Rainy day surprise

Yesterday was our first "free" summer day. We always had Monday and Tuesday mornings open but yesterday we would have normally been at gymnastics. We've been playing outside a lot lately, especially with our neighbor and her nanny.  They are moving away today (sniff, sniff) but it's been fun having a playmate right outside our door every morning.  Anyway, we joined them on a walk downtown to meet up with a bunch of other kids and their nannies.  I felt a bit out of place, almost like a spy, being the only mom but no one seemed to mind. 

The kids had loads of fun even when it started raining.  We all gathered under an enormous tree and stayed relatively dry.  The walk home was another story.  The twins were in the jogging stroller which has excellent rain coverage.  Matteo was in the Ergo which has a head cover.  And me, I was just getting soaked.  Its about a 20 minute walk (uphill...) so by the end, I looked pretty awful.  We were just a couple blocks from our house when we passed a few high schoolers, just hanging out on a bench.  On of the girls said, jokingly, "she looks like she needs a babysitter!" to which I immediately answered, "yes, I do!"  She was surprised that I answered but excitedly so.  She jumped off and asked me if I was serious.  Yes, I most definitely was serious!  She talked about some other babysitting jobs she has had (or still has, not sure).  In my head I was thinking, why is she telling me this??  Then I realized, oh ya - she probably thinks I want someone with experience.  I'm so desperate, I forgot to consider that!  Not that I would just leave my kids with her.  I would have her come and "watch" them while I was home, let her get her feet wet.  But for me, anyone who sees my brood and still wants the job, chances are they have experience.  Caring for 3 under 3 is not usually how people want to get their start in the babysitting world, I would imagine.

I took down her number and asked her where she lived and how old she was.  She lives about 5 blocks from me (score!) and will be a junior in the fall (double score!).  That means I get two years before she is off to college, if she works out.  And since she is young, she will come a bit cheaper which is OK with me since she will mostly be a mother's helper to start - I'm looking for one afternoon per week as a set schedule, plus nighttime sitting as needed for me to go to meetings or out with Billy.

Are you all proud of me?  I'm totally going out of my comfort zone here.  Sad, though, that this is out of my comfort zone...

I see summer!

I'm just going to skip over the fact that I haven't blogged in a couple of weeks, that I turned 30, celebrated 5 years of marriage and that I went to Montreal to celebrate during my blog hiatus.  I'll get back to it when I feel like gathering my thoughts.  In the meantime, let's talk about summer!

Yes, summer is almost here (or already here depending on how you define summer for you and your family) and I am surprised to be excited about it.  Surprised because last summer was awful - the kids were in a rough patch (18-24 months, you were not my friend), we had record heat for the last two months of my 42-week pregnancy and my A/C was broken for most of that time.  Last July pretty much turned me off to summer forever.  Or so I thought.

This year, with Matteo and all the classes for Sebastian and Collette, I feel so rushed and busy.  Getting Matteo down for a nap and on time so I can wake him up in time to get out of the house and into the car and to whatever overpriced activity I signed us up for has been exhausting!  Not that I wouldn't do it again, I'm just tired of it now.  I'm ready to take a leisurely pace that compliments summertime so well.  With the twins starting school in September (albeit just 2 mornings a week...), I am excited to just go with the flow and live schedule-free.  Sure, they will still have a nap schedule - I haven't completely lost it!  But I won't feel the need to have each day planned weeks in advance.  I'm already relaxed just thinking about it!

So, as of Saturday, if you wanna hang out with some super cool toddlers, a very cute baby and me, we are officially free :)  And we have a kiddie pool - all are welcome.

Two point Five

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On Saturday, my "babies" had their half birthday.  This isn't something we celebrate (do others??  I'm not sure...) but there just happened to be a fair in town.  Now, if I were a good mommy blogger, I would have remembered to bring my camera to the fair to get pictures of them being big kids and riding rides by themselves.  Remembering three kids seems to be all my brain can handle, though, and the camera was left behind.  We had to settle for Billy's iPhone which is normally fine but on Sunday is self-destructed before we had a chance to transfer the photos.  So, ya...no pics.  But what we had was a very cute shot of them in the car-merry-go-round ride.  They chose the same car - Collette was in the front and Sebastian was in the back.  They loved it.  I got a little choked up at how big they seemed, riding all by themselves.  Another one of those unexpected milestones, I guess.

2.5 has also been an age of "advanced" play.  They are interacting with their toys (and each other) in more meaningful, developed ways.  They collaborate in games, simple as they may be.  Like jumping off the porch, throwing matchbox cars over the fence or taking turns dumping sand on the rhododendrons.  Recently, they acquired some dinosaur toys.  They know a lot of the dinosaurs names already so I tried to teach them which ones were meat eaters and which were plant eaters.  They took it to heart:

On the flip side, we seem to be confirming the theory that the half years suck.  The whining has reached epic proportions.  Things were going so well, I had been slacking on the discipline.  Now its back to counting them all the time.  For those of you who also do 1-2-3 Magic, do you count for whining?  If so, always or just in certain instances?  And what about crying?  For us, whining and crying is a fine line but I feel awful sending them to time out when they're crying.  I feel like I am denying them some mommy comfort that they need.  Then again, they (yes, they - its not just Sebastian anymore!) cry over ridiculous things like my suggesting that they wear a rain coat or serving lunch that doesn't involve yogurt and fruit.

Sibling rivalry has also been peaking.  Sebastian is in a "dat's mine!" phase, and even takes it out on poor Matteo.  But mostly it's just Sebastian and Collette fighting over toys and/or space.  I have a feeling that Billy and I will have to give them some quality one-on-one time to get through this stage of toddlerhood.  I just hope the second half of their third year in life isn't as rough as the second half of their first year.  Because I really did not enjoy 18-24 months old...

But back to the bright side:

They are still happy kiddos over all!

Matteo's 9 month stats, etc.

Matteo's 9 month check up was quick and easy. I'm lucky that he is such an easy, predictable baby so I rarely have questions for the doc. Also, this visit only required one shot and my little boy didn't even cry. What a trooper.

In record keeping news, Matteo has made his way to average, after being such a big newborn. Here are the stats:

Weight: 20.6 lbs (47th percentile)
Height: 28.5 in. (55th percentile)

And lastly, a lot of this has been going on:

Yup, pulling up, standing and cruising have begun. My little guy is on his way to toddlerhood. Lord help me!

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See, TV can teach kids stuff

I'll admit it.  We watch a lot of TV in this house.  Billy and I are serious TV watchers and the kids have followed suit.  I bounce back and forth between feeling super guilty and feeling like it probably won't matter much.  Not that that's the point of this post.  That's a post for another day.  The point is that sometimes, kids can learn stuff from their little shows.  Really important things.  Like how to do The Robot.  It was on an episode of the Fresh Beat Band.  And here are Collette and Sebastian, doing their best Robot:

 So, ya.  That's 1 point for TV watching in my book.

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Parlez-vous "no kids!"?

It's really happening. Billy and I are going away. For 3 days. To another country. WITHOUT THE CHILDREN!

Yes, it's just Canada. And yes, its only 2 nights. But still. I am super excited. Billy and I haven't gone on a just-us trip since my friend Lena got married in NOLA when the twins were just 5 months old. And that trip was not so much for us - we were there for a wedding, after all.

Our big getaway is to Montreal. Billy was really pushing for Paris but there was just no way we could find someone(s) willing to watch the kids for long enough to make a transatlantic trip worthwhile. Anyway, neither one of us has been to Montreal and we can drive there - both big bonuses. And I can still learn some French!

Looks promising!

This vaca is happening in just a few weeks. It's a combination my-30th-birthday/our-5th-wedding-anniversary celebration. And I have so much to do before we go. I am pumping every night to build up a stockpile for Matteo but it sucks because you get so little when you pump in the late evening. I have to write a detailed list of instructions for taking care of the kids. My siblings are splitting the responsibilities so its not like I can just explain it to one person. I'm just so hard to replace. :)

Just remind me that the weeks of prep will be worth it for even just a couple nights away!

And, um, while you're at it, why don't you go on ahead, click on this little button down here, and vote for my lil' blog?? You're the best! Thanks!!

That Was Easy

With almost a week of potty training under our belts, I think I can safely say that Collette is potty trained. OMG!

Collette, reading her "princesesa" book (People magazine with Kate Middleton on the cover)

I wish I could share with you all the secrets to successful, stress-free potty training. Alas, I have no secrets. I think we just got lucky on this one. After the few accidents she had on Day 1, it clicked. She asks to go when she needs to, with plenty of time to get to the potty, get pants off and get her on the pot. False alarms are far fewer now (although we still have lots). And she is waking up dry from nap and overnight. I know. It's not even fair.

Poop, though - that's another story.

My first day alone with all three post-potty-training was Friday. I got the kids up, Collette went pee in the potty, and then went to the potty again but didn't do anything. So, I figured it was safe for me to sneak downstairs and make a coffee. And naturally, Collette decided that would be the perfect time to poop. In her underwear. I heard her crying/screaming and I knew she'd had an accident. Her pants were FULL of poop and some had even escaped down her pant leg and on to the floor. She was in hysterics. I was just glad the baby hadn't eaten any of the poop. Does that make me a cup half full kind of person, or what? :)

So, number 2 is still an issue. She has only gone twice since we started on Monday - once in her nap time diaper on Wednesday and the aforementioned incident. I have heard from so many moms that this is pretty standard so I'm not going to worry about too much for now. I'll keep you all posted though - I'm sure you'll be dying for Collette's BM updates.

All in all, I have nothing to complain about. This was way easier than I thought it would be. Does this mean it will be hell training Sebastian??? Please don't say yes.

Collette and the Potty: Day 1

After much thought and sufficient planning, we started potty training Collette today. Billy is on vacation this week which means that we can really devote a lot of energy to her and the process. Today was the first day and it went remarkably well considering the fact she has been refusing to go on the potty at all leading up to today.

We have been psyching her up for today for about a week. She seemed excited to start using the potty and to wear her Kai Lan underwear. We told her that she would be a big girl. That she would get chocolate. And prizes! I forgot about those last two so they didn't happen. Nit that it mattered. Once we got going, she was all in, candy or not.

She had her first accident this morning, right after breakfast. Billy and I were distracted by the other two and she peed while playing at the train table. It scared her so much that she went running to Billy and slipped in the mess. Poor thing. She spent the next hour crying, sitting on the potty without producing, crying more, another accident, more crying. Then she finally had a successful trip to the potty and she was so happy. I know because she actually said, "my so happy!". She didn't have another accident until lunch. Food can be distracting that way. She wore a diaper for nap (which I need to elaborate on but I'll wait until tomorrow for that), and did many a trip throughout the afternoon. She was accident-free for the rest of the day! Not too shabby!

Some things that worked for us:
- drinking water on the potty
- putting her fingers in warm water while on the potty
- letting her tell us when she had to go (as opposed to us bringing her - fit with her personality/mood better)
- rolling up the rug in the living room

Fingers crossed that Day 2 is even better...


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

9 Months Old and Making Mischief

Oh yes, its that time. The time when the baby becomes a force to be reckoned with. And Matteo is hitting it right on track.

Truthfully, 9 months is one of my favorite ages. The crawling means he can get into everything but he is so happy to explore on his own. And I am starting to get glimpses of the kind of person he's going to become now that he has this independence. He's curious, determined, affectionate, engaging and fun-loving. It's so nice getting to know him. Even while he is eating sidewalk chalk, shoes and paper.

He is learning to pull up, which means I have to kick the baby-proofing into high gear. Or any gear. My house is currently not baby-proofed at all We had to move his crib down from the highest setting to one of the lowest - another milestone!

Also, much to my satisfaction, he has learned how to take a sippy cup. We let him try the straw cups that Sebastian and Collette use and he was able to figure it out pretty quickly. Now, whenever he sees them with their milk, he tries to steal it away. I'm sure this will be a recurring theme throughout his childhood, for better or worse. For now, I'm just glad that I can have someone else feed him. Plans are in the works for an adult-only weekend away to celebrate my big 3-0. More on that later. :)

As far as his schedule, things are still pretty much the same. Two naps, goes to bed around 6:30 and gets up around 6/6:30 in the morning. It can be hard to get him up from his first nap in time for the twins' classes but so far we have managed to fit it all in and not disturb Matteo much.

All in all, 9 months is looking great! He is still my happy little boy.

I think he is going to have Collette's hair. I was looking at pics of Colie from this age and her was only just starting to curl. As you can see in the chair picture, he is rocking the faux hawk - that's au natural, folks. He's going to need a haircut soon. Oy. My baby is growing up!!

Sebby-isms

It would seem that all toddlers have those weird, quirky things they say that make us laugh but also question the lead content of the paint on the walls. Sebastian's latest obsession has him saying something that I find kind of funny and hopefully not indicative of some mental malfunction.

His obsession is with my Auntie Kim's car. Now, he has always been into cars - it was his first real word, after all. But his love of my sister's VW is really something else. It's a white Jetta (I think it's a Jetta...) - cute but nothing special, save for the fact that it brings Auntie Kim over to visit. A month or so ago, Sebastian would spot another white sedan and proclaim "Auntie Pim's Car!!" (Note that he cannot say Kim and instead says Pim. We're working on it.) In the past few weeks, he has stepped things up. Now, anything he sees that is white, even the tooth of the whale in a picture in a book is "Auntie Pim's Car." Milk coming up the straw of his sippy cup is "Auntie Pim's Car." Socks. White blocks. The mane on the unicorn rocking horse in their room. All "Auntie Pim's Car."

But that's not even where the obsession ends. Now, he can recognize the VW emblem. So whenever he spots a VW - no matter the color or model - it's also "Auntie Pim's Car." This part of the obsession has translated into finding Infinities ("Leah's Car") and Toyotas ("Auntie Stacey's Car"). The funny thing about the Toyota is that we have a Toyota. I guess he never notices our car's make.

So, what silly things are your kids saying? I know I'm not alone here! :)