Sibling aggression

I've been dealing with a lot of aggression on Maggie's part lately, and I'm not quite sure how to handle it. She will walk up to Audrey and push her down for no reason. And often roll on top of her afterward, sit on her chest, put her feet in Audrey's face, etc. Sometimes Audrey rolls around and laughs, sometimes she protests and cries. Either way, Maggie laughs gleefully. I try to have a zero-tolerance policy and send her to a time-out every time, but I admit that I am inconsistent on this. If Maggie stops after one "no" I usually don't do the time-out. But sometimes the aggression escalates and I'm starting to feel like I can't turn my back on them for a moment. Do I just keep sending her to time-out? I even swatted her butt once during a particularly bad moment when she was hurting Audrey and I was having a hard time separating them. Imagine--having a hard time breaking up a fight between two little girls under 3. Heaven help me when they're pre-teens.

Taking it slow

After all the excitement over the weekend, it's nice having a slow week. Yesterday we only left the house to go to the library for storytime. Being in a room full of kids is a study in the differences between Maggie's and Audrey's personalities. Audrey refused to sit with me and wandered around the room looking into kids' faces and leaning onto mothers, making friends left and right. Maggie, meanwhile, sat in my lap with her face buried in my neck most of the time. But they both had fun--Maggie especially enjoyed the craft project, and they both liked picking out books. Maggie signed up for the summer reading club--we're supposed to write down all the books we read to her, and every week she gets a prize. We even checked out a bunch of books (Gina will be so proud).

Today I took the girls to an indoor playground where I got a $14, 90-minute workout chasing the two of them. They had a blast. I was exhausted. Then we ate lunch at Quizno's and they both fell asleep on the way home. I'm getting pretty good at this dual-nap thing!

Good thing too--my parents left for Phoenix yesterday and will be out of town for a month. I'm losing my babysitter! Gah! So getting the girls to nap simultaneously has never been more important--it may be the only break I get.

My artists

Maggie wanted to make a collage from the birthday party catalog we got in the mail. She pointed to the pictures she liked, I cut them out, and she glued them down.



Meanwhile, Audrey got hold of the crayons and started making drawing motions. So I quickly set her up with some paper and lo and behold, she did her first drawing!

Audrey's glamour shots

Audrey got this white sundress as a birthday present from her friend Mia, and she looked so adorable in it and her new shoes that I had to take her outside and shoot a million photos. Here is a small sample.

Audrey is 1 year old today!

Audrey's birthday party

What a weekend! It's been a whirlwind of activity. I only got about 2 hours sleep last night and then it was time to get up and prepare for Audrey's first birthday party. It was a fantastic party--you can read the details and see photos on Audrey's website. Also new to Audrey's site is a video retrospective of her first year. It's about 10 minutes long and may take a bit to download, but I know that her biggest fans will quite enjoy it.

More photos from the premiere

Dessert:
Seating:
Screen:

Arrrrr!

Pirates premiere

We had a blast at the Pirates premiere last night. We got to Disneyland right when they were letting in the people with premiere passes. We got big credentials to wear around her necks, and the security was ubiquitous and relentlessly friendly. We were constantly asked where we were going, if we needed assistance, etc (in other words, keep moving and only go where you're supposed to!). Walking down the red carpet--all the way down Main Street into New Orleans Square--was surreal. The carpet was lined with literally thousands of people who had been waiting all day to catch glimpses of the stars. We walked the gauntlet as all these people stared at us wondering who we were and why we were going to the premiere. Some people even applauded us, just to be funny.

When we got to the area of the pre-screening party, they had Pirates, Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain open to ride. We rode Pirates and loved it--the changes to the ride were excellent. There's one part where you ride through a waterfall made of fog-- very cool. After that we ate dinner, which was a buffet of wedding-reception-quality-food. I loaded up at the dessert bar (shocking, I know). After that we wandered around, craning our necks at people who looked famous and digging for "buried treasure" (cool pirate-looking coins buried in sand). We got our seats for the movie at about 8:30 (they gave out buckets of popcorn, drinks and blankets) and a band played. The movie finally started after 10 pm, and afterward they had fireworks. As we left the movie, there was ice cream and coffee, and you could ride the rides again, but we were so exhausted we headed home. We didn't get to bed till after 2...and the girls woke us before 6...but it was worth it!

Star sightings: We saw the stars of the film--Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, etc--from a bit of a distance right before the film began. Up close, our best sighting was Christian Slater, who was being really nice and posing for photos with fans (we didn't ask). He walked within inches of me--he looked good. Then he tried to go to the bathroom and people were following him in, still asking for photos. He was all, "Uh, can you give me a minute?" We also saw Arnold Schwarzenegger, Marilyn Manson, Kevin Pollack, Dennis Rodman and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. We sat right next to Roseanne, Ace Young (from American Idol) and Melissa Gilbert. Apparently I stood in line right next to Martin Landau, but I didn't notice. Robert told me later. We saw assorted other familiar-looking actor-types, but couldn't figure out who they were.

Ready to walk down the red carpet:

The view down the red carpet:

Entering the pre-screening party area:
Riding Pirates:

Jack Sparrow in the ride:

Our afternoon

Splashing in the little pool (notice her new haircut...I couldn't get her to pose for a better shot):

Streaking in a swim diaper:

Given the whole yard to roam and all the toys to choose from...Audrey decides to sit in the mud and rip up a catalog:
All tuckered out:

More musings on bacon

From my dad, who also loves bacon, and who (I keep telling him) should start his own blog:

When I was in the Navy you could have whatever you wanted for breakfast. On the ship, back in the day, officers were served on white linen and silver by white jacketed Filipino stewards.

Lunch and dinner were at noon and five, but breakfast was whenever you came to the wardroom between 7 and 8. You sat down, the steward poured your coffee and you selected your breakfast by writing whatever you wanted on a pad of paper with the little pencil provided.

Most guys that ate at all had bacon and eggs. Me, I hate eggs.

Toast and bacon, seven days a week! And this was buttered white toast and full sodium bacon.

(Cholesterol wasn't even INVENTED until 15 years later!)

Ode to bacon

I love bacon. Thank God for bacon, and thank God for the happy pigs who provide bacon. They must be happy, because they're made of bacon. You know what goes good with bacon? Butter. I don't need lettuce, tomato or mayonnaise. It just gets in the way. You know what I need? Toast. Butter. Bacon. My God, I love bacon.

Morning at the mall

Audrey had her one-year portrait taken and was fitted for her very first pair of real shoes! She was a walking fool, strutting her stuff all over the mall. Maggie picked out a birthday present for her little sister. She is very excited about the party this weekend.

Aahhrrr! (that's pirate for "I'm the luckiest girl in the world")

Robert and I have tickets to see the premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 this Saturday night at Disneyland. They're closing the park at 5pm for the event. We get to enter at 6pm, see the red carpet arrivals (if we want to), ride the newly renovated Pirates, Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain, eat dinner, and see the film projected over the lake.

I. Am. So. Excited.

Should I be concerned?

After a month and a half in the repair shop, my Honda is back, fully repaired from the accident. It's nice to be back in the familiarity of the Honda, but it's not as nice a ride as the Caddy.

Of greater concern: When I started driving, I kept hearing an annoying rattling, sliding sound. I finally pulled over to investigate, and found a handful of bolts and brackets deposited in the pocket of the passenger door. Um...should those, like, be somewhere...bolting and bracketing something?

Our morning

Okay, so it was no espionage encounter with a hot Eastern European, but I did have a nice morning. I took the girls to the playground, then Target, then lunch. At Target, I used a cart that has a seating area for two kids attached to the cart. I was a little worried about Audrey's safety, but I made the straps tight and she did well enough. It wasn't wonderful, but it was easier than lugging Audrey in the bjorn or dragging Maggie on foot. Then I took the girls to Islands for lunch, thinking I was crazy to do it by myself when they were both tired and hungry. But it went amazingly well. Maggie zoned out with her milkshake and Audrey was happy in her highchair, eating the snacks I brought for her. Then they both fell asleep on the way home! It's a gift from heaven, having a Monday like this so far. Now if only Luka would show up...

Hey where's my milkshake?

Milkshake for lunch

Father's Day, dreams and Target

I let Robert design his own Father's Day, which consisted of sleeping in for an hour, getting a bagel and Diet Coke served to him for breakfast, running errands by himself, and then barbecuing burgers for dinner. (We invited our parents over for dinner, so our dads got a little Father's Day love as well.) It was an easy day for me to accomodate...especially the part where Robert made dinner!

Last night I had a great dream starring the actor who plays Luka on ER. I think he was a spy, and maybe I was too, and I was pretending to be a bad guy's girlfriend and was wearing expensive clothes and living in a mansion (roughing it, clearly) and then Luka showed up with a really dark tan (I think that was his disguise) and we met clandestinely (is that a word?) in the mansion's kitchen to plan our mission...and our passionate love affair...

Then there's reality. My big plans for the day include going to Target with the girls. whoooo

Snacktime

Maggie, why are you eating your snack back there?

Oh, you're protecting it from Audrey.


Audrey gives up in frustration: WHATEVER.
Maggie relents and decides to share.

Music class

We attended our final music class today. I don't think we'll be back for another session for a long while, if ever. In the fall Maggie will be going to preschool and taking ballet, and I'll be taking Audrey to either Gymboree or My Gym (something more physical, which should suit her better). But we had a great time at music class--it was the perfect solution for what to do with both girls.

Wagon ride

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Farewell

Gina and the kids are leaving today, moving to Virginia. I know we'll still talk and email, and even manage to see each other, but it will never be the same as it's been these past 2+ years, hanging out all the time and watching Maggie and Ryan grow together from babies to preschoolers.

Bye Gina. Bye Ryan. We'll miss you.

Ponytail

Maggie rarely consents to clips or anything in her hair, but today she actually requested "ponytails," so I made an attempt. Her hair is still so sparse that it's difficult to gather into a band, but I think it looks cute. And blonder?

Here's something you don't see every day

We had two peahens (the girlfriends of peacocks) visiting in our backyard. I stalked them for a few photos before they flew away.

Zoo is right

I've been guest-blogging today over at Gina's blog. Check over there if you want to see what we've been up to all afternoon. She, her dad and the kids are spending their last few days here in California before moving to Virginia. They came over to my house for the afternoon and evening, and will be back Wednesday. It was pretty crazy here with all five kids. It's amazing how, even with three adults, things could seem out of control at times.

Robert commented that this is why human gestation is 9 months--because nobody should have to deal with five children under the age of 3. That got me to thinking--technically, someone could have kids about this age, if they had twins, then a baby, then another set of twins.

shudder

It's a no-nap day

Maggie's naps continue to be unpredictable. She went weeks with no naps, then suddenly started napping again every day--but usually only if she goes for a car ride after lunch. I've been organzing most days to make this happen, but it doesn't always work out. Today I got her to lay down in her bed and she was actually quiet for 15 minutes and I thought she had fallen asleep! But no...I heard her talking to herself...so I got her up and drove both girls around for 20 minutes...didn't work.

Oh well.

So now Maggie is watching Dora, Audrey is wandering around the family room dumping out toys, and I'm baking campfire cookies in honor of Gina, who loves s'mores, and Robert, who loves s'mores, and myself, who have yet to meet a baked good I didn't like.

Loving Legos

Maggie is really into her Legos lately (Audrey is too, but her interest is purely destructive at this point). Maggie asks me to build a base for a castle, which I do by connecting a few bricks into a square or rectangle, and then she adds all the interesting parts.

Here is today's castle:

We took the girls to the Lego Store today to buy some more Duplo bricks. Maggie was pretty happy there:

Recycling

I love it when a cute outfit (in this case, a birthday gift from my friend Mary) does double duty.

Maggie at 13 months:
Audrey at 11 1/2 months:

Child (and parent) labor

More work in the backyard:

Leaves raked.
Weeds pulled.
Trash cans filled.
Mulch spread.
More mulch spread.
Lots and lots of mulch spread.
Roses pruned.
Lavender pruned.
New plants watered.

We're tired.

Morning at Huntington Garden

Hanging out at home

Funny girls

Maggie looked a little sleepy so I asked her where she'd like to take a nap, not expecting a serious answer. But she decided on the living room sofa, climbed up with her blanket, and promptly fell asleep!

Audrey is having her afternoon snack. I put some little crackers on her tray and she immediately popped a couple in her mouth. Then I offered her some cheese. Her eyes widened, she spit out the crackers with an energetic "thbtt," and she started stuffing in the cheese.

Disneyland duet

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Small world

Tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room

(Imagine a really cute photo of Audrey outside the Tiki Room. For some reason the photo from my cell phone didn't make it!)

Disneyland!

Our day

Cooling off in the pool:

Hop on Papa:

Hot

I could be wrong, but I believe it is one billion degrees out today.

A morning's work

I planted these two containers:

And this one:

And 10 small plants in this bed. Hrumph, they don't look impressive in this shot:

Climbing roses planted two years ago, utterly neglected since, doing nicely:

This hydrangea was a wee little thing when I planted it two years ago. Looking good now:

Gardening

Gardening does not come naturally to me. I'm not very good at it and I don't particularly enjoy it. I do, however, enjoy having a decent looking yard and maybe even a few pretty plants. Someday maybe I'll be rich enough to pay people to do it all for me, or maybe I'll have the time to develop it as a hobby. But for now, I just do nothing for months (years) at a time, then suddenly get caught up in the idea and start doing it.

So, last weekend and this weekend I've been buying plants and bags of dirt and fertilizer, pulling out dead stuff and putting in new pretty plants. Doing this in June when it's 90 degrees probably isn't smart. A couple hours outside working in the sun just about kills me. Clearly I am a delicate creature meant for sedentary, air conditioned living.

While I gardened, Maggie frolicked naked around the yard (in the shade of the avocado tree), splashing in her little pool and using her watering can to give drinks of water to plants.

Robert entertained Audrey indoors while watching the Food Network, and when I came in from gardening he was full of ideas about burgers and corn and grilled asparagus. Can't wait.

At the theater

Gina and I took Maggie and Ryan to see Sesame Street Live this morning. It was like the old days--me and Gina and the two of them, with no pesky babies getting in the way! Seriously, it is so much easier doing something with a couple of almost-3-year-olds when there are no strollers or bjorns or nursing babies to worry about.

Maggie and Ryan were SO cute together. They were very excited to ride together in the back of my car, and they kept having these adorable little conversations. At the theater they were both thrilled, and had big grins on their faces when the show started. Maggie loved it and was riveted for about half an hour. Then she pouted her way through the rest (it was much longer than it needed to be in my opinion), although Ryan did better and was dancing and cheering up to the end.

Maggie is loving this!

At sesame street live at the kodak theatre

June first

It definitely feels like summer here. We started the day by meeting some friends at Huntington Garden, where it was blazing hot, horribly crowded (turned out to be "free day"), and the water wasn't working at the children's water garden. Great!

So we packed it in pretty quick and headed to the air conditioned splendor of my family room. The kids had a lot of fun playing together, especially in the kiddie pool in the backyard (making its season debut today). Audrey wore one of Maggie's old swimsuits and thought the pool was pretty great to splash her hands in. Maggie consented to play "water factory" with me (pouring water back and forth into cups) but wouldn't get in. I bet I can get them both in this weekend though--it's supposed to be in the 90s.

A few steps