Kate's Dilla

Do I get some, too?

Aah, the confusing life of toddlers. We have had bean and cheese quesadillas for lunch for the past couple of days, and Kate has been trying to say 'quesadilla'. But she thinks I'm saying "Kate's dilla", so she points at my plate and says, "Mommy dilla" and points at her own plate and says, "Kate dilla". Adorable.

Kate's dilla.

And that about sums up our excitement for the past few days. Which is really kind of nice, actually. I'm going to go enjoy the unexcitement right now and maybe read a book that doesn't have pictures.

Aaaaaah, aaaaaah, aaaaaah

McLaren's first words! She started cough-talking recently, and now has added 'aaaaah, aaaaah' to her vocabulary. She loves to talk and when it gets loud in here she will also get louder, trying to be heard over the screams of little children. I hosted the co-op over here yesterday morning and it was quite loud. Seven kids and 5 moms in a small space makes for some racket. We had planned to go outside and play in the pool, but it was rainy and cloudy. Awesome. It didn't get above 88* yesterday and was 68* at 4pm. It's June, people! This is virtually unheard of!

We got thunder and lightning after the girls woke up from their naps, and Kate got to say "boom boom" and "sat" (splat) a lot. She loves to quote her Mr. Brown Can Moo book. I think the rainstorm is the first that Kate has seen in months, and she hasn't heard a thunderstorm in ages, so she was a little scared. We were headed out for errands in the middle of it and she came running over to me in the carport after a particularly loud boom. Then we got in the car and she said "bye-bye boom" and was okay after that.

McLaren is waking up to talk at about 5:30am every morning, but she goes back to sleep. It's after 7am now and they are both still sleeping. Why is it that they only want to wake up before dawn when Tim is TDY? Why?

He's Back!

Tim arrived safe and on time on Friday afternoon. The girls and I headed to the squadron to pick him up from his vacation (Vegas + No Kids = Vacation), and Kate greeted him somewhat coolly. She wasn't all that sure about this guy getting in the car, but she warmed up to him after not too long. Lots of playing and running around being chased by him helped. Most of yesterday was spent in the pool or playing 3-card monte, a game Kate really enjoys. Tim puts a ball under one of three pails and moves them all around and then she tries to guess where the ball is. She's getting better, but still hasn't mastered the fact that when a ball goes under the blue pail, it isn't going to show up under the white one. We'll keep at it.

McLaren has been practicing her coughing. Her favorite time of day to do this is at approximately 5:52am. Lucky for her it's a cute cough, and it's her newest way of talking to us, so we don't mind so much.

Getting into a Groove

It took about a week of Tim being gone for Kate and McLaren to get over it and start acting like grown-ups about the whole thing. This morning they slept in until 7:20am (hallelujah!) and both are now napping like they usually do, which is quite well. I really don't know whether their change in behavior was due to Tim being gone or teething or being crabby or me not giving in to Kate wanting to eat brownies for lunch and Claire wanting some of my curry chicken and not getting any. Really. They are babies, after all. But all seems to be right in the world again, and I am so very GLAD.

One thing I'm not so glad about is that Kate got onto the computer this morning and now the menu that used to be at the bottom of my computer is at the top of my screen, and I'm having some trouble adjusting. But since that's the worst thing that has happened today, I'll take it and stop whining.

Poor Claire, though. She is not all that fond of her oatmeal, even though I'm mixing a little apple juice in with it. I held her on my lap this afternoon while Kate and I ate lunch, and her little legs were going a mile a minute, and her arms were moving at the same time and she was making all kinds of cooing noises to let me know that she wanted some of that chicken, thank you very much. I think she actually sighed when I put the last bite in my mouth. I'd let her try it, but I really don't think she'd like it and I'm pretty certain it would upset her little tummy. Not that that sort of thing has stopped me before. But curry chicken at 4mo is just not right.

Kate tries to drive away before I can get her swimsuit on.

I Think I Know What the Problem Is

Teeth. I can just now see one of Kate's lower eye teeth coming in. I imagine that is what is causing so much grief around here. I hope so, at least, 'cause mama can't take much more of this!


I think we are having a breakthrough on swim lessons, though. Yesterday afternoon we swam and Kate didn't want to get out of the water again. But she also kept wanting to come to me (I'm the evil one who makes her swim to the step, so she usually doesn't want anything to do with me). I believe she might be getting more confident in the water and is now wanting to show me how well she can swim. Also, she didn't cry at lessons this morning until she actually got into the water. This is a big improvement over last week when she would start crying as soon as she saw the house from her car seat.

As for me, I'm still working on the sleep thing. The cat is hereby evicted from sleeping in the house at night. He woke me up at 2am, wanting to go outside. After I had let him out, I noticed that it seemed rather warm inside, so I turned on the swamp cooler (it was 75 and stuffy) and headed back to bed. Probably around 4am I started having dreams about how chilly it was and that I hoped the babies were warm enough. I didn't wake up from these dreams until 5am when I noticed it was freezing (65). So, up again to turn off the cooler and cover up McLaren. Kate was on her own; I know better than to go into her room when she's sleeping. There is a very good chance she will wake up and if she does, well there's no going back to sleep for awhile. After all that, the girls did sleep in until 7am, so that was a nice bonus. Just a few more days until the weekend and Tim will be home to tend to early-rising children! Woohoo!


Okay, time for a quiz. Who is who?

Making Me Crazy

Kate is driving me to insanity. She won't stop hitting, kicking or shrieking long enough for me to take a deep breath and stop contemplating leaving her on our neighbor's doorstep. Not that they want this demon-child, either, but at least my house would be quiet.

She got a cold on Saturday night and seems to be getting a little better now, although her nose is still running a bit. But now she is waking up at about 6:30am every day, and with McLaren deciding that 7:30am is too late and that 5:30am is a much better time to start babbling, I am very tired.

We went to Joanne's fabrics after swimming lessons today, and Kate tried to grab every item off the shelf and throw it at passersby. I suppose it didn't help that I found a cute child's broom for her and let her play with it while in the stroller to keep her occupied. I think she hit an old lady and a young mom with it before I could wrestle it away from her. When we got home, she ran around the living room chasing 'Ta-but' (Starbuck) with her new toy, and he cowered by the gate in the hallway waiting for me to rescue him. Now she is sleeping quietly (please let her have a long nap today, God), and McLaren is waking up. I guess there will be no nap for mommy today.

I am giving some thought to just going away this weekend by myself, maybe to Phoenix, or perhaps to Mexico. Doesn't that sound nice? I think so.

Kate the Bully

We invited Erika and Reese over tonight for dinner and playtime, and I found out that Kate is a bit of a bully. I think it's because Tim is gone and she is acting out to show her disapproval of his absence, but she was not the nicest kid tonight to her friend Reese. There was some pushing, some grabbing of toys and a lot of hitting. I think Kate is trying to figure out how to 'play' with other kids now (she used to just ignore them and play by herself), and isn't quite sure how it goes. She does know that if someone is playing with one of her toys, she wants to play with it. Right now. Sharing is not yet in her vocabulary. But I suppose that is somewhat normal for toddlers? Please tell me that it is. They did try to make up after dinner, but fell over while hugging and Kate bumped her head pretty good on the tile floor. Now I'm listening to her cough and cry a little while she tries to sleep, and I'm hoping like hell that she's not getting sick. Wait until your Daddy gets home if you really need to get sick! Please, Baby Girl. Please.

McLaren and I got to spend a few quality minutes together while I got her ready for bed. I love changing her out of her clothes because she's ticklish somewhere near her chin, or her neck, or her underarms. I'm not sure where exactly, but when I take her shirt off she giggles and it's so cute. So cute. It makes my day. So after the giggling we just looked at each other, and she grabbed my fingers with her little hands and smiled with her whole face. She has the most beautiful eyes and when she smiles they light up like a sunny day. A while back my sister said that McLaren looks like she's just going to be such a nice person, and she's right. She does look like that.

Oh.

McLaren had her 4mo appointment yesterday, and I found out that apparently she doesn't have baby acne (still), but that we might need to change detergents. The doctor said it's a rash. It doesn't really look like a rash, but seeing as how she's had baby acne since, well, birth, perhaps we'll give this other detergent thing a go. Poor kid. I thought she was just getting it all out of her system now, as opposed to getting acne when she's a teenager. What? It could happen.

So I've been rethinking some things. Like maybe we should move the gate back to where we had it before:

Kate is enjoying having free access to her room, but I am not enjoying picking up all of her clothes after hurricane Katrina hits the dresser.

Oh, and single moms? Not sure how you do it. But now I have a newfound respect for you. Tim has not been gone long, and I am exhausted, have a headache, and just want some time by myself and perhaps a chance to sleep in. I'm not complaining, just saying. So, Tim: be prepared when you get home from your vacation. I'm sleeping in next weekend.

Video Update

Kate says 'hi' to her Daddy & tells him she misses him, and swims to the bar during swimming lessons.

Icky Bins and 'Tucks'

Kate has a fascination with garbage trucks. I'm not sure how it started, but she loves to hear the 'tucks' drive up and pick up the 'icky bins'. Tuesday is our day here, and Tuesday mornings are candy for Kate. First the recycling trucks come and pick up the icky bins at the end of our driveway, and then sometime during breakfast she can hear the garbage trucks rumbling down the alley behind our house to pick up the communal dumpsters. She cranes her neck around so she can see behind her, over the back wall, as the truck's arms reach out and lift the canisters into the air, dumping their contents into the belly of the truck. Then she claps. "Icky bins! Icky bins!" It's really quite charming.

Almost 2 weeks ago now, my sister graduated from dental hygiene school, pretty much at the top of all of Arizona's classes. My dad came out to visit, and he got to spend time with all three of his granddaughters.

Kate's swimming lessons continue, and she is getting better each day. She now cries the instant she sees the pool from her car seat, as opposed to last week when she didn't start crying until I actually handed her over to Ms. Tracie. So, no progress there. But the swimming part is going great. Also a bonus: she is tired out afterwards and either takes a really long nap, or goes to bed at 7pm and sleeps for 12 hours straight. I think it's worth the money just for that.

Firsts

Overheard yesterday at the mall: "Okay, Kate, you get to be WSO."


We went mattress shopping yesterday at the mall with the girls and decided to try something new: we put Kate in the back part of the stroller (the Weapons Systems Officer's position, as Tim refers to it as) and sat McLaren up in the front seat. Why I ever thought I could live without a double stroller, I will never know. Anyway, that is neither here nor there. I think McLaren enjoyed sitting up and having a view of things, although I'm not sure how much she enjoyed having her sister kick the back of her seat incessantly and pull her hair. We ultimately ended up with Kate in the front and McLaren reclined in the back so she could take her nap.



After we got back from the mall, McLaren got to try her first solid food, rice cereal. She didn't care for it very much.

First rice cereal, 4mo.

Then, after a late nap, we packed up and headed to Reese's house for her 2nd birthday.

Megan, Reese & Carly, blowing out the candles.

Mmm, cake.

Right now, Kate is very into hot dogs. She particularly enjoys the 'rib-eye' version, the sausage version and the roast beef version. She knows she likes meat, and now associates all of it with hot dogs.

Oh, and before I forget, I have new stats on the kids (for weight, at least):

Kate (20mo): 29.6 lbs

McLaren (4mo): 15.8 lbs

My babies are chubsy.

Too Busy for More Than Photos

Kate's in swimming lessons, everyday for the next 5 weeks. We're almost done with week one. She is doing a great job, and is already learning to roll over onto her back and float. She hates the lessons, but is becoming a good swimmer.

McLaren will be 4 months this weekend. I can't believe she's already so big. She is rolling from side to side (not rolling over yet - I think she's too chubsy for that to happen for awhile), doesn't care much for tummy time, and is eyeing my oatmeal every morning. We may be trying rice cereal this weekend. She is also teething, I think. She tries to shove her whole hand into her mouth any chance she gets, and likes to bite on the teething rings we have for her. She's also now enjoying her exersaucer, which is a great way for her to be upright and more involved in the family.

Trying to shove the whole skwish into her mouth.

And the Winner Is....the Kia

The Kia. That's right. I was at the mall this morning running errands while Kate & Claire enjoyed their time at the co-op, and when I went to back out of my parking spot, another girl was also backing out...and you guessed it. Bam! And not the Emeril kind of bam. It was a slight collission, really, since we were both backing out at about 1 mph, both looking for other cars and failing to see each other. But when I got out to look at my bumper, and then looked at her bumper, I realized that my Subaru lost the battle. I am in slight disbelief. My car is supposed to be so tough. It's an Outback. Rugged. All-wheel drive. And it lost a battle to a Kia. Her car didn't even have a scratch on it that I could see. We looked twice. I'm very disappointed, Subaru.

This photo makes it look worse than it is. It's only scratched, not dented. But still.

Mexico

Awesome. Mexico was fab-u-lous. We spent 4 days and 3 nights at the Casa Blanca resort in Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco to those who think Rocky Point doesn't sound very Mexican), enjoying the sun, pool, beach, margaritas, and Mexican food. It took us about 4.5 hours to drive there from Tucson, including stops for the kids, and we arrived around dinner time on Saturday. Rocky Point is becoming quite a destination for those living in Phoenix and Tucson because it's so close, and I think we've become one of those statistics: we'll be there again (I hope) in August or September for a few more nights of beach life.

The kids did great. I'm amazed at how well Kate adjusted to sleeping in the pack 'n play in a room that was not her own. It probably helped that she didn't nap on Saturday (at all) on the way there. She was out by about 6:45pm that night and slept in until 7:30-8am the next morning. I was afraid that her lack of nap that day would cause all kinds of problems, but she was great. Claire shared a room with her (sleeping on a towel on the floor on the other side of the bed from Kate) and also slept like the proverbial baby. Woohoo! Of course, having 2 sleeping children at 7pm means you can't take walks along the beach at midnight, but let's face it, we were asleep by then anyway.

McLaren & Jen.

Kate loved the pool (it was very kid-friendly, with an area that was about 1.5' deep for her to run around in), and even enjoyed playing in the sand on the beach. She loved running about in the condo and on the deck, but didn't want to walk on the grass. She's still not sure about that stuff.

We went to dinner at La Curva on Monday night in Rocky Point, and Kate got to experience a Mariachi band, burritos, and fried ice cream. I think she was a big fan of all three.

Happy Mother's Day!

This Mother's Day, I ask you to give a mom a break. As a mom, I now understand so much more about life, and about why moms look and act the way they do.

For instance, if you are expecting a mom to meet you somewhere at a given time, understand that she could be late for any number of reasons. She could have been up late the night before, wondering when her husband was going to get home, hoping to talk to him after several days of limited contact due to his job (and hers). She could have decided to sleep just a few minutes longer, since the kids were still quiet, although she knew that she would be pushing it later if she wanted to arrive to her destination on time. She could have decided (dammit) that she was going to take a shower even though they had to leave in 15 minutes, put the eldest child in the pack 'n play that was still set up in her bedroom from last weekend, set the youngest child in the bouncy chair and hurriedly washed her hair. She probably frantically combed through her dripping locks, scowled at the 200 hairs that came out in the comb and wondered when this post-pregnancy annoyance would end.

Then she'd pick up the eldest child and smell something funny, just as they were supposed to be putting shoes on and getting into the car. After a record-fast diaper change, she might have put the eldest child on a kitchen chair to help her put her shoes on, not noticing the (full) coffee cup that she had left there from breakfast. That eldest child might then have grabbed the coffee mug and dumped it onto the floor, soaking her mother's shorts and coating the floor, table and chairs with sticky coffee. Perhaps at that point the mother would question her sanity and wonder how their "vacation" to Mexico that weekend was going to go. That, of course, would put her into a slight panic when she realized that she had not yet even begun to pack, that she still needed to sort out the childrens' sleeping arrangements whilst on vacation, and that she was now quite late for her appointment.

So Much Fun

If you can't find us over the summer months at home, we're probably here:

Kate enjoys the misters.

Peeking out from behind a water gun.

Getting very wet.

We went to Brandi Fenton Memorial Park today along with several other moms and kids. Kate was apprehensive at first, but after I started splashing around, she did too, and she had a great time. We got to leave McLaren at home with Tim since he's on nights, so it was just Kate and me. She loved it! We'll be spending a lot of time there in the next few months, I hope.

Claire is starting to laugh now. She has this silly 'ha ha ha' rapid/forced laugh that's really hammy and funny. I hope she'll keep it up long enough so that I can get a video of her doing it, but so far I think I'm the only one who has heard her. She is growing up fast and is sleeping so well now. I can put her down around 7-7:30pm and she won't wake up until 7:30-8am. And she is taking great naps, which allow me time to spend with Kate. Claire also has this fun eyebrow thing going; she is definitely related to my side of the family, as she can already raise one eyebrow and does so often. She looks like she is skeptical of everything.

Kate is doing great, too. She's so funny, laughing when she's pulling Starbuck's string for him to chase her, and playing peek-a-BOO at the dinner table. She wants to be just like me; she puts her cell phone and wallet in her purse, and walks around the house occasionally opening her phone to say "uh-huh" and "bye-bye" and then closing it again, with purpose. We're trying to teach her earmuffs ("Max, can you earmuff for me?" Beanie, Old School) because she's learning new words pretty quickly and I fully expect her to repeat something her father (never me) has said in her presence, and it will probably happen at a very inopportune time, like at church. Anyway.

Business Time

Hysterical.

Duh-Duh Baby?

Temperance Annette.

Jessica had her baby! Temperance Annette (Tempie) was born via emergency C-section on Sunday night; she weighed 7/9 and was 19.5" tall. She's a cutie, even if she does look like her daddy. Congrats to Jess and Mike!

Over the weekend I was telling Kate that she was going to have a new baby cousin, that Aunt Jessica was going to have a baby girl. She got a worried, but thoughtful, look on her face and said, "Duh-Duh baby?" Duh-Duh is my sister, Jessica, in Kate-speak. After I disappeared Monday morning and evening to go visit them at the hospital, Kate seemed a little distraught. I think she is concerned that I am going to be bringing a new baby home. Hopefully she'll relax more when we visit them at their house and see Tempie's nursery. And then come home without the baby. We'll see.

Over the weekend I realized why they don't have Toddler Day Spas. Kate now has pretty toes, but the carpet took a minor hit of red nail polish, as did my hands and Kate's leg.

Post-pedi.

Such a good sleeper.

Multi-Tasking Gone Awry

Mmm, very burnt cookies.

I am not very good at this multi-tasking stuff. Obviously. I put cookies in the oven during naptime yesterday and completely forgot about them. I started to smell a sweet-ish smell and wondered if some remnant of food was burning in the oven. I knew it was on, as I had just made a batch of cookies. I wandered into the kitchen to check that oven to see what was cooking on the bottom or stuck to one of the racks. And what did I find? A dozen cookies that I must have put in there at least 30 minutes ago.

I don't need to eat them anyway, so I guess it's a good thing. We decided we're going to Mexico next weekend, and silly me didn't think about how that was only about 10 days away...not really enough time to get into bikini-shape. But we are headed to Rocky Point for 4 days, over Mother's Day weekend. It will be our first 'family vacation not visiting other family'. I hope that doesn't mean it's going to be hell. Be sure to check back here over the next week as I write about how stressful packing for 2 kids under the age of 2 is, and how the lack of trunk space in my car is causing much grief.

Too Much

I really have got to stop trying to do so much in a day. For some reason I just think that I can squeeze a few more things in, and it is stressing me out.

I wanted to get Kate's hair cut, but wanted my sister to come with me to take pictures. It's a big event, after all. Jess is going to be induced on Monday, and we have other things going on all week, so it had to be today. We left the house late, and then had to wait at Great Clips (I'll spend more when she stops putting peanut butter in her hair at lunchtime). Kate did very well, and escaped without any cuts to the skin. I wasn't sure that was going to work out okay, considering how much she was squirming in my lap. She now has a neater appearance (except when she puts her syryp-covered fork in her hair after breakfast), and I have a lock of blonde curls to put in her baby book.

Before the haircut.

Her first trim.

After the haircut, we raced to lunch at Rocco's, late again. I think I hit every red light on the way there. Claire was starting to fuss a little due to hunger, but she hung on until we got "situated" in the restaurant. We were all sitting inside, and if you've been to Rocco's, you know there is hardly any room in there. Especially when there are 4 moms with 5 kids trying to squeeze into a booth. Carseats were everywhere, Kate was trying to climb out of her highchair onto the table, and there I was attempting to nurse Claire with a knit blanket covering us. We were hot, Kate was hungry and getting tired, and I was getting more stressed every minute. I had wanted to get together with friends to catch up, but somehow that didn't work out so well. I don't know why I keep thinking it will...pretty much every outing with 2 kids and 1 parent makes me stressed and I leave wondering what I was thinking. Having people over to the house works so much better; I think I'll stick with that for awhile.

Tonight while Tim was giving Kate a bath, she stood up and said, "up up up!". This, in the past, has been an indication that she needs to use the toilet so Tim quickly picked her up and put her on her Dora potty. She sat there for what seemed like 10 minutes, soaking wet, playing with her bath toys...and then she peed in the potty! Sorry for the graphic, folks, but this is a bit of a milestone for us. About 6-8 weeks ago she told me she had to go and I put her on and she went and then: nothing for the next couple of months. She'd want to sit on the potty, but wouldn't do anything. I had pretty much lost hope, until tonight, of potty training until she was a bit older. We'll see if we can continue to progress. And of course you'll be able to read all about it right here. That's why you read this, right? To hear about potty stories? That's what I thought.