Milestones

With the second child comes the realization that you have forgotten things you NEVER thought you'd forget: the date on which your little one first smiled at you, first sat up, first pooped on the toilet... truly exciting stuff. It seems I have absolutely NO recollection of anything important in the last 5 years of my life. Other moms are always asking me at what age our little girl slept in her own bed, slept through the night (never), got teeth, ate chocolate, drank a beer, etc. I can't seem to remember anything. Thankfully, my dear hubby is always there to correct me when I pull facts and dates out of thin air.

One of the reasons for this blog in my little head is to document all the events of their short little lives... oh yeah, and to vent so as to maintain my tenuous grasp on sanity.

Anyway, here are some things I want to remember:

4/5/09--- L started sounding words out. While Papa and I slept on a VERY early Sunday morning, she sounded out all the words on Papa's t-shirt--- no small feat at "Building Blocks of Kalamazoo". "WHAT THE?" (that is Luna's other current milestone... I pray she never actually finishes that question)
Anyway, this seems to have happened overnight. She is getting to be quite skilled at sounding out words. I am headed to the library later to get some of those Easy Reader books. Horrible literature but they are really helpful.

4/6/09--- She tied her shoes! Also, while we slept. Actually, she tied the door to her fairy tent thingy closed while we slept but then later tied her shoes. WHAT THE?

4/6/09--- T is working so hard on sitting up! Any time I set him in a reclined position, as in the carseat or the swing or the bouncy chair... well anywhere he sits, I guess... he works so hard at sitting upright that I actually feel bad for him. He can sit up on flat surface with some support but this makes L nervous he will fold up on himself (a good possibility). He is sooo talkative-- especially at 6:15am. He has mastered that open-mouth squeal/squawk thing and will do it for ages it seems. He makes lots of sounds and is most happy when a person (okay, me) is a few inches from his face making all the same squawking sounds and having a bird-ish conversation. He will be so happy and looking you in the eyes and just talking away for ever. He also loves to sing and to be sung too. This works out nicely as L loves to make up songs and sing them directly into his little delicate ear-- high-pitched shrill songs. All about how much she loves him or about how the Queen Bee at school has ditched her for someone with longer hair or all about how she is mad at me and thinks she and T should live somewhere without their parents, except for Grandma and grandpa because they are "nice" or about how the Muppet Show episode with Maria from the Sound of Music (shall I go on?). His latest feat is grabbing both hands and pulling his arms up over his head (sort of-- he can't quite make it). His arms will be over his forehead and he makes all these hilarious faces with his eyebrows all smooshed down OR he is figuring out how to play peek-a-boo! Fun, fun, fun! (I am serious-- hilarity).

It came out of my mouth...

Angry Mama: "If you kick me in the face, so help me god, you'll be sorry."

Tired Little Girl (covering face with hands): "What does that even mean?"

Less Angry Mama: "I have no idea."

Nothing left to do but snuggle, snuggle, snuggle.

Pet Peeve # 346

Little girls' socks that NEVER fit. I buy her size, just like it says on the package. I buy bigger. They NEVER fit. The little cute pink heel section is always in the middle of her foot and her skin is always rubbing on the back of her shoe.

Reader: Bear in mind that this comment comes from someone who wears wool knee-socks for 5 months out of the year but the poor little dearie's feet are ALWAYS cold! WTF?

Tommy's Very First Out Loud Laughter

Whisperin' Update

So... the honeymoon with the Baby Whisperer was short. That was forever ago that we tried implementing all this new stuff. When I look back, we have done really well overall. I am doing a much better job of reading his cues (for sleep, for hunger or gas-- the Big Three) and so overall, there are fewer meltdowns-- for everyone.

However, I think I was delusional that he would just lie down in his little cradle and go to sleep and I would have all this free time! I did get her second book from the library yesterday and I did poke around on her website forum a few days ago. It has all made me feel better. The second book gets more into detail about HOW to do it all. The first book seemed to spend a lot of time trying to convince readers of the merits of a routine for babies and all that. I think I needed that 4 years ago. Now I see the necessity of a routine for my little ones so I want more practical stuff-- the HOW to make it work. The forum is just a bunch of regular folks talking about what has and hasn't worked for them. It made me realize that there are lots of ways to do it and it doesn't have to be EXACTLY like she says. Made me feel more comfortable taking from it what works for us.

So... we are still muddling through it. Still melting down sometimes but we're sticking to it. That's the story anyway.

FUCKS!

Here I sit drinking wine and eating leftover popcorn and wondering if I am allowed to put that as the title to this post.

Luna has taken to yelling this expletive over and over. Our usual reaction to cuss words is to ignore them and she doesn't usually make a big deal out of them. Let's just say that I cuss. A lot. Sometimes I cuss around my kid. The Mister does NOT.

So, in the past when she has let "Shit!" fly or something of the like, we have asked her if she is upset and redirected by talking about that. It feels like in her mind, there is not difference between expletives like "Shucks!" and "Dammit!" or "Jankers!" and "Jesus Christ!" (which IS a cuss word in the home in which I grew up-- in fact, there are three things you better not ever say in front of my mom, a cusser herself, and they are JESUS CHRIST, FUCK AND SHUT UP, in that order).

Every once in a while, Luna gets ahold of a phrase and says it slightly incorrectly-- i.e. "Fucks!" and it is just too damn cute. I end up giggling and then the word sticks around a little longer. When she said it today-- 3 or 4 times in a row, Stephen asked her what she said. He asked her if she said "Books"? "No. Fucks!" Stephen asked her what that word meant and she said, "I dunno. It is just something you say when you are mad."

Damn mothafuckin' straight it is... shit.

15 Years of Jello Hearts

1994: I first made jello hearts for my One True Love 15 years ago today. I took them over to his house in the afternoon. We sat around for a while and grinned at each other. Later on, when he was heading out on a date, he dropped by the Computer Lab at the Union where I was gearing up for an all-nighter and brought me a card.

1995: He called me from some island off the coast of Canada. Since we had still never kissed, I thought it was strange but it certainly made my heart flutter.

1996: I was playing hard to get at this point but I still gave him a used copy of Lady Chatterly's Lover AND jello hearts that year. A kiss was inevitable that spring.

1997-2000: Hmmmm.... living on separate ends of the earth, we still managed to exchange cards. Where was it all leading?

2001: He arrived at 10pm by train. I met him at the Flagstaff train station after 3 days en route. I had jello hearts for him. He had a duffle bag. He moved in to my place. We got engaged less than a month later and started planning a really fun weddin'.

PRESENT-DAY: We try to make it special without buying into the Hallmark BS. We get out and about. This year, we had a lunch date at our favorite Indian place. Tommy joined us but slept through the entire meal. Every year, he makes a homemade card and buys me a CD (usually Dolly Parton). I make him Jello Hearts. He doesn't really even like them but he eats them once a year. Now our children help me make them. We used to joke about making cute kids together. That was 15 years ago. We were right.