Our Fav New Toy

Posted on February 7, 2013 by letterstoreesie

Growing up, one of our most beloved toys was the play kitchen in our basement. It had a mini fridge and a sink with a red checkered “backsplash” complete with a picture of a window and outdoor scenery. It was the focal point for many games of “house” and “restaurant” and it’s still the first thing that comes to mind when I picture our childhood playroom in the basement of my parents’ house. So when my parents asked if they could get Reese a play kitchen for her first birthday, we were all excited.

We chose the Melissa & Doug Cook’s Corner play kitchen. The kitchen is wooden, which I wanted, and is one of the smaller sets I found, which is also good for us because we don’t have a ton of room. It was delivered to us back in October but I didn’t get around to assembling it until a few weeks ago. I am taking full advantage of procrastination while I still can.

The assembly was a biatch but somehow I put the whole thing together myself (almost.) After incorrectly attaching them (twice), I sought help from Andrew in putting the hinges on the oven and refrigerator doors.

So far, Reese is having a ball opening the doors and putting rando stuff inside the “oven” and “refrigerator” (her shoes and socks, blocks, her bowl etc.) Turning the oven and stove knobs, setting the timer (then forgetting it is on and crying when it goes off) are also exciting new activities.

Like most sane people, I think she still prefers the real fridge to the toy fridge (she loves taking the condiments out of the bottom shelf on the refrigerator door) but I know as she gets older she’ll get more into it.

In the pictures above the kitchen is shown in our living room, but it now sits in the corner of our kitchen so Reese can “cook” in the proper setting. I am not one to comment on other people’s ideas of cooking, but I do know that it shouldn’t involve roasting your sippy cup or boiling your socks, so I think we still have some work to do.

The Lies We Tell Our Children

Posted on January 31, 2013 by letterstoreesie

Sunday afternoon Reese and I went to lunch with my younger sister Elyse and her boyfriend TJ.

We sat in front of a table with two little girls who apparently would not eat their burgers. At one point we heard their mother say, “You know what’s going to happen if you don’t eat your lunches, right? The man in the kitchen is going to come out here.”

For some reason, Elyse and I thought this was really funny. Probably because I know for a fact that if my mother had told Elyse this when she was little, it would have worked. Elyse was scared of everything and she would have been terrified at the idea of the man in the kitchen coming to our table and confronting her about uneaten food.

Will I tell my child small white lies in order to get them to behave? Probably. Sometimes I tell Reese that we can’t put Elmo on TV because he is sleeping. Right or wrong, I figure at this age she is not going to remember, and probably doesn’t even understand me anyway. Judge away people!

I remember my older sister telling me that her friends used to tell their three-year old that Spider Man would not like him if he didn’t behave, and that if he didn’t listen to Mommy and Daddy some character from a TV show he watches would “come and bite your butt.” As terrifying as getting your butt bitten sounds, the kid never seemed truly fearful or even entirely convinced that this would happen.

But what about when children get older? Will I ruin my credibility with Reese and lead her to question everything I ever tell her? Probably not. Personally, I don’t remember being super pissed at my parents for telling me that Santa brought me presents every Christmas or that the tooth fairy was leaving me money underneath my pillow. I mostly just felt stupid for believing it in the first place (it went on a little too long.)

As of late, this topic is blowing up in parenting magazines, blogs, books, etc. and there is even a semi amusing twitter from which I stole the title to this blog post. “Lies I Tell My Kid” https://twitter.com/liesitellmykid.

I’m sure this will become more of an issue when Reese is older and begins asking the hard questions, but for right now, Elmo is sleeping and I’m ok with that.

Girls’ Week

Posted on January 25, 2013 by letterstoreesie

Our main man was away in California on business last week, so Reese, Miles and I were left to hold down the fort.

It was only the second time Andrew has traveled for more than one night since Reese was born and despite the fact that she is now running around, it seemed to be a little bit easier this time around than it was five months ago.

Four whole nights to myself (once Reese was in bed) meant lots of “me time.” I used this time wisely, laying on the couch watching trashy reality tv that Andrew does not tolerate. I caught up on Real Housewives, Teen Mom and the Bachelor and was even introduced to the embarrassingly addicting world of “Married to a Jonas” (I love you Danielle; don’t listen to the haters.) It also meant doing all the chores I normally do PLUS the boy chores (shoveling snow, taking out the trash, etc.) It was only 4 days but it reinforced my belief that single moms are not to be messed with. Working all day and then coming home to take care of a one year-old solo is no joke.

Without Andrew, even our nightly ritual of walking the dog turned into a major production, and it ended up taking me almost a half an hour to get the three of us out of the house. Getting Reese bundled up, Miles leashed and back-packed (more on this later; but yes, our dog wears a backpack), the stroller out the door and down the steps, and locking up, all while holding a 24 lb toddler and trying to avoid tripping over a 50 lb dog was comedic. The fact that we live on a very busy street (right at an intersection to be exact) means that there is always a live audience of people in their cars watching/judging as I awkwardly toss the stroller down the stairs and try to keep Miles from running out the gate while I strap Reese in. Never far from my mind is the fact that I know if I was in those cars, I would be laughing at me.

Come Thursday evening, the three of us were looking forward to having Dada back.

When we heard Andrew’s car pulling in the driveway, I brought Reese into the kitchen and she stood against the door peering out the window; hair still wet from her bath and her feet covered in fleece pajamas. She bounced up and down when she heard his feet on the deck stairs and when he appeared in the doorway she began her dance of joy (this consists of rapid arm flapping, heavy breathing, more bouncing up and down, and sometimes, ironically enough, ends with a slap to the face.)

Despite the potential slap, it really is the best kind of greeting after days away.

Reese at 13 Months

Posted on January 10, 2013 by letterstoreesie

At thirteen months old, Reese is showing us something new every day. Her steps are getting steadier, her words are getting clearer (and louder) and we are getting a glimpse of our girl’s personality. We are beginning to see a sassy/mischievous side to Reese that is delighting us and scaring us at the same time.

At 23.5 lbs she is strong and sturdy and has a belly that would make any baby jealous. She has six teeth (4 on the top and 2 on the bottom), is 29 inches long and still has a crazy big head with dark hair that I cannot wait to get into pigtails.

Here’s what she’s been up to the past couple of months.

New tricks: Walking everywhere, giving kisses to everything (the man on the Quaker oatmeal container is a favorite), making animal noises (we’ve got the cow and the lamb down pat), pointing at the TV and screaming “Elmo” (not our favorite new trick), pretend answering the phone (putting her hand immediately to her ear) whenever we hear a phone ring anywhere, telling us “no” while hitting us in the face (also not a favorite), mimicking things we say with the same inflection/tone we use (this one doesn’t happen very often, but is absolutely hilarious when it does), and incessantly asking for whoever is not there (when Daddy goes somewhere she immediately begins asking for him and then takes your hand and leads you around the house to look for him.)

Favorites: All food (although I still can’t get her to eat meat!), but particularly rice and lentils, BANANAS, crackers, sweet potatoes, oatmeal with raisins, Cheerios, grapes, Elmo, babies, books, and her talking teapot

Words: baby (with a French accent), mama, dada, nana, no, “cruck-a” (cracker), bath, and “myyyyyyyy” (Miles.)