My Life Just Got Harder (And Easier)

So, at like the exact same time The Bean decided she was all 100% confident getting out of her crib and opening her door and coming down the hall into our room or walking downstairs (if the gate wasn't locked) AND Miss Koala decided to enter the horrible period of transitioning from 2 naps to 1 or maybe 2, but it's going to be a fight to get that 2nd one mama, you'll have to drive me to Claremont and back or stroller me all over town and if you do get nap number 2 it's going to be short and I'm going to be wanting a brawl when I wake up and see just what you've done.

2011 might be the summer of car/stroller naps.

Because The Bean no longer has to stay in bed, she no longer stays in bed. The girl hasn't had a decent nap since Sunday and man she was just deliriously tired tonight. The only people who should have dark bags under their eyes like that are frat boys snorting Ritalin all night to write their term papers. I took the crib mattress out of the crib this afternoon and was all like "here's your big girl bed" but she still wouldn't nap. It probably didn't help that her sister was up and hanging out in my room. It's hard to explain to an almost 3 year old, that the baby already took one nap and since she's transitioning she might be up till 4. They did have a good 15 mins of sisterly love cracking each other up. Every time, MB would get out of her bed, she'd come running into my room, saying "what's going on guys?" and her sister would just bust a gut.

Anyway. The Bean is sleeping on the mattress sans crib now. It took some stories from papa and a few lullabies from mama, but she was out. She already woke herself up once by rolling off the mattress and onto the pad we have next to her. Who knows where she'll end up, but please could whoever is up there let the girl sleep in tomorrow. She's been up at 5ish for weeks now and it's making everyone so tired. How sad is it that 6:30 would feel late?

Even though the girls haven't been really overlapping naps for a while, occasionally I might get 20-30 mins and man, was that good. Or just having one of them is so much easier. But having both of them? From like 7:30 (when N left for work) till 5:00 (when he came home early)? It's killing me. Just thinking about makes me need a drink. I can't believe I didn't have a cocktail this evening. I'm trying to only drink on weekends and holidays...not that I drank too much, but because I'd really like to lose the last ten pounds of baby weight left over from baby #1 and also because drinking and women and breast cancer blah blah. And it makes it more special, you know.

Anyway.

So this is The Bean's first night out of a crib and N and I feel kind of sad. Kind of like we want to swaddle her in her old miracle wrap and put her back in the bassinet with a binky. But not really.

Miss K loves her morning nap still. Would probably take a nap at 8 if I let her, but we really need to push it back back back. I bet once that finally happens, her sister will probably have dropped her nap entirely. I think we might have to move the occasional milk and Sesame on the couch at 4:30 to the early afternoon. I'd really her to stay in her room quietly reading Proust from her quiet time, but the reality might involve a little more Elmo time. I don't know why I feel bad about it. She watches far less TV that all the other kids we know. She rarely watches more than 45 mins at a time. I don't know. I know everything will settle eventually....

But in wonderful, fantastic, my life got so much easier news, tomorrow is N's last day at school!! Woohooo!! 3 months of daddy-day care!

Cute Things My (Older) Daughter Says: Feel Free to Skip This Post If You're Not Related Or Just Not In The Mood

Hi Bean!

It's been a while since this blog has been addressed to you. It's election night and while your dad wants to follow the depressing returns, I thought I might come up with a list of cute things you say because in a few weeks/months/years you won't be talking the toddler talk.

So here it is:

Garbon: This is garbage as in please can throw this in the garbon for me. You can now say garbage but garbon sounds so nice and French that we've decided that in the house we can say it while outside we use the proper word.

Mines: As in, this is mines! And this is mines! And this silly baby toy that I have zero interest in except that it's next to my sister is mines!

Pumyum: This is how you say pumpkin. You say pumpkin perfectly but now we just like pumyum better.

Pocket down Rosey: This is how you sing Ring-Around-Rosey.

"I want to be a wedding!" You are very interested in weddings and brides right now since your babysitter's sister just got married and you got to look at pictures of the bride. Yesterday you said you wanted to marry me and daddy, but later, after a short lecture on the institute of marriage, changed your mind and decided that you wanted to marry your neighbor/buddy H. You wanted to get married at his house because they have delicious grammy cookies.

Grober: As in the Sesame Street character, Grover. You always say that you like Elmo, Daddy likes Cookie Monster, I like Big Bird and Dahlia likes Grober.

Eggy/Eggie: As in Ellen, your wonderful babysitter. You can say Ellen, but perhaps unfortunately for her, we've all taken to calling her Eggy.

Bobo: This is what you called H's dog Boregard. Apparently they all call him that now.

Big Arm: This took me forever to figure out and I was so psyched when I did that I think I woke your dad up to tell him the big arm mystery was solved. Big Arm=Playground! It's unclear weather you like calling it big arm or you really can't say it.

Okay, that's all I can think of right now. Your dad insists on depressing me with the election returns.

Keep talking your blue streak, baby!

Love, Mama

Happy Second Birthday, Big Girl!

Today Miss Bean is 2! Can you believe it? Seems like just yesterday we were telling you she was in fact a baby, not a bean. Remember? Now she's a talking, running, playing, eating machine. Yesterday we had a smallish family party, which, in addition to the new doll family she got from her grandparents, she found a bit overwhelming and as such as spent today overtired from not going to bed till late and getting up much too early this morning. We're kind of pretending this is just a regular day since we're (insanely) having a pizza and cupcake party with a bunch of kids tomorrow.

Miss Bean is an awesome little kid. She's obviously cute, but she's also really smart and funny and, most of the time, sweet. She has an incredible memory, which is wonderful and a little scary as she won't forget things for months. She loves books and can play by herself, putting her babies and doggies to bed or organizing things, for long periods. Now she's starting to sort of learn of her numbers and ABC's. Her granny says she even smarter than her own two kids were at 2. But she might be a little biased and a little forgetful. But now that she's 2 though things are going to change. We're going to start making sure her teeth get brushed with toothpaste twice a day. Hopefully in a few weeks she'll be able to spit the toothpaste water out of her mouth instead of a.) pouring it down the drain or b.) drinking it. The other thing we're going to work on is having her pick up her toys before she goes to bed. I know this is probably futile, but you know, we've got an actual baby round these parts now so Miss Bean has to start earning her keep.

Happy Birthday, Miss Bean! We're so lucky to have you! This past year has been incredible and we look forward to all the great things your third year will bring.
Love,
Mama

Better!

Finally better. And this morning N and I were up BEFORE THE BEAN! Because she SLEPT TILL 7:00! It was very weird. N was up way before us, but while we waited for her I felt like we were the parents of a teenager and we were waiting to yell at her for coming home so late.

I know better than to think this might happen again. But maybe the darkening shades we put in her room are working?

I Hate Sippy Cups (and Some Other Things Too)

1. I hate sippy cups. They're so annoying. We have around a million and have probably lost around a thousand, but they're never where you need them to be. And The Bean is such a water drinker, which is good, but lord above if you go out and don't have a sippy cup. Then you have to buy bottled water at the store, stick a straw it and stop every two feet to give her a drink.

Can I tell you how many times we've run the dish washer because all the available sippy cups were in it? Three sippy cups, one plate, and a spoon and let's just use 10,000 kilowatts of energy. I'll spend 15 mins looking for a clean sippy cup only to find 17! sippys in the car. Well, what's one more?

2. I hate baby socks. They're so little. They're all over the house. They're never together and they're never in the drawer. And you can't send the kid out without socks. How come I've NEVER seen anyone else's kid in two different socks? What do they do differently? You know I'd toss all the current socks and buy 50 pairs of the same sock for The Bean except her feet keep growing.

3. I love Baby Bella, but I kind of hate her too. Baby Bella is the teeniest baby ever and has this hat around her neck that goes on and off and off and on. The Bean LOVES Baby Bella (most babies aren't named and if they are they usually happen to be named after Her Beaniness) and spends about 600 hours day looking for Bella because she's so small and about 900 hours DEMANDING that I (or N) put the baby's hat back on. Today I was really tempted to cut the stupid hat off, but, and this probably the true part that I hate, I was scared. I was scared to cut a stupid hat off a small plastic baby because it was nap time and I thought if the hat was truly off, Miss Bean might never nap again.

Then, after nap (which was nice and long happily), I was just scared of the trauma it might induce if I did snip the hat. The baby cost a $1! Why do have to think about it so?

4. My car. I just want it to be clean and not full of ancient toddler snacks and sippy cups and crumbs and a million kid books and, have I mentioned the crumbs?

Should N Buy An iPad?

The poor sleeping has continued here at The House of Bean's. Last night we had to go into her room a total of 6! times. I'm 75% sure it's a combo of molar teething and the rapid rate of her development and the fact that it's still pretty light when she goes to bed. And also I think she's overtired. Not to mention who wouldn't want their mom or dad to hold their hand through the crib rails ALL NIGHT? Today I tried to compensate by putting her down for her nap and bedtime early. I think maybe we've been trying to stick to a "schedule" too much and if a kid hasn't slept well (in a week!) then maybe they should nap an hour early. The nap went pretty well---she yelled for a bit, but didn't attempt to destroy her crib by shaking it violently like she's been doing. I left before she woke up, but her sitter said she slept for just under two hours which is good. She cried for about 10 minutes now, but let us hope this silence is not the lull before the shrieks.

We had a very nice Easter here with N's family. The Bean was very well behaved, but even when she's not people think she's cute.

My due date was 7! weeks from yesterday. I'd like to go early (not too) this time around, but N says I have to stop wishing/thinking that because I'll be in a very bad mood when Baby Meow Meow is 2 weeks late. This week our friends are going to help N move of the office so we can start attempting to make it a nursery. I'm looking forward to it--- since I had to move with Miss when she was 3 weeks old, it will be nice to have things up on the wall, places to nurse, change, etc.

Did you know it's driving me crazy that we don't know if it's a boy or a girl?
Luckily, N and I have agreed to name him/her iPad. We're hoping this gets some media attention so N won't have to shell out $500 for a new toy.

Rain Rain Rain

It's been raining for days up here. Good thing we got The Bean some new yellow rain boots and green rain jacket. She really likes splashing in the puddles, but today it's really too cold to splash. And she was so tired she literally fell asleep in her tomato soup at lunch. Messy!

We were having a good run when day light savings began. She was sleeping till about 6:30, which was so nice. But for the past 3 mornings, she's been getting up before 6! Yesterday, for the first time in a long time, she refused to take a nap, which is probably why she was sleeping in her soup this afternoon. Hopefully this rainy afternoon will help her to take a good, long nap and hopefully get her back on schedule.

Now that she mostly sleeps through the night, I feel worried about the sleep deprivation that's in my future in about 2 months or so. The Bean didn't sleep through the night for 9! months. I hope her sibling does it a bit sooner. I've heard of kids sleeping through when they come home from the hospital, but I don't think that's really likely. That might make me nervous actually....

N and I had a great weekend away since Granny and Grampy were nice enough to come up and provide The Bean with maple syrup and coffee cake along with tender loving supervision this past Saturday and Sunday. N and I went up to this nice inn in Stowe, VT. It was a late bday present for him and a bit of a baby moon. Because it's monsoon season we were able to get a luxury room for the non-luxury price. I think it might have ruined me for chain hotels. It's really pleasant to have a bathrobe when you get out of the jacuzzi! The best part was probably the heated outdoor pool though. That and not having to be on a schedule. It was a revelation to be like it doesn't matter what time it is...we have no one to care for.

My back is still giving me issues, but I suspect it will till Baby Meow Meow makes an appearance. I just need to maintain it so it doesn't go out again. I've been seeing a chiropractor who always says, "a pound in front is a pound in back." This is upsetting because the next few weeks are about Baby Meow Meow plumping up! It's hard to tell if the chiro stuff is working. It kind of depends on the day. I might try acupuncture too.

Any thoughts y'all?

Is March The New February?

Sorry for the silence. We just got back yesterday from what was supposed to be a trip to sunny Florida and what ended up an almost week-long stay in New York. We were supposed to fly out of LaGuardia on Tuesday, but on the drive down on Sunday The Bean's little cough seemed to get much worse. And she added a lot of sneezing and most likely a fever. On Monday we were 99% sure we were going to change our flight to Wednesday, but on Tuesday afternoon, when her fever kept going up and her mood kept going down, we took her to the doctor who diagnosed her with "bulging ear drums." Thank goodness we decided not to get on the plane as her drums would have ruptured and she would have screamed till they did. I've never seen Miss Bean so sick for so long. She was just miserable and therefore she only wanted me or N, but mostly me. We couldn't leave her with my parents at all, which is weird. Plus, they both worked so basically N and I split up the days. I stayed with cranky Bean in the mornings while he went and did art stuff and he stayed with cranky Bean in the afternoon while I went to the movies. I know I should have gone to museums, but The Bean was so clingy and draining that all I wanted to do was sit and eat popcorn in the dark for 2 hours.

We took her outside once or twice a day to look for dogs in the park or kids in the playground, but she was so exhausted that we really could only be out for 15-30 mins. My folks have a nice apt, which they nicely let us destroy with all our stuff every time we visit, but I got really sick of it. Remember, the Bean and I were there for ten days back in January. On the plus side, the weather was great when we first got there (went downhill towards the end) and I did get to see my bro, N and I got to go on a carnivous date, I saw movies in the theater and met up with an old friend for a quick lunch, but overall my mood was pretty sour.

N got sick in the middle of the night on Saturday, but managed to drive us home in the afternoon. The Bean was a trooper, but today was the first day I felt like she was mostly better. Then this morning my back went out. We kind of saw it coming: seven nights on a pull-out couch, a very needy Bean, a 4+ hour drive home without much of a stop. Ugh. On the positive side, at least this didn't happen on Tuesday morning when N has to be back at work. And at least it didn't happen before the car ride back home. I'm hoping that since N was able to tend to Bean all day (unlike the other times it's gone out) and he'll be home tomorrow, that I'll heal a little quicker and be more okay on Tuesday. Of course this is the week our babysitter is on vacation!

But you know what takes away all the pain? Or most of it?
The Bean used her potty for the first time tonight! Go Bean Go!

Hooray For March!

Today was a pretty cold, gray day, but who cares! It's March, which means February is over! Last February was the worstest---N was sick for like the whole month, The Bean and Mama were not sleeping nearly enough, we didn't get out enough so we wuz mean and cranky. This February was so much better. No major illnesses except for an annoying night cough from me, which lasted less than a week.

Tomorrow The Bean will be 19 months and I have to say as much as babies are cute and all, I'm digging the whole toddler scene more. I love being able to show her things and to look for things together. Her excitment about birds and dogs and pictures of babies and cake made February 2010 that much awesomer. She's so much more fun and manageable even when her newest fun thing is to run into a bedroom and close door on you or complain about the dearth of raisins in the house. Her newest trick is being able to fill in the words to songs and books. I'll sing "the monkey likes to scratch his...." and The Bean will say, "bum!" That's the most interesting version of this particular song. Trust me, the other lines are really tame.

She's also been walking up and down stairs like a champ. Today she walked up the post office and library steps using only the rail, no parental unit's hands! Go Bean Go! You make your mama and papa N so proud!

Winter Blahs and Blues (But No Whites)

So it's not that I wish we had the blizzards that the mid-Atlantic states got or anything. Being snowed in with The Bean doesn't sound too fun, but....Would we really be snowed in? NH is mad good at plowing and people here don't become shut-ins because of a few feet of snow. I guess snow seems a little tempting if only because we could go sledding again and it's nice to look at. We have nothing here but ugly grass and patches of ice, but it's still too cold and windy to spend much time outside. The most Miss Bean can usually stand is 10 mins and then we have to come in and have either tea (she gets milky weak decaf) or warm milk with cinnamon and honey. The above pic is from last year was just moments before N slipped on the ice at Lake Morey and The Bean cried for 45 mins and then projectile vomited all over the director of N's old camp.

Today Miss Bean refused to take an afternoon nap. At one point she called "Mommy" when I was outside her door so I went into her room (she'd been fussing for a while) and she'd wedged the three baby dolls between her crib and the wall so they were looking over at her. Forty minutes later, when the nap mission was aborted, I brought her onto our bed and told her she had to be quiet. She would be for a minute or two, but when I'd open my eyes, she'd be an inch from my face grinning. It was hard not to laugh. It's nice that she's getting a sense of humor.

Not funny for Miss Bean was that I took her to get shoes before her doctor's apt today. It was a new experience and she burst into tears when the man tried to measure her foot. I think it was because she was tired. Ditto for her hysterics at getting weighed and measured. Normally she's pretty chill at the doctor, but today she was a mess. It'll be interesting to see how she is when she goes back for her next well baby, which won't be till she's 2! Which means, assuming everything is good, we'll have another kid in tow! I figured out that her next appointment will be right around when New Baby aka Yoda aka Baby Meow Meow aka Baby G will be getting her/his 2 months vacs...so we could get both kids shots for the price of one trip! Whew!

I have no idea how I'm going to handle two kids. Really.

It's so cool how much Bean is learning and growing every day. Today she said "yo yos all gone" when she finished the raisins I bribed her with and then, this evening, she not only took off her pants pretty much unassisted, but she went so far as to put them in her hamper! You go, girlie!

Okay, I'm staying OFF the web this weekend so have yourself a good one.

18 Months!

Tomorrow Miss Beanie Bean will be one and half! The last six months have flown by. She's such an independent little person now. She's really talking up a storm although a lot of it is in her language. Like this morning she had oatmeal with yo-yo's and uh-oh's in it, which might confuse you but is oatmeal with apples and raisins in Beanese. The Bean is a fiend for raisins. She really won't share them with you at all!

To celebrate this past half year, N turned Bean's car seat around so she can be forward facing. She was the last of her cohort to get turned---the new pediatric guidelines say 2 (the old ones said 1 or 20 pounds) but we saw how much more comfortable her buddy Nate looked and had to to turn her. She was also running out of room with those long little legs. N drove with her to the library and he said she was very into seeing! So yay!

I know I'm biased but Bean seems very smart. She understands a tremendous amount. Today she took the "yuck" aka lint I handed her from the drier, and with minimal assistance, walked into the kitchen, pulled out the garbage, threw it out, and then attempted to put the garbage back. Yesterday I asked her to tell N which friend she saw at the gym and after a few "babies" she actually she said the name of her friend. Cool stuff, Bean!

We're still on a baby kick though. She's really obsessed. It's pretty much baby, baby, baby all day long. By the end of the day, I'm pretty sick of it, but I know it too will pass. And happily, I think she's going to be a great big sister! Very hands on as N said, but hopefully the end of the reign of the Bean won't be too traumatic or require too much therapy.

December!

Hard to believe it, no? Our travels were successful. The Bean had 72 hours of non-stop fun and excitement chilling with her granny, grampy, unkie, the great aunties, her very cool 3 year old 2nd cousin, and loads of other relatives. She did well with the car time and spoiled us by sleeping in past 6! every morning. One morning she even slept till 6:45! I think it was because the rooms were so dark because she was back to her fairly normally 5:45 wake up here in NH by Monday morn.

I did okay giving her multiple car naps. The one "disaster" of the trip was when the restaurant in Newport forgot to put in our dinner order so we had to contend with an over-tired, very hungry Bean. It was a good lesson to always have food stowed away. It's nice that, with the exception of having kilos of Cheerios, bunny crackers, and raisins for snacks, The Bean can pretty much eat where and what we eat. I was very happy that I had a banana to supplement her dinner on Saturday night though. Without that "nana" things might have been even crazier than a naked toddler spinning in circles in the hotel room.

Personally, I feel like a cow. There's too much food at Thanksgiving. I wouldn't want to give any of it up, but it is pretty insane to have 35 sides, right? My potatoes were a success and as far as I know no one died eating them.

Now we're back in the swing of things. I made a butternut squash soup last night. It got much better when I took my honey's suggestion and added heavy cream and hot sauce, but it was no black bean deliciousness. I have conferences with my students about their research papers this week. It's hard to believe that next week is the last week of classes. I've really enjoyed teaching this past semester. I like the students and it's so nice to do something non-mama related for a few hours. I got a really good evaluation, but I most likely won't be teaching in the spring because they don't offer that many comp classes. The plan now is to have our amazing babysitter come twice a week (instead of once) so I can go off and write, write, edit, write. I'd like to have a send-out worthy version of my YA done by late spring and also write a short story. I used to only write short stories, but I haven't written one in about 2! years. Sending stuff of to mags might also be a good use of my non-mama time.

I'm currently reading Commencement by J. Courtney Smith. It's from the library and it's not that great, but also light enough and decently written enough that I'm going to finish it. Not sure I'd recommend it although I still have 100+ pages to go. I'm not sure why it got so much attention over the summer.

Next up is Lorrie Moore's The Gate at the Stairs and Dave Egger's Zeitoun. I do love books and being into a novel even if it's not life changing.

To top off this extra long postie, here's a pic of The Bean and her granny holding hands on the cliff walk in Newport!

Mmmmmmm!

That's what The Bean says when she's eating something particularly tasty. Like mom's homemade split pea soup or soup from Price Chopper or no nitrate Chicken dogs. It's actually really nice to hear her enthusiasm especially if it is something I made. I rarely get the mmmm's from N.

I'm hoping that the mashed potatoes I just made get some mmmm's from The Bean. If the fat content doesn't kill ya, they're pretty darn good. The secret I learned last year is avoiding Russets like the plague. It's all about the Yukons, baby. They're so much easier to mash---in fact I think I might have overdone it and whipped them. Oh well. What's not to love about butter, sour cream, and the top secret ingredient?

We'll heading down to Boston tomorrow and then over to Newport for some chowder on Sat. I'm looking forward to it and forcing myself to be zen about naps. She'll sleep when she's tired, right?

Anyway, posting will probably be nil till we come back so enjoy your turkey and your family. Come on, it's family.

Other Days

So yesterday The Bean woke up crying at 4:00 AM. It's the teeth thing so we pumped her with Motrin but she didn't fall back asleep till 5:00. I didn't fall back asleep till 5:45 and then I woke up with a shot at 6:00 because I had to teach. Then, I couldn't find my wallet cuz I'm forever moving it from the diaper bag to my purse to my car. I was all set to go to work without it when N. found it under a cookbook. Then, when I was driving onto the highway, the cap to my water bottle fell off, the bottle flipped out of the holder and I got soaked with freezing water while turning the corner. Of course the Xerox machine was broken by the time I got to school.

Then I had to collect research papers from students and now I have to spend the whole weekend busting my butt to read them so I can return them on Tuesday. I read two yesterday and it took forever! I'm not even grading---I'm just commenting and trying to help them. The papers are worth %25 of the final grade so I feel obligated to take the time. Ugh!

This morning The Bean got up at 5:00 (after waking up at 11:00 PM) and was in a really cranky mood. I know it's not her fault and most of the time she's pretty cheery, but by 7:00 I was begging N to take her with him to work. Things got a little better as the day progressed. We had an early morning play date here, took a short nap, and went out to lunch. Then we had two! friends over in the afternoon. I don't know when our house became play-date central. I'm mostly okay with it although I feel like I was inside too much. Hopefully, I'll be able to take a nice long walk tomorrow before we travel down to Putney, VT to see one of N's friends and her daughter.

Okay, the Internet-free weekend is beginning in like 30 seconds so the next time I'm on here I better only have 3 papers to go!
Happy weekend!

A Good Day

Today was a good day. The Bean slept till 6:00! I taught a good class and The Bean took the elusive two hour nap! Yay!! By the time lunch was had, we didn't have much time till our afternoon play date at Tots and Tea. Things were okay there---Miss Bean ate a lot of sugar (Teddy Grahams and undiluted apple juice) and became a bit of a nutter. But still....some days are so long you just don't know how you're going to survive the seven hours till bedtime. Days like today feel like a small miracle.

Hopefully there'll be more days like today.

What else? I've been on a soup kick. So far I've made chicken no-Nick-Noodle, split pea, and black bean. The black bean has been N's fave thus far. Tonight's dinner was crusty bread, salad, and bean soup and he said it was "restaurant food." The trick to having decent dinners on a regular basis I have finally learned is advance planning. On the weekend we just figure out 2-3 meals we can have for the week. Nothing fancy---we had soup tonight and we're going to have a crock pot dinner tomorrow and probably Thursday we'll have leftovers and maybe takeout on Friday. Just knowing what to have and having the ingredients is most of the battle. I'm loving the soup thing because I can make a vat on the weekend when N is around and not have to think about it when dinner rolls around during the week.

Of course N and The Bean would probably be happy with pizza four nights a week, but that's why the lord made mamas!
Oh, and send your soup suggestions thisaway! What do you think about veggie chowder?

It's November? Already?

Hope y'all had a good Halloween. Miss Bean was a sheep and although she didn't baa once in costume a good time was had by all. Some friends and their son from up in the boonies came down here cuz you know, we're all urban. The rain held off so we got to check out all the kiddies on the green. Later, we took our sleepy sheep to a little get together in our neighborhood. The Bean seemed to enjoy all the festivities. The only time she seemed scared was when she was place directly in front of a giant gorilla. But who wouldn't find that scary?

What is scary is daylight savings being over. The Bean got up at 4:30 this morning. Although this was deemed NOT OKAY by the parental units, it didn't seem to change a damn thing. We're trying to keep her up till 7:00 (her old bedtime was between 6:15-6:30) but it doesn't seem to be working. She's hungry for dinner at 4:30 and ready for bed at 5:30. What to do? What to do!

And, surprise, surprise, here's a photo for ya!


I know he's scary, but don't be afraid of the man in the big hat!

Honk If You Wish It Were Snowing

The title is a reference to the sticker that has been plastered onto the stop sign at the end of my street.
No comment, here.

Sorry for the silence. We had family weekend 09 last weekend. It was a lot of fun most especially for the Bean who has realized that grandparents=attention. Attention=happy Bean.

Miss Bean knows a lot of words. Perhaps the most amazing thing is how much she understands. It seems like out of nowhere she is able to understand and do what I ask. Within reason, of course. I can say, "Beanie, can you pick up your cat over there and put it in the bag?" It's not 100%, but she can usually do it! Very exciting. Now we just have to work on getting her to put her toys away. And maybe wash a few dishes....

We've been having nap crises all week though. She's only been taking one nap, which would be okay if it was long, but yesterday it was only 30 minutes. This is very bad as Miss Bean gets wack-a-doodle drunk by the end of the day if she's sleepy. Luckily, she's been getting her zzzzs in at night, but mama needs a nap too. I think she might have a tooth eruption since she's been practically gnawing her fingers off since Saturday. Hopefully things will improve. But as N sagely points out, at least she's not protesting the night sleep. In fact, she's desperate for it and will point to her crib while I'm 1/2 through her nighttime song. And yes, it might be might my voice.

This week Bean has been insisting on having one of her baby dolls (it doesn't matter which one) in her crib when she sleeps (or doesn't sleep). I'm okay with this, but hope she doesn't get attached to a particular doll. We'd lose it since we lose practically everything.

Hopefully it won't be too miserable on Halloween. We live with an excellent baaing dog and panting sheep!

In (and out of) Stitches

Golly, it has been ages since I've posted. I think it's the teaching thing that's getting in the way. I've just managed to go through the stack of bills on my desk. With the job thing I feel like I'm only two people with no room for anything else. One is the teaching person and figuring out what to do with my class and the other is MOM. Having a walking child really makes me feel like I'm not capable anything else. It's so tiring that all I want to do is nap when she naps. I suppose I wouldn't feel so split if I actually did some prep during her naps, but I'm just a sleep addict these days.

But, I don't mind the teaching. I'm glad I'm doing it.

In other news we had our first hospital visit with The Bean. She took a face plant last Friday morning. I was a bad/stupid mom and didn't turn on the light as she walked into the bedroom to get N out of bed. SHe's done this hundreds of times, but I think the room was darker than usual and there were shoes and clothes by the bed and WACK! She got a cut just under her chin that required 3 stitches. Luckily, my mom was visiting so she was able to go with us to the ER. I feel so lucky that the medical care is so good up here. And empty. We were literally seen in five minutes. The waiting room was beautiful and the triage room was kid-themed. The Bean got to go home with a new monkey. And by the afternoon, after a good long nap, she was perfectly fine.

The stitches came out on Wednesday. It was actually more involved than it needed to be, but the end result was Bean getting ice cream after dinner.

In other news, I'm leaving town. In fact, I'll probably be back on route by the time this posts. I'm going to Boston Sunday-Monday, which means for the first time it's N and The Bean on their own! Watch out New Hampshire!

I'm going for a friend's baby shower, but staying overnight and really looking forward to seeing a moving,eating some decent Thai food, and sleeping past 5:00AM. Watch out Boston, Mama's in town!
Till then.
BG

Mid-August Update

Smokes: The Bean has been paci free for a solid week now. Other than one bad night (which was probably also due to heavy teething) she's been pretty cool with it. Well, she's not napping so much, but maybe she's downsizing?
Personal Grooming: Crazy times. The Bean had a bath 2! nights in a row to make up for the fact that we couldn't remember the last time she'd been bathed. Did you know her new MO is to stand up in the tub at all times? Today, her mom and dad both got their hairs cut and one of them had a pedicure and an eye-brow wax.
Weather: It's been HOT here, baby. Hot and humid. It's kind of beastly, but I'm trying to enjoy it since it's gonna be cold and gray before I know it.
Reading: I'm still reading Three Cups of Frakin Tea! But I'm going to finish it before we go to Adks on Monday. Then I have to read all the essays I'm assigning for school. Ugh. Maybe I can sneak something light and juicy in though. N is reading my manuscript, which he printed out today. Besides that I don't think he's read a book in like five months. In heavy rotation for Miss Bean is Good Night Gorilla, Dog and That's Not My Pirate, which N has also read so I guess he has read some books lately.
"Mad Men": I thought the season opening was pretty good. N liked it more than I did, but that's par for the course.
Pizza: We kind of got cocky with our p-making skillz and then got a good come-down on Sunday. The humidity make it nearly impossible for N to roll the dough out well and we timed things most poorly so the Bean was a screaming lunatic because, gasp, it was five minutes after 5:00 and the poor thing hadn't been fed. Have I mentioned that The Bean is bigger than some 2 year olds we know? The girl does not want for food, but try telling her that when you're late with supper. Her screams stressed us to no end so that the first pie was undercooked and not so tasty. The second pie was better, but whole wheat dough depressed N to no end and he ending up scrapping it and ordering Chinese.
Puppies: OMG! The puppies next door had 8! puppies and they are so cute, I want to vomit every time I see them, which is not often enough.

Houston, We Have A Walker

So, um, yeah. She's walking. As of today. Previously, I don't think I'd ever seen her walk more than 4 steps although it was rumored that she had done 5 or 6. But today she was all over the place, walking from the living room, through the dining room, and into the kitchen, without crawling or falling, to see me. How cool!

By the time N gets back from his manly-man hike in the Adks on Friday, she'll be sprinting laps. He's here now, don't worry. It's a short jaunt---he'll leave tomorrow afternoon and return Friday morning.

Anyway,do you think she started walking because she STOPPED SMOKING? That's right---she's been cigarette free for 24 hours now. None last night, none for the naps today, and none tonight. You go girl! I keep thinking she'll freak out, but she really hasn't. She was up a bit last night, but all in all it really wasn't bad.

Unfortunately she's a bit under the weather. Her vacs got cancelled cuz she was running a fever and she was very mellow during our bedtime reading of Goodnight Moon. Hopefully she'll be better tomorrow.

Man, we really gotta childproof now.