Wednesday, July 30, 2008

How ya Like My fancy Schamncy New Blog?

Isn't it awesome ? One of my friends from my mothers board did it , I can not take one bit of credit.

And to celebrate the fancy schmnacy-ness of my new blog look, here's my fancy schmancy little girl

Monday, July 28, 2008

A Nice Day

We went with my mothers group to the Suffolk County Farm . Actually, I'm not so sure thats the name of the farm, but thats what I've been calling it. It was really cute.
As I tried to leave, I asked Maddie if she was ready.
"No," she told me :" Mommy, you go. Go in the car. I see you later"

I was prepared to get dirty- not that we'd be milking cows or anything, but it poured yesterday and I was ready for mud, puddles and cow poo. I tried to put shorts on Madeline, but for the third day in a row, she asked to wear a pretty dress. OK. Who am I to fight with a 2.5 year old ?
We got a chance to feed some of the animals. Madeline was less than enthusiastic about doing it herself.
She made me do it and then said " that tickooled" when the goat ( or donkey or whatever else we saw today) took the carrot out of my hand. She was alos not excited about petting a chicken. "No way , Lady... pet your own chicken"
Next up was a tractor pull to see some more animals. The tour guide told us that farmers say " yee haw " when they see other farmers. I thought cowboys said 'yee haw', but once again, What do I know? Maddie loved saying yee haw, and as a matter of fact was saying it in her sleep just a few minutes ago.
After the tractor pull we went to the playground to have a picnic lunch. They had a ... drumroll... a wooden train to play on- and play she did. She even refused food (!!!) choosing instead to sit in the caboose. These girls were funny. Once they realized Maddie will repeat whatever you say, they tried to get her to say' bad words( like doody and fart). They'd turn around to see if I was close by. I had to tell them to keep it clean. Madeline loved them- I believe in this picture she is enthusiastically pointing out where the ceiling is located.My cute, sweaty girl. It was a bazillion degrees on that farm. You can imagine how it smelled.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

More things I don't want to forget

The other day , at the pool, Maddy fell while trying to get out. She scraped her knee and let everyone within a 50 mile radius know about it. Man, she's got some lungs ! We took her to the first aid station, ,cleaned up and got a band aid. We went back to the pool. Maddie looks down at her band aid and says:
' Come on Bandaid, lets go swimming "
and then
"Look at the frinklers, band aid" ( frinklers=sprinklers )

Friday, July 25, 2008

Preschool already?

Yup, I've started to look at preschools for my munchkin. Preschool, you say ? But wasn't she just born like 5 minutes ago? Yeah, thats how I feel too.

She is 2 1/2, and I'm beginning to feel as if a structured environment would be wonderful for her right now. I'm trying to decide which type of school would be best for her. And by 'best' I don't mean which preschool will ensure her admission into Harvard- I'm just looking for one that doesn't make her scream when I drop her off. And doesn't drain our wallet.

Greg has already expressed apprehension at 'leaving her there' and has asked me more than once if I plan on staying with her. Um, kind of defeats the point. If possible, she'd re-attach the umbilical cord. She is all about Mommy mommy mommy. She needs to be around other kids with out me, you know ?



I wonder if Greg would be so protective if we had a boy. Just a thought.



Some of the schools have openings for this Fall, but no way. She, and truthfully, I wouldn't be ready. So I'm shooting for January or even Fall of '09. In the meantime, I am enrolling her in some Separation programs this fall. The parents stay with the kids for a set amount of time( 10mins, 1/2 hour, depending on the child and school) and then they leave( really we just go in the next room). I am even dreading that. So we'll see how it all goes.



In the meantime, here is my airborne girl playing 'Froggy Pond'


Tuesday, July 22, 2008

So I Don't Forget 2.0

We were just watching Sesame Street and Elmo was talking about families. So , I explained to Madeline that Mommy , Daddy and Maddie area family. So she says
m: Mommy Maddie and Daddy are fam-a-dee ?
me: yes
Maddie: Fam-a-dee kiss
And she gave me a kiss.
So cute

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Late Night

I never understood schedules before I had a baby. I assumed that the baby would sleep whenever and wherever. I may have expressed that opinion once or twice- I'm sure to parents who snickered as they thought 'just wait...". I was a whereever whenever person as well. I had a husband who worked unconventional hours like myself. I had two jobs or one job and school for about 4 years straight. I didn't want to be on anyones schedule. I did things when I could and lived life day by day.




As fate would have it, I give birth to a child that THRIVES on a schedule. If one thing is out of place, she'll let you know about it. When she sleeps at night, if her door is even a crack open, she will wake up. She becomes a little confused if you don't do Bath, Bottle, Book, Bed every night at 7pm. She'll lay down in her crib, I put her monkey blanket on, I lay on the floor, she takes her monkey blanket off , I put it back on and say ' Good night, Sweetie Pie, see you tomorrow" Every. Night. If one thing is out of order, or missing, she becomes frazzled.




So I know my girl is like this, and because of it, and because she is such a good sleeper, I do NOT mess with naptime or bedtime. OK, sometimes I mess with naptime , but I can count on one hand the times I mess with bedtime. Last night was one of them.



She took a really long nap ( and skipped lunch altogether) and didn't wake up until about 5pm. Considering her bedtime is 7, I thought she could stay up a little later. Sheesh, I know better than that, but I figure," she's older, one night is not a big deal, blah blah blah" We took her to the a local carnival. She wanted to go on rides, but when we actually put her on them, she freaked. Not a fan.

Then we sat down and had a snack
which as you can see she was very excited about...
She got a balloon from a clown

And then did some running. I love the tongue sticking out of her mouth.

So by now its 7pm, her usuall bedtime, but since she woke up so late, we figured we'd stop by Greg's freinds house. They just got a new beagle puppy. When we get there, he's having a little party, and whats in the backyard- besides a puppy, another gril Madeline's age and people oohing and ahing over her ? A bouncy house ! So we let her go in...long story , well, long, I don't seem to have made it any shorter, she didn't end up going to bed until 9pm. And thats just what time she went into her crib. She actually didn't fall alseep until about 10pm... and got up at her usual 6am( actually it was 5:40 something, i round it up to 6am to make myself feel a little better about it) . She has been cranky the WHOLE day... and difficult to get to sleep. Lesson to me... stick to the schedule. She did have a blast though, and keeps talking about Daisy the puppy and the bouncy castle.

Oh and now I totally want a puppy.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Maddie at the 'Cool'






She's a little hard to read, you know. You can't really tell if she's having fun.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Maddie at 2 years, 5 months old



She loves feet. Like really loves feet. She will walk into the bedroom while Greg is sleeping and rub her face against his feet. It kind of reminds me of the way my old dog Rufus used to rub against your feet after you take your shoes off. She will refer to Feet as such, as in " Here you go , Feet" or " Read a book, Feet ". She makes my feet say hello to her when she sees them. And if any feet actually tickle her, she doubles over in uncontrollable laughter. I tried to capture it today ( don't mind my non-manicured tootsies. they just need a little polish)


I've signed her up for a bunch of programs this summer. yesterday was out first playgroup. Madeline was hmmm... lets say less than enthusiastic about sharing toys or taking turns. Normal for a 2 year old , right? Today we had the gymnastics program at the library where Maddies personality really shined ( that sounds wrong... so does 'shone' Forgive me, I'm tired) through. Neither Greg or myself are particularly outgoing, in your face, look at me type people, so it is not surprise that Madeline isn't either. She much prefers to do her own thing , in the background, without much fanfare. She's quick to concede if others bamboozle their way into her space. In the past its caused a little turmoil, but it always ended up OK. Not anymore- now that she's got her " I'm just about 2 and a half" pants on. She wanted to go down the slide, so she did. Then other kids wanted to go on the slide. I told her we need to take turns. Slighty upsetting, but we soldiered through. What sent her over the edge was her own doing. If she was halfway up the ladder, and some other kids started coming towards the slide, she'd come back down and let them go. Then she screamed and stomped up and down that she wanted to go down the slide. She did this repeatedly, with the same results. I wish there was a way to explain to her so she didn't get so upset.

The rest of the time went very nicely. I am so very happy with our library. They have such great programs for kids and its free . We signed Maddie up for the Baby Butterflies reading program and she is getting really into books again. She'll wake up every morning and ask to read a book" I sit next to you , Mommy," She'll say to me. At the end of the summer they have a party for all the kids, its really cute. I loved reading as a kid, so I'm hoping she does too.



Its so cool to see her imagination start working . Tonight at dinner, she felt her spoon and fork needed a nap. They needed a blanket of course


No bath for Miss Maddie tonight, we read a couple of books , and now she's Snoozy Loo in her crib.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Fourth of July, 2008

I've never been a huge Fourth of July person. I am not big on fireworks, and now with a child who #1) I won't let stay up past 8pm b/c she is a terror the next day and #2- is frightened of every litle thing- well, fireworks are not on the agenda at least for another few years. So because Greg had off from work ( yay!), we decided we'd go to the community pool in the morning, and then BBQ at home in the afternoon. Well, Mother Nature had another plan. It wasn't raining the whole day- just threatening enough that you wouldn't feel comfortable packing up and heading to the beach or pool.
After she woke up from her nap, we took her to the playground on the bay.
Then we went for pizza. On the way home the skies turned black and it POURED. She screamed with delight as Greg brought her from the car to the house... so we figured' What the hay" and let her out in the backyard to play in the rain. She ... well, the pictures speak for themselves re: how she felt about it.P.S don't worry - there was no lightning :)

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

"Did *I* do thaaaaat?! "



Its 4:20pm

...and she's still napping. She's been quite the chatterbox in her crib before drifting off, so even though its later, she's only been sleeping for about 2 hours. And she'll still go to sleep at night before 7:30. The downside is she will be up for the day around 6:15am. Its like waking up on the surface of the sun in her room- its so bright . For the first few weeks I was taking her back into bed with us , turning on the TV and catching a few more ZZZs... but now I've been re-programmed to be up that early. It reminds me of when I was in college( besides the nasty apartment and lack of well, a child). I used to wake up around 6 , take Uconn , my beautiful doggie, out for a walk, get some bagels, run some errands and then do what... I have no idea. I was working about 20 hours a week, it was summer, so no school. My 2 good friends who had stayed with me in Buffalo had both gone home, my other friend was in Syracuse with her boyfriend. I had the whole day to do whatever I wanted... and I can honestly tell you I have no idea what I did. Maybe took a walk to the park. Got something to eat. Read a book. Maybe go to a movie. Walk the dog again. Who knows.
I also remember times when I was not getting up at 6am, but just going to bed. Or sitting on the roof of our apartment building after a night out. Not a wild night, just a night of great conversation that you didn't want to end. We 'd just talk, watch the sun come up. We knew life wouldn't be like this forever... time stretching out before us with no definaitive road map . It was ours to do what we wanted with it. Its hard to believe that was 12 years ago. I already dated mydself in a previous post, so that's not ground breaking news, how I am thirty freaking five years old.
Man, I guess that is affecting me more than I thought, huh?