Project Life (May 10-16)

Monday 5/10:  Matt and I have the bad habit of burying our faces in our laptops in the evenings. This night, though, we turned off all the electronics (even the lights!) and had a great, deep conversation by candlelight. We need to be more intentional about this!

Tuesday 5/11: We're trying to transition Kate away from the paci by making it a naptime/bedtime only thing. So, paci is now clipped to Raffi rather than to her. We did the same thing for school, clipping a paci to Raffi II, but it turns out she isn't using it during naptime at school at all anymore! I wasn't going to get worked up over breaking the paci habit till she was 2, but it seems it might go easily now, and sooner might be easier than later!

 

Wednesday 5/12: We met Matt's parents at a restaurant for a belated Mother's Day celebration. Granna really liked the special card Kate made for her! (PS: if you live along the Clarksville-Nashville corridor of I-24 , Richard's Cafe is the greatest little cajun place you never knew existed, in White's Creek, about a mile off the Old Hickory exit. The food is nothing to write home about, but they have live music every night of the week, and it's just a fun place. Their tagline: "Live Music, Dead Crawfish.")

 

Thursday 5/13: I pulled into the driveway after work to see this--a car seat without its cover, Matt's rear car windows rolled down, and the washing machine running. That can only mean one thing. Well, it could mean two, actually, but this time it was vomit. Poor Kate has inherited her mother's propensity toward carsickness.

 

Friday 5/14: I'm so, so, SO sad about this. We finally broke into the last bag of frozen breast milk. (Each grocery bag contained ten milk storage bags of about 8 oz. each.) If you aren't a regular or long-time reader of this blog, let me fill you in on my obsession with my "liquid gold." After Kate didn't take to the breast, I became an exclusive pumper, and pumped for her entire first year. I was emotional when I quit pumping on her first birthday in January, but I'm emotional again seeing the stash run out.

 

Saturday 5/15: I did some speed-scrapbooking while Kate was napping. This pic shows Matt and Kate doing the sign for "please," so I built a page around it about the baby sign language Kate has learned.

 

Sunday 5/16: Kate in her Sunday best. My blog-friend Rachel does a weekly "Sunday Best" post of her Katie-Bug all dressed up. It's a good idea, since we mommies are sometimes addicted to buying adorable but impractical dresses like this polka-dot pillowcase dress and the girls only wear them on Sundays! (I also love that this pic caught Kate mid-stride, running toward me and screaming, as she often does when she runs.)

 

Discipline Dilemmas

We've reached that stage in parenting where we call our parents to tell them about Kate's most recent behavioral antics, and they just laugh and laugh. Payback time.

Kate has always been a very physical child--climbing anything she can, picking up objects as big as herself, etc.--and sometimes she is just plain wild. She's just having fun and exploring her world and what she can do, but like any child can push the boundaries a bit too far. She throws food from her high chair, she runs toward the street, she flings books from their shelves. It is starting to go beyond innocent exuberance toward willful disobedience as we sense she understands our reprimands and yet continues. It seems we're treading into that complicated land called Discipline.

This weekend, we had to start getting tough. She flung food off her tray at every meal, to the point I had to start taking her tray away and saying "mealtime's over!" She loves to climb up on the hearth (see pic at right for reference), stand where the stuffed puppy is, and shake that metal rack until the pile of cookbooks falls off. (The rack is tethered to the wall so she can't pull it over.) She would climb up there, grasp the rack, look at us mischeveously, then start shaking. This happened over and over. Attempts to redirect her to other toys were scoffed and our stern "No!"s were met with laughter!

Though she seems too young for "time-out," we did start taking her into the other room to remove her from the situation. She was definitely unhappy when I would sit her on a stool and trying to hold her still while saying "We don't knock books off the shelves." Nonetheless, she would run directly back to the hearth and do it again! It seemed to be a game, and this cycle continued right up until bedtime last night.

This morning, she was right back at it, such that Matt was at his wit's end by 6:30 am! He commented that she seemed to be doing it for the attention, and while we definitely pay her plenty of attention otherwise, it was clear this trick was a surefire way to get both Mommy and Daddy right on her in a second. So, we changed our tack. We moved the cookbooks (so that the destructive part of the action was gone) and just ignored her when she shook the rack. And, sure enough--she has started to lose interest in that particular naughty behavior!

The overall problem still remains, of course. How do you discipline a toddler who can sort of grasp the notion of disobeying Mommy and Daddy, but can't really understand consequences?

I've read that the reason the "terrible twos" are so difficult is that children feel so out of control. They are constantly told "no" to what they want to do, and forced to do what they don't want to do. So, the secret (so I've read) is to give kids a safe, kid-friendly environment so that there are fewer things you would have to say "no" to, and save "no" for really serious things--a child about to touch a hot stove, for example--and use redirecting language otherwise. "Eat your green beans," rather than "No! Stop throwing the green beans." Be calm and serious, not letting the child get a rise out of you, which they may find entertaining or affirming.

Matt and I have valued "calm" as our parenting mantra from the beginning, and it has served us well so far. We don't freak out when she cries, we don't coddle her to sleep, and we try to let her explore her surroundings freely--even when she's a bit rowdy. We're glad she's "high-spirited" and "strong-willed," so I guess "hard-to-discipline" is the trade-off we'll have to make. I only had moderate success with the calm redirection method when addressing Kate's cookbook-demolition activities, but in principle, it seems good. Time will tell, and I'm sure we'll have plenty of practice!

How I Nabbed My Husband

Not exactly, but I did want to share these pics of two items of clothing I came across when sorting through my drawers a while back (around Christmas, judging from the decorated mantle). Apparently, I was really into sleeveless turtlenecks in 2003.

The oatmeal-colored one on the left is what I was wearing when Matt and I met on August 24, 2003. We were at the first event of orientation at Vanderbilt Divinity School--a "salad supper" at which we played People Bingo and the sparks flew as I told him "I don't need your signature." I wore this with black capris and a cool beaded bracelet, I recall.

The pink one on the right is what I wore on our first date less than a week later, on August 30. I wore it with black pants and black sandals, which I agonized over because I knew the sandals' 3-inch heels would make me taller than Matt. I wore them anyway and began a half-decade of knee-bending (in photos, at least). (sorry, sweetie. I love you.) Matt wore a black dress shirt and jeans, and glasses that pinched the sides of his face, since he was getting Lasik a few days later and was in the no-contacts period. He had a goatee then, too, which he grew into a full beard within a few months, I think. We went to the Italian restaurant at the Opryland Hotel, which is now underwater. 

I haven't worn these tops in a few years, but I can't imagine getting rid of them. Special memories. 

Do you remember what you were wearing when you first met your spouse? Or on your first date or when you got engaged? 

Wordless Wednesday -- Rings

Project Life (May 3-9)

Monday 5/3: I put together a box of newborn items for NICU families (a drive organized by Kristen Welch of We Are That Family), and Kate had the great idea to color on the box, adding her own little pick-me-up for families in need. (The box has subsequently sat in my car for a week--Kristen, I'm mailing it today!)

Tuesday 5/4: At lunchtime, I took a little walk around downtown to check the status of the floodwaters down by the river. This was 2nd St. near the pedestrian bridge. I'm not totally sure if the water has receded/evaporated from this area yet or not.

Wednesday 5/5: Kate wore a really cute new dress I found on consignment, and I happened to wear turquoise as well that day.

Thursday 5/6: I took Kate for a walk around the neighborhood after work. She likes to look up at me every now and then as we stroll--just checking to make sure I'm still there, I guess!

Friday 5/7: This morning they had "Muffins with Mommy" at Kate's school. It was fun to hang out with her and other kids and moms in her class. That afternoon they had their "spring production," in which all the classes sang songs and stuff. I actually couldn't go since I had something after work and I work an hour away from home and day care, but Matt went to the show and blogged about it here (including a post-show interview with one of the stars, Miss Kate Kelley).

Saturday 5/8: I went to help with flood cleanup near the river in Clarksville, and spent my time helping salvage inventory at this family-owned hardware store. Soldiers from the base had come the day before and helped haul all the nasty stuff out into the parking lot in front of the store, where the store owners, their friends, and other volunteers helped separate the trash from the to-be-discounted merchandise. My task was to clean metal tools and hardware, swishing them around in a trash can of bleach-water and then scrubbing the dried mud off. (More pics of this and other events of my Mother's Day weekend here.)

Sunday 5/9: Mother's Day! My favorite part of the day was our now-traditional mommy-daughter Mother's Day Starbucks run before church. Kate was asleep when we got home from church, and though I kept both of us in our church-clothes until she woke up, she never would cooperate for a good photo. This was about the best I could get! Spending time with my little bear was the most important part, though, of course!

Bonus: I realized I didn't share in my Mother's Day post what my gift was--a new diaper bag! Our original one was mainly chosen for its unisex-style, since Matt would be carrying it too, but it was starting to fall apart, and Matt said it would not challenge his manhood to carry a pink diaper bag. So, I picked this stripey one by Gerber out and ordered it myself a couple weeks ago :0)

Thanks for visiting! As always, there's more Project Life where this came from over at The Mom Creative.

Mother's Day Weekend

The cool thing about Mother's Day (other than just being a mother, which I think is pretty cool) is getting to declare what you would enjoy doing and just do it. It's like your birthday, only more sentimental.

Saturday morning, when Kate woke up at 6:15 (a usual and reasonable time on weekdays) I played the Mother's Day card and asked Matt to get up with her so that I could "sleep in" until 6:50.

I really wanted to get out and help with flood cleanup some, so I looked for local (Clarksville) needs on Hands On Nashville, and signed up for a 12-3 shift. Matt headed off to Starbucks to work on his sermon so that he could focus on Kate while I was gone in the afternoon. While Daddy was out, Kate and I went to the park, and had tons of fun. Our backyard swing is fun, but the playground at the park is really cool. They have swings plus a little-kid playground and a big-kid playground. We swang for a while and then played on the slides and other equipment.

I had so much fun playing with my girl. We ran home, ate lunch, made the trade-off with Daddy and then I was off to Riverside Drive, where the worst of the flooding in Clarksville was concentrated. I had a bit of trouble getting there because the road was still technically closed. After trying a couple different routes (not realizing the whole stretch of Riverside was closed) I just told a cop I was trying to volunteer, and he told me to turn on my flashers and go around the barricade. It was eerie being on a practically-deserted street, still beige with the residue of mud.

I couldn't find the place where I had signed up to go (saw the e-mail when I got home that that session had been cancelled) so I just parked and walked up to a group of folks working in a parking lot filled with debris. "Need any more help?" I asked, and the woman in charge put me to work right away. It was a family-owned hardware store, and a lot of the metal tools and stuff were salvageable, so I spent a few hours cleaning the dried mud off of clamps and plumbing supplies, removing them from and throwing out the soggy cardboard packaging.

Returning home, I blew Kate a kiss but refused to touch her until I'd showered with anti-bacterial body wash. (Though my husband had a much grosser volunteer experience Thursday--the post doesn't tell the full story, but the punch line is that he was covered in spoiled food!--I still had touched a lot of floodwater and gotten it splashed on my face a couple times, so I definitely wanted to be cautious.)

Then, I played the Mother's Day card again and took a short nap before we went out for a casual family dinner at Applebee's. I tried their new light margarita, which was actually pretty good, not watery as I'd feared. (The waiter actually polled me when I ordered, "Now, are you trying that because it's low-calorie, or because you think it looks appetizing?" I answered the former.) Kate used restaurant crayons and colored on a placemat for the first time.

In the evening, I did some scrapbooking and then actually stayed up for Saturday Night Live, since Betty White was hosting. (I love the show, but I go to bed early most nights.) Betty was funny, and always reminds me of my Nana, who is in the hospital again, sadly. We had been hoping she would be able to travel some and get out more since my grandfather's death in March, but a mere three weeks after his death, she started having health problems. She's 91, but until recently was in very good shape. We're definitely sad at the way things are going for her.

Matt's job doesn't really allow for leisurely Sunday-morning breakfasts-in-bed, even on Mother's Day, so Kate and I are developing our own tradition. Since Matt leaves for church a couple hours before we need to go, Kate and I went to Starbucks on Mother's Day morning last year. Then, of course, she was still in a carrier, and just sat there while I sipped a latte and read a book for a while before church. We haven't taken Kate to Starbucks since she's been mobile, for obvious reasons, but I decided to give it a go this morning. There was definitely no leisurely book-reading, but we still had a nice mommy-daughter time sharing an apple-bran muffin and enjoying our respective sippy-cups.

Kate was very interested in the basket of gourmet popcorn, but she was actually very well-behaved, and I like the idea of making this a Mother's Day tradition. The rest of the day was pretty ordinary--church, chillin', confirmation class (Matt teaches and I'm a mentor to one of the girls) and laundry. We'll be getting together with Matt's parents later this week to celebrate, and I'll go up to my parents' in a couple weeks, so it was an uneventful afternoon!

I so love being Kate's mommy. The past year has been amazing, and it just keeps getting better.

Everyday Kate

Last month, I shared a precious photo session our friend did of Kate. The pics that I post on the blog and print for framing and scrapbooking are generally the "prettier" ones, taken in the nice outdoor setting with grass and flowers, etc. But Maria kept shooting even when we were just hanging out getting popcicles, and some of those pics in the stroller really capture the "everyday" Kate that I see in our ordinary interactions...

Though she doesn't really have any "real" words yet, she sometimes will yammer on as if she is telling us a very important story. Her inflections and facial expressions are so animated. I can't wait til we can actually understand what she's saying!

"Can I have some?"

"Please?" (She actually has said "peece?" a few times.)

"Oh, gee. Do I have a bow in my hair?"

"I better get that out of there."

"Now I'll try to put it back in... what's that? I don't know how to use my opposable thumbs to work an alligator clip?

Oh well."

"Good thing I'm cute and have a killer smile!"

:0)