Random toddler utterances

This morning when Marc got Olive up, she said "Up a Daisy!"

Yesterday, we filled a dish with birdseed on the deck and she yelled, "Biiiiiiiirds!!!!" Like she was calling the cat.

Very funny.

First Official "TIME OUT"

So, Olive got her first official time out at daycare today, according to Kristen. Apparently she grabbed a toy from Zoe and then clocked her with it. Charming. Kristin said she went and sat in the time out chair for a minute and totally got it; She knows what the time out chair means. We are trying to establish this at home too; I'm not sure where the time out chair will be, but I'll have to figure something out, soon. She's definitely gotten fiesty. Bathtime is much more of a challenge than it used to be. I can usually bribe her with bubbles, but that doesn't always work. We're still trying to wean off the TV thing, but it's really tough. Although, now that the weather is better, (well, relatively anyway) we have been trying to go for walks or go to the playground before dinner to wear her out a bit. She's been doing this thing where she doesn't want to sit in the stroller, she just wants to push it herself for half a block and then have a tantrum. But at least we're outside. It's gray and rainy today. Again. Blah.

So, we were supposed to go out Saturday night with friends. Kristin was going to watch Olive overnight at her house. I was supposed to bring her by around 7:00 or so. Kristin called me on Saturday morning and asked if it was Ok if they went out to dinner. I said sure. Then she asked if I could bring Olive over earlier, because they wanted to spend more time playing with her. I ended up taking her over there at 4:45. It made me laugh though because this woman spends 40+ hours a week with my kid, and she wants me to bring her over EARLY on Saturday so they can hang out together? Wow. That's pretty cool. (Pats self on back).

We are trying to wean off the TV dependency lately. Really, it's just because now if you try to tell her no, she has a complete breakdown, where as earlier, she'd cry, but you could distract her with something else. Now, we have a full on Elmo-Crackhead to contend with when we say no.

I am really really tired of the cold. It's just making me angry now. It's just not fair. It was 27 degrees last night...at this rate, It will never be warm enough for my tomato seedlings. Argh.

Marc took some great pictures on Sunday at the playground, I will post some soon (famous last words)

I went to daycare yesterday and Olive looked at me and said, "Shamrock!!"
They had been making shamrocks out of green paper for St. Patrick's Day. Kristin is always doing some kind of crafty art project with the kids. They totally love it. I also got her to say "Obama!" last night, which made me laugh.

Marc went out last night and Olive and I had a really good time. She was tired, but didn't give me too hard a time. I've discovered the magic trick of bubblebath; takes all the arguing right out of bathtime. She says, "Funny!" and giggles at stuff now. This morning she thought her strawberry banana yogurt was the most hilarious thing ever. I wish she had clued me in on the joke.

I finally got around to updating some pictures, at long last. it took me a little while of screwing around with I Photo, but I figured it out eventually. I am getting better with the Mac; it's so simplified that sometimes I can't find stuff. I have been trying to learn ITunes... I know it's supposed to be so simple a gerbil could figure it out, but I've been going through the tutorials so I don't have to ask Marc anything. We can work together on almost anything, except computers. It's just a screaming fight waiting to happen, so I try to figure stuff out on my own whenever possible.

Anyway, the one picture of Olive on the stairs cracks me up because she looks so much like Marc I can't stand it. I have a picture of Marc at about age 4 from Ocean City and he has the exact same look on his face.

Oh I hope Spring arrives soon....

So, we had the first go-limp-slide-to-the-floor-kicking-and-screaming incident last night. Marc and I just watched and tried to ignore it, although, I must say it was a little hard not to laugh. So much drama from such a little body. She's doing better today; I think yesterday she was just WAY overtired and was falling apart. Today, she was much nicer to me. She didn't say, "No! Mommy go way!" and shove me whenever I walked by. That was pleasant. I mean, come on. I know I'm not supposed to take it seriously, but you can only take so much of that before you feel a little hurt by it, rational or not.

I was having this self flagellating moment yesterday where I was remembering how scared I was after she was born; I was afraid to hold her because she was so fragile and small, and I was afraid she'd wake up or be upset. Marc was the natural parent from day one; all he wanted to do was hold her all the time. I felt like there was something wrong with me, something missing. I started to wonder if things would be different if I hadn't been so scared around her.

Then I also came to the realization that beating myself up for things in the past is a huge waste of time and emotional energy. I am not going to feel bad about being scared. Yeah, looking back I'd do things differently, but I can't go back. I am just working on trying to be a good parent NOW. So, today when we went to daycare and she pulled out two chairs at the kitchen table, climbed in to one and then patted the other one with her hand and said, "Mommy sit!" I felt like I was on top of the world.

The bad days are when you question yourself, the good days are when you sit back and let yourself enjoy the moment.

(Ugh. That is soooo right out of a Lifetime movie. But you know what I mean.)

So OK, I admit it. I was the one who taugh Olive to say Shit. Unintentionally of course, but she parroted it back to me nonetheless. Nothing makes you feel like a good parent quite like your toddler swearing. She's been quite feisty lately; her temper is starting to rear its ugly head. We haven't had too many instances of it, but she is quickly catching onto the "go limp" technique when you want her to stand up or put on her coat. I guess that comes with the territory. I heard someone say that trying to dress a child was like trying to stuff an octopus in a net bag without any of the arms getting out. I get that now.

This last weekend she was in serious "Daddy Girl" mode, which was frustrating. We were at the grocery store and she kept pushing my hands off the cart and saying, "No, Daddy turn!" and freaking out if Marc left her sight for a nano second. I know, I can't let myself get offended by a toddler, but it's like, "What up? What did I do to you?" Marc swears that when I'm not around she asks for me all the time. I guess I'll take his word for it. I need to learn to chill out and just roll with things a little bit better.

Well, we got a nice respite from the cold on Saturday. It was 70 degrees here and it was blissful. We played in the backyard, moved the compost pile, dug up a dead tree to make room for the sour cherry tree I ordered. It's all very exciting. We went to the Y and went swimming in the morning, and then walked a loop around Lake Montebello. In the mean time, I am trying to keep the gardening obesssion under control for a few more weeks.

Damn Elmo

So, we've now been watcing Elmo in Grouchland, which Marc bought her on DVD. Its' a one hour movie, but it amazingly holds her attention. The gist ofthe story is that Elmo's blanket gets thrown in Oscar's garbage can and ends up in Grouchland, which the blanket must be rescued from. Hilarious adventures ensue. Anyway, the unforseen side effect now is that Olive freaks out whenever we throw anything in the kitchen trash can, because its going "to Grouchland."

We had a snowday Monday, Yay! the big nor'easter blew through with 6" of snow. It was kind of pretty really; It was nice to have an impromptu three day weekend. I have been going through seed catalogs and fawning over my seedlets. They are so cute.

So, my cat homing beacon is obviously still working, because I got a cat in Charles village Sunday night. Kate called me to say that there was a little cat scratching at her back door. What I theorize happened is that the woman downstairs from Kate, who moved out last week, left her behind, and when the cleaning crew came through on saurday, they just tossed her out. She is in very good shape, obviously hadn't been on the street very long. She's 5 months old and black. I got her shots and all (to the tune of $143.00) and now she's at our house. She's cute and all, but I always forget how much of a pain kittens are until I have them in the house. They get into EVERYTHING. Olive loves her. I think Kristin from daycare might take her. She told me to bring her by with Olive tomorrow to spend the day at her house and see how she does. I hope that doesn't stress her out too much; the newness of a new house, plus a few toddlers thrown in for good measure. The recipe for feline relaxation. But, realistically, I think our house is just too small for four cats. Three is one thing, four is exponentially worse. Besides, Pingu is so fat he almost counts as two cats anyway. I'm almost afraid to take him to the vet because I'm afraid of what the vet is going to say to me. Oh well, I'm just glad I could help the Keeten. I've been calling her Neko (Japanese for Cat) I picked her up Sunday night just as it started snowing. She might not have made it if she was out there for two nights in that storm. People are so shitty. They just take no responsibility for anything and wait for someone else to come in and do something about their problems. Arghgh.

I am really tired of the cold. More later, M