Friday, April 29, 2011

Lunch Time Singing

To encourage Miss O to eat her lunch and not get distracted, we made up a new song.

Eat Your Food
(Sung to the tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat)

Dip, dip, dip your fish
Into the Ketchup
Then we'll take a big ole' bite
And chew it right on up!

It must have worked since she ate more than I did.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

She Has a Mischievous Look in Her Eyes

We received a bunch of hand me downs over the weekend, so I’ve spent the past couple days trying to get them all cleaned, sorted and put away.  Last night Lina took it upon herself to help out.  She started out by pulling clothes out of the laundry basket and “handing” them to me.  Then she thought she would help me out by refolding a couple shirts.  I gently explained to her that those were already done so she didn’t have to pull them off the couch.  So she went back to pulling them out of the basket.  After awhile, when I wasn’t paying attention to her little hands, she quickly grabbed the shirt sitting on top of the pile.  Once she had it completely in her arms, she laughed hysterically.  Of course I had to punish her with kisses.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Tornados and Wall Clouds

If you own a TV or read the newspaper, I’m sure you’ve heard about the tornadoes that struck St. Louis over the weekend. The first one that hit was south west of my house and the second one, which caused 22 miles of damage, started just north east of us. If the first one had held together, there is a good chance it would have been extremely close to our house.

I’m used to tornado threats, I’ve lived my entire life in the Midwest. With each place I have lived, one thing remains the same. Once the first spring storm hits you start thinking of where you will go if and when a tornado comes close. Many people who grew up in the Midwest are so used to hearing the sirens sound that it doesn’t even phase them anymore. Around here, the sirens that cry tornado are much like the boy who cried wolf. So many people, myself included on occasion, tend to go outside when the alarm sounds. Perhaps not the brightest move, but it lets us know if there is actually something to worry about. Not to mention that storms like this are really cool to watch. This year there is one major difference, I have a baby to think about.

The plan in our house is for me to grab Lina and her diaper bag and head down stairs while Mason corrals the three dogs and all six of us squeeze into the tiny laundry room. Except this time, Mason wasn’t home. The first time the alarms went off, the first tornado had touched down nearby, so I focused on just getting the dogs downstairs.

Damage to the East of us.

The second time the alarms went off, I was feeding Elina, because storm or not, that girl likes to eat. So I did the typical Midwesterner thing and stuck my head out the back door and decided it wasn’t going to hit us. Shortly after that, I heard an alarm in the distance when the second tornado touched down. The weatherman was stationed in that area and sent his fellow workers to the basement. He promised to keep talking to us if he had to get under a desk. Now that is commitment. Perhaps a normal person would say hey I’m gonna go downstairs for a moment, please keep your eyes on this here map. I don’t have anything new to say anyway so you won’t miss a thing. That would be the highlight of my story, Mason’s story is much better though.

After Lina’s dinner we were back in the living room tracking the storm with our weatherman who was poised and ready to jump under the desk. A reported tornado (it was later reduced to a wall cloud) was headed down a street not far from our house and the road I expected Mason would be using to get home. So I called to see where he was. If he hadn’t left yet, I was going to make sure he didn’t leave until it was safe. Guess where he was… the worst possible place he could be at that moment. He told me he was just blown into a different lane before I called and we hung up so he could focus on driving since there was nowhere to pull over at that moment. The wind continued to push his truck around the highway, from one lane to the next and back again eventually pushing him into the wall. Fortunately the wall only pushed his mirror in and he ended up back in the lane he started in once the winds let up.

Actual wall cloud that Mason drove through.
We were lucky.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Cheers!

Okay, let’s go back a few weeks when Lina and I had to run to Sams to get formula for Mimi’s house. Lina has been doing very good in stores, sitting in the cart like a big girl and looking at everything the store has to offer. I believe this has even helped with her stranger anxiety. But I’m getting off topic. So we are walking around in Sams and I decide to see if they have any cookies to sample, I grabbed a chocolate one and broke off a small piece for Lina then headed over to the baby section. At one point, in-between bites, I tapped my piece of cookie against hers and said “cheers.” She looked up at me and smiled. The next thing I know she’s tapping her cookie on mine waiting for a “cheers” in response.


The next weekend we were back at Sams, for diapers this time. Mason and I decided to grab a slice of pizza on our way out and I shared my pizza crust with Lina. This is when I finally remembered to tell Mason about the whole cookie cheers thing and she must have heard me. The next think I know, she’s holding out her crust for me to cheers with. And as soon as I did, she gave a huge grin. Of course I was then obligated to cheers with her after every single bite she took.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Germs, Teeth and Tantrums

I’m just going to mention it once, and then I’m done. Cause it’s so annoying when people drone on and on about how they HATE being sick. But guess what… I’m sick. Again. This makes 5 colds this winter. That’s right people FIVE. Last time I got sick that much in one year I had my tonsils removed. This one started Saturday night while the three of us were a bunch of dancing fools at my Food Twins wedding. When my throat started hurting, I thought “Oh man, I should not have done that much loud, obnoxious singing on the party bus.” Oh how I wish that was the problem. So now we are all sick, again. Please spring, don’t let anymore cold weather come around. I just need to be healthy so I can have the energy to function. Please Lina, start sleeping through the night again so Mommy can have enough energy to fight these germs. Which reminds me…


We have a tooth! Friday night while at the rehearsal dinner, Lina cut her first tooth. I knew it was coming, she kept feeling that area with her tongue. When I felt the tooth, I almost jumped up and screamed about the tooth, but I quickly remembered this little party wasn’t about me and someone may have been giving a speech at that moment. Poor timing for my excited freaking out. Not that she needed teeth, she seems to be doing just fine with adult food. Bagels, pizza crust, cookies, and now french fries and shredded cheese. True the bagels and crust just get soggy and mashed, but she’s very skilled in her mashing technique. Now don’t scold me for giving my 8 month old french fries, I’m not the one who gave her the first one. But I totally shared my fries with her the next day. And guess what… she loves them (Who can blame her really?). And she can mash them up until they are small enough to swallow.

She’s throwing little temper tantrums too. If she could talk it would go something like this… “Oooh, a straw! I need that straw! I need to chew on that straw! Wait, why are you moving it further away from me? I can’t reach it! I NEED THAT STRAW!!! A yogurt melt, I love yogurt melts!”

Monday, April 11, 2011

Milestones

Hey, remember me? I’m the person who supposedly writes this blog. I know you probably forgot all about me, but I’m still here, floating around in the background, making a mental list of everything I need to mention on here.

So much has happened since I last had the time to write it down. Elina has learned to clap and wave. She has mastered her high speed crawl and looks for anything she can use to pull herself up. She will come over to the couch pull herself up and smack you on the leg until you look at her and acknowledge her achievement. She absolutely loves it when we clap for her. No matter what, it makes her smile when I clap and cheer.

Elina has also taken those first tiny little steps.  She takes a few tiny steps while holding onto the coffee table, the couch or our hands, and Elina seems quite pleased with herself when she gets where she was trying to go. I’m quite pleased with her too, even while secretly telling her not to grow up too fast. It’s perfectly okay to wait a few months before walking independently, climbing mountains and running marathons.

The other night at dinner, she and Pop had a laughing conversation. Lina would give one of her squealing laughs and Pop would reply with a similar more manly laugh. Back and forth these two went, Lina clearly delighted with the exchange. Lina and I often have similar exchanges at home, where I repeat whatever noise she makes, it’s usually yelling.

One of her favorite games is peek-a-boo. It is also one of the only things that will keep her still while I’m trying to change her. I simply place a small burp cloth over her eyes and ask where Lina is. She then grabs the cloth and gives me a huge grin when I shout “There she is!” This also works when she is sitting (or standing) with her back to me. She twists and turns until she can see my face and waits for those magic words.

Now let’s talk about those first words. One morning as we were getting ready to go, she looked right at Mason, held out her arms and said “Yeah-yee!” Clearly she said it with intent, therefore I had to count it. Later in the day I thought, I wonder if that means I’m Ya-ya, the other word she says all the time. That same evening while I was getting her dinner ready she was watching me, as soon as I stepped out of her line of sight she yelled “Ya-ya! Ya-ya! Ya-ya!” When I reappeared she stopped and smiled up at me. When I disappeared again for a second, the same thing happened. She may not have her M’s or D’s mastered, but she clearly has our names figured out. On Friday at my parents house, she was sitting on my lap, playing with Pop. All of the sudden she yelled “Pop!” To which we both replied, “I think she just said Pop.” To make her point Lina looked right at Pop and yelled “Pop!” She is starting to get her M‘s too as I’m sure she said Mom a couple of times. But when she is really talking, I’m quite sure I’m going to miss those grunts, growls and yells she seems so find of.