Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Words that Baby Girl can now speak...


1. Daddy
2. Mommomomomomom
3. shoes
4.Tank you
5. titty at
6. popo (poopoo)
7. vamos (spanish for let's go)
8. Sweet Girl (sweet girl's real name)
9. NOOOOOOOOO
10. yesh
11. hi
12. gammy (for grammy and grampy)
13. ungry (as she points to the refrigerator)
14. bye bye (when she's in the mood)
15. baby
16. me (short for her babysitters name, Michelle)
17. eh-eh-eh (to anything she wants that she cannot say the word for)

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Friday Night dinner out, Take 2...

Well, this week we tried something different for dinner. We decided to dine at a loud establishment (Rio Grande) at an early hour of 6 o'clock and after feeding baby girl some food so that she was pleasantly full and happy.
And everything was going well until... Baby girl was getting fiesty, and restless and went to visit her daddy for a few minutes while her mommy ate a bit more of her food. Somehow she managed to scrape her fingernail across the cornea on my dear husband's right eyeball.
He has a history of being a bit dramatic when he gets a scratch or a pinch, or a hit, so I really didn't take him very seriously and told him to settle down and stop the drama. OOOps! Around 3:30 am, he was pacing the house and complaining about how painful it was, and I took a look, and it looked BAD! It was swolen and watery, and he couldn't even open it. So we decided that he should probably go to the emergency room. I couldn't go with him because that would have meant waking precious sleeping babes or waking wonderful sleeping grandparents to come over at ungodly hours of the night. So my dear husband drove himself to the ER and witnessed a poor soul who nearly chopped his ear off while apparently dancing with a young lady near a strip dancer type of pole. Hmmm.... interesting! Then they took him back and diagnosed him with a corneal abrasion that went from the top corner to the other corner of his eyeball. I felt a little guilty for calling him dramatic, but he's been a bit of a pain in my butt for the last few weeks, so a piece of me felt a little justice. But, then my guilt came back and I felt badly for him.
We have said that baby girl is our wild one, but now we have official proof.
Never a dull moment at our Friday night dinners, anyone want a little excitement? Come and join us next week... who knows what will happen?

Thursday, September 14, 2006

It's a miracle!

My sweet girl is what is known as a picky eater. I don't think those words do her justice, something stronger, like only likes to eat about 5 things in the world. She's always been the one that eats a different meal, or eats nothing at a meal. I've exhausted myself reading different ideas on the picky eater topic, ranging from serve them what you eat, they'll cave in eventually to don't fight about it, that will only make her resent food. And I've had many a miserable dinner listening to her fuss and cry about "all that yucky food" on her plate. I've landed somewhere in the middle on the topic. She now has grilled cheese, french fries, chicken nuggets, apples, yogurt, banannas, grapes, cheese sandwich on a potato roll, peanut butter sandwich,with no jelly please, crossants, taco shells, and anything sweet on her menu of things she will eat.
I know some frown upon me for not making her eat what we eat, but they do not live with me, and they are not in charge of my home, so I cast their judgement to the wind.

Starting Kindergarten was a big thing for us food wise. We bought a lunch box, and I pondered what I could fill it with that would make my sweet girl happy. The first day I packed a chocolate pudding, cheese sandwich, some grapes, and some pringles potato chips, with a peanut butter bar for snack. The lunch box came home with only a few chips left, and a few grapes. I could not believe that my little "eat like a bird" child had finished off all of this food and left only a few morsels. The days continued like this for the rest of the week. Week 2 came, and a little more came home, but it was the junk, not the good healthy stuff. I feel like a normal mommy who has a child who eats. (I know it's not exotic food that she's eating, but she's eating typical school age lunch time food with other kids). The excitement came to a peak last night when we attended our very first back to school night. Another little girls mommy commented to me that my sweet girl had made quite an impression on her daughter's eating habits. I cringed at first, fearing what I might hear. It appears that my sweet girl's eating habits are being watched by others, and they are looking up to her. The little girl in my sweet girl's class demanded a cheese sandwich for her lunch because "Sweet girl gets one every day, and she says they are delicous." For those of you who know my sweet girl and our battle with the world of food, you know that this is a very proud moment for me.

Friday, September 08, 2006

A crazy way to end the week...

I went back to work 2 weeks ago after a fun filled summer with my girls. I was ready to go back to school and get my classroom set up for a new year of learning, and man, I made that classroom look great. Everything was in place, it looked perfect, and then they came. 25 little darlings walked into my door on Tuesday morning. I wasn't there, but I bet they looked cute.
I wasn't there because my sweet girl was starting Kindergarten and she was getting on a school bus for the first time at exactly the same time my new students were walking in the door. I struck a deal with my principal and found a wonderful person to greet my students and read a book to them until I got there.
Well, sweet girl loved the bus ride, loved the first day of school, and had nothing, but great things to say about Kindergarten.

As you can see it was an exciting day. And I held back my tears until the bus had driven away, and a had a small crying moment, but then I had to hurry on my way to meet my own students.

Speaking of my own students, they are quite a bunch. Not the worst, or weirdest bunch I've ever had, but definitely the chattiest. They won't shut up! Even the one who speaks only Japanese. This morning he was feeling a bit homesick, and he cried for 1 1/2 hours yelling at me in japanese (his yelling was translated by another student who is fluent in japanese and english as "Call my mom, I want to go home, you tell her to come and get me!) .

I survived my first week of school, and my dear husband and I decided to go out to dinner to celebrate. No babysitter, so the girlies come along for what was the most eventful, and unpleasant dinner I have ever had. Baby girl fell asleep on the way to Coastal Flats, home of the best, tangy Calamari that you have ever tasted, and a pretty good lobster roll too. We walked around a bit while we waited for our table, and she woke up in a good mood. "It's going to be a great dinner," we were thinking. But, boy were we mistaken.

As soon as we sat down at the table, baby girl starts fussing, which escalated to a cry, then to screams and wails. So my dear husband walked her around. She was happy and they came back, then she got mad again because he would not let her poke herself in the eye with a fork. Then sweet girl started to irritate baby girl by pushing, tugging, taking things away(something she's gotten quite good at lately, irritating her baby sister). So more crying! The waiter brings the girls food early, but baby girl will not eat because she is too mad. She loves food, and usually it can cure the angry baby that she sometime is, but not tonight. It's my turn to walk her around. (are you getting a picture in your head of this yet? Not relaxing, not celabratory at all!)

We come back to the table and she is calmed, and she starts to eat her grilled cheese sandwich. She's so independent, and wants to do it by herself. I let her, and I eat my yummy lobster roll with my left hand (my right hand that I usually eat with is holding onto baby girl so that she doesn't climb into the next booth or fall under the table). All of a sudden, I hear a waitress say, "Oh no, "and I look behind me to where my baby girl has dropped her half eaten grilled cheese over the back of our booth onto the back of another paying customer at the restaurant. The waitress takes the sandwich and inspects the mans very dry-clean only shirt, which luckily doesn't have a grilled cheese mark on it. I apologize and promise that nothing else will bother them that evening. Then baby girl starts her wailing again, this time her sister has smooshed her into the corner and she is stuck. What does a stressed out mommy do when faced with this situation? why, I give my sweet girl a little pinch and tell her to settle down and treat her sister nicely. The pinch only makes her scream and wail, and now any joy that was left in this dinner is gone. My dear husband takes those girls out to the the front of the restauarant, and I am left in peace to pay the bill. He knew that I was just about to step over the edge into really bad mommyhood, so I was awarded this akward, sit in the booth alone time. The waiter was relieved that we were on our way out and told me to have a very good evening in just a little, too friendly way, and I went on my way to find my family. They were easy to spot, one was sitting on the ground crying about something and the other one was trying to wrestle free of her daddy's arms.

And that, my friends, is how I spent my Friday evening!

Hopefully tomorrow will bring much rest and relaxation...