Peer Pressure [entries|archive|friends|userinfo] twobrknot [ website | Seelie Court - buy our stuff, please. ] [ userinfo | livejournal userinfo ] [ archive | journal archive ]

Art? [Aug. 18th, 2008|09:27 am] [ Current Location | work ] [ Current Mood | amused ] [ Current Music | Starlight Express is in my head, does that count? ] I was copying down directions from the computer on to a piece of paper. "I help you color, Mommy." Ellie was "helping" by holding the paper, then the pen. I finally finished. Ellie looked at the paper, then smiled at me. "That's beautiful," she said supportively. Link 3 comments|Leave a comment

With determination... [Aug. 14th, 2008|05:56 pm] A was sitting on my lap. he dropped his pacifier. He dove forward and face-planted directly on the paci, then sat up again like nothing happened. I wonder how many times he's done that when I wasn't watching... Link Leave a comment

Yes, I do! [Aug. 14th, 2008|10:36 am] [ Current Location | home ] [ Current Mood | sleepy ] [ Current Music | Elmo's world. ] Ellie and Alexander are on vacation from day care for a week. (More on that later.) So, I'm off work for a week. Sorta. I told Ellie that I might have to go into work for a few minutes. "Mommy, you work here!" Link 1 comment|Leave a comment

Hooray! Extra adult supervision... [Aug. 5th, 2008|09:48 am] [ Current Location | work ] [ Current Mood | excited ] [ Current Music | Costa Rican project. Will it ever end? ] Thanks to lifeonwry I'm good for two tickets. If anyone happens to have 1 extra ticket, that would be swell since we will have 3 adults (which increases the likelyhood of a feather shoppe visit.) It looks like we'll be coming on Sunday.... (Thanks, Michi!) Link 6 comments|Leave a comment

Coming soon to a renaissance faire near you... [Aug. 4th, 2008|10:51 am] [ Current Location | work ] [ Current Mood | excited ] [ Current Music | costa rican projects ] It's Ellie!!! (and Alexander and me along with at least one other "grown-up") Once again, putting out a plea for spare comp tickets. Plans for this trip - petting zoo, Kids Kingdom, watching the parade, seeing Jynks (if he's recovered), running in a circle like a maniac, getting overtired from no nap, a couple of meltdowns, and dragging Ellie off screaming when it's time to go home. Ah, good times. Link 8 comments|Leave a comment

My new favorite word [Jul. 30th, 2008|10:13 am] [ Current Location | work ] [ Current Mood | amused ] [ Current Music | More costa rican stuff ] I learned it last night from a guy named Stephen. Anachrotastic! It's anachronism/anachronistic combined with fantastic! A great anachronism - wonderfully anachronistic! (I was the casting assistant for The Woman in Black, a period piece.) Link 2 comments|Leave a comment

Last night around 3:00 am... [Jul. 30th, 2008|09:32 am] [ Current Location | work ] [ Current Mood | amused ] [ Current Music | Costa Rican projects ] Me: Shh, Alexander, Ellie is sleeping. Voice from outside the bedroom door: Maybe you say Daddy is sleepin'. Ellie is wake up. I wake up, Mommy. You say Daddy is sleepin. Me: *sigh* Link Leave a comment

Just so I remember: [Jul. 29th, 2008|02:32 pm] [ Current Location | work ] [ Current Mood | groggy ] [ Current Music | None, darn it! ] Ellie's first concert - Peter Paul and Mary Alexander's first concert - Ralph's World (both at Ravinia, BTW) Alexander's first movie - Baby Mama (followed by the 2nd Narnia, Indiana Jone & Crystal Skull, You Don't Mess with the Zohan & Get Smart.) Ellie's - TBD Ellie's first live musical - Guys and Dolls (Winnetka Children's theater)...the first 20 minutes of it. Alexander - TBD Ellie's first word - Bye bye Alexander - TBD Link Leave a comment

My weekend by Ellie and Alexander [Jul. 28th, 2008|09:52 am] [ Current Location | work ] [ Current Mood | exhausted ] [ Current Music | Costa Rican school project ] A: I've been working on my thumbsucking skill, which came in handy when Mom misplaced my pacifier Sunday afternoon. Nice timing on my part, right Mom? E: I love you, Alexander. I kiss. You okay, buddy. I hug. A: Hey, Ellie, have you seen my new trick? I can - oof. Uh...Thanks. You're not so bad yourself. ( What we did... ) What a weekend. Link Leave a comment

The boy [Jul. 25th, 2008|11:56 am] [ Current Location | work ] [ Current Mood | pleased ] [ Current Music | None, darn it! ] He smiles...and smiles and smiles. He's pretty much mastered the pacifier. (Did you know that was a learned skill?) He talks himself to sleep. Someday I'll know what he's saying. You feed him, give him a clean diaper, then put him in bed. He babbles for a little while, then it's quiet. He's fallen asleep. Much easier than the current Ellie method. No teething yet. Boy, do I appreciate that. He LIKES having a (light) blanket over his face. It's another easy method for getting him to sleep. If he can't have it on his face, he likes it up against his cheek. The softer the blanket, the better it is. He really thinks ceiling fans and lights are cool, but nothing makes him smile more than Ellie. If he's hungry, he switches in to demon-child mode. It's pretty impressive. I've only seen his head spin around a few times, but it's a good thing he doesn't know swear words, 'cuz wow. It would be impressive. He wakes up every morning around 4. I've found that it doesn't really matter when he falls asleep. I used to wake him up around 10:30 or 11 to eat, but I found out that even if he goes to sleep at 8, he'll still sleep till 4. So we wake up at 4, then again at 6:30 to start our day. Speaking of eating - he eats a TON. I work my butt off to get him bottles for daycare, then hear that he polishes off the 5 oz ones in no time. Uhm...5 oz is the top of the bottle. In the big picture it's a good thing. He's having no trouble gaining weight or growing bigger. In fact, he'll probably catch up to Ellie. I hope by then that they still love each other as much as they do now. Alexander is very patient (except for the eating thing.) I'm busy getting stuff done, Ellie needs my attention, Ellie and her friends swarm him - and he's fine with it. It's nice to have a laid-back kid. Anyway, that's all for now. http://picasaweb.google.com/TwoBRKnot/Recent?authkey=HSTiJnJ0idQ Link 2 comments|Leave a comment

Proud Mom [Jul. 24th, 2008|11:44 am] [ Current Location | work ] [ Current Mood | amused ] [ Current Music | None, darn it! ] Last night Ellie counted to twelve...three times...only left out ten once. She told me that the light switch in her room has a green light. (It does.) This morning she did some of the buttons on her dress all by herself. (She would have done more, but at 10 min a button...we had to go!) Oh, and that's why her dress is on backwards today. Duh! You can't reach the buttons in the back. Ellie stays in her bed at night when I tuck her in (although with potty training, new teachers and a new classroom, I'm braced for a little backsliding.) Her favorite songs are "ABCD,""10 little monkeys jumpin' on the bed," Gartan mother's Lullabye AKA "Greys" (cuz it has the word Gray in there...once,) and "Teapot." Favorite movies: Anything with Elmo (especially when he visits the fire station,)Any Sing Along Songs video (especially when they visit Disneyland,) Cinderella (the Brandy version,)Mary Poppins, Music Man (with the mushy stuff edited out) and Annie (with the movie, Miss Hannigan ripping the head off a doll, and the scary chase at the end edited out.) Favorite Books: A book with fingerplays and action rhymes, I'm a Big Sister, The Hiccupotomus, and The Little Engine that Could. Favorite Music: Hampster Dance, Elmo & Goo Goo Dolls, Justin Roberts, Ralph's World and just new this month - The Wee Sing Collection. Favorite Toy/Obsession: "Aye"-Ander (AKA Alexander) followed closely by baby dolls & stuffed animals, and anything that has buttons (TV, VCR, phones, remotes, etc...) Coming soon: Best of Alexander. Link Leave a comment

Slight venting. [Jul. 24th, 2008|10:09 am] [ Current Location | work ] [ Current Mood | devious ] [ Current Music | None, darn it! ] So we had orientation for Ellie's new room. Her teacher seems great. It happen to come up in conversation that the girls in her room use the pretend tools more than the boys do. Then I brought up the fact that in Alexander's room, they don't let the boys do "girly" things like wear ponytails, or dresses. It's a bit of a moot point since they don't have dress up clothes and Alexander's hair is too short anyway, but it does bug me. It's funny that this is one of the rare times that girls have more options than guys. Ellie's teacher is totally fine with boys in Cinderella dresses AND they have dress up clothes. She explained that it's part of the developmental process. (Yep. Glad she knows it, too.) Ooh! I wanna send Alexander in a kilt someday. Hmm... Link 3 comments|Leave a comment

Ellie is Cracker. [Jul. 23rd, 2008|10:15 am] [ Current Location | work ] [ Current Mood | awake ] [ Current Music | None, darn it! ] Ellie is moving to the bigger kids' room this week. Best part? (Besides seeing all of her older friends) They do potty training...uh...learning...uhm...what ever the PC term is. Last week I got an email from her teacher asking if it would be okay if she starts transitioning to the Quacker room. I said it was fine and warned about Ellie's new tendency to take off her own diaper if it's wet or dirty. Yeah, came the response. Apparently she had taken off her diaper and handed it to her friend's Mom. Luckily the friend's Mom is super-cool, didn't flinch, and thanked Ellie. I teased Ellie's teacher that this was the really reason she's shipping Ellie off to the next room. Oy, Ellie. This morning she was so helpful that I didn't bring in Alexander's carrier when I dropped them both off. I usually have to bring him in it so I can put him down and catch Ellie when she runs off. This is day 4 in a row of Ellie not melting down when I leave. It's nice. She skips the meltdown and just goes straight to the teacher for a hug. The meltdowns started when Alexander started daycare. Understandable, but boy, what a pain. We'll see how it goes in the new room. (So far she starts in her old room, but spends more and more time in the new room.) Link Leave a comment

I cooking. [Jul. 22nd, 2008|10:06 am] [ Current Location | work ] [ Current Mood | amused ] [ Current Music | consumer seminar class ] I cooking, Mommy. You want some? Sure. What are you making? Mack-a-moanie cheese, coffee and latte. Is tastes good. :-) Link Leave a comment

Gosh, she's sweet. [Jul. 21st, 2008|03:26 pm] [ Current Location | work ] [ Current Mood | grateful ] [ Current Music | teachertube.com videos ] This weekend I stubbed my toe really hard. Enough to make me crumple over and consider eyeball leaking. Then Elie came over to me. "You okay, Mommy? What happened? You okay?" "Yeah. I bonked my foot." "I fix it. You show me. I look." She went to assess the damage. "Hugs, Mommy." "Thanks, Ellie. I feel better now." "Okay. We watch Elmo tv now?" Link Leave a comment

sisterly advice [Jul. 19th, 2008|09:06 am] "Aye ander, you have to be quiet! dadd'n is sleepin," she hollered. Link Leave a comment

Too much Chinese fod? [Jul. 18th, 2008|09:32 am] [ Current Location | Work ] [ Current Mood | amused ] [ Current Music | renradio.com ] Ellie was tucking in Alexander last night. "You go nigh-nigh. Close eyes. Good night. You sleep. In morning. You wake up in morning. You wake up, say Hi, Ellie! Hi, Mr. Hom." (Mr. Hom is the owner of the Chinese food restaurant that we visit apparently too often.) Link Leave a comment

Car is fixed...and the concert was canceled. [Jul. 17th, 2008|12:28 pm] So we had Thai food and made music anyway. Oh well. Hooray! http://www.drhorrible.com/act_II.html I like Neil Patrick Harris' voice! Who would guessed that Doogie could sing well. My new favorite quote: "Oh, goodness! Look at my wrist. I gotta go." Wait! There's more: http://twitter.com/drhorrible Link 2 comments|Leave a comment

Car is broken...car is broken... [Jul. 15th, 2008|11:19 am] [ Current Location | Computer lab ] [ Current Mood | frustrated ] [ Current Music | consumer seminar class ] Blurg. We got rear-ended March 30. Our car was in the shop for two or 3 weeks. The trunk latch was still broken. I brought it back. They fixed it. Now the "there's a problem with the exhaust system" light is on. I have to bring it back. If it's accident related, they'll fix it. If it's not, then I have to take it to the dealership (and pay for a diagnostics test.) Then the dealership fixes it. It wouldn't be such a problem, except that I'M GOING TO THE WATER STREET BRIDGE CONCERT, DARN IT!!! I have to leave tomorrow at noon. Car must be fixed by noon tomorrow. At this point they won't even have it settled on who is going to fix it by noon tomorrow. Ack ack ack..... Anyone want to drive me 'n' Alexander to Milwaukee tomorrow afternoon? *sigh* Maybe we can rent a car. I think that might be a little much. Anyone have an in at a car rental spot? Link 2 comments|Leave a comment

Hmm... [Jul. 15th, 2008|09:57 am] [ Current Location | Work ] [ Current Mood | happy ] [ Current Music | Dr. Horrible ] Maybe go watch this, okay? http://www.drhorrible.com/ If you liked Once More with Feeling, you'll like this. If you don't know Once More with Feeling, you should watch this anyway. Link 5 comments|Leave a comment

navigation [ viewing | most recent entries ] [ go | earlier ]