So it begins...The mystery hours

It is time to rock! Erin had her first day of kindergarten on August 21st with Mrs. Keddington at Aristotle Academy. I asked Pooky if she would like me to walk her to class, but my child declined. We got to the school. I got her out of the car and kissed good-bye. Erin put her empty backpack on and bravely marched to the door, where she was greeted by principal Peterson. He shook her hand and then escorted to her class.

Three hours later I returned to collect my student. She loved it there! According to her the teacher's name was Mrs. Cake. Also I could not find out what she learned or did at school, though by the presence of the grass on her socks I am guessing that at least part of the time was spent outside.  Also not one kid in the class had an easily remembered name though two of them were boys.

Of course I do not have a first day of school photo, because I am me and did not think to check the camera battery beforehand. Yes, my camera was indisposed on this very special day. Bah! However here is a photo after Pook's second day of school. She looks happy! This is how she looks at the end of each school day!

Erin's time at school is  a mystery to me. I am not used to not being there to witness every minute of her life. It occurred to me that those days are gone. More and more mystery hours are coming my way and I should hold on tight to the ones I am a participant of at the moment.

After two weeks of school I found out that she has been learning various songs, mastering the art of cutting with scissors, writing her numbers and letters, doing lots of coloring, matching, gluing, having story time and earning stars. Erin made a friend, but does not know her name. Her class number is 7 and she has had a chance or two to be the line leader on the way to class. Her turn to bring a mystery bag to class was last week and she chose a bunny named Allie (I hope she will take Danny's tooth next time). Erin gets a snack at school and also skittles when she fills a row with stars. The most important of course is that she loves going to school in the morning and is happy to come home in the afternoon.

Here is Allie

Danny has been asking about Erin's whereabouts each morning and seems to be satisfied with a reply that his sister is at school. He is always eager to go get her. Ah going to get her and dropping her off... So...having two charter schools on the same street creates a lot of traffic around 8. All the businesses must hate it. All of these folks trying to get to work in timely manner, stuck on 25 miles/hour street among minivans and SUVs, can not be happy with the way things are going, ha ha. I have learned to beat the rush by coming a few minutes before majority does. The school is about 7 minutes from home, 5 miles both ways. Not bad at all.

So far I am happy about everything and have words from Annie buzzing in my head "I think I'm gonna like it here!"

Ta ta for now!

Our tooth troubles

On Tuesday , around 7:30 pm our little man slipped and fell in the bathroom hitting his face on the toilet in the process. One of his front teeth got broken. Poor Danny cried, screamed and bled. We realized that his top right tooth did not look right and after he somewhat calmed down, called his dentist Dr. Howell, who I might add is awesome! At 8:25 Danny was laying on my lap with the doc looking at my boy's little toothie. It was broken, all right. The chomper split in half and had to be pulled. Luckily no damage to his permanent teeth was done. After collecting a prescription for Amoxicillin and being promised a phone call about the tooth extraction the next day we left.

Our little trooper behaved very stoically allowing the tooth examination, though when it came to X-rays he began to voice his objection. If there is any silver lining to this story than it is that to Danny the pain was bearable. For the next few days he resumed his normal activities though had to go without his favorite crackers and kakao. Only soft mushy foods were to enter his mouth and by that we abode. Erin agreed to conceal any candy in her procession. I must add that Erin screamed more than her brother when the injury occurred. Oh how did she cry and even came close to hyperventilating seeing Danny in pain. She tried her best to do her part in aiding us to get Danny to the doctor's office fast. She was first in the car trying to comfort her poor Danny after he got buckled up.

The next day after not hearing from the dentist's office I buzzed to see what was up with the arrangements for the detoothing. I was informed that he was scheduled for the 14th of September. Polite and dumbfounded I hung up and called Andrew. He told me to call back and talk to Dr. Howell 'cause this was too long. That I did not argue with and would have called as soon as the shock of the proposed "two-week-wait-to-get-rid-of-a-very-broken-tooth" would settle in. Anyhow after clearing the confusion Danny was scheduled to appear at the Utah Valley Medical Center (he had to be fully sedated for the event) on Friday at 12. No food after midnight and no liquids after 9. Now that was going to be interesting, but I would definitely rather put up with a cranky screaming toddler than with him ingesting his vomit. So fast my Danny did. He did great!

After he got up, he took a bath, then we went over to play with his friend Adam and then Caylee. We made it to the time we had to get Erin from school, and headed out. At that point Danny began begging for a yogurt, not expecting a denial. Now that was hard....But at least I was denying food not because I had none to give (just a thought).

We picked Erin up, delivered her to my awesome neighbor and friend Nathalie and headed to the hospital picking up Andrew on the way. So glad our Daddy could come! It made all the difference.

After getting admitted our wait began and lasted till three. This delay was expected 'cause everyone knows that hospital time is a few hours off. First we waited for and OR and next for our anesthesiologist to become available. Danny was not very enthusiastic about the place. At first he was curious, but when it came to vitals, getting the hospital jammies on and sitting on the hospital bed Danny began to wail. Then we just watched PBS kids. Fortunately Sesamie Street came on and as long as I held him Danny was somewhat content. I have to say that starving Danny is fairly docile. He weakly attempted asking for crackers and finally gave up. After my boy's last request his eyes filled with tears and bottom lip began to quiver. Gosh it was awful! We tried to kill time by walking outside in circles and finally it was Danny's time to go. Dr. Howell came, the nurse came and Chris-the anesthesiologist (with a monkey name tag clip). Danny did not like any of them, particularly the monkey clip guy and the way he addressed him as "Master Daniel" (I liked him though. To tell the truth the monkey clip did it for me, plus the fact that he has been knocking little people out for over a decade). Danny was given his sleepy meds and carried away. Did not like that! All we could do was wait or wait and eat.

I have been fasting along with Danny, Andrew was pretty starved as well, so we went to the cafeteria. I might add that earlier our nurse brought us three food coupons as a small compensation for extra waiting. Assuming that hospitals are a lot like airlines we intended to blow our newly found wealth on our meal and hope it will be enough. As it turns out hospitals are way more generous (but also expensive) than Delta or United. Each coupon was worth twenty-five buckaroos. So while our Danny was loosing his tooth Andrew and I feasted on grilled chicken sandwiches and other hospital delicacies, ha ha.

We made it back on time to speak with Dr. Howell who assured as that everything went great. the tooth came out clean and without much fighting. Danny was being woken up and should soon be returned to our care. That eventually did happen and we could not have been happier to be reunited. Danny was grumpy and groggy, but you can't blame him for that. He was offered some juice and Popsicle, which he wolfed down in record time. I think if some brave soul would attempt taking his treats from him he would bite them.

When we were leaving Danny's Popsicle leftovers fell on the floor and he cried harder than when his tooth was hurt, fortunately more of the icy goodness has been rushed to him and the tears seized. Then we headed home, where Danny boy gobbled down two bowls of chicken soup, a yogurt, a bowl of apple sauce and a tall glass of milk. The rest of the day was spent trying to catch up on playing with friends and finally sleeping. He had no side affects from anesthesia and when the dentist called late that night I could report that all was well.                         
     
And indeed all is well!

PS: Through this incident our boy acquired an adorable lisp. Without his "footh" he says "fifi" instead of "fishy".

PS: Andrew and I are cheap so for the next couple dates we are having our date night dinners in the hospital cafeteria.

PS: If you are not deterred by gruesome images than here is Danny's tooth in two pieces.

The beauty of freedom!

There is just one week left before Erin's school years commence. She is absolutely ecstatic about starting kindergarten, but of course she does not realize that it means her freedom will be somewhat kaput very soon. However, I am aware of it and am taking advantage of this time we have left filling days with various activities. We had no plans for Tuesday so in the morning I interrogated Erin about what she would like to do that day. Being Erin, my child informed me that she would be delighted to go to a beach.

"Bummer! We do not have an ocean, we only have mountains around here." 
"Than we can go hiking!" was her reply. So hiking we went!

After filling our water backpack and grabbing a few snacks Erin, Danny and I piled into our Bessiemobile and to the mountains we went heading east to the Battle Creek trail. The trail leads to a pretty waterfall and is slightly over a mile long both ways. Even our Little Monkey can manage that distance.

Everything did not go smooth. When we arrived at our destination I discovered that my silly child interpreted "Erin put on your pink shoes" as "Erin put on your pink flip flops!" Yeah! My bad! I ought to have checked before leaving house, but it was too late. At that point a couple hiking ladies came of the trail with their absolutely filthy dogs (No pun intended! Dogs have all the rights to get filthy on dusty trails leading to waterfalls), who looked like experienced kind of folks. Hence being new to this dragging a 5- and a 2-year-old to the hills I asked how long the hike took. After studying my crew and their attire the skeptical looking hiking ladies told me there was no way we would make it to the end, though we could probably get to the brook and splash in it. Challenge accepted, to the end we would go!

Up the trail we started. Erin pranced around like a wild pony and Danny walked kicking every rock in his path. I am not sure how many groups overtook us, but I did not mind. We were in no hurry in our flip flops and  sandals (The skeptical ladies also told me I would ruin my pretty sandals. Ha! They were wrong. I have already ruined them last summer. You can not ruin the same pair of shoes twice!) In about 20 minutes we came to an area covered in finest dirt I have ever seen! Kids were impressed, hence they proceeded stomping around and tossing it in the air creating a dust cloud. They looked like birds taking a dust bath!

After they became sufficiently filthy we moved on in the direction of a brook that became our second stop on this adventure. Danny kept walking, though as soon as he discovered that he could drink out of the backpack hose he insisted on being carried while slurping water out of that hose. The kid is a camel judging by how much he can drink when given the chance.

At the base of the brook Erin and Danny threw rocks into the water which amused them for a good 10 minutes. I have to admit that I myself am partial to tossing rocks in the water.

 

After this stop we continued until the waterfall (that the skeptical ladies did not think we could make to). I helped Erin on the steep hills and carried Danny here and there. I admit that more appropriate footwear would have made it easier, but we made it there even without it. So kudos to us!

Erin was delighted about making it to the top. So was I, particularly after cooling down in the waterfall mist. Can't think what is more refreshing than standing near one. Danny carried on with the rock tossing. By that time he was rather tiered and was happy to sit down. I considered offering the snack, but decided against it. I have nothing against eating with slightly dirty hands, when out in the nature, but Pooky's and Danny's hands stopped being "slightly dirty" at least 30 minutes prior. Snacks had to wait!

After resting a bit we headed back down. The view was stunning! If I were a poet than this would have been a proper moment to stop and pen a verse or two. At that moment, I was mostly a mom holding on to her kids tight so they would not face plant on a steep hill. On the way back Erin kept picking up rocks to take home, oh! and leaves, and acorns. I refused to store those treasures in my backpack (note to self: have her bring her own next time). I was tiered and hot, not a good combination for offering freight carrying services. Erin refused to leave anything behind and kept dropping and picking her load every few steps. Despite that we eventually made it back and were so thrilled to see our old Bessie. After we got home Danny boy went down for a three hour nap. My crew was exhausted, but happy. What else does a mama need!

Ta ta for now!

On the side note. I have so much respect for the pioneers who walked to these frontiers thought mountains and valleys, in cold and heat, with only little warm water to drink and not the tastiest of food to eat. I think about many children of 2- and 5-year-olds who had to make this journey on foot. What an exceptional generation they were!

Eat my dust!

As an early birthday present for her fifth birthday Erin received a bike from Grandma Olia and Grandpa Vova. She's been begging for one for a long time and even learned to ride one without training wheels a couple of weeks earlier. She's been borrowing her friends' bikes the entire month of  May. Her friend Jasmine turned out to be a great teacher!  In just a couple of days Erin went from training wheels to no training wheel and just a little bit wobbly. Going extreemly fast of course!
Finally she does not need to wait for a turn on a frien's bike anymore and is a proud owner of her own set of wheels. The training wheels got removed the next day after the photo was taken. Erin insisted!

By the way after falling off the bike and getting a bump on her forehead, Pook does not argue about wearing her helmet anymore. In fact she came to me after the incident and accused me of not making her wear it. Ha! this four-year-old has a short memory!

Danny adores Erin's new bike and tries to take a spin on it, though those efforts do not go past his attemps to set it upright. After he gives up Littel Moneky jut spins one of the wheels. He is more successful with the trike and the three-wheeled scooter. At this point he is too short to peddle or push hismself, but he surely tries. For now I push him around-he rides like a boss and I get a back ache!

Erin and her friends have races around the block and go way too fast for what should be a legal speed limit for kids their age. Anyhow, biking season is here and is very much enjoyed!

Ta ta for now!

Makeup anyone?

Erin got to my makeup. No need for comments here... The photos are rather self explanatory.

Ta ta for now!

End of the year recital

Today Erin had her dance recital. It was at UVU Regan Theater. Enjoy!

She and her friends got to perform on a real stage with lights and curtains. You do not hear this in the video, but when Erin came on stage, she tried to spot me in the crowd. After not succeeding she just yelled for me, ha ha!

My favorite part of the dance was when all the girls began doing jumping-jacks, though I am pretty sure they were not a part of the original choreography. Erin just did her thing and danced away. She particularly put her heart in the final bow! This was the part she practiced the most at home.

Our little dancer enjoyed the entire experience and we loved watching her. Besides Andrew, Danny and I aunt Theresa came. That made it even more special for Erin. After her dance I got Pooky and she got to see the rest of the show. Surprisingly it was very enjoyable. Though of us all Danny enjoyed it the most! He was very enthusiastic when it came to applauding. He also cheered and I suspect if he knew how, he would whistle.

At the end of the performance Erin got to return to the stage and receive a rose. Funny enough by the time our ballerina came back the poor flower's stem was broken in at least three places. Though what else do you expect when the flower is being twirled like a baton. At home I shortened the stem and it was like new.

Aunt Theresa gifted Erin two dollars for her stellar performance and Erin currently feels very rich. I feel very rich to have my wonderful Pooky ( I know! this was a cheesy thing to say, by deal with it! I feel cheesy, he he!)

Ta ta for now!

Catching up (part II)

Yes! This is my boy sporting yellow cupcake PJs. The exact words that came out of Andrew's mouth when he saw Danny ready for bed were: "I am sorry Danny!" Fortunately our little guy could care less what he sleeps in. Anyhow, I am going to buy him some manly sleepwear.

I guess as I have not posted his 18 month old well visit update from January I might as well do it now before he turns two. He finally began gaining weight and height. He made it into 3,41% for his weight of 21 lb - a great improvement from 0.4% at 12 months. His height was 31,5 inches landing him in 26% , that is from 5% at 12 months. Our little dude is growing. How he is doing it I do not know as he seems to adhere to a strict milk diet. It is his main food on par with pretzels and raisins.

He is still outrageously picky about what he consumes. Naturally, he will never turn down ice cream or chocolate. Occasionally, and I mean once or twice a week, he will eat dinner, the rest of the days he eats breakfast and pecks at his lunch. Despite that I have a hope for this little boy as Erin went through the same stage. Now she eats broccoli, green beans and as of today carrot sticks. One food he usually will not turn down is  mama's fired rice.

Danny slowly inched into the tantrum territory. He loves throwing himself on the floor wailing. My boy gets very offended when I meet this behavior with laughter. This child also began resorting to violence when he feels his rights and wishes are not being respected. As of recently he began biting. It is very rude to sneak behind mom and attempt biting her bottom, very , very rude (yes, you may laugh here). I lost count of how many times Erin has been bitten by this little piranha. He even managed to bite Pooky between her shoulder blades one time. Now that takes some skill! Of course we are working on stopping this naughtiness and I am seeing some progress.

Danny is my little helper in the kitchen. Any time he sees our dishwasher opened he hurries to get the soap from under the sink and bring it to me. Then we fill the soap compartment together. Next I return his closed soap bottle and he puts it back where he found it. To culminate this ceremony we fight over shutting the dishwasher's door. The Little Monkey insists on putting that soap to good use immediately and attempts to shut the door and push the button. I have to literally put my foot down on the door as it is usually not full enough to run it.

He also learned not to get garbage out of the trashcan and even throws away empty baggies, his diapers or spits up his apples. Have I mentioned how he eats apples? He requests one every day. He chews every bite very diligently and afterwards spits it out. He finally began doing it over the garbage can to save me some extra work. Now that it is warm outside I just send him with his apple to the back porch. Danny also knows how to use a vacuum. Though half the time he just vacuums himself. He discovered that he does not like the sensation of having his fingers being sucked into the hose.

Danny got to experience his second ever visit to Great Clips where he lost his beautiful locks. They were just getting too long and I have to admit that around the house I would even put a clip in his hair to keep it out of the eyes. This is what he looks like now. It took three women to get the job done. I held him on my lap, one of the employees was trying to read him a book and the third was doing the cutting. This communal effort finally paid off and my Danny was sheered like a ship. He screamed bloody murder the entire time, but did get a sucker at the end for his suffering.

Danny used to like watching Yo Gabba Gabba, but has recently converted to Sesamie Street. He is an Elmo fan! He says Elmo's name and also mama, dada, Ein, bite (as "another bite of food"), apple, banana, kashka, yukky, cracker, thank you and a lot of gibberish. While I mention his favorite shows, I should also mention the show that terrifies him--Ice Age. Erin and her friends were watching it one afternoon and he just began crying when the tigers attacked the village and tried to get the baby. Poor boy was so distraught.

Speaking of Thank you! Just like Erin at this age he helps me unload the dryer from inside. Danny climbs in and hands me clothes saying thank you every time I take something from him. This boy also likes to be in charge of what he wears. He pulls things out of his dresser and demands I help him put them on. For some reason he always chooses things that are too small or that are PJs.

Danny is definitely his father's son and is into computers and games. He loves to pound away on the keyboard and loves to hold console controllers. He even has his favorite Wii controller. Every time Erin plays something he is right there next to her with his it cheering her on.

So here he is my handsome blondie-sweetness an dterror in one, though way more sweetness than terror!

Ta ta for now!



Catching up (part I)

I haven't posted for a while because too many things in my life are competing for those few hours of peace a day when no one needs anything from me. That time is taken by some client translations or research, plus there are those pesky household chores that must be done, but can't be while two little Tasmanian devils roam the house. Besides there are things, like reading that I want to do in peace in quiet. I've been on a reading binge and went through about 10 books in last two weeks. I've been seriously sleep deprived because of that, by the way, which did not help either.

However, I am blogging again and have posted a few entries from last year and a couple from this one that have been in a draft stage for the longest time. If you have absolutely nothing better to do, than please go ahead and browse 2011 entries, there are a few new ones. I am currently finishing up our Christmas report and last October Disneyland trip (I know, this is pathetic, ha ha).
There are a few news and episodes I can think of worth sharing at the moment though. Number one is that we got Erin into a charter school. She will start Kindergarten in Aristotle Academy, which is a brand new charter in American Fork, just a 5-minute-ride from home. It feels like a good match for Pooky, but we will see how it goes. It will either be a flop or a great place. We are giving it a try. Kindergarten will have just 15 kids in class (that is vs. 35+ in our district elementary school).

Erin is very excited to start school! She even got to sign her name on the school application :). By the way she is starting to read simple words and can write all of her letters. So proud of her! Here is a proof. 

 

I just love the scowl on her face. Isn't it inviting, ha ha! Lately, she's been making mostly funny faces while posing. This is an invitation to her best friends that reads " Erin. Come here later to play the planet game". I helped with spelling, of course. Here is Erin writing her name.

Erin fit on the paper just fine, but she put her S (for Sophia) in the middle of the page and decided to go from right to left. She figured it will be easier to fit it that way. I thought it was pretty funny.

Her other accomplishments are quoting Cat in the Hat pretty far into the poem, causing all sorts of mischief, and making great mud pies.

So about mischief.... I had my first brush with the law. And it was my fault, I will confess from the start and here is the story. Erin and her best friend Aliyah were playing in our backyard when they got bored. I was distracted, so I did not notice that those two made their way down the little hill behind the house onto the sidewalk adjacent to the road. When I went to check on them I discovered them on that sidewalk. I gave them a "you are not supposed to be there, get back there now or else" talk, they told me they will not play there anymore and go get Aliyah's bike and ride it instead. Off they went to fetch the bike. I went upstairs. Next thing I know, someone is ringing the door bell. Assuming it was Erin I opened and looked down expecting to see her. All I saw was a pair of two black boots, I looked up and was shocked to discover a cop. 

"Are you Erin's mom?"

"Yeeeees..."

"We have received several complaints that she and her friend have been running across the street"

I am not sure when they managed to do that, but somehow they did while I was not looking. As I thought about it later, there was an unknown Suburban parked right  across from my back door and some lady was looking at the kids and talking on the phone at the same time. Really? What happened to the days when you tell the kids not to do that and tell their parents? Wow, instead you call cops. I imagine that you've got to be cautious out there now days, and that there are some parents that might stick a shank between your ribs for being pointed out that their offspring was in the road, but I hope I do not look the part (or do I?). I know that that lady saw me. Anyhow, he ran my ID, handed me my child and departed. I bet the lady spent next few weeks telling everyone who would listen how she saved innocent child from a neglectful mother. I was neglectful though.

I felt terrible about the whole situation. This teaches me that bored kids do exactly what they are taught not to do. I had a talk with Erin about this unusual for her move and got two reasons for why they crossed the road. One was that they were pretending that the other side of the road was the Moon ( from Little Planet game, if you know what that is) and the other one was that they were doing service project collecting garbage (facepalm here). Anyhow, one time for her seems to have been enough, and she's been keeping to the assigned boundaries. When will the dang fence be finally built?

Here is my hooligan!

We've been dealing with some violent tantrums by Miss Erin, though I do not want to talk about them in detail. Even thinking about them makes me exhausted, not to mention dealing with them a few times a week.  Erin is a very stubborn little girl, too opinionated for her age, and frequently I feel like I am talking to a sixteen-year-old. I am crossing my fingers here that she will get it all out of her system and turn into a lamb. Until it happens I will keep the fight (though if this goes on for much longer I will consider investing into a football helmet to protect my head when things start flying).

At the same time this little girl is so sweet and lovely. Last week we went grocery shopping and she saw watermelons on sale (and they actually looked ripe and appetizing). This kid loves watermelons! She even hopes for one from the tooth fairy when her first baby tooth comes out (tooth fairy will oblige, by the way). Of course she asked for one (first water melon this season) and I agreed. We chose a good sounding one. You should have seen jubilation in this girl's eyes. "You are the best Mom in the world!!! May I give you a kiss and a hug?" she yelled startling every single soul in the produce department. I have to admit that my ego basked in the rays of adoration in public (especially after the police incident, ha ha). I enjoyed every smile tossed our way from fellow shoppers. 

Erin and I went on a spontaneous mother-daughter date on Saturday. We got haircuts, ate lunch at Costa Vida, went shoe shopping and visited Yogurt Bliss. I loved every minute of it. Of course Erin proclaimed that the girl team had a great time! Erin started referring to us as a "girl team" and Andrew and Danny - a "boy team". I think it is cute. Next time we'll hit a nail salon....maybe. I love having a daughter! (and a son of course, but you know what I mean). At Payless Shoes my little rascal planted a kiss on every mirror in sight. Now that was gross! When not busy by smooching mirrors she helped me shop. I have to say our tastes are rather different. She is more of a sparkly shoes girl. She thought that some shiny sandals would look great at the play ground. I begged to differ and walked away with a pair of teal sandals. Eventually we went home.

This entire post is all about Erin. The second part of catching up will be about Danny. So tune in tomorrow for that.

Ta ta for now!

Easter

I love Easter! To me it is a celebration of new beginnings, growth and joy! Christmas is a day to celebrate Christ's birth, this is a day to celebrate his life! So celebrate we did!

Erin and I dyed some eggs. We used dry onion skins, as is traditional for back home (google it if you are curious about how it is done). Funny thing about Easter eggs is that most of them get thrown away. There are only that many eggs that a person can eat (especially if that person gets no help from her little monkeys and the other responsible adult of the household). Before Erin and Danny went to bed they left some carrots for the Easter Bunny and their baskets for him to fill.

Bunny is not that generous in this house as Easter is not about his gifts. Our fuzzy guest left each kid a coloring book, a bath toy and a chocolate bunny. He also scattered a bunch of eggs filled with chocolates around the house and a few in the back yard. The baskets got emptied as soon as Erin got up, but the egg hunt had to wait till we came back from church. As an egg hunt veteran, Erin roamed the house on her own and Danny got some help from Papa. However, he caught on pretty fast on what to do and pull a few eggs from some surprising places.

Our egg huntress

Danny was not willing to stay still for a shot, so this is the best I've got.

Here Danny escaped, so as Erin would put it this is a girl's team. 

To wrap the day up we had a lovely dinner, that the kids decided not to eat, but Andrew and I quite enjoyed! All in all, this was a lovely Easter Sunday!

Happy Easter!

Ta ta for now!

0:3

Monday. Danny whacked his nose on the bottom garage step. Blood everywhere! Danny:0-step:1.

There was so much blood everywhere and poor Monkey would not let me clean him up nor put a cold washcloth on his nose. First we drenched with blood the guest bathroom, then, after realizing that there was nothing of a washcloth nature to be had there we headed upstairs, smearing both of our coats in his blood on the way. We got into my bathroom and began our blood stopping/cleaning fight. Danny screamed at the top of his lungs, which as you might imagine, made things worse. I finally let him go, he calmed down and so did his nose. I was scrubbing away the multiple blood splatters in the bathroom and thinking that it is no wonder murderers get caught. Not that hard to overlook a tiny (or not so tiny) splatter on some baseboard behind the toilet. Good grieve! My kid had just a bloody nose and I am sure traces of the event will remain in some obscure corner of this bathroom for quite some time.

Thursday. Danny grabbed a "just-out-of-the-oven" cookie sheet with rolls. Danny:0-hot cookie sheet:1.

This is pretty self explanatory. Poor Danny was in terrible agony for next half hour, in just agony for the rest of the evening, whimpering and sporting a couple blisters for the next day. I declare this to have been the accident week of the year 2012! I hope we are now for some smooth sailing from now on!

This whole week. Erin's got an infection that was making her burst into tears. After one Monday of screaming and crying while going potty we went to see the doctor. Erin:0-bacteria:1.

Antibiotics. Abused by many, but also appreciated by many! Because of you there will be no kidney and anything-else-connected-to-them complications, no more pain and tears. Erin is back to normal and life is good! As a good little trooper Pooky takes her teaspoon of white goo at the end of the day, eventually swallows it and gets a popsicle to make life sweeter (no chasing her with a dosing syringe around the house anymore like when she had the ear infection). By the way she is 44 inches tall and 35 lb. Still not heavy enough for a backless booster seat, but oh well. When we were at the doctor's office and she had to produce (ehem!) a sample she just tossed her hands into the air and exclaimed: "Pee into a cup! Mom, you've got to be kidding me!" That's my girl!

Here you go! This was our medical week in short!

Ta ta for now!

The other day I had a following conversation with my sweet Erin after Danny's another toilet hand wash. He just can't help it! Splashing in the toilet is just so irresistibly fun.

"Mom, Danny is a naughty boy!"
"Yes, he is!"
"Do not tell Santa!"
"Why?"
"Danny will be sad without getting presents"

This just melted my heart.

The toilet saga continues

So...ever since unrolling half a roll of toilet paper and flushing it down, Erin has been rather apprehensive about the whole flushing business. You see the toilet backed up. Luckily for all the parties involved, it did not overflow. For the next few days Pooky would find any excuse not to send the toilet's content to the sewers' gods. We apparently have a few trust issues in our home. I explained to my child how the toilet works and what makes it clog at least a dozen times. Erin did not take my explanation for pure truth and carried on with the flushing phobia. (Sigh). By now things are better, the flushing handle is being used again. However I am occasionally summoned to make sure that the water level inside a toilet is at an acceptable height. This was one funny lesson I got to teach Erin and I can guarantee that she will not be the one going through several rolls of paper a week, ha ha.
Now to the other bandit.

Danny's toilet obsession carries on. However it smoothly transitioned into the next phase. He began throwing things in it! Fortunately for me I am not alone in this fight! My trusty Erin is with me (particularly after almost overflowing a toilet).
There I was, minding my own business doing dishes while Erin and Danny were supposedly peacefully playing upstairs. The house was quiet and I was able to load the dishwasher without having to pull Danny out of it every few minutes. Also , no one attempted to sneak dirty spatulas, knifes and spoons from the cutlery basket. So I was actually able get something done. However, every mother knows that occasionally she has to pay for the luxury of completing a chore while the small fries are awake. This was my price!

As I headed upstairs I heard splashing, giggling and Erin's voice exhorting her brother to quit throwing bath toys into the toilet. I sensed trouble and Danny sensed me getting closer. No, not because he felt he was in trouble, he was simply having too much fun and wanted to have me join in. He came out running with a roll of toilet paper, undoubtedly to be the next projectile destined for the toilet party. My bandito-hooliganito was wet and brimming with joy. Erin sprang out of bathroom slightly drier, but somewhat distraught. She would not leave Danny to go get me, because the clogged toilet memories were fresh and she feared the worst. I was informed that Danny was being naughty chucking their bath toys into the toilet and she had to keep pulling them out. I had a good laugh! Than it was time for cleaning and baths.


How can I get angry with these two? I just can't, so I laugh.

Ta ta for now!

I did not know that elephants were fuzzy!

I have never been so close to an elephant in my life. The ones in the zoo are too far for me to notice every detail and texture. Hence I was astonished to see fuzzies all over elephant's skin. I have to say it is one of the most majestic and dignified representatives of the animal kingdom and Erin got to ride on top of it. I am not sure what his name was, so let's call him Dumbo!

A very happy Erin mounting "Dumbo"


I hope this "Dumbo" is treated with kindness and respect

As you might have deducted from the above photos we went to a circus. This was Erin's second time. The last time Andrew took her to see the Barnum and Bailey show when she was three. She liked some numbers, but overall they bored her, ha ha. This time around it was Jordan World Circus (a much smaller one, comparing to the Greatest Show on Earth) and all four of us went.

It is becoming more and more evident to me that Erin and Danny are so different from each other. At one and a half he loved it! He stood and sat, clapped and screamed, laughed and gasped with the crowd. He, unlike Erin, had a proper first time at the circus, ha ha. He was particularly interested in all the animal numbers, but also watched tight rope and areal acrobats, jugglers and motorcycle riders. He got tiered by the end, so he was ready to go home when the show was over. Erin loved it so much, that could have stayed for an encore. She could not decide what part was her favourite, but the elephant ride was definitely a highlight.


I have to say that this was a perfect family outing worth remembering and not for bad reasons, if you know what I mean.

Ta ta for now!

PS: I love circus for making me feel like a little child!

Snow

It finally snowed! I can not believe that by the end of January this was the first worth noticing snowstorm of the year. Pickings have been slim this season, and even this storm brought barely  2-3 inches of snow to the good old Pleasant Grove. But beggars can't be choosers.
 Getting an inkling that the white fluff would not last we bundled up, grabbed our sleds and headed out for the nearest hill. Here is Danny and Erin in all of their snow day glory!

Both Danny and Erin loved being pulled along, I did the pulling and felt like a sled dog. At least no one was yelling "Mush! Mush!" We got to the little hill in our neighborhood and sled, slid and rolled in snow until Danny soaked his gloves and hinted that he had enough. Unlike last year he did not mind the feel of snow on his skin, though his hands got super cold. Erin would have stayed longer even after her lips turned blue, but agreed to go home for some hot cocoa.
I surely hope for more snow later!

Ta ta for now!

Have you ever vaccumed a child? and other cocoa woes

Have you ever vacuumed a child? I can say now, that I have. Last night, Danny the trouble maker, was doing his traditional pre-dinner routine-wrapping himself around my leg and begging with his puppy eyes for a morsel to eat, because he just can not wait another minute to put something in his belly. When that failed as usual (I know! I know! I am a cruel mother), he headed for the pantry to forage. Usually he gets a box of cereal or crackers and helps himself. This time however he went for Nesquick. Before I knew it he was out of my reach and while I was drying my hands on my way to confiscate the loot, he popped the lid of and in grand music conductor motion raised it over his head creating a scrumptious cocoa cloud. My jaw dropped!
My white child turned brown. The powder was everywhere! What can one do upon seeing such a picture? Just laugh! That's what I did.

How does one clean this up? I vacuumed him which he quite enjoyed actually. I hosed him down and he was blond and fair skinned in no time. This mischievous monkey was tickled by the whole ordeal and I have to say he smelled really good afterwards. I kept telling Andrew, that Danny smells so tasty, which Andrew pointed out I should not. It is just not right to declare that your child smells tasty, it brings one to a few morbid thoughts, ha ha.



Doesn't he look mischievous?

Erin, not to be outdone by her younger brother, repeated the deed this morning. As we were out of Nesquick, she pulled out "the morning kakao" (aka Carnation instant breakfast). She was extremely enthusiastic about making it all by herself, however the lid on the container failed her. The can got dropped and the cover popped off. Powder went everywhere...again. This was morning so I did not laugh. In fact my face contorted and a few words I would have to blip out were on the tip of my tongue. You will be glad to hear however, that they did not come out, ha ha. Half the cocoa was still in the can. We swept up, what was dumped, mopped, made Erin's drink and moved on. Erin told me: "Don't worry mom! We'll drink water and milk instead!" And so we will.



My other mischievous child.

Ta ta for now!

Plants vs. Zombies & Charter vs. Public

Erin and Andrew have a new father-daughter activity that has become a part of the evening routine. Right after dinner they move upstairs to combat zombies on the computer. Those zombies have no chance. Erin directs which plants to be planted and gives strategic advice on how to combat them. Andrew makes his input and executes. Than for the next while I hear them cheering, screaming in horror or jubilation, depending on how well things are going. It is amazing that Danny can go to sleep across the hall in all this noise, ha ha.



Erin amazes me with how fast she learns, her memory and actually logical thinking. Amazingly enough this game is teaching her something, plus she and papa have amazing amount of fun.

Now on a more serious note. The time has come for us to enroll our Pooky in school. We are trying our luck with a few charter schools. Our number one choice is Quail Run Primary here in Pleasant Grove. We went to an open house there last week and loved it. It just feels like a right match for our Erin, plus she loved the place and keeps referring to it as "my school". She already told me that the white tights (while dressing for church) will be her school tights and that her black shoes will be her school shoes. This is funny because she apparently listened to Andrew reading school's dress code.

I am very unsure about Utah education. One of my biggest concerns is class sizes. This is why we are looking at a charter vs. public (technically charter is also public). Call me crazy but I will take an 18-kid-class over a 35-kid-class any day. I absolutely love the idea of giving more attention to each child and catering to their needs and abilities. By putting her in a school with smaller class size I can address the numbers issue.

Another issue I have is the curriculum. That I have no control over. In general it appears that teaching methods and amount of information given is very different from what I was brought up with. The more we know, more rich and colorful this world becomes to us. It amazed me to find out, when I came to the US, that such thing as 100% high school graduation rate does not really exist here. I could not fathom how can one (or more like that one's parents) not care enough to complete at least basic education? Education must not be valued or is not valuable. I hope that for our kids it will be both.

We will know in early March whether she got selected. We also applied to John Hancock and Odyssey. Another adventure starts and I can not believe that it is here. For now we'll keep our fingers crossed.

Ta ta for now!

Ringing in the New Year!

Ah, another year has gone by and it is time to look back and see what happened.
It was definitely a fun and family filled year for us.
We were visited by my Dad, than Andrew's Dad, Step mom and siblings, by Andrew's Mom and Sister-in-Law and niece and nephew. We went to a Family Reunion in Idaho, Lagoon and then in October to Disneyland. Andrew is still working for the same company, but this year he's been in three different positions: he continued this year in Tech support, moved to Quality Assurance and ended up as a developer. I went back to work and am doing research on Saturdays while Andrew watches the monkeys. We planted a garden, canned and froze our home grown produce. Erin began taking dance classes and Danny is getting so big. All I can say that these were wonderful 12 months!

To see them off we had a little party. Our best buds, Tyson and Diane came to help us out. We did fireworks, for which Miss Erin was allowed to stay up.


Pooky was absolutely bursting with excitement!



Isn't this a ghostly photo!


Two more crazy faces!

After we burned our $9.97 worth of fireworks we sent Erin to bed and settled into a game of Scattegories followed by Munchkins. We also ate, laughed, drank apple cider and had jolly good time. We watched the ball drop and stayed up way too late. I gave up by 4 a.m. and I believe the others lasted for another hour.

So there, this was our New Years this year!

PS: Danny slept through it all! Happy New Year to you all!