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

So now she has learned about 3/4 of the Alphabet and is picking up numbers very quickly. She's got some key phrases down now, like, "I go play" "Here you go" and, of course, "I no want to." She had her first melty go-limp tantrum last night when I took her off the back of the dining room chair she was climbing. Marc and I were both looking at her and going, "Huh." But, in the process of flailing around she whacked her head on the floor, so maybe she learned something.

Olive's great grandmother Bess turned 99 yesterday; pretty amazing. I was at Target looking for birthday cards for her and was profoundly taken by just how stupid they are. What kind of card do you get for someone who lived through WWI? I opted for the generic cute dachsund card. Of course, i mailed it late and forgot about the President's Day holiday, so it will be a few days late, but it's the thought that counts, right?

Olive comes over every morning and looks at my tomato plant seedlings growing on the table and says "SEEDS!" Is it too early to have her start learning the latin taxonomic names? Hmmm...

Olives and Grape Jello

So, in the last few weeks we have been busy weathering a nasty stomach flu. I realized that the worst thing about a baby with a stomach bug is that they don't tell you when they are about to throw up. It's like carrying around your own personal vomit hand grenade. Fine one minute, them BOOM. Let's just say I was doign lots of laundry and cleaning with bleach. Marc and I both got it too, but not nearly as bad.

Other than that, O is doing really well. Friday night she said "soccer!" pointing to a soccer ball at our friends' house, and Marc and I were stunned because neither of us had taught her that or ever heard it before. She's loving her letter magnets on the refrigerator... marc has actually taught her to say all of the vowels.

She's getting a lot more fun; I guess that doesn't sound very good; I guess I should say that I am learning to have a lot more fun with her. Marc is still her go-to guy for most things... she is very protective of him and will get pissed if she sees us hugging. I have to admit, I was a little hurt that she saw him as "comfort". But we talked about it and I realized it's just that he spends a lot of time with her.. I end up cooking or doing other stuff while we're at home, so I've been trying to make more of an effort to hang out and play with her and it seems to be working. I've had some genuine hugs in the last few days which have made it all worth it. I also realized how stupid it is to let ones self be offended by the behavior of a 19 month old. I'm trying to get her to say "I love you" but I haven't heard it yet. I figure that pretty much has to be about the highest moment you can achieve in life. I am looking forward to it.

I know I have to update pictures. I promise I will soon... I got some cute ones of Olive in her snowsuit when we were in Ithaca... She looks a little like Randy from a Christmas Story.
More later, M

Catch Up

Wow. Has it really been that long since I posted anything? I am feeling really guilty. Things have been so busy this fall with work. Marc has been working with me painting at the Franciscan Monastery in Washington DC. We are just about finished with it, so things are settling down a bit. The hours were crazy; Marc was leaving at 5:30 am and not getting home until 7pm or so… he’d be exhausted, and it was all we could do to get her in a bath and in bed by 7:30 or 8:00. I think seeing her so little every day was really hard on Marc. It was kind of depressing.
But like I said, things are calmer now, so that’s good. Olive is doing remarkably well. Let’s see… she is walking now, which is fantastic. I was starting to wonder if she ever would; but I think now she was just thinking about it. The pediatrician asked how often she falls when she walks; I was kind of surprised, because she doesn’t fall at all. She’s not one of these kids who charges forward with a zombie-like stagger. She’s much more methodical about it. I think she just thinks more.
I need to post some Halloween pictures. I am at work now, screwing around, so I’ll have to post the pictures later. She went as a bumble bee this year… very cute. She caught on real quick to the whole candy game too. That didn’t escape her one little bit.
She is also talking like crazy. Her first official sentence was “No Biting!” at daycare… that’s another whole story. But she’s pretty self assertive and that problem for the time being has seemed to go away.
He second sentence that we heard a few nights ago was “I go poop.” Ahh yes, one for the record books. She’s gonna love that when she’s sixteen.
We stopped counting words once we got to 60. She also knows a lot more words than we think, even if she doesn’t say them. If you tell her to go put her cup on the table, she’ll do it, although she’s never said “table” as far as I know.
She freaked me out a few weeks ago. We let the cat out and she wanted to go out too. I told her no, and she started to cry and whine. I went back into the kitchen, and she wandered into the living room and I assumed she’d just moved on to something else. A minute or so later, I see her and she’s dragging my purse to the door. She goes into my purse, grabs my keys, and starts putting keys into the keyhole of the door and trying to figure out how to open it. This is when I knew I was in trouble. She’s so damn smart it’s scary. The logic train involved in that situation is pretty complex, but she knew exactly what to do. It blew me away.

Anyway, I promise to post pictures soon. More later, M