Bubbles Unbound

Well the Bubble Generator got cranky today and I spent the better part of the evening trying to get it to work again. I kept at it only because I would not be bested by a $10 bubble machine. I finally discovered that the 'fall' it took from Emma resulted in tiny rocks getting jammed in the gears, which then would not turn. I felt much better after that, although cleaning up residue from bubble solution is a true test of perseverance. But then, what isn't with toddlers?

Today was a beautiful summer-like day, so I pulled out the mini kiddie pool and repeated the tradition my parents and many others have performed numerous times during the warmer months: ran the hose into the pool and let the sun warm the water up. Emma was more than enthralled with the new development and took the opportunity to strip down to her diaper (well, you see, my little anal retentive daughter will not tolerate a mess, even if it is just pool water on her clothes). Surprisingly, I let it go. So after being slathered with sun block, she spent a glorious morning jumping in, splashing in, laying in and transferring to the grass the water in her little pool. Mary sat on the outside and generally benefited from Emma's splashing, while capturing the toys from the pool and sucking any water off of them. Again, the whole tasting thing. When it was time to go in for lunch and naps, Emma threw a FIT. That's how the bubble generator ended up on it's side in the gravel with the motor running. She was so mad she didn't even eat lunch. After naps, my neighbor friend Tricia came over with her 14 month old daughter Zoe and she and Emma ignored each other completely while playing in the yard, and Mary took up sucking on the pool toys again. It was a nice afternoon.

I am baffled, however, how it can be that a day spent playing with water ends up in the dire need for baths that evening. Aside from the sun block - I just can't figure it out. You would think that splashing and jumping and sitting and laying in water would mostly keep off the dirt, but my toddler proved that theory WRONG. And since the pool was in the middle of the lawn, apparently the dirt from the grass is really pervasive.

My house is a mess. The oddest thing of it is that my bed is made up (which it NEVER is), and the guest room bed is not. My walk-in closet has been straightened and the pile of cast off cooler weather clothes has been folded and neatly put away (I like to have an ongoing pile of clothes- it saves on time when you are freezing in the middle of the night and trying to respond to an infant - plus, it is my own little rebellion against the natzi neatness I try to impose on the rest of the house), but my laundry room is buried under things that are not laundry. Now you would only have to have been in my house a few times to realize that any part of the house some one might casually see must always be museum perfect. So the closet vs. The laundry room is in direct violation of Annland policies and procedures. Don't even talk to me about the family room - where Emma and Mary sorted through the media cabinet full of DVD's, videos, CD's and Leap Pad books. And during all of this, the most shocking thing yet, I let someone else into the mayhem. I did not even apologize for the disarray. I don't think it is a progression or even a growing experience. I think I am wholly unapologetic for what occurs while I am doing the single Mom thing with two demanding, very young children.

On that note, I got to talk to Jim today and it sounds like his trip is becoming more challenging than he would like. This indicates a later home bound date, which I am sure he is just as unhappy about as I am.

The Amazing Emma Story for the day involves the television. While Sesame Street was on during breakfast this morning, they panned across a beach on one of the US's coasts. Emma said, "Mumma, oh-tin". I stopped, looked, thought about it, and said, 'What, Emma?'. I got a sigh and, "Mumma, oh-tin water there - look, there!". She was telling me it was an ocean. An Ocean? When and where would my daughter learn THAT word? I don't recall talking about oceans and she has never seen one in person. Honest to God I think she is reading things behind my back just to see that shocked look on my face. She proves to me every day, it seems, that assuming she doesn't understand EVERYTHING she sees and hears is seriously short-selling my child. She is amazing.

Memorial Day

Well today was very nice, actually. My parents came over so my Dad could shift the vast amount of crap that is not being used and is going to be sold in the garage sale this coming weekend. It all filled one side of my 2 car section of the garage. Poor guy had to haul things from the 3rd floor, 2nd floor, and up from the basement. My Mom brought some buns and baked beans and we grilled (well, I grilled) a couple of burgers, a few hot dogs, and some corn on the cob that I had frozen. Yesterday I made potato salad and it turned out great, despite the fact that I could not find Jim's famous recipe from his Mom. I should have put more bacon in, though. What was great was that I didn't have to buy anything for today - since there is usually 2 adults and this was 3 adults, everything was covered by 2 hamburgers, 4 hot dogs, and5 ears of corn. Then my friend Suzze (soo-zee) came over and we had a fun time comparing recent stamp and scrap projects. She has 2 grandsons that are 4 and 2 and she enjoys seeing the differences between them and my girls. We both get a kick out of some of the things that are common in every sibling situation. For dinner we ate leftovers from lunch, knocking off the hot dogs and the corn and making a sizable dent in the potato salad. Emma played with her new bubble generator a few times today while the adults sat on the patio chatting. It was amazing to actually sit for 10 minutes or more! The only downside to the day was that Emma was overtired and cranky all afternoon. She also gets VERY anal when she is tired, so doors must be shut and windows closed, as well as all items that are currently on the floor remain on the floor. If not, you seriously risk nuclear meltdown. Oh, and Mary is not allowed to eat pudding, and her response the what she wants for dinner is 'yellow foods'. I cannot figure that one out. So I put both girls down at 7 (an hour early for Emma) and it is 8:45 and they are still crying about it. With the sunlight lasting until 9:30 I have a hard time getting them to sleep anytime before 9. But I will tell you, I could not tolerate them one minute longer if they stayed up. They are ready for sleep, they just don't realize it.

Suzze left about 8, after I ran up to Cold Stone and got some Ice Cream. I was really glad to have some people over as one day runs into another when Jim is gone. And it is hard to remain patient with the kids when it is just me all day and evening long. Tonight I plan to go to bed early (which I cannot seem to do) and get a solid night's sleep. I just hope the girls will do the same.

On a side note, when I went to the ice cream store, I did not run in to one neighbor. This is strange because it is the only open store to walk to in our new 'downtown' area, and whenever we go we see at least 3 or 5 neighbors we know. Then there are others that obviously walked, too, that we aren't familiar with. So tonight was odd. The line was out the door, and believe it or not, packed with tourists. Tourists to Cherry Hill Village. One lady was standing in line with her mini cam filming the streetscape. Another person in a SLOW moving car was taking pictures of the prettier (read:bigger) houses. Yep, we got tourists. I just couldn't believe it. In addition to that they all brought their families and friends, making each 'group' 5-7 people that were getting ice cream. I thought I was never going to get through the line. It went pretty fast in the end, and I bought some extra to freeze for later this week. I can't get enough of that Birthday Cake Remix they make.

Now everybody is gone and the girls have finally quieted down (9:01), although I don't begin to suppose they are asleep. I have some picking up of toys to do and nothing else of import. And for those of you who are wondering, Jim left for Saudi Arabia last week and will be gone anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks. Yep, it's just me and the babies here for up to 28 days, give or take. I think I have every right to indulge in some really fattening, sweet, and tasty ice cream. As a matter of fact, I am going to have a second serving while I anxiously wait to win an eBay bid.

Tastey

Mary is just a little past 10 months old. She is crawling everywhere, pulling to standing on everything (including Emma, if she stands still long enough), and reaching as far as she can to get into whatever trouble might be available. The other notable thing she does is put everything in her mouth. Now, Emma was not like that. She did not explore her world through her tastebuds. So I am trying to figure out the thought process behind this. If I were to the same, would I come upon something new and stick my mouth on it? Would I think, 'hey, here's a new Chrysler car design I haven't seen before, I wonder how it tastes'?. Shopping for a new outfit - would a red dress taste better than some kitchy capri pants? I am afraid to think what would happen if I went to the petting zoo. What I really want to understand is, how does the taste affect her assimilation of the new object? Do round things that taste like metal go in the same category as square things that taste like metal? I just can't figure it out. She does seem to have a proclivity for magazine taste. Anything papery is great snacking material. Coupons and magazine pages are something akin to gourmet meals, while green beans remain in the inedible category. Let's not even get into the green vegetable category. I am sure she would rather eat the glass jars they come in.

Reset Worked

So yesterday reset itself after naptimes (for everyone). Emma still needed to get out and run, but it was cold and rainy out, so we packed up and went to the mall. She had a good time running around and playing on in the kid's area. Daddy bought her some candy, which was the best part for her. I snuck into Janie and Jack to check their sale racks (LOVE THESE CLOTHES) and found some very pretty things. I came back out and Jim offered to go in and see what I liked - AND THEN HE BOUGHT IT. Yes, My husband bought dresses for his little girls. I was so excited - check out a new Mary dress ( #2) and a new Emma dress ( #2). The girls are going to be very dressy today.....

I would talk about other aspects, but there is nothing to say on the other fronts, really. Jim is leaving Thursday for a business trip, I am doing a garage sale the first weekend of June, Mary has learned she can pull Emma's hair in the double stroller, and Emma has learned the pushing Mary in the face will knock her over. That's about all.

Terrible Two's

My toddler is a wreck of emotion and defiance today. She is bent on doing ANYTHING that will get her into trouble, including bashing her baby sister on the head with various large, not so blunt objects. She went directly past time-outs and straight to crib time sessions. I tried to go for a walk to run out some of her energy and the whole ordeal ended up with her in her crib (screaming) and me downstairs (fuming) and playing with Mary. In addition to all of this, Mary was up a lot last night (STILL TEETHING) and I have no patience to start with. I'm pretty sure that toddlers can sense this and choose it as the time to be the most horrible. SO it is 12:30 and Emma is down for a nap 1/2 hour early (screaming) and I am waiting for Mary to look tired so the I can put her down and take a nap. This day needs a restart button.

Dinner

I made corned Beef Brisket tonight with carrots and potatoes. It was incredibly easy and I don't know why I hadn't done it before. I remember eating it when I was a kid and didn't really care for it, but tonight it was great. The potatoes and carrots were so soft Mary could eat them, and both kids liked it. I left out the cabbage, because I hate how it smells (and I didn't have any on hand). So it was good and I feel like a culinary discovery has been made. I think even Derek could make this dish.

Emma's Paranoia and Mary's persistence

As I mentioned before, little 9 month old Mary has begun to crawl. Since her first shaky start she has become completely mobile and pulls to standing on anything that does not move away from her (think: Charlie). She is fast, but not as fast as Emma. She is also not as paranoid as Emma, who I am thinking might need valium to get through this stage. Of course, any toy that Emma is interested in must become, in her mind, the same toy Mary is fixated on. Mary merely sees Emma moving and wants to follow her. Example: Mary starts out on the carpet in the family room playing quietly. Emma finds her little "bouncing ball" in the corner of the kitchen. She immediately proclaims, "BOUNCING BAAAAALLLLL!!!!" and then, after a short moment of glee, yells "NO MARY - EMMA'S BOUNCING BALL". This draws Mary's attention and she begins to crawl towards the kitchen. Emma sees that Mary is on the move and starts to repeat that it is hers and will tell Mary to "get back!" and squeal with ear piercing fear. This further draws Mary's attention, etc., etc., etc. And so it goes all day long, from one toy to another, from one room to another, and I spend all day mediating and playing between the girls to establish fair turn-taking. It seems that if I am also playing with the toy Emma is not paranoid Mary will run off with it somewhere and bury it, never to be seen again. Toys that cannot be worked with are put out of reach on the other side of the gate blocking the stairs. Thus the toys receive a 'time out'. Discussing this with my friend Tricia, I wondered how and when it became reasonable to punish an inanimate object for something it did not do. What was even more odd was that we arrived at the same idea independently and saw no problem with it. The poor toys.

As an aside, I should mention that every day Emma comes up with something new that turns my head. Last week she started pretending she was a dog, panting and barking and giving sloppy dog kisses. That was "Emma Doggy". That transitioned into "Emma Tigger" (one of my parent's cats), and now to "Emma Dora". The later is really funny, as she cannot act out the thing that makes Dora intrinsically herself, or how she is different from Emma. So she just walks up and says "Hola" and then "Emma Dora". Every now and then she will talk to 'her' backpack, and sometimes she will spot Swiper the fox. She really prefers Emma Doggy, since she can lick you and get a response out of it. She also likes to greet everything. Here is a short litany of Emma greetings that are repeated daily: Morning Momma, Hi NeeNee (Mary), hi Charlie, hi crib, hi horse (rocking horse), hi doors (closet), hi clothes..... Hi birds, hi trees, hi mamma's red car, hi poops (that would be Charlie doing his thing outside). She also will say goodbye to everything. I personally blame the book "Goodnight Moon" for this stage.

So today her and I walked up to the Ice Cream Store (Coldstone Creamery) and along the way she was playing some bizarre toddler game which I could not even begin to comprehend. Every time she saw a tree (we walk along a lightly forested path), she would go up to it and cup her hands together and say "Got it!". Then she walked a little way, until a break in the trees and say "Wait!" as she jumped 3 times - no more, no less- and then released whatever it was that she had held captive in her hands (the tree's spirit??). This was repeated until we were done with that path. I cannot tell if this is better or worse than her previous trend of hugging every tree that she saw. I can't even imagine what could possibly come next.

Mother's Day

I really felt like this year was my first real Mother's Day. Why? Well, I'll tell you- I didn't feel like a genuine Mother at this time last year. Emma was only 14 months old and had hardly even shown defiance. I was working full time and planning Avis's graduation party, while hugely pregnant. I just felt like a disaster waiting to happen. But seriously, I felt like I was taking care of a baby, not being a mother. In my mind a mother disciplines, directs, teaches... Well, mostly disciplines. Since I had not done much of that, I really felt like an imposter.

This year I not only felt like a true, genuine mother, I expected to receive all of the benefits included with Mother's Day. Now, I am easy to please- I did not want breakfast in bed, or a "Mother's Day Brunch", and I certainly wasn't going to get flowers (although I am not quite sure where I stand on that, yet). I remembered my mom always asking for "peace and quite", but I knew that was out of reach. All I asked for was a couple of cards, a small present, and the ability to sit down for prolonged periods of time without having to jump up repeatedly. Jim was nice enough to provide the extras- an incredible dinner he cooked and a cake to go with it, and a solo trip to the scrapbook store while he watched the girls. I was so relaxed and pleased with the results of a quite day at home with my family. I played games with the girls, blew bubbles with Emma, doled out occasional tickle-bugs that were hanging around, and drank quite a few cups of nicely sweetened hot tea. Nothing could have been better.

Well, maybe if there had been flowers...

Cringing Mediocrity

Nothing funny or insightful to post tonight, but I didn't want to fall into another non-posting rut. My Mom came down and helped me take the girls to get pictures - it was for Emma's 2 year pictures and a token one of the girls together, just to mark the passage of time. It was interesting to watch Emma, as she would do everything to photographer told her to do, with a bit of a toddler filter. When the lady told her to put her arms down, she did it with fists, then the lady told her to look up, but Emma was still thinking about her arms, and put them straight up into the air. She was trying so hard to do what the lady wanted! I really felt like the whole experience was a mild form of torture for a 2 year old. She has this new thing where she plays "Emma Baby" and pretends to cry. She has to curl up in my arms and be rocked at that point. I know I should discourage things that resemble regression, but it is the only time I get warm snuggles from my oldest baby and I eat it up.

Mary is crawling completely now. She is mostly drawn by the ratty dog toys, then directly to Emma's most prized possessions. Emma used to be paranoid about "Nee-nee" coming to get her or her toys, and now she is right. I think it is hilarious. Really, Mary adores her and wants to play. We have started rolling the ball back and forth between the 3 of us (me, Mary, Emma) and it tickles both of the girls pink. Mary was afraid of the ball at first, since it is a big purple ball the size of her upper body. Now she loves it and is successful in rolling the ball in the desired direction. She squeals and claps her hands when she does that.

Well, that is all I can dredge up tonight. I am really tired since Mary is cutting a tooth and cries all night long in her sleep. I have to go and put away laundry. Then I can go to bed!

Saturday Night, Anyone?

I thought I was going to be scrapbooking with a friend this weekend, but I may have other plans. Please let me know if any of you have already been to this and enjoyed it before it happened:

http://web.mit.edu/adorai//timetraveler/

Maybe I will come back next year and go to it, so that I can get some scrapbooking done as well as attend the event.