That Makes Me Sad

I was trying to prepare my own lunch today after having fed the girls. A busied herself with the little white board on our fridge. She was drawing up a storm, punctuating each creation with, "Look, Mom!" After about a dozen interruptions to admire her doodles, I finally said, "Babe, I can't look at every drawing, I'm trying to make my lunch." To which, she replied very matter-of-factly, "That makes me sad. I'm not going to draw anymore. I'm just going to go away." Of course, I felt like a total heel! I tried to back peddle a bit while she erased her last drawing, explaining that her drawings are lovely and I look as often as I can, but mommy needs a turn to eat lunch, too. She erased her drawing (so we could not enjoy it without her) and went to her room and closed the door. She wasn't ugly or overly dramatic about it (surprise, surprise), just not going to perform without an audience.

I have to admit that while I felt like an absolute schmuck because I hurt her feelings, I was a little grateful for the few minutes of silence. Lately, the playlist of my life has been stuck on repeat: "Watch this, Mommy! Watch this, Mommy! Watch this, watch this, watch this, Mommy!" I really cannot watch every time, nor do I want to. J was a little scared when he came home Friday night to find me in the midst of a breakdown, singing and dancing to my own little made-up "Watch this, Mommy!" song.

Fortunately, on both occasions, he swooped in to be the knight in shining armor for both of us. He took her to run errands Friday evening, giving me time to regain my sanity. And at lunch today, he went to her room and talked about how beautiful her pictures are even if no one sees them. I don't know if she bought it or not, but she eventually came out and announced, "I forgive you, Mommy." I apologized again for making her sad and she assured me, "That's okay, Mommy." Oh good, reconciliation. Then as she walked away, "Just don't let it happen again." Not making any promises on that one.

Told Ya

J was first to witness C crawling today. I confirmed it. Sis celebrated with shouts of how proud she was and what a big girl her baby sister was becoming. Month eight has been a busy one.

Breakthrough

Literally. It appears that C's first tooth has broken through on the bottom. Noticed it last night after supper. Just a tiny, sharp spot on her bottom gum. Big sis couldn't get a glimpse of it and I told her to give it a few days and we'd all be able to actually see it. A few more days is probably all it will take for her to be crawling as well. Stay tuned.

Buh Bye!

Isn't she precious?!

Big fan of mint

Mint chocolate ice cream has always been my favorite. Ditto for thin mints. A stocking full of Andes or York mints on Christmas morning? Perfection. (Yes, J, that was a hint.) And now, mint.com. Click on over and stand amazed at the time-saving wonder that is free, automatic, online budgeting. I have always been the one to manage our family's finances and have rightly earned the title of Quicken Nazi. "No receipt? No soup for you!" Well, mint has offered an other-worldy level of freedom for me. I have relinquished my quicken ways and embraced every auto feature that I am aware of at mint. Goodbye, endless entry of every individual receipt! Hello, two minutes every week to verify categories are accurately assigned. Goodbye, two hours a week to reconcile statements and update budgets. Hello, emails alerting me that I'm close to going over budget in any category. The time that I have saved on finances has been so liberating! I have spare moments to write a blog, for crying out loud!

Be free, my fellow Quicken-slaves! You know not what you miss. Taste and see that the mint is smooth and satisfying. Just pray with me that the recent acquisition by Quicken-creator Intuit will not poison the mellow goodness that is mint.com, lest we all be chained again to the time sink that is manual entry.

Bible and Rhyme

I'm trying a preschool curriculum with A this year and I have to say that I am loving it! I can't read her mind yet, but I think she's enjoying it too. I found it online at Hubbard's Cupboard, a site that I can't say enough about. It's chock full of great Bible-based resources for preschoolers. All free, just print it out and use it. We're trying not to be too rigid with schedules or goals, just throwing in a story or craft as the day allows. All the homeschoolers I know would be so proud...we're only one week into it and already behind. We've been talking about creation for the last week or so and practicing writing numbers to go along with each day. Writing numbers in chocolate pudding is apparently condoned by the neatnik 3-year-old; however, writing in shaving cream is absolutely unacceptable. Profound question posed this week: "Mommy, where are Adam and Eve now?" Just color the trees, honey, color the trees.

Loving 3!

I am loving my 3-year-old! I was really worried about 3, because I've heard lots of moms say that "3 is the new terrible-2's." But so far, that has not been my experience with A. Now, another wise mommy recently shared that the first few months of 3 were blissful for her and then around 3 1/2, her angel grew horns and started spitting fire. So I'm going to enjoy 3 as long as I can! Here's why:

1. Playing by herself, playing by herself, playing by herself!
2. Potty by herself, potty by herself, potty by herself!
3. Still taking an afternoon nap
4. Able to play with other little friends without direct supervision
   
5. Enough experience with discipline that the rules don't need explaining
6. Wants to help fold the washrags and rinse the dishes! Hel-lo...need I say more?!
7. Helps her baby sister and rejoices over new things she can do
8. Unbelievable, imaginative stories
9. Finally get to do the fun crafty stuff because she doesn't mind (terribly) if she gets messy
10. Refer to #1-3.

Dear C,

Today you are eight months old. Eight months of flashing that incredible smile at us. Eight months of squealing laughter (and I mean skuh-weeling!). I have no idea what your stats are today because there is no well-check at 8 months and I don't want to climb into the attic and haul down the baby scale only to have no place to put it and have to lug it back up there. You're healthy, that's what's important.

You're going to take off crawling any day now which is way too fast for me. I put you on the floor to play yesterday and you managed to swivel and scoot your way about three feet away from your blanket. You bend one leg behind you and do a cheerleader's herkie pretty quick upon being set down. It's just a matter of time before you get the other leg back there and flop onto all fours. Daddy likes to encourage you by crawling all around you while you rock back and forth. He likes to make my life easier that way.

A handful of people have told me in the last week that your hair shows signs of being red. Auburn, I think one called it. I only see the hints when we're in the sun, so we'll wait and see. You've definitely still got quite a head of hair. Curls all over. You always get comments from strangers. They probably wouldn't make such a big deal about it if I would comb it every now and then.

You are sleeping great through the night, though I wish you would sleep in a little longer. You start moving around shortly after 6 am. Naps are another story. Just like your sister, you like a good 45-minute nap. We've had our battles over that and as hard as it might be for you, Mommy has to win this one. You've started getting very clingy in the last month, and I'm not sure if it's the rough naps or typical separation anxiety. I can't leave a room without you fussing at me, and now you pile on the guilt by starting to plead, "ma ma ma ma" if I'm out of sight too long.

You really enjoy eating! Frozen peas are your current delicacy of choice. It's not uncommon for you to turn your nose up at other offerings until you've had a few handfuls of peas. I tried frozen cantaloupe today and you enjoyed that too. Wonder if you would feel the same about frozen vienna sausages? I don't think I can bring myself to do that to you. The last few times I suggested you eat "meat sticks," they sent shivers down your spine. Bananas had the same effect. Otherwise, you'll eat almost anything I give you and lots of it!

You love your big sister. Chasing her around the house in Mommy's arms is a huge hit with both of you. You two can break the windows when you both get going with the high-pitched shrieks of laughter. She can even make you giggle in the back seat of the car. You love to swing in the backyard next to her. Any time she goes out to swing, you want to go too. I can't wait to see you playing together in a few more months.

One day you will be able to read this and want to know more and more about what you were like. Hate to leave you wanting, but I have to wrap up now because you've only slept 20 minutes and you think you're done. I need to go inform you otherwise, because cute as it is, your infectious smile won't carry us both until bedtime. I love you, C.

Just when you thought you were a grown-up...

...You step in a fire ant bed and are immediately transported back in time to being an angry, frustrated, whiny, three-year-old. I can laugh about this now because the bites don't itch any more. Tuesday morning, I actually remembered to water the lawn and found a fire ant bed while moving the sprinkler. I was in flip-flops, so they covered a lot of territory before the first bite alerted me to their sneak attack. I only suffered about a dozen bites, but they were very strategically placed to maximize the torture trifecta that is fiery itch, swollen skin and inaccessibility to scratching. Only two landed on the bottom of my feet, the others were lined up along the cuticle of my toenails. Not just the cuticle, but almost the interior of the nail bed. You can't scratch there. You might can rub, but that does not achieve the same release of endorphins as a thorough scratch. By the way, I think that endorphin release was God's little gift to get me through the week. Feeling stressed? A little tired? Just give that ant bite a good scratch and feel the tension melt away. Who needs Calgon? Forget coffee! I've got bio-identical amphetamines. Of course, it's not as much fun in the middle of night when you can't sleep because your toes are on fire. Can I just say, though, how incredibly grateful I am that this is all I have to whine about?! God is so good.

Treasure and Ponder

I had one of those sweet, rare moments with my daughters this afternoon that I just want to savor and squirrel away to give me fuel for those days when one or both is screaming in decibels that could make your ears bleed. It was right after naps and it probably didn't hurt that I had gotten one also. It's been a big week around here and we topped it off with a cherry of a playgroup this morning. So we were all tuckered out and took great naps. Formula for tender, memory-making moments duly noted. I was holding a sleepy-eyed C on my lap on the couch and A decided there was just enough room to squeeze up on the other side. They were nose to nose in my lap--big sister talking in quiet tones (very rare), singing to her baby sister, stroking her curls--all right there under my chin. A deluge of loving-kindness from my heavenly Father.

It made me think of Mary, Jesus' mother. The Bible says she "treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart," referring to the day Jesus was born and the shepherds came to see Him because a host of angels had told them to go find Him. Can you imagine having things like that going on with your newborn and not having a camera to capture any of it?! I know this is not a very spiritual thing to be thinking, but here I go thinking it. I can't trust my heart to treasure and ponder for five minutes, much less the rest of my life. I had to blog about my sweet moment, lest I forget it was possible when aliens invade my three-year-old's body tomorrow and scream in demonic voices, "but I don't have to go potty!" even when the tell-tale dance suggests otherwise.

Dear Father, please give extra staying power to my fond memories, that I may treasure and ponder them in my heart. And by some supernatural miracle, please help me really be able to forgive and forget like I know You do.

Side by side

May as well compare apples to apples, right? I've been meaning to take a look at both girls' 6-month pictures side by side to see if I noticed any similarities. I think it's pretty obvious that they're sisters, but they won't be mistaken for twins. And if for some reason, say thirty or more years from now, they are frequently asked, "Who's older?" maybe C will have the good fortune to look her part. Not that I would have any experience with that or anything.

Milestone

C started mumbling her first real word today. It happened first in the car on the way home from playgroup, a pitiful little "ma ma" mixed in with her tired whines. Big sister perked up and yelled, "She said Mama!" I mm-hmm'ed her and wrote it off as a fluke. Then this afternoon, I was coaxing her to come to me in her walker and she started again with very deliberate, repeated "ma ma ma ma ma ma." Of course, my heart swelled with pride and I beamed right back at her precious little face as I scooped her up and snuggled her close, both chanting "Mama, Mama." We played a little longer but she soon got fussy and I put her in her high chair for a snack. Her little feet started twirling like propellers, hands stirring up a frenzy, and now a word, too..."MA MA MA MA MA!" That's when it occured to me that she was not verbalizing her sweet adoration for her mother; she was repeating the only word we've really emphasized to her--"more." We've been saying and signing "more" for a few weeks now when she is eating, and the girl is obviously motivated by food. It wasn't very sophisticated, but she managed to communicate so I'm counting it. First word, 7 1/2 months. Only three months earlier than big sister started talking (who is now the busiest talker I have ever met). Pink arrows, folks, pink arrows.