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.