Safety First!

This weekend Sophia and I went grocery shopping. We have taught her, since she was very young, that once she is out of the car that she is to keep her hands on the car until one of us takes her hand. We explain to her that doing so will keep her safe.

So, I took her out of the car at Costco, and took her hand to walk into the store. And she said, "Thank you Mama for keeping me safe." I melted.

Booster Seat? I Don’t Need No Stinking Booster Seat!

That’s right, my little girl isn’t so little anymore. Sophia recently decided that she no longer needed her booster seat at the table. I nearly shed a tear. Not only for the fact that my little girl is growing up, but also because I am no longer able to strap her in when she’s being obstinate.

American Idol 2022

If the show is still around by then, I think Sophia might be a contestant on American Idol in 2022. Usually, she doesn’t like singing. She doesn’t like to sing at song time in the mornings with her friends, and she certainly doesn’t like it when Ernie or I sing (not that I can blame her on that one!). That all changed last Thursday night.

She brought out the holder for her top (a toy top made out of wood by Ernie’s uncle) and turned it into a microphone. After interviewing Ernie and me, she put on a show for us. And what a show it was! Complete with two rounds of the ABC’s, followed by an original song about a boat, and then another original song about a helicopter. (These songs were just the words “boat” and “helicopter” repeated over and over to an unrecognizable tune.) We wished we had had the video camera handy, but knew that she’d stop as soon as we got it out. So instead, we just enjoyed her performance.

They're Ba-ack!

That's right, the bugs are back. Argh! What does a girl have to do to get rid of these disgusting super-bugs? No, seriously, suggestions are welcome here.

After giving Sophia a bath on Tuesday night, I was combing her hair, and I saw one. Just one, thankfully, which meant that the problem had been caught early. So, after fighting my urge to cry, back in the bath she went, this time with the pesticide shampoo. Then a very thorough comb-through while watching Monsters Inc. Of course while I'm working on details, Ernie is working on laundry and vacuuming. I sent him to the store for a bottle of anti-lice spray to spray on everything that couldn't be washed, bagged-up, or vacuumed.

So, it was another late night for Sophia, by the time her hair was taken care of. Of course, she REFUSED to sleep without her Dora blankie and pillow, which were in the wash. Literally, the girl who loves to sleep would not sleep until the blankie and pillow were clean and available for use. Ernie and I set to work getting the house cleaned up and, hopefully, the bugs killed once and for all.

Then, just as we were heading to bed after midnight, Sophia woke up with a bad dream and a soaked diaper. So I got to change her sheets yet again, along with her clothes, and get her calmed down and back to sleep an hour later. We had a few hours of sleep before another bad dream hit (I think re-living the torture of being rinsed with the shower head - she hates it!) and it took another while for her to get to sleep.

Ernie had already put in for a sub for the next day, so that I could work (and save some sick leave, and get my work done since deadlines are rapidly approaching). The idea was for him to get up with Sophia and be the one to finish laundry the next day. However, in reality, the man snores, and doesn't hear Sophia until well after I've already woken up. So the plan for him to help Sophia so I could sleep didn't work out as well as we had hoped. But he did help once he did wake up, and he did do laundry the next day, so it worked in part.

I can't wait to get the utility bills after all of this laundry!

Please Meet our Maid, Sophia

Toddlers are definitely a mixed bag. On one hand, I really love that Sophia is becoming more independent with each day. It truly does make my life easier. But there are times when that independence is not appropriate. Such as when she wants to decide what to eat for dinner (she eats what we eat, no exceptions) or insists on performing a task that she just simply cannot do.

However, I embrace, even encourage, her desire to help with housework. Since she was able, she has been expected to clean up her dishes after dinner. She is quite proud of herself after putting her dishes in the sink, her milk in the fridge, and her napkin (yes, she uses a napkin) in the garbage. The other day after cleaning her place at the table, she asked if she could clean my place. Of course, I let her. As a reward, she was given a whole ice cream sandwich for snack. Now she is eager to help with setting the table and clearing the table. Now if only she were tall enough to use a broom and mop…

Football Season is Here!

Ernie has always been a football fan. He has many fond memories of spending Saturdays and Sundays watching football with his dad. In fact, back in the day when college bowl games were all played on January 1st, they would program the TV to show only those channels that were showing a football game. But I digress…

Unlike many wives I know, I embrace football season. I know enough about it to follow a game and understand what’s going on. Okay, I’ll NEVER understand why any team runs the ball up the middle, but I understand the rest. (Seriously, do they not see the big pile of guys in the middle that will inevitably stop all forward progress of the ball? Am I the only one who sees this coming?) What’s more, is that it is actually FUN to sit down and watch a game or two with Ernie.

I’ve gotten the fever so bad that I even have a fantasy football team. It all started by default last year, when Ernie’s league needed one more team in order to do a live draft, literally at the last minute. He originally thought he would run both teams, but I objected. I was not about to let him sully my good reputation with a (possibly) mediocre fantasy team. No, if that team was going down, it was going to be of MY doing, not his. Well, I made it to the playoffs – I beat out a few boys to get there! Now I’m hooked, and I have a team again this year. (Please see my team's record on the left.) I still don’t know who most of my players are, but I’m trying. I don’t think I’ll ever get to the point where I do research or participate in a live draft (Yahoo does a fine job in my opinion) but it is still fun.

With participating in fantasy football and March Madness pools, I think I have a shot at Best Sports Wife Ever. I think if I could just get into mixed martial arts I’d definitely win, but I’m just not that dedicated.

Craig Ferguson Show

For those who don't remember, while on vacation in Southern California, my mom and I went to a taping of the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. They taped the show for that evening, as well as parts of the Labor Day show. Well, my mom and I were on the Labor Day show! You can see us in the bottom right corner of the screen, clapping as the show returns from commercial. I have a white and brown shirt on, and my mom is to my left wearing a striped shirt. I am not technologically savvy, so I have added the entire clip, though we only show up for the first 4 seconds or so. I think that means I have about 11 seconds of fame left!

Why I LOVE my husband…

Let me count the ways. Oh wait, there are too many reasons to count! I have a husband who willingly, even joyfully sometimes, jumps in and helps out. If he’s not sure what needs to be done, he asks! (Jealous yet, ladies?) He cooks on non-school days, he cleans up dinner everyday, he does laundry, he vacuums, he mows the lawn (okay, not so joyful about that chore), he takes out the garbage and recycling, he empties the Diaper Champ, he bathes Sophia, he does the grocery shopping…I could go on and on. Even on a day when he’s feeling a little yucky, he still helps out. He really is my help-meet, and I couldn’t ask for better! Love ya, babe!

Big Girl Underwear

Notice the post is not entitled "Potty Training". We have been talking with Sophia about potty training for about a year now. It started when she first showed interest in the toilet - what it is, what it is for, etc. We bought a potty seat (our bathroom is too small for a separate potty chair) and encouraged her to sit on it and try it out. We were so excited when she used it for its intended purpose a few times at the beginning. We thought, "Wow, this is much easier than we expected." WRONG! After those first few tries, she didn't want anything to do with the potty for quite a while.

We often ask Sophia if she wants to sit on the potty. Sometimes she does, sometimes she doesn't. She gets an M&M each time she sits on it. She has been told that she will get a Dreyers Dibs whenever she actually goes potty on it. But we don't push. There really is no sense in pushing the subject. I learned when I worked at the daycare in college that kids feel control over two things: inputs and outputs. I know that pushing potty training is a losing battle.

Fast-forward to Friday evening. She started asking about Big Girl Underwear. I'm not sure why. Maybe because she had seen the episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8 where the sextuplet girls potty train a few times recently. She talked about it all evening, saying she wanted to wear Big Girl Underwear. So, that night I washed her Big Girl Underwear.

We started Saturday morning with Curious George undies and hoped for the best. They didn't last long before they were seriously messed. We tried again with Disney Princess undies, this time with absorbent plastic pants over them. Sophia ended up soaked from head to toe. At this point I was out running errands and Ernie wasn't in the mood for any more messes without my help, so he put her in a diaper. She has not asked about Big Girl Underwear since. I just hope she wants to try the Big Girl Underwear again before she grows out of them!

Being Thankful

Monday night as I was combing through Sophia's hair to remove all bugs, nits, and eggs (and again Tuesday morning as I made SURE that all bugs, nits and eggs had been removed), even through her wailing, Sophia said "Thank You" for getting the bugs out of her hair. I nearly melted.

Sophia made me think of a verse that is sometimes difficult to follow: give thanks in all circumstances... (1 Thes 5:18) I was amazed at the way God was using my little girl to teach me. It is hard, in difficult times, to be thankful. But I was able to find some silver linings in our difficulty. I am grateful for a husband who is my teammate, and is willing to jump in and help out wherever he can. I am grateful that my house is now cleaner than it was before. I am grateful for a daughter who can be grateful even when miserable.

I figure I must be doing something right if my 2-1/2 year old can be thankful in the midst of hardship.

Pretty Cute!

So the other day I told Sophia she was cute. She disagreed. I asked, in disbelief, "You don't think you're cute?" She said, "Not cute. Pretty." So we all agreed that she was pretty.

Later in the day I told her she was pretty. She said, "Not pretty. Cute." I told her she needed to choose an adjective for the day and stick with it.

She goes back and forth between pretty and cute, being contrary just for the sake of being contrary. So I have decided that every day, all day, she is pretty cute!

Lice!

Oh my goodness. We had hoped that we wouldn't ever have to deal with this problem. Or if we did, that we wouldn't have to deal with it until Sophia was in grade school. But no, we have already had our first bout with lice. Yuck!

We had a wonderful Labor Day weekend. We had no plans or houseguests - a rarity for us! I had big plans to get some much needed, much belated, spring cleaning done. And we wanted to do some shopping, watch a movie, and relax. We were able to accomplish most of our list. I had one major project to complete, which I planned to do after dinner Monday. Then came the bugs. So much for tidying the office. (Not that I wanted to tidy the office, but I would have preferred that job to dealing with lice!)

I noticed that Sophia seemed to scratch her head a bit earlier in the day. But, she was overdue for a bath, and the weather had just changed, so I figured she just had an itchy scalp. But then, just before dinner I took a peak at her head and said "Oh crap!"

I made a run to Rite-Aid for some lice-killing chemicals, and as soon as dinner was over, we sprang into action. While Ernie handled leftovers and cleaned up dinner (including unloading and loading the dishwasher!) I put Sophia in the bath. Then after the bath, I combed out Sophia's hair - for TWO HOURS! (I am grateful that Sophia has fine, thin hair, as I can only imagine what it would have been like had her hair been longer or thicker.) While I was doing that, Ernie went to work cleaning her room and the rest of the house. Laundry was started immediately, followed by vacuuming, bagging up all stuffed animals, and spraying any fabric that could not be bagged up or thrown in the wash. I have to say, we really do make a good team.

Sophia was quite a trooper through most of the torture. She lost it toward the end and screamed that she was done, and she really just wanted to be held. She got ice cream for her trouble once she calmed down enough to want some. The poor thing was up two hours past her bedtime! And she now has a new word in her vocabulary - crap. She likes to say that she has crap in her hair. We tried to explain that crap is a word for grownups and mommy should not have said it. We tried explaining what it meant, in hopes that she would not use it anymore. But no, it is her new favorite word.

Bye Bye Pacifier

They're gone, the pacifiers are gone! I, for one, am excited. Sophia, on the other hand, not so much.

I have been trying for over a year to remove all pacifiers from my house, without success. When I first suggested it, Ernie said that Sophia was too young and it would be too traumatic for her, so we waited. Then we actually tried it once, to no avail. Sophia was so stubborn, she literally wouldn't sleep without it. (And for those who don't know, I am not a softie when it comes to Sophia's sleep habits. I let her cry.) Out of concern for her health and general well-being, I gave in and gave the pacifier back.

This time, we decided that the time was right for Sophia to lose the paci. She has only used it for sleeping, car rides, and illness for quite awhile now. Often, she loses it in her sleep and couldn't care less. And she is old enough to understand what is happening. We decided to wait until after our vacation (we really wanted it for the airplane and to avert meltdowns - and we were glad we waited!) and for a 3-day weekend (so Sophia would be over any withdrawals by the time my mom was in charge).

We prepped her for about a week. We read a book about it. Sophia noticed a baby in a store who was crying and declared that said baby needed a paci. We talked about sending her pacifiers to babies who needed them, like the baby in the store. Ernie took a great opportunity on Friday to gather her pacifiers (well, the ones he could find) and have her put them in an envelope. Then they walked to the mailbox and put them in the mail. She was so proud of herself!

Then bedtime came. She wailed for an hour, but then was asleep. It was a terrible hour, but we all made it through it. The next day at naptime, she cried for her paci for about 15 minutes before giving up and going to sleep. Again at bedtime Saturday, she whined for a bit, and then fell asleep.

Then naptime on Sunday came. She had a meltdown. Not about the pacifier though - she wanted "jam jams" for naptime. I calmly explained that no, we don't wear jam jams for naptime, only bedtime. Well, she LOST IT. She went from sweet Sophia to devil-spawn in 0.3 seconds. I don't know if I have ever heard her cry like that before. It truly was a bit scary.

Now the pacifier is but a distant memory. I just hope that the other memories of Sophia's baby-hood do not become too distant too soon.