Quick Before I Get Sidetrack'd

Little has taken up video games.  Well, not really, she is only two, but she does enjoy “playing” along with Matt.  When he gets out his “buttons” (translation: controller), Little has to have her “buttons”, too (aka, a GameCube controller).  She’ll sit beside him (or stand in front of the TV in his way) and play.

We’re borrowing Mario Galaxy from friends, and that is Little’s current favorite.  Over the weekend, she could be heard saying (loudly) “It’s Maa-eeo tiime!” every time Matt started playing a game – no matter what game he was playing.  She also likes to accompany her gameplay with a demonstration of how Mario “jumps silly.”

She’s quite the little gamer.

Thank you all for your “get well” wishes.  I am feeling better, but still not 100%; hopefully, it will clear up totally in the next few days.

Last Tuesday a friend and I took the kids to a local museum.  It is about a 20 minute trip, so I loaded up the iPod, hooked up the FM transmitter, and we hit the road listening to the Juno soundtrack.

On the way home, the last song ended and I turned off the radio since we were only a few miles from the house.  As soon as Little realized that the music had stopped she began chanting, “more susic.”  To appease my girl I turned the iPod back on and started a Caedmon’s Call album.

We were only a few seconds into the first song when I heard from the back seat – “not dis susic!”  I asked if she wanted to listen to Juno again instead.  “Uh huh,” she said.  As the soundtrack began again she said, “Boo like dis song.” Um, yeah, I’m sure he does.

That evening I was telling Matt about what she’d said.  He asked her what kind of music she liked, and she responded “Dee-no” (translation: Juno).  Now anytime you ask her about music her response is “Dee-no.”  She knows good music, and she definitely knows what she likes.

So, as I related in my last post, we had a wonderful time last weekend with family.  It was not, however, all smiles and giggles. When you have two parents who prefer to be close to home, you end up with two children who prefer to be in their usual environment.

The kids travelled remarkably well.  Boo slept most of the trip, and Little sat in her carseat and talked and played the whole time.  Yep, you read that right, she talked the whole trip.  She is her mother’s daughter.  They made the trip home nicely, too.

The problem arose from being out of routine for four days and being with strange people people we don’t see often.  I’m not a strict scheduler (although, sometimes with Boo I wish I was), but we do have a definite pattern and rhythm to our days.  The kids know when we’ll eat, when it’s naptime, who we’ll play with, etc.  I also have two children who sleep in their own beds, in their own rooms, and in the dark.

All of this was thrown out of whack while we were travelling.  Because of the number of people involved, mealtimes were somewhat sporadic.  Because of the laid back nature of our visit, naptime would sneak up on us.  And because of space issues, Little slept in the room with us.

She was totally thrown off by the fact that Boo and the sun rise before 6 o’clock a.m.  Waking up at 5 one morning, 5:30 the next, and 5:45 the last made for one irritable girl well before her normal naptime.  Add to the mix that there were 4 children age 3 and under and 10 adults living under one roof with another child (age 5) and several other adults coming in and out, and Little was having a tough time with overstimulation.  She did wonderfully the first couple of days, but by Sunday she was definitely ready to be in her home with only her Mommy, Daddy, and brother.

Then there was Boo.  His tummy trouble that was aggravated by something(s) I ate; the poor guy was crying in pain on Saturday, and there wasn’t much we could do to comfort him between doses of medicine.  He also decided that it was a good time to attempt learning to suck his thumb, so I don’t think he slept as well as usual because he was knocking his paci out of his mouth and waking himself up.

Overall, the children behaved well and were in good spirits, but there was enough crankiness to make me glad we don’t travel again for awhile.  Or, maybe I was the one who was overstimulated and cranky; I know I was happy to get home Sunday as well.

Yesterday Little and I got new ‘dos.

This was Little’s very first haircut.  She was born with a headful of hair and never lost any of it.  Because of that we had two issues: first, her hair was uneven – her “original” hair is very straight and her new hair has some curl; second, the longest parts of her hair came almost to her waist.  In order to even it up and get rid of her scraggly look, we got it cut in a blunt cut that falls just above her shoulders.  It is absolutely adorable, but she does look more like a little girl now.

She was a very good girl while her hair was being cut.  Our hairstylist is also a good friend, so Little is comfortable with L and I think that made a huge difference in her willingness to cooperate.  She sat in the chair like a big girl and was remarkably still; she even said “thank you” when L was finished cutting.  I was very proud of her, and I just love her new ‘do.

As for me, I went a little shorter in the back than the cut I’ve been sporting since January (which was pretty short already); the front is the same length it has been, but it is styled a bit differently.  I also got some copper highlights that I’m loving (settled on copper because Matt was very against the red-red that I wanted to do).  Just something fun and a little sassy for the summer.

It was fun to see Little’s first haircut, and I enjoyed getting a little pampering.  We had a nice “girls night” with L.

I would love to share pictures, but I’m having trouble with iPhoto; maybe I can get some posted after my tech guy is home to help.

From Little – as we prepared to go to the zoo yesterday – “skeeto bite no go to zoo.”  Yeah, if I could figure out how to leave mosquito bites behind I’d be a rich lady.

New to her vocabulary – “paw-der” for pillow

From the potty training diary – she has pee-peed in the potty once, but she won’t wear training pants because apparently they hurt (she spent 30 minutes pulling at them the other day before she finally brought me a diaper and asked me to put it on).  I’m not sure she’s really ready yet; we’ll give it some time.

From The Boy – during his 4-ish a.m. feeding this morning I laid him down in the floor to change his diaper.  He proceeded to roll over from his back to his tummy.  Whaa?  You’re only 9 weeks old boy!

On sleeping – he’s up to 6 hours straight for the past several nights.  We’re still getting up two times, but I’m hoping that we’ll cut out the 4 o’clock feeding before long.

And from the pacifier files – I haven’t yet decided whether it is our friend or not.  It is much better than sucking on my pinky, but it presents it’s own set of challenges (like when he loses it during the night).

As for me – I almost let myself get heat exhaustion yesterday.  4 hours at the zoo in 85 degrees weather, the last 2 hours of that with Boo in our black wrap, and only about 8 ounces of water don’t make for good times at the end of the day.  Fortunately, I’m feeling much better today.

And finally, from “file it under random” – I glanced at the Pay Per Post form in my SIL’s sidebar earlier, and the default birthdate is June 19, 1906.  I’m thinking that 102 year old bloggers are a bit hard to come by.

That’s all I have for now.  Hopefully, tomorrow I can put coherent thoughts together and bring you a well constructed post.  We’ll see.