Riley and Avery

Hah, I found a picture of Avery from when we were in Maryland. Yay! But I think it's out of focus. Oh well.

Riley missed school today, and for the dumbest reason. Rudi forgot to take the car seat base out of his car this morning. Even if he had, he hasn't taken the huge toy kitchen out of my car (more than three weeks of asking him to hasn't produced results) and it's far too heavy for me to move. The only way I got it into my car in the first place is by pushing the shopping cart up to the door of my car and shoving it in.

So I'm trying to do laundry for the first time since I came home and I assumed that the washer and dryer were empty, but find that there are really stinky old clothes in the washer that never got put in the dryer. Including Avery's wool soakers. Washed in warm water. Yay. That's why Rudi is not allowed to do laundry.

Riley has been extremely interested in Christmas lately. Tonight, in a failed attempt at bedtime, she asked if everyone was coming to her Christmas. She named a laundry list of everyone she knew. I said that it would be Mommy, Daddy, Riley and Avery. She was particularly concerned whether Jay and Abby would be there. When I told her no, she started to weep. It was pretty sad. She said that she wanted to go to Jay's house right now, and I told her that Jay's house is far away and we have to get on an airplane to get there. Riley really wants to see Santa, and I'm all for it but I don't really want her to learn the "getting" part of Christmas just yet (I know she eventually will) which is why I've avoided the topic of Santa. Rudi asked her if she was going to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas (insert Riley's patented "you're retarded" look) and she said "No, I'm going to give him flowers." I thought that was cute.

Today I talked with Heather, our friend from Missoula. We talked for about and hour and a half (until my phone ran out of batteries) and it was really great to talk to a familiar person with whom I share the same views on parenting and politics and everything. Ah, adult conversations! It's funny how Montana feels like a whole different lifetime ago. I guess when I'm involved with the daily tasks of raising my children, concentrating on parenting, the outside world is irrelevant. Like I could step outside and be in Tokyo, and be like "Eh...whatever." It's nice when you meet other parents and you know right away that your views match and that there'll be no surprise oddities to discover. You have to be carefull in this town. They may be religious zealots or gung-ho military people who collect guns and you don't find out until it's too late to diplomatically cut relations. Heather emailed me pictures of Mazey (I finally know how to spell it) and she is absolutely adorable, which isn't news in itself because she's always been adorable, but now in a girlish way rather than a baby way. Like in the six months since we've moved she's gone from cute to beautiful. I'm not sure that I'm explaining myself well, but I think other parents of daughters will get what I'm trying to say. I wonder if Riley looks that way to others. I see her every day, so I don't notice these things as easily.

Riley has also changed her pronunciation of her name. First it was "Ridey" then "Riwey" and now she's pronouncing it with a really laborious "L" that only just misses. She tries so hard.

Man, I took a shower today and then immediately drew a bath and got in with both Riley and Avery (I can't take a bath without showering first. Otherwise, it's just nasty). Giving two toddlers a bath at the same time is no small feat. Everything was going well until Avery decided to start really splashing. Riley then evicted her, and I was happy to oblige.

Avery has a mystery rash. She even has it on her legs, which she usually doesn't get. It almost seems like something got on her skin, rather than something she or I ate. Riley has a new interest in making her own PB&J, and I'm wondering if I had peanut butter on my hands after cleaning up after her. Or if Riley had it on her. Or if a smear of it got on the floor and I didn't catch it. Her rash is really well-defined, not blotchy. In some places the rash looks like fingerprint shapes. Another day, another rash. We can't win them all.

Woah, I've written way too much and it's time for me to get serious about laundry...