Riley and Avery

Yesterday we headed over to Baby Cotton Bottoms to help Dani with inventory. A whole slew of people showed up to help, and what was supposed to take days, only took three hours. It was a lot of fun just associating with other mothers while the girls played with other children. Riley made friends with another girl named Isabella. Her mother just thought that Riley was too cute, with all the strange things that she says and the complicated stories that Riley tells. She also kept gushing over how adorable Avery is, even though this woman's two children were also very beautiful. It's weird about mothers who praise my children to me. I always feel that I have to reciprocate with praise for their children, and I am not really good at that. Although I like children as much as the next person, truth be told, I really don't care that much about children who are neither mine nor in my family. I always feel that I come across as insensere. I wonder if people are insecure and just praise your child so you'll turn around and praise theirs? Hmmm, something to think about.

Today was the grand seasonal opening of the Uncle Wilber fountain in downtown. We really had a lot of fun, although neither of the girls would actually go in the fountain. Avery was downright scared and Riley said that it was too cold. We sat in the grass and ate some really yummy wraps I made with hummus, chicken, cucumber sticks, bean sprouts, and leaf lettuce. Both the girls loved them. Then Riley has ice cream (they didn't have any sherbert, fooey) and we played on the playground until it started thundering and lightning. The place cleared out real quick and the fountain was turned off, and of course Riley was upset because she didn't get to play in the fountain. She does this every year about the Uncle Wilbur fountain, doesn't want to play, but when it's time to go she freaks out about how she didn't get to play in the fountain. Overall, we were there for about three hours. Avery just wandered around, standing in the middle of the sidewalk, gawking at all the people, totally unaware of me calling her repeatedly. The real Uncle Wilber was there, and I can't imagine how old he is, since he played tuba in the 1936 World Fair in Chicago, apparently. Wow, that's old.

I picked up the Colorado Springs Independent with a special on the events happening this spring and summer. I'm all excited about the free concerts and farmers markets. Of course, I picked up "Newspeak," another Springs publication, and as I was looking through it, I just thought that something was amiss. Then I noticed their slogan "reaching around to the community since..." and I realize that I picked up the wrong magazine. It was interesting though...


Riley told me today that Freddie, Gregory, and Christopher at school are mean to her and say that they don't like her and "they think that I'm ugly even though I am beautiful!" It's funny how Riley lets this kind of stuff roll off her back, she just states it matter-of-factly. Then says that Malachy, Trevon, and Aaron are nice boys that like her. It's funny how she can be so self-confident at age three. Well, I'm glad that it doesn't bother her...

So I'm uploading an ambitious four pictures to blogger, and it is taking forever. I might just have to let it go overnight and go to bed. Yawn. The longer I wait, the more I write...

As I'm waiting, I'm browsing around the West Side Moms site and someone posted about baby/toddler signing and I thought that the class sessions were a little out of our price range, and I didn't want to commit to anything like that over the summer, but this woman does these really cool workshops, like sign-at-the-zoo and sign-at-the-farm that are actaully held at those locations. How cool is that?

Speaking of speaking, Avery is saying words more clearly now. She says "more more" and "miiiiiiiiiine!" She used to just say "Ma" for "mine." Now she's very clear. Riley was having a rough time this evening, having skipped a nap, and Avery kept patting her back and hugging and kissing her. It was so nice seeing her be so compassionate on her own. Although Avery is the most jealous person I've ever seen. I can't even cuddle or spend time with Riley without Avery absolutely freaking out. When I'm sitting with Riley, Avery will come over and I'll pull her up onto my lap too, and Avery tries to push Riley away so that she is not touching me at all.

Here's a picture of Riley lining the toilet with paper in preparation for her lion going potty. She learned this from Rudi:

We had another West Side Moms playdate yesterday and we all had a blast. In addition to the moms in the group that I am still getting to know, I met another mother there too who was not part of the group. She has a 23 mo old daughter, so a little young for Riley and a little old for Avery, but the mother and I had fun talking. It seems that we have some things in common, I think, although she's never heard of babywearing and only breastfed for 6 weeks, but said that her older sister breastfed for three years and wished that she had done the same. We exchanged numbers and hopefully we'll get together sometime. Both of the girls were more adventuresome and played a significant distance from me, although alway within sight. That was cool. Avery finally decided that she likes the swings a little bit, although I have to swing her like she's a fragile old lady, low and slow. We spent nearly three hours at the park, until it started thundering, and with no driver side window, we rushed home. Later, we just played around the neighborhood for a while more. Nice weather today, I must say. Perfect temperature, cloudy, with a warm breeze. Perfect.

Avery said "dog" and "rock" and "bye bye" today, or words that vaguely represent. So her language is developing (late) but rapidly. Oh, and Riley was playing peekaboo with Avery, and Avery said "Dee Dee where?" (okay, more like "Dee Dee wha?). But we all knew what she meant.

Riley fell in the toilet today. That was freakin' hilarious. Nothing brightens my day like Riley taking a good dunk in the toilet. Ah, seeing the rim of the porcelain throne at her armpits, water up to the middle of her back. She thinks it's funny too, and I don't laugh right in her face ("hold on honey, mommy has to go into the garage for a minute") so it's not like I'm being cruel here. Speaking of toilets, thank goodness Riley forgot all about the button that we were supposed to dig out of her poo (what? Riley forgot something?) She'll probably mention it tomorrow. I think I jinxed myself. Doh.

So the other day, we were having dinner and I gave Avery a bite of food, and she chewed it a few times and realized that she didn't want it. So she moved closer too me, hoping I'd take it out of her mouth. I said "Avery just swallow it. We dont' spit out food" and she kept coming closer, and I kept protesting. So the little booger put my nose in her mouth and spit the food out on my face. What a 'tude.

Here's a picture of Avery "eating" soy yogurt:

Speaking of attitudes, Avery has developed quite the hitting problem. I just try to say "We don't hit in this family" and give her "the look" and she'll scowl back at me, then we'll have a staring contest, and when I don't give in, she'll hug and kiss me. It's like she's testing her limits, how far she can go and still be the perfect little girl. Although one time, she hit me several times in the face, and I say "Avery!" and Avery gives me the nastiest look ever, and grunts/growls at me. So I say again "Aaaaaavery" "grunt/growl "Avery?" grunt/growl "We don't hit" grunt/growl "Don't hit mommy", staring contest, smile/funny face/giggle/hug and kiss Mommy. Ah, testing the boundaries. Such a wonderful stage.

Tomorrow we are going over to Baby Cotton Bottoms to help Dani with inventory. She just took over ownership of the diaper shop in April, so the inventory is wonky, so a bunch of us from NINO and West Side Moms are going over to help her get an accurate inventory. They have a big backyard with sappy trees and dirt and mud and ants and everything fun for kids. Oh, toys too. Tonight would be the normal bath night for the girls, but I think I'll forgo it since I'm sure they'll get raunchy-dirty tomorrow. Nothing wrong with that.

Written in 1870, by Julia Ward Howe, in response to war. Still fitting today.

Arise, then, women of this day!
Arise, all women who have breasts,
Whether our baptism be of water or of tears!

Say firmly:
"We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of the devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says: "Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace,
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God.

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And at the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

An old post that I'm letting go as-is:

So all of our butterflies have hatched out of their crysalides. It happened so fast that we didn't actually see any of them come out, which was a little disappointing. Contrary to what I thought, Riley is eager to let them go outside. I thought that she wouldn't want to let them go and we would have to watch them die in a couple of weeks and she would be upset. I'm trying to make sure that she understands that once we let them go outside that we will not see them again, that they'll be gone. This all makes me think about butterflies, and how they came to us a couple of weeks ago just a few millimeters big and ate and ate and grew into fat caterpillars, then grew into crysalides, went through all the trouble of becoming butterflies, and then they only live for a week or two. It all seems futile, but who am I to judge...Oh, see things have already changed. Riley no longer wants to let the butterflies go. So it looks like we'll be watching the butterflies complete their sad and futile life cycle here in our apartment.

The other night, Riley and Avery went to bed at 7:30 and woke up at 7:30. It took a traumatic bath to facilitate the early bedtime. Avery no longer enjoys her baths, in fact she downright hates them. And she has quite the scream. Riley doesn't like getting her hair washed. She gets really nervous, but it's nice to see her try to be brave so that Avery learns not to be scared. So after the bath, they both hit the sack. Sounds like it should have been a good night, but for my girls, early bedtimes always mean restless nights. It seems like one of them was up every minute of the night. Even though I went to bed very early as well, I woke up in the morning with eyes and lips so puffy and swollen I looked like I had stayed up all night crying, when I had actually done neither. Ugh. I'm such a complainer, but that's what blogging is for, right?

I am starting to maybe think that Avery is not all that allergic to dairy. Crazy, I know. It just seems like the times when she has accidentally ingested diary, nothing has really happened. I guess I could test on her again. Maybe she's outgrown it, although it seems a little early. Oh, who knows? These kids with allergies...and is Riley really that allergic to dogs? I really can't tell. The diaper shop lady has dogs and the three times that we've been there, Riley has gotten a rash shortly after, even though the dogs don't go in the diaper shop and there's no hair laying around. Then one of the NINO meetings is at a woman's house who has some huge dogs, with dog hair all over everything, and Riley was actaully playing in the dog kennels and nothing happened. It's baffling. Is it possible to be allergic to certain types of dogs? Are some dogs less allergenic? Or maybe there's another explaination for the rash. Although Riley has never had a problem with Duke and Dingy, and we've stayed in Maryland for three weeks at a time. She did have a strange reaction when she was licked by Duke, but that was just once. I'm sure that everyone is probably allergic to something and most don't know it, we just live with it. It's kind of like anyone that goes to a psychiatrist will probably go home with a prescription for depression. It almost seems like a scam. I think that Riley just has really sensitive skin, and although she has allergies (supposedly) I think that her rash is just dry skin. I'm sure not going to giver her prescription allergy meds on a regular basis.

*update* Avery is definitely still allergic to dairy. I don't know what I was thinking...

Oh, I have to go to the store and get something for dinner. It's getting harder and harder to please everyone with dinner and I refuse to be one of those mothers that makes the kids something different. Actually, it's usually Rudi that's the problem. He's been refusing to eat rice lately and for a while. A few months ago, we tried to do two weeks worth of grocery shopping at once and not go again, and we bought too many rice side dishes and not enough meat, so we ate rice for over a week at each dinner, and then he would take the leftover rice to work for lunch the next day. I read a book in translation by a Japanese author (I'd site the author and book but the book really really sucked-okay,it was Kafka on the Shore) and the characters literally had rice with every meal. Crazy. Rice and salmon for breakfast, seriously. So it's a good think Rudi's not asian.

Do you know how much the girls love their corn? The big thing for them was that I bought the little corn holder thingies, and now Avery can eat a corn cob without getting her hands dirty (heaven forbid--do you see how daintily she's holding the cob?)

Riley swallowed a button today. She said "Mommy, I made an accident" and I said "What kind of accident?" and she said "I'm not going to tell you" and I said "Did you pee your pants?" and she said "no" and then finally said "I swallowed a button. It went down and now I can't get it back." So I told her that it's alright, swallowing one button is no big deal, and that it'll come out in her poop. Now she's excited about rediscovering the button, and thinks that we'll get it out of her poop. I really don't think that's going to happen, kiddo.

Today was an absolutely fabulous day, weatherwise. We were outside for a good portion of it, bike riding and just wandering around. Avery now likes holding hands, a lot. It's really kind of cute. She also says "ball" regularly, as well as "more." I used to have to prompt her to say "more" but now she does it on her own.

I'm searching for a good zucchini bread recipe. Riley has been asking to bake, and I thought that would be fun for us to do tomorrow. And it'll be a healthier snack that whatever Rudi manages to eat while he's at work.

Hey, a fairly short post today! How about that?

We had a lot of fun yesterday evening playing outside. Riley got out her bike, and she's doing pretty well on it lately. There were a bunch of adolescent boys out there riding bikes and scooter things and Riley wanted to follow them wherever they went. They were really good to her. One boy was coming outside and joking with his mother. I don't know what she said but the boy said "Be careful, there are young ears out here!" and when they got out hockey sticks and a tennis ball, one of the boys told the others to be careful of the little kids. We've been really lucky with how nice the kids are here. Last spring I was taking multiple trash bags out to the dumpster and one of the boys, maybe ten years old, asked me if I needed help with it. So there are very nice boys here. It seems that they are mostly boys here, but sometimes I see adolescent girls hanging around the boys, but not that often.

I am going to Baby Cotton Bottoms to pick up two Mommy's Touch pocket diapers for Avery. I'm really excited about them. They are supposed to be the cadillac of diapers, pretty much. I'm only ordering two for now to see what they're like, especially since Avery maybe had a little more than six months to go before we start trying to potty train. So no need to spend a butt-load on diapers we're not going to use that much.

Update: I picked up the diapers and have used them both already (well, she's in the 2nd one now) and we both LOVE them! If I were rich, I would buy a bunch of these. The fleece inside is so soft, when I put it on Avery, she touched her diaper and smiled and laughed. I guess it felt good on her bum. And when she wet it, the fleece wicked the moisture away, so it really didn't feel wet. And they're nice and trim. Pretty darn cool, I must say.

On to a different note, Rudi is getting fat. Don't tell him that I said so, but he weighed himself last night and he was 235. So he's at the gym as we speak. He thinks that he has a 60 lb tumor in his stomach, wouldn't you know it. Those of you who know, Rudi has always had skinny arms and legs, but I've been noticing lately that even his legs are getting fatter. I've been cooking healthy meals, so it's definitely something that he's been eating at work. He thinks he's been starving, hence the tumor talk. I told him to track every bite he takes, he'd probably be surprised where the calories are coming from, like I was surprised that I used to take in 800 calories a day in milk. Ah, those were the days! I think that Rudi was around 190 when I met him, so maybe I'm making him fat. :) But seriously, with two small girls, I would like him to be around for a while, but I can't be the food police and ambush him at work and monitor what he's eating, but he's headed for a disaster. He is now officially obese, according to the body mass index. His BMI is 33.7, 30 or more being obese. Of course, he's scared about it, so I try to be supportive, but what else can I do? I make sure that he makes his appointments with the doctor, I don't buy junk food, and cook healthy meals. What else is there?

I'm busy making Riley some Montessori activities. Well, I'm not sure if they're Montessori per se, but they are activities that her school uses and she really liked. Math stuff. With the liberal usage of glue stick and construction paper, I feel like I'm in elementary school again. It's fun. We'll see what she thinks of it when I'm done. She's already nosing around. I'll have to take the cards over to Kinkos to laminate them. Yippee.

I'm on a search right now for a toddler bed mattress. Not that I'm thinking about moving Riley out of our bed, but I am trying to create a reading nook for her. And if reading leads to naptime, then she's welcome to sleep on the bed. I've been searching craigslist and have found a lot of affordable toddler beds that some with a mattress, but really no listings just for mattresses. Oh, well, I can wait. Some of the toddler beds are about $30 for bed and mattress, so I might end up buying one and re-Freecycling the toddler frame that I already have. Who knows?

We went to a playgroup today, and it was pretty cool, I must say. It's the West Side Moms playgroup (not that I'm west side, but who cares?) and a lot of the members are also in NINO. So there's a lot of babywearing, a lot of breastfeeding, a whole lot of AP, a nice mix of all the groups that I belong to now. And they are left-leaning, which is nice to find in this town. And an absolutley perfect day weather-wise. We played for more than 2 hours, until the girls were pretty much sleeping in their feet. Now they are napping and all is well.

I cleaned out Roxy's cage today, figuring that the mourning period is long over. Add to it the fact that I've been asking Rudi to take care of it for a while now. So I vaccuumed it out, and Freecycled it and it was picked up shortly after. Pretty sweet. Now the aquarium stand is being used as a plant stand. Woopie!

Rosie had her veterinary check-up yesterday. As expected, all is fine. I was hoping that the vet would tell us how much to feed Rosie, so Riley would stop piling the food in her cage non-stop. When I told the vet that, she said that she'll just be the happiest guinea pig in the world. They can pretty much eat what they want. She didn't recommend spaying her since anesthesia is complicated on an animal that small. Not that I wanted that additional expense.

Nothing really has gone on lately, hence the infrequent blogs, but what can I do? Hopefully now that the weather has turned for the better, we'll be hitting the parks a lot more often. I hope to go on some nature walks with the girls, but Riley usually asks where the playground is, so we'll see how she just likes running around without the equipment to climb on. She's also been asking to go to the zoo again, but I have to make sure that she understands that she can't get something from the gift shop every time we go. That's an important lesson to learn, and I'm not going until she's learned it. I have enough battles to fight.

Oh, I should have been uploading photos and now I'm done blogging and still have to wait for the upload. Doh!

Riley had her evaluation at school today. I dropped her off at school, went to get coffee at Borders, and came back around 10am to watch her do some of her activities. The teachers are really impressed with her fine motor skills, and how she has always held a pencil (or crayon or whatever) properly. The teacher did several number activities with her so that I could watch her work. Then Riley went into circle for her French lesson while I went into the office to speak with her teacher. The teacher said that she was really surprised when she looked at Riley's date of birth, and realized that she is the youngest in the school, because Riley is doing really really well and is rather advanced in her math. So I guess she's one of the artistic/mathematical minded children. They said that they don't really do much reading in the first year, focusing instead on practical life and numbers, but she is almost done with her first math card, and most of the first year students don't even have a math card. I'll have to emphasize the math stuff since she's interested in it. I've always been more language oriented myself. The teacher had no areas of concern for Riley, it was really a good report. The only thing she said is that she talks really quietly at school, and that she thinks that Riley can count to 20, she just can't hear her. She said that she has to put her ear right to Riley's mouth when she talks. What? If it were only like that at home!

Now, I really like this teacher, and she told me that she is probably not coming back next year. She is going to try to open her own Montessori school on the Northeast side of town (that's us) in an established Montessori school. I think I visited this school before enrolling Riley at Golden Mountain, and they never called me back (maybe because they're in transition?). But now I'm conflicted because I really like Golden Mountain, but this other school is about 4 miles away from us. I drive for almost two hours a day on Riley's school days, drop her off, go home, pick her up, go home. And if she's going five days a week next year, that's *gasp* 10 hours of driving per week. And with gas prices as they are, it's going to kill us. But I really really like Golden Mountain...ugh, so now I don't know. And when I was at a NINO meeting, we were talking about the area schools and I mentioned that Riley is in a Montessori preschool, and the leader asked which one, and I told her and she said that Golden Mountain is an excellent school, and the only one that she would consider sending her kids to (she's a homeschooler). I know it's a good school, but it's nice to know that they have a stellar reputation. Oh, decisions...

I've been meaning to document this conversation that I had with Riley. It occured while I was trying in vain to get the girls to bed. Riley was tired and laying down, but Avery was sitting up and bothering Riley. Normally in this situation, I close my eyes and pretend to be asleep, and usually Avery catches on. But Riley was bothered:
Riley: Mom, Avery's not sleeping!
Me: Just ignore her and she'll lay down.
Riley: What is "ignore?"
Me: To ignore someone means that you pretend that you can't see or hear them.
Riley: (in a loud voice) AVERY, I CAN'T SEE YOU! I CAN'T HEAR YOU AVERY! AVERY, I'M IGNORING YOU!
So she didn't quite get the point. But we tried, and it was funny.

So here are the pictures that I said I would post today (and you didn't think I'd do it!):Riley feeding the giraffes. Said Riley, "Silly giraffe, you're supposed to open your mouth, not stick out your tongue!"

Riley and Avery pretending to be birdlings (is that a word? Probably not.)

Riley and Avery looking at the chipmunks.



The bowlegged strut.

Okay, the camera ran out of batteries while dowloading picutres. So I promise promise promise to download pictures tonight and post them. I promise!

We had a great day at the zoo on Tuesday. It was the absolute perfect weather, occasional rainshowers and all. It was warm but overcast, so no need to worry about sun block. Of course, we fed the giraffes, although Avery was interested from a distance but wouldn't actually feed them. The petting zoo was a huge hit with Avery, who was absolutely squeeling with delight at the pig. After about fifteen minutes squeeling at the pig, Avery decided for some reason that the pig was scary. Riley was terrified of the chickens, of all things. Everywhere we went, she would ask if there's going to be chickens there. It probably didn't help that I would sneak up behind her and go "bok bok bok!". But it sure was funny. Avery's favorite by far were the chipmunks that thrive at the zoo. It was quiet at the zoo, not too many people. Probably a combination of the weather, the early season, and the late hour. But it was great without the crowds and we could hear the animals making their animal noises. We will definitely be going back soon. They have a lot of members only events that should be fun. And it would make us feel special...

One the way home from the zoo, we missed our turn and winded up going about a half mile down a country road, where I bespied through some trees a whole lot of crazy-cool sculptures. So I went down there and there were dozens of huge metal sculptures that were really appealing. I didn't know anything about them, so I had to google it when I got home. Turns out it's the family home of a sculptor who died in the fifties, and those are his sculptures. There's a huge dispute going on with neighbors, the city, and other family members about whether the scultures are in violation of city ordinances and such. I think they're beautiful and barely visible through the trees, so what's the problem? Probably because it's in the snooty area of town, the Broadmoor area.

So Avery now says "more" and waves good-bye. That's about it on the Avery communicating topic. She needs to start talking more soon, or else I may go absolutely crazy.

I'm actually trying to read a book now, "What's the What?" by Dave Eggers. It's by far the most interesting book that I've read in a while, but I'm so used to devouring books in a day or two, that it's really frustrating how little time I have to read.

I went to a NINO meeting yesterday, and it was just the hostess, the leader, and I. It was actaully nice because we really got to dish on things, like the handmade mei tais you can get on ebay for $20. The hostess said that she bought two mei tais for $45 each because she liked the fabric, and when it came, it was JUST the fabric with straps sewn on. Like ONE layer of fabric, and the seller said it would work for a toddler. Ha! So anyways...Riley got to play with two other older girls there. The family has large dogs, apparently, because they had two dog cages in their bedroom that were large enough for an adult person to sleep comfortably in. Riley had fun with the girls pretending to be dogs. Until something happened with Riley getting shut in a room. Riley said she was locked in, but maybe she just couldn't open the door. So that pretty much ended the meeting for us, since it was past naptime anyway. It was just strange that there were so many people at the last NINO North meeting, and so few this time. It was fun anyway, since I got to converse and get to know two people, being new to the group and all.