November 2000, all over again

Saturday, Mike and I took the girls to a nearby mall. While the girls were playing at the indoor playground, Mike went for a look at a nearby sporting goods store. After several minutes he emerged with a surprise for the girls: a new Slip-and-Slide with bonus "sleds."

When the girls got home we surprised them with the Slip-and-Slide. The girls weren't sure how to use the toy themselves, but they were happy to have daddy slide them down the watery, plastic path (which wore daddy out after a bit). And despite the fact that they both froze once they were out of the water, they wanted to continue sliding as soon as they had warmed up in the sun.

The next morning, poor Diana woke up with a fever. Her fever stayed pretty constant into the next day, so we took her back to the doctor's office. It turns out that poor Diana has a throat virus, that she's just starting to recover from today.

But the real reason I bring up the doctor's visit is that part of every doctor's visit is a visit to the scale. Michael was never really convinced that Diana weighed more than her sister, and it looks like Mike was right. According to the doctor's records, Diana weighed 26 pounds in April, 33 pounds last Thursday, and 26 pounds yesterday.

Mind you, Diana hasn't been eating much because of her sore throat, but I don't see any way she could have lost seven pounds in four days. So it seems that Diana isn't as big as Amelia, after all.

As a side note, the doctor's suggestions included making sure that Diana gets lots of cold food, like ice cream and Popsicles. I thought it would be easy to get Diana to eat either of these things, since she's always liked them before, but last night she refused to even try the Popsicle we gave her. After several failed attempts that included reasoning with Diana and begging her to try the Popsicle, Amelia piped up. She asked, in her funny way, "If Diana doesn't eat the Popsicle, then who will?"

I think we knew the answer to that one.

In fact, after Diana REFUSED to eat the ice cream I got her as an afternoon snack, Amelia was there again to lend a helping hand. What a good big sister.

Lisa

Diana's two-year stats

I knew it would happen.

I knew, with utmost certainty, that one day Diana would weigh more than her big sister. Well, it seems that day has already arrived. According to the nurse (and scale) at her pediatrician's office Diana now weighs 33 pounds. Amelia normally comes in around 31-32 pounds (she registered 32 pounds during her four-year check-up).

So Diana is now at the 95th percentile for her age group for weight. She is also at the 95th percentile for head circumference, and she's above the 95th percentile for height.

And, of course, she's above the 95th percentile for cuteness.

It's hard to know where she's getting this great height from. Her sister Amelia is taller than average, too. Looking at Amelia and Diana's mom (me) you wouldn't guess I'm carrying a gene for height anywhere in my DNA. Or maybe I was meant to be tall and all the cherry cokes and Ho-Ho's I ate in high school stunted my growth somehow.

If Diana keeps this up, she will wind up looking like the goddess of her namesake...And I'm not suggesting that's a bad thing. To the contrary, she may find herself sticking up for her big sister at some point in the future - who knows?

Lisa

Modes of Transportation

On Monday I suggested to the girls that we walk down to the park (and Starbucks, of course). However, instead of letting both girls ride in the red wagon I thought Amelia might like to ride her bike. She was excited to ride her three-wheeler and said she wasn't a bit tired when we reached the park.

I was really impressed with how well Amelia did, though she did need a little help whenever she was going up an incline. And I mean ANY incline. No matter how shallow the climb - even if it was an incline of two degrees - it would make Amelia slow to a stop. But I'm sure that the more she rides her bike, the stronger she'll be and the less frequent her stops.

Yesterday was daddy's day to come home early, so he brought the girls outside to help him wash the truck. They both did a great job.

After a lot of scrubbing Amelia decided that she wanted to be the wash-down person instead of the scrubber. She pointed the spray nozzle every which way while trying to squeeze the handle and get the water to flow, and I was a bit concerned she was going to get a face full of the wet stuff. But she finally got the hose working and did a good job of hosing off the truck. As you might of guessed, Diana also wanted to use the hose after seeing Amelia do it, and she did a great job as well.

Both girls were soaked after they finished the truck, but everyone had fun. At one point, Amelia was directing Diana to scrub small patches on the side of the truck, which Amelia would immediately rinse. This went on over and over and became extremely funny after about the third run through.

Lisa

Happy Birthday, Diana!

Even though today wasn't the day we chose to celebrate Diana's birthday it was, in fact, Diana's birthday.

To celebrate Diana's birthday we decided to let her open one birthday present. There was only one present in the house from someone actually in the house, so Diana opened her present from Amelia. Diana's present was a new Thomas and Friends DVD. She asked to watch it right away.

After Diana had watched Thomas two-and-a-half times, and after I had cleaned the kitchen floor, I got the girls into the Big Red Car for a trip to the park.

Before running out the door myself I took one last look at my e-mail directions. Even though the directions were to a park I had never been to, in a city I'm not really familiar with, I figured I would memorize them quickly and get there in a timely manner.

Well, after a few wrong turns I did arrive at A park. It wasn't THE park, but it did have a very nice duck pond and a helpful staff who told me exactly where to find the park I was looking for.

Amelia really wanted to visit the park near grandma and grandpa's house because it has a train, ponies, and a carousel.

Well, this park didn't have any ponies, but it did have a lot of the things that the girls enjoy. Admission to the park was very reasonable, and the park wasn't crowded, so it seemed that the rides went on for a long time.

The girls had a good attitude throughout the day, and almost always did what mommy asked. Amelia even let me take a few silly photographs of her, though on at least one occasion she informed me that she was "too busy" to stop and smile for a photograph.


Though the park wasn't Disneyland, it did have one thing in common with the Magic Kingdom: it had dinosaurs that you could see from a train that circled the park. In fact, once Amelia realized that there was a train ride she asked if we would be seeing any dinosaurs.

The dinosaurs didn't move, bellow or screech, but you could ride them. Mickey Mouse would probably slap your hand if you tried to ride the stegosaurus in its prehistoric grand canyon.

One of the girls' favorite rides was the ride with the whales. As Amelia described it, they rode the whales "two times and for lots of times."

The whale ride was the first one they rode in the park and the last ride they went on before we left for lunch. On our way out the gate we walked up to the whale ride and found the last two children there on their way out. Once the ride stopped the operator asked if Amelia and Diana wanted to go around again. Of course, they said, "Yes." The operator asked the girls (and mommy) if they wanted another ride again another eight times or so and each time the girls said, "Yes, again!"

At some point I had to say "No" to the repeated rides because I knew that Diana had to be hungry. Amelia still complained when she had to leave her whale and both girls told mommy that we would have to return to the park after lunch.

After lunch the girls and I went home for cupcakes. The cupcakes had beautiful pink roses on them when I bought them, but they were a little rough for wear after the drive home.

Of course, they still tasted the same.

Diana wasn't sure how to handle her cupcake at first and looked hilarious leaning over the frosting with her mouth open wide. Diana got green frosting all over her face, her clothes, the floor...you get the idea. Amelia was much neater, though she also took several bites of her cupcake without touching it with her hands or a fork.

On Saturday, we will have a real cake - a real chocolate cake. There will be more presents, but probably no carousels or whales...unless I will qualify as one after eating huge hunks of chocolate cake ;).

Lisa

The latest thing

The girls have been acting in unusual ways recently. Amelia has been having fun making everyone in the family wear mouse ears. She and Diana usually wear Minnie Mouse ears and either mom or dad are put into a pair of bow-less Mickey Mouse ears. (These mouse ears have Amelia's name on the back and Tinkerbell on the front, but Amelia still insists that they are Mickey Mouse ears.)

Amelia wants the family to be dressed in their mouse ears much of the time. In fact, she even wore her Minnie Mouse ears to the bookstore, yesterday. Amelia also demands that mommy participate (and do so accurately) when she sings the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme. After Amelia sings, "M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E" the first time I have to respond with, "That's me!" If I mess up and say, "That's me!" the second time Amelia spells Mickey Mouse I am quickly corrected.

Diana is very excited about her upcoming birthday, but she's been good about not opening her birthday presents. There have been moments when she's been caught tugging at the wrap a bit, but she always stops when she realizes she's been spotted. Amelia keeps her straight, too, and tells her to save her presents for her birthday.

The main thing Diana likes to do with her gifts is to take her smaller present, carry it to the family room, slam it down on the floor, and sit on it. All I can say is it's a good thing this box doesn't contain a ceramic tea set or a frail antique of some kind. Once Diana loses interest in her giftbox seat Amelia will pick it up and move it back to it's proper place on Diana's gift pile. (Amelia's an awfully good big sister.)

Lisa

Unseasonable weather

Diana hasn't been napping, which means that she has been very moody recently. And because Diana has been moody, she's been right at mommy's heels begging, "Pick me up" much of the day. Today she followed me to the stairway closet as I went to fetch the vacuum. I expected her to complain about the vacuum cleaner, but instead noticed her peeking around me and into the closet. She looked up at the coats hanging there and asked that I get one for her.

Before I go on, let me point out that it was about 105 degrees outside at this particular moment in time. I didn't think Diana would last long in a ski jacket, but she insisted that I help her zip up her coat and pull the hood over her head. Once Diana stepped away, Amelia took her place and asked to wear a coat of her own. (Amelia insisted that she could zip the coat herself.) The girls kept their coats on for quite some time. Daddy saw the girls in their winter wear when he arrived home - he didn't ask for an explanation.

Amelia has been attending a class for preschoolers this week and she loves it. She's made some great projects and is having a lot of fun. Diana is jealous. The first day we brought Amelia into her classroom Diana jumped up on a chair and made herself comfortable right next to her big sister. Diana whimpered when I took her out of the classroom and refused to get back into the Big Red Car for some time. Once I finally had her buckled into her seat she cried that she wanted to go to the party with Amelia. I realized that the tables and chairs did give the impression that Diana was going to miss a party with cake and balloons and explained that Amelia was in class - not at a party.

I usually take Diana out for a bit after dropping Amelia off at class. The first day I brought Diana back home she looked at me and said, "I want 'Mia." It was very sweet. The second day we pulled into the garage she asked for both daddy and Amelia. She was disappointed to hear that neither of them were home; and thrilled to see them later that afternoon.

For Amelia's part, she's been a sassy one lately. At my dad's house I caught her jumping on the couch and asked her to quit. When grandma Lola came in I said (half jokingly), "You're in trouble now!" Lola said, "We agreed that the rule was: No jumping on grandma's couch." Amelia's response, which made the three of us laugh, was, "But I don't like your rules!"

She's a rebel, that's for sure.

Lisa

Two of a kind

Michael and I have been looking at old photographs recently and Mike observed how much Diana looks like Amelia when she was a two-year-old. In fact Amelia's hair, which is now a dark chestnut brown, used to be almost the exact same color as Diana's.

Whenever Diana sees an old photograph of Amelia from 2006, she is convinced that the girl in the picture is her. It doesn't matter that the girl in the photograph is posing in a location Diana has never been to, she still insists that girl is her.

So just to see how similar the girls really were when they were two, I decided to take photographs of Diana that were as similar as possible to those I took of Amelia two years ago. Though the girls are wearing the same dress, Amelia's hat became sour at some point and had to be thrown away. Grandma and grandpa's metal flag that used to sit in their front lawn "disappeared" at some point and is no longer available. But despite the differences in the photographs the girls do look remarkably similar. You can always tell Amelia and Diana apart by their eye color, but I'm beginning to wonder if Diana's hair will turn a rich brown like her sister's has.

Lisa

Really, really odd stuff

The week started normally, with walks to Starbucks - and around Starbucks. The area in front of our local coffee stop is full of flowers and round "ankle buster" rocks that the girls love to clamber over.

Of course (as Amelia found out) it's all fun and games until someone wanders into a rose bush. Ouch!

Tonight I was trying to get Diana prepared for bed when in walks Amelia in this kooky outfit (I actually added the bow in her hair). Before I could even ask Amelia told me that she was dressed as a star, and the bow in her hair told everyone that she was a girl star.

Daddy helped Amelia stuff the blocks under her shirt. But she didn't mind wearing the odd garb at all. She wore it long enough for one of us to dig up a camera from downstairs and posed for several photos. I even managed to get a movie of her explaining her costume. Funny thing is, once she lost two of the blocks and came back in the room with big, square, foam boobies she refused to be photographed. Go figure.

Lisa