"A dinner here is never second best."

Dear Diary, I've learned a lot the past few days. I learned that although it is damn hard to be a single mom, I am pretty good at it. (I have absolutely no desire to take on the role full time and cannot wait for Daddy to get back to town from his 6 day business trip though!) I learned just how much my kids love and need their Daddy in their lives and how blessed we are that he makes his own schedule and can maximize daylight hours at home with them while they are awake. Emma has randomly said the past couple of days, "I miss Daddy. I want him to come to the NEW house." - as if he is just hanging out at our old house instead of here with her (soooo sweet!). When Ben is sad or tired, his phrase of choice the past couple of days has been, "Da da da da da da da." I would like to think that is his way of saying, "Daddy come to the NEW house."

We are 97.2 % moved in - I still have my vacuum and cleaning supplies and Daddy's surfboards at the old house - oh, yeah, and my car. Since Daddy is out of town, and Emma doesn't have her license yet, I have no way of getting the car over here. I guess I could always walk over there with the kids, it would probably only take about 20 minutes to half an hour - but I gotta tell you, I am beyond exhausted from lifting boxes and furniture and little people - so the car will stay put until Tuesday.

I LOVE my new kitchen. And, it turns out that I love having carpet - who would have guessed that! Yes, it is going to suck having it cleaned from dirty dogs and dirty kids, but it is oh-so-much more comfortable to roll around on when playing with said dirty kids and it turns out I can stay put longer to entertain dirty kids which makes dirty kids happy - which in turn makes me happy.

I am sure that I am going to LOVE having 2 bathrooms, too, but I can't be so sure with that just yet as bathroom #2 is currently home to a bunch of boxes that I have yet to find a place for and a folded up inversion table (that I wish I knew how to put together as a good stretch would do me good after the move!).

I caught a glimpse of us having dinner in our sliding glass door tonight and smiled. You see, at the cottage, the table was unjustly pushed into a corner and not utilized to its fullest potential. But here, dear diary, here we can confidently use her leaf and all for family dinners, FHE, dinner parties with friends, candyland all nighters, coloring posters, playdoh palooza - the list is endless! I just looked over at her and I think I saw her smile...

Naked is no good.

Emma has completely given up on her afternoon nap which means she now does not nap at all and by 6pm is a BEAST. It has been about 3 weeks now and I can't handle it anymore. Tonight I snapped and screeched at her and immediately regretted it - I just couldn't take her whining. To make matters worse, I have noticed she is starting to have more and more "accidents" throughout the day, but mostly in the afternoon and evening. I chalked it up to having family around for a week, but I really think she is just being lazy. Combine that with probably being overtired due to no nap, and her potty habits have regressed. My girlfriend warned me about this phase - I am just praying for the patience to make it through it!

The straw that broke the camels back tonight was after dinner I got her down from her booster chair and she was soaking wet. So I stripped her down and prepared the kids evening bath. As I plunked Benny into the tub she screams at me from the hallway, "Mommy, I'm pooping!" No, she wasn't pooping on the potty, she was squatting in the hallway. I swooped her up, but it was too late - a nice pile of steamy doo doo was waiting for me on the hardwood floor. I dropped her onto the potty with a wee bit more force than usual and hissed at her to stay put. As I grabbed a wad of paper to clean up the pooh before the darn dogs tried to eat it, I heard a kerplunk. I glanced over at Benny in the tub but he was fine - more than fine he was having a ball splashing around - that kid makes me smile! I tidied up the poop pile and threw the contents into the toilet and started to clean up Emma so she didn't contaminate the bath water. Just as I was about to drop her in the tub I noticed Benny had splashed so much the tub was FILLED with bubbles - No, I hadn't added any bubble bath... The earlier KERPLUNK I heard was the bottle of my fancy (i.e. pricey) shampoo being pulled into the water. The top wasn't closed properly and the contents spilled into the tub and 'ole splashy Magee who I thought was just having regular old fun was actually having an EXTRAVAGANT bubble bath. If I had any champagne in the house, surely the kid would have found a way to open it and sip it with his bubbles.

The moral of the story is: EMMA NEEDS TO START TAKING NAPS AGAIN. Starting tomorrow. I don't care if I have to chain her to the bed. It is no longer negotiable.

To end on a funny note (okay, the whole miserable evening is funny in retrospect), today Ben was choking on something so I picked him up and gave him a pat on the back and said, "You gonna make it, big guy?" Emma replied, ""No, Benny's not naked, he's got clothes on."

Birthday bash weekend Part 2

This long weekend offered so much to blog about - but now that it has come and gone I am so darned exhausted and don't have much energy (or short term memory) to write!

As I mentioned in Part 1 of Ben's birthday weekend of family fun, Emma did an amazing job keeping my family entertained for the entire weekend. Whether it was singing, "1,2 - I love you, 3, 4 let's count some more, 5,6, get your fix, 7,8 'cuz counting is great, 9, 10, numbers are our friends, let's count them all again!" over and over and over, or simply showing off some of her newly acquired vocabulary words - she never ceased to leave us smiling.

My particular favorite was when she asked Aunt Lisa who uses a wheelchair to get around if she could "have a ride in her stroller." Then then proceeded to push Aunt Lisa all over the cottage!

We are trying to teach her more polite phrases to use other than simply saying "please." We have been working on "May I please ..." She is good at it when prompted, but has yet to utilize it on her own. The other day she wanted Daddy to pick her up again so she said, "May I please have some more get up?"

She is getting more and more particular about her food, too, much to my dismay as she has always been such a terrific eater. I gave her a banana over the weekend that had some bruising and she told me she couldn't eat it "'cuz dis banana dirty." The next day we tried again - I even cut away the few black spots - but she said, "No, Mama, dis banana trash."

We have been making trips back and forth to our new condo for the past three days trying to get the bulk of the boxes done so we just have the big furniture for Saturday's u-haul adventure. Emma calls the new place our "new house" but she puts so much emphasis on the word 'new' that it sounds funny, "NEW house." Fingers crossed the new bathroom hasn't thrown her off yet. She has yet to have an accident when we are there and has used the "giant" potty many times. She had a bunch of accidents with my family this weekend, but I think she was just to excited and immersed in play to be bothered to get up and go. Since all of the family left today we have yet to have an accident.

I am sure I will remember other random cute things she did, but now it's bedtime. I have been up since 4:45am with Benjiboogleheimer - who better sleep late tomorrow! He is walking like a champ when he chooses to, other times he still utilizes the wounded soldier crawl my kids were so fond of. I love being in another room and turning to see him wander into the room on not-yet-super-steady feet. It continues to make me so very happy to be able to watch my babies reach milestones - as if I needed to tell you that, the proof is in the blog!

Birthday part 1

Random fun around the house as my immediate family visits to celebrate Ben's first birthday:

It poured all day Thursday and Friday so we were stuck inside alternating being entertained by Emma's singing and dancing and all around theatricals and playing wii Resort. I must tell you, Emma certainly is a triple threat! Too bad she isn't a twin...

Friday night we went to Buca di Beppo for dinner. The kids were perfectly behaved! ( !!! ) Ben ate like a champion, and by champion I mean he consumed about as much as the adults. Our waiter brought him a small birthday cake to enjoy. We sang to him, Emma blew out his candle, and he ever so timidly stuck his fingers into the whip cream topping. He wasn't all that interested in eating it - like Emma at this age, he doesn't have much of a sweet tooth. He got just enough on his hands and face to smell sweet and sticky for the rest of the night. Emma did, too. After we got home and put Ben to bed, she was dancing around the living room and slipped and fell, her cheek taking the brunt of the fall. As I was holding her trying to sooth her tears I said, "Hey, you smell like Benny's birthday cake!" She replied through her tears, "No! I smell like a boo-boo!"

We had an intimate birthday party at the house yesterday with family and "LA family." It was so damp and cold in our backyard as the deck gets little sun in the winter that we decided to drag the bbq and table out to our front yard and party white trash style in our driveway. The sun was toasty and the party was a success. As the front yard is unchartered territory for Ben, we had to keep an extra vigilant eye on him - the street was whispering his name enticing him to come visit, and you know Ben, he is not a shy guy. Ben loved opening his presents, okay, well Emma loved opening Ben's presents and playing with them, while Ben played with the paper and the bags. Nuttin' extraordinary there!

As I put the kids to bed last night, Ben, who has developed a hearty runny nose had some trouble getting comfortable. Daddy remembered the magical vicks baby rub and that seemed to help a lot. We put Emma to bed right at 7pm, too - early for her but she was beyond exhausted from all the performing! As I laid her down she whispered, "But I wanna stay awake and play with my best friends." ...the east coast is calling.

Happy Birthday, Ben!

My Dear Benny, Yesterday you turned 1. One. A whole 12 months. Not to be cliche, but where did the time go?/it seems like just yesterday./Time flies when you are having fun.

I barely remember the time when you weren't in our lives. You have brought so much to this little family - completed us, if you will. Your giant smile, your rough and tumble "I'm a boy" ways rock my world on a daily basis. Yesterday, in front of the Grandmas, Grandpa, and Aunt Lisa, you walked across the entire room to me with the biggest, proudest, most thrilled smile I have ever seen. The final few steps you caught on the cheering was for you and you quickened the pace. Your eyes, your beautiful slate colored eyes, were sparkling with delight as you fell into my arms and I scooped you up tears in my eyes, sad to say goodbye to my little baby boy, but so very excited to say hello to my new little toddling man.

drunken Frankenstein

Sleeeeeep. I would like you to come to our home and bless us all with 8 hours straight. Please don't alternate children like you seem to be doing because that simply doesn't help the Mama. Please, Mr. Sleep - all of us at the same time.

Last night Emma was hollering in her sleep at 1 am. She was yelling but NOT upset or crying, "No, wolves. You go away. You no eat Emma. Go! Go wolves." She kept saying it over and over so I went into her room and found her sitting up in bed with her eyes open but obviously asleep. I said to her, "Emma, those aren't wolves. That's Cassidy and Apollo." (who were asleep in the other room...) I laid her back down and she immediately passed out and I didn't hear a peep from her the rest of the night. This morning I asked her if she recalled the dream. She looked at me quizzically, then said, "Yeah, Mama. Da wolves. They were in Daddy's bedroom." I asked her what they looked like and she said, "They had sharp teeth. They looked like dogs!" And, so it begins. If you recall one of her favorite movies is Beauty and the Beast - Belle's papa gets attacked by wolves as does Belle at one point in the story. She always fake covers her eyes when it happens and says, "Oh, Mama, de wolves so scary!" while trying not to smile. Let's hope this is not a reoccurring dream!

Benny woke up at about 1:45 just as I was falling back to sleep. He just needed a quick snuggle and was back to sleep until 5am when he decided he was up for good. Ugh. He is lucky he is starting to walk more and more and his drunken Frankenstein impression makes me smile so much!

Gramma Lou and Aunt Lisa just arrived at LAX - whohoo! Reinforcements! Grandpa and Grandma Nancy and Aunt Niki arrive tomorrow. Then we are family all weekend. I am hoping to get all the boxes moved this weekend so I only have the big furniture to worry about while Brian is in NY. Fingers crossed!

Good morning!

I feel like we haven't left the house in over a week. Between the packing and the rain the past few days, we have been stuck on this 5700 square foot lot - good thing for our backyard - it makes the 752 square feet of our cottage seem so much bigger. Yes, I know, we are saying goodbye to the backyard - but let me remind you - MODERN kitchen, more square footage, two bathrooms, tons of closet space, central heat and AC - and we are saving about $400 a month! And, the complex has a nice playground and a pool and lots of nooks and crannies that will need exploring...

The packing has actually been going well. The kids play great together for the most part, so I can get things done. The 'for the most part' bit means recently Emma has discovered Ben's love of wrestling. Problem is she wants to wrestle ALL THE TIME. We preach to her that it is okay to wrestle on the bed where it is soft and Mommy and Daddy are watching and everyone will be safe. But more often than not, she will simply walk up to a now often standing Ben on the hardwood floors or tile, hug him from behind and body slam him to the ground. In her defense, Ben giggles with delight when she does this on the bed (soft landing), but on the hard floors - not so much... What I usually hear is this, "Hi, Benny. Let me give you a giant hug." Then ker-THUNK as Benny hits the floor, then a squeal followed by some smothered cries as Emma lays on top of him trying to pin him. Good times.

One of our New Year's resolutions was to make better use of our a.m. time. We decided the best way to do this was to get out of bed when Ben does and actually accomplish something (verses checking Facebook). Some days are more successful than others. Today was a good day. Ben was up at 5:30. I was showered with combed hair and makeup ( ! ) by 6am. Ben and I then went to the supermarket, got $81 worth of groceries and were back home by 7:30. Wow, it is much easier at the market with only one kid! I had almost forgotten. This just may be a new occurrence around here!

Pitty bugs! Get it? ha ha ha ha!

He walks!

Okay, so it was just four steps - but Daddy and I were both there to witness it so it was a very sweet moment. (We've been calling him "Benny two-step" for a few weeks now, I guess it is time he graduates from that nomenclature.) It was quite a tense moment. He was standing on his own for a good amount of time, then he took one step, then two - we waited for him to fall like usual - but three and FOUR materialized before he lost his confidence and tumbled down. Daddy and I raised our arms up in the air and hooted and hollered as if he had just scored the winning touchdown with no time left on the clock (foreshadowing?). Hooray!

She farts!

Today at lunch, Emma was sitting, as per usual, in her high chair (which is really a plastic travel high chair strapped to one of my dining table chairs) when she let one rip. Because she was sitting on plastic, it RUMBLED earthquake style, and stopped me in my tracks. I looked over at her and said, "You okay over there?" She replied. "Yeah, I farted." One classy gal! : )

Even though it is the middle of January, I was wearing a sleeveless shirt today as it was pretty warm during the day. At one point I sat down next to Emma on the sofa and had my elbow up on the back of the couch. Emma glanced at my underarms and saw some stubble (TMI?) and asked, "What's dat, Mama, pitty bugs?" I snarfed my water! You see, pitty bugs are the things I clean from her under arms when she is in the bath (as in arm pit bugs). They are fun fictitious creatures - I never expected them to come to life - and now they have!

I don't think I remembered to write this the other day but it was so bittersweet that I wanted to catch it before I forget. I was in the kitchen cooking dinner, the oven was on and hot because it is ancient and the insulators that keep the outside from becoming crazy hot have broken away. I kept warning the kids not to play next to the stove, but at one point, Emma used the stove as a brace to help her stand up and she touch one of those particularly hot bits and burst into tears! I asked her what happened and through giant tears she said, "I touched the hot! I touched the hot!" We gave her an icepack to hold onto which she thought was pretty fun and her tears quickly dried up with no residual burn marks. But the lesson was well taken - this morning I was washing dishes and Benny was playing on the floor near my feet. He crawled over to the stove and pulled himself up. Emma came into the kitchen and saw him doing this and screamed, "BENNY, NOOOOOOOO! DON'T TOUCH THE HOT!"

My eagle has landed.

Like most toddlers, Emma likes to pick at things. The worst culprit are crayons - she will pick at the paper to peel it off getting little waxy bits under her nails and all over the floor or table. She will also pick at flowers or leaves or whatever she gets her hands on destroying it and generally getting a stern directive from me not to do it anymore. So, you can imagine her surprise when yesterday, for the first time since she has been enjoying string cheese, I showed her the proper way to eat it by picking at it and pulling long strings off to eat it - not just chomping it down like a candy bar. I'm telling you, her eyes got REAL BIG, and she had a huge grin on her face with every piece pulled off. Aaah, the little things...

My other little thing who as I mentioned is a pro at climbing UP stairs, yesterday decided it was going to be his day to tackle going down the stairs. He would crawl over to the edge of the deck, hesitantly reach forward and down with one arm, think that possibly that was a bad idea, turn backwards and place an uncertain leg over the edge, stop, reconsider that action, turn back to go down head first, doubt that idea, repeat all the proceeding a multitude of times. His persistence was admirable! He finally got the courage to let his leg go first backwards and placed an unsteady foot down to the next step. That gave him the confidence he needed to get his other leg down to where he was standing on the lower step but confused as to what to do next. But seeing he was so close to the ground and freedom to roam the back yard, he would just forget what he learned from the top step and crouch down going head first to the ground. If it were grass it wouldn't be so stressful for me to watch, but the brick gave me a heart attack as he reached hands first down! (I was close enough to rescue mid-plunge if need be, but far enough away to give the little guy a sense of independence.) Thank goodness his upper body is so strong - he was able to support himself push up style until his legs made it to the ground avoiding bashing his skull on the hard surface. And, again, he did this over and over throughout the day!

I am about to bust into Benny's last can of formula - whole milk, here we come. That is another $40 a month I get to save! That makes the penny pincher in me VERY happy. If only I could potty train him, too. Is 12 months too early? : )

We love our backyard and will miss it terribly when we move in two weeks. This is what I get 20 times a day - both kids stand at the door and fuss as if they are puppies who need to go out and pee.

"Oh, what a night."

My kind of night: drop the kids off at a friend's house at 6:15pm, run to an appointment, return at 8pm to pick them up, pop them in the car, they pass out in the car and don't even wake up when I get home and transfer them from the car to the changing table where I change diapers and put on jammies and put them in bed with the only moment of waking being when Emma said, "Mommy, take off Emma's socks?". Sweeeeeeeet. My question is, "Is my friend still going to be my friend?" : )

We have dogs - both of my kids LOVE dogs, but cats - cats are different and fun and exciting and scared of toddlers and run away when you chase them which causes toddlers to chase them more and get tired. Tonight's "fun-sitter" has cats and Emma got her fill of chasing / torturing the cats - hence, the exhausted little girl!

The following picture was taken over the holidays at the same home with two toddlers torturing the same kitty who took refuge under the sofa: (can you guess which one is mine?)

I could really use some chloroform.

Christmas lived on when Auntie Cold came over Monday night and brought the kids their holiday gifts. Emma ever so gently ripped each one open and Ben ever so "Feed me, Seymore" chewed on all the paper. Emma was very excited to receive Snow White which we watched that evening while playing with Auntie Cold and the Colorforms Princess book she also received. She got a giant kick out of dressing the princesses and we realized there is no difference in dressing a toddler and dressing a princess. For example, Auntie Cold would offer up a suggestion for a pair of shoes and Emma would say, "No, dat's too small. Gotta find anodder one."

As we played with the chloroforms (as I kept calling them because I couldn't for the life of me remember colorforms), we watched Snow White - which I now think that I am not sure if I have ever seen before. I certainly don't remember the part in the beginning where the Wicked Queen's Henchman was about to STAB AND KILL SNOW WHITE WITH A VERY SHARP LOOKING KNIFE. Yes, he didn't have the heart to do it and encouraged Snow White to run far away, but did they have to show so graffically the almost? Yowsa.

My rain dance worked and the graffiti in our backyard has been washed away, except for the vertically colored stuff - we are going to need some hurricane force winds to blow the rain away to wash that chalk away - or more than likely me with a hose and a sponge...

This morning I was working on the computer and Ben was playing in the pots and pans in the kitchen. He loves the vegie steamer and rips the petals off it and chews on them. Emma caught him pulling on it and came running to tattle tale saying, "Mommy, Benny playing in de kitchen. Lets go look at benny and say BENJERMAN!" meaning she wanted me to go in there and yell at him. HA!

Bomb's away

My back yard looks like a couple of punk kids snuck in and graffitied all over it - the house, the deck, the walkway, the bbq, the toys, EVERYTHING. That is what happens when a 30 month old gets a hold of a bag of chalk. I need to do a rain dance before we move so I don't have to be the one out there washing everything down...

That being said, our new house has nice pile carpets throughout. When we were there signing the lease, Emma was laying on the floor on her back moving her arms and legs as if she was making snow angels. The poor kid has had nothing but hard wood floors since day one and is very excited about this new adventure. The owner wanted an extra deposit because of the dogs, but he joked that he may ask for an extra one for her as it seemed as though there was more potential for wearing them out from Emma than the dogs. He is probably right.

Because I almost never scream at Emma (raise my voice - now that is a DIFFERENT story), on the rare occasions I have it is quite effective. Today we had just finished a potty session and she was refusing to put her big girl panties back on so a tussle ensued. I managed to get her onto my lap but she was squirming and kicking and being an all around PITA so I raised my voice. That didn't work so I raised it a little louder. She continued to squirm so I busted out the all out screech, "EMMA!" That stopped her in her tracks and I was able to get her dressed. Later in the car as we were driving she said, "Mama, Emma can't crossed the street. It dangerous. Emma get hit by a car. That hurt." I think she remembered the last time I used that screech on her which was when she ran out into the street after a friend's baby blessing luncheon!

Benny took a tumble off the deck today. I saw it happen and he landed on his padded diaper butt first before falling onto his side. Once again, the kid didn't even cry leading us to believe he has no nerve endings on his skull. Is this something I need to mention to the pediatrician when we go for his one year well visit??

Jedi in disguise

Random happenings:

Emma has been working on her Jedi mind tricks:
(After I told her "no" she couldn't do something.) "Mommy, you can't say no. You gotta say yes!"
(After she was driving me crazy with her whining about something and I made a snarly face and put my hands out like they had scary claws.) "No, Mommy, you can't be scary monster. You gotta be a girl."

Her memory has gotten pretty awesome, too. If I tell her we are going to do something tomorrow, the first thing she talks about when she wakes up in the morning is that specific thing.

This morning at church she was a BEAST. She just wants the sacrament to be over so she can go into the nursery with her buddies. For a while we were able to use the nursery to our advantage by saying she couldn't go if she didn't behave. But now both Daddy and I teach classes after sacrament so she has to go no matter how she behaves. I don't know how she knows this but she does and she abuses it!

We found a place to live temporarily. HOORAY! It is not far from here and we have a few friends in the same complex. I am excited about a modern kitchen and two bathrooms and central heat and AC. Hallelujah. The kids still have to share a room, but they would probably miss each other at this point if they didn't.

Benny's not walking yet - any second now - but still wreaking havoc on everything. But he does it with a smile so you just can't be angry at the little bugger.

He's HERE!

We have a new word here at Califa Cottage that hasn't ever really been used - until today - and it was used at least 10 times an hour. That word is, "BENJAMIN!!"

'Ole Benny has been called quite a few names in the past 11 1/2 months. There's Ben, Benny, Bento, Benji, Benjiboogleheimer, Bennito, 'lil buddy, 'lil brodder, cutie baby, handsome McSchmansome... You get the picture. Yet it hasn't really been until today when 'ole 'cutie baby' decided, "That's it, today, no more with the cutesy names. I am Benjamin and I will prove it." The kid was non-stop into anything and everything he shouldn't have been therefore we were constantly 'correcting' him with a stern, "BENJAMIN, NO!" Emma even got in on the scolding a few times when he got in her face, but she pronounces it more like "BenJERman" which simply makes me laugh.

We enjoyed a lovely morning at the zoo with a large group of buddies. Emma behaved pretty good and didn't have any accidents not needing the change of clothes I brought along just in case. Ben on the other hand, peed through a diaper, a onesie, sweatpants, and the cover for his stroller. Too bad I didn't bring him a change of clothes and the kid had to roll around the zoo sans pants for most of the morning... Good thing it was 80˚ today! I guess I could have put him in Emma's spare pants, but they were pink and he was already planning his terrorist assault on our home for the afternoon. That might have put him over the BENJAMIN edge.

After Ben went to bed tonight, Emma played with her little people setting them up in all sorts of scenarios. I am so amused listening to her play pretend, "No wittle girl, you have to wait in line. It odder wittle girl's turn. Okay, now you gotta share. Good! Take turns! Let's eat lunch. Here's de corn for you, and de apples for you..." She hasn't come up with any names for her people yet, but I am looking forward to the day she does!

Up, up and away.

Benny's new sleep patterns are wearing me out a bit. He goes to bed around 7:30, wakes at 2:30 simply wanting a snuggle and a binky, falls immediately back to sleep, wakes again at 3:30 wanting another snuggle and the binky back that has fallen out of his mouth, then falls back to sleep until about 6:30-7am. I was giving him a bottle at 2:30 but he really didn't want it. It was like he woke up, wanted some company, then back to sleep. Gramma Lou suggested I give him 8 ounces before bed, but he just drinks 5 and the rest wastes away down the drain. It wouldn't be a problem if I could just fall back to sleep, but these days I have so much on my mind that when he wakes, my brain starts a-churnin' and I can't fall back to sleep.

He is still not walking - so close - any day now, but yesterday we were playing in the back yard and he crawled over to the deck and without hesitation, right up the steps on the deck as if he had done it 100 times before! I was shocked. There was no learning curve, no tentative leg up maybe yes maybe no, simply up up up and he was at the top. Trouble was, he enjoyed it so much he wanted to do it again and again and again, but he has absolutely NOT mastered the going down and almost face planted a few times when I was paying attention to Emma. Time to step up (no pun intended) my outside watch with this kid.

Yesterday was a beautiful winter day, and by beautiful winter day I mean 75˚ and sunny and warm so we spent a lot of time in the yard. Emma is loving her new t-ball game and we played that alot - well 'played' is bit of a stretch, she dragged the bat around behind her a lot and refused to share and let Mommy takes her frustration out by whacking the crap out of a plastic ball. We also graffitied up the sidewalk and driveway with chalk - which she LOVES to do. I love her explanations of what she is doing, "Mommy, I codder de chalk. Make a cloud. Here's anodder one. I collect the clouds. Uh uh ugh, I can't reach 'em!" Oswald was collecting clouds on her show yesterday morning, so she was reinacting the it with the chalk and jumping with her hands in the air trying to reach the sky - HA!

Her language skills and ability to string together sentences always impresses me. Yesterday when she awoke, the first thing out of her mouth was, "Let's watch it. Da movie, mama, on the dv player. The pink one, lets watch it on the pink one." Then as we were leaving Daddy's office after a nice morning visit she said, "Let's go home. Go home and have lunch! Eat cheese, mama. I LOVE cheese!" I get these kinds of diatribes randomly through out the day and absolutely adore it.

Happy New Year!

I think this is the first year in a while that I was actually awake to see the ball drop. Don't get too excited for me, I was in bed by 12:01 and asleep by 12:01 1/2. Benny then woke up at 1am, squirmed for a while, and finally passed back out after 4 ounces of formula. He then decided to be an early birdie and was up at 6am... but I am getting ahead of myself.

We accepted an invite to Uncle Raul and Aunt Laurie's house for a quiet New Years party. And by quiet, I mean, 3 couples, 5 children, 1 dog, a bunch of snakes and rats - the last part is what happens at parties when you are related to a professional snake breeder. We headed over there at 7pm. Ben passed out in the car and slept the whole time we were there in the pack and play next to the king snake and the hairless rat. Not my first choice of bedfellows for my only son, but again - choices of quiet rooms are limited when there are 4 other over excited children racing about and you are related to a professional snake breeder.

Emma was in playdate heaven with the other kiddies. She was non-stop until about 11pm, when she simply crashed and burned. We gathered her up, rescued Benny from the clutches of the reptile room and were out the door by 11:15pm. Emma was asleep by the time we pulled out of Uncle Raul's driveway and I don't think she even twitched from her carseat to her bed - or even moved the entire night as she was in the same position this morning when I had to wake her to head over to Evie's house at 9:30am. Ben took a 3 and a half hour nap today apparently needing to make up for his desire to watch the sun rise on this first day of 2010 - Emma didn't nap at all not wanting to waste one minute of the new year on such a useless passage of time.

Because of the nonnapping, I spent the greater part of this evening being fake angry at her. You know, when she is acting like a giant turkey by spilling her plate all over the table and spitting milk and not sharing with her little brother. The fake part simply comes from me generally being a pretty laid back person (don't get me wrong, I can get angry with the best of them, but in general...). In fact, I once had an acting teacher that would get so frustrated with me because I couldn't get "angry" on stage - I just don't get riled up about the small stuff. So when Emma misbehaves, I have to 'pretend' to be very angry - if only my acting teacher could see me now! - I've honed my craft and would be up for an Academy Award (okay, maybe a golden globe).

On a silly note, tonight while we were webcamming with Gramma Lou, Ben wouldn't shut up. The entire time he was, "Ma ma MAAAAAAAA, ba ba da da ma boo da DAAAAAAAAAA da doo doo ma ma maan." I don't think Gramma has ever seen him this animated! The reason behind his jibberjabber, is like a true Eimers-Batter, the kid LOVES steak. We had grilled up a yummy Handy Market top sirloin for dinner and the kid could see us eating it and wanted his share. As part of my calorie intake control, I only cook two portions, one for my husband and one for me to split with Emma and now Ben. I've decided I had better start cooking a bit more or I am going to waste away to nothingness as my children have hearty appetites. On second thought, I should patent the idea and call it the Hollywood Diet for 2010!