Funny stuff

I meant to post this earlier in the week because it was so funny. Matt called me on his way to take Daniel to school and said, "Daniel got to see a police officer up close today." He was driving in the HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle or "Espresso") lane during morning traffic and was pulled over. He couldn't figure out what he could have done wrong... The officer approached him and said, "Oh, I didn't see your kid in the car. You can go." The HOV lane requires 2 or more people in the vehicle and kids count. We've wondered how long it would take for one of us to get pulled over because they didn't see the kid. Now we know!

Daniel spent the night at his best friend Luke's house last night. It was sort of impromptu. We went over there with another family for dinner and started to head home around 7pm because Kyra needed to get to bed. Luke's parents suggested he stay the night because they were having such a good time. We reluctantly agreed not knowing at what point Daniel would figure out what "Do you want to sleep at Lukie's tonight and Mommy and Daddy will pick you up tomorrow morning?" actually meant. He panicked around 8:30pm and I talked to him on the phone. Other than that, he fell asleep in Luke's bed, slept all night, had pancakes for breakfast and we met them at the park around 10am to pick him up. That's a big event for Mommy! We have only been away from him one other night and that was Thanksgiving weekend when he was 6 months old. It was rather nice to have Kyra in bed at 7:30 and the rest of the evening to ourselves. Unfortunately, Kyra didn't understand that she was going to bed for the evening (maybe because she didn't have a bath and that she fell asleep in the car on the way home which was expected) because she woke up at 9 and was up on and off until 11. Then up at 12 and again at 5. Not really like her. Usually it's either midnight or 2am and then again at 5 or 6 am. We did get to watch a movie, though, which I haven't done in ages!

0/8 Seafood Grill and Twisted Cork Wine Bar

For those of you who don't know yet, our restaurant and wine bar venture is becoming an actuality. We are so excited to partner with Chef Dan Thiessen and his wife, Erika, on this. Here's the press release annnouncing it. For more information and to receive regular updates on the progress, visit Chef Dan's web site.

Throwing Tantrums

There's a song on a CD we have that is an alphabet song starting out with A Aligators All Around, B Bursting Balloons... etc. The "T" is Throwing Tantrums. This morning Daniel was singing along and knows the words for A - H pretty well, he mumbles and gets some words for the rest but when it got to "T", he belted out "Throwing Tantrums" -- I'm not sure if he really knows what that means but it was so funny to hear such gusto from a two year old related to such a two year old topic.

In other news, I feel there's a conspiracy between the kids not to nap at the same time. Today, I thought I had it made. We all went to the mall. It was an hour past Kyra's normal naptime and getting close to Daniel's naptime. I figured both would fall asleep in the car, I'd take Daniel upstairs and let Kyra sleep 45 minutes in the car. Well, Kyra fell asleep, I took Daniel upstairs and read him some stories. He wasn't really interested in sleeping so I told him I'd check on Kyra and come back thinking Kyra was probably still sleeping... No, she's awake in the car checking out her seatbelt. So happy when I showed up but not at all upset -- I guess she's getting used to waking up in the car (in the garage) with no one around for a few minutes. So I brought her in and plopped her down with some toys and headed back up to Daniel who still wasn't sleeping. He finally went to sleep but Kyra's up for another couple hours. The hardest part of my day is trying to keep Kyra quiet while Daniel naps. Neither of our children are quiet. The good thing about them napping separately is that I really get some one-on-one time with each of them which I enjoy immensely! Anyway, off to distract Kyra until Daniel wakes up.

Figuring it all out

We thought we found the solution to Kyra's nighttime wakenings. After being told by many people to "tank her up" with a bottle of formula before bed, we tried it in sort of a roundabout way. She's been eating 2 solid meals and we've been adding formula because my frozen supply is dwindling. Last Friday, our nanny put her to bed with a bottle of formula and she slept 8 1/2 hours. So Saturday, Matt put her to bed with a bottle of formula and she slept 9 hours. Yippee. Last night, she did two 5 hour stretches with the same basic plan -- although she only had 4 ounces vs. 6 or 8 ounces. Tonight, 6 oz. (and wanted more) but had a fussy day with lots of naps... we'll see how it turns out.

It's been brutally hot here and we're so thankful we put in a/c last summer. It's been a godsend this year. Our house is a popular place among our friends for playdates these days! Also we realized that our church has many, many devout members given the heat in the parish last weekend and the numbers of people in attendance. We are going to suggest a separate collection for a/c as the parish is beginning a renovation next month that does NOT include a/c. Daniel's been enjoying his kiddie pool and new slip n slide in the heat. He is so much fun but has hit a new stage of 'two-ness'. He needs to touch everything and test how far he can go after you say "please don't do that". He keeps doing it until something breaks, drops, he gets hurt or one of us gets mad.

Kyra wasn't super thrilled with the activity in this photo but I have a picture of Daniel smooshed into a little plastic box and figured I had to have something similar of Kyra. It was funny when Daniel pulled the dump lever...

Teeth and Troublemaking

Kyra's been super fussy recently and frantically trying to put anything possible into her mouth (toys, toes, hands, etc.). Teething? Probably but you can never be sure because the teeth don't usually show up for some time after the teething pain occurs. She is still working on crawling by getting up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth. She just needs to figure out how to move her hands forward. She loves to stand up and is eating solids: rice cereal, winter squash, avocado, and banana. She seems to like it but isn't as excited as Daniel was when it came to food. Of course, that still shows in his appetite!

Daniel has finally achieved the official title of troublemaker. I used to say he wasn't the kind of kid that would throw your cell phone in the toilet... but I think he may be close to that point. He touches everything and half the stuff he touches is dangerous or breakable. We baby-proofed our house and now we need to toddler-proof it. He can reach the tops of counters and grabs whatever is interesting. The doctor said that one day we'll probably find him on top of the fridge. Given the stories about his dad scaling cabinets, we probably will find him there. He was intently moving his Learning Tower through the kitchen and into the laundry room to reach the freezer so he could get a popsicle... He later realized he would be less conspicuous if he used his step stool instead. He does crack me up!

Kyra's 6 months old

Kyra's 6 months old today. She's trying hard to crawl and loves peek-a-boo. She giggles and screeches. She also loves the cat and wishes he would come closer more often but he's smarter than that. We're still working on naps and sleep. She's eating solids and seems to like winter squash. She isn't as into it as Daniel was but she is happy enough eating it. She's a doll. Here is a picture of the Bomberger Pirates.

Kyra's 6 month appt.

Kyra saw the doctor today and is 27 1/2 inches 'tall' and weighs 18 lbs. 12 oz. although the weight reading was an estimate because she squirmed so much for the 2-3 mintues on the scale that it could never get a good reading. The doctor still says sleep issues would be resolved by letting her cry it out and that might take up to a week to get her in gear. After doing this 4 days at 5 months, I'm not sure I'm ready for that. We know she can do it... it's been one day good, one day bad over the past week or so.

He did have some interesting advice regarding Daniel and his "two-ness". He doesn't have an understanding of "Don't do that" yet so repeating "Don't do that" isn't going to keep him from doing it. It's okay to tell him no and that certain behavior is not appropriate and to react to intentional misbehavior BUT that a good balance is 5 positive comments to each 1 negative comment he receives over the course of the day/week, etc. He also said that when he is obviously intentionally misbehaving, he's really seeking attention and to be sure to later in the day give him some additional positive attention (after dealing with the negative behavior at that time). Anyway, things we really know but are good to keep in mind as a rule of thumb.

Daniel's friend Luke came over yesterday afternoon and they had a BLAST playing in the water toys outside. It's funny to see them running through sprinklers together, diving into the baby pool and generally laughing and rolling in the grass together. They really seem to enjoy one another's company.

In other news, business for me may be picking back up. After taking some time off in the spring from marketing, June and so far July has been really, really light. Also, our vacation to Florida, my nanny's vacation and my mom's visit have paid a bit of a toll on marketing efforts as well. I've got a few new client meetings in the next week or so and am anxious to get things back into gear.

Happy 4th

We had a very enjoyable 4th of July. The weather was much cooler -- high in the low 70's. We took the kids to Kirkland for the parade and stayed until Daniel was practically falling asleep (the parade had some lulls in it). He learned that we were celebrating our independence and said he was celebrating HIS independence but we corrected him that he wouldn't have that until age 18. But he really had fun playing with his friends there. Kyra was very cooperative too and seemed to have a good time with the kids, dogs, flags and grass. We had a really nice time. Later that evening, we grilled out with steaks, corn, and baked beans while Daniel played on his new Slip and Slide. After dark, Matt fired off some fireworks we bought at a tent near the local Safeway. Daniel loved it, especially holding the sparklers. One of us held his other hand while he held the sparkler away from his body. He listened so well and had a blast with it until we finally had to drag him in to bed at 10pm -- it doesn't get dark until after 9pm here. Some neighbors brought up their package of fireworks, too, so we had quite the display. Kyra managed to sleep through the racket. She's doing 6-7 hour stretches these days and I've learned not to complain. She's eating rice cereal really well and going to the doctor next week so we'll see what the next steps are.

Hope you all had a wonderful Independence Day!

Good fun

We've had a couple of good days with Kyra napping well and sleeping better and Daniel just being a riot. Yesterday he pushed up his computer keyboard against one of his square box toys and began typing on his "computer". I thought it was so creative. I'll have to post a picture of it. Daniel also had soccer this morning and did great. Red means stop and green means run fast; yellow means go very slowly. He doesn't quite get the others: purple means hop like a bunny, strobe means dance, blue means turn around and run the other way. They also had a huge parachute that the kids loved running under and puffing up. Kyra enjoyed watching the boys (and one girl) playing. This afternoon Daniel and I went to the park with his friend Luke and they enjoyed getting splashed in the water by the lake. They both were soaked from head to foot and had to walk home in diapers and wet shirts. But they had a wonderful time.