Finish this sentence: A day without a blog post from my favorite blog is like…
Well, kind of like this post I guess. I got nuthin.
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Monster
Evie has just been turning into a monster lately. She gets this look in her eyes, and you just know she is looking for trouble. She goes from one thing to another so fast, that you haven’t even finished telling her not to do something, when she’s already doing something else naughty.
It’s just so weird to see how she is so actively looking to be naughty. I’m not worried about it, I know it’s just a phase. Probably some combination of tiredness from not taking naps, just the age she’s at (the terrible 3’s?), and attention seeking due to all the changes going on, especially starting school. But it sure makes for a frustrating day! By the time she goes to bed, we’re exhausted.
Speaking of a turnabout, the other day we were at the 57th St. Children’s Book Festival, and there were costumed characters there. In the past, Evie has been terrified of such things. This time, however, Evie saw a character she couldn’t resist: Martha from Martha Speaks of all things.
We’ve read some of the books and she’s apparently seen it on T.V. (though I haven’t), but this is far from one of her favorite things. I wouldn’t have even recognized Martha, but Evie did and ran right over to stand next to her. She wouldn’t get that close, but far closer than she had ever been to a costumed character.
After that, it was like the floodgates broke. She proceeded to follow Martha and 3 other costumed characters the entire length of the festival. It was like a parade, with Evie in the rear. Every time they stopped she would sort of mill about with them, and then follow once they started again. Sara and I are in the back of every kid’s picture, since we were forced to follow along behind. When the characters got to the end of the festival and turned around to go back the other way, I literally had to grab Evie and pull her away. She looked and me joyfully and said, “We’re going back the other way!” She seriously thought she was somehow part of the fun with the characters, like she had to do her part.
Better than being scared to death of them I guess.
We’re clearly starving the poor boy
Oliver has been very interested in food for a while. If you are holding him and trying to eat, he will try to dive bomb any food that comes anywhere near his face. So finally we gave in and let him try some stuff.
The first thing we really tried was to give him some chunks of apples to gum up (eating is vastly less effective when you don’t have teeth). Every time he got a hold of a piece he would cackle maniacally, like he was really getting away with something. It was like he just couldn’t contain his glee. It was hilarious. After that we tried a few other times. The first time we put him in the high chair, he was again giggling like it was the funniest thing ever.
It is too stressful for me to watch him eat. I’m on the edge of my seat, adrenaline pumping through my system, ready to give him CPR at a moment’s notice when he inevitably chokes himself. He was stuffing this breadstick so far into his mouth, he would gag every time. But he still kept at it, like he was having a grand old time. I guess that’s how you learn.
With the way he attacks food, you’d think that we weren’t feeding him enough or something. However, he’s not going to fool anybody with that, considering he’s the size of a one year old. It’s just so odd since Evie was so ambivalent towards food. Oliver is anything but ambivalent.
The other funny thing about it is how lazy he is with his hands. If he can get away with not holding the food or bringing it to his mouth, he will. If you just try to help him get a better grip, he will drop his hands away like, “Oh good, you’ll be feeding it to me from now on.”
If you want it so bad, get it yourself, lazy bones!
The Week of Pee
Evie has been potty trained for well over a year now, but still wearing a diaper at night. She quit wearing diapers for her nap a long time ago, but every morning her overnight diaper was soaked. Every once in a while she would have a dry diaper or two. For the longest time we told her that, if she had dry diapers for 7 nights in a row, she could switch to panties overnight. She was excited at the prospect, but it was never quite enough motivation to go for it. She also got to pick a prize from the prize bucket for dry diapers. Every now and again we would give a little push to try and get rid of the diapers (for example, having her go potty a 2nd time after her bath), but we weren’t really that concerned with it. We thought she could do it, but if she didn’t want to, we were fine with that.
Then, something happened that clued us in.
When she started back at daycare, she got a diaper at nap time. She hasn’t had a diaper for her nap in probably 6 months, and she never has an accident. However, when they put a diaper on her, she wet it. Ah ha! Having the diaper on made her feel like she didn’t really need to worry about it, almost like giving her permission.
So we decided to just go for it. No diaper at night, and if she wet the bed, she wet the bed. We’d try it for a week, if it worked it worked, if it didn’t, it didn’t. We even bought extra sheets in preparation.
It only took 2 nights.
After the second night of wet sheets she was done going overnight. She’s had one accident overnight since then, but that’s it. There’s nothing like quitting cold turkey! I have to say, it was WELL worth those two nights of extra laundry!
Quote Monday Talks Monsters
Me: “You know there are no such things as monster, right? They are just for pretend.”
Evie: “What about the Loch Ness monster?”
I was trying to figure out which one of you wise guys put her up to that one, but then she told me it was from a book.
Evie: “Why is it Laura Ingalls Wilder?
Me: “Well, when you get married, sometimes your name changes. Mommy’s name used to be the same as Grandma and Grandpa’s, until she married me. And then what did her name become?”
Evie: “Mommy?”
Evie: “My favorite colors are blue and purple, until Aunt Anna gets her cast off.”
We were at a birthday party for a friend of Evie’s who was turning 3. I didn’t see what happened to prompt this, but I saw Evie pat her on the head and say, “You have to share, honey.”
Shane Halbach 