Category Archives: Addison

Sandy Bottom – BSM

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Okay, I just have one more favorite from the beach this weekend, then I’ll give it a rest.

I can’t put my finger on why I love this photo as much as I do.

I love the hint of the pier across the top (and it’s reflection in the sand), I love the perfect curl of the wave just starting to break. And of course, I love, love, LOVE that sandy-bottomed, determined little girl.

Sometimes the pics where they girls are running away from the camera are the ones that make me long for them even more.

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Run over to Tracey’s to see more Best Shot Mondays!

My wandering mind.

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I just can’t seem to focus on work today. I need to. I really need to get all three projects done before we go home to Michigan next week, but I just feel an overwhelming urge to procrastinate. I have 4 hours this afternoon to power through my work, and instead I am sitting here blogging, reading blogs, online shopping…anything to avoid the real work at hand.

Ad and I had a beautiful morning together, maybe that is why I am feeling all relaxed and unable to concentrate. We dropped Em off at school and then enjoyed our “mommy and me” time together. It was so nice and she is such an amazing kid! Of course I knew that already, but she really blossoms and is such a funny, sweet girl when the focus is solely on her.

And…big news! Pants dry all morning and a pee-pee on a “big” potty – not a potty chair, but an honest-to-goodness toilet in a public restroom. When we were leaving, she was “high-fiving” me as I told her how proud of her I was, and all she said was, “Emma!” I asked, “Should go pick up Em and tell her?” And A. said (so sweetly), “Oh yes, Mama!”

When we did pick Em up, it was this very lavish reunion like we hadn’t seen her in three days instead of three hours. The girls were hugging and Em was talking a mile-a-minute about her day and her new friend. And Addie looked up at Em and said “pee-pee on the potty, Emma!”  And so I told Em that Ad had dry pants and had gone pee-pee – and I was so unprepared for Em’s reaction, I almost cried.

She put her arm around Ad all protective-like and said, “Oh, Addie. I’m so proud of you!” and then gave her a kiss on her cheek, as Addie just sat there beaming up at Em.

It may be one of the most precious moments I have ever witnessed this far between the two of them. Addie so excited and proud to tell her big sister, and her big sister so genuinely proud and excited for her.

Dear God, I love those two girls.

Heard around the house this weekend…

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(Addie running through the upstairs with Daddy’s keys…)

D: Hey, Swiper! Give me back my keys.
A: NO! Not Swiper, Daddy. I’m Dora!
E: No, Addie is Boots the monkey!

Then all of us fell out laughing.

I think that Addie’s little role-playing and just her knowledge of all things “kid,” has definitely been enhanced by her big sister. She walks around nearly all day dressed up in the “rella” (Cinderella) blue gown and one shoe. It is always one shoe…I think she is taking the “lost one glass slipper thing” a little bit far…but she never puts them both on! It is crazy how much she has picked up from Em. Emma didn’t know anyone if they didn’t live on Sesame Street or in Blue’s neighborhood until she was three or so. But little A. has been catapulted into Em’s world and she can, and will, tell you the difference between Little Einsteins and The Wonder Pets.

Now really, who needs to watch reality TV when we have our own little cast of fairy tale and cartoon characters right here?

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Don’t know any of the characters mentioned up there? Really?! Um, ok. Then you clearly have not yet been acquainted with the bonita chica, Dora the Explorer. She has a sidekick monkey, named Boots presumably from the large snowboot-like apparel on his monkey toes. And they are always on little missions when “Swiper” the fox manages to foil their plans by swiping something – hence his name. It is a favorite in our house right now, but Em is learning a whole lot of espanol from it, so I am not complaining too loudly.

Just Me and Bear – Best Shot Monday

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Taken again in my favorite spot where the sunshine streams through one of our windows in the late afternoon. Addie reminds me of a cat. Sometimes she’ll see a sunny spot and just plop down in it. This time Bear was underneath her when she did. Of course she didn’t actually take a catnap, but it was a brief pause in her usual constant motion.

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(Click for larger image, as always.) I know I’ve been pretty “focused” on Addie lately, I think subconsciously I am gearing up for what is going to be a BIG week of Em. Five days and counting til she goes to “school.”

I keep telling myself that it is just summer camp, it is not really school. (Yes, I’m pretending she is not really going to school, yet!) But to her it is preschool, and it is the school she will be attending in the fall. So I know we’ll have plenty ‘o pics of Em this week, so soak Addie up while you can.

From Your Sippy to my Dribble

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We have been working very hard on banning the sippy cup in our house. Especially when we are not in the car or out ‘n about. When we were on vacation Addie drank out of glass water goblets at every meal – with help, of course, but I know she is capable of doing it and we simply don’t need the sippy cups anymore. The day I get rid of those stupid cups will be a milestone all in itself. Just think, no more cleaning those gross valves,* or turning a corner in the car and having a cup roll out from beneath the seats! (Never, ever open the cup if you can not remember when they might have had it in the car. It isn’t pretty. And I don’t care how much you are into “reduce, reuse, recycle” it is really not worth trying to salvage the cup. Just trust me on this one.)

So anyhow, like I said, we are definitely working on just “kid cups” at the table. And we’ve had a few spills, which is to be expected, and not a big deal…well, most of the time. Occasionally I am in just the right wrong mood, and both of the girls have pushed just the right wrong buttons or messed around for just a little too long and ends up knocking the entire cup of milk on the floor. Or coincidentally enough, right into the plate of food that they are trying to NOT eat. Convenient, huh? That might send me into a bit of a spiral, but usually, clean up the milk and move on.
Anyhow, as I was getting at (What’s up with the tangents, today?) today was a good day. Girls were eating like champs, laughing, we were having a just fine morning. Addie takes a drink of milk, turns to the side of her chair and opens her lips just a little bit and lets the entire mouthful of milk dribble onto the rug. (Yes, we have a rug under our table, on top of the hardwood. Yes, I am rethinking that arrangement. Everyday. After every meal.) I’ll admit, I was kind of in shock, so I did watch the whole “dribble” – as if it was in slow motion or something. Finally I ask:

M: “Hey, hey, HEY! Ad what are you doing?!”
A: “My milk fall down, mama!”
M: “No, no, no! We don’t do that!”
(Emma chimes in…)
E: “What? What did Addie do, mama?”
A: (smiling) “Emma, watch me, what I do, Emma!”

And the mischievous little monkey takes another big gulp of milk and starts to “show” Emma what she had just gotten scolded for.

I did manage to stop her before she showed her dribbling technique to Emma. But I’m sure it won’t be the last time we see it in our household. I did have to go into the kitchen and laugh where she couldn’t see me. The look of pure glee at being able to show her big sister a neat new “trick” and knowing that she wasn’t supposed to be doing it – it was priceless. Such a little monkey.

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*If you are still in the sippy cup phase – you really do have to try the First Years Sippy Cups. They are insulated, completely spill-proof and they do not have icky valves to clean. So awesome. Oh yeah, they also come in very cool styles like Princesses, Nemo, and Elmo. I have actually found that they are cheapest at Kohl’s – they often have them buy 1 get 1 half-off or on their 15% off sale. I have a bunch if anyone wants them, I’ll send them your way!

Potty Update

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We had dry pants all morning long.
2 pee-pees in the potty.
And all of this driven by A. herself.
(I honestly am feeling a little lazy and not really ready to tackle the training bit, but…)

It can’t be this easy, can it?

This is how we roll…

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A. was playing with E.’s dollhouse this morning and was frustrated trying to fit all of the dolls into the little SUV. This is how our conversation went:

A: “Hup, peeas, Mama!”
M: “You need help putting them in the car, A.?”
A: “Yesth, Mama.”
(So I proceed to put the “Mom” in the driver’s seat.)
A: “NOOOOOOO! No dere!”
M: “Where does the Mommy go?”
A: “DERE!” (Pointing to the passenger seat.)
M: “Who is going to drive the car.”
A: “Daddy!” (She runs to get the Dad doll and comes back with the big sister.)
A: “Look, Emma Gaaacie, too, Mama.”
(So I put Daddy in.)
M: “Where does Emma go?”
A: “Here with Baby Addie!” (And then she flings the little carseat across the room.) “No seat! Baby Addie, no seat!”

Apparently she likes to live life dangerously – with Daddy driving and no car seat. How in the world does a 22-month old come up with stuff like that??

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Update: This afternoon we went out to run some errands and grab some lunch and I had forgotten that I took their carseats out yesterday to take the recycles over to the center, and also to do a vacuum of the car to get all the “kid leavings”. I opened up the door to A.’s side and she thought all of her dreams had come true! No car seats!! She was most unhappy when I started to put the seats back in, and her into the seat.

What is a little Boop between sisters?

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Okay, so although I picked that photo for Wordless Wednesday, I simply can’t not talk about it. E. and A. are the funniest little girls…ever. Of this I am convinced. I am constantly amazed by the two of the separately, but together they are just priceless.

I wish I could just follow them around with a tape recorder every minute of the day to capture all of the funny stuff they say.  This morning I heard…

A: Emma! Emmaaa Gaaacie!
E: Yes,  Babykins? (This is her  own little combo of Baby and Addikins, she calls A. this when she is being super sweet.)
A: I did it! I did it! Yeah!
E: Mom! Addie went pee-pee in the potty! Addie we are proud of you, now you can wear big girl underwear like me! (And then she proceeded to try to get Addie to put a pair of her undies on.)
A: Oh, boopy. Bottom, boopy.
E: You have a poopy? Okay, sit back on the potty! Try! I’ll get you a book.
A: Yeths (her little lisping “yes”.) Like titty. Titty boop!

Note: Titty boop is…kitty poop. And we had just cleaned the litterbox out.
Also noteworthy: How old Emma sounds when she talks to A. like this! I know she learns it from me, but it is just so funny to hear her all motherly and sweet. It is much better than when she sounds like a grumpy, agitated version of me!

From one extreme to the other

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We are walking a precarious tightrope between two extremes with Addison lately. Either she is extremely sweet and loving and couldn’t possibly be any more adorable or she is in extreme, hysterical tantrum mode.

I would say about 90 percent of the time she is in the first mode. Such an incredibly bright, funny and sweet girl. But it is that other 10 percent of the time. Just run – far, far away from our house.

I have just been attributing it to being tired. The girl is such a routine baby it is scary, and it is very, very frightening is when she gets off of that routine. I can almost predict the nights that are going to be “rough.”

Unfortunately these “episodes” occur around 1am in the morning. She is exhausted, maybe didn’t have a nap, or didn’t get bath, snack, books, cuddles (in that order) before bed, whatever it is – it just sets her off. I am talking complete hysteria, she calls out for me, “Mama, MaaaMAAA! MAMA!” and it is with such angst that I just can’t bear it.

So I will go in to her room. Sometimes she isn’t even really awake, and if I try to pick her up she doesn’t want to be touched. So I’ll try to put her down, which sets off a whole new set of screams. At this point her face is nearly purple, she is so upset and I keep using the word “hysterical,” but it is the only word that truly describes the scene.

Okay, so let’s try a drink. I’ll get her a drink.  She screams “no dink, nooooo dink!” and propels the cup across the room.  Of course as soon as it lands, she screams, “dink! DINK! I wanna dink!”

And so it will continue. Usually for about 20-30 minutes until she just exhausts herself, falls asleep for the rest of the night and wakes up like none of this ever happened.

Um, what the….?

I kind of feel like it might be night terrors.  According to the BabyCenter article it really does seem like it may be a logical explanation.

“Related to being sleep deprived,” uh, check.

“Common cause could be a looming development leap,” yeah, another check.

And it isn’t every night. Yesterday was perfect. Denise said that she asked for her diaper to be changed and headed upstairs for her nap. (Yes, I know. We are also working on the potty training, she is asking to go, and definitely knows when she has to go. Maybe that is the looming developmental leap? Hmmm….)

Anyhow, She had a great nap. We spent lots of time doing everything in order last night and she fell asleep pretty easily. I didn’t hear a peep from her again until 8am this morning. She slept well and woke up happy.

I am just trying to stick as closely to her routine as possible, I guess. And I’m also off to buy her a nightlight for her room. It may be possible that she is waking up and is disoriented? Her room is really dark at night. I just am at a loss and willing to try anything. Anyone else ever had similar situations? Anything else I can or should try?