August Snapshots from the Bike Trail

The Rocking Chair

"Mom! My rocking chair stepped on my brother's foot!"
Tend to a crying Logan, lots of love, he's okay, just a bruised toe and a bruised ego.

Later, never to be outdone by her older brother.....
"I just walk around my rocking chair and then sit on it.
But sometimes, my rocking chair steps on my toe too."

"Oh, I'm sorry, then do you cry when your rocking chair hurts your toe?"

"No..... I just laugh about it."

Breakfast Meltdown, Dinner Meltdown

Last night, Dinner Meltdown.....
Me:"Sylvie, how about this soup for dinner?"
Sylvie" YEAH!!!!" helps me make it, get it in a bowl she picked, so happy.
THEN she sees Logan's chosen soup. I say she can have it as well, but it's still cooking.

Total and complete meltdown.

This morning,
Sylvie "I want CANDY!"
Me: "It's morning, we don't eat candy in the morning. How about this or that...."

Sylvie obsesses over candy for about 10 minutes, starts tearing apart the kitchen by grabbing towels from the drawer (Freshly washed) and throwing them on the floor).

Logan: "Is this breakfast healthy?" ( a pre-made breakfast bar with a lot of sugar)
Me: "No, not really."
Logan: "Are grapes healthy?"
I get out grapes and Sylvie says
"Are carrots healthy? "
So the kids eat grapes and carrots for breakfast.

Hold strong, say no to the candy! At least until after breakfast.

Tales from the Vertically Challenged.....

That would be me. All 5 feet, 1/2" inch of me. It doesn't really bother me on a daily basis. We live in a world of handicap accessibility and Ankle-length pants. But in the past few days a few things have come up.

*Kohler Presentation: As in the toilet manufacturer. Despite the giggles and hilarity involved in any formal discussion of flushing, "grams of solid waste" at work, I promise it relates. There was talk about the direction water-management is taking and one thing they mentioned is a government-mandated move towards universality by making all new toilets "comfort height." For the record, that means about an 18 inch high base toilet when the current ones are 14" base height. Somehow by 2011 I don't see the bottom portion of my legs growing an additional 4 inches. I may have to start hoarding toilets.

*SUV: We got a loaner and MAN that thing was high. It's the same car I have but a different model. I couldn't get comfy because I couldn't put my seat low enough to drive with my heel on the floor. So I was hovering with my foot over the gas pedal to be able to see over the dashboard. Totally not a good fit for me and after driving for only 30 minutes, I had a pinpoint muscle ache from sitting incorrectly in the car. I also had to haul my body up and into the car, where with my slightly smaller SUV I just lift up onto my toes a bit and I'm in.

*Convenience shopping. Stopping back from an errand for the crucial gallon of milk, I reached up to grab something else from the dairy case and couldn't reach it! I could ask an employee, but the 5 people in line would not have been happy. So I asked another guy nearby to reach it. Only he had no idea what I was saying and his friend helped me. He could barely reach it either! Geesh!

Maybe I need to start wearing more heels! I do have a few pair for the colder months, but in summer I'm more of a flats and gym shoes kinda gal.

Conversations with a Curious Sylvie...

Watching Peter Pan, some remake...."Mom, do we have that pirate ship on our planet? Do pirate ships really fly?" "Yes.""Are there real pirate ships?""Yes. Just not real pirates."

Last night after she couldn't fall asleep, sparked by watching 'The Land Before Time' movie... "Mom, are dinosaurs real?" "Yes, they are real, but they lived a long long time ago, and they are all dead now." "But they can't come to our house?" "No, they are not alive, they lived a million years ago." "They lived 30 days ago?" "No, a million years ago." "Oh. Why did all the dinosaurs die?" "Because God decided that it was time for some people to live here to he waited til all the dinosaurs got old and didn't make any new baby dinosaurs and a long time later he put people on the earth instead. We know about dinosaurs because we found their bones."

Flashing back to when I was 12 babysitting for a family, I spent a few weekends explaining Fantasia and the meaning behind it to a 6 year old. And he was obsessed with reading about dinosaurs. I was relaying back a particularly funny comment to the mom and the mom said "Wait, now, were dinosaurs real?" So yeah, I think I had better start mentioning that one to Sylvie and Logan now so someday they can be smarter than their 5th grade babysitter!

Flashback Journal Entry: 10/23/05

Flashback to a Road Trip with Logan: just barely aged 2. Sylvie: In Utero

This weekend we attended a wedding for Ryan and Chrissy, who we knew both from U of I and Seattle (they still live in Seattle). We were very excited to see them, despite the 4 hour car ride to get there. The whole week was a scramble for us, staying up late and waking up early. Jorge was working on a competition at work and I was compensating trying to get everything ready for the trip- groceries, outfits for the wedding, etc with Logan around too. Thursday night Jorge worked until 2 am. He was hoping to come home by noon on Friday and take a nap. Of course not. So we hit the road around 5:30pm- not early like we planned, but just in time for rush hour. At least Logan got some baseball playing in the backyard in before we took off. I even had my neighbor watch him next door so I could pack the car while Jorge packed his suitcase! It took forever just to get to the expressway, and I think Logan's first video was over by the time our patience with it all ran out.

So after sitting in traffic forever, we hit McDonalds. With a playland. It was a toddler playland, so Logan loved the rubber flooring, the climbing toys, the small slides, and of course, playing with the balls we brought in with us. Okay, back on the road. It's dark, so it's hard to entertain Logan with much now. A few hours later, around bedtime for Logan, he has a serious meltdown. He's grabbing his bare feet, and I'm trying to see if he wants his boots on, his socks on, his slippers on, a foot massage, who knows! AAAHHHH.

Trying to drive with a screaming toddler is absolute chaos. So, stop two at a McDonalds. With no shoes yet. We bring the boots in, and get them on him once he sees the playland. It's after 9 and the playland is supposed to be closed, but thank goodness it isn't. We eat some apples and have a happy toddler again. Back in the car, and off the to the hotel. More videos and meltdowns for Logan later, he falls asleep for us in the car around 10:30. Less than an hour later, we're there. Our little light sleeper doesn't just lay in our arms, totally limp. No, he looks out of squinted eyes out the window the moment the car stops and spots balloons at the car dealership across the street. The kid is obsessed!!!!!

Into the hotel room, and as soon as the bags come in on the trolley, he sees his baseball bat and wants to play. It's around midnight. So we're thumping around the room, trying to put together his portable crib, and playing baseball. And tennis. And soccer. At midnight. With a very awake child. And a very tired mom and dad. We found out the wedding party is next door, so we stop by and say hello, with an awake Logan. Calming down the child is next to impossible. But we try, and when it looks like he may be tired, we put him in the crib. Yeah right. Jumping, kicking, throwing- SCREECHING!!!!!

And we're in a hotel, so the neighbors probably hate us. We try bringing him in bed with us. No go. He hates that anyway. He's still screaming, so Jorge suggests more baseball. It's now about 1 or 2 am, and Jorge is playing baseball with Logan once again. We put the baseballs to bed in the bathroom, and try to get him in bed with us. The kid moves all over. After about 1/2 hour, he falls asleep between us. Sideways. Shoving his head in my pregnant belly and his feet against Jorge. We don't dare move!

He woke up freaked out a few times in the night, and moved every 10 minutes, so thank goodness he finally woke up around 9, not 7 like usual. The day was great, we spent a few times on and off outside playing sports, and he was great at the wedding, which was beautiful. He tried to blow out the unity candles from the back of the church- his new trick. He was so tired by the reception, he was good and calm, didn't want to dance like I figured he would. He just wanted everyone to draw balloons for him. Which must have energized him for another evening!

We tried to get him to bed, and you guessed it, he just wanted to play baseball! So our friends came over and hung out to watch the World Series. (more baseball excitement for Logan). Between the 4 adults we spent another few hours drawing balloons and playing ball around the room. They headed out and it still took awhile to get him down, but he did sleep between us again.

This morning he woke up saying "ball" and wanting to get the balls and bats from their resting place in the bathroom before he was even awake enough to walk straight! The ride home was a blast- ha. He did okay, but when he passed naptime by two hours, he started screeching, I just said loudly "Logan, it's time to sleep, you've been awake for too many hours." He was silent. With some Sarah McLaughlin, he was asleep in about 5 minutes. We got home and when the car stopped, he woke up and said "ball."

As Jorge said "4 stops at McDonalds- $50, Two nights in a hotel- $100, a road trip with a future Hall-of-Famer in the backseat- priceless!" I swear, when he wouldn't sleep on Friday night we were contemplating calling up the Sox and asking if they needed a pinch hitter with unlimited energy and no need to sleep!

The good thing is Jorge and I kept a sense of humor over the weekend, and had a good time with our friends. And Logan spent way more time playing baseball than he could even imagine. So I would call it a success. As for future road trips anytime soon- NO WAY!!!!!!!!!

Flashback Journal Entry: 9-13-06

Vacation to see my husband, who has been working in California for weeks on end..... Logan: 2-1/2, Sylvie: Aged 9 months

The flight there.....It took three adults and a monster SUV to get all our stuff to the airport. Logan started crying realizing we were leaving Jorge's parents at the airport, then we went through security and he wanted to be in the stroller, so of course he wasn't happy knowing he was going to have to get out of it. So here's me with Sylvie in the Bjorn, two diaper bags- one with food and diapers, one with entertainment and extra clothes, and a purse, and a pillow, pushing the stroller with Logan crying. Lilia made the sign of the cross over me and Jorge and I were joking later that it probably meant "you're f-ing crazy."

So, I tell Logan we're taking our shoes off and he HATES that idea. I do it anyway then try to start dumping each bag into a separate little bin, calm Logan down and reassure him his shoes will go back on his feet in a minute, but in the meantime, could you please walk through the metal detector to that nice evil looking lady over there? Then to fold up the huge stroller and lift it onto the conveyer belt with Logan below me and a baby strapped to my chest. When I flew previously they made me take the bjorn off and put it through the detector, but this time I didn't have to. They took my entire diaper bag apart and made sure each thing was actually formula or baby tylenol or baby food, etc. and not a biological weapon.

Yeah! We made it through, 10 minutes of loading the stroller and attempting to tie gym shoes on with a bjorn on my chest and we're off! I couldn't wear slip-ons since there was so much walking involved, so I got the lovely challenge of tying my own shoes as well. I felt ready for the marathon ahead.

I had plenty of time to change two diapers, grab some french fries and fruit (no food on the 4 hour flight except brie and goat cheese on crackers for sale, a 2 year old's favorites) and listen to Logan whine and Sylvie started to headbutt me from being in the Bjorn too long. So I let the kids loose on the chairs and prayed that no real germs got onto their hands since I could not bring any Purell on the plane!

Lo and behold, both kids fell asleep- wonderful! Only, that leaves me with a stroller, three bags, a pillow and two children to load onto a plane!!!! I was envisioning how I could pack everything onto me, and thank goodness a kind mom (without her kids) offered to bring all my stuff onto the plane and that left me with just two kids. The flight attendant stood at the door and said "you really have your hands full!" I almost kicked her.

So, we took off, and as the pressure built, both kids woke up. Logan was very content with some stickers, markers, a new little Dora coloring book and scissors, for about an hour. We read books, talked, etc. for another hour. Then I brought out the DVD and played Baby Einstein to calm Sylvie down, nursed her, and she fell asleep on my lap. Put on Logans' DVD and he was zoned into it for the rest of the trip. The pillow came in VERY handy. When Sylvie fell asleep, she had to stay on my lap, so it was nice to have. And for the beginning of the trip, Logan fell asleep against it. He snuggled with it and fought with me for it. I also used to to hold Sylvie up while nursing.

Later in the flight, the flight attendants had me buckle Sylvie into the third seat in our row, she liked the man across the aisle, and did pretty well hanging out with us. Uneventful landing, and we all were awake leaving the plane. Found Jorge and Logan was soooo happy to see him! Four hours is a long time on a plane. But really we hadn't been home for 6 hours!

The flight home.....Getting checked in was a big ordeal since you had to leave from one certain place, go out the door, and back into another door. So strange! We waited in line right at security for about 4 minutes, letting people pass us because Logan wanted to finish his sippy of apple juice and Sylvie had to have some too, then I had to empty the rest in the trash. They didn't even bother to open the diaper bag, and we got through security quickly.

At the time, I thought the Chicago airport was bad, my goodness LA was worse! Chicago involved a lot of walking, LA was just plain unlabeled and ridiculous because they shifted everything around for security. We kept having to go down weird hallways to get to an elevator. I think I asked directions from 10 security people! And then in the elevator, I wasn't sure which floor to go to! Sat down to lunch with Logan and he did very well, ate well and Sylvie was entertained.

Then as we were leaving, he smacked his head on the wall (walked into it) and that was the end of Happy Logan. He was upset, and his upset about leaving dad, not being home, not knowing what was going on, all translated to tears on and off for the rest of our trip. And a few meltdowns. The flight was delayed 1/2 hr. Okay. Then they make an announcement. Bad Chicago weather, we may be up to 3 hours delayed. All the food and drink places close, and no one has any with them because of security restrictions. And we have to take an elevator to get to the bathrooms, or anywhere else. And Logan is upset that we are there still, and keeps telling me we need to go outside to get Daddy. Sylvie is now crawling all over the disgusting airport floor trying to put any little crumb into her mouth. Both kids eat all the snacks in my diaper bag, Logan drops half a Nutra Grain bar on the floor and smashes it with his foot, grinding it into his shoe. Lovely.

And of course, Logan is asleep again right before we need to board. I get the kids to the place where drop off the stroller, and the flight attendant actually gets all our bags on. She offered to take the baby but she was in the bjorn, so noto too helpful. Jorge bumped us up to business class with our miles -sweet! We waited one more hour on the plane before take-off. We left Jorge's place around 11am and got to Chicago at 9 pm LA time(11 pm Chicago time). Logan stayed asleep the entire flight!!!! He was so cute all curled up with his pillow and blankets. About an hour into the flight, Sylvie fell asleep, and I had something to drink and some warm nuts. And my feet up with the cool airplane chair watching outside. I felt like I was in a spa. It was wonderful.

Sylvie was pretty good until it got dark in the plane. I let her on the floor and she was climbing on the bags and making a mess. She only slept another few minutes the rest of the flight. She was pretty cranky at the end. When dinner came, I had her propped next to me and we both took turns eating from my special business class dinner. It was so cute. She was saying "mym mym mym." after each bite. We also shared a cookie:) Before we landed, Logan woke up and after freaking out, I got him some apple juice and a cookie and he was happy watching his little tv. Then he was upset we had to close it all up to land.

Sylvie cried the entire car ride home, and the kids are totally off with sleep. They went to bed at 12 last night. And Sylvie woke again at 1 and 6. Aaah! Well, there's my novel. We survived and it was a great trip. But ooh am I tired!!!!!

Maps

I got a map from the Dollar Store and hung it up near the back staircase. Today was so hot and humid all the taped-up posters were falling down. As I was running around making lunch, Sylvie asked me to fix it so I hung it nearby in the Dining Room. I was telling her all the different places, what the blue water meant, where we lived, etc. She was genuinely interested. She was running her finger around the edges of the state pretending to drive her car around like we did on our road trip this weekend.

And today she saw the radar map online that we frequent and understood what was happening. So fun to see a new concept "click!"

Fun Summer Day

Today was so much fun just doing typical neighborhood summer stuff. It was a cool summer so it wasn't too difficult to get out and about, but we've also been sick, done a ton of outings, and lots of playdates, not to mention Kensington Summer Camp! Seems some summers are for hanging out, some are for being on the go.

Getting everyone ready this morning was less than easy with Miss Didn't Sleep Well who is just so antagonistic some mornings. But eventually we got out the door, pink/red clothing combo and all. Whew. And Logan has been cranky but I let him wear pants so he was okay.

We packed the bikes in the car and rode to a nearby park. I wanted them to practice biking more on bigger stretches of sidewalk and they loved it! Sylvie wanted her scooter instead but she did really good. We also got to practice crossing the streets and such. There were two parks and the taller park was a bit hit. Sylvie learned to climb the "rainbow" by crossing one leg over another. And did the BIG tall curvy slide. Brave girl! Logan has stomach muscles of steel and was hanging on the monkey bars and doing the handled monkey bars over and over.

We ran into a 3 year old named Tyler. I know that because Logan said "Who are YOU?" It was a sweet question that was funny when he said it. Anyway, Tyler told us all about his world and his toys and Logan was practically underneath him trying to sneak a peak at the army tank and guy he was holding while Tyler and Sylvie had the funniest conversation about toys being too expensive to buy if they are $20. Some economy huh? I can't believe my kids are big enough to appear to be "mini-adults" with real opinions and conversations.

A pack of grade-school aged boys from across the street came over and they were so well-behaved. Normal boys doing normal things, including their 4 year old brother who was racing by on an old-school bigwheel. The boys in my immediate neighborhood who are going into 2nd grade are bugging me of late. On cell phones, mohawked hair and destructive. I saw one left home alone and climb out of his window the other day! And one banging tennis rackets on the fence until they bent. Not to mention the guns, guns, guns. Logan has guns, but the war games get a bit ridiculous sometimes.

Anyway, we all enjoyed the park for quite awhile. And after lunch we got out the water table, basketball, tennis games, baseball, roller-skates, watered flowers, made rainbows, just had fun in our backyard!

Now let's hope Sylvie takes a bit of a rest because she had a rough night. We're transitioning her from coming into our room too often and it's a lot of work. But what else is new right? At least the summer fun makes up for it!

First Spontaneously Written Words

Have arrived! Logan's conversation went something like this....
"Mom, I can write cat...CAT, cat. I can spell bat, BAT, bat....."
He got a new little composition notebook while school supply shopping and decided to fill it up.

I have to say I'm totally stoked! My little writer! Last year was the year of numbers, this year is setting up to be the year of words!!!!!