This afternoon I set Anna up at her activity table and then walked away to check on some other things. Before I did so, I had made sure that she wouldn't crash into her toy bin if she fell over.
I came back a minute later and was very confused. Anna was now on the next side of the activity table, nowhere near the toy bin. For a minute, I pondered.
Aha! A lightbulb went on in my head. Anna moved herself over there, I thought. I watched carefully, and sure enough, the little so-and-so is cruising happily and easily around the table. She's so pleased with herself that you can't help but smile at her antics!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Just an expression
Yesterday Rachel was "fake coughing" a bit after I picked her up from school. While I do think that she is fighting a bit of a cold right now, there is an obvious difference between real coughing and fake coughing. I told her to stop, and she said, "I feel like I'm going to barf." I looked at her and started to laugh because clearly she was just fine. I said, "No, you're not. Why would you say that?"
"It's just an expression, Mommy!" she answered cheerfully as if I should have known all along.
When I told her that it was not "just an expression" she wanted to know what it meant. Silly girl.
"It's just an expression, Mommy!" she answered cheerfully as if I should have known all along.
When I told her that it was not "just an expression" she wanted to know what it meant. Silly girl.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Pets
Today Rachel and I were doing some pages in one of her workbooks. She requested "Social Studies" and the pages we did were about rules and responsibility. One of the activities was to check off chores that members of your family do and one of the options was feeding pets. That led us to a discussion about pets.
I asked Rachel if she wanted a pet. At first she said, "No thank you." Then I made a comment about wanting to get a cat again. "Rachel, would you like a cat?" I asked. "No thank you," she replied. "Really? You wouldn't want a cat?" I said in a bit of shock. After all, both Ben and I have always had cats in our homes.
Rachel thought for just a moment. "Actually, I would prefer a goldfish," she said.
I got her to agree that if we get a goldfish one day, we can name it Flushy. ;)
I asked Rachel if she wanted a pet. At first she said, "No thank you." Then I made a comment about wanting to get a cat again. "Rachel, would you like a cat?" I asked. "No thank you," she replied. "Really? You wouldn't want a cat?" I said in a bit of shock. After all, both Ben and I have always had cats in our homes.
Rachel thought for just a moment. "Actually, I would prefer a goldfish," she said.
I got her to agree that if we get a goldfish one day, we can name it Flushy. ;)
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Life with two girls
Lots of pink, lots of dresses, lots of matching things, toy purses, some dolls, more elephants, books, books, more books, big eyes, big smiles...
We've got it pretty good around here! Anna is sleeping much better these days. She still wakes up twice per night but she's easy to soothe back and she's turned into a fantastic napper. Although as I type she is up in her crib chatting away to Olly, but she's not complaining yet! Rachel is sleeping well although she frequently complains that she is tired. It's her personality though - she is the "Ben child" and Anna is definitely the "Jane child" who will get into anything and everything.
Rachel is having a pretty good year so far. She loves her cooking class and absolutely adores her Kindermusik teacher. Pre-K is going well for the most part other than the typical "I don't want to participate" stuff that we see in many different activities when she's not that interested. She wanted nothing to do with flinging paint on a canvas Jackson Pollock-style when they studied artists, but that's not a surprise since Ben still doesn't like to get his hands dirty!
I was highly amused that the director of Rachel's preschool has started talking to me about sending Anna in the fall. Yes, they have a program for toddlers starting at age 18 months for 2 hours 2 mornings per week, but I highly doubt that I'll send her! I only sent Rachel at age 2.5 because I needed the childcare while I taught Kindermusik here and we wanted to take advantage of the excellent Jewish programming while we had access to it. Little did we know we'd be back...
Anyway, the only way I'd send Anna to preschool in the fall is if we end up homeschooling Rachel for Kindergarten and I feel like we'd benefit from some "Mommy & Rachel" time other than Anna's naptime. So we'll see.
We're going home for American Thanksgiving soon and I had to laugh at a conversation I just had with one of Rachel's teachers the other day:
Miss H: "Rachel told me you're going to London for Thanksgiving?"
Me: "Yes, we are."
Miss H: "Oh, wow!"
Me: "Um... London, Ontario, Canada. Not London, England."
Miss H: "Oh! That makes more sense. I did know you were from Canada."
And now I'm going to sign off and enjoy a few minutes of peace and quiet before Ben and Rachel get home from shul.
We've got it pretty good around here! Anna is sleeping much better these days. She still wakes up twice per night but she's easy to soothe back and she's turned into a fantastic napper. Although as I type she is up in her crib chatting away to Olly, but she's not complaining yet! Rachel is sleeping well although she frequently complains that she is tired. It's her personality though - she is the "Ben child" and Anna is definitely the "Jane child" who will get into anything and everything.
Rachel is having a pretty good year so far. She loves her cooking class and absolutely adores her Kindermusik teacher. Pre-K is going well for the most part other than the typical "I don't want to participate" stuff that we see in many different activities when she's not that interested. She wanted nothing to do with flinging paint on a canvas Jackson Pollock-style when they studied artists, but that's not a surprise since Ben still doesn't like to get his hands dirty!
I was highly amused that the director of Rachel's preschool has started talking to me about sending Anna in the fall. Yes, they have a program for toddlers starting at age 18 months for 2 hours 2 mornings per week, but I highly doubt that I'll send her! I only sent Rachel at age 2.5 because I needed the childcare while I taught Kindermusik here and we wanted to take advantage of the excellent Jewish programming while we had access to it. Little did we know we'd be back...
Anyway, the only way I'd send Anna to preschool in the fall is if we end up homeschooling Rachel for Kindergarten and I feel like we'd benefit from some "Mommy & Rachel" time other than Anna's naptime. So we'll see.
We're going home for American Thanksgiving soon and I had to laugh at a conversation I just had with one of Rachel's teachers the other day:
Miss H: "Rachel told me you're going to London for Thanksgiving?"
Me: "Yes, we are."
Miss H: "Oh, wow!"
Me: "Um... London, Ontario, Canada. Not London, England."
Miss H: "Oh! That makes more sense. I did know you were from Canada."
And now I'm going to sign off and enjoy a few minutes of peace and quiet before Ben and Rachel get home from shul.
Friday, November 14, 2008
My nine month old has spit-up in her ear.
Anna felt the need to get up just before midnight and stay up happily eating and chatting for half an hour. I guess she wanted to celebrate 9 months in style! I can't argue too much though. She fell asleep at 6:45pm, was awake and ate 6oz from 11:45-12:15, then slept until 3:50 when she woke up, chatted, ate 4oz and went back to sleep about 15 minutes later. She slept until 6:20!!! And Rachel didn't get up until after 7:30!!!
These pictures were taken before Anna felt the need to spit up and then smear it in her ear, but I felt that it was important to blog that "milestone" anyway.
These pictures were taken before Anna felt the need to spit up and then smear it in her ear, but I felt that it was important to blog that "milestone" anyway.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
An addendum to the previous post
Immediately after hitting "post", Anna pooped and Rachel requested more food. Fun times all around!
A rare but wonderful moment!
It's just after 1pm. Rachel is finishing her lunch at the kitchen table while reading a book and singing to herself. Anna has finished spitting up on me and is playing happily in a pile of toys on the carpet in the living room, clean, dry, and chattering away to herself. I am at the computer blogging with a java chip frappuccino next to me. (Yes, you can pry my Starbucks from my cold, dead hands!)
Ah... quiet, happy kids in my house and time to play online. And I'm sitting here blogging because why!??!
(It should be mentioned that Anna was up at 10, 1, 3 and 4 last night. She stayed up from 4-5 and then slept for a whopping 45 minutes. After that she was pretty much up other than a 20 minute nap at 8:30. She finally crashed for a car nap at 11:30 but of course woke up just before noon when we went inside to pick up Rachel.)
We don't have anything planned for the rest of this quiet, rainy afternoon. Sounds good to me!
Ah... quiet, happy kids in my house and time to play online. And I'm sitting here blogging because why!??!
(It should be mentioned that Anna was up at 10, 1, 3 and 4 last night. She stayed up from 4-5 and then slept for a whopping 45 minutes. After that she was pretty much up other than a 20 minute nap at 8:30. She finally crashed for a car nap at 11:30 but of course woke up just before noon when we went inside to pick up Rachel.)
We don't have anything planned for the rest of this quiet, rainy afternoon. Sounds good to me!
Monday, November 10, 2008
Anna's almost mobile!
I guess it depends on how you define mobile. She can scooch forward on her bum and does so frequently. She can flip onto her tummy and edge her way around a room doing everything but actually crawling forwards. She can roll. She can stand holding onto things and has starting moving one foot repeatedly back and forth while doing so. (Um, no, we're not about to let her know that she needs to move both feet in order to actually walk!)
In the grocery store today she was grabbing at things on the shelves. In Gymboree today she was grabbing at clothes on the racks. In the bookstore her eyes light up as she tries to get the books.
In other words, nothing is safe around this baby anymore! She will be 9 months old on Friday. She weighs about 22.5 pounds and I have no idea how long she is, only that she fits nicely into most 12-18 month clothing and even has a few 18-24 month pants for her rather chunky hips & thighs.
She has stood alone once for about 6 seconds so I suppose I can write it in her baby book. She loves to stand holding onto people or things. Our lovely Sears outlet activity table is her current favourite toy because she can hold onto it AND it makes noise!
People are for flirting with. Wherever we walk, people smile at us and it's always because the baby in the stroller is giving out HUGE smiles and looking up with those big, brown eyes of hers.
All that to say that it's time to put away the breakables and untouchables because Anna's on the move!
In the grocery store today she was grabbing at things on the shelves. In Gymboree today she was grabbing at clothes on the racks. In the bookstore her eyes light up as she tries to get the books.
In other words, nothing is safe around this baby anymore! She will be 9 months old on Friday. She weighs about 22.5 pounds and I have no idea how long she is, only that she fits nicely into most 12-18 month clothing and even has a few 18-24 month pants for her rather chunky hips & thighs.
She has stood alone once for about 6 seconds so I suppose I can write it in her baby book. She loves to stand holding onto people or things. Our lovely Sears outlet activity table is her current favourite toy because she can hold onto it AND it makes noise!
People are for flirting with. Wherever we walk, people smile at us and it's always because the baby in the stroller is giving out HUGE smiles and looking up with those big, brown eyes of hers.
All that to say that it's time to put away the breakables and untouchables because Anna's on the move!
Sassy little girl
Last night Rachel apparently gave the babysitter a hard time. We've both been out several nights in the past week as we had a couple of concerts booked back-to-back. We had three different babysitters in this past weekend, two of whom were new. Rachel coped very well but was apparently rather sassy to the last sitter.
We had told Rachel in front of the sitter that she could have up to 15 minutes of reading time in bed. The sitter let her know when it was time for lights out, and apparently Rachel started to cry and said she didn't like that. The sitter let her have a bit more time and then told her again that it was time to turn off the lights. At that, Rachel told her again that she didn't like the rule. She was told that it was her mommy and daddy's rule and she had to follow it. Rachel's response?
"I don't like that rule. Just call my mom and dad and tell them I don't like that rule and tell them it's ok to change it!"
Yeah. We had a little chat this morning. Mind you, we weren't entirely thrilled with this particular sitter for various reasons so I'm hoping the issue won't come up again.
We had told Rachel in front of the sitter that she could have up to 15 minutes of reading time in bed. The sitter let her know when it was time for lights out, and apparently Rachel started to cry and said she didn't like that. The sitter let her have a bit more time and then told her again that it was time to turn off the lights. At that, Rachel told her again that she didn't like the rule. She was told that it was her mommy and daddy's rule and she had to follow it. Rachel's response?
"I don't like that rule. Just call my mom and dad and tell them I don't like that rule and tell them it's ok to change it!"
Yeah. We had a little chat this morning. Mind you, we weren't entirely thrilled with this particular sitter for various reasons so I'm hoping the issue won't come up again.
Friday, November 07, 2008
Elephant Land
One good thing happened on May 2, 2007. We went to the Omaha Zoo that morning and bought Rachel the book, "If Elephants Wore Pants." It's all about Elephant Land.
Rachel has let her imagination carry her far away to Elephant Land which apparently is located wherever there is a herd of elephants, such as in her bedroom. In Elephant Land, elephants go elephotty instead of potty. They pick up their elephail, not the mail, and they enroll in Elephant Music instead of Kindermusik. In fact, there are several classes of Elephant Music depending on the elephant child's age:
Babies & 1 year olds go to Anna-Anna-Animals
2 & 3 year olds go to Little Animals
4 & 5 year olds go to Young Wild (Rachel's real Kindermusik program is Young Child)
The other night I was asked if I was free to babysit for Diana and Tuskie on Sunday night. Diana is a 5 year old elephant and Tuskie is her 2 year old sister. Apparently their elephant dad, Carle, has a rehearsal, and their mom, Rachel (yes, the human one!), has a wedding meeting. She needs to meet with an elephant bride to discuss the songs she wants for her walk in and her walk out. Choices currently being bandied about include "Climb on the elephant", "Star Light Star Bright" (a current Young Child song!) and "Twinkle Twinkle".
Rachel also enjoys playing Wedding Shop and Wedding Gig. She frequently discusses how her elephants' parents have rehearsals and concerts, and she has admitted on more than one occasion that she is the co-ordinator for an elephant's wedding.
Most kids play house and store. Mine plays Wedding Gig. Ha!
Rachel has let her imagination carry her far away to Elephant Land which apparently is located wherever there is a herd of elephants, such as in her bedroom. In Elephant Land, elephants go elephotty instead of potty. They pick up their elephail, not the mail, and they enroll in Elephant Music instead of Kindermusik. In fact, there are several classes of Elephant Music depending on the elephant child's age:
Babies & 1 year olds go to Anna-Anna-Animals
2 & 3 year olds go to Little Animals
4 & 5 year olds go to Young Wild (Rachel's real Kindermusik program is Young Child)
The other night I was asked if I was free to babysit for Diana and Tuskie on Sunday night. Diana is a 5 year old elephant and Tuskie is her 2 year old sister. Apparently their elephant dad, Carle, has a rehearsal, and their mom, Rachel (yes, the human one!), has a wedding meeting. She needs to meet with an elephant bride to discuss the songs she wants for her walk in and her walk out. Choices currently being bandied about include "Climb on the elephant", "Star Light Star Bright" (a current Young Child song!) and "Twinkle Twinkle".
Rachel also enjoys playing Wedding Shop and Wedding Gig. She frequently discusses how her elephants' parents have rehearsals and concerts, and she has admitted on more than one occasion that she is the co-ordinator for an elephant's wedding.
Most kids play house and store. Mine plays Wedding Gig. Ha!
Did someone mention Carmina Burana?
Darn that wheel of fate that keeps on turning...
A few days ago, a light came on in my van. It looked a lot like the "Put on your seatbelt, you idiot!" sign so I ignored it since clearly I was buckled in as were the kids (yes, I checked). It happened again a little while later, and I thought that maybe I had too much stuff in the front passenger seat and the sensors thought there was an actual person there.
The light didn't come on for a day or so, and then on Wednesday afternoon it came on again. I decided to look it up in my vehicle manual that was conveniently located in the glove box: "Take vehicle to Toyota dealership immediately." Yikes! It was not the seatbelt light, but the AIRBAG light! I couldn't think of any reason that it would be on other than driving over the curb trying to get out of the narrow bank drive-through lane that morning, but I was still fairly upset by it since I assumed that at the very least my airbags would not deploy if the sensors showed a problem.
We called the Toyota dealership and were able to get the van in on Thursday. The verdict? There's nothing wrong with it. In fact, the light probably came on due to kicking of the front passenger seat back where there are sensors located. *ding ding ding* Since the kids were with us, we had the nice service technician (who has a 2 year old and is expecting another baby) explain to Rachel the importance of NOT kicking the seat in front of her!! We have told her over and over not to do it... I'm really hoping that she understood the seriousness of it now.
$51 later (fee for re-setting the computer and performing the diagnostic tests) we were on our way.
Oh... The service technician also told us that he would be very surprised if Honda USA wouldn't have honoured any warranty for our Odyssey. He was shocked to hear our story and assured us that Toyota guarantees the warranty anywhere and would not charge us ridiculous amounts of money for "special Canadian parts" which he doesn't think actually exist. Nice, eh?
A few days ago, a light came on in my van. It looked a lot like the "Put on your seatbelt, you idiot!" sign so I ignored it since clearly I was buckled in as were the kids (yes, I checked). It happened again a little while later, and I thought that maybe I had too much stuff in the front passenger seat and the sensors thought there was an actual person there.
The light didn't come on for a day or so, and then on Wednesday afternoon it came on again. I decided to look it up in my vehicle manual that was conveniently located in the glove box: "Take vehicle to Toyota dealership immediately." Yikes! It was not the seatbelt light, but the AIRBAG light! I couldn't think of any reason that it would be on other than driving over the curb trying to get out of the narrow bank drive-through lane that morning, but I was still fairly upset by it since I assumed that at the very least my airbags would not deploy if the sensors showed a problem.
We called the Toyota dealership and were able to get the van in on Thursday. The verdict? There's nothing wrong with it. In fact, the light probably came on due to kicking of the front passenger seat back where there are sensors located. *ding ding ding* Since the kids were with us, we had the nice service technician (who has a 2 year old and is expecting another baby) explain to Rachel the importance of NOT kicking the seat in front of her!! We have told her over and over not to do it... I'm really hoping that she understood the seriousness of it now.
$51 later (fee for re-setting the computer and performing the diagnostic tests) we were on our way.
Oh... The service technician also told us that he would be very surprised if Honda USA wouldn't have honoured any warranty for our Odyssey. He was shocked to hear our story and assured us that Toyota guarantees the warranty anywhere and would not charge us ridiculous amounts of money for "special Canadian parts" which he doesn't think actually exist. Nice, eh?
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Good things to know
Self-policing: According to Rachel, it is inappropriate to read scary chapter books until you are 6 years old. It is apparently ok to read them if you read them with your mommy or daddy and you are reasonably certain that there will be a happy ending. Ha! That is the one downside to Rachel's advanced reading level - the material is starting to get a little bit outside of Rachel's comfort zone.
Animal identification: Yesterday at preschool, the "Zoo Mobile" came to visit. The pre-K classes shared a visit, and got to see a snake, chinchilla, toad and something else Rachel has either forgotten or simply won't share. The people from the zoo also brought with them something that was grey and had little hairs on it. They asked the children to guess what it was, and up shot Rachel's hand: "It's an elephant skin!" she exclaimed gleefully. I asked her after school where she thought the rest of the elephant was. Luckily, she said that she didn't know and she didn't seem too concerned!
Animal identification: Yesterday at preschool, the "Zoo Mobile" came to visit. The pre-K classes shared a visit, and got to see a snake, chinchilla, toad and something else Rachel has either forgotten or simply won't share. The people from the zoo also brought with them something that was grey and had little hairs on it. They asked the children to guess what it was, and up shot Rachel's hand: "It's an elephant skin!" she exclaimed gleefully. I asked her after school where she thought the rest of the elephant was. Luckily, she said that she didn't know and she didn't seem too concerned!
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Last day at the farm
Friday was the last day that the local petting farm was open for the season so we took advantage of the good weather and played outside for awhile!
They really have to stop taking pictures of me.
Anna has a onesie that says, "Mommy thinks she's in charge!" I had asked Ben to take a picture of her in it since she's just about outgrown it and I think it's cute. This isn't quite what I had in mind...
Here's to pachyderms!
These were all taken last weekend at "Boo at the Zoo" - I refrained from posting the picture of the girls with all their various elephants in the stroller. Yes, Anna has her own stuffed elephant in addition to borrowing Olly.
Because I can
I kept very few of Rachel's outfits for Anna, but I've been trying to get pictures of the few things that we do still have.
Saturday, November 01, 2008
A brief re-cap
Yesterday was a gorgeous day - warm, sunny, and not too much wind! We met some friends at the local petting farm and then headed to an outdoor mall for afternoon trick-or-treat. (thus keeping the concept of not going out on Shabbat while still managing to let the little elephant have some fun!) Rachel and her friend had a great time. This was the first year that Rachel really understood what was going on. She was quite adept at going up to people, opening her bag AND saying thank you!
Anna spit her way through her Halloween outfit and bib, and it was way too warm to put her in Rachel's old fleece skeleton sleeper, but she had a great time hanging over the stroller.
When I was getting Rachel ready for bed later, I noticed that there was some sticky stuff in her hair. "What got in your hair?" I asked. Rachel answered in a very serious voice, "I think that's sucker crap." I somehow managed to not burst into laughter and commented that perhaps it was time to think about getting her hair cut again since we've been having a lot of issues with tangly hair lately.
As a sort of funny aside, someone on one of the internet forums I post on commented that her son was an elephant and that was perhaps not a good choice of costume this year given the election. (The Republican symbol is an elephant.) Apparently he had people both cheering and jeering at him. Thankfully we had no comments. The last thing I'd want to do is be inadvertently "advertising" for an American political party! Oops!
Maybe next year we'll enter the world of full technicolour costumes. For those who missed my post last year (or have forgotten):
2004: skeleton
2005: cow
2006: elephant
2007: elephant
2008: elephant
I will eventually post pics. I'm on the wrong computer to do that right now.
Anna spit her way through her Halloween outfit and bib, and it was way too warm to put her in Rachel's old fleece skeleton sleeper, but she had a great time hanging over the stroller.
When I was getting Rachel ready for bed later, I noticed that there was some sticky stuff in her hair. "What got in your hair?" I asked. Rachel answered in a very serious voice, "I think that's sucker crap." I somehow managed to not burst into laughter and commented that perhaps it was time to think about getting her hair cut again since we've been having a lot of issues with tangly hair lately.
As a sort of funny aside, someone on one of the internet forums I post on commented that her son was an elephant and that was perhaps not a good choice of costume this year given the election. (The Republican symbol is an elephant.) Apparently he had people both cheering and jeering at him. Thankfully we had no comments. The last thing I'd want to do is be inadvertently "advertising" for an American political party! Oops!
Maybe next year we'll enter the world of full technicolour costumes. For those who missed my post last year (or have forgotten):
2004: skeleton
2005: cow
2006: elephant
2007: elephant
2008: elephant
I will eventually post pics. I'm on the wrong computer to do that right now.
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