T

The W Sisters and The Story of T and My Laundry

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When I get home from work I usually change out of my work clothes. I got into a habit of doing that when T was a baby. It was out of necessity since I didn’t want shall we say “fluids” on my relatively nice work clothing. Nowadays I am less worried about fluid stains that I am about being in something more comfortable.

The girls eat with the babysitter prior to me getting home or are finishing up right around when I get home.  That means I don’t get a chance to eat until I put them to bed. That means dinner does not start to be prepared until at least 7:30 PM. Historically that’s late for me and I’m really hungry by then. What I’ve been doing his having an energy bar when I get home to hold me over until it’s time to eat. This schedule may change in a few weeks however this is been my routine for over a year.

Both girls know the routine and quickly finished dinner if they’re still eating it when I get home. They want to come with me into my bedroom when I change. I think it’s partly because they want to spend time with me. It’s probably mainly around them being able to play M & my walk-in closet however I’ll delude myself and think they want spend time with me. Amelia and Teagan both go into my closet and say I am home and proceed to close the door. They do not seem to care that the light automatically shuts off when the door is closed. Both girls but Amelia especially now a days also like to take any pair of my Converse and put them on her feet and try to tie the laces.

On many days T also asks me “Daddy you have a bar?” that inevitably is followed up with “can I have a bite?” She’s asking about if I an eating and energy bar. I have gotten into the habit of having one when I get home. I don’t make it home most days to eat dinner with them so hold myself over till after they’re in bed I have an energy bar. I usually eat it while I’m changing. Sometimes if they’re eating dinner I may go and change and have the bar without them. If I do that then T will get sad that she didn’t have a chance to ask for some. What is funny is I almost never give them a bite since they would’ve just finished dinner or are eating dinner yet T still gets sad if I don’t give her any.

Since I’m trying to write more about stories the girls inspire me to remember retrospectively writing this story about something T did on 15 August when I came home to change after work.

A must have been busy playing somewhere or still eating dinner since it was just Teagan and I. Teagan came in to my bedroom like normal and we talked as I put away my stuff from the day. T then proceeded to take my laundry basket out of my closet  like it was a normal everyday occurrence and dump it on my bed. She then looks at me and says “I’m putting the laundry in the washing machine”. After that she makes hand gestures to show me that she’s putting a laundry card into a pretend slot and then makes a sound effect as if machine is starting. She then looks at me and tells me “I’m doing the laundry” and proceeds to walk out of my bedroom.

I’m not really sure where she gets some of the ideas to pretend play however she continues to amuse me often.

T and the Hand Soap

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Upon visiting my parents apart a few weeks ago T declared that she liked the hand soap in the bathroom. But it was rather funny that she pointed that out however I didn’t make much of it. Then the next week when we came back to my parents she wanted to take it home with us. My mom not wanting  to deny T anything told her she could. Before we left T quickly remembered that she gets to take it and ran to the bathroom to grab it. So now are the proud owners of candy cane smelling hand soap.

In our bathroom we have both the so we normally use and the candy cane stuff. When going to wash T’s hands she makes it pretty clear she doesn’t want the regular stuff.

I find it funny sometimes the thing that the kids find enjoyable.

T’s First Ice Cream Cone

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We have been bad parents up until today.  We have kept T in a bubble and not introduced her to ice cream cones.  She has had cake and cookies and even ice cream but never the cone.  Today we sought out Haggen Das and corrected that discrepancy.  By all accounts chocolate ice cream on a cone was a hit.

Amelia and I on the other hand had frozen yogurt.

T Started Collecting Microsoft OS Install Disks

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T has always liked sorting through the CD’s that we have in the play room.  MC likes having a CD player.  She says it is easier for our baby sitter to use it vs our bluetooth speakers.  She also likes it.  I try to explain to her that our baby sitter with an Android phone who uses Pandora to listen to kids music is perfectly fine without a CD player.  That is another story altogether.  Since we have a CD player we have a ton of CD’s to go with it.  Most of them are from my sister but we did buy a few kids music CD’s.  Yes I know I am admitting that within the past 2 years I am one of the 5 people out there still buying CD’s.  In my defense the first thing I do when we get one is to rip it so we can play it on iTunes.

T likes to sort through the CD’s.  Until a few weeks ago these sorting sessions were few and far between.  More recently she likes to take an entire pile of them and play with them on her table.  We are rebels and don’t use jewel cases.  Over the past few days she has been generally more physical with the CD’s.  MC finally got concerned that T will damage some of the disks so told her she can’t play with them anymore.  That didn’t go over well at all.  This morning after she was told she can’t have the CD’s Teagan kept asking for them.  My solution was to goto my storage and pull out some old CD’s and DVD’s I had.  I found a bunch of old mostly Microsoft OS install disks.  I have the ISO’s for everything and I don’t really intend on using any of these OS”s again anyway.  If i did it would be in a Virtual Machine that i can use the ISO’s for anyway.  Teagan was very happy with the new disks she can do whatever she wants with and the case for them.  Now instead of messing up Music for Aardvarks she can beat up on Microsoft Windows 2003 Small Biz Server, or Windows Vista.  She sat for about 30 minutes this morning at the dinning room table playing with them.  She figured out that sitting up there is a safe place to get away from Amelia trying to get at the disks.  Teagan’s most popular phrase recently is “No Amelia” when Amelia tries to take whatever it is Teagan is doing.

If anyone is thinking it, no I am not trying to start her early into Technology.  If I was it wouldn’t be with Windows disks!

The Story of T’s First Bed

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T has been able to climb into Amelia’s crib for a while now.  For whatever reason she doesn’t do it often and she hasn’t been able to get out on her own.  We caught her on video doing it one day with our baby sitter who was supposed to find her playing in the crib after going to look for her.  When that happened we knew our days of having a crib for T were numbered.  Over the summer we were at my in laws and T climbed out of the pack and play and it was very challenging to get her to sleep now that she knew how to get free.  When that happened we knew she would get out of her crib soon.  Surprisingly more months went by and T was happy in her crib.  She would climb into Amelia’s crib sometimes but typically would just say “uppie” her word for up please when she wanted to go into the crib.  Oddly I would see her trying to climb into her crib every now and again but I don’t recall her ever getting in on her own.  MC and I didn’t complain because having her in a crib was much easier than the alternative of a free range toddler once she got a toddler bed.

Flash forward to last Saturday (24-January) I walked into the girls room to let T out after a time out.  Her room is typically her time out location since we can close the door and let her get some alone time.  I opened the door and to my surprise I see T horozontal holding on to the top of her crib.  Her leg was caught between the bars of the crib and she was about to fall.  I grabbed her and got her down.  At that moment I thought ok, she has outgrown her crib.  I went to the video to see what she was doing prior to me walking in.  I saw that she had actually climbed into the crib and was playing around and then got stuck as she was climbing out.  That sealed the decision that T needed a bed and not a crib.  My sister told me once the story of how my oldest niece got out of her crib and the recounted how she did it.  At that moment my sister knew  it was time for a bed and got one that day.  I had a feeling for a while I would have the same revolution one day and that day was yesterday.  Luckily the cribs that my mom bought for us are convertible into toddler beds.  Before nap time we got some allen wrenches and took off the front crib bars.  It was surprisingly easy to do.  We then rolled up a towel and put it under the bed sheets by the open end of the bed.  We read that this should help prevent T from rolling out of the bed.  We then got her a pillow.  T was excited for her new bed.

Excitement didn’t get her to nap in the bed though.  As expected she ran around a bit but didn’t nap.  We took her out after an hour.  At bedtime she didn’t wander around that much and eventually went to bed.  It wasn’t too bad but i think she was tired from not napping.

This week she did nap most days.  There were a few nights where she would be calling us at the door before she went down to sleep but so far not any outrageous drama.  We are thankful for that but T is generally good.  A on the other hand I don’t know what to expect but we have hopefully a year to go with her before we find out.

T and Our Coffee Ritual

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When T was about 4 or 5 months old she was big enough to fit into the Exosaucer and bob around.  She loved it.  On the weekends MC and I would (and still do) rotation who would get up with T and later both girls.  Some days it was great bonding time.  When T was that little there was little to do with her after her bottle.  We would put her in the Exosaucer so she wasn’t lying down right after her bottle.  After doing that I would make myself some coffee.  I like Cappuccino so I would make a cup with our Nespresso machine and then sit with T.  She would follow my coffee no matter were it was in my hand.  I thought it was just any beverage but when I moved a glass of water around the same way i would move the coffee she was less interested.  It was very funny.

Once T got a little older I would hold T in one hand and make the coffee in the other.  She was always facinated.  Once she was crawling or walking and saw that I was going to make some coffee she would come over and in he own way demand to be picked up.

Sometime after T was a year old (the exact time eludes me and I wish I kept track better) after she would keep trying to drink my coffee I had the idea to take an espresso spoon and give her a little of the frothed milk from the Cappuccino.  It was the stuff right on top that was not touched by coffee so it was just foamed milk.  It was an instant hit for T.  I didn’t do it all the time but she often wanted spoons of milk.  A few times I just made T a cup of frothy milk for her to spoon up.  That could get messy so I didn’t do it often.

Over the past several months T has gotten old enough to be good enough to help with our ritual.  When I go to make Epsresso or Cappuccino she runs over to the kitchen and demands to be picked up (uppie).  T puts the cartredge into the machine.  She has trouble closing the door but does most of the work.  She then presses the button to make the coffee.  Afterward if I do a Cappuccino she will expect some or go get heself a spoon.

A few weeks ago I was working at my computer with a Cappuccino in hand.  I heard T demand a spoon to MC but didn’t think anything of it until she shows up at my desk with it.  It was clearly implied that I was to provide her some milk.

Amelia on the otherhand has not been as interested in the same ritual.  I am wondering what she will get into when she gets a little bit older.

A Sluggish Day for T

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After yesterday’s late night T was super tired this morning.  She lied down next to our huge Gorilla in our play room and I tucked her into some blankets and she rested while I fed A first thing.  T was also a bit clingy right after she got up.  I love myself some hugs but I felt bad she was so zonked.  A little while later while playing she just lied down on the play mat.  It was really cute but sad that she was so tired.  Amelia is stuffed up with a cold so both my girls are not happy today.  T apparently did get a bit more animated after i went to work.  She was also pretty good when I came home.

A comando crawled all the way from our dinning room to our Foyer squawking at me.  She got to right in front of me as i was taking my shoes off and sat up expecting to be picked up.  She expected correctly.  I had to put her down with our babysitter while I changed out of my work clothes.  As soon as I did that she started yelling and proceeded to do so until I came back from changing and picked her up again.  Not the nicest sound to listen to but I have to say i like to feel wanted!

M came home just in time for bedtime stories with T.  It was a busy day at work but the last hour putting the girls to bed was a nice end.  The Sidecar’s I made for M & I after the kids were in bed were also really good!