happy birthday, again!

So, we went to an indoor inflatable play place yesterday, assuming Thumbelina would love it because jumping is her favorite thing to do as of late. She was quite happy when we arrived, sitting on daddy’s lap in the parking lot to ‘drive.’

But, as soon as we got inside and Topher jumped into the inflatables, she wasn’t quite so enthused.

Yes, those are Topher’s feet. Do you like the “No Diving: Enter Feet First” sign?

After we finally got Topher to, ahem, come back out - we spent most of our time in the small toddler area, which seemed more comfortable for Thumbelina (much to Topher’s disappointment).

Since the play place wasn’t much of a hit, we decided to head out to the toy store and FINALLY pick out her birthday presents. Yay! We got her an indoor/outdoor jungle gym of sorts. She can climb and slide and do all of her monkeying on it, hopefully. We also picked up a wooden letter puzzle, since she’s been interested in the alphabet lately. Not surprisingly, Thumbelina managed to find a Barney and Riff that were on clearance. They aren’t the small, blissfully silent types that she’s been carrying around for months, either. Nope, they sing songs and Riff even has two obnoxious maracas that he shakes around. She also found a Barney coloring book and Mama took pity on her and bought another Barney dvd. Oh joy!

Admittedly, the jungle gym isn’t put together yet, but she’s quite taken with Riff and Bah-ney.

I would post pictures of her Barney cake, but it’s so sad and pathetic that even I, with my no-shame policy regarding craft attempts, can’t bring myself to post pictures. It took me TWO HOURS and Topher continually came in to gently suggest that I just give it up. Maybe because I kept having to scrape the frosting off the cake and re-frost it to have a clean slate. (Thumbelina fell asleep while waiting for her cake, which at first made me feel sorry that I was taking so long and being so frustrated with something so silly - but then I realized she was spared learning a few colorful words I’d prefer she not hear yet. Yay.) And then when I finally managed to trace a great outline of Barney onto the cake, the purple frosting came out as red and his eyes looked deranged. Isn’t that sad? The only triumph during the entire cake debacle was that she at least recognized him as Barney - though with a distinct question in her voice, kind of like when a parent asks their child to “tell me about that drawing, son!” because they don’t want to mistakenly hurt the kid’s feelings. Topher was like, “At least she didn’t think you made her an alien cake, right?” Yes babe, that makes me feel a million times better. Nevermind that Thumbelina thinks she sees Barney on any cereal box.

We did make an emergency run to the grocery store and procured a few pink princess cupcakes. Thumbelina enjoyed the frosting the most, I think.

My one culinary success this birthday happened to be using my trusty blender and re-introducing smoothies. We haven’t had any in awhile, which is a good thing because Thumbelina discovered milkshakes last weekend during the wedding - and has asked for a “shake” every day since. (Poor Topher ran out of ways to amuse her during his many hours of solo parenting between activities.) Fortunately, she was satisfied that a cherry-peach-mango smoothie is a sufficient “shake.”

If there is any mercy in this world, Thumbelina will have a new interest by her next birthday and Barney will be a friend of the past. Then maybe we can actually order a cake, since not one single local bakery still does Barney cakes anymore. (And I can spare my little one the torture of my cake-decorating disability.)

Happy V-Day!

A friend and I joked today about how Valentine’s Day is infinitely simpler once one is married. Vanished are the high school moments of being unattached and pasting on a smile as friends around us squeal over gifts from boyfriends. We agreed that dating someone on February 14th during those years was equally stressful - because the expectations were so high, and tremendous pressure placed upon the object of our affection and the depth of his outward expression. Ew! I wish I could go back in time and give my teenage-self a pep talk about a little thing called self-esteem. I much prefer the adult version of Valentine’s Day. (I keep re-reading that last sentence and wondering if it sounds like I’m alluding to porn or leather and chains, maybe. Hmm. I’m not.)

I woke up this morning to find some pretty roses awaiting me in my kitchen.

Mmm, so lovely! Thumbelina and I inhaled their scent. (Or at least I did. She nearly hyperventilated from trying to mimic my deep breaths.)

Next to my roses lay a card and jewelry box. I opened both and discovered a beautiful heart pendant on a chain (very enlarged in this pic):

(And yes, I went hunting for the picture off the jeweler’s website because I couldn’t photograph it for the life of me… despite many attempts.)

I used to collect hearts when I was little. Heart-shaped keepsake boxes in particular, but I also had a heart-shaped locket, a heart-shaped birthstone ring and even a heart-shaped trunk. Those things are gone now, but this thoughtful present from Topher brought back those memories.

Thumbelina wore her red leggings with silver hearts. I actually remember buying them for her months ago and thinking, “I hope she can still wear these on Valentine’s Day!” …because I’m a big nerd.

trashbags are genius

We made Valentine’s day cards for our little friends today. Thumbelina is interested in simple wooden puzzles lately, so I thought it might be fun and fitting for her to paint a few heart-shaped puzzles and send those as off as her token of love. But apparently acrylic paint isn’t very friendly with cardboard and tends to get somewhat gluey. It still works, you just have to carefully break apart the puzzle pieces so as to not destroy them. But I can’t decide if I should quickly whip up new cards or go ahead and send them anyway, since… Thumbelina worked so hard on them. But wouldn’t it be sad if a little kiddo opened a card, thought he had a tiny puzzle to break apart and put back together again, but then the entire thing collapsed on him? I’m probably over-thinking this.

Princess Thumbelina chose this sophisticated tiara from the clearance section at Michaels. She wanted to take home an entire assortment, but I knew better then to let that happen. Whenever she has several choices of the same item, she wants to wear each of them simultaneously - and insists that I wave my mommy-magic-wand to make such impossibilities a reality.

Life is much simpler with only one tiara.

illness, a birthday concert, prayers and sweet dreams

Most of my weekend was spent picking up discarded tissues, administering echinacea, nursing non-stop and cuddling two sickies in our family bed. The house is a disaster area, mostly because Topher is ordinarily so helpful on weekends that we get a lot of deep cleaning done. (Toilets await me for tomorrow.) But he’s been languishing in bed, along with a congested Thumbelina who rallied intermittently and decorated the house with a smattering of art supplies, stickers and dollies. Oh, and laundry. Dirty laundry. My living room has a massive pile of bed linens that need to be washed. Why are they in the living room? Because Thumbelina loves to create work for herself (and me) by transferring laundry (or oatmeal packets, cups, toothbrushes, markers, shoes, etc.) from the hamper (or pantry, closet, counter, shelf, cabinet, etc.) to anywhere else. She had a grand time running back and forth from our bedroom to the top of the stairs and dragging, lugging, or tossing whatever her little arms could carry, down to the first level. The floor of her bedroom is wall-to-wall books, miniature felt people and stuffed animals. Also - I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but our Christmas tree is still up. Mmhmm. Yes. I’m considering making it a Valentine’s Day tree, because every weekend that we’ve intended to take it down, other responsibilities or illness have intruded. Topher has asked me to let him take care of it (not that I really wanted to, I just want it gone) because the entire tree has to be taken apart branch by branch and he wants it to be organized in a certain way to make next year’s assembly as easy as possible. Which is fine. But, meanwhile, it’s FEBRUARY and we have a Christmas tree. A friend commented that at least I have a jump on the holidays for this year, right?

Speaking of holidays, Thumbelina will turn two at the end of March. We’re committed to being at wedding on the weekend of her birthday, so Topher and I have been discussing options for celebrating at a different time. I just assumed we’d do the usual cake, small party and a few presents - but Topher asked me today if I’d be up for a road trip. Apparently this year is the 20th Anniversary of Barney and… get ready…. prepare yourself… but, BARNEY IS ON TOUR!!! Yes, so exciting. In early March, Barney will be performing “LIVE” at two venues several hours away. And, ahem, ever-so-shockingly, I think tickets are free and we just show up. So we could potentially catch TWO shows and Thumbelina would be thrilled. (We hope. We suppose she might be terrified of a gigantic purple dinosaur prancing around, looming large. But most likely she’ll love it.)

Two of my good friends live in the area of the concerts, so we’ll probably get a chance to see them, too. Plus we’re just dorky and have an odd love for road trips - and an understandable happiness in bringing Thumbelina joy, even if it involves an eight hour drive. Woo.

Speaking of Thumbelina, some of her garbled jargon is becoming more decipherable. “I don’t know” is her second phrase. It comes out as, “Ida-no!” and she repeats it a few times in a row with crazy-adorable gestures, like shrugging her shoulders and putting her palms face-up with a puzzled expression. (Topher demonstrated this for her and she, being quite the actress, spent plenty of time practicing it because her daddy and I were so delighted.)

Thumbelina is praying more spontaneously. We always pray as a family before mealtime and bedtime, but I notice she prompts us if we aren’t as quick as she deems necessary. I sliced her an apple the other day and forgot to pray before turning around to wash my hands - and she reminded me with, “HAPPPPPPPPY! AYYYY-MEN!” (Yes, she’s still calling me Happy instead of Mama.) She and Topher kneel down on the floor before he leaves for work, and Topher says a few short prayers like, “Jesus, thank you for today,” or “God, bless our family,” and Thumbelina says, “Ayyyy-men!” after each phrase. The other day, we were in her room and she was very busily involved with creating a scene for her dolls, balancing them in a way that continued to knock them over, which I was trying to ignore because I didn’t want to interrupt or distract her - plus she’s starting to get reluctant sometimes, when I make a big deal about something - but, I finally figured out that she wanted her babies to kneel and pray with her. She knelt down and said “Ayyyy-men!” and then bounced her Barney doll a few times and said it again, trying to make him pray, too. So cute!

We haven’t been pushing the toddler bed (or really even trying) since everyone has been sick lately. But once we’re well, round #2 is on it’s way. Topher actually put Thumbelina in the bed last week and she slept a few hours in it - but woke up disoriented and fell out, off the side. I woke up totally panicked because I thought she fell out of OUR bed, and I couldn’t understand how that happened since it’s NEVER even come close to happening. But, no, Topher moved her when she and I both fell asleep and weren’t the wiser. She seems a little wary of the bed now and continues to put Sleepy Snoozle under the covers, alone, before climbing into bed with us. I don’t really mind, though. Last night I was drifting off and heard her giggling in her sleep, wiggling within the crook of my arm. It was one of those deep, only-from-the-belly laughs, but slightly muffled since she was asleep. I think she was dreaming of tickles.

I have the N.W.A.’s “express yourself” song in my head.

Our kitchen table is becoming a faded mural of non-washable markers. I keep thinking I’ve finally removed every last offending culprit from our collection of kuh-yees (aka, “cullies”) but they keep finding their way back into Thumbelina’s fat little hand. Whenever I return from putting laundry away or getting myself a drink of water, invariably a new color has soaked into the blonde wooden table. Someone told me that nail polish remover works in taking the stain out, but alas - all it did was remove the finish from the table.

Today, however, Thumbelina was more interested in a pile of pom-poms then a handful of markers.

She was so serious about examining and sorting them!

Thumbelina helped me make two (recycled-materials) Valentine’s Day mailboxes for she and Topher. I’m planning on keeping the boxes beside my bed and dropping a note into each, every night, until Valentine’s Day arrives. Then they can both open their mailboxes and be wowed with the sheer monstrosity of love from their biggest admirer, ever! Woo…

Topher and I used to have a Gratitude journal we kept together, early in our marriage, about each other and it really set the tone for our days. We were ready to notice and appreciate the small acts of kindness from one another and then remark about them in our journaling. I’m hoping that purposefully reflecting on why I adore these two little peas in a pod so much will inspire even more love to pour forth from me and into our relationships. Love begets love.

Tonight when Topher came home from work, I noticed the house was unusually quiet. I went in search of he and Thumbelina and came across them ‘having a chat’ in her room.

I love how they strike the same pose in the midst of conversation. So cute.

28!

I’m officially approaching age 30 now. Not that I ever wasn’t, but it’s looming closer and closer!

I had a nice day yesterday. Thumbelina and I had an at-home spa fest. We got out several new body products I recently ordered and we sampled them after taking a lovely bath. She loves lotion and lip balm and anything feminine, so exploring a whole basket of bottles was heavenly for her (and me, too!). Topher had to work late, but when he got home and I went to go relax for a bit, I came back to find some flowers and a card on the table which made me happy. (My birthday present is a sewing machine that I haven’t picked out yet. I’m still deciding which one to purchase, considering my crafting skills aren’t exactly well-honed.)

Then he made tacos for us, while Thumbelina “helped” me frost the cake. This endeavor didn’t go quite as planned, but it was still entertaining. She dumped too much milk in when I wasn’t looking, so I had to scramble and add things to thicken it. The result was a sludgy, lumpy, sugary mess. But, that’s okay - she was quite proud of herself. I might have been able to salvage it had I gotten out the mixer, but I just didn’t care at that point.

Apparently it still tasted okay!

Finally, we ate dinner and then sang happy birthday. I let Thumbelina blow out my candles - three times, actually. She thought it was great fun and continued to sign more and ask for “light” after we were already eating the cake!

Happy New Year!

My two little hoodlums decided to don matching ski hats tonight.

Notice she is also sporting her patent leather Christmas shoes. “Just because I’m wearing a diaper doesn’t mean I can’t be fabulous!”

Thumbelina has never allowed anyone to even suggest the mere mention of wearing a hat upon her pretty little head. After observing her newfound enthusiasm for scratchy knitted wool, my mind raced with the possibilities… will she actually use any of those sun hats collecting dust in her dresser from last summer? Hmm…

The year has come to a close. We celebrated Thumbelina’s first birthday, Topher received an awesome promotion at work and we bought our first home! We made enormous strides in our health and well-being - fully committing to a wholesome diet of organic and natural foods, continuing our work in therapy both individually and as a family, and plugging away at our goals for a balanced lifestyle. God has truly blessed us! May we learn and love even more in 2008.

Topher’s great ideas: an ipod and smoothie

My enterprising husband woke up yesterday and told me he had an errand to run. I didn’t pay much attention until the phrase “free ipod shuffle” came out of his mouth. What did you say? I asked. He explained that a bank down the street was gifting new ipods away to anyone opening up a checking account. And that he just called and they still had two available. I gasped.

Some of you may recall my unfortunate catastrophe a few months ago involving my washing machine and the tragically departed original ipod shuffle. Yes, the one I so devotedly used for every workout, walk and otherwise tedious task. It got stuck in a pocket of my shorts during laundry time and alas, never soulfully greeted me with repeated renditions of my favorite tunes, ever again.

We all piled in the car despite the snowy afternoon and drove the short distance to a bank I’d never heard of before. No matter. Topher went in, and fifteen minutes later came out bearing my new baby. The dearly departed was silver. My new one is pink! Yay! I love pink. She’s perfect!

Topher has been quite the thoughtful gift-giver this Christmas. He got me a new, 8ft long ‘project table’ so I can keep better track of what I’m doing. (The kitchen table was beginning to lose all sense of purpose.) He lugged the entire 70lb wooden utility table up to our third bedroom and put it together against the back wall, then helped me move all of my project ’stuff’ into the room. Voila! A place to do my thing. He also bought me a new rotary cutter and cutting board, which was quite thoughtful of him. Plus a digital picture frame so I can immediately see all my pictures upon taking them (which is a very sweet complement to the new camera).

Speaking of Topher, he’s addicted me to smoothies as of lately. I could never really get into the commercialized smoothie shops and therefore always thought I must not have a taste for smoothies. Wrong! How wrong I was. Apparently I just don’t like the fake sugary taste of chemically-enhanced smoothies. Lately we’ve been throwing frozen fruit into the blender at home and creating an assortment of yummy concoctions. It appears that our little creations are so good that they’ve even managed to turn Topher off of his former Robeks addiction. Today we made a mango-cherry-peach-with a wee bit of orange juice smoothie:

Doesn’t just looking at it make you want to slurp it right up? I’m oddly discovering that I fit into the bizarre stereotype of people who crave cold snacks in winter time. Do I eat ice cream during the sweltering heat of July? No. But give me sub-zero temperatures and a little light snow on the ground and suddenly I’m thinking of TCBY. Strange, very strange.

We’re expecting 3-6 inches of snow tonight. Which means I strategically made my way to Target earlier this evening and stocked up on diapers, wipes and random grocery items. Winter only started just this week and yet I’m already sick of it. I think this is the first year where I’m genuinely annoyed at the freezing temperatures and cooped up feelings. Maybe it’s the difference between having a 9 month old last Christmas and dealing with a speech-delayed almost-two-year-old this year. She is easily frustrated with the mundane and not being able to get outside or drive somewhere is tough on both of us. Maybe winter will pass with only a few snowstorms, but it seems like we’ve had plenty already.

Celebrating

Today was an unusual Christmas in that our schedule wasn’t very traditional, but it worked for us. Thumbelina was up most of the night with congestion and random night-waking, so she and I skipped morning mass. Topher went, came home and I had homemade cinnamon rolls, eggs and fruit smoothies ready for his return. We ate breakfast and then he began putting together the play kitchen - a wooden one from Target, which I finally just caved and bought since shopping online for one was becoming rather obsessive - and FOUR HOURS LATER he finally finished! Poor guy. He gets the daddy award for trudging through the endless pieces of painted wood and tiny little screws. He had to continually fend off Thumbelina, as my job of keeping her entertained for that period of time (when she’s sick and cranky, no less) was a bit of a task. Finally, though, I reverted to Barney so I could finish wrapping her presents and Topher’s Big Surprise.

Around 2pm, all the presents were finished and Thumbelina finally made her grand entrance into the living room. We don’t have any living room furniture at the moment (because we just moved, gave away our furniture and are saving for a new set)… so, we’ve decided to keep her play kitchen ’stuff’ available there since the space allows for it. Anyway, she noticed the kitchen and just paused and stared. She looked a little in awe. (It was really sweet.) I had placed several wooden food items in the ’stove’ and ‘refrigerator’ for her to find, and put her (soon-to-be-tossed) plastic tea set on the shelves. After a few moments, she dove right in and began exploring.

(Her hair is wet. I forgot to mention we took a shower right before unwrapping presents.)

After playing with the kitchen for quite awhile, we tried enticing her with other gifts but got denied. She seemed worried about removing her attention from the kitchen, as if it might disappear. Finally, she opened her dolls and Haba play food, blocks, cookware, etc. and seemed to enjoy it.

However.

Daddy’s present was still to come.

Cowboy boots! Topher has a secret desire to be a ‘real midwesterner’ as he calls it. (I guess he thinks every guy around these parts owns a pair of western-style dress boots.)

He loved the gift and was definitely surprised. They fit perfectly and he wore them for a little while. But after deciding to stretch out and rest for a bit, off they came and a shoe-fiend toddler accosted them.

Finally, Daddy took pity on her.

It was a happy Christmas.