An Advertiser's Dream

I'm perpetually amazed at what a three year old can learn and retain. Case in point:

This morning Libby and I were in the bathroom finishing some business and washing hands. Peyton was playing in the living room where The Today Show (my primary source for news) was on t.v. Some instrumental music came on and Libby stops, ponders for a moment and says, "Mom, I hear the Pop Tarts." Mind you, instrumental music. No flashy jingle. No plug for the product they were selling. Is that really possible? I quickly ran around the corner to see if she could be right. She was. She knows the soft music of a Pop Tarts add. Pop Tarts. A food she has never even held in her hand. Not that my kids don't eat sugar. They do. I'm not even opposed to Pop Tarts, but oy vey.

Lately Libby wants a Pillow Pet. It's a glorified stuffed animal that becomes a pillow, plugged incessantly by gleaming children skipping happily to slumber parties between episodes of Dora. I bet at those slumber parties no one cries for their mommy or wets the bed either. And cue......t.v. off. Time to find something healthy to feed my kids.

I guess this little episode shouldn't have me too surprised. Two nights ago while we were getting the girls ready for bed we had an impromptu came of Candy Land on the floor of their room. When Libby drew a chip that she couldn't play, the equivalent of losing a turn, she replied with a very mild and sweet, "Awwww daaaammit." Of course Shane and I looked at each other and busted up. I apologized, knowing those words leave my lips when I'm clumsy, or if I drop something, and Shane was all too eager to give me the credit.

Hold on. Wait just one minute.

So, I asked Libby. "Hey babe? Y'know that word you just said? Who says that?" What she said next was music to my ears....

"Daddy."

Blue Cheese and Other Choices...

I wrote this post a week ago, and set it aside after Libby got canned from swimming. I needed a good vent that day, but now I'm back.

This picture cracks me up. If you were a child of the 80's you wore Underoos. As a girl, I preferred the super heros of boy's Underoos (Spiderman, Batman) to the girl's (Wonder Woman), and therefore spent my childhood wearing boy's underwear. I'm not ashamed. Libby had an accident months ago when were at Julane's house and inherited a pair to be proud of. They are her FAVORITE. I swear she knows when they come out of the dryer, and she likes them solo.

We braved Putters for the first time last week and loved it! Here are the girls with friends Kendall and Kolbi. My friend Melissa walked across the street to our house last week for lunch, something we don't do enough. Libby was dying to have Kyle (4) over to play. Kyle's baby sister Ava, came too, but Peyton wasn't crazy about seeing me hold another baby. The first taste of Blue Cheese. Priceless. Chalk. Here it is. The best shot I've got of swim lessons. Day 2. Mini Maid. Peyton's piggies are back! I so regretted cutting her mullet long ago, because along with it went her cute pig tails. Now, if I could get her to leave them alone.... My good friend (and sorority sister. Yep, you heard me.) Jill and I have recently reconnected (thank you facebook) and have gotten together with our girls. Here are mine with her Chloe and Katie. Cutting paper. So. Much. Fun. Who knew? Dressing up Peyton in an old favorite from Mark and Amy's wedding. Libby couldn't wait to put it on Peyton, but the minute Peyton was in it, Libby wanted to put it on. She did, but her cute little buns were hanging out the bottom. My baby is growing taller. Spoiled. Hey. The phone. A new favorite. Acrobatics. All dressed up and nowhere to go. Here's the photo board I made, inspired by one my friend Tiffany has in her kitchen. I LOVE how it turned out and have been bugging Shane to make me another frame for the girls' room. They love this one, but won't leave it alone. I keep having to tuck the pictures back in.

Expelled at Three

So we just got home from Libby's third swim lesson. Today, my child got expelled. Not suspended. Expelled. Kicked out. Asked not to return. Okay, the delivery from the teacher was actually much more gentle, but still. I'm a teacher, and my kid got expelled. I really wasn't prepared for that.

It all started when Libby turned three. "Hooray!" I cheered. "My child is eligible for swim lessons and I don't have to get in the pool!"

"Yeah!" shouted Libby. "I'm ready for my first big girl lessons. I can do so much all by myself AND I'll have a TEACHER!" We signed her up and waited for lessons to start.

Last Monday was her first class. We got there a bit early, checked in, and were told to meet her teacher on the brown bench. We walked through the locker room together and upon meeting the pool deck were faced with signs declaring NO STREET SHOES. So, we stopped right there, stripped Libby down to her swim suit and waited for a sign from her teacher. Then, Libby looks up at me and says, "Uh, can I go now?" Wow, really? Just like that? My three year old is going to school us all with her independence? She's just going to walk over and meet her teacher and the other students with no help from me? Awesome. Go for it sister. Just don't fall into the pool on the way over there. And off she went, my independent little miss. She hopped up on the bench and waited for her teacher.

Teacher came. Libby swam. She played "motor boat". She kissed the water. She splashed herself and let the teacher splash her too. She was a little superstar. This mama was proud, and I made sure she knew it.

Then, something happened. My girl just decided she wasn't going to do it anymore. That's the only explanation I can give. For, on the second day of lessons she announced to me, "I'm not going there, and I'm not having any fun." Thinking she'd snap out of it, we loaded up the Suburban and pointed ourselves toward the pool. Here is what I now know: My girl is true to her word. For the first ten minutes she did great. Then, it all went south. My child's scream commanded the attention of every nurturing caregiver in the room. Other parents, swim teachers and lifeguards looked around panic stricken wondering where this child's parent was. What do you do in that situation? I did what every other red-blooded American would do. I asked aloud, "Whose child IS that?" But, by that time it was too late. Clearly, my child wasn't backing down, and it was affecting the lesson. So, I went and got her. I sat her on the bench and loved her until she calmed down. And then she turned on the sweetness. Just wanted to snuggle and chat. She'd quit the lesson and was getting lots of love an attention for it. Well, I wasn't going to just let her win....right? I explained that her choices were to continue her lesson, or sit on the bench and watch. But we'd started something, and it was important for us to finish it. And for the rest of the lesson she benched herself while Shane and I watched from the bleachers. Sigh.

Today went much the same way, only worse. She wasn't going near the water. The two other children in her class were given to another teacher (who now had five), while my child got a private lesson. Her saintly teacher retrieved her from the bench, brought her into the pool and tolerated screaming, kicking and crying for about ten minutes before giving up on her. It felt like an hour. I wouldn't have lasted a minute. All the while a mom nearby asked me what I thought the problem was and gave suggestions. Thanks.

Anyway, we were told that Libby probably isn't ready and perhaps we could enroll in 'Mommy and Me' class, or try a morning lesson when Libby's in a better mood. And, by the way, those classes are all full at this time. Alrighty then. I dried my soggy child, dressed her and put her in the car. On our way home she asked why her teacher said she can't come there anymore. I explained that we can still go there, but when she's a little older maybe she'll be better ready for lessons. When we were stopped at a light behind a police officer on a motorcycle and Libby asked about him, I resisted the urge to say, "He's looking for three year olds who don't finish their swim lessons. He takes them to jail." I resisted. I thought it, but didn't say it. On a day where it felt we'd really regressed, maybe we're maturing after all.

Fish-On Northwest

Shane has decided he'd like to make his website a little more interactive, and well.....actually use it at all. So, we've changed his business site to a blog. Check it out here.

Flyers

The girls love adventure and are begging to be thrown higher these days. The minute Shane sets Peyton down she says, "Mo, Mo, Mo!" Which means "More!" Usually, this kind of craziness happens at 7:30. It's the windup right before bedtime. When they're not airborne, they're running laps around the island or using the furniture as their own personal launch pads.

No Less of a Man...

At one time in our lives we thought we couldn't have a child. So, to have two is an incredible blessing. Or to be more exact, two blessings. We've been asked if we'd try to have a third in hopes of a boy. Not a chance. We've got all we could've asked for and more.... So, the deed is done. Shane's sure he could've done it himself. It took 20 minutes and we were on our way home. Thanks Babe, for taking care of it so I didn't have to. To me, you're more of a man for it.....

'Lil Monkey

I had to post this little monkey that I found a few days ago in my coat pocket. We went to Sun Mountain Fun Center to play with Julane and the boys when we were in Bend. They boys shared some tickets they'd won so Libby and Peyton could each pick out a prize. This is what Peyton chose.......

How fitting for our littlest monkey.

Christmas With Lucy

Our girls love their cousin Lucy and on Saturday we finished our Christmas celebration by going to Portland to get our three girls together. We had lunch with Amy and Lucy, opened some presents... (Thank you for our new easel, Aunt Amy. We made a collage on it this morning.) and then headed for the park.

Amy and I with the crew...

Shane and Amy with the girls.....

Bubbles...
Stinkin' cute Lucy....
This picture was taken at Dave and Becky's house after our trip to the ER on Monday. Bebo spoiled us with mini marshmallows. Peyton stuffs as many as she can get into her mouth.
Dressing up later that night....
Cookie Monster. Well, monster is accurate.

Antone stopped by yesterday morning to check on our girl. In this picture Libby is milking it for some sympathy. Antone gave her some money to go to Dairy Queen for an ice cream treat. And this isn't the first time. Antone, Thank you for loving our girls. They love you and so do we!
Feeling better!

A Visit to the ER

We didn't have our best start yesterday. Libby stood on the stool in the bathroom so I could comb her hair before we left to run errands. She slipped off of the stool and hit her chin on the counter on the way down. The doctor said she likely bit her lip putting a cut on the outside and sinking a few teeth into the inside. She's got some glue holding the outside cut together, and the lip itself should heal up fine. I learned this, however: cuts in the mouth really bleed. I mean REALLY bleed. Thankfully, as we were pulling out of the driveway Melissa, my neighbor across the street was also on her way out. I pulled into her driveway and asked her to take a look at Libby's lip. She did and agreed that taking her in was a good idea. So I did. Thank you Melissa! When you have a three year old who is bleeding it's hard to know if you're overreacting or underreacting. Though, we were sure Peyton would be the one to land us in the ER, it turns out that you can NEVER be sure you've got this parenting thing figured out. Libby's healing up, and even milking it, I think. That's my girl.

See Ya 2009

2010 where did you come from? I'm surprised by how quickly the new year sneaks up on me every year. These are some pictures from the final days of 2009. I'm on Facebook daily, and this week saw lots of status updates bidding "good riddance" to 2009. People said things like "2010 couldn't possibly be worse than 2009, so bring on the new year". I have high hopes that this year will be better than last, but for me it'll be hard to beat. 2009 was good to us.

The girls and I went to church with my mom last week and this was the scene on our way. I've never seen deer in downtown Bend. This was crazy. Eight of them, making there way up from Drake Park and heading down Wall Street. What?!

I took the girls to Lowe's to pick up some lumber to make some photo boards. I'll post pictures when this project is actually completed.
Did I mention this girl loves her dad? They share a moment after Shane gets off the mountain.
Hot chocolate toast at Grammy Jane's.
We took the girls to Uncle Kevin and Aunt Susan's house on Sunday. I brought my camera intending to get a good picture of them with our girls. Of course I was too busy yapping and forgot. I did get some good ones of some Wii play.
Here I am trying to help Libby "balance in her bubble".
Uncle Kevin and the girls. The girls are holding new animals from Kevin and Susan. Libby got a beagle named Libby. Kevin and Susan's beagle (pictured) is also named Libby. Peyton got a pink pig, so we've named it Peyton. :)
Later that night we met up at the Dover's to celebrate Grandma Margie's birthday. Peyton celebrates upside down..... Just like her cousin Jayden.
Libby celebrates from atop Grandpa's head.
Playing with Grammy Jane's train is a favorite activity.
Cheese!
The Fab Four...
Peyton gets a 3D look at the tree lights.
Taking in the warmth of the fire in the fireplace.
Getting in some last fun before heading home. Libby was feeling good. It was about when this shot was taken that Peyton first threw up.
I wondered if Peyton throwing up was just a fluke.... until she did it again in the car on the way home.... with about 40 miles left to go. Blech. Poor kid. I didn't take her out of her car seat knowing she'd pitch a fit if I then tried to put her back in. Instead, I wiped her off the best I could and put the pedal to the metal. When we got home I left Peytie in her seat and set them both in the garage. I needed her to stay put while I came up with a plan. After unloading a few things from the car we went straight to the tub.
Post-bath happier girl. Though at this point we weren't yet out of the woods. She had a 24 hour bug it seems, but is over it now.
The girls had some t.v. time from their new bean bags while I did some Christmas clean up.
Cheers 2009!