Mommy and Sweet Pea

Warning: Don't read this post unless you enjoy stories about toddler bathroom trials and antics. Poop is gross - but it's also funny sometimes. I guess I never did that potty-learning update that I promised back in... oh... January I see it was. I guess I was waiting until we were really REALLY done with accidents. They are pretty rare now, but I can now see more clearly that like everything else, this is going to take longer and be more effort than I had initially expected. Not that things are going badly. Not at all. Sweet Pea has maybe one accident a week right now. Sometimes more, sometimes less. I'd say we're 95% there. She likes her underwear, loves picking them herself and even putting the clean ones away in her drawer. She wore diapers again for 4 days in July while recovering from the flu, then seamlessly transitioned back to "undies" with almost no prompting from us. Here's the dirt, though: learning to poop on the potty took a LONG time. L...

I had a huge to-do list at the start of the summer, itemizing a variety home improvement, yard improvement, and personal improvement projects that I wanted to accomplish during my break from working outside the home (I am a high school teacher). I like a challenge. My personal motto, besides "Who dares to teach must never cease to learn" (John Cotton Daana), is probably "Go big or go home" (attributed to Eliza Dushku on the Internet, but used by coaches everywhere). I tend to plan big, and believe I can do it. Sometimes I can, but not always. So far, I have gotten a slow start on my list, but I am gaining momentum. I have exactly three weeks left before work begins again, and I think I'm going to get the majority of my list done. This last week has been a big one for accomplishments. So far, I (with Average) have: weeded, pruned, and beautified the front yard built a kind of retaining wall for the flower bed next to our patio bought blueberry bushes and a h...

We only took about 100 photos for all of July, and we took three trips and went to a wedding reception. Not a very good photo month for me. I always like to have lots of photo evidence of what we've done, and of course the changes in my little girl, to help me remember in the future what our lives are like right now. Our trips were Eastern Oregon twice, and Ashland once. They were memorable, full of good times and learning (Ashland was a class about teaching Shakespeare's plays and I got to see 4 live performances!), and lots of fun with family. I just wish I had more photos to look back on from them. Even at my dad's wedding reception I only took a few photos, and they all seem a bit out of focus. I think there was some dust on the lens. Also, I am now 17 weeks pregnant, and I have very few photos of my growing belly! New resolution: take more pictures. My other resolutions, to exercise every day and clean up the piles around the house, have not been so successful lately, ...

A week ago, Sweet Pea and I took a trip to my hometown, to visit my family. Average had to work, so it was just us gals. Sweet Pea did great on the drive both ways. It is about a 4-hour drive, and I learned my lesson from past trips and planned for about 3 stops, and to be driving during her nap. It worked out! I actually enjoyed her company in the car most of the time, as she pointed out sights along the road, motorcycles, and told me little stories (apparently everyone in our family, grandparents included, will be getting different colored motorcycles and riding around with bunnies). There was no screaming at all. Either she's growing up, or I'm getting better at knowing what is needed to keep little ones happy in the car. Probably both. Here are some photos from our adventure: She's all packed and ready to go The viewpoint in Port Orford - our last pit stop on the way down. We decided we might as well go put our feet in the sand, so... We did! Barefoot i...

Finishing projects that have been on the to-do list for months, like cleaning the car and touching up the paint in my bedroom Sunny weather after days of dreariness Sweet Pea NOT throwing up today after being sick yesterday I exercised! Picking strawberries and raspberries in the back yard with my daughter Sweet Pea took a 2+ hour nap (rare!), allowing me to shower, and accomplish the things on my to-do list Making popsicles out of leftover fruit smoothie No morning sickness or nausea today. I am 12.5 weeks pregnant :)

Hanging out in bed the other morning, my child says to me: "I'm a doggy, Mama. I'm a doggy." Then she licks my face. She likes to talk on two phones at a time. These phones are usually actually calculators, cups, toy walkie-talkies, toy food, or whatever is handy. A funny joke right now is to point at me and say, "That's dada," then point at her dad and say "And that's Mama." We eat imaginary chips and pretzels that she finds everywhere: on the ground, in the bath, under the table, in books. Anything remotely counter-like becomes a restaurant from which she serves us. "What do you want, Mama?" then she runs off to retrieve the imagined item, goes back behind the "counter," and hands us empty air. Make believe is fun!

After more than a week of dreary, rainy weather, the Willamette Valley is finally sunny and warm this afternoon. I should be outside, catching up on the massive amounts of weeding I need to do, playing with Sweet Pea and Glen in the sunshine, and brutally murdering the slugs and snails that are trying to eat my teeny tiny plants. Instead, I am inside, catching up on uploading photos to facebook, since I haven't updated in about two months. Sweet Pea is playing with my makeup bag. Even though I rarely wear makeup, she is obsessed with it. On Fridays at her daycare the big girls get to play with makeup, so she thinks it is the coolest thing ever. Our plans for tomorrow include the final toddler dance class, family music time and new books from the library, a meeting with a possible doula client, and a 3-year-old birthday party. It will be a fun, full day! Sunday is open so far, which is good because maybe I'll actually get to some of the yard work that needs doing. I am just so...