And She Makes it to 20!

Posts in April, that is.

It came to my attention (or rather, was brought to my attention) that today is the last day of April and I only (prior to a few minutes ago) had 16 posts. Now, that did not seem like a fitting number for the "anniversary month" of this blog -- yes, the blog is now one year old! This makes it the longest running creative endeavor I have ever embarked on. Congratulations, me. Yes, I have an annoying habit of starting things and then not following through. But keeping this blog has been great fun for me over the last year, and I have you, Dear Readers, to thank. Thank you for all of your comments and positive feedback! I will try not to be such a slacker henceforth.

Becca: 18 Months

I was supposed to post an 18-month update on Becca's milestones and of course I forgot. 5 days ago she turned 19 months but we'll just pretend for the purposes of this post that she is still 18 months.

Becca is attempting to run, though it's really more like speed-walking very very fast on the verge of falling down at any moment. She climbs up things (like stairs) but not so much down them. She throws a ball, but does not kick a ball or jump yet (she tries to jump but her feet don't leave the ground and it's very funny to watch).

She is saying a lot more words including "french fry" (which sounds like "pench pie"), "waffle", and "outside". If you ask her to repeat a word she will almost always try and sometimes she'll get it and sometimes she won't. I expected that being a girl she would talk more and have better pronounciation than Ben did at her age but it is not true. I don't actually remember too much what Ben's language was like at 18 months but I know by two he was saying four and five word sentences at least (I think his record sentence by the time he turned two was "those lizards running around in there!" Boy was I impressed). So, we'll revisit that comparison in six months.

She continues to sleep twelve hours at night and take a (usually not longer than two hour) nap in the early afternoon.

Her personality is starting to show a lot more lately, she acts goofy in order to get us to laugh, loves to dance, and loves to draw and finger paint. And oh yes -- the tantrums have started!!

The Birds and The Bees

Ben and I had a round-about discussion about the birds and the bees this morning on the way to preschool. He observed that his friend Matthew is an only child. "Why doesn't Matthew have a baby like I do?" He asked (Becca is, of course "his" baby). I explained that different families have different numbers of children, and that some have only one.

"My friend Johnny's mommy has three babies," he observed by way of supporting documentation. "She has Jakie, Jolie, and.... " he faltered.

"Johnny?" I prompted.

"Yes, Johnny. Why don't you have three babies?" he asked.

"Because I am happy with two babies," I told him.

Then he asked me if mommies always go to the hospital when babies are ready to come out. I told him most of the time mommies want to be at the hospital to have babies, so they can have medicine for the pain.

"Because they have to cut open your belly to get the baby out?" he asked, knowing that Rebecca was born by C section.

"Most babies don't come out that way," I told him, and I explained where most babies (including him) came out.

"MOMMY!" he said, shocked. "HOW DID I FIT THROUGH SUCH A SMALL HOLE?"

"With difficulty, my dear!" I told him.

To Paint or Not to Paint

Oh how I wish I could post a picture of our newly-painted cedar shakes, shutters, and front door... but I can't... because despite the fact that our painter guy has been stopping by the house almost every day for the last five days, nothing is actually painted yet. Let's call this painter "Jose". (Okay, his name is actually Jose).

Anyway we gave Jose the colors names/numbers we wanted to use and he volunteered to take one of our cedar shakes to the paint store so we could see how it would look and make sure we liked it. So we gave him an extra one we had in the garage. He came back two days later finally, with the cedar shake painted to show us. But, he said, since we were using a solid stain and not a latex paint, he didn't know if the stain would cover the existing stain on our cedar shakes (the one he took from the garage was unstained).

So I suggested why not bring a small amount of the stain back here and paint a couple of our shakes to see how it looked? He agreed, and off he went. A day and a half later he came back with a gallon of paint and painted half a dozen of the shakes on the side of the house. But, he said, the guys at the paint store told him the solid stain wouldn't cover our existing stain so he bought a gallon of latex paint instead which was supposedly the same color (but actually doesn't look like the same color).

When I pointed out that it wasn't the same color, he said "Well it has the same name and number as the solid stain." And I said, "Well, it's not the same color and we didn't want to use a latex paint." The discussion eventually ended with him prying a piece of cedar off the side of our house and disappearing with it -- supposedly back to the paint store to see if the solid stain will actually cover it or not.

You might wonder why I am putting up with a guy who would pry a jagged piece of cedar off the side of my house and then disappear for the day, and it is because HE IS DIRT CHEAP.

When I Have Nothing to Blog About I Post Random Pictures

Like this one. I am trying to "hat train" Rebecca. In other words I am trying to get her to keep a hat on her head when I put one on her, and not take it off/put it on repeatedly, etc. With summer rapidly approaching (or is it here already?) I want to get her in the habit of wearing a hat to protect her little head from the sun. Never bothered to force Ben to wear a hat, since his hair is so thick and he tans instead of burning. Rebecca is exactly the opposite. So I got her like 5 hats, which she loves and says "Hat! hat!" whenever I bring one out. But she still tends to futz with them instead of leaving them alone on her head. So we're working on it.

I was hoping by this point in the week I'd have before and after pictures to post of the house, since we're working on getting some exterior painting done. The painter was originally going to start today but we seem to be falling behind schedule. Oh well - maybe later in the week.

Work Those Abs!

Heat Wave

It was supposed to get up to 90 degrees today... I'm not sure if it did but it was definitely hot. By mid-morning it was hot enough to break out the sprinkler, which Ben has been asking for for weeks already. Rebecca pretty much hated the sprinkler, opting instead to sit on the porch and eat sidewalk chalk. Yes, I intervened (eventually).

This afternoon we had some friends over, whose son goes to school with Ben. The boys played in the sprinkler some more, after which we all went out for dinner and ice cream. It was a good way to spend a hot day! Below are a couple of pictures from this morning.

Love/Hate

I've mentioned recently Ben's love of dogs. Wherever we go, if he sees someone with a dog he will go up to the owner and ask if he can pet it and ask what kind of dog it is. If we're driving in the car and happen to see a dog while at a stop light or something he'll put his window down and yell out -- "WHAT KIND OF DOG IS THAT??" (Or "IS THAT A MALTESE??")

Becca, unfortunately, hates dogs. She seems to like them from far away -- that is, if she sees one down the street or out the car window she'll point excitedly and say "Doggie! Doggie!" But if one comes within, say, 15 feet of her, she'll start to fuss and ask to be picked up and bury her head in my shoulder and whimper "doggie... doggie..." And if the dog comes within 5 feet she'll go into outright hysterics. Sometimes you can fool her if it's a very, very small dog. The other day we met two chihuahas on our walk and she was mostly okay with those.

Becca is now beginning to be able to express verbally her feelings about things she doesn't like, at least a little bit. A recent "conversation" went like this:

ME: Look - a doggie!
BECCA: DOGGIE! Doggie! Doggie!
ME: Do you like doggies?
BECCA: No!
ME: Do you like kitties?
BECCA: KITTY!!
ME: Do you like Daddy?
BECCA: DADDY!!
ME: Do you like doggies?
BECCA: NO!!

I Baked My Own Matzah at the Charlotte Jewish Day School

Ben's teacher emailed pictures of the kids from a couple of weeks ago when they went over to to the Day School and learned how to make matzah for Passover. Here's Ben and his classmate Russell. Their hats say I Baked My Own Matzah at the Charlotte Jewish Day School.

Weekend Update

Our weekend has been busy so far. Yesterday morning we took the kids to the Kids in Motion festival next to the South Park Mall, where by chance we met two of Ben's classmates. The kids had fun playing together, and Joel walked with Rebecca over to a sporting goods store that was within sight of the fair grounds and bought himself a pair of new sneakers. After he got back we had lunch with Ben's friend Jared and his parents and little brother.

We didn't get home until around 2, when we put Rebecca down for a late nap and got ourselves ready to go out for Joel's birthday. At 3:30 Joel's parents arrived to babysit and Joel and I went here for a couples massage, and then here for dinner. It was a very nice and relaxing afternoon/evening!

Today we've been to the JCC for some exercise and Costco for some shopping, and now Joel and Ben are checking out the neighborhood Sherwin-Williams paint store (some painting projects in our future!) Rebecca's taking a nap, and I think I might take advantage of the opportunity for a quick nap as well while the boys are out...

Happy Birthday Joel!

We love you! (In case you can't tell, Ben's note says "I love you Daddy").

Ben's Ginormous Grow Frog

This past weekend when I took Ben to the nature preserve, I got him a Ginormous Grow Frog from the gift shop while I was waiting for his class about frogs to finish. Since I apparently don't have anything better to do with my time, I took before and after pictures of it.

Before:

After soaking since Saturday afternoon in a trashbag of water in the bathroom:

I wonder if it will get any bigger?

The Lake I Didn't Know We Had

On the other side of the subdivision we live in there is a big lake. It is a very nice lake, and it is very large, and it has a bike/jogging path that goes all the way around it. There are geese and ducks and box turtles and rumors of other wildlife including a big snapping turtle. Today we saw what I think was a blue heron there. And I probably shouldn't admit it, but I only discovered this lake yesterday. Yes, I have lived here for almost two years, and while I knew there was a body of water of some type I had never bothered to go looking for it and it is surprisingly well hidden (well hidden for me anyway since it's on the other side of our subdivision where I never have reason to go).

Anyway, this morning Joel and the kids and I took a walk over there so I could show it to Joel, and we spent a good two hours on our walk exploring the lake and surroundings. The weather was very nice and we all had fun. This afternoon Joel's parents came over and we cooked hamburgers and hotdogs and ate water melon and made s'mores. The kids' introduction to s'mores did not go so well -- Ben took one bite and decided he didn't like it, and Rebecca liked it until she got sticky marshmallow goo all over her hands and then she squealed and waved her hands around trying to get rid of it.

Pictures of the lake, the blue heron, and Rebecca's marshmallow fiasco below.

Frogs & Turtles

This morning I took the kids to the McDowell Nature Center on the grounds of the McDowell Nature Preserve, which offers a "Young Naturalist" series of classes for preschool aged children that meets once a month on Saturday mornings. This was our first visit to the nature center. I had read that this morning's class (called "Froggy Days") was all about frogs, so I thought Ben would be interested in that. While he learned all about frogs and went on a nature walk in the preserve to see frog habitats, Becca and I looked at the aquariums and played in the activity center. Becca seemed particularly smitten with an aquarium of aquatic turtles -- she kept running up to it, screaming, then turning around and running away. Both the kids seemed to have a good time, so I'm sure we'll be going back there again sometime.

Passover, Continued...

Our second (and final) Seder took place in Hickory tonight. Most of the pictures I took are from before we left, when I coerced Ben, in his spiffy clothes and freshly cut hair, out into the yard for some spring pictures. Surprisingly, he was in an obliging mood. Rebecca wasn't, particularly, but you can't have everything.

The Seder went well -- better than last year, when Rebecca pooped all over herself and Joel. There were no pooping incidents tonight, just a lot of matzah-throwing. She has quite a good throwing arm. She almost landed some matzah on the next table over. Ben was very well behaved and was very proud of his grandfather the rabbi! He was glued to his side for the entire evening.

Here are some pictures of the kids dressed up and at the Seder tonight.

Passover

Rebecca's favorite thing about Passover seems to be the singing! (My favorite thing about Passover is my mother-in-law's matzah ball soup, mmm....)

Concentration

One of Ben's favorite activities these days is playing card games, especially Concentration. (I find it ironic that I've spent thousands of dollars on toys for this kid in the last almost-five-years, and a deck of cards turns out to be his favorite).

Anyway, almost every night now after I put Rebecca to bed Ben gets out his cards and asks to play. His favorite place to play cards is on the floor in our walk-in closet. So we sit on the floor in the closet and I spread out the cards while Ben begins a routine that goes something like this:

"Are you serious about winning today? Because I'm SERIOUS about winning. So I think you better be concentrating."

To which I assure him that I'm serious about winning, and then he proceeds to kick my ass at Concentration. Not only am I not trying to let him win, but he actually helps me out and then STILL wins. Last night he blew a match on his turn and I stopped him and said "What are you doing?" and he looked at me sheepishly and said, "I was saving that match for you, Mommy." He will also often tell me where a match is to the card I've just turned over.

Now, I used to think I had a pretty good memory and was pretty good at games like Concentration, so I am not sure if a) I now have swiss cheese for brains or b) Ben has an uncanny memory. He'll remember where a card is five turns later, after I've totally forgotten it was even turned over, much less where. When I ask him how he knows where the cards are he grins and shrugs and says, "I'm concentrating!"

I guess I just need to concentrate harder...

Carolina Raptor Center

Today Joel's parents and I took the kids to the Carolina Raptor Center on the grounds of Latta Plantation. The weather was great -- sunny and in the mid 70s -- and we had a great time walking around and looking at the different birds. We attended a half hour presentation where we got to learn about some of the different birds and view them up close. Rebecca was just as interested in the birds as Ben was, which took me by surprise since I had originally conceived of the visit to the raptor center as mainly for Ben's enjoyment since (in addition to dogs) he also has a particular interest in birds of prey.

We learned a lot of interesting things, such as:

1. A red tailed hawk can see a mouse from 100 feet in the air;
2. If a human's eyes were the same size in proportion to it's head as an owl's, our eyes would be the size of softballs;
3. Certain species of vultures will vomit when threatened and urinate on themselves to cool off.

That last one -- after the terminology was explained -- had Ben in hysterics.

We also visited the gift shop, which had some interesting items including pads of paper made from recycled elephant poop.

I accidentally left my camera at home, which was a shame because in addition to lots of cool birds I would have liked to photograph, Rebecca was wearing a cute dress today. Oh well.

Becca Loves Disco

Today (while Joel was at work) I took the kids to Baby Loves Disco which takes place on a Saturday afternoon every couple of months at a bar downtown. Both of them had a great time -- there was balloon animals, bubbles, face painting, kids' yoga, books, games, toys, snacks, and of course DANCING!

Happy Birthday

Seven years ago today at the TuJaze cattery in East Berlin PA a Balinese cat named Cats Pajamas Sweet Muffins (I think) had a litter of kittens. Eight weeks later I made Joel drive out there with me (about an hour from where we were living at the time) and shell out $250 for one of them. We named him Ulysses, and today in honor of his birthday I let him lick the icing off a cupcake. Happy birthday Ulysses! (Ben and Rebecca were both happy to lick the icing off of cupcakes also).