Observation

In Evie’s first year the changes and milestones were very pronounced. One day she was a baby blob and the next she was rolling over, then a few months later crawling and then amazingly a few months after that walking. Her development over her second year of life has been subtler but no less amazing. The “milestone” that has amazed me the most over this past year is her gradually, but miraculously, going from baby to little kid.

In the process of going for baby to little kid Evie is also teaching me a few things. My favorite lesson of late is observation. Evie is phenomenally (of course I have a biased opinion) observant. Time and time again I will be out and about with her and she will say something like, “Look mommy a bunny.” Initially I would glance over and not see anything and, therefore, just assume that she was pretending. After doing this a couple of times I decided to slow down and really look at where she was looking/pointing and by god if there wasn’t almost always something there. I, in my foolish adultness, was just moving too darn fast to see it.

My favorite story of her acuity is just last week when she stopped me from making dinner to show me a bug on the floor. I, having learned my lesson, stopped and squatted down with her to see it. I looked and looked and didn’t see anything until, about a minute later, the little baby cricket hopped. Now I am not much of a fan of crickets in my house, but seeing how Evie had just found it and was excited about it, I figured I would do my best emulation of Albert Schweitzer and help Evie move him outside. I am sorry to say that I am a clumsy activist and managed to kill the poor cricket in my relocation attempt. Evie, however, did not notice this (observant yes, perceptive perhaps not) so we went through the motions of putting the cricket outside in his new home; saving that all things die lesson for another day.

Desert Camping

Last weekend we decided it was time to get out of town... because we had been at home for all of one weekend and heaven knows we hate to relax and do nothing :) Christof and Alicia invited us to go camping with their family and man are we glad we agreed!

Christof planned the whole thing, including buying all the yummy camp food, so it really was a great stress-free weekend for us. We left Tucson at about 4 pm on Friday and drove to mile 45.6 on Interstate 8 where we were supposed to find a dirt road and a fence.... well, after driving along the shoulder of the interstate and not finding anything we got back on the freeway and looked for a place to turn around. As we did that there was the fence and dirt road (go figure) So flipping a couple of not so kosher u-ies on the freeway we made it to more like mile 47.6, and our gate into the South Maricopa Wilderness Area. We drove about 2 miles in and found a lovely spot to set up our kingdom just as it was getting dark. It was perfect.


The first night was freezing cold, so not much sleep was had by Patrick and I. Evie, of course, sleeping on top of the two of us and with most of the covers, slept great. A nice round of mimosas in the morning and a little hike up to some nearby mountains cured us of any sleep depravity though. That afternoon we hung around camp while the kids explored, which was great fun for all of us. Evie particularly enjoyed the wash next to our camp, and sat there alone for a good hour just digging in the sand and talking to herself (or maybe Gaga).


Thankfully the second night was about 10 degrees warmer, so we all got a really good (for camping and sharing a bed with a 22 month old) night sleep. After a quickie breakfast we packed up camp and headed home. It was only 36 hours or so but I tell you what it felt like a week. Three cheers for desert camping!

Mmm dirt

Over a year ago I wrote a blog about the evolutionary oddity that is a peewee’s penchant to put everything (including dirt and cat poo) in his/her mouth. I was thoroughly convinced that this was some sort of evolutionary malfunction and that it is only by the grace of some sort of deity that we humans are still around.

Well it turns out that a baby’s fondness for putting anything (and everything) in his or her mouth is indeed an evolutionary function, not, as I had thought, a malfunction. There is a great article in the NY Times about it. The gist is that research has found that the goodness of dirt itself as well as all the heretofore thought nasties like bacteria, viruses and worms(!) stimulate the development of a healthy immune system. Therefore, back in the prehistoric day, it was the kids who weren’t eating dirt who didn’t make it and thus the genetic propensity for it. (The article doesn’t say this of course but heck it isn’t too much of a stretch now is it?)

So celebrate all ye dirt loving babes… that worm you just ate (eeewwwe) is actually good for you!

Gaga

There is a stranger in our midst. Well a stranger to Patrick and I at least… to Evie this person is a friend, confidant and (many times) peon. This newest member of our clan is named Gaga. S/he (for if you ask Evie its gender depends on the day) spends many hours with Evie playing all sorts of games. Evie’s favorite activities for her little friend (I guess s/he is small because Evie frequently holds our her hand for us to give Gaga a kiss when s/he is hurt) are sharing food, taking a bath and romping in the backyard. Gaga also, I am afraid, bears the brunt of Evie’s frustrations when she is low person on the totem pole and has been known to be ordered around the house or told “No, Gaga, Evie eats first.”

Gaga made his/her first appearance while we were on our ski trip. Patrick and I were hanging out when we noticed Evie in the corner of the room playing and talking emphatically about something. When we asked her what she was doing she gave us her typical, “I’m playing.” and then went back to it. I went over to where she was and overheard her saying Gaga do this and Gaga eat that. At first I thought it was just a word that I didn’t understand but then later in the day I overheard her talking again to Gaga and realized that I was in the presence of the imaginary….

Vacation!

We just got back from our super duper 10 day trip to Colorado! There are some pretty great stories but given that I am pooped, and chores abound, pictures with captions will have to do for now :)

San Diego!

A quick post while I have a free moment... We were away for Christmas and then soon after left for San Diego, whew what a great whirlwind!

Last Wednesday the whole family, except for Whiskers, hopped into the car and drove to (supposedly) sunny San Diego. Well, the sun only shone for one day and in fact it was warmer in Tucson but I tell you what we had a fabulous time regardless!

We stayed at this swanky hotel that I found for a steal that not only catered to little people like Evie, but were also all about fur people like Kita. As a result we all lived it up. Evie loved the free loaner toys that they provided and Patrick loved the luxurious robes and fancy coffee maker :)



Kita got to see and play in the ocean for the first time... she kept jumping and biting at the waves... it was hilarious.


All in all a wonderful time was had by all, now that we know that beautiful California is only a 7 hour (with stops for date shakes in Dateland of course) trip away I am sure we will be back soon!

Christmas

Evie's second Christmas was definitely double the fun! The Tuesday before Christmas Nicole brought Evie her present, a shiny red fire truck to match the one Riley also received for Christmas!


Then on Christmas Eve we headed up to Phoenix, hung out with my family, drank glog and watched bad television...

Christmas itself of course was the main event. Evie woke up to the booty from Santa... a new playground and (as promised) a new doll! After some awesome french toast made by Mina (aka my Mom) we, or rather Evie, opened all of the other presents under the tree. She did a very good job of being the elf... passing out and then opening everyone's presents for them.



Later in the day we went over to my Aunt Betty and Uncle Jim's house for the big Rimsza get together which is always a wonderful chaos. Evie was a bit shy at first but warmed up after awhile. Her favorite parts of the afternoon were my cousin's new dog and the Madeline doll and book my Aunt Betty bought for her.



Evie was so mobile and vocal it is hard to believe it is the same kid as just a year ago... but I imagine I will feel that way every year :)

Winterhaven

How is it that I have lived in Tucson for going on 5 years and it wasn't until this year that I managed to make it to the spectacle that is Winterhaven? All I have to say is thank goodness for children as the motivators to do cheesy holiday stuff because, with Evie as an excuse, I am having a ball this Christmas!

Last night we celebrated the Solstice by going out to dinner with the Erickson clan and then traipsing around Winterhaven. It has to be the most ridiculous (and I mean that in the best way) display of holiday spirit I have ever seen. For those of you who don't know, Winterhaven is a neighborhood in Tucson where every Christmas the whole place is shut down to cars and the people go absolutely nutso with the house decorations. It is such an event that there are even hay and trolley rides through the neighborhood. There were many unique houses but here are my top four: the house completely re-made to look like a gingerbread house, the house with so many lights it looked like it was daytime (on the picture posted here), the house with the phenomenal two story high AIDS ribbon and one story high words HOPE and the house with the timed bellagio style water and lights show. And, because we are just that cool... or rather because our nanny Nicole is just that cool, we got a behind the scenes tour of the water spectacular show house because she is a friend of a friend who lives there. (And we were lucky enough to spot her car as they drove in...)

You would not believe what this guy goes through to put together this house... he starts in September and programs into a computer program a 12 song show with water fountains and lights. He said last night that every song takes him about six hours to put together. It definitely goes down as my favorite random hobby of the year!

For those of you who do not live in Tucson y'all are welcome to come and stay with us sometime and witness this event...they really should put it in that one million things to do before you die book....unbelievable :)

More pictures from Grandma Nicole

Here are the pictures from Grandma Nicole's visit!

Grandma Nicole!

This week Evie had a fabulous treat! Her Grandma came all the way out from Baltimore just to hang out with her all week. They were very busy, lots of trips to the park and library especially. Nicole took some super cute pictures of Genevieve that I will post as soon as I get my little hands on them :)

On Nicole's last night here (she actually left later that night) we all went out to Zoo Lights at the Reid Park Zoo. Evie's favorite part was definitely the mariachi band. She danced and jumped and squealed to the band along with a couple other enthusiastic kids... very cute.


My favorite (or I thought it would be my favorite) was taking Evie to visit Santa. As we waited in line we totally prepped her for the experience, explaining how it would all go... rehearsing her line, "I would like a doll, please Santa." She had it down pat and seemed ready for her debut but then, I am sad to say, got cold feet when it came time to preform. Not only did she not manage to get out her very important request but she also was too scared to even sit on the big guys lap. Worry ye not though we still have a picture of the whole event. Oh yes, a great photo op of Santa and I smiling nice and big for the camera and Evie looking down at her shoes and trying to get a candy cane open... ahh Christmas memories.

Mmmm Cookies...

This blog is dedicated to my dear far-flung friend Annie.... making Christmas cookies without you just wasn't quite the same! Next year we will have to send you some seeing how you have an address again and all :)

On a whim this past week I decided to put out a call to cookie arms to a few friends of mine. My call was answered in droves and as a result we had quite the army of cookie makers in our kitchen this morning (over 10 people!).

Now I am not an experienced cookie maker... when I did this in the past Annie did all of the heavy lifting, i.e., the cookie dough prep and cooking. Lucky for me though the cookie making brigade was quite accomplished and helped me through my first Christmas cookie baking extravaganza. Bridget came armed with her baker's knowledge (and managed to rescue some really sad sugar cookies that I had prepped earlier in the morning... last time I try a cooking light recipe), Alicia came armed with aprons and chefs hats as well as a million cookie cutters, and Rachel came armed with much needed cookie sheets (you don't even want to see the state of mine) and even more cookie cutters.

The kids (not to mention my kitchen) got all messy and quite a bit of dough and icing (the best two parts of this endeavor) were eaten by all. Three cheers for cookies!

Santa!

So every year Patrick's work has a little shindig complete with an appearance by Santa... who arrives on his Harley. Now I have always known somewhere in my heart of hearts that the whole joy of Christmas (Santa included) is one of the reasons I wanted kids... let me just tell ya today's encounter with the big red suited guy just confirmed all my suspicions.


I went down to Patrick's office around 4 pm and Nicole and Riley came too. We hung out for a bit eating the good food when a bunch of the older kids decided they needed to wait outside for Santa. Evie, Riley, Nicole, Patrick and I decided to join them. About 2 minutes later we heard the roar of a motorcycle and the kids went nuts... then up pulls Santa, blaring Feliz Navidad on his stereo and complete with a toy sack on his Hog.

He then goes inside and proceeds to pass out the goodies... taking each kid on his lap and helping them unwrap their present. Now Evie wasn't scared of him per se but she still wasn't keen to sit on his lap at first. He gave both girls fancy toy riding horses (a pretty dangerous gift in a place with glass tables... Santa...) As he passed out the other gifts Evie got used to him and then finally after about 20 minutes decided it was OK to sit on his lap for a (brief) photo op. Then after all the presents were passed out and the pictures were taken, Santa hopped back on his ride, pumped up the tunes and rode off to a gaggle of kids jumping and waving... I swear it almost brought a tear to my eye...Partially because it was touching and partially because it was the most ridiculous, awesome event I have witnessed in a long time...

HealthyToys.org Lead Check

Just added this widget to the site... a great resource for all you Santas out there!

Pre-school musical

Lately my life feels a little like a musical. At any given moment, particularly the emotionally charged ones, you can catch us breaking into song. Is Evie refusing to put on her diaper again… well then better sing the one foot, two foot all feet in the diaper song. Or perhaps she is utterly thrilled about going out for a walk, then she will burst in to the cactus song (to the tune of row, row, row your boat and with the only lyric being the words cactus and row). All this singing has made me nostalgic for the last musical I was a part of… so as homage to days gone by:

What good is sitting alone in your crib?
Come hear the music play.
Life is a Jamboree, small one,
Come to the Jamboree.

Wipe off the frown
The glare and the scowl.
Time for a holiday.
Life is a Jamboree, small one,
Come to the Jamboree.

Come taste the juice,
Come hear the band.
Come blow your whistle,
Start celebrating;
Right this way,
Your sippy cup’s waiting

No use permitting
some cleaning of room
To wipe every smile away.
Come hear the music play.
Life is a Jamboree, small one,
Come to the Jamboree.

I used to have a dolly
known as Joliet
With whom I shared
Many hours on the toilet

She wasn't what you'd call
A blushing rose...
As a matter of fact
She wore no clothes.

The day she got stuck in the mud
My parents came to scoff:
"Well, that’s what comes
from too much playing with your shoes off."

But when I saw her wash up pretty like a Queen
She was the happiest...dolly...
I'd ever seen.

I think of Joliet to this very day.
I'd remember how'd she turn to me and say:
"What good is sitting alone in your crib?
Come hear the music play.
Life is a Jamboree, small one,
Come to the Jamboree."

And as for me,
I made up my mind back on the toilet,
When I go, I'm going like Joliet.

Start by admitting
From dawn to dusk
Isn't that long a day.
Life is a Jamboree, small one,
Only a Jamboree, small one,
And I love a Jamboree!

Thanksgiving

Hooray for Turkey day! This Thanksgiving we stayed close to home and had our dinner at Uncle Bob and Aunt Lisa's house. My folks, Brendon and his girlfriend Claudia came down from Phoenix and have been staying with us too. For most of the afternoon Patrick and I were able to socialize because my cousin Melissa did a fabulous job of being the baby tender, she even set up a special kids table for the two of them!

Deceit

OK I have a confession to make. I really thought that I would not be one of those parents but here I am, only 20 months into this adventure, and alas I am one of those people. I have used, now mind you only once or twice, the power of deceit to get my way with my daughter. I recognize that it will likely not be the last time but I tell you what I feel pretty terrible about it and may just have to buy Evie an extra doll or something for Christmas to assuage my guilt (Oh my gawd that’s why our parents bought us such nice things for Christmas every year… it was because of the lies!)

Most nights in recent memory Evie has gone to bed without incident, i.e., no crying. In the past week however she has been on the verge, a whimper here and there, and so I have tried to come up with ways to ease her into bed. One trick I have found that works really well is to put her in bed and then ask her if she wants anything… give her a little sense of control over the whole situation. For quite awhile this was an easy solution, she would ask for a teddy bear one night, a book the next or maybe an extra blanket. Then last week it escalated to a request for crackers.

Crackers may seem pretty innocuous to you but the problem is that I have to leave the room and come back for crackers. Not to mention the fact that then I would have to stand there while she sucked on her cracker to make sure she has eaten it so I don’t worry that she might choke (ok so that is a little paranoid). Leaving the room that first time to get the cracker works out OK, she just lays down and waits for me to come back. But leaving after the cracker ends in either a total meltdown or a request escalation to milk or cheese or cookies.

So here is where the deceit comes in…. now when she asks for a cracker and lays down I say OK, leave, and then DON’T COME BACK. The worst part about it is that she just lays down and falls asleep, lonely in her crib sure that eventually… I …will… come …with…. a …cracker. I leave and immediately worry that I am being cruel to my child. How can I possibly live with such lies and duplicity! Needless to say I did this two nights in a row and haven’t been able to use this tactic since…. it is just too terrible.

At the desert museum

Monique, Gerry, Vivian and Dylan left on Thursday. It was sure great to have them stay with us! We may not have been able to orchestrate a baby portrait shoot but we did manage to get some cute photos of them in their matching outfits while at the desert museum....

More pics

Even with the two toddlers we have been busy! Baths were taken, All Souls Parades were attended and even a garden was built!!

Adventures in photography

As a parent life is rarely dull, and when it is you get very nervous because chances are trouble is afoot. Ever since Evie became a biped it has been difficult to corral her, but we have managed OK. Add another toddler to the equation and all semblance of control is decidedly lost. You would think that I would know this already having witnessed Evie with her friends on many occasions. Or, perhaps, I am just an eternal optimist. Whatever the case my naïveté was the source of the most ridiculous almost photo shoot I have ever witnessed.

It all began a few days ago when Vivian and I had the idea to get Evie and Dylan matching outfits and take them to Sears to get portraits taken. I had these great romantic ideas of the two of them sitting on a fake pony, donning big smiles and having a grand old time. With these visions in mind we took them to Old Navy yesterday and immediately found them the cutest little outfits. (mostly on sale even!) The first critical step in the process was easily accomplished surely set the stage for what would be a fabulous photo shoot….

Take one. With their new outfits on we confidently strode into the portrait studio and waited for the photographer to work her magic. When the photographer’s first request was to sit two 19 month olds back to back with no props it became clear that we would have to rely on our own artifice to get the babes even to sit still, let alone take a picture. Oh how we tried. Genevieve would sit down on the cross like told only to have Dylan run from the studio. Then we would get Dylan back in the studio sitting pretty only to have Evie decide that she had experienced enough, proclaim “all done” and leave the room. We tried a fake rock, which both Evie and Dylan enjoyed, but like hell they were going to sit on it together. Then we did a fake rock and a red block… which would have resulted in funny pictures anyway… but that didn’t do it either. After about 15 minutes of trying it became clear that we needed to send out for reinforcements.

Take two. With Evie on my back I ran out of the Sears and into the mall to buy some lollipops. The only candy store nearby was a See’s so I had to buy them vanilla chocolate pops. Then on my way back to Sears I saw a toy store so thinking I would hedge my bets I bought a car for Dylan and a doll for Evie. Complimenting myself for my thoroughness, and cursing myself for enforcing gender stereotypes, I rushed back to the portrait studio. Lollipops in hand we sat them down on the white photo sheet again. The lollipops did the trick for about 10 seconds at which point they both stood up and started roaming around again, but this time their cute little faces were enhanced by white drool. Giving them their toys didn’t help much either… a 1.5 year old just doesn’t get the concept of you do this and I’ll give you that. Bribery is clearly an unrefined skill in both of them. Fifteen minutes and three-fourths of a lollipop later we were all exhausted, admitted defeat and went home.

Mommy myth number 453: Photographing two toddlers together is an easy and fun way to preserve cherished memories.

Dirt versus Dirty

Its a full house these days. Patrick's dad, step-mom, sister and nephew are visiting us for the week and man are we having fun! Of course the principal form of entertainment is watching the kids play. We discovered pretty quickly that Dylan and Evie are two very different birds. Evie is all about dirt and Dylan is all about letting you know when something is dirty.

On their first day together Evie was in the backyard filling up a cup of dirt (pretty normal routine for her) while Dylan played with his trucks. After a bit it was time to come inside for a snack, so Evie picked up her dirt cup and headed for the house. Dylan caught her trying to sneak the dirt in the house... pointed at the cup, said "dirt"and wouldn't let her inside.


Then on Saturday Vivian and I went out to get massages and left the kids with Patrick, Monique and Gerry. When we get home Gerry shows me a video of Evie wallowing in a mud pit that Patrick made for her. The next video is of Patrick trying to get Dylan to even put his finger in the mud. The whole time Dylan is giving Patrick this look like "why would anyone want to do such a thing?"

More tales to come as the week goes on...