fawkes

guy fawkes
Tomorrow is our annual Guy Fawkes party for D's office. This will be the last year of hosting at our house since we're already going to be bursting at the seams, depending upon how many people come.

I scheduled the cleaners to come today so the house will be clean for tomorrow night. And RHG just canceled their date night, so I won't have to clean up after the kids tonight - woohoo! Avery will be at the G's house for an overnight tomorrow night during the party. I heart the Gs.

nyc
We're still scheduled to go to NYC. D and I wondered via email a few days ago whether we (Avery and I) should still go, but we haven't had time since them to discuss in person. I lean strongly towards going even if it's not quite as smooth as it would have been had Sandy not hit. I'm assuming, of course, that all power will have been restored by this weekend so things will be fairly on-track by the time we get there late next week.

avery & fits
She's been doing really, really well lately regarding fits. She has been able to get upset within what I'd consider an acceptable range and deal with whatever was upsetting her. Massive improvement. I'm so pleased. One of the moments she had particular trouble dealing with before was when I'd get angry with the way she was speaking to me. I never yelled at her, but even just looking at her with a stern face would make her start crying and moving toward fit mode. This morning, she was able to take a moment then say she was sorry and we moved on. Massive improvement.

halloween
Avery dressed as Merida (from Brave) for her school Halloween parade, but chose to go as Jessie (from Toy Story) for the evening trick-or-treating. I'm not sure why she made that choice. I wasn't really up for trick-or-treating that night, so I asked D to go with her. He went around with Lily & Grace and their parents for 45 minutes or so of trick-or-treating. Avery came home with a perfectly reasonable amount of candy. It's funny because I don't think she even knows that other kids might eat more than one piece of candy that night. She asked to eat one then she asked to go to bed and it was an evening like any other. I stashed away all that candy in the treat drawer and she gets to pick one a day for lunches.

While Avery was totally reasonable and balanced in her consumption of Halloween candy, I was less than stellar. I at least had the good sense to buy mostly Kit Kats as the type for us to give out. Since I can't eat Kit Kats, those are still in plentiful supply. I also bought York Peppermint Patties, which I will eat once in a while, but would never eat more than one and can easily avoid them for months. Unfortunately, I also bought a bag of miniature peanut butter cups. I took the whole bag upstairs before bed and ate about half of it. I left the other half sitting on my nightstand. The next morning, Avery found the peanut butter cups on my nightstand. She said, "Mommy, if you eat all these at once, you'll get a stomach ache. I'll take them downstairs." I said, "Oh, you're right, Avery. Thank you." She was so very grown up about it. Thankfully, not grown up enough to look in the trash can and see what I inhaled the night before. She has always believed us that she'll get a stomach ache if she eats too much candy. I wonder when she'll finally test this theory, or bug us to let her test it. Soon no doubt. (Oh and yes, I did eat the other half yesterday while she was in school.)

avery & sleeping
Since we've returned from England, Avery has been going to sleep early and amazingly fast. We've been laying with her in bed until she falls asleep because we did it the first few nights we were back and it is working great, so why not. She falls asleep within 5 minutes of us saying "time to go to sleep." She's also been asking to go up to bed earlier than we were going up before England. Clearly, I love my daughter's non-resistance of bedtime. More often than not, she's the one who says she's ready for bed.

She's also, for the past couple of months, been coming into our bed in the middle of the night about 50% of the time. I actually rather like it, so I don't feel compelled to do anything about it. She's quiet (usually) when she comes in. Typically brings her blanket so she doesn't get under our blanket and just snuggles in between us. D may have a different version of this story, but for me, it's nice.

refugee family sponsorship
Amber, Christie, Stacey and I are sponsoring a couple of refugee families for Christmas again this year. This year one family is Bhutanese and one is Somalian. All members of both families need winter coats. Several bikes were requested. Then there are various items requested within the household. The list provided is just a wish list and we are in no way obligated to get all things on the list, but I would love to get each item. We'll see what we can do.

mom's back
My mom is back from her visit to Colorado and Wyoming. It's nice to have her home. She came inside for just a bit after I picked her up for the airport (her car was parked here while she was away, and Barkley was here, too). While she was in the bathroom, Avery asked if she could share her Halloween candy with Nain. She gave Nain a Kit Kat (from her stash, not from the stuff we have left) and had a bag of Skittles for herself. It was so grown up the way she shared. Melted my (so non-sentimental) heart.

Recycling

Recycling

With the introduction of the new food scrap composting program in Portland, I've been reassessing what else can be recycled in our house. Granted, it is always far better to reduce consumption and reuse things. But recycling is better than not recycling, so there we go. 

This morning, I took in my plastic bags and film, as well as rigid plastics not recyclable in the curbside program. The recycling company reorganized and relabeled their bins making it more clear what is recyclable and what is not. Specifically, I've wondered what plastic bags are recyclable and which ones aren't.  After much online research, I've found that the best test is if you can stretch the bag (grocery bag, dry cleaning bag, bubble wrap), it's recyclable. An exception to this rule is that plastic packaging prepackaged food products (including frozen foods) cannot be recycled. This means chip bags and cereal bag liners which I'd been inappropriately lumping into this category. 

So then I tried to find another place that will take chip bags, cereal lines, etc. That seems to be a bust, so the best thing to do with those is to find another use for them before tossing them in the garbage. There are several sites with suggestions, but I know I won't use them for wax paper for food. I'm not a germaphobe by any stretch, but I like to know for sure that anything I'm setting food for consumption on is not contaminated.  The best I've come up with, in terms of what *I* will realistically reuse cereal bags for, is for crafting purposes. It can be used as a liner when you're doing some glueing and want to protect a table or whatever.  I'll give this a whirl, but if I find I just can't get a good system down for reuse, then I'll have to let the cereal bags hit the landfill.  Ironically, they're not even my cereal bags since I very rarely eat boxed cereal. They're from D's morning granola. And, just in case there are any readers who suggest we could make our own granola or buy bulk to avoid this problem, no we can't. D has exactly one brand of granola he likes; within that brand, he has exactly one flavor he likes. We have tried many, many other types and he never finishes a single one. I'm just happy he eats breakfast since he didn't do that before we met. 

I also feel more confident that the rigid plastics container takes all of the items I've been putting in it.  This is where we have a large volume that previously went to trash. Clam shell packaging, the plastic packaging on toys or batteries, lids from tubs or bottles, etc. 

We currently have the smallest garbage can that is provided by the program and we still aren't filling it full every other week.  I'm going to wait a few months to see if I can reduce our trash pickup to once per month. This would only save us $8.90 per month, but for me it's more about achieving once-a-month garbage pick up. 

Avery Updates

Avery is officially able to write her name now. She's been able to do A V E for several months, but now the R and the Y kicked in. 

Also recent is her heightened interest in doing crafty things. At school for the past week, she's been at the craft/writing station every time I've picked her up. Prior to this she's always been over on the rug playing with toys or listening to books. Her teacher also said she has almost predominately been into playing and moving around until recently when she is starting to show more interest in crafty things.  This week she's been making envelopes and invitations for her BD party (note: they look nothing like invitation or envelopes, but that's what she says she's doing). 

The reward/token board I made seems to be having a more definitive impact on her action.  The other charts certainly worked, but the idea that she'd not get a ticket/flower didn't seem to have much impact on her decision to do or not do something.  The newness of the token has an impact such that I can tell her if she continues asking questions after I've put her to bed, then she won't get a token the next morning. This results in her stopping her questions/talking and either go to sleep or entertain herself until she is ready to go to sleep. 

For the past several months, it has become uncommon for us to tell Avery it's time to go to bed. Typically about 7 pm or just before, she'll look at D and I and say, "I"m ready for nighttime now," then we head up to bed. That getting her to go to bed isn't a battle is something I'm eternally grateful for. She only goes to sleep shortly after 7 if she hasn't a nap that day. If she's had a nap, we typically read books, brush her teeth, and kiss her goodnight about 7:30 and she "reads" or plays quietly in her room for 30-45 minutes after that. 

Pink

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Fountain

For lunch today, Avery and I met up with Henry & Josie (and their respective mothers and siblings) at the fountain across from D's office building.  We picked up food from the nearby food carts, texted D to join us, then enjoyed the fountain.  It wasn't the best weather since it was a bit chilly, but that didn't deter Avery from running through the fountain with Henry and Josie.  It was an easy, fun park date.  I love Portland park fountains.  They're the perfect playdate location on sunny summer days. 

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Dentist

Following the fountain, Avery had a dentist appointment.  All went very well.  Avery's teeth look great and we're just supposed to keep doing what we're doing.  Avery was a bit apprehensive, but didn't take any coaxing from me to do as the dentist asked.  She relaxed a lot once they gave her a mirror to hold up so she could see what they were doing in her mouth.  

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Sleep

Avery's sleep routine has now changed.  Right after I posted that I was quite happy with Avery in coming into our bed at night, D said he does not sleep well at all when she's in the bed with us.  As a result, when we got back from Colorado, I took Avery to the hardware store where we picked out another night light.  We then hooked that nightlight up to a timer.  I told Avery that as long as the light is on, she has to stay in her bed or on her picnic blanket.  I just explained it once that night, fully expecting I'd have to remind her to go back to her room at some point in the night. To my delight, it worked perfectly and she stayed in her bed all night and slept until about 7:30.  Since then, she's only come into our bed once.

With this change, we also restarted the sleeping chart.  Avery earns a sticker flower as long as she stays in her room until the light turns off.  Last night she cried (for 30 seconds) for me to come into her room, so today I said that she also has to not wake me up to come into her room to earn future flowers.  We'll see how that works.

She's already redeemed two sleeping rewards.  She's been obsessed with going in this pink jewelry store we often pass on the way home. 

I said she could pick out two items from it as long as each was under $5.  She beelined it for the $20 tiaras.  At first I said she'd have to save up two more sleeping rewards to get it, then I realized they had smaller $10 ones.  So she has yet another tiara that she will never wear.  She loves tiaras, but finds them extremely uncomfortable to wear.  Who am I to judge?  I love crafting supplies, yet don't particularly like the resulting crafty items. 

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Awake

I'm still wide awake now due to a tactical error on my part.  When Avery and I got home from our day out, it was 3:30.  I was quite tired, so I gave Avery some milk and told her it was time for Quiet Time.  She headed upstairs and I laid down on the chair in the living room for what I thought would be a brief cat nap.  After all, how was I to know Avery would actually nap during QT?  I woke up at 6 PM when D called to tell me he was on his way home.  Then I woke Avery up.  It's amazing she went to sleep at 9:30 (ish) after 1.5 hours of playing nicely in her room.

Bucket

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Vegas trip bullets

• Vegas was great.  We didn't do much other than lounge, eat, sleep, and eat.  For the first time, we rented a poolside cabana.  That is on my "must do" list for Vegas from now on.  It made all the difference in my enjoyment of the pool.  Guaranteed shade - check. Misters - check. Personal cabana attendant - check. Plenty of room to leave my stuff laying around - check.  Since I don't actually ever go in the pool, lounging accommodations are key for me. 
• We didn't make reservations at any fancy places this time, but did eat at a nice tapas place, Julian Serrano, in Aria couple of times.  I'm not a huge fan of mushroom risotto normally, but I absolutely loved it there.  It was perfect.
• Vic was quite pregnant looking.  She's due on Labor Day.  She and Mike haven't gone all sappy with the pregnancy.  That's the hardest thing about friends having babies, imho - are they going to completely change and go all sappy?  So far, we're looking good. 
• Avery did great while we were gone.  She apparently said twice that she missed us: once the day we left, then once on Sunday.  When she said it on Sunday, RHG explained we'd be back the next day and this was an acceptable answer for her.  When we went to pick her up at school on Monday afternoon, she ran towards me fast and furious and looked like she was about to cry, but just ended up hugging me tightly and saying "mommy" over and over.  It was so wonderful to get back for that hug. 
• We didn't pack until the morning of our outbound 9:30 flight to Vegas.  In case you're wondering, that's not a good idea.  In case you're wondering, I'm sure I'll still do it the next time we have a 9:30 flight.  
• We hit In N Out twice.  Each time I ordered my burger protein style.  I am very pleased to report it really didn't diminish my enjoyment of the burger!  In N Out uses such high quality lettuce that it does substitute as a bun in function.  Ordering a Burgerville burger protein style (i.e. bunless and wrapped in lettuce) is less successful since they use a less rigid lettuce.  It makes it much harder to eat.
• I paid $8.65 for 1 liter of water in the hotel.  I'm still floored by that.  Still. 

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Patience Bucket & Eddie 2005

I've been thinking a lot about my feelings during this post-Eddie time.  I bawled like a baby during the actual euthanasia session, however, I haven't cried since then.  I haven't even felt much more than wistful. In fact, it feels like a gigantic weight has been lifted from my shoulders.  It feels like I have a spring in my step.  Like I'm not trudging through mud everyday.  While I was aware that Eddie and his deterioration were weighing on me, I didn't realize the extent to which it was affecting me. 

I think many years ago, the loss of a pet didn't elicit much empathy from others. It was more a shrug of the shoulders type thing from what I've read.  That is definitely not the case now.  In fact, the empathy was almost too much because I felt somewhat emotionally inadequate in that I dealt with his death so well.  Thinking about it, I believe it's because I grieved Eddie's death during the last years of his life, rather than after his death.  For the previous two years, I would occasionally start crying on a walk when I'd think about Eddie not being able to do the trail walk anymore.  Or I'd start crying when I thought about losing him.  Each time I cleaned up yet another pile of poop, I'd remind myself to be patient and kind to Eddie because there would soon be a time when he wasn't around.  This type of grieving took a toll on me.  I don't have an infinite patience bucket.  When my patience bucket is empty, I feel overwhelmed and irritable.  And much of my patience bucket was being used during the first morning accident with Eddie.  Trying to replenish the bucket throughout the day as more and more accidents were happening, and my 3yo was acting like a 3yo, just wasn't working.

At the time, I kept thinking, "It's just poop.  You clean it up and move on with you day.  Why am I finding this so difficult?"  The patience bucket concept hadn't entered my mind.  But it's really hard to run the day's race when you come out of the starting gate and trip into a pile of shit.

Eddie was a terrific dog.  I miss the Eddie of 2005.  I miss his spirit and his love.  I miss his happiness and enthusiasm for life.  I miss Eddie 2005. 

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Avery & Sleep

It's been a while since I've documented Avery's new nighttime habits.  I like to go back and see how we progressed or regressed, so here goes.  One recent change is nice and holding somewhat strong.  For the past couple of months, around 6:15 or 6:30, Avery will ask insist on going to bed.  Normally we start the bedtime routine around 7:30 and wrap up with it about 8:00 or 8:15.  On these nights when she insists on starting early, we wrap up about 7:00.  She does not usually go to sleep any earlier on these nights, but rather chooses to play in her room or on her picnic blanket (i.e. a blanket placed on the floor at the threshold of her door).  She plays dress up, makes patterns using her bibs, plays with cars, puts her babies to sleep, whatever.  Sometimes she does her best to get out of her room.  The only thing that releases her from her room is going potty, but she's trying a few other things.  For example, last night, first she said she needed her bibs that she'd left in the living room.  We granted permission because her bibs are always important to her (meaning, this isn't a made up thing that she really wants).  A while later she said she wanted to go potty.  That was obviously granted.  The next time she announced she needed to come downstairs because she wanted to show us the hole in her bib.  To that both D and I answered an emphatic, "No!" and Avery ceased her tricks to escape her room for the evening.

For the most part, we still take the approach that she chooses when to go to sleep once we leave her room, but she must be somewhat quiet and in her room once we leave.  For the most part, this results in an extra 30 minutes or so of quiet playing (sometimes more, usually less) before she finally decides to go to sleep.  It works for us too because it takes the power struggle out of bed time since she never actually protests starting the nighttime routine.  I'm consistently and eternally grateful* she doesn't protest at all when we announce it's time to go to bed.  We have all sorts of other battles during the day (combing her hair, brushing her teeth properly, getting dressed, etc), so a battle for bedtime when I'm most tired is not one that I want.

For the past, man, I don't know how long ... 6 months?  More? Less?  Anyway, for a long period of time now, she's been sleeping in our bed for anywhere from 1-6 hours in the early morning hours, depending upon her arrival time.  D has pondered whether we should do something about it, as have I.  I have landed in the camp of it doesn't bother me, she goes to sleep in her own bed/floor alone without a fuss, and I like having her sleep with us for a bit, so what's the harm?  I think I might have a different reaction if she wasn't able to fall asleep on her own, or insisted that she fall asleep in our bed, but I don't know.  All I know is that since it doesn't keep me awake like it did when she was a baby, I don't mind having her sleep with us.  I actually really like it most of the time.  The other night she wandered into our room on the early side of the night and D and I were still awake reading.  She opened the door and paused when she saw our lights on.  Her hair was all tousled, she was very sleepy looking and she was "sneaking" quietly into the room.  We said it was OK for her to come in, at which point she woke up completely and started jabbering away about coming into our room and how she just needed to bring in a bunch of bibs.  After fetching about 20 bibs and placing them in our bed, she climbed up and proceeded to fall asleep within a minute with D and I smiling at each other the whole time.  

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Offspring Goggles

Talking about the smile between D and I when Avery joins us in our room, or when she's just talking and talking and talking about something, reminds me of a post Heather did called Shared Sight.

I can't speak for all parents, but I know Todd and I see our children with biased eyes. When we spout the clichés about Eddie and Mari being the two most interesting, captivating children we've ever met, we actually mean it. We delight in learning more about therm. And I'm perfectly aware that others don't think they're as amazing as Todd and I do. Even their grandparents don't have quite the same fascination. It's a parent thing.

While Heather was addressing this shared sight in terms of open adoption, I see it similar to what I call Offspring Goggles - like beer goggles, only with children.  The goggles don't eliminate my ability to see Avery's misbehavior or offenses towards other children - as if she has any ;) - but they definitely enhance her infinitely in our eyes.  One of the greatest gifts of parenthood, to me, is the shared love D and I have for Avery.  No matter what, I can go on and on and on about how cute and how smart and how everything Avery is to D, and he always sees it the same way.  Because, damn it, we just adore that little girl so very much.  She's just perfect to us.  Even her imperfections are perfect to us.  We both know, as I think all parents do, that others don't see her the same way we do.  We know that what is adorable and amazing to us is usually just another skill most kids acquire at some point, yet we still get to experience this elation together.  And that we get to do that because we are still married and both still alive and still happy together is something for which I'm eternally grateful*. 

* Don't ask me to compare these two things for which I'm eternally grateful since I cannot think logically when sleep is involved. Also asterisked because I wanted to note that yes, I do know I used this sappy phrase twice in one post, but I meant it both times. 

Great

A2D3 (elimination diet attempt 2, day 3)

The day is off to a good start.  I'm still tired when I first wake up and am still in bed; however, the difference once I'm actually out of bed is dramatic.  I'm actually awake.  I had a lot of energy yesterday.  It only waned when Avery threw a fit when I wouldn't carry her from the car to the house.  Even then, energy rebounded once the situation was over. 

This is way different than last time.  Last time I didn't notice much of a difference at all.  This time, big difference.  I think it might have something to do with the sea vegetable (hijiki).  Andrea also has me eating a lot of different grains.  Quinoa was one she recommended in particular.  I like quinoa, but the batch I made this last time was bland.  I discovered that if I mix half (bland) quinoa and half brown rice, it's very tasty. 

I know I need to focus on eating more vegetables.  Fruit is taken care of, but I need more vegetables.  I really liked the hijiki salad, which had hijiki, leeks, and celery (plus a sauce).  I doubted I would like it since I don't typically like celery in things, but damn, I wish I had more!

The other difference from last time is that I honestly don't want any of the restricted foods.  I'm not sure why that would be so, but there you go.

Finally, another benefit of the diet thus far is that I'm way better at eating leftovers.  I guess because I have a limited number of things I can eat, so I have to eat them?  I'm not sure.  But it definitely feels good not to waste so much food. 

Go-to-sleep magic

Last night, Avery just wouldn't go to sleep.  Neither D nor I were in the mood to put up with it.  I decided drastic measures were needed.  I marched up there, sat down, and laid down the law: from now on, she has to earn her morning ½ hour TV show.  The way she earns it is by going to bed either in her room or on the floor in the hallway.  She must do so without a fuss.  She must do so without playing with toys and books.  I said this started as soon as I reached the bottom of the stairs.  Result: total and complete silence when I got to the bottom of the stairs; asleep within 5 minutes.  Who said TV is a bad thing? 

I've decided that I'm going to experiment with TV cards that Avery can earn by doing additional things around the house.  We have a bare minimum of things she's expected to do (tidy up her room when asked, be polite, do things she's capable of doing and doing them by herself, etc).

The battle of "You do it!"

Currently, Avery is going through what I hope is a very short lived phase of, "No, you do it!"  We ask her, "Avery, please get dressed."  She says, "No, I don't want to.  You do it!"  She's more than able to get dressed all by herself.  Very few items of clothing require help from us.  Yet, as I type this, she crying, "I don't want to do my t-shirt!"  She wants D to put it on for her. 

She has also implemented the approach of screaming for the other parent when in a battle with one of us.  Nice.

Fidget

Weird & Fidgety & Off

If I'm being honest with myself, I'm in a rather weird state right now.  Something is off.  I don't know what it is, but I feel like I'm trying to find my balance.  I'm not feeling down.  I'm not feeling overwhelmed.  I'm not feeling anxious, though my body is telling me otherwise (see next paragraph).  However, since Christmas ended, I've been not quite myself.  I'm not worried so much as I am confused.  I'm waiting to figure it out.  Because I've had points in the past where I've essentially crashed, I'm always kind of on the lookout for signs that I need to make an adjustment to avoid another crash: am I sleeping excessively? am I losing interest in things I normally love?  am I feeling the urge to hide from people?  am I moodier than usual? am I crying more?  is my energy non-existent? etc.

One clear sign that I must be feeling some sort of anxiety, even if I don't know why, is a huge increase in my urge to fidget.  I've always been prone to fidgeting.  But my urge to fidget goes down when I'm on the anti-depressants.  I hadn't put that piece of the puzzle together until recently.  As I type this, both my legs are bouncing up and down furiously.  I find myself bouncing my legs or shaking my foot.

I suppose I have a few other signs of things going somewhat awry: I haven't been blogging nearly as much.  The increase in things I'm getting stuck on (e.g. email organization).  But normally I see those things reflected in mood, as well.  I don't feel unhappy at all.  Quite the contrary.  I'm very happy with things at the moment.  I'm happy with one child (oh so very, very happy about that decision!), I'm happy with my choice to stay home with Avery, I'm happy I get so many breaks (deserved or undeserved) from being a SAHM, I'm generally happy and content.  So WTF is going on?!

I do plan to talk to my drug dealer PMHNP about it during our next appointment, but for now I just find it perplexing, if not life disrupting.  A thought did just occur to me, but it doesn't make logical sense: I haven't been to acupuncture since December 21st.  If one subscribes to the belief that acupuncture does indeed have the power to direct energy flow in the body, then maybe stopping it has resulted in pent up energy coming out through fidgeting and offness?  I don't know.  That sounds crazy.  I still have a hard time writing about this stuff because a big ol' portion of me feels like I am obviously making all this stuff up in my head and it's not real and I'm just a big baby.  OK, that statement almost made me cry, so maybe there's something there.  Especially since I hardly ever cry when I'm on anti-depressants (seriously, it takes A LOT to cry and even then it's like a 30 second moment and it passes; Megan off anti-depressants is often a weeping mess). 

Continuing Obsessions

When I realized I should send an email to coordinate details for our trip to The Mexico!, I knew I had to seize the opportunity to create a Google Site for the effort.  So I did.  It's way overkill.  It's so not necessary.  Yet I'm so happy I did it.  Except for the fact that I stayed up until 1 AM doing it and messed up my sleeping schedule for a 24 hour period.

FSA rules

I spent several hours today trying to sort out a few things for our FSA for 2010.  I hate the FSA.  It makes me mad that you lose the money and that you have to set it aside to start with.  It's just a stupid process.  But I digress.

Here is what I learned today: if you have an FSA account with a company, then you quit or get fired or lose your job somehow, you are entitled to claim the full amount you designated for your FSA regardless of how much you've actually contributed to the FSA.  Confused?  Let me explain further.  Let's say you quit your job at the beginning of January, therefore you've made one contribution (from January's paycheck) to your FSA account.  Let's also say you had elected, before quitting, to contribute $2000 to your FSA for that calendar year.  For the time that you're still covered under the insurance for that plan, you can claim the entire $2,000 (assuming you have legitimate medical expenses in that amount in January) despite the fact you've only contributed $83.  And this, people, is how I discovered that we really, really should have incurred a hell of a lot of medical expenses in January of 2010. 

Eddie The Pooper

Eddie's inability to control his poop has returned after a lovely month-long hiatus of accidents being somewhat under control.  I'm grateful for the hiatus. 

Sleeping Beauty

Avery has consistently slept in her bed (all night) for the past week.  She has earned her first $2 and says she wants to save it to buy a "tiara and a leotard and brown shoes and a yellow dress and red shoes."  She's going to be a bit surprised when she learns how much things cost.  I've explained she won't be able to buy all that with $2 and that she'll have to save up, to which she responds, "OK, Mom, I will save my money and then I will buy a tiara and then I will wear it."  I'm not convinced she gets it yet, but we'll see. 

Also very odd to me is that she wants another tiara.  She has several and she hardly ever wears any of them.  It's odd. 

Growth Spurt?  

Avery has been eating constantly for the past several days.  She ate an entire package of grapes in a day (among other things).  She'll eat a whole pint of blueberries and then ask for some bagel.  Either she's going through some sort of growth spurt or the milk-in-a-glass thing is a bigger difference than I thought it would be.

Her desire to drink a large amount of milk out of the glass (without a straw) is increasing.  At first, she'd drink it like I see most kids do it: a little bit at a time and sometimes even leaving milk left in the glass.  The past few days, I've seen her down the whole glass in maybe 5x the amount of time it would take her to do the same amount in a sippy cup.  Keep in mind that she can drain 8 oz out of a sippy cup in probably 2-3 minutes if she wants to.  I am hoping this desire to drink large amounts out of a glass doesn't put us back to where we were with the milk consumption.

Counting

Last night I was reading Ten Little Ladybugs to Avery.  She's been solidly able to count (1-1 counting) for months and months now.  Last night, with each page, she consistently was unable to remember the number before the last number she was counting.  For example, if we were on seven, she count the ladybugs: 1-2-3-4-5--7!  On six, she'd do: 1-2-3-4--6!  She always got the number right, but couldn't seem to come up with the second to last number.  Very weird indeed. 

Movie

D and I are seeing the Hood to Coast movie tonight at the Keller Auditorium.  I best be getting ready.

51

Movies & Books

The final count for 2010 is in: I saw 51 movies in the theater in 2010.  D didn't see quite so many because a few of those I saw with friends.  I do love me some movies!

I think I'll start keeping track of book stats the same way I do with movies, but I don't feel like setting that up just yet.  I already keep track of the books I read in GoodReads, which I'll continue, but I like to know percentages and numbers of things. 

I'm also going to start a movie tracker for Avery.  So far, she's really enjoyed movies in the theater (not exactly surprising), so that will undoubtedly continue to be a family activity. 

Avery's Sleeping

As if by some sort of divine miracle, Avery is now regularly sleeping in her bed all the way through the night.  Not only that, but she's also going to sleep at a more reasonable time with less prodding from us.  We're not in a land of perfection, or anything close to it, but I'll take it. 

In terms of going to sleep, we allow her to sleep on the floor at the top of the stairs if she so chooses.  We also only chide her to go to sleep a minimal number of times, so what time she actually goes to sleep is really more of her choice.  Typically, she sits up there and reads a few books to her babies, changes her jammies 2 or 3 times, etc.  Eventually, she decides to go to sleep.  The time she falls asleep, though, has shifted into what I deem an acceptable range versus some of the ridiculous times that were happening a month or two ago (8-8:30). 

She's also resumed her napping, though we refer to that time as Quiet Time.   It's her choice if she wants to nap, but 9 times out of 10, she decides to nap.  Since she so loves jammies, she almost always chooses to change into jammies for nap time.  Since I so love to nap, often we'll nap together in my bed.  It's a nice routine.

Thankfully, she can still skip naps if our schedule requires it. The cranky amps up a bit, but it's fairly minimal at this point, so it's not much of an issue.

Her sleeping prize is now received after seven nights where she sleeps in her own bed/floor for the entire night.   At seven, she gets $2.  We've explained that she can spend it right away on anything she wants, or she can save it to buy a bigger toy or something.  Right now, she's saying she wants to save it to buy a toy.  She doesn't know what toy, but the word "bigger" caught her fancy.  We'll see what she actually decides to do when she gets the $2.  I have no idea if others will consider $2 to be way too much for such a reward, but it feels about right to me, so we're going with it. 

Why seven you ask?  Because that's how many columns fit across the chart we made.  It is a random determination, but now that I think about it, it's also one week.  So $2 per week does not seem an insane amount of money for a sleeping reward/prize.  Or does it?  We're not changing it since we've already told her it's $2, but feel free to comment if you think it's too much so I can ponder other points of view for monetary rewards in the future. 

Whining

Avery's whining is out of control.  The problem isn't so much that she whines to get what she wants, but rather that she gets into a mood where everything she says comes out in a whiny voice.  I asked Christie and Amber (jokingly) if it would be wrong to flick her every time she whines.  The joke did, however, get me thinking that I needed to do something about this.  Plus, Amber said she knows a girl who had a normal speaking voice in preschool, but somewhere along the line, her normal voice was replaced with a constant whiny voice no matter what she is talking about.  That scared the crapola out of me.

So, yesterday I implemented a new rule: every time she asks or says something in a whiny voice, she's losing a toy for a period of time (not sure how much time yet).  I was rather pleased to see an immediate effort on her part to limit her use of the whiny voice.

To further emphasize the point, I told her a story of a girl named Avery.  In the story, Avery loses her Rapunzel dress due to excessive whining.  She has to earn that dress back by not whining for an entire day.  This morning, Avery recounted it to me and didn't whine once this morning.  Here's to this method continuing to work.

Published

My friend from HS recently had her first novel published!  I find it very cool to think that I am friends (albeit friends that correspond with each other much) with a published author.  I dutifully purchased a copy of the book.  As someone who reads almost all non-fiction, I don't think it's my cup of tea in terms of content, but I'll read it nonetheless.

Embossing

Awake

I woke up from Turtle shaking her head* at 3:30 and couldn't get back to sleep.  Since I was also so very hungry, I decided to just get up.  And that is why I'm blogging at 4:32 in the A M.

*Turtle get yeast infections in her ear.  When it flares up, the shakes her head from side to side, presumably in an attempt to make the itch go away.  I cleaned her ear thoroughly.  I also cleaned a poop present Eddie left for us.

Crafting

I don't know what has come over me, but I seem to have this intense urge to create something.  I don't know what it is I want to create, nor do I recall having any such urges at any other time in my life.  I want to sew, I want to emboss, I want to make things.  It's the weirdest thing.

As such, I made all the thank you notes I sent this year. Embarrassingly, I don't think I even sent thank you notes in the past few years.  This year, I sent so many, that I started to lose track of what notes I'd already sent.  Suffices to say, if you happen to be one whom I should have thanked and I didn't, sorry.  If you happen to be one whom I over thanked ... sorry?  I don't know the protocol.

I took pictures of some of the thank you notes to show y'all the embossing that I'm so gaga over.  Some of them are not the most attractive things, but I didn't let that stop me from sending them!

This was my favorite.  That right there is an embossed ladybug.  Oh yeah.

This was to showcase Avery's art work. 

Doing the border was surprisingly difficult. The flowers are there because the corners were not well planned.

Another embossed ladybug

Embossing up close.

There were several other variations, but I didn't take pictures of all of them. The general theme is that I did most as a narrow, single piece of card stock, like the top one. Anyone who remembers our wedding invitations will know that I'm drawn to this layout. Our invitations were really, really simple.

Sewing

Christie and Henry came for a play date on Monday.  It was after Avery's first real swimming lesson (sans parent-in-the-pool).  I chose this time to try out my fancy new sewing machine with a fancy stitch.  Yeah, that didn't go so well.  I'm not sure what I did wrong, but I had to unclog the thread from the machine.  Christie ended up having to play with Avery and Henry while I sat there trying to figure out how to fix things.

Swimming

Avery's swimming lessons - the two she's had so far - have gone great.  She is one of four girls and one boy (that boy being Henry) in the class.  I'm not sure what I expected, but I know I left the first class very happy with the instructor and very happy with the pace of the class.  Avery had a great time.  Not shockingly, she needed no coaxing to participate in class.  Maybe next time I'll take my flip and get some video.

Helping

Avery has been helping me to cook dinner at night.  She does really well at following directions and not spilling things.  However, what she really loves is to wash dishes.  Yep, you heard me.  The only snag is that she likes to wash even the clean dishes.  She'll stand there washing dishes for a solid 15 - 30 minutes (which for Avery is a long time to do any one, independent activity).  She always ends up without clothes since she doesn't like when her sleeves get wet, even if it's just a drop of water.  Then she wants to put her apron back on, which results in the scene below.

This reminds me of that scene from Uncle Buck where Macaulay Culkin is washing the dishes.

Maturity

D has observed that Avery seems to have had a leap in maturity over the past week or two.  I have to say I agree.  For example, I decided we needed to do something about her excessive milk consumption.  I've tried many things before, and have ultimately failed because I find it very hard to say no when she's asking for something relatively healthy.  Also, it's just not a battle I was willing to fight.  What has ended up working wonderfully, and cut back drastically on milk consumption, is telling her she can have as much milk as she wants, but unless it Quiet Time Milk or Night Time Milk, it will be served in a glass rather than a sippy cup.  I expected some sort of backlash to this new rule, but she found it sufficient that she's still allowed sippy cup for QT and NT.  The other times, she'll say, "Please can I have milk please ... in a glass!" Yes, she says please at the beginning and the end of requests when she's concentrating on getting a "yes" from us.  I believe this is because I tried to get her to say, "May I have some milk, please?" and she wasn't used to saying "may" and it ended up replaced with "please."  I am not going to nitpick that point for sure!

Another area of progress is bed time.  She's more willing to go back to bed/floor (she falls asleep on the floor at the top of the stairs about 75% of the time) when we ask her to.  She is also sporadically sleeping the whole night in just her bed.  The other day, I woke up to find Eddie in the bedroom.  I figured D let Eddie in; D thought I let Eddie in.  Turns out that Avery was awake and playing with her toys outside of our closed door, but when Eddie asked to go in, opened it to let him in, then closed it again to continue playing.  She also asked to make another sleeping chart.  We lapsed on that method a while ago - even though it was fairly successful.   This time, I didn't even say what the prize would be.  It seems earning the star is motivation enough.

Another area where her willingness to cooperate has me thrilled: shampooing and conditioning of her hair.  Despite her love of water in the pool, laying down in a tub or getting water dumped over her head resulted in so.much.drama.  Over the last month, though, she's been willing to lay down in the tub and swish her hair around to get her hair washed.  The other night, I put the shampoo on her head and asked her to rub it in.  She did and then rinsed it on her own.  Same thing with the conditioner.  Before that, while she had the motor skills to shampoo/rinse, the desire to do so was simply not there.

Paint

Nook update

I painted the nook this afternoon.  Unfortunately, when I bought the paint, I thought I had all needed supplies at home.  I had everything but the pad to go on the roller.  As a result, I painted the whole nook using just a paintbrush.  If I hadn't done that, I think I would have run out of paint, so it worked out all right in the end.  It took me about two hours, which was a bit uncomfortable given the small, awkward-shaped space. 

In a bit I'll take the carpet upstairs to see how it fits.  I'm hoping it's a good snug fit, but I think it's going to be an inch or two too long on either side.  Hard to know because the measurements on the rug I bought were not specific. 

Christmas ... excited?!  WTF?

I'm actually excited for Christmas this year.  I know, I can't believe it either.  Most of it is a result of Avery's sheer enthusiasm.  Some of it is because I feel like I have things a bit more under control this year: I started planning Avery's BD party very early, I have been doing my shopping way earlier than usual, and I'm not putting unrealistic expectations on things. 

The excitement has only increased since our friends Vic & Mike are going to join us for the holidays!  Barring any illness, they're going to drive up from Colorado so they can bring their dog ... who gets carsick.  Yeah, doesn't sound like a fun drive to me, either, but I don't care because I'm just happy they're coming! Woohoo!

Avery and school

For a month or two, Avery went through a phase where she'd cry when I dropped her off at school.  Teacher Carlya said she always stopped about 30 seconds after I left, so I wasn't overly troubled by it.  Nonetheless, it's nice that she seems to be through that phase for the moment.  She happily runs into school - which she did even when she would cling to me when I left - and then yells, "Bye, Mom!" when I leave.  

Avery and sleep

The sleep chart worked quite well, but I fell off the charting wagon when we left for Mexico and haven't got back on it.  She managed to stay in her bed all night on Saturday night, so before bed last night, I got out a star sticker and said she could earn another one if she stayed in bed all night again. She didn't.  Then she asked me for a star this morning and I said no and explained why.  To which she answered, "OK, Mom.  I will try again tonight." 

Birthfamily visit

Avery's aunt (her birthfather's sister) and her grandmother (her birthfather's mom) are coming for a visit - their first time meeting Avery and D and me - on Saturday.  Aly friended me on FB and that got us communicating.  I'm excited to meet both of them.  I'm not nervous yet, but I know I'll be anxious before they get here.  I am so thankful that this visit was set up via FB and email.  So much easier to set things up that way - at least for me.

Azithromycin

Doctor Update

The doctor did a chest x-ray and said all seems OK, but that she suspects it's a lingering case of bronchitis.  She prescribed another course of antibiotics, this time a type that is better with dealing with infections in the lungs.  The antibiotic the doctor a couple of weeks ago prescribed is better at treating sinus infections. 

Sounding Letters

I keep forgetting to record this in the blog for time line purposes.  For the past couple of months, Avery has been saying, "G starts with glass!" or, "C starts with cough and (kitty) cat!"  Clearly, she has the sentence structure reversed, but it's pretty darn cool that she is starting to know what the first letters of various words are based on the sounds.  She's particularly good with words that start with A, B, C, D, G, and P.  For the record, I've corrected her and said that "kitty" starts with K, but "cat" starts with C.  I think it's more a problem that she refers to all cats as "kitty cats," but probably also that kitty and cat make the same sound, so why wouldn't they both start with C? 

Quiet Evening

Before I left Avery in her room, I tidied up the whole room and made sure that two night lights were on.  I then explained that her sleeping at the top of the stairs isn't working anymore and that she'd need to stay in her bed when I left the room.  I also said we're not going to leave the lights on in the hall anymore since her night lights provide plenty of light.  For whatever reason, my laying down of the law took tonight and I haven't heard a peep out of her.  Awesome.  Not to worry, though, I'm not fool enough to think that this is the start of a trend.  I am, however, thankful it happened tonight. 

D is at the Trailblazers game with a client tonight.  I am going to resume reading my book, I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced.  I'm not overly taken with the book, but it's good enough to finish. 

Cat

Letters and Words

Avery is starting to develop more of an interest in the spelling of words.  She knows her letters very well and mixes up only a few (e.g. B and D, especially the lower case ones).  Today we were in the Apple store because I needed to get a new phone (free for me because the battery in mine wouldn't hold the charge and I am within the warranty period).  As we were waiting for our appointment, Avery and I played with one of the iPads.  We played a spelling game in which the narrator would say the word to spell, then make the sound of the first letter in the word, then give the user a choice between four letters.  I was not overly surprised that Avery knew the first letter of the word "cat" is C.  She picked that one almost immediately after the narrator made the sound for C.  Then the narrator made the sound for A.  Avery hesitated a little, but still picked the correct letter.  She did the same for the last letter.

Also impressive to me is that when she was playing a game on one of the computers in the store, it said to spell her name.  She was able to find each letter on the keyboard to spell Avery.  I was feeding her the letters because she's not quite ready to process both spelling her name and finding the letter on the keyboard.  It was still cool to see her type her name, though.   She can spell her name correctly about 75% of the time.  The other 25% she leaves out the 'e.'

Necklace

As we were walking through the mall, Avery spied Claire's.  I have not been a Claire's since middle school.  Clearly, as a person who wears only two pieces of jewelry (engagement ring & wedding ring), I have no need for such a store.  Avery was so into that store.  It is, of course, junk central.  She walked through fingering each item and noting how pretty it was.  It was like she was savoring the moment versus giddy about seeing cool stuff.  Originally, I said we weren't going to buy anything if we went in.  Avery didn't ask for anything, but I realized this was an opportunity to have her pick out her next sleeping reward and it would be relatively cheap.  She picked out the weirdest necklace ever.  I never would have thought she'd pick that.  I thought she'd go for girly, shiny, and colorful.  It has a dark colored chain and a heart pendant and some other objects. 

I admit I have trouble stepping away and letting Avery make her own decisions about these sorts of things.  I know I need to let her because these are things that don't matter and it gives a sense of control and independence.  However, it's so against my nature to let her pick out jewelry, and crappy jewelry at that.  I just have to remember she will have different tastes to mine and that is fine.  I've even started to like some of her girly outfits since she looks so darn cute in them. 

Sick Husband

Poor D is now sick with what I've had.  He hasn't gotten laryngitis, but I think I only got it because I happened to be talking a lot during the early stages of the virus.  In any case, he's napping now.  I'm hoping he'll feel well enough for date night.  I need to go out.  We didn't have a date night last week and I feel like it's been forever.  I need our date nights.  It doesn't help that D has been working and out often recently, so between my sickness and his schedule, we haven't seen much of each other.

Buttermilk

Gym, fountain, and pie - does it get any better?

This morning, after Little Gym, Avery and I headed down to the Pearl District for some pie.  We met Amber & Josie and Christie & Henry (who were also at Little Gym with us) at Jameson Park for a bit of fountain running since the pie cart hadn't opened yet.  Avery stripped to her underwear and had a great time chasing Henry and Josie through the fountain.  I watched from the side wrapped up in my coat, but none of the kids were bothered that it was a bit chilly.

When pie time rolled around, we walked a few blocks to Pie Lab. Pie Lab is a new food cart, open only for a few hours on Friday afternoon.  The owner/server/baker conducts various, optional, social experiments on customers.  For example, one week she asked people if they were willing to allow the person in front of them (or maybe behind them) to order for him/her.  Another week, people got to spin a wheel to see what type of pie they'd get.  Today was, "Pay what you think," which is brilliant because she made way more off us than she would have with set prices.  I had a slice of buttermilk pie and a piece of peach cobbler.  The buttermilk pie was delicious.  The peach cobbler wasn't quite as good, but still very good.  I'll definitely be back.  It was fun and delicious and very cool.

Following Pie Lab, the kids played together for another 45 minutes or so, then we headed our separate ways.  I'd forgotten my phone that morning (no access to email! eek!), so I couldn't use TV to keep Avery awake in her car seat.  Keeping Avery awake in the car seat is now a must.  I let her fall asleep yesterday, then let her continue to sleep when we got home for a total of 1.5 hours napping.  She didn't go to sleep until 11 pm last night!  No way, Jose.  So, no more naps on days she's not in school.  Fortunately, she stayed awake, though it took a few "don't fall asleep" comments from me to make that happen. 

Date nights

Elise and Nolan are over tonight for the Gs weekly date night.  It was a piece of cake.  The children played very well together, ate quite well, then went to sleep almost immediately. 

Tomorrow, D and I will go see The Social Network on our date night.  Christie? Stacey?  If either of you - or anyone else for that matter - wants to join us, just let me know! 

iPhone 

My iPhone's battery is running down really fast.  I'll charge it completely and it'll be at 40% within an hour or two.  I took it into the Apple store the other day.  The guy did a reset and said if they didn't work, they'd have to replace the phone (or maybe he meant the battery, though I don't think you can remove it, but maybe they can do it).  Fortunately, I'm still covered under warranty so it shouldn't cost me anything.

Pink

Pink Eye

I woke up with pink eye in my right eye this morning.  It's oozing and gooey and gross.  It's not actually all that pink anymore, but it's gunky.  I have a doctor's appointment scheduled for tomorrow anyway, so I will see if I need eye drops then. 

I find it odd that I've never had laryngitis or pink eye, yet I've gotten both within the last month.  I also find it odd, though predictable, that it's my right eye.  It seems like everything that goes wrong with me is on the right side of my body.  I swear, it's like my left is perfect and my right is pathetic - just like politics!  Ha! (Note: I don't actually think the left is anywhere near perfect, but I do think the right is pathetic).  

Brick & landscaping

There's a guy putting the brick facing on our front pillars as I type this.  It's so hot out today.  I feel terrible that he's out there sweating away in this heat doing that type of work.  The other bad part is that the porch railing is so damn close to the pillars, which is not ideal from either a functional or aesthetic perspective. 

The landscaping is closer to being complete.  It still needs some plants to line one side of the sidewalk, but the nursery doesn't get them in until Wednesday.  There are also some large rocks due to be installed.  The mulch is in and looks nice.  I'll update with some pictures tomorrow.  It's too hot to take them now.

We met with the designer to pay much of the remaining balance of the work.  He came in under budget on most items, but, of course, charged us for the lighting.  I'm a little annoyed by that because I sent a two sentence email asking him how difficult it would be and how much it would cost to put in lighting.  He responded with something like, "Sounds great! I'll make it happen!" and then proceeded to install tons of lights.  The reason I'm only slightly annoyed is that I am actually very happy we have the lights.  They haven't been turned on yet, but I know I'm going to love them because I always love outdoor lighting.  We definitely would not have done it had we known the cost ahead of time, but since that ship has sailed, there you go. 

Acupuncture & NP

I am convinced the acupuncture is working wonders on my energy and sleepiness.  Even without dietary changes, I am hardly napping at all.  Even with being sick and the family drama, I haven't been napping. It's amazing how much you can get accomplished when you're awake! 

I think I am going to chat with the NP next time I see him and just see if I can settle into an acupuncture routine versus taking any dietary steps.  I can't see going through the elimination diet successfully without having someone cook every meal for me.  I realized another factor in my failure at sticking to it was boredom.  Not even boredom with foods, but I would have had to cook every meal at home.  We typically eat out 2-4 times per week.  I need that just to get out of the house and do things.  That is an ingrained part of our lifestyle. 

I did ask about eliminating one category at a time, but that is less effective because people often have two categories they react to, so you may eliminate one, but still feel poorly because you're still eating the other. 

Avery's Sleeping Rewards

Avery finally earned her pink dress for the latest sleeping reward.  It took twice as long as it took to get either of the previous two dresses.  I think that was because I didn't have the actual dress hanging up for her to see since it hadn't arrived yet. 

For her next reward, we're going to bump up the number of nights from four to six or eight.  I also bought her a set of toy kitchen utensils from IKEA rather than a dress.  We'll see how well a toy motivates her.  

Parking Space

One of my favorite Avery quirks is how she refers to a spot to sit as a parking space.  For example, the other day she asked me to sit in a particular spot on the floor. I wanted to stay on the couch, so I suggested she come sit by me.  She said no and explained that, "there's no parking space for me." 

Just the two of us

It's a good thing I have all that acupuncture energy because D has social or work engagements every night this week.  That means I'm on for bedtime routine duty every night this week.

Scootering

I saw this on Free Range Kids: scootering is replacing cars for getting kids to and from school in England.

It makes me think D and I should get scooters for down in Mexico.  The pavement is a little bumpy, but I think once Avery is a year or two older, they'll be good for getting to and from the pool and beach. 

Full day

It was actually a fairly full day for me today.  After dropping Avery off at school - in her new pink dress which is waaaaaay too big for her and makes her look like she's in Little House on the Prairie - I headed to acupuncture, then to do some volunteer pinch-hitting on the database I created for them back in the day, then hooked up with D and some of his coworkers for lunch, then hit IKEA.  I spent a good hour and a half at IKEA.  I have never spent that much time there since I usually rush in and out because I can't handle the people.  It was fairly empty, I had no little person in tow, I had no husband who is just Ready To Leave.  So I shopped. I went for paper organization boxes.  I left with considerably more.

I'm excited because I bought a large bookcase cube unit (25 cubes) that I'm going to have the handyman install and affix to the wall in the garage.  For most people, IKEA would be a bad place to purchase garage organization since it typically doesn't hold up to wear and tear very well.  However, I realized for us, it's perfect!  We go out and get one screwdriver.  There's no heavy use of tools or garage-stored items, so I just need a place to get things out of the way and organized so I can find the screwdriver when we need it (you know, to hand to the handyman).  Anyway, what I bought was way cheaper than buying shelving units from Home Depot and should give me plenty of room for storage.

And now it's 5 pm, so I shall leave to get Avery soon.

Doozy

Friday was a doozy

A long, exhausting day.  We started off the day by heading to Little Gym.  Avery was just not herself at all.  She was for a bit, but then she started to cry whenever any kid bumped her, didn't want to participate in the activities and was just generally very un-Avery-like.  Henry was a bit out of sorts, too, so Christie and decided we couldn't very well go home and deal with the situations solo.  Solution: food carts and the park.

We hit BBQ Fusion (excellent!) and then went to the park blocks to eat and play.  Following that, we decided to head to CdT (that would be here) to continue our playdate.

Avery immediately wanted to put on princess dresses and Henry obliged.  I don't care what you say, even with hair most girls would kill for and no issue wearing princess garb, that boy is all boy.  It's fascinating to watch them play.  Avery is all about the performing and the twirling and getting the attention of adults; Henry is all about running, noise making, running, playing with cars, running, playing with balls, running, and running.

We played outside with the tube and cars and blocks; we did crafts at the kitchen table when it started to rain; and finally, I yelled uncle and put on Monsters Inc for the kids while Christie ran to the local diner to get us (mostly me) milkshakes.

Immediately following Henry's departure, Elise arrived for the Gs date night (Nolan stayed home with Jay because their date night was unusual in that it wasn't really a date night).  I made Elise and Avery a tent in Avery's room.  They spent much of the time before dinner in there.  Right before dinner, Avery had a complete meltdown.  Elise saw the opportunity to be a golden child and turned on the charm while Avery was kicking and screaming on the floor.  Elise: "This is delicious!" as she downs the dinner.   So cute.

It was clear Avery's tantrum was a meltdown and (in my opinion) beyond her control.  She was so tired and I think feeling a bit under the weather.  D and I divided and conquered.  He took Elise upstairs to play; I waited out Avery's meltdown until the blessed words came: "I want some milk!"  That is now the signal that she's capable of calming down.  I was able to pick her up and she proceeded to eat her dinner and drink milk and return to my lovable Avery.

We read a book (I couldn't handle more than one I was so tired), then both girls were asleep by 7:30 with no issues at all.  That means Avery earned her second sleeping reward: a pretty purple dress.

House Progress

The arbor and most corbels are up on the house. The remaining corbel goes in the eave that they'll need a 40' ladder to reach, so it'll have to wait until Monday to go up. I'm hoping the garage doors go up next week.  I think those and staining the deck darker will make a huge difference.  The deck will be stained the same color as the corbels.

The corbels are the items in the eaves. I don't know why you can't click on the picture to embiggen, but they're there.

There will be lights at each spot with the wires.  The two trees (one on each side of the new sidewalk) will have two spotlights on them each. Not shown: we also have lights lining the other side of our driveway.

We have two large holes dug in the front for the trees; the lights are ready to be wired.  I think a lot of the landscaping work should start next week.

Voice

My voice is still hoarse, but it's getting better.  I can at least talk, though I'm trying to limit myself until it's fully better.  I find myself marveling at the loudness and clarity of the teachers' voices in the various classes Avery is taking right now.  I've never before marveled at such a thing.  It's a good reminder not to take things for granted.  

Silly Me

When Avery and I were at Little Gym on Friday, I realized that I follow the teacher's instructions with such vigor it's as if I'm waiting for praise, too: "You know where your feet are Megan!  Very good!"

Obsessive

Inconsistencies

I put in a new widget for recent comments when I switched the layout of my blog.  I got tired of the other widget not properly handing apostrophes and other punctuation.  So you can extrapolate from that statement that the random italicizing of comments is really bugging me.  Seriously, it's enough to make me learn how to code my own javascript to handle the comments. Damn it!

Nap Drop

While Avery dropping her nap is at a bad time considering my voice issues, I'm actually happily surprised at how well we're both handling it.  We do have Miss Cranky Pants in the house from about 4 pm on, but overall, it's going quite well.  Avery was asleep by 7:10 last night and slept through until 7 AM this morning.  She does come into our room at some point during the night, but it doesn't wake me so I don't care about that. 

I'm also very happy to report that the sleeping rewards are working fairly well.  It's not a 100% thing, but it's certainly way better than it was.  I have mixed feelings about rewarding her for something she should do on her own.  However, I have decided to look at it like potty training.  We rewarded a pee or poo with an M&M for a couple of weeks to reinforce the wonderfulness that is going on the potty, then dropped it and she didn't notice.  I'm not sure that the sleeping rewards will disappear as quickly or without notice, but I'm hoping for the best.  Also, it's nice that she is motivated by clothing since those are things she needs anyway.  Which is not to say that I wouldn't use toys if that worked.  I would totally do that.  I'm just happy, from a financial perspective, that clothing is working at the moment.  Ah, the phrase "at the moment" - a staple in any wise parent's vocabulary. 

Manual

Dinner at the condo

Sunday evening, we went over to the condo to have dinner.  It was delicious to say the least.  And Christie and Darren are quite the hosts.  We had a great time, as did Avery, though she was a little drama queen.  I think all the tears and screaming came from her.  She's all up for rough housing with Henry, does well for a while, then decides to scream.  We also observed her several times telling Henry that, "We have to share!" which when you watch what happened next clearly means to Avery she gets the toy.  Her stellar behavior in public doesn't extend to places which she's very familiar with.  Bummer.  

Skirt

The skirt is almost Avery's.  I can feel it.  She just has to make it through the night without throwing a fit.  Within the rules, she's allowed to come into our room as long as we don't have to get up and do anything to make it happen.  This is what usually happens.  We often don't even wake up when she comes into our bed, then wake up and there she is.  Fine by me.  As long as it doesn't disrupt my sleep, do what you like, my dear.  However, last night, she decided to request milk and a bib and then kicked her feet and demanded things.  I eventually got her calmed down without much effort on my part, but that blew her chance of getting her skirt today.  I'm crossing my fingers she gets it tomorrow.  I want her to have the pay off to the good sleep-routine behavior to reinforce how nice it is to follow sleep-routine rules. 

Front Yard

The removed all the grass from our front yard, as well as some dead bushes.  Then they dug trenches for the electrical wiring to go in.  After that I think the landscaping will start.  I also think the corbels for the eaves of the house, as well as the arbor above the garage, are scheduled to go up this week.  We settled on a darker stain for the front deck, but I'm not sure when that will happen.  Garage doors should be in this week or next.  I'm anxious for this all to be finished.

D still doesn't like the color of the house at all; I like it in some lights. 

Dogs

Conan heads home tomorrow.  Thank goodness. He's driving both D and me crazy this time. The worst is when I take him for a walk.  He's a skittish dog in general, so when he gets spooked, which is all.the.time, he does this crazy thing when he backs up at full speed.  Twice he has backed up very hard directly into my knee.  Grrrrr. 

Eddie is doing OK.  We woke up to poop this morning because it was too hot to have him sleep in the garage last night.  It's so not a good way to wake up in the morning.  It just gets the day off to such a bad start. 

Turtle's perfect.  My perfect dog.  Except for the shedding.  

Pathway

I did some manual labor! On Sunday, I headed to Home Depot and bought some paving stones.  Then I proceeded to dig out an area behind the gate that leads into our backyard and installed a little walkway to keep it clean.  The is in preparation for buying bark dust for the entire run since the dogs seem to prefer to poop on bark dust - and it looks nicer.  Anyway, I failed to buy sand to go with the paving stones, so I'll do that at some point this week, then remove the stones and redo it.  The hard part is done, so it shouldn't be too bad.  Considering it has cost me only $26 so far, I'm happy enough. 

Voice

My voice is somewhat back, but I talked so much yesterday that it's very raspy today.  Avery's in school tomorrow, so I hope to remain silent for the most part tomorrow.  I hope never to experience laryngitis again.

Cave

Elimination Diet - Day Four

Um, I just caved.  Not so much due to craving, but just sheer exhaustion.  I couldn't think of what to eat and couldn't just eat almonds for lunch, so I had half a bagel and half glass of Diet Coke.  Interestingly, I don't want to have anymore of either.  I'm now wondering if this means I should abandon the diet all together, or if I should persevere.

In theory, I should start tomorrow as day one because the idea is to clear out the body of all the potential allergens (gluten, corn, dairy, etc).  However, if I'm being honest with myself (and while I have a lot of downfalls, I'm typically pretty honest with myself), I'm not seeing how I can make it 21 days on such a restricted diet.  I'm actually very surprised at how easy (relatively speaking) resisting the foods is for me.  The hardest part was the cheesecake, but once that was gone, it's been easy.  I have no issue declining cheese or any other dairy.  I don't even have that much trouble with the sugar all things considered.  In fact, I have two fruit by the foot (the organic kind) in the drawer in the kitchen.  I haven't been at all tempted.  What I really struggle with is the lack of ease in eating such a strict diet.  I like things to be easy.  This is not easy.

I don't know.  I thought about just not blogging about my failure.  And about not saying anything to anyone.  Who would know?  But that's not my style apparently.

The other part that has me struggling is that I've been exhausted the past few days.  I slept all morning yesterday, and that was after a full 8-10 hours of sleep the night before (I was in bed 10 hours, but between wake-ups, etc, it was probably closer to 8).  Prior to starting the diet, I had been improving in the last month. I think I'd napped maybe a couple of days in a month versus whenever I could.  That's a big difference.  So maybe whatever he's doing with the acupuncture is helping.  I don't know.

Laryngitis

I said whispered to my mom on the phone the other day that I couldn't remember the last time I lost my voice.  Then I realized that I've never lost my voice like this.  It's completely gone. I have an appointment with the doctor this afternoon.  I don't think there's much that can be done other than resting my voice and drinking liquids, but I'm no doctor, so we'll give this a whirl.

Little Gym

Christie and I signed Henry and Avery up for the fall session at Little Gym.  Today was their first class.  Avery had a wonderful time.  No one can ever accuse Avery of lacking enthusiasm.  With each new activity, she jumped up and down and clapped her hands.  Parachute!  Bubbles!  Hanging by her hands!  Rolling down a ramp! Jumping off a block! Running!

It's an expensive activity - way more than I think it should be - but it's worth it to see how much Avery loves it.  When we had to give our names to the group, I couldn't talk, so I had Avery say her name then pointed to myself.  She then told the group my name is "Megan!"

Never ending house crap

I had two contractors come in to do bids on restoring D's office.  One of them came in with a price of $3500, the other with a price of $1400.  Both are rated A+ on BBB.  I got an equal gut feel in terms of my comfort level with each during his visit. We have decided to go with, shocker, the lower estimate contractor.  I am anxious to get that all done, but I'm sure it's going to be at least another month before it's back to normal.

The furnace/AC situation: it's not leaking, but the carpet is still a bit damp. The head of the shop came in to take a look on Tuesday.  He said it was that the coil on the AC froze and then thawed.  When he showed me the size of the coil, I then understood how it could result in that much water.  We'll have to have the AC looked at before we use it again, but that's it.  It probably happened because of lack of air flow in the furnace.  Either a dirty filter (though our filter didn't look that dirty according to him) or lack of air flow for another unknown reason.  Anyway, I'm supposed to keep the filter very clean.  I just set up a text message to be delivered once a month to remind me.

Avery sleep chart

Night two was a failure.  A massive failure.  I have not lost all faith yet.  She takes naps at school.  I've noticed when she naps during the day, she goes to sleep very late.  If she doesn't nap, then she goes to sleep at a reasonable time.  I am taking this as a sign that she's very close to be ready to drop her naps. Sigh.

Colorblind

Elimination Diet - Day Two

Day two was brutal.  I came this close to just chucking it and eating the damn cheesecake.  I made it through.  Now I just have to make it through today.  One day at a time. 

Interestingly, I'm not having any trouble with no Diet Coke.  No problems with no dairy.  Very little problems with no wheat.  I think the biggest one is really sugar.  More so, it's just being able to eat whatever without thinking about it. 

Last night's dinner was trout and curried* sweet potatoes.  This morning's breakfast was brown rice, smoked salmon, and curried sweet potatoes.

*Technically, curry powder should be off the list because it has red pepper in it.  However, I'm pretty darn confident that nightshades aren't my problem and it is a minimal amount anyway, so I just said screw it. I'm crazy like that.

Colorblind

When Avery was younger, D was convinced she was colorblind.  I said no, most kids don't learn their colors until around 2yo, so that she didn't know her colors at 18 months was nothing to worry about. Sure enough, around 2, she started to point out colors by name.

Well, it turns out that D was probably right.  He thought she was red-green colorblind like his brother.  I now believe she's yellow-blue colorblind.  Yellow-blue colorblind is much less common than red-green.  She knows colors quite well, but I started noticing a while back that whenever she sees yellow, she says it's blue.  Never the other way around.  It's like she can't see yellow at all.  And sometimes she'll say white is black, but I suppose that could just be not remember the name of a color.  I don't know.  I'll ask the eye doctor about it when we go back for her checkup.  Sadly, her room is painted yellow.  If she sees yellow as blue, and she's not particularly fond of blue, I wonder what she thinks of the color of her room? 

Avery Quotes

Avery's sentence structure is improving each day.  There are many times I'm surprised to hear the (relative) complexity of the sentences she's speaking.  As stated before, I suck at remembering the cute things she says.  Off the top of my head, here are a few:

Avery: "Dad!  We need to talk the dogs for a walk."
Dad: "Why?"
Avery: "Because it's part of the deal!"

She often says, "That's too loud for my ears," and, "I don't like that noise in my ears."  I don't know why, but I find that phrasing so cute. 

Clearly I must say this one a lot: "I don't have the patience for this right now!"

Yesterday, I asked Avery what she wanted to do.  She thought about it earnestly, then replied, "I want to go buy a purple elisatard."  First, she knew specifically what leotard she wants.  Second, she called it an elise-a-tard.  I corrected her pronunciation and she's gotten it right since then. 

Sleep Routine

Our world has been thrown into chaos, relatively speaking.  For the past few weeks, Avery gets ready for bed as easy as ever, but when it comes time to actually stay in bed and go to sleep, well, that's a different story.  She comes into the hall and plays; she asks us to repeatedly come upstairs to put the blanket on or to cuddle with her; she reads books really loudly; she brings her potty into the hall, then proceeds to go potty in the hallway (in the potty); and on and on. 

Closing the door doesn't work very well anymore.  She cries like she's really actually scared.  I can handle crying because she's throwing a tantrum.  But crying that sounds like she's scared I cannot handle.  So that trick won't work for us anymore.

I decided to make a huge sleep chart and then show her the prize she gets if she stays in her room after we put her to bed at night: a purple skirt!  We've tried a sleep chart before, but it was smaller, she didn't help make it, and I didn't buy the prize in advance so she could see it.  This actually worked last night!  She stayed in her room and was asleep about 15 minutes later.  Awesome!

Candy

Candy Run

Yesterday was so challenging that when D finally got home (he had to work later than usual - I'm not complaining), I handed over the reins and headed out on a candy run.  Sitting at the G's was, for the most part, easy.  Elise and Nolan were cake.  In fact, Nolan slept most of the time I was there.  The problem comes with Avery.  She was a total madwoman.  At our house, with E & N, she's fine.  A little more hyper than usual, but fine.  But when it's just me at their house, I think she gets jealous of the time I'm spending with Elise and Nolan.  That's the only thing I can think of.  She also will not nap or sit for quiet time at their house when I'm there.

Since there was no nap, Avery fell asleep on the way home. I let her sleep for 30-45 minutes, then woke her up.  Bad idea.  She was in one of her uncontrollable tantrum modes.  Those actually don't make me mad (anymore) because I've come to understand that it's not like a usual whining/mini-two-minute-tantrum where she doesn't get what she wants.  It's just her losing her shit and not being able to help it.  At one point, I sat down on the floor next to her.  She's screaming and crying and has her arms out as if she wants me to hold her, but every time I make a move to do so, she cries even louder and moves away.  So I just sat there.  She slowly turned towards me bit by bit.  After about five minutes she leaned towards me and let me hold her and that broke the spell.  Thank goodness these moments are relatively rare now.

Tonight I'm going to dinner and movie (The Switch) with friends, so that should be a nice stress reliever after a day of no napping (neither me nor Avery).

Nap drop?

I think Avery is getting close to dropping her nap.  She's still napping at school, but naps outside of her car seat are becoming more rare.  The only reason I'm not freaking out is because, at home, she will do an hour or so of quiet time in her room where she reads books or plays with her dolls. 

Dog Walks

I've learned that Avery is easy to take on the shorter dog walks that I take with Eddie.  I take Turtle on those now, too.  The shorter walks are only a mile, so she is able to stay focused on walking the whole time.  She runs about half the time, so that works quite well because she stays ahead of me and the dogs.

Babysitting Summary

Today went better overall.  I learned a few lessons from yesterday.  First, have a very set routine when taking the girls up for quiet time (carry your milk, but don't drink it; pick out three books each; go potty; you each stay in your rooms; goodnight & I love you).  It turned out better, though still not a stellar success. Next, don't let Avery fall asleep in the car on the way home.  Finally, have no expectations of doing anything other than watching the kids and cleaning up after them.

We spent the majority of post-quiet time playing letter and color games I made up.  First, I got the big foam letters and lined them up on the floor so the girls could see them.  I positioned the girls across the room, then had them take turns coming forward and grabbing the letter I told them to.   The next game was grabbing a letter I told them to grab, then placing them on place markers on the floor to form simple words (CAB, BOX, etc).  Next, I had them come up and identify the color of the letter I was holding, then place it in the appropriate color pile on the floor.  Finally, Avery made up her own game jumping on the letters.  That was not so successful because Elise wanted to help set up and Avery wouldn't let her.  So, of course, then when it came time to play Avery's game, Elise didn't want to play.  After the games, Nolan, Avery, and I danced for a while; Elise watched.  When Elise heard her grandpa coming in to relieve me of my duties, then she decided that she would start dancing.