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Saturday, February 22, 2014
Valentine's Festivities
Ever attended her first Valentine's party on Thursday, Feb. 13. When I read "valentine exchange" in the evite, my first thought was, "Do I have to craft?" The girl throwing it, Kristi Rondo, is super-crafty, so I figured it would be all about homemade valentines. Melanie told me she was just going to buy cheap valentines at Target, so I felt better about that. Then I learned at the party that it's less about homemade valentines and more about the candy that is supposed to be attached to the valentines. Ever's valentines did not involve candy, so we were probably pretty unpopular.
We were late to the party because of Ever's nap, so we missed the face painting and the scavenger hunt. We participated-ish (it was a little chaotic) in the valentine exchange and then had to leave quickly for Luc Oddou's birthday dinner. This is a picture somebody else took of the valentine exchange. Ever's on the left:
Luc's birthday dinner was nice. It was just us and the Oddous/Karners, so I felt honored we were invited. I like having friends. When we got there, Ever gave the birthday boy a (leftover) valentine. He didn't want it at first, but Ever kept holding it out until he finally took it. Apparently it was his first valentine.
On Valentine's Day, we went on a triple date with Jeremy and Trisha Wilson and another couple, Brian and Kaci Bronson. The Bronsons and we left our kids at the Wilsons', and Cali and her friend Mia babysat. Ever was in heaven. At first Jim and I, awkward people we are, were a little dismayed at the prospect of a Valentine's date with a couple we'd never met. (Originally it was supposed to be just a double date with the Wilsons.) It ended up being really fun. We were supposed to go mini golfing but didn't have time before our dinner reservation. Instead, each couple got $5 worth of tokens and spent them as quickly as we could on skee ball and a little basketball. Jim and I pretty much trounced the competition, so that was fun. Then we all made some random kids very happy by giving them the tickets we earned. Skee ball:
We went to dinner at Tommy V's in Carlsbad. We ate outside. I was the only one wearing a coat, and apparently I was the only one who was cold. It wasn't too bad with the heat lamps, though. I got salmon that I loved (lemon and white wine sauce or something). The desserts were not good. Jeremy and Trish ordered an amazing-looking chocolate cake for dessert, and everybody was raving about it - including Brian, who is supposedly a big foodie. I thought it was nast and had that weird artificial flavor thing. Jim asked the waiter for me if it was made "in-house" (thanks to Bags for teaching me how to ask that question politely), and the answer was negative. I felt vindicated. I'm such a dessert snob.
Us:
The Wilsons with the cake:
We were late to the party because of Ever's nap, so we missed the face painting and the scavenger hunt. We participated-ish (it was a little chaotic) in the valentine exchange and then had to leave quickly for Luc Oddou's birthday dinner. This is a picture somebody else took of the valentine exchange. Ever's on the left:
Luc's birthday dinner was nice. It was just us and the Oddous/Karners, so I felt honored we were invited. I like having friends. When we got there, Ever gave the birthday boy a (leftover) valentine. He didn't want it at first, but Ever kept holding it out until he finally took it. Apparently it was his first valentine.
On Valentine's Day, we went on a triple date with Jeremy and Trisha Wilson and another couple, Brian and Kaci Bronson. The Bronsons and we left our kids at the Wilsons', and Cali and her friend Mia babysat. Ever was in heaven. At first Jim and I, awkward people we are, were a little dismayed at the prospect of a Valentine's date with a couple we'd never met. (Originally it was supposed to be just a double date with the Wilsons.) It ended up being really fun. We were supposed to go mini golfing but didn't have time before our dinner reservation. Instead, each couple got $5 worth of tokens and spent them as quickly as we could on skee ball and a little basketball. Jim and I pretty much trounced the competition, so that was fun. Then we all made some random kids very happy by giving them the tickets we earned. Skee ball:
 |
| Jim, Me, Kaci, Brian, and Jeremy |
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| Jim and Jeremy playing the basketball-throwing game (whatever it's called) |
We went to dinner at Tommy V's in Carlsbad. We ate outside. I was the only one wearing a coat, and apparently I was the only one who was cold. It wasn't too bad with the heat lamps, though. I got salmon that I loved (lemon and white wine sauce or something). The desserts were not good. Jeremy and Trish ordered an amazing-looking chocolate cake for dessert, and everybody was raving about it - including Brian, who is supposedly a big foodie. I thought it was nast and had that weird artificial flavor thing. Jim asked the waiter for me if it was made "in-house" (thanks to Bags for teaching me how to ask that question politely), and the answer was negative. I felt vindicated. I'm such a dessert snob.
Us:
The Wilsons with the cake:
Conversation was good, and we shut down the restaurant. Seriously - last people there, and we arrived at 7:45 P.M. After we got home and got Ever back to bed, Jim and I consumed eight gourmet chocolate-covered strawberries (a box of a dozen, minus the four I gave to the missionaries). Jim ordered us two dozen strawberries, and they're supposed to be eaten within 48 hours. So we had to eat one box on Valentine's Day and one box the next night. We are big people. He also had tulips delivered, and they were lovely. I just threw them away tonight, and now the room looks empty. I did nothing for him, but I think he's OK with that.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Dollyisms and First Shiner
"I'm sneaky like a cat."
"Love means hugs." (In response to Jim's question, "Do you know what 'love' means?")
"Ima get little baby. I get in charge." (We're trying to teach her that she's not in charge; Mommy and Daddy are in charge. So she says, "I not in charge. Mommy, Daddy charge." I told her that when she's a mommy and has a baby, then she'll be in charge.)
She said she broke a piece on her kitchen (which she didn't) and then kept saying, "Oh my gosh" over and over again. She has also learned "dang it" from me.
"----- doodle dandy." I started this one day when I asked Ever if she wanted a "snacky doodle dandy." Now we're all about nappy doodle dandies (naps), grapey doodle dandies (grapes), and every other kind of doodle dandy.
"Cookies make me crazy." Jim and Dolly had a showdown one evening when JoAnn sent her home with a bag of cookies. (I was at work.) Ever kept saying, "I want cookie." Jim said she could have one after dinner. He tried to get her to eat her food, but she just repeated "I want cookie" about one zillion times. Jim: "Are you done with dinner?" Ever: "I want cookie." Jim finally lost his mind and ripped the bag open and said, "Fine - have your cookies!" And they flew all over the place. Then Ever cried, "Daddy make a mess!" Jim cleaned up the mess, put one cookie (in pieces) in front of her, and put other cookie fragments back in the bag. She kept crying for the cookies in the bag and wouldn't eat the one in front of her, so Jim threw them all away and put her to bed without any cookies. That was weeks ago, and she still sometimes says, "Daddy throw my cookie away." That night Jim told her she can't have cookies anymore because they make her crazy.
She knows "I Am a Child of God" really well and "I Love to See the Temple" quite well ("I'll prepare myself while I am yum"). She calls them "God" or "Child of God" and "the temple song." It's really sweet to sing them with her or hear her sing alone. The only other songs she's into right now are made-up songs. She tells me to "sing about Kara," "sing about cats," "sing about JoAnn cat," "sing about your eyes," etc. The John Denver obsession seems to be lessening.
Friday night we were getting ready to leave for a Young Women fundraiser. I was in our bedroom. Jim went downstairs, and Dolly wanted to join him. She headed down alone in the mostly-dark wearing shoes that are a little too big. We heard a loud bang as she hit the plastic shield we put along the railing to prevent her from falling through because the bars are too far apart. Then she started crying. I went out to find her lying face down sideways on a stair. Apparently she hit her face on the wood at the base of the railing. She had a good cut by her right eye, and it swelled and started to bruise immediately. Now she's got a shiner. People keep asking her what happened. At least once today she answered, "I got hurt," but her usual response is, "I need a Band-Aid."
The fundraiser consisted of dinner, a silent auction, a live band, and dancing. Ever was a little out of sorts and refused to go to the nursery. We took her into the party with us. She was in awe of the band and loved dancing. She and Jim were adorable dancing together. This is the only picture I got:
Apparently she and Christian Karner had a cute dance together, too, but I missed it. Afterward she said she wanted to dance at church again.
Needless to say, that was a late night, and she was incredibly overtired by the time we got her to bed. I ended up putting her in her crib while she was crying and freaking out. I turned my back to leave, and before I was out the door, I heard a loud thud. I turned around, and Ever was lying on her back on the carpet perpendicular to her crib. She has never escaped before, although she has gotten in twice by herself. I was cleaning the bathroom while she roamed around and ended up finding her inside her crib. I made her show me how she did it, and she obliged. She pulled herself up, got her torso over the side, and dove head first, letting her body flop over and her feet hit the other side of the crib. It appears that was the exact method she used to get out of her crib Friday night. I fear she's going to break her neck if she keeps it up.
Speaking of sleep, she's starting to be more of a troublemaker. She sometimes cries and screams and makes ridiculous demands after I put her down at night. Once she was screaming, "And then wake up!" over and over after I left the room. Every time we talk about taking a nap or going to sleep, she says, "And then wake up." This particular night, I went in and acknowledged that after she went to sleep, then she would wake up. She was fine after that. Often she cries for "little bit water." Then she wants her blankets on (because she got up after I put them on the first time). Sometimes she wants to read another book or sing another song. She has started asking what we're going to do after we put her to bed. I think she just has FOMO. It's hard to know how much to ignore. If taking some water in will calm her down so she can go right to sleep, while ignoring her would result in an hour or two of screaming and just make her even more tired.... Little rascal. Maybe she is sneaky like a cat.
"Love means hugs." (In response to Jim's question, "Do you know what 'love' means?")
"Ima get little baby. I get in charge." (We're trying to teach her that she's not in charge; Mommy and Daddy are in charge. So she says, "I not in charge. Mommy, Daddy charge." I told her that when she's a mommy and has a baby, then she'll be in charge.)
She said she broke a piece on her kitchen (which she didn't) and then kept saying, "Oh my gosh" over and over again. She has also learned "dang it" from me.
"----- doodle dandy." I started this one day when I asked Ever if she wanted a "snacky doodle dandy." Now we're all about nappy doodle dandies (naps), grapey doodle dandies (grapes), and every other kind of doodle dandy.
"Cookies make me crazy." Jim and Dolly had a showdown one evening when JoAnn sent her home with a bag of cookies. (I was at work.) Ever kept saying, "I want cookie." Jim said she could have one after dinner. He tried to get her to eat her food, but she just repeated "I want cookie" about one zillion times. Jim: "Are you done with dinner?" Ever: "I want cookie." Jim finally lost his mind and ripped the bag open and said, "Fine - have your cookies!" And they flew all over the place. Then Ever cried, "Daddy make a mess!" Jim cleaned up the mess, put one cookie (in pieces) in front of her, and put other cookie fragments back in the bag. She kept crying for the cookies in the bag and wouldn't eat the one in front of her, so Jim threw them all away and put her to bed without any cookies. That was weeks ago, and she still sometimes says, "Daddy throw my cookie away." That night Jim told her she can't have cookies anymore because they make her crazy.
She knows "I Am a Child of God" really well and "I Love to See the Temple" quite well ("I'll prepare myself while I am yum"). She calls them "God" or "Child of God" and "the temple song." It's really sweet to sing them with her or hear her sing alone. The only other songs she's into right now are made-up songs. She tells me to "sing about Kara," "sing about cats," "sing about JoAnn cat," "sing about your eyes," etc. The John Denver obsession seems to be lessening.
Friday night we were getting ready to leave for a Young Women fundraiser. I was in our bedroom. Jim went downstairs, and Dolly wanted to join him. She headed down alone in the mostly-dark wearing shoes that are a little too big. We heard a loud bang as she hit the plastic shield we put along the railing to prevent her from falling through because the bars are too far apart. Then she started crying. I went out to find her lying face down sideways on a stair. Apparently she hit her face on the wood at the base of the railing. She had a good cut by her right eye, and it swelled and started to bruise immediately. Now she's got a shiner. People keep asking her what happened. At least once today she answered, "I got hurt," but her usual response is, "I need a Band-Aid."
The fundraiser consisted of dinner, a silent auction, a live band, and dancing. Ever was a little out of sorts and refused to go to the nursery. We took her into the party with us. She was in awe of the band and loved dancing. She and Jim were adorable dancing together. This is the only picture I got:
Apparently she and Christian Karner had a cute dance together, too, but I missed it. Afterward she said she wanted to dance at church again.
Needless to say, that was a late night, and she was incredibly overtired by the time we got her to bed. I ended up putting her in her crib while she was crying and freaking out. I turned my back to leave, and before I was out the door, I heard a loud thud. I turned around, and Ever was lying on her back on the carpet perpendicular to her crib. She has never escaped before, although she has gotten in twice by herself. I was cleaning the bathroom while she roamed around and ended up finding her inside her crib. I made her show me how she did it, and she obliged. She pulled herself up, got her torso over the side, and dove head first, letting her body flop over and her feet hit the other side of the crib. It appears that was the exact method she used to get out of her crib Friday night. I fear she's going to break her neck if she keeps it up.
Speaking of sleep, she's starting to be more of a troublemaker. She sometimes cries and screams and makes ridiculous demands after I put her down at night. Once she was screaming, "And then wake up!" over and over after I left the room. Every time we talk about taking a nap or going to sleep, she says, "And then wake up." This particular night, I went in and acknowledged that after she went to sleep, then she would wake up. She was fine after that. Often she cries for "little bit water." Then she wants her blankets on (because she got up after I put them on the first time). Sometimes she wants to read another book or sing another song. She has started asking what we're going to do after we put her to bed. I think she just has FOMO. It's hard to know how much to ignore. If taking some water in will calm her down so she can go right to sleep, while ignoring her would result in an hour or two of screaming and just make her even more tired.... Little rascal. Maybe she is sneaky like a cat.
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Bye-Bye, Night-Night
Recently Ever started waking up once in the night crying for her "night-night" (pacifier). Sometimes it was right by her head, and she apparently just didn't really look for it. Sometimes it had fallen out of the crib. Jim usually slept through these episodes, but it really interrupted my sleep. I stopped going to her, and I let her work it out herself. After a minute or two she'd generally go back to sleep on her own, but I hated being awakened by her crying. Then she woke up screaming for her night-night at 5:45 A.M. on Wednesday. It was close enough to her normal wake-up time that her sleep was wrecked for the morning. So I decided I'd had enough, and the night-night must go.
Wednesday's nap was a little bit of an ordeal. The night before had been really short (I think I got her to bed abnormally late, on top of the early morning), and then we had a midday outing that made her nap late. She was exhausted. She grabbed her night-night off the changing table when I was changing her diaper, so I told her she could have it while I changed her and read to her, and then we were putting it away before she went to bed. She fell asleep while I was reading to her. She woke up when I put her in her crib, and then I had to take the night-night out of her mouth. She cried and cried and cried, and it was sad because I knew she was just so tired. I think Jim or I may have ended up going in to calm her down, and then she eventually fell asleep without a night-night. She's been pacifier-free ever since. We gave her a sticker each time she slept without a pacifier for a couple days. She never really cried again, and she hasn't woken up in the night. She seems to be falling asleep pretty quickly now without it. I'm thrilled that the whole thing went so smoothly. Hooray for breaking the dependency on night-nights for sleep!
Saturdays
Jim and I decided that two Saturdays a month should be fun days. We want to hike once a month and then do some other family outing on the other fun day. On the non-fun days, we'll do a family run in the morning, maybe get some yummy breakfast grub, and then do whatever else we need to do (for Jim, that means working on the house).
Last Saturday we ran on the San Luis Rey trail. My right knee only made it about 3.5 miles, so we started walking at that point and let Dolly get out of the stroller. I had to keep reminding her to run on the white line so she wouldn't be in the way of the bikers zooming by. We love our family runs, and I'm excited to teach Dolly to be active.
Today we did a nearly 3-mile hike in Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve. It was a decent climb up to a reservoir. Dolly began asking to get out of the backpack when we were about 2/3 of the way up. We let her walk the last 1/4 mile or so to the reservoir/picnic area, after a brief interlude of dirt and rock throwing. At one point, I told her to get over to the side behind Daddy (hikers coming down needed to go by), and she said, remembering last week, "So bikers don't get me." There wasn't a big payoff at the top, and we couldn't even get a very good look at the reservoir. But it was really nice to be outside.
This picnic area appeared to be the closest you could get to the reservoir, but another family was using it. The husband offered to take a family photo for us, though, so that was nice.
Dolly walked the entire 1.4 miles down. Jim and I each took a hand, and she just charged. It was incredible. We wouldn't have gone much faster without her. I was very proud. We had told her she could touch the water in the river at the base of the trail when we got back down, so maybe that was her motivation.
Posing for a picture during the descent:
Ever's big word today was "dangerous." As we hiked down, she said something like, "Those are big rocks. They are so dangerous." We were very impressed and congratulated her on the big word, so she used it a bunch more times.
And the exciting water-touching conclusion:
Back in the parking lot after a job well done:
After our hike, we went to Marie Callender's for a late lunch. Jim and I used to go to a Marie's by my first apartment in L.A., so it was sort of for old times' sake. Dolly was really into the cornbread.
Last Saturday we ran on the San Luis Rey trail. My right knee only made it about 3.5 miles, so we started walking at that point and let Dolly get out of the stroller. I had to keep reminding her to run on the white line so she wouldn't be in the way of the bikers zooming by. We love our family runs, and I'm excited to teach Dolly to be active.
Today we did a nearly 3-mile hike in Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve. It was a decent climb up to a reservoir. Dolly began asking to get out of the backpack when we were about 2/3 of the way up. We let her walk the last 1/4 mile or so to the reservoir/picnic area, after a brief interlude of dirt and rock throwing. At one point, I told her to get over to the side behind Daddy (hikers coming down needed to go by), and she said, remembering last week, "So bikers don't get me." There wasn't a big payoff at the top, and we couldn't even get a very good look at the reservoir. But it was really nice to be outside.
This picnic area appeared to be the closest you could get to the reservoir, but another family was using it. The husband offered to take a family photo for us, though, so that was nice.
Dolly walked the entire 1.4 miles down. Jim and I each took a hand, and she just charged. It was incredible. We wouldn't have gone much faster without her. I was very proud. We had told her she could touch the water in the river at the base of the trail when we got back down, so maybe that was her motivation.
Posing for a picture during the descent:
Ever's big word today was "dangerous." As we hiked down, she said something like, "Those are big rocks. They are so dangerous." We were very impressed and congratulated her on the big word, so she used it a bunch more times.
And the exciting water-touching conclusion:
 |
| This was when Dolly was saying she wanted to get all the way in. |
Back in the parking lot after a job well done:
After our hike, we went to Marie Callender's for a late lunch. Jim and I used to go to a Marie's by my first apartment in L.A., so it was sort of for old times' sake. Dolly was really into the cornbread.
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