a hairy predicament

(pardon the corny title)

I've always admired little girls with cute short hair. A swingy, chin-length bob is just adorable on a preschooler. So, my intention has always been to give Flora a cute little bob when her hair grew long enough (in other words: when the bad bangs that I cut grew out).

Well, now Flora's hair is probably long enough for a bob, but I don't think it's going to happen. There are several reasons and they all have to do with her curly curly curls.

• Chris would never go for it. He loves her curls.
• I would have a hard time cutting off those curls. They are pretty dang cute!
• Her curly, wavy hair is not ideal for a sleek, swingy bob.

So, I guess the verdict is don't cut the curls. They have to be cut eventually though. I'm curious to find out if the curly hair survives her first haircut or forever disappear only to be fondly remembered as "Flora's baby curls." I'd be fine either way. If they stick around, then we still have cute little curly-haired Flora. If they don't make it, then we have cute little swingy bob Flora.

And then there's Scout......

His hair has taken its sweet time. I'm just finally starting to feel like he has hair, but at the same time I wonder if it's time for his first haircut. He's got some long pieces that just kinda hang over his forehead. I wonder if this is one of those situations where less is more. Perhaps a tiny haircut will actually make it look like there's MORE hair up there.

A boring blog, for sure, but that's what's on my mind. :-)

grumps

What a day . . .

Scout decided not to sleep last night . . . at least not to sleep in his bed or in our bed. I discovered that the only way he would sleep was lying on my chest while I sat on the couch. I did this for a while and tried to slip him back into bed but he started crying. So Chris took a turn with Scout on the couch . . . and then I took a turn . . . it was a long night. Naptime today did not leave me optimistic for a good night tonight either. Does anyone know why 1-year-olds suddenly stop sleeping?? He's been an excellent sleeper for some time now.

Maybe it was the lack of sleep that led me to go against my better judgment and take the kids to storytime at the library this morning. Scout fussed off and on during the story reading and Flora decided to explore the library instead of listening to the story. It could have been worse . . . she only knocked the books off of ONE shelf, after all. I ended up pushing Scout out of the library in his stroller and carrying Flora on my hip while both of them screamed and cried. Having worked at the library during many storytimes, I didn't feel bad about my kids' behavior. It was actually kind of nice to be on the mommy side of the situation. True, I had to go home with the little grumps (and believe me, the grumps did not stop when we left the library), but I prefer that to being at work all day while they are grumping at someone else.

But I'm hoping that they can grump at Chris for a while this weekend so I can return to the library for a more serene, grown-up library experience.

conquering the bean curd

Tofu... the Final Frontier. These are the explorations of the mothership Mommy. Her ongoing mission: to explore strange new foods, to seek out new protein sources and new vegetable recipes, to boldly go where no man has gone before.

(If you've never watched Star Trek then please disregard the previous statement)

I am reading a recipe for tofu nuggets. (Add that to the "things I never thought I would be doing" list.) I've long been disgusted with my kids' love of bologna and have recently begun exploring other protein sources. It turns out that they LOVE black beans and I am fairly confident that black beans are much healthier than bologna. So, that's been a success. Maybe it was this little taste of success that prompted my rash action at the grocery store yesterday . . . I bought a package of tofu.


I'm just not sure what to do with it though. Do I just cut it up and give it to the kids? Should I prepare it somehow? How do people eat tofu??? I'm a big fan of tofu in my hot and sour soup, but beyond that my tofu experience is zilch. I guess you could call me a tofu newbie.

But the tofu nuggets sound kinda yummy and not too difficult to prepare . . . I guess I'll start there. There's an awesome website dedicated entirely to tofu meals for babies. (What did moms DO before Google?? How did anyone know how to be a parent without the Internet??) I also read about cubing the tofu and rolling it in crushed Cheerios. Definitely easy. Or there's the option to cube the tofu and soak it in broth for a while to absorb some flavor . . . I could do that.

So with some trepidation and a bit of nausea (hey--it's all slimy and jiggly . . . gross!!) the tofu experiments begin. Tune in next time to discover if I have conquered the bean curd or if my limited culinary skills are rendered useless against its overpowering blandness.



Also, in case I don't blog again before Sunday: GO COLTS!!!!!!!

mostly normal with a side of crazy

Oh yeah . . . I have a blog . . .

Vomit is not my area of expertise. I don't do it and I don't understand why other people do either. Since we'd come this far without any stomach bugs, I had hoped that my kids inherited my no-vomit gene. No such luck. This week they both got a stomach bug and I quickly became schooled in The Art of Vomit Detection, Clean-up, and Prevention 101. Gross topic, isn't it? So gross, that it needs to be shared. It was such an awful week . . . Not only because of the overall grossness of the situation, but because I was struck with the realization that this week will probably repeat itself several times before they are old enough to put their vomit where it belongs -- the toilet. Tired of reading about vomit?? Yeah . . . sorry about that.

On to brighter topics!!

Today was a good day for Miss Flora. Lately she's had issues with the nursery at church. She used to love it but in the past few months she has cried every time I've left her. Poor little thing is so cute though. All the way to church she sits in the backseat and says "No cry, Mommy. FloFlo no cry." She totally prepares herself to be a big girl, but ultimately breaks down when the moment of separation arrives. Today she watched me leave the nursery with no tears!! I held my breath as I walked out the door and stood outside listening for the sobs, but they never came. When I picked her up after church her first words were "No cry, Mommy! FloFlo no cry!" She's such a cutie. And she's turning into such a big girl too.

I realize that most people space their kids further apart than mine are, but I often wonder what 2-year-olds do all day without 1-year-old playmates??? Flora and Scout are such good buddies and playmates that I can't imagine entertaining one without the other for an entire day. I know there are benefits to spacing siblings out more, but I like my way. My way is best. My blog = my way is best. :)

They are quite open with their displays of affection for each other now. Scout will hug and kiss Flora while she's watching TV and Flora will rub Scout's head, give him a hug, and say "Oh, so cute! Scout so cute him!" I don't know why she adds the "him" at the end, but I like it. Toddlerese is so cute! Scout says a bunch of little words now too. He says happy, nice, ball, night-night, thank you (ta-tu), bye-bye, more, mama, dada, and brrrmbrrrm. He's going to be a little chatterbox like his daddy. It will be so funny to listen to the things that he and Flora talk about once he can really communicate!!

If I were to order a life from what would surely be a very expensive restaurant, I would order my life "mostly normal with a side of crazy." Some people have very normal lives. Everything is easy and perfect and boring. Some people have very crazy lives. It's all chaos all the time. Neither sounds appealing. I'll take the Combo Plate . . . with a Coke, and no, Pepsi won't do. Right now the kids are our "side of crazy." It's hard to have an easy, perfect, boring life with two toddlers in the picture. Someday they'll be normal and we'll have to become the crazy ones. Somehow, I don't think that will be a problem!!

Christmas Recap

"O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree! Thy leaves are so unchanging." Obviously the author of this carol did not have young children. Our Christmas tree was ALWAYS changing, thanks to my two little elves. (Also, thanks to one of my little elves, my computer is randomly underlining text.)


<---- I posted this picture a few weeks ago to show how Flora and Scout had taken tree decorating to a whole new level. They continued to add interesting ornaments to the tree throughout the Christmas season. Below you will see some of the other unique ornaments with which Flora and/or Scout decorated our Christmas tree. Enjoy!





If this were a real tree I might say it had a future in baseball.










Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree!













Christmas tree cookies, anyone?














"Merry Christmas!" Love, Barbie.












On a toy-themed tree, this duck block might pass for a real ornament.












Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like a bowl of cereal.

Snipets

~~~Flora was leisurely eating her lunch today when suddenly she yells "Oh! Oh Mommy!" Her little hands raise in a questioning gesture and she asks, "Where Christmas tree go, Mommy?" I told her it went away because Christmas is over, but laughed to myself because the tree has been down for a week and she helped me take it down. This was the first mention she's made of the Christmas tree since it's been gone. It's funny how a two-year-old's mind works.

~~~After going poo-poo in the potty and getting her candy reward, her first thought is to tell Scout. She gets right in his face and says, "Flo-Flo poo-poo potty, Scout!!!" with a jubilant expression on her face. He never gets as excited as she'd like, but he does like the attention so he smiles and tries to hug her like he always does when she's close.

~~~Scout has learned to point to his cute little nose when asked where his nose it. He taps it on the side like he is Santa Claus or communicating some sort of secret. He also blows kisses, except they are more like fish lips that end in a giant smack. He's such a cuddler. Mother was right . . . everyone should have at least one cuddly baby.

And that's all for now. I have some funny pictures I will post and write about later, but this is just a quick update while I'm waiting for Chris!

Flora and Dora

I must confess that I was slightly anti-Dora before I really got to know her.
Dora the Explorer is a cartoon about a bilingual little girl who goes on various adventures with her best friend, Boots (a monkey). Flora LOVES Dora. When Dora says "Wiggle," Flora wiggles. When Dora says, "Jump," Flora jumps. When Dora is not giving specific instructions, Flora usually looks like this:

Or if Dora is being particularly amusing, Flora might look like this:

And if Flora is at a friend's house, she watches Dora like this:

She would probably watch Dora all day if I let her. I try to limit her to one Dora per day . . . sometimes two. I'm okay with Dora now that I've seen how much Flora learns from her Dora shows. For example, I discovered a few days ago that Flora can count to seven in Spanish. She skips the number four, but I don't correct her. She IS counting in Spanish, after all.

However, my FAVORITE Dora story happened last week when Flora grabbed her little purse, went to the door, and said, "Vamonos Mommy! Let's go!"