Suddenly Sunday....

Olivia has finally worn herself out and has suddenly fallen asleep on the couch next to Dave. She has been refusing to nap since we arrived and today we both said forget it. Just let her stay up so we can put her to bed at a reasonable time with less screaming.. Ironically today she puts herself down for her own nap.. Suddenly Sunday.

The swimming Pool

Oh the glorious swimming pool! We woke up today at 6:30 am and by 7am we were in the pool. Ava and Olivia were both wearing swimming floats that are similar to lifejackets except for the fact that they don't save lives. The floats aer designed to add a little extra bouyance to allow the child to learn to swim.

Ava watched Olivia swim around in circles yelling, "look mommy I swim in ovals" and thought she should be free to swim in the pool all by herself too. That wasn't happening so of course she wanted daddy because mean old mommy wasn't giving in. Ava loved the water. She played a lot at the stairs and could grab the wall and walk along it. She really loved to roll over on her back and float and kick her feet.

After an hour and a half we all meandered out of the pool and back into the house for some cinamon crumb cake muffins and milk.

Now we sit and wait patiently for our friends to arrive..

Time to party

I love the fireworks at night in small towns. The skies are always so clear and the fireworks come alive. Every year Olivia has seen the fireworks at a baseball game. This will be Ava's first year. I hope she is not frightened by the booms and cracks as the fire shoots up into the sky. I think she will enjoy it. We will know tonight.

Packing up...

Leaving for the 4th tomorrow. Dave's at work and the girls are running crazy all throughout the house. I know that they have a keen sense as to when I need time to get things done around the house so they pick those moments to chase each other and push each other down. Whatever it takes to break my momentum and bring me back to them with my full attention.

A friend of mine has a son and wants to have another child as a single mother. It is at these times of frustration that I hold the phone in my hand ready to call her and say, "Really? Are you sure about that? Another kid? Whew. A lot of work and you'd be by yourself..." But then the moment passes and the girls say something endearing like Olivia's, "Mommy Ida Boe" (peek-a-boo) or Ava's, "NONONONONONONO sheshe" (No sissy).

So far we are almost completely packed. The house is cleaned and sheets are washed. Everyone is over the flu. Hello vacation!

Making Progress

I love watching Olivia grow up. Every day she understands more and can express her thoughts and feelings to me easier. Her vocabulary is enriching and her eyes are bright as she focuses on what profound thing is next to flow from her lips.

Lately she has been interested in watching Ava get her diaper changed. It is an interactive time for all of us. Ava, the prime target, spends her time wrestling around trying to flee from my grip while she squeals in delight that she has managed to break free of the poopy diaper. In the meantime Liv has gotten a new diaper, the bag of wipes (which she has so graciously opened and pulled apart while she strung them across the living room floor), and the butt cream. She let's me know the baby has a stinky bummy and that it is nasty. She repeats 'stinky bummy' quite a few times to make sure I know what a tragedy this is and maybe I could just clean her up a little bit faster thank you. Then she hands me the butt cream 'medicine' she calls it and together we slather it on Ava. We then make our way outside to drop off our funky mess into the trash can and come back inside to wash our hands.

When Dave comes home from work he gets the pleasure of yet another ill smelling diaper. He wrangles Ava to the floor and Olivia brings him the butt cream. Then this conversation transpired:
O: My help daddy?
D: Ok bring me a diaper and the cream.
O: Daddy lotion? Hand?
D: No Olivia. This is Ava's medicine.
O: Me medicine my bummy daddy? Finger?
D: Yes, Olivia I am putting it on with my finger.
O: My help? Finger daddy? Put my bummy daddy?
D: No Olivia, this is just for Ava's rash.

Then Ava thrashes around and grabs hold of the diaper tabs and rips off one side.

D: Oh no baby broke diapie.
O: Uh oh. Baby take off diapie daddy. (Dave goes for a new diaper)
O: BABY TAKE OFF DIAPIE!!! BABY TAKE OFF DIAPIE DADDY!! (Ava takes off running naked).

It's amazing to watch something so ordinary to me become so fascinating to Olivia and now she can talk to me and Dave and tell us that she's hungry, tired, happy, wants to nuggie (snuggle in bed), wants to go outside to the park in her waygon (wagon), or she simply wants me to read her a few stories. Sometimes I do think she never stops talking. Ok a lot of times I think man can she still be talking, isn't her throat sore yet? I guess not. It has helped me to stop watching daytime TV (because I can't hear it) and helped me to be more motivated for craft projects, cooking eggs, toast, and muffins with her, planting a garden in the backyard, and just enjoying stuff that I once overlooked because I was hooked on the box. Everyday we talk about colors and I associate a color to an object. I know she knows what most colors are but she refuses to tell me the correct colors. Now if I ask her to find me letters, she will point them out or use the refrigerator magnets to show the appropriate one. She also knows all of her body parts, the alphabet song, can count to 15, loves planes and helicopters, can identify numerous animals, and can carry on a few sentences in conversation.
We take a trip to the park usually every morning to swing and slide and when we are through we take a side street to visit the neighbors cows. We stand outside the gate and moo at them for a few minutes and then head back for a snack.
I noticed recently she understands her cartoons now. At the end of one of her favorites she chants the song, "We did it... we did it... hooray" Now when she poops she yells, "Look mommy I did it I did it Yea!!" We clap and Ava comes by to see all of the excitement so she begins to clap. It's a great family event.

You're probably wondering right now why I haven't talked about all of Ava's achievements and it's really very simple. I just started writing this blog and have so much back history to put down just to get up to date so I began with Liv because she's the first born. I have so much good stuff to write about Ava too. She my little Ava cakes or as Dave calls her his 'avacakearoonies'. So look forward to reading about her expeditions soon.

For those working mothers...

So a few days ago Dave, my husband, acquired free tickets to a Giants/Cubs game. We called the sitter, made arrangements, and last night everything was set. The sitter showed up, I kissed the girls, told them I'd be seeing them after they were asleep, and to be really good so tomorrow we could cook eggs together. Olivia is becoming quite the cook. I then jumped in the car and rode BART to Oakland to meet Dave and together we rode to the stadium. Once we were there I started thinking about the girls being at home and all the possibilities of things that could happen. It made me nervous but I knew that all my neighbors were home, my sitter's boyfriend's mom was across the street and everything would be fine. I can't imagine how working mothers go to daycare everyday, kiss their kids, and drive away. Maybe after a few hundred times you get used to it, but for me it is very hard since I don't leave them every day. So the few times I have a date night with my husband I feel like I need to web cam my kids. Boy would they grow up paranoid if I actually did that. Anyway on the way home I called the sitter-everything was fine of course- except that Olivia refused to call her by her name. She would only refer to her as her boyfriend's sister's name whom Olivia clearly knew she wasn't. The girls both cried a little while going to bed...to be expected, but then clincher was when the babysitter told me that all Olivia needed to go to sleep was a big kiss from her mommy. That melted my heart and made my night.

Toes...the new fingers- who knew

Ok so I thought I'd try to keep this blog as anonymous as I could but then I really couldn't talk about my girls in a way that would highlight their unique and lovely characteristics. So my oldest is Olivia who is 2 and a half and my youngest is Ava who is 17 months. So today's snippet is really all about Ava. After meal times I typically wash her hands and then her face with a washcloth and then I remove her tray from the highchair. So for the past few days she's lifted her feet and wanted me to wash her feet as well. Yeah, sorta like Jesus. So like a fool I obliged and now she has created a habit of taking her dirty hands and smearing her food on her feet while she laughs in delight. Thus making me clean them too. So I thought I'll stop this habit today. I'll just put socks on her little feet and there vanishes the problem... Meanwhile Ava had other plans. So later today I will be bleaching socks that are now covered in mac-n-cheese. This is just one of the many fine habits my sweet little girls have developed.

It really started when Olivia was about six month old. First it was the daily barfing in her crib at nap time. That was a wonderful experience that no mother should have to endure. Apparently when she laid down for a nap it became the opportune time to put her hands in her mouth and feel around until she gagged and puked. That lasted a good six months or as I like to think of it as my first and second trimesters of being pregnant with Ava. Morning sickness never feel good as getting the whiff of fresh puke off your totally unnapped baby. After the puke phase came the 'let's eat wood' phase where she practically ate her crib. I'd take her to the doctor and ask for advice. Apparently what they learn in Med school is to repeat the phrase, "she'll grow out of it" which she did a full year later plus one super cool crib tent. Yeah that is hard to explain to visitors, babysitters, and the like that yes my daughter does sleep in a tent. But it gets better when she decides that she no longer wants to sleep in clothing and every time she pooped she ripped her diaper off. The first time it happened I walked into her room after a nap and thought to myself, 'that's funny..I don't remember giving her a brownie...where'd she get that from...OMG...is that crap on your face?' Then again the whiff of now fresh crap permeates my nasal cavity to remain lodged there for yet another few months. I tried everything from duct taping the diaper on, to potty training her to poop before her nap which was truely hit or miss, to putting a button on her jammies to keep the zipper up which she'd eventually chew off, to just sucking it up and dealing with the crap at the end of the naps. Then a genius, my mother-in-law, called with a plan- and hold on to your pants because this has solved the problem from the very first minute. She said to go buy a footed jammies one size too big and put in on backwards and turn the feet around. Yes, it works. And now everyday before nap Olivia asks for her 'meemees' and loves them. She's potty trained now but still wears her backwards meemees. She is out of her tent and sleeping in a regular big girl bed but does still love to put everything in her mouth. She is an avid thumbsucker and book eater. For everything she put me through I feel we both have come out ok and on top. I've learned patience and understanding and to really think outside the box. As for Ava, she's an avid thumbsucking lovey lover too but she is not orally fixated on anything else and she keeps her clothes on and sleeps without a tent. I'm ready for whatever she has to throw at me. So far she's been a really easy baby. I've started potty training her as well. She loves to sit and clap, but so far not a drop in the bowl. Here's to hoping...