Wow, double digits.
She's dying to walk - has the cruising thing down pat, and has the bumps and bruises to prove it. Makes a bee-line to the most dangerous thing she can find, whenever possible. That means if someone has left a toilet lid up, she rushes in to go "potty-diving" as Av calls it. If the toilet lid is down but the bathroom door is open, it's the next best thing as far as El is concerned. She can still get in there and fish in the trash can or at the very least, unwind a roll of toilet paper. God help you if you've left a space heater on in a cold room somewhere - she can smell it. She can hear a piece of hard candy drop from the kitchen table, from upstairs on the opposite end of the house. Her head whiplashes around and she hits the floor to run-crawl toward it. She can psychically divine where the dirtiest corner of any floor is. Her favorite cabinet to try to open is the one under the sink where all the cleaning stuff is. Dead bugs within her reach call out to her like she's Jennifer Love-Hewitt.
I read recently that you can tell how smart a baby is by how exhausted the parents are. I think El might be a genius, judging by that. She is one tough kid to keep up with.
Other little things are changing, too. She still loves to unload stuff out of a container or drawer, but recently she figured out that if she puts it back in, she can have the thrill of taking it out again. She has started to imitate words and sounds she hears more often. The funniest example is when she emits a deep, grunting "Aaaaahhh" of satisfaction after nursing, the way a person might after downing a refreshing glass of ice water on a hot day. She gets that from her father. She's learned what "no" means, and like most kids her age she finds it hilarious. She's very social, loves people. Even the crappiest of her moods can be fixed by a trip to the store, where she can smile and play peek-a-boo with everyone, or by a few minutes at Av's school when we drop her off in the morning and El gets fawned over by kids and parents alike.
She's got four teeth - the top two just came in and it looks like two more are on deck (the top eye teeth). She's eating a little more food now with less gastric upset.
I'll think of more later and continue this, with pictures.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Choppin' Brok-a-lehhh
Well, cabbage. Gotta make potstickers for the kid's school Thanksgiving festival. That is not to imply that I myself am doing the chopping. Nay, it is GW's job to chop cabbage in this house. Does anyone remember Dana Carvey's piano composition on SNL about a hundred years ago?
Could this post be any more non-sequitur? Don't blame me, I have a four-year-old snapping me in the arm with a pad of note paper and a baby trying to jam a fork in her nostril.
Could this post be any more non-sequitur? Don't blame me, I have a four-year-old snapping me in the arm with a pad of note paper and a baby trying to jam a fork in her nostril.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
...But Other Than That, Everything's Great
Uhg. It's 9:30 am and baby is finally down for her first nap. Av is off to school with our carpool buddy - miraculous, wonderful, sweet, kind, angelic car pool buddy. Thank God for her. I don't think I could have managed to get everyone out the door to drive to school this morning. I don't have any crystal meth handy, and that's what it would have taken. Four hours of (frequently interrupted) sleep last night. Again. I can't go on like this.
I swore I wouldn't use this blog to complain about parenting, but sometimes you just gotta. Maybe it's healthy, even. My children shouldn't grow up with illusions about this job being easy....should they? I mean, it's still the best thing that ever happened to me, being their mommy. I still feel like the luckiest person who ever lived. Complaining about the hard stuff doesn't take away of the good stuff. So here goes.
I know why we're having bad nights - if I think about it, it makes sense. El's been sick for over a month, really. She got her first cold at the end of September, and it turned into ear infections which antibiotics have yet to resolve for her. We're almost done with the second one now. Of course they cause diarrhea, which typically explodes around 5:30 am. After the diaper and inevitable outfit change, she's too awake to fall back asleep, but she's still tired enough to be enormously cranky. Plus she's cutting two more teeth. Plus she's in the throws of some really intense separation anxiety. This poor child - when will she get a break? It's hard to know what to do at night when she wakes up for the fifth time and wants to nurse, and I feel sorry for her and know that nursing her is the best way to soothe her, but at the same time I'm having bizarre fantasies like jumping up and breaking off a blade of the ceiling fan and gutting myself with it. That's what I'd rather do than nurse, at 2:30am after sleeping for three 35 minute chunks. On the heels of weeks of nights like that. It really does mess with your head.
Oh, and the dishwasher's busted - good timing, we're hosting Thanksgiving. We certainly don't have the money to fix or replace it. I have an appointment with our accountant in a couple hours to find out how f**ked we are on our taxes this year - we haven't paid much of them yet, GW being self-employed now and all. Of course we didn't make any money this year, so I'm sure that will help. But we will owe something. And there's Av's surgery to pay off and the bill for our next door neighbor's pool and GW's licensure renewal and car insurance and my new health insurance (if you can call it that) and we need a termite inspection and possibly treatment and there is some loose siding on the house and really how much longer can the Saturn last? Maybe a new car soon. Where will the money come from for that? Wait, lemme just....pull it out of my butt here....oh, there it is. My house is in such disarray I can never find anything, and I feel like I can't let the baby crawl around on the floor, at least not downstairs. But no time to do anything about that. My blood pressure is back up, but I can't go to the doctor - no health insurance this month. Is any of this sounding familiar? I'm sure I'm describing the experience of many parents these days. It helps to know I'm certainly not alone, although I wish I was not alone in my wealth and leisure and perfect health and well-organized home.
Writing this is making me feel a little better. See? Complaining can be good. There are plenty of silver linings, when I look at it with my reasoning skills intact. The baby will get better, and will sleep better soon. I probably won't have a stroke in the next few months. Not being able to go to the doctor has forced me to do stuff to protect my health, so I'm eating really clean and exercising a little and not drinking beer and actually losing a few pounds. The neighbor's pool didn't need repairs, just a check-up. GW's a rock star at his new job and starting to make more money. The dishwasher sucked anyway.
We'll get through.
I swore I wouldn't use this blog to complain about parenting, but sometimes you just gotta. Maybe it's healthy, even. My children shouldn't grow up with illusions about this job being easy....should they? I mean, it's still the best thing that ever happened to me, being their mommy. I still feel like the luckiest person who ever lived. Complaining about the hard stuff doesn't take away of the good stuff. So here goes.
I know why we're having bad nights - if I think about it, it makes sense. El's been sick for over a month, really. She got her first cold at the end of September, and it turned into ear infections which antibiotics have yet to resolve for her. We're almost done with the second one now. Of course they cause diarrhea, which typically explodes around 5:30 am. After the diaper and inevitable outfit change, she's too awake to fall back asleep, but she's still tired enough to be enormously cranky. Plus she's cutting two more teeth. Plus she's in the throws of some really intense separation anxiety. This poor child - when will she get a break? It's hard to know what to do at night when she wakes up for the fifth time and wants to nurse, and I feel sorry for her and know that nursing her is the best way to soothe her, but at the same time I'm having bizarre fantasies like jumping up and breaking off a blade of the ceiling fan and gutting myself with it. That's what I'd rather do than nurse, at 2:30am after sleeping for three 35 minute chunks. On the heels of weeks of nights like that. It really does mess with your head.
Oh, and the dishwasher's busted - good timing, we're hosting Thanksgiving. We certainly don't have the money to fix or replace it. I have an appointment with our accountant in a couple hours to find out how f**ked we are on our taxes this year - we haven't paid much of them yet, GW being self-employed now and all. Of course we didn't make any money this year, so I'm sure that will help. But we will owe something. And there's Av's surgery to pay off and the bill for our next door neighbor's pool and GW's licensure renewal and car insurance and my new health insurance (if you can call it that) and we need a termite inspection and possibly treatment and there is some loose siding on the house and really how much longer can the Saturn last? Maybe a new car soon. Where will the money come from for that? Wait, lemme just....pull it out of my butt here....oh, there it is. My house is in such disarray I can never find anything, and I feel like I can't let the baby crawl around on the floor, at least not downstairs. But no time to do anything about that. My blood pressure is back up, but I can't go to the doctor - no health insurance this month. Is any of this sounding familiar? I'm sure I'm describing the experience of many parents these days. It helps to know I'm certainly not alone, although I wish I was not alone in my wealth and leisure and perfect health and well-organized home.
Writing this is making me feel a little better. See? Complaining can be good. There are plenty of silver linings, when I look at it with my reasoning skills intact. The baby will get better, and will sleep better soon. I probably won't have a stroke in the next few months. Not being able to go to the doctor has forced me to do stuff to protect my health, so I'm eating really clean and exercising a little and not drinking beer and actually losing a few pounds. The neighbor's pool didn't need repairs, just a check-up. GW's a rock star at his new job and starting to make more money. The dishwasher sucked anyway.
We'll get through.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Good Weekend, With Pictures
Saturday: shopping, arranging flowers for a neighbor, making pumpkin bread, splitting and stacking fire wood (Av and GW), building a fire on top of an old pine tree stump to burn it out, later roasting hot dogs for dinner over said stump, exploring the woods outside our back fence until it got too dark and cold to be out there anymore. Can it possibly get any more awesome than that? I don't think so, either.
Sunday: Cleaning, cleaning....uhm, cleaning....did I mention cleaning? There was vacuuming...oh, yeah, and we went to this festival called "Touch-A-Truck," where you can climb on an ambulance, a tow truck, a dump truck, a fire engine, a cement truck, a military jeep, a helicopter, and oddly, someone's restored Austin Healey. And there was music and blow-up bounce houses. Av spent a good deal of time on the bounce house with slide. She loves those things, and she's always the one scream-laughing all the way down. As always, it's a pleasure to witness her joy. The guitar-playing guy was set up right next to the bounce house, and when he invited the kids in the audience to grab a shaker out of a big bucket in front of the stage and shake along to his next number, Av grabbed one and jumped right on stage with him and danced away. We ran into friends, and after we'd maxed out on touching trucks I stuck El in the sling to nurse and fall asleep, and we hiked over to a nearby sushi place and had a snack. Av decided not long ago that she likes shrimp - although the last time she had shrimp was, like, never. So I'm not sure exactly where this came from, but I do know my daughter, and if she says she likes shrimp, she likes them. She ordered a shrimp appetizer, which turned out to be freakin awesome, and assertively sent her lemonade back to the kitchen when she sipped it and found it to be watery. The waitress investigated and discovered that indeed, the mixture was weak, and she promptly replaced the lemonade and even gave her a free refill before we left. You go, girl.
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| Hanging out in princess garb. What else are you going to wear to eat lunch in? |
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| It's fun to be buried in leaves! |
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| El looks cute in her hoodie. |
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| Hmm...something's weird about these leaves I'm crawling on... |
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| Roasting kosher dogs over the stump. |
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| El helpfully unloads the bathroom cabinet. |
Sunday: Cleaning, cleaning....uhm, cleaning....did I mention cleaning? There was vacuuming...oh, yeah, and we went to this festival called "Touch-A-Truck," where you can climb on an ambulance, a tow truck, a dump truck, a fire engine, a cement truck, a military jeep, a helicopter, and oddly, someone's restored Austin Healey. And there was music and blow-up bounce houses. Av spent a good deal of time on the bounce house with slide. She loves those things, and she's always the one scream-laughing all the way down. As always, it's a pleasure to witness her joy. The guitar-playing guy was set up right next to the bounce house, and when he invited the kids in the audience to grab a shaker out of a big bucket in front of the stage and shake along to his next number, Av grabbed one and jumped right on stage with him and danced away. We ran into friends, and after we'd maxed out on touching trucks I stuck El in the sling to nurse and fall asleep, and we hiked over to a nearby sushi place and had a snack. Av decided not long ago that she likes shrimp - although the last time she had shrimp was, like, never. So I'm not sure exactly where this came from, but I do know my daughter, and if she says she likes shrimp, she likes them. She ordered a shrimp appetizer, which turned out to be freakin awesome, and assertively sent her lemonade back to the kitchen when she sipped it and found it to be watery. The waitress investigated and discovered that indeed, the mixture was weak, and she promptly replaced the lemonade and even gave her a free refill before we left. You go, girl.
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| Belly slide |
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| We've got this hella pink limo all to ourselves. |
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| El takes it all in. |
New Stuff
El: can remove her diaper by herself if she's not locked into a onsie. Oh, good.
Av: can count to 100, with only a little help.
El: is cruising holding onto the couch, or anything else.
Av: blew her teachers away this week by "reading" one of her books to them ("A Case of the Creepy Crawlies") - she memorized it and performed it for the class. Totally her idea and initiative.
El: is shifting her (until now) set in stone nap schedule. No longer are we hiking up the stairs to lay down precisely two hours after she wakes up. Lately it's 3-4 hours, and the nap is shorter - an hour, tops. Afternoon nap is becoming more important.
Av: made her mother proud by handling a recent episode of bad behavior perpetrated on a neighbor with empathy, contrition, and eagerness to make amends.
Av: can count to 100, with only a little help.
El: is cruising holding onto the couch, or anything else.
Av: blew her teachers away this week by "reading" one of her books to them ("A Case of the Creepy Crawlies") - she memorized it and performed it for the class. Totally her idea and initiative.
El: is shifting her (until now) set in stone nap schedule. No longer are we hiking up the stairs to lay down precisely two hours after she wakes up. Lately it's 3-4 hours, and the nap is shorter - an hour, tops. Afternoon nap is becoming more important.
Av: made her mother proud by handling a recent episode of bad behavior perpetrated on a neighbor with empathy, contrition, and eagerness to make amends.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Co-Sleeping is Awesome, Even When it Sucks
Maybe I'm being overly sentimental, because I know El is my last baby. But practically speaking, sleeping with her is the only way I can get even the smidgen of rest I do get. I can't imagine how I would do it, getting out of bed several times a night (or even twice, which is her normal awakening routine), spending twenty minutes rocking or nursing her back to sleep, then putting her down and crawling back into bed to spend another twenty minutes getting myself to sleep, only to be awakened an hour later to do it all over again. Some might say (and have said, ad nauseum) that she'd sleep longer if left in a crib. I call b.s. on that - just because I know my kids and neither one of them cottoned to sleeping by themselves, except, thankfully, for daytime naps.
I don't know, call me crazy if you want. It has been awful lately, with her going through whatever phase she's going through these days, and waking up every five seconds at night. Don't get me wrong, I am human and I'm not a very nice one when I haven't had enough rest. There's something primal in the brain, something that can't help but feel hostile toward any creature that threatens your survival in one way or another. It's just part of the deal. At those times, you pass your baby off to the other adult in your household, assuming you're lucky enough to have one. But many nights I lay there with her, even after I've lost count of how many times she's woken up, and enjoy the feel of her little weight sprawled across me, the softness of her head, the happiness of being able to make her feel better after she wakes up with her little face all scrunched up and sad. I wait until she's sufficiently unconscious, then ease her over to her side of the bed. Then she's all peaceful, angelic baby face. Sometimes I watch her for a bit, but never for long because sleep takes me over pretty fast once my body is free and I know that my baby is safe and content. When she wakes up again, I won't have to move very far to help her. And it'll all be over a nanosecond from now.
I don't know, call me crazy if you want. It has been awful lately, with her going through whatever phase she's going through these days, and waking up every five seconds at night. Don't get me wrong, I am human and I'm not a very nice one when I haven't had enough rest. There's something primal in the brain, something that can't help but feel hostile toward any creature that threatens your survival in one way or another. It's just part of the deal. At those times, you pass your baby off to the other adult in your household, assuming you're lucky enough to have one. But many nights I lay there with her, even after I've lost count of how many times she's woken up, and enjoy the feel of her little weight sprawled across me, the softness of her head, the happiness of being able to make her feel better after she wakes up with her little face all scrunched up and sad. I wait until she's sufficiently unconscious, then ease her over to her side of the bed. Then she's all peaceful, angelic baby face. Sometimes I watch her for a bit, but never for long because sleep takes me over pretty fast once my body is free and I know that my baby is safe and content. When she wakes up again, I won't have to move very far to help her. And it'll all be over a nanosecond from now.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Okay, So It's Not All Cotton Candy and Fluffy Bunnies...
Ssoooooooooooooo ssssssleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepy. So why the hell aren't I in bed? Obviously my baby is, or I wouldn't be writing this. It's just that even moms need a few minutes to just be themselves once in a while. Plus I need to vent, and to say a few things about how awesome Av is.
The day started at 7am after the second night in a row of El waking up every 20 minutes (I'm not exaggerating), crying and/or wanting to nurse. GW was downstairs with her last night for a couple hours, probably at about 3am, I don't know. This morning was probably the worst I've felt since El was born. She's really, on average, not a bad sleeper - the past few nights have been unusual. You never really know for sure what the deal is with babies this young, but our guess is a combination of developmental stuff and tummy trouble. Anyway, this morning I felt like I'd spent the night being chased by rhinos while running uphill dodging a rock slide. I subtly hinted to GW that it might be a good idea for him to take the day off. By subtly hinting I mean I begged him outright. He said no, too bad, you're on your own, and it serves you right for all the cruel stuff you did to your mother when you were a baby. Yep, that's what he said. There I go, being sarcastic again. Hey, it makes me feel better. When you're this tired, you get license to do things you wouldn't normally get away with, like aggressively blaming others for your problems and disabusing the people you claim to love.
My wonderful friend E. rescued me from a morning of feeling sorry for myself. She came over with a playmate for Av (her beyond-cute 2 year-old daughter) and fudge. She kept me company and poured me green tea until I started to feel a little less like a bug squashed under somebody's shoe. Her visit was so rejuvenating that I later mustered the energy for a short grocery run. Of course, that went without a hitch. Oh, wait. No it didn't. See, it was sprinkling out, and supposed to rain harder later, so I swept up the kids pretty quickly after lunch and got everybody's shoes on, if not hair brushed. I opened the door to go out to the car and somebody opened the Great Fawcet In The Sky right at that moment, but I soldiered on, knowing that if I kept my big mouth shut on my complaints, Av would be delighted to go out in the rain. I did, and she was. Get the baby in, buckle up, drive drive drive and here we are at the grocery store, rain's back to a light drizzle, yay. Open the side door to a smiling baby and a really big smell. Yep, the little babe who hasn't crapped for a week has finally voided her bowels. It's a wonderful thing, really, something I would have celebrated in a big way if we'd been at home - lots of clapping and excitement and praise, maybe even streamers. But we're at the grocery store and it's raining and of course I didn't bring the diaper bag. Well.....I just made it a really fast shopping trip, and poor little El didn't get as many admirers as she's used to on an outing like that, because the smell around her was like a force field about eight feet in diameter, keeping her would-be friends at smiling distance. I know, I'm a bad mommy. Tell me something I don't know.
Other than my angelic friend coming over this morning, what got me through today was Av's little girl wit. When I can't find my keys, she's like, "This is a job for Diamond Bat Girl!!" (one of her alter-egos) and goes running off somewhere to help me find them. When she catches me looking forlorn as I bring a sobbing El downstairs after my eleventh attempt to put her down for a nap, Av runs over and tries (in vain, but still) to make her laugh. She cracks these clever jokes that I can only imagine she picks up at school, or maybe she watches more Jimmy Neutron than I know about. One of them I have to share - this was at bedtime, and we'd gotten through most of the routine but had apparently forgotten to have her go to the bathroom. She comes up to the bed where I'm nursing El and says, "If you're having a tea party? Remember not to drink too much tea or you'll have to.....have to.....I'll be right back!" and she dashes off down the hall. I mean, that is damn funny, is it not? Where does she get this stuff? I love it. Thanks, Av, for being such an awesome kid. I don't know what I did to deserve you, but I'm glad you're mine.
The day started at 7am after the second night in a row of El waking up every 20 minutes (I'm not exaggerating), crying and/or wanting to nurse. GW was downstairs with her last night for a couple hours, probably at about 3am, I don't know. This morning was probably the worst I've felt since El was born. She's really, on average, not a bad sleeper - the past few nights have been unusual. You never really know for sure what the deal is with babies this young, but our guess is a combination of developmental stuff and tummy trouble. Anyway, this morning I felt like I'd spent the night being chased by rhinos while running uphill dodging a rock slide. I subtly hinted to GW that it might be a good idea for him to take the day off. By subtly hinting I mean I begged him outright. He said no, too bad, you're on your own, and it serves you right for all the cruel stuff you did to your mother when you were a baby. Yep, that's what he said. There I go, being sarcastic again. Hey, it makes me feel better. When you're this tired, you get license to do things you wouldn't normally get away with, like aggressively blaming others for your problems and disabusing the people you claim to love.
My wonderful friend E. rescued me from a morning of feeling sorry for myself. She came over with a playmate for Av (her beyond-cute 2 year-old daughter) and fudge. She kept me company and poured me green tea until I started to feel a little less like a bug squashed under somebody's shoe. Her visit was so rejuvenating that I later mustered the energy for a short grocery run. Of course, that went without a hitch. Oh, wait. No it didn't. See, it was sprinkling out, and supposed to rain harder later, so I swept up the kids pretty quickly after lunch and got everybody's shoes on, if not hair brushed. I opened the door to go out to the car and somebody opened the Great Fawcet In The Sky right at that moment, but I soldiered on, knowing that if I kept my big mouth shut on my complaints, Av would be delighted to go out in the rain. I did, and she was. Get the baby in, buckle up, drive drive drive and here we are at the grocery store, rain's back to a light drizzle, yay. Open the side door to a smiling baby and a really big smell. Yep, the little babe who hasn't crapped for a week has finally voided her bowels. It's a wonderful thing, really, something I would have celebrated in a big way if we'd been at home - lots of clapping and excitement and praise, maybe even streamers. But we're at the grocery store and it's raining and of course I didn't bring the diaper bag. Well.....I just made it a really fast shopping trip, and poor little El didn't get as many admirers as she's used to on an outing like that, because the smell around her was like a force field about eight feet in diameter, keeping her would-be friends at smiling distance. I know, I'm a bad mommy. Tell me something I don't know.
Other than my angelic friend coming over this morning, what got me through today was Av's little girl wit. When I can't find my keys, she's like, "This is a job for Diamond Bat Girl!!" (one of her alter-egos) and goes running off somewhere to help me find them. When she catches me looking forlorn as I bring a sobbing El downstairs after my eleventh attempt to put her down for a nap, Av runs over and tries (in vain, but still) to make her laugh. She cracks these clever jokes that I can only imagine she picks up at school, or maybe she watches more Jimmy Neutron than I know about. One of them I have to share - this was at bedtime, and we'd gotten through most of the routine but had apparently forgotten to have her go to the bathroom. She comes up to the bed where I'm nursing El and says, "If you're having a tea party? Remember not to drink too much tea or you'll have to.....have to.....I'll be right back!" and she dashes off down the hall. I mean, that is damn funny, is it not? Where does she get this stuff? I love it. Thanks, Av, for being such an awesome kid. I don't know what I did to deserve you, but I'm glad you're mine.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Now, How to Keep Them from Eating 626 Pieces of Candy a Day....
Too much sugar is bad for your body in so many ways. It messes with your endocrine system, causing you to gain weight faster than eating too many calories of another kind. It's hard on the immune system. It can actually raise your blood pressure. It can contribute to the proliferation of cancer cells.
I read this stuff - it interests me. I like knowing exactly what horrendous things the stuff I eat is doing inside me - it helps motivate me to eat healthy. I also like knowing what wonderful things food can do - and ditto about the motivation. I have more to say about motivation to eat healthy, but it's more appropriate for the other blog. I'll get to it later. Right now what concerns me more than my own eating habits is my kids'. Has anyone ever solved the mystery of how to keep kids from eating too much sugar? I try really hard. I don't buy sugary stuff, normally. At birthday parties you're allowed to have a piece of cake, a little ice cream if it's served, but no seconds. I send your little butt to a co-op preschool where healthy food is one of the most cherished principles. You have to eat the approved amount of vegetables at dinner to be considered for dessert. Aren't I following all the rules here? How does this crap constantly seem to sneak in?
I do know how it sneaks in. That was a rhetorical question, because we all know how it works - the over-availability of junk food and the evils of advertising to children, et cetera. It's a huge problem. It might be THE problem. I plan to just stick with my rule book, know that I'm doing my best, and leave it to the superhero vigilantes to fight our battle in the streets (you know, the battle to get "fruit" roll-ups and Hot Pockets off our supermarket shelves. No? Never heard of it? Maybe it's all in my head).
In the meantime, I hope someone will come along and tell me how to deal with a begging, whining, pleading, crying, tantruming four-and-a-half year-old who can't go one more minute without that bag of Reese's pieces from her Halloween stash.
I read this stuff - it interests me. I like knowing exactly what horrendous things the stuff I eat is doing inside me - it helps motivate me to eat healthy. I also like knowing what wonderful things food can do - and ditto about the motivation. I have more to say about motivation to eat healthy, but it's more appropriate for the other blog. I'll get to it later. Right now what concerns me more than my own eating habits is my kids'. Has anyone ever solved the mystery of how to keep kids from eating too much sugar? I try really hard. I don't buy sugary stuff, normally. At birthday parties you're allowed to have a piece of cake, a little ice cream if it's served, but no seconds. I send your little butt to a co-op preschool where healthy food is one of the most cherished principles. You have to eat the approved amount of vegetables at dinner to be considered for dessert. Aren't I following all the rules here? How does this crap constantly seem to sneak in?
I do know how it sneaks in. That was a rhetorical question, because we all know how it works - the over-availability of junk food and the evils of advertising to children, et cetera. It's a huge problem. It might be THE problem. I plan to just stick with my rule book, know that I'm doing my best, and leave it to the superhero vigilantes to fight our battle in the streets (you know, the battle to get "fruit" roll-ups and Hot Pockets off our supermarket shelves. No? Never heard of it? Maybe it's all in my head).
In the meantime, I hope someone will come along and tell me how to deal with a begging, whining, pleading, crying, tantruming four-and-a-half year-old who can't go one more minute without that bag of Reese's pieces from her Halloween stash.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Halloween!! Part II: Trick-or-Treat
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahye LOVE Halloween.
This year, for the first time ever, we left home for trick-or-treat. Our good friends M. and family, with whom we've spent the past several Halloweens, recently moved to a beautiful new house in a great neighborhood, and they invited us over for the evening. Despite our minor worries about having the baby out late, a wonderful time was had by all. As an added bonus, M.'s neighborhood really kicked a whole lot of butt when it came to Halloween to-do. There were haunted houses in people's garages, over-the-top costumes (on the homeowners, even more than the trick-or-treaters), spooky music blasted from attic rooms, elaborate yard displays. It was super cool. Av and M. got tons of attention, being among the youngest of the trick-or-treaters out there. It didn't hurt that they were dressed as Buzz Lightyear and Jessie from Toy Story - both girls were beyond cute. I so love watching Av enjoy herself so thoroughly. It's a feeling we grown-ups don't get to have all that often - I guess that's why it's often called the "kid on Christmas morning" feeling. It's nice to experience it vicariously.
Earlier in the day, Av and I decorated cookies to share with our pals:
And since I'm going backwards in time here, might as well put up some cute ones from the day before, when we carved pumpkins:
Av is already looking forward to next Halloween. Me, too.
This year, for the first time ever, we left home for trick-or-treat. Our good friends M. and family, with whom we've spent the past several Halloweens, recently moved to a beautiful new house in a great neighborhood, and they invited us over for the evening. Despite our minor worries about having the baby out late, a wonderful time was had by all. As an added bonus, M.'s neighborhood really kicked a whole lot of butt when it came to Halloween to-do. There were haunted houses in people's garages, over-the-top costumes (on the homeowners, even more than the trick-or-treaters), spooky music blasted from attic rooms, elaborate yard displays. It was super cool. Av and M. got tons of attention, being among the youngest of the trick-or-treaters out there. It didn't hurt that they were dressed as Buzz Lightyear and Jessie from Toy Story - both girls were beyond cute. I so love watching Av enjoy herself so thoroughly. It's a feeling we grown-ups don't get to have all that often - I guess that's why it's often called the "kid on Christmas morning" feeling. It's nice to experience it vicariously.
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| Buzz and Jessie strike up a duet on the piano before heading out for trick-or-treat. |
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| My little lamb (I was Bo Peep) - not too happy about the headpiece, she. |
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| That's better. |
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| Av emerges from the mist with another awesome loot. |
Earlier in the day, Av and I decorated cookies to share with our pals:
And since I'm going backwards in time here, might as well put up some cute ones from the day before, when we carved pumpkins:
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| El accompanies the carving with a homemade shaker. |
Monday, November 1, 2010
Halloween!!
I consider it a point of pride that my daughter has never had chewing gum before today. Now that trick-or-treat is over, she's allowed three pieces of her Halloween candy per day, four max. One of her picks today was a piece of bubble gum, the ones that are the color of pepto bismol. Yum. "Exactly why is it called bubble gum?" she asks me as she unwraps it, examines it for a moment, then pops it in and gingerly starts to chew. I explain it's because you can blow bubbles with it, which I offer to teach her, but we can't find another piece of gum, so it'll have to wait until next Halloween.
The festivities started on Friday with the Halloween concert, play, and party at school. I took video which I'm not going to post here because everyone else's kids are in it too. Av is of course one of the most enthusiastic participants if it has to do with being on stage in front of people, so it makes for good video, although production value is pretty low due to Mom's lack of prowess with the camera.
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| She got her face painted - she's a vampire. |
After the play, food and games and prizes. Then home, bathtub, crash.
Oh, and I forgot - Halloween actually began for Av on Thursday with a party with her play-group friends. She got to be Buzz Lightyear for that one. I went in GW's Woody costume. With shorts on (it was hot out). I looked every bit as stupid as I thought I would. But my Bo Peep costume wasn't done yet - I still had some sewing to do - and I wasn't about to put El's fuzzy costume on her in the 80-some degree muggy weather.
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| To infinity and beyond! Actually, I think she's looking at a squirrel. |
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| Looking in the mirror at her heart-and-rainbow face painting, by my friend A. |
Here's a few of Av and El hanging out at home, trying on costumes and playing and stuff - I think this was last week sometime when I was still working on pulling costume elements together for everyone - it's a lot of work dressing everyone as Toy Story characters.
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| Av in GW's Woody costume |
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| Let's put the cowboy hat on the baby! El moves too fast for the camera. |
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| Get this damn thing off me. |
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