the past since most of them call for either an entire stick of butter or a Snickers bar. I'm sorry for that. Thank you for sharing this recipe - it will resurrect a forgotten tradition in my family.
Love, genderist

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

this snow blows




(Top to bottom in chronological order.)

This is the window in one of our bathrooms. It cracked me up to look earlier and see that the wind had blown so hard that it had pushed the snow through the screen and up against the actual window. I've not seen it do this before.

It kindof reminds me of those old movable sand sculptures that people would have on their desks, circa 1988. You remember the ones?

snow date update

We've gotten a total of 12" of snow. The wind chill is -16 or so. Tomorrow's high is 10.

There are parts of our yard where you can see the top of the grass, but also drifts thigh deep. The thing about snow in Oklahoma is that it comes down sideways because of the wind. Then it blows all around.

We've lived here for 7 1/2 years and have NEVER had a snow that's suitable for making a snowman. It's always too powdery to stick together.

We did go outside briefly after supper. The three of us bundled up, sported duct-taped grocery bags over our hands and feet, and braved the cold. Baby LOVED it. She was so excited to play. The Hater and I took turns jumping face first into drifts. It wasn't long before it was time to come back in. Baby was so upset to leave the snow. She cried for about 20 minutes after we got back into the house. It was very sad... apparently snow is like baby heroin and she was seriously jonesing for another hit.

We're going to heed the warnings of the local news stations and stay home again tomorrow. Hopefully by the end of tomorrow they'll have the roads cleared and other idiots in our neighborhood will have plowed through the drifts in the road. We're hoping to be back to our grind by Thursday, but only time will tell how long we'll be inside. It's not supposed to get over freezing until the weekend.

I've got some stuff to do for work tonight. The Hater is watching a movie about some Republican political operative who got Reagan and the Bushes elected. Blah. Lee Atwater. Normally I'd groan about having to do work at home, but with this on tv I'd much rather do work than watch this.

Everybody stay warm!