Crooked Pigtails

Change

Yesterday, I accompanied my sister to her local hair salon where her fabulous stylist graciously squeezed me in for a much needed cut and color.  I suspect she was worried someone would see me exiting the salon in the same condition I had arrived, which is the thing stylist nightmares are made of, and determined that backing up her schedule for the remainder of the day would be worth the few moments of damage control, so she put the color restoring goop on my sister's head and then shoved her out of the chair so that I could have a turn.  Then she pulled out the big guns and went to work on my resistant gray stripe.

For over an hour, my sister and I traded seats, chair to dryer, to sink, to chair, chatting and laughing and sharing.  I don't think my sister and I have shared a hair appointment (save our wedding days) in a decade, and I realized somewhere along the way that we are adults.  Full fledged grown ups.  Women.  In charge of our own homes, our own lives, and our own prematurely gray hair which we inherited from the maternal side of our family. 

It was a moment in a long list of life changing moments.  A simple moment, a moment of pure revelation.  By the time we left much more than our hair had changed.

****

Blah, blah, blah, blah...sap, sap, sap, sap...

****

I miss my sister.  But, I love my hair.

Happy holidays, all!

Tuesday

Two weeks have passed since my last post.  Two weeks.  This is one seriously neglected blog.  Oh, there are reasons; none of them particularly good, all of them perfectly debilitating, the most frustrating being a big old case of severe writer's block.  But, it is Tuesday, and I am moving on.

***

Our Thanksgiving was a whirl-wind, three meal, tour of turkey, stuffing and my mother's famous holiday pies.  We logged nearly 800 miles on the van, consumed more calories than is recommended for a month, learned to make always perfect, will-never-under-any-circumstance-lump gravy, played board games, saw my sister and brother-in-law's new house, took lots of photos (but not as many as I intended to take), got the kids to bed too late every night and up too early every morning, laughed until we couldn't breathe, hugged lots of people, completely wore out the High School Musical soundtrack (at this point, even S has the words memorized), and took a few moments to stop and give thanks for all the tremendous blessings in our lives.

In short, it was everything you would expect from Thanksgiving.

***

Recently, when I called Sherry her husband answered the phone.  Sherry was unavailable, so D and I had been chatting for a couple of minutes when Miss A entered the room.

A:  Who are you talking to?

D:  *laughs* Tell her it's Santa.

Me:  I'm talking to Santa!

D chuckled on the other end of the line, I tried to conceal my smile as Miss A's eyes became enormous.  After a few seconds of shocked silence, Miss A's expression shifted from shock, to wonder, to curiosity.

A: I need to talk to him.  *puts her hand out for the phone*

Me:  Ummm.  Santa?  She wants to talk to you.

D:  Oh!  OK!

As I handed the receiver to Miss A, I heard D drop his voice about three octaves and lift his volume about four decibels.  He never skipped a beat. 

D:  Ho!Ho!Ho!  Merry Christmas, Miss A!

A:  *Doe eyed expression*

Santa proceeded to talk to Miss A for a solid minute and a half, telling her that he knew she was a good girl this year and that he would be brining her lots of great toys on Christmas eve.  Miss A stood, frozen, nodding her head.  I think she whispered a couple of answers, but I didn't hear them clearly because I had to turn my back to her in order to hide my giggles.  (At dinner that night, Miss A told S and Miss H that Santa says HoHoHo for hello and goodbye.)

Yesterday Sharpie was singing her sister's praises; here at Chez Pigtails, we think D is a pretty great guy, they are a perfect match.

Thinking positively

Two things that made me happy today:

First:

This morning at the Starbucks drive-thru (yes, this has become an integral part of my daily morning routine.  What?  I can admit when I am wrong!) the always. too. cheerful. for. morning. young woman at the window offered me a free iced coffee!  I had to decline because, as I have mentioned, I don't drink iced coffees, but the offer somehow made me feel a wee bit giddy.

Then:

I sat in the lobby of our local community center this afternoon and watched through the glass door as Miss A helped the Kids N' Krafts teacher clean up after the group.  Not only did I feel a certain pride in her as she wiped down the table with a paper towel, but it was apparent in her own smile that she was pleased with herself, and that was truly priceless.

Three guesses how I spent this rainy evening

The amazingly talented Sherry came over for a visit tonight.  She was packing a piping hot, homemade, banana-nut bread and, not one, but two brand, spanking new, fabulous, blog designs.  I loved them both; truly, they were perfect, so perfect that we threw them out, and began creating a third choice: the completely different, exact replica, of choice number two that you see above.

It makes my heart dance.

Thank you, Sherry, for braving this rainy New England weather to bring your expertise, your creativity and your patience over to Chez Pigtails for make-over night.  Thank you for listening to my thoughts, and figuring out how to make them happen; thank you for freely offering your own thoughts, and not laughing at my total lack of computer smarts.  Thank you for creating and re-creating; changing fonts and tweaking colors.  You really should look into doing this as a business.  I love, love, LOVE the new look, the new feel, of my little space.  I suddenly feel like a grown-up blogger.  Thanks for the inspiration.

Tomorrow, I will post something new.  Tonight, I just want to sit and stare at my gorgeous new blog design.

Nine things I learned on vacation

1.  Allowing your children to have their faces painted (to the tune of $9.00 a piece) at a water park is not the smartest idea.  No matter how well you prepare them for the inevitable, it will still be tragic when the paint washes off three minutes after being applied.

2.  Ice cream will help.

3.  Even though Cookie Monster is your three-year-old's favorite Sesame Street character, she will be terrified of him in person monster because he is "too blue" and doesn't actually carry cookies to share.

4.  The tooth fairy will find your child no matter where she loses a tooth.  And, even as the tooth remains missing somewhere in the water park, the famed fairy will make good.

5.  After losing two teeth in the span of a week, every time your six-year-old glances at you with her new toothless smile, your heart will melt, and you will be reminded of  the way she smiled at you when those teeth were brand baby new.  This will make you smile back at her, but it will be bittersweet. 

6.  If you are stung by a bee, it will hurt.  If you are stung close to a bone, like, say, your pinkie knuckle, it will hurt for days.

7.  You will be grateful that you were stung, and not one of your children.

8.  Floating down the Rambling River on an inner tube while your three-year-old drifts to sleep on your chest is one of the most peaceful moments in all of parenting.  You will want to freeze time or, at the very least, stamp this memory in your mind.

9.  Realizing there are only two weeks remaining until school starts is not as happy as you would think it should be. 

This day in our life...

I enjoyed doing this meme last month and thought it would be fun to do it again.  Unfortunately, today was an exceedingly boring day!  Oh, well, here's to the truth that was our day:

2:20  Miss A climbs over me and situates herself between S and I.  I roll towards her, we snuggle, and I breathe in her fabulous new shampoo as we drift back to sleep.

4:30  S's alarm clock is going off.  As he gets out of bed to turn it off, Miss A and I instinctively roll into his space and begin to stretch out.  S pushes us back over and settles back into bed and I smile as he instantly resumes his snore. 

4:32 No longer smiling as the snore is now extremely annoying.  I reach over Miss A and, not so gently, nudge S.  He obediently rolls over.

Sometime later he gets up, showers and leaves for work.  I am aware of his movements, but I don't think I open my eyes or even wake completely.

7:10  Wake up, look at the clock, remember that my MIL and niece are leaving this morning after a three day visit, go to the bathroom, check in on Miss H and Miss M (still asleep) and crawl back into bed with Miss A.

8:15  Wake up again, remove Miss A's foot from my chest and turn her body back to the head-on-the-pillow position.  I listen for an indication that someone else is awake, but hear nothing, no movement, no voices.  I assume everyone is still sleeping until I smell coffee and realize my MIL must be awake.  I consider getting up to join her, to visit with her and do the good hostess thing, but then remember that the girls were all up late last night (the last three nights in a row, actually) and decide to stay put so as not to wake them up for a little longer. I drift off for what I think is about another 10 minutes.

8:25 9:25!  Miss A begins to wiggle and stretch herself awake.  I watch her and wonder how much longer I will be able to share these quiet moments with her.  I wonder why she has ink on her cheek and feel too sleepy to remember who bathed her last night. 

Realize that I have to go to the bathroom again, and decide I really must go and see my MIL off. I wonder why she is leaving later than she planned and think she must have either overslept or didn't want to wake the girls.

On the way to the bathroom, I pass Miss H's room and am surprised to discover that, while Miss H is still sound asleep, Miss M is gone.  I slowly begin to realize that our company has already left as Miss A and Miss H come into the bathroom and demand to know where everyone went.

Suddenly, I am very awake and very freaked out!  It begins to sink in that my MIL was able to walk into Miss H's room (passed my open door) and, not only wake Miss M, but leave the house with her, without waking me, while I was sleeping, while I didn't hear a thing! 

I try not to vomit at this realization.

8:30 9:30!  We are all finished in the bathroom.  Miss H brings my glasses from my nightstand and we discover a note from MIL and Miss M on the dining room table.  I am still trying to shake the terror from my brain.  I look at the clock and realize that it is actually an hour later than I thought it was.

9:40  Miss H reads a book to Miss A.  I pour my first cup of coffee, check email, catch up a couple of blogs that I missed over the weekend, and begin this post.

10:00  My brother calls and we visit for a few minutes about our mother's upcoming birthday, the unreliability of cell phone voice mail systems, and fantasy baseball.

10:30  Decide I need to shower and consider making the girls come with me because I am still feeling shaky about the whole child-gone-missing morning, but Miss H tells me she is hungry so, I settle the girls with some breakfast---they choose dry cereal and glasses of milk---and a Care Bears movie. 

10:33  Miss H charges into the bathroom and announces that we are out of lemonade.  I wonder how she knows this and pray that I will not find a huge mess when I get out of the shower.  I bite my tongue and thank her for telling me, then explain that I will make more when I get out of the shower.

11:00  Make a fresh pitcher of lemonade.  Listen to the girls complain because it is not pink.  Beg forgiveness and promise to buy more pink lemonade; in front of two little witnesses, write pink lemonade on the grocery list.

11:10  Put in a load of laundry.  Return phone calls.  Pour second cup of coffee.

11:40  Miss A barely makes it to the bathroom and cries because her underwear is slightly damp.  I mentally review the weekend, hope that she did not spend too much time in a wet bathing suit, and worry that she may have another yeast infection.

12:00  Make lunch for the girls: PB&J sandwiches with cottage cheese and pears.  Secretly feel proud of myself for getting lunch on the table at lunch time.  Transfer clean laundry to dryer, put in second load of laundry.

12:30  Play Cranium Hullabaloo with the girls.  Do my silliest victory dance when I win a round.

1:30  Field more phone calls.  Check email.  Continue this post.

2:30  Change girls out of dress-up clothes and brush their hair and teeth.  Change my shirt, brush my teeth.  Feel the sensation of coffee gut and realize that I have not eaten today.  Grab a banana.  Peel bananas for the girls.  Take the dog out and curse under my breath when he only does half of his business.  Dread the knowledge that he will surely do the other half when we get to The Vet's.  Redirect the dog about a thousand times in an effort to get him to please do the other half.  Bring the dog inside and put his Gentle Leader on.

2:45  Pile the dog and the kids in the van and head to The Vet. 

3:00  Arrive at The Vet, check in, and sit, calmly, in the waiting area.  The girls pet two cats available for adoption and remind one another that Daddy is allergic.

3:01  Another dog arrives at The Vet, my 80 pound puppy goes ape shit and scratches the hell out of the top of my foot while attempting to meet the new dog.  Both dogs want to play; both owners are cautious.  Miss A clings to me and tries to shield her ears from the loud barking.  I worry that she will cry and remember how, before we got our dog, she was often afraid of barking dogs.  I am increasingly frustrated as I attempt to calm both Miss A and Fenway.  Amazingly, Fenway quiets down and lays at my feet.  The other dog continues to bark.  Miss A doesn't cry.  I am relieved.

3:08  A very tearful woman emerges from the back of the office carrying a small dog in a blanket; she doesn't stop at the reception area.  A man, presumably her husband, follows with his head hung, he doesn't make eye contact with anyone.

Miss H asks me if that dog is asleep and I tell her that he is because I am afraid that telling her anything else will put us both over the edge.  The receptionist and I exchange glances and I have to close my eyes.

3:10  Fenway is called into the examination room.  We have to pass the other playful dog---a German Shepard named Rocky---it is tense, but we make it.  Fenway has double ear infections.  The Vet changes her mind three times about medications.

3:50  Miss H holds my credit card and my purse as we brave our way back into the waiting/reception area.  A technician stands between the two dogs as Rocky is called into the examination room.  A woman with a bunny in a carrier stares at Fenway; Fenway doesn't notice her or the bunny.  Miss H hands over my credit card to pay the bill: $128.00!

4:25  The girls draw pictures.  I call S at work to ask what he would like for dinner.  He says he doesn't care, and jokes that a frozen pizza would be fine.  I run down to the basement and look for a frozen pizza.  Not finding one, I contemplate a run to the grocery store, but change my mind and settle for soup and sandwiches.

5:00  More email.  More laundry.  Do the lunch dishes.  Color with the girls until S gets home from work.

6:10  As we are eating dinner, I look across the table and notice that Miss H has lost a tooth.  Everyone, especially Miss H, is surprised and excited; she gets up and goes to the mirror to check out her new smile.  As a family, we conclude that she must have swallowed the tooth.  Miss A thinks this is extremely funny, Miss H is not so sure, but handles it well.

6:35  I hug Miss H and tell her that I am just a wee bit sad to see that particular tooth go---it was her scarecrow tooth; I will miss it the most. 

S and the girls prepare to go outside and play in the yard while I clear the table and prepare to run a couple of errands, alone.

7:10  Arrive at Target with plans to go to the bookstore after to indulge in a great cup of coffee while hanging out looking at books.  Put what I hope to be the last ever package of Pull Ups we will purchase--since Miss A wears them just overnight, and they are almost always dry, never more than slightly damp, and if I weren't so damn lazy about not wanting to launder her sheets every day, we would be done with these already--in the carriage and go to look at the back-to-school section.  Feel giddy about school supplies.  Walk over to the clothing section and feel sad that Miss H is not with me to look at some back-to-school outfits.

7:30  My cell phone rings.  S says something like "don't worry".  He denies this later, but can't tell me what he thinks he said, so, I am going with "don't worry" and I freak out and yell, "What happened?  Who is hurt?" and don't even care that this is attracting attention.

S explains that no one is hurt.  Asks me to swing by the pharmacy and pick up his prescription.

As I am dropping my phone back into my purse, a store employee passing the aisle looks in my direction.  She then back pedals and comes into my aisle and pretends to be straightening notebooks.  I say hello to her as I walk by and she says hello back, but then she proceeds to follow me around the store for several minutes until I go to the check out to make my final purchases.  Clearly, she thought I was shoplifting my own phone!  I don't know whether to laugh about that or be upset---I shop there a lot!  I'm a great customer and a good person!---I leave feeling as though I am being watched.

7:50  Pull up to the drive-thru window at the pharmacy.  The pharmacist gives me the one moment signal and I look over my itemized bill from The Vet.  The pharmacist tells me that they have had a difficult time contacting S's doctor for a refill, but gives me a weeks supply to hold him over.  I don't ask questions.  Scold myself for not knowing that this has been going on.

8:15  Arrive home after deciding to skip the book store and learn that Miss A has found Miss H's tooth on the kitchen floor!  S gets the girls into the shower.  I read a chapter in my book club book, but retain very little because my mind keeps wandering to the fact that I am hosting book club this month and I don't know what I will be serving.

8:35  Read two books to the girls, brush teeth, go to the bathroom (again, Miss A barely makes it---make a mental note to call the Ped. office in the morning if that isn't better), put Miss H's found tooth into the tooth fairy box, and put the tooth fairy box under her pillow, explain to Miss A that she will lose her teeth when she is six like Miss H, then tuck the girls into bed.

Talk with S about his day.  Share my concerns about Miss A.  Explain to him how to put the drops in Fenway's ears.  We both try to remember what the tooth fairy left Miss H for her first couple of teeth--she hasn't lost a tooth since Christmastime, decide on $5.oo, think it is too much, but decide to go with it anyway as this was a hard tooth to lose.

9:35  Come to the computer to finish this post and immediately receive an instant message from my Aunt.  Chat with her for a few minutes, replace Miss H's tooth with the five dollar bill, and go to bed thinking that my girls are growing up way too quickly.

Hop on over to Paper Napkin to see more Day in the Life posts.  Don't forget to say hello to Sheryl, the creator of this meme, while you are there!

A day in the life

  I saw this a little while ago over at Paper Napkin and thought it looked fun.  Then I thought, "Hey!  I want to do that!"  And, then I thought, "Hey!  I could do that!"  And then...  well, this is then....

_________________________________________

My day today:

7:50  Wake to Miss A climbing into bed with me.  Attempt to move over to allow her more room and discover that Miss H is already in bed with me.  Wonder when Miss H came in.  Snuggle with Miss A and drift back to sleep.

8:00  Explain to Miss A that it is too early to get up.

8:03  Explain to Miss A that it is too early to get up.

8:04  Get up with Miss A.  Go to the bathroom, help Miss A go to the bathroom.  Wash our hands.  Stumble into the girl's room and climb into Miss A's bed with her and approximately 12 gazillion books to read.  Figure out the exact degree of eye squint necessary to read with minimal lighting and no glasses.

8:20  Begin to actually wake up and realize that I am enjoying this quiet time alone with my youngest child.  Listen to the rain on the window, continue to read.

9:15  Miss H wakes up and is immediately grumpy because we have "abandoned" her in my bed.  Miss H goes to the bathroom and comes out scolding us for "having so much fun" without her.  Invite Miss H to come and read with us.  Tickle the grumpiness out of her.  Rest my eyes while Miss H reads several more books to Miss A.

10:00  Everyone finally gets up for real this time.  I offer to make eggs for breakfast and am secretly elated when they opt for cereal instead.  Pour cereal into bowls, add milk, make them each an additional cup of milk, wonder out loud why my kids think they need a cup of milk when they already have milk in their cereal, accept "because we like it" as an explanation.  Check email.  Feed the dog.  Take the dog out.  Answer two emails.

10:40  Explain today's festivities and schedule to the girls, position them in front of the TV, wonder, momentarily, if there is a better, more creative, distraction for them while I shower, come up with nothing.  Shower.

11:00  Search for appropriate outfits for the girls.  Ask them to get dressed while I dry my hair.  Spend almost the entire time I am drying my hair in a tizzy because my round brush has come up missing, the round brush that only I use, the round brush that I keep on the top shelf of the linen closet, the round brush that can not possibly be missing unless I misplaced it and how could I possibly have misplaced that brush?  When I finish drying my hair, I discover that Miss H is not wearing the clothes I put out for her, but, decide I like her selection better, so say nothing.  I get Miss A dressed.  Everyone brushes their hair and teeth.

11:50  We pile into the van.  I buckle Miss A in and make sure that Miss H is buckled then get into the driver's seat, slip the Curious George soundtrack into the CD player, buckle up, and begin to back out of the driveway.  I am busy figuring out which direction I need to go (why do I always have this little moment of panic when I am organizing the errands in my head?) when I back over the garbage can at the end of the driveway!  Miss H's yelling that I have KNOCKED OVER THE GARBAGE CAN drowns out my own "What the @** was that?"  I pull the van back up into the driveway, get out, pick up the can, whisper a thank you to the universe that the truck had already been by and the can was empty, drag it up to the house, wave to my neighbor who is pretending to be watering his lawn, jump back into the van, and listen to the squeals of laughter from my girls who vow that they are going to tell everyone at book club that I ran over the garbage can.

12.10  Realize that the van is running on empty.  Remember that it was on empty a couple of days ago and decide to fill up.

12:25  Arrive at grocery store.  Run in and buy Hoodie cups of ice-cream for the kids book club because the book they read had a birthday theme and another mother had baked a cake for the snack.  I promised to bring the ice-cream, it had seemed simple enough at the time.

12:45  Arrive at the home of the wonderful friend who offered to take on the book club gathering.  (long, long story)

1:00  Enjoy listening to a group of six year old girls talk about the book that they all just finished.  For many of them it is the first chapter book that they have read by themselves.  They are beaming with pride and say smart, funny things.

1:45  Eat cake and ice-cream.

2:10  The kids go for a swim in the pool.  Miss A is very reluctant, she refuses to even change into her swimsuit.  After about 15 minutes, I convince her (she used to be a fish, but fell off balance at the beach a few weeks ago and was unable to regain her balance while waves were hitting her in the face.  The whole thing was a matter of seconds.  We pulled her up immediately, she didn't even cough or choke or swallow any water, she was fine, but scared, and has not gone back into the water since.) to just put on her suit and sit near the steps to splash.

2:30  Miss A is playing with the other kids by standing at the edge of the pool and letting them splash her.  She still won't go in, but it is progress.

3:15  Everyone gets out of the pool except for one child.  Miss A gets in the pool!  We had been gathering our things to leave,but I decide to stay a little longer to see what she will do,and give her a minute in the water.  She is tentative, but she is smiling and she is in the pool!

3:30  I buckle the still dripping, wet, girls into the van and we head home.

3:40  We arrive home.  I throw the wet suits and towels into the wash and the girls into the shower.  Get everyone cleaned up and ready to go to Miss H's first jazz dance class.  I wonder what we will have for dinner.  Decide to think about it later.

5:00  Miss H's dance class begins.  She loves the jazz steps.  She loves the music.  She loves the teacher.  I realize that I haven't seen her look so happy at dance class in quite some time.  I decide to officially switch her to jazz.

6:15   We are home and, now, I am very worried about what to fix for dinner.  S calls and says he has just left work and will be home in an hour.  I feel myself wanting to groan, but remind myself how hard he works, and put on my smiling voice and tell him to drive safely and pick up a pizza on his way home.

6:20  Check email.  Read a couple of blogs.  Break up a fight.  Feed the dog, let him out.  Make cheese and crackers for the girls to snack on.

7:22  S arrives home without the pizza.  The dog is jumping at his feet, the girls are screaming, and I laugh so that I don't cry.  S calls pizza place and takes the girls outside to play while we wait.

7:30  I watch Jeopardy! for the first time in recent memory.  I think about how I have missed Jeopardy! and vow to begin to watch Jeopardy! every night from now on.

8:10  The pizza arrives.  The girls are pleasantly surprised shocked that we eat in front of the TV.  What?  It was the season primere of Big Brother!  Oh, come on!  Like you don't watch Big Brother.

8:35  I come to my senses are realize that Big Brother is not appropriate viewing for my children and switch to the Red Sox game (but leave BB on picture in picture)

9:15  Throw away plastic dinner plates and pizza box.  While I pause for a second and wonder whether or not the kids need a bath---they did have that shower, but they also played outside while waiting for the pizza---S gets them in their nightgowns.

9:30  Brush teeth, read stories and put the girls to bed.  Laugh at the way we swore we would maintain bed time once summer vacation started.

9:35  Put Miss A back to bed.

10:00  S and I get into bed.  Even though I am very tired, I leave the light on and read because the girls are not asleep and I can't go to sleep until they do.

10:27  Kiss foreheads of sleeping girls, check to make sure doors are locked, turn off lights and go to bed.

11:30  I am still not asleep so I come out here and check email.  Then I check a couple of blogs.  I read Paper Napkin and think, Damn it!  I wanted to do that!  Then I stay up until 1:00 rambling on...

Shh...come closer, I have VERY exciting news

No, no, no, don't run!  Don't do anything to jostle the universe!  Just, quickly and quietly, come here.  Can you keep a secret?  This is a big one, you are not going to believe it.  Ready?

I have solved the riddle.  I have figured out how to potty train Miss A! 

{Shhh!  Don't let her hear us, I may have totally jinxed this already, calm down!  I'm gonna tell you.}

The solution to potty training Miss A has two steps:

Step one (the most important step, step two, the balance of the entire universe, and a couple of random screen doors all hinge on the proper execution of step one):  don't bother, forget about potty training this child.  Just ignore it.  Don't ask her if she needs to use the potty.  Don't ask her if she wants to use the potty.  Don't beg her to use the potty.  Don't hide in your bedroom and pull your own hair out while wondering out loud if she even knows what the potty is.  And, never, never, fantasize about the money you will save when you no longer have to buy pull-ups.  Simply accept that potty training is not on her agenda for this decade, understand that you will never own a summer home.

Step two:  when you hear someone in the bathroom, assume that it is Miss H.  When you discover Miss H in the play room, retrace your steps back toward the bathroom, cautiously stick your head in and attempt to hide your shock and glee as you watch (she, of course, can not see you) Miss A "finish" and wash her hands.  Step away from the door and pretend you are folding laundry when she comes to find you and announces that she has used the potty.  Congratulate her and go back to folding the laundry.

An hour later, repeat step two.  Only, this time, when she comes to share her accomplishment with you, jump up and down with her, "high five" her about fifty times, tell her how proud you are of her, and give her a big kiss before returning to what you are doing. 

When she approaches you to tell you that she is dry, act like you have just won the lottery.  When she challenges you to check, act like she has just won the lottery and is offering to share.  Then, go back to washing dishes.

My point, the key to training this particular child: the minute and a half immediately following a trip to the potty are the most exhilarating moments of the day, the world revolves around those 90 seconds.  Otherwise, we never mention the potty.

I should have figured this out a long time ago.  Miss A is an extremely independent child; she wants to do everything by herself.  She has not had a single accident, we have not changed a single pull-up, in five days.

Five.

Days.

She is still wearing pull-ups because she seems comfortable with her new found dryness and there is no way we are going to suggest a new step.  She knows she has lots of big girl underwear, she will decide when she wants to wear them.

Last night, as we were reading before bed she said, "Are you so proud of me, Mommy?"  I squeezed her and told her that yes, I am so proud of her, and she said, "I am so proud of me, too!"  Then she squeezed me.

And, that is what makes me believe she is finally trained.

A recipe in pictures*

As I mentioned a few days ago, my sister has a new favorite cookie that we were anxious to try.  Since she finally shared the recipe, and since it has been raining for, oh, about a year now, we decided that this afternoon was the perfect time to bake the, much hyped, highly anticipated, from this day forward to be dubbed: Aunt Lizzie's Favorite Cookies.

First, we printed the recipe. 

Then we read and re-read the convoluted directions, finally electing to utilize a good old fashioned yellow highlighter to separate the actual steps from the interspersed baking "wisdom". 

Next, we preheated the oven to 350 and washed our hands.  I don't have photos of this step because I was, you know, too busy washing my hands.

Then we put the first five ingredients: 2 cups Bisquick, 1 cup packed brown sugar, 1/3 cup baking cocoa, 2 tablespoons butter or margarine (melted), and 2 eggs in a bowl and mixed them, as instructed, with our hands.

Luckily, this was the girls favorite step and I did not have to get my hands in the mess.  This dough is quite thick, but, just as the wisdom suggested, mixes quickly by hand.  Although, I suspect that we mixed it a bit better and longer than is truly necessary.  We, then added 3/4 cup of milk chocolate chips and played mixed a little longer.

Then we rolled the dough into balls.

 

Placed them 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet, and baked watched them bake for 8 to 10 minutes.

Then we allowed the cookies to cool while we melted 1/2 cup of white baking chips and 1/2 teaspoon of shortening for one minute. 

Now, not that we have any first hand knowledge of this, mind you, but we were thinking it might be wise to add here that you should probably watch the microwave carefully while melting the chips and shortening, because you would be amazed, we are just guessing, of course, how quickly this mixture will catch on fire, and how completely the smoke alarm will terrify your ten month old puppy.  This "wisdom" was not specified in the original recipe my sister sent, and I believe it to be a dangerous omission.  I'm just sayin'.

Once you air out the kitchen, calm the dog, and carefully re-melt the white chips and shortening  the mixture is smooth, drizzle it on the cookies.

And enjoy!

*alternate title: how to entertain the girls when soccer practice is canceled

A Ducky Weekend

H was on vacation all last week but we really didn't do much until the weekend, which we turned into a long weekend with S coming home early on Thursday and taking Friday off from work completely.  In the beginning of the week the girls and I puttered around in the gorgeous springtime weather; we played in the yard, went to the park, ran errands, did each others hair (pigtails, of course) and painted one another's toes--basically, we just had some girl time together and it was a treat to have the three of us hanging out again.  I miss H when she is at school, so does A.

On Monday, we made plans with friends to go to the zoo on Thursday, but by Wednesday evening it had become apparent that those plans were falling through due to scheduling difficulties--mainly, soccer practice.

On Friday, we took our crooked pigtails on the road for our only organized activity of the vacation.  We went to Boston for the day with some friends; it was the first trip to Boston for the other family, so we decided to take a Duck Tour since it is one of the most comprehensive tours of the city and one that the kids can truly enjoy.  This is A taking in the sites; approximately 45 seconds after this photo was taken she fell, head first, between our seat and the one in front of us (where H and S were sitting) and when I fished her out she rubbed the top of her head and said, "Mommy, I bumped my brain."

This was the third time that S and I had taken a Duck Tour, the last time being several years ago, when we lived near the city and my grandmother had come to visit.  One of the highlights of the tour is when the (amphibious) vehicle actually splashes down into the Charles River, but we were not yet parents the other times that we took the tour, so we didn't fully appreciate or anticipate just how exciting this moment would be for the girls.  As we sailed along the river, our guide (Paul, from Revere)did his thing: pointing out important buildings, discussing the differences between Cambridge and Boston, cracking jokes---while H drove the boat!  You can tell by the expression on her knuckles just how significant a life moment this was for her.  Definitely, her favorite part of the entire day.  Mine, too.

By the time the tour was finished, A was sound asleep, so we plopped her into her stroller and trekked back to the Boston Common parking garage to head home.  On our way through the Public Gardens, I took a photo of the girls sitting on the Make Way For Ducklings statues---I have their photo with those ducks every year of their lives, it is a tradition, but I can't show them here because S and I agree that we don't want to put our girls faces on the Internet....so, just try to picture this: one large golden Mama duck with her eight (seven?) golden ducklings following and my sweet, smiling, pigtailed girls riding on the Mama's back.  Got it?  Adorable, don't you agree?

Overall, it was a great day.  We got home late, and woke the following day to a wet, dreary, cold weekend that lead H right back to school this morning.  Her vacation flew by; it was hard to drop her off at school today.