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

Saturday, October 31, 2009

maggie's newest words

today she added "tights." she was wearing tights with her fairy costume, and she really likes them. when we were looking at pictures, she kept pointing to her legs and saying "tights." also, while we were looking at pictures, nina's foot made a noise against the floor that sounded like a fart. maggie laughed, pointed at nina's butt, and said, "nina hart" which translates to "nina fart." aww!

happy halloween!

take a look at the girls' fairy costumes!






there was a halloween parade that started at the library and ended at the opera house. about 20 businesses handed out candy to the kids along the way. the girls loved it! even maggie, she loved the idea that people were handing us candy as we walked.
there was a small costume contest at the opera house (we didn't win anything, we were totally robbed! the winners all had purchased costumes, how dumb is that?), but it was still fun.

then we had dinner at china by the sea, to celebrate mom and dad's anniversary. happy anniversary mom and dad!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

we had a FANTASTIC leaf pile today!

wow, it was perfect. i made it right at the bottom of the slide and the kids LOVED it. the glee on maggie's face as she slid into (and almost disappeared under!) the leaves was priceless. nina particularly enjoyed the slide/flop (wherein she slides down into the leaves and then throws herself forward), and the face first slide. the girls' friends charlie and hattie came by for some fun too.

i do love a good leaf pile!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

nina's vocabulary is so cute

she's really picking up on and using some big words. yesterday at dinner, she called my chicken marsala "scrumptious!" such a nice compliment for her mama!

she also thinks nick is "hysterical" and that maggie can be "irritating." i'll try to think of more and jot them down when she says them, it's so hard to remember these things even at the end of the day!

maggie is a clever child

we're still potty training. today i started giving her jelly beans for using the potty, and she really likes that. she hasn't initiated trips to the potty in the way that nina did (grabbing my hand and saying "mama pee pee! mama pee pee!" while pulling me to the potty). no, instead, maggie's version of initiating a trip to the potty is to say "poo-poo... poo-poo..." softly, in a little sing-song voice. and if i hear her, good for me, but she makes no effort to get my attention. nope, i had better be paying attention to her! the jelly beans are having a good effect though, i think. now when she pees on the potty, she gets VERY excited; smiling, clapping her hands, and jumping up and down in anticipation of her jelly beans. we shall see if this leads to more potty initiation.

i take it back, the clever little child DOES tell me she has to go to the potty. why, at church on sunday she told me 3 times during mass that she had to go. she was lying. she just figured out that if she says poo-poo, we'll leave church and take a little trip to the potty. i finally gave up on mass and waiting in that room by the elevator with the girls. i know church is boring, but what a little devil!

a wonderful visit from the sullivan family

on thursday, my old college roommate mercedes came to visit with her husband ryan and their son liam. we had so much fun! liam is only 8 months old and such a cutie. nina loves babies, so she was so excited to have him around. maggie also had a fun time being a big kid to liam. she watched nina play peekaboo with him and tried to do it too (she covered her ears first instead of her eyes, it was so cute. then she looked over at nina and moved her hands to her eyes. adorable!)

we spent thursday around the house because maggie and liam's nap schedules weren't in sync. but on friday we took them to grimes cove and into town for a quick tour of the harbor. we tried to sell them on moving to maine, but it's too cold and dark for mercedes. :-(

nina kept calling liam william, which i thought was funny because liam is in fact the irish form of william. i think. or is it scottish? well, one of those. she also missed him when they were gone. she said, "i miss liam, he's my best buddy." awww.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

tuesday....

wow i'm really on a roll here! my fingers are getting tired!

tuesday was perhaps our busiest day of all. nina had her 4 year checkup at 9 am, so we had to be out of the house at 8:30 (we dropped mom's car off to be inspected on the way). she's a picture of health, of course! the best news is that she is 37 lbs (65th %ile) and 42.5 inches (91st %ile), which puts her BMI at the 35th %ile! YAY! she's almost never over 10th %ile in BMI, and now she's 35th! i couldn't believe it, i had to test out their scale myself, but it's right! this has to be the grandma effect.

nina was her usual adorable self. the dr asked her a bunch of questions, including asking about her eating habits. when he asked if she drank much milk she said "no, i'm not really much of a milk kind of kid." he laughed!

she got the H1N1 vaccine, it was the nasal spray and she didn't mind it at all.

straight from there, we went to a la leche meeting at nina's friend nora's house. nora also has a sister maggie's age, so it's a perfect match (nora also has 3 older brothers, this is the family we went apple picking with a few weeks back). la leche was a lot of fun with a lot of kids running wild.

after that it was home, a quick nap for maggie, and off again to dance class.

finally, we played outside for a few hours, because the weather has been so wonderful!

monday...

on monday, the girls and i went with mom to visit grandma in brunswick. my driver's license expires on my birthday so i need to get a maine one. actually, technically i guess they want you getting one within 30 days of moving to the state, but i didn't realize that, and then when the girl told me it had already been more than that, and we've been so busy... you know how it is.

well, long story short nick said he'd check the website for me and see what kind of ID i needed, but he failed to read all of the words on the website and so i didn't have my passport with me, and i couldn't get a license. wow, i was so happy with him.

then we went to target and got mittens for the girls, since it's getting cold.

finally, it was off to mcdonalds (monopoly!), where they have the playplace that the girls love so much. i got a large coffee (2 game pieces), a large fries (2 game pieces, the smaller sizes do NOT have game pieces), chicken nuggets for the girls, and a small burger for me. i didn't bother with the happy meal since i didn't need the extra fries or anything else that comes with it, since we were sharing the large fries, which i needed to get becasue of the game pieces. NICK, there is a point to all of this! stop criticizing me as i write!

the point is, nina asked for the toy that comes with her happy meal. i said, oh i'm sorry, i didn't get you a happy meal (i didn't explain about monopoly). she said "i didn't get a happy meal, i got a sad meal." aww, poor nina!

sunday..

sunday was a slow, rainy kind of day (seems like all the sundays this month have been rainy). we did church, sunday school (remember i'm nina's teacher.) she LOVES it. she keeps asking for sunday school to be longer! she's not so much into church though, she's always complaining about the "boring stories." ha, it's true though, they can be pretty boring! she's good though, she does activities in her book and maggie babbles an yells "more!" whenever the singing stops. oh, nina's favorite part of mass is the petitions part (where they say "for all the clergy and whatever, blah blah blah, we pray to the lord), and nina says "LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER." everyone around us tries not to giggle, but her enthusiasm is so cute.

following that, i gave nick a stellar haircut. there was enough hair on the floor to build a small rodent, which we then released into the wild. not really.

saturday...

it's been a busy week, so i'm working backwards to fill you all in on what's been going on. so, saturday:

we drove up to rockland to get snow tires for the winter (found some in uncle henry's. you know you live in maine when you get your snow tires from uncle henry's!). it was a beautiful fall day, and we took the girls to the new children's museum there. it was great, they loved it! small, but lots to do. we put together a 12-piece puzzle made from cardboard boxes painted on one side (they stacked up 4 wide and 3 high, so the completed puzzle was almost as tall as me). there was also a floor mat-style puzzle of the USA. i let the kids and nick help me with it some, but it was too much fun to let them do much. maggie loved the bean bag chairs and this one bouncy ball she found, and nina loved dishing out pizza in the play kitchen.

after that, we went to get the tires, but on the way we passed the cedarworks store (cedarworks is where we get our swingset). well, they had a bunch of those amazing swingsets they sell set up out front, so nick dropped me and the kids off while he went on to get the tires. more fun!

the girls did great on the road too. we bribed them with french fries on the way home (it's monopoly time at mcdonalds, we're addicts). maggie is facing forward now and loves the view--when some ocean came into view at one point, she yelled "WOW!! WAWA!!" over and over again, pointing. (wa-wa is water). it was too cute!

Friday, October 16, 2009

15 month check-up

maggie finally, at 16.5 months, had her 15 month check-up. it went swimmingly, of course, she's super healthy. and big! 26 lbs (like, 85th percentile) and 33 inches (over 97th percentile). she didn't appreciate having her head measured or the doctor listening to her heart (the horror!), but she cheered up quickly. her new pediatrician is dr. feder, who is a DO. i like that, since i felt it made him more able to check out maggie's torticollis. and he did, he checked the sternoclediomastoid muscle that used to be tight and said that it felt just fine. which i thought, she hasn't tilted her head in like a year and doesn't seem to have any problems with using either arm or anything, but i still wanted a check on it.

that is all, nina has her checkup next week, i'll be sure to update on her too!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

nina is very into anatomy

she has been for a while. we got her a book on the human body last year, so i know it's been going on for at least a year, though i can't remember exactly when it started. the interest has led us to field many interesting questions, such "how does food become poop?"

last friday after story hour at the library, we were looking for a book on injuries (she had seen a book at borders with a picture of a scalp wound in it, and she wanted more!). the library didn't have anything like that, but mrs. pinkham found us a whole bunch of interesting anatomy/human body books. nick was looking at a drawing in one with her, and he pointed out the kidneys.

"kidneys?" said nina. "you mean there's kid knees and adult knees?"

haha!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

haircuts

i forgot to tell you vanessa, i got a haircut! i cut off at least 10 inches, enough to send to locks of love. i also cut nina's hair after a shampoo. there were a lot of tangles, and i told her i could cut it if she'd prefer that to me brushing it out. she did, so i did. finally, i trimmed maggie's bangs again. ok that's not much of a haircut but she deserves a picture too. here they are!






doesn't nina look so beautiful and grown up??

damariscotta pumpkin festival

what fun!

today we went to damariscotta for the pumpkin festival. i didn't even know they had this until last week or so. what happens is, someone gives out giant pumpkin seeds (that is, seeds to grow the giant pumpkin. i don't know how big the seeds themselves are). people all try to grow the pumpkins, and in october harvest them and see who grew the biggest one. the biggest pumpkin gets to be in the parade, and the loser pumpkins are carved and painted into neat-o shapes, things, and creatures on main street. my favorite i think was the pumpkin that was carved into a pine cone. the fetus carving was creepy and neat, that went in front of the maine cloth diaper company and baby store, so it was kind of fitting.

there was lots to do for the kids too. the girls made crafts (nina a pumpkin, maggie a leaf picture frame), jumped in a bounce pumpkin (maggie LOVED it. i had to drag her out screaming when her turn was done. poor girl!), threw some bean bags at a wood pumpkin target, picked a small pumpkin from a patch (nina had to have the one that looked like a butt, and maggie just wanted to take every one of them), and other such pumpkin-themed fun. it all ended today with a parade. tomorrow there will be more fun--pumpkin catapulting & pumpking boat racing (??? like, will people paddle in hollowed out pumpkins? i don't think they were that big, so maybe they'll just float them?). but tomorrow we're going to the fall foliage fair, so we'll be missing all that.

the fall foliage fair needs a bounce house, it's really not keeping up with the damariscotta pumpkin festival. or at least a hay pile... something for the kids besides the train. well, maybe there is more than in years past, i'll let you know tomorrow.

overheard

nina and mom were talking in the living room after dinner, and nick and i could hear nina from the dining room telling grandma how much she loves her oma and how excited she is for her to come visit. aww! we can't wait to see you oma!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

open house at the boothbay fire department

what a fun night! the boothbay fire department had an open house. hot dogs, hamburgers, sausages with sauteed peppers and onions, french fries and soda! oh, yeah, and all the firetrucks were there too. :-)

nina got to climb up on a ladder truck. they had the ladder fully extended, and she got to go right up to it. the kids weren't allowed to climb it of course, but she sat up there with the firefighter for like, 15 minutes, chatting with him about everything. she was pointing things out to him and i heard him say "boy, you don't miss a thing, do you?" and i was like, tell me about it brother! when she was getting down he said to us "you have a very intelligent little girl there!" he was very nice to chat with her, and to not talk down to her like some adults tend do.

maggie loved sparky, the person in the firedog costume. we followed him around for half an hour or so. so also liked sitting in one of the firetrucks, pushing buttons to her little heart's content (they said it was OK, everything was turned off. she was in heaven).

they even had a house filled with fake smoke that they used to demonstrate some of the tools they use in fires. nina was ok for a few minutes, then she got scared so we left. it was a bit strange, you could barely see in the smoke. oh yes, and maggie got to spray a fire hose. nina didn't, she was feeling too shy.

what a fun night!

our teeth

well, last week we found out that nina's teeth are perfect--no cavities and she does a great job brushing them all by herself. maggie's teeth are coming in full force too. 2 coming through the bottom, and at least 2 molars, and on top of that i think the 4th tooth on the front of the top jaw is moving in. she has been a bit miserable. nights are rough, and she's got a short fuse during the daytime. but she's still 90% wonderful.

but i'm writing today about me and nick. we had our cleanings and exams on monday. i'm sure you'll all be relieved to know that the tooth pain i had at night last week is nothing. the x-rays were fine, dr. grosser said it's probably just from clenching my jaw at night, which i know i do sometimes. whew! also i have no cavities.

nick, on the other hand, is not so lucky. he is also cavity free, but you know his extra tooth? it turns out it's not really an extra tooth, it's just that his baby tooth never fell out because the adult tooth came out way up top there and so didn't push the baby one out. this is not great, because the baby tooth's root is starting to dissolve and dr. grosser says it will eventually fall out. he says nick should see an orthodontist to talk about options for moving that adult tooth down to where it should be and pulling the baby tooth. nick isn't thrilled with this, but has agreed to talk to the orthodonist. i know we live in maine, but i don't want a husband with missing teeth!

it's not terribly pressing, but at the same time dr. grosser says it's generally better to take care of these things sooner than later, as they just tend to get more complicated and therefore more expensive as we get older.

isn't that the tooth!

HA! couldn't help myself!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

funny girl

tonight we were watching america's funniest home videos.

nina sat on the couch, looked at the TV, and said, "i want to watch it in HD."

nick was so proud!

halloween is coming







i did the carving, but the girls helped scoop out the pumpkin seeds. maggie liked squishing them in her hands and making them squeeze out across the room. we used some of his innards to make pumpkin bread!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

my teeth

so, right after i wrote the last post about how i'm not sure if my teeth are cavity free or not, i had tooth pain. well, not right after. it was last night, i don't know if this happens to anyone else but do you ever clench your teeth and night and one molar hurts? then you poke that molar with your finger and it hurts? all the way down to the root. i hope this isn't a really bad thing, it always feels totally better the next morning but it's something that happens once a year or so. not always the same tooth either... i always think i should go to the dentist after it happens, but then i immediately forget. i forgot about it until just now, when i was looking at the blog. well, now the mystery will be solved. i'll find out if it's just something that happens because i sometimes clench my teeth at night, or if it means the dreaded cavity.

ok nick says this doesn't happen to him. uh-oh! what if i need a root canal?!!