Riley and Avery

Wahoo, new pictures! Not many, though, so they'll run out soon. Must save film for Halloween.

Avery has developed into our own little Milk Dudd maker. Not fun, and just when we run out of diaper wipes. She used to poop once a week, and now every diaper change. Rudi calls them O Henry bars. She's been eating a lot more table food over the past few days, and that may be why. She's also been eating a lot of grain, which I know she can't digest, hence the whole wheat poop. Hopefully her digestive system will become acustomed to the table food and start pooping less frequently.

Avery has also begun to really resist having forbidden things taken from her. She really really holds on tight and turns away from you. That's always a fun phase.

Riley's being her usual contrary self. Take for instance our conversation while walking from our car to Walmart today:
Riley: Mommy, mommy, please can I go in the rocks? (decorative landscaping
rocks)
Me: No, honey, not right now, we need to meet Daddy for lunch.
Riley: But I said please! Just for a little bit! Please?
Me: Okay, go in the rocks.
Riley: Why? Why do I have to go in the rocks?
Now tell me if that makes sense. This is what all my days are like. I guess toddlers aren't supposed to make sense. Her language still amazes me, thought. It's not just her vocabulary, but the inflection in her tone, her hand gestures, and facial expressions, that prove that she knows what she is saying and is not just copying. Sometimes we have to put things in perspective and tell ourselves that she is still just two years old.



Here's our little fashionista shoveling snow. No, we don't normally let her outside without a coat on, but this was the day after the blizzard and it was in the 60s. Yes, that's a sock on her right hand. She had a band-aid that she didn't want to fall off. Yes, that is a diaper cover that she is wearing over her clothes. This was a Baby Hayp day. What you can't see is that she is wearing every pajama piece that James has ever handed down to her. She has about four shirts on and three pairs of pants. She said that Jamesy is such a nice boy for sharing with her, and when she is at Grandma's house next month, she's going to share with him. Yeah, we'll see.

Riley is really looking forward to her trip to Maryland. Whenever she hears or sees and airplane she says "I'm gonna get on that plane when it lands and go to Grandma's house."

When I told Rudi about my babywearing idea, he told me not to forget my Ukranian eggs, handmade books, and quilts "because Christmas is coming up." Like I could even think about doing all that in the next month. I'd have to employ myself in my own little sweatshop.

Oh, where to start cleaning? Add two days of me not feeling well to nearly two days of children being stuck in the house and you have one heck of a mess. I just haven't been able to catch up from being sick. And it doesn't help that Rudi (who was not working Thurs or Fri) constantly nettles me about how messy it is, yet does absolutely nothing to even minimally clean up after himself. The constant criticism is getting old. Like if I'm holding Avery and we're getting ready to go somewhere and I ask Rudi to hold her while I get my coat on, he sighs and makes a comment like that I'm always passing the children off onto him. What?! To make matters worse, Riley has been staying up until 11:30pm or later, which eliminates my "me" time and this has been going on for days. And Avery is resisting her naps, so it takes multiple trips to the bedroom to finally get her down. I feel like a big grumpy bear surrounded by people with poking sticks. Somebody might get hurt.

I'm trying to have at least a halfway decent day. I cut out six fish from construction paper, put a paper clip on their lips and wrote a,b,c and m,s,t on them. Then I cannibalized a refrigerator magnet and tied it to a piece of yarn and tied that to a stick (which we have a lot of thanks to Riley the junior stick-olgist). So now she can go fishing for letters. Her Montessori school teaches those letters (actually those sounds, they don't really use the names for the letters) first because a lot of three-letter words can be made out of them. They also don't teach upper-case letters yet, because 90% of letters are lower case. I think that I may really try to teach her her shapes using this method as well, so that I can get her tested for color-blindness for this pesky red-green thing. The ophthalmologist uses shapes in young children.

I am going to start auditioning cakes for Avery's birthday, which should make Rudi happy. I am wondering if I can change the family chocolate cake into a vegan cake. Not harm in trying. I've found a great website for replacing eggs in recipes. We shall see. The hard part is changing a low-land recipe (and they're all low-land recipes) to a high-altitude recipe, and then changing it back to bake in Maryland and hoping that it still works. Humpf.

You know, there's a large market for breastfeeding and babywearing here in the Springs, as there are pretty much no resources here for such a lifestyle. I bet I could make some wrap slings and simple ring slings and such and be an independent consultant, like meeting people at Barnes & Noble or something, and show them the slings and how to use them and selling some if they're interested for reasonable prices. I've looked on the internet, and there is absolutely no reason why a five-yard piece of fabric should cost $80 (usually more). They justify the expense by claiming that the fabric is hand-woven in Guatemala by a woman named Maria from wool sheered from her darling lamb who eats only grain blessed by the Dalai Lama. Please. Man, I am dripping acid lately...But if Rudi can manage to support me in this, I could probably make it work.

Avery finally went down for a nap and I noticed that she smells like chocolate. I don't know how the pineapple, papaya, mango, and wheat bread that I've feed her this morning add up to chocolate. Maybe it's not for us to question why our baby smells like chocolate, just to sniff the chocolate baby. Mmmmm...

And thanks, Mom, for your comment. I can't wait to come home. It seems like it's been so long.

Now to dig up a photo to post...Always a delight.

Yes, that's Avery in the corner. I'm not so good at taking pictures of her while holding her, but it was too muddy to put her down.

Goog luck finding Riley in this class picture at the pumpkin farm. You can barely see her hat. Oh well, I hope to have new pictures tomorrow!

Today was a pretty good day. At least we got out of the house. Rudi and I were both waiting for orders to come in the mail and we were driving each other crazy waiting, so we went out. We walked around Old Colorado City and went to some of the boutiques there. Had a cup of coffee and so forth. Then we get home and checked the mail and we both got our packages. Rudi finally received a book he'd ordered, and I got the Stacinator wool diaper cover that I had ordered. So far I'm lovin' it. So soft that it's hard to believe that it's wool.

I also got an unexpected bonus: my Mothering Magazine subscription has kicked in and I got my first issue today. Now this is my absolute most favorite magazine, but I really feel that I need to vent today, maybe it's the recent blizzard, or the fact that we are on our last dollar, literally, but I have a lot of pent up hostility. I always eagerly anticipate the bi-monthly publishing of this magazine, and I devour it with great zeal. I then have a rush of optimism and hope for the future and all sorts of mushy feelings. Then the realization that we could in no way afford the level of granola-ness to be accepted in the "Mothering" community. Organic clothes are so expensive. Organic food is so expensive. Cloth diaper covers are so expensive. And then I get really really angry. So here's my rant: If you can afford to eat, sleep, poop, wear organic; if you can afford to use alternate forms of energy like solar power and hybrid cars; if you can afford to take your child to a holistic practitioner; if you can afford to perpetually stay home with your child until they're in college and homeschool using any materials that have the name "Waldorf" in them; if you can afford to live on a farm in the rolling hills of somewhere growing your own veggies and picking fruit from your own freakin' trees while your kids frolic in the wheat fields with rings of flowers in their hair while trailing yards of silk behind them flowing in the sweet stinking prairie breeze----you are not a hippie!--you are a (*gasp*) YUPPIE!!!! And you've ruined it for the rest of us. If you truly cared about the Earth, you would make your products accessible to the people that populate it!! I try the best I can to live a sustainable life, but I WILL NOT be made to feel inferior because I am not a closet yuppie. But really, Mothering Magazine is really my most favoritest magazine in the whole world. Seriously, I can't wait for the next issue. Pardon me while I go read it cover to cover again. I'm not being sarcastic.

FYI: in Riley's world of make-believe, she is a baby named Baby Hayp (yes, I spelled that correctly). Yes, I know, two post in a row without photos. If you wonder why I don't want to sit here and wait for a photo to download, please re-read the previous paragraph. Cheers.

It's 5:30 and His Majesty is still sleeping. He got up to eat and take his meds and went back to bed. I've been cleaning and I have half a mind to throw out all his stuff that is not in its proper place. I OWN NOTHING! And yet I clean up everyone else's junk! I even went out and shoveled the walk with a little 47 cent dust pan from Walmart. Thank goodness no one saw me. I probably looked like a red-neck retard in my pajama bottoms and Rudi's coat shoveling with a dust pan. I thought shoveling snow was supposed to be a man's job. Guess I was wrong. Riley just woke up from a nap and Avery just went down. I never get a break. I was dismayed to find that the neighbors shoveled their driveway. I had planned to push the snow off my car onto their side, but I suppose now that would be rude. Poo. It was probably a rude thought to begin with. Poo. And to think I eagerly anticipated Thursday so that I could go to the tattoo shop, but now I can't. Poo. Yes, I do realize that this is my second post today, but I'm snowed in and what else am I supposed to do? If His Royal Highness expects dinner when he finally gets up I'll smack him over the head with a pan.

Blizzard! Blizzard! Blizzard! We have so much snow it is absolutely ridiculous. And it's still snowing. To think that it was in the mid to upper 60s yesterday. We have about a foot of snow and the snow drifts are at least two feet deep on our front walk. Needless to say, Riley did not have school today. The malls are closed, the banks are closed, and I'm wondering if we'll even get mail today. The huge interstate that runs through the Springs is closed so we can't leave the city (like we'd want to). For you East Coasters, that's the equivalent of I-95 being closed. Crazy stuff. We'll be inside for a long time. My camera is in the car. When I can manage to get to my car I'll take pictures, then probably have to wait days in order to get to Walmart to develop the film. I wonder if Riley will have school tomorrow. They are having their Halloween party tomorrow and I signed up to bring baked goods. Worst case scenario is if she does have school tomorrow and I'm not able to get to the store tonight to buy the ingredients for baking. This is the most snow I've seen in my adult life and it's only October.

So I happen to have a raging breast infection. Yah! I've had them before and have just waited them out, but this one took hold of my whole body. My muscles ached and I felt weak, so I'd sit down, but when I stood back up I'd get dizzy and light-headed. I was nauseous and had a dull headache. And not to mention the pain from the infection itself. It all started with Avery apparently sleeping through the night on Monday night, failing to nurse. So I have mastitis and swollen lymph nodes and am on antibiotics. But I'm feeling better today. I don't normally take medications, so I tend to respond to antibiotics really fast.

Okay, I just found the absolute cutest wool diaper covers that I have ever seen, made by a WAHM, with endearing embroidery on the butt. The site is being remodeled, so not all information is available (and I think they're pretty expensive) but I just might splurge on one or two. The site is Kiwi Pie. Adorable. Okay, I found the prices: $38-$52. Maybe I'll splurge on just one. But probably not. Darn. Man, if I could figure out how to make diaper covers like these and sell them online, I could stay at home forever and make a fortune. Maybe I'll look for a site that sells WAHM products and see how to go about that. Now that I'm quitting Starbucks...

It's too bad that there is too much snow to even let my children safely play in it. I'm doubting now that there will even be school tomorrow. This is ridiculous. I guess I'll just be cleaning a lot today. If we get mail today, I doubt I'll even get to the mailbox. That's pretty pathetic. We'll probably get only bills anyway....

I'm waiting for my photos to download and it's taking forever and the longer I have to wait the more I write...

So, I've put my two weeks in at Starbucks. Sorry, Mom and Mina, no discounts at Starbucks for us when I'm in Maryland. It just wasn't worth it, Riley crying every time I put on a black shirt or black pair of pants, screaming whenever I pumped breastmilk, pleading with me not to go to work, and her constant fear that I may be going to work at any moment. She's consistently been well-behaved for Rudi, but the constant worries are hard to bear. And Avery has never settled in the routine of being cared for by Rudi. She cries for two-and-a-half hours until Rudi takes the girls in for my 10 minute break, for a total of about 10 hours of screaming per week. I don't want my child to be a dummy. Those of you who doubt the science behind the "crying it out" theory and stupidity can find an article on the subject here. It's really not worth it for the $150 or less that I bring home every other week. And then Rudi is mad and frustrated when I come home. And then I'm mad because he didn't clean up like he criticises me for not doing while he's at work. It's all really bad, and really unfortunate, because I did like the feeling of working.

Riley has made a little friend at school. Her name is Lorelait (pronounced "Lorelai" I think). Sometimes I find them holding hands. It's really rather cute. I think I let them become better friends through the holidays, then try to arrange a playdate.

I am eagerly awaiting a shipment of wool diaper covers that I ordered on the internet. Used ones on ebay. I want to try wool because they stay warm even when they are damp, which will be useful during the Colorado winter. I want to knit some, but thought I'd give wool a try before going through the time and expense of knitting my own. I also want to try the wool longies, which are diaper cover and warm pants all in one. Wool has to be lanolized every few months, so we'll see if I think they're worth it.

I chopped off my hair today, not that I needed to lose another pound. Ever since I started this dairy-free and egg-free diet, my hair has been horrible and my nails have been splitting. Gross.

Speaking of gross, a couple of 20 yr-old girls and I were talking at work about body shape and body images and such. I mentioned that my tummy skin hangs off my bellybutton like curtains (getting a mental image yet? Disgusting huh?) especially since I've lost a little weight. One of the girls wanted to see, so I showed her. I don't think that she'll be having kids any time soon. Or never.

Can I mention how Riley prefers going potty in public restrooms? How messed up is that? If we stayed out all day, she would never have an accident. Only at home. If I ask her to go potty because were going to Barnes & Noble, for instance, she says, "not thanks, they have a potty there." And sure enough, she'll go to their potty once or twice (she pees and poops separately). I don't know what's wrong with our bathroom. I keep it clean. Maybe I should hang a toilet mint on the rim, install industrial paper towel dispensers, and stock up on butt-scratching toilet paper. Then maybe she'll like going potty at home.

Mom, you may not want to read on...I found a piece of art on the internet that I want to get as a tattoo on my arm to represent my relationship with Riley and Avery. I went to the tattoo parlor yesterday, but they were closed Monday-Wednesday. Slackers. I don't want to go anywhere else, because this place was named the best in the Springs for eleven years running now. I'll have to wait it out. I am eager to see if it'll work as a tattoo, how big it'll have to be, etc. I like it, any one else have thoughts? (except for you, Mom, I know that you read this anyway!) Here's a picture of it...

Riley had her school field trip to Venetucci Pumpkin Farm on Thursday. It was a pretty cold day and there was still snow in the pumpkin patch. Riley had fun picking out her own pumpkin. The rules of the farm were that the pumpkins were free if the children could carry them out of the fields themselves. Of course, the farm had pigs and chickens, and that was definitely Riley's favorite part. And they had lots of sticks, which Riley took advantage of. The only thing that could have been better was if they had a nice selection of rocks. Then Riley would have been in heaven. Sticks and rocks. Riley should have been born a boy.


Avery is working really hard on learning how to walk. She is standing a lot know and visibly contemplating taking a step. Her favorite game is to fling things over her shoulder. She does this most frequently with the chalk from Riley's easel, but also with laundry, and the Thomas trains at Barnes and Noble. It's really quite cute, but not cute to clean up her mess every five minutes.

Riley had her first cinematic experience yesterday evening. I took her to see "A Nightmare Before Christmas" in 3D at the movie theater. She was a little scared for the first minute, but then she really got into the music. She had a blast and sat through the entire film. Of course she loved wearing the 3D glasses. A couple of times during the movie she would reach out for things that seemed really close. Adorable. The glasses were obviously not made for children, so I had to hook the ear pieces into her hair. Good thing I decided two minutes before leaving for the theater that I should put her hair up.

So I haven't posted in a very long time because I'm having a really hard time finding pictures. I really need to take some more.

It has snowed here in Colorado Springs. A lot of snow for mid-October. We have about six inches on the ground right now. I was working at Starbucks last night during the brunt of it. I was working with a 21-year-old girl who just moved here from L.A. and this is the first time that she's seen it snow. Imagine. If I can find the hats and mittens and such, I'll take the girls out in the snow a little later. I'd really like to see what Pikes Peak looks like in the snow.

Riley had picture day yesterday. We'll see how they turn out. I wasn't there so it'll be a surprise. Tomorrow she has a field trip to Venetucci pumpkin farm. Of course, I'm going to chaperone. Mostly because I'm nosey and want to know what she's doing at all times, and also because I don't want anyone else driving her. Call me overprotective. Speaking of driving with the kids, Rudi brought the girls in to Starbucks last night and since it was snowing, he had to put their warm clothes on, which made them not fit in their carseats. He figured out how to loosen Avery's seat, but not Riley's. So he just fasted the chest clip and drove IN THE SNOW to Starbucks with Riley only half buckled. Eeeek! He also decided to back the Pathfinder into the driveway to clear the snow off and hit the garage door. So we'll need to fix that before we go.

We all went to Denver last Friday. We went to the Cherry Creek Shopping Center which has a ton of high-end stores, like Oiliy which has beautiful clothes that I just loved until I looked at the price tag. $80 for a toddler shirt, $145 for a girls sweater, and $60 for a newborn onesie. Holy cow! The mall had a really cool play area for kids and Riley had a groupie, a little boy who just turned two. And we went to the Tattered Cover Bookstore, where we haven't been since we've had kids. It's in "historic LoDo" (lower downtown) and I love perusing the stacks in such an old building. We also went to the world's largest train store. They had the best setup of Thomas the Tank Engine in the entrance, which snagged Riley's attention and we stayed there while Rudi drooled over all the trains. We were away from home for a long time and the girls were impecibly behaved. One the way home, Riley started to get tired and she said "give me something to help me stop talking!" I guess Riley talks so much that she can't stop even when she wants to.

Riley wants to go out in the snow right now and it's only 9:15, so I know that it is very cold out there. I'd like her to wait until the sun warms up a little bit at least, but I know that's probably now going to happen. Try keeping a toddler out of the snow. Of course, the camera was in the car last night and now it's too cold and won't work. Hopefully that's just temporary. We'll see.

So I thought that I'd have brand new photos to post today, since Riley was supposed to have a field trip to Starsmore Discovery Center (have yet to figure out what that is), but it was postponed because of weather, which was absolutely awful this morning. It was really really foggy and a fine mist has been falling all day.

Riley actually told me today to take Avery back to the office. I asked her what office, and she said "the doctor's office, and leave her there!" So after 10 months, Riley has finally suggested returning Avery to where she came from.

Riley and I were reading Abby and Amy's blog and Riley wanted to look at Scott and "Abby's big sister Amy" (I had to clarify that). Then she said (word-for-word) "I really love Abby. Abby shares with me so nicely. But sometimes I hurt her because I have a problem. And I hit her and that's my problem. And she cries and cries. But I won't do that ever again." Interesting.

As I was maniacally knitting, trying to finish Riley's purple sweater in time for picture day next week, Riley said that she didn't want me to knit anymore. I said, "don't you want me to knit you a brand new purple sweater?" and Riley said (word-for-word) "It's helpful that you want to knit me a sweater, but I already have a purple sweater. I'm wearing it right now. So I don't like it when you knit." She did have a purple sweatshirt on, but not a purple sweater. I haven't had any luck explaining to Rudi the difference between a sweatshirt and a sweater (he calls them both sweaters) so I probably won't have much luck with Riley either.

Ms. Riley was up until 2am. That was a whole lot of fun. She was in a fabulous mood until about 1am, when she started melting down, and my own patience was wearing thin. And then Riley started crying incessantly and woke Avery up and Avery wouldn't go back to sleep. And then I lost it. We all needed strait-jackets last night. Except for Rudi, who calmly continued watching his movie downstairs.

It has been raining for days now. It must have snowed overnight since there was snow in the trees and on the car. Riley was surprised and wanted to touch it, which delayed our departure for school just a little bit. I have been living in a mountain climate for over six years now, and I am still surprised when the cold weather hits every year. Like an Alzheimer's patient "what's this? It's cold?" Duh. The class couldn't play on the playground this morning because of the rain, so everyone was indoors. Avery got a real kick out of the guinea pigs. Anyway, I assumed it would be raining all day, but it stopped late morning and when I come to pick Riley up she's wearing a jacket that the teachers scrounged up for her. Oops, time to take the coats out of their boxes. If that was a mothering test, I failed it miserably. Tomorrow was supposed to be picture day (as I found out today-duh) but the photographer rescheduled for next week because he takes the class photo outdoors. Riley also has a field trip to Starsmore Discovery Center (whatever that is) for a nature walk and soforth. That's on Thursday (as I found out today-duh). Yeah, so I must have been living in my own universe lately. Which probably doesn't surprise anyone.

So I dragged the girls to Joann Fabrics after picking Riley up from school. I decided that if I am chaperoning Riley's field trip (did I forget to mention that? duh) I had better make this babywearing poncho for the hike, since Avery will be tagging along. Their fleece was 40% off, so I scored some purple fleece and a cord to make a drawstring hood, which I am adding to the pattern. As I'm standing in the cutting line, I realize that I may have made a mistake in picking purple, since I stand a good change of looking like Barney, but Avery was screaming and I decided not to push it.

Avery is sitting in the laundry room playing with her sling, trying to wrap herself up in it. It's pretty cut. Dude, I forgot about the whole posting a photo thing. I'd better look for one now. Can't really find a good one. Sorry, you're going to have to look at a picture with me in it. God, that's an awful picture of me! And do I always wear that shirt? Apparently.

Yesterday was an absolutely fabulous day, Riley-wise. I decided that our fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants lifestyle juxtaposed to the well-ordered Montessori experience was causing a lot of stress for her, manifested in whinny moods, temper tantrums, yelling, and bed-wetting. So off we went to the local school supply store and bought an incentive chart, a sheet of sticker stars, and about a dozen little prizes (all about 50 cents). While she was napping, I set my plan in motion. She gets a star for picking-up after herself, sharing with Avery, playing quietly, going potty, and eating well and cleaning her dishes, and a star for miscellaneous stuff (like just being in a generally good mood, or helping me do something). When she gets five stars in a row, she gets a little prize. Riley was thrilled with the whole concept and has been nothing but an angel. I don't force the thing on her, but she likes picking out the star and putting it on her chart. The prizes are almost not necessary at all. It has also improved her behavior with Rudi because I made it a point for her to hear me explain the system to him so that when I go to work he can follow through.

So I went to work last night. I'll have to say that it was by far the best for Rudi so far, but not perfect. He is getting more involved with the girls. He said that Riley did cry for me at one point, but then got on her play phone and talked and cried to me for about 15 to 20 minutes, and then was fine. So she's practicing self-therapy already. I bought them (Riley and Rudi) some wooden popsicle-like sticks in the shape of boys and girls and a bag of googly eyes so that they can color puppets. I think that I'll work on making a puppet theater under our dining room table. The good thing about having such a high table is that an adult can sit under it quite comfortably. Avery did cry a little, but not nearly as much as she normally does. I think that when Rudi is more actively involved in playing with them, Avery is happy to participe, just watch, or simply soak up the good vibes. Children are like dogs, they can smell your fear, and Rudi is normally very afraid.

Today was a really long day, and it's not even over yet. Riley has been in the worst mood since she started school. She doesn't want to come home. I think that when we get back from Maryland, I'll see about sending her for two half days and one full day. If the full day doesn't work, I'll send her for four half days. I really don't know what else to do with her, discipline-wise. She is definitely in a difficult stage, and hopefully we'll all come out of it alive. I am also feeling a weaning urge in me, like an instinct that tells me that since she's in school, she should be weaned. I am proud that I still nurse her at 2 3/4 years, but I find myself disgusted with the sensation of her nursing. Usually, I sing the ABC's and tell her that's all. The up side is that she practically knows the song. She also told me the whole Little Red Riding Hood story, exactly the way I tell it to her. It was really cute.


We went to the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center today. Riley really enjoyed it and so did Avery. They had a lot of prehistoric skeletons hanging from the ceiling and Avery gravitated towards those. The only thing that Riley didn't like was the soundtrack of dinosaur footsteps. She kept saying, "a dinosaur is coming!" Riley also really enjoyed the dinosaur magnets, making several of her own strange-looking dinosaurs. Of course, Riley's absolute most favorite part was the gift shop.


So the girls both took a nap when we got home, at about 3:30pm, so they will be up for a while yet. And the house is an absolute mess and I probably will crash with the girls, so no real hope of cleaning it tonight.

I put a whole butt-load of books on hold at the library about teaching Montessori in the home, so I can't wait for them to come in. I think that maybe Riley needs more structure at home. They say that kids like that, although I can't understand why.

Oh yeah, when we were in Woodland Park at the Dinosaur place, we saw a very strange truck parked on the road. It was a Toyota 4Runner with a plastic pipe running out of the engine and up the side of the car like a snorkel. Apparently so it could go completely under water. People in Colorado take their play very seriously.

Golden Mountain Montessori had back-to-school night for new students last night. They had a slide show showing children engaged in various activities and told us the purpose of each. Then we broke up into groups and moved around the school to different stations to see hands-on demonstrations of several activities. One teacher told me that the call Riley "Smiley Riley" because she is always laughing and smiling. They also said that she absolutely loves to paint, and they let her do it whenever she wants. She also likes to build the pink tower, which I hear her talk about all the time, so it was really nice to actually see what it was. Maria Montessori was a child development and educational genius, in my book. Now I know why parents who have children in Montessori programs are so passionate about it. I can tell that I am becoming as convinced of the benefits of a Montessori education as I am about the benefits of breastfeeding. I still can't believe how much Riley loves school. She refuses to go potty after waking up so that she can go in the school's potty. Like the wants to honor the establishment by urinating there.

Rudi watched the girls while I went to the back-to-school meeting. I guess that dealing with two children was not as scary as entering a room full of people that he doesn't know all by himself. I don't think that the kids gave him an easy time, but he had the sense not to say anything and I wasn't stupid enough to ask. I just came home and put them to bed. I still don't know if he expects me to quit Starbucks or not. I got a whole whopping $13 in tips last week, which isn't really that bad for 8 hours of work. It's nice to get some cash.

I finally got my driver's license in the mail yesterday. Maybe I'm getting vain in my old age, but the picture is absolutely horrible. Or maybe it's because I've been carrying around my expired license with a picture of me at 24, and no one looks as good at 30 as they did when they were 24. I think that I definitely need to cut my hair, but I need to resist the temptation to do it myself. I also need to buy new pants since I don't have a single pair that don't come off without unbuttoning them. I would like to get back up to 120 pounds, but this new diet has made me begin eating more healthfully, and I don't want to eat junk just to put on a few pounds.

Riley absolutely had to have a tube of cinnamon flavored hemp chapstick from the Whole Foods Market, and she's smeared it all over her face. The smell of spicy cinnamon has permeated the whole house and it's making me sick to my stomach. yuk.

Riley had an absolute blast at school today. I'm really proud of her. As I expected, she's hanging out with the older girls (thankfully not boys yet) who can talk more. When I came to pick her up, she told me to go home by myself because she was staying at school. I am pleasantly surprised by how this is all going. I really expected a battle. This school is very well-ordered and nurturing and every child is valued. I guess that's the difference between wanting to go to school and hating it. There is a mandatory back-to-school meeting tomorrow evening where they are going to demonstrate several Montessori activities and talk about the philosophy. The only thing is that children are not supposed to come. That means that either Rudi or I will go. I think that Rudi should go because I am already aware of the theories and activities. Plus Rudi doesn't want to watch the kids anymore, which brings me to my next story...

I worked last night, and Rudi says that it did not go well. Of course, if you sit on your duff and expect the children to watch themselves, it's naturally not going to go well. So he came in to Starbucks and told me that he is not going to watch them anymore, and that I had better put my notice in before my next shift (which really isn't giving notice, now is it?). We'll see if he is just throwing a tantrum, as he tends to do, or if he will watch them while I work out my two weeks, or if I even have to quit at all. Maybe if he hadn't bought a car already, we wouldn't need the extra money. But you didn't hear that from me.

Yesterday was quite a day. It started with a horrible night for Riley, and everyone else in the bed except for Avery, who was oblivious. Then Riley's whinnng and crying and overall combative mood carried over into the day. We found a park that is within walking distance of our house, and since we were driving by on our way home from running errands, I decided to take the girls for a look. Good thing we didn't go through the trouble of walking there since they apparently tore out the playground. Riley was really disappointed, so I had to consult our Colorado Springs map and find another park within walking distance of our house. We did find one called Carver Park with a great playground, and a bunch of other stuff I don't care about like baseball diamonds and such. I found a way through some neighborhoods and I think that I can get us there under 3/4 of a mile. Riley, of course, didn't want to go home, but it was definitely naptime and I was starving.

I worked last night, and I guess it didn't go so horribly for Rudi, just minorly horrible. Avery is slowly getting better, although still crying a great deal, so the term "getting better" is relative. Riley was well-behaved. I think that going to school has made her act out more at home, but she was good for Rudi. I'll have to give her some extra lovin'.

Our bank here totally sucks. I know that Rudi and I are not that great at keeping up the check book, but this is ridiculous. We didn't have this problem with our banks in Montana or Ft. Collins, so it can't be all us. Of course, Rudi had to jump the gun and get a new car before the Camry was paid off (which is November, not a long wait) and now we have two car payments, increased insurance premiums, and Riley's preschool tuition, and whatever money our bank decides to bilk us out of. And with all this we're trying to buy birthday and Christmas presents and save up to get me and the girls to Maryland for Thanksgiving and Avery's first birthday. I know that we can't buy airline tickets this month, and if we buy them next month, who knows how expensive the tickets will be that close to Thanksgiving. We'll see.