Why moms go deaf

Every week Isa goes to a friend's house while I'm in the office. Every other week I return the favor and watch my friend's boys (ages 5 and 2.5) while she's working.

They are wonderful little guys and the three kiddos really interact more like brothers and sisters than just friends a this point. It's an amazing arrangement- free childcare for both of us and a day-long playdate for the little ones.

Anyhoo.... Here is a snippet of how a good day looks- and SOUNDS- when they get together. This particular afternoon, they were giving a performance and I was the audience. It was followed by a parade which was pretty much what you see in the video, just done walking around the house. Oddly enough, despite the decibel level, this sort of child noise doesn't bother me nearly as much as electronic toy noise.

Got Hair?

Everyone knows that Isa B sure does!

When I met her at the ripe old age of 6 months, she already had enough hair for little tiny ponytails on the top of her head.

Within a few months, it was long enough to all go into two ponytails.

Now it's long enough to all go up in a big, poofy ponytail on the top of her head. When I make the effort to braid her hair after putting it in two ponytails, the braids are nearly 6 inches long. When I comb it out during bath time, her wet hair reaches down to her waist! (I have a picture of that somewhere, but can't find it....)

And what does all this hair mean? Why- LOTS of hair accessories, of course!!!

Today I decided to re-organize them and was shocked at just how many she has. There are:

56 plain barrettes

41 fancy (bows, twirly ribbons, etc) barrettes

9 headbands

15 rubberbands with fancy ends (plastic balls or flowers)

15 terry cloth bands with attached bows

7 butterfly clips in assorted sizes

(And a box of tiny colored elastics for braids- too numerous to count!)

Here they all are:

Now where in the world am I going to put them????

And the Bad Blogger Award goes to....

ME!

5 or 6 weeks since my last post? Seriously? I hate when huge chunks of time simply fall away without my noticing them.

And the saddest thing is that there really isn't a compelling reason for the silence. Well maybe there is. Life here continues to move along at about the same pace. I am a big fan of stability and routine but it admittedly doesn't make for the best blog material. There were days I wanted to pull up the blog and thought "but what am I going to say?". Taken as a whole, our life is pretty mundane. Perhaps I ought to just post a single funny Isa quote each day. Because there are always entertaining things coming out of her mouth!

Probably the only interesting that happened in the last month was that we kicked the Find-A-Preschool campaign into high gear. Isa was on the waiting list with 1 preschool, I applied to another (haven't heard back), and a third flat out said there would be no morning openings. It wasn't looking promising. Luckily I belong to a Yahoo group for parents in my neighborhood and got a post about a new preschool opening up. The provider was doing part-time daycare but as her daughter was now 2 1/2, she was planning to transition into a preschool. I immediately responded that we'd love to come have a look. The visit was a huge success. I really felt like we were old friends just having a playdate with our children. And so I jumped at the chance to reserve a spot for Isa. It's truly ideal- easily within walking distance of the house, from 8:30-12:30, and only 3 days a week (which had proved impossible to find in our neighborhood). And, the preschool is starting up on April 9th! In the very near future I'll have free time 3 days a week and I'm just not sure what to do with myself.

I have taken barely any photos in the last couple months, which is really pathetic. And, as it is already past midnight as I type this, I'm not going to take the time to load them from the camera and then onto the blog tonight. But I promise it won't be another 6 weeks before I get them up. :)

2 years! (a day late)

(Due to an oh-so-fun bout with stomach flu, this post is a day late. So, just pretend that this is the 11th of February, okay?)

2 years ago today....



2 years! So hard to believe. It feels like she's always been here. It's hard to remember life without her and yet the time is moving much too quickly. They've been the most difficult but by far the most joyous 2 years I've ever experienced.

(And I reposted the videos in the last post since they seemed to be so problematic for everyone. Hopefully they'll work this time.)

Weekend Recap in Photos

As always, we had a glorious time with Porter and Elsa. Here are some highlights:

Dinner the first night- pizza!

Toes!

It definitely wasn't a quiet weekend.

Wrestle-mania

What a trip to IKEA will do to two busy toddlers

Pretty girl meet....

...cheesy girl

Looking WAY too sophisticated

Two peas in a pod (er, log)

Best Buddies

Elsa hearts Pelican

And a few videos to give you a very good idea of how entertaining the entire weekend was. It was a boisterous weekend, full of LOTS of talking, singing, and playing.

And, yes, in the bathtime video the off-camera dialogue of the Mamas is almost as amusing as the girls themselves. I didn't realize just how silly I sound when I'm talking with or about my child. What's with all the "we" talk?

Growing up

Everyday Isa seems to be moving further and further away from babyhood. It's exciting and sad for me all at the same time. I have selective amnesia about the early months home. The sleep deprivation doesn't seem as horrible as I know it was but so many of the other memories are still intense. I loved having a baby and I fully admit that I miss that stage. Isa was a remarkably easy baby, so there wasn't a lot of crying. Just lots of snuggling and playing- and not so many fights at the dinner table!

Toddlerhood certainly is entertaining, though. Isa is a total ham. She has recently started acting out scenes from her favorite books. Usually she chooses another character in the story for me to play. ("I, Lily. You, Mr. Slinger.") When she's not acting out a specific story, she's often pretending to be an animal or making up little scenarios for the two of us to act out. We get "stuck in the mud" a lot- a game played by lying down on the couch and pretending to be stuck. We hide from imaginary monsters. We have lots of dance parties!

She still sings ALL THE TIME. In addition to our usual repertoire, she often makes up her own songs. She'll essentially narrate the day for me in song. Sometimes it makes sense. Sometimes it's simply a string of words with a melody. Unfortunately, it's most often done in the car, so no videos for you to hear.

Lately Isa's been all about "making something new." I have one crafty kid on my hands. Which is fun but a bit tricky at this point since the crafts she can do (without getting too frustrated) are a bit limited. Here she is using her new fingerpaints. (Side note- Crayola Color Wonder products are fabulous. Certainly not as intense in color as the real deal but NO MESS!)


A glimpse at the future. I'm sure to see this look again, though perhaps not with a pair of fairy wings on her back.

We're still slowly meandering down the lane towards potty training. Bit of a set-back with last week's poo issues. Her buddy Evan figured it out last weekend. His mom was also easing into training when it just sort of clicked and bam!- he used the potty all weekend with only a couple accidents. I'm hopeful that spending every Tuesday with him will convince Isa to get trained as well. To help encourage her, we have a new Potty Chart at the house. Every successful trip to the potty will earn her one sticker. When she fills up a row, she'll get a treat (fruit snacks, M&Ms, etc). Note there are no stickers up there yet.....

And lastly, I have FINALLY turned Isa's carseat around. She didn't care that she was rear facing and so I never took the time to wrestle with the Britax. But I've been having trouble with my lower back recently. On Tuesday, as I reached to put Isa into the seat I felt a muscle in my lower back actually POP. Extreme pain! So today I (carefully so as not to further injure my back) turned the beast around. I was pleasantly surprised by what I found under the seat. Not nearly as bad as I had expected, although the seat did yield quite a bit more.

On Friday we head down to CA to visit Porter and Elsa for a nice, long weekend. Expect tons of glorious adorable photos of the girls together!

Warning- TMI ahead

11:30 p.m. run to the store for toddler suppositories. 'Nuf said.