Hoppy Birthday...A Little Early

Hey, we have to take advantage of the good weather, people.  Since it was not raining today, a rarity lately here in the cold, cold, north, we decided to put together Elena's 4th birthday present.  Really is it a gift for the whole family as we can all join in the fun.


It was a family affair putting things together.  Miss E helped her Daddy (While wearing pajama pants, pajama gown, rain boots, a hill tribe hat from Thailand, and her jacket):

  
This lasted for all of about an hour (pretty impressive I thought) before someone was kinda tired of waiting and kept asking if it was almost ready.  Is it?  How about now?  And now?  HOW ABOUT NOW, DADDY?!?!?

Charlotte helped too, as you can see.  She is wearing the latest in baby cool-weather duds...and yes, the thing swamps her, but that seems to be normal for her.  Regardless she is one happy girl playing outside with the rest of us!


We took a break for some lunch but then worked some more to complete our task.  Finally, it was done:

And I know at least one little girl was very, very hoppy!  She bounced and she danced and she sang and she JUMPED! 

She wants friends to come over and she can't wait to show all of us her abilities.  Every minute she is coming up with new "tricks" for us to approve.

Overall, a very good early birthday gift, I think.   Even I've had a go...and hopefully I won't regret it tomorrow!

What a Character

Character

• 7a. a person marked by notable or conspicuous traits: quite a character

Conspicuous

• 1. obvious to the eye or mind: conspicuous changes
• 2. attracting attention: striking a conspicuous success

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Lately Miss Thing has been demonstrating some...character. Most notable is that demonstrated with all things musical. She does indeed love to sing, dance and play instruments. I would not go so far as to say that she is adept at any of the activities, but boy does she love it.

Her favorite instrument is the kazoo. We Santa gave her some rhythm instruments for Christmas. She was very excited. She somehow managed to break the drum on the tambourine on Christmas Day. Who knew it wasn't strong enough for a two-year-old to stand on it, eh?

What is obvious to most is rocket science for some.

It took her a while, but now she is most capable of kazoo-ing (new verb, alert the dictionary people!). Granted, her kazoo sounds most like a goose and least like music, but hey, she's got the whole blow air + hum = sound thing down.

Small steps, people. All towards an eventual band member, indeed.

Let's just hope she will one day realize that the humming is to be dropped.

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Dancing, more aptly called moving-to-music has always been a favorite activity. This is most likely because I like to sing songs to her and move to them as well. I mean, if you're going to be singing children's songs, then you should be moving around like an idiot. The movement goes right along with how you feel about what you're singing in the first place...right?

She's had a variety of favorites along the way, but right now Wheels on the Bus is the Number One Hit at our place. You can ask her what anyone/anything does on that bus and she will tell you:

The Guga on the Bus says "Chicka-boom, Chicka-boom."
Uncle Brent on the Bus says "Rub noses, Rub noses."
Pop-Pop on the bus says "You're a Stinker-Pot!"
Geat Ganny on the bus says "Wheeeeee, Doggies!"
Uncle Mike on the bus says "Trouble, trouble, trouble!"
Zorro on the bus says "Catch the ball, catch the ball."

Some of my favorite verses include:

The airplane on the bus says "Go higher, go higher."
The books on the bus go "Read, read, read."
The trains on the bus go "choo-choo, choo-choo."
The Kassie on the bus goes "Don't you peek!"

You can ask her for anything and she will come up with an answer for their bus-ride.

Recently she's been attending a dance class. I have no idea what they do in there because parents aren't allowed. The teacher is Russian, so I can't really ask what they do either. I have found out that Miss Thing pays attention very well and works very hard for fifteen minutes, which the teacher tells me is twice as long as most students her age.

Then she plays.

While the other kids are still having class.

Yeah....

So I'll be picking her up after fifteen minutes from now on.

Yesterday she went to class dressed like so:

"So pretty, Mama!"

I asked her to show me what she learned in class and she took a long, oh so long, time staring at her feet. She then demanded "Mama, help me!" and we ended up with this:

First position-ish.

I asked her what she did with her arms at class, since she was very sure of her feet/legs, and she began to move them up and down like so:

Then she ran around in circles, in a so-not-ballet fashion.

I'm pretty sure that was the play portion of the lesson.

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Singing is her most favorite activity. I blame attribute this to The Wonder Pets. For the uninitiated, A.K.A Those Without Children, The Wonder Pets are three little animals who save other animals using teamwork. In addition, they sing their entire day/story/event. An entire show, sung by Linny the guinea-pig, Tuck the turtle and Ming-Ming the duckling. Every show is entitled The Wonder Pets save the insert animal name here.

What they really need is a The Wonder Pets Save the Parents show where we are made immune to the melodies and therefore do not dream in Wonder-Pet-Song all night long.

You know, just to provide us with a slightly larger chance of sanity.

Miss Thing adores these characters and spends much of her day singing things to me because of them. The most amazing thing to me is that she can truly improvise (on a two-year-old level) with her words. As for the melodies, well...let's just say that she either wouldn't make the cut on American Idol or she'd be one of those "human-interest"/"get ready to laugh" segments.

A perfect example of her new-found ability to sing about anything/change words at will is the blessing.

Yes, the blessing.

She knows one, learned from her cousins, that goes to the tune of Frère Jacques. The words are as follows:

God our Father, God our Father
We thank you, we thank you
For our many blessings, for our many blessings
A-men, A-men.

One night we were all sitting at the table, hands clasped as directed (she likes film-work too, apparently), eyes closed and waiting. She sang her usual blessing with one small change...

Amen, sister!

Amen, indeed!

Hello from Tokyo!

This is a game called "Dee Dah, Dee Dah, DAH!" that Miss Thing has been playing with her Daddy and her Tokyo Souvenir, which she named Patches.

Enjoy and I'll hopefully post soon from the states!

Crazy-Pants

There is a phenomenon known as Crazy-Pants. CP, as she is known, does all sorts of random things that are most certainly loca.  For example, she likes to place a trash can on her head and walk around the house singing.  Usually the song is Row, Row, Row Your Boat with all of the words except merrily replaced by someone's name.  A favorite is Daddy; merrily comes out as mer.

If while walking around CP happens to bump into something, she'll lift her helmet and peek out at whomever or whatever it is, talk to him/her/it a bit and then replace the helmet and continue as before.

Alternatively, CP will bump into a person, check to see if it is indeed a human, and then commence playing a form of Peek-a-Boo...whether the person participates or not does not seem to matter.

Above is CP wearing her one and only Japanese outfit.  It was on for about three minutes, top.  Apparently all of the tying and strange fabric did not suit her.  While in it, she was a cheese-monster.  Feet shoulder width apart, face scrunched, and "Cheeeeeeeeeeeeese!"

Another CP production involves singing with hand motions.  As you can see here, she is showing everyone the wide part of Deep and Wide.  It is quite the performance, as noted by her Daddy in the background.

Cooking is a new thing.  Mama cooks all of the time now and CP watches from the kitchen table with commentary.  "Mama's cooooooking.  Mama's cutting.  It's not ready yet.  It's not cooked.  It makes you sick."  This has led to some pretend cooking in the playroom here at Casa CP.  We don the chef hat and jacket, oven mit and wooden spoon and go to town.  It is "just pretend" though, in case you were wondering.

CP does not just pretend to wear her hat and sunglasses.  The hat is hit or miss, but the glasses are a favorite.  They are worn when going to the restaurant, the community store, the playground, to see Buster Doggie and Bailey Doggie, in the car and would be in the house if allowed.

There are some other crazy things that occur here, the likes of which I cannot explain.  One I can describe for you however.  CP places her left hand up to her face with her pointer finger across her lips and the rest of her hand in a fist.  She then says: "Hmmmm....I know!  I've got an idea!"  I reply: "You do?  What is it?"  And she will respond with one of the following:

"I know!  Mama do it!"

or the ever popular

"I don't know!"

Say.....

Cheese!

Take One

Take Two

Take Three

Ta-Da!

Hooray for.......

Notice anything different about that picture?  Granted, it is mostly hidden.  If you take a peek beside her right foot you might notice that there is no thick padded absorbent item where one would normally be.  Oh, no my friends, those are UNDERPANTS! of a Minnie variety.

Yup, I'm going to talk about it.  If you don't want to know, then please feel free to not read.  I will tell you that there are some funnies at the end, but you could even skip to those if you like.

So...here goes.

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Last Monday I decided to start potty-training.  We'd introduced the potty before, mostly because it arrived in our air shipment and she saw it and wanted to know what it was.  She would sit on it and go, but it wasn't real so much as it was luck (I had her sit on it after naps and in the morning when she would naturally need to use it).

About a week before our sea shipment arrived I tried for real...at quite possibly the worst time ever.  We were having a few sleeping issues, for one.  Either she'd get us both up early or I would be unable to fall asleep until the wee hours and therefore I was not in a great mood for something that requires a lot of patience.  You know, like training a little one to put the proper things in the pot.  Added to this was the fact that Rocket Man was out of town for a week...and basically the worst time ever.

I only tried for a day.  It was very clear that she wasn't ready: she could not get her own pants off, for one, which can impede the process.  Also, she absolutely knew what was expected and also that she wasn't/couldn't do it and so basically she was just really upset and frustrated all day.  It was not a good thing.  I put the potty away completely and decided that I'd wait until our sea shipment arrived and we had put it all away.  I also wanted Rocket Man to be in town before we tried again.

This brings us to last Monday.  I have an Elmo video that talks all about potty-related things.  Now, my child was only exposed to the little red squeaker a very tiny bit before we came overseas...and I've only seen him on the television a few times here.  Mostly she liked Mr. Noodle.

That Mr. Noodle...he is so SILLY!

The fact that Mr. Noodle is nowhere to be found did not bother her a bit.  Oh, no, there is someone even better in this video: Elmo's Daddy.

She LOVES him.  I referred to him many times this past week and there may have been a couple of days where we watched Elmo's Potty Time...well, enough that I had the songs stuck in my head when I tried to go to sleep.

Anyway.

Monday morning we watched the video together and I explained/reiterated things taught on it.  Then we put on some training underpants and began.  After about 3 wet underpants, I decided to just take them off for a bit.  The morning was not very successful.  That afternoon, after her nap, we had some success.  Finally she stopped going  on the floor mid-stream, ran to the potty and 'finished' on there.  That was all I needed for the reward.

What, you might ask, is the reward?

Well, for my child, it is a 'teddy-bear treat' - A.K.A. Gummy Bear.

People, it is all about the reward.  It must be something they want.  A lot.  Muchissimo.  Also, it is different for each kid.  I have a friend whose son only found interest in all things potty-related once she told him he could blow bubbles in the house if he got it in the pot.
 
Moving along...later she had an actual success on the potty with no accident precluding it.  As soon as I gave her a treat she said "Let's do it again!", ran to the potty and put the rest of what she had in there.

Methinks she was ready.

Day by day we got better and by Saturday she was going to the potty all on her own, pulling her own pants down, etc. without any prodding from us.  Things have only gotten better since and we no longer get treats for liquid.  I can even report that today, finally, she went poo in the pot as well.

Obviously this does not mean that there are not any more accidents or that we are done learning.  Overall, though, she'll just announce "I need to go potty." or not, and then head off to take care of things.  Today she even impressed the nanny, who was clearly surprised that she went all day with no accidents.

Good times.

Now that you've read through all of that...JUST what you wanted to read about today...I shall share a few of the more interesting moments:

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Day One:

I have shown her what to do, we have had a mini-sit on the pot with no...production...and we've watched the video, etc.  She is playing and gets into a little house (you know, the ones that are made of fabric and pop open?) and is playing when suddenly she shouts "I need to go potty!!!" (while already going of course) and stands up and tries to RUN to the potty.

She is moving fast...

...and so is the house.

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Day Five:

While number one is going quite well, there is no number two success.  We're talking on the webcam with Guga and Papa Jim and Miss Thing has again entered the little house.  She's talking and playing and then comes out to tell me "Pee-pee in my pants."

Except it isn't exactly a liquid.

I don't know this of course, and tell her to hurry and take her underpants off and then go sit on the potty.  She yanks and pulls and finally gets them off and PLOP.

Oh, yes.

Right there on the floor.

Just what her proud grandparents wanted to witness.

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 Today:

We've just finished dinner and are cleaning everything up.  Chica announces to the household that she needs to go and does her thing.

About five minutes later I notice that the underpants are still off.  I mention this to Rocket Man and he heads over to take care of it and takes a peek into the potty...

...where there is no receptacle for 'catching' the business.

That's right people, I forgot to replace the bucket.

Not that it stopped her, of course.

Thankfully this particular potty does not open up to the floor, so it was easy to clean.

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Throughout the week of training:


Miss Thing:  "Let's go GET that teddy-bear treat!"

 

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Rocket Man: "I don't think I've ever seen her butt-cheeks as much as I have this week."

Me:  "All that tells me is that you haven't changed nearly enough diapers."

Perhaps we can begin to remedy that with little being number two in a few months.

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Thanks for reading.  Apologies if you really didn't want to know.  I hope you could chuckle at a few of the stories at the least!  Hopefully tomorrow or the next day I'll have some new photos of Miss Thing and I can tell you some more about some of the other things she's been learning/doing.

Sleep Battles; Part Eleventy-Billion

I was able to catch a whole two hours of sleep last night.  More, if you count the umpteen 30-second intervals of sleep I garnered in-between the many "Mama" moments once my child awoke at 6.  I don't really think that they count, but some people might.  Yes, I didn't go to sleep until after 4:00 a.m.  This is because I still wasn't asleep until almost 1:00 a.m. at which time my child awoke.

To everyone who likes to say that she is preparing me for number two, I would like to inform you that that is a big fat load of hooey.  Number 2 is doing a fine time of keeping me up at night what with the kicking and the peeing and so forth.

This behavior also has nothing to do with things we are doing during the day because it doesn't matter what we do during the day.  Some days she gets up, some days she doesn't, and the same daily activities can go with either one.

How long is it now that this has been going on?  My brain is rather fuzzy and I am not sure.  I think it is a three week plus event.  Which means that I haven't slept for three weeks.

This is the same child who didn't sleep for the first year of her life; it would be nice if that were over.  Apparently not.  If this keeps up and the second one is like her I should be dead within weeks of giving birth.  Either that or the second one won't make it because of my no-sleep induced blunders.

What exactly has been going on?  Let's see.  Getting her to go to bed is hit or miss.  Sometimes she goes down fairly well (as in I only have to go back in once) and other times it can take hours.  Last night it took an hour.  I could deal with this if she was sleeping through the night.  Of course she is not.  Sometime between 1:00 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. she wakes up, turns the light on in her room, turns the sound machine off and exits her room in order to come and whine in ours.  About?  Nothing.

Once up she is either up for the day or she wants to sleep in our bed, which is not working because it is synonymous with sleeping stuck to me.  I already have to deal with two people, I absolutely do not need a third.  Plus, even if she sleeps like that I do not.  So again, not working.

Now, if she couldn't get her door open, I would be happy to leave her to her own devices in her room.  There's nothing to play with and it is rather boring in there.  She could fuss and complain and so forth and eventually she'd just give up and go back to bed.  Granted, it might take a few hours and perhaps cause lots of crying, but that's no skin off my back.

Before everyone gets all up in arms about that fact, please be aware that quite frankly I don't care what you think.  You are not me; you do not have my child; you do not know her like I do, nor do you deal with her every day.  I could go on.  Suffice it to say that what works for me might not work for you, but that is why life is so grand: we are all different.  And there is nothing wrong with that, a fact that I wish more people could comprehend.

Unfortunately, she can open the door.  Why?  Because they are not doorknobs, but handles.  She just barely has to get her weight behind it and open it comes.  Also, there are no locks.  Believe you me, if I had that option I'd use it.  The only way to keep her from opening the door is to literally stand outside of her door and hold the door shut.

Which is exactly what I did last night from 1:30 a.m. until 4:00 a.m.  This is after I spent 30 minutes helping her back into her bed, doing the night-time thing again, and saying "Five Little Monkeys" about eleventy-billion times.  None of that is working.  It hasn't been working the whole time so I haven't a clue why I keep doing it.  I'll blame the I'm -a-stupid-person induced by pregnancy.

I told her I was done saying the monkeys, we weren't reading any more books and that she had to stay in her bed.  This caused much screaming and crying.  I am fairly certain that for lack of another way to deal with the feelings she was opening her drawers and throwing things out of them.  Either that or she would throw her animals off of her bed.  Since I was holding the door shut from outside, she had to do something, right?

I finally got tired of the get up and turn everything on/off behavior, so I took the lamp out of her room and told her I had to remove it because she kept turning it on and we don't do that in the middle of the night.  This meant that the next time she got out of bed she decided to press buttons on the oscillating fan that is in her room.  She managed to turn it off, and then immediately freaked out about it.  Once she calmed a bit I went back in and told her that if she touched the buttons again I would take the fan out.

She didn't turn off her sound machine even once after I took the lamp out because she didn't want to lose that one.

Imagine that.

Anyway, it went like that for two and a half hours.  I guess she either finally accepted it or wore herself out because she finally fell asleep at 3:40 a.m. which allowed me to get in the bed and fall asleep around 4.  And then she was up at 6.

What a fine night.

I am sure that tonight we'll get to find out if she's accepted the "Don't get out of bed at night" message or if she just got tired of fighting and fell asleep.

I just can't wait.

Walking around like a zombie and feeling like crap is exactly what I was hoping to do this summer.

Basketballs!!

When we first arrived here on Sakhalin, most of the families with children were M.I.A.  We had a few toys for Miss Thing, but only those that would fit into a tiny carry-on, so not that many really.  Boredom was a pretty major factor in casa crazypants.  Add to that the fact that we were fairly loopy due to the jet-lag and, well, it was a bit rough.

Thankfully, there is a playroom up at the community center that we could head off to whenever we just needed to get out of the house.  Right beside it is the gymnasium.  One Saturday after eating brunch in the restaurant, we headed to the gym to play basketball.

Miss Thing was OH SO EXCITED!  She threw the ball and she kicked the ball and she chased the ball.  Then, after she finally got the ball ("I get it!  I get it!"), she would run and shoot the ball.  This is an activity she still enjoys (although now if Daddy is there she tells him that she needs help to shoot so that he will pick her up) and we play from time to time.

This video was taken the second time we ever went to play basketball, one day after her second birthday.  She is much better at catching the ball on the roll these days, but she enjoys herself just as much now as she did then.

Pop-Pop Giggles

Just before the final race-to-the-finish of moving, Pop-Pop and Grammie came down to visit us in Houston. They came over Easter weekend. We had plenty of fun and they assisted us with some outdoor-type cleaning as well. The cars were washed...a little early, since we didn't sell them until the first week of May, but at least the insides were super clean. Grammie and I cleaned up some outdoor play things that had been lent to us by some friends. Note to all: we miss everyone!

That afternoon, once all cleaning had been accomplished and Miss Thing had taken her nap (and I had successfully not let anyone know I was pregnant, cause boy howdy did I feel awful by that point), Miss Thing and her Pop-Pop had some fun.

Why is my child naked? I have not a clue. I believe it is just because she wanted to be and therefore: naked. Anyway, the following is a fabulous video of the two of them playing:



As you can see, it doesn't take much to get her going!

Snippets

I just logged into the email associated with this blog and saw that my one unread message was "Your friends think you need a vacation."

Oh really?

Who am I to argue with that one? I'd love to go see somewhere new. Of course there is that small thing of needing to plan something...

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Thanks to a friend and my nanny the kitchen is about 95% unpacked and put away. The other 5%? In a box somewhere...probably one labeled "Bedding; Master Bedroom" or something equally silly.

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We have found and unpacked a large number of the chica's toys and this means that for the first time in a looooooooooooong time she came downstairs and wanted to play instead of immediately attempting to turn on the television.

Small improvements, people.

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I have already had a request this morning to "Open boxes, Mama?"

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Rocket Man didn't come home last night until 10pm.

I am assuming it was just a great day at work.

In addition, he left his badge here yesterday morning, so he called me at 9-something (I was in bed) to ask how to get into our neighborhood without it. [There is an entry gate and you show your badge to get in quickly and easily.]

He called back about seven minutes later to tell me his keys are on his badge, so please leave the door unlocked.

So yeah, I didn't go to bed until he got home.

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While the kitchen is mostly done the rest of my house is a disaster.

Great.

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Miss Thing enjoys playing with the rolls of tape, small level and assorted screwdrivers lying (for now) on the table beside me:

"I do it."

"This one's better."

"I fix it."

"Try again."

"Mama? I working, Mama"

"You working, Mama - onna computer."

"Bracelets! I wear them! I got all the bracelets, Mama" [tape rolls]

"This one makes one bracelet, this one makes two bracelets, this one makes three bracelets, this one makes four bracelets, this one makes five bracelets!"

[Followed immediately by counting the SAME items over again:]

One, two, five, six, SEVEN BRACELETS!!!"

[She likes to keep us guessing.]

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Now apparently there is a Mama screwdriver and a bunch of kid screwdrivers. The babies are looking for their Mama; she is giving the babies kisses and so forth.

Screwdrivers; who knew?

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That is it for this morning. To recap, my child is entertained by the stuff from boxes; our house is a disaster. Oh, and she apparently has an imagination.

Ready, Set, Go!

Our Saturdays are usually pretty routine. We wake up and lounge around for a little while. Miss Thing watches some Pooh Bear (bae-ah) or Mickey (never woulda guessed, eh?) while I check things out online and attempt to wake myself up. This is especially true of late since our somewhat good sleeper has become a not-so-great one and it is kinda killing me.

Rocket Man usually wakes and does his morning routine, which consists of reading, tea and work email. Again, imagine that.

We usually try to talk to my parents on the webcam for a little bit (man does that thing suck away the internets...we pay by usage here) and then anytime after 11:00 we head up to the community center for brunch.

Rocket Man and I eat breakfast and Miss Thing almost always chooses "Peanut Butter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" for her meal.

Then? Oh, then. We do what Miss Thing has termed: Play Basketballs.

At first this actually meant going into the gym to shoot some hoops...Rocket Man and I for reals and Miss Thing for pretend. She's pretty good for a two-year-old.

Nowadays "Play basketballs" just means go to the playroom and RUN with Daddy.

Below are two videos. The first is the two of them running around the ping-pong tables (hello, corner, please take my eyes out) while Miss Thing squeals. Usually she yells "Let's run!" the whole way.

Video two is one of my favorite because she tells Daddy to "Ready, set, go!" and then enjoys his running before she realizes that she should run too, and her facial expressions are priceless.

Enjoy!

June 12 of 12

Hi there! Miss me? People have been asking for photos, so I figured the 12th was a good day to post again. I know that everyone wants to see the new housing, but right now none of our own stuff is in it, so there's really no point. Once we receive our sea shipment and get the place personalized a bit I'll post photos of the house.

For now, here is our 12 of 12 June. All photos were taken in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russian Federation. My camera was still on Spain time, since I had never switched it upon our return to Houston, so the times are approximate. Check out Chad's site to see what everyone else did!

7:30 - Good morning!

11:20 - Apparently we were sleepy this morning because for the first time in forever we fell asleep during Mama's exercise.

11:21 - The view from our front porch; fabulous weather this week!

11:22 - I love these trees; they do change color and lose their needles, but they look fabulous right now because they've all come in and are bright green.

12:10 - A neighbor has a new puppy named Wolfie. Miss Thing really enjoys playing/petting/hugging and as you can see here, feeding the good doggie.

12:15 - A friend of ours has an 8-month old. PJ loves to watch Miss Thing and Wolfie play.

13:15 - Colors! They keep us busy while we wait for our weekend lunch. Mama and Daddy have breakfast and the girl eats chicken or peanut butter and jelly.

13:45 - We LOVE to play "basketballs!" As in, we ask to play every day.

14:00 - This drill? It is apparently for squishing noses. Noses that are sniffing. I have no clue.

17:30 - BATH! We love this and go "swimming" every time.

18:15 - An after bath after nap snack with Daddy. We are watching the inaugural winter X-games on the television. Anyone know what year that was from? The shows here are behind a bit sometimes...

19:00 - Russian Dinner night at the community center.

The best thing was the meat-stuffed Cabbage and the Blini's (crepes, but not sweet, which are stuffed with anything...ours were stuffed with cabbage and apples and were quite delicious). Also present are stuffed pork, parsley potatoes, cold cucumber soup, and three cold salads: Russian (meat, potatoes, and carrots), cabbage (like a cold slaw with extra onion and different dressing) and Olympia (ham, egg, cheese, cucumber).

It was all very yummy; one of the best meals I have enjoyed there. Hope you enjoyed our day!

T-Minus Ten and Counting.

So.

The movers come on Monday and Tuesday to pack everything up and send it off to its respective locations.

We fly on Saturday, May 8th. We wanted to fly on the 7th, but since we had to wait until, oh, Tuesday, to make the reservations, there were no seats on those flights. As is, we are booked in three aisle seats, one in front of the other. Someone is going to have a grand time sitting next to Miss Thing.

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Had Miss Thing's two year appointment a little early. She is now suddenly in the 80th percentile for height. No wonder the clothes are just barely still fitting.

Oh, and she's been getting the hiccups the last couple of days, and usually this means she is growing. If so, she will have to go naked in Russia. The locals will just love us.

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I've been looking for underpants. I know. You really wanted to know that. I've been to Victoria's Secret...three times, JCPenney, Macy's and Target. Let's all guess where I found the best-fitting pair? And by best-fitting I mean covers my tush without sending me back to middle school and the land of wedgies. That's right, people: Target. 13 pair for about $13. Let's hope they don't fall apart in the wash.

Oh, wait. That is what the $5/pair Victoria's Secret ones do lately. So even if they do, I've still saved.

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I wasn't ever the recipient (or giver, for that matter) of wedgies in middle-school. Was that mostly a boy thing?

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Miss Thing has some hair. Shocking, I know. Not long enough for anything except the non-use of baby brushes. They just don't work any more. Therefore, we have been using a comb.

She says: "Cone."

Tonight after her bath (in the kitchen sink because as long as she fits in it, I am using it. Gotta save the back, people.) I was cutting her finger- and toe-nails, an activity she looks forward to about as much as I look forward to the dentist, and I had the "cone" on the bed with us. She distracted herself from the awfulness with it: "Ice-cream cone...Where did it go?...I get it!...I've got you, ice-cream cone!"

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This post is brought to you by the letters M and N. One day we'll learn the difference.

Aaaaannnnndddd.....More Shopping!

So I went to my class this morning...for the first time in two weeks. I am a slacker and it showed.

Then we all got ready and headed out to shop for Rocket Man's weather gear for Russia. Oh, and I had to return half of Miss Thing's because she grew and some things just aren't going to fit when we get there. Thankfully they had the clothing in the next size up, so we could get her rain suit and things in the right size.

I think RM can finally see how overwhelming the shopping can be for this move...since he basically turned to me when we got there and said "So what did you buy here?" Um, yeah. I didn't have that kinda help; we were just wandering.

Anyway, he was able to get his rain gear, a pair of boots, socks and a fleece. Then we headed to a ski place and he purchased the warmest coat ever. Apparently he was in danger of sweating in it at the store, so that is pretty warm.

Jason's Deli was our lunch and then home we went so that Miss Thing and I could take a nap. The night-time sleeping, at least for me, hasn't been the greatest lately.

We slept for three hours.

THREE.

I, for one, should never get to sleep tonight.

We're headed to a neighborhood dinner at a tex-mex restaurant in a few minutes; everyone is getting together to say SEE YA! to us. And by everyone I mean whoever is able to show up. It should be good.

Have I mentioned that Rocket Man has been out of town more since January 1st than he has been at home? And that the trend continues up until we leave?

Awesome!

Long Time No Write

Howdy, Strangers!

It's been a while.

We've been exceptionally busy here at Casa Crazy Pants so I had to take a break from the blogging. The good news is that we've purchased a lot. The bad news is that it cost a lot. Oh, and did I mention that we aren't done? Oh, yeah. It is tough to keep going with it since I feel like I've made a ton of progress...and yet, there are those things that haven't been covered yet.

Aside from that, things are moving along. The paperwork is being processed for tons of things: visas, health certificates, home sale, and the list goes on. We still have our cars to sell, and that hasn't really begun yet, but since we are most likely going the carmax route, there isn't really much involved.

The dog, he has a home. All of you out there who know him or of him can thank B because thanks to him Senor Cooper shall have somewhere to live. He'll have one person all to himself with some visits from R-Shelly (and he loves her) not to mention the back yard with a fence and some dogs to terrorize.

No, really. He will.

Miss thing knows we are going to Russia. And that Cooper is going to live with "Cooper's B". Apparently that is how it works. Cooper will now own B. Not that Cooper would complain about that distinction. She's always trying to add people to the list of who goes to Russia: "Mama, Daddy, Miss Thing, Guga, Papa Jim RUSSIA!!!" And yes, she shouts the RUSSIA part.

At least she's excited.

I will leave you with a few quotes:

"Uh, oh, Skuttios!" (when something falls)

"I found Mama!" (surely you can figure this one out)

"Mama's HAT!" (when she brings me one of her two cowgirl hats so we are both wearing one)

"Too Tight!" (Whenever something feels different...or LOOKS uncomfortable...like on her baby doll)


Have I mentioned that she now has a few books memorized and she enjoys reading them? It is too funny.

THAT IS ALL!

And I Quote...

Pa-Jim...sugars

Pfessor! (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, anyone?)

EL-LE-LANT! (While Guga was napping)

I get it!

Wead, Pa-Jim, wead.

Me: What would you like to eat for dinner?
Miss Thing: Lunch!

We've been teaching her that we have to stop the car when the light is red. Usually she demands that we GO! This morning I came to a stop sign and had to wait for some traffic to pass.
Miss Thing: The light is wed.

They were playing music at lunch today. She decided to join in:
Tequila!

While at the rodeo, we went into the petting zoo. There was a rather large goat that was mostly black with a couple of white spots here and there.
Miss Thing (to the goat): Cow! Meoooooooooooo!

Also at the rodeo, there were camel rides. We stopped to show her the camel.
Miss Thing: Horse! Neeeeeeeeeeh!

YEAH!

Guga and Papa Jim are here.

They arrived this morning via airplane.

I spent the morning...

washing sheets

getting milk and cheerios

turning on MICKEY!!!!!

cleaning the kitchen

hiding all of the stuff we've purchased

feeding the girl-child

and myself

drying the sheets

calling the computer guy to get our printer online

making the bed

checking the flight status

and driving to the airport.

On our way there I asked her who she would see. She responded with "Daddy!!!" I told her that yes, she would finally see her Daddy today, but HELLO, who is coming to give her hugs and kisses (we've only talked about this a bazillion times so far today)...and she thought.

And she thought some more.

Then she declared "Guga!"

And "Pa-Jim!"

I mentioned that they would be coming in on an airplane and she said "YEAH!!"

When we got close to the airport we started seeing HUGE cargo planes taking off, which she LOVED and I hoped wouldn't fall on me cause HOLY SMOKES are they huge when they've just taken off and happen to be RIGHT OVER your car.

Then we spent a couple of minutes whining/complaining/begging for more airplanes.

FINALLY, we saw some more.

"AIR-PAAAAAAAAANE!!!!!"

"THERE IS IIIIIIISSSSSS!!!!"

"IT'S PRETTYYYYYYYYYYY!"

So yeah, that last one was strange, but to each her own, right?

Penguin Giggles

Let me set this one up for you.

The penguin is saying "Just smile and wave , boys." and "Progress report!". Papa Jim and Guga are her audience by way of web cam. That's Papa Jim you hear laughing and talking to her.

The crazy giggles? I have no idea. Apparently that penguin is TOO FUNNY.

Happy Day to Me

I began my day by attempting to breathe.

I have a cold, and it is a doozy on the sinuses.

Once I was sure that I would indeed be able to breathe for the day, I went to the gym to do a Body Attack class. Yay for exercise!

I then came home and we all got ready to go to the zoo. This included changing Miss Thing out of her pajamas and into some proper clothing. Just before I put on her shoes and socks I leaned over her and asked her if she knew what day it was.

She looked at me like I was crazy.

Then I told her that it is Mama's birthday.

She responded with a song.

It was awesome, unasked for, and the best birthday present from a little one. Here is a re-enactment:

Excellent, yes? Especially the "and many more" section.

The zoo was excellent, full of Miss Thing running throughout the place. Pei Wei was nice for lunch. The afternoon was relaxing and I spoke with some family.

Then we had dinner.

It was best summed up by Rocket Man:

"One day we'll laugh about that dinner."

I'll just leave it at that.

Dancin'

We had Mexican food tonight.

Margaritas were involved.

The dancing was a side-effect...