bodacioussylph

"What word is missin' from da fwont of Maggie?"

I look at the magna-doodle. She has written __ a g g i e.

"Wedder M!" "An' now it's a sentence."

Because a sentence is any verbal unit followed by a period. I know you were taught that a sentence needs a subject and a predicate, but Maggie is over those archaic punctuation rules.

__ a d d y.

__ o m.

So impressed.

Ivy fell asleep in her pushchair while we were walking home from school (this NEVER happens). She roused briefly as we came in the house, then dropped off again. Slept through her sister's lamentations about the lack of instant gratification she is forced to endure. Slept through being moved to a different room.

She is still asleep, three hours later. I'm stunned.

1. I did a bit of probing the other day about Maggie's lunches. And she replied that she would like more sandwiches. "Not cheese though." OK, not cheese. Jam and butter? Tuna? Sunflower butter? "Nutella."

So, in the spirit of "almost anything in moderation," today's lunch included two teeny little heart-shaped nutella sandwiches on homemade whole-wheat bread. And a mini-quiche, some edamame, bell pepper, and fruit. Your sandwich...is your dessert!

2. Ivy's decided she doesn't want to ride in the wagon to Ralph's anymore. I still bring along the wagon to transport the food home (and in case she gets tired and wants to ride). She tromps along, happy as anything. She's also been refusing to ride in the pushchair to pick Maggie up. This is more problematic, as she's often tired by that point in the day and tends to stumble...and then wants to be carried. One day she scraped her knee enough to make it bleed a little, so I had to carry home a wailing toddler while Maggie complained about all the screaming. Sigh.

3. Yesterday, Maggie told me she got her first yellow Paw Print (yellow indicating a day in which she needed to be redirected more than usual). She also said something about failing to help tidy up, so I figured that was the reason. And then at dinner, out of the blue, "I won't hit anyone ever again."

Oh.

So rainfletcher and I started quizzing her. There's a large difference between a flail that inadvertently impacts someone's arm and a punch. I don't know that we'll ever get the whole story, but it does indeed sound more like an intentional punch than an accident. We admonished her repeatedly that she mustn't hit anyone, ever, for any reason. (And this is where I'm glad that WE don't hit HER--no conflicting message there.) Hopefully we got through to her and she'll find more appropriate ways to deal with difficulties.

Local kindergartner dies of H1N1.

I'd already planned to get the kids vaccinated, but this definitely solidified that plan. However!

Our clinic has no H1N1 vaccine.

They've both had the seasonal jab, so at least they're partially protected.

It's kind of maddening to have all these public health officials urging people to get a POTENTIALLY LIFESAVING jab that is NOT GETTABLE.

Last Wednesday, we headed north mid-morning with a very excited Maggie and a slightly skeptical Ivy. The drive went really well and we arrived at my Dad's in the evening. Ivy was thrilled with the stairs, just like last time, and Maggie was excited about her unicorn blanket, just like last time.

Thursday, everyone was tired...and starting to come down with a sore throat. Not sure where we picked it up, but we were all under the weather to one degree or another. Nonetheless, Ivy was refusing to nap, so rainfletcher and I decided to drive to downtown San Mateo and look for Ichiban Kan for bento supplies. If Ivy fell asleep, J would stay in the car with her while I shopped with Maggie; if she didn't, we'd all shop together. Turned out both girls fell asleep before we got there; furthermore, Ichiban Kan was nowhere to be found. Instead we went to Target for a couple of things we'd forgotten; J went shopping while I staying in the car with the kids.

Further research revealed that Ichiban Kan had moved to Tanforan, so we went there Friday (picked up egg molds and cute food picks). Saturday we went to Toys R Us to help Grandad pick out a birthday present for Maggie.

Sunday the girls and I went to IUC; the interim minister seems very cool, and all the little old ladies cooed over my little brood. Hilary and Bill came to visit in the afternoon, and it was so adorable to see the cousins playing together. Baby P is standing quite stably and calling everything a "GAH!" She is an enormous big baby, though she'll probably slim down once she's walking. Odette made barbecue ribs for dinner, which were SO YUMMY.

In between our dizzying round of social obligations, we chatted with my Dad and drank a lot of tea. Overall very low-key, but I think Maggie needed the downtime. And it didn't help that we were sick; J got it worst, but all of us were bleh for at least part of the visit.

Monday we went to Mimi's for brunch with my Dad and then headed home. Hit a bit of very light rain and quite a lot of needy Ivy. Both kids fell asleep not long after sundown, with a couple of hours of drive remaining. When we got home and carried the kids inside, Maggie woke up just enough to use the toilet and then fell fast asleep in her clothes. Ivy, however, got a major second wind and flew around the house greeting kitties and generally being cute.

This week and next week are the "fall break" at Maggie's school. Kinda weird timing, but actually very good for her mental health. It's clear that she needs a break from school. We leave tomorrow to spend a few days with my Dad. Maggie is very excited about visiting Granddad! I told her to pack her Triceratops backpack with toys to bring, and it was very cute how she selected the items--if it was in her line of sight, it went in, with a sometimes-elaborate justification.

She's been singing some songs she learned at school. "Do you know what day it is? Day it is? Day it is? Do you know what day it is? Today is...." And then she paused until I said "Tuesday!" And then she rattled off the days of the week and the months of the year. Or yesterday during dinner, she quietly sang "R-E-D spells red. Ladybugs are red. Firetrucks are red."

On Friday Mags attended a birthday party for one of her classmates. Siblings and parents were invited also, so Ivy and I joined her. They'd rented a bouncy castle, which was a big hit. Ivy wouldn't go in by herself, so I spent quite a while in the bouncy castle too. Near the end of the party, Mags was in there when the fan turned off. I immediately started tracking her down, but it took me a minute or so to reach her. She was understandably freaked out by the time I got to her but I told her that it's OK to be scared if something scary happens--and the bouncy house collapsing certainly counted as a scary thing!

I volunteered to be one of the Daisy troop leaders.

Ivy's vocabulary is blooming. A new word or two every day or two. She has the most wonderful sunny personality. Earlier today she found a jingly ball and was utterly thrilled by it. Raised by cats.

Ivy's asleep on the couch. She just sat up blearily and kind of wavered around for a minute or so. I went and hovered right behind her because I was frankly afraid that she would tumble off the couch backwards. But luckily no, she yawned and laid back down again. I'm feeling pretty accomplished: there's laundry in the machine and I washed most of the dishes. Tityre did the Ironforge Brewfest dailies...not sure why I'm really bothering, as I'm happy with the title she has. She did get a rocking epic trinket off Coren Direbrew yesterday though.

We went to the 94th Aero Squadron yesterday for our annual anniversary brunch. They put us in a little sun-porch, off the bar, which was a shame as there was much less ambiance there than in the restaurant proper. We could see a triplane out the window though. It was a very pleasant meal. Both kids were extremely well-behaved, and ate very well. Maggie insisted on having a cappuccino.

Ivy's been "reading" one of the ABC books we have. On the "A" page there are some mice painting an apple, and she points at the mice and says "mice." Then she flips to "D" and points to the "Daddy" bunny as she says "Da-yy." Then she points to the "eyeglasses" on the next page and says "Mom." And then shakes her head, still pointing at the glasses, and says "Da-yy." (Because her Daddy does not wear glasses.) She goes through the whole book, saying an appropriate word on almost every page. Very cool.

What is not cool is the weather. Ugh, so hot. Ugh ugh ugh.

Today, Maggie's teacher complimented me on her healthy lunches. So that was a nice little encouragement to keep on with the bento-ing.

Today was crazy hair day. I pulled Mags' hair into three off-kilter ponytails and then sprayed two of them with green hairspray. Would have been all three but she balked (too loud and scary right by her ear?). Anyway, she looked really cute. Ives was all "Me! Me! Me!" so I sprayed a little green on her bangs, to her great joy.

rainfletcher: I made 9:30 reservations for us for this Sunday. The child's rate is for age 4-10, so basically the amount we save by eating early will go to pay for Maggie's meal.

Ives had a perfectly lovely time on her birthday yesterday. Brunch at Bonny's with Grandma, Grandpop, Granita, Uncle Tom (briefly, during his lunch break), Uncle Joe, and Rachel. Several awesome books, Thomas Duplo and video, Tinkerbell throw, Mary Poppins video, Ariel doll, pajamas, Pooh Bear talking phone, a GREEN tricycle.

I managed to coax her down to a nap, and while she slept I decorated cupcakes with fondant Cleos (from the Clifford cartoon). They weren't perfect by any means, but Ivy immediately identified them as Cleo, so I felt good about that.

Maggie pretty much co-opted the Pooh phone toy. At one point she picked up the Ariel doll and Ivy was all, "Ah-wee-ohl! Ah-wee-ohl! AH-WEE-OHL!" until we got it back for her. Overall Mags was good about letting Ives have the limelight, with occasional lapses.

And this afternoon, after a trip to the store, Ives made rainfletcher very happy by saying "hi daddy" to him.

And this evening I have a splitting headache. Too much fondant?

Last...Wednesday? wow. Wednesday. Last Wednesday Maggie was a bit "off." By Thursday morning she was coughing, so rainfletcher and I decided to keep her home from school, on the grounds that if we expect other parents to keep their sick kids away from ours, the least we can do is keep our sick kid away from theirs. Mags was none-too-happy about this staying home thing, but it turned out to have been a good choice, as she was Cranky McWhinerpants all day. When we checked, she had a fever. She stayed home Friday too, but by yesterday her fever was gone, so back to school she went.

I've caught it too. Racking, tear-inducing, actually-made-me-barf-a-little coughs. Occasional faucet-like snot. Ivy is sick too, poor little mite. And as one might expect, Rain has also caught it (and the poor guy can't call in sick to work as this week is Very Important Expensive Unmakeupable Training Course).

The good news is that sick Ivy fell asleep super-early for her nap, so I've got a little time to myself. Chai and a post. Oh, and I did some washing-up. It's a wild, wild life.

Today is Kristin & Steve's 10th wedding anniversary. 9/9/99, easy to remember.

Last Sunday we went over to Juanell's for some hanging-out-with-Grandma time. Maggie wanted to watch Mamma Mia, but Mike had borrowed it. So Juanell suggested High School Musical instead...I don't know if I'm ready for that level of tweenification. So I suggested something that had popped into my head a few days earlier, Mary Poppins. ZOMG, perfect suggestion. Maggie was enthralled by the trip into the chalk drawing. And Ivy absolutely loved the chimney sweep number, dancing around and clapping and giggling as they "step in time."

Dee just talked at me for a good twenty minutes, including such gems as how she got pregnant with her daughter at age 15 and her reaction when she started developing breasts. AAAAAAAAAA.

In other news...Hurricane Jimena is heading up the coast towards us. Likely to peter out before causing issues in San Diego, but potentially tragic for our neighbors to the south.

Wacky weather today, very sticky and unpleasant but there are intermittent refreshing breezes. Not surprising, I suppose: wildfires to the north and a hurricane to the south!

Maggie's really enjoying school. She's apparently a bit wander-y and hard to keep on track, but the teacher seems to think that it's mostly an age thing and she'll get more focused as she matures.

Via velvalynn: awesome music video from The Guild.

Play with me in my MMO....

Edit: curse you, MSN video, for interfering with my journal! Embedding seems to be wrecking everything.

Yesterday at the end of school, Maggie's teacher mentioned that she'd been a bit wander-y. She says she's doing well, just sometimes lacks attention. rainfletcher and I presume that this is mostly due to being-four-ness, and that a bit of time will help. We also had a discussion with her about doing what her classmates are doing and paying attention to her teacher.

She didn't eat much of her pasta salad, or her tangelo, but everything else vanished. Bell pepper, edamame, grapes, apple bunny, blueberry muffin.

In the evening, while I was fixing dinner, I managed to slice my finger open with a table knife. I yowled loudly and Rain came a-running. I was bleeding profusely and the poor guy was trying to be helpful and I was soooo awful and snappish to him. (Apologized as soon as I calmed down and he very graciously accepted.) He called his Mom and she came to watch the girls while we went to urgent care. Longish wait at the clinic. The verdict was that it isn't deep enough to suture. However, since it's right at the knuckle, the doc was concerned that it would re-open every time I flexed my finger and not heal well for that reason. So I've got a splint on my index finger holding it immobile and making it very awkward to type. Or drink tea.

The first thing Mags said this afternoon was "I ate my WHOLE LUNCH!" Which is mostly true, as she didn't touch her crackers (she's eating them now, instead). She ate up a mini cheese quiche, edamame, bell pepper, green & black grapes, a tangelo segment, Kix, and fruit leather. So clearly I need to keep packing about the same amount of food and just let her eat what she needs. (Which is my general philosophy...offer healthy stuff and let her eat what sounds best to her.)

I should become super dork-tastic and start posting pictures of Maggie's lunches.

Time was short this morning, and Maggie wanted her hair in french braids. I counter-offered regular braids, which was still frustratingly like trying to style a jack-in-the-box.

After school, I asked her what she did today. "Wots of stuff, a'sept for da stuff we didn't do." Ummmm...useful.

We have a major ant problem in our house. Because we have five cats and two small children and therefore refuse to use any sort of super-toxic remedy, we're soldiering on with liberal sprays of an organic rosemary/cinnamon insecticide and honey/borax homemade traps.

Probably the worst locus of ant activity is our bedroom, because we feed Mirage wet food there every night. Attempting to prevent ant swarms, I rigged up a moat so we could isolate the food. This worked fine for a while. Sometimes if Mirage dropped food in the moat it formed a bridge that the ants would troop across.

The past couple of days, however, we've found ants in the food bowl when there was no obvious "bridge" present. I took a close look this morning...the little suckers were walking on top of the water.

Does this mean "the Rapture" is limited to invertebrates?

So does anyone know how to reduce the surface tension of water? Salt? (Which of course will ultimately corrode the food bowl.) Or am I mixed up and salt will increase the surface tension?

Poll #1445678 Nothing to see here, move along
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 1

Rain?

Sylph?

I went by myself to drop Maggie off at school this morning, leaving rainfletcher in charge of still-sleeping Ivy.

Maggie: not yet a good walker-in-line.

Returned home to an awake baby who was quite happy to see me. We spent a nice quiet day, with lots of reading and cuddles and only intermittent requests for "sis?"

Picked up Mags at the end of the day. This time she was one of the first through the door, looking quite cheerful...and then her face crumpled, "I fuhgot my SCARF again!" Luckily I'd seen it in her backpack and staved off the sorrow easily.

Walking home, I asked her what they did today. A story? "Yes," said Maggie, "about three bears." Me: "Oh, and Goldilocks?" Maggie seemed quite surprised that I knew the story.

She did better with her lunch today, though her carrot sticks and cheese and mini-sandwiches went uneaten. She ate her bell pepper, edamame, Kix, fruit leather, and grapes.

As noted in my previous post, Ivy spent the whole day wondering where her sister was. rainfletcher took advantage of adults temporarily outnumbering children and did some tidying.

We set off to collect Maggie around two, with Uncle Tom recording the event for posterity and insufficiently-napped Ivy wailing.

The bell rang...Maggie's classroom door didn't open. Other classes flooded into the hallway. Maggie's classroom door didn't open. Finally (it was probably actually only a minute or two), her door opened. The teacher let the kids out one at a time, as she identified the parent associated with the kid. No Maggie.

Finally the teacher beckoned me over. "Maggie had a great day until the very end, when she had a little head-bump with another kid." Sure enough, Maggie was sobbing. I picked her up and started soothing her and asking her questions. We were halfway home when I noted that she'd left her cardigan at school. "And my SCARF!" wailed Maggie. So Rain ran back to see if the teacher was still there so he could get them. He caught up with us shortly, triumphantly waving the missing items.

I ended up carrying Maggie the whole way home. Oof.

After all my "what to make what to make," she barely touched her lunch! She ate virtually all of the (substantial) snack I had packed, though, so I maybe just need to weight snack and lunch a little differently.

Ivy was so thrilled to have Maggie home, and Maggie so happy to be home, that they played together quite energetically for like two hours. Hopefully they're both tired out and will go to bed tonight with little fuss!

Dropped Mags off at school this morning, with a brand-new penguin towel for rest time in her Triceratops backpack, and a slightly elaborate lunch full of yummy (and healthy!) stuff. I made her a red scarf as a surprise; hopefully it will have the intended effect of reminding her to be brave if necessary. She went off with her class quite cheerfully.

I only cried a tiny little bit.

Poor Ives is a bit distressed at this turn of events. She keeps saying "sis" in a sad tone.