maybe she gets it

It's hard to tell how much Abby understands as far as baby #2 goes.  We've slowly started talking more about it, we check out baby books, she plays with her baby dolls and we talk about how to act around a baby.  She feels my belly and feeds, hugs, pats, and tickles the baby.  But still, I can't imagine that she really understands what's going to happen, y'know?

So we were driving yesterday and out of the blue Abby says, "I'm gonna be a BIG Sister!"

It took me by surprise because we weren't currently talking about baby stuff, and the term "big sister" is not one that I've really used a lot with her.  Obviously, she's heard it and we've said it - but, for whatever reason, it's not part of our daily dialogue yet.

So, the rest of our conversation when like this:

Me: "Yes, you are!  That's right.  Abby is going to be a big sister"
A: "Abby is a big sister when baby comes"
Me: "That's right"
A: "Baby in mommy's tummy, and baby getting bigger"
Me: "Yep"
A: "And baby getting stroooonger too, baby move"
Me: "Very good Abby, you're right, do you feel the baby move sometimes?"
A: "yeah, and baby get big and come out"
Me: "Yes, when the baby gets big enough, it will come out and live with us at our house"
A: "yeah, at our house.  Baby stay at our house.  And I feed it"
Me: "Well, you can help"
A: "yeah, I can help.  And be gentle with baby.  Baby really really tiny, so be gentle"
Me: "Yes.  We have to be gentle with the baby"
A: "baby in mommy's tummy and I hug her"
Me: "It's nice when you hug the baby.  Is it a girl baby or a boy baby?"
A: "Ummm.  girl baby"
Me: "Well, we'll see. Maybe it's a boy baby"
A: "yeah, maybe boy baby"
Me: "Abby, you're going to be a very good big sister.  I'm very proud of you"
A: "Yes. Abby be nice to baby."

So.  Maybe she gets it more than I think she does.  Of course a lot of that conversation is her repeating things we've told her and rehearsed, but the conversation as a whole was so unprompted that it made me wonder.  She was obviously thinking about the whole ordeal in that little head of hers before we even started talking.

Abby decided to feed the baby a cookie the other day.  Cookies and ice cream cones are what she likes to share with her little sibling most days.  Good choices, if you ask me. 

I can only imagine that as we start the process of transforming her room and setting up the new nursery, that we will have more opportunities to talk about the baby.  And, I'm sure, she will have her share of jealousies and insecurities when baby comes.  But, overall, I'm optimistic.  She really is going to be a great big sister.

the day to day

When blogging is slow, it means the rest of life isn't.  Work has been very busy for both me and Kyle this past week (2, 3 weeks?)  For me, a lot of this has to do with making up work that couldn't be done due to snow days while juggling all the normal work that still has to be done on schedule.  But, I'm really not going to complain.  Sometimes my busiest days are my most fulfilling, and I like what I do.

Still, we've been burning the candle at both ends a lot and you get worn out.  The good news is that I have one more week to go before I get February vacation.  And the better news is, because of all the extra hours I've squeezed in lately, I'm going to go on vacation all. caught. up.  (quick, everybody knock on wood, right now)  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  In fact, By the first week in March, I may actually be marginally ahead of where I need to be.  (I know, THAT did it for sure ;)

So, my days right now consist of getting up and going to work.  I come home and usually have an hour or so to myself before Abby wakes up from nap.  Once she's up, we play or we go on errands.  Eventually, we get Kyle and either take him to school or bring him home.  The day ends with dinner, cleaning, and bedtime.  Then I usually watch some TV to relax and/or work on actual work for the next day.  On Mondays, I take Abs to the library.  On Tuesdays, we have playgroup.  On Wednesdays, we stay home (mostly), on Thursdays, we go to Target or the indoor playground, on Fridays we take it easy.

We have a schedule and it works.  Anyway, I realize none of this is interesting - but maybe one day I'll look back and read this and remember what things were like.  *shrug*

Here, have a picture.

On superbowl sunday, we told Abby she could have a "special" dinner and eat in front of the TV while we watched the game.  She was really excited about that.  She talked about her special dinner for another day or two afterwards.

I never get tired of watching her sleep - she's so peaceful and cuddly. :)

Let's see, what else to report?

Abby has been working on her manners lately.  She's usually pretty good - especially at home.  But, because she doesn't spend a lot of time with other kids - she sometimes has a difficult time generalizing those beautiful manners across settings.  So.  Now, on our way to playgroup or on our way to the playground, we talk about how to be nice and how to say Hi and how to share.  

It works great.  And it's funny.  Abby will go up to a kid and look at them.  I'l prompt her "Abby, be nice" and she'll tell the kid Hello.  Then, she'll run to me and tell me, "Mama!  I was nice!"  Or if a kid at playgroup gives her something, she'll run up to me and say "Mama! I said Thank You!"  She's so proud of herself.  The thing is, sometimes she forgets to *actually* say thank you and, instead, just comes to tell me that she did.  Good intentions.  

I don't mean to make it sound like she's a behavior problem or anything - she's really good, but just like everything else, we have to teach her how to act in all different situations.  

Also?  Her little neat freak thing is still going on.  She likes things organized and in their place.  She cleans up her own toys everyday without being prompted.  She'll come up to me and say "Uh-Oh, I made a mess.  I'm gonna clean it up, ok?"  And she goes about putting things exactly where they should go.  I mean, again, it's GREAT.  But...weird, right?  At play group, the other kids were playing with some of those leapfrog fridge magnets - the alphabet ones.  The moms commented on how they're constantly losing the pieces because the kids hide them, throw them, etc.  Abby?  No.  Abby likes to put all her letters in rows and columns.  If I take one off the fridge and put it on the floor - she runs over and puts it in line with the others.  Love it. 

All righty.  That's probably enough random stuff for now.  These are the kinds of posts that are really just more for me to relax by typing "out loud" than for reading value.  But, nonetheless, thanks for stopping by.  ;)  

Hope everyone has a good day.  And, if you're in Arkansas with your crazy snow - I hope you're having fun! 

pizza night

It's kinda crazy that we've never done this with Abby - but last night we decided to do a homemade pizza.  We just used stuff we had on hand, but it was fun.  It was nice to cook as a family, y'know?

helping me make the dough

 painting on the sauce

sprinkling on the cheese...and taking liberal samples ;)

working with daddy

while the pizza cooked, we had family coloring time. :)

showing me daddy's handiwork

our finished product.  :) It was yummy.  Especially considering we used hodgepodge ingredients.  But, I think I could see this becoming a more regular occurrence for sure. 

catch up

So, as expected, I've waited long enough to blog that the urgency of certain moments and memories have begun to fade.  But, I know there are still things from this week that I want to remember.  Since I'm not really sure where to start - we're going to do this list style.  K?

1) Have I mentioned how much Abby loves her kitchen?  We play in it everyday.  She's so funny.  I mean, it seriously cracks me up to watch her.  Mostly because she so often mimics our mannerisms, phrases, tones, and habits.  Her most recent thing is that she has learned to set her table.  Sometimes she uses the ottoman in her room, and sometimes she brings in her play table.

She's very particular about who sits where.  In the picture below, my spot is the one with the soup.  Doggie sits to my left, then Abby, then daddy.  Doggie always has a spot. 

Doggie is the friend of choice at the moment.  He's a puppet that we got on clearance several weeks ago.  She loves him.  He goes with us everywhere, she sleeps with him, and he is the honored guest at every tea party.  Here he is getting fed (and, yeah, Abby likes to wear random hats while we play *shrug*)

2) Another few things about doggie.  We have some wooden play food and Abby thinks that the wooden carrot is doggie's favorite food.  She is constantly feeding him the carrot.  She carries him around with the carrot stuck down in his mouth.  And she says things to him like "Doggie loves carrots!  Chew it up doggie! Yum yum yum!"

Also, Abby knows that certain toys stay upstairs and some stay down.  There are very few that get moved around between floors (mostly just her stuffed animals/dolls)  Her play food and dishes stay upstairs in her kitchen because I don't really feel like keeping track of all of them downstairs, y'know?  Well, the other day - we were coming downstairs.  I was holding Abby, and she was holding doggie.  On the way down, I notice that doggie (the puppet) is clinking.  This was our exchange:

Me: "Abby?  Did you put something inside doggie?"
Abby: "Huh? Umm.  no"
Me: "Abby.  What's inside doggie?"
Abby: "Doggie go downstairs?"
Me: "Yes, doggie can come downstairs, but what did you put inside doggie?"
(I look to find 3 plates, 2 plastic cookies and a play ice cream cone)
Me: "Abby.  The food stays upstairs"
Abby: "Doggie really heavy"
Me: "Go put the food back in your room"
Abby: (sigh) "doggie really likes cookies!"
Me: "I know."

Since then, she's tried to use doggie to sneak things upstairs and down - or to the car.  I gotta keep an eye on her. ;)

3)  We flipped Abby's carseat a few days ago.  My goal was to make it to 2-years rear facing, so I'm happy we did that.  It's a little weird to have her turned around now - but she loves it.  On our first drive with her flipped, she kept laughing and pointing at things.  She was having so much fun.  We taught her that green lights mean go and red mean stop and she picked that up right away.  Too bad traffic was horrendous - she kept getting frustrated when I wouldn't go on green. :)  She also seemed to really notice she lived in the city when, after watching things for a while, said, "Mama? There people everywhere!  Trains everywhere too!  There people and trains EVERYWHERE!"

4) Snow.  We've had over 6 ft of snow since January 1st.  The snow itself doesn't bother me too much.  Now that we've had a bunch of ice - things are a bit more hazardous.  The really annoying thing is parking.  At my school, most of the parking is on a hill. What lots there are are poorly plowed and the whole situation just gets ridiculous.

Our front walk.  This was after a day of rain that melted a good bit!

view of the back yard.  You can see how far the snow is up the picket fence...and it's that deep across the whole yard. The slide has another bump in it you can't see. 

5) Temperament.  Abby is not a difficult child.  Really, she's not.  But, she does have her moments and days that have me searching through random piles of papers looking for that gypsy's phone number.  Kyle was gone for about a week, and during that week, I was home with Abs more than usual due to a few snow days.  The results was, we both were going stir crazy.  She wore on me, I probably wore on her -but despite all that, we had some good times and lots of cuddles and bonding time too.  Since Kyle's come home, she's been super clingy and in a No! Mommy-do-it! phase.  It's tiring.  She's getting used to him being back now, but it's just kinda weird.

6) Abby has learned to use her step that we keep downstairs to new advantages.  This means, we had to stop keeping fruit on the kitchen island.  She has no problem climbing up and taking her pick of apples or whatever we have.  And, I'm fine with that, really.  The problem is when she takes 2 bites of an apple, throws it under the couch and goes to get another one.  So, we're having to watch her.  She can now open the fridge by herself too.  It's not uncommon for her to go to the fridge, open it, stand there and say "Hmmm, let's see..."  And help herself to something.  Again - gotta keep an eye on her or the next thing I'll know she'll be painting with ketchup or pouring her own milk.

Ok.  That's good for now.  I have this nagging feeling that I'm forgetting to blog about that one really important thing I wanted to write about, but, I suppose I'll think of it later.

tired

I have so much to write about.  But, I'm beyond exhausted.  I can't keep my eyes open, so I'm going to take these tired bones to bed tonight.

But, I haven't forgotten about you dear blog.  I'll write lots and lots of things soon.

I'll leave you with this.

Tonight, Abby snuggled under my arm and said "Awww.  Abby loves mommy very much.  Mommy is so sweet."  Then she told me I was "really really cute"

it made my week.

talk to you soon.