Baby Book Review

Just finished a marathon book session with Amelia. "One more, mama?" Sure! I was all for the break from bug-eating and sneaking into the dog's water bowl.

She apparently has grown a little taller because she's reaching a new shelf of books in her room. Which means it was like Christmas morning for her. Whoa Mama! I've never seen this book before!

We read this over and over again:

Mia loves pointing to the eyes, nose, ears, mouth, etc in the book.

 And this:

I read it to a rhythm and we did different motions for each obstacle the family runs into. Like waving arms back and forth for the "swishy-swashy" grass.

What does your little one love to read?

Wordless Wednesday

Evening fun in the backyard

A quick cheese face

Some hose exploration

A little splashing and clapping

Window art

And what evening isn't complete without bubbles
& crayons smeared all over your face?

Cousin Love

Amelia is very much used to being the only child around this house. So when she woke up from her nap this weekend to her Mimi holding another baby in her room, she was displeased.

Confusion set in first. She made funny faces in her crib as Mimi and her cousin (just 6 weeks older) peered down at her and waved. She rubbed her eyes. She said, "Mimi?" She watched carefully while her cousin examined some toys in her playroom.

Then it hit: panic mode. She was sharing her space, her toys, but most importantly, her Mimi with this strange little girl. (She hadn't seen this cousin since Thanksgiving.) She pulled out every trick in her book. She said, "No, no, no." She grabbed her toys back and ran away. She whined. She clung to Mimi. She gathered all of her toys in a pile and laid on top of them.

When these tactics didn't magically make the other little girl disappear, she dug deeper. She decided to win her Mimi back with charm. When we tickled her cousin, Amelia mustered her best fake laugh while tickling herself. When her cousin pressed a button that played music, Amelia danced so hard she fell down.

Then they discovered the tent and tunnel. And Amelia reached a stage of acceptance. Because now when she pretended to "knock, knock" on the tent, there was someone there to answer her.

And someone to chase her in the tunnel.

Turns out having a cousin isn't so bad after all. In fact, she hasn't stopped asking for both Mimi and her cousin since. Good thing, since another cousin comes to visit this week.

Maybe it was hair envy?

Good news! My child does not have an infectious disease!

This is great because last week I thought she might. See, we were possibly "exposed" to hand-foot-mouth-disease nastiness at a playgroup recently. This stuff happens. Because kids are not always the most sanitary creatures. But I'll trade a few illnesses for socialization (for Mia and I both!) any day. So the exposure was not a big deal for me.

Until we were at a party with a completely new mommy group. An established group. That I might have sort of weaseled myself into. This was our first time to meet them and I was totally maybe trying to make a pretty good impression.

We're swimming in the pool and I'm lifting her up in the air and letting her splash down in the water. (This is as close as I get to an arm workout.) She opens her mouth wide, "Whee!"

And I see it.

There is a white sore on the inside of her mouth.

Okay, so pause. On one hand, I just got an email letting us know we were possibly exposed to HFMD. And now I see a sore. There are a ton of other kids here who could be exposed as well now. I should get my things as quickly as possible and leave. I should tell all these mommies so they can protect/sanitize their children.

But...

Then I'm the infectious mommy. This was not the impression I was hoping to leave. Who wants to invite the infectious mommy to the next playdate?

So I stayed. And enjoyed the party. And ate some cake. And socialized.

And tried not to let Mia touch too many kids/things.

I mentally prepared the "I'm sorry" email I would need to send and took Mia to the doctor first thing the next morning. The doctor checked her over carefully.

And told me it looked like Mia bit her cheek.

I'm so glad I didn't confess to those mommies and leave the party. Because first-time mommies tend to over-react.

Baby Book Review

Mia LOVES to read. We try to read her a few books before bed each night as a family. She has learned to manipulate us by saying "one more" after we're finished. It is so cute!  

And a little bit frightening that she already is learning how to prolong bedtime.

Her current favorite:

 

She'll ask to read it over and over. She carries it around the house. She tries to make the noises that Daddy does when he reads it. (They are amazing noises. Mama just can't compare.) 

Papa and Tink took her to ride a "real" train because she is so excited about this book. She was generally disinterested. And a little scared when we went through a tunnel.

But she couldn't wait to read the book again on the car ride home.

MamaMia Tip: buy the board book, not the paperback.

What Works for Us: Part III

We have a "playroom" which serves as a home for most of Mia's toys. (We also keep the computer and my crafty stuff in there too, so it is technically a playroom for everyone.) Of course there are toys in other parts of the house and she carries/pushes her toys throughout every room. But it is nice for some of them to have a "home" when it is time to clean up. Especially the little stuff.

Here's what works for us for toy organization:

Low cost shelves. Not so original, huh?

Unfortunately this will not work for long. Too many toys, bigger stuff, running out of room. Plus I've seen MUCH cuter playrooms. So I'm collecting ideas.

What works for you?

Flashback Friday: That Time I Loved My Dog

I have a dog named Katie. She's a Jack Russell Terrier. She's about to be 6 years old. And she's adorable.

Adorable, right?

After the hubby and I had been married for about a year, we decided to get a dog.

Well actually we started with a plant named Oscar. The hubby had a plan. He said that if we could take care of a plant, then we could probably take care of a dog. And if we could take care of a dog, we could probably take care of a baby. He was very specific about this plan.

The plant died shortly after we brought it home.

So I bought a new plant, named it Oscar, and about a year later, we got a dog.

Katie on her first day home

I warned you she is adorable. I have a whole folder of pictures of her on my computer. Like this one:

 

Or this one:

We set to work making her our baby right away. The hubby taught her a ton of tricks. We took her for walks all the time. As soon as she was potty-trained she slept in "the nook" of my arm at night. We took her to dog parks to socialize her. We played hide-and-seek around the house with her. She received her own Valentine's Day presents and Easter basket. We were those people.

See?

Then this happened:

Est. March 2010

 Which led quickly to this:

 

And this:

Now her dog food and treats are delivered by little hands. Her hide-and-seek involves little feet and not-so-tricky hiding places. Her presents are dropped from a high chair. And when she gets a walk, her leash is attached to a pretty slow-moving stroller. 

And the real kicker- she's on diet dog food.

She's been demoted from baby to dog. But don't worry, I still love her, and now, so does Amelia. Plus she still gets to sleep in the nook.

I still can't keep a plant alive, but I do have a very much alive dog and toddler. Two out of three ain't half bad, right?

What Works for Us: Part II

As I mentioned the other day, Mia really likes to do artsy stuff. Ok, I really like to do artsy stuff. But I've pushed it on her at such a young age, she'll never know the difference! Ha!

Seriously, she'll ask to do chalk outside. Or scream say please while pointing to the window crayons. Or check the cabinet in the kitchen where I was silly enough to store crayons when she first became interested in them. Why did I think a lower cabinet with no locks was a great place for a bucket full of crayons? But most often she'll wave her arm back and forth and say something that sounds vaguely like "color."

So I created a special "coloring" chair in our kitchen. It is just a portable booster seat and the genius part is that it has its own tray. Which means no stray crayon marks on our kitchen table.

And she's contained. Which means I can choose to color with her...or do dishes, cook dinner, mop the floor (ha, like that happens much), make a grocery list, put away groceries, take out the trash...whatever!

Oh, and if I'm really feeling indulgent, I can also put on a Baby Signing Time DVD for her. She can see the TV perfectly from this heavenly little spot.

 

It's a wonder she doesn't spend more time here!

Oh, and I promise she wears other clothes besides this pink heart t-shirt. I guess I only take pictures on days she's wearing it! :)

Wordless Wednesday

What Works for Us: Part I

I was blog hopping (I think I just made that term up) and found a site hosting a "Works-for-Me" type thing. Simple idea + busy week = great idea for the blog this week! So I thought I'd post about some stuff that works for us around here. Nothing fancy, I'm sure. Cause we're not real fancy! :)

After breakfast each morning, when it is not super hot yet (just really hot), we like to play outside. Although these days this usually involves some sort of water- baby pool, sprinkler, water hose- Amelia also likes to do art. We had been doing sidewalk chalk, but (as mentioned here) that doesn't always work.

What ALWAYS works for us is Crayola Window Crayons! They are great!

 

Easy to use. Pretty clean. Fun for us both.

I keep them in a little container near the backdoor.

Bonus: It washes away with a swipe of that water hose she loves so much. (or RAIN, when it decides to finally grace us with its presence!)

I've also seen "window markers" at the store, but we haven't tried them yet. Has anyone else?

Amelia's Singing Debut

Amelia has been really into songs recently. One of her favorites to sing is "This Little Light of Mine." As a toddler, it is no surprise that she especially likes the verse where she gets to say, "NO!" Here is a little video of it. Oh, and please ignore my annoying voice.


I like how she has time to read a book during the song.

And how she is, yet again, not wearing pants.
It is just too hot for clothes around here.

Does this happen to every mama?

So I've been trying to get around to writing something all week. A great idea will pop in my head and then a million other things will tackle it. Poof! It's like mental hopscotch, the way my mind will jump around from to-do lists to actual thoughts. So when I actually have a few minutes to write, I've got nothing.

I could write about the minutia of my week. Nah, kinda boring to read about someone's busy day, right? Unless I made it funny somehow. No, piled up dishes and poop can't be fancied up. Oh, I should be taking care of those instead of writing...

I could write about the awesome nights out with other mamas. Two this week! This makes me think of how grateful I am for other moms to talk with. Cause I find myself talking about my kid all the time. And other moms understand. And then I start feeling all mushy about how important mom friends are, especially when you stay home with your little one. This makes me think about a book I read recently about a group of mom friends that met at a playground on Wednesdays. Hey, I met my group of close mama friends on a Wednesday! Then I think about how I was going to review that book. I should be working on that instead of writing this useless post...

I could write about father's day and how Amelia has a great Daddy. Nah, I'll need something to post about on Sunday, right? Or at least when I get around to it next week. Oh, I should be hanging out with him instead of sitting here writing minutia...

I should just post a cute picture and call it a day. Behold: Amelia's "cheese" face.Yup, pretty cheesy! :)

Wordless Wednesday

At a Strawberry Festival last June:
At a Sunflower Festival this June:
Time flies...

Sunflower Festival

Daddy's turn to wake up with Mia on Saturday morning=awesome.

After sleeping in and some brainstorming, we ended up in the car after lunch, driving an hour south to the country. Past cow fences, tall grass, and abandoned gas stations with signs advertising $.80 gas.

Now you should know, I'm a suburb gal. The hubby and I have lived in quite a range of places since we've been together. I'm not crunchy enough to live in an urban area. I'm not quaint enough to live in a rural area. I'm happiest in a squeaky clean neighborhood with one of those brick signs at the entrance letting you know that these folks bring their trash cans in as soon as the truck pulls away from the curb. Heaven forbid that ugly thing disgrace the street after supper time, lest the neighborhood go to shambles.

But seriously, I like knowing there are 4 grocery stores within a 2 mile radius of my house. Apparently, a mama needs options.

So a trip to the country to attend some little farm's rinky-dink Sunflower Festival sounds great. Only we didn't know it was some little farm. We (okay, I) worried our late start would mean huge crowds, long lines, trouble finding parking, etc. Would we be able to see and do everything at the Sunflower Festival in just a few hours?? Instead we meandered through small town America and down a bumpy country road, until we were right next to the train tracks. There we spotted the hand painted sign with the arrow...and the other 10 families or so that decided to come too.

It was everything you could want from a rinky-dink little farm festival.

There were sunflowers.

There were animals.

There was a barrel train pulled by a tractor.

There were performances by local musicians. Mia got a private concert consisting of the ABC song.

There was a corn pit. What Daddy toddler doesn't love to roll around in a pit of corn kernels?
There was also a scary "fun-house" in a red and white painted trailer and a heaping plate of chili cheese fries, but we won't go there.

There was a giant jumping pillow thing.

And did I mention the sunflowers?

I might just reconsider my whole grocery store affection...

Book Review

I'm a hobby hopper. I tend to get into a hobby, do it with all my free time, and then get tired of it and move on. I usually cycle through various hobbies this way. I'm sure this blog will be no different!

Right now I'm on a reading kick. And I've relied on others' book suggestions to keep me going recently. So maybe this book review is a way of giving back? Anyway, after looking over the books I've read this past month, a few categories emerged. We'll call this installment "Circus and Elephants."

Water for Elephants
I saw the movie trailer a while back and thought, That looks like a book I might like to read. I was right. It was great entertainment reading. Nice little love story. A coming of age tale. True bits of circus history. Unfortunately, it is told flashback style and the narrator is an elderly man in an assisted living center. While I liked his gusto and insider's point of view, I didn't really like being jerked out of the past story to hear about pureed old people food and urine smells. Overall I was entertained and eager to keep reading it, so I'll give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Geek Love
Another historical circus book. (I know, two in just a couple of weeks, like the library is full of historical circus books or something.) This was the first book I read on the Kindle and maybe I didn't like the book because I didn't like the Kindle. Or maybe I didn't like the book because it is weird. Like two headed girls, hunchback dwarves, deformed dead drug babies in jars weird. I couldn't get into the writing style, the story, or the characters. Maybe it was a play on the fact that she was a hunchback, but the main character had no backbone. She was hopelessly devoted to everyone she came in contact with in the book. I was determined to finish it, but I can only give it 2 stars. I kept asking myself how the author could have ever dreamed up such a tale.

The Magician's Elephant
This juvenile fiction book was super cute. It is a heartwarming little tale of a young boy, Peter, hoping to find his sister Adele. I am a huge Kate DiCamillo fan and this book did not disappoint. She has a way of writing that feels magical. And who doesn't love a one-sitting read? I'd recommend it to 4th grade and up, although if I was still teaching 2nd grade, I just know I'd read it aloud. 5 out of 5 stars.

Flashback Friday: That Time I Decided to Become a Stay at Home Mama

It seems the mommy blogs I stalk read have hit on the topic of working mom vs. SAHM recently. Every mama goes through that same decision process- here's how I came to mine:

I guess my story goes all the way back to the beginning. I was raised by an awesome stay at home mama. We did all sorts of stuff. When I grew up she went back to work. And loved what she did. I wasn't far into my first teaching gig after college when I fell in love with the job too. So I couldn't imagine staying home to raise kiddos. (Actually at that time I couldn't really imagine raising kiddos at all). A few years later when I got pregnant, moved, and ended up in a job I didn't really care about, my mind started to change.

After Amelia was born, I took about 7 weeks for maternity leave. Then I had to go back to work full time. I worked for about 7 weeks. Because I was working at a child care center, Amelia was right down the hall from me, I knew her teachers well, and I could visit her during the day to nurse, etc. Sounds ideal, right?

I hated it.

Dropping her off in the mornings and working all day was no big deal. I didn't worry about her. I didn't miss her terribly. I knew she was just fine and I was too busy teaching/chasing/potty training 2-year-olds to really have time to dwell.

It was on the car ride home that I would lose it.

She smelled like someone else. I only had a slip of paper to tell me about her day. And worst of all, after spending all day working, I had to head home and start getting ready for the next day of work. Dinner, bath, bed, wash bottles, make lunches, do laundry, pack bags, etc.

So when it came time for our family to move (again!) I was more than happy to leave the "full-time" job and just have one job- taking care of my baby!

I think I'm going to be just like my mama when I grow up.


Things that helped an ambitious mama adjust to "just" staying home with the baby:

1. Experiencing both worlds. When I start to get bored or have a particularly rough day, I can remember how unhappy I was working full time. I am happy with my choice.
2. Talking about expectations with the hubby. Before I left my job, we talked specifically about my role and what we each expected from one another. Officially, I am the "household manager" and "primary childcare provider." (It turns out that I make a pretty good childcare provider and not so much household manager.)
   
3. Having stuff to do. I try to have at least one outing every day and plenty ideas for activities for us to do around the house.
4. Making mommy friends. I am so thankful for a network of other mamas to do things with and talk to. It is like having co-workers in this job. Except you get to pick them. Awesome!

Oh, and as far as "working mom" vs. SAHM- we all have a tough job. Mothering is hard no matter what. We do what's best for us, the best we can.

Camera Phone Clean-out

What did you say? You need to see some adorable pictures of Mia in grainy, camera phone quality? I thought so.

Accessorizing with mama's underwear.
What a lady!

"Ta-da!"
She got out of the kid chair by herself. Yes she is wearing a shirt, swim diaper, and sandals. It is just too hot for pants.

Looking at the chimps with Daddy at the zoo. Oh, and her hair is finally long enough for bows. Rejoice!

Amelia is poking petting a giant turtle at a special animal thing at the library. She is crazy about animals right now.

Awesome.

Yogurt face.

She is in grocery store heaven.

Our attempt to save time by eating lunch in the car on a recent trip back from Nana's house. Believe it or not, this was a success.