Video: Slane the climber, the animal talker

Slane likes going for rides. Sometimes she'll just climb into the stroller like this:



She's working on her animal sounds. Usually every animal says "Baa." Not this time.

internet coming soon, and cute things Slane does

We are getting internet next week, and that means pictures! The wait is almost over.

And now, cute things Slane does.

She feeds her stuffed animals bananas and her babies "bottles." She answers questions with yes and no. Last night she pushed me away from her crib because she was ready for bed. Sunday, we were at a picnic, and another small child spilled his plate. Slane picked up a chip from the ground and force-fed it to him. I think she was trying to be helpful. She climbs into her stroller and asks for a ride when she wants to go for a walk. She insisted Grover sit in a booster seat next to her high chair while eating dinner the other night.

Still here

I'm sure you all thought we disappeared. It has been a crazy summer (general consensus all around, I think). We were traveling quite a bit, and now that we are home, we still don't have internet up and running. So my internet access is limited to trips to the library, which only happens on a daycare day. Here is a quick recap of our summer, with real posts and many pics to follow (when we get internet going).

School got out and the college's reunion happened. I enjoyed a week off, then we went on the family vacation to Backbone State Park. The park is beautiful and we explored Dubuque, Strawberry Point, Spook Cave, Effigy Mounds (Mr. Sharar, my junior high science teacher, would be so proud), and Elkader. We planned to hike much more in the park, but it rained every day and the park flooded, so that didn't happen. Next time. We squeezed 6 adults and 2 babies in a small cabin, and that in itself was an adventure.

We got home on a Wednesday, and then I worked at the speedway on Saturday. Sunday we headed to Cleveland for my class at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. The class was amazing and I am going to use everything I learned in one way or another. My students won't know what hit them. We stayed with Q's aunt, and had a great time.

We got home on Sunday, and spent the next three days moving across town to a better neighborhood (and a house!!!). I was home for three days and then Slane and I headed to camp. My cousin, Rachel, came from Michigan to help (thanks Rachel, couldn't have done it without you!). Now I have been home for a while, but of course, there is still unpacking to do, and now we have a lawn to keep mowed, and I have crazy research and planning to do for school. Also, last week my mom was in the hospital in Des Moines, so there were many trips to the city.

That is summer so far. I have to get back to researching so that I can get home and mow the lawn, and other house things.

Oh, and Slane is growing taller, she is talking even more, she refuses to use her high chair any more, and can drink out of a glass like a big girl. She is a big girl!

Mother Goose reading time

I waited 9 months to take Slane to the library for Mother Goose story time. What a let-down. I mean, I see where they are going with it, and why they did the things they did, but I was disappointed.

Now, I also realize that reading or doing anything with 15 toddlers and their mothers can be difficult, but don't try to do something you shouldn't be doing. So, we went into the room. The library is only a few months old, so it is a pretty sweet space, really. There is this paper snowflake type thing on the ceiling, and these great climbable steps in one corner. In fact, that is what Slane spent most of the time exploring. We sat on a colored square (well, I did, Slane was already climbing, then eventually she stole another kids colored square).

Story time started with introductions. I knew a couple of the other moms and their kids, which was nice. They we sang a couple of songs, and then the lady read a story. Then we did a rhyme, sang another song, and heard another story. Then we got to play with instruments while singing another song. Story time was then over, and we got some graham bunnies and little cups of water. The theme was oceans, so everything was about water. Nice, but here is the part where the music teacher in me almost went ballistic...how could they ever expect little ones to sing in keys so low even the alto in me had to stretch and it hurt?

I realize the lady was not a music teacher, but a librarian who is attempting to expose little ones to books and literacy and what-not, but if they were going to do that type of thing, wouldn't they consult a music teacher who is trained to teach and sing those songs?

I, of course, tried to give them the benefit. Maybe the regular person who is better at this is gone, or maybe I'm just too new to the whole taking my child to story time thing that I don't know how it works. Or maybe my training in literacy and music was bogus. Don't know.

I do know that we will probably go to story time again, and I will set low expectations. Slane just went for the climbing anyway. :)

Mealtime is funtime

Just read a nice article from The New York Times about eating out with children. Writer Susan Dominus talks with New York restaurateur Nicola Marzovilla who has this to say about children and dining:

Children’s menus aim too low, he argues — they’re a parenting crutch.

“The table is very important,” Mr. Marzovilla explained as we sat around one at his restaurant early Sunday evening with our five collective children. “It’s about nutrition, it’s about family; you go right down the line. And the children’s menu is about the opposite — it’s about making it quick, making it easy, and moving on.”

We've tried to expose Slane to a variety of foods, especially fruits and vegetables. She's liking big people food and now ignores food that's been cut up. It's as if she is saying, "I'm a big girl now. I don't need your gastronomical patronizing. Cut up your own food, daddy." She is a slow warmer to new foods, but like Sam-I-Am, she tries it and likes it.

Fellow parents, how do you manage to introduce new foods to your kids?

Image from Suessville

clean and climbing

I think Slane is slowly getting over her fear of the bath. For quite some time bathtime has been something we all dread. Slane would cry as soon as we took her into the bathroom, and then scream and try to climb out of the tub. Toys didn't help, me attemting to take a bath with her didn't help. Then we tried a shower. We took a shower, sang a silly song about the shower, danced, and played with foam letters that stuck to the side of the shower. Twice now, that has worked. So, we can now have a clean baby without the tears. I hope that trips to the pool and possibly a sprinkler this summer will help even more.

Slane is a climber. Last week she pushed her stroller over to the piano, climbed up on it, climbed up on the piano bench, climbed up on the piano itself, and got a crayon from the top. Then I helped her climb down again. She is good as pushing that stroller over to things so she can climb. I've even heard that she did it in the church nursery a couple of weeks ago...

Slane also likes to go out our front door, down the steps (she is stepping down the steps now, not climbing down), and take the sidewalk to our nearest neighbor (which happens to be a big party house). We do this almost nightly, so I wasn't totally surprised when she insisted on doing it during block party. I didn't necessarily appreciate drunk students proclaiming over a baby at block party, or accusing me of bringing my baby back for block party, but Slane loved watching all of the kids and gave out a lot of high fives.

How do you do it?

I have been struggling lately. I want to know how some moms work full time, have clean houses, make dinners, do laundry, eat well, exercise, and still have time to play with the kids and have some personal time. I feel like I have to do it all, and most of the time I am too exhausted to do that. I know Dan helps, probably more than most dads, but it still seems like I have to do it, and if I don't then I have let the team down. And somewhere in there I would really like the baby belly to go away and my clothes to fit better. I keep thinking if I can just hang on until summer then I will be at parks all day and playing and biking around town...but how do I get that exercise in the winter? When? And still keep up on laundry without forgetting I washed a load two days ago and never got it into the dryer, or have dinner prepared in a timely manner for those of us who need to eat, eat, eat right now.

I want to spend more time with Slane but when I am spending time with her I feel like I should be doing dishes or unloading the dishwasher or cleaning out the fridge or something more useful, when I know the best thing I could be doing is chasing a toddler down the sidewalk or playing ball with her.

I never had intentions of working full time when I had a baby, but it seems like I didn't have a choice, and I couldn't pass up a full time job, even if it is not necessarily the grade level I would rather be teaching.

I feel guilty if I have to stay at work late, and even more guilty if I have a meeting and leave Slane with Q (though I don't think he feels the same guilt). Taking time for myself doesn't seem like an option, and Q often tells me my Sunday nap (which never really catches me up) is my time to myself.

It just seems like by the time I get home, pick up Slane, attempt to start dinner, wait until Q gets home so I can really start dinner, feed everyone, do the dishes, pick up a bit, and maybe, just maybe get a walk in, I'm done. Nothing left. Even if Q helps with some of that (which he often does), there is nothing left.

So, I was just wondering, how do you do it?