The Night Before Thirty

Those of you who know me well know that I am a little older than my husband. From pretty early on in our relationship, Matt has given me a hard time about being older than he is. Also pretty early on in our relationship I told him that he could tease me about my age all he wanted, until I turned thirty, when I suspected it wouldn't be funny anymore. He was only home about an hour and a half before going to bed tonight, but he made sure to get a few old lady jokes in under the wire. Do I really believe that I'll never again be made fun of for being older? I give it two weeks.

I now have one project and one final to go. Thanks to Ann's willingness to take Harper for the morning and Harper actually taking a long nap this afternoon, I have now spent approximately one billion hours sitting in front of this computer today. After I post a few pictures of Harper I'll probably log another hour or two before calling it a night. The good news is that Matt is off work for the next week and I might get a chance to sleep in once all these pesky assignments are finished!

Thank you for listening to me whine about how tired and sick of the computer I am. Here are some photos of Harper's romp in the park earlier this month. Enjoy!

Uninspired

This will be brief, again, as I can barely keep my eyes open here. I have two exams/projects down and three to go. Saturday I will be free! Until then, I will try to keep up with the once a day posting (I'm almost halfway there!) for November.

I have nothing earth shattering for today. You know, as opposed to all the other days, when my insight and wit simply blow your mind. . . Or not. Harper and I enjoyed a nice jam session this morning while listening to Free to Be You and Me. In case you are wondering, it took her about 37 minutes to eat the cheese stick she is holding in the picture. I kept offering to put it away for her, as she set it down on the couch to collect lint, but she said, "No pu way, my chee sick!" If she had been using it as a pretend microphone I might have understood. She did finish it, eventually.


You know you are really having a good time when there is music, cheese, and a monkey involved.


Harper was dancing with a stuffed monkey that Nana brought over to cheer her up since she wasn't feeling so well. Nana mentioned that the monkey looked like Curious George; to which Harper said, "Wer man in hat?" If you are not familiar, every story/cartoon about Curious George includes his friend, The Man in the Yellow Hat. Harper wasn't being ungrateful, she was merely observing that, if the monkey was George, he was missing an important companion. I thought that was actually pretty clever of her.

In other random Harper news, we were looking at an alphabet book today before her nap, and when we got to the "z" page she pointed and said, "Dats (that's) a zewo (zero)!" Which, in fact, it was. Beware, she is paying attention!

I have seventeen more days to post this month. Do you have any questions for us?

Go Pack Go!

What did you say? Could it possibly be true? The Packers won in Minnesota?!


Hooray!!!


Harper: Proud to be a Cheesehead in Ohio.

Debate

Harper has a Fisher Price zoo, which comes with 26 animals, one for every letter of the alphabet. Harper knows the names of quite a few of the animals although, with one for every letter, there are some creative choices. Anyone care to guess what "u" might be? She's also pretty good at matching the animals with the letters on the zoo play mat. The animals have letters on them and the letters on the mat all have pictures of their animals, so she's really just matching, but it takes a lot of concentration. Anyhow. . . We are having one little problem with the zoo. It has to do with the camel. Of course camel begins with "c" and has a letter "c" printed right on it. The "c" means nothing to Harper, who insists the camel is a horse. Actually she insists it's a "howsie." Over and over, "It's a camel!" We tell her. She is not buying it. Today Auntie M told her it was a camel and she deigned to say camel one time before she went back to horsey.

Sigh.

Isn't she awfully young to have already decided that we don't know anything?

Sounds Like Trouble

Today started out well enough. Harper slept much better last night and was in excellent spirits this morning. So I'm thinking her little cold, or whatever it was, is pretty much behind us. We had a nice game of socks and shoes on hands to get the day moving. It cracks me up, the way anything in the wrong place is totally hilarious to a toddler.


The second activity of the day involved opening an early birthday present from some good friends. Harper enjoyed reading her card, but the best was reading Belly Button Book and listening to our new copy of the Free to Be You and Me CD.



Opening presents will get any day off to a pretty nice start -- thanks Erin and family!

After our gift opening, and putting socks and shoes on feet (a much less popular game), we headed to the mall to meet Harper's friend Dana and Dana's mom for a little play time in a new area there. It was toddler and mommy heaven. There were interesting things to climb on and see, comfortable seating for me, and lots of room to run and dance to the music being piped into the mall corridors.



Harper enjoyed exploring the play area, though I think she was a little disappointed that there wasn't anyone to actually talk with on the giant cell phone. You have to give her credit for trying.


We joined Dana and her mom for lunch in the food court and then headed home. Even though it was early, Harper seemed sleepy in the car -- this should have been my first clue that the day was about to take a downward turn.

Due to the drooping eyelids in the back seat I decided to skip a trip to the grocery store and head home for an early nap. As we sat down to read books, I noticed that Harper was wheezing. She didn't seem uncomfortable, but it sounded pretty nasty so I thought I'd better call the doctor, just to be safe. Once I told the nurse that Harper was wheezing, she said I definitely needed to bring her in. Ugh! Of course I wanted to have things checked out if Harper was sick, but you might recall that the doctor is not her favorite person to visit.

I did lots of talking about how the doctor was a good helper and was just going to check things. I had Harper saying, "Checka my eas? Checka my tummy?" And she didn't seem worried. She was fine in the waiting room; nervous, but composed in the exam room; slightly panicked when the doctor walked in; but she did really well over all. At least until they decided she needed a breathing treatment and came in and strapped a mask to her face and then turned on a noisy machine. That, as you can imagine, did not go over so well. The first couple of minutes she screamed like crazy and did everything in her toddler power to get that mask off her face. I finally managed to calm her down enough to finish. . . we opted for a modified inhaler treatment for at home, the machine being another option. I decided I would rather not reenact that screaming scene over and over.

It turns out, Harper has some kind of virus and will just need a little help in the form of a few breathing treatments and drugs to get it out of her system. Should be a fun couple of days! The good news is that she really doesn't seem to be feeling badly at all. Despite the wheezing she was running around and dancing in the kitchen while I made dinner tonight. We are going to try to take it easy and hopefully all the illness will have moved out of this house before the birthday celebrations begin next week. We'll cross our fingers.

May We Read You a Story?

One of Harper's favorite books right now is Go, Dog. Go! It is not, from an adult perspective, especially moving reading material. It has simple text and cartoon dogs and is a crowd pleaser for the toddler crowd in this house. Harper is going through a stage where she wants to hear the same books over and over again. I am usually happy to go along with this request, as there was a time when I couldn't get her to sit in my lap long enough to finish a book.


Once she decides she really loves a book, she enjoys "reading" it herself. Go, Dog. Go! is a great book for this because the text is tied directly to the pictures. Harper becomes very animated when she reads it out loud. Her favorite parts involve two dogs that come together throughout the book. They say hello to one another, then the girl dog asks the boy dog if he likes her hat, he says he does not, then they say goodbye. These repeated exchanges totally crack Harper up. She even covers her mouth and laughs when she reads them, or when we read them to her. Spoiler alert: at the end of the book the boy dog does like the girl dog's hat and they drive off into the sunset together.


Here is Harper reading the part where two dogs are playing on top of a blimp and a third dog is yelling at them to get down. When Harper says, "Get down!" she really, really means it.


Of course the best part of finishing a good book is feeling ready to drift of to dreamland. Harper still needs to work on her pretend sleeping. The open eyes and goofy grin are just not convincing.


Good night!

P.S. While the fountain of snot is still flowing, it has slowed down a bit. After a very long night, during which no one slept very much, I am highly encouraged by the long nap and happy disposition that returned today.

Looking to Better Times

Like yesterday.

Or 9:30 this morning.

Today started like any other day. We woke up. We dressed. We ate. We let the painters in and then took the dog to the kennel. Maniac Rebound + painters doing trim work = a huge mess. So, in Harper's words, "Weba see frens?" Rebound is spending the night with friends.

After dropping Rebound off we headed to play group. I love our play group and I'm thrilled it has started back up after a long hiatus. Unfortunately Harper sneezed the entire time we were there. It was like someone flipped a switch and her internal snot fountain sprang to life. I am not sure if she is suffering from some seasonal allergies (which would not be surprising) or reacting to the fumes from the primer the painters had been using, but I really hope this isn't turning into a big, bad cold.

By 1:00 this afternoon the girl was miserable. She didn't even want any lunch. Her nose was raw from all the blowing and wiping. No nap today. Just three hours of stuffy breathing in between screams. Our lovely day transformed into something of a nightmare. Let me repeat: No. Nap.

I have a rather unsettling response to these situations. I know I'm supposed to turn into a very warm, patient, nurturing spirit when my daughter is sick, but I mostly just feel frustrated. Of course I hate to see how miserable she is. And I hate that I can't do much to make her feel better, other than to let her bury her dripping nose into my chest, leaving loving little reminders that she's not feeling well all over my sweatshirt. Ew.

When I began graduate school someone failed to tell me that there is some Murphy's Law dictating your child will be sick at the end of each quarter. I have my fingers crossed that today was a temporary nasal setback and everyone will wake up tomorrow with clear sinuses.

A Story in Pictures

Harper attacked this apple at lunch today. I cut a few slices for her, which she ate, and then she told me, "No ca (cut) up!"






Sadly, when the apple started threatening to overflow out her ears, I took it away from her. Harper did not agree with this decision.


We may have to rename her Harper Appleseed.

Caution: Wet Paint

It's the last week and a half of the quarter, which means exams, projects, etc. Harper's birthday is in a week and a half and we'll have people here to celebrate. So of course we chose this week to have the main area of the house painted. Doesn't that sound like great planning? We didn't actively choose this week, it was more of a passive decision. We finally picked out a color and called the painters to let them know and they said, "Can we come next week?" They are in high demand and can be scheduled months into the future, so when their time opens up it's hard to say no. This way we'll have the space painted before everyone comes for Harper's birthday and that's a good thing, even if it makes this week extra chaotic.

Learning that painters would be coming motivated us (read: Matt) to purchase new light fixtures for the hall. After much stress and headache, they were successfully installed last night.

Exhibit A:

Front Hall Fixture

Exhibit B:

Fixture Near the Bedrooms (which is not as yellowish as it appears here)

Matt did an excellent job and we now have brighter and more aesthetically pleasing lighting in the corridors of our home.

As if that weren't enough, Matt earned extra-bonus super husband points by both making and cleaning up from dinner this evening, and taking care of putting Harper to bed.

The main living area in our house is drop clothed and covered in plastic. Add some creepy background music and a few boarded up windows and we'd have a horror movie set right here.

Harper was fascinated by the painters today. I'm sure she would have loved to jump in and help. In fact, when they went on a lunch break, she wandered into the living room and had her hand around the roller full of wet paint before I could reach her. Fortunately I caught her before she actually did any painting, Lord help us all!

Rebound would have loved to help paint as well, undoubtedly by running through the paint tray and adorning the floors with satin finish paw prints. No thanks. We have him spending his days at Nana and Dziatku's the first part of the week. Then he'll be in doggy day care if the painters need more time to finish. They insist they've worked with animals before and it's so cute when cats curl up and sleep right on top of the plastic covered couches. I'm pretty sure a day spent painting with Rebound as an assistant and they'd be changing their animal policies in a big hurry.

I made some crack, while the painters were here, about all of us getting high on paint fumes. One of them told me that it would take an awfully sensitive person to be bothered by the latex paint. So I guess I have to blame my raging headache on all those political "ads" and automated phone calls. Thank goodness that will all be behind us, for better or worse, tomorrow. Don't forget to vote!

It Begins

I'm in danger of missing the day's deadline here, so I'll be brief. Matt, otherwise known as Super Husband, is in the front hall cursing at the new ceiling fixture we're trying to get installed before the painters come tomorrow. We'll probably further discuss the presence of painters in our home later this week.

Today, Harper and I, along with Nana and Dziatku (we had to leave Matt behind for basketball) traveled south to Aunt Kathy and Uncle Dave's to celebrate some birthdays. Nana's mom, Nana J., will have a birthday in about a week and we gathered to celebrate with her. I just so happens that my birthday is the same day and Harper's is two days later, so we all took some part in the celebration. For Harper this meant opening a couple of early birthday gifts. Really, since Nana J. was opening gifts, no one wanted Harper to be left out. She was happy to do her part!


She left the night with two new puzzles and a Mrs. Potato Head! I always wanted a Mr. Potato Head as a child and we just never had one at our house, so I was nearly as excited as Harper about that acquisition. She made it pretty clear that it will be a while before anyone else is allowed to play with the potato.


We also enjoyed some birthday (nut-free) brownies. If you look closely, you can see the remains of the celebration on Harper's face. A good time was had by all.

Stuck on You

Today was the one day, 20% off sale, at our local bookstore. Having done some early research, I decided to take advantage of the day to get a head start on some Christmas shopping (it's not that far away people!). Unfortunately that meant dragging Harper out to the store after her afternoon nap, which is not always a good idea. Armed with snacks, a sippy cup, and lots of prep talk in the car, I was hoping for a good trip. Things started off well when I told Harper we were going to the bookstore and she was going to ride in her stroller; she responded, "Book sore, yea! Ri in swor, yea!" and clapped.

All the way to the store I talked to her about what books we were going to look for and what she was going to do, namely, stay in the stroller! She handled the outing beautifully and only started getting cranky as we were leaving after 45 minutes of successful shopping. I now fear that I may have squandered all her holiday good will already, peaking far too early in the season.

I had told Harper that we could get out stickers when we got home, a favorite activity these days. "How exactly are stickers an activity?" you ask. It goes like this. We get out a sheet of stickers (this time they were Halloween Dora stickers from Nana and Dziatku), Harper points to the one she wants, I peel it off and hand it to her, she puts it on a piece of paper then looks up and says, "On mo peas?" (One more please?) And we do it again. On really exciting days, there are also crayons involved.

Tonight while we were playing stickers Harper decided to walk on the wild side and put some on her shirt. Then she commanded I take a picture. In the kitchen. I don't know why.




Then she backed up very carefully and told me to take one more. Cheese!


We were happy about the trip to the bookstore. We were happy about the stickers. The Wisconsin Badgers won today. Really, can we ask for anything else from a Saturday? I think not.

What It's Like

Living with a toddler that is.

Last night was a beautiful example. After her nap I was changing Harper's diaper and putting shoes back on her. I asked (sometimes a big mistake) if she wanted her tennis shoes. She said, "No sank you." Then I asked which shoes she wanted. She pointed at her dresser and said, "Ook in dewar (drawer)!" So I opened the drawer for her, she picked out the ones she wanted and couldn't be persuaded to change her mind (not a surprise). For the rest of the evening, Harper went everywhere sporting this footwear:



Yes, socks with sandals, not to mention the fact that it was about 35 degrees outside. I guess I'll need to make a raid and remove the inappropriate footwear from her drawer. Or just limit the amount of choice I give her. I have already learned not to say, "You pick," and then fail to go along with the result!

And now, a confession. . . Someone out there decided to make this National Blog Posting Month (or something to that effect). You could actually sign up, which I failed to do, but the idea is that you post something every single day in the month of November. This was created as some kind of "reasonable" answer to National Novel Writing Month, which might be a good idea if you have no job, kids, or anything else resembling responsibility. I thought I would throw my hat in the ring and see if I can post something every day this month; we'll see how it goes. Perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned that until the end of the month, when people would be wondering why the sudden consistency. Hopefully Harper will give me enough material!

The Pumpkin

Halloween was Tuesday. We have had pumpkins for carving since way back at the end of September. So there we were this past Sunday night, after Harper had gone to bed, going, "Hmm, I guess we'd better carve a pumpkin tomorrow." Matt wasn't going to be able to get home until seven-thirty or eight, after Harper's bed time, but we decided to bite the bullet and keep her awake because carving pumpkins is not my strong suit. While it is fun to dress the kid up, I would never loose a moment of sleep if Halloween ceased to exist. Anyway. . . I was worried about keeping Harper up too late, so she and I started cleaning out the pumpkin before Matt even got home.

I hadn't carved a pumpkin in about eighteen years or so, and I was a little uncertain where to begin. I knew I needed to put newspapers down on the table, and that was about it. . . Harper was fascinated when I took the top off the pumpkin. She kept looking inside and asking, "Wha is dat?" Which is actually a question I am hearing a lot these days.

She also kept insisting, "Hawpur do it!" So I would hand her the scoop, she'd wave it around inside the pumpkin for a minute and then thrust it back toward me saying, "Hewp (help)!" We finally reached a compromise in which I would scoop a bunch of pumpkin goop and she would empty the scoop into the bowl. She did not enjoy the orange mush on her hands much, and I can't really blame her.




When Matt arrived home, we just about had the pumpkin hollowed out and I handed the knife over to him for carving. He and Harper had some discussion about what shapes to make things and whether the mouth should have teeth. Harper considered all her options carefully.


As the minutes past bedtime stretched on, we hurried to get things finished up. Matt was going to skip a nose altogether, but Harper insisted. Then, at one point during the carving of the mouth, she inexplicably freaked out.


Perhaps this was Harper's way of reminding us that purposefully ignoring bedtime is never a good idea for anyone. She needed to be removed from the carving station and taken into the living room, where she demanded rocking and the singing of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."

When the crisis had been calmed we returned to the kitchen and the finished jack-o-lantern!



Then, since we knew Halloween night was going to be terrible weather, we hopped outside for a few more pictures.


If I knew more about photography I might have been able to get some better shots. I liked the lighting better with no flash, but everything came out a little blurry.



All things considered, I think this year's events added up to a successful Halloween experience.

Ah Be Tat!

I guess Halloween costumes, like many aspects of parenting, seem a lot less important as time goes by. Harper's costume this year was nowhere near the standards I set last year. Last year I had a lot more time on my hands, as well as a much higher level of Halloween ambition. This year I bought a $12 sweat suit and used fabric scraps to make tail and ears. I didn't fret about it too much; as soon as I showed Harper the doctored sweat suit she knew exactly what it was! "Ews (ears)! Taiw (tail)! Ah be tat!" Then she meowed and licked her hand for approximately 17 minutes.


Despite the fact that Harper had a less elaborate costume this year, she is a much better actress and enjoyed playing the part of cat for the day. Last year we kept telling her she was a dog, but she never quite caught on.


She has this little strut, very befitting of the kind of cat that owns its neighborhood. We got dressed up for story time at the library and she told all the other kids, "Ah tat!" Then she pointed at me and said, "Dat's my mommy!" So she was proud of her costume and the one who made it.

The only downfall of the day was trying to get Harper out of her costume for her nap. She kept telling me, "No Mommy, I no take nap! I wear tat cosfume!"


The only bad thing about dressing up for story time was the part when the kids went trick-or-treating through the library. Harper couldn't eat any of the treats: lollipops - they didn't have the bag for me to check the ingredients, candy corn - made in a facility that processes peanuts, Synder's pretzel packs - made in a facility that uses peanut butter; no, no, and no! So Miss Sue snuck back behind the circulation desk and found some miniature boxes of raisins. Fortunately Harper loves raisins and was thrilled to put them in the little bag she'd decorated. I have a feeling this will get more difficult as she gets older, at least until she understands why she can't eat that stuff. Food allergies are going to make many aspects of holidays difficult.


I was glad to have the chance to take Harper to the costume afternoon at the library because I was in class last night when she actually went trick-or-treating. It was also great to take some pictures because Monday was a beautiful autumn afternoon, but Tuesday was gross and rainy. Matt took her trick-or-treating to a couple of friends' houses and she did get some candy she can actually eat! Hopefully it was some good daddy-daughter bonding time.

Coming soon. . .pumpkin carving pictures!