Her Royal Highness, Princess Olivia Rufflebottom, Reigns Supreme

Georgine Gems - Stop Laughing. Stop It. STOP IT!

2012-02-12T20:37:00.000-07:00

We had one of "those" parenting moments tonight at dinner - when Olivia said something so hilarious that it made both of us crack up.
Brief back story. I went to the grocery store. While I was gone, Olivia and Scott started to watch Tangled. At some point, she fell asleep. I came home while Tangled was still on and she was still asleep. After doing whatever it was that I had to do in the kitchen (unpacking groceries, etc.), Scott started dinner, and I sat down to watch the rest of Tangled with a still-sleeping Olivia. As the movie ended, she woke up and was PISSED (I'm not sure why or at what). As she sobbed in my arms, she peed. All over me. Super fun.
So anyway, she was mad, she peed herself, and, as luck would have it, she was hungry. The Perfect Storm.
I figured the best bet was to get something - anything - in that belly of hers in order to bring that blood sugar back up to tolerable levels and to make her behavior also tolerable. So I gave her a handful of Goldfish and some water (at her request). After she had those, she was much more pleasant.
But here's the thing - Scott and I were also trying to eat dinner (which was so hot that both of us were dying for ice cream in order to try to stave off heartburn or worse), so when she asked for chocolate chips, I agreed in order to keep dinner pleasant.
That's when things went off the tracks.

O: "More chocolate chips?"
Me: "No. You had enough."
O: "But I want chocolate chips!"
Me: "You've had enough. If you're still hungry, you can have something good for you."
O: "I want chocolate chips!"
Scott: "If you eat something else, we'll all have ice cream in a few minutes."
Me: "It has to be something --" (totally cut off by HRH here)
O: "Chocolate chips are something!"
(We burst into laughter here; she bursts into tears)
Scott: "You're funny!"
O: "No, I'm not! I'm just crying!"
(Cue further laughter)

At that point, we knew that ice cream was necessary, so we told Olivia that if she had a "go food," she could have some ice cream with us. The "go food" she chose was apricots and Craisins, which she ate willingly until a bowl of vanilla was plunked down in front of her. I'm still pretty sure we were happier to have it than she was tonight.

Georgine Gems - Too Stinkin' Smart

2012-01-25T18:56:00.000-07:00

I have taught Olivia all of the colors in German (except black - she just cannot or will not say schwarz), and she is learning them in Spanish at school (same goes for numbers, by the way - she can count to ten in three languages).
I've also been really trying to get her interested in helping me cook, as I am hoping she will want to actually eat some of what she makes at some point soon (so far, that's not happening), especially because I have really been making a push to use all of the veggies that we get each week through our CSA.
Tonight, I planned to make a Portuguese kale soup called caldo verde. So, on the way home, I asked Olivia if she wanted to help me.

Me: Do you want to help me make soup?
O: Yeah! What kind of soup you make?
Me: We're going to make caldo verde.
(pause)
O: Is it going to be green?
Me: Well, we're putting something in it that's green, but I don't think it's all green.

Did you catch that? She heard the name, caldo VERDE, and then asked if it was going to be GREEN.
OK, OK, so I'm pretty excited, probably more than you are, but then again, I did give birth to this little genius. I just love, though, seeing and hearing her make such fantastic connections that are higher on Bloom's Taxonomy than just "verde means green."

Tale as Old as Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime...

2012-01-24T22:04:00.000-07:00

My mother reminded me the other day that my first motion picture outing was to The Muppet Movie, which is probably why I love the song "The Rainbow Connection" so much.
I had actually thought about taking Olivia to see the new installment, The Muppets, when it came out last year, but once I read that Frank Oz wasn't thrilled with it, I had too many mixed feelings for me to be comfortable with that being Olivia' s First Movie at the Theatre.
Thankfully, Disney has decided that it doesn't have to stick with its usual re-releasing films "from the vault, but only for a limited time" plan; it's going 3D.
So of course when I saw the commercial for Beauty and the Beast in 3D, I went from "Really? They're bringing this back to the theatre?" to "I am SO taking Olivia to that" in the 45 seconds that the commercial was on. Belle is, after all, her favorite princess (I like to think it's the yellow dress, but you know I have a thing for yellow).
Well, the day finally came.
Olivia got totally into it.

She asked to wear her Belle dress (duh - I was totally planning for that to happen anyway).
She asked me to give her "Belle hair" (just like on Halloween).
She said that her "pretty party shoes" (black Mary Janes) were what she needed to wear.
She decided to take her two "little Belles" (tiny princess dolls with dresses made of a rubbery plastic that kind of makes my skin crawl).
We backed "big Belle" (Barbie size) in her backpack, just in case.

Since we went on Sunday morning, we managed to have a mostly-empty theatre. I'm guessing that most people were in the post-church-lunch portion of their day, but I'm not complaining - it was nice, and let's be honest; no one goes to a film like that expecting all those kids to actually be quiet during the whole thing.

Waiting to get the tickets with Daddy

Which is good, because Olivia sang all the words to all the songs.
It might have been the Powerade that we let her have (the kids' popcorn pack came with a drink, but heaven forbid we ask for water or juice instead of soda...).
It might have been the three Dots that I allowed her to have (she asked for Momma's fruit snacks).
I'm not really sure what it was, but she had to pee once during the movie (she actually said she had to go again, but I called her bluff), and at one point, going up and down the stairs was WAY more interesting than the film, but for the most part, she enjoyed it.

Like most moviegoers, she ate/drank the bulk of her snack
BEFORE the previews even began.

The 3D glasses were actually the most confusing for her. When we got them, I told her that they were special sunglasses we had to wear to see the movie.
But, you see, sunglasses are only worn when we are outside. The SECOND we come inside, she'll take off those shades and jab them into my stomach if I'm not paying attention and have my hands ready to receive Her Royal Highness's castoffs. So for a while, Olivia kept trying to take them off, but I think she finally realized that without them, the screen was fuzzy.
How was the movie? Well, my only other 3D experience was Captain EO many, many... MANY years ago at Disneyland, so I don't really have a lot to which to compare it. However, I think that Disney did a good job, although from the previews, I think that Finding Nemo will be the film I really will want to see in 3D. But as far as Olivia goes, she's perfectly happy to watch most movies in the playroom/office with all the comforts of home.
Like mother, like daughter.

There's No Swiping on Christmas

2011-12-26T20:07:00.000-07:00

It's an established fact that Olivia loves Dora the Explorer. Which makes the fact that OnDemand had "Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure" just that much more painful.

I hear the song Nochebuena in my nightmares.

Thankfully, the show's reign on the TV is fast coming to an end.

Even more thankfully, Olivia went ALL of Christmas day without watching it.

Maybe it was the eight bazillion gifts she received from Santa, Nana, Papa, Ya-Ya, Grandma, and Mommy & Daddy that distracted her.

RRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIP! This is fun!

Santa brought all the Tinkerbell fairies.

Don't I get a present?

The Man in Red also brought a Tinkerbell art set....

...and a Sparky Pillow Pet, which Zooey clearly wanted.

Papa and Ya-Ya sent a Plasma car, which went perfectly
with her new princess bike helmet!

This ginormous princess castle, which is currently home to
Belle, Ariel, Aurora, Cinderella, and Tiana, was what Olivia
came downstairs to after her "nap," courtesy Nana and Grandma.

I'm pretty sure Her Royal Highness is still on stimulation overload. Yesterday, she refused to nap. She agreed to lay down in her bed for a little while, but that was short-lived. When it came to bedtime, though, she was anything but amenable to going to sleep; she cried and screamed and used almost every delaying tactic possible, including having some night terrors around 2AM (note - they are called night terrors because they are TERRIFYING to the parents who wake up to their three-year-old screaming bloody murder), which resulted in the wetting of the bed and subsequent bedclothes change.

I'm so glad Christmas only happens once a year. I'd be even happier if I could hibernate for a few weeks now.

Georgine Gems - The Third One's for Dancing

2011-12-18T13:31:00.000-07:00

OK, OK, we're trying to play down the boobs thing, but this one was hilarious.

O: I have boobs when I get older?
Me: Yes. When you're much older?
O: How many boobs I have?
Me: Two. (to myself) Because three would be weird.
O (who overheard me, clearly): I don't WANT three! (sad face)

Thank goodness!!!!!

Olivia's Christmas Countdown

2011-12-11T19:36:00.000-07:00

So, this year, Olivia totally gets Christmas. In a big way. Last year she certainly enjoyed looking at the tree and getting presents, but she GETS IT. She gets that Santa will bring her presents, as long as she is "sweet" and not naughty ("Momma, I'm sweet!" - saying it makes it true). She gets that the tree is supposed to be decorated (she "helped" the other day, and then when she went to Nana's this weekend, I swung into action). She has been smacked in the face with some serious Christmas spirit.
Her favorite part, thus far? Definitely the advent calendar, or, in our house, the Christmas Counter Downer (thanks, Elmo's Christmas Countdown, for the joy you have brought Olivia for the past 13 months).
So.... just for future reference, the best day to obtain one's advent calendar is NOT the day before the advent calendar starts. Apparently, all the "good ones" are gone at that point. Duly noted.
I didn't even know where to get an advent calendar, and my mom had suggested World Market. So before picking Olivia up from school, I headed out to the nearest one and searched. And searched. And searched. And finally asked someone if they had any advent calendars.
They had one kind left:

This picture doesn't do it justice - this advent calendar is nearly as tall as Olivia is. All 3'2" of her.
However, you might imagine my delight that the calendar is from Germany (Lübeck, to be specific), and the ingredients on the label were in German (I mean, they had the English overset, but the original packaging is all in German) - that means good stuff: marzipan.
If you aren't familiar with marzipan, its a concoction of almonds and honey or sugar. It's very popular in German pastries, especially at Christmas time. It's delicious (I think), but it can be overwhelming, so I only like it in small doses.
Like the amount that might come in an advent calendar.
Olivia likes it too.

At first I was a bit surprised that she dug into the candy so well, but then I reminded myself that she's never met a candy that she didn't like.
Thankfully, the candies are so big (like larger than a half dollar on most occasions), Olivia is pretty generous and generally offers me a bite. There have been two instances on which there were two candies behind the doors, and I was able to reserve an entire one for myself (she was fine with that - she still got an entire piece of candy).
Now that we are 11 days in, Olivia has finally acquiesced to opening only one box per day. This afternoon, when she woke from her nap and we opened Box #11, she turned to me and said, "Momma, I open Box #12 tomorrow?"
Hopefully her little head won't explode with excitement when she realizes that on Day #25 she gets to open more than a tiny little box.

Georgine Gems - Sorry, the Answer We Were Looking for Was "Chest Hair"

2011-11-30T20:45:00.000-07:00

Olivia is fascinated with anatomy. OK, she's fascinated with breasts ("boobs"). Thankfully, I've been able to keep her away from my own private stock ever since we got her the Tinkerbell doll for her birthday. Now if she wants to see a reasonable facsimile of mammaries, she can just pull down Tink's dress.
Which she does a lot.
Anyway, she noticed that Daddy does not, in fact, have boobs. She's noted that he has chest hair instead. That hasn't stopped me from trying to get back at him from telling her that the stuffed skunk I got for her was named Allison (for the record, its name is Stinky).
Clearly my young Padawan is learning:

O: Mommies have boobs.
Me: That's right. Mommies have boobs. Do daddies have boobs?
O: No.
Me: What do they have?
O: Moobs.

I think my work here is done.

Georgine Gems - Ummmmm, No

2011-11-29T21:02:00.000-07:00

Olivia was given a little computer last year that she just loves. The alphabet setting tells the child one word (an animal) that each letter starts with.

Computer: N. Nnnnnnnnn. Newt!
O: Newt! Can you say newt, Mommy?
Me: Newt. A newt is kind of like a lizard.
O: No, it's like an alligator.

So tonight after we got home from school, we did an image search of newts. Clearly I have issues when I have to prove to my three-year-old child that I'm right and she's wrong.
Whatever. I still win.

Georgine Gems - NOT YET!!!!!!!!

2011-11-18T19:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Olivia and I went to the mall after I picked her up from school. My plan was to obtain some undies to wear over my running pants in tomorrow's Undy 5000, sponsored by the Colon Cancer Alliance. I hadn't planned on it, but then my friend Nina reminded me that Victoria's Secret sells ASU undies as part of its Pink collegiate collection. Since tomorrow is also the Territorial Cup (the ASU vs. UofA game), I thought that would be fitting, so it was off to VS we went!
This conversation took place in the presence of one of the sales associates, who, bless her heart, did her utmost not to fall over laughing.

O: Is this a bra store?
Me: Yes, it's a store that sells bras.
O: Is that a bra?
Me: Yes. There are many bras here.
O: There's an orange bra! That's orange (spelled the same, but pronounced the German way)!
Me: Yep. That's an orange bra.
O: What color bra I need?
Me: You don't need a bra.
O: Yes I do! Yes, I need a bra!
Me: They don't sell your size here.
O: We need another store?

Fortunately, a fitting room opened up, so we were able to get in there, where HRH proceeded to explain to me why the white undies with Sparky all over them were superior to the gold or maroon ones. I'm sure everyone in the vicinity enjoyed hearing a three-year-old saying (loudly), "You need the white underpants, Mommy. They have Sparky on them. Are you taking your pants off?"
And I'm sure you just enjoyed reading about it, too.

A Birthday Fit for a Princess

2011-11-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

It's been a year since Olivia's last "official " doctor's appointment, which means that it's been a year since she got her last round of innoculations. That means she's had plenty of time to forget what a visit to the office usually brings - "pokies."

That forgetfulness meant that we had our first pleasant visit with our PA, Steve. Olivia explained what yellow and green are in German to him and even sat quietly while he listened to her heartbeat, etc., with his stethoscope. I was very proud of her, even as she sat through the two shots she received. Watching her facial expression change almost instantaneously from contentedness to absolute dismay and pain was a little heartbreaking, but someday she'll understand that I just want her to stay as healthy as she was determined to be.

And boy, is she healthy. Steve was impressed at how much she has grown:

Weight: 33 pounds (up 7 pounds from last year)
Height: 38 inches, or 3'2" (that's a 4 1/2 inch growth from her 2 year checkup)

In both these categories, she was in the 75th percentile, so she's definitely making gains in the caloric consumption, and Steve said to keep offering her various foods; someday she'll eat it. He told me that having her help out in the kitchen like we do is a great way to introduce her to new and healthy foods, and that, of course, is something we'll most certainly keep up.

Now, between starting the school year while serving on a grand jury and the pace with which students decided to submit their work, I had absolutely no energy to plan a birthday party for Olivia this year. That's kind of a shame, since this is the first year Olivia really started to "get" what birthdays mean: cupcakes and presents.

But just because we didn't have a party doesn't mean we didn't have a birthday celebration.

My mom has been here this weekend, visiting, so we took advantage of the Veterans Day holiday and headed out to Superstition Farm. This was the first time my mom and Scott's mom had been to the farm, and everyone was happy that Sushi the Bunny, who takes a summer vacation out of the heat, had returned. That bunny is honestly the most patient critter I've ever met.

Olivia also played with Toby the Farm Dog a bit, throwing his beloved tennis balls and giving him hugs as he flopped down to take a snooze before another marathon ball-fetching session.

But the most exciting part of the day was riding the horse. I was a touch hesitant; last year we went to a birthday party at which pony rides were available. Olivia was on that pony for about two seconds before freaking out and bursting into tears. So when we came up to the horses (much larger than a pony), I worried that she may have a repeat episode, just higher off the ground.

Boy was I mistaken. Olivia LOVED riding the horse, whose name was M&M, around the ring. In fact, she loved it so much that she only burst into tears when her turn was over and I attempted to take her off. For the record, this kid has extremely strong thighs - she clamped her legs down onto the saddle and held on for dear life.

So I took pity on her and let her take my ride, so Olivia got another ride, during which she could NOT stop smiling and saying "I on a horse!"

Fortunately, I was able to get her off M&M this time with the promise that we were going to bottle feed the calves. She's done this before, of course, and loves it, so when this ride was over, she said thank you to M&M and the humans who take care of the horses, petted a cow who thinks she's a horse (no lie - she kept escaping, so they penned her with the horses, and now she thinks she's a horse), and headed over to feed the calves.

When we got home, Olivia was told she had to take a nap in order to get her presents and cupcakes, but she still fought the nap as much as she could (she already had seen her present from Poppa and Ya-Ya - her new kitchen) before finally giving in to the sleep gods.

Dinner was tasty - I made what every three-year-old wants: a mushroom pie. Of course, HRH's plate contained no fungi but instead the ubiquitous chicken nuggets and French fries. She took like three bites and announced, "I'm done." We had told her that she could open her presents when we were done with dinner. Apparently that meant only her.

So after the adults took an agonizingly long time to eat their meal (I blame Scott, who had seconds), we finally let her open her gifts. The video below only shows a part of her excitement at receiving her new toys. Even though only 4 of us helped HRH celebrate her birthday (which we told her was, in fact, Friday instead of Sunday), she still received a boatload of new "loot," so a cull of the play room is in my very near future.

I used as little tape as possible to make
ripping into presents easier for little hands.

Most of the pics are fuzzy, since Olivia rarely
stops moving.

"TINKERBELL!!!!!!!!!!"

Big, fuzzy pig from Uncle Chris and Aunt Erika = hit

And then, the pièce de résistance - the Belle cupcakes.

Olivia has been talking about getting Belle cupcakes ever since she realized that "birthday" meant cake and presents. So for months, we've been hearing, "On my birthday I get Tinkerbell and Rainbow Dash and Belle cupcakes."

Belle cupcakes are cupcakes with yellow icing. I called my favorite local cupcake shop, TopIt Cupcakes in Gilbert, and ordered a half dozen vanilla cupcakes with "Belle" vanilla buttercream. The owner told me she could put glitter and pearls on them as well, and I was sold. They were gorgeous.

And delicious.

Olivia made out like a bandit for her birthday this year, even though we didn't have the traditional "invite everyone within a three-mile radius" party. She is fortunate to have received many gifts, and hopefully she will grow into a young lady who is truly grateful for that fortune.

Especially seeing as on Saturday, we met Belle at the farmers' market.

When we first saw the princesses (Jasmine, Aurora, and Cinderella were also there), Olivia stopped in her tracks and just stared. I don't think she could truly process what she was seeing - Belle, in person, right there in front of her. A little shyness kicked in at first, but before long, she was telling Belle that she, in fact, had been Belle for Halloween and had been beautiful.

HRH met Jasmine and Aurora (although she still calls her Sleeping Beauty) as well before hunger took over. But I'm sure that meeting her favorite people in the world - princesses - is hungry work.

Georgine Gems - I Could Think of Worse Heroes

2011-11-08T18:39:00.000-07:00

This conversation occurred as we were nearly home from school, where Olivia just moved up to her new classroom.

O: I need a new toothbrush.
Me: You need a new toothbrush? (I had actually told her I'd get her one and then forgot about it)
O: Yes! I need a new toothbrush!
Me: OK, let's go get you a new toothbrush.
O: What color I get?
Me: You can have any color toothbrush you want.
O: How about green?
Me: Green?
O: Yeah. Just like Zooey's toothbrush!

For the record, the idea for the green toothbrush was abandoned once she saw the Disney princess double pack with Belle and Tiana.

"Trick or Treat!"

2011-11-01T07:54:00.000-07:00

While Olivia has had costumes since her first Halloween, this was the first year that we took her trick or treating. At almost three (she'll tell you she's going to be six, as Scott tried to explain to her that her birthday is November 6th, which translated to her as "number six"), we decided that she could walk to a few houses and get a bit of candy, all the while showing off her Belle costume, which I was afraid she would sleep in last night.
Fortunately, the allure of trick or treating set in early. Mostly because she was told that she'd get to wear her Belle costume all evening.
This, of course, was after a requisite nap. I explained to HRH that you only get to go trick or treating after a nap, so yesterday at about 2:00, we snuggled in, had a bit of a story, and she willingly went down for a nap (more and more rare in the Powell house).
When she got up, she was sweaty and gross (thanks to her insistence that she sleep with her sheet, her comforter, AND her blanket, even though it was still about 85° yesterday), so I plunked her in the tub to get clean (another "rule" I made up to get her to do what I wanted - why can't every day be Halloween?).
Then it was time to get ready. I armed myself with hair ties, hairspray, hair clips, ribbon, a nylon knee high, and a homemade Topsy Tail to turn Olivia's hair into Belle hair. I imagine that this scene will somewhat be revisited when she is preparing for homecoming dances and proms, although that scene will also surely include Daddy sitting there with a shotgun in his hands, preparing for the date who will replace currently adored the candy bucket.
Thank goodness for the internet. Not only does my Twitter feed get clogged up with Kim Kardashian's divorce (I didn't know she got married until like a week ago), but I was also able to find a website devoted solely to princess hairstyle how-to instructions. So with a little patience and some willingness to watch Beauty and the Beast, I managed to take my daughter's fine, slippery, straight hair and turn it into this:

Pretty cool, huh? I know Belle is much more a true brunette, but I did feel that coloring Olivia's hair would have been a bit much (especially seeing as I don't even color my own hair anymore). The second I was finished, she ran into the bathroom to look at her hair: "Oh, my goodness, I have such beautiful hair!" (no lie)
Somehow I managed to get the costume on over the hair, and we were about set. Olivia is still a bit small for her costume, so I used a tutu skirt underneath the dress to add some volume, which in turn lifted the hem off the ground. Then I took a few trusty safety pins to get the bodice to be a little better fitting. The end result was magical for her.

"You want a pumpkin, Daddy?"

"My dress is so beautiful!"

After waiting what was a probably agonizing 15 or so minutes, we headed out. Fortunately, while Olivia was - ahem - patiently waiting, one little girl came to our house, so Olivia got to see what was expected as far as trick or treat etiquette is concerned:

Go up to house; knock on door if necessary.
Say, "Trick or treat," looking very cute.
RECEIVE TREAT!
Say, "Thank you."
Repeat at next house.

After the little girl (who was Cinderella, so there was a moment when the two princesses kind of stared each other down) left, Olivia said, "I want some candy," and began rifling through the bag that served as our candy dispenser for the evening. When I explained that she, too, would be going to other houses to get candy, the wait for Daddy, who had just gotten home and was changing as quickly as he could, became almost excruciating.

While I like to think that my child is brilliant, she caught on to how trick or treating works (see the above procedures) after one house. The second that candy hit her bucket, she was sold. I think Scott and I had both imagined that we would go to a couple of houses, and she'd be "all done," but Olivia was all about trick or treating. Though sometimes somewhat shy around people she doesn't know, last night she marched up to complete strangers, said the requisite words and even improvised a bit: "I'm Belle! She's a princess!" Surely being complimented on her pretty (and sparkly) costume AND getting candy was an experience that the gods must have created.

Our route snaked through three neighborhood blocks, and with the exception of only a few feet, Olivia walked the whole way, sometimes running to get the candy that someone had to offer (many people were out in front of their driveways having a good time, which is good to know for next year as I plan for our house to be less lame).

Finally, we heard the words we were waiting for: "I want to go home."

Inside, Olivia was able to more closely inspect her loot.

What should I eat first?

I've taken an inventory. Don't even think
about stealing that peanut butter cup.

Of course we let her eat candy. We're not a couple of sickos who let their kids get free candy from strangers and then take it away. Olivia was allowed to have three pieces, which included two DumDums and a packet of M&Ms (her choice). She ate them while watching the rest of Beauty and the Beast.

She did a good job of using her elbow to keep
Zooey at bay.

Oh yes, I'm zoned out now.
(can you say stimulation overload?)

After the movie ended, I hoped that I could manage to get Olivia, who had already shed her dress and princess hair in order to not be "uncomfable," to snuggle down, have a few stories, and go to bed.

Hardy har har.

Clearly Olivia doesn't actually get as much sugar as I thought, as those three sweets changed my sweet little girl from Princess Rufflebottom into Countess Corn Syrup, and we experienced a sugar high of epic proportions. Olivia tried to climb up next to the TV, ran around in her underpants (princess, to match her costume), a headband, and a "magic wand" to turn us into bulls (thanks, Dora), and generally went crazy. At one point, she decided to sit down and color. This, apparently, required a song that went something like, "I LIKE TO COLOR. I USE A PINK CRAYON. HOW BOUT THIS ONE. SAYGANGOHHAYGANGASOHAY!"

It was at that point that I hit my wall. I've been getting up at 4:45 on Mondays to run, and being awake for that long caught up with me. I couldn't hang. So I abandoned Olivia and left Scott in charge of her. I have no idea what time she went to bed, but she didn't get up until 7:30 this morning.

At which time she asked to go trick or treating again.

Mommymobile

2011-10-30T13:22:00.000-07:00

I'd like to introduce Ursula, the newest member of the family!

She's a 2009 Subaru Forester, LL Bean edition. Since she's silver and black AND since Olivia is currently obsessed with pretty much all things Disney® princess (including her new copy of The Little Mermaid), I felt it appropriate to name her Ursula. In getting her, we said goodbye to the Ford Ranger, which served several Powells well. Hopefully its next owner will get some Zooey fur as an added bonus.

Disney® Staycation

2011-10-17T17:39:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that Olivia's obsessed with princesses. For several months, she has been able to accurately identify Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty (I'm working on getting her to call her Aurora), Jasmine, Tinkerbell (OK, not a fairy, but still sparkly), Tiana, and, most importantly, Belle.
You may have heard rumor that Olivia wants to be Belle for Halloween. Well, this weekend, we took her to get a costume. After heading to the costume store too late on Saturday (6:07 - the store closed at 6PM!), we headed back out on Sunday.
Once inside the fitting "room," I only managed to get Olivia's shirt off before she was squirming into the dress. She refused to take it off, so thankfully it pretty much fits!

"I love my Belle costume"

Even princesses need Jazz hands.

Since she's not yet 3, we didn't go all out on the costume, so its quality control is suspect at best. So, it only took about 7 minutes after we got home for something to rip. Fortunately, the issue was within my abilities as a seamstress, and I managed to make everything look as good as new in a few minutes.
The costume is now safely ensconced in Olivia's closet.

New to the Disney® princess lineup is Rapunzel, or, as Olivia calls her, "Apunzel." She isn't totally familiar with her, but she knows that this princess has the longest hair of any of the princesses. "It's so beautiful!"
So today, I thought that I might obtain the movie Tangled, as we've had good luck with Beauty and the Beast, commentary on getting naked notwithstanding. I haven't yet seen the film, but I've heard from most moms of little girls that it's pretty awesome, and if it keeps me from watching another episode or two of Dora, I'm sold.
Unfortunately, there was a bit of miscommunication, so when we went to the store to get the DVD, Olivia went into near hysterics as I picked up Tangled. Thankfully, this was a moment of despair in which language skills didn't escape her, and she managed to stammer out, in the most pitiful voice you can imagine, "I wanted to get Apunzel the doll!"
So, I put the DVD back (her birthday is in a few weeks anyway), and we walked to the toy section.
I wonder if she identifies with a long-haired blonde in a purple dress...

My crown is prettier than Apunzel's crown.

Now if only I can get her to clean the house like Cinderella...

Olivia and the Bee

2011-10-13T18:25:00.001-07:00

Olivia is currently REALLY into coloring. This means that Scott and I are also really into coloring - she loves to have us sit with her (and damn near break our knees on her tiny ass table) and color. Scott is usually charged with drawing lions while I currently have drawn more pumpkin patches with scarecrows than any 30-something woman should.
Last night, she decided to put her most current masterpiece on the fridge. So we cleared out a space, and she got to work putting as many magnets as she could to hold it up. I turned around to get a drink of water, and then I heard this:

"That spells 'cat'!"

I whirled around to see this:

"That's right!" I pretty much screamed at the top of my lungs. "That does spell cat! Great job, Olivia!"
Then I texted about half my phone book.
I did try to get her to recreate her magnificent feat on video, but when I asked her to spell cat again, she politely declined: "No, no thank you."
Of course, I had to brag to, like, everyone, so today as we left school (after purchasing a Disney princess cupcake cookbook - all of Olivia's favorite things in one book!), I asked her to tell Miss Ashley and Miss Kimberly what she spelled on the fridge yesterday.
Her prompt reply: "Cat!"
They were very impressed.
They were further impressed when I asked Olivia if she could spell cat for them, and she said, to my ASL finger spelling prompts, "C..... A.... T!"
My heart could explode with pride that Olivia is already starting to spell/read 3 weeks and 4 days before she turns three. Not that I'm counting.

Georgine Gems - What Kind of Movie Do You Think This Is?

2011-10-10T20:30:00.000-07:00

As you may know, Olivia is currently obsessed with Belle and plans to dress up as Belle for Halloween. Since her only experience with Belle has been from her Belle doll (given to her last year for her birthday by cousin Tristan and his parents), her Disney® plate and cup and Crocs® Gibbets, I figured she should actually be introduced to the film, so today I picked up the DVD of Beauty and the Beast. It's been a while since I've purchased a DVD, and I wasn't aware that EVERYTHING has to come as a "special 2-disc" version with like ten different versions and all sorts of interviews and games and crap that I'm never going to actually watch.
Anyway, when we got home, I surprised her with it (and then promptly made her eat ALL of her dinner in order to watch it - I love bribery). She gasped with surprise and ate all of her grapes.
At the end of the movie (the scene in the beast collapses and then is magically lifted in the air to transform back into the prince), Olivia got VERY concerned about what was happening to the beast.

O: What's happening, Mommy? What's happening?
Me: I'm not sure. We need to watch to see what happens.
O: She's getting naked.
Me: Who's getting naked?
O: She's getting naked.
Me: Who? Belle? Belle's getting naked?
O: Yes. Belle's getting naked.

I have no idea what made her decide that Belle needed to get naked, but I'm hoping that during this second viewing (during which we've already had a great deal more commentary), any nudity discussion will be omitted.

Perfect Pumpkin

2011-10-08T15:25:00.000-07:00

Our CSA had a mobile pumpkin patch today at the farmers' market, so we headed out, bought some honey, ate breakfast at my favorite food truck, and picked out a pumpkin.

Georgine Gems - Getting Comfy

2011-10-08T15:14:00.002-07:00

Lately Olivia has decided that being "uncomfortable" (whatever that means for her at the time) means that she needs some special attention. Or special treat. Usually a special treat.

O: Daddy, I uncomfable. I need a lollipop.
Scott: You didn't eat your lunch.
O: I don't want lunch. I just want a lollipop.

For the record, she didn't get her lollipop. She also refused to eat a real dinner. So to those bloggers who suggest that "tricking" children to consume spinach or other healthful foods is abominable, I say I will do whatever it takes to get nutrients in my kid's belly.

Georgine Gems - BOO!

2011-10-05T16:16:00.000-07:00

Dora's Halloween special is currently showing OnDemand. We've watched it about ten times already today.
At the beginning, Dora asks, "Do you like Halloween costumes?" Each time, Olivia says the same thing in response: "Yeah, I need to be Belle."
(did you catch that? - I need to be Belle)
Seconds later, Dora asks, "What do you want to be for Halloween?" By this point, Olivia gets pissed that her previous answer hasn't been acknowledged and yells, "BELLE!" right at the screen (and she's usually standing right in front of the TV, not understanding that she will likely be sucked into it at some point).
So, I guess it's settled - she's being Belle for Halloween, so I'd better get on the stick and find an appropriate Belle costume.
To verify that I was aware of this, however, the following discussion took place while O was on the potty:

O: I need to be Belle, Mommy.
Me: OK, you can be Belle for Halloween.
O; She's yellow.
Me: Yes, her dress is yellow. So if you are going to be Belle, what should I be for Halloween?
O: Cinderella.
Me: Cinderella?
O: Yes.
Me: OK. What should Daddy be?
O: Tiana!

I'll have to ask my friend Katie if she thinks her daughter's Tiana costume from last year will fit Scott.
Oh, and it was determined that Holden is allowed to be a lion, but Zooey has to be Sleeping Beauty.

Georgine Gems - Diva Out of Training and Jeter's a Crybaby

2011-10-04T19:47:00.000-07:00

Olivia's new "thing" is wearing her sunglasses whenever we go in the car. I have about seven pairs in my handbag should we misplace her Dora ones. She likes to be prepared and makes sure they are on before we hit the garage or before we leave "school." This conversation took place right outside her classroom.

Miss T: Oh, wow, I love your sunglasses.
O: Thanks. I'm glamorous.
Miss T: Oh really? You're glamorous, huh?
O: Yes. I'm glamorous. These are my sunglasses.

Then, at dinner tonight, Scott's heart must have swelled with pride at their discussion about the AL Division Series game that was on.

O: Daddy, what's that baby doing?
Scott: What baby?
O: What's that green baby doing?
Scott: That's Derek Jeter.
O: What's he doing?
Scott: He's crying.
O: No.
Scott: Then what's he doing?
O: He's being naughty.

Georgine Gems - I Did Not Know That Was a Flavor

2011-09-24T19:10:00.000-07:00

So predictable - Scott headed out for a guy's night, so Olivia and I went out for ice cream. On the way there, we discussed what we would order.

Me: What flavor do you think you want?
O: Brown.
Me: Brown? You want chocolate?
O: Yes. What flavor you want, Mommy?
Me: Oh, I don't know. There are so many flavors to choose.
O: OK. We'll get blue for you.

For the record, I got a peanut butter and chocolate milkshake with real whipped cream. Olivia got brown.

Georgine Gems - She Speaks the Truth

2011-09-17T16:54:00.001-07:00

On my way to my first 5K of the fall this morning, I received this text from Scott (copied here verbatim):

O: daddy this is my castle.
Me: who built that for you?
O: mommy, she is awesome!

It's true. I am awesome - she later also told Scott that I am awesome because I bought the apple bar (Nutrigrain apple) that she was eating (even though it was, in fact, Scott who made that purchase).
I love that Olivia thinks I'm awesome and hope she continues to think so for as long as possible before she becomes acutely allergic to my presence, but what I hope for more is that she thinks she is awesome. Or more specifically, I hope that she wakes up every morning, full of awesome, just like everyone else should.

It's a 50-50

2011-09-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

Screaming from the bathroom can mean one of two things:

HRH really, really, REALLY loves to hear herself.
Things are going terribly wrong, and I had better get off the couch to see what's going on.

No matter which option I choose, it's always the wrong one.

Georgine Gems - You Can't Make This Ish Up!

2011-09-14T17:28:00.001-07:00

This happened literally two minutes ago as we drove up to the house. I nearly crashed as I parked in the garage for laughing.

Me: I hear Zooey - I hear my dog!
O: She's my dog!
Me: Nooooo, she's MY dog!
O: Noooo, she's MY dog!
Me: OK, if she's your dog, you get to clean up her poop.
(pause)
O: No, she's your dog.

She's smart. Too smart.

Georgine Gems - It's My Favorite!

2011-09-13T07:13:00.000-07:00

Olivia is a huge fan of the Stretch Island Fruit Co. dried fruit leathers (the company calls them fruit strips), which she calls "fruit rollups" (my apologies for any and all copyright infringement there - the first one she had was, in fact, a Fruit Rollup, and we've been running with that name ever since so she'd be willing to eat the natural ones). Here is yesterday's lunch conversation.

Me: What else would you like? Do you want a fruit rollup?
O: YES!
Me: OK, what fruit rollup do you want? We have cherry, raspberry, apple, and strawberry.
O: Raspberry!
Me: Raspberry it is!
O: Mmmmm, raspberry... it's my favorite!
(proceeds to eat raspberry fruit leather)
O: Another one?
Me: OK, which one would you like now?
O: Apple!
Me: All righty, here you go!
O: Mmmmm, apple... it's my favorite!
(proceeds to eat apple fruit leather)
O: Another one?
Me? Another one? Are you sure?
O: YES! (note - she prefers to say yes to yeah)
Me: OK, we have cherry and strawberry left; which one would you like?
O: Cherry!
Me: OK, here's the cherry fruit rollup.
O: Mmmmm, cherry... it's my favorite.

Guess what she said after I gave her the strawberry one.

The Binky Fairy

2011-08-29T22:58:00.000-07:00

When I decided that Momma was finally ready to say goodbye to the binky once and for all (after too many attempts that ended with me giving in to soothe the savage princess), we decided that the time was right to tell Olivia about the Binky Fairy.

If you don't know about the Binky Fairy, she helps babies become Official Big Girls by taking their binkies while they sleep. She takes them and magically makes them brand new for newborn babies who need the binkies more than the big girls.
The best thing about the Binky Fairy is that she leaves a special, big girl present to reward those big girls for taking this last step in becoming Official Big Girls. I'm not talking about a tiny, little gift. Oh no. It is clear that the Binky Fairy has taken several mortgages out on her home to afford the gifts that she bestows on Official Big Girls.
Now, Olivia had three binkies remaining: one green, two pink. After some emailing back and forth with us, the Binky Fairy suggested that we leave one binky out each night. This way, Olivia could see how exciting the transformation into an Official Big Girl was after surrendering only one binky. This would keep the level of anxiety low enough for her to willingly take it out of her beloved Hunny Pot (aka binky storage device) to leave, unattended.
It was during this email correspondence that the Binky Fairy asked us what Olivia might want for her Official Big Girl gift: My Little Pony.

Welcome to Canterlot, the capital city of Equestria.

Clearly, the Binky Fairy has some experience in determined binky addicts.
The Powell house is now binky-free after only a few rough patches:

The night Olivia was supposed to relinquish her second binky, she realized the permanence of the situation and refused to give it to Scott. We regrouped the next night.
The night of the last binky found me nearly falling asleep next to Olivia's bed, distracting her with her new OBG gift from the night before.
The first night without any binkies to suck, hold, OR give up was filled with late-night wake up calls from a crying, distraught princess.
The first day we came home from daycare without the binky led to a meltdown of epic proportions that went from the car to the living room.

But we all survived.
Now we are working to incorporate the new daily activity of "find all the small choking hazard crap that hurts like hell when you step on it and pick it up before you go to bed" into our routine.
Olivia is grateful to the Binky Fairy, having thanked her several times. She never saw the Binky Fairy, obviously, but she has a bit of an idea as to her true identity. The other day she told me "The Binky Fairy is pink," and right before we put out the first binky (the first one was the green one), she said, "The Binky Fairy is Claire." Whoever you are, Binky Fairy, and whatever color you happen to be (I imagine lots of glitter myself), thank you.

Twilight Sparkle's hot air balloon
was Night #2 - BIG WINNER

It lights up and plays music.
Totally awesome.

This photo may have been staged.

Big Girl Blues

2011-08-13T10:21:00.000-07:00

At 2 and 3/4, Olivia has learned that there are some perks of being a big girl:

better mobility
going upstairs holding onto the railing instead of someone's hand
cool underpants
being able to feed both Holden and Zooey
making decisions about outfits (not always popular with Momma)
a big girl bed with Dora sheets, pillow case, and comforter (courtesy of Daddy)

However, she has also realized that there are responsibilities that accompany her status as a big girl that aren't so exciting:

eating more well-rounded meals when she would prefer just bacon or chocolate
using her words to tell us what she wants instead of screaming/pointing
not getting a "yogurt drink" when misbehaving (running away from me) at the grocery store
getting her binky herself (yes, we still are working on this habit, which, it would seem, is a stronger addiction than nicotine)

This last one has been brutal. She doesn't use the binky at school, and we try to make her forget about it at home, but there are those times when "I NEED MY BINKYYYYYYYY!" reverberate off our unpainted walls. Twice in the last 16 hours we have had complete and total meltdowns due to the fact that I wouldn't pick her up and take her to the location of the nearest binky. In the time that it took for her to actually obtain said crack-i-fier, she could have gotten it a dozen or more times.
I'm sure she realizes that there are more benefits to being a big girl than drawbacks, but as we get closer to the big 0-3, Olivia's understanding that the sun doesn't revolve around her is sure to be frustrating. And a little screamy.

Fun Fourth

2011-07-04T20:18:00.000-07:00

Olivia is clearly a water baby. Sometimes I think we should have gotten a house with a pool (until I remind myself what a pain in the neck pool maintenance is). I'm sure I would have even more trouble keeping her out of an actual swimming pool than I do keeping her out of the 4-foot diameter kiddie pool that serves double duty as Zooey's drinking source.
Today we had company for breakfast and company for what started as a late lunch but really was an early/extended dinner. What a great day to celebrate friends! Our dear friend Ellen and her beau Colin popped in for breakfast, and then Cisco, Suzanne, and the kids came by in the afternoon.
For Olivia, this meant one thing - be in the pool. I have been wanting to get her a Slip N Slide, too, but Scott said that we just don't have a long enough yard to really have a good buffer zone between the grass and the rocks, so I got her a little sprinkler hopscotch instead.
This was a WINNER. Olivia played outside almost all day and flatly refused to change out of her bathing suit all day. That didn't really matter, as she also refused to take a nap (for the second day in a row), so she was able to run inside, grab a snack, and then go right back outside to play her version of hopscotch, water the grass with her watering cans (as if it needed it, but whatever), and "fall" into the pool.
Thus, as 7:15, she crashed out in my arms as we were snuggling on the couch. But... when I took her upstairs and Scott and I tried to get her out of that bathing suit and into her jammies, she woke right up and flipped out, trying desperately to get us to leave that bathing suit on. Fortunately, a 30-pound, 3-foot Olivia is no match for a Momma who wants Wee One to get some sleep, and she finally acquiesced to getting those jammies on. As long as we went back downstairs to snuggle on the couch again.
Finally, though, I got Olivia to go upstairs with me to read a "new" story. After reading about Dewey the Library Cat, she requested Ladybug Girl, and I knew that bedtime was finally upon us.
Now I'm ready for bed, too; the fireworks will have to be on PBS for me to see them!

Running over the hopscotch as Zooey supervises

SPLASH!

The small watering can took water from the pool
to fill the large watering can,which helped fill the pool.

Picture Round-Up

2011-06-28T21:15:00.000-07:00

Last week I took Olivia to Udder Delights for some ice cream. She wanted the bright pink bubble gum flavor, and she was given a free refill, which made bedtime a little more interesting, but it was worth it, as we both had a good time.

Then we spent a morning at the Sea Life Aquarium, where she showed the gigantic Japanese spider crab her own stuffed version, whom she has named (I am not joking) Shpilk Shpilk Shpilk.

With the temperature now consistently over 100°, we spend a good deal of our mornings in the backyard in the wading pool using the hose to flood the grass. Zooey also gets a kick out of it - and plenty to drink.

We tried to teach Olivia how to use dips when she wanted to have chocolate but we wanted her to have an apple. I'm not sure it was the best idea ever.

That's all for now!

Long Overdue

2011-06-23T06:54:00.000-07:00

I've been failing in my updates on HRH, so gear up for a long one, but there are plenty of pics happening here (it's mostly pics).

Last Saturday, we returned from a week in Michigan. Scott's baby brother graduated from high school, so the whole family was on hand to watch him move his tassel to the left and then throw his mortar board in the air.

Having gotten a new harness for the airplane, we did NOT have to schlep on her bulky, awkward car seat, which made the flight (and the boarding of said flight) less stressful. And since Olivia wasn't able to reach the seat in front of her, I'm sure that the passenger in that seat was appreciative (even if ignorantly so) that she didn't spend the flight kicking it. She actually made it through the flight (both of them) like a champ - we had plenty of things for her to do, and she enjoyed looking out the window with Daddy from time to time. However, when we landed, I'm sure she was as happy as we both were, and while we waited for the luggage and our chariot to Battle Creek, Olivia ran the length of the baggage claim area several times, stretching those little legs of hers. Then she fell asleep in the car.

After she woke up, she wreaked havoc on Casa de Powell.

She really enjoyed the red rocking chair, which served as a pseudo-hiding place.

"I hiding in the pillow!"

We were a little nervous about how HRH would behave at graduation; she hadn't napped and was getting a little fussy. However, apparently, when one is 2, graduations are really, really, REALLY boring, so she fell asleep after being passed around a few times.

She didn't wake up until the ceremony was completely over, and then she wanted to explore a little bit.

True to Powell family style, Olivia stole a set of purple and white pom poms off the field. Even though they aren't the correct colors, she loves to shake them and yell, "Go, Devils!" I'm such a proud mommy!

There is a park right behind the house, so we spent a few good afternoons and evenings there, at the playground, swinging on the swings or sliding down the slides (mostly on the swings). Olivia loves swinging as high as possible.

Yaya bought her a turtle-shaped pool, which we used a few times when it was hot enough. There is a sprinkler in the head that Olivia was not completely certain about, but as long as we had what she deemed to be an appropriate water pressure, she was game to splash at it.

It was also fun to have Uncle Chris help splash.

After such fun, Olivia crashed out in one of Uncle Brett's beanbags, looking like Mardi Gras got the better of her. We ended up using the beanbags for her naps for the rest of the trip; she loved them, and we may have to obtain one for ourselves, if we can figure out where to put it.

Scott aasked Brett to show him a little lacrosse, and Olivia decided she wanted to learn, too. Scott is already thinking about how she can get a scholarship to Tufts.

On Wednesday, it was gray and rainy, and we went to the zoo, where we had to get Olivia a sweatshirt, as we had not packed one of hers (when it's 100 degrees, you don't think, "hmmmm, I had better take a sweatshirt").
Olivia was able to pet a python that wanted nothing to do with the cooler weather....

...feed the giraffe with Papa...

...hang out with a reasonable facsimile of said giraffe...

...feed (and brush) some goats who looked like they were part of ZZ Top...

...and slide down a slide that was as tall as a giraffe.

There were many other animals and sights that we saw, but you can see the rest of the pics on Facebook; I've posted nearly the entire album there.
That night, after taking out the braids, we noted a similarity to Janis Joplin...

On top of the sweatshirt, Olivia obtained a purple giraffe, which she fell in love with and now requires as part of her entourage for bedtime. Here she is explaining to Yaya all about the giraffe.

Scott celebrated his birthday while we were there, so Robin made him a Coca-Coal® cake; Olivia helped Daddy blow out the candles.

Finally, we had to go home. After a little lunch, Olivia gave her Uncle Brett a goodbye kiss, and we hit the road.

It was nice to get out of the heat for a bit. Or so we thought. Then we got home to even hotter, 100+ weather. It is nice to be home, though - Olivia slept with me during the trip, as she has most definitely outgrown a Pack and Play. She seems keen on sleeping horizontally and then burrowing into my elbow, and no matter how many times I moved her, that is how I would wake every hour or so. It was VERY nice, then, to put her back in her own bed and to stretch out on my own now once someone who can take up more room on a bed than a cat (cat owners, you know what I mean here) was tucked in elsewhere.

Olivia and I have one more major trip this summer, and then we are just settling down, waiting (impatiently) for cooler weather to return to the Valley.

Why NOT "Mom Jeans"?

2011-05-29T10:48:00.000-07:00

I love David Lebovitz. Not only is he an accomplished pastry chef and hilarious writer, but I can also always count on him to post links to fascinating articles about various facets of popular culture.
The other day, he linked me over to the New Yorker and a blog entry by Susan Orlean called "Why Mom Jeans?"
The blog post rails against the phrase and other phrases including "mom" or "mommy" and asks why many of these terms are more in the pejorative if even the President himself has publicly worn jeans that are perhaps not as flattering as a three-piece suit. It continues to bemoan mother-child activities or events as well as those designed just for "moms."
OK, I get it that calling a pair of what quite possibly are the worst cut of pants ever "mom" jeans a little insulting or even offensive. The implication that anyone who is a mom (or mommy or momma or mother or Mutti or madre or whatever title you want to insert there) is incapable of realizing that she is doing herself (and her hind end) no favors is a gross overgeneralization and a negative stereotype.
Yet, after I had Olivia, I found myself in the position into which I SWORE I would never put myself. I put my child first to the point that I didn't have clothes that fit well (I'm still there, by the way - I have few pants that are small enough to fit me), but when I went to the store, if Olivia needed diapers or clothes in the next size up or soap or whatever, I got those in lieu of pants for me. It took me over two years to go in and get bras that weren't nursing bras, that fit well, and that didn't look like "grandma" bras (a term that Ms. Orleans probably also hates, but I'll bet you know what those bras look like, don't you?).
Yes, I became "that" mom featured on What Not to Wear - the one who was such a train wreck that Stacy and Clinton doubted they could work their magic, even though they always did (this may or may not be a shameless plug to get on the show). I put my child first, to the detriment of my wardrobe.
So what do I wear? I wear clothes that are comfortable. Now, I'm not sure if Ms. Orleans has ever seen the Saturday Night Live skit that really gave birth to the term "mom jeans." It's pretty funny. I mean, not Schweddy Balls funny, but still worth a good chuckle. But I digress. The joke behind the skit is that those jeans offer comfort, something that a woman running her children all around creation seeks.
That comfort and style are mutually exclusive is, of course, a myth. But it's easy to fall into the "What can I get that I don't have to iron, hang up, or dry clean, and what will survive being puked/peed/pooped on?" trap and do a clothing search that fill not take up any more time of the day than naptime, when I have escaped the house, if fleetingly.
And when it comes to my lack of stylish clothes in my wardrobe right now, I have to be able to laugh at myself as well as a Saturday Night Live skit.. While I can put together a workable outfit when necessary, I had no illusions about the way I looked last night as I walked Zooey wearing a jersey dress (which I had purchased because I don't have to iron/hang/dry clean it) and Crocs®. I didn't look in the mirror and tell myself, "Damn, I'm lookin' GOOOOOOD." I slipped off my nicer looking shoes from earlier in the day and put on my plastic hose-washable ones because I was too tired to actually don appropriate walking attire. And at least I was able to give those cars that drove by a little bit of Schadenfreude, right?
But why does Ms. Orleans recoil when she hears events being referred to as "mom" or "mommy" events? Surely these events (like a "mommy and me" swim class) is designed for parents and their little ones.
Of course, this argument begs the question "why not 'daddy and me' swim classes." But let's be honest - the majority of parents and these "mommy and me" events are, in fact, mothers. Sexism aside, women participate in these events more than their spouses/partners do - it's even documented that 95% of vet visits are by the women in the family. I know there have only been a handful of occasions on which Scott took the animals to the vet on his own, and there has never been an instance on which he took Olivia to the doctor without me. It's not that he is unwilling or too inept to do so; it's that I have taken those tasks up as "mine" in the same manner that Scott has done with the edging and lawn mowing (which he is doing right now as I sit inside, blogging in the air conditioned living room).
I love "mommy and me" events - they create a situation during which I am focused on doing something with my daughter - more than a "bonding experience," these can create the relationship that I want to foster with her for the rest of my life. Someday they will be mother-daughter events, but for now, having a "mommy and me tea" at school is something to which I anticipate instead of dread because of the "M-word."
What I find truly saddening, though, is Ms. Orleans's preference to the sentence "I have a child" over "I am a mom." I'm really not sure what is wrong with identifying oneself as such - as that "M-word."
Yes, I have a child, but that seems, to me, to be a little more clinical, akin to saying "I have a wart" or "I have a mysterious and possibly communicable disease that doctors shall likely name after me." Being a mother is part of who I am.
Grammatically speaking, to say "I am a mom" is simply using the predicate nominative to further identify oneself. It is the same construct as "I am a teacher" or "I am a runner" or "I am a staff writer for the New Yorker" (which is almost the same as the first sentence as Ms. Orlean's biography, by the way) The sentence "I have a child" creates a subject-direct object relationship, making the child a separate entity from the subject "I." While the two in a sense imply the same message (to be a mother in the biological or adoptive sense means to have a child), linguistically, the two sentences are different. A mother is what I am; my child is her own person.
I choose to identify myself as Olivia's mother, as the decision to become a parent had to take center stage in the other decisions in my life. It informs my day to day actions and choices, so to relegate that to a separate being and nothing of me is, in my mind, a disservice to the enormity of who I actually am.
So is the term "mom jeans" a pejorative? Yes. Sort of. It depends. I guess only if I let it be, which, it seems, I won't.

Lehhhh Gooooo, Devils!

2011-05-22T19:56:00.000-07:00

Sadly, the wonderful weather (it was in the 70's!) last week is once again behind us, the the temps are climbing. Before we are stuck inside for the summer (aside from mad dashes to and from the car), we made sure to get out this weekend.
Saturday, we had breakfast at the Gilbert Famers' Market. It's within walking distance from the coffee shop where we pick up our weekly CSA veggies, and I've been wanting to go for a while. I am truly impressed with this farmers' market, which was started by someone who decided that Gilbert needed suck a market, and it has exploded. There are actually a good number of farmers (not a ton of veggie farmers in the Valley of the Sun - I know; you're shocked), and, even more exciting for Olivia, there was a petting zoo! HRH was able to "hold" two different bunnies (no, Sushi wasn't one of them) and a piglet (the piglets didn't cotton to being picked up), and she also petted a sheep and some goats, and then she chased a few chickens, although she wasn't interested in picking any up this time.
After that, it was time to really eat. We headed over to the Superstition Farm truck, where I had a delicious egg sandwich while Scott had the farm burger. Olivia - she had chocolate ice cream with whipped cream (you know it's real whipped cream when it comes from a dairy) and sprinkles. She was in heaven.

Mmmmmm... chocolate!

Later, she showed us just what a big girl she is (she will tell you that she is no longer a baby; she is a big girl) by putting on and walking in a pair of my heels. Not only did Olivia manage to walk rather well forward, she was pretty darn capable going backwards, too. I'm sure Scott is totally thrilled with the fact that at 2 1/2 she is already walking well in heels.

Sassy!

Today we went to the NCAA Regional Softball Finals. ASU, who outplayed opponents 10-0 and 8-0 in its other opponents this weekend, met up with San Diego State. One of my former students is the starting pitcher for the Sun Devils, and I was thrilled to see her play.

Olivia would have been happy to go home in the second inning
in order to take her nap.

Paying close attention to Dallas's pitching

Cheering on the Devils with Mommy

Olivia, of course, wasn't totally interested, and we spent a good deal of time going up and down stairs and walking along the concourse instead of watching the game. Later in the game we moved out to the grass area, which we probably should have done in the first place, since HRH was able to run around and play with some other little ones.

I roll!

Of course, an afternoon game meant no nap; Olivia passed out as we drive into the neighborhood, and she's been asleep ever since. Who knows what will happen, but she was a tired girl, and I won't begrudge my peanut after such an exciting day.

Georgine Gems - Estate Planning

2011-05-14T20:33:00.002-07:00

Our friend Danielle came over for dinner tonight and got to witness both a low (waking up from a late nap) and a high (second wind after graham crackers and Nutella®).

O (waving): Goodbye!!!!!
Danielle: Do you want me to leave?
Scott: Do you want Miss Danielle to leave?
O: Nooooooo.
Scott: Can you say "I love you, Dani"?
O: I love you, Dani!
Danielle: Keep saying that; there might be a will!
O: Hehehehehehehehehe!
Danielle: I have some jewelry!
O: Jewelry!
Danielle: There might be jewelry when I die.
O: DIE!

Georgine Gems - A Twofer!

2011-05-11T20:41:00.000-07:00

THE ART OF HAPPINESS

Yesterday for dinner, Scott made fried egg-bacon-ham sandwiches. Olivia had just the bacon.

Me (to Scott): So are you happy with the sandwich?
O: I so happy!
Me: I'm so glad you're so happy!
Scott: Does bacon make you happy?
O: Yeah.
Scott: Does Mommy make you happy?
(nothing)
Scott: Olivia, does Mommy make you happy?
O: Noooooo...

She also stated that bacon does NOT make her happy, but after two hours of screaming after an all too-short (and too-late) nap, the bacon did appear to make her happier at least. Total intrinsic joy, though, I can't verify at this time.

2 GOING ON 16

Me: Olivia, go sit on the potty.
O: WHATevurrrrrr....

I swear she said it just like that.

Georgine Gems - Show Me Your Teeth!

2011-05-08T21:28:00.001-07:00

Scott: Olivia, put your paws up!
Olivia: RAWWWWWRRRRR! Lion!

That's only funny if you're one of Lady Gaga's little monsters, by the way.

Last year on Mothers' Day, we were in Urgent Care most of the day, trying to determine why Olivia couldn't keep anything down. I spent a good part of that time covered in vomit. Good times.
This year - MUCH better. No vomiting.
There were, however, a few accidents along the way today, although Olivia is remarkably talented in that she is able to pee on the carpet but not get a single drop on her dress.
Then when I got back from walking Zooey, I was instructed to put the dog outside, as Olivia had pooped. All over the front room. I'm not even sure how she was able to do what I cleaned up - it had to have defied certain laws of physics or the time-space continuum or something.
It was still better than being barfed on all day, though.
Enjoy some pics from this weekend - Olivia and I made Kentucky Derby hats on Saturday, and then today she tried to climb a tree.

Olivia supervised me putting her flowers and butterflies on hers.
I went with a monochromatic scheme for mine.

So pretty!

Peek-a-boo!

If I look hard enough, I can see Animal Kingdom win it!

Actually, Olivia wasn't even awake during the actual race, but that's OK - I would venture to guess that even an event that really only took just over two minutes couldn't keep her attention as well as Dora.

Today, we went to the Queen Creek Olive Mill for Mothers' Day lunch (helllllooooo, mimosa). It was hot outside, but the wind/breeze was a great companion for the shade the the olive trees offered. It was packed, and we didn't stay too long (someone needed a nap but didn't want one, and someone else wanted a nap but didn't get one).

Enjoying a cookie in the olive grove.

"I climb the tree!"
(she's like two inches off the ground)

Georgine Gems - It's the Proper Thing to Do

2011-05-05T07:27:00.002-07:00

Olivia loves her gummy vitamins. This morning, Scott gave them to her.

Scott: Are these Daddy vitamins?
O: Nooooo, Olivia vitamins!
(Scott hands her the vitamins, which she shoves in her mouth)
O (to me): I say thank you!
Me: Oh, you said thank you to Daddy?
O: Thank you, Daddy.

Also, here are some pics of the visit to the butterfly exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden. It was really fun; HRH wore her fairy princess "outfit" to celebrate the occasion.

Nothing says fancy like Dora sunglasses,
a fairy princess dress, and Dora Crocs®!

One of many cool butterflies

The cutest butterfly at the exhibit

Mommy caught a butterfly!

Sniffing flowers

I'm a beautiful butterfly!

Georgine Gems - As Long As You Don't Share Them

2011-04-29T17:23:00.000-07:00

This conversation occurred on the way home from daycare today.

O: I want chonies.
Me: You want chonies?
O: Please.
Me: OK. What color?
O: Pink.
Me: Pink chonies?
O: Please.
Me: OK.
(a minute or so passes)
O: I have chonies.
Me: You have chonies?
O: Yeah.
Me: What color are they?
O: Pink.
Me: Where are they.
O: Right there. In the skirt.
Me: They're in your skirt?
O: Yeah. I want chonies.
Me: You want NEW chonies?
O: Please.
Me: Do you want your new chonies to be pink, too?
O: Please. I share?
Me: You want to share your chonies?
O: No!

Georgine Gems - Identity Crisis

2011-04-27T19:49:00.000-07:00

O (after stuffing a very large piece of fruit leather in her mouth): Dinosaur bite! Rawr!
Me: Oh my goodness! You took a big dinosaur bite!
O: Rawr!
Me: Are you a dinosaur?
O: No. You're a robot!

Georgine Gems - Oh, You FANCY, Huh?

2011-04-26T13:01:00.001-07:00

O: I wearing a dress!
Me: Yes, you are wearing a very pretty dress.
O: I got butterflies on it!
Me: That's right! Your dress has lots of butterflies on it.
O: I fancy!

Georgine Gems - Make up Your Mind!

2011-04-25T07:02:00.000-07:00

These are two similar conversations we had in the car yesterday; the first was headed to Easter dinner, the second, on the way home.

(On the way there)
O: I share?
Me: You share?
O: I share.
Me: That's great! What do you want to share.
O: I share toys.
Me: That's so nice of you! Are you going to share your toys with your cousins?
O: No. I share toys.
Me: OK, you are sharing your toys. Who are you sharing with?
O: I share.
Me: Do you want to share with Nana?
O: No.
Me: Do you want to share with me?
O: No.

(On the way home)
O: I go school?
Me: You want to go to school?
O: No.
(a few minutes later...)
O: I go school share with Caitlyn?
Me: You want to share something with Caitlyn?
O: No.
(another few minutes later...)
O: I go school see Caitlyn?
Me: You want to go see Caitlyn?
O: No.
Me: You want to go to school?
O: No.
Me: You want to share?
O: No. I go school share with Caitlyn.
Me: OK, then. Well, school is closed for the night.
O: I go see butterflies.
Me: Tomorrow.
O: Today!
Me: All the butterflies are asleep now; it's night.
O: It dark outside. Butterflies asleep. Tomorrow.

Caitlyn is a little girl at school who is very similar to Olivia in both looks and personality. They get along rather well; I imagine that they boss the rest of the kids in the classroom around.

Georgine Gems - Pyromaniacal

2011-04-23T20:02:00.001-07:00

Some friends of ours gave Olivia a Melissa & Doug wooden cupcake set; this includes four "candles" to put on top of the cupcakes once decorated. They are usually forgotten in one of her toy bins.

O (holding "candle" up to refrigerator magnets): I light fire!
Me (to Scott): I blame you for this.

And you may enjoy a few pictures from our most recent visit to Superstition Farm...

Running in the cottonseed area.
Notice the new Crocs®.

This is Spooky the goat.
His eyes make him look kind of spooky.

CHICKS!!!! So cute and so fluffy.

Driving the tractor

The one...
The only...
SUSHI THE BUNNY

A new and updated picture of O kissing Sushi

Georgine Gems - High Expectations?

2011-04-22T16:25:00.000-07:00

I let Olivia help me juice some oranges that I picked up at a stand today just so she could have some freshly squeezed juice. She was given the juice in a "big girl" (a.k.a. "real") cup.

O (sitting on couch): I very careful!
Me: You were very careful! You drank all your juice in your big girl cup. I am so pleased!
O: I so proud of you!

Georgine Gems - Ride 'em, Cowgirl!

2011-04-22T09:22:00.000-07:00

Nana bought Olivia a rocking horse, and for the longest time, Olivia was terrified of it. Then she was no longer terrified of the "horsie" itself, but she was scared to ride it.
Today, however, she was ready to ride.

O: I ride horsie?
Me: OK, let's right the horse! Giddyup!
O: I not scared!!!!
Me: No, you're not scared - you're having lots of fun!
(rocks for a few minutes and grabs her handbag)
(puts handbag back)
O: I ride fast! (begins to rock faster)

On a separate note, HRH can clearly hold it longer. That's the good news. The bad news - she seems to delight in peeing on the carpet. Sigh....

Georgine Gems - I Don't Get It....

2011-04-20T17:21:00.002-07:00

Me (reading the book Counting in the Garden): Six ladybugs, tiptoeing along a stem.
O: What does ladybug say?
Me: I don't know. What does a ladybug say?
O: BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! (laughs diabolically)

Georgine Gems - Worst.Haggler.Ever.

2011-04-18T21:15:00.001-07:00

Since HRH isn't known for having a varied diet, we instituted vitamins. This was far easier than I thought; we purchased Disney princess gummies, and she was in love. If I forget to give them to her in the morning, she WILL remind me. The one issue is that she always wants more. Thus began our conversation in the car on the way home from Nana's.

O: Vitamins?

Me? Vitamins?

O: Please.

Me: You had your vitamins today. You get two vitamins in the morning.

O: Nooooo, three!

Me: No, two.

O: Three!

Me: OK, three.

O: Nooooo, two!

Me: OK, two!

Don't take this kid to a swap mart!

Georgine Gems - Now or Later?

2011-04-18T06:12:00.001-07:00

This conversation occurred while we were eating dinner last night, which HRH wanted nothing to do with. She had eaten a little earlier, and since it had been fruit, I didn't want to say "no," as we're still having some issues in the potty department. So she wasn't hungry for dinner, nor was she interested in anything diner-related.

O: (running up to her high chair) Ice cream?
Me: Ice cream?
O: Please.
Me: You know what? In a little while, we'll all have dessert. Mommy made a chocolate strawberry pie for dessert. Do you want some chocolate AND ice cream?
O: Chocolate?
Me: If you wait just a little while, you can have chocolate and ice cream.
O: Chocolate AND ice cream.
Me: So would you be willing to wait?
O: No.

Thus, she got a little bit of the remaining Udder Delights strawberry ice cream, but she didn't get any of the pasties that I made for dessert.

Georgine Gems (aka A Month of Conversations)

2011-04-16T13:00:00.001-07:00

Anyone who has had a toddler knows that conversations can be hilarious. My friends' statuses on Facebook are a testimony to that. Thus, I thought that over the next month, I'd share some Georgine Gems with you.

O: Birthday party?
Me: What?
O: I go birthday party.
Me: Whose birthday party?
O: Bye!
*runs to laundry room door, trying to get into the garage*
O: Bye!
Scott: Where are you going?
*runs back to front room*
O: Cupcake?
Me: We don't have cupcakes.
O: Go get one!?

I'm not sure whose party she thought she needed to attend, but there was clearly a sense of urgency. However, I'm down with her cupcake idea.

D-D-D-D-D-Dora!

2011-04-10T16:16:00.000-07:00

Olivia has graduated from Elmo's World to Dora the Explorer. At first I thought this was exciting, but now I just want to beat my head against my desk until I black out.

Potty Wars: Episode VI: The Return of the Poo

2011-04-02T20:39:00.001-07:00

If you are not a parent who has been through potty training, you will likely want to not read this post.
Now, for the two people who are left... it has been over two months since we started potty training Olivia, and I am so pleased with how well she has done. There are days that have enough accidents to make me think that we actually will run out of Disney princess/Dora/Elmo/other underpants and have to go commando, but these are (knock on wood) few and far between.
Our biggest challenge has been, of course, #2. Not unlike other toddlers, Olivia developed almost a fear of pooping in her potty. She would hold it and hold it and hold it. Not good. I was freaked out, and I think I may have said, "I'll be damned if I have to give her an enema." But really, I didn't want it to get that far, as I can only imagine how much discomfort she would have been feeling up to the point. Thus, I added to my arsenal: the smoothie (a.k.a. - yogurt drink). Olivia loves yogurt, so I introduced a new and exciting snack to her, sneaking in prune juice and blueberries or strawberries, known for their tastiness and for their, uh, digestive powers. She was totally fooled, and we went through so much yogurt that I decided to try my own (not sold on that yet - not sure of its cost effectiveness - more to come on my other blog at some point).
In addition to the live and active cultures wriggling their way down with the berry-y and prune-y deliciousness, I added a laxative. Of course, I didn't tell/explain what it was. It was simply a "chocolate bear" that she got as a treat after her before bed tinkle.
The final ingredient was diligence. The SECOND I saw "that look" cross Olivia's face, I would whisk her to the bathroom and sit her on the potty. We would stay there until she was done.
Finally. Finally, we got somewhere, and we are now a week in to regular and accurate announcements of "I go poop" as we head to the bathroom. Olivia isn't as regular as I would like quite yet, but we are getting there, and with her new willingness to actually poop in the receptacle made for just that activity, I am optimistic that we'll get there soon.
The other exciting news is that even though we are using the little pink potty still, Olivia is ready and willing to sit on "big potties" at home and out and about (especially out and about, where there isn't another, smaller option). in fact, there are some times that she prefers "Mommy's potty" (everything in the house is mine - Daddy doesn't figure in to that equation) to her own. We have step stools in two of the three bathrooms, and she is only too happy to drag them over in order to go in the toilet. I'm pretty stoked about this, as it takes away several of the steps in the bathroom-going process. In a few more weeks, I think we'll retire the little potty and focus only on the toilets, thus taking her one step closer to 100% potty trained status.
Night time still requires a training pant, although she wakes up dry more than she wakes up wet. Having been nearly traumatized the first few times she woke up wet, though, when she does, it's a disaster and a half, so I'm not ready to risk it yet.
But for now, the balance of the Potty Force has once again swung in my favor.

Knock, knock, knock! Who's There, i' the Name of Olivia?

2011-03-28T07:44:00.000-07:00

Scott and I were both privy to Olivia's first joke. While headed home from breakfast with Nana, she decided to take off her shoes (yes, the Crocs®). I said, "You have bare feet!"
Her reply: "Nooooooo, I have alligator feet!"
I am in trouble.

So, a piece of string walks into a bar...

Take Me Out to the Ball Game... After We Go to the Zoo

2011-03-26T09:01:00.001-07:00

This post is a little late, but the first week back after Spring Break was a doozy, and I'm still exhausted. Nevertheless, I wanted to report on the last few days that Olivia got to spend with Isa B, whom she is still asking to see on a daily basis (kind of hard to explain that the commute will stink).
Last Saturday, we went to the zoo. Of course, two Wee Ones meant we didn't see all the animals, but we saw the ones that counted, namely the lion (sort of - he was hiding), the tiger, and giraffes, and the elephants. The girls rode in backpacks but of course also wanted to walk and take turns in the stroller, so there were never dull moments. After about two hours, they were getting pretty tired, and the adults were getting hungry, so we bid farewell to the elephants and headed out for lunch.

Prairie dogs - I taught Olivia to call them varmints.

Gobble, gobble, gobble!

Do you see the burrowing owl?

Mexican wolf

"I tried to call Daddy to tell him about the rhino,
but I can't get a signal here."

Jumping around while waiting for lunch.

Sunday was Spring Training day - we all went to the Mariners game at the Peoria Sports Complex. Olivia napped on the way there, and she really did pretty well for such a short nap, except for a small period during dinner (of course).

Scott and I got lawn seats, as Olivia is more inclined to want to run around instead of watching the game. She did sit for a while (the smoothie helped), but I did spend a good amount of time walking to and fro with her and touring the bathroom, as she had to go potty more times than there were innings, I think.
After the game, we all met back at the hotel so Olivia and Isa B could swim. The pool, like most Arizona pools, is only solar heated, so it was still pretty chilly; we spent most of the time in the hot tub, although HRH decided that she liked going back and forth between the pool and hot tub (Momma was NOT a fan of the pool, FYI).

Supermodels? I think so!

Awwwwwwwww.....

Trading cameras

Enjoy this little video; Scott sneezed, and the girls thought it was hilarious.

It was great to see some good friends, and hopefully we'll be able to spend a little time up north this summer.
This weekend, Olivia is overnighting at Nana's so that Momma and Daddy can go see Lady Gaga - that's right - date night!

Mooooovin' at the Farm

2011-03-18T10:28:00.001-07:00

I'm terrified that Olivia will ask for a bunny. Yesterday, we went out to Superstition Farms with my friend Katie, the FAMOUS Isa B, Grandma Mary Ann, and Papaw Ed. While the cows, horses, and goats that she talked about all week were pretty cool, no one was as cool, in her eyes, as Sushi the bunny.

We must have gone back to pet and kiss Sushi a dozen times; Olivia didn't want to stick around for the "lesson" at the beginning of our tour because she had already seen Sushi and wanted to pet him. She didn't even want to check out Toby the Farm Dog in her quest to "give bunny love."

This is currently my favorite picture.

However, I was able to drag her away to feed the goats, including a black pygmy named Cupcake and a "unicorn" named Carmichael, and Dory the sheep. She even let Papaw Ed help her bottle feed a calf. I suspect that it's the "Papaw" in his name; like her own Papa, HRH just KNEW that this guy was a total sucker, and she and Isa B kept him busy at the farm and after we got back when they splashed in the kiddie pool (pics on that to come soon).

Ready to feed the animals!

The girls also gave the farm horse some carrots, saw all sorts and colors of chickens (there was one with CURLY feathers - it was crazy looking, but I wasn't able to snap a pic of it), and ran around in some hay and the remains of cotton once it's gone through a gin, which the farm uses as bedding for the momma cows.
After all the animals were fed, it was time to sample some flavored milks. They were delicious, and I was shocked at how refreshing it was; usually I find milk a little heavy after getting warm, but it was as close to being "ice cold" without actually being ice!
It was a busy day; there were some meltdowns on all sides, but we had a great day, and I am so glad that my dear friends (I've known Katie for longer than we care to admit, as it proves that we are getting older, and her parents were "Mom and Dad #3") were in town to share the great weather, fun times, St. Patrick's Day dinner.

Isa B petting a Rhode Island Red.
Olivia wanted nothing to do with the chickens, despite her quest
to pick one up at the pumpkin patch last fall.

These goats were clearly ready for a snack, not that they
were starving or anything - what lucky rescue animals!

Watching Isa B feed the calf - that looks fun!

Papaw Ed helping Olivia hold the bottle;
did you know that calves' tongues are rough like those of cats?

Running through the hay - I wasn't able to get one of
both girls - they were just running too fast and crazy!

On the agenda tomorrow: the ZOO!

Tiger, Tiger, By the Tail...

2011-02-24T22:13:00.001-07:00

Olivia, darn her, has figured out that her "special sleep underpants" are basically glorified diapers, so we've had a little regression in the potty training. Until I can get those "special ones," as she calls them, off her little heinie in the morning, she is not averse to peeing where she stands, and almost delights in it as she tells me, "I pee on pillow! Noooo.... I pee in special ones!"

Stinker.

She's also becoming attached to a few particular items of clothing. Scott calls this her "tutu and rain boots" phase and lives in a constant state of worry that I will actually buy rain boots for her so we can add them to her wardrobe. I doubt, however, that even ladybug rain boots (yes, I've been tempted - only the fact that we live in ARIZONA keeps me from buying them) would not replace her beloved pink star Crocs®, which still fit (I am not sure how).

Her current faves include:

Her "circle" jammies, which are a Carter's® feetie pajama that has, surprisingly enough, circles on it. It also has a rather large monkey, but she completely ignores that when she wants to wear these all the time. Lord help us when they get dirty (as they often do) and she has a bedtime meltdown because she can't wear her sleep wear of choice, thus ensuring that she'll be embarassed to face the 14 or so "buddies" who sleep with her.
Her "Sparky" dress, a dress handmade by Scott's "other mom" Connie (who also taught me how to make tamales) for her granddaughter and then given to us - this is generally worn with some sort of socks and aforementioned Crocs® as well as a jacket when she gets cold (if I'm really lucky, it will be the ASU hoodie that Scott had when he was little)
Her "stripey" jacket - this doesn't need to be worn with any shirt underneath it. When HRH wants a jacket, this is her go-to item.
The tiger costume that my dear friend Barbara made for ME when I was four. Yes, four. Olivia absolutely swims in it. I have to roll the legs and the sleeves too many times to count, and she ends up looking kind of like Humpty Dumpty. She wore this for two days in a row the other day; between that and her Sparky dress, she has worn little else this week (well, and her jammies, of course).

Getting dressed for "school," then, is always an adventure.

Hi, Daddy - don't you like my outfit????

Heeey!!!

Too cute

Oh hai!

Those socks were the closest match we had.

Opinionated? No. Never.

2011-02-10T22:34:00.000-07:00

Yeah. Right.
As I've mentioned before, Her Royal Highness has an opinion about everything, and usually that opinion can change with the wind, so I'm kept on my toes.
But while there have been days on which she has refused to wear my first (or second) choice of apparel for her, she has generally acquiesced to something, basically just making a fun "no game" out of the "what are you going to wear today" process.
But today, Olivia flatly denied any attempt I made to dress her. When we finally got out of her favorite "circle jammies," I tried no fewer than four outfits, all of which were met with absolute mutiny. I did manage Elmo underpants and considered that a small victory, but then she wanted to take them off and put on her "special" Dora underpants, known to adults as disposable training pants. Finally, I gave up (first mistake). I asked her what she wanted to wear.
"Circle dress."
Whaaaaa? I didn't even know she could see her circle dress (the same on over there, off to the side in that picture of her jumping) from where she was standing; party dresses aren't front and center in the closet.
All right - it was easy to get on. Then it was time for footwear.
"Crocs."
Now that Olivia WILL wear other shoes than her pink star Crocs®, I do let her wear them, even though they are getting smaller and tighter by the day.
So there we were, in a pretty polka dot party dress and Crocs®. Stylish.
In the course of the day, Olivia changed her footwear three times and her underpants more times than I can count (hey, if she's sitting on the potty, I'm all about letting her pick out some new ones). The dress stayed on.
Then, this evening, she decided to go super girly and wanted "ponies." Ponies all over the place. I didn't even have enough hair, so I started braiding the ponies I originally put in. Then we went to bows. In the end, there were six "ponies," three of which ended up being braided. Four of said ponies were also accented by bows of various size, color, and texture.

Such is the life of a diva, hey?

It was one of those evenings that made me feel very lucky to have her in my life. The two of us spent at least a half hour sorting and organizing her hair accessories (you can't, after all, have "ponies" in the same drawer as barrettes!). But it was quiet and simple and something that toddlers (preschoolers?) her age are "supposed" to be doing. I could see those wheels turning in her head about what item went in which particular drawer. It almost made me forget that her new favorite toy is a plastic yard gnome that burps.

London's Run

2011-02-03T22:01:00.001-07:00

If you had told me a year ago that I would be running a 10K before the sun set on January 2011, I would have either scoffed openly in your face or called the local psych ward. Most of my friends know that I have never called myself a runner, and I thought that it was something of a feat that I decided to run the Undy 5000 (a "mere" 5K - 3.1 miles) and that I ran the entire distance in a whopping 25:46.
But here I am, documenting The Day I Ran 6.2 Miles (aka, a 10K).
After running the U5K, I decided that I needed to keep running. Not only am I better able to tire Zooey the Devil Dog out (a little), but I can't remember the last time I was wearing jeans in a size 6. More importantly, however, the fact that I helped raise money to fight this devastating cancer that robbed my husband and my daughter of knowing my dad made the pain I feel at this loss a little... I don't know. Not less painful, but more positively directed.
So when I started looking for more runs (note - not races, but runs) to complete, I knew that I had to participate in London's Run. Now, I could explain the premise of London's Run, but the story is told in much better detail than I ever could tell it, so please look on the website for London's story.
I was a bit leery - while I was cool with a 5K, a 10K seemed, well, awfully long. Six miles. That's like... half a half marathon! But with the help of my friend Veronica (who is also my department chair at work, so she kind of gets to boss me around), I trained for the 10K, always making sure my mindset was, "OK, I ran 3.5 miles, so 4 miles is just a half mile longer - that's not bad;" "OK I ran 4 miles, so 4.5 miles is just a half mile longer - that's not bad." And so on. Something about the word half makes things seem shorter (by the way, Veronica trained for the half marathon, so she is a hardier woman than I).
Two more co-workers, Christie and Cassie, also signed up to complete the 10K. Christie actually did this only two weeks after completing her first half marathon at the P.F. Chang's marathon, which she ran with a group representing Phoenix Children's Hospital; when her daughter was born, she was rushed to the NICU there, and the hospital means a great deal to her family. You can read about their journey and their beautiful little miracle at their blog, Beck Family Blessings.
Then, only recently, we learned something absolutely devastating. The daughter of one of our new co-workers was diagnosed with Alveolar Rhabdomysarcoma, a cancer that develops in skeletal muscles. This was sudden, and the treatment has been intense. I am following her progress (and you can, too) at Lily Love.
When we heard this, we decided to dedicate our participation at London's Run to Lily. I firmly believe that positive prayers and thoughts are beneficial, and we could only imagine what the power of four people channeling their energies might have to help heal a little girl.

Duct tape and ribbons

Thus, on a chilly January morning, we all met in Queen Creek. Christie brought duct tape and a Sharpie® marker so we could let everyone behind us know why we were running. For my part, I brought yellow ribbons for us to tie in our hair. Yellow is best known as the color for supporting American military troops, but it is also the representative color of sarcoma cancers. Of course, it's also indicative of happiness and joy, and that is precisely what we want for Lily and all the children that London's Run has helped support.
The air was positively electric. Thousands of people came to participate, and it was PACKED (I started freaking out when traffic slowed to a halt on the road in, but I made it with plenty of time to spare).

I'm running for Lily

Veronica's half marathon started about 15 minutes before our 10K, so she and her husband headed out as Cassie, Christie, and I went to the group warm up.
Then it was our turn, and we were OFF!
What an incredible experience. It's, for the most, impossible to describe. I will swear that the entire town of Queen Creek participates in this event in some way. All along the route (actually, all three routes - for the half marathon, the 10K and the 2-mile fun run), there were signs - huge signs, made, I am guessing, by the cheerleading teams from QCHS (they were also there at the finish line to cheer us on), all of them giving the runners some motivation. The high school baseball team was manning one of the water stops (and cheering everyone on). The football team was high fiving all the runners as well. Several people whose houses neighbor Schnepf Farms (where the event was held) were all along the way, in their cars, with their dogs, and in small groups to give their encouragement. It was truly extraordinary to see a community come together in such a manner, knowing full well that the people who benefit struggle each day to survive.

Smiling before the race
(after, too - because we were finished!)

What stirred me the most, however, were the countless small, handmade signs along the side of the routes that showed pictures of children fighting cancer. I know none of these faces, but they alone kept me going. I had a great running mix; it was a beautiful day; I had a goal to meet (62 minutes - I finished in 58:46!). But none of these factors pushed me like those faces. These are children who, in all likelihood, can't get out of bed each morning. They have lost their hair during chemotherapy treatments. Some are likely kept inside and away from anyone with the smallest throat tickle. And there I was, running in the sunlight, enjoying the view of the hills, the cattle, and everything else, so damn lucky to be able to do what I was doing.

On the home stretch

There were stretches during which I could barely see in front of me for the tears in my eyes. While I ran for Lily, I truly was running for all these sick kids.
I am truly blessed to have such a healthy child in Olivia. This week, she had a cold and was flat miserable for three days. I barely got any work done and in fact had to stay home on Tuesday rather than attend an in-person workshop with the rest of the staff. But that's it. She's had some ear infections, a bad reaction to an antibiotic once, and your various sniffles. But she is healthy; she is strong; she is opinionated (is she ever). It's very easy to find something that isn't "right" or "fair" or "fun," but when I slow down for a moment, I was able to see that I need to be thankful for the gifts that have been bestowed upon me. And I must not stop there. I need to put my energy into helping those who are less healthy, less fortunate, less happy than I.
I had planned to give my three running companions a card with a quote I thought was appropriate for the occasion, but in our excitement, I totally spaced it, and only realized that the cards were still in my backpack as I drove out of the parking lot. The quote I found is a prayer attributed to Shantideva, an 8th century bodhisattva in India:

"For as long as space endures

and for as long as living beings remain,

Until then may I then too abide

to dispel the misery of the world."

We ran to help dispel the misery and discomfort of more than one person last Saturday, and I most certainly plan to continue to abide is such a manner.

Potty Wars: Episode I (The Phantom Menace)

2011-02-01T21:03:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know that the title of this post is waaaaaay out of the proper order of things AND that it is part of the terrible "new" Star Wars movies, but it's fitting in several ways.
First of all, it seems that we have almost gone back to the beginning of potty training. Olivia does great at school, even telling her teachers that she has to go and then not waiting for them as she zips into the bathroom to pull down her pants. At home - siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. I'm not sure what happened, but it would seem that there IS some sort of phantom menace only she can discern that is living in the potty.
OK, so let's rewind - about a week ago, she started asking about "black monkeys" in the potty and then would ask where the poop went. I thought it was kind of random and funny, but I didn't think that much about it.
Yet she still asks about the black monkeys and insists on saying "bye-bye" to them when we leave the bathroom (but only the bathroom with her potty), no matter how much I can say that there are NO black monkeys in the potty.
And I can say so with extreme confidence - I would NOT be happy to have any live monkeys of any color in any location of this house. I'm not even too thrilled with the collection of stuffed monkeys HRH seems to be accruing.
Anyway, she's had more than her share of accidents of late, although today doesn't count, as she was up at 3:30 with a terrible fever. That means I was up at - and have been up since - 3:30 as well, so if she had an accident, I'll chalk it up to my reaction time being extremely delayed and/or her being a little out of sorts herself.
We've gotten a little better again about going pee in the potty. Olivia will tell me that she has to go and will usually make it in time.
But poop... that is a whole different barrel of monkeys (those damn monkeys are EVERYWHERE!). She is absolutely terrified to even sit on the potty when she has to poop. We have upped the ante and started offering her chocolate just to sit on the potty again, and she will take us up on that more than willingly when she just has to pee, but getting her to sit on the potty when she's got a BM brewing - wow. You would think the seat was ringed with shards of broken glass. I have to forcefully place her on the seat and hold her down as she struggles to get free and escape the confines of the powder room.
Of course, what makes the situation all the more frustrating is that once she DOES acquiesce ad do her business, getting Olivia to get OFF the potty is nearly the same struggle. She refuses and clamps her hands down onto the sides of the potty, holding on for dear life. Not even the promise of THREE pieces of chocolate in her choice of colors can bribe her off. Tonight, it took said chocolate and the promise of a bubble bath as well as singing some crappy made up song by yours truly that finally got her to loosen her grip enough for me to pry her rear end off that potty seat.
My conundrum is that I don't want her to feel that I am angry or disappointed in her - I keep telling her that accidents happen, but what frustrates me is that these aren't really "accidents" when Olivia is just too scared to sit down, and she's still too limited in her vocabulary skills to explain to me what is the source of this fear. No amount of jumping, clapping, cheering, or chocolate giving seems to do the trick.
At this point, all I can hope is that it's a phase. A short one. And, I think, it might be a good idea to buy a little more chocolate.

Ready For Bed

2011-01-26T21:47:00.001-07:00

I decided to log the inventory of items that Olivia requires in order to happily go to bed. This does not include pre-bed activities/routines.

Elmo
Cookie Monster
Count von Count
Oscar the Grouch
Abby Cadabby
Grover
"Lil" Olivia the Pig
Night Night Duckie (required during story time as well)
Twilight Turtle(TM) (Scott thinks he needs one for his bedtime, too)
Gloworm
"Puh-lill-ow" (small heart-shaped pillow)
Monkey-Blanket Hybrid blanket
Regular blanket
Hunny Pot (used to house her binkies instead of the Winnie the Pooh puppets with which it came)

Now, there is a particular placement protocol that must be followed. The Hunny Pot must be on her left (she sleeps on her tummy) just within reach - right next to her pillow. Twilight Turtle(TM) must be on her right, also within reach so that she can turn him on again should the need arise. Most everything else is lumped above her head, serving as a plushy headboard, although Cookie Monster, Gloworm, Abby, and Grover may also serve duty as snuggle buddies off to one side or another.
Fortunately, she is still in her crib, so no one falls out. I'm kind of curious and at the same time leery of what types of calamities might be unleashed when she moves up to a toddler bed.

What I Am

2011-01-25T21:44:00.003-07:00

I am writing this entry with full confidence that every mother has had more than one not-so-proud moment. Those times when we wish we had that remote control from that Adam Sandler movie Click so that we could rewind the last hour and a half for a do-over. Those moments that, IF we tell someone (even a spouse or significant other or best friend), we make sure to preface it with "Don't judge."

I had one of those occasions yesterday.
Usually, Olivia goes to Nana's on Mondays, but this week, Scott's mom came up and watched her at our house so that she could take her car in to get its yearly physical. They spent the day at the park and playing cars and jumping on the trampoline until HRH was exhausted and had to nap.
After she woke and pottied (guess who stayed dry all nap?????), we took Nana to pick up her car. We had barely gotten to the dealership when Olivia made a royal request: "Chicken nuggets?"
OK, fine. We were out, and Scott had a late meeting last night, so the two of us were going to be on our own for dinner; I headed to McDonald's (while a low point, this is not the un-proud decision to which I referred earlier) so that I could fill her request and let her play in the Toddler Zone for a while.
Well, of course, she barely touched anything before she was ready to play; that ladybug in the play area seemed to have some magical attractive power, since O was all over that thing and claimed it as "mine" for all humanity (one other little girl at the time) to hear.
But the ladybug's powers soon wore off, and HRH was hopping from red shoe car to canoe to tree slide back to canoe, although she did check back in with the ladybug from time to time in order to ensure that no one ELSE was sitting on it while she was absent.
Before long, the place started to fill up, and soon there was a handful of children playing. As Olivia sat in the red shoe car with a boy who was clearly a Steelers fan (Roethlisberger jersey - he was so small the name nearly didn't fit on his shoulders!) playing the role of chauffeur, another little girl decided to hop in the canoe.
Well, that was too much for Olivia. It was bad enough that others had dared to look at her ladybug, but outright usurpation of a squishy canoe was clearly an outrage, and she went nuts, screaming "MINE!" at the top of her little lungs.
Clearly, it was time to go. I packed up the remains of the Happy Meal, grabbed her (literally kicking and screaming - so cliché, don't you think?), and got back in the car.
Again, neither the saving of the Chicken McNugget Happy Meal nor the leaving are the un-proud decision.
On our way home, with Olivia screeching in the backseat, was that fateful moment.
A traffic signal turned red, and I was just a LITTLE too close for comfort, so I had to stop more abruptly than usual. The Happy Meal went flying forward and spilled into the front passenger seat.

F*****************************************!

Let me be clear. I didn't save that stupid half-chicken, half-slurry-of-goodness-knows-what because I think that the "made with all white meat chicken" is good for anyone. I saved it because 1) I am cheap and 2) I have been trying to get Olivia to want to eat anything that doesn't fall under the category of "fruit snack" lately (I swear it's like crack to a toddler).
Well, I couldn't stop and clean up the mess there, at the intersection that would turn in my favor in just a few short seconds. It would have to wait until I got home.
Yes. Yes, I did exactly what you are hoping I didn't do. When we got home, I called a "Five Minute Rule," cleaned up the stupid McNuggets and fries, made sure they were as "clean" as possible, and let Olivia eat them once plopped into her high chair.
And eat them she did. There was only one McNugget left when she decided she was "All done!" and few fries (there were SOME of those I didn't save).
No, I am not proud of that moment. And in the moment itself, I knew it wasn't a decision I was ever going to be proud of. But you know what? It didn't kill her, and for one night, she didn't ask for those damn fruit snacks and then throw a tantrum because I told her "no."
I am sure someone is going to be shocked and appalled at my decision, but oh, well. In the 24-plus hours that have elapsed, the biggest crisis that has happened is that I told Olivia she couldn't have anymore fruit snacks tonight. She didn't vomit; she didn't get a stomach-ache; she didn't even say that the McNuggets were "yucky." Considering what goes into a McNugget, it may have added some nutritional value.
I am the best mother I can be. Some moments, I am not the beaming, glowing superwoman portrayed by Donna Reed and Barbara Billingsley. Sometimes, I'm lucky if I can have a Roseanne moment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ironically, Olivia's new favorite "movie" to watch is the video of the song "What I Am," which was written and performed by will.i.am for Sesame Street's 41st season. We watch it about a thousand times a day. While I hear it in my sleep now, I think it makes my point - I am me, even if that me lets my child eat McDonald's Chicken McNuggets that have sat on the floor of the car for a few minutes.

A LIttle Diversion

2011-01-22T21:35:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd add a few pics before a final potty training post...

Potty Training Success Chart
Look at all those stickers!!!!!!!

I got tired of singing "C is for Cookie," so I found it on YouTube.
HRH was RIVETED.

Potty Wars: Episode V (The Coonhound Strikes Back)

2011-01-19T22:03:00.000-07:00

When potty training commenced in earnest Saturday morning, I was already nervous about today. All weekend, Olivia was chaperoned - damn near stalked - throughout the days to make sure that she would do her "bidness" in the appropriate receptacle (and by "appropriate receptacle," I don't mean the puzzle she peed on yesterday).

It wasn't a bad three days; there were a few accidents, of course, but overall, she started to grasp the concept and would run - willy nilly, as is her style - to the bathroom and sit on the potty.

And of course we made a HUGE deal out of each successful attempt, celebrating with chocolate and stickers.

Yesterday I flew solo, as the weekend was (sadly) over, and Scott had to go back to work (well, so did I, but that didn't really change my location). Not too big of a deal - Olivia was really starting to get in the routine of running (really - she runs everywhere!) to the potty. Again, a few accidents, including the spectacular one on her wooden puzzle to which I alluded a moment ago, occurred. Seriously, I think the one on the puzzle was an "on purpose" instead of "accident," as she put all her energy into that one - thank goodness it was only #1, or there would have been a lot of tears... on my end.

But today would be different. Today was a "school" day for Olivia. I take her to daycare every Wednesday and Friday, and I really wanted to make sure that she went today for several reasons: 1) I needed to get some work done, as I was already behind because of the long weekend (teachers hate having to do Monday work on a Tuesday); 2) they were supposed to get a visit from a fire truck today; 3) she needs to go to the potty at locations other than our downstairs powder room.

Olivia was loathe to go at first, even with the promise of seeing a fire truck (which I was worried about doing, since it was originally scheduled to visit LAST week but had to respond to an emergency instead), but soon we got in the car, laden with about 7 changes of shirts, pants, socks, underwear, and cotton training pants as well as the Pampers® training pants for naptime and two extra pairs of shoes.

I worked madly through the day, often thinking of calling school to ask how she was doing, but I haven't done that yet in the year she's been going, and I didn't want to do it today. Sadly, the daycare just lost one its employees to cancer, and while she passed over the weekend, it was apparent when we got there this morning that the staff was still reeling from it, so I didn't want to make their day any more stressful than it might already be.

Then I was surprised to have Scott come home early; I immediately sent him off to pick up Olivia so I could get just a few more things done (plus he had a soccer game tonight, so he wouldn't be able to put her to bed like usual).

When they got back, I was AMAZED - she was wearing the SAME clothes as she was wearing when we got to school that morning! Scott reported that she had told her teachers each time she had to go potty!

Her daily Munchkin Memo shows that she went fairly regularly, including immediately after her nap! It also shows that she is not a lunch eater.

SOP means "sit on potty," not "standard operating procedure," as I thought the first time I read the potty side.

I was hell bent on continuing this trend, and I am really happy to say that Olivia went all day - Day 5 - with no accidents!

But there WAS one incident. I may have mentioned before Olivia's proclivity to hide when she has a BM. Well, after trying to hide under the table on Day 2, she started realizing that the potty can be used for said purpose as well for peeing (it's multi-functional!).

Tonight, after Scott left for his soccer game, Olivia abruptly stopped jumping on the bed (I know - bad parents for letting her do that, but hey - she just had an accident-free day) and said "I pee-pee in potty!" in the MOST urgent tone. So I whisked her into the bathroom, at which point she immediately said, "Mommy bye-bye - Mommy go!"

Well, I know when I'm not wanted, so I obliged the princess and closed the door, standing right outside and opening it a crack every minute or so to see how she was doing. All was good.

Until it wasn't.

"Towel? Towel! TOWEL!"

OK, to give her credit, Olivia had tried to follow Elmo's advice about wiping herself clean with toilet paper, but she wasn't that successful, so when I opened the door, we had a hot mess on our hands (no pun intended).

Zooey, of course, was only TOO keen to help, so I had to lock her out of the bathroom as I tried to clean a nearly hysterical Olivia up. Neither Olivia nor Zooey was happy about the situation - Olivia was desperate to get the poo off her hands (as was I), and Zooey was desperate to get back in to the bathroom, where, I should point out, the cat got to stay and observe things.

It gets better.

The routine that we seem to have established is go potty, wipe, wash hands, get chocolate, get sticker (as one parent cleans the potty). Now, we have to leave the bathroom to get the chocolate (no way am I leaving that IN the bathroom, especially when a certain black and tan someone has a nose like nobody's business and a way of getting into things she shouldn't be getting into), so I had to open the door and then open it again to put the sticker on her wall chart (this is a very important step and must not be skipped).

Zooey, of course, shoved her way back in to the bathroom, so as Olivia is taking her own sweet time picking which Elmo sticker is going to go on her Elmo chart (surprised, right?), I was trying to keep Zooey from getting the damn potty open. For a klutzy dog, she certainly had some skills in trying to get past me - I guess this is where the focus comes in... when she's on the hunt.

Anyway, I managed to get Zooey out and the potty cleaned and the real toilet flushed.

Then Olivia asked where the poop was, looking in both her potty and the toilet.

"Bath time!"

Potty Wars: Episode IV (A New Poop)

2011-01-16T13:43:00.000-07:00

I must give credit to Mr. Lucas for the title that I so clearly ripped off, but as I know this is going to be a saga, I thought it was fitting (not appropriate, but fitting).
Potty Training at the Powell Ranch began Friday evening. After picking HRH up from school, we went to Target for some big kid underpants. And then, because THAT Target was COMPLETELY OUT of any and all underpants (this is no lie; there was one package of 4T left), we went to another Target to obtain the same goal.
Then it was home, where I promptly stripped Olivia down and let her run amok around the house.
She peed on the tile in front of the fridge while playing with her magnets.
She peed on the carpet while playing with her Weebles.
She peed on her table while standing on it to watch a movie.
Each time, I patiently cleaned her up and then the area covered with pee. In the case of her table, I disinfected it twice.
There was NO peeing in the potty Friday night, so when it was bedtime I - rather dejectedly - put her in a diaper before bed.
But come Hell or high water, I am getting this child potty trained.
So yesterday morning, Olivia got me up bright and early, and I cranked up the heat, stripped her down to nothing but socks (tile is cold on chilly mornings!), and set the timer for ten minute intervals.
It was a bit of a long day, but Olivia started to "get" it fairly soon. Now that I have the benefit of hindsight, I am rather glad that I dealt with the Friday night urine-tacular. She does NOT like peeing on herself, and I was able to tell when she had, as she got that uncomfortable squirm and foot shuffle.
Then, once she got praise that was basically equal to earning the Nobel Prize in Urination AND a piece of chocolate (M&Ms®), something started to click.
Even though we set the clock at fifteen minute intervals for most of the day, several of her feats were realized before the timer rang, as HRH ran to the bathroom, yelling, "I pee-pee in potty!"
Naptime did cause a little snag; we put her in stark naked, and she woke up having wet herself. She was VERY upset when I got in to her room, and she was nearly weeping when she told me, "I pee-pee in bed!" But once I reassured her it was OK and showed her that I would just put everything in the laundry, things seemed to go back to their previous unicorns and glitter status.
I did sneak in a run in the afternoon, during which time Olivia even went #2 in the potty. I am pretty stoked about that great timing, as Scott got to field that on his own, but I know I won't dodge it every time. She got two M&Ms® for that (Rule: 1 piece of chocolate for #1, 2 pieces of chocolate for #2, 3 pieces of chocolate for both #1 and #2).
This continued until bedtime, when she wore her new "sleep underpants," aka training pants. Though she often stays dry through the night now, it's still hit or miss, and I didn't want her to lose sleep because of an accident. Her nose was runny all weekend (still is), so I know that our princess needs to get sleep in order to ward off whatever cooties seem to be trying to invade.
Good thing we went with the training pants - this was a wet morning, so when Olivia and I got up - again, BRIGHT and early, I took her to her potty, where she had nothing left to pee.
We've had a few accidents already on this Day 2, but I am seeing this through. We both have tomorrow off, and then she will be home with me on Tuesday. Wednesday she goes back to school, but if I've set four days' worth of groundwork, her teachers will pick up the training, too, so long as I bring basically her entire wardrobe for the inevitable accidents that will happen.
While, most certainly, this is not going to be a saga that is rife with photographic evidence, I would like to share one that I got yesterday. Like I said, I had Olivia clad in nothing but socks (to make sure those tootsies didn't turn blue). At some point, and I can't even remember the catalyst, she decided that she HAD to wear the bunny ears that Papa and YaYa got her last year for Easter, so there were a few trips to the potty with said ensemble.
I'm sure she'll plan out just revenge someday, but I can't resist sharing this one.

Compassion

2011-01-14T22:41:00.000-07:00

"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion."
~~His Holiness, Tenzen Gayatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

This last week has been difficult for the people of Arizona, and the people of this entire nation, after the horrific shooting in Tucson that killed six people and injured 13 others. One of the six who died was 76-year-old Dorwin Stoddard, who threw himself on top of his wife Mavanell ("Mavy") in order that she would not be in the line of fire. Another was aide Gabe Zimmerman, who graduated from the same high school as Scott did; they were three years apart but had mutual friends. Clearly, though, it was the loss of Christina-Taylor Green, the 9-year-old just elected to her student council, that shook most people to the core.
I don't live in Tucson and have only been to the city a handful of times. Nevertheless, I grieve as if those lost and those injured were family. My heart breaks for everyone involved in this tragedy.
Since becoming a mother, I have found myself feeling more empathy for others, especially children and other moms, and this week, I have been brought to tears countless times; I welled up listening to news updates on the radio; I cried when funerals began being announced; I broke down seeing Christina Green's parents at the public memorial at the McKale Center. Even today, as I took Olivia to daycare, I had difficulty staying collected when I saw the flags at the fire station, YMCA, and hospital where Olivia was born still waving at half staff.
As a mom, I mourn with all the mothers. I mourn with Roxanna Green, who lost her daughter, and Emily Nottingham, who lost her son. I mourn with the mothers of those who were injured and struggle to recover, both physically and emotionally. I can only conceptualize in a nightmare the depths of their agony. As I work to be a more compassionate individual, I offer myself and any action I am able to take to try to ease their suffering.
Of course, I cannot ignore the mother of the accused shooter. Amy Loughner is undoubtedly grieving as much, albeit in a different direction, as any other mother in this case. I don't know if I could comprehend the deep anguish she feels today and will again feel tomorrow upon waking. Certainly I would have already prayed a thousand times to be woken from this excruciating dream. To her, and to her husband Randy, I offer the same of myself, that if I can work to ease their suffering in any way, I will.
Compassion isn't easy. The 14th Dalai Lama asserts that even he must work at it every day. And I, without question, understand the anger and rage those closest to this attack must be feeling and don't want to discount those real, raw emotions. But we can and must move past anger and blame in order to move on. No, we cannot (and should not forget); if we forget, we shall become complacent. But we must move on in order that while this tragedy will always be senseless in the minds of most, it will not be needless.
After my father lost his battle with cancer - which, as I type that, seems almost trivial to grieve in the same breath as I grieve with those in Tucson - I wanted to make sure that his untimely loss didn't waste me. Today, I strive to be a better, more compassionate individual working-s with the intent to make my daughter's world a better place than I see it now. I don't want her to graduate from college, marry, and have children without me there to see it, so I have vowed to be healthy for her. I don't want her to see others as less than she, so I have vowed to be kind for her. I do what I do for my daughter, and I know that any mom worthy of that title does the same.
So be angry as we work through the emotions of this tragedy, but do not remain angry. Do not remain spiteful. Do not remain rigid. Move forward toward compassion, as Eric Fuller, one of the injured in the shooting; since his release, he has attempted to reach out the Loughner family. I am certain that his heart, while still heavy, is a touch lighter as he forgives. I can do the same. We all can be kind, be compassionate, be forgiving, and in doing so honor those whom we mourn.

"Please Sir, May I Have Some More?"

2011-01-06T17:27:00.000-07:00

Olivia has branched out!
In recent weeks we have added the following to her "I will deign to eat this" list:

Soup - no, nothing with my homemade stock in it. We're talking Campbell's® condensed "fishy" (Goldfish® shaped) chicken noodle soup, waaaaay up there on both our own gag-worthy lists. But she eats it and then asks for more, so I'm not complaining yet. Someday I'll get her to eat carrot bisque (someday I'll get myself to eat carrot bisque).
Edemame - that's right - soybeans. Not sure why she wanted to try Daddy's pre-soccer game snack, but she came back for more, and we are NOT asking questions.
Pumpkin Seeds - having never seen these before, she asked "What's that?" when I grabbed myself the bag for a snack. As soon as I told her what they were, she said, "Pumpkin seed?" "All right," I said. I now regret that, as I had to share my entire snack with her.
Fruit Snacks - you know, those "healthy" cousins of the gummy bear that you find next to the Fruit Rollups® at the grocery store. I have been trying to get ones made from all juice, but those are pretty tough to obtain. Ah, well, I guess 66% juice is still better than fruit flavoring...

I have hope that we will continue to add posts like this. But I'm not holding my breath.

Proof of Paternity

2010-12-28T12:47:00.001-07:00

We have probably watched Elmo's Christmas Countdown a thousand times in the last ten days. And each time we hit box #4, in which "Charles Blitzen" tells "Stiller the Elf" what he thinks of Santa's helper's screw-up (which informs the entire movie, so I won't give it away), Olivia announces, "Reindeer farted."

She really is going to be her father's daughter.

She Will Bring Us Goodness and Light

2010-12-25T13:23:00.000-07:00

I was planning on calling our trip to Michigan "The Week Without a Nap." Olivia has treated this vacation as a week-long birthday party, and her sleep has been, to say the least, terribly interrupted. Yesterday, she didn't nap, so she crashed around 7, only to wake up again, sobbing, around 9. I did manage to get her back to sleep, but only after about an hour (I think).

Needless to say, Christmas morning came earlier than the other mornings thus far, but that's OK - Papa and Ya-Ya were already up and moving, so it was "GO" from the time we came upstairs.

The ornaments on the tree have been rearranged at least ten times since we've gotten here.

Olivia really got into the spirit of opening gifts, although she was pretty much set after the first one, so it took a while to get her to look to the next ones. She really did enjoy ripping the paper off the presents, as you can see from the picture below. But once she got excited about one gift, it was hard to get her excited about ripping more paper off of another one. She could have spent all morning happily playing with her pirate Olivia the Pig that Santa left in her stocking (she immediately put it into the paper car that she got at Steak and Shake yesterday).

A princess blanket! Now maybe HRH will stop stealing Momma's Snuggie!

After breakfast and a round of showers, we all went outside to play in the snow. Olivia was bundled up in gloves, a scarf, a hat, a sweater, a pair of leggings under her jeans, which were tucked inside her boots, all under a long coat.
It took some effort, but we were able to make her some snowballs with this powdery Michigan stuff (it doesn't pack well, so, sadly, a snowman - "'no-man!" was out).

And so I throw it.... at someone... cool!

Of course, Olivia loves to slide. Sledding, she discovered, is not much different, and, when done correctly, requires nearly no effort on the part of a royal two-year-old. For a bit we took turns dragging her around the yard.

Mush, Momma!!!!

Then we went over to the little hill on the side of the house, and boy, Princess Rufflebottom (or, perhaps, Princess Snowcoveredbottom) thought that was the BEE'S KNEES!!!
At first, we took her down with one of us (we all took turns crashing into the branches). Then, well, just check the video below. It's about 6 seconds worth of a half hour.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

Clearly, it was a busy morning, because as HRH was eating her post-snow snack, she passed out. Hopefully it will be a good one - we've got big plans to see a major light display tonight.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

I could have taken at least 30 minutes of this video, but I'm sure it would get repetitive for anyone who is not HRH's momma.

Mash Up

2010-12-21T15:26:00.000-07:00

Just a few pics from the last month as we head into the holiday weekend...

HRH's first taste of hot chocolate... and she is immediately suspicious that someone will take it.

Daddy took O to meet Clifford the Big Red Dog at Changing Hands Bookstore the same day that I took Zooey on a coon hunt (you should know that Clifford is a redbone). HRH wasn't super impressed.

At one of two weekend birthday parties. The horse ride lasted as long as it took me to take this picture.

At birthday party two - lovin' the bouncy house!

Stylin' in her puffy vest and fuzzy boots. It's been too hot to wear them in AZ, so we're pretty stoked to model them in MI.

The first real snow experience... Look Mom! No mittens!

Not sure she liked the snow. Or the sled. Or being pulled. Or anything, really.

More cuteness to come!

Slide? SLIDE!

2010-12-12T21:00:00.001-07:00

Olivia is still a little young to understand the concept of giving and receiving gifts for birthdays and holidays, so her big present, courtesy of Nana and Grandma, came a little early this year. The grand-mums worked together to secure for her an outside toy. Christened (with water from Zooey's bowl) Fort Olivia, it has two (yes, TWO) slides, a wheel to "drive," and two different ways to get up to the two-level platform. Yes, it's pretty BA.

This afternoon, after Olivia FREAKED OUT when I tried to get her picture taken with the Grinch at Changing Hands Bookstores, Nana came over, and while Olivia napped (not really, but we tried), the two of us put it together. Zooey didn't help.

I was happy that Olivia slept long enough for us to finish our project and put a bow on it (after all, it IS a gift).

When she woke up, Olivia woke up in tears (perhaps still traumatized from the whole Grinch episode). She was very unhappy, but I managed to take her downstairs. Once she saw the "slide," the tears were gone.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

I seeeeeeee yoooooou!

Zooey - my turn!

I know it's been a while since I've updated the blog; I'll try to have a mish mosh post soon. After finals.

My Daughter's Mandala

2010-11-26T22:30:00.015-07:00

Editor's Note: I can't get the stupid font size to work nicely. I'm tired of fiddling with it, but I'm sure it will drive me nutters until I get it better.

Last year, Olivia was given a Magnadoodle®, which soon became a favorite toy of hers. If you haven't heard of this device, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN????? Just kidding. Sort of. Anyway, it's a surface that can be "drawn on" with a magnet "pencil." Once the budding artist is finished, it can be erased. It's in the same vein as the ubiquitous Etch-a-Sketch® but less frustrating for all age groups.

Olivia will draw on this for ages, and it was only after she proved her zeal for art projects on this device that I started getting "real" (read: Crayola® Color Wonder(TM)) art supplies.

I will confess that I could, quite possibly, were it not for others, become a hoarder. I have emotional attachments to waaaaaaaay too many things. Only last week was I able to throw out a plate that had been broken long enough for me to have forgotten exactly when it broke. I decorated the plate when I was in preschool (or somewhere way back), and I had had visions of Olivia eating off of it. Even after it smashed into several pieces, I thought, "I'll just hang on to it and fix it at some point." Ha!

Olivia, thankfully, is not burdened by such attachments, and she will happily rip up a drawing that she just made or erase the beautiful picture that she created on her Magnadoodle®. Sometimes, I have to hold myself back as she tears away, telling myself that I have a STACK of art projects from school that will likely not be hung on the walls, so it's no big deal if one crayon scribbling doesn't make it to the file (clearly, she is her own critic and doesn't want that one saved for publication anyway).

The other day, when I was watching her (not through the lens of a camera) making drawing after drawing on the Magnadoodle®, erasing each creation without a second's hesitation in order to get started on the next one, I was reminded of the mandala. While the Navajo versions are closer to our geographic location, I am more familiar with those made by Tibetan monks. These intricate sand creations, which sometimes take hours or even days to complete, are destroyed soon after they are finished by the same monks who painstakingly made them. They don't blink an eye at watching something that could very easily be shown in a museum be swept into a jar.

Olivia's attitude toward her drawings and other artistic endeavors (today she shredded a paint with water page that she had just finished) is similar; she loves the process of making each item, whether it be in the medium of crayon, finger paint, or construction paper glues to other pieces of construction paper. But she isn't concerned about saving anything to send to the Louvre; there have been times that I haven't filed away her art projects from school fast enough, and she will take them apart. My reaction is one of angst, but she just sees it as an opportunity to have a little fun and discovery.

I know that I should behave more like my daughter than a pack rat. It is so easy to have an immediate emotional attachment to anything that she makes, but it's also easy to attach an attitude of "my child is so artistically talented and more awesome than anyone else's child." I need to be careful, then, to attach that emotion to the time I spend with her and not the result of an afternoon coloring.

Of course, it is nice to have some projects to show off on the Metropolitan Refrigerator of Art.

What should have been a finger paint kit that lasted several days and pages of paper only lasted about one evening and four sheets - this poor piece of paper was COVERED with the gel-like "paint" of the Crayola® Color Wonder(TM).

Today is Your Birthday.... Party!

2010-11-14T14:57:00.001-07:00

It is unlikely that those who read this blog regularly weren't aware of the big 0-2 birthday that occurred on the 6th. While she did receive a few gifts during her birthday week, Olivia was the recipient of what can only be described as a boatload of stuff this weekend at her party.

Uncle Chris and Aunt Erika sent her this super awesome pop-up house. HRH loves it. She likes to go into it and then request "Mommy inair" or "Daddy inair" (translation: Mommy/Daddy, come in here!).

It has also become the go-to spot for pooping. This particular pop-up house is a boutique, so there is a curtain that hangs inside of it, and it offers an extra layer of privacy, which, as you know, the princess requires when having a BM.

Whose house? O's house!

Beep-bop-boop-bope-bop-boop-beep!

And now.... girl jumping on trampoline:

(the gift from Papa and Yaya)

On to this weekend... we had O's party a week late because 1) we had tickets to an event on the 6th, so someone got to overnight at Nana's - her first birthday slumber party! and 2) my mom was in town this weekend, so she was able to attend.

The party was at Folley Park, right down the street from our house. It has a great playground so that parents could take their respective Wee Ones over to burn off the sugar with which we plied everyone. It was lovely to see all our family and friends who were able to make it, although I always regret not being able to chat with everyone as much as I wanted. Olivia, of course, relished being the center of attention (the grin on her face when "Happy Birthday" was sung was PRICELESS... but I didn't get a picture of that).

A balloon bouquet with legs? No - Olivia just loves balloons THAT much.

This was cupcake #3 or 4. Not sure. Let's just say the sugar crash, which came at 7PM, came hard and fast.

The party was the first time HRH showed any interest in ripping open presents. Of course, if I got such cool items, including this Tinkerbell outfit, replete with "boo-fie" wings, I would get excited about ripping them open, too.

Moments later, Crosby tried to give O a kiss. Her response: "Ick!" YES!!!! Just keeping thinking that, baby girl! At least until you are 35 or so.

Olivia and Cousin Tristan loved this slide. Olivia, at one point, became impatient and yelled, "GO!" Such a diva (which is a word she actually knows already... hmmmmm...).

Checking out some cool Pumas. Now, if only she would wear shoes OTHER than her "star shoes" (aka Crocs with stars on them - she won't even wear other Crocs - how is she my child?).

October Rewind

2010-10-31T22:01:00.004-07:00

It's been a busy month. To recapitulate....

We went to Oktoberfest in Tempe. Meh. Too many stupid drunk morons, and the music was too loud (yes, I am 87 years old and my name is Agnes.... how did you know?). However, I did learn (the hard way) that an all-white cover band should NEVER attempt Baby Got Back, by Sir Mix-a-Lot. EVER.

Olivia had a good time riding the Light Rail and rocking out to the music (aforementioned cover excepted).

HRH made an appearance at Chuck E. Cheese for a birthday party this month; she loves icing but isn't keen on cake. Duly noted.

We met a good friend of ours at Bergie's in Gilbert (where we pick up our veggies each Saturday), and Olivia proceeded to go all Cosa Nostra on Elmo and Cookie. Lesson learned at this occasion: one should never travel without a s*** ton of towels. Especially considering that Olivia is drawn to water like bugs to those zapper thingies.
(Yes, everyone got a bath when we got home. EVERYONE.)

I took Princess Rufflebottom to the Desert Botanical Garden's Great Pumpkin Festival. She loved the art ("more art??") and picking out her own pumpkin. She also loved the chickens in the petting zoo. They.... did not love her back.
She also was enthralled with the bluegrass band that performed at the festival. In the video below, you can see her tapping her foot to the music. The fiddler, after the song ended, commented that he had never seen such a little one keep music so well. I have got to get this kid a piano.

Stamp, Stamp!!!

"Kicken!"

How to choose your pumpkin: decide based on what you can pick up.

Schnepf Farms in Queen Creek holds an annual pumpkin and chili festival, and Olivia started learning the fine art of marshmallow toasting. She didn't like the concept of eating one, though, so I had to choke down a, er, well-done one (mmmmm... carcinogenic goo!). She also rocked out to the band that was playing there, with, of course, Cookie as her preferred dance partner.

I ran in the third annual Phoenix Undy 5000, put on by the Colon Cancer Alliance. I raised $956 to help fund better prevention measures, more effective treatments, and, ideally, a cure for colorectal cancer. Thanks to the contributions of national and corporate sponsors, all of the registration fees for this event went straight to the CCA as well, which means that the Phoenix event raised over $100,000!!! I am so honored to have been able to take part in this, and I am already looking for a team for next year (who's in???).
Just to brag a little bit, I finished in 25:46, 111th overall, the 34th female runner. That is much better than the 9-10 minute miles I thought I had been running. I was impressed with myself, especially as I got quite overwhelmed emotionally a few times during the run.

Halloween was a lovely cap to the month. At first, Olivia refused to put on her cat costume. But after seeing all the other kids at school wearing theirs on Friday, she let her teachers put it on her, and then she didn't want to take it off. Fortunately, there was a block party in Nana's neighborhood yesterday (after the Undy 5000) and then another party at a friend's house down the street tonight, so she had ample occasion to wear it.
At the parties, she indulged in chips, Capri Sun, and as many cookies, brownies, and cupcakes as she could get her little hands on. The sugar rush was as good as any, but the crash came soon enough.

"BOO!"

"Did I get anything on my face?"

She helped Daddy carve an Elmo pumpkin and a Cookie pumpkin. She loves them. Except when it's dark and we light the candles in them.

She also helped me "make" some pumpkin cookies. Perhaps next year we can make them from scratch.

Bouncy jungle gyms are even better when you've had two brownies and a few packages of M&Ms!!!!!!!

Whew! What a month!
I wonder what November has in store for us...

One Week Left!

2010-10-23T07:26:00.001-07:00

This is the last week before the Phoenix Undy 5000, and I am getting quite excited. A few piece of info...

There are about 700 runners/walkers registered for this year's race/run/walk.
Approximately $60,000 has been raised of the $100,000 goal.
I have raised over $800 (yes, you can still donate - just click here to be taken to my page - check to see if your company offers matching funds).
I have used 2/3 of my Mothers' Day gift card downloading some good running mix songs.
Zooey has kept up with me on every run we've taken, and she's then slept pretty durn well that night (she won't however, be at the run - still too spastic to be out in public).
I have a pretty awesome jersey that I ordered from Customized Girl that I'll be debuting at the run.
The bunny ears Olivia got for Easter fit me, and I'll be wearing those as well (those who knew my dad know that he ALWAYS gave bunny ears in pictures).
The words of support from friends and family have been a huge inspiration each and every day.

My mom sent me this picture, taken of Dad and me in April 1978, just after I was born. I still have that blanket (knitted by my grandma). I miss my dad so much and wish he could have held Olivia like this, too!

Of course, life hasn't stopped just so I can run. Olivia flatly refuses to stop growing, and last night I had to take her to the store to get pants, shirts, and shoes that might last her a few weeks (although I'm suspect about the shoes - she didn't want to cooperate in the trying on process) now that the weather has suddenly become cool enough for foreign things like socks and sweaters. She has also decided to eat a few more foods (insert me jumping for joy), even though yogurt is still her favorite thing in the world.

I'll do a month-in-review post with pics after the Undy 5000, but just as a teaser, we went to the Desert Botanical Garden's Great Pumpkin Festival, and Olivia picked out her very own pumpkin. She loves it, and has carried it around the house several times already. So we have to go to the store to get another one to carve, since I don't know how she'd react to us dissecting her buddy.

This is way better than eating an apple slice!

The Mariposa exhibit at Desert Botanical Garden; in the spring, they will land on you if you wear brightly colored shirts. This one is a male - can you see the two little spots on the bottom of his wings? Girls don't have it - a docent told me to remember it by saying surely a woman wouldn't have smudges on HER clothes!

Running for My Dad AND My Daughter

2010-10-07T20:48:00.004-07:00

OK, my friends on Facebook have already been inundated with this information, but that's OK.
On Saturday, October 30th, I am running in the Colon Cancer Alliance's Undy 5000, a "brief" run to help fund a cure for colon cancer. Most people who know me also know that my dad died from complications due to colon cancer in October 1999.

Dad and me when I was a junior(?) at ASU

I can't help but be angry at this disease for taking my dad from me before he had the chance to see me graduate college, marry, and have a child, even though I know that Dad could have done a little better on his part. That's why I decided to complete the Undy 5000 (it's a 5K, which is 3.-1-ish miles - not terrible). I want to make sure another daughter doesn't have to lose her father when she still has many milestones in life for which she wants and NEEDS him to be in attendance. Sometimes when I look at Olivia, the grief that washes over me that my dad is never going to hold her, play with her, and get to know her is too overwhelming to bear. That's another reason I decided to participate - I want my baby girl to know that there is hope for her future - that she shouldn't have to worry that her loved ones' lives will be cut short due to once of the most detectable AND treatable forms of cancer.
I do try to think of the humor that Dad tried to infuse to the situation when I have these "Dad moments." Dad called his colostomy Sparky (a source of angst for me, as that is also the name of my beloved Sun Devil). He always told people that he really DID get ripped a new one. And when he was at the Mayo Clinic over one Halloween, he told everyone (including his uptight doctor) that he was a semicolon. That one is still my favorite story - I am, after all, a huge fan of grammar and punctuation.
I also think of colon cancer survivors who are out there doing all they can for others - not just themselves. Check out Michelle's blog about her fight with colon cancer (she will be in attendance on the 30th as well). If she can work to kick cancer's ass (pun totally intended), I sure am damn near obligated to.
At first, I decided to walk the Undy 5000; Zooey and I walk each night, and I can hike for many more miles than that, so walking through the flat streets of Phoenix would, in my mind, be a total piece of cake.
Then I decided to run it.
Those who have known me for years probably are wiping the remains of their beverage off the screen right now; my apologies. I am not known as a runner.
But some of my co-workers ARE runners, and one in particular has been integral in getting me to think about running just a wee bit. The first night I ran with her, we ran 3.2 miles.
Basically, we ran a 5K.
And I did not die. My legs didn't even fall off.
Well, then... if I can run it once, why not again? And again?
So... I am running the Undy 5000. It is my hope that me running can symbolize a faster end of this terrible disease that some medical personnel are STILL EMBARRASSED TO TALK TO THEIR PATIENTS ABOUT. I am not s***ting you. Apparently, since the word "rectum" is funny and part of many jokes, some doctors can't bring themselves to discuss screening with their patients (this number HAS dwindled, but they are still out there - apparently it's OK to chat with a woman about boob lumps but not butt polyps).
But I digress.
Here's the hard sell. I am hoping to get as many donations as possible. I have been blessed to have friends and family who have helped me already exceed my original and now second fundraising goal. But even that goal now seems not to be enough. What is enough? Well, to take a line from John D Rockefeller, "just a little more." Every dollar will help not only raise awareness (How sad is it that awareness still must be raised??? You'd think with all the social media out there, awareness would be the least of our worries.) but help fund research to find a cure for when prevention practices (like a healthy diet) and even screening cannot stop its onset.
So please, help me end colon cancer. You can click on this link; it will take you straight to my personal Undy 5000 page, where you can make a tax-deductible donation of any amount (and leave me a fun message). If you'd prefer to send in a donation, you can click on this link and print out the form (the address is also on the form).
Countless thanks to all of my friends and family who have donated already, and thanks to everyone who will be giving as well.
I'll keep everyone posted, of course; there is also a costume competition, and while I'm quite certain I won't win that one, I'm honoring my dad's irreverence with a hodgepodge of memories that can be combined into a hot mess of a "costume." Yes... pictures will be posted after the run.

Our most famous family photo, known to close friends as simply "the Christmas card picture." My mom wouldn't let me use hairspray on my hair, and I still hate the way my bangs look, but this is the epitome of my dad's spirit.

Here is a great video from the Colon Cancer Alliance!

Number One Headline

2010-10-04T21:50:00.000-07:00

If you know me and my affinity for puns and whatnot (or if you are on Facebook and have seen my most recent status), you know that by number one, I mean pee.
That's right. Tinkle. Widdle. The constellation U-rine.
And not just any pee... PEE IN THE POTTY.
I'm pretty sure it was an accident, but we were at Nana's house, and Nana just happens to have already gotten a royal throne just for such occasions (it has a toilet paper holder on it - how fancy!), and today, HRH was apparently quite interested in sitting on the potty.
Well, tonight at dinner she wanted to use it, so we went in there, and lo and behold - when she stood up, there was a new pool! We didn't drop any kids off, but who cares? We successfully used the potty for the very first time!
I guess we are going to be taking a field trip to get our own fancy potty pretty darn soon, since potty time has been stepped up.

Meanwhile, in socialization news, when we left Nana's house tonight, HRH even said bye bye to people! Yes, people. We have had such trouble getting her to say goodbye to the people in her life, although about an hour after Scott leaves for work, I often hear "bye bye Dada." But when we leave school, the last people she wants to say goodbye to is, well, the people; O will say "bye cow; bye purple; bye clock" and "bye" to everything else hanging on the wall, but her teachers? Not so much. But tonight, it was clear: "Bye, Nana. Bye, Mike" (we were lucky enough to have longtime friend of Nana's with us for dinner, so he was graced with the potty news AS IT HAPPENED as well as a farewell). "Bye Dada" (we took separate cars). And what did she do when I said that she never says, "bye teachers"? Well, you know my child.... yup, you got it - "bye, teachers."
My dad used to tell me that "children are your parents' way of getting back at you." I'm pretty sure Princess Rufflebottom is already getting back at me ten-fold.

Guess What Allison's Thinking About Today... YA-DA-DA-DAAAAA!

2010-10-02T16:15:00.000-07:00

You know you have seen waaaaaaaaaay too much Elmo when both you and your daughter know exactly what's going to happen next, whether it be an email from Prairie Dawn or Elmo talking to a fish.

I'm so excited; we are watching Guess That Shape and Color instead of one of our Elmo's World DVDs. It's so new and refreshing, I have even bought into the excitement of looking for a purple healthy food.

Dancing Queen

2010-09-26T20:15:00.004-07:00

We went to Sedona this weekend for Scott's cousin's wedding. Saturday morning, a good number of the family went for a hike around Courthouse Butte and Bell Rock.

The red in the Sedona rocks are from a large iron deposit, which is absolutely gorgeous when contrasted against the bright green of the local flora. When you drive in or out of the area, it's quite striking how little of an area has this bright reddish-brown color. Most of the large rocks have names, like the two we hiked around. Cathedral Rock is another popular one to visit and a hike I'd like to do. Scott, as usual, was HRH's pack mule, and I carried the water ( a big thanks to Bear, who busted out the dried apples, with which Olivia absconded, thus improving her blood sugar - which, in turn, improved her mood for the rest of the hike... we'll be glad to replace those apple chips if you want, Bear!).

That evening at the wedding reception, Olivia was a DANCING MACHINE. I had thought that she was fading, so we changed her into her pink monkey jammies (currently her favorites). Little did I know that she had decided that these were her real party clothes. The band was awesome, and her cousins were already rocking out by the time HRH made her way up to the dance floor, so it wasn't hard to see why she was all about partying like a rock star.

Cousin Tristan was the ring bearer; he and Olivia aren't quite old enough to play with each other, although they will play - and dance - nearby one another. However, Tristan was more interested in dancing with Grandpa Harry, while HRH preferred Daddy as a partner.

After the sun went down, it was more difficult to get good, clear shots, but we were able to have a rather nice family photo snapped by Nana.

Have you met the 4th member of the Powell family - Dos Equis?

Hey - if you wanna dance, get your body on the floor in those monkey PJ pants!

OK, I know I said that I took the binkies away, but I let things slide this weekend - it was a big one for HRH (long car ride, lots of new sight/sounds/people), and since the weekend was not about her, I wanted to make sure that any stress she may have felt was alleviated so that the focus could be (as appropriate) on the bride (she looked amazing) and the groom. We'll start pulling back again this week.

Of course, the excitement of the weekend meant a rough day today. On the ride home, Princess Rufflebottom decided that the time was right for more yogurt ("la-GOOT"). However, even the squeezy organic yogurt tubes I bought for her (a special treat for a special weekend) were not going to be delivered without a massive mess being made, so I said "no." I'll give her credit on this one - instead of pitching a fit (as I expected), she simply began her own little version of the ending of PCU. Her rhythm was impressive.

"We're not gonna protest!"

Can Someone Please Help This Girl Out and Call CPS???

2010-09-17T18:21:00.003-07:00

Here is a list of abuses I have wreaked against HRH in the past week, in order that your report can be as complete as possible:

I refused to give her an Otter Pop for breakfast (on more than one occasion, mind you).
I said "no" when she asked for a second yogurt (we were out).
I wouldn't let her have milk after she threw up.
We are out of Gatorade.
I put in to the DVD player and began to play Elmo's Potty Time instead of Elmo's World - The Great Outdoors (this WAS quickly rectified, but not soon enough).
After she said "All done," I took her out of her high chair.
When I was requested to serve applesauce, I mistakenly thought that meant that Princess Rufflebottom wanted applesauce and thus served it.

And, the worst of the offenses, likely enough to have Olivia taken away from me even without the other crimes...

I took away the binkies.

Clearly, this has been a low week in my motherhood experience. Yes, I can rationalize that there will be other, different low points and that being a parent is not all unicorns and glitter, but that doesn't take away the feeling of overall failure and guilt that I can't solve Wee One's problems or get her to stop squalling and flailing, being only sufficient to ensure she doesn't hurt herself while doing so.

What's made this worse for my parental self esteem is that when she is at school, those elusive unicorns and their damn glitter seem to reappear, as aside from not eating much this week, Olivia has had a great week at school. Why is it that she will behave and not focus on the absent binkies, which, if anything, ought to be MORE pronounced when she is around little ones who are still allowed the silicon nipples of happiness? Instead, I get to try to sponge vomit out of her hair in the middle of the night after she's worked herself up so much that all that stomach acid can't be contained any longer. (Is regurgitated whole milk yogurt and baby bile good for the skin? Only time will tell.)

All joking and sarcasm aside, I love Olivia more than any thesaurus could help me express (sorry, Roget), but this week has just been rough, and I think timeouts are as good for mommas as they are for Olivias.

"VieVuVoo!"

2010-09-06T20:28:00.002-07:00

I came down with SOMETHING on Friday night, so after I started feeling better (thanks to the help of lots of water and hot tea as well as a very garlicky vegetable broth and some tasty collards) but still a little tired, Scott and I swapped evening duties, so I've been giving the Princess her bath and bed routine (bath, turn off the bathroom light, lotion up, diaper/jammies, Ladybug Girl, bed).

Basically, what usually happens is after finishing Ladybug Girl, Olivia, clutching Good Night Duck, will say "bed"; I'll ask for (and receive) a night-night kiss and then put her in bed (OK, so she still gets a binky at night - no bigs). Then I turn out the light and say, "I love you" before closing the door behind me. I may or may not get a "night night" back.

Tonight, when I put her down, she said, "Night night Momma. I love you" in the most perfect toddler-ese one could imagine.

Happy 22-month-birthday to ME.

"I Naked"

2010-08-31T17:16:00.002-07:00

We have entered the "I don't feel like wearing clothes" phase of toddler-hood. When she was changed this morning upon rising, HRH determined that she did not want her pants back on. Then, this afternoon, she came up to me and said, "All done shirt!"

Once her shirt was removed, she informed me, "I naked" and pointed out her "bee-butt" (belly button, although somehow she learned what a "butt" is and points out "dog butt" on a certain page of Ladybug Girl).

We are now currently clad in only a diaper and enjoying every second of "I jumping!" on Zooey's couch.

Oh, to be under two and able to go with a no pants at work policy... wait a second - I work from home!

A Quick Lesson in Volume

2010-08-26T08:10:00.003-07:00

raaaaaaaalllllllllphphphphphph!!!!!!

2010-08-24T19:06:00.002-07:00

So last night we went through a few PJ changes, as well as stripping the crib down and replacing the sheets with towels (smart, since there was more urping).

I am too tired to even remember what times Olivia woke me via the monitor (I had it turned way up because of this), but it was basically dry heaving for a good number of them. Then I gave her some water, which she gulped down most desperately. And then brought back up with the same gusto, much to her chagrin.

At that point, she wasn't able to go back to sleep by herself, so I brought her into bed with us, where she slept until nearly 8 this morning.

After an hour of giving very small amounts of Gatorade (and keeping it down), Olivia was allowed to switch to water, which she's sipped on all day. Her appetite hasn't returned yet, but I did manage to get her to eat a few handfuls of Cheerios as well as a few bites of Veggie Straws.

At least her energy levels have all but come back; she is now happily jumping on the couch, and as today was a "sick" day for her, we got to watch movies. Unlike older people, who watch as many movies as possible, we have watched Elmo's Potty Time about a kazillion times. When it comes time for HRH to actually start using the toilet, she should know the theory behind the process like she were the Hermione Granger of potties.

Mommies Really are Superheroes

2010-08-23T21:08:00.003-07:00

My super power, you ask? Well, when it comes to being a momma, it's that I can drive from Casa Grande to Chandler, covered in toddler throw up, while said toddler continues to throw up, and NOT throw up myself from the smell that was the car. I'm actually quite proud of myself for that. And now I am going to bed.

(On most days, though, I am Sarcastic Girl - she's like ElastiGirl in The Incredibles, but bitchier when people ask stupid questions)

Le Sigh....

2010-08-19T20:45:00.002-07:00

Tonight, Olivia went, VERY readily, to bed, clutching Good Night Duck and her beloved Elmo book. Two better night night time companions could not possibly be imagined.

Hugging "Peeeg," who wears "shahksh"

America's next top model? No - it's Olivia!

(insert squee here)

Peanuuuuuuut... Peanut Butter!

2010-08-16T21:48:00.002-07:00

So, how do you make a romper that says "Cow Tipper in Training" even more trashy? Smear it with peanut butter, of course!

Just a little more...

Mmmmmm! I think I got too much on my pretzel; better wipe it off.

So weird - none of Nana's doggies are all over my face trying to lick the peanut butter off me. Crazy doggies!

Not Quite a Red Letter Day...

2010-08-10T17:34:00.004-07:00

...but at least I have some good material for a blog post, right?

All right, rewind to this weekend. Olivia had her second sleepover at Nana's, which was very exciting; we even got a text asking if we had given her a pep pill (hahahahahaha! No.). However, that night (we're on Sunday, in case you're keeping track), HRH did not sleep well, waking up three or four times. That meant a tired Monday. When Zooey and I got down there Monday afternoon (Zooey barked the whole way there; I am shocked that I still have any hearing), she had had a pretty good nap, but she did fall asleep on our way home (we stayed for dinner and didn't get home until a little after 8, when she is usually heading to the bath). I changed her quickly, but she didn't want anything to do with her jammies shirt, so we let that go, and Miss Priss slept in the shirt she had worn for part of the day (lots of wardrobe changes when the dogs' water bowl is a fun toy).

She woke up, SCREAMING, a little after ten, and it took some time to calm her down. Poor thing - her nose was really stuffy, and she kept fussing at it. I relented and gave her some Benadryl, which seemed to help her clear up, and she slept through the night.

So this leads us to today....

HRH woke up promptly at 6:45 this morning, as is her habit (fun fun fun - you parents know what I'm talking about). We had breakfast with Daddy, and then it was off to the front room, where she gleefully emptied the laundry basket that was converted into a stuffed animal container. Then Princess Rufflebottom proceeded to kiss all of said stuffed animals and told them they were all going to watch Elmo (while Mommy had a meeting).

I know, I know - not bad, right? Keep reading.

When Olivia decided she wanted a snack, she went to the fridge, and before I thought very hard, I had opened it up for her to see what was in there. What she chose is what led to the downfall of Tuesday.

Horizon makes an organic version of GoGurt (however, carageenan is an ingredient, so we are done buying that), and there was one left. I'm quite certain that someone other than Olivia has been sneaking them, since there were more than one last time I gave her one. I'm just throwing that out there.

This was, of course, Olivia's choice, and she snatched up the tube and ran to the front room (which, I'd like to add, Nana had kindly cleaned with her fancy carpet spot cleaner machine on Sunday). She started sucking on the end, but the issue - I hadn't opened it for her. That didn't make any difference to HRH, though; once it was in her hot little hands, she wasn't going to relinquish it to ANYONE - not nobody, not no-how. So.... (physics lesson here, folks) when you have a toddler intent on holding something and a momma trying to gently take it for just a second to open it, you get yogurt. All. Over. The carpet. And the toddler, the momma, the desk, the chair, and quite possibly the ceiling fan, but I'm afraid to turn it off. Wow - if I thought HRH was pissed about the yogurt BEFORE it was open, I was in for a fun surprise once it covered every square inch of her left arm, her pants, and half of a foot.

Editor's Note - Zooey took care of the carpet, desk, and chair, which does not mitigate her eating TWO pacifiers today (this brings the grand total to six). The cat watched from above, and then later he knocked some stuff down on me, so the quadrupeds are on my s*** list at the moment.

With the yogurt all over us - I can't believe there were really only six ounces in there - I decided that it was bath time for all, so I drew a bath and got both of us in, scrubbing down HRH from head to toe. Fortunately, the screaming stopped, and we played with the duckies and dolphins for a while before drying off and getting dressed.

After that excitement, one might think that a nap was not too far in the future for Olivia. Think again! I finally got her down at 1:30. The thing is, I had to wake her up (I totally heard you gasp with horror there). We had to leave at 3:00 to get to the doctor. Because... she had to get three shots.

Yeah. Great effing timing.

One in the leg and one in each arm. Add to that equation a tired toddler who did not get her yogurt but who DID bite her tongue (enough to bleed a LOT) during the shot giving procedure, and you have one PISSED OFF little girl. I mean, pissed isn't even the right word; apoplectic is probably the closest we are going to get in the English language.

Twenty minutes later, Olivia was still crying, but not so loudly to make me feel that leaving the exam room with her would make people think I beat her, so we headed home (by the way, we weighed her, and she is still 23.13 pounds, although she has very few pants/shorts that fit her, so I have to seek out new clothes this weekend - DANG). Once home, a bowl of ice cream was quickly placed in front of HRH, which seemed to make things better.

Until the bowl was empty. "More?" "No honey. It's all gone." (not a lie - the ice cream WAS all gone). "(insert screaming)"

Fortunately, Elmo is working his magic right now, and things appear to be under control. We'll see how the rest of the day goes, but Momma has already put an order for a chilled bottle of white wine (preferably a sauvignon blanc) from the Scott Delivery Service this evening.

Boo Bow. Peek Bow. El Bow?

2010-08-05T20:35:00.002-07:00

Ahhh... child's logic...

Olivia has long been interested in the various body parts. This began with noses and ears and eyes (which are apparently quite fun to poke, regardless the hapless species). Then we branched out to ears, hands, and feet. She will gleefully show you her belly button if you ask (actually, she will hold you in suspense for a second before flashing the entire world).

So, naturally, once she mastered knee, I thought that we might try elbow.

Now, the way that HRH has learned most of her body parts is by seeing us point to said part and then saying the word. For example, I can point to my knee and say, "Knee." Since someone is VERY good at mimicking lately, it doesn't take her long to point to her own knee and say, "Knee" as well.

I then tried this with the elbow. She totally got it. She could point to my elbow when I asked her where Momma's elbow was. And that's when everything went off the rails.

"Olivia, where's your elbow?" (points to head) "That's your head, honey. Here's Momma's elbow. Where's Olivia's elbow?" (points to head) "No, honey, that's your head. Here is your elbow. Can you point to your elbow, too?" (points to head) You get the idea, right?

I could not figure it out.

Then - DUH! Every morning, what do I put in her hair? A BOW. Quite often she requests it before I can get there. "Boo bow?" "OK, we'll wear a blue bow today." "Peek bow?" "Yes, let's put on a pink bow."

"Elbow?"

Makes sense to me. What the hell is a bow doing in the middle of my arm where my arm knee should be?

Also, since I know everyone wants to know what the poop situation in the Powell house is, Olivia once again emerged from the curtains tonight, triumphant in her knowledge of the status of her pants: "I poop."

Did you catch that? "I poop." A subject and a verb. An independent clause, people - also known as a complete sentence. Yes, folks, my daughter is already conjugating verbs appropriately.

There was a moment of self-doubt, but she recovered fast: "You pooped?" "No, no, no....... I poop."

Finally, at dinner the other night, it was determined beyond the shadow of a doubt that Olivia is NOT keen on pickles.

"Poop"

2010-07-31T16:26:00.005-07:00

After waking up from her nap this afternoon (and after a short crying jag that likely was the result of waking up suddenly rather than gradually - you know the feeling), Olivia hid herself behind the curtains in our front room.

A few minutes later, she emerged with this pronouncement: "Poop."

You see, we can ALWAYS tell when Olivia goes #2; she runs and hides behind said curtains. This is actually an indicator of two possible scenarios: 1) she wants to play "boo" (she hides, we say "Where's Olivia?" and she jumps out, yelling "Boo!"), or 2) she's pooping. We know it's the latter when she says "No" and remains behind the curtains when we ask where Olivia is.

But she has never come out from behind the curtain to announce her feat, generally preferring to revel in it (quite literally here) until the novelty wears off. This, then, was worthy of repeating the information to Daddy before conveying her royally upstairs to wipe and anoint her rear end.

This small step, then, is altogether exciting as we march ever onward toward a life of big girl underpants.