A Benefit of Blogging

58 words

Speed test

When I worked at a computer all day and didn't have TIBM*, I only typed 40 WPM.

*TIBM = The Itsy Bitsy Monkey

Just Blame the Baby

This morning I was in the bathroom and I needed paper and the roll was empty (I said that as delicately as I could; you get it, right?). So I looked around because sometimes if someone is in a hurry they might just set a roll on the counter or back of the toilet or somewhere nearby. But there was nothing. So I had to get up and cross the bathroom to the linen closet where we keep the extra paper. Later, when I asked Husbandguy about it, he blamed Lulu. Who doesn't use toilet paper. And who doesn't know where we keep the extra. And who is not yet 2 years old. And he meant it! He wasn't kidding. He was really saying that my toddler was at fault for the toilet paper not being replaced. As an apology he said this, "I'm sorry you didn't have any toilet paper." !! Jerk!

Happy Leap Day!

Shhh! Don't Tell Husbandguy

At the grocery store this morning I discovered that King Arthur makes a white whole wheat flour. He'll never know...

Said About Pete:

At Pete's lesson, the first thing her teacher said to her was, "I am soooooo proud of you!" Then she showed us the judge's comments from her audition this weekend. About "Wee Small Bear" the judge said, "Beautifully curved fingertips! I like the way you count so carefully. Great contrast between legato and staccato notes!!" and about "Butterflies and Rainbows" she said, "I can tell you worked hard on this piece! Again, great counting I am so proud of the way you curve your fingertips and connect your notes." and about Pete's teacher she said, "Great teaching!" We all agree with Pete's teacher that we're sooooooo proud of her.

For the guild, Pete has chosen to do the full audition: 7 memorized pieces, sightreading, ear-training, and transposing. Go Pete!

I Wonder If This Will Work

Earlier I made granola. Turns out it's really easy. I altered the recipe a little bit because it called for stick margarine and I don't buy that anymore because of the trans fat so I used the heart-healthy spreadable kind instead. And also I didn't have enough honey (I thought) so I used maple syrup and raw sugar. It's really good. I had to put it in a Tupperware thing so I didn't eat it all before Pete gets home. Then, while I was picking up Lulu, I was thinking about these Cheerios we have on hand and how no one is eating them for some reason and I wondered if, since they're made from oats, could I make them into granola too? You know, Cheernola. Or granrios.... Graneerios (<-that's the one!). But I used up all the maple syrup on the first batch of real granola so I had to find something else to use instead, and in the back of our pantry was this jar of fancy honey that we've had forever and that wasn't even open and it was exactly the amount I needed so I used that. They looked weird in the oven, the graneerios, got all bubbly and stuff, and when I took them out, it looked like maybe the little O's had actually shrunk up some. They smell good. But I have to wait until they cool to see if I've just wasted our breakfast cereal. That no one was eating anyway. I'll let you know...

Ten Years? Really?

Today is Husbandguy and my anniversary. Ten years ago today we picked up Moomie's mom and met Nana, Poppop, Moomie, DH's best friend and PSP at the courthouse. The Grandpa's dad was sick and he had to choose where he was going to be and we missed him very much but he made the choice I would have made. It was Friday. As DH and I were driving away from our house, I noticed a car parked a couple of houses down that looked a lot like Moomie's. It turned out that it was Moomie. She was waiting for us to leave so she could sneak into our house and leave us a little cake and some champagne and flowers. She thought we'd go the other way out of the neighborhood, away from where she was, and when we pulled out and started driving toward her she had to quickly duck down in her seat so we wouldn't see her. Silly Moomie. The whole thing was pretty simple. We got to watch the couple before us get married because they hadn't realized they needed witnesses and the bride found Moomie in the bathroom and asked her if she would be willing to be a witness. During their ceremony, Moomie's mom asked, "What if she says no?" which fortunately made everyone laugh. Then we paid the magistrate the small fee and he married us. No big deal. Just right for us. Then we had dinner. It was wonderful. And low-key. And if I had it to do again I wouldn't change anything except maybe I'd get my hair done. A couple of years later we went to the wedding of one of DH's coworkers in a Catholic church. During the homily, the priest said that people who were married at the courthouse weren't actually married, but it seems to be sticking so far. And the IRS doesn't seem to care...

Anyway, happy anniversary Stinky! Eye (still) rub ewe!

The Trouble with Lulu

Lulu has been having a difficult time recently, behavior-wise. She wants what she wants when she wants it and she melts down if she doesn't get it. This is making Husbandguy crazy because if he's home, what she wants is Daddy, but that doesn't mean she's going to do what Daddy wants her to do. So I looked in my book that Moomie gave me (Ilg, Frances L. M.D., et al. Child Behavior: The classic child care manual from the Gesell Institute of Human Development. New York, NY. Harper Perennial, 1981.), and it turns out that Lulu is actually two-and-a-half. Here we were thinking she is 20 months old. Apparently we were wrong, though.

My Grandma

I keep seeing Moomie's mom everywhere! Sitting at the dinner table with us, walking through our house, in the back seat of my car strapped into a car seat... Okay. It's not really her, but it is really cool to me how much Lulu looks like her. Especially since we named her after my grandma before we even saw her. Obviously we chose the right name.

New Chairs

My aunt and uncle sent me my grandmother's kitchen table and a couple of the chairs that went with it a few years back, and I love the table. Husbandguy doesn't like the chairs because they don't seem sturdy enough to him and, frankly, could use a little repair. Plus, there were only two. So we've been sitting on folding card table chairs. But yesterday we found perfect chairs, unfinished and inexpensive. Now I have a project! I get to finish the chairs and refinish the table to look however I want. There are so many options. What to do? What to do? Any suggestions? Poppop said to paint them pink. Lulu liked that idea, but it's not really my style... What do you guys think?

Superior!

That's Pete's rating from her audition this morning. Yay, Pete!

Big Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow, Pete is doing her first official piano thing since starting with a real teacher. We're going to a local university where she'll go into a room by herself with a judge (and a monitor, her teacher said) and play two pieces from memory and get a score. I did this when I took lessons except this is some different organization than the one I did. Pete will do that later in the year, I think. I liked doing the "auditions" because they always gave me good scores, which made me feel good about my piano. I'm hoping that Pete will have a similar experience. We went out in the bad weather last night and bought her a new dress and some gold shoes (that she's not ever allowed to wear to school because the toes of Montessori kids' shoes get all beat up from working on the floor) because this is a big deal and she should be confident that she looks as grown up as we are expecting her to be.

Thank Heaven for Little Girls!

Because without little girls, what hope would I have of my dark laundry coming out of the dryer mottled with grease spots and smelling like strawberry Lip Smackers?

Quiz

This quiz was kind of fun. I'll tell you how many I got right if you tell me how many you get.

Oh! BTW

Husbandguy is not making me return the upside down planter thingy. He just laughed at me when I showed him and agreed it's worth trying. I'll post pictures once we get it going...

Don't We All?

MN: Whatcha want for breakfast, Lulu?
LL: I want COOKIES!

She Knows What to Do

Yesterday, Pete was watching "Curious George," and it happened to be about George's piggy bank. Husbandguy and Lulu sat down and watched with Pete, and when they got to the part where George was trying to figure out how to get his money out of his bank, Lulu became very distressed. Being the helpful little toddler she is, she yelled, very loudly at the TV, "Shake it, Jzhorzh!" She seemed definitely irritated that he wasn't taking her advice!

Does This Happen to You?

I had to promise Husbandguy that I would only go to Target every other week because I always spend way too much. I'm sure I'm not the only one with this problem. Right? RIGHT?! Like today, I needed laundry detergent, juice, and cream for Lulu's exzema. That should have cost less than $20, really, because the store brand is cheaper and exactly the same so I usually get that (except for the detergent). But I spent $60 somehow! I put at least $40 worth of stuff back so it could have been much worse. He's probably going to make me take one thing back. It's this As-Seen-on-TV thing that grows your tomato plant upside down! But maybe if I show him the cute little scooter (skirt) I got for Pete that only cost 60¢ he'll let me keep it - the planter thing. It's really for Pete. I don't even eat tomatoes!

Pete Says:

Pete was talking about her recent trip to Moomie & Pappap's and the "14 cats" who come to eat there (Moomie says the only have 1 stray actually). Pete's mom suggested that maybe that's because Moomie and Pappap are Crazy Old Cat People. Pete said, "They're not crazy."

My Turn Yet?

Remember I thought I had food poisoning Wednesday? I waited until Friday morning to take my steroids because of it, which worked out okay because that way I was able to enjoy Pete's best friend-who's-a-boy's birthday party on Saturday. I planned to crash on Sunday and Monday, when Husbandguy would be home still (holiday, you know) and could look after the girls. Except that the food poisoning turned out to be a virus that DH caught and so was out of commission all day Sunday. My day to crash and recover. And not have to be The Mom. So being less sick (and also the stronger of the two of us, except when lifting) I got to Power Through and spend the day looking after my girls. A job I enjoy. Usually. When I'm not all feeling like my skull is WAY bigger than my brain. Luckily we didn't need to drive anyone anywhere. Today, Monday, DH is "better," but being the Man has spent the day complaining about how weak he is, blah, blah, blah, "not 100%," etc. He did drive us to Build-A-Bear this morning because he'd promised Pete we'd go yesterday. And he said he'll clean the kitchen in a little bit. And he okayed ordering pizza for dinner instead of me cooking. I'm not really sure what I'm complaining about. He didn't get sick on purpose, I know. I just feel slighted, I guess, because I have to plan when I take my steroids around everyone's schedule so I can successfully recover without making anyone miss anything and I'm just not getting to this time. And I can't do it tomorrow because I have to host another principal's coffee...

Turns Out...

The egg pie was apparently not poisoned. 'Cause I'm 100% certain that Husbandguy didn't eat any yesterday, and he's got the same sickness I had on Wednesday...

Yuck

I feel yuck today, which is wrong because I should be all full of energy from the mega steroids I took yesterday. All they're doing though is keeping me from being able to rest.

Also, once Husbandguy double checks my numbers on our taxes I can file them. It always surprises me that they don't take as long to do as I expect they should. So I make him look them over in case I missed something. I'm pretty sure they're done, though.

Lulu and the Cookie

The other day I was having trouble getting Lulu to sit in her high chair. She kept standing in it, which makes me nervous because she's so wiggly and one time she almost fell out (she fell into her food instead and got ketchup all over her face, which made her unhappy - but not enough to not stand in her chair anymore). So she stood up one time while she was eating her cookie and I said, "Sit down while you eat your cookie or I'll take it away," and when she didn't sit down, I stood up and started moving toward her and she took the cookie and quickly stuffed the whole thing in her mouth! Husbandguy laughed, of course, and I admit that I did too. Since I couldn't take the cookie, though, I made her get down instead, which made her unhappy (but not enough to not stand in her chair again). Maybe I'll see if those strappy buckle things might keep her sitting...

Someone Poisoned the Egg Pie! And Pete's Valentine Poem

Egg pie is actually crustless quiche, which is not the same as a fritatta. Pete likes egg pie so I made one the other day and had leftovers for lunch yesterday and then spent the evening um... let's just say being sick (you don't really need details, do you?). I'm thirsty this morning and can't take my steroids like I'd planned to do today, but also I'm starting to feel a little bit hungry. I wonder what kind of crackers we have...

------------------------------

Pete's Valentine Poem

Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
I hope you have a happy Valentines Day.
I hope you like this poem too.

Unfortunately Pete can't find the original copy of her poem and had to recite it for me instead of me being able to read it. She swears it was in her book bag. I suspect that it might have been in a clothes pocket or something and went through the laundry, though, because there were little bits of red and white paper in the medium color load I just put in the dryer. She'll be very disappointed when I tell her. But it's a great poem nonetheless. Right?

LL Says:

Lulu wanted to share her cookie with her dad the other day, but he really didn't want any so I suggested that maybe he could pretend to take a bite. He did that and handed it back to Lulu who immediately gave it back to him saying, "Eat real, Daddy. Eat real!" He took a real bite then, because how could he not?!

Lulu's Musical Magic

Can your toddler carry a tune? 'Cause mine can. For real. She sings as well as Pete does. She taught me a song the other day. It's the welcome song they sing at her school, and she sang it so well that I could tell it had the same tune as "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and could figure out the words she was leaving out from the ones she was singing. I was pretty impressed. The Grandpa commented to me about how musical she is last time we visited them, and I think he only heard her "play" the piano. Remind me to try to get her to sing for you next time, TG.

DIBELS

Click on that picture because you're going to want to see it full-size. My Pete is brilliant! Check out those scores!! I asked her principal why she has to take the 3rd round of tests when she has already exceeded the benchmark for end of grade. She didn't know. Oh well. One more reason to brag on Pete at the end of the year!

I'm One of the Cool Kids Now! (and you can be too...)

This morning I was part of a meeting with the principal at Pete's school about the difficulties Pete's class is having this year with Normalization. That's the Montessori term for coming together as a Peaceful Classroom Community. It's been rough so far. And to add to her teacher's troubles, the assistant teacher quit late fall and so Pete's teacher has kind of been on her own for a couple of months. She is a highly capable veteran Montessori teacher, but to have a difficult class and then to lose your assistant? Come on! Poor Teacher!

So some of the other cool kids (kids=moms) and I sat down with the principal today to talk about the difficulties and the way it's impacting our children and what the school is doing and, most importantly, how we can help. And it was very productive. I got questions answered that I didn't even know I wanted to ask! And I might have figured out what's contributing to Pete's sleepwalking, which has been almost nightly for the last month or more and which happened at Moomie's on Saturday (sorry we didn't prepare you, Moomie). And I think I've signed up to help out in Pete's classroom during the next few weeks until they finalize the new assistant. I'm a little worried about how I'll do at that, but as one of the cool kids, I feel like I'm supposed to do it. And I want to. And if I just do it, I'll do fine.

See? I wasn't cool before because I was afraid I'd be bad at something and so I never did anything and never had the chance to be part of the cool stuff and have people say thank you to me for things like organizing a meeting with the principal that wasn't even my idea in the first place but was really needed.

You want to be cool with me? Just get involved! It's not actually that hard. And you might be surprised (I was) at how easy it is to do something you can feel good about and that makes other people feel good and then you feel even better because those people thank you. (That's my PSA for the week.)

Happy Sunday!

What are you doing today? We're going to Moomie's to celebrate her birthday and pick up Pete, who spent the night there last night. We're taking Moomie and Pappap out for lunch and then we're going back to their house for Lemon Confetti Angel Food cake (my creation) and presents. It should be fun. Our plan for the afternoon is to just take it easy. I might try to talk husbandguy into going to Lowe's and getting a new sliding screen door, but other than that I got nothing planned.

I hope you've got a nice day planned (or unplanned if you're trying to take it easy).

Mom's Academy for Brilliant Children

Pete is a graduate of MABC. She only attended part-time, but I like to think it did her some good. She's an advanced reader, one of the better readers in her kindergarten class. She's counted to 1100, 1-100 at a time. And she talks like a grown-up when she's not having one of her Six-Year-Old Moments. Then she says things like, "Humph!" She didn't learn that at MABC. I think she might be thought of as our Assistant Instructor.

Lulu is currently attending MABC. She could be considered a full-time student, I think, even though she spends 3 mornings a week off-campus. This week we have been working on Capital A, the color Yellow, and Name Recognition. If you write a bunch of names, including hers, on a piece of paper or whatever, she can pick out hers. And she'll spell it for you; although I'm not sure she realizes that's what she's doing. She seems to enjoy it. She gets to play games and color with Mommy. It's not like work! She also talks like a grown-up when she's not having a Six-Year-Old Moment. Having Pete as the Assistant Instructor has its pros and cons...

Singing

This morning, Lulu was having her Cheerios in her Snowman bowl and it inspired me to whistle (whistle, not sing) "Let It Snow." Guess what Lulu did! She sang along!! "Netih sno, netih sno, netih snow," she sang. How did she know?!

Also, Pete's class learned "You Are My Sunshine" yesterday in music, and Pete sang it for me this morning. The whole thing! Moomie, if you think of it, ask her to sing it for you this weekend. It's wonderful to listen to. I had to sing the "you-are-my" part at the beginning to help her remember how it started, but then she sang the whole thing. She just learned it yesterday!

We like singing in this house. Everyone sings. Except Husbandguy. And that's just because he doesn't think he can, but I bet he could if he tried. He does like to listen to Lulu and Pete sing, though. Most of the time. Not when Pete is singing "opera"...

Mother Hen

What type of Mother Hen Are You?
by Montessorimom.com: Educational Resource

Once Again, I Got Nothin'

I was at Pete's school this morning being a Reading Buddy. Everyone I read with today at least helped me read. The ones that are very beginner readers helped with the words they knew and we "read together," and the ones that are more advanced just flew through their books. My last little reader read me two chapters of Junie B. Jones Has a Monster Under Her Bed. That was a nice way to end the session.

And now there is weather. Well, there's always weather, but it's potentially stormy this afternoon. At least it held off until I got Lulu home from school. How boring is this? Me talking about the weather! YAWN!

Um...

I'm supposed to make terrariums with Pete's class on the 21st and I just realized today that the 21st is a Thursday. When I signed up, they said that the gardening would be done on Friday morning, not Thursday. Otherwise I wouldn't have signed up because Lulu can't go with me and she's home on Thursdays. I don't know what I'm going to do. Maybe they'll make an exception and I can do terrariums on Friday. I bought little frogs for the kids to put in theirs if they wanted. I don't want to waste the frogs!

Maybe I'll have something to post tomorrow. You may get a Frog and Fox story if I'm otherwise dry...

She Dressed Herself

This morning, Lulu opted to wear "underpants," which is our word for those disposable training pants, and she insisted on putting them on herself. She actually did a really good job of it with a little help at the beginning and at the end. Then she wouldn't let me put on her pants or shirt, either. She wanted to do it herself. "Nene dooit." I only helped a little when she said, "Mama dooit," and when she tried to put the shirt on feet first. She'll be dressing herself in no time, I say!

I'm Not Laughing AT Him...

I'm laughing because of him. Usually Husbandguy is very calm, low-key, hard-to-anger, level-headed. On Sunday, though, he tried to go outside to grill the burgers we were having for dinner. To get there, he had to go through the playroom, which looks like someone came through with a giant blender so getting through it can be kind of tricky. Once he made it to the door, he tried to open the sliding screen door, but it's broken and doesn't slide anymore. Let me just say that the door had been open, the screen door, for weeks until Sunday afternoon when DH closed it. So the fact that he had to get through it to get outside was his own doing. He was already frustrated about the condition of the playroom, and the fact that he couldn't actually get outside after the perilous 6-foot trek made it worse. He stood there wrestling with the door for a little while and then, in a very uncharacteristic way, finally just ripped it off the track and tossed it up against the side of the house. I didn't laugh at the time because he was so irritated, but every time I think about it now I have to giggle. My husband, The Incredible Hulk. I reminded him about it yesterday and he claimed he didn't think it was funny, but he was laughing inside.

I think I'll clean the playroom today. It's Pete's job, but it's mostly Lulu's mess. So I'll do it.

Oh And Also...

Pete's team won the Superbowl. She didn't listen to me when I told her who to root for and instead picked the team with what she thought were the better uniforms. And she was right (about who would win, not the uniforms). Pppbbllltt.

Finally

Pete finally got to see Hannah Montana in concert. After the whole tour-tickets-sold-out problem, I watched carefully for the concert movie and bought tickets online for Pete and her dad as soon as they were available. Apparently it was awesome! And it was 3D, Pete will tell you. I'm trying to get her to give me a day off and blog about it tomorrow, but she's resisting because, "Mom, I don't even know how to spell 'Hannah Montana'."

Elmo! BIG Elmo!

On Wednesday, Blythe, one of Lulu's classmates, turned 2 and Elmo came to Lulu's class to help them celebrate that. When you ask Lulu about it, she gets very excited and reminds everyone that Elmo was BIG. But surprisingly not scary and also he sang.

The Newest S-Man

His last name isn't S, but he definitely looks like he belongs in this family. Congratulations, Favorite Cousin and family!!

Welcome, Baby Boy!!

Lulu's Potty Chart

You may notice that there is a new tracker to the right. The potty chart isn't having any greatly inspiring impact yet, but it's still cool.

By Order of the Superior Court...

You know, you always worry that you're misinterpreting things when it's about something important or "punishable by law." At least I do. The recorded voice on the juror information line said, “You have been excused from jury duty. You should not receive another summons for at least 2 years.” I listened to it twice and then ran it by Husbandguy. That means I don’t have to go, right? So I’m home today. I think I have to mop the kitchen now, though, because I made a deal with The Fates that if I didn’t have to do jury duty I’d mop the floor...

A Clear and Complete Sentence

"I want Lumpy." If you didn't know who Lumpy is, you might not have known what she meant, but you would have known what she said and, after following her finger to the cupboard, might have figured out that she wanted her cup with Lumpy the Heffalump on it. That may not actually be Lulu's first complete sentence, but it is the most notable.