Spring Fever

Over the past two weeks Genevieve and I have had to find ways to entertain ourselves indoors. We had an ice storm that left our house surrounded by an impromptu skating rink. Once that cleared up Genevieve's school was out for President's Week Vacation (we certainly did not get that in the South).

I think we did a pretty good job of not getting on each other's nerves, but we were both ready for some apart time when school started back on Monday.



Genevieve enjoys playing with her playdoh. It's a miracle that all of it isn't brown yet.



I took up knitting after Genevieve was born. It's difficult to do since Genevieve and Noodles insist on "helping" me.



I made finger paints for us and we had a ball. I felt like Martha Stewart, mixing the flour, water, and food coloring together in an egg carton. My brilliance showed its true colors when I hung up the paintings to dry and it all crumbled off. Seems that flour doesn't stick too well to parchment paper once the water is gone. I bought real paint for the next time. The other problem is that flour and water seem to be a tasty combination to Noodles.



Genevieve pretends to sleep in her big-girl bed.

I'm a big kid now...

Genevieve has gotten quite a bit bigger over the past two years; so big in fact that Carrie's doctor has recommended that she no longer pick her up. At first this didn't sound too bad until the realization sunk in that this meant not just toting her around. It also meant: in and out of the crib, up onto the changing table, into the car seat, etc.

We quickly came up with some G-workarounds. A stool by the table lets Genevieve climb into her booster seat, a stool and a chair by the crib lets her climb in when the rail is down, Carrie changes Genevieve on the floor and an extra five to ten minutes on your trip lets her climb in and out of her own car seat.

Now seemed as good a time as any to try teaching the old girl a few new tricks. Potty training was first on the list. We bought an Elmo potty DVD and we already had the Dora potty book. Now all we needed was a cooperative child. Yeah, that ain't happening. She can occasionally be cajoled into sitting on the potty with the lure of wiping and flushing; of course this is usually only when she wants to play and doesn't really have to go. This ends up with about ten minutes of G saying, "I'm waiting for the sissy" and whines when I tell her to piss or get off the pot. Lately we've tried a different tack. When she goes to "hide" for #2 we ask if she wants to sit on the potty. Of course the answer is "No" until she finishes at which point she really wants to sit on the potty. We try to explain to her that it is a little too late and that she needed to sit on the potty a bit sooner but that just frustrates her.

Second on the list was a toddler bed. A neighbor down the block was giving one away just two days after we realized we needed one. We bought a new mattress and a Blue's Clues bedding set to go with the bed. For a week the bed lay empty in the spare bedroom but we told her that it would soon be hers and she could sleep in a big girl's bed. Everyday she would bounce on it or pretend to sleep. Last night we moved all of her stuff from one room to the other and set up the bed with all the bedding. She went to sleep without any trouble. Today at nap time she also went down without a problem and stayed in her bed until we came to get her. I don't think she's quite realized that she has the full freedom of the room yet but I'm sure that will come to her.

So kid-bed is working better than potty-training but it isn't all roses either. Genevieve knows how to open doors now and we were worried that in the middle of the night she would get out of her room and roam the house. So while she slept peacefully we spent the entire night snapping awake at every little sound. We even left our bedroom door open hoping she would be lured into our room rather than down the stairs or into the bathroom. Needless to say this morning I installed a gate at the top the stair and child locks in the hall bathroom.

Hopefully we'll all sleep well.

Did you say something? I was watching TV.