Sticky

We all know that Diana can be messy at times, but while I understand how a chocolate cookie can blacken her teeth I don't know how a rice noodle stays in her hair throughout an entire meal. Even more confusing, I have no idea how Diana managed to get a Post-it note stuck to the back of her head today. The most plausible explanation is that Amelia put the note on Diana's head, but I don't think she did it. Instead, I think that Diana's habit of sweeping her messy hands over her head is starting to produce some interesting results.

And if I only had a camera attached to my hand at all times...Diana pulled a saucepan out from the cupboard today and SOMEHOW managed to get both feet into it and squat down. Now that's funny stuff! Amelia tried the same trick, but couldn't make her feet fit.

I guess I'll be re-washing any pans I find out of the cabinets from now on.

The most exciting thing happening this week (besides the occassional glimpse of sunshine) is decorating Amelia's room. Back before Christmas Amelia and I found a set of plastic, glow-in-the-dark planets to hang in her room. Yesterday I thought it would be fun to pull the planets out of my closet and show them, again, to Amelia. She vaguely remembered buying the plastic planets at the toy store, but she was incredibly excited about putting them up in her room.

By the time I got all of the planets out, identified and ordered it was nearly time for the girls to get ready for bed. I knew that setting up the solar system would require a step ladder and hoped to postpone the task until today. But just as I began to hum and hah and state reasons why I didn't want to hang the planets from Amelia's nine foot ceiling she told me why I needed to do this for her: "Diana has butterflies in her room, so I should have the planets in my room."

I felt she had a point and lumbered up the stairs with my aluminum step ladder. After deciding where our imaginary sun would be I began by hanging up Jupiter, Mars and Earth. This took more time than you might expect, since it involved tying several knots in nearly invisible filiment. Once the first three planets were up, it was definately time for a bath so I told Amelia, "This may be the last planet for tonight." She fussed and whined saying, "No! Pluto is the last planet!"

Again, she made a good point.

After both girls were ready for bed I put up Venus and Mercury. I also put some small glow-in-the-dark stars on Amelia's walls. I attempted to replicate the Big Dipper on Amelia's wall, but it didn't look right. In fact, my arrangement was so bad Mike couldn't even locate my Big Dipper.

Once we turned the lights off the planets and stars looked really impressive. Amelia started to tell stories about the planets right away. The following morning all Amelia could talk about was putting up the rest of the planets. She nagged and nagged me while I was trying to eat toast at the breakfast table. I told her, "I can't put the planets up right now, I'm still eating breakfast." Amelia replied, "You can bring your food upstairs with you."

This time I wasn't buying it.

But after the girls went to their gymnastics classes and once Diana was in bed for a nap I finished assembling the solar system. Amelia loves being among the stars and planets, and I have to admit that her room looks pretty cool when the lights go out.

Lisa

Toby, Mavis, Rusty and other trains

As many of you know, it has been raining A LOT in California. I have been through a couple of droughts, and I realize that California needs all of the rain and snow fall we can get - but the girls are getting cabin fever. Amelia actually came right out and told me last week that she was bored. So I racked my brain and tried to come up with something fun that Amelia and I could do in spite of the wet, chilly weather.

Months ago, while traveling up north, I noticed that there was a railroad museum along the road. The museum is only open weekends in the winter, and the hours make it nearly impossible to bring both girls (unless Diana misses her nap), but I knew Amelia would love it so I took her out there this afternoon.

When I told Amelia we were going out to see trains, she was mildly interested. It took a while to get her coordinated and dressed, but she was smiling when she got in the car. I told her we would have to get gas before we drove out to see the trains and she said, "First the bookstore, then we'll get gas." That's when I realized she thought we were only going to see the toy trains at our local Barnes and Noble. I told her that we were going to see great big trains and her interest was piqued.

Arriving at the museum I discovered that the tickets for admission were much more expensive than I had anticipated. But when the ticket vendor explained the train schedule and how Amelia and I could catch rides on both an antique street car and an old railroad car, the ticket price suddenly became reasonable. Amelia was excited too - she loves trains and always wants to ride them. Until today, the only train she had ever ridden was a BART train.

The volunteer train conductors could tell that Amelia was very anxious to ride the train and allowed us to hop aboard while they switched the train from one track to another. They asked Amelia if she wanted to ring the train's bell, but she nervously declined stating she could do it when she was older.

We took our first ride on the wooden street car. Amelia and I were the only passengers and the trip lasted a brief 15 minutes. Shortly after the first trip we boarded a second train for a 45 minute ride through the countryside. Two boys, a little older than Amelia, and their parents were along for the ride as were a handful of others. When the train reached the end of the line the conductors again offered the kids an opportunity to ring the bell and blow the train's air whistle. When Amelia saw the boys head for the front of the train she followed. And when the train stopped at a street crossing, she asked (and was allowed) to get up and ring the bell one more time.

Of course, Amelia was her funny, young self today - just like any other day. While the train was stopped on the tracks so that the railroad volunteer could tell us about the train's history Amelia became impatient. After a couple of short minutes Amelia waved her arms in the air and said, "Let's keep going!" (or something to that effect). It reminded me of our last dinner at a Chinese restaurant when Amelia, noticing that there was no more baby corn in her vegetable chow mein, called to a waiter saying, "More baby corn!"

Very funny, but a little bit embarassing.

Anyway, Amelia closed the place down, as she often does. She had a lot of fun and compared all of the engines we saw to those she knows from Thomas the Tank Engine. She was especially excited to see an old engine with black and yellow stripes (see above) that reminded her so much of Mavis.

Tomorrow it will rain again, but Amelia and I had a great time today.

Lisa

but the good news is...

(Here's a peek at how two girls with colds spend their mornings when the weather's damp and frosty.)

January 17 Diana turned one and a half. Yesterday I took her to get an 18 month check up. The night before her appointment I noticed Diana acting really REALLY cranky. Tuesday morning the "baby teenager" slept until eleven o'clock. I assumed that she slept in so that she could catch up on sleep after an exciting weekend visiting grandma and grandpa.

Even after nearly 14 hours worth of uninterrupted sleep, Diana was still cranky. Grouchy and uncommunicative, she actually fell asleep again in the car on the way to the doctor's office. (And again on the way home.)

When we arrived at the doctor's office we all took a seat in the "sick" waiting room since all three of us have colds. The nurse asked me about some of Diana's developmental milestones, then Diana was weighed and measured. Her measurements were excellent, as usual. Diana is 33 inches tall (at the 80% mark for height) and has a big noggin: 48 cm around (at the 85% mark). Diana is a little lower on the chart for weight than she has been in the past (23 lbs. 13 ozs. - 45%) but she's had a cold for several days and hasn't shown much interest in eating.

So everything was going fine for my crabby baby until the doctor checked her ear and said, "Well, she's got an ear infection." She then moved to the other ear and said, "Make that two ear infections, and this one's worse." At least this explains why my cute and happy girl has been so fussy lately.

Diana already seems to be responding to the amoxicillin she's taking - and she loves the taste (go figure). In two weeks her ears will be rechecked and Diana can get the shots she missed because of her illness.

I'm sure she'll be thrilled.

Lisa

New year, new hair

The girls and I drove down to a new hair salon today. The place we had been going to was fine, but this salon catered to children, so I thought I'd see what it was like.

The girls loved it. Amelia loved all the toys in the lobby (where they were playing The Little Mermaid). Diana loved sitting in a white Mustang while she got her hair cut. Even when she's sitting on my lap Diana is usually fussy and fidgety when her hair is being cut, but she was great today.

Whoever came up with the concept of these hair salons for kids came up with a great idea by playing kids' movies on screens on each side of the children's chairs. This means that instead of constantly twisting and turning her head left and right Amelia could focus on Ratatouille or Cars.

On top of everything else, both girls got their hair put up in tiny rubber bands which made them look adorable and very girlish. No one's going to call Amelia "my son" again for a while.

Lisa

Diana gives gymnastics a second try

Last week Diana attended her first gymnastics class. She had a really fun time, but she was very tentative.

Today was a new day. Though Diana still clung pretty tightly to mommy, she only did so for a few short minutes. She boldly asked to play on the trampoline with mommy ("Bouncing!") and with a little coaxing she let herself be lowered into "the great pit of foam." She had a wonderful time in the pit - bouncing on her bottom and "swimming" around. She also loved the long tumble-track trampoline. Though Diana still doesn't know how to jump without help, she ran down the length of the trampoline over and over again, even when her class moved on to other things.

Diana is getting to be very good at communicating with mommy. When she wants to eat, she will take mommy's hand and lead me into the kitchen (sometimes even pointing me at the stove). But this afternoon, Diana pulled a little trick on mommy.

I had been sitting, just where I am now, in front of my computer. I was helping Amelia find YouTube movies with cute kitty cats, doggies and guinea pigs when Diana reached for my hand. Taking both of my hands in hers Diana led me into the kitchen, but then she turned around and rushed back to my vacant chair. When she began to climb the side of the chair I realized that I had been tricked. Diana didn't want a snack - she just wanted me to get out of "her" chair.

Such a clever girl! This isn't the first time she has requested that I vacate a chair for her, but this is the first time that she acted like getting me out of her chair was not her real goal.

But while Diana is getting smarter and more articulate by the day, there are still times when I don't understand her at all. While I was again sitting here in front of my computer Amelia pointed out to me that Diana had spilled milk on the floor. Spilling milk wasn't a big deal, since I was sure it was an accident, but then I saw Diana stomping on the milk box I had bought her at Starbucks earlier in the day and forcing gushing fountains of white out onto the tile. I guess it was fun for her to watch the milk splash, I don't think she hates cow milk (she usually drinks soy).

On a positive note, Diana does admit when she's making a mess. If I ask, "Diana, are you making a mess back there?" she'll reply, "Yeah." She doesn't show any interest in stopping what she's doing, but at least she acknowledges that she's being messy. I guess that's a start.

Lisa

It's Raining Men!

Maybe Amelia's rheumatism was acting up last night; I'm not sure. Regardless of what it was that clued Amelia in on the coming weather, it's obvious that something told her that rain was in the forecast. How else can I explain the fact that she randomly broke into song last night and surprised mommy with a rendition of, "It's Raining Men, Hallelujah!"?

Amelia's dad, knowing that mommy sometimes enjoys singing this song around the house, had previously requested that the song remain off of Amelia's hit list. Well, I guess if she already knows the chorus, might as well play it in the car, right?

The funny thing about today's rain is that both Amelia and Diana loved being in the cold, wet weather. After returning from a short trip to the local book store I had to coax and cajole both girls into the house and out of the wet, nasty weather. Tomorrow is supposed to be even nastier, so I guess I'd better bundle both of the girls up to the gills.

Lisa

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone!

A new session of gymnastics classes began this week along with the New Year. This meant that both Amelia and Diana got to attend gymnastics class today. (It also meant that we had to arrive at class almost an hour earlier than usual, which made mommy's morning very hectic.)

Diana was a bit shy around her other classmates and their parents. She bounced on the trampoline with mommy - holding both of mommy's hands - but she clung fiercely to mommy's shirt when it was suggested that she join her fellow toddlers in the foam pit.

Diana was also cautious about entering the "bounce house" that was set up in class today. She was the first girl to approach the inflated castle and followed the extension cord to the air pump to see how the device worked, but she was a bit nervous about entering the house and jumping. After a couple of minutes Diana and I climbed into the house and Diana began to bounce while holding her instructor's hands. She left the teacher for a few seconds to bounce with mommy, but then went back to her class instructor. I guess she's a better bouncer than mommy.

What was funny about all of this is that as soon as the older children were allowed in the bounce house Diana eagerly followed her sister up and in through the trap door and started bouncing and bounding around the room like she had been there a dozen times before. Diana really looks up to her big sister and follows almost everything she does.

This afternoon, while Diana was taking her afternoon nap, I slipped outside and took down my Christmas lights. I also had Amelia help me take the garland down off our Christmas tree. It was a little sad to be putting the decorations away, but we have to remember that there are more holidays around the corner.

In a few weeks we can bring out our Presidents' Day decorations; then we can all go green for St. Patrick's Day. (Here, Amelia models some green decorations at a local hobby and fabric store.)

Okay, no one in my family is ethnically Irish, as far as I know. So there probably won't be any St. Patrick's Day decorations, or Valentine's Day hearts, or Lincoln and Washington silhouettes. But we still have mommy's birthday in our future - at that will bring all of us a yummy, decorated cake at least.

Lisa