08 November 2009

My little Data

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The Sita was Ladybug Girl for Halloween.

But maybe she should've been Data from Star Trek instead.

Or another Dr. Noonien Soong android of the same generation. Because whenever she encounters a contraction while reading, she reads what it would say uncontracted. She is very cute and adorable when she reads it that way, but I wonder if she needs an upgrade in her programming so that it won't be obvious that we've got a little glitch in her positronic matrix.
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07 November 2009

Autumn is here!

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If only I could've found the colored construction paper! I love living in a place that has beautiful leaves all over!
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13 October 2009

Because I have adorable children and you haven't seen them in a while

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Boo is most happy when she has hair to pull. She is learning the word "Gently!"


The Sita likes to eat Trix. But we like to count them first.


The Dude is the Listening Star in his Kindergarten class for the day. From his perspective, this is The Most Important Thing to achieve at school.
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08 September 2009

You may imagine what I felt and how I acted...

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...when I came back to the lunch table after feeding Boo.



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19 August 2009

Overheard at the lunch table

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How did the bee cross the water?
By getting eaten by a shark!

Why did the bee hit the car?
Because it wanted to get stung!

Why did the chicken cross the road?
Because it wanted to eat the watermelon!

Why did the car go into the cookie?
Because he wanted to see the eyeball!

Each of these was greeted with uproarious laughter. Because they're all that funny.
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18 August 2009

the Dude's recipe for Vanilla Cream

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(as dictated, verbatim)

On a hot sunny afternoon or morning, if you want to make this recipe you need vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients
vanilla ice cream

Directions:
In a small bowl put one scoop of vanilla ice cream in the bowl and then wait a couple minutes. Probably one minute.

Mash well on the side of the glass bowl. Then stir well. Then if you don't want to drink it yet put it in a bag in the freezer.

And when you want to, you can drink it. But it has to be in a day of the week you made it. Otherwise, it will go bad.
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23 June 2009

A Tale of Two Ties

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The week before Father's Day all the children in our Primary decorated ties for their Daddies to wear on Father's Day. The Dude very happily decorated this tie:



Personally, I think it is a very fun (and nicely designed!) tie but the Spozo did not. Luckily, the Dude was not there when his father first saw the tie in which he said, "Yuck. I'm not wearing that. Ever." And then went on a rant about how its not fair that Dads have to put up with nasty tacky junk for Father's Day. (The Spozo wishes to insert here that he never rants.)

But because the Dude has a memory, and he knew his Daddy was supposed to wear a tie decorated by him to church the next Sunday, it was imperative that we have a tie the Spozo was willing to wear. So the Spozo sacrificed one of his very own ties for us to decorate with a little more art direction. The Dude felt that sparkles were the most important feature to a cool Daddy tie, so we went sparkle shopping and the Dude had lots of fun besparkling the tie. Behold:



The Spozo groaningly put on the tie early Sunday morning before leaving for his meetings (I had let it be known that if he "forgot" the tie it would be brought to him). He complained about the sparkles getting all over his suit. He rolled his eyes. BUT by the end of the day, he declared that this was now his Father's Day Tie Forever (and it wasn't just for the benefit of the Dude's ears).
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21 June 2009

the 1st Pink Lego Creation

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from the much anticipated Pink Lego Set.
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the Sita turns 3!

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We spread the festivities over several days:

The actual birthday:



The party:







The cupcakes:




We're so glad we've got our Sita-que-bonita!
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15 June 2009

Meet Baby Moses

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Yep.

I don't get it either.
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Sposa, Plumber Extraordinaire

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After spending a couple hours cursing myself, I am feeling triumphant right now.


Why the Cursing:

I was washing things in the sink and the water was starting to rise, so I flipped on the garbage disposal to get the drain flowing again. I noticed that a sippy cup was getting dangerously close to the drain, so I shut off the disposal quickly. But not quickly enough.

The sippy cup was stuck in the garbage disposal. I tried pulling it out, but it was wedged. I tried getting some leverage around it to push it out. No go. I tried wiggling it. It just went in further. After attempting all this in greasy increasingly lukewarm water, I figure I should try getting the water out. And so I push the silly cup all the way in.

This is a very bad idea.

Now the cup inside the garbage disposal with no hope of getting out (Although the water is drained now!). I toy with the idea of being helpless and begging the Spozo to fix it when he gets home. After all, he installed the beast. He should know how to disassemble it and rescue the cup. But. I decide that it can't be too hard of a thing to fix, and I really CAN do it myself.

I spend time unscrewing various screws under the sink that I hope will loosen the dang thing and let me get the stupid cup out. 5 screws later, I am still no closer to getting the disposal loosened and I can't find anymore screws.

Why the Triumph:

I finally remember I have this wonderful resource called the Internet. 2 searches and 5 pages later, I find this gem. And it works! (Well, after I give up on disconnecting the electricity and just go flip the fuse off outside.) The garbage disposal is now cupless and I have put the disposal back together and I can't see any water leaking anywhere.

So the house is still a mess, the children haven't gotten their naps (they've been running wild during this whole episode), and all the under the sink junk is on the kitchen floor, but the garbage disposal works, and by gum, it's all thanks to me!

(Let's just ignore the fact that it wouldn't need fixing if it weren't for me!)
~

03 June 2009

the Jury is still out

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The Sita has been fairly resistant about learning to read. Whenever I tried even a little to get her to look at words, she just buried her face. So now on the second or third or fourth book in a row she asks me to read to her, I make it a condition that she will "help" me read if I read the rest of the book.

She memorizes stories so quickly it's hard to tell if she's just remembering the word that is supposed to come next or she actually recognizes the word. Sometimes it's fairly obvious because she's got the whole phrase or sentence memorized, but other times, she just says the next word that I'm pointing to.

Since we aren't constantly getting new books, I haven't been sure which she's been doing (or a bit of both). But we just got a new issue of The Friend, and as I was reading a story for the first time, I decided to do a little test. (By the way, have you tried their online interactive site? My kids are in love with it right now!) I started reading (and pointing to the words as I read) and then I would pause and point to the next word. She would say the right one most of the time! Sometimes it took a couple guesses, and sometimes she was way off. I'm not quite sure that she wasn't just guessing the word from the context of the sentence or a combination of the context plus the first letter of the word, but still!

I'm so excited for her.

Words that she seems to recognize consistently:

Jesus
go
up
Mommy
Daddy
no
on
Evelyn


Words she seems to get some/most of the time:

bed
door
room
girl
boy
dinosaur
children
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30 May 2009

Presents for me?

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A couple days after our anniversary, the Dude and the Sita announced as they were getting ready for bed that they were making presents for me. I smiled and said goodnight. Much giggling ensued for a long while after I had cloistered them in their room.

The next morning they presented me with their play oven mitts taped shut and filled with Legos. They had each picked out Legos to make me a specialized "set" for me to make "a creation" with. The funny thing is, I liked the bricks the Sita picked out for me - they were just more interesting for me to play with. They enjoyed watching me make something with Legos, and then they were very possessive of the "creation" I had made out of "their" set of Legos.

I think this project came about because of all the gift giving the Spozo and I did for the anniversary and because my "biography" (I had to give a talk on Sunday and they wanted a little biographical information) had stated I did a lot of Lego construction. To which the Dude stated emphatically, "Mommy does NOT play with Legos!" I will say in my defense that I had said "attended many lectures on Lego construction" - and believe me, I have! I get shown "step 1" and then "step 2" and "step 3,759" of every creation the Dude assembles.

But the Dude was right that I don't often participate in the joys of Lego construction and has now rectified the situation.
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17 May 2009

She has Arrived!

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The Rita is here!

She came a little over a week early - and gave us just enough time to shuffle the Dude and Sita over to friends, drive to the hospital (half an hour away) and get to our room before demanding entrance to the world. As a result, we had the glamour of being known as the "precipitous birth" in the maternity ward.



She had a teeny head (that stayed round!), lots of hair and dark eyes. She reminds us of both the Dude and the Sita when they were babies. Unfortunately, she's a little colicky and very determined to make us burn lots of calories to keep her happy with lots of bouncing and walking. She loves to examine things for a long time and wants to face out already to get to know the world.

We like the Rita a lot! We haven't had any serious sibling jealousy issues, but have had a little regression from the Sita. She wore diapers for awhile but she's already back on the potty! We're still working on the crying for every little thing that upsets her. (Or maybe that's just her impending three-ness). The Dude is being a pretty good sport about getting even less attention, perhaps because he is one of the Rita's favorite people to smile at.


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My little Man of Steel

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As kindergarten fast approaches, we had to get the Dude's vaccinations up to date. Needles are among my least favorite things and the time I got my vaccinations is one of my more vivid childhood memories (not in a good way), so I was more nervous about him getting them than he was.

To prepare him, we talked about not looking at them putting in the shots, that it might hurt a little, but that it was better to relax for the shots instead of tense up because it was easier to get the needle into a relaxed muscle. I still remember (and resent!) my Mother's chant: It's easier to poke a stick in a marshmallow than a stone! (and she's right, like usual!) To sweeten the deal, I promised him that he could choose a toy if he was very brave.

We get there, he hops up on the hospital bed, and I draw his attention away from the multiple needles by having him look at the cool rainbow twirly things they have hanging from the ceiling just for that purpose. The nurse pokes him again and again and again. And Again AND AGAIN. I am in tears. He's sitting there bobbing his little head like nothing has happened. I'm wondering if she's using something besides needles to inject him.

The nurse declares him done and then gives him huge high fives.

The Sita then jumps onto the stepstool and sings that it's her turn now! The nurses look at each other and me and then we all start laughing. I think that was a first for the nurses - usually their patients are not excited to get their shots! (Especially when they're second in line!)

A week later, the Dude showed his steel once again when he went to the dentist to get a cavity filled. The dentist suggested that he take some laughing gas to help him relax during the procedure. Because I was pregnant, they couldn't let me in the room with him if he were to take the laughing gas. When I explained that to him, he decided that he would rather go without the laughing gas to have me in the room.

He stayed so still - he only twitched as they were injecting the novocain and was perfectly still for the rest of the time.

He's my brave boy. Particularly when there are Legos at stake.
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22 February 2009

Hallelujah, Rejoice!

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After about a year of trying to bribe and connive the Sita into going #2 on the potty, today was the day she decided to do it! I almost didn't even let her try because she was using it (as in common with other times) to postpone naptime. Luckily, we got her ready and I told her another story in the series of the Pink Unicorn Chronicles as she nested upon the throne. She almost panicked, but persevered and got it out. She has already sworn off diapers forever.

I should have offered a tea party set a lot sooner, apparently. Only a week after setting this up as the reward we have results! (And because she has decided that tea parties are among The Best Things on the Planet thanks to a visit with Grandma to Crown and Crumpet and playing with a tea set at a friend's house). She was a good sport about having to wait until tomorrow to go get the tea party set (because of course she had to do it on a Sunday!), so we're heading off to a toy store that does NOT stock a pink princess tea set tomorrow to pick out her Special Treat. I'm hoping she'll pick this one.

I'm also really hoping this isn't a one-time thing and that she doesn't regress after the baby arrives. It would be so nice to not have two sets of poopy diapers to change!
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19 February 2009

Syrup is Tasty

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When the Sita asked for syrup, we were confused. We weren't having waffles. Or pancakes. Or anything that syrup would taste remotely good on. But she kept asking for it.

Finally, she opened up the refrigerator and got out the bottle of Newman's Own Balsamic Vinaigrette, brought it to the Spozo and asked for some of this "syrup" on her plate. To dip her broccoli in (along with everything else on her plate)!

We have known of her obsession with Balsamic Vinaigrette for awhile now. The first time we ever let her try it, we soon discovered that she liked drinking it straight and it was with difficulty that we coaxed her into dipping things (very absorbent things - like bread and broccoli!) into it and then eating it.

We're thinking pickle juice might be something she'd love - as she loves pickles, olives, hummus and Trader Joe's Marinated Bean Salad (canned). Does anyone have any other suggestions of other briny things she might enjoy? (The more calories, the better!)
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13 February 2009

Miracle of the Day

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Today as we drove home from dropping the Spozo off at the airport, we got to see rainbows! Real, live rainbows!

Since my kids have never really seen a real rainbow before (not sure if that means we don't get out enough or we've just been living where there's a drought), they were awed by it.

And, really?
Rainbows are awesome!

They are miraculous and beautiful and I'm glad we got to see them today - if only to hear the Sita's joy in seeing a rainbow out the window and realizing that joy can be found in simple things.

Especially double rainbows!
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04 February 2009

What we had for breakfast

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Mmmm. With raspberries from the Berkeley Bowl! Shockingly, we had never been there until yesterday when we were already in that part of town, and I had an entourage to help me keep wiggly children from being lost!
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22 January 2009

Yes, she really said that

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And yes, I know a whole bunch of holidays and things have happened since I last posted. Maybe I'll catch you up on the highlights. Maybe.

In the meantime, my favorite thing the Sita said today:

"I want to get my jammas on now!"

"Sweetie, it's really not time for bed quite yet."

"But MOMMY, I'm TIRED. I didn't take a nap today!"

Needless to say, she got her pajamas on!
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