PS, the snot noses are back.

Random thought: Ben used to gaze into my eyes for hours on end. Ever since he gave up the booby, he hardly glances my way. I don't even know what color his eyes are anymore... Okay, they are an awesome slate blue, but I miss my magical connection with my baby boy who is now an busy little buddy growing his brain by investigating every nook and cranny of every object he comes in contact with - including his genitals which he can't stop grabbing at when I change his diaper. BOYS!

Last nights conversation before Emma went to bed:

"Mama, read a book?" Okay, one book. (I read a book.)
"Mama, next one!" Okay, one more book. (I read it.)
"Mama, one more book!" Okay, but this is the last book. (I read it.)
"Mama, next book. Emma get it." No, Ems, it's night night time. No more books.
"No, Mama. Next book. Emma get it. For you, Mama. Emma get it for you, Mama. Read it!" Emma, you have to go night night. It's dark. It's sleepy time.
"No, Mama. Emma get it for you. Mr. Brown can MOO. Emma get it. Emma get it for you. Read it, Mama, pleeeeeeeease?"

Seriously, she was so damn cute with her sentences and her' pleeeeeease' and her 'for you' - as if I didn't have to put any effort into it because she was the one who would go to the bookcase and get it. How do you say no to that? I finally had to shut her door and let her cry it out, which she did but it only lasted a few minutes - not like the 3 hours of cries the previous night where we almost called in a priest to do an exorcism...

Yesterday my acting skills were put to the test and failed miserably when I was trying very hard to act the part of a stern parent. I can't remember what she was doing wrong (she does so much stuff wrong! TODDLER), but I swooped her up, tossed her on the sofa in a time out all the while with a stern face like I was real mad at her. Well, Miss Sassafrass said to me, "No, Emma no time out. Emma go sleep!" and she laid down on the sofa and made fake sleep snores. It was so freaking funny that I couldn't hold back the snarf and ruined all credibility as a disciplining parent in that moment. She totally caught me giggling and will surely remember and play that card again in the future...

Gramma Lou - move to LA!

Is it Friday yet?

Wait, I am a stay at home mom, the workload is 24/7!

Poor Emma's night terrors are back. At one point last night she was so freaked out screaming that I didn't even recognize her face. Her eyes looked distant - almost ghostly, and she kept screaming out over and over, "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" as if she were looking for me, yet I was holding her, or attempting to... She was flailing uncontrollably, Daddy couldn't even contain her - we contemplated putting her in the play pen and just letting her thrash about so she couldn't hurt herself. This went on every 10 minutes for about 3 hours. She finally settled down after asking for milk through some huge tears. She followed me to the kitchen and sucked down a whole cup, asked for more, took it to bed with her and passed out for the night.

She didn't get a nap in yesterday and had woken up early. I am guessing it was just because she was overtired, but I wonder if there is anything more to it. Last time it happened this bad her molars were coming in and I think she was very uncomfortable - this time? I don't know - she has another cold - possibly she just can't relax right because she can't breath so well...?

In sillier news... Sometimes when it is really hot (like the past few days), we sit on the cool tile floor in the kitchen and eat yogurt together. Last night she didn't want to go to bed and attempted to put it off by saying, "Sit floor in chicken, have yogurt!"

Our best buds have a pool in their complex so we beat the heat with a little swim yesterday afternoon. It had been awhile since we swam as the summer weather here in LA has been so awesome - not desert hot like August usually is. Emma hung out in her ladybug floaty for a nice chunk of time and then played on the stairs letting Ben share the floaty. It was a very pleasant way to spend the late afternoon. Emma's virtual twin, Evie, calls me Brenda and Emma calls her Mama, Afton - by our first names. I've contemplated trying to get Emma to be more polite by saying, "Miss Afton" or something - but it seems silly as we hang out with them the most. At church, she sometimes calls the nursery leader "Miss Sara", but then that goes out the window when we do a kid swap and she is at Sara's house! My favorite part though and the reason for me even talking about this is, is other day I was making dinner and Emma wandered into the 'chicken' and said, "Making dinner, Brenda?"

Tonight at the church we are attending a Going Away dinner party for the Means family. I am devastated. The Means are the family with all the girls who babysit my kids. I love these girls. They are experienced, they are kind hearted, they are GOOD people and they will be missed for their goodness and for their kidsitn skills. The new hunt begins...

There's a new nose in town...

I hide the bubbles in the kitchen on the counter behind the rice cooker - out of sight, out of mind. Emma saw them today when I was washing her hands before lunch. CRAP! (note to self - only wash hands in bathroom...) I was hoping she would forget about them by the time she was finished eating but no such luck. (It is not that bubbles are bad - they are fun! - but she makes such a MESS with them!) Our conversation went like this:

"Mama, play bubbles?"
"Okay, bugs, we can play with the bubbles."
"Mommy, go get 'em!"
"I don't know where they are. I can't find them."
"Mommy, dey in chicken. Up high. Emma no reach 'em."
"They're in the chicken?"
"Yes, Mama, in chicken. Up high. Emma see Emma washa da hands."
"Are they in the kitchen or in the chicken?"
She thinks about this for a minute slightly confused.
"MOMMY, GIT 'EM!"

We passed a good 20 minutes laughing our tushies off this morning when Emma closed the door to her bedroom shutting her and Ben inside and me in the hallway. I laid on the floor and looked under the sizable gap and could see them sitting on the floor playing. I pretended I was a dinosaur trying to grab at them from under the door with my fingers. They were both squealing in delight. Emma got in on the action reaching back out at me and we played grab fingers and were just being silly. I haven't laughed that hard in ages - especially hearing Ben happily shrieking!

Finally, Emma has a new job around the house. Earlier today, Ben was playing on the floor making some serious grunting noises with his lip curling up a bit - almost like he was channeling Elvis. I said to Emma, "Hey, Ems, go smell Ben's butt. Did he go poopy?" She totally listened to me and went over and sniffed his bum! "Oh, P U, Ben! Mommy, Bento go poopy diaper. Ben stinky." HA! Now if I can just get her to change them I'd be in heaven...

I got schooled.

The nursery in our church is one of Emma's favorite places to be. As she is not a daycare kid, it is a great chance for her to hang out in a larger group of kids her age (18 months to 3 years) and learn social skills and, of course, play!

Yesterday, the nursery leader didn't have her usual helper so I stayed behind to help out. Ben also likes it there because it is a very active space and he has a great time watching the 'big kids', plus they all love him and shower him with tickles and affection. I tried to stay out of the way and let the kids do their thing, stepping in from time to time to redirect the attention of a munchkin who was not behaving how he/she 'should'. I especially tried to stay out of Emma's eyeline as I think it is important for her to socialize without her looking to me for constant guidance. At one point, for no reason that I could see, one of the little boys walked up to Emma and just gave her a shove to the ground and then stood there to see her reaction. My first instinct was to toss the kid across the room up against the wall all pro wrestler like, but I sat there for a moment to see what she would do, too. She had that look on her face of, "I'm not sure why that just happened - I just may cry - I am really sad, oh goodness, what do I do? My feelings are really hurt." I finally got up and went over to her and the little boy and I asked him, "Hey, now, why'd you push Emma down? That wasn't nice. You made her very sad." He didn't really have an answer for a few seconds, but then said to her, "I sorry, Emma. I sorry you sad." He looked sincere and I encouraged Emma to accept the apology, hop up and go back to playing, which she did.

It's not like he is a mean kid, thankfully there isn't really a "bully" amongst the group, I think he was just experimenting with the "what happens if I do this" thing. Emma does it at home with Ben. A LOT!

I guess my point is, I know I am not always going to be there when the bully comes around and I know that Emma needs to be able to develop the skills to deal with these situations. I cannot and should not swoop in every time a kid looks at her the wrong way - even when I do want to toss them up against a wall... and I think it was more of a lesson for me than her yesterday.

Can toddlers be colicy?

Emzilla is having a hard time falling asleep tonight. We've been battling for 38 minutes now. Her first stall tactic was, "Mommy, Emma hungry. Cheese, please." I gave her a few grapes and that seemed to work. I put her in bed, closed the door and she started screaming, "MOMMY, NOOOO! EMMA GO POTTY! GO POTTY, MOMMY." So, I called her bluff and sat her on the potty. Nothing.

She is now standing at her closed door crying for me to come get her. Ben is fast asleep in the same room and thankfully a deep sleeper... I just went in to scoop her up and give her big hugs, her cries are getting weaker and faker, forced whimpers with screams of torture thrown in. And to think, when I put her in for a nap today, she went right to sleep. No such luck this evening.

I just went in to check on her. I tried singing softly in her ear and she yelled, "MOMMY, NO SINGING EAR EMMA!" - Okay then, note to self, no singing ear Emma.

I am a fan of the cry it out. Once Ben hit 6 months, I began this method of putting him to sleep at night. He now cries for about 7 seconds, then rolls over on his belly and passes out. If only Emma could remember those days - she used to do the same!

Ben continues to crack us up all day long. He has the best smile and loves loves LOVES to play games - especially peek-a-boo. He has started 'talking' more and his laugh is infectious. He is starting to recognize his bowl and spoon and when he sees me prepping his meals he goes ballistic squealing in excitement with this caveman like, "Gimme, gimme, gimme!"

Emma is now at the door yelling to me, "Mommy, lie down bed! Lie down bed!" She wants me to lay with her like I do after she has a nightmare. Part of me wants to - when she grows older she won't want me to so I might as well take advantage of her need for my snuggles. The other part of me doesn't want to get into a habit that I will have to break her of... Decisions decisions.

Okay, it's been over an hour. The child will not sleep. I cannot write. I need to study... and wash the dishes. Ugh. Believe it or not, Baby Bento is still asleep...

"Ben found his thrills..."

I'm trying to break Emzilla of the habit of wandering around the house when she is brushing her teeth. What that turned into tonight was a screaming toddler laying on the floor in the bathroom, me holding her down and brushing them for her. I don't think she liked that so much...

Ben had his first real (i.e. not pureed) food today - blueberries! But, sweet readers, he did not have them on purpose... We had a playdate with some friends at the house this morning and I gave out blueberries in dixie cups as a snack. Someone must not have eaten all of theirs and left them in the play tent in the back yard. I didn't notice them when I kerplunked Bento in the tent this afternoon to play while I cleaned up the backyard. A few minutes later I noticed from afar that he was happily chewing on the dixie cup. I thought nothing of it - it's just a paper cup - and kept cleaning. When I looked back again a minute or two later I noticed he had something all over his face. I ran over to find him covered in blueberry goo. He had chewed through the cup from the bottom and mushed the blueberries everywhere. Too funny! I am hoping that blueberries are not one of the forbidden fruit for babies. Great. Now I am paranoid and need to check the internet...

Okay, I'm back. Phew, blueberries are listed on the "least allergenic foods" side of the charts. Not that there is anything I could do about it now - 5 hours later... Hmmm, might need to rethink my parenting skill on that one. Oops.

Can you hear me now?

As you all know we are trying (not very hard - mind you) to potty train Emma. She is slowly getting it, and if I were more disciplined about it - she would possibly be fully trained by now. When she has to go #2, she announces it, then goes - usually before I can get her to the potty and on it, but sometimes, like yesterday, she had a successful BM on the adult potty. Whohoo!

Today, we were at the Verizon store because my cellphone took a crap of it's own (entirely too clever for my own good...surely), when while paying for my transaction, Emma announces in full voice to the entire store, "Emma go poopy!" Now, fellow brothers and sisters, what's a Mom supposed to do in that situation? Well, here's what I did: "Sorry, bugs, we aren't near a potty. Can you hold it until we get home?" (I wasn't worried, she was wearing a diaper...) She didn't answer and didn't mention it again and believe it or not, held it until we got home - we even made quick stops at the bank and the mini-market. Hmmmm, she just may be ready... and I just may still be too lazy...

BEN on the other hand survived the night with my brilliant idea of wearing an Emma sized diaper to bed - FINALLY NO LEAKS! Please hold your applause. He is sitting like a pro now with only the occasional clunk on the hardwood floors and is getting his one knee under him in his first effort at what looks like he just may crawl someday.

Daddy helps families wear socks, I think.

One of the tv shows that we sometimes catch on Noggin is called Yo Gabba Gabba. I am not too fond of it as I think it promotes A.D.D. because each segment is only like 15 seconds and you barely get a chance to figure out what is going on before they move on to something new (i guess that's why toddlers like it!). They have a segment called, "Super Martian Robot Girl" with a catchy theme song - the segment is dumb dumb dumb - but Emma thinks it is funny and today I caught her singing that theme song while playing outside, but she was singing, "Supermarket robot girl." I think I would probably like that skit better!

This morning after Emma woke up she wandered into our bedroom where daddy was still sleeping. She woke him up with her daily game of 100 questions. This morning's questions went something like this:

"Daddy go work?"
Yep, daddy is going to go to work.
"Daddy go work help families?"
That's right, Daddy is going to go to work and help families!
(Then as she sees daddy's socks in the dirty clothes pile:)
"Daddy go work help families wear socks?"

Funniest home videos

In an effort to de-mama's-boyify young Ben, I left him with Daddy today when he came home for some lunch and Emma and I headed out to do girl things, you know - pick up Daddy's dry cleaning and go to the bank! (I'm not sure what Daddy and Ben did, but knowing those two, it involved a lot of burping and farting - you know, boy stuff.)

We got out of the car at the bank and headed across the parking lot toward the entrance. About half way across Emma starts yelling, "BEN! BEN!" and is trying to go back to the car. I scooped her up and reminded her that Ben was home with Daddy! She was like, "Oh, yeah. Okay!" and away we went. HOW FREAKIN' SWEET IS THAT, THOUGH? She didn't want to leave her baby brother behind in the hot car - apparently she really does like him!

Later after naps, it was kind of sweaty out so we filled the kiddy pool and stripped Emma down for some skinny dippin'. She was playing all nice but she had that look in her eye, so I went in and grabbed the mini-potty and brought it outside setting it next to the pool. Now all you parents out there reading this and in potty training mode, pay attention, because this is some good parenting. I said to Emma. "Hey, sweatpea, you haven't pooped yet today. If you feel like you have to go, get out of the pool and sit on your potty! Poopy in the pool is yucky. Poopy on the potty is awesome!" Pretty good, right?

Well, a few minutes later, she goes, "Hmm, Emma go poopy. No poopy in pool. Poopy on potty." and climbs out of the pool and sits down. HA! I thought - its going to work!

2 seconds later, she decides, NAH, colon fakeout - but instead of getting back in the pool she streaks around the backyard for the next 15 minutes. I was "trying" to chase her down, but she was having so much fun being naked that I didn't make her stop! And the way her long blond hair was flying around and her little gut was poking out - seriously, it was the coppertone ad revisited for the year 2009 sans bikini bottoms.

LIVE on the 6 o'clock news!

It's official.

Ben is a mama's boy.

And, he suffers from separation anxiety.

Emma was always pretty independent. And she never went through the separation anxiety stage. So, we are experiencing something new and trying to figure how to best deal with it.

On a happy note, Emma is handing out the compliments left and right. At the park this morning, she told a little boy that she liked his shorts. Then she told a little Asian girl that she liked her hair. As we were leaving the park she said, "Mommy, I like Afton. Evie and baby Emry fun!"

I forgot to mention that Emma has inherited my sleep talking. At 3am the other day, she was talking away so I went into her bedroom to see what was going down - she was fast asleep saying, "Okay, Doedoe, your turn! Now, Cass, Cassidy - your turn!" over and over! Can't imagine what she was dreaming about but she was very happy!

Emma also rediscovered one of her birthday presents - Mrs. Potato head who had inadvertently gotten buried in the toy bin. She screamed, "Mama, HELP! HELP!" I came running into the living room. "What's up?" "Mrs. Tatohead stuck! HELP, Mama!" I disentangled 'ole Tato-head with a giant pull thrilling 'lil Ems with the superhero-esque rescue. But I must admit, my ego was a bit bruised when channel 7 didn't report it on the 6 o'clock news...

PS the Blueberry muffins tasted GREAT! Finally.

Oh where, oh where has my sweet little girl gone?

This afternoon was one feisty Emzilla moment after another. She had such an awesome morning playing at Porter's house while I was at work. But after she woke up from her nap the beast within woke, too!

She TORTURED the dogs again chasing them all over with that stupid popper, saying, "Gonna getchew, dogs!" She threw one tantrum after another even when I offered to let her relax with Ni Hao, Kai Lan. I couldn't feed Ben or make dinner without her fussing up a storm. She kept stealing Ben's pacifiers, at one point she had three in her mouth. I tried to make blueberry muffins for dessert and she was screaming at me because "Emma no like BLUEBERRIES!!!!" Oh contraire - little one.

Then all of a sudden a switch in her head went, POP, and she turned back into sweet Emma and was heaps of fun the rest of the night. I gave her dinner - pork chops, green beans and carrots, and brown rice. She ate every last bite saying, "Mommy, I like your chicken!" Whatever, it's white meat... When I offered her some blueberry muffin, she said, "Oh, Mama, so good." She grabbed the muffin paper bottom and shoved it in her mouth chewing on it running all over the house laughing, "Emma fast! Emma fast!"

Finally, after her bath, Apollo was staring at us as I was drying her off. He was panting like crazy because he was hot and he looked a bit Kujo-esque. I said, "Doedoe GO! You're freakin' me out." Of course Emma, parrots me, "Doedoe, go, freakin' out." Don't tell Daddy, okay?

Bungholio!

If there were American Idol for 2 year old, Emma would win hands down!

I fall in love all over with this little lady as her vocals blossom. She is remembering more and more songs and enjoys singing all day long. On the way home from our park playdate this morning, she sang the entire theme song from the Backyardigans hardly missing a word. It was so adorable. She is generally in key, too! She may sound a bit like Fran Dresher at this stage, but I wouldn't change it for anything.

Playdate #2 for the day started about 15 minutes after returning home from playdate #1. I was a bit leery that Emzilla would appear as this date was on our home turf not neutral territory, but she stayed away mostly and it was fascinating to watch her introduce Porter to all her favorite toys in the back yard, and her favorite dirt pile, i.e. the rose garden - poor kid went home filthy, but he definitely had fun!

We are making slow progress with the potty training. Tonight Emma was in the sand box and said, "Okay, sandbox. Emma say goodbye. Emma go poopy on potty and get a star." I overheard her say this and swooped her up quick, but we struggled to get her shorts and diaper off in time and we didn't quite make it. At least we know she is identifying the sensation that she has to go. I told her after the 'accident' to try and pee pee and she pressed on her belly just under her belly button with her index finger as if that were her on and off switch (if only it were that easy!). She did tinkle, though, and delighted in drawing herself a star on her potty chart on the wall!

Both kiddos still have runny noses but it doesn't seem to be a bother by day - by night I can hear them struggling the breathe, hopefully they will be over them soon...

'Emmaism' of the day: "Daddy, I like your shirt!" (came out of nowhere and cracked us both up!), and "Mama, Apollo got bunghole." (as she was investigating his bum - yeah, that one is my fault and daddy was not so pleased...)

2 milestones in a day

He teethes!

I know I have been saying this since about the day he was born, but - would you believe, he finally has the two bottom teeth poking though. Or should I say 'barely' poking through - but they are there, I have not gone crazy, just covered in drool and runny nose matter for a week now. He was howling up a storm after eating some carrots for lunch today - which, btw, he still hates (yet he ate them all...) - and I noticed his gums looked a bit different. Could it be? You betcha!

He is sitting up on his own like a champion - still a bit wobbly, but I left him in his crib sitting up and went to do some dishes. I came back a good 5 minutes later and he was still sitting and playing with his cloth books. He is far from putting himself into the position on his own, but he now holds it well once he is there.




Emma has started to identify 'meals.' This morning she said, "Mommy, Emma hungry! Emma want dinner." "Dinner isn't until tonight! Would you like breakfast?" "Oh, yes, breakfast, mama, good idea." Then tonight she saw me cooking up pasta and homemade sauce and she said, "Mama, now dinner?" "Yep, you got it. Dinner is now." "Emma like dinner. Emma eat PASTAAAAA."

She also loves to watch herself on camera. Check out this cell video. She knows the camera is on her and she gets all silly.

Sleepover!

This afternoon we loaded up the matrix with kids and dogs and headed over to the Victory/White Oak dog park. It was our first outing as a family there and possibly our last - at least until the kiddos get bigger. Emma LOVES dogs. She is not afraid of any dog - even the scary looking giant ones - they tend to be the biggest teddy bears! The reason we may have to take a hiatus at this point is Emma really - I trust the other dogs, it is her actions with them and their response that made us a bit leery and got us out of there quickly. Combine that with Apollo knowing his mission in life is to be my gargoyle, let's just say my blood pressure was a bit higher than its usual 110 over 60.

Daddy cooked dinner for us tonight - a yummy Chicken marsala... We enjoyed it outside in our backyard and when finished, Emma decided we were going to have a 'sleepover' in her mini-tent tonight. She summoned Daddy, Ben and the dogs to join her and the result was the following series of pics. Notice the more Apollo made his way into the tent, Ben got pushed out!

Scooby Dooby Doo

Snot nosed kids.

Isn't that a line from Scooby Doo? "I would've succeeded if it wasn't for those snot nosed kids!"

We got us a pair of runny noses. The kiddos and I stayed home from church this morning so as not to infect the rest of the nursery kids, turns out, none of them showed up either! Must be something going around. Both kids are in good spirits, so I am not too worried, just tired from chasing them around with tissues!

Friday was a crazy day. We did a whirlwind tour of Los Angeles with some family friends who had a 13 hour layover at LAX. Most of the day was spent in the car and, believe it or not, both of the kids did great! We picked our friends up at noon, headed to Venice Beach for an hour to enjoy the fresh air, people watching, and a quick slice of NY Pizza from a boardwalk vendor. Good stuff! Emma would have preferred to stay and play in the sand on the beach, but surprisingly didn't melt down when I plucked her from the beach and headed back to the car.

From there, we drove through West LA to Beverly Hills, up Rodeo Dr, through the monster homes of 90210 built right on top of each other, headed east on Sunset Blvd into Hollywood, where we parked for an hour and wandered around Graumann's Chinese Theatre and checked out the Hollywood Blvd stars on the sidewalk. Then, it was a short drive up to the Hollywood sign, then over to Burbank to see Warner Bros studios and Disney Studios, a stop at Mo's for some take out salads, back to our place in Encino for a picnic dinner, then deposited out friends at the Flyaway at 7pm for a busride back to LAX. I think Ben did so well because he had Emma and Matt in the backseat to entertain him and feed him when he got hungry! Phew!

In other news, Emma's coloring skills are improving. She now stays on the paper! Yay! And if I draw a person and say, "Emma, draw the eyes." She actually puts the eyes on the head - not quite properly positioned, but on the head no less!

Daddy and I have noticed when Ben cries lately his syllable of choice is, "mamamamamamamaaaaaa." Emma's was definitely, "dadadadadadaaa." and she never uttered the word, "mama" until the day Ben was born. Fascinating stuff, people, fascinating stuff!

Hardwood floors 2, Emma 0

Emma woke up this morning with a runny nose so I am now thinking that Ben's "teething" isn't teething at all but just a summer cold. Boo! ...and we have a very busy day today. Fingers crossed!

Yesterday Emma was jumping on the couch again and I said, "Remember what happened yesterday? You were jumping and fell off and hit your head and got an ouchie." She immediately stopped jumping and sat down all good little girl like. About two minutes later, she was all - I'll take my chances! - and stood up and started jumping again. Guess what, she totally landed wrong and went flying off the couch and landed face first into her wooden chair. I scooped her up and she had this look on her face like, "Yep, you warned me. But, I'm not going to cry even though it hurt because that would mean your warning was right and I should have listened to you." She didn't shed a tear!

Ben had a few face plants of his own at the park yesterday. He was sitting up pretty good - had a good 3 minute streak rocking. The minute I stood up and went two feet away to the stroller to grab something, 'Timber!" down he went. Poor kid ate a nice face full of that fake spongey playground mat material - at least it was a soft landing... not a wooden chair!

Rest my little Bento...

Poor widdle Bento has a stuffy node. He is coughing and choking here and there - probably on excess saliva and some mucus. I don't think it is a cold, more like he is teething as he has had small fevers throughout the day. I gave him Tylenol for the first time tonight so hopefully he can get a decent nights sleep.

Emma impressed our ATT U-Verse technician today with her language skills. His daughter is about to turn 3 and he said Emma speaks much more clearly and has a wider vocabulary range than his daughter. At one point she was showing off by jumping on the couch. She landed wrong and flipped head first onto the floor. I scooped her up fast to inspect the damage - no blood and no fat lips, just scared the crap out of her... and me! After she calmed down she said, "Emma fall off cough, hit head floor, Emma ouchie on face!" I tried to hold back the smile but was impressed myself with her 3 part sentence.

As I mentioned her diet is becoming more and more Supermodel like - a grape here, a bite of egg there. Today she actually did very good. She ate an entire egg and 1/2 waffle for breakfast, a 1/2 banana for snack, 8 cubes of tofu and some celery for lunch, 1/2 blueberry breakfast bar for snack, 5 stalks of asparagus and 2 bites of rice and one bite of chicken for dinner. For a late night snack she had a yogurt stick and a slice of turkey. All this plus 3 glasses of milk. Now that I look at it all typed out, it seems like a lot! But wow, it is so little compared to what she used to eat! (I was pleased with the 5 stalks of asparagus - what kid loves asparagus!?!) She is really leaning down - I think Ben is sucking up her excess fat! This little guy isn't so little anymore. I got a great shot of my little Michelin man in the bathtub tonight, I'll try to post it tomorrow.

I'll try harder tomorrow...

Some days the time just flies by and it's 7pm and you think, "Yikes, I better get some dinner rocking." Other days, like today, just seem to drag on. I am pretty sure not an hour went by today that I did not look at the clock wondering if dinner time would ever come. I'm sure it has everything to do with the fact that it was 108˚and we couldn't really go outside in the afternoon because it was so darn blazing.

It is days like today that I worry that I failed as a parent. Emma surely watched way too much tv, and poor Ben was fussy because he wanted a change of scenery and I couldn't give it to him. It wasn't like this the whole day, thankfully. We did enjoy a great trip to the park this morning with our pals Evie and Baby Emry and their mama, Afton. If you ask Emma how it was, she will tell you, "Dat was fun, Mama. Fun wit Evie and d ducks. And Baby Emry. Baby Emry crying, Mama. Baby Emry sad. Ben sweepin'. A B C D Bento's sweepn, A B C D Bento's sweepn." So I guess it wasn't a total loss.

That is one thing we try to do at the end of every day before bed - recap the day and find out what she liked and didn't like. Mostly she likes everything - she is 2, remember.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. Hopefully I can find new activities to stimulate the kids. I keep forgetting about the finger paints and playdoh I have in the cupboard. Maybe Emma is ready for them now... Ben, on the other hand - is a very active little man. I need some kind of Bowflex Tread Climber for babies to help this guy burn up some of that energy!

Just call me the dog pooh lady...

Today I really realized my place here at the cottage. Emzilla was in rare form today in her demands. For example, we were playing outside this afternoon and Emma saw a doggie poop that I missed. "Mama, dog poop! Clean it up!" There was no 'please', no 'thank you', just a matter of fact - I am the lady who cleans up the dog poop.

Then after her nap she was pure CRANKY. Her demands went something like this, "Mommy. Kai Lan. Emma wanna watch it. Mommy, apple juice! Emma want it - apple juice!" at the top of her lungs.

Yesterday, we spent the afternoon at Uncle Raul and Aunt Laurie's. We celebrated a combo Birthday with cake and the ever popular Happy Birthday Song. Emma received her first Barbie from Aunt Laurie and she loves it. Today she took the Barbie and sat it on a stool. She then grabbed her paintbrush and jammed it into her puzzle stool pretending the brush was a candle and the puzzle was a birthday cake. She sang over and over the Happy Birthday song to her Barbie and had her blowing out the candle. HA! See the pic and you'll get the idea:

Brainy babies

It is so much fun on a day to day basis to see Emma "getting it." Her little brain is sucking up every bit of information it encounters and she spews it back at us rapid fire.

Case in point, yesterday on 'Mickey Mouse Clubhouse', Emma and I watched as Mickey and the gang had to choose between the 1st path, 2nd path, or 3rd path through the maze to get to the other side - a pretty advanced challenge for a 24 month old, if you ask me. Yet today, we were playing pretend in the backyard and she was saying, "Mama, which path? 1st path or 2nd path? 2nd path, right! Let's go!" It was awesome!

Daddy put her to bed about 45 minutes ago. She is still awake rolling around her bed singing songs and talking to a sleeping Ben (who thankfully sleeps through her ramblings). She is telling the walls about her fun-filled day at Daisy's birthday party. She jumped forever in the jumpy jumper, watched the Bubble lady putting all the kids in their own bubbles, and ate watermelon until the shirt she was wearing is beyond a wash and destined for the trash bin. Ben had heaps of fun playing with the other babies and both kiddies were sufficiently overtired when we arrived home. As were Mommy and Daddy - hence a short blog. Good night!

Friday FUN!

Ben, like most newborns, used to LOVE the vacuum cleaner. Apparently the whir of the motor reminded him of the noises of my intestines, stomach, liver, and kidneys doing their job from my womb - that magical floaty environment that took him from a single cell to gazillion celled creature. These days Ben HATES the vacuum cleaner. He cries when I run it. And I am not talking just boo hoo fuss fuss, poor Ben full on WAILS in fear and shakes like he is freezing when I use it. The biggest saltiest tears roll down his face as I sweep my little cottage of all the days cumulated doggy hairs and toddler dirt. "But Ben, " I say, "You are rolling around on these floors, I am just trying to help you! Doggy hair taste yucky!" Nothing will help but the stoppage of the dirt devil... (I could insert a joke here about how Ben is just like his Daddy... but I don't think Daddy is , per se, afraid of the vacuum...).

The ZOO! We went to the zoo today utilizing for the first time Abuelita's birthday gift to Emma. And, may I say, we had FUN! It was 4 mommies and 7 kiddos, and no one got lost, no one lost a limb, only one crazy meltdown - YEP, EMZILLA struck as we were nearing the end of our visit - but all in all, a great morning spent in about 88˚ heat - hot but not scorching.

My favorite pic (and I promised pics) is the following. It is pure genious really. I call it "BUMS." Please click on the pic to blow it up to get a true perspective.



SERIOUSLY, that's funny, right? I get a shot of all the kids backsides, then later realize that the silly gorilla is giving me the same perspective! HAHAHA! (If you don't find my photo funny, kindly remove my blog from your internet perusals...)

After the zoo, I took my children on another cultural visit: the carwash. Yes, the carwash. I have had my current compact for 18 months and I believe I have washed it - including today - 5 times now! WHAAAAT? You disdainfully inquire? That's how I roll, people. I got me a silver car for a reason. I am a water miser and washing cars in Southern CA where there is no weather other than sun and no winter salt to rust the body is a waste of our Earth's most precious resource! I went to a do it yourself place - $5 to get a good upper body workout! And to make Emma and Ben giggle like crazy as I shot water and soap at them from the hose. They loved it! ...as a matter of fact - I may now have to weigh this financial equation... $5 to wash the car and make the kids laugh = $5 for 2 rides on the merry go round at the mall... Hmmmmm, which brought greater joy?