Staycation

Chris was on vacation last week and it's the first time in a long time we didn't have plans to travel somewhere when he's off. It was nice. Very nice. We did a whole lot of nothing sprinkled with a few fun things. 

My aunt and uncle were in town so they came over for dinner Monday night. They live in Florida so we don't get to see them too much. It was fun. The little flower loves company:

 

Thursday night our nanny watched the girls so we could have a date night. We finally went to the Sundance Cinemas (something we've been wanting to do since moving here over a year ago) and saw Food Inc.. I don't know why I watch movies like this, they always depress me. But, I shall continue to vote three times a day for the changes I wish to see.  

This weekend we went to Middleton's Good Neighbor festival. It was drizzly and cold on Saturday so we stayed just long enough for the little flower to ride a few little rides:

 

Her first cotton candy:

The weather was beautiful on Sunday so we returned to the festival for more midwestern family fun. The little flower was just a little happy about this: 

We decided that we have a little daredevil on our hands.

The only ride that she did NOT LIKE AT ALL was the tilt-a-whirl. In hindsight, not the best judgement on our parts. It started out promising:

But then I watched helplessly as it quickly turned into this (this is the best picture I could get- it's not a happy face):

Poor baby. Lesson learned.

It was a great week. I look forward to many more 'staycations' in our future:)

Badgers

So I guess we're officially Badgers.

 We don't really follow sports. I don't think I am in danger of ever becoming a football widow. But, since we now live in the Madison area, we thought we should take an interest. 

Sunday was family fun day at the stadium. It was a gorgeous day for such an event. All of the football players were on the field to sign autographs and have pictures taken. 

Our nanny, Serah, was there. Isn't she lovely? She was only supposed to work for us until April, but we just couldn't bear to let her go. She watches the girls about once a week now. If it weren't so expensive and unethical, I'd look into cloning her.

She just recently got engaged to this sweet guy, who is just as clone-worthy:

He broke the 'one autograph' rule for us. Thanks #21- you're the best!

 Poor little flower wasn't sure what to think. She's so quiet and unsure sometimes. It didn't help that she missed her nap. 

We all had a fun time:

* * *

Big news!

Look who's potty trained!

Perfect timing on her part since she'll be moving into a classroom with older kids in the fall. She's so proud of herself, but not nearly as proud as we are.

 

 

E.T.

Have you seen E.T.?

My dad took me to see it when I was nine years old. He had been promising to take me and I was excited to go. When we stepped up to the ticket counter he requested two tickets for  "The Extra-Terrestrial". I was so disappointed. I think I may have started crying. He promised me he'd take me to see E.T., but he went and bought tickets for some other movie. Some other movie I'd never heard of and it sounded boring.

He assured me that we were indeed going to see E.T.. I didn't believe him. I thought he was trying to trick me into seeing what he wanted to see. Of course, once the movie started I was thrilled. It is one of my all-time favorite movies. I look forward to watching it with my girls some day. I hope they like it as much as I do. We'll all share a big bowl of Reese's Pieces:)

Anyway...there is a scene in the movie in which E.T. is hidden amongst a bunch of stuffed animals. We re-created that scene with Superbaby this morning. Only we were in our family room instead of a closet.

 E.T. was adorable, but not this adorable.

Happy Weekend;)

I actually do have hobbies.

Evidently one of them is wasting precious time doing stuff like this:

I have more issues than Vogue magazine;)

Not Acceptable

Exhibit A:

Board books it is.

One, two, three...

So I hosted a get together last night and had a house full of moms and kids. I'll give you one guess as to how things went where little miss flower is concerned. She was a total menace. She kept picking on the same little girl (whom she really likes and asks to play with almost daily) and doing other annoying things. I had to send her to her room a number of times. It didn't help, time-outs never do with her. I wanted to cry after everyone left (but that could also be due to the insane amount of dishes awaiting me). It makes me sad for her. I don't want her to be the kid that no one wants to play with. 

 When I picked her up from school today, the teacher informed me that little flower had pinched and shoved one of her classmates and refused to apologize. Nice. The teacher politely reassured me and shared some stories about her own daughter who had the same sort of issues at this age. She recommended a book that someone else recommended in the comments. That book is now on hold for me at the library. If I get desperate enough I'll just go buy the darn thing. In the interim I'm taking deep breaths and counting to ten. And loving my little menace.

On a lighter note, look who just turned SIX months old:

Superbaby! She soothes herself with these two fingers:

She loves her mobile:

She loves playing with her feet (with my help, she still can't quite reach them on her own):

She loves tummy time and her big sister (especially her big sister):

And we all love her!

I'll have to try and post a video of her laughing at her reflection in the mirror. You can't not smile. 

Speaking of smiling...when I was little my mom could always make me smile by saying "Here comes that smile, here it comes, I see it, you want to smile but you're trying so hard not to, you're trying so hard to keep a straight face, there it is, oh I see it...", to which I would inevitably giggle. I could be in the worst mood, but that got me every time. I discovered a variation of that which given the little flower's current defiant personality works quite well. I simply say "Now don't you smile". I've never seen someone smile so eagerly in all my life:)

 

Sad and Frustrated

 The little flower and Superbaby are finally asleep. Chris is still at work. My throat is sore from all of the hollering I did today and I'm fighting back the tears. It makes me want to just curl up into a ball and sob when I think about how my little flower looks at me when I lose my temper. 

 It was a long day with both girls. No school, no activities. Just us at home. From the moment she woke up this morning, little flower tested me. She said 'no', ignored me, and cried/whined. I yell out of sheer frustration and then wonder how she is ever going to learn to cope with her own emotions if this is the example I provide. I often wonder if my doctor would think I was crazy if I went into the office requesting Ativan or Paxil or both because "I have a two year old".

 I want to have fun with her, to laugh and play and tickle. But I also want her to understand that 'no' means 'no'. I expect her to do what I ask of her. Not for my good, but for her own. I pick my battles, but there are still so many to be fought. For instance, being rough with her sister? Unacceptable. Running away from me in a parking lot? Unacceptable. Eating her Old Maid cards? Unacceptable. Spitting? Unacceptable. Slamming the washing machine door on me while I'm taking the clothes out of it? Unacceptable. Ripping the pages out of library books? Unacceptable.   

Some people tell me she's well behaved and I wonder if we are too strict. Her teachers tell me about some minor issues she's having in preschool and I wonder what we are doing wrong. We don't let anything slide. Should we? Is that the problem? I feel that I would be doing her a huge disservice if I did not provide discipline. I believe children need it and want it and that it makes them feel valued. It takes no energy at all to say 'yes' all day every day.

 However, lately I feel all I do is "discipline". I nag and say 'no' and can't seem to just loosen up and enjoy my girl. I feel guilty even thinking this, but I look forward to taking her to preschool some days. I breathe a sigh of relief as I drive away. Not because I'm free to thrift store shop 'til I drop, but because while she's there I'm free of worry. I don't have to worry about losing my cool or if I'm doing damage to her fragile psyche or if she's ever going to outgrow this.

I just want to get it right, to be a good mother. I want my girl to feel loved because she always is and always will be. And if people want to stop saying "just wait until she's a teenager", I would be okay with that, too.