Short Sheeted

J has been busy, of late, with a welding project. He's been piecing it together in the evenings after the Rowdy Girls go to bed. Tonight, after tucking them in for the evening, he went outside to work. His protective gloves were on the back porch, right where he left them last night.

When he put his hand in, the first finger didn't fit into the glove's finger.
Rocks.
Loaded into the finger sleeve.
So, he pulled the rocks out. And inserted the first finger and started to put in the next finger.
Stopped short again, more rocks.

After finding the 3rd finger blocked, he upended the glove.

All five fingers were filled with tiny rocks from our flower bed.

M squared

After digging deep on an old hard drive, these pictures surfaced.

Mammaw and the Rowdy Girls, freshly born...


...and freshly home

And Marmee with the Rowdies a few months and many calories later.

at last? outlast?

They were sound asleep by 8:30pm tonight.
This is the first time, since moving to toddler beds, that Em and Roo have succumbed before 10pm.

I'm going to pretend it was because they were so exhausted from our road trip and the wild fun at Marmee's house.
Not because they didn't have a nap.
We are not.giving.up.naps.
And by we, I mean me.

Toddler Slang, part 4

What you're likely to hear and what it actually means...

"diaper chair"
translation: the window seat where the changing pad used to reside

"open door?"
translation: Would you please open your arms (or hands or legs or knees) and squish me in between them?

"Jesus storybook bible song"
translation: Jesus Loves Me (this I know. for the bible tells me so.)

"you did it!"
translation: I peed in the potty!

"I have to has stinky pants"
translation: I need to poop.

"Holy Holy song"
translation: Revelation Song (which we've been listening to a lot lately)

we'll dance ourselves to sleep (wearing our jammies)

Bedtime in the Rowdy Girls room looks a whole lot like this every night.


Em is trying to sleep and grousing at Roo for not letting her sleep.
And Roo is tap dancing with the boogie woogie sheep. Usually on Em's bed.

the milestone of all milestones

We had our first dual public pee today.

On a big, grownup sized toilet.

Handicap stalls rock. So does hand sanitizer.
As do dry undies and the proud little girls that wear them.

Word to your Mutha

Kris Kross will make you Jump Jump...

I don't want to go on the cart

I found this the other day and couldn't quit laughing.
It reminds me, for all the world, of the 'dead' cart from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

three going on seventeen

Em loves to reenact scenes from movies.

Anything with a grand or sweeping gesture, a long pause, dancing or tender embraces. Those are her favs.

The scene she's been playing out the most is from The Sound of Music.
Liesl and Rolf have just finished tearing up the gazebo in the Sixteen Going On Seventeen number.
And then, there's a kiss.


Em plays Rolf and I get to be Liesl.
She sweetly frames my face with her hands, then moves in for a big smooch on the lips.

The best part is that Em keeps her eyes open.
So, as she gets closer and closer, her eyes cross.
It's hilarious and precious. And a little scary.

Out of that entire movie, that's the scene that made the biggest impression. Oh boy.

good one

Roo made up a joke tonight.

What do you call a robot on a stick?


A Wall-E-pop.

a space of her own

Tonight, the smell hit my room again.

J and I tiptoed into the RGs bedroom to determine the culprit.

It was tricky to find her. They were dog piled on Em's bed. Em at the foot, Roo at the head and a menagerie of Muppets in between.

We moved Roo back to her bed, changed out her pull-up and tucked her in.

As for Em, bless her heart. She must have fallen asleep first. Roo had tucked her Sesame Street friends into every nook and cranny she could find on Em.

I found Bert in the bend of her knee. Grover under her arm. Cookie Monster up against her belly. Ernie in the crook of her neck. And so on and so on.
Roo currently has 9 Sesame Street friends.

It explains a bit about what I witnessed this afternoon.

After swimming all morning, the RGs were exhausted. To ensure a proper nap, I split the girls up. Roo napped in the guest room in her PeaPod (with all of her friends). Em got the bedroom all to herself.

Shortly after tucking everyone in and closing the doors, I peeked at the monitor.
Em was doing a little boogie, celebrating the space and the freedom. Then, she hopped into bed and spread her arms wide.
And sighed, loudly.

the doll formerly known as baby

All this time, Em's dolly has been called "Baby".

The only attempt to identify her from the rest of the dolls and toys was to call her 'the white one' or 'the blue eyes'.
It's a blue-eyed doll baby wearing a white onsie.

Tonight I asked her what the dolly's name was and she looked right at me and said,
"EVE. She a bo-bot baby."

Ha!

And that's that. Baby has a name.

our sanity is questionable

In addition to potty training, I made the call to convert the girls' beds from cribs to toddler beds. Except I chickened out part way through the remodel. So, only the front railing has been removed. That means, if this is all a horrible disaster, it will be easy to replace the railing and go back to the safe, warm and cuddly place that provided us all a good night's sleep.


As of midnight, the evening has gone as follows:

7:30pm
Just closed the door on the RGs and R is already out and climbing in with E. Thnx video monitor

Now they're singing, running in circles and swapping Nannie blankets. Oh crap! And getting into their dresser.

8:00pm
It's like the camping with the raccoon army all over again. Why did we let them out!

8:30pm
Just finished the first (of many, I'm sure) barge-into-room-restore-order-return-shortpeople-to-beds.

9:30pm
2nd time in. This time at a dead run. Vomit. Ruby hurling after trying to swallow a penny. She & Em were in bed together. Barf in E's hair.

10:20pm
J's just gone back in, with clean, vomit-free Nannie blankets and is putting Ruby back in her own bed. Again.

10:40pm
Watching Ruby take ALL her stuffed friends + blanket over to Emme's bed. She's moving in. Guess we'll push their beds together tomorrow.

Now Ruby's singing, 'We did it. We did it." Clever little things. The camera is on Ruby's bed and we can only hear them now.

11:15pm
Oh.my.word. We've been back in there twice more. Ruby has so much of her stuff in Emme's bed, neither of them can lay down.

11:20pm
J declared the parent involvement over and said they have to work it out themselves. This is more humorous but just as agonizing as cry-it-out

11:40pm
Quiet. But both in Emme's bed. Video monitor still aimed at Ruby's bed. Can't see a thing. But, can't hear anything either. Good?

Weebegon Update

Potty Boot Camp wasn't quite as exciting today. I think the girls thought that was a fun Friday activity, but now on to our normal Saturday routine. They were both less than excited when the requested diapers did not appear.

They made it to lunch time without peeing once. Despite lots of liquids and much encouragement. Once M&Ms were mentioned as a bribe, Em was on board and got her business done a few times. Roo held out until right before naptime. The afternoon brought much of the same. Em had an accident on purpose, just testing what might happen and if rewards were offered for pee even if it wasn't in the potty. Roo forgot to pull off her panties while she sat on the potty.
So, a bit more clean up today, even though there was less pee. We'll see if they're more resigned to the new routine tomorrow.

Also, I may have to offer up more tempting beverages. The juice boxes are old hat and lemonade and orange juice have lost their appeal. Maybe just more salty snacks so they're thirsty. Ideas?

Lake Weebegon

What a difference 5 months make.

Em picked out her panties this morning, proceeded to drink 32 ounces of liquid and then hold her pee for 3 hours. Obviously, at critical mass, flooding was imminent. I was watching her like a hawk. Then, Roo told me she had the stinky pants. In the moments it took to clean Roo up, Em darted away to pee her pants.

I caught her quickly, managed to help her finish in the potty and then handed out rewards like a drunk, happy Santa.
It must have done the trick. Because she got herself to the potty the rest of the day and cleaned out my prize closet!

Nap time was somewhat successful. Meaning, Em took a great nap and woke up with damp undies, not soaked. We'll keep working on that and are choosing to go the pull-up route for night sleeping.

But the biggest surprise was Roo! She watched all the goings-on and decided to get her potty train on for the afternoon. I couldn't be more thrilled. She missed a few times, but got herself on a potty 5 times this evening for success. She's excited about going for "F" tomorrow. Because she gets a letter sticker for each pee in the potty.

Em's currency is, well, currency. The girl is mad for money. Each time she sat on the potty today she got a penny. Every time she peed, she got a 'box' for her pennies. The boxes are tiny drawers in a small chest. Six of them all together. She earned them all today. And dubbed it her "Penny House". Tomorrow, I'll let her choose more things to go in the 'house' (pennies, nickles, colored beads, polished stones). Em just adores tiny trinkets.

Here's hoping the news from Lake Weebegon is good tomorrow, as well.

unpaid and unskilled labor

Not that I'll be getting paid for it, but Project Potty Training is on, as of tomorrow. For Em. Roo gets to put it off one more week. Bribes have been purchased and pull-ups are running low. Please, Lord! Have mercy on us!

next, the kitchen sink

Dear Em,

Tonight I went to change the sheets on your bed. The following is a list of things I had to remove to actually get to your sheets.
*beach ball
*foam ball
*tea cup
*6 shapes blocks
*pennies
*beads
*4 blankets
*2 pillows
*2 books
*a baby doll
*the spinny speller
*a sticker

You were, understandably, disappointed when you retired for the evening and found your bed clear of everything but blankets and a pillow. I'm sorry.

love,
Mama

neighborhood of make believe

Tonight Em made the most magical make believe toy out of 1 foot of skinny metal pipe.

It was..
- a flute
- a guitar
- a twirling baton
- a shovel
- a conductor's baton
- a drum stick
- a paint brush
- a violin
- a music note
...and a candle
She pointed it up to the sky so that, from her perspective, the bright ball of the setting sun was poised at the tip of the pipe. Then, she proudly exclaimed, "IT'S A CANDLE IN THE SKY!"
(Em usually speaks in all caps with lots of dramatic gestures).

fishing

Dear Roo,

We're on to your tricks. Aunt Kaki just briefed me on the green bean incident tonight. About how you kept a wad of veggies tucked in your cheek for the better part of an hour and refused to chew them. And how she coached you on chewing them up and you would play along, then stop. Eventually, she fished the whole, barely chewed mess from your mouth so you could, you know, go.to.bed. So, just know this... next time, green beans have to go all the way to the party in your tummy first! Then. Then, you can have bacon. Or dessert.

Love,
Mama