Ooops! Almost Forgot

Happy Monday. It's rainy and cold here, and I'm all caught up in preparing for a presentation about National Poetry Month for Pete's class that her teacher hasn't even agreed to let me do that I almost forgot to post today! Keep your fingers crossed that I'm not setting myself up for disappointment. I'd really like to do this thing at the school, but I might not have offered soon enough. You guys may get a presentation about National Poetry Month later in the week if the school won't have me.

And The Grandpa: If you have time to read this, you have time to turn Pete's name into a poem. I'm just saying...

memememememe

I got tagged! And, since it's Sunday and I've got nothing else, here you go!

Four films I’d watch again (in no particular order): 1. Ever After 2. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh 3. ????

Four places I’ve lived: 1.Goffstown, NH 2. Charlotte, NC 3. Boston, MA 4. Columbus, OH

Four TV shows I watch: 1. The Soup 2. How I Met Your Mother 3. All My Children (except I TiVO it and mostly fast forward through the boring stuff, which is about 85%, so I'm thinking about giving it up) 4. Lost (for real! I do!!)

Four Things to Eat: (What? Just random things to eat? Or things I like to eat?) 1. Chocolate Covered Strawberries 2. Garlic Knots 3. Spaghetti and Meatballs (baked is best with toasty cheese on top) 4. Homemade Granola (thank you Aimee!)

Four Places I’d Rather Be: 1. Maine 2. New Hampshire 3. A Private Island (not tropical) 4. A Nice Kitchen

Four People to Tag: ?? I dunno. I'd tag PSP because I know she'd do it, but she tagged me first, and it's not like she said, "No tag backs!" or anything, but she already did her meme, and so it would be weird if I tagged her. Maybe I know a couple of people... So you know, if I tag you and you don't wanna, it's cool with me. And sorry. I kind of feel like this is almost the same as chain mail/email, and I say that I try not to encourage that, except here I go! 1. Carly because she's local but I can't figure out if she's local enough to recommend Pete's swimming school to her. 2. Not A Mean Girl She posted a killer-sounding brownie recipe a while back and I'm still trying to work up the nerve to make them. 3. Tara. I have as much fun exploring the sidebar of her blog as reading it and also that lava lamp is soooooo on our summer project list. 4. That's all I've got.

Isn't That Interesting

So you know, I asked Husbandguy, and he did the math the same way PSP and I did, which is very similar to the way NAMG and Aimée did it. The Grandpa is the odd one out, but I have to admit that there have been times when I, too, rounded and then adjusted the difference. Usually, though, I round down and then add back what was taken away.

Anyway, I just thought I'd ask. This stuff interests me. How we think and stuff...

Calculate This In Your Head

18+27-14=?

Don't use paper or a calculator. When you have the answer, leave it in Comments, but most importantly tell me how you did the calculation. You know, your thought process. I'll leave a comment too, but do the math before you read the comments so you aren't influenced.

The Kind of Image that Warms the Heart

Except, for me? It's got me reconsidering Lulu's preschool. I knew all along that it is a church preschool and that they have bible stories and "Jesus Loves Me" once a month, but just now, I was playing with Lulu and she pressed her little palms together and sang a song I had not heard before. It had phrases like "god, our father" and "thank you for our blessings" and "ahhmehhn, ahhmehhn." It sounded a lot like grace...

More on this later...

Probably.

Story Time Restored

The regular story time lady was back today. I have to admit it was kind of a relief. We were willing to give the other lady another chance. Well, I was. Lulu told her dad this morning that she didn't want story time with the new lady, just the regular one. But we didn't have to worry about that this week.

And then Lulu ran into 2 (not 1 - 2!) children (at different times) during story time and the second time their Giant Little Heads made a loud {[KNOCK!!]} noise and now Lulu has a jellybean-sized welt above her left eye.

But she'll be okay in the end. What matters is that our story time was back to normal and all was right in the library.

You Were Right, Moomie!

This morning, I was on the phone with Moomie and also trying to get Lulu dressed, and after Lulu sat on the potty and read for a couple of minutes, we put her diaper on and she ran away. I tried to get her to come out from behind the chair so I could put her pants on, but she didn't want to (she said, "NO!"). Then Moomie said, "She could probably do that herself. Get dressed." So I left Lulu her clothes and told her to put them on (but not in a fine!-do-it-yourself-then way), and a few minutes later she came out of her room carrying them. She said, "Put on my pants," and I said, "You want me to put on your pants?" and she said, "No. My do it," and I said, "Okay then." And then she sat down and put one leg in, then the other, and stood up and pulled them up. She needed just a little help with her shirt, but eventually she got that on too. I just stood there and watched my baby growing up, and when she was all dressed, I cheered for her and she looked very proud! sniffle She's not a baby anymore.

Ear Training in B-flat

For the Guild Audition, Pete has to sing a major scale. You know, do re mi fa so la ti do. Sometimes she gets it nearly perfect, but most of the time she has a voice that, like The Grandpa once told me was said about his voice, "naturally harmonizes." So we're finding that Ear Training is one thing we're having to practice a lot. I really enjoy it. It's fun helping her hear how she has missed the note and teaching her the meaning of "sharp" and also showing her where in her body her voice should be when she sings. Six months ago she didn't understand what you meant when you asked her where her voice came from. Now, though, she can point at the spot in the middle of her collarbone and know that it needs to move up. And when she gets it into that yawn-place in the middle of her head, she hits the scale right on and it's beautiful. When she's paying attention... She is only 6 after all.

All Done

Finally! For the first time since setting up housekeeping more than 10 years ago, Husbandguy and I have a matching kitchen table and chairs that I love. When we first moved in, HG's mom bought us this very 80's pedestal table with a glass top and pink upholstered, rolling arm chairs. It was really... um... not my style. I used a table cloth all the time, hoping it would hide the table. At least we had a table, right? So when my aunt offered to ship my grandmother's kitchen table to us, I said yes without any hesitation. That was a couple of years ago. She sent my grandma's chairs too, but there were only 2 of them and they needed work so we'd been sitting on old folding card-table chairs forever. But this year, Moomie agreed to buy us new chairs for our anniversary to go with the table and about a month ago we found four unfinished ones that were just perfect and started on our project. Then we both got sick and the project stalled. But yesterday? Yay! We ate dinner with Nana and Poppop sitting on our new chairs at our newly refinished table, and it was wonderful. It was like it was supposed to be that way!

I tried to upload a picture for you, but blogger isn't letting me right now for some reason so I'll try again later.

But YAY! We're all done. And I love it!!

Jellybean Monster

Well, the Easter Bunny brought jellybeans. Guess who discovered she likes jellybeans. Lulu! I believe she is trying to turn into a jellybean. You know. "You are what you eat."

Ha! Told You So!!

Wednesday, Husbandguy said he'd go to the doctor on Thursday if he wasn't feeling better. Thursday he said, "I'm going to give it one more day." I said, "(LOUDLOUDLOUDLOUD)!" The exact words aren't important, but he's had a sore throat since last weekend and was all pasty-looking at swimming on Wednesday (Pete's doing great, by the way!), and he wasn't listening to me when I used my indoor voice, and also he was in the other room. So I talked LOUD. And know what happened? He came into the kitchen and called the doctor and made an appointment. And know what the doctor said? He has an infection, probably sinuses, and should be taking medicine. So sometimes it does help to talk loudly at someone. And also, I told you so, HG!

Stop Me If You've Heard This One

I put Lulu down for her nap after lunch yesterday and thought she was actually going to sleep because I didn't hear anything. I was in and out to and from the garage but didn't hear her at all when I was inside so assumed she had gone to sleep. I was wrong. When I came in to make myself some lunch I heard her yelling. So I went in, and the room was stinky. No big deal. Sometimes she poops right at nap time and needs to be changed before she can sleep. But when I looked closer I realized that she was standing in her bed BOTTOMLESS! I said, "Where is your diaper?!" and she said, "Right there. I take it off." It was hanging neatly on the rail of her crib! I said, "Why did you take your diaper off?! Why didn't you wait for Mommy?" and she said, "It had poopoo in it," like DUH! Husbandguy just laughed and laughed when I called to tell him this. I don't think it's funny. Yet. Exactly. Okay, maybe a little... Pete never did anything like this! Lulu is apparently one of those children about whom people ask the question, "What am I going to do with you?!"

My friend JK in VT said that if we're not quite ready for potty training yet, at least she could change her own diapers!

Switching Up Story Time

So, the regular story time lady was out this week and one of the other librarians lead us in her stead. No big deal, right? Except it was bad enough that if the change is permanent and the new leader continues to do what she did this week, we'll be looking for another library. We're giving her the benefit of the doubt because it was just her first week, but listen to this. Story time is half-an-hour. That's plenty of time for bunches of stories with a few songs mixed in, right? But somehow we only got to hear 2 stories, which weren't exactly read, but acted out instead. We did get to listen to our fearless leader scratch out the same tune ("Twinkle-Twinkle," "Baa Baa Black Sheep," "ABC's," you know the one) on her violin 3 or 4 times and then later we were treated to a couple of less recognizable tunes on said violin. It's cool that she can play the violin and that she wants to share it with our children, but these kids are toddlers. All of them. And they were done with the violin after the first run-through of Mozart's K.265. And she sang for us, but most of the songs were songs that nobody knew and the melody wasn't clear enough that we could even pick up the chorus and sing along with that. So "story time" this week looked like this:

VIOLIN "singing" (stories).

And most of the children lost interest within the first 10 minutes. One little boy even tried to get out of the room. I disagree with his mom's decision to make him stay, by the way, but that's just me.

Like I said, it was just her first time. Hopefully she will learn from her experience this week. I don't think that she should try to exactly duplicate the other librarian's story time. I'm just saying that the other format works and so maybe there is value in not completely changing it. Also, the violin? Not her best tool. Just saying...

Back in the PTA Saddle

This week, I created a call-to-membership form for next year's PTA. And I spoke with several (okay, 2) people on the Executive Board about my interest in/plans for leading the membership charge for next year. And I decided that rather than asking them if they want me to do this, I should just do it and let them tell me if they don't want me to. And at the Executive Board meeting this week, I will be talked about, probably in a good way. And at the General Board meeting next week, I will be talking. Now I need to make signs and find out how much it will cost to have envelopes printed for collecting family information and dues and figure out how to log in to PTA.org so we can enter our dues online next year and make sure Husbandguy remembers to be home on time next week so I can be on time for the meeting.

And also I need to plan an Easter dinner menu that doesn't include ham, but that's separate from the PTA...

I'm Getting Better (Are you interested?)

Actually, that's all there really is to say about that. Yesterday my sinuses had me a little worried, what with all the blood coming from the left one and everything, but today they're practically normal. No more blood at least. But it was probably enough said to say that I'm definitely getting better finally. I couldn't take my steroids this month, though, so I guess I better call my neurologist...

Just Say No (to nap time)

My Lulu. She's not quite 2. If you ask her how old she is, she'll tell you, "Wunanahaalph" (sound it out), but she's actually 1¾. She's not 2 yet, though, and so should not be ready to give up napping, right? Except she thinks she is.

I put her down yesterday at her usual time, and she snuggled under the covers like she usually does, and I left the room while she was still awake like I usually do. Usually she goes to sleep. Yesterday she sang the ABC's and the welcome song from school and "If You're Happy and You Know It." Quietly at first, then gradually louder until she was shout-singing. When that didn't get me back into her room she tried a different tactic. I think she was trying to break out of her room through the shared wall with the bathroom. BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!! "MOMMY! MAAHHMMEEEEEE!! INE ALL DONE!!" Except she wasn't because she hadn't even started. The banging was too much for me. I had to go in. "Lay down," I said. "It's nap time. You need to sleep." "No!" she said. "I no like that nap time." "Yes," I said. "Get under the blanket and I'll pat your bottom." She laid down and I put the blanket back and she said, "Patta bottum." So I did for a couple of minutes and then left again, and as soon as I closed the door she said, "AAAAAAAAA!! MAAAHHHHMMMEEEEE!!!" BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!! This went on for an hour and a half. I tried all sorts of different things, taking her sucky away, ignoring her, changing her music to something more peaceful, giving her the sucky back. What finally worked was patting her bottom until she stopped wriggling. Then I had to wake her up later so she'd be ready to go to bed at bedtime.

This wasn't the first time this happened recently, but it was definitely the most complicated.

Today I have a phone conference with the PTA VP right in the early-middle of Lulu's usual nap time. I guess we'll start the wrestling match earlier and I'll make sure she's asleep before I leave her room.

If she's going to learn to climb out of her crib, now is when it will happen, I bet...

HG Made Me Do It

Saturday night after I recovered a little from my can't-catch-your-breath coughing fit, Husbandguy suggested again that maybe I should get my antibiotic prescription filled. I had been resisting because I hadn't been as sick as I was that first weekend, no fever or aches. But I'm not really getting that much better, either. My chest actually agreed to share the cold with my sinuses so in some ways I guess it's worse. HG is more likely to treat sicknesses with medicine while I prefer to wait it out unless I absolutely have to take medicine, like for a kidney infection (those suck!). This time, though, I suppose HG may be right. I'm going into my 3rd week of this. I started the medicine yesterday. I'll keep you posted...

Our Project

Husbandguy and I worked on our kitchen table and chairs yesterday. We had hoped to be finished with it last weekend, but I was sooooo sick and HG didn't want to work on it by himself and I was okay with that.

HG's jobs are sanding the old finish off the table and pointing out what I've done wrong. He's very proficient at both.

Hopefully we'll be done with the polyurethane by Tuesday so it'll be all done for next weekend when Nana and Poppop come for Easter dinner.

Lockdown!

"This is a lockdown. Please secure your rooms... This is a lockdown. Please secure your rooms."

I was in the parent center at Pete's school on Friday when I heard that announcement. It was a little... um... alarming isn't the right word... maybe startling. Fortunately I had read the Lockdown Procedures for the Parent Center sheet that was hanging in there and also, the co-chair of the PTA Volunteer Committee was there so we knew what to do. She secured the room, and I hid in the corner. It was just a drill. No big deal.

Know what was cool, though? I don't think Pete realized I was still there when it happened so when she got home from school, I said, "I was in a lockdown today," and she said, "Me too!" Then she asked Lulu if she was too, and Lulu said yes even though she really wasn't, and Pete was totally surprised when I told her we were locked down in the same lockdown. And then she complained that it had made them 5 minutes late for lunch.

Potty Update

Lulu seems ready. If her school had the resources to support us in this (i.e. tiny potty in the toddler room), I think we'd go ahead with the training. She's resistant to going poopoo on the potty, only agrees to it after she's already gone in her diaper, but pretty much every time she sits on the potty she pees. We're taking the long way with her. Pete was trained in a weekend. Well, it was a long weekend. But I think I'll let Lulu take her time. And as anxious as I am to get started, we'll still wait until summer, I think, unless she actually starts letting me know before she wets her diaper...

(TG: Sorry for the delay on this. I was doing Very Important Things this morning at Pete's school.)

One Way I Know I'm Getting Better (and one more)

I can sing again! And coffee tastes like coffee.

Husbandguy

Husbanguy has been watching "Big Brother" because there's nothing else on. But I don't think he really cares about it because last night he was trying to tell me something that happened and he said it like this, "The blonde one has been making out with that jerk-guy, and the one with the red bodysuit thing just told the one with the big knockers who really likes the jerk-guy." I'm pretty sure they have real names...

LL Says:

For some reason, my youngest daughter has decided to call me Vanessa, which isn't even my real name for those of you who don't know.

Moomie Says:

Moomie said that the sour taste I've been getting in my coffee is probably from this virus that has taken me over. She agreed that it could have been the coffee I was using except that I replaced it and still got a sour tasting pot this morning. So now I'm cleaning the coffee maker. I'm on the second rinse and was looking forward to a nice, unsour cup of coffee once the vinegar smell is gone, but Moomie thinks I should probably just drink tea. Bleh. Don't get me wrong. I like tea. A lot. But I haven't had coffee since mid-week last week, and today I want coffee.

And Then She Poked Me in the Eye

Husbandguy made me agree to go to the doctor Monday because I was soooooo sick on Sunday and we both thought I might have strep throat. So when I got up that morning, of course I felt way better! But my throat was still a little sore so I made the appointment anyway. When I got there, they made me wear a mask in the waiting room because it's flu season and they didn't want me to make their well patients sick. A couple of the maskless "well" patients had nicer coughs than mine, but I didn't mind because my mask made me the center of attention and it protected me from all their nasty well-germs.

Do you know how they test you for the flu? They poke you in the eye. Through your nostril! The nurse said, "This goes in your nose. It goes pretty far in." She wasn't kidding! I had to blink a bunch of times after she was done before my eye felt normal again. It isn't flu, though. What I have. And it's not strep either. The doctor gave me a prescription for an antibiotic but said I could wait a couple of days to have it filled in case I start feeling better and don't think I need it. So that's what I'm doing.

Now Husbandguy is all trying to be sick. Just because I was and he can't let me have anything for myself.

More Evidence That Lulu Is a Genius

Last week, we were running out of time for Pete to go shopping for her friend's birthday present so Lulu and I offered to do it for her, with the understanding that we could exchange it if we got the wrong thing. Pete said okay and told us to get a Littlest Pet Shop toy. Do you know how many Littlest Pet Shop toys there are? Lulu and I must have looked at dozens before deciding on one. Later that day, while we were driving to piano lessons, Pete was asking which one we got and I was explaining that I couldn't remember exactly which one it was because we'd looked at so many, and Lulu piped up, "It has a doggy!" For a moment there was silence in the car because we weren't expecting her to say anything. Then she said, "Got the one that has a doggy and a kitty and a birdy. A little birdy."

!!!

My TODDLER was listening Pete's and my conversation and understanding enough to know that there was a question and what that question was and that she knew the answer to that question and that she could/should speak up and share her information! I have to admit that, as proud as I am of how smart she seems to be, I was surprised by this. Because she's just my baby!

It Didn't Work

I'm still sick. Lulu is "taking care of me" when she's not pretending to be sick too. If I still feel like this tomorrow, I guess I'll see the doctor. Who'll probably just tell me I'm sick.

I'm Sick

I've been telling Husbandguy for a couple of days that I'm getting better but it sure doesn't seem like it today. I got this cough from the girls, but mine seems worse. Ugh. I'm hoping that by admitting to you that I might be sicker than I thought, I'll wake up better tomorrow. That's what usually happens.

MABC Update

Currently we are working on letter sounds at MABC. I was reading about this program for very young children called SOUNS and thought that Lulu might be receptive to the sounds (I'm not paying for the program - just doing a sort of home-grown version). So this week we started with letters she already recognizes, S first. She taught herself that one; I just added the 'SSSSSSSSSS' (she says 'SSSTH'). Then we learned L. She likes the L sound. It's a lot like singing. But she hasn't quite mastered that yet. Also, since she mastered S so quickly, we did M, and she's almost got that one. She seems to be really enjoying it. As soon as she's got either M or L, I'll let her pick the next letter.

Now if only I could convince her that big girls who know their letter sounds should also go poopoo in the potty. She knows it. She just doesn't wanna.

More Time with Pete

Yesterday Pete's morning bus was about 10 minutes late and her afternoon bus was about 10 minutes early so I got 20 extra Pete Minutes. It was nice.

This Post Is Not About My Girls

I don't usually post commentary, political or otherwise (except the occasional PSA), because that's not the point of this blog, but since our primary isn't until May and by then my vote most likely will just be superfluous, I'm going to say this. It's okay if you disagree; it's also okay for you to comment that you disagree. I'll publish any appropriate comments, but I probably won't be debating. So here goes:

It would be totally cool to have a woman president. I think Hillary Clinton would be a pretty good First Woman President. However, now that McCain has "clinched the Republican nomination" and Ralph Nader has announced that he's running, if people don't want another 4 years of a Republican executive, we need to let Obama pick his vice president and get on with campaigning for November. He is the more electable Democrat because he's a man. Don't scold me for saying it. Think realistically about Americans, and I bet you'll agree. A woman won't win against McCain, no matter how good she'd be at the job.

There. I've said it.

Creating Narrative

On Friday, when Husbandguy and I picked Lulu up from school, she told us a story. As HG* was buckling her into her seat she said, "Hector flrow up." I wasn't listening and HG didn't really hear her so we asked her to repeat herself and she said again, "Hector flrow up." HG and I said, "Oh, poor Hector!" and "Is he okay?" and all the other concerned things you say when you hear that someone you don't really know has been sick, and we thought that was the whole story, but we were wrong. Next Lulu said (totally unprompted), "Hector have milk," like that was the reason he threw up. HG and I said, "Oh," and "Um-hum," and stuff and thought that was the end, but it wasn't. Then she said, "Tonya pat her" (give her a break on the pronoun - she's just barely 21 months old). That was the story: Hector threw up, he had milk, and Tonya patted him. She told us this all on her own, which totally impressed me. She recalled events and shared them with us, thinking we'd be interested.

I told her grandpa about it and he was impressed too. He said she was initiating and maintaining conversation and "creating narrative" and agreed that the story and her telling it were surprisingly advanced skills for my toddler.

When I dropped her off on Monday, I asked her teacher about it, and guess what! Lulu made it up!! Hector didn't throw up; he usually drinks juice with his lunch; but, she said, if he had, it would have been reasonable for Tonya to pat him.

She was literally creating narrative.


*I like the label "HG" better than "DH" so after this that's what he'll be.

LL Says:

LL: I want more, Mama.
MN: More what, Lulu?
LL: I want more pennies.
MN: I don't have any pennies, Lulu.
LL: Get some.
MN: Get some?! Okay, after Pete's bus leaves we'll look for pennies.
LL (to Pete, pointing outside): Go out!
MN: No. We're not going to send Pete away just so we can look for pennies for you.
LL (walking away): Come on, Mama.
MN: Come on where?
LL: Find pennies!
MN: After Pete leaves we'll go look for pennies.
LL: Okay. Bye-bye, Pete. Have nice day.

Pete's bus didn't actually come for several more minutes, but when it did, Lulu and MN found 10 shiny pennies for Lulu's piggy bank.

Dinner Last Night

At dinner last night (without the girls, remember), Husbandguy and I were seated next to a family of 4 with a toddler and a big kid, and the toddler was trying to run off and the big kid was being very loud and wiggly, and Husbandguy and I were reminded of how nice it was that Nana and Poppop could give us a few hours to ourselves to have a quiet dinner. Know what we talked about? The girls, duh!

Date

Husbandguy and I have our anniversary date tonight. We'll be going to dinner without the girls! What will we talk about?!