Saturday, January 31, 2009

Play date city

Another play date. C4 wanted J. to come over ... so I had her call. Her call wsan't perfectly smooth (the mom wasn't expecting a call from my daughter, I suppose) but we got the girl over. The playdate went well. All the girls got along. Q2 is surpising me in being able to keep up.

Although this isn't much to keep up with, I suppose. Enjoy the sillies!

Friday, January 30, 2009

Everybody knows

Since she's been able to talk C4 has been insistent that she isn't fond of dressing up. So this past Halloween she consented to doing the Halloween thing ... dressing up as an owner, and Q2 was the dog. So, not much of a costume, there, but totally acceptable for me.

One of the houses we visited belonged to Mr. J, a local busybody, dog owner, Hyattsville institution, and generally all-around good person.

He and his wife go ALL OUT for Halloween ... so my kids wanted to go see the lights, of course. But they hadn't counted on Mr. J and his wife being in costume themselves.

Yes, costumes. Big, black robes. Hoods. And masks. Yes, masks. C4 saw those robed, hooded, masked creatures and instantly sat down, and would not go any closer. This still across their driveway, maybe 25-30 feet from them. I understood, and so did Mr. J, who immediately took off his mask and hood and came over to give her a piece of candy.

However, to this day C4 is totally against Mr. J. She prefers to walk on the other side of the street, actually. If he comes up to see us, she hides her head in my leg if she is walking, or covers her eyes if she is in Big Blue. ***

Yesterday, we were walking to a local grocery to see if they had sour cream or yogurt so we could make blueberry scones. C4 asked me if we'd go by Mr. J's house on our way to the grocery. The answer was yes. So C4 turned around and walked to the corner and told me she wanted to walk on the other side of the street, even though they were icy and slippery.

I whined and cajoled, but gave in, since Q2 had also followed suit and walked back to cross the street at the corner.

We walked along ... and came upon Mr. J, who crossed the stree to say hi to use. Q2 waved and said hi, and when Mr. J came up she gave him a hug. C4? In my arms. Mr. J was cool, and waved it off and crossed back to his house. We kept walking.

A few minutes later ... he was back. With a BOX of chocolates. C4 practically flung herself at him, grabbed the box, and gave him a hug.

She still doesn't want to pass in front of his house, but I'm not opening those chocolates until she walks in front of his house and looks Mr. J in the eye again.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Correspondence

C4 got a letter thanking her for coming to a birthday party earlier this month. She was so excited she sat right down and wrote a return letter.

"Dear Z4, I loved you [sic] letter. Love, C4"

I addressed it and off it goes!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

snow day

The girls woke up and the first thing C4 did was run into my room to tell me it was snowing. Then she ran to Q2 to tell her. Then Q2 found her stepstool so she could look out the window. Then C4 invited Q2 to her bedroom so they could sit on the big bed together to look out the window. Sweet.

Snow day activities:
1) Walk in the snow to deliver shoes.
2) Side trip down Kennedy to see kids we knew who were playing outside. Got rides on these incredible sleds ... kicksleds! C4 & Q2 were offered rides, and Q2 initially declined, but C4, in a reversal of her normal stand-offish-self-in-respect-to-physical-danger, hopped right on with the neighbor we didn't know that well. And once C4 did it Q2 gave it a try. I have to say, those neighbors are so sweet. C4 must have gotten 7 rides down the hill, and Q2 got one with S. and one extra-long one with G.
3) Back home, Q2 was cold, so we popped inside and C4 spent the next 20 minutes in the backyard by herself enjoying the snow.
4) All snow outfits were wet on top of the dirty, so I decided to wash them.
5) After snow bath.
6) Story-time at the library ... C4 had to wear the dreaded dalmation coat. Hahaha. This was not fun. She cried, and pouted, and lashed out. She wouldn't put her arms in the sleeves. But, she wore it as I directed, and put it on for the way home (although I had a hard time keeping it on b/c Q2 kept biting it, and it would slide off C4, since no arms were in the arm-holes).
7) While at the library I got the alert on my phone that my office was closing at noon. Since I go in at 1:00 on Tuesdays this was optimal timing.
8) Pancakes for lunch, and then C38 came home and took them outside. Since Q2 has been complaining about being cold, I put fleece pjs over her two pairs of pants and shirt & dress. And a jacket. She stayed out just about 10 minutes? 15 maybe? But C4 stayed out a long time. And helped C39 shovel.

Celeste Earns Her Keep
Celeste Earns Her Keep
Celeste Earns Her Keep

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

snowflakes

We spent a large portion of the day making snowflakes with origami paper, making valentine's day cards for school friends, and looking at the intermittent snowflurries we had all day. Oh, and picking up scraps of paper.

We also had a playdate with new friends who C4 & Q2 had met on the street one day (C4 ran up and introduced herself ... "Hi, my name is C4, what is your name?") and then met again at a local restaurant on inauguration day. I sought out their mom on the local mom's group listserv and LO! I found her. So we met at the park to play. It was fun, but they were a bit late, and we were cold. So we didn't get enought playtime. But they all wanted to see each other again after, so, a success, I think.

Here is a video of how Q2 puts her coat on. C4 tried to upstage her, but Q2's conundrum at the end keeps it firmly her show, I think.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Bad

Q2: grabbed everything in sight in the grocery store. Including giant grab of twizzlers (and makes a break for it) then a box of My Little Pony Fruit Chews.
Q2: Licked grocery bagger's leg after licking the checkout counter line.
C4: Started the stupid licking thing over a year ago.
Q2: Threw in the air a fork which landed on C4's head.
C4: Started the day by pooping on bathroom floor and giggled at it.
Q2 and C4: threw every toy out of the bathtub all of which landed on C39's head and back.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Cold

I just found a series of these pics on the camera. Must be cold in our house.

Cold

cold inside

Thursday, January 22, 2009

MY NEW CHAIR

You can see the girls are tired, but when the chair was delivered tonight they needed to take a look and get a photo taken.

C39 thought BRIGHT ORANGE! when I said it was orange, but lucky for him, it wasn't. This picture makes it look more rusty than orange. But it depends upon the light.

Now, I need to get that couch out of N's basement in one piece. I wonder if the upholsterer would do that?

new old chair

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Wednesday

C4 goes to school on Wednesday, but Q2 does not. Since a music class has been taking place from 9:30-10:30 every Wednesday, Q2 & I have been going. We are late every week, yes, but she enjoys it, and so I'm sucking it up. I hate being late.

This week I brought the camera. I didn't get a lot of the action (her asking for a song about a pug. and a song about a cat named Milo. and a song about a dog named Otis), but I got a ton of her and K2 eating muffins, which I think is Q2's favorite part about the class.

Do you know the muffin girl?

They also loved a song I made up:

Do you know the muffin girls, the muffin girls, the muffin girls?
Do you know the muffin girls who live in H---------?

When we got to our town they just busted out with the giggles.

But here they are.

Inauguration day

As soon as the TV was turned on to watch the inauguration, there was an bubbling over of excitement from the two little ones. C4 & Q2 were absolutely thrilled to be watching TV!!!

Every man that came out of the capital (and a few women) was BARAK OBAMA! according to Q2. To be fair, once he was really pointed out she was able to identify who he really was.

But ... as the event dragged on, some of that excitement started tipping, and soon it spilled all over the place as the girls were just wanting to climb on my head.

I quieted them down with a bull's eye candy that I'd taken from work. After she'd eater hers C4 came to me and said (in her squeaky breathy I'm not crying voice) "Thank you, that was sooo yummy. May I have another please?"

By the time Mr. President was Mr. President the girls were done with TV and were ready to move on to the next event.

Monday, January 19, 2009

We've decided not to go down to the inauguration.

The excuses are rational. Too cold (I don't like to be cold. Nor do the children). Nearby metro stops have been closed (So the cold children will have to walk some distance). No strollers allowed (So, we'll be carrying the tired and cold children who should be walking). No bags allowed (So, no snacks for the tired and cold children we'll be carrying but should be walking). Too crowded (so our tired, cold, and hungry children that we are carrying will be smushed in the crowd and not be able to see anything ... And if I want to get all alarmist, they'll be stolen because they are so cute!).

But, still.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Stomping

This was taken just after Christmas, I believe. Don't we all love doing this???

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Making presents

Lately we've been going to birthdays ... what 4 thing month? C4 likes to make a book or a card or something for the birthday child. Q2, too.

Yesterday Q2 spent 40 minutes wrapping popsicle sticks in tape as her contribution to a gift. Anc C4 decided on spirals ... so we thought a mobile would be nice. Here is C4 making spirals:




And here is the final product:

Spiral mobile

And here is what I worked on for the birthday girl:

Talia banner

Friday, January 16, 2009

Guilty

On Wednesday mornings Q2 & I go to a music class with Miss Audrey. Q loves this class. And interestingly, the other Q2 in the neighborhood also goes to this class. And today a Q1 (slightly different name, since a boy) showed up, as well. So three Qs at class. And one Z! Dang, the scrabble games we could have with this class.

Last night Q2 told C39 that she wanted him to take her to class. He said he'd love to go, of course, but he had to be at work. And Q2 started to cry. Because at that moment she really really really only wanted to be with daddy.

Poor C39, he'd have taken the day off to be with her if he could have.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

More visitors

C39's cousin, R27 was here earlier this week. The girls barely saw him ... a hour in the morning, an hour at night. If that. But apparently he made a good impression, because when we dropped him off at the metro this morning C4 asked him to come back in the spring for a visit like Ninoo & Papa's visits. That is ... come stay and play with me!

We then went home and she wrote him a letter to invite him back this spring. I don't think we'll get to see him, but it is sweet nevertheless.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Manners

Girl, oh, girl.

I say "oh, girl!" instead of "oh, boy!" because my girls want it that way. And I like that they want it that way. I'm going to encourage it.

But anyway, on our way home from a very low-key birthday party today we had a conversation today about manhole covers. Or, more accurately, we had a conversation about how anybody can go down a manhole, not just men. And how maybe they should be more accurately called personholes (yuck, none of us like that), or even more accurately, utility access holes/covers (or, according to some sources on the web, utility vault covers is also quite acceptable). The girls didn't like that either.

But I say girl, oh, girl, because I took them to Michael's today so I could buy some felt that I'll be using to make K4's birthday present with. We got the felt, but the girls were just absolutely crazy in that store. They loved everything. They wanted to draw, paint, model ... EVERYTHING.

Luckily we'd talked before I got in the store, and they were trying their best to be good and not touch and grab, but even so, I put them both in a cart so I could keep them under control.

Apparently they were being good, because one other shopper told me multiple times (we ran into her twice in the store, and once in the parking lot) how well behaved and well mannered they were.

And C39 tells me that C4 has taken to calling her teachers Miss M. and Miss H. again (instead of just "H.").

However, she's also taken to calling me by my first name. Because it is pretty, she said. I can't argue so much with that.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

More bragging

Just walked by C4's bedroom ... if you stand still outside her door you can hear her reading to herself in her bed. Don't know how long she'll stay up, but hey, she's reading to herself in bed! She'll conk out eventually. I always do.

Oh, and Q2? Drew a person with a head/face, legs, feet, arms & belly today. And tears, because it was a crying baby. I'd call that sincere enough.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Hand me downs

I seem to be a mecca for hand-me-downs, which is just fine with me. Yesterday a friend gave me a pair of cowboy boots. Turns out they were about a half-size too big, and they rubbed my ankles uncomfortably.

But Q2 liked them a lot.

100_0848

We had a video, but it is sideways. So, if you want to see Q2 clomping around sideways, let me know.

So, anyway, then Q2 discovered she could stand on my belt and be VERY TALL INDEED.

100_0847

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Friday, January 9, 2009

new discoveries

Recently Q2 has all been into backpacks. Not real ones, since she doesn't have one (maybe for her birthday) but anything she can put on her back.

So I was pleased this morning when she made a backpack and brought her toys down herself, instead of asking me to make multiple trips for her.

backpack

C4's new discovery? Burping.

At first I thought it was too much fizzy water. Or upset stomach. But now she is doing it all the time. Non-stop burping action. She told me she'd stop in the spring, so thank god that is almost here, right?

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Gotten over my distress

And am on the far side of my most recent crafty project. So, Christmas presents are back on. Phew. I won't say it things are perfect, but your gifts will be made with love. A big old honking dollop of love. And a lot of trial and error.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Not what you wanted

I know you don't come to this blog to read about ME. But oh, well, you are going to be a tad disappointed today. Here is C39's and my New Year's Photo:

Carter and Evelin

In the meantime, a 7 am update on the girls:

Q2 is washing every surface she can reach and C4 is sleeping. Q2 has been waking up MUCH too early every morning. And this morning was no exception. She woke before 5 am to use the toilet (which she has used three times since, as well. I think it was the 5 prunes she ate yesterday?) and has not gone back to bed. Before 6 am she was yelling up to me "Mumma come down I want breakfast!"

So, I'm up, too.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Crafty

Lest you think I've given up on being crafty, think again. I made a slapdash pretty sloppy cover for my hot water bottle (which, despite it's sloppiness, is exceedingly wonderful) the other night, and I'm planning and working on next year's Christmas presents.

Except I have spend two hours fighting with my sewing maching. Part of it was user error. Fine, a big part. But I'd never had these multiple problems before. Over and over today. And part of it is the fact that the machine will not go through doublefold bias tape and one layer of fabric unless I hand crank it. I'm not hand cranking the whole thing. So, I've got to decide what to do next ... skip the bias tape? buy a new maching? borrow one?

So, if I can't get this sorted out I won't be making Christmas presents. I felt so on top of things, too.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Cough, cough

Q2 was coughing all day, just little ones.

Q2: Ech. [wait 5 seconds)] Ech. [wait 5 seconds)] Ech. [wait 5 seconds)] Ech. [wait 5 seconds)] Ech. [wait 5 seconds)] Ech. [wait 5 seconds)] Ech.
E38: Q2, you OK?
Q2: I have a butterfly in my throat. Ech. [wait 5 seconds)] Ech.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Afternoon visit

C4 & Q2 rushed up the stairs and asked us if we could invite Z3 over. Sure. So I asked C4 to call.

I dialed, and then handed her the phone.

L (Z3's mom): Hello
C4: Hello, may I speak to Z3 please?
L: And who is this?
C4: Hello this is C4. I wanted to have popcorn and cheese I brought up the plate from the basement so we can have it just like last time.
L: Oh, hello C4! I'll get Z3.
Z3: Hello!!!
C4: Do you want to come over?
Z3: Yes!

It was the cutest, silliest thing!!


Later ... asking C4 and Q2 what their favorite parts of the day were ...

Q2: Pee!
E3: You liked peeing best?
Q2: NOOOOO!
C4 (getting on the bandwagon): Poo!
E38: You liked pooing better than having Z3 over today?
C4: No, equal.

Well, it's hard to argue with that.

Walking the dogs

Back in November/December we started walking our neighbor's dog, as she prepares for a hip replacement and really isn't mobile. Just once a week, tops. The first time we went, we all went, thinking C4 & Q2 would really enjoy it.

Wrong. Maybe because it was cold, but they didn't enjoy it so much. Since then C39 has walked the dogs a few times, and has gone alone each time.

Today C39 swung by our house so the girls could say hi to Sweetie, Bertie, and Berry.

And that is about all they wanted.

C4 & the dogs

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Knock knock

I knocked on C4's door to see if she was getting dressed and instead she was sitting in the very middle of her bed, reading a book Open me, I'm a dog! by Art Spiegelman out loud. Q2 jumped into bed with her and now they are reading together.

100_0825

Awwww.

*M48, if you read this blog & if you recognize the book, that's because you gave it to C4 when she was born!

Friday, January 2, 2009

Happy New Year

Here is a picture of me & the girls. I suppose it isn't the best photo of us, but it isn't the worst.

I had a hard time picking ... there was one where C4 & I looked happy, but you couldn't see Q2's face at all. And I was looking away. And I had red eye (don't I always?). Or the one where my new haircut looks great. Or where C4 is all proper and you can't see up her skirt. But, in the end I chose this one because C4& I look happy & silly, and Q2 isn't crying or diving out of my arms, just doing the going limp trick. You can see all of our faces.

C4 Q2 & E38


Hopefully one of C39 and me soon.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Q2 update

Here's the good news: she loves to dance. She asked me to video her this morning before Ninoo & Papa left.




Here's the bad news: that recurrent cough? That weezing heavy breathing you can hear in the above video? Asthma.

A friend of mine heard Q2 coughing in the cold, and suggested that I have her checked out for asthma. I hadn't even considered asthma as the reason for the recurrent, never ending cycle of coughs (and as it turns out, wheezing).

And the other day, when C4 & Q2 were racing, C4 won handily, and Q2 was wheezing and breathing much too heavily for a 2 year old. C39 began to suspect that she has asthma.

So, as a follow up to Saturday's take-her-to-the-hospital-oh-it-isn't-appendicitis extravaganza, we went to the doctor on Monday and I asked about the wheezing and coughing and could it be asthma?

He said yep.

So now she is on liquid albuterol. That stuff makes her irritable, excitible, and maybe a touch OCD. I don't like it. Can you NOT treat asthma?? Or do you have to treat it? What can I do besides albuterol??

I call the doctor on Monday or Tuesday for a follow-up on the phone.

New Bed

Recently, C39's G'ma was breaking house, and her bed, a petite sleighbed, was no longer needed. It was offered to us and we joyfully accepted. Well, I joyfully accepted, C4 was less than enthused. No, thank you, she said. I have a bed.

New Year's Eve C39 and Papa went out and bought mattresses for C4. C4 went with them, only after the promise of macaroni & cheese. She barely tested mattresses and settled on a blue one with a pillow top (um, actually quite grey).

Anyway, this whole time, C39 was freaking out, worrying that C4 was not going to transition well. Yes, there was cause for concern, but I figured the HUGE BED would be such a draw that it wouldn't actually be a big deal.

Turns out I was right.

When C4 got home, still uncertain of things, she came up to find the bed frame set up ... and immediately thought it was FANTASTICO!

When the bed was finally set up (one more trip back to the store) and made up, C4 & Q2 jumped right in:

New Bed

C4 loved the ability to look out BOTH windows from bed, the ability to put all her dogs on the bed and still have room to be without falling off. And it should be much better for reading bedtime stories, I think.

Nighttime arrived, and C4 was thrilled she could see Christmas lights from bed. But even that couldn't keep her up too late:

New Bed