: i_am_dsh; October 25th, 22:19

Friday was Pounce's half birthday. She's 2 1/2 now.
We gave her a party with a HalfBirthday Cake

with 2 1/2 candles

There was dinner out with the grandparents, party hats, and presents too.

Today, Wiggles is 6 weeks old.
Yesterday, we took Wiggles to her first Gaskell Ball - since October is the Fancy Dress Ball, we had to costume her - as a Victorian baby doll.

(after the photo ops, I took her out of the fussy dress and put her in the wrap carrier - she was hands-free baby and very contet.
Pounce wore her ladybug dress to the ball.

She was very active. She was happy to be there and talked a lot this morning about being at the dance party and wanting to run with the other 2 little girls again.

(no subject)

: i_am_dsh; October 14th, 7:36

Little Wiggles is 1 month old, as of 11:24 PM last night. She and I were awake for it. I hope that's not a tradition.

Sad news: Daphne

: i_am_dsh; September 16th, 3:51

Current Mood:: sad

Our beloved dog, Daphne, died suddenly last night. She went quickly from her happy normal self to very sick, then stopped breathing. We're thankful that it happened when we could be with her and that her suffering seemed brief.

We will miss her.

Baby & Me update

: i_am_dsh; September 10th, 13:07

Current Mood:: nervous

I'm on weekly doctor appointments now, since baby's due 14 September. The basic stats:

3 cm dilated
60% effaced
(my BP and urine tests are fine; baby's heartbeat is fine)

Doctor thinks Baby will arrive within the week. Also, he predicts she'll be in the 8 pound range. (My toddler was 7 lb, 12 oz when she was born, so I think that's probably a safe estimate) Eeek. I thought I'd have more time!

I'd better wash those little clothes I was sorting on the weekend. Someone little may need them soon. Oh and pack the bag for me, for my toddler...

(xposted to "pregnant" and "septbabies2009" communities)

Some fun

: i_am_dsh; September 6th, 21:06

Today:
Out to breakfast at La Pinata. Ahhh, comfort food.

Out shopping at Babies R Us. I think we've selected the double stroller: Baby Trend tandem with sit/stand option
We even got to try folding it down and putting it in the cargo space of our car. The competing product was hard to fold and seemed bulkier in the folded position. We didn't test it with the car. It also didn't have a sit/stand feature, and our Kidlet is getting tall enough that she'll outgrow a stroller seat soon enough but may still want to stop walking before the parents do... at least that's the theory. When we tried sit/stand today, Terpsichoros called Kidlet an escape artist. Right now, a stroller seat that reclines for impromptu sleep is the ticket - she falls asleep in the stroller a good deal.

Off to Kennedy Park in the afternoon for carousel rides (Kidlet had 3) plus the little train, the bouncy house, the petting zoo, and rides on swings and slide. Yay! I love this place, and I'm glad I had Terpsichoros with us to keep up with Kidlet. I feel unhappy that I'm having to slow down just as she's really speeding up. I guess this is another reason there are supposed to be 2 parents - or a village - to raise a child.

We were already planning dinner at Zachary's - then some family friends from Iowa called. (like a spare aunt & uncle) They were in the area and wanted to meet for dinner. We had them meet us, and we all had salad and pizza. Kidlet mostly ate the cheese and Canadian bacon. How do some people raise their children as vegetarians - vegans, even? I would have a stunted, skinny little kid... The only thing she'll consistently eat is meat.

Additional bonus -- Kidlet fell asleep in the car on the way home and is still sleeping. I think I'll get to go to bed early tonight.

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Confinement (aka maternity leave, waiting for Baby)

: i_am_dsh; September 5th, 16:26

The Victorians evidently called all of pregnancy, or at least the part in which the pregnancy was evident, confinement. During that time, the expectant mother was limited in her activities and travels.

Now, less than 2 weeks to the due date, I've reached confinement. My maternity leave started Wednesday. I spent Wednesday with Terpsichoros for his birthday (while Kidlet stayed with her grandparents) and had grandparent-care again Thursday afternoon so I could go to the doctor. Thursday morning, I felt like a model mommy - Kidlet and I baked cookies and made "little cheesy rabbits" for lunch.
I read books, told her stories...

Yesterday was the first "work day" in which I was home with Kidlet the whole day. It was hard. She was whiny. I was probably whiny too. I wanted to sleep and she didn't nap until much later than I expected. I'm reminded that SAHM isn't all fun and games. I miss Monique.

We're having a holiday weekend, but I don't feel like going anywhere far or doing anything too active. Baby is big. I get tired. I need the bathroom often and if I can't take care of my needs, I end up either grumpy or martyrlike. Poor Kidlet and Terpsichoros. Poor me!

Happy Birthday, Terpsichoros!

: i_am_dsh; September 2nd, 4:33

I can't sleep.
The one bonus? I probably get to be the first to wish Terpsichoros a very happy birthday.

fabric flower instructions

: i_am_dsh; August 10th, 17:04

looks cool and not too difficult:

link

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not quite what I intended

: i_am_dsh; August 2nd, 21:47

My daughter said, "We're going to the store to get a new baby."

That's not exactly the message I thought she'd get from those repeated readings of Big Sister Dora and Mama What's In There?

Parenting: Slate article about play dates

: i_am_dsh; July 31st, 11:22

"...the play date takes a satirical beating. It's the site of missed connections between mothers, a time for sitting in judgment and airing theories of superiority rather than enjoying the company of another adult (or the children who are supposed to be at the center of the whole encounter). These depictions of the play date ring true to me in the way that cartoon portraits do—the features are exaggerated but also familiar. At the same time, I'd like to rescue the play date from its maligned position on the front lines of the mommy wars. Because sometimes, mothers who have different styles unexpectedly come together over their kids. Fathers, too."

Link to article

No pet is perfect

: i_am_dsh; July 29th, 17:00

but this is on the list of why I don't want a housecat:

little wiggles

: i_am_dsh; July 29th, 14:40

I just saw my belly move due to baby movement. Trippy.

(no subject)

: i_am_dsh; July 25th, 21:49

Accomplishment of the day:
used the rain check from the car wash and had the Zoomy Blue Car washed and vaccuumed. I looked at the paper work- they changed my oil on 5 July, when it was already carrying fireworks debris on the outside and riverbank sand on the inside. Much better now - it's shiny, and I even got them to vacuum under the car seat spot - Terpsichoros kept Kidlet, and I went by myself to the car wash. They went to the street festival on Park.

for rightkindofme (and others) -- Too many plastic toys!

: i_am_dsh; July 9th, 17:06

I totally thought of

rightkindofme when I saw this article.

I particularly like the part where the aunt takes the kids on outings for their birthdays, rather than buying them lots of stuff. (Especially now that I'm an adult) I'd rather get together with friends/family and *do* something on my birthday than get a thing.

It's good to think about as a parent. My kids will have experiences and memories if I focus on doing special things with them, and that's better than stuff.

(no subject)

: i_am_dsh; July 8th, 14:45

Current Mood:: sad

LJ seems like a lonely place these days... or else my posts are boring to people.

Editorial on Sarah Palin's resignation

: i_am_dsh; July 6th, 11:59

This ideal has had a tough 10 months. It’s been tarnished by Palin herself, obviously. With her missteps, scandals, dreadful interviews and self-pitying monologues, she’s botched an essential democratic role — the ordinary citizen who takes on the elites, the up-by-your-bootstraps role embodied by politicians from Andrew Jackson down to Harry Truman.

...

Here are lessons of the Sarah Palin experience, for any aspiring politician who shares her background and her sex. Your children will go through the tabloid wringer. Your religion will be mocked and misrepresented. Your political record will be distorted, to better parody your family and your faith. (And no, gentle reader, Palin did not insist on abstinence-only sex education, slash funds for special-needs children or inject creationism into public schools.)

...

Sarah Palin is beloved by millions because her rise suggested, however temporarily, that the old American aphorism about how anyone can grow up to be president might actually be true.

But her unhappy sojourn on the national stage has had a different moral: Don’t even think about it.

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Car expense suckage

: i_am_dsh; July 5th, 19:09

Today, I hit a curb and blew out a front tire on my car, just as I was pulling into the vet's office to pick up Daphne from boarding. I was able to park the car in the vet's lot - and I heard the air escaping from the tire as I parked. I got out the mini-spare, and with the help of a kind man who was able to loosen the lug nuts on the tire, put the minispare on (there was drama around this, which I will not re-hash here). Then I picked up my dog, cried on the way back to the car, on the way home, and in Terpsichoros's arms when I got home.
*** I hold up pretty well until the crisis is over, then I cry. ***

My car needed new tires anyway, but I hadn't planned to do anything about it today...

Then... I tried to find a shop that (1) was open on the Sunday after July 4 (2) had 4 tires for my car in stock (3) could do the work today, and (4) wouldn't over-charge me. I ended up driving to Sears in Hayward/Southland Mall. The drive on a mini-spare was exciting. I didn't want to drive too fast, so everyone on 880 was zooming around me. At the shop, the experience was pretty good. The other bonus was that Kidlet and I had someplace to kill time while they worked on the car.

On the way back home, I stopped at the oil change/car wash place on the Oakland Alameda border. They had time to change the oil and air filter, but I had to get a rain check on the car wash. I'll come back another day soon, after I've picked up all the stray belongings so they can give it a good vaccuum - that Russian River-bank sand is everywhere!

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My July 4 holiday is July 3 this year

: i_am_dsh; July 3rd, 15:04

I have July 3 off from work today, to celebrate the July 4 Independence Day holiday. Terpsichoros has to work.
Kidlet and I have been spending the day together:

Breakfast at Ole's (just beat the rush!)
Home stuff (I do laundry while she watches Dora "old school" on VHS in the basement)
Lunch
Nap

I want to take her to the beach to play in the sand or somewhere to see animals before Terpsichoros gets home... but it's after 3 pm and she's still napping.

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North Coast Weekend

: i_am_dsh; June 30th, 15:03

terpsichoros already posted about our trip, much of it while it was in progress. (Somehow, he gets to use his computer for web browsing, while mine is for playing kid videos... how does that happen?) We're happy that we went north this weekend, since it was hot at home.

Saturday, I dropped off Daphne the Dog at the vet's boarding and then we took off for Fort Bragg. Kidlet was a pretty good traveler, but we did occasionally resort to kid music to keep her content on the long drive. Just like last summer, Habla Blah Blah got a lot of play. So did Cantemos el ABC and (although I find it particularly annoying) Dora the Explorer: Dance Fiesta!

(Seriously, whoever did the voice direction on the Dora CD should never get to make another recording. The girl who plays Dora doesn't sing flat on TV.)

It was *hot* at some of the stops along the way, but when we got into Fort Bragg, it was breezy and chilly. To go out in the afternoon, I dressed Kidlet and me in long pants and sneakers. I came to regret the sneakers for Kidlet when we went to play at Glass Beach, and she first got her Adidas leather sneakers dirty, then wet in the waves, then dirty again. I was pretty grouchy at Terpsichoros for letting the shoes get wet; he washed them when we got back to the hotel and they dried, looking much better, by Monday.

Kidlet loved the beach and the hotel pool. Our hotel in Fort Bragg was clean and had everything we needed, but a little bit worn. The staff was nice, and the pool was indoor and heated (important in chilly California North Coast.) Kidlet was delighted to go swimming and kept asking to go back to the pool. We had brought water wings and an inflatable ring - the ring was more effective for Kidlet, and she called it a floatie (term used in Dora for a ship's life ring.) She had great fun being towed through the water and seeing other kids and their parents play in the pool. One elementary-school aged girl shared a ball with her, and she had fun with that, too. She was sad to leave the pool Saturday night, but I was *tired!*

On Sunday, we had breakfast in Fort Bragg and then toured south to Mendocino and the Point Cabrillo lighthouse. I love lighthouses. The cool thing about the light at Point Cabrillo is that they still use their Fresnel lens. The un-cool thing about it is, because the lens is in use, you don't get to climb the tower, like we used to get to do at Pigeon Point btw Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz. We drove to Eureka, along a twisty, hot stretch of Highway 1 (I was carsick! I very rarely get carsick.) with a detour to Ferndale. It was after 7 PM by the time we got to our hotel, and to keep my promise to Kidlet to swim, I had to send Terpsichoros out for Mexican take-out while I took Kidlet to the pool before it closed.

Our hotel in Eureka was very nice - the bed was firm with a cushy top and a down duvet, and everything looked new. But... the pool was indoor/outdoor, and it was *chilly!* If I hadn't promised Kidlet, I would have refused to swim. She didn't seem to mind, and she was delighted by the teenage boys splashing for their amusement and her own.

If I had this trip to do over again, we'd go to one town or the other, not one town the first night and another on the 2nd night. It was a lot of time in the car, and we didn't have the flexibility to stay anyplace longer. The kid attractions in Eureka were closed Mondays, and Monday was our daytime visit to Eureka. Bummer. Kidlet was less disappointed than I was - if she had been a year or two older, it would have been more of a problem that I had talked up going to the zoo, but then we couldn't go.

There was a horse drawn carriage selling rides in downtown Eureka. Kidlet and I stopped to watch it before lunch. We think she would have enjoyed it, but she fell asleep (naptime!) after lunch, so we let the carriage ride go and made our way back home.

Kidlet learned to say Vacation on the trip this year, and she seemed to have a good time overall. Now I think she's happy to be back to the routine of going to M's and watching Dora, Mickey Mouse, and Bugs Bunny.

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I have to push the pram a lot...

: i_am_dsh; June 24th, 10:48

We saw Spamalot last night. (a musical lovingly ripped off from the classic film comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail)

Fun!
Of course they pulled lots of favorite bits from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and a few favorites from other of the Monty Python library ("Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" from Life of Brian, for example) ... and they added songs! ...and unlike the film, the theater show actually has an ending!

Terpsichoros's parents entertained Kidlet by taking her to the park - she showed them all her favorite things there, like dumping sand all over herself and playing hopscotch and shuffleboard by walking through the numbers. She got so dirty that they gave her a bath and she was sleeping soundly before we got home.

(no subject)

: i_am_dsh; June 20th, 14:04

Vallejo
Pirate festival. Kidlet is asleep in her stroller. I'm sitting in the grass by the edge of the water. A beautiful pirate ship has been sailing past occasionally. Charming. We're running into a lot of people Terpsichoros knows and a few people I also know. Lots of costumes. Some good, some cheesy.

We brought the jog stroller because the ground is uneven, but it is bad in crowds--can't tell where is the front wheel.

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summer is coming; want to take Kidlet swimming

: i_am_dsh; June 20th, 7:21

After the experience a few weeks ago when I was going to take Kidlet swimming at 24 Hour, only to get turned away at the door... (14 and over only!) I was pretty mad. It took some fortitude for me to let Terpsichoros go work out after they had said I couldn't bring my Kidlet to swim.

Anyway...
I'm trying to figure out the swimming options for my Kidlet, now that it's summer or nearly so.
Luckily, it hasn't been too hot yet.

Again I'm frustrated that many of the best options for doing things with a toddler seem to revolve around being a stay-at-home parent.

The public pool nearest our house (about 2 blocks) is M - F, 22 June to 30 July, no evening hours.
The public pool across town has Saturday tot swim during Kidlet's typical nap time and recreational swim a little later... but their open dates are also shorter than summer - 22 June to 21 Aug.

I could join another health club (ugh- I barely use the one I belong to now) but the Harbor Bay Club website doesn't list the prices of their memberships, and Bladium doesn't seem to have a pool.

I thought of Fremont's new swim/water park but their hours aren't weekday-convenient. At least it's a weekend option through Labor Day. Hayward has a 6 PM class this summer that might work...

Poor Kidlet; I wonder if she'll feel sorry for herself that her mommy wasn't available during business hours to take her to pool, parent-participation preschool...

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(no subject)

: i_am_dsh; June 19th, 10:37

Ten Great Public Health Achievements in the 20th Century

Public health is credited with adding 25 years to the life expectancy of people in the United States in this century. Yet, ask the average person what public health is and their reply might be limited to: "healthcare for low-income families." CDC′s Ten Great Public Health Achievements in the 20th Century was created to remind us of how far we′ve come, how we got here, and exactly what public health is: the active protection of our nation′s health and safety, credible information to enhance health decisions, and partnerships with local minorities and organizations to promote good health.

Learn more about how far we've come in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR):

Ten Great Public Health Achievements in the 20th Century

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(no subject)

: i_am_dsh; June 18th, 11:08

60-Year-Old Hippie Pitied By 40-Year-Old Punk
Local news in The Onion this week.

a pretty hallucination

: i_am_dsh; June 17th, 19:18

For a couple of days, I believed I had enough frequent flyer miles to take Kidlet & me first class to visit my parents. I was giddy with the prospect... especially when I had a belief that I was just shy the necessary miles for 1 reward ticket.

My hallucination came from looking at the "program to date" miles instead of the "total available award mileage"

So, now I don't have the miles I thought I had, and I can't take the free trip I thought I'd take. Sad.

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the travel bug

: i_am_dsh; June 13th, 13:46

Yay! We're going away for a weekend before the end of June :)
We're taking a loop through Fort Bragg and Eureka, staying in hotels with pools for Kidlet & me, and making sure I get to go *somewhere* this summer, before I'm too pregnant to travel at all.

Hooray redwoods and beautiful Pacific coast. Should be a good time.

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stuff

: i_am_dsh; June 8th, 22:04

Dance events aren't nearly so fun when I'm obviously pregnant.

I was tired this evening and got a second wind by walking the dog around the block.

Kidlet is fun, cute, and a chocoholic.

BabyGirl is wiggly. I don't recall feeling nearly so much baby movement with Kidlet.

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Childhood vaccination efficacy study

: i_am_dsh; May 29th, 14:26

Unvaccinated Kids Getting Whooping Cough

Children of Parents Who Refuse Vaccines More Likely to Get Whooping Cough

By Jennifer Warner / Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD
WebMD Health News

May 26, 2009 -- Children of parents who refuse to give them vaccines are more likely than fully immunized kids to get whooping cough, according to a new study.

( Read more... )

for Terpsichoros

: i_am_dsh; May 29th, 11:03

(no subject)

: i_am_dsh; May 27th, 20:53

I have high hopes that Kidet is getting better.
She was very active/playful this afternoon/evening and nearly fell asleep in her dinner at about 8 pm.
I think her temperature is in control, but we'll know more as she sleeps through scheduled medicine doses... M is hopeful that Kidlet will come back tomorrow, and I am ready to go have at least a couple of days at the office this week.

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Ten Great Public Health Achievements in the 20th Century

Unvaccinated Kids Getting Whooping Cough

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