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.

1.31.19 - Joy statuses

1.29.19 - Kid snippets - No brushing teeth, Clara tucking Betty and Bobby in

Last night (as usual) Jane didn't want to brush her teeth, but this time instead of just keeping her mouth shut and moving her face away from me, she took her toothbrush and ran into the kitchen to try to throw it away. (I caught her in time.)

Apparently while I was gone last week, the girls were helping Jack clean up, sort of. He discovered later that Jane threw her tupperware in the trash and her diaper in the sink.

Also last night Clara was trying to get my attention (not always easy). Finally she said "Mommy! Stand up!" So I did, and followed her to the nursery. The door was closed and lights were off. She opened the door and said "The babies are sleeping!" She had tucked their matching bears--Betty and Bobby--under her blanket on her bed. Then we turned on the light and said "Good morning!!" and she went and gave them kisses. I just like that it was important to her that I witness this. Jane was also excited.

1.25.19 - Kid Snippets - self-check out, Jane doesn't want pants

Last night Clara and I were at a grocery self-check out. Clara tried to scan her ziploc bag of Kix. When the machine said "select payment method," Clara responded, "Alexa! Play Pentatonix!"

Later that night I was (trying to) talk to Neil on the phone and Jane was crawling all over me and generally yelling to herself. I stopped and said "Jane! JANE! ...Can you please be quiet?" and she quietly responded "No!" Later I had gotten her PJ top on, and I said "Jane, let's put on your pants!" She said "Noooo," grabbed the pants, stuffed them into one of her dresser drawers, tried unsuccessfully to close it, and waddled quickly away.

1.12.19 - Kid Snippets

Jane really likes being read to. She calls books "boop," and yesterday we sat next to the nursery bookshelf for a long time while she would pick a "boop," sit in my lap, let me read 85% of it, then get up and say "boop" and pick another one. We did this about 6-7 times. She picked "I'm a Big Sister" more than once but as soon as I get to the page about the baby sleeping she doesn't want to continue.

Today it's been raining a lot. I watched the rain out the window with Jane and Clara for a while and it made me think of "April Showers" from Bambi. So I pulled up the video of that song on Youtube, and Clara was really into it. It's maybe four minutes long and she watched it 4-5 times, each time pointing out the animals ("The mouse is under the mushroom! There's the mama bird!") and anticipating the lightning ("yigh-ing") and then announcing dramatically "It's okay!" as the animals are startled. She would wait until the part where the sun comes out and then hit 0 (start the video over).

Clara is definitely getting more vocal and articulate. I love when she asks Jack or me "What you doin'?" She usually seems to at least partially understand the responses too. Once while we were in Missouri and once at the airport waiting to fly home she had some form of conversation with other children around her age, and it really warms my heart. It's a halting and unsure conversation but at least at this age kids just kind of go with it.

This evening Clara started singing the Pentatonix version of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman" (her current favorite song apparently). Jane was sitting in my lap at the time and she turned and looked at me with an open-mouthed grin, then hurriedly stood up and started dancing emphatically to Clara's singing. I guess that's the hot song for toddlers right now.

A lot of times when I hug Jane she pats my shoulder.

Jane refers to Clara as "Air-rah!" She is often eager and happy to see Clara when they first wake up, although Clara usually doesn't feel the same way and wants to go back to sleep. This morning (1/12/19) is Saturday so they don't have to get up at any particular time. Jane woke up before Clara so I took Jane into the living room to let Clara sleep. Clara is occasionally coughing in the nursery and when Jane hears her she points in that direction and says "Air-rah!" as if she's making sure I know. It's very sweet how much Jane wants to do what Clara's doing and be around Clara.

1.9.19 - Kid snippets: angry rolling

Jane has started doing this thing where if she's mad she'll fall dramatically to the floor...and then roll angrily across the room.

1.2.18 - Missouri trip highlights

Other favorite parts of this trip:

• Watching Clara sing "Jingle Bells" for Christmas karaoke at the pancake breakfast. Also seeing her interact so much with other kiddos.

• Having dinner with the Bairds at Cappuccinos. Enjoying some great pancakes (recommended by Eddie) and generally good and funny conversation with them, as always.
• Getting some work done at Picasso's, sitting at the table in the corner where Grandpa and I once sat together, listening to old time Big Band music and thinking of happy memories with him.

• My 4-5 hour ongoing conversation with Aaron about religion and faith and science and atheism. It was such an amicable, genuine, respectful conversation, and it endeared me to him very much. And now we can joke about these things more easily because we've already discussed it.
• Playing Code Names at the Jackson New Year's Party with Julie, Katie, and others. Oddly satisfying game. Also playing Gang Beatz and crying laughing as I held on to a wall and Denny tried to remove me.

• Getting sushi with Jack, Don, Merlene, and Ricki. Ricki is very easy to talk to and full of interesting stories. Also the sushi was absolutely delicious.

• Scanning thousands of old photos and starting to organize some of them, plus having some help from Julie, Mom, and Linda to date some of the pictures and just generally put a family tree together.

12.31.18 - December joy statuses

 

Happy stories from 2018

Good things to focus on leading up to a new year... (Images from here.)

12.25.18 - Christmas

I didn't have time to write up a Christmas post soon enough this year, so this won't be as detailed. However my favorite parts of Christmas this year included the leisurely muffin and bacon breakfast with Don, Merlene, and the girls (who both really liked the muffins),

the potato hash and cinnamon rolls at Mom's (courtesy mostly of Denny), playing a little bit of 5 Crowns with the siblings and Mom, and all the Jackson Christmas traditions that night. Specifically it was fun/funny watching Merlene read the Christmas Story to a chaotic group of grandkids who kept getting up and down and going all around as she read.

It was enjoyable reading everyone's letters to us, including Don and Merlene's prayer that 2019 would be less stressful for me (haha) and Aaron and Katie's prayer that I'd get less interruptions at Starbucks (hahaha), and it was fun watching the kids decorate their own Christmas ornaments. Clara was surprisingly focused on coloring every bit of her elf red.

Later when the kids finally (sort of) went to bed, I played a weird wrestling PS4 game with Aaron and Katie and it's hard to explain but we were crying laughing. The characters are difficult to control and everything seems incompetent and trying to wrestle each other in those circumstances is hilarious. At one point Aaron even just laid down on the floor and surrendered to pure laughter. It was great.

12.8.18 - 5th Annual Hot Chocolate Potluck!

Today was the 5th annual hot chocolate potluck, and it makes me really happy that it's become such a tradition.

Erin's picture of her mug.

Jack and I spent the morning cleaning the apartment. It actually took a lot longer than I thought, but that's because we were being particularly thorough. For example he cleaned up the nursery and our room really well even though it was unlikely anyone would go in there, and I cleaned out the fridge and wiped down the oven and other things we normally don't get to. I don't think we really needed to go to that level just for our guests but I'm glad we did because if we don't clean that much when we're having a bunch of guests, when would we? Even now after it's all over the apartment is much cleaner than typical, which is great.

Sadly, Sarah had to cancel last minute because she's sick, so I took Jane and went to Safeway to pick up candy canes (one of the items Sarah was going to bring) plus chocolate chips for my gluten free brownies. It was fun running the quick errand with Jane, who was very happy to be in the shopping cart watching the aisles of products go by. She was giggling a lot. I let her hold the box of candy canes while we were checking out and she was very interested at first. But after I scanned the box and gave it back to her she threw it over her shoulder into the shopping cart basket, haha.

About 30 minutes before guests were supposed to arrive I put both Clara and Jane down for naps in the hopes they would sleep the full amount. Clara hardly ever takes naps now but I thought it would be best to try because she is getting over a cold and I knew the day would be very stimulating. She protested at first but I told her "You take a nap, and then you'll see Henry!" and she seemed happy about that and got into bed pretty willingly.

I told Henry about that when he arrived not long after and he thought it was pretty cool. He arrived early because traffic was lighter than he thought but it was nice to visit with him extra. He brought chips, chocolate and caramel syrup, grapes, and fruit juice. He also brought us an Amazon Echo Dot (an "Alexa") his work had given him, and he and Jack spent some time setting it up. Almost immediately Clara announced "Alexa! Play 'Ice Cream Truck!'" and the Dot started playing this soothing children's instrumental sounding song. Clara know's how to do it because Beth has an Echo Dot too.

Erin and Braden arrived with many fancy cheeses, salami, crakcers, hot cocoa mix and whipped cream. Rachel came with more whipped cream, different kinds of sprinkles, chips and all kinds of dips (pico de gallo, guac, etc), and two miniature gluten free cakes! (One carrot cake, one "midnight" chocolate ganache.)

At some point around here both girls were awake. I brought Clara out and left Jane in the hope she'd sleep longer since it had been only 40 minutes or so. Clara acted shy and laid in the hallway under her Marauder's Map blanket, slowly crawling/scooting closer to the living room to see what was going on. Jane was distraught and would not go back to sleep, so I went and got her and she cuddled me while watching everyone. We just sat on the couch and observed people visiting and prepping food, and I can't say I minded all the baby cuddles, although I wondered if she was going to be that way all afternoon/evening. Clara warmed up pretty quickly and started playing with Henry.

Singing "Jingle Bells" to Henry.

Around then Renata and Kaisen arrived with not only gluten free pizza and a rotisserie chicken but also (1) the best ugly Christmas sweaters (Renata's lights up when she moves) and (2) a Minnie toy set for Clara and Jane that has a bunch of snap on dresses, bows, purses, and shoes as well as (Clara's favorite part) two little kittens and a dog for Minnie.

Jane still wanted to only cuddle me but Clara was very excited and she and Henry and later Kaisen explored the set together. Erin very kindly made me a mug of cocoa complete with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles and I sat in the corner by the Christmas tree holding Jane and chatting with Henry and then Renata. Eventually Jane was prepared to be passed off to Jack and I got a bit more mobile, and ultimately of course Jane warmed up entirely and was wandering around everyone checking out the action.

Renata and I had a pretty good one-on-one visit and talked about work, NCLEX, her dog sitter, how the siblings are doing, all sorts of things. It's a good crew because everyone already knows one or more other guests so it isn't a tricky hosting situation to keep people included.

After we had all ate and visited for awhile we decided to start games. In years past we've either visited the entire time or maybe played Paper Game or had a few people play Tichu while others visit. This year we decided to try Quiplash. Jack had set up a Steam account on our desktop in advance and Neil let us use his credentials.

The game was a huge hit. I'm a big fan because it's easy to move around and keep playing despite interruptions, since everything is done from your phone. We had a good crew for similar senses of humor--in fact in several cases the answers were nearly identical (essential oils, fake pockets, others I can't remember now). Kaisen and Braden in particular seemed to laugh a lot but I know Erin also loved it because she encouraged us to play several more rounds. It was great. And to make it even better, Clara pulled up her own chair amongst the adults and sat watching and laughing a lot. Even Jane would start laughing (a bit fake sounding but very hard) when all the adults laughed.

It was so adorable because neither of them have any idea what we're talking about but they think it's really funny that we think something is so funny. Clara also loves the game's background music and sound effects and she kept tugging on Rachel's shirt to point both out to her.

Eventually Renata and Kaisen had to get back to their dog sitter, but the rest of us played a few more rounds of Quiplash before switching to Bomb Squad (or whatever the game is called) - it's a game where four people have to work cooperatively to defuse bombs. It's highly strategic. Henry and I sat out and kept an eye on the kids and watched the game, and Jack, Braden, Erin, and Rachel all played. They were pretty into it. I love using Steam games for parties. Really fun, no clean up, kids can't really interrupt.

Dance party to the sound track of Bomb Squad Academy.

Not long after that everyone except Henry headed out. He stayed and helped clean up and play with the kids a bit more, and I showed him the birthday gift I've already made for Dad, which he thought was really good. We visited a while longer until it was time to put the kids to bed, then he headed out too.

Jack and I got the kids to bed around the usual time, 8pm - 8:15pm or so. What was unusual was how tired we both were. I went to sleep as soon as they were down--I didn't even get under the covers until I woke up again later. Jack also came to bed at like 9pm, which is early for him. That's why I was awake today (Sunday) at 6:15am--it had already been like 10 hours of sleep, which felt great. Now I have some quiet time in the morning before anyone else wakes up to record the day. :)