On What To Do With My Kid

Posted on February 21, 2013 by letterstoreesie

What do people do with a fifteen month old?

This is the question we were asking ourselves on Sunday morning as the three of us lounged around our living room, all still in pajamas, reading the same books for the thousandth time and hearing the same song over and over and over again.

“Reeeeeeaaaaad a book from start to end, turn the page, make a friend!”

The 2 feet of snow that fell on us last weekend, paired with the blistering wind and frigid temps this weekend left us with a case of cabin fever and a one year old who was tiring of running up and down our hallways.

We had to get out, but our choices were limited. Going out to eat is not an option anymore. Since Reese started walking she refuses to be confined to a high chair at restaurants. Her true desire is to be set free to run throughout the restaurant, stick her fingers into electrical sockets and eat food off of the floor. If she does decide to stay in her high chair for a little while she will amuse herself by turning around to face the people at the table behind us and stare at them while saying “Hi” over and over again. It’s uncomfortable for everyone involved. Even when they kindly wave back and say “Hi there!” she does not relent.

“Hi.Hi.Hi.”

We ended up at the mall.

Reese was already fussing about being stuck in her stroller as we walked into the mall and as we emerged from JC Penney we saw something that we had never noticed before. A big, awesome, indoor play place that was illuminated in a heavenly glow. Jk. More like a germ infested glow, but we were ok with it.

The playground was Boston themed, had a bunch of different climbing structures, a bridge and an arch to the “Public Garden” which was full of colorful duckies for sitting on (Reese’s fav.) There was a wooden pirate ship, a mini climbing wall, and a couple of slides. Literally, everyone and their mother was there. Apparently this is what people do.

Being there made me feel very parenty; following Reese around, asking her not to take toys from other kids, comforting her when another little boy’s aggressive “hug” took her to the ground. I tried not to think about all the things that had probably been peed and puked on and just let a girl live her life, but it wasn’t easy.

Despite this, we all had fun and although some rules were broken, (Andrew went up into the “tree house” which we later learned was strictly forbidden. “Absolutely no adults in the play structures” read the sign we only noticed upon leaving. Who would have thought? A grown man, not allowed in a child’s pretend tree house? How dare they! ) we’ll be back. If they let us.

Holler At Us Nemo

Posted on February 14, 2013 by letterstoreesie

We spent this past weekend snowed in at Gammy and Grandpa’s house thanks to winter storm Nemo (hilarious name.)

It felt pretty good to not have anything to do except to visit with aunties and grandparents, eat, eat and eat, and play in the snow.

We showed off all of our tricks. “Where’s your nose, Reese?” “Where’s Grandpa’s nose?”

Auntie Elyse put her wine aside for a few minutes to play with me! Miles supervised.

There were walks in the woods.

I played with TJ. Check out my “Squirrel” pants!

I inspected Gammy’s produce.

We kind of wish everyone weekend was like this. Maybe without the 25 inches of snow though.

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.

Thirteen Month Update: Us as Parents

Posted on January 14, 2013 by letterstoreesie

And now an update on us after 13 months of parenting.

On occasion, we’ve had a few mishaps which made us question our parental abilities. There was the time that Reese fell out of the bottom of the stroller as we were wheeling it down our steps because she hadn’t been strapped in, an incident with a bee while on a walk that caused me to briefly run away from the stroller, leaving Reese, so I could save myself from the bee; or the time Reese was being “changed”and the dirty diaper was put back on her instead of a clean one. I could go on. But I won’t. Mainly because I am too afraid of what people will think of us.

We are still learning and I feel like we will always be learning; no matter how many kids we have or how old they get. Most days, I still think it’s pretty hilarious that I am somebody’s parent, and I don’t think it will ever stop feeling like a job for which I am severely underqualified.

We have been parents for thirteen months and sixteen days and our list of questions is long. What do we do when Reese starts hitting us? How do we teach her to share? Is there a way to get her to stop chucking her food and her cup around the kitchen? What’s with the biting??

Things I do know: we have a healthy, beautiful daughter who smiles, laughs, gives lots of hugs and kisses and seems to have a thing for us. This makes me think we are doing something right.

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.)

To 2013

Posted on January 4, 2013 by letterstoreesie

I am not one for resolutions. The last one I made, much to the delight of my husband, was to try to do less clothes shopping. But then I got prego and needed a whole new maternity wardrobe so that didn’t last long.

This year I have decided that a resolution is necessary immediately, in order to combat my extreme laziness and insatiable appetite for entire frozen pizzas and Bud Light.

Since I stopped breastfeeding about a month and a half ago, my pants are getting a little tighter and the sad truth that I can no longer eat what I want and nurse/pump off the calories is setting in. It was fun while it lasted.

Pre-Reese, I worked out often and tried to eat semi-healthy. Now, going to the gym is no longer an option unless I want to wake up at 4:30 am (hells no.)

Thus, I have resolved to try to eat a little healthier, try to cook more (heating up frozen stuff doesn’t count) and do some sort of exercise where I can. Notice my use of the words/phrases “try”, “some sort” and “where I can.” Clearly, I am weary of setting myself up for failure.

So here we go.

Cheers to fewer cocktails, carbs and cookies, and more sweating, starving and stir-frying. Ugh.

Happy New Year!

Reese’s First Birthday Party

Posted on December 20, 2012 by letterstoreesie

We celebrated Reese’s first birthday a couple of weeks ago on a snowy Saturday afternoon with friends and family at our house. It was the first birthday party I have ever thrown (not counting one for Andrew that was at a bar) and I had high expectations for myself. Pinterest will do that to you.

I’m neither crafty nor culinary, which I am just going to have to accept and move on, but I did the best that I could. We kept it as simple as possible with pizzas, mac and cheese, meatballs, rice and apps. My sister and I made chocolate and red velvet cupcakes with raspberries and mint leaves for dessert. We used a Duncan Hines box mix after I tried (and failed) to make cupcakes from scratch a couple of days earlier (they turned out chewy and bland and I couldn’t even fool Reese into eating them.)

Decorations were also simple due to my uncraftiness. I made a few paper chains out of printed paper from Michael’s, hung huge paper flowers (Martha Stewart, from AC Moore), some sparkly garland (also Martha Stewart from AC Moore), put out some flowers from Trader Joe’s and some pictures of Reese and called it a day.

Luckily, this was Reese’s first birthday party ever, so she didn’t have much to compare it to, but I know that her day was full of potato chips, naps, hugs, and chocolate cupcakes. What more can a girl ask for?

12/14/12

Posted on December 17, 2012 by letterstoreesie

I’ve been debating writing anything about the tragedy that occurred in Connecticut this past Friday. Although I don’t feel like my words can do it justice, it also doesn’t feel right to make no mention of something that has caused so much suffering.

The news brought us to our knees on Friday afternoon and now, two days later, we go to bed with hearts that are broken and anger that lingers.

The feeling of “what the f, world?!” remains, and the reality that we are living in a world where our kindergarteners know too much weighs heavily on us.

I spent most of Friday in the depressing mindset that this must be our lowest point. This has got to be mankind at its worst.

But I’m sure this has been said before. I’m sure we thought the same thing in Colorado in 1999, or in Virginia in 2007. After all, they’re all somebody’s babies.

And then, you start to hear the stories about what took place in Newtown. They aren’t stories of hate. They are stories of genuine, unselfish love. Stories of a community who loves each other, and stories of teachers who love their students; teachers who remind us why we send our kids off to kindergarten in the first place.

And cautiously, ever so slowly, our faith in humanity is being restored.

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