Riley and Avery

Ah, it's like spring here in the Springs! Oh, it's so absolutely great. Days at the park, open windows. So nice!

And we're getting a new computer in probably about a week, so that'll be really really cool. No pictures until then, I'm sad to say, unless I can do it at Kinkos, but I'm not sure if that's possible. Hmmm...

So I was at Barnes and Noble today (sans children, yay!) and happened to see an article in "Fit Pregnancy" magazine (it just caught my eye, no reason for me to be reading that mag) about he top ten places to be pregnant, give birth, and raise a family. Colorado Springs was #7 (Denver was #6, phooey). AND Colorado Springs was ranked #1 for the safest place to raise a family. Sweet. Apparently we rank in the top 10 percent in the country for lowest violent and property crime rates. Add that to Money Magazine naming Colorado Springs as the #1 place to live out of cities with pops of over 300,000, and I'd say we live in the best darn place in the country. Wahoo!

I cooked land-based meat today for the first time in a really long time (like three weeks) but I just had to have it. Pork, yum. Rudi isn't really getting the vegetarian thing at all. He'll come home with Beefaroni and lunch meat and such. Well, we're not really going vegetarian by any means, just MORE vegetarian. I'm just not cooking land-based meat really anymore. But did I mention?: pork, yum.

I am in the throes of organizing Riley and Avery's play room. I got a rockin' sweet floor lamp at Target on clearance. So cool. Wish I could post pictures. Riley rediscovered her dollhouse and played with it for hours. I got rid of two trash bags full of toys and books I don't like and I'm not even done the culling process. Avery was amongst so many toys that she'd never seen before that she just pretty much ran around and got nothing accomplished. Just overwhelmed.

Oh, blogging is no fun without pictures...

Oh my God, this computer is so absolutely horrible! I don't understand why with the Mac I could just plug in the camera and be off and running, and with this computer I need some mystery software (and the CD drive isn't working so even if I had it...). I can't even get into my gmail account. I think I'm going to go crazy! So if anyone knows where they're giving away free computers that don't actually S-U-C-K, let me know...

Nothing eventful happened today. We are planning on going to Denver tomorrow since Riley doesn't have school since it's the wonderful non-holiday of President's Day, whatever that's for. Can you tell that this computer has driven me into a foul mood? Hey, I got some cute pictures of Riley and Avery in the bath together, but wait, I can't get them on the computer, so I guess you'll have to take my word for it...

Oh goodness, where to start? My dental implants went well, except that my lower tooth was too infected to place the implant there. So he packed it with a bone graft and I have to wait six months to get that implant placed. The other two are great and don't hurt at all. The infected one, however, hurts like the dickens. So I'm on some pretty powerful antibiotics that make me nauseous every time I take them. Hooray. I am getting really tired of the care during the healing time and the restricted diet. Rinse with salt water four times a day, rinse with some prescription plaque-killer two times a day, liquid diet, antibiotics three times a day. Ugh.

Second, the Limey has crashed and burned. I don't know what is wrong with it, but it had been flickering for a few days, and then just went out. So back to the old horrible Gateway that I had to fix using mostly fists and paperclips (and a new dial-up modem, a waste of money but a quick fix). Ah, spoiled my the Mac. Hello, viruses, it's been a while...

Riley has been really cute today. She was brushing her Care Bear's hair and wanted a pretty for it. All the ones I offered were not good enough. She said the wanted the ones with "a lot of clips" meaning the claw type. I said that I didn't know if we had any more of those, and she said "yeah, of course we do. You just have to believe." I just thought that was so cute. Then she taped a lollipop to its hand. Then she found a Vietnam Purple Heart badge and taped it to the Care Bear because "it's on the best team."

You know, Riley is at the age where she can tell me just how awful a mother I really am. At bedtime tonight, she wanted to go back downstairs and I said that she had to wait until Avery was asleep first and why doesn't she cuddle with me until Avery's asleep (a favorite ploy of mine-it usually results in Riley falling asleep). So Riley cuddled and then in her most dramatic voice and grand arm gestures: "CAN'T YOU SEE HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU? Why are you mean to me? When you tell me that I can't go down it makes me sad and that's mean! CAN'T YOU SEE HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU?" And then the weeping. So I know that I wasn't being mean, but does it really matter if Riley thinks I'm mean anyway? The truth is her perception, so if she thinks I'm mean, then I guess I'm mean...

And Riley has been lamenting about how she wants to be thirty like me. "I want to be firty just like you!" and the weeping. "I want to be just like you and do everything you do!" and the weeping. I don't know what's up with her recent obsession with growing up and not growing up. Today she said "I don't want Avery to get big. I want her to be brand new again." Where does she get these things?

I did find the origin of her use of "stupid." Turns out I use it when I tell her Hansel and Gretel (her current favorite) and I tell it to her at least five times a day, no joke. When the witch tells Gretel to check if the oven is hot enough to cook Hansel and Gretel says she doesn't know how, I say that the witch says "Get out of my way you stupid girl, I'll check myself..." So there it is. Ta da.

Holy cow, I just used the printer that my parents got us for Christmas to go with the digital camera and it is phenomenal! I can't believe it, it looks just like I printed it from a lab! So totally cool.

I really don't think I have the energy to figure out how to download pictures from this computer, and I have traumatic memories of how unbelievably slow this computer was last time I used it years ago. I think I'll save the aggravation for another day...How totally cruel of me to post for the first time in over a week and then not include pictures. Tomorrow, I promise...I'm downloading Picasa right now.

Riley had her Valentine's Day party at her school yesterday. Like a complete idiot, I volunteered to bake some treats. I made vegan chocolate chip cookies (from a mix) and vegan Chocolate Oreo cupcakes with vegan Buttercream Oreo frosting and vegan chocolate cupcakes with vegan chocolate buttercream frosting. So needless to say, I was quite busy. I didn't get started until 10:30 at night, so I was up late. I ran out and got a copy of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. That book is so totally awesome. I can't wait to make more cupcakes, particularly the Pistachio Rosewater cupcakes which are pictured on the cover of the book. Oh, yum!! The fist batch of cupcakes didn't turn out all that well appearance-wise (they sunk-but still tasted great) so I had to do some high-altitude adjustments (add more flour and increase baking temperature) so the next batch came out perfect. I tell you, these cupcakes were so incredibly moist, you wouldn't believe they were vegan at all. So Riley decided that she was going to get up at 1am that night, and since I had batter downstairs waiting to be baked, I didn't have the time to wrestle her back to sleep. She ended up staying up until 4am when I forced her to go back to bed. She said "Let's play all night long!" Uh, no way. She been waking up at night to itch her rash, especially on her inner elbows, but also on her back. It is a vicious rash, but I don't know what is causing it or what to do about it...

I had my pre-op appointment on Thursday. I got a lot of prescriptions. Rudi requested off on Wednesday and Thursday, so we'll see how well he performs. Luckily, I have the fact that I took care of him when he had his back surgery before Riley was born and I had to clean up the infection, and wash the couch cushion when his back exploded at least two cups of infected cider-looking puss all over the place to hold over his head. And I will. I didn't really want to call this procedure "surgery" because I just thought it was really serious dental work. But no, I now know that this is actual surgery. Horay! And I'll have to be on a liquid diet for a couple of days, and be in pain for a while, and do all sorts of other stuff. This better be worth it, I tell you. For 6K, they better work miracles. I can't believe that I'm spending this much on my teeth. But truth-be-told, if Rudi had let me spend a couple hundred on my teeth six years ago when I knew I had this problem, this all could have been avoided. So there. I'm going to make sure that this house is absolutely spotless before the surgery, so that Rudi can struggle with keeping it clean, and know what I actually do all day.

As always, when I go to Riley's school, I get ideas on activities to do at home. Last night I dried out some used coffee grounds in the oven and put them in a pan, so that she can practice writing her numbers in them, and just shake to erase. She's really enjoyed it so far this morning, although it looks more like she's writing Chinese calligraphy. Oh well, it's still fun. She did surprise me by choosing to write "10" all by herself. Avery loves putting her fingers in it too. Luckily she's too dainty to make a mess out of it.

Speaking of Chinese, I've been eagerly anticipating the premier issue of National Geographic Little Kids magazine, remembering how much I loved getting "National Geographic World" when I was a kid, and thinking this new mag for preschoolers would be great for Riley. So I finally see it on the magazine rack in Borders, and I get all excited. I see that Pandas are the cover story (always a crowd-pleaser) and the magazine is filled with educational activities and things to do at home. Then I see that article on the Chinese New Year, and a two page cartoon spread depicting a Chinese market scene in which the reader is supposed to find certain items. And I look at the picture and I'm like "Wow, I've never seen something so stereotypical in my life!" Of the eleven people in the picture, only two had eyeballs, all the rest had just slants for eyes. And every last one of them had the goofy WWII-propaganda-esque grins. I didn't buy the magazine and I was really disappointed. Has anyone else seen this? Am I being overly sensitive? Riley is at the age when she is just now noticing the differences between people (she asked me what color our neighbor's skin is). Not just between races, but noticing that boys tend to have less hair than girls, and that african-american boys have less hair than other boys, and so forth. I didn't really want to expose her to an over-simplification of a whole race of people. Maybe I'm making a mountain out of a molehill. Go check it out and tell me if I am.

So I did it. I bought Riley tickets for Disney's Monster's Inc. On Ice. You can only resist for so long. It's like realizing that once you have children, you are probably going to wind up in Disney World at least once. At least it's not some girly princess production. I liked Monsters Inc. so I hope Riley will enjoy the show. I only bought two tickets, so Rudi or I will take Riley (probably me, but I'd like Rudi to do something like that with just Riley). It's next month, March 22nd. I had been thinking about it for a while, but thought that tickets would be out of our price-range, but on a whim I look in the Entertainment Book that I bought from Riley's school and I find a coupon for 50% off tickets. Wahoo! Okay, as I'm writing this, I'm thinking that maybe I should have made this a family thing and bought another ticket (Avery wouldn't need one). Oh, now I don't know! I'll have to ask Rudi what he thinks. I'm not sure that Avery would sit through it, or enjoy it in any way. But I always feel like I'm leaving her out.

Ooooh, I get to pick up the new bobbin case for my sewing machine today. I've been waiting for it to be ordered. Hopefully this solves the problem that I've been having with the machine, bird-nesting on the bottom of the fabric which eventually jams the needle and breaks the top thread. Fingers are crossed.

I made a huge vat of homemade minestrone soup, chock full of veggies. Avery particularly loved the zucchini. Here's the soup smeared on Avery's face...

So Avery learned to walk backwards last Sunday. She was pretty proud about that. This kid can really move. She goes through a hyperactive stage in the evening where she runs around panting like a dog. Just runs and runs. It's so cute. She also says "uh-oh" regularly.

Avery was so cute the other night. She likes to take my hands and clap them together, but one of my arms was wrapped around Riley and my hand was under Riley and the covers. I watched her eyes go up my arm and back down to where my hand should be. Then she holds up my other arm and studies my hand, and then her eyes go down my arm and back up, and then she looks at my other arm again, knowing here my hand should me. She's studying anatomy. How adorable. She was so confused. Then she figured it out. It was fun watching her brain work.

In the car last week, in an aborted attempt to take Riley to school (she started coughing uncontrollably half-way there) Riley says "do you know what I want to do when I am big?" I say "No, what do you want to do when you're grown up?" She says, "I will clean and sweep and do laundry and carry my baby and cook and wash." So my little girl aspires to be a housewife. I don't mind if she chooses to be a SAHM, but I would like her to have other options. Obviously I know the benefits of a mother staying home and the sacrifices involved.

Last Thursday when I was driving Riley home from school, she says "Malachy said I couldn't sit next to him because he doesn't like me (Malachy is usually Riley's friend, but I think he was with older boys so girls aren't cool) and Christopher (an older boy) said I couldn't sit next to him either." And my heart just breaks. I tell Riley that Malachy probably didn't mean it, that he was just joking with the other boys, and so forth. Then Riley says "That's okay. The boys don't like me but the girls like me."

So I was already feeling defensive of Riley when we went to Barnes and Noble for storytime. After the story, Riley and Avery were sitting by me and another mother, pointed at Avery and says "That one is a doll, an absolute doll." And I'm like, what about my other beautiful daughter who is sitting right here? Why do people worship the blond haired blue eyed idol? I know that Avery is a cutie, but Riley is equally cute. That's what sucks about having two girls. They'll always be compared on their looks first, not their intelligence or their abilities. Boys, on the other hand, are hardly ever compared first on their looks. It's always math and science and athletics for boys, which they have some control over (suck at sports and math?-try harder!; ugly?-get plastic surgery (??)) Do people ever think that constantly gushing over Avery's blue eyes to her brown-eyed mother (hey, she obviously didn't get my eyes) might be ever so slightly offensive? I guess that since I have two girls that look as different as night and day I'll always be defending one of them in my mind. I guess some people prefer one eye color over another. I still get a lot of compliments on Riley's eyes, mostly that they're huge. As I already said, I was feeling defensive of Riley that day.

This is the best picture I could get of Avery's habit of running away while scratching her butt as soon as I take her diaper off. I'll try to get some more.

Hopefully, if all goes well, I'll be sewing for Amy's brand new baby carrier business. That'll be lots of fun and will give me something to do other than wipe noses and butts. And I love making things with my hands, so it will be fulfilling for me and give me a creative outlet. Oh yeah!

Other than that, nothing has really happened around here, but that's not going to stop me from blogging about my boring day-to-day existence.


We were supposed to go to Riley's classmate Lorelai's house today, but Lorelai is sick, so it was a no-go. But we made firm plans to go over there next Wednesday. They live all the way in Fort Carson to the south, which really isn't that far away. But it's on base, so we have to go through a car search and so forth, but at least I have a military ID now, so that should make the process a little smoother.

Riley fell in the toilet last week. I keep forgetting to blog about it. It was absolutley hilarious. She refuses to use the potty seat now, so as she was climbing on and arranging herself, the hand that she was holding a stuffed animal in slipped and she fell totally in the toilet. I tried not to laugh too hard at first so that I wouldn't hurt her feelings, but she thought it was funny too, so I let it all out.

Another thing I keep forgetting to blog about: Rudi took Riley and Avery to Sportsman's Warehouse after picking Riley up from school last week while I was at my dental consultation. He's brave. Anyway, he said that they did nothing but fight. And Avery was the aggressor. Avery pushed Riley in the face, so Riley pushes Avery in the face, and then Avery grabs Riley's face and scratches her. Avery is sure fiesty. I wish they wouldn't fight, but I'm glad that Avery is sticking up for herself. Riley can be really over-bearing. And that's an understatement.


So as I was at Barnes and Noble looking at cookbooks, I notice a bunch of books on cooking to avoid food allergies and sensitivities, and usually I skip the ones that avoid soy because Avery isn't allergic to soy, but something caught my eye. It was talking about the effects of soy sensitivity and so forth and it gets me thinking. Thinking about the rash that Riley (yes, Riley) has had for about a month that I just assumed was just dry skin, until I notice her scratching the inside of her elbow where the rash is the worst. Then I think about her hyperactive behavior over the past month and how she ALWAYS complains that her stomach hurts. Riley absolutely adores soy milk, but only started drinking it in massive quantities about a month or so ago. I know she's not allergic to it, but sensitivity to soy is fairly common. So I'm wondering...So I'm having her drink cow's milk or rice milk until I can see if there's a change.

I'm working on a Hmong-style baby carrier. I don't have a really good reason why, just because. I'm having a hard time finalizing the measurements, since they're really not that common, hence the absence of sewing instructions online. I don't mind tweeking the measurements for future carriers, so this one doesn't have to be absolutely perfect, but I'd like it to be wearable.

I've been really bad about posting lately. And it's not like I have nothing to post about, I'm just being lazy.

I had my consult with the dentist on Thursday. Turns out, three implants will set us back $6200. Not too shabby. That is the absolute maximum charge, including $530 per tooth for bone grafts (yuck) when hopefully I'll only need about $250 worth for each tooth. So this is worst-case scenario. And my insurance doesn't cover implants or implant crowns, but they'll cover some of the extraction charges. The dentist said that it was fairly obvious that my dental problems are genetic since my gums are in excellent shape. He said that when people don't care for their teeth, it is evident in their gums as well. He said that I'm doing a good job there. I'm like a child, I want to get praise for brushing my teeth and flossing like a maniac. So I have my pre-op on Feb. 8th where they'll give me a whole bunch of prescriptions, including and oral sedative for my dentist-induced panic attacks and my negative experiences in the past. Then surgery on Feb. 14th. What a great Valentine's Day! Then I'll just have to live with metal posts in my mouth for six months or more until I get the crowns (and the $3000 needed to pay for them). Whoopee!

Rudi finally dragged us to Cripple Creek on Friday. He had heard so much about the place, but he must have heard it from people without children, because there were only casinos there. We stopped at a diner for lunch and Riley had her first exposure to an arcade and wanted to earn some prizes. Luckily she has a mama who is pretty good at getting arcade tickets. It was a nice spring-like day in the Springs (in the 60s), but Cripple Creek is at 9500 ft altitude, so it was pretty darn cold. I told Rudi that if he ever took me somewhere cold on a spring day again, he was going to die. Riley is her father's daughter, though. Freezing out and the kid just had to have an ice cream cone. Riley had fun just walking up and down the streets. I confess, we gambled $5 and walked away with $5, so we broke even.

Arg, just waiting for my photos to upload to Flickr...

So it looks like I've convinced Rudi to drastically change our diet. Rudi needs to lose at least 50 pounds to be at a healthy weight. I think we'll eat mainly vegetable dishes with some fish thrown in. Luckily, Riley and Avery both love vegetables, but it's always the same-old same-old. I have a hankerin' for some mushrooms, so I'm trying to find a portobello and pasta dish for tonight. We looked at vegetarian cookbooks at Barnes and Noble, but couldn't really find one that we liked. I find it really suspicious that most vegetarian cookbooks don't have pictures. Hmmm... They usually called for some really weird ingredients (like sweet smoked paprika-what the?). I'll figure it all out in time. The cookbooks gave me good ideas on what to look for online.

This isn't the greatest picture of Riley's artwork, but anyway...I'm alway so impressed by how she develops her drawings and how they evolve and get better and more realistic without any proding from me. She now draws the pupils on her people, complete with arms, legs, fingers, and toes. I'm still waiting for them to have a body.

Avery's new diaper covers came in the mail today! As did the girls' Valentine's gifts. What a great day. The diaper covers are fabulous. I am super impressed with the Bummis Super Snaps. Those are really sweet. I also really like the stacinators and am really glad that the site said that they run big. That's an understatement. I don't think Avery will ever outgrow them. The Bumkins are alright. The print is awesome, but they seem to run small and the elastic around the legs is a little stiff. I may have to exchange for the bigger size. We'll see.

The Sorting Cylinders I got Riley were described incorrectly on the Oompa site. But in a good way, for sure. The dimensions given were 1 in. wide and deep and 4 in. long, so I was expecting some really small toys. As it turned out, they are 2.5 in. deep and wide and 9.5 in long. How sweet is that?! The only thing I can figure is that the dimensions were given in inches, but because it's a European company, they assumed they were in centimeters and converted the measurements. Who knows. As you can tell, I've thought too much on the subject already. But they are really awesome. Avery's books are really cute too. Just the right size for her with colorful illustrations and no words.

We have a really complicated day ahead of us tomorrow. Rudi is coming with me to take Riley to school, then we're all going to the VA Clinic so he can have his labs done. Then we'll fart around if we have time. Then he'll drop me off at the dentist's office, which is right behind Barnes and Noble (how convenient) and go with Avery to pick up Riley from school. Then he'll take the girls to Barnes and Noble where I'll meet him after my appointment. I can't wait to get my teeth fixed. It's been a long time coming.

I saw Transamerica the other day. I thought that it was a really good movie and Rudi didn't realize that the main character was played by a woman. I watch Desperate Housewives, so I knew (and even told him) that Felicity Huffman was the main character. He just didn't believe it. I think that she did a phenomenal job portraying the nuances of a character caught between two genders. It was the first movie that Rudi and I were able to watch together in a very very long time, we both enjoyed it, and neither of the girls woke up during it. Who could ask for more?

Speaking of the girls, Riley hasn't nursed since Sunday. This whole weaning thing has been incredibly easy. I have never fought with her or denied her. I make a moderate attempt at distraction, and if that doesn't work, I just nurse her. Now she doesn't even ask. Last night she woke up at midnight and wouldn't go back to sleep and I was desperately trying to get her to, but she wanted to go downstairs and play. As a last resort, I offered to nurse her, and she turned me down cold. Ouch. So I had to get up and play with her in the middle of the stinkin' night. Bummer. I always assumed that she would nurse one more time, so it's weird to think that Sunday was perhaps the last time and I didn't savor it. I've gained five pounds since she began weaning, so that's not too shabby.

Doh! I put the camera batteries in the battery charger but didn't plug the charger in. Pictures will have to wait!

Today wasn't really exciting at all, but I'll blog anyway. I am putting Avery in the wrap a few times a day at home to get used to tying it. It may be a while before I'm good enough to attempt it in public. Nothing like the pressure of other people watching you precariously binding your baby to your back. Avery seems to like it, but she's quite the squirmer, so she manages to work the panel across her back down around her waist. I think she's still relatively secure that way but it's annoying. I think that even when I get better at it, the mei tai will still be my go-to carrier for trips to the supermarket and such. I wanted to use the wrap more for hiking and long walks. Boy, neither of us look particularly happy in this picure. I didn't notice that before. I should have picked a different one...

I did our federal taxes. Yahoo! We're getting more than 6K back, so mama is getting some new teeth. I have a dentist appointment on Thursday for a consult. I called around to almost every dentist in town. I like this guy because he is a specialist, he's close by, he's not too cheap and not too expensive, and he offers discounts on multiple implants done on the same visit. The second tooth is $400 cheaper than the first one, which makes it only slightly more expensive than a bridge, which I was going to get on my lower jaw. Implants are such a long process, though. Once the screw is implanted I have to wait 4-6 months for it to heal before getting the crown. Then I have the pleasure of spending around $1000 for each crown. Ah, dental work...I'll be itemizing these expenses on our taxes next year, that's for sure.

I spent nearly two hours wandering aimlessly around Target today. Oh, if I only had more money to spend. You know, Target has some really decent childrens' clothes. Too bad the company has absolutely horrible terrible no-good customer service. But their stuff is like crack, and it's neatly arranged and the store is always empty so the shopping is good. Now, we are obviously Walmart shoppers, against our will, and say what you want about Walmart, but Walmart is what it is. They make no false pretenses. Target makes themselves out to be better than Walmart, but their corporate structure and disregard for the consumer is infinitely worse than Walmart. Heaven forbid that you have to return something to Target, or buy something there that falls apart a week later. Ah, but the beautiful bowls and dishes, cute girls' shoes, wooden kitchen toys...

And because my children are absolutely completely spoiled, I bought them Valentine's Day presents. I'm so bad. It's like I can't go a month without buying them a gift. I got Riley the Haba Colored Cylinders because she likes that kind of stuff at her school. And I got Avery some wooden books, and because they weren't as expensive as Riley's toy, she got two; the Chelona Snail Book and the Chelona Soleil Book. Are you supposed to buy yor kids Valentine's presents? Oh, why not!? Now I just logged on to Oompa to find out if they were shipped or not (they never emailed) and I'm in a panic because they're scheduled to be delivered tomorrow! Aaaah, I have to keep these secret for three whole weeks! Oh, the pain, the pain...Watch that stinkin' tea set become available not that I've ordered something else.

So I did manage to go to the gym yesterday. I managed to drag myself for 2mi. exactly in 25 minutes. So I did step up the pace, but I think I'll slow down when I go tomorrow. I don't really like competition, not even against myself. I'm so lame...

I am so sick of winter. I am so ready for spring to be here. Not having to worry about hats and coats and mittens and warming up the car. Just walking out the door as we are. Sounds like heaven to me. *sigh*

I finally figured out how to use the baby wrap carrier that I made. I don't think I mentioned that I made one, not that it takes a whole lot of skill to make one. I went to Joanns and got a batik cotton gauze that was $5.99/yd. with a 40% off coupon (so $3/yd for $12 total) and cut off some of the width and hemmed up the edge and hemmed up the ends. And voila, a $12 wrap that people try to sell for $60+ online. Ha ha, suckers! At first I tried the Tibetan back carry which really wasn't all that comfortable, mostly because it's a high-back carry and Avery is too small to spread her legs that wide. So I tried the front-cross back carry which was awesomely comfy for both of us. She's a little lower on my back so her legs are spread around my waist rather than my upper back. I think I'll revisit the Tibetan carry when she is bigger. I'll have to get Rudi to take some pictures when he comes home from work. And I had enough fabric left over to make a carrier for Riley's doll...

Speaking of Rudi, he and Riley had a little tiff (as they frequently do) about Riley not giving one of her toys to Avery upon demand. I thought Rudi was wrong to ask her to do that at all, and let me tell you why (besides the obvious). One of Riley's favorite things to play with are "naked sticks," namely the cardboard tubes that come in wrapping paper. Rudi was holding one and Riley wanted it. Rudi refused just because he had it and wouldn't give it to her just because she wanted it. How juvenile! Meanwhile he's kind of flaunting that he has it in front of her. So back to the Avery thing, Riley was kind of flaunting that she had the pretend ice cream cone (which is rightfully hers, although it is one of Avery's favorite toys) in front of Avery, just as Rudi had done to her. So Rudi gets mad because she is enacting exactly what she had learned directly from him. This is all besides the point. They kissed and made up a day later, and when Rudi went to Barnes and Noble last night while I tackled the bedtime routine, Riley cried and begged him not to go. Then she cried this morning when Rudi went to work. When those two get along, they really get along. But when they fight, Troy burns.

Ah, I get to go to the gym again today. I have to say that I really do enjoy it. Or is it the childless hour and the stop at Starbucks on the way home that I enjoy (BINGO!)? We'll see how long I stick to it. I have to say probably for only a month or two. I'm just being realistic. On Friday I went 1.6 miles in 25 min. That's pretty slow, but we'll see if I can beat it today. I caved and started the couch to 5K so I was walking most of the time. I'm supposed to do the same routine today, but I'll try and pick up the pace. I think I looked pretty stupid in the gym, running for 60 seconds and walking for 90 seconds, over and over again. Oh, who cares?

Avery really has the walking down now. I'd say she walks 85% of the time. She's also getting faster. It's funny trying to watch her navigate the carpet-to-linoleum switch. She looks like she's on a tight rope whenever she comes into the kitchen.

Riley is being totally contrary today. Disagreement for the sake of disagreement. When are these Terrific Threes supposed to kick in? I'm waiting...

So I'm picking Riley up from school today and there's this man there either picking up or dropping off. He was fat and had a cane. Not that that matters, but it helps complete the picture. So I'm signing Riley out and he just starts ranting at me about how the liberal schools are brain-washing our children and teaching them the "gay lifestyle and global-warming crap" and I'm like is this loon talking to me? I don't agree with his views personally, but he has the right to think what he wants, but expressing them in that way, completely randomly and without provocation, kind of shows mental instability. And it was his tone, like the ramblings of a lunatic, I mean really HATEFUL. And he never really looked AT me, but I was the only one in there, so I assume I was the intended target. So I was infinitely uncomfortable around this guy and didn't like his use of the word "crap" around my child (although she's heard worse). Plus, don't I have "liberal" written all over me? Did he think I'd agree? In addition, global warming is a SCIENTIFIC FACT, so denying it is just ignorant. Now, we can debate till the end of time whether humans are responsible for it or not, but that's a whole separate issue. I think I'll bring it to the director's attention that this creepy guy gave me the willies. I hope I don't see him again. I was shocked today, but that will wear off and then I'll get angry...