Return of Ten on Tuesday!

1. This week marks a month of meal planning. I know what you're thinking- 'so what?' or " DUH!". I decided one day ( about a month ago, ha ha) to use everything we had in the house and plan meals around that. I know, more "duh!"... but b/c my husband works odd hours and for a bunch of other reasons, its been easy to just whip up something quick for Madeline and myself come dinner time. I let my husband fend for himself most of the time. But this has been awesome- I've been losing weight w/o trying, Madeline is eating new things and my husband comes home to a nice hot meal. Well, after he micrwaves it. I should have channeled my 1950's housewife sooner.





2. I'm trying to re-do my blog. I've been neglecting it b/c it easier to post pictures on facebook. But then I realized that I was missing out on the little moments and stories that comprise madeline at 3.5. this is her baby book, pretty much. I had to update the picture and I want to change over to another blog that allows you to post larger pictures... I'll have to look into it


3. Madeline is 2 months into school and LOVES it.

4. I'm getting the itch to do some Xmas shopping. I've already finished my neices, but I leave madeline for right about now. I have some good ideas for the in-laws, my parents and everyone else too. I love this time of year.



5. Speaking of this time of year, lets talk Halloween. Next week , we are invited to three Halloween events. I am hoping Madeline wears her costume. When we first got it, it was too itchy, so I fixed it. By "I" , I mean " I took it to a tailor to fix it" But it came out so cute and I hope she wears it. Really looking forward to her Halloween parade at school.



6. I am continuing my own summer reading club. I've read about 25 books since the beginning of June. I am reading Kathy Griffins memoir. Its hysterical.



7. Going this weekend to meet my baby cousin Ayanna. Can't wait to hold a newborn. well, month old.



8. 4 nights out of 7 Madeline is going ot bed all by herslef. its great in some ways... I have spent way too many night on her floor waiting for her to sleep... but b/c I'm crazy, it makes me sad too. Ugh, motherhood. It messes you up good.



9. soccer has been... well we've only had one game. 2 rainouts and one holiday weekend. madeline did well the first time, but who knows about the next time. we'll see.

10. some pictures? Of course

Maddie and her Punkinshe wrote her name all by herself( !!!)

After three and a half years, I finally see SOME of me in her.

and look how long her hair is getting

popcorn

Scene: Target, 12pm. Popcorn on the floor . As Madeline walks by and sees it, she says:
aaaaaw mannnn... I wish I was a dog so i could eat that popcorn off the floor"

The other day

I took Maddie to the playground after dinner. The weather's been a little cooler and this day was particularly cold. I guess she was used to wearing dresses and shorts that have a lot of give... b/c she said to no one in particular " ooh maaaaan, these pants are too strong!!" . She wasn't able to climb as freely, lol

October?!

already?

Madeline has started preschool and loves it. She asks everyday if we are goingot go see her preschool friends. if I had known she'd like it this much I would have signed her up for 3 days a week as opposed to two.
I had to email her teacher today to make sure they are calling her Madeline(sounds like pin), b/c she's been telling me that her teachers call her MadeliMe ( LOL). Her teacher wrote back" Madeline is a pleasure, so sweet natured and well-mannered"
oh my, my heart is overflowing. Its so nice to hear something so great about your child from a non-relative or friend.
I will put pictures up soon, I promise.

Some pictures and a Maddie Quip

Just some random pictures from the last week and a funny Maddie story.

She was playing with her best friend , G. and G. must've said something that Maddie considered fresh. She she looks at her, furrows her brow and says " You have chores to do!"

Where does she gets this stuff from???

I'll have more pictures from teh Cousin Visit soon.

Save the date, People...

M told me today she is going to marry Bincent( her friend Vincent).There will be lots of toys to play with at the wedding and Madeline will wear a long Dora dress. Bincent will kiss her and give her a My Little Pony. Madeline will give him a pool.

I won't be there b/c I will be at home cleaning

Cups

I just took out a Snow White cup for Madeline's milk. It has a little snow globe type thing on the bottom with a floaty Snow White in it. We have a few of these cups b/c they were BOGO at the Dinsey store a while ago. It is the inaugural use of the Snow White cup ( where have all the others gone?). Maddie looks at me , furrows her brow and says" Mommy, why do we have a hundred of those?"

T -Ball !

We signed Madeline up for Daddy & Me T-ball. Every Saturday she and a group of 3.5-5 year olds get together, run the bases, have a catch and practice batting.

running the bases

Hopping on the bases

Madeline seems to enjoy it. Interesting note: She is a lefty in everything she does...writing, throwing, kicking... but she took the bat and batted righty ... what a little puzzle she is

Bedtime. Its a problem.

I don't know what the reason is... the summer? That it is still light out at her bedtime of 7:15,7:30ish? I know the napping in the car doesn't help- but even on days when she doesn't nap, bedtime has become a struggle. The typical 3 year old stalling techniques- I'm thirsty,hungry,my mouth hurts, I need a bandaid-no not that one, the other kind,I'm scared,lay down with me, I'm tired... followed by a rousing rendition of the ABC song. Its frustrating. We got rid of the pacifier so I was giving her some room to find a new routine- but now, its out of control.

So I told her " Mommy comes in two times, so use them judiciously" She doesn't know what judiciuolsy means, but I think she gets the "i'm only coming in two times" Well, she *would* if I actually only went in there two times. Last night I told her if she didn't put her head on the pillow I was leaving the room. She didn't so I did... and I hear from behind the door " Oh no! Not again!" and then " Mommy, you're hurting my feelings!"

sigh.

Finally I bribed her. If you go to sleep, you will get to eat an ice pop tomorrow. So of course, she wakes up this morning and the first thing she says in her sore-from-waking-up cute little voice, smile on her face " mommy I have ice pop?"

Later Maddie, Later.

We took a day trip last week to Fire Island. I have lived my whole life in New York and have never been... isn't that nuts?? I loved it- a little beach community with out the brown/green Long island ocean water. Look! Its blue and clean -looking!

One of the paths to the beachI want to say " yeah, Maddie had an awesome time" but really, she liked the playground, had a tantrum, took a nap and missed the beach and then had ice creamthe wagons that people to use to tote stuff around- hanging on hooks outside the hotels
Me and my girl

So I don't Forget 3.0

Last night Madeline wouldn't go to sleep. She was wiggling around and hit her head on the headboard. Crying ensued, so I got into bed with her to calm her down. I was playing with her hair... so soft and sweet and curly right after a bath- and then she started playing with mine( dry from the sun and graying, but whatever). She was quiet and relaxed and I thought I hit a magic 'get-her-to-go-to-sleep-after-a day-in-the-sun' bedtime routine. 'No problem,' I thought' I can lay in bed with her for five minutes if it means I'll be outta her for the rest of the night.
Then she started singing the ABC song. Oh well.
After a few minutes of me shhhing her and trying to calm her down again, she got right in my face and said " Wanna touch each other's hair again ?"

I had a discussion w/ someone yesterday about overscheduling children. When i was growing up, I played soccer, that was it for 10 or so years. I never did dance or track or basketweaving. I'm not saying it was better that way. I'm just trying to illustrate the disparity between then and now. In the fall I will have Maddie in preschool 2 days a week. Both Greg and I want to start her in soccer( and honestly soccer is one of the cheaper activities out there for kids) I belong to a playgroup that meets once a week, and she also really really wants to take ballet. So thats 5 things she'll do every week. That feels like a a lot. As a stay at home mother, I really try to find balance in having her exposed to and involved in stimulating, educational activites vs. downtime to just be a kid, play in the backyard and paint. I'm pretty sure that is a sentence our parents never uttered. Things seemed a lot different back then.

One activity I don't think I am going to be able to refuse in the fall is ballet. For three reasons:

1. We went to her first ballet class and she LOVED it

2. I loved it so much i had tears in my eyes from the sheer cuteness and seeing how much she loved it

3.

This is a very difficult dance move called Squishing a Bug

This patented Lucy Van Pelt, toungue -out-of-side-of-the-mouth is something I've noticed she does when she is concentrating, particularly while doing physical activity

And this is her at the park the other day, yelling at a bug. Yeah, yelling at a bug to get off the tree b/c she wants to climb it.

Mealtime & Dreams

Particularly lunch and dinner. A normal exchange goes like this:
me: Maddie I made you (fill in the blank with the 4 foods that she is currently eating) for dinner
Maddie: Nooooooooo, I don't want that *crying*
me; Maddie, its what you asked for
Maddie: i want somethinnnnnnnngggggg else
me(trying to keep my cool) OK, what do you want?
Maddie: something eeellllllllssssssseeeeeeeee
me: like what?Maddie( in full on tantrum mode) something elllllssssssse!
me: maddie, I'll make you whatever you want, just tell me what you want
Maddie: i want lunch
me: 'lunch' is not food. You have to tell me WHAT you want
Maddie: something ellllllsssssseeeeeee


anyone want to come over for dinner???


Changing gears, last night she woke up screaming. I went into her room and she was crying, saying' Crayons! Crayons!!!' I finally got her back to sleep, but she told me this morning she had a dream that a bug took all her crayons and threw them behind the couch. How cool she can tell me her dreams. I told her to say to the bug " thats not nice, Bug" and she said " no Mommy, it was just a accident. He is sorry"

clouds.

Its a month later and I could still title my post the same as last month: rain. Well, today i would call it " clouds" We've been MIA since we unintentionally condensed a summers worth of travel in one month ( or so it seems) I am exicted to be home, get back to normal, but I would appreciate some sun , since its June and all. I don't think that is too much to ask. Lots and lots of pictures to post, I'll get to it eventually...

Rain

We went to an Earth Day event on Sunday. Guess what? It rained. No, you say? Yes, it did. I'm over rain. I am ready for sun, please.
Anyway, Miss Brave herself actually volunteered herself up for some face paining. well, she wasn't brave enough for the face, but readily gave over her hand and picked out a Nemo fish. She was very upset later when we had to wash it off and keeps asking me to re-paint a fish on her hand. Some photos:

This is what a sunny day looks like. It was just last week.

Picking some yellow flowers

Playing in the rain

Hey Its Tuesday!

1. Can someone tell me on what planet is it OK to take out someone's wet clothes from the dryer, put your own clothes in, and after your clothes are dry, just leave that persons wet clothes sitting there right next to the dryer ? Because apparently , my husband has traveled there.

2. We've had a stretch of just gorgeous weather- uppers 80s.

I'm sitting at my computer, looking out the window and I can't believe weather.com when they say its currently in the 50's right now. Boo!

3. I found a preschool for Maddie that I love! Its right around the corner, we could walk there every day if we want. I like that the kids in her class will attend the same elementary school . If she gets picked in the lottery, she will attend Universal Pre-K at this school for free when she is four... so its possible we will only have to pay for one year of preschool. Nice.

4. For my brother, who complained that he got a " My Sister Went to the Planting Feilds Arboretum and All I Got Was Lousy Pictures of Maddie"

If you want to see PFA, then come down and visit and we'll go to PFA.

5. How do three year olds know that saying I'm Sorry is admitting defeat? Maddie will not say it. Until yesterday. She was a little fresh with her friend G. so I put her in Time Out. She came out and I asked if she was ready to say sorry. " noooooo-wuhhhh", she said with her head hung low... and marched herself right back to the Time Out spot. Its hard to discipline when you are laughing.

6. Thongs. Can you wear them? I'm talking about the shoes, silly. Flip flops, if you will, with the thing in between the big toe and the ... um, second in line to the Big Toe. I never could growing up. They always made me sick to my stomach. Sounds weird, but later when I learned that there is an acupuncture point in between those toes that has to do with nausea, it made sense. Eventually, I got over it and flip flops are my favorite shoes ever. Anyway, I gave Maddie a pair of shoes that are flip flop-ish and she is in love -probably b/c they also have a little heel -"They make me taller, Mommy"

7. Why do they make kids size nine shoes with a heel ?

8. May and June are super busy for us

9. I can not believe how tan Madeline has gotten in 4 days of beautiful sunny weather... despite 60 applications of SPF 50+ . Its insane.

10. I can't think of anything for ten. bye?

Planting Feilds

I wait all year for this, a beautiful spring day to bring Madeline to the Planting Feilds Arboretum. Even better, the cherry blossoms and dogwood trees are in full bloom. Not sure which is which and what is what, all I know is its conttonpuffs of white and varying shades of pinks all against a bright blue sky. Doesn't get better than that...

My wonky camera, but I like the moment 'Jemm" captured

another Jemm shot