Method to her Madness

A few weeks ago, my friend Barbara told me about an online ABC game that her daughter likes. It combines two of Chelsea's favorite things, letters and animals, so it immediately became an obsession at our house.

Usually I let her play it in the morning while I unload the dishwasher or clean up in the kitchen. It's a good way to keep her somewhere I can see her (read: away from her defenseless baby sister) while I'm in the kitchen.

This week we're in Maine and as soon as we got here she started asking how we were going to play the ABC game. We fired up Jeremy's laptop and found it. I decided to sit with her while she played. It's one thing to trash our decade-old desktop, but quite another to ruin Daddy's laptop. The one with all his research data on it.

She chose the letter C first, not surprising since it's the first letter of her name. Then she chose X and Z, the letters to the left of C. After that, she hit all the other letters on the bottom row (V, B, N, M) in order from left to right. She proceeded to hit each letter on the middle row and the top row, again from left to right. After the P, she announced, "Now you're all done with ABC game."

I always wondered how she determined when she was all done. Should I have noticed that every time she finishes there's a penguin on the screen? Who knew that she was such an anal, er, I mean, methodical child?

Amazing the things you learn when you actually pay attention to your kid.

Zoning Out

Q: What's the one and only downside to sending my toddler to California for a week?

A: Pacific Standard Time.

She and Jeremy got home late, late, late Friday night and I should have had a clue that she was still on California time by the fact that she was so darn perky at midnight.

The next day, she got up at a reasonable hour and napped at her normal time. We had baby-sitters come to watch the girls so we could go see Chris Rock. I told them Chelsea's bedtime was 8 o'clock, but not to worry if it was a little bit later.

Guess when she finally went to sleep? 10:30pm. Poor baby-sitters! They tried so hard to get Little Miss Stubborn to go to bed and were met with a tirade of crying, foot-stomping, and "I WOULD NOT LIKE TO GO TO BED!!!"

You would think with the number of times that Jeremy and I have traveled to California in the past, oh, TEN YEARS that we've been living on the east coast, we'd have figured out this whole time zone thing.

Guess not.

I Smurf the Eighties

Southern California. 1987. Three twelve-year-old girls play volleyball outside in the sun during third period PE at Oak Crest Junior High. We called ourselves "the Smurf club."Left to right: Natalie, Amy, and me in all our Junior High glory.

Amy was the ringleader. She was the cool girl, the pretty girl. So naturally, she was Smurfette.

I was the red(ish)head, so I was Sassette. Natalie was the funny girl, the crazy girl and, well, shorter than Amy and me. Baby Smurf's gender was unknown, but we decided she was a girl and Natalie became Baby Smurf. Our PE teacher, Mr. Krantz, was straight out of central casting. He was a grumpy old man, still bulgy with muscles, who wore his polyester gym shorts too tight. Everyday he yelled, "Hit the bricks!" (I still don't know what bricks he was talking about or why we were supposed to hit them.) We tortured him by refusing to wear the required PE clothes, refusing to run during the mandatory mile runs, refusing to do much else other than talk and laugh and generally act like preteen girls.

20 years later.

All three of us Sun-In soaked, So-Cal girls have landed in the northeast. Amy and Natalie both live in NYC and I'm here in Boston. The two of them have gotten together in New York, but since I have two different girls keeping me busy at home, the full Smurf club reunion has yet to take place.

And then Amy sent me this: http://perezhilton.com/2008-06-10-smurfs

A Smurf movie?! And I thought Fraggles were exciting! If this doesn't demand a reunion, then I don't know what does.

Breaking News: Baby Goes Over 4 Hours Without Nursing

I've been loosely following the EASY schedule from the Baby Whisperer with Savannah. EASY stands for Eat, Activity, Sleep, You. What it means is the baby eats, stays awake doing something (baby activities are pretty much limited to diaper changing, bathing, staring at toys, and being cooed at), then sleeps. The You part means don't just sit there staring at the baby while she sleeps, do something for yourself (like update your blog, hello!).

Savannah has been on a 3-hour EASY schedule pretty much since birth. I've been militant about feeding her at least every 3 hours, especially now that she mostly sleeps through the night. (Shhh!!! Don't tell anyone! Pretend I didn't just write that, ok? Don't jinx it.)

Yesterday, she started to be a little bit fussy at her feedings, only taking a small amount or not wanting to nurse on both sides. I chalked it up to our weird, out-of-the-house-all-day, Chelsea-free schedule. It didn't even occur to me that she might be ready to stretch it out a little. Or a lot.

Then this morning, she had her "breakfast"at 6:15am and when I thought she'd be due to nurse around 9am, she fell asleep... until10:30! At first I was kinda worried, "Oh no! What if I don't get in my 5 feedings today? She won't sleep tonight! Argh!" But then I figured, go with the flow, see what happens.

So, now it's 2:15pm. Almost another 4 hours have gone by. Think she's trying to tell me something?

Naptime for Coffee Baby

Yay! I finally got the pictures off the camera... and onto the blog! Now if only I can figure out how to resize that license plate... but, back to Coffee Baby:

This is where Chelsea put Coffee Baby down for her nap last week. Yes, that's our doormat. (Can you guess why she is called Coffee Baby? Perhaps because someone poured coffee on her? Hint: It wasn't me.)

Yesterday vs. a Normal Weekday

Yesterday: Shower at home! And shampoo! And shave my legs!
Normal: Shower at the gym or not at all (Sad and gross, but true!)

Yesterday: Sit in a chair at Barnes and Noble and read to myself!
Normal: Chase Chelsea around the kids' area of B&N, read to her

Yesterday: Nurse Savannah in public, twice!
Normal: Nurse at home and plan our outings around feedings

Yesterday: Shop for myself at the mall, leisurely
Normal: Go to the mall only to get Chelsea's feet measured at Stride Rite

Yesterday: Eat lunch at a restaurant!
Normal: Lunch out? HAHAHAHA.

Yesterday: See a movie... IN A THEATER!*
Normal: Watch half a DVD at home

Yesterday: Sit outside, in a park, mid-afternoon!
Normal: Nap time! Happy for a break, but stuck at home

Yesterday: Chat on the phone with a girlfriend!
Normal: Email girlfriends because phone calls are interrupted by crazy toddler

(Yesterday brought to you in part by wonderful husband and the support of generous grandparents. Thank you!)

*The movie was one of those "Movies for Moms" at our local theater and the show was Sex and the City. Savannah's first movie! Almost as scandalous as Chelsea's first movie: Brokeback Mountain. Nice parenting, huh?

Five Toddler-Free Days

Jeremy had to travel to San Diego this week for work and he took Chelsea with him. When I told my mom's group about this, they all agreed that any man willing to travel cross-country, alone, with a toddler should be nominated for sainthood. I agree, although I later found out he was only choosing the lesser of two evils: he'd rather deal with a toddler on an airplane than deal with me after I've been home alone for a week with two kids. Oh. Um, thanks?

All this last week, every time Chelsea would have one of her patented unforeseen freak-outs, I would think to myself, "Just a few more days, and I get a break from her!" I started planning all the things I could do, with only a three-month-old to take care of. Go to the mall and actually shop! Go to Barnes and Noble and read some books! Go to a movie! Go out to lunch! Be away from home at 1pm! Woohoo!

This morning was the big send-off. Jeremy had to wake her up at 3:30am to make their super early flight. We were expecting the worst. But she was so excited to go to the airport that she was all smiles. It helps that Jeremy is brilliant: he promised to bring her a glow-stick when he woke her up and she was amazed. I heard her getting all ready to go and when she came in to give me a hug and a kiss good-bye she said, "I miss you."

After I waved to her out the window, I climbed back into bed and felt my chest and throat tighten up and tears start to fill my eyes. We've never been apart from each other for more than a couple of days. As much as she drives me crazy sometimes, and as excited as I am for a break from her, I miss her already.