http://www.blogger.com/html?blogID=1755139666841541603 about a dream: May 2009

Friday, May 29, 2009

happy birthday maggie!

i can't believe it. i can't believe it's been a whole year! what happened to the time? i had a long conversation with maggie a few months ago, and i thought she had agreed to stay a baby.

oh well, here are some pictures. the first one is us singing happy birthday. we had a little party at the playground, and i made cupcakes. they were yummy!

here is nina helping maggie blow out the candle.

maggie ate a little frosting, and then fed the rest to nick.

i bought nina this dress today. she needed a little present and it was only $12.99 at costco. score!

maggie loves to play in the tunnels at the playground.


also, maggie had a very special first today--her first poop in the potty. go maggie!

Monday, May 25, 2009

a miracle!!

nina let me shampoo her hair today... AND THERE WERE NO TEARS!!!!!!!!

oh joy! she was wonderful! we had done a rinse during a bath last week, and that went really well. before that, i had let her help me rinse maggie's hair, and she got to see how easy it was to rinse hair and keep the water out of the eyes when the rinsed person isn't screaming and flailing like a maniac.

today, when i shampooed maggie's hair, i let her rub the shampoo in. then we rinsed nina's hair, and i took the plunge... i soaped it up and hoped for the best. it was great! she was a bit nervous at times, asking if i was done yet, but not even upset. i did a good soaping and scrubbing, then wiped as much soap out with a cloth as i could (to minimize rinsing), and then rinsed. what a relief! i'd also explained that if she let me wash the pollen out of her hair, she'd have less allergies. she liked that idea, i think it helped.

so after the shampoo, i brushed out her hair and put it in braids so she can have waves in the morning.

what a wonderful night!!

Saturday, May 23, 2009

i have been trying to put up some videos, but our router (we suspect that's the source of our internet problem anyway) is not letting me. ooooh well, i'll keep trying anyway.

just had a wonderful visit with uncle erik, aunt isabelle and the star of the show chester. oh how the girls love that mangy little mutt! yesterday we just hung out at the house and fought over whether the air conditioner should be on (erik's pick) or off (nick's preference). merriment had by all and vanessa joined us by telephone. good times!

today we went to howard beach. poor grandma and grandpa were thinking that erik and isabelle were making a point to come visit so that they could share some exciting news. way to disappoint the grandparents kids! no, it's ok, no pressure...

then we went to aunt april and uncle thomas' house. they weren't there, but peter, veronica, and maria were. the girls swam and then erik and isabelle went over to cony island. we stayed at the cousin's house for a few more hours, got some italian ices at ragtime, and then all met up in astoria.

that was our whirlwind weekend!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

maggie climbed a stair!

that's right, little maggie, just over a week before her first birthday, ascended her first stair. it was the first step onto the jungle gym in the playground, only about a 4 inch rise. and how did she ascend the stair, you ask? surely a babe of her tender age crawled up on all 4s? oh no, not our margarete. she confidently strode up to the gym, grabbed the handrail, and stepped up like a big kid. she was trying to go up the second, much higher stair (at least 8 inches, or whatever a standard stair rise is) but i had already seen her from the other side of the gym set and started running over. i swooped her up to safety before she could continue. later i let her climb the bigger steps while holding my hands.

what the heck!! she's 11 months old for crying out loud!

singing a song



lyrics:

...french fries that our family made
but they taste very good
and they make you feel strong
and healthy you will be


this is the end of the song, she'd been singing for a while in there (and putting together a big wad of toiled paper, obviously. that thing was the size of a baseball and very dense!)

edited: nina corrected my lyrics

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Saturday, May 16, 2009

we are gonna be in SO much trouble when nina grows up

we went to jack's house to play for a bit on thursday or friday morning. we were getting dressed and i asked her if she wanted to wear one of the new dresses i got her from ll bean with oma's gift certificate (the blue striped one). she said, "sure, jack hasn't seen me in that one yet."

ooooooooh my! she sure hasn't heard this kind of thing from me!

i have changed the world!

check this out (click here)

if you don't feel like clicking, i'll tell you what it shows. it's Earth Girl!

remember when i wrote to pbskids.org telling them that the create your own super hero game on super why was stereotypically (in a negative way) gender-specific because boy super heros could choose between the bohr model, earth, dinosaur, rocket ship or airplane options and girls could only choose between hearts and flowers, shooting star, bunny and rainbow? well, they changed it! boys and girls can now choose between all 10 options. i think i'll send a congratulatory email to pbskids tonight.

i am so proud of myself. vanessa, your little babe of unknown gender has one less silly stereotype foisted on him/her already. woo hoo!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

nina's first pony ride

the farm yesterday was awesome! nina and i had a great time. she liked the bus ride, the pony ride, and the hay ride best. she chose to not milk the cow (can't say i blame her, it is kind of weird) but she did try to feed a sheep. unfortunately the sheep had been fed already by droves and droves of preschoolers, so they weren't hungry. we tried.

we also saw a donkey, horses, goats, chickens, geese, ducks, turkeys, bunnies, baby ducks, baby chicks and a sow and her piglets.

maggie did great with nick! no tears, but nick said she was very excited to go meet me and nina at the bus. i got a big hug from her, the she went back to doing her thing. well, i'm glad it wasn't traumatic for her, but a few minutes of snuggling would have been nice!

a video of nina riding a pony is coming, when the internet is faster. for now here are some photos.

or not, seeing as i'm having trouble uploading those too. hm!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

maggie's back in the saddle!

(knock on wood)

she woke up dry from a long nap yesterday, so i put her on the potty about 15 minutes later. she sat there and played with a cup of water (warm water. she loves to stick her hands in cups of water, so i thought that might help her pee). sure enough, she peed within 5 minutes. hooray maggie! she was dry in the evening again too after a few hours, and we tried again and she peed again! it took about 5 minutes again, but it worked. hopefully this is the beginning of the end of diapers.

i think with maggie, i need to wait a bit longer before i put her on the potty after naps. like, 20 minutes instead of the 10-15 i waited for nina. duly noted.

keep your fingers crossed for us!

Monday, May 11, 2009

ellis island and statue of liberty!

the first one here is a view of southern manhattan from ellis island. it was a bit hazy on saturday, which was nice for us because there was no hot sun to deal with. the temperature was also perfect--high 60s with a nice ocean breeze.

me and nick on ellis island with the statue of liberty in the background.


me and vanessa

everyone except me, who was taking the picture, on statue of liberty island (what's it called??)

and here is lady liverty herself (that's how nina was saying it. see, you knew there'd had to be some nina/maggie cuteness in here somewhere!)

poor neglected blog

sorry oma, life is getting a bit hectic. maggie went through a spell a week or two ago of not falling asleep--or, i should say, staying asleep, because she'd fall asleep just fine at 7;15, but she'd wake up by 8 and be up til 10. nick is reading over my shoulder and noting that it was not actually that long of a stretch, which is true. but it really messed up our routine. the girls were in bed late tonight too, because nina took a nap from 11:30 to 12:30 today (she was late to school). she woke up from her nap and ate a grilled cheese sandwich, half a peanut butter and nutella sandwich, and drank a big glass of lemonade. wow! she's probably growing again. maggie was just a maniac, i don't know why she didn't fall asleep tonight.

then, we had grandma visiting, which should have freed up some blogging time for me, but it's more fun to chat with mom, so it didn't. i think i fell asleep at 8:30 at least twice while she was here, which is actually not typical of me. when everyone's finally asleep, we've all been sleeping pretty well, so i'm not sure why i'm so tired lately. maybe it's the year catching up with me. or maybe it's the warm weather, being out at the playground, running after maggie all day... whatever it is, i'm beat!

then on thursday night dad came (he'd been at erik's doing heating work at the house), and on friday vanessa came. we had a blast--saw the grandparents on friday, went to ellis island and the statue of liberty on saturday, and were out on long island at my aunt maria's on sunday. busy busy! i will post statue of liberty pictures tonight too. then i'm going to bed!

i am going to try to get back to writing at least every other night, but i don't know if i will... the move is starting to loom large, and there's lots to do. but i will try!

hello aunt jeanette



doesn't she totally look like aunt jeanette in this picture? i think she does. does anyone have her email? either send me her email so i can email the pic to her, or email her a link of the blog.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

nina didn't want to go to sleep tonight.

well, she never wants to go to sleep. but tonight, she told me she didn't want to go to sleep because she never has dreams about princesses. i told her to think about princesses as she's falling asleep and maybe she will have a dream about them, and she said no, god made me that i never have dreams about princesses.

poor, poor nina!

Saturday, May 2, 2009

nina is doing math

i forgot to mention, nina has been doing addition lately. you all know how i am not into pushing her at this age, so it's not like i've been drilling her or anything. i think they might have done some with her at school. or maybe she just came up with it on her own. i say school because recently she came home from school saying "do you know what 3 plus 1 is? 4!!" they're really great there about making learning blend into play.

we got her a coloring/activity book at costco yesterday and she was really into doing the math. i mean, she does count on her fingers when she adds, but since she's only 3.5 i'm letting it go. for now.