4.25.19 - A good week!

On Monday I went to Berkeley to give my presentation for the public health course. I talked to Reece most of the way there, which made the trip fly by. I thought the presentation itself went very well, with no hostility even during Q&A. Everyone was very amicable.

Afterward I had thai dinner with perhaps 10 members of Berkeley Students for Life, and that was even better. We stayed and talked for nearly three hours about all sorts of things, and it was interesting getting their perspectives and enjoyable being asked mine. It was nice to have sincere conversations about atheism too.

Most of the drive home I talked to Ellen about how the presentation went, which made the trip again fly by.

On Tuesday after we put the kids to bed, Jack and I played online Tichu with Henry and Kale. It was so much fun. Jack and Henry were stomping us for awhile. At one point it was 380 to 820, and then Kale and I won the game within two rounds by grand tichu 1-2 and then tichu 1-2, ending at 1080 to 820. It was amazing. The entire game we had an online chat going where we were joking around, which is great because it's a low maintenance way to get some interaction with them. Really enjoyed it.

On Wednesday Jack went to give platelets as he does periodically and learned his platelet count is now too low and he has to switch giving whole blood like, as he puts it, the "plebs." He jokes, but he actually was kind of bummed he couldn't give the more difficult and possibly useful donations, and while that isn't a joy, it made me proud of him to realize how much he cares about his blood donations. What a sweet man.

I also got a solid day of work in (a rare occurrence lately) and then took the girls so Jack could work an evening shift. The three of us listened to "Friends on the other side" from Princess and the Frog for probably half an hour straight, each time dancing and singing along, each time they got more excited for the crescendo ending. It was a lot of fun.

Today (Thursday), Jack and I had Clara's IEP meeting with the school district, and it was almost uniformly wonderful news. She has already met all but one of her annual goals which were set only last September. Both her teacher (Macie) and school speech therapist (Beth) emphasized how much Clara has excelled and what a pleasure she is to work with. She's going to move up to an inclusion classroom next year, and they believe that will help her make even more progress with socializing and speech because she'll be around peers she can learn from. It sounds like they've built a lot of continuity into the transition, too, because she will have the same speech therapist, she's already met and spent some time with the new teacher, and her current teacher might be in a position where she still sees Clara about 60 minutes per week anyway.

Overall it was great news, and so encouraging. It was good to be reminded of what her goals originally were and see how far she's come already. Her staff seem confident she will be pretty ready for kindergarten in a year. What a relief!

4.23.19 - Kid snippets: Clara felt Calvin kick

This morning Clara and Jane woke up before Jack and I did. They came into our bedroom babbling in stage whispers. Calvin was actually kicking a lot, as he seems to do more in the morning before I get out of bed, so I put Clara's hand on my abdomen right as he kicked pretty hard. I've been telling her a lot that there's a baby brother in my belly, but I'm not sure how much she understands. I just know she moved her hand away pretty quickly and didn't want to do it again, so maybe I just freaked her out.

4.27.19 - Kid snippets: Appah doo doo

Tonight we figured out that when Jane says "Appah doo doo" she means "Happy Birthday," apparently. (We figured it out only when she started singing.)

4.17.19 - Kid snippets: STEEGE

Giving Clara a bath:

Me: Look up, we have to get your hair wet. We're going to pour the cup three times.
Clara: Five times and then Skittles.
M: No, no Skittles.
C: Mom, what do get?
M: You get honor and prestige.
C: Steege?!
M: Yes. [I finish pouring.]
C: Okay Mom! STEEGE!

4.15.19 - Kid snippets - "ow"

When I trim Jane's nails, after each clip she waits a second or so and then very casually says "Ow."

4.10.19 - Kid snippets: giggling before bed

We just put the kids to bed and then I thought I heard Jane crying (which would be unusual). I went to the door to listen and, no, she was just babbling to Clara who was babbling back and then they'd both stop and giggle. I can also hear them blowing raspberries to each other and giggling even harder.

4.7.19 - Muffin morning

Jack has started a new work schedule that includes Sunday mornings, so for the first time in weeks or maybe months I will be home on weekend mornings (instead of getting work done at Starbucks). I decided to take this first morning as an opportunity to have something other than oatmeal, toast, or Kix for breakfast, so we baked some muffins.

Muffins are a great way to sneak produce into the kids, and unfortunately I didn't have any zuccini to shred into them, so I added a whole bunch of strawberries. I put on my "Tejon kitchen happy" playlist (a playlist of cheerful music that is all child appropriate) and started mixing. Clara was interested as soon as I turned the mixer on, and I let her lick the whisk when it was done, which she loved. She brought a stool into the kitchen and stood to my side watching (and narrating) everything I was doing.

Once the muffins were in the oven I turned on the oven light so the girls could see. The oven window is right at their height, which is nice. Jane was mostly ignoring us up until this point, but Clara was very excited to watch the muffins bake. Shortly later Clara went to use the potty, and Jane took her spot on muffin watch. Clara was successful and I offered her Skittles but she asked instead for a muffin, haha.

While we were waiting for the muffins to bake Clara asked me to come dance with her. We were dancing in circles and Jane tried to carry all the toys she was playing with and join us. I had to help her put them down and then she and Clara took a minute to figure out how to hold hands, but then we all danced (walked slowly) in a circle and they were giggling the whole time. Very sweet.

They recently broke our oven timer, sadly, so I was using the timer on my phone, and each time it went off they both got pretty excited and walked with me to the kitchen to see what would happen. I had to set it more than once for both sets because each time they weren't quite done after the first timer, but the repeated process just built up the excitement! When I took the first batch out, I used one oven mitt and a knife to remove the muffins and let them cool on a plate. Clara continued to stand on a stool and narrate and also asked if she could have an oven mitt, which I declined.

I cut two muffins in half and added butter and put them in a purple bowl for Clara and pink bowl for Jane. Sat Jane in her booster seat and Clara hurried to sit at the table. I brought them each their muffins and they ate them happily. Well actually Jane ate half of hers and then wanted to walk around with the other half. We need to vacuum badly anyway so I just let her.

While the second batch was baking, the song "Ruby Baby" by Dion came on and Clara got up and started slowly spinning in circles while eating her muffin. Last time we listened to "Ruby Baby" Jack and I did some swing dance to it, which the girls found fascinating, so I guess now Clara associates the song with dancing. :)

Clara has also recently started adding what is either "firefly" or "firefighter" to her "Clara elephant" descriptions, such as "Mom, firefly Clara elephant is eating muffins!"

They each asked for seconds, of course, and then they sat on the couch together eating their muffins happily. Now Jane is slowly somersaulting through the living room and looking at me and yelling "YAYYY" at the end of each one.

Later in the morning we were all hanging out in the "blue bed" (mine and Jack's bed) with juice cups and books, and then Jane wanted me to start reading off the letters to my "Home is wherever I am with you" sign. Clara actually hummed part of the song, which I didn't realize she knew, so I sang the chorus and pointed to each word as I sang it. Then I had Alexa play the Edward Sharpe version with the background choir, and each time they sang "home is wherever I am with you" I would point to the words on the sign and Clara and Jane were delighted. The choir repeats the chorus many times at the end so the girls had a lot of time to absorb that this sign in my bedroom was actually part of a song. It was fun to watch them put it together.

4.5.19 - The Bunk Bed

Calvin will arrive in August and we aren't likely to move to a bigger place before then. Even if we were going to, I think we'd still want to get a bunk bed to save space.

A few days ago I mentioned to Jack that we should look into one now and give Clara and Jane time to get used to it before they have to adjust to the next big change (a new baby), and to my delight Jack took over the project without me even thinking about it again. He spent the last few days researching and trying to find a balance between cost and storage needs (bunk bed with built in storage are far too expensive but we were hoping at least for something with enough clearance from the ground that we can store clothes under it). After several unsuccessful attempts to coordinate with sellers on Craigslist and Facebook Market (or whatever it's called), today Jack found a fairly good deal. He left to investigate it immediately (he wanted to see the frame in person to verify it really was 11" off the ground) while I was able to keep working because Clara was with her ABA therapist.

As soon as Jack returned he got to work taking apart Clara's current bed and assembling the bunk bed. Most of this phase he was kept company by Clara who talked to him about what he was doing (and what she was doing) incessantly. I just hear her in their, high-pitched voice jabbering away, with him occasionally giving a preoccupied "Yeah." or "Oh yeah?" She was pretty excited about all the furniture rearranging happening and stayed in there with him the whole time, so I was able to get even more done.

He wasn't quite finished by the time it was time to pick up Jane so he closed the nursery door and blocked it so Clara wouldn't mess with the tools and everything inside. I put on some videos for her to keep her preoccupied and it mostly worked.

When Jack and Jane returned, both girls were very excited and interested in all the happenings in the nursery. Once Jack actually put one bunk on top of the other and put Clara's mattress on the top bunk, they were just amazed. Clara was thrilled to climb the ladder to the top bunk, and even though Jane can't handle the ladder yet, she was perfectly happy/excited to climb back and forth over the empty lower bunk frame and move toys in and out of its space. She was very busy.

It took a bit to get them (mostly Clara) out of the nursery and into their chairs for dinner, and when they were done they went back to experiencing the bunk bed. Clara kept putting her stuffed animals on the ladder rungs and telling me they were going up the "excavator." (No matter how many times I try to get her to say "escalator" she insists it is actually "excavator.") Jane continued to move objects and herself back and forth, under and mostly over, the empty bottom frame.

Left: Jack putting together the crib in late 2014; Center: Jack putting together Clara's "big girl bed" in early 2017; Right: Jack putting together the bunk bed, April 2019.

It was actually pretty surreal to me because we had bunk beds for my entire youth and they really symbolize childhood to me. I have a ton of bunk bed-associated memories, and it was just bizarre to realize now I'm the adult too big to sit on the top bunk and I'm corralling my kids around in their cozy (crowded) nursery.

When it was finally time for bed, I brushed Clara's teeth while she sat on the top bunk. She had no problem being put to bed there (she transitions really wonderfully in general), but she did want Jane to come up there with her. Jane was also standing at the bottom of the ladder yelling "UP!" so I went ahead and put her on the top bunk for a while and they basically both sat there and giggled and smooshed their faces into the pillows etc. It was pretty amazing, I am sure, being so high up in the room.

When I did put Jane in her crib, that was nostalgic too, in the sense that Jane probably has only a few more days, week tops (however long it takes us to get another twin mattress and bedding), to sleep in her crib before it becomes Calvin's crib. Makes me glad we're about to have another baby since this baby is growing up fast. <3

I put them to bed the same way I always do and they handled it fine. Fun transition day.

4.2.19 - Kid Snippets - Jane's maniacal laugh, Clara sets her own timer

Jane just grabbed a fork from the dinner table and started aggressively scraping it against a wall. I told her to stop and she looked right at me and then did it again. I used an Angry Voice and said "Jane! Give me that!" and she scraped the wall again. So I got up to take it from her, and the moment I stood from my chair she TORE down the hall, frantically tossing the fork behind her as she ran for the nursery cackling. And it was all I could do not to burst out laughing and ruin the facade of a disciplinarian. (I managed to keep it together but it was close.)

Meanwhile Clara got hold of the oven timer, set it up in the bathroom, turning it to maximum time, and announced "Mom! One HUNDWED minutes to play in the sink!"

3.31.19 - March joy statuses

I seemed to have had a higher than usual number of joy inventory statuses this month, so I guess it was a pretty good month.

3.30.19 - Kid Snippets - Excavator, Calimento, Clara and Jane go up the hill

Kid snippets: this afternoon while Clara was playing pretend she said "Let's go up the excavator!"

Me: Do you mean 'escalator'?
C: Yeah, excavator!
M: Can you say "Later"?
C: Later.
M: Escalator?
C: Excavator!
M: Can you say "See you later"?
C: See you later!
M: "See you later, escalator!"
C: No, *Hello* excavator!
M: [laughing] Say "Es"
C: Es
M: Cah!
C: Vator!
M: No say "Es"...
C: Es
M: Cah!
C: Cah!
M: *Later*!
C: Excavator!
M: Okay fine.

In other news, I wish I'd captured on video the moment Jane saw me after I finally got home yesterday. She could hardly have grinned bigger and she let me carry her up the stairs (normally she wants to do it herself). She was basically in physical contact with me most of the evening. Similarly when Clara woke up from a nap she wanted me to hold her and cuddle for a good 20 minutes, which is very unusual. I know they can't articulate it very clearly but they seemed pretty happy to see me. <3

The ABA therapist has been practicing key questions with Clara and the two newest are "What city do you live in?" and "What state do you live in?" Clara understands "Sacramento" but keeps forgetting the word "California," so instead she says "Cali-mento!"

The weather is beautiful today so for awhile we walked around the apartment complex. There are some very small grassy hills with trees at the top, and Clara and Jane kept asking me to sing "Jack and Jill went up the hill" while they ran up the hill and then "fell" back down. I switched the song to "Clara and Jane went up the hill" and they just thought that was hilarious.

3.29.19 - Kid Snippets - Clara is not coming

If I call Clara from the other room and she responds "I"m cominnnnnnggggg!" it means she is definitely not coming. And if I ask her to do something and she says "Okay, just a second!" she definitely has no intention of doing the thing. Just now she even said "Mom, wait!" while doing the ASL sign for "wait." So at least she's listening...?

3.12.19 - Kid Snippets - Clara wants band aids, Jane's vocab right now

Today if Clara slightly bumps any part of herself against anything, she claims it hurts very much and she needs kisses. After kisses she also asks for a band aid (so far to no avail).

Also here is some of Jane's top vocabulary right now. She seems to prefer "B" sounds:

--bup = cup
--boop = book
--bey bey = blanket
--bah = ball
--Bobo = Bobo (one of the teddy bears)
--aiwah = Clara
--i wah = I want
--eee = eat (if accompanied by "eat" sign)
--No! = NO! (This is the favorite, really.)

There's a lot more but those are the first that come to mind.

3.3.19 - Clara's 4th birthday

I went to wake up the kids at about 7:45a because I hope to get Jane down for an early nap before the train museum. When I walked in I told Clara it was her birthday and said "Happy Birthday!" and she sat up and said "Cake!" and pretended to eat some cake.

By some miracle I managed to get a lot of cleaning done in the morning while Jack was at work and I was home with both girls. They really enjoyed it because I moved some furniture around to vacuum and that was apparently SO EXCITING. I didn't even bother to put the coffee table back because they were having such a fantastic time running in circles around it and giggling. I even finished making Clara's cake on time.

Even though they got up later than they do during the week (closer to 8am than 7am), Jane still went down peacefully for a nap early enough that she was awake again before it was time to leave for the train museum. Just as we were getting ready to put the girls in the car, Henry arrived at our apartment with a whole bunch of red and purple balloons, which was also very exciting for them. Clara wanted Henry to drive with us to the museum but was mollified when we told her he'd meet us there.

Also joining us at the museum were Erin, and also Beth and Hunter! Clara and Jane seemed slightly confused but pleased to see those two outside of Beth's house, haha. The kids had a great time. In contrast with last year, Jane does *not* want to be held at all and wants to walk/run every where herself, which overall is actually a lot easier (she is a high density child). Seemed to me Jane loved how much space there was to explore and Clara loved the trains themselves. I love the older gentleman who (I think) volunteer there and have tons of knowledge about all the trains. They remind me of Grandpa. <3 Same with the elaborate model train set on the 3rd floor. It's pretty fantastic. We lingered there awhile and really the girls, especially Clara, could have probably sat and watched it a lot longer, but I moved us along because Jack and I are both pretty tired these days.

After the museum we went back home and the girls played intensely with all the balloons while Erin ran and got ice cream and Henry ran and got everyone In & Out for lunch (even Clara, since she can have their gluten free fries). After lunch we busted out the chocolate cake with sprinkles, gave Clara 4 candles, and sang her Happy Birthday (she sang along). She and Jane made a delighted mess (especially Jane) of their cake, and then they were both more interested in the balloons than the presents for quite awhile.

Eventually we did open presents though. Clara has gotten really good at it all by herself. She got a whole new set of play food and a pretend birthday cake complete with candles (which is perfect since she pretends everything is cake and ice cream anyway). She also got a Magna doodle (which was a huge hit with Jane) and a model Golden Gate Bridge for the Brio train set. Jack set up a pretty beautiful train track incorporating the bridge and Clara played with it for quite awhile. Then she made what looked kind of like a thrown of balloons to sit Jingle Bear on and continually fed him the fake birthday cake for a long time.

Throughout the day she also got to video chat with Aaron, Katie, Josiah, and Naomi, later Mimi, and later Jama.

And while most of this was happening (during the time we were back at the apartment) I got to catch up with Henry and Erin, which was nice in itself.

And then the girls went to bed basically peacefully (probably totally wiped out).

Overall it was just a wonderful day.

2.28.19 - February joy statuses

2.19.19 - Kid Snippets - Clara Elephant, Jane loves "no"

I give Clara a plate of chips with chicken and melted cheese.
Clara: YES! Thank you, Mom!
Me: You are welcome, Clara.
Clara: Mommy, say 'You're welcome Clara Elephant!'

Jane likes to sit in my lap while she plays with puzzles or flash cards or other toys. But if I kiss her, rub her back, cuddle her, and sometimes even if I look at her, she'll go "Nooooo!" She wants to sit in my lap but also wants to pretend I'm not there.

Jane's favorite word is "no." Most of the time if you ask her anything that sounds like a question, she just says "no." She's also very good at shaking her head no. Recently she's started trying to say "yes" and nod, and she is pretty bad at it. Her nod is like a weird wobble where she moves her head in a circle. I love it.

This morning I went to get the girls and they were both already awake.
Me: Good morning! Jane can you say "Good morning, Clara"?
Jane: Bah bah Airwa!
Clara: Mommy, no. Say "Good morning Clara Elephant!"
Me: Good morning, Clara Elephant. Clara, can you say "Good morning Jane"?
Clara: Mommy! No! Good morning Jane Elephant!

2.14.19 - Kid Snippets - Clementines, umbrellas, rain

Last night:
Clara: Daddy, say "awwww yeah!"
Jack: Awwww, yeah!
Clara: Say "I want to turn on the videos!"
Jack: Nice try!

Jane helped me peel a clementine. I would start one peel and then she'd pull it the rest of the way off. Each time she would get SO excited and squeal and stomp and turn in a circle and sometimes just yell (like she does). She didn't actually want to eat the clementine or anything, of course, but she was pretty excited that it was peeled.

This morning:
It was pouring out, so Jack took the kids to the car one at a time with an umbrella. Jane first. When he opened the umbrella she looked delighted, and I could hear her repeating "Umbwewah!" all the way down the stairs and to the car.

Meanwhile Clara stood on the covered balcony with me, talking incessantly about the weather. "Mommy, say 'the rain is pouring down!' Mommy look, look at the rain! Mommy the rain is on my head!" (She did not want to put her hood on, preferring the full experience.)

2.9.19 - Kid Snippets, Clara and Jane quotes

Clara: Mommy, what are you doing?

Me: I'm making pancakes.

Clara: What?! Making pancakes? ... It's okay Mom.

Me: uh thanks hon.

Jane yells when she is angry or hurt. Also when she's bored. Also when she's happy.

Clara: Mommy, say "Clara, what are you doing?"

Me, laughing: Clara what are you doing?

Clara: I'm drawing a bear!

We just listened to the Moana soundtrack.

Me: Alexa, play the soundtrack to Tangled.

Clara: Mommy, no! Moana!

Me: Alexa, play the soundtrack to Moana.

*Music starts*

Clara, hushed voice: wowwwwwww

2.5.19 - Kid Snippets - "Babe," Scar Jane, One hundwed cheese

I almost exclusively call Jack "babe," and now Clara has started referring to Jack and other adults as "babe." Like "Baaaabe! Can I have juice?"

Jane has a biting problem. She bit a little girl at daycare and the girl scratched her in retaliation. This is not a cute kid snippet, but now she has a scratch over her eye very much like Scar, and she looks like the villain in a movie starring only babies.

For lunch I was trying to tempt Clara to eat her spaghetti by putting some shredded cheese on top. I also gave her a few shreds of cheese separately just to eat on its own and she said "Oooooh! I want ONE HUNDWED cheese!" Yeah, you and me both kid.

2.3.19 - Henry and Kale's (last?) visit

Kale is moving to Boston at the end of this month to start his postdoc at Harvard. It's unlikely he'll be back in California anytime soon, especially since he and his wife will still be long distance and spend more of their time and money traveling to see each other than traveling back to CA. So we planned one last day long Tichu nacho potluck.

They agreed to get here earlier than usual (9 am) so we could fit in Tichu before Jack had to go to work. Jack took the girls to Beth's for a couple hours and I tried a new recipe for gluten free pancakes that are almost pure banana and peanut butter. They turned out really well! Didn't hurt to add chocolate chips.

While I was making them Henry and Kale arrived (Jack was still out picking up a few things). They brought everything for nachos (chips, cheese, ground beef, bacon, guac, sour cream) and some breakfast things (eggs, chai, grapes, small cheeses) and even some dessert (gluten free ice cream cake and cupcakes). There was definitely way more than enough food. We made the pancakes and chai and talked about Jack's nursing exam saga and other things. Not long after Jack got back we played Tichu, and it was a great game. Lots of bombs, broken Tichus, and yelling. At one point Jack broke his own rule by wishing for an ace, and Kale immediately started laughing because he didn't have one. Jack yelled "Nooo!" and then said "I'm glad you're moving!" and everyone laughed pretty hard. Henry did have an ace and it definitely lost them the hand that he had to play it early. Painful.

We finished with about half an hour before Jack would need to leave to pick up the kids, so we played a speed version of the game Jack and Kale basically made up where if you break a Tichu the other team gets your points and one person on each team has to call Tichu every hand. It was an interesting dynamic and it took only three rounds (we were playing only to 500). Kale and I won.

Jack left to get the kids and Kale started making the nachos, and we basically spent the rest of the day just visiting. That's about 1pm to 11:30pm. Jack worked and we saw him on his lunch and again when he got off work, and in between we fed the kids and hung out with them and just talked about everything: politics, of course, and Card's Against Humanity's poll: Pulse of the Nation, family histories and transcending dysfunction, being friends with people who have kids when you don't and vice versa, Scott Pilgrim, and details of Kale's move.

When the girls first got home they were suspicious of Kale. Clara stood outside the front door and said "No Kale!" but she warmed up in a minute. Jane stayed in my lap for the first while and then got over it when there was food. Jane is ambivalent to Henry too, but Clara really likes to see Henry. At one point she noticed Henry wears glasses and she wanted them, so I gave her the kiddie sunglasses and then she handed out sunglasses to Kale and me too, so we were all sitting inside wearing sunglasses while chatting and she was so excited she sat next to Henry on the couch and just stimmed. Everyone thought it was pretty cute.

Way later, as I was getting both of them ready for bed, Clara got back on the couch and cuddled with Henry. She asked me to bring her the "orange blanket" (the Maurader's map blanket) and her cup, and she was very comfortable. I almost didn't want to make her go to bed just so she could stay there, but it was getting kind of late.

Even as we were all getting visibly tired we kept talking, and at 10:40pm Henry said they should leave by 11pm. They still didn't until like 11:30pm, haha.

It was a great visit. Hopefully it wasn't the end of an era (the Tichu nacho potluck era), but even if it was, it was a great era.