Prepare to be Amazed

Here are some of the things Nora has done lately to amaze her mother (and yes, I'm biased):

-She plays hide and seek. She walks around to the other side of one of our dining room chairs and ducks out of sight. And then when you find her, she giggles and runs away.

-She can sing the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

-She tries to wash her belly and feet while taking a bath.

-She is a tough cookie. She's had a bruise and a cut on her forehead for a week, and we have NO IDEA what happened, and we're 99 percent sure it happened in the living room one evening while we were all home.

-This is an older one, but she goes onto the little toddler couch in the playroom, often with a cup of milk, and sits there and looks at books. Sometimes, if Owen is watching TV in there, she gathers all the remotes and then sits there to watch the show.

-She likes to bring us our shoes. And if Owen is upset, she'll grab his blankets and give them to him.

-We kiss the animals on her mobile before bed. We also take the wooden sheep off the shelf and kiss it. Very important is that she puts the sheep back, by herself.

-I swear she was trying to say "1, 2, 3" tonight in the bath, which is what I usually say before splashing her with a cup of water.

-She has started pointing out noses, as in "where's Mommy's nose? where's Nora's nose?" Sometimes, she does it a bit forcefully, and when I tell her to be gentle, she leans her head in to cuddle my head.

Yep, she's pretty amazing. Best reserve a spot for her Vegas show now. OK, that made me giggle. I can see it now: she'd taste-test the microphone, dump her cup of water on the floor and then determinedly walk off stage. Clomp, clomp, clomp, clomp.

Raindrops on Roses or Whiskers on Kittens?

Last night, I asked Owen what his favorite things were. Without even having to think about it, here is what he listed:

Helicopters and boats and choo-choo trains and cross-its [then a pause] and Chucky Cheese's and Menard's.

And then he went back to coloring.

"Cross-its" by the way, are railroad crossings. He loves pointing them out when they're off; loves watching them when they're on.

So, what are my favorite things? Off the top of my head, I'd have to say:
Lazy Sunday afternoons with my family, going to bed early with a good book, a slightly bittersweet mocha, a long-procrastinated job finally done, GYGD weekends, the first daffodils of spring, a mindless movie with my husband and a glass of red wine, discovering new things about my kids...I'm sure there's more, but now I'm thinking too hard, which sorta defeats the purpose of trying to see what instantaneously comes into my head.

But come to think of it, I like cross-its now, too.

Etc.

Random notes on a Monday night:

-I love having two kids. Tonight in the kitchen, we were all sitting on the floor having popsicles and Owen very sweetly offered bites of his to Nora. Later, they were cracking each other up taking turns making V's with their bodies...like little yogis doing the downward-facing dog, but with much more laughing.

-How is it that a 18-month-old, left alone for 3 minutes, manages to activate some weird setting on the phone handset, one that I have no idea what it is or how to deactivate it? Three minutes!!

-Owen apparently knows the Pledge of Allegiance. He just finished reciting it to me.

-Darth Vader Halloween candy: great package, disappointing treat. You open the Darth helmet to reveal five Runt-like candies, but without the red or pink ones that were always the best flavors (though no bananas, thank goodness).

-Kids can sense medicine and vitamins a mile away. I hand Nora a sippy cup of milk with a little Pediasure (since she hasn't been eating much). She no more than brings it up to her mouth before rejecting it as something foreign, like she's a Pediasure-sniffing dog or something.

25 hours to go

Ugh, I think I felt that extra hour today. Got up early to go into work for awhile, then Jon called to say he was taking Nora to the walk-in clinic. She'd been restless all night with a horrible cough. Later he calls back to say they were waiting to get a chest x-ray. Talk about feeling like a bad mommy. Here I am at work and my baby girl is on the other side of town being held down for an x-ray.

Turns out, she has a touch of croup, so they sent home an inhaler and some steroid medicine. She cries every time she coughs because it hurts, but she's been in an amazingly decent mood during the day...though she now sports the raspy voice of a piano bar singer.

Nighttime's a whole other issue. I have a feeling it's going to be a long one...and my division president's visiting tomorrow. Joy.

That Crazy Chucky

Today I accompanied Owen to his first birthday party held at a Chuck Cheese's. I haven't been to one since I was a kid, and had vague memories of a darkened dining room, somewhat scary characters on stage and a ball pit.

Well, Chuck, how you've changed.

It actually was pretty fun...and obviously a popular place for a birthday party. There were five going on while we were there. They've all but dispensed with the character show and Owen had fun spending the 25 tokens we got from the birthday girl's mom.

For the record, he ruled at the mallet game, but stunk at anything that involved driving. In fact, the two of us teamed up for probably the worst game of Mario Bros. racetrack in history. I ran the gas pedal (he couldn't reach) while Owen steered. At one point we were actually going around the track the wrong way. The game tried to tell us by flashing a U-turn sign above Luigi's head, but Owen ignored it...and ran into another wall. And we both laughed.

HCIF

Or, Holy Crap, It's Friday!

This morning, I knew it was Friday because that's the day NPR does their Storycorps piece, which tends to be a fairly intriguing slice of life in the form of regular people interviewing other regular people, usually older relatives. I always enjoy listening to these stories, but it did jar me into the realization that IT'S FRIDAY!

Of course, I already knew it was Friday, I just couldn't believe that yet another week had passed without me accomplishing X, Y or Z at work. Lately, it's all about deadline, deadline, deadline and big project after big project. Some days, I don't know where to concentrate first.

But hell, in about 15 minutes, I'll leave all of that behind me for a weekend of forgetting all this stuff so I have the energy to do it again next week. Plus, I kinda have the same realization on Sunday nights, except it's about stuff like the coat that's been waiting at the cleaners or the forgotten trip to Trader Joe's. Hmm, maybe I should refer to this post on Saturday night. Note to self: also print out photos from best friend's wedding.

Watch out, Brad Pitt!

So last Wednesday, Jon and I each took an hour off from work to go see Owen in his first school play. The 4-year-old kindergarten class was performing a mix of Mother Goose rhymes, with the class reciting them as others acted out the words (Jack jumped over the candlestick and burned his bottom, Miss Muffet was scared of the stuffed spider, etc.)

And yah, it was pretty darned cute.

Owen was an "all the king's horses" workin' on poor, clutzy Humpty Dumpty. That kid can put him together again with the best of them.



As the big finish, they did a rendition of Itsy Bitsy Spider, including a verse that was Big, Enormous Spider, complete with big arm motions and loud voices. All the kids got into it (what 4-year-old doesn't welcome the opportunity to yell and act crazy...in school?!). But Owen REALLY got into it. He screwed up his face to try to look all mean and he held his arms so wide I thought he was going to smack the poor kid next to him. He was even turning a bit red from all the effort. Course, I didn't catch all that with a picture...maybe someday I'll post Jon's video.



My kid, the over actor. I'm so proud.