Talking Like Mad

Delphinium is now a chatterbox of the first order.  Oh not when we're out in public or around our friends, then she's usually Little Miss Observant.  When we're home together, just the two or three of us, she does not stop.  It all started about six months ago when she was on her changing table early one morning.  She looked up at the picture of a bear holding a jar of honey and said "Bears like honey!  Bees make honey! Buzz buzz!  Mommy like honey!" Before that she'd been sticking to two word "sentences."  Now the lid was off the jar.

She does ask the usual toddler questions of "what that" and "who that" quite a bit, but she also uses more complex little tidbits that she's learned as well.  When choosing something she will often start by saying "Hmm let me see..." She loves to announce the next activity or destination, so we get a lot of "Mommy and Del go to the library!  Get new books!" She also likes to offer commentary about the people she sees so "Baby cry.  His mommy say 'no no baby no cry." is quite common  The other day, out of the blue, she said "Nice pants Mommy."

Then there are all the South Africanisms she has threaded through her vocabulary.  I assumed she had an American accent (I am around her waaay more) until I took her to visit some of my old co-workers, and they admired her cute little accent.  She says "plasters" for bandaides, "wee" for pee, "bum" for butt, and both tomatoes and vitamins come out with a South African flair.  It's incredibly cute if you ask me.

This morning on the way home from toddler class, she was sitting in her seat and singing along to the music.  As we turned off the main road I turned down the sound since it no longer needed to compete with the sound of the engine.  I assumed the change would go unnoticed.  Pretty soon a voice from the back said "Mommy! Mommy!  Muse more LOUDER!"

New New New

Gah!  Not only am I forced to use Chrome, but there is an entirely new blogger to contend with!  I suppose if I don't want to be classed as a bitter old lady who hates all new tech, I will have to give these things a try.  Just forgive me if I accidentally post pictures of my cat.

Second Birthday Parties

In all my gushing over Delphinium's fabulousness, I forgot to record what we actually did for her birthday  Well actually it was for her birthdays.  One celebration simply was not enough, so we opted to break her events up into two.  First we held a toddler party at her music class.  Two year-olds and near two year-olds only!

Kindermusik and Miss Anna did a wonderful job of throwing us a party where all we had to do was show up with food and guests.  They did the set-up, clean up, and all the other hosting jobs.  It was FABULOUS.  Being pregnant and planning a party in our home for lots of people was just not in the cards for me.  This way the kids had an absolute ball singing songs and playing games, and when it was over we walked right out the door!

That was over the weekend; on her actual birthday we went out for fondue with her uncle and cousins.  Since going I've read that The Melting Pot is not suitable for children under six, but we did not find it to be so.  She enjoyed the cheese and broth portion of the meal, but the choc dessert was what really made her happy.  Given that chocolate and fruit are pretty much her most favorite treats ever, I knew it would be thus.  Her face when she ate her first bite was priceless, and then her face when she was finished was pretty funny as well.  Happy birthday Baby.

Two Years Old!

Whew!  The baby just turned two!  I am obligated to say "where did the time go?"  Besides it is true.  I really am amazed by how quickly that baby business is over.  I guess that's a good thing given how intense it can be, but I'm sure I'll still miss it from time to time.  At least her dad and I can pat ourselves on the back a bit and say "we did it!"

She's turning out to be a lovely little person, and I get such endless fascination from watching her unfold.  She's clever (such a little scientist), she's kind (out of the blue I got a kiss on my nose the other morning), she's funny (jokes are a new discovery), she's brave (loud noises and new situations don't phase her), and she loves with an open heart.  She lives for those days when Daddy stays home from work, we go to Grandma's house, or her cousins come for a visit. 

She loves to play outside, go for walks, do art projects, play with dolls, trains, animals, and anything that can be organized.  She makes tea for anyone and everyone, and if you are lucky you might get a side of imaginary blueberries.  She also loves to read stories, and you can find her sitting on the couch with a huge pile of books.  Sometimes she wants a grown up reader, while other times she prefers to peruse them herself.  Sometimes I even get "go away Mommy" if she's in a really singular frame of mind. 

Thanks to everyone who's helped us along the way!  All those friends who came to see us or asked us over for a playdate.  Everyone who's chatted us through a rough day, or met us for lunch when we were barely coherent.  Most especially to Grandma who has been there at every turn, so kind, so patient, and so willing to help.  We could not have done it without you.

First Time-Out

I'm sorry to report that Delphinium is not perfect.  In fact, she's becoming quite willful at times, and it takes all of my creativity to find ways around her, um, difficulties.  Mostly I just try to ignore the silly stuff (oh I can see you are screaming because you only got two dried berries in your cereal today) and I still do a fair amount of distraction and redirection (you cannot paint Mommy's purse, but you can paint this cardboard box). 

The real trouble comes when she does something that absolutely must stop NOW.  Running away in public is not common, but occasionally the whim catches her.  I catch her up and make her stick right next to me (how does one accomplish that at nine months pregnant?).  The other sticky one we are facing is hurting the cats.  She can be incredibly sweet to them, and I find her giving them kisses and patting them carefully.  Then, out of the blue, she will pull their tails enough to make them yowl.

This is where I'm trying to use time-outs, and I make her sit on the step for a minute followed by a kitty apollogy.  We've talked and talked about how hurting is not nice, we don't hurt our friends, etc. but it does not seem to be helping much.  Any great ideas, oh parents, or should I just give the time-out more time to work?

House Hunting Round #3: Part 3

Still going! We've seen 33 houses to date, and none of them have been exactly right. Now that everybody knows about the baby, we can admit that, yes, we do have a deadline by which we need to get this done! Our realtor calmly assures us that we are not crazy (our wants and our budget do match up) and that we will be moved in to our new place before the baby comes. Sometimes I think about the amount of work ahead of us, and it makes me want to hide under a blanket. Then again, having a nicer (with a real kitchen instead of a postage stamp) house where we see more of Daddy each day would be a very good thing indeed. As I mentioned before, the average person sees 40 houses before they buy, so I'm really hoping that "our" house is just around the corner.

Wheels on the Bus

Without any prompting Delphinium has made up some new lyrics to an old classic song:


The wheels on the bus go round and round
The doors on the bus go open and shut open and shut
The babies on the bus say "wahh wahh wahh!"
The mommies on the bus say "I love you! I love you!"
The daddies on the bus go work work work
The Bobbies on the bus go "bop bop bop!"
The grandmas on the bus go to Delphinium's house now!

Unisom and B6 During Pregnancy

Oh what morning sickness can do to a poor, unsuspecting person!  It's absolutely debilitating to not be able to tolerate food, smells, or anything remotely dizzy-making.  Your whole perspective on life starts to change, and not in a good way.  Working, caring for children, driving, and all sorts of other major life activities become very difficult as your super nose and queasy stomach take over.  Ginger tea, saltines, applesauce, and all those other supposed remedies work for some people some of the time, but they are not at all sure. 

During my first pregnancy I just rode it out.  It was always worst during the mid-morning hours, so I would just take a long walk until the worst of it passed.  This time around I was not so lucky.  Not only was the nausea worse, but it came most strongly in the evening when I was trying to prepare dinner for the family.  My poor toddler suffered a change in diet because I could not stand to cook some of her more favorite dishes.  Asparagus, broccoli, onions, and garlic were all on the instant gag list.  My husband started doing deli runs on the way home from work just to keep vegetables on our girl's plate. 

Then I visited the doctor.  When I saw this doctor for my first pregnancy, she was just getting married, and we chatted about fun things wedding.  This time, she had just had her first baby, and I think this helped change her perspective on one or two issues.  This time when I mentioned being green, she said I should take Unisom and B6.  Both are over-the-counter and considered extremely safe for pregnant women.  The FDA has even recognized them as "effective and safe" for this purpose.  My dear husband picked them up for me, and I took them at night as the doctor suggested.

OH MY GOONESS!   It was like the morning sickness was GONE!  I felt like a more or less normal person.  There were still certain foods that did not appeal to me, but they no longer made me feel like puking.  I stopped losing weight.  My daughter started to eat normal foods again.  It was like a miracle cure.  I kept taking the combo for the next few weeks, and by time I was twelve weeks pregnant, I was able to stop without feeling sick at all.  A side benefit was the mild sleep aid effect of the Unisom actually helped me to feel less tired as well.  I hope more doctors will recomend the mix because it makes a world of difference to moms. 

Baby 2.0

Well folks it looks like we are having our second baby! You may have noticed a certain lack of blog attention lately, and you can chalk that up to my thoughts being more inwardly focused than usual. Well, that and the incredible urge to toss my cookies! Now that the green phase is over we're feeling comfortable enough to tell people our news. In a matter of months, our "baby" (as we still call her) will become the big sister to an actual newborn. We are all thrilled about the news, but I am trying to wrap my mind around the logistics of having TWO, count them, TWO children. All I learned about coping with the first one had to do with a minimum of 1:1 parent and child. Now that will turn on its head. Future blog posts will be about getting larger pants, trying not to freak out, and remembering to feed healthy things to the toddler while all I want to eat is Doritos.

Sugar Rush

Here's quite a scary little article about the impact of sugar on American children.  It seems that the older the child the more sugar they consume.  Another interesting fact is that middle-class and wealthy children eat just as much sugar as their poorer peers.  This goes against the conventional wisdom from before this study which focused sugar-lowering efforts on working class populations.  What's the effect of all this sugar on kids?  "Diabesity" of course.  Children who are obese and diabetic (they so often go together) are likely to have much sicker and shorter lives than their peers.  Quite the inspiration to cut out the soda and sugary yogurts.

Sunshine and Laziness

The first day of spring came and went without so much as a single ray of sunshine. However, just a few days later we actually got two and a half days together that were sunny or partly so. It's amazing how good it can make you feel after a whole long winter. On gray days I don't have any trouble with sadness, but oh how wide awake things seem when the sun shines.


In years past I would have taken the first bright day that I had off to clean clean clean the house. I like to hang out all the white bedding and pillows and towels to get rid of any musty smells. No matter how cold it still might be, I throw open the doors and windows to get the fresh breeze going. Depending on how inspired I feel, I've even been known to use lemons and other natural cleaners to scrub the kitchen and bathrooms. At the end of the day there's hardly a cobweb or musty smell to be found. Sounds great doesn't?

Except this year. This year I didn't do any of that. My house is not one bit cleaner that it was on the last day of winter. Why? Because we didn't have time for cleaning when we had to run outside and play! On the first day we played in the backyard for an hour and walked in the park for an hour. On the second day we spent several hours in the backyard, went for a walk, and then Daddy came home early and took the girl to the park. It was just an extravaganza that could not be missed for any mere chores.

I suppose that means if it rains today I'm on the housewifely hook. Oh well. Easter is coming up, so I will have to face it soon. I'm going to have to learn to clean on sunny days too or summer is going to be grubby indeed.

Nursery University Chaos

Over the weekend M and I watched the documentary Nursery University about the preschool admissions process in NYC. Yikes! You will never think about childcare in the same way again after watching that. It seems that the city has experienced a baby boom, so there is a shortage of high quality preschool. Thus parents go through extreme measures to ensure a spot for their child. Some wait all night in the cold while other spend hours on the phone simply trying to get an application for each school. The movie says that for every preschool spot available there are approximately fifteen applicants. Makes a person almost teary-eyed over the old church basements where we all went to nursery school.

Toddler Bakes Carrot Cake

Last week Delphinium (Baby's nickname) and I were feeling cooped up in the house, so we decided to make a cake.  I remember very clearly making cakes with my mom for my dad and brother.  She was the most patient teacher, and they were the best ever tasters, so baking became something I really enjoyed.  I hope my girl will feel the same, so we got out the big bowl and set to work.  While she's not yet able to do everything (breaking eggs is hard!) many things she can accomplish.  She scooped, dumped and mixed like the perfect baker, and I did the fiddly bits like measuring and grating carrots.

It's really something to see a little kid really focus on something.  I don't know if baking will always have this power, or if the novelty is the trick, but she was able stay really interested for the whole batter-making process.  Of course there were several rounds of "leave the batter in the bowl" and "carrot peelings do not go in people's hair" but we got there eventually.  Not eating all the raisins on the spot was also hard, but eventually we had a pan of batter in the oven.  The cake turned out light and flavorful, and it was even better the next day.  Daddy was, of course, the best kind of taste tester.  The recipe is as follows:

1/2 cup + two TBS flour
1/2 sugar
3/4 TSP baking soda
1/2 TSP baking powder
1 heaping TSP pie spice (or your favorite mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, etc)
1/4 TSP salt
Blend dry ingredients then add:
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1-2 eggs depending on size
3/4 grated carrot
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins (optional but tasty)
1/4 crushed pineapple (adds such flavor)

Pour into a 9X9 or 8X8 pan and bake for 20-30 minutes until knife in the middle comes out clean.  After cooling, add cream cheese icing if desired, cut into squares, and enjoy.  Cake is even better the next day.

Choo Choo Daddy

Daddy recently went on  yet another business trip, but this time, instead of flying, he took the train.  This was a very exciting idea for Delphinium since she is a huge fan of trains.  Sadly, his departure was so early in the morning that there was no way we could see him off.  The next best thing arrived while we girls were eating breakfast.  The first picture was the outside of the train with windows and little stepstool visible.  The next was the inside of the train with seats and luggage bins.  The final pic was Daddy in his seat!  The baby ate these up, and we had to view the triptych at least a dozen times.  That whole week while he was gone, she told people "Daddy go work choo choo!"  I think it helped her to make the trip something exciting instead of something sad.  Then, when Daddy came home, he had video!

House Hunting Round #3: Part 3

We've now been through 26 houses.  I remember reading somewhere that the average person sees about 40 properties before they find the right one, so I should been feeling hopeful.  At this point I'm just tired.  We've spent every weekend for the last couple of months on this project, and it has yielded not a thing.  I had been doing fairly well with the plodding process until this week.  Nothing new has come on this week in our target area in our price range.  Not one house.  I don't know if this is a blip or if something is really happening in the market.  Our agent says that houses go very quickly when they do come on, so maybe that is translating into a rise in prices as well?  Probably it's too soon to tell.  Fingers crossed that we aren't seeing our chances slip away in front of our noses.

Daddy's Away

For the second time in two weeks, Daddy is on a business trip. One can hardly hold it against him since it's for work, but we can't help feeling a little pressed. There is a reason families traditionally come with two parents, or at least I've certainly gotten used to having that way. I find that I can parent, clean, or cook effectively, but I cannot do two, let alone all three of those things at the same time. Something has to give. That means that I all but ignore my child to get the dinner on the table, and the only time any housework gets done is while she's sleeping. Exercise? Ha! Perhaps I will learn to do a better job on my own (goodness knows lots of people have to do it that way all the time!) or maybe I will always feel like I'm not quite cutting the proverbial mustard.

Mimi No More

It finally happened.  Our baby is growing up so fast, and there are all sorts of big and small signs that she's really a kid rather than an infant.  For one thing, she's a huge chatterbox who now goes around telling us what she thinks, what she wants, and which songs she wants skipped on the radio!  One thing that struck me especially was the way our names have changed.  For more than a year we've been "Mimi and Dada."  Don't ask me why it was Mimi instead of Mommy, but she was quite adament about it.  Now, all of a sudden, we're "Mommy and Daddy" like everyone else.  Schnif!  I'll get used to it!

Thor The Abridged

A little sample of how scrambled my brain is these days.  M said I would enjoy the movie "Thor" which he had seen on a guys' night.  We got it from Netflix on DVD, and turned it on after the baby went to bed.  It seemed like a fun action hero sort of movie in that stupidly entertaining kind of way.  I was a little disappointed that I couldn't ogle the hero since the contrast of all that beard against the completely hairless body was just weird.  Nevertheless, it was reasonably fun.  Since he'd seen it before, M was coming in and out doing chores and checking email.  Then the finale came and went and M said "wait that can't be the end?"  The movie's only been on for an hour!"  It turns out that our dying remote had been skipping whole chunks of the movie AND I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE.  Perhaps I wasn't quite paying attention the way I thought.

Leap Day

Welcome to February 29th! That only comes once every four years, so it's kind of a special feeling. I overheard one person say that it was a fake day so nothing you did would count. It's kind of an interesting thought. What would you do if it wouldn't "count" the next day? Tell someone what you really think? Cut off your hair? Try something you wouldn't dare before? Eat an entire cake? Run through town naked? Is the thought thrilling or scary? Happy Leap Day!

Taxes '12

In lieu of a fun post this morning, I would just like to say that I finished my taxes! I know it isn't one of the more glamorous household tasks, but it's got to be done. This year it only took us a few hours (oh how long it took me to learn about creating a tax file from the very first doc received) and we actually get something back. R. is always saying that if you get a refund you're loaning money to Uncle Sam, and you need to change something about your withholding. Still, I can't help but be happy when that number in the corner of the screen stays green and does not turn to red. My 2012 tax dream for you: may you find all your documents, get lots of lovely deductions, and have a nice fat refund at the end.