10/25/08 Halloween Party

Katrina's 3rd Halloween gathering! Today it was for Julian's peers. Gabriel was at his piano lesson, it was just as well, so it was just me and the younger two.

First order of business: lunch. I brought no baby-accoutrements whatsoever (booster seat, bibs, sippy cups etc). Turns out, I should have brought plates, cups and spoons too -- this group has gone green. Fortunately there were a few paper goods for lame-os like me.


After much playing, it was trick-or-treat time! The kids were so cute lined up.


Anyone who questions if boys and girls are born different need only see this scene. I've never ever seen two boys standing holding hands voluntarily. These two were adorable in held hands and bare feet.


Trick or treat! Mostly tricks, as it turns out. Environmentally and nutritionally conscious, this group. There was a little candy, just the right amount.


Katrina, naturally, would have nothing to do with the trick-or-treat line, though she didn't object to hanging around in her costume and showing off.




I made cookies for the event, of course. I hurriedly decorated them this morning, with some help from Julian. Again, a productive ploy to keep him away from Katrina. It's really a problem, and it drives me absolutely crazy: she's perfectly happy absorbed in something, and he comes over and bugs her constantly -- putting things on her head, taking things out of her hands. And she screeches immediately, which sets me off immediately. Sometimes I can find good ways of distracting him, and cookie-decorating was one. I brought the ones I decorated to the party, and the ones he did stayed home.


Katrina got to enjoy the spoils tonight. She earned it, she actually ate some green beans!


I'm reeling from a migraine again -- not so much the pain, but the pressure and strange waves in my head. Worst of all is the depression; the blueness, waking up feeling like crying and not knowing why, the disturbing dreams. The impulse to stay home and hide under the covers is strong, but I know that getting out and doing something fun with the kids is the best distraction possible. Still, even while I was looking around at the party at the cheerful scene of costumed children happily playing, several times I suddenly wanted to burst into tears. Normally that sensation is preceded by sad thoughts, but this chemical depression (my term) washes over me out of the blue when I'm not really thinking anything at all. This afternoon the migraine pain hit hard too, but the way the migraines are changing, the pain is becoming the least of my worries.

Fortunately, I have a birthday party to take Julian to tomorrow -- the best remedy possible!

One nice thing that came out of Julian's constant sister-pestering today was that I got to hear two chapters of "Frog and Toad Together" as I was making dinner. Julian reading these charming stories to me is truly heartwarming and wonderful.

10/25/08

10/24/08 Reading

Bonne Maman asked what kinds of books Julian likes to read, and can read. That's hard to answer, but I've been thinking about it, and I found a way.

Tonight Julian was reading one of our new books -- a classic, "Frog and Toad Together." He usually reads without reading aloud, but since I often ask him to read to me (a great way to get him to quit bugging Katrina), he was reading aloud this time. This particular book is in the series that's rated for reading difficulty, and it's a "Level 2."

Then Gabriel took interest and Julian read to him, though I doubt Gabriel saw it that way! Mostly he was interested in the story. I wonder when the day will come when these sweet stories are too babyish for him. He's rapidly approaching 7, that corner could be turned any day.


It was a nice peaceful scene, with Gabriel working on some construction paper building project, and Julian reading. Katrina was bouncing around on the family room couch, quite happily. I don't get a lot of these scenes, so I had to record it.


Naturally, I'm very proud of Julian's reading, and even happier for him that he really really likes to do it. But don't take that to mean I'd be concerned or upset if he couldn't! I'm really not into kids being "ahead" or having a "leg up," and if Katrina reads late, whatever. If I worried about developmental milestones, I'd have gone beserk with all of Gabriel's late-emerging skills as a baby and toddler. As far as I know, Julian reads really well for 4-1/2, and I'm happy about that, but I wouldn't be sad if he couldn't.

Quite a week in remodeling -- we passed a rough inspection this week, which was a huge, huge deal. I'm glad I didn't know how big a deal after the fact, but it's the last big inspection until final.

I have a big deadline to get ALL the tile chosen and laid out, and have met many times with our architect/interior designer to put everything together. We'd gone pretty far on the upstairs kids' bath when I remembered: there are going to be 3 smelly teenagers taking 20 showers a day in there someday -- it's got to be super-durable. So, no multicolored subway tiles; instead, 12x12 tiles with a slightly mottled appearance in order to hide ickies on the floor, and minimize mildew habitat. But I still want something colorful and fun, so we ended up with frosted glass tiles for the accent. The color scheme will be something like this.

And accents from here. (The border above is from the 3x3 square in the upper right on the display board below, though I'm toying with some of the brighter ones on its left too.)


Today we talked with our contractor about replacing the existing heavy, obtrusive living room fireplace surround also. It's criminal for a fireplace not to have a mantle.

Say goodbye! Demolition will start Monday!

We got a glance at our new front door today too. It's so gorgeous and elegant I'm almost taken aback: who lives here? Me??


All this sensory overload from being at tile stores is really making me want to scrapbook again...all those colors and textures and patterns -- delicious. It makes me want to scrapbook, to knit, to decorate cookies...and maybe even to learn how to do my own tiling someday...!

10/24/08

10/23/08 Birthday Bunny

A final birthday package arrived today for our 2-year-old! This time from Aunt Laura and Uncle Ryan.

Katrina had been scribbling in every book and scrap of paper in the family room with a green crayon, but she paused long enough to open her gifts and fall in love with the softest bunny I've ever felt. Then she wrapped the bunny in a half-Nelson, and continued on with her graffiti, starting with the cute birthday card.


Next was the beautiful new book too! Whoops.


I quickly dropped the camera and put it in safer hands. Our burgeoning bookworm was all too happy to be its keeper.


I didn't put her up to this, she started this adorable "hop hop" game herself.

More hop-hop and coloring.

With one of Julian's blinky shoes, no less. (Where are Stacy and Clinton when you need them?)

Thank you Aunt Laura and Uncle Ryan!!

One of numerous reasons I'm getting very anxious to move back home -- silly because it's still many months away -- is because it will be so easy to have visitors. We could have visitors now too -- I'd never let accommodations stand in the way of a visit -- but the guest suite really will make it very easy and comfortable. We haven't seen our SoCal relatives in months -- far far too long.

After Katrina was in bed, I heard Gabriel practicing something I hadn't heard before. His piano teacher John does duets with him, and Gabriel was playing both parts just for fun (not at the same time).

(In the beginning he says he's playing a duet, and Julian is talking too.)

(Can I just indulge in a moment of bursting pride? He really could be good someday.)

I was relentlessly, painfully, miserably tired all day. I went running this morning before work, a short hilly run but it was absolutely beautiful out and I felt pretty good. But I wish I'd taken a nap at home afterward. Less than an hour of extra sleep turns the day from an minute-by-minute ordeal into feeling pretty normal. It's like I have some migraine symptoms all the time now, and without a nap I'm barely functional. An incredibly boring job doesn't help either.

Whine whine. I'd rather hop hop.

10/23/08

10/22/08 Crazy Tails

It was a day of the purple and ponytails. Katrina (sort of) permitted ponytails to be put in her hair this morning -- her hair is getting long enough that pulling it back is necessary to keep it out of her food.

Though obviously I can't do that good a job.

Tonya often re-does her hair later, and this afternoon she managed to get it into super-high bouncy ponytails. Perfect for a silly, edgy girl!



I'm still semi-traumatized from Katrina's full-on 55-minute tantrum a few days ago. That included several attempts to move her to a different room, only she'd storm back in the kitchen, shoes in hand, throw them into the kitchen, demand I put them on her, then scream "NO TUHSH SHEW!!" and start a fresh round of fits when I tried to put them on her.

Five minutes of this is a very long time to live through, so it's easy to think these last longer than they really do. But Gabriel got me in the habit of actually looking at the clock, so I know for certain that this lasted nearly an hour, with no breaks at all. This knowledge is of no use whatsoever.

Happily, tonight's scene was much sweeter, though hard to capture in video. Julian and Katrina have a "yahyah" game together, in which they run across a room with pull-toys behind them saying, "Yahyahyahyah!!" It's very cute. I took this to show Bonne Maman, because she always loved pull-toys. It's not all that interesting, but does give a glimpse of life around here as Dave is finishing up with Gabriel's homework.

Notice how Katrina reacts to setbacks -- at the top of her lungs!

Gabriel's homework hasn't been quite as bad lately, partly because the exercises have been a little more defined, such as numbering all 12 positions on a clock. But tonight once again they threw in the sort of thing that is just silly, time-consuming, and outdated: find 5 nickels around the house, do some exercises with them, then bring them into school. What is this, the 1940s? Who has nickels lying around anymore?

Speaking of nickels, Gabriel's last dentist appointment was ominous: the two permanent teeth has he growing in are really out of whack -- as soon as he has a pair of permanent molars, it's off to the orthodontist for him. That could be as soon as 6 months, said the dentist. Now that's going to take some nickels!

10/22/08

10/21/08 Sick day?

I have to chuckle sometimes at the difference between Moms and Dads. This morning, Dave woke up with a slight cold, and said, "Ughg, I didn't sleep well." Yet somehow he slept through Julian sitting and crying in front of our room, wet, and having thrown up. I was up for 15 minutes, scurrying around changing his clothes, his bedding, comforting him, checking him, and scrubbing the carpet. Talk about not sleeping well!

That reminds me that the other night at dinner, Gabriel was shocked to hear that as a baby, he kept me awake a lot at night. Funny, it doesn't seem that long ago to me, but to him, his babyhood is ancient forgotten history. I still remember clearly the pain of being awake so many times during the night, for so many months in a row, and the perpetrator himself being amazed at this!

So Julian missed school today, though he seemed fine in the morning. And, as it turns out, he was pretty much fine all day. Good thing, because I had an important meeting scheduled, and Dave and I ended up at an important unscheduled meeting as well.

I was truly proud of Julian when I brought him to the tile store to meet with my kitchen designer to pick a tile backsplash. We went to Barnes & Noble first to get some new books, and he picked out four, including one with 7 stories in it. Not only is Julian reading really, really well, but he really likes to read and reads several books a day -- really reads them, not just flipping through pages or going from memory. And read he did -- for over an hour and a half, he sat quietly in a very kid-unfriendly place, and read his new books. He interrupted me twice to tell me in a proud whisper that he'd finished another story. What a wonderful kid.

Meantime, Anna talked me into a completely different thing than I'd had in mind, but clicked perfectly. Subway tile. And that hits close to home, even though I haven't lived in New York -- or even been there -- in years!

Look formal? Yes, but --

-- look at it without the accents, against the countertop and the cabinet color. It's perfect.

Anna's working on a design with accents for the niche and lower shelf.

I was exhausted and elated coming back from the tile store, very ready for some lunch and a nap, but I got a call from Dave: urgent decisions that had been overlooked last Friday need to be made before rough inspection this week.

So we all met at the jobsite a little later in the afternoon. Julian once again, dragged along, but he behaved really really well. Poor thing got bored and tired after a while and curled up on what will be a shower bench. I wanted to take him home and bake cookies together, but we had no choice but to press on.

No disasters to head off, just things that had to be decided. We'll soon be entering the very decision-intensive interior finishing phase, after the drywall is up in a few weeks. It's really taking shape!

Barring any more early morning episodes, it's back to work for all tomorrow.

10/21/08

10/20/08 Amazing boys

So far Gabriel has aced every (weekly) spelling test, both the 10 required words and the 5 extra "challenge" words. But his spelling tests keep coming back with extra words, numbered 16-18. What's up with that? The handwriting is poor, but they appear to be spelled correctly.

Turns out, Gabriel is adding in those words himself. When a regular word is called out during the test, like "top," he quickly writes it down, then starts work on a more interesting word of his choice. This week, his words were "mathematics," "paragraph," and "picture." We may have some serious geekiness on our hands here!

Tonight, my dinner included a perfect me-sized portion of leftover creamed spinach, while everyone else's vegetable was fresh broccoli. Julian saw what I had, and said sadly, "I want spinach too!"

Now, just so this sinks in to all you gentle readers, especially mothers of 4-year-olds, I must repeat this:

"I want spinach too!"

Naturally I was more than happy to part with my little treat. How could I refuse such amazing words coming from such amazing lips?

Katrina....well, passing up her nightly-once-again dinner tantrum was especially amazing tonight. Of course, just being 2 and irrepressibly adorable is sufficiently amazing. But she has two tough acts to follow when it comes to amazing.

10/20/08

10/19/08 Happy Birthday!

Today is Dave's 42nd birthday. I think I had more fun with this than he did!

I made the usual big bang-up breakfast this morning, of course. Then he got a picture frame I'd made at a pottery place with a photo of all 3 kids. Around the frame it says "The answer to the question of Life, the Universe and Everything" -- a quote from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and the answer is 42.

It has two blue and one pink star on it, but those didn't come out so well.

The accompanying card I'd hastily decorated, but had gotten the boys to write in also. On the back was the first clue to a treasure hunt, with 5 dorky rhymes on slips of paper made distinct with gold stars, sending him around the house.

Gabriel found this one:

Concentrate now, you've gone asunder
Think black and whites with melodic traits
This time the clue is under
Something not quite eighty-eights

Ultimately the treasure hunt led into the office, where a plugged-in and installed new printer was waiting under some wrapping paper. It was no mean feat smuggling that in and setting it up without his noticing, but like most married guys, Dave often can't find things right in front of him anyway!

Then after dinner, cake time. I'd worked on this for a few days, conspiring with Stacey and Betsy on how to make and decorate a chocolate buttercream cake. Betsy loaned me a stand mixer, a fabulous piece of kitchen equipment, if you have use for it. I'm a real amateur at cake decorating, but it's so much fun and so personal that I think I can kiss Duncan Hines goodbye.

I'd told the boys about trick candles that re-light when blown out, and they thought that was hilarious. They didn't work so well; Dave was able to blow them out pretty easily, but the boys still thought the the idea was funny.

Katrina...well, I won't mar the memory of a nice day with her biggest moment, mostly spent on the floor at a highly elevated decibel level. The rest of the day she was adorable, but I had to grit my teeth hearing the mantra Enjoy it now, they grow so fast in my head during the longest 55 minutes of the day. Good thing they're so cute.

Amidst remodeling, work, homework, not living at home (which is really starting to wear on us), distractions like cake-baking are very welcome! Wait, I think I have that backward: life is really about cake-baking and costume-sewing and scrapbooking and pronouncing words for new readers (Julian the book hound), soccer chauffering, and of course, birthdays -- work is the distraction from the important things.

10/19/08

10/18/08 Two pumpkin patches

I wasn't planning on going to two pumpkin patches today, but this morning while Dave and Gabriel were at Gabriel's piano lesson, Katrina made being inside at home completely intolerable.

A new tantrum method is to stand and scream and cry at anything and everything I do (especially something she claims she wanted), and when I approach her, run away crying and close doors behind her. Sometimes that works to my advantage, but even behind closed doors, a screaming tantrum escalating with no end in sight is very irritating.

Julian's good-natured and patient attempts to distract her only incited her more. I think that bugs me about her tantrums the most, that I have to insist that Julian leave her alone, when he's just doing his best to help. I always tell him it's not his fault, she's just being a pest and that he's the sweetest brother ever, but I also have to tell him to just stop and leave her be, and I hate doing that.

So, out we went. I knew the 2004 group was having a small, impromptu pumpkin patch outing at a nearby place (really a parking lot converted to a place to sell pumpkins for Halloween season), so there we went. That did break Katrina's fuss, sort of, though mostly she enjoyed running away from me, and then had fresh reason to throw a fit when it came time to leave.


(Julian doing a scarecrow imitation.)


Later in the afternoon, we went to Webb Ranch, a farm/pumpkin patch up the highway. But first, costume photos!


Gabriel is a policeman, in a costume I did not put one stitch into. It's cheap, but it does the job well. I am such a sucker for a guy in uniform -- so handsome!


Julian is a shark. This costume I made, except the hat. That black thing on his stomach is supposed to be -- surprise, a stomach, filled with things the shark ate. It doesn't really work very well, but he doesn't mind.

Unfortunately, I sewed on his dorsal fin upside-down!

Contrary Mary, predictably, would have nothing of this cozy family scene.


But, back at the ranch, I was able to get a shot of all three on a hay wagon.



This pumpkin patch in many ways is a real pain. It's dusty, hilly, the sun is always in our eyes, hard to get around, parking is limited....but the kids love it. Gabriel was reunited with longtime friends he's played with since babyhood, though there are only a few he knows well at this point. Naturally, you recognize Gina, leading the charge up the hill as usual!


So cute!

Gabriel's hat was of interest to several kids, and twice I watched the same scene unfold: Gabriel's hat was snatched by another kid, and then run away with. At first, Gabriel thought it was funny, but then he wanted his hat back. One of those times, the hat got passed back and forth between several kids, and another time, there was a 3-way tug-of-war for it. Curiosity and confidence kept at bay any temptation I had to intervene, and sure enough, he came out of it both times with his hat, all forgotten and ready to play. Maybe partly because he's so skinny and small compared to other kids his age, I'm glad to see him handle these things so well. The day he comes crying to me about someone taking something from him, I'll know something really bad happened.


Who can hold a grudge? Gabriel was too busy running up and down the hill anyway. And losing his hat on his own.



Katrina, meantime, found a wagon immediately, and kept Dad busy pulling her up and down the hill.

In retrospect, I'd have skipped this pumpkin patch trip if Dave weren't there, since Katrina could well have unleashed her formidable power to trample any modicum of enjoyment I might have with the boys. But she, and Dad, had a pretty good time.


But not good enough to attempt to take her to a crowded pizza place the rest of the group was going too. She rarely eats pizza, and this place involves too much standing and waiting to order to deal with her. Still, I was in no mood to cook, so we went to Outback.

This plan quickly turned four-letter when she threw a complete fit after I mortally offended her by washing her hands. Dave and I were both amused that the table next to us apparently was a baby shower for an expectant mother of a girl. Katrina's behavior was going to put a serious damper on any celebrations about baby girls! Somehow we got her distracted, and she ate enough of Outback's new whole grain wild rice side dish for good humor to creep back in.

As I was waiting outside Outback with Gabriel and Katrina for Dave and Julian to finish up and come out, I struck up a conversation with a lady who had 4 children and 8 grandchildren. Actually, Katrina struck it up, by tottering right up to her and showing her her "guy," a Lego piece she's had in her hand all day. Katrina really brightened up for this lady, stamping her feet from side to side, giggling, running away, then running back. Somehow, she just took to her, and the lady delighted in it.

Grandma-of-8 said during our conversation that she wanted to write stories about her kids' childhoods to leave as a legacy for them, but to her surprise and dismay, she was finding she couldn't remember any stories. She urged me to write down stories now, while I still remember them. She's right, and of course I blog, but that's too current, and far far too much information to work as a story remembrance later.

When we got home, talking to Gabriel, it came up that Katrina's costume had been his, and he wanted to see a picture. So I pulled out a scrapbook and showed them the page I'd done from Halloween in 2003. The boys were fascinated by the scrapbooks, and sat poring over the pages, asking questions about the photos and the moments the pages capture.

It hit me then: there's my legacy. There are the childhood stories, captured in snippets, illustrated with photos, decorated with little touches that at the time seemed over-the-top, but now are charming and homesy. Scrapbooking isn't just a time-consuming, expensive hobby, it really is memory-building. Especially seeing how the boys love the books, I know I must get back to it immediately.

Besides, of ALL events, I have to scrapbook Halloween! A dual pumpkin patch day is not to be forgotten!

10/18/08

10/17/08 The Puzzle

Katrina opened a final birthday present today: an adorable round puzzle from her East Coast cousins. She won't let me touch the pieces to show her how to put it together, instead preferring to go "zoom zoom" and "choo choo" with the car and train pieces!

Thank you Aunt Stephanie!

Warren Buffett had an op-ed in the NY Times today, in which he said: "When everyone is greedy, be fearful. When everyone is fearful, be greedy."

Despite all the bad economic news today, especially in home construction, I talked to my own "Joe the Plumber" today. "Damian the Carpenter" is doing all the framing, siding and window installation in our house (him and a sizable crew that is). His business just landed two huge residential contracts and he said they just hired 5 more guys yesterday. Seems Damian and Warren are on the same wavelength, one that gave me a nice pick-up.

10/17/08

10/16/08 All three

It's impossible. This is the most I could get Katrina to cooperate for an all-three photo, and this only because the boys didn't scootch near her. Then Julian had to close his eyes. Sigh.

As a beleaguered homework parent, TGIF takes on new meaning. Oops, I said I was going to stop complaining. OK, I'll think of something nice to say.

Julian counted for me while I did some bicycle ab exercises on the floor tonight. He can't count backward from 30, but he had a great time speeding up his counting so that I'd have to work faster!

10/16/08

10/15/08 The Duet

Somehow, we got through homework in time tonight for Dave to practice a little piano with Gabriel. He's got an informal duet practice planned for Saturday with a teenaged girl saxophone player. Dad will have to do as a melody-playing partner in the meantime.

Dave and I are starting to think about talking to Gabriel's teacher about changing classes -- if that would help with the onerous homework situation. I really don't know if we're completely off here, if we're the only parents having such a hard time. The homework just doesn't work well for a kid who wants to do it himself and can't. When I give him hints for words that rhyme with "lick," he says, "Don't tell me Mom, I want to think of them myself!" But then he can't think of enough words, it takes forever and he gets distracted and bored....and still has four more language exercises to do -- plus the spelling, math and reading.

Julian's really the one getting shortchanged. Katrina's perfectly happy to play by herself -- when she's allowed to by her meddlesome brother that is -- but Julian wants to talk and show us stuff, and I want to do that with him.

I know I've complained about homework a lot this week -- and it's only Wednesday! OK, no more! After all, Halloween season starts in earnest this weekend, and I still have a few costume parts to make! That's much more fun.

10/15/08

10/14/08 Science class

I wasn't planning to renew Julian's science class. That and gymnastics seemed like a lot, and I'm getting tired of these extras.

But tonight at dinner, he volunteered, "Eardrums send messages to the brain, did you know that, Mom?"

OK, that's another $111.

10/14/08

10/13/08 Ghosts

I absolutely love this Halloween shirt.

It's one of the few items we have that has survived all three, partly because it still fit Julian when we discovered there would be a baby#3, and partly because I just couldn't part with it. Not only is it adorable and season-appropriate, but it was a gift from Aunt Laura and Uncle Ryan. It's really held up over the years and many, many washings and wearings -- great babyGap quality.

(A fashion don't: aside from the kooky ponytails, those are Julian's giant blinky basketball sneakers she's wearing!)


Aww, those little pipsqueaks. This shirt deserves its own scrapbook page!

Would Monday be complete without a homework gripe?

Today's math homework was a perfect storm of stupid, fruitless, destined for failure, punishing those who understand, and incredibly time-consuming.

The first of 4 exercises is:

Count for someone at home. Count up by 1s, starting with 1. I counted to ________.

This really, really sucked. First of all, most preschoolers can count by 1s. Heck, Katrina just about can. And count to what, until you can't count anymore? Some way to foster a sense of achievement. If you can count by 1s, this is an infinite exercise. And if you're Gabriel, you'll insist on counting up to 500.

Or 400 if you get too tired and have to pee. This took at least 15 minutes.

But what are we supposed to say? "No Gabriel, don't push it." "No Gabriel, you don't have to do what the instructions say." Not that he'll listen to us anyway. I tried to get him to count by another number, but he insisted on doing what the instructions said, and he insisted on a multi-hundred number.

After this excruciating drudgery, Gabriel volunteered that counting by 11s is 1, 11, 22, 33 -- up to 165. This took him less than a minute. Why couldn't he have done that instead of counting up to 400 by 1s? Because he's very ordered, and because he wants to challenge himself. Dave and I were gritting our teeth that this insipid homework turns those fine qualities into liabilities.

We're guessing we're in for a shock when it's time for us to oversee Julian's homework, but maybe not in the way we expect! Meanwhile, little sister also likes numbers too -- not to the obsessive extent her oldest brother did, but there are definite signs of the same sort of ordered thinking.

I had to insist Julian sit down in the kitchen while Gabriel was doing his homework (instead of running around throwing things). He became engrossed in Gabriel's toil and watched with his usual wide-eyed innocent face. A face I can never get enough of, especially that most perfect, luscious, beautiful mouth.

When he's taking it all seriously, that is, which fortunately isn't too often!


Julian...so precious, my sweet boy. The middle child, the glue that holds this family together, the hub of the wheel, the center of the star.

10/13/08

10/12/08 All Italian Day

Once a year, an Alfa Romeo club in Alameda puts on All Italian Day, in which people are invited to exhibit their Italian vehicles, to raise money for the Special Olympics. I've gone many times with Dave -- once even on an Italian vehicle, but in the past few years he's mostly gone with one or both of the boys, depending on their state of toddlerdom. This year, I considered going, but we decided it was too risky to take Katrina, since she could easily ruin a fun event that only comes around once a year.

But I'm glad I didn't go. I had a great day alone with my funny little girl. She's exploding, every day doing and saying new things. One of her latest tricks is to say, "I sing a song!" and indeed, she hums a few bars and clumsily stamps from side to side as if to dance to it. Today she caught me typing email to my mom, and demanded to sit on my lap, then wouldn't let me type. "Hanns DOWN!" she'd say firmly, then pull my hands off the keyboard. OK, OK, I get the picture!

I didn't do anything special with her today, but when you're 2, even a simple soybean-butter-and-jelly sandwich lunch (on your shirt, the table, your hair, your face, and everywhere except your stomach) is great fun.


I did take her to the Y and then to TJ's though. As much as I'd love to have a day when I hole up and home and go nowhere, kids need to get out.

The boys didn't want to take apart the Lego dune buggy I'd made yesterday. I couldn't believe how much it meant to them that I'd made it, and they both took great care of it and wanted me to take a picture of it. I have to remember that for the future.

It did come apart today, as a way of comforting Julian, who wanted more Legos to play with. There are only a few he can call his own; most of the Legos we have are parts of kits that Gabriel has either gotten as gifts or bought himself with his allowance. The boys are horrified when I tell them that when I was a kid, there were no Lego kits and very few specialized pieces!

A very nice day with my joyful, lively little toddler. Can you tell I'm falling in love all over again?

10/12/08

10/11/08 Crazy ponytail

Katrina randomly disapproves of having her hair pulled back, so sometimes I've got to work very quickly. The result can sometimes be this silly bouncy ponytail -- one side only, of course. What a little ragamuffin!

She was actually quite darling today. I went to an aerobics class this morning, an old-fashioned high-impact thing for which I'm sure to pay for later, but it was nice to be done with my weekend workout by 10am on Saturday. That let me hang out with Katrina and Julian the rest of the morning while Dave took Gabriel to his piano lesson.

I managed to squeeze in a shower while Katrina and Julian played, which mostly worked except hearing Katrina screech a few times. I called for Julian to come and stay with me in the bathroom until I was done with the shower, and he claimed he had no idea why she was screeching. He looked so innocent, but he was clutching her favorite book in his hand, the little pest.

I'm still struggling with a headache, that today manifests itself in strange wave sensations (like when you're in a car wash and see the wash machine move and think you're moving too but you're not), headache pain, and intense sleepiness. An overall down day was called for, and I got it.

10/11/08