Full Moon

I've heard that it's a parental obligation to show cute but compromising photos of your toddler. Since it's a friends and family site, here you go!

And she strikes again...

Today I took Cady to story time at the library. Probably due to the holidays, it was a nice small group of about four moms/dads and only five or six kids. The reader, a man, was reading a book about a cat that also featured other animals. When he turned to the cow page, there's a cartoon picture of a cow with a very large udder. Cady, who is standing in front of the book, exclaims, "Look mommy! That cow has a peepo!" Peepo is a word that Cady came up with on her very own. It's a stand-in for penis. Since she created it, we've just gone with it. I didn't even think she knew the word penis, that is until her follow-up statement. No sooner had she announced to everyone that this cow has a peepo but she then says, "My daddy has a penis!"

Cady's done wonders on my "embarrasses easily" issues. I hardly bat an eye anymore.

I remember the first time that I heard the song, "Betty Davis Eyes" I just had to know what precocious meant. I remember asking my mom and then feeling equally confused by the time she was done explaining. I guess that not being very precocious myself I just couldn't wrap my brain around it's meaning. It amuses me that 30 years later I have been given a living example of the word.

Jenny

Thought I'd take a picture of Jenny's morning ritual. Our heater is on a timer so Jenny crawls out of bed at the crack of dawn and waits....

and waits....

Ahhhhhhh

Christmas Cookies

Oh wow! Emma and her parents came over tonight to decorate cookies. I'm so super-proud of Rob because I know he must have had to use so much constraint during this little session. Cady and Emma's version of decorating cookies was to empty all the bottles of sprinkles out onto the countertop and squeeze frosting out into giant clumps. Candies were rolling all over the kitchen. Tiny candy balls were sticking to our socks when we walked. It was an absolute sticky, gloopy mess and Rob rolled with it. I have a higher tolerance for temporary mess than Rob does and *I* was having a hard time controlling my own urges to not take all of the sprinkles out of their possession.
Not only did they decorate their hearts out, they naturally ate lots of icing and candy which turned into two really irritable toddlers who vacillated between hitting and hissing at each other to hugging, laughing and running around the house. It was true chaos at it's finest.
Letting Toddlers decorate without restrictions-one hour clean up-time (and likely several days of finding candy balls in odd places)
Dealing with sugared-up emotional and irritable toddlers for a full night-A few new knots in the shoulders
Memories of making cookies with friends and family and forgetting there was any chaos involved-Priceless

NOT a good day for elastic waistband

Today I had to make a quick trip to the Dr. to get my Rhogam shot. I prepped Cady that I would be getting a shot in my butt and she could hold my hand to help me feel better. I wore some sweat pants to make it easy for them to pull down my pants for the shot. We get to the exam room, the nurse pulls down my pants, injects me, and while she is slowly putting the syringe full of ouch into my bottom, Cady jumped up and held my hand. Very sweet (very painful too). The nurse was kind enough to give Cady her very own syringe so that she could administer injections to her babies at home.
After our appt she wanted to play in the waiting room play area. During that time, she kept pulling up my shirt to give the baby a shot. Okay, I wasn't thrilled to keep exposing my belly but it was the lesser of all evils yet to come. After a couple of minutes of this I announced to Cady that it was time to leave. Leaving meant walking from the play area at the back of the large waiting room to the door on the opposite end. This was right before lunch, the Dr.'s office was backed-up, and it was CROWDED. So walking out involved walking in front of a lot of people. Cady decides on the way out that I need a shot in my butt. So she grabs my sweats and tries to pull my pants down. I'm walking quickly trying to get out of there and Cady is behind me grabbing at my pants the entire time, pulling them down and YELLING (she was quite bent out of shape at this point that I wasn't playing along), "I need to shot your butt, I need to shot your butt, I need to shot your butt!" the entire way out. I'm sure it was a good show for those that were waiting. Why me?

28 week belly

This is what a 28 week (equals 6 months) belly looks like on a short-waisted person. Some days I feel sooo lucky to work with teens (sarcastic tone) because they love to tell me how big I am. In fact, one of my teen moms commented three different times yesterday on how "huge" I was. The last comment was, "Ms. Keenan, I feel sorry for you. You are so huge!" LOL. Teens and toddlers both seem to be missing a filter.


6 weeks




28 weeks

A Caroling We Went!

Last night we met up with about six other families up to do some Christmas Caroling at Little Sister's of the Poor...a nursing facility in our neighborhood. We weren't sure how Cady would do because it was somewhere different and potentially overwhelming...and it was smack in the middle of dinner time too.

We pulled up the facility and the first question out of her mouth was "where is Gigi's car?" She only knew at this point that we were going to visit some "Gigi's" (Cady's term for anyone who is around the same age as her very own Great Grandmother, AKA Gigi). We went into the facility and were greeted by a very outgoing and vivacious nun who Cady was pretty frightened of...even after she told Cady that she was a penguin and tried to play peek-a-boo with her through her ummmm nun-atire(insert correct word).

The kiddos were given cards that other kids in the group had made to pass out to the residents. Initially Cady stayed right with us and wanted nothing to do with the cards. Mid-way through the touring and singing she approached a resident with me and gave her a card (It's a really good thing Cady had already turned her back and started on her way and thus missed the woman shrieking "Joey!" and throwing her card on the floor.) As we moved through the facility, which was a huge multi-floor facility)Cady started to warm up. She naturally warms up to certain people and takes a liking to them right away and it was no different here. When she would spot the "right" person (always a woman) she'd trot right up to them with a card. She was really starting to enjoy all the singing and card giving and it warmed our hearts to watch her spread some cheer. By the end of the evening, she was walking alongside the activities director leading the pack, peering into rooms, and with the other kids gathering around the residents. One Gigi had M&M's that she shared with Cady which may have a little to do with her new-found comfort of the whole situation. And at the end of the nights there were cookies and apple juice. Oh boy!

Cady's favorite part? She said it was the cards that she gave to the residents.

A comparison

I need to find Rob's baby pics so I can do one of him and Cady.

Me


Cady

Gender Neutrification..or not

We were going to start saving up for a new bedroom set for Cady but a friend of a friend of ours is going through a divorce and made us an offer we couldn't refuse. A trundle bed, practically new, for $100.00. I took Cady out to Target to buy some sheets and I was REALLY hoping that I could steer her toward something a little more gender neutral so that we can start making some head-way toward defeminizing her room for Coben's arrival. I must have had a screw loose, because anyone in their right mind who spends any amount of time with a two year old will know that there is no steering them toward an idea that isn't their own! This is a picture of her new big girl bed and the sheets that she just could not live without!


I did manage to talk her out of the princess bedspread. The Princess sheets are flannel so maybe by the time her birthday rolls around she can add a whole new bedset to her list since it'll be warming it's way up toward the need for non-flannel sheets. And just where do little girls get their princess obsessions? She hasn't even seen her first princess movie yet, but she has to have princess spaghettios, princess diapers and now add princess sheets to the list. Strange.

The new bed has made me into a nervous wreck. See how high off of the ground it is?? And no rails??? Ay-yi-yi. Rob's convinced that she'll be fine and that despite what I say she is not going to roll off and end up with a permanent spinal injury. But I suppose that she would have to actually sleep in her own bed all night long in order to increase the chance of that happening.

Cady's Big Words

Frustrated is a pretty big word. It's a regular now. Cady informed me as we were parking in the Target parking lot yesterday that "most of the time daddy gets frustrated with me when I jump on the bed." And then there is "Actually" which she slips into most sentences these days. For example last night when I was re-tucking her back in bed.
Cady: "Mommy, I want to cuddle you in the morning."
Me: "I probably won't be here when you wake up tomorrow. I have to go to work so we can buy crumpets and butter (a phrase she came up with, although since Thanksgiving it is now crumpets, butter and stuffing) Daddy will take you to school and I'll pick you up and we'll do something fun like play with some playdough.
Cady: Actually mom, I like to make cookies. Sugar cookies with lots of sprinklers.

And the granddaddy of all big words. Preposterous. I used the word earlier in the day. That evening Rob and I were driving home from a friend's house. Cady was looking for the moon which was invisible due to the heavy clouds.
Cady: Where's the moon?
Me: It's hiding behind the clouds.
Cady: No, I think the sun ate the moon.
Me: That's just crazy.
Cady: No mom, it's proposperous

Pronunciation a little off...context,perfect!!