Halloween Narrative

We had a blast trick-or-treating with the BabyGirl this year! She provided the most hilarious commentary on the other kids' costumes.

During the morning, i explained to her the basic protocol: "After dinner you will put on your costume and we'll go outside. We'll walk around to all the houses and ring the doorbell. Then people will open the door and you'll say, 'Trick or treat!' and . . ."

As i was speaking, she looked at me with an expression of extreme skepticism. Her face said, "What kind of crazy ideas has this woman come up with this time?"

I continued: ". . . they'll give you candy!"

Whoa, wait a minute. "CANDY?!?!?" That sure wiped the skepticism off her face.

"Oh yes, my friend. Candy."

She ran to her room and got her shoes. "Let's go now!"

Since she hadn't been paying attention for all the words that preceeded "candy," she hadn't heard that these events were to take place after dinner. This was a big hardship; she wanted to get the candy right now.

We did, however, go ahead and put on her daytime costume. She was a beautiful fairy princess. Mimi got her the pinkest, ruffliest, shimmeriest dress you could imagine and a pair of pink wings to go with it. She twirled and sashayed and pranced around the house displaying her elegance. She absolutely loved that dress! Unfortunately, she refused to allow me to take her picture, so you are going to have to take my word for it that she was very pretty.

Finally Daddy came home from work and we ate dinner and the long-awaited moment had come. She put on her nighttime costume of a tiger. It was cold out, and the princess dress was not warm enough. She would have had to wear her coat over the dress, in which case no one would see it. So she was a big fluffy tiger:

Bright Eyes got schlepped along for the ride. The only reason she is even halfway giving a smile is because at this point she had no idea what was going on:

We stepped outside right as a big clump of kids walked by. The BabyGirl was really excited now. "Girls!!!"

The trick-or-treating on our street is very profitable. Everyone else besides us is retired seniors who love having cute little kids come to their doors. The BabyGirl was a big hit! For the first few houses she was unsure of what was happening, but then she got the hang of it.

There was a boy with his dad who happened to be going at the same pace as us. We were about 30 seconds ahead of them, such that as we turned around to leave a house, they were walking up. This happened for many consecutive houses. The trouble, though, was that the boy's costume made the BabyGirl VERY nervous. I don't know if i can describe it very well. He was wearing all black, and his shirt had a green LED light-up outline of a body. His face was covered also and had the outline of big creepy eyes. Kind of like the standard alien face but not exactly.

The 4 of us were walking on the sidewalk when the boy and his dad passed us. They were understandably walking faster than us. I was in front with The Professor behind holding the BabyGirl's hand. She said, "Get here by me, Mama." She wanted Daddy on one side and Mama on the other to protect her from the alien boy. She kept a very close eye on the boy so she could monitor his movements. He was already at the door of the next house when we walked up. She made it very clear that we would wait for him to move along before we got any closer.

While we were standing a safe distance waiting for him to leave, she began to (very loudly) narrate what he was doing. "That guy is at the door."

"That guy is pressing the button."

"That guy is standing."

"That guy is getting candy."

The boy's dad was standing right next to us and had a good laugh over the BabyGirl's play-by-play. Eventually she said, "What's that guy called?"

Honestly i didn't know what to call his costume. I didn't know if it was a bona-fide character that i wasn't familiar with, or if it was just something he had made up. The boy's dad said, "Glow man." (Note: it was not the same as this. The concept was similar, but the shape was different.)

She resumed her narration. "Glow man is [with concern] walking THIS WAY!" Eek!

We asked her if she wanted to wait a minute to let Glow man get farther ahead. She wholeheartedly said yes. Later we were in proximity again and she said, "I will turn my head. I will not look at him." We affirmed her in her wise choice.

She got very excited when she saw costumes that she recognized. Cat in the hat! Coke can! We had gotten a late start, so we were out after the other small children had gone home and it was mostly older kids.

Then tragically, after we hit the last house and turned to go home, the BabyGirl tripped and fell. She dropped her bucket and candy scattered everywhere. It was so sad! She scraped her hands pretty good. Fortunately we successfully gathered up all the bounty. The Professor carried her home and we all celebrated the fun time we had together.
 

Baby Train

Fact #1: The BabyGirl loves library books.
Fact #2: The BabyGirl loves her little chairs.
Fact #3: The BabyGirl loves her sister.

And when she can combine those three loves, the results are extremely cute.

The BabyGirl was given this table\chairs set for her 2nd birthday. She spent a great deal of time arranging the chairs. Lining them up, putting them in a circle, putting them back-to-back, etc. She played with those chairs quite a bit.

 

 

When i saw a book at the library about a cat who makes something clever out of his chairs, i knew she would enjoy it.

 



 

Spoiler alert: they make a train! Of course the BabyGirl wanted to make a train also. She made a train over and over again. She made a train for The Professor and i to sit on. She made a train for her stuffed animals. And one evening while Bright Eyes was hanging out in the kitchen while i prepared dinner, she made a train for Bright Eyes! It was so thoughtful. The chairs are in the living room, you see. But Bright Eyes was in the kitchen. Since Bright Eyes can't go to the chairs (she can't walk), she brought the chairs to Bright Eyes. She built the train so that Bright Eyes was right smack in the middle.

 

 

In the book they say, "Ding, ding! Choo, choo!"

 

(You probably want to read this book yourself now, so here it is: http://www.amazon.com/Meeow-Little-Chairs-Sebastien-Braun/dp/190625088X)

 





Moments to Remember: What Can I Do For You?

This story is for the benefit of my 80-year-old self:

Last night i was sitting at the kitchen table. The Professor was sitting next to me and the BabyGirl was in his lap. I was talking with him about something i had worked hard on that didn't work out. I was very discouraged and frustrated. The BabyGirl, although not a part of our conversation, was listening intently. While she listened, she had a look of concern on her face.

At a pause in the conversation, she said worriedly, "You are hurting, Mama?"

I said, "No dear, i'm not hurting, i'm just sad."

Her look of concern intensified. She said, "I'll give you a smoochie." Then she leaned over and smooched my cheek. She smiled and said, "You're all better?"

I said, "Oh yes, i'm all better now."

Apparently i wasn't convincing enough. She hooked her arm around mine, laid her head on my shoulder and said, "What [can] I do for you, Mama?"

It was a very special moment that i want to remember always.
 

Attempts to Take Two-Month Pictures Were Largely Unsuccessful

Bright Eyes is two months old! I did my darnedest to take her two month pictures while the BabyGirl was napping. You are about to see why. Taking pictures of Bright Eyes is quite a challenge when the BabyGirl is around. Unfortunately, Bright Eyes was uncooperative with my photo shoot during the BabyGirl's nap. Therefore her two month pictures include the BabyGirl. Usually you have to take 100 shots of a baby in order to get one decent picture. In this case, 100 shots resulted in 0 decent pictures. Here are the outtakes:

 

 Wait, my eye itches

 Bright Eyes not looking

 BabyGirl not looking

 Seriously, Mama? Lay off with the pictures

 

 Getting silly

 

 Finally, a cute one! BabyGirl is washing Bright Eyes' feet

 

The BabyGirl with her two babies

 

Proof That the BabyGirl Is a Girl (As If There Was Any Doubt)

The Professor and the BabyGirl were in the car running errands together.

Professor: We're going to Walmar to buy _________.

BabyGirl: Wanna go to Garget (Target).

Professor: I'm sorry, but we can't go to Target. We're going to Walmart.

BabyGirl: Wanna go to Garget.

Professor: We're going to Walmart, sweetie.

BabyGirl: WAAAAA!! DON'T WANNA GO TO WALMART; WANNA GO TO GARGET!!!!!


And honestly, can you blame her? Who wouldn't rather go to Garget?
 

Happy ThirtyTWO!

Two weekends ago we celebrated The Professor's birthday. He is now thirty-two. The BabyGirl believes that he is just two, but we've been trying to convince her that he is actually thirty-two. She mostly doesn't buy it, but occasionally she'll say "firty-TWOOOO!!!" She herself turned two back in April, and at the time we worked so exuberantly to teach her that when people ask, "How old are you?" the answer is "TWOOO!!!" The trouble is, now she thinks that two is the answer when asking about everyone, not just herself.

Having a brand-new baby limited us somewhat in our celebrations; we weren't able to do anything super exciting. On The Professor's birthday eve we drove across town to the Dead Marshes Mall (it only has about 2 stores left and everything else is vacant—very creepy) to eat dinner at Chick-fil-A. You'd think that after so many years of living without Chick-fil-A that we would take advantage of this one and go there more often, but we don't. So it was a special treat.

Happy birthday, Professor!

There's a VIDEO in the kids' meal?!?

 

 

We both love Chick-fil-A lemonade!

Except it's incredibly sweet and potent and i forgot to ask them to dilute it. 

For a toddler, it's basically like crack. 

It was Bright Eyes' very first time at Chick-fil-A in her whole baby life!

You can see that it was quite an experience for her.

 

Another noteworthy thing about this birthday for The Professor was that it marked the half-life of his car. He has now had it for half of his life! He loves that car and it has treated him very well the past 16 years. They had a long-distance relationship for a long time while we lived in the Big City, but now are happily reunited.

The BabyGirl, Bright Eyes, and i are all extremely thankful for The Professor and so honored to have him in our lives. We love you, Professor!
 

Bringing Cosmic Back

Were you starting to get bored with how peaceful and happy this blog had become? The last several months were all "we're so thankful for this" and "we're praying for that." There was a significant lack of drama or emotional crisis, and it was starting to creep me out. I was afraid that i'd have to rename the blog "Life Is Going Fine," because it had become a misnomer to say that Life Is Cosmic.

Well, never fear! A new development in our lives is definitely bringing cosmic back.

Allow me to introduce Bright Eyes:

Bright Eyes is VERY cosmic. Whatever particular thing she is experiencing at a given moment, she experiences it 150%. Most human beings go through a progression of "I'm a little bit hungry" to "Yes i'm definitely hungry" to "Okay I'm very hungry now." Bright Eyes, on the other hand, is completely non-hungry one minute and the very next she's screaming, "GOOD LORD I'M HUNGRY! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!? DON'T YOU KNOW A HUNGRY BABY WHEN YOU SEE ONE?!?"

The BabyGirl was a very peaceful and serene baby. I remember when she got some shots at her 2 month checkup, it was the first time i heard her really cry. It broke my heart. Bright Eyes, however, cries at that level on a daily basis. In her defense, she's been having some tummy trouble. We recently started her on reflux medication and she's much happier as a result.

It's not just Bright Eyes herself that is making life cosmic. The general combination of sleep deprivation, post partum hormones, and weeks of physical pain from a difficult delivery adds to the chaos. We all love Bright Eyes dearly, but we will love her much more when we don't have to see her at 2:00 am.

The newborn period is sooooo hard. It's a wonder anyone survives. Mostly i just want to fast-forward a few months. But then i feel guilty because she's my precious daughter yet i want to skip part of her life.

I was watching something on youtube the other day, and before the video played i saw one of the P & G Olympic mom ads. I've googled this ad a million times to try to find it again and it's nowhere to be found. It would be so much better if you could just watch it rather than me describing it to you. It was about one of the gymnasts. It showed a clip of her in the Olympics and her mom up in the stands cheering. The narrator said, "Jordyn Wieber knows that her biggest fan . . . is also her first fan." Then it showed a picture of Jordyn's mom holding teeny baby Jordyn.

Of course my poor hormonal, overtired self cried my eyes out. Because right now i'm holding teeny baby Bright Eyes, but one day she may be an Olympian. Or an astronaut. Or a Nobel Prize winner. Or President of the United States. And even if she's the checkout lady at the Evil Dominion of Hy-Vee, i'm her first fan. I'll always be cheering. Right now i cheer when she lifts her head off the floor during tummy time. I'll cheer when she rolls over, and when she walks. I'll cheer at her ballet recitals or softball games or track meets. I'll cheer when she graduates from high school and college.

Yes, Bright Eyes is cosmic. She spits up all over the place and she's more likely to smile at the ceiling fan than at me. But i love her and i'm her first fan.