Easter

A little late coming, sorry. There were so many great pictures it is hard to pick. Gemma was really into it this year, and still talks about finding Easter eggs. She also loved her poofy slip, and didn't want to wear anything over it. Note the Easter tattoos; a present from the Easter Bunny:) And she wanted to put them right there on her leg, just like daddy. (Is tattoo a word common in a two year old vocabulary?)

Thinking about it

Gemma hardly ever uses real cups because she won't stop sticking her fingers in them and playing. But today she did, and as she was reaching her little fingers in there I said, "Don't even think about it!" So a few minutes later, she looks at me with this mischeivious grin, fingers 'pretending' to go in the cup, and she says,"I'm thinking about it!!"

Sicko

So the sicko has coughed on everybody and I think her cold is going to make its rounds through our family. Guinness its hard to tell, but he is snorting and coughing a bit too, so hopefully he can fight it off.

We made banana muffins tonight and she had to stick her finger in every ingredient to try it. Flour, baking soda, whatever. (to the best of my knowledge she didn't try any raw egg, but she did poke it). Then when we were sampling the muffins after, she kept digging the chocolate chips out. I told her, No Gemma, you can't do that, and she said very solemly, "I HAVE to mommy! I HAVE to." I replied, no you don't, and she grabbed my face with her hands and looked deep into my eyes; "I HAVE to, mommy!"

In other Gemma communication: the first time she saw me nurse she called it a bottle. So instead of correcting her, we've just been going along with it: "Yes, Gemma; those are mommy's bottles for Guinness." So today her dragon was the mommy to her baby, and she wanted the dragon mommy to give the baby a bottle. Have you ever seen a dolly breastfeed from a dragon? So cute.

Need new books

OK, so I did all the reading for the 0-2 stuff but now that she is 2 and a bit, I am so at a loss at what to do sometimes!! Specifically this week is naps. All of a sudden she won't nap. She will lay in the bed for an hour before falling asleep, and I just get more and more annoyed and tired myself (if I don't fall asleep!) And then nap time doesn't end until way late; it takes the whole afternoon because it doesn't actually start until late. So what do I do? Let her miss it? Except then she is a wreck by supper time. Let her sit in bed for an hour and then get up? It is so weird. Seriously though, any good parenting titles would be appreciated.

Also, she has been a terrible sleeper the last week; up so many times crying and carrying on... Last night was the first night she slept through since Guinness was born. Uggg! And she was up till 11pm before finally conking out.

Anyway, I can feel my blood pressure rising just thinking about it, so lets change to cute things Gemma said this week:

Last night, as she was sitting on my lap WAY past her bedtime after coming out of bed, and Adrienne and Chris and I were getting ready to play a game. I said, "OK, who wants to play a game?" And she chimes in instantly "ME!!". Ha ha, yah right!

Reading her book to her baby this morning every page begins with Once upon a time.... Every time she turned the page she would start again, Once upon a time...

Chris was putting her to sleep and sitting with her for a minute and Baba and I were visiting in the living room, and Gemma told Chris, "Baba is too noisy!": So Chris called Baba in and Gemma told her, "Baba, you are too noisy! You need to speak more gentle!" So Baba came back out and we kept visiting, more quietly but only for a minute and then our volume got up again and Gemma told Chris again, "Now Baba is LOUDER!" So sassy; what am I going to do?


It's been a hard week; she's sick again and whiny like crazy and we can't really go out cause its cold and windy, and our playmates our sick too so we're a little bit cabin fever here.

New McKenzie Website

New website address: http://web.me.com/chrismckenzie/themckenzies

With the arrival of Guinness (our new son) I realized that we would need a new blog for the little guy. I also started thinking of you the readers (potential readers) and how bothersome it would be to jump back and forth between 4 blogs and a Flickr site. So what I've done is created a website that hosts all four of our McKenzie blogs and that gives us an opportunity to share so much more....like photos and videos. I'm using a hosting service that tends to be a bit slow loading, so I apologize for that, but I hope you'll enjoy the new look. Please remember to "bookmark" this page or save it in your "favorites".

From now on rather than going to our individual blogs just head to our one main website and everything you need is there.

Funny things Gemma said...

Like I said before, she says so many things now its hard to remember all her conversations. Also, I'm not sure if they are as funny to read as they are first hand, but I will try.

Tonight in the nursery at church, after asking several times for me (which she never does; so weird) she finally just put her hand on the volunteers face, and said in the most sincere, serious tone, "Ping, I want my mommy!"

Yesterday was marked with some impatient moments, which were reflected in how she put her babies to sleep last night. In a very stern voice, eyebrows raised and looking down she told them, 'You close your eyes right now and listen to Gemma.'

And her newest response to food she likes: "It's not too bad!"

Mostly she has been very good. She is getting used to the new baby, and always helps change his 'mustard poops'. She says nice things about him and kisses him. Tonight she said, 'He's so beautiful!'. She can be a bit unfriendly at times, and says NO! but we are working on it.

Going to Kaohsiung tomorrow. Be home Wednesday.

It's a Sunny Day!

Nothing that exciting in Gemma land; every day we play and have fun and she says amazing things. It's so hard to remember because she says so many new things every day, and its not like her baby talk where she would learn one new thing and say it all the time; she has so much variety in her vocabulary now.

Something fun has been Gemma's wake up call to us in the morning. Instead of crying in her bed or calling out Mommy? Daddy? She has started coming into our room. With this HUGE smile on her face she leans in and says "Wake up! Its a sunny day!" Her eyebrows are lifted in expectation, waiting for me to get up. We then rush to the living room (she rushes, I waddle) and she shows me outside the sunny day. (which is sometimes cloudy but more sunny than night time ;) Today I almost broke her heart when I told her 'Today Daddy is going to get out of bed with you, Mommy is going to sleep a bit longer'. Total puppy dog face.

We took the MRT out to the end of the line by our house because a friend told me there was a park there, so we went and did some exploring. It was a lot like Meewasin trail, a beautiful path along the river for biking, and we could see paddle boats (or pedal boats? I've never known the right word) We walked a lot, so much she fell asleep on the MRT ride home, and I carried her from the station back to our house. Oivay! And of course she woke up within 30 seconds of getting home.

Brenda has gone through all Gemma's clothes, putting away winter and taking out summer. This is our last big box of hand me downs; after 2 1/2 years we may become responsible for clothing her! She has tonnes for the summer and still half a box for next winter so we'll be ok for a while.

Having fun...

We've had a nice two weeks together playing and having fun. I am trying really hard to be appreciative of all these last moments of only childness, although it is pretty distracting to have the other one hanging in front not knowing when he is coming. So as excited as I am for number 2 to make his appearance, just trying to relax and enjoy my Gemma time. We've made cookies, muffins, crafts, gone to the park numerous times a day, blown bubbles, painted... I am finally off biking, more for other people's sake than my own, but when I am not working we have more time so can walk places.

Gemma is having lots of fun with Baba, showing her how to get places and impressing her with all her skills. She has grown up a lot in the last few weeks, getting taller and talking talking talking. I need to focus and remember something she says because she comes up with the wittiest stuff and I forget. We were riding the bus home last week and I was holding my MRT card (like a prepay card for the buses and MRT and she said, "This you MRT card Mommy?" Last night about 1am Chris and I were just fighting with the laptop and she came out of bed, "Peekaboo!" Totally a huge grin and happy to see us. And then she fell asleep again with this huge smile on her face. It was precious.

Spaghetti!

We went to a new pasta place on Friday night and it was so awesome. Cool atmosphere, great menu, and reasonable prices. It was the first time we ordered Gemma her own dish. Her favorite things to eat when we go out are french fries and spaghetti, so when I told her we were going to have spaghetti she talked about the spaghetti the whole bike ride there, and so patiently in the restaurant for about 25 minutes while we were seated, ordered, and waited. Then she gobbled it right up, as the attached pictures will attest to.

So Courteous

I was carrying Gemma out of the bath this morning, holding her up against my shoulder and out of the blue she offered up this really sweet apology: "I'm sorry mommy!" And I said, 'What are you sorry about?' And she answered, "I got a booger on you." Sure enough, on my shoulder was a nice, fresh snot mark. Hee hee...

Rain Walk

I love these pictures Chris took today out and about with our girl...

The mind at work...

So Gemma likes to lay in bed sometimes with her feet on the wall, like she is climbing up it. Tonight she took it to a new level. She walked up to the wall and said, "Look at me, mommy!" And then she tried to climb up it. Of course she couldn't but she really thought she could. After realizing that this wasn't going to work she said, "I need a rope." :) So she went and got a rope from her toys and with one hand held it up as high as she could reach and then put the other hand on the wall as though to climb. It was a good idea, but it didn't take her long to realize that this also was not going to work. So cute!

Bedtime Commentary

So I was starting to get pretty discouraged about the whole bedtime thing because as of the beginning of the week she was still crying for about 45 minutes before falling asleep, but then we had a few days in a row of nothing, so that was good. Last night was pretty funny as she was obviously not ready to go to sleep and tried a few new techniques to get our attention.

(When I was laying down with her for cuddle time before I left the room) "I go pee on the potty by myself. No, you don't get up out of bed." and off she went to the potty by herself. Sort of. She went to the potty but didn't do anything.

She came out to use the potty one more time after I had left, so Chris and were sitting on the couch, our movie paused, watching her pretend she had to go pee. At one point she even stood up, grabbed a handful of popcorn off the table and sat back down again, like she was a part of the movie night. Ha!

Then there was the yelling: "Mommy?" MOMMY!" MOMMY!!!" Mommy?" Mommy". "I'm getting up out of bed now!" I'M GETTING UP OUT OF BED NOW!!!

But she didn't; she really hates having the door closed (ok, she hates having the door closed with me holding it shut) so she doesn't get out of bed anymore. And finally she went to sleep.

Watching the lap top

What to do when there is a Laker game on AND parenting to do? Put a movie in the lap top, of course! This is Gemma watching daddy's computer.

Gemma and Elias

This is Gemma and Elias, our good friend Andy and Audrey's baby. Gemma really likes Elias and always asks Andy and Audrey where he is if they are not with him. When he comes to our house she wants to hold him and play with him. It's fun when we babysit because she wants to show him everything; dinosaurs, books, cards, TV... Elias just gets really wide eyed and excited. He is a good practice dee dee (little brother).

Chores I've been putting off...

..but had to do in the last week because of Gemma.

1) Clean all the bathtub toys. Yep, all you experienced moms out there already know what I am going to say; she pooped in the tub. This was her first time ever doing that. Thankfully, I was already out of the tub, getting my own jammies on and when I came back there were these floaties and she was sort of looking at them nervously...Ewww ewwww ewwww. But anyway, all teh toys got nice and clean that night.

2) Her body pillow and sheets got washed. The sheets I try to do sort of regularly, but the body pillow had all kinds of toothpaste and drool spots on it I've been meaning to wash off but didn't have time to. Until today, and I was forced to make time because she had DRAWN ON THEM WITH MARKER!! Ahh! We have no idea when this happened, but tonight after supper there were some large orange scribbles on both, and so mommy got the Shout and a toothbrush out and set to work. The sheets came clean no problem in the washing machine, and I got it all out of the pillow, too, thankfully. This is why nothing but Crayola shall come past these doors; so washable just like they say! Crayola marker has so far come out of everything, so I was relieved.

Park

Just some park pics with our good friends. Gemma blowing bubbles and letting her friends try it, too, playing in the dirt under the fort, and really excited about some flyer... Must have been a good sale!

No More Tears

Last night she went down with no tears. I left the room, she called me back a minute later to help with the blanket and she was out. And didn't wake up once in the night.

:)

We will now resume our regular programming of stories and funny things Gemma says, and pictures too.

Plan C continued...

So the plan is working, I guess. Still 10-20 minutes of crying and begging. "I need daddy/water/mommy/potty", but I just sit in the hallway for 10 minutes until she resigns herself to bed and let her cry it out. It usually ends with a "Mommy? I need blankie" so I tuck her in and that's it. Not helping our progress at all is the cold she has: "I got a booger!" every 3 minutes, and "I got a bad cough" every 10 minutes. She has tissue by her bed so I don't go in for that, but it is sucky for her. The other hurdle is we lost her sucky (soother). She has two, and one got lost in the daytime last week, and the other one I put in bed with her on Friday night and it was gone in the morning. She REALLY likes her sucky, especially at sleep time, so it has been hard for her.(She is not allowed to take it out of the house, and we try to put it away unless it is nap time/bed time). SO not only does she have to go to sleep without mommy, she has to do it without her second favorites comfort object. Chris and I did a thorough search of our main room, landing, our bedroom, and the office and nothing, so they have to be in her bedroom somewhere. Sigh! Poor thing. It is a good time to wean her from it I guess, which is how I approached it the first night it was gone, but after a few nights and days of her asking after it I just wish we had it for her. It would help her sleep on her own better, that's for sure.

Plan C, day 3

We did it! At least, a huge improvement from the last two nights. Your encouragement meant so much to me and inspired me to keep going, so thanks for taking time to comment.

Last night when I left the room she knew it was coming and what was going to happen. We did the come out, pick up, put her back in bed, "good night!" repeat routine for about 15 minutes, but it was much more calm. She knew what was up and didn't have the same fight. No running away, no tears, no needs. Half the time she would just walk out to where I was and stand there watching me, waiting for me to come and get her.

She did keep wanting the door open, so to avoid the panic hysteria of the last two nights I told her I would leave the door open as long as she stayed in her bed. She tested it a few times, but I was right there, and said, "OK, Gemma's not in bed, I'm closing the door" and she would leap right back in. She knew from the last two nights that I meant it. (She did creep out once to go to her doll bed and get a different baby, but she crept over and right back to bed so I didn't do anything.) This testing stage took about 5 minutes then for the next 20 minutes she lay in her bed; talking to her babies ('Hush, Hushhhhh, shhh', 'Don't worry baby'), trying to look at books beside her bed, and lots of tossing and turning. She drank some water, too: she gets now that she can reach her water by herself from her bed and can do it by herself. I sat on a stool by the door reading a book - ready to close the door if she got up. After 20 minutes of quiet laying in bed with me outside the door she did call out, "Mommy? Gemma freezing cold! I need blanket!" so I did go in and pull her duvet up, and left again and she was asleep in minutes.

So the length of time was the same, but there was a peace and calm there. I had 20 minutes of free time reading. No tears, no hysterics. Thank you Jesus!

So hopefully it continues. Have a great weekend all.

Plan C Report

Well, Plan C was is about the most awful thing I've had to do as a parent. Even worse than giving her her yucky medicine, because unlike that Plan C drags on and on and on. To be honest, smacking her hand when she disobeys does not bother me at all; it's immediate, it's necessary, it works, and then life moves on with a lesson learned. Tonight went on for about 50 minutes again, with a continuous crescendo of tears and sweat and begging. Finally, when she was so exhausted and my heart was completely broken, I got her a treat from her potty prize bag and said, 'If you lay down and go to sleep now Mommy will give this you,' and she was out in 3 seconds. Then I went and bawled my eyes out.

Of course the whole thing is my fault to begin with; I should have taught her to sleep on her own from the get go. I didn't and I paid the price. We will continue with a modified Plan C tomorrow.

Plan C

So Plan C is in effect, following the advice of Allison and Trina. Pick her up, put her back. Pick her up, put her back. I didn't count the number of times I did this (pregnancy has destroyed my ability to count) but it took an hour. She was so exhausted by the end, and I felt so bad; she was standing so desperately looking at me and crying, saying, "Look at my eyes! I so tired!" meaning, 'come lay down with me and put me to sleep' and as heartbreaking as that was it re-affirmed how much we needed to do this because at 2 years old she doesn't know how to go to sleep by herself.

Our whole night time used to be so sweet and tender, and now it is a struggle from the get go. Jammies are now a fight. Teeth brushing is now a fight. She won't lay down and let me read her a story. She needs a drink. She needs to potty. She needs daddy. So it was a LONG evening. I am hoping it gets better soon, and happier.

Sigh.

Funny!

Gemma said the funniest thing as we were laying in bed tonight (yes, we... since plan A and B have both failed and I haven't thought of a plan C yet) We were laying close with our heads together, and she whispers in a very dramatic voice, "What's going to happen to us?" I was like, 'What are you talking about?' I can't think of where she heard that one, but anyway she whispered it again, and then said, "Monsters are coming'. She has this new Scooby Doo magnet set that she likes with monsters in it, but they are very friendly monsters of course, anyway that's where the monsters have come from. So I suggested we make a cake for the monsters, with sprinkles, etc, so we could be friends with the monsters and she seemed to think that was a good idea and then fell asleep.

3 pee pees on the potty today. I up-ed my prize to toys, and it seems to be working well. (not new toys, but a bag full of little trinkety stuff given to us by an older neighbor ho must have been forced to clean out her room; perfect potty bribes)

Bought Gemma the Dora is a Big Sister book...BIG disappointment. Bad writing (I thought), and nothing to do with actually caring for siblings. Dora just has to do an adventure home because her mom is having a baby. They go through the spooky forest, nut farm, and then home. What does that have to with emotional preparation for big sisterhood? Nothing!

Progress Report

Well, not much to report in the potty or sleeping category. No potty action in two days; she lets me know AFTER she is done, and then usually wants to try but of course has nothing left. Sleeping is going not so great. Not only know has she given up on kitties, but when I sit on the floor beside her bed that's where she wants to sit, too. Sigh. So we tried something new tonight: Sty i your bed for 5 minutes then mommy will give you a kitty AND come lay down with you. It didn't work, but maybe she will get the idea. I did come back and lay down with her, so maybe once she gets that I am not leaving and I will come back after the 5 minutes she'll be ok.

We're having lots of fun on our break. Playing at the park, cooking and baking... Gem's my BFF. Here's a picture she made Chris take a few weeks ago; she grabbed my head and held it close like that and said 'Daddy, take picture us!'.

Our progress

Potty progress: Today was a good day; we had a poop and a pee on the potty (two different potty times.) One was really good; we were at school and she said mommy poop! and so I said ok just wait we'll go to the potty, and we rushed over there...Usually she makes this announcement AFTER she has pooped but I thought I'd be a good sport and give her the benefit of the doubt. Good thing, because as soon as she was on the pot she did her business! Big celebration and of course a treat. And tonight she announced she needed the potty and sure enough did a pee. So I think she is starting to get it a bit. She REALLY likes treats, and so wants to sit on the potty and try to make things happen. She'll sit for a minute, push a bit, then look and see if anything happened. Then she'll sit and try again, then look and see:) I have to tell her not to push so hard; just be gentle and it will come but she is so eager to get something out so she can have a candy.

The Hello Kitty bribe is not working so well. The last two nights she has just resigned herself, and offered up the kitty: "Mommy, take away kitty. Come lay down!" Nice to know my presence is worth more than a little plastic kitty, but what about my bribe? I am trying sitting up by her bed, instead of laying in her bed, so we'll see.

Some pictures: Here is Gemma at Din Tai Fung, a world famous dumpling place we went to for Tom's mom Judy's birthday (She is here visiting and fit us in her schedule! How awesome.) The wait staff was actually singing to Judy in the picture but looking at Gemma, show stealer! Sorry, Judy :)

Parenting Goals...

So here are the things Gemma will be working on in the immediate future, hopefully to be accomplished by March 23. (ha; Gemma working? I mean MOMMY working)

1) Going to sleep by herself. Yes, we lay down with her to go to sleep. She sleeps in her own bed, and when we first moved her into her own big girl bed she was doing ok but then we travelled and with jet lag, etc, it was just easier and more restful for us all to lay down with her till she went to sleep. Then after the summer when we got back and I was newly pregnant and so tired I couldn't stay awake longer than her anyway; I fall asleep reading stories half the time and so the habit of sleeping with Gemma was further entrenched. Usually I wake up about 10:30 or so and go to my own bed. Sorry New Baby, we won't be making THAT mistake again! So the plan? We got a whole bag of Hello Kitty figures from a friend, so at night when we are in bed she picks one. If she goes to sleep by herself she gets to keep it, if mommy lays down with her, then I take it away. MOnday was the firts night of this plan; not so good. She whined and cried and whined and cried: I want kitty! I want mommy! I want kitty! I want mommy until finally I laid down with her and took the kitty when she was sleeping. Tonight was better. She took the kitty, and I sat beside her bed with her for about 10 minutes as she got dozy, then she told me I could leave. So I did, and that was 10 minutes ago and no sound so far. I think its ok to take this in small steps; sitting beside her bed is different from laying in her bed so I will count tonight as a victory. This goal is a major one because when the baby comes and I can't sleep with her anymore I don't want her to blame the baby for the sudden change in routine.

2) Potty training. We haven't been super serious about this one, but we are talking about it a lot. We've had three pee pees on the potty in the last few days, so that's good. To be honest, I feel like diapers are more convenient than potties. We spend a lot of time out and about; diapers can be changed easily anytime anywhere but potties will not be so easy to come by. I am also not looking forward to the amount of time that will more than likely be necessary to clean up the inevitiable accidents. (I am truly the most selfish parent, terrible!!!) So we'll see how this one goes. We'll see if over Chinese New Year break next week we make some progress, but I am not really stressed about this one.

Wish us luck. Watch for potty reports and hopefully a growing Kitty collection.

Gemma's Dream

"Mommy?" "Mommy!"

This is how Gemma wakes up most mornings; patiently calling. This morning though she was also mumbling about her sucky (soother) and as as soon as I opened the door she went into this speech about her sucky:

"Mommy, sucky dirty! Gemma put sucky in dirt! Sucky dirty. Me put sucky in dirt" And then she laughed and laughed. She must have had a dream where she put her sucky in the dirt. She is dedinitely following in her mother's footsteps of being a sleep talker, too.

In Summary

Can't recap everything, but the picture is a good summary of the fun times we've been having. Gemma has been loads of fun; you know the Aerosmith song from Armageddon?

"I don't want to close my eyes, I don't want to fall asleep 'cause I'd miss you baby, and I don't want to miss a thing."

except I am so tired I usually fall asleep before her anyway. But you know what I mean:)

Gemma has been performing monologues from Sleeping Beauty and the Rescuers, playing 'animals', showed she can walk like a penguin, horse, and lion, invited the baby to watch wizard of oz with her, (how? By lifting my shirt up and then wrapping her arms around my belly as we sat on the couch), peed on the potty twice, danced to the Sleeping Beauty theme DOZENS of times, made cinnamon buns and biscuits, and came up entirely on her own a solution to the mommy has to go back to school problem we encounter every day after lunch: she will come and teach the kids, too! She's played nicely with two sort of new babysitters, was amazingly good for the doctor (who sucked her boogers out by shoving this little hose attached to a machine further up her nostrils than I thought was humanly possible,) and has even spent time reading by herself in her room. I love hearing her read (recite) parts of her favorite stories (Sandra Boyton board books; we have the Belly Button Book (thanks Allie) Hey!Wake Up! and the Barnyard Dance.)

It hasn't been a very exciting month, which is why there haven't been many updates/pictures. We haven't done anything :) But anyway, will try to write more.

One funny story; I was putting her down in our bed with Chris for her afternoon nap after lunch, and she was hugging me and massaging my face and shoulders and I said, "I'm lucky". She replied, "I'm Gemma." ha ha. (OK, I know every parent out there has a similar story but anyway, of course she is our angel and the sun rises and sets on her and her cuteness)

No Gemma!

So she was pointing to something on the bookshelf I thought she should have instead of the treat she wanted to have:

"I don't WANT it. I HATE that!"

Sort of points to how our day was today. Lots of No Gemma, stop it Gemma, No Gemma. NOOOO Gemma! We even had to take her movies away because she was playing with the Xbox which she is not allowed to touch. I could tell she had a long day because in the bath when she was playing by herself she kept telling her toys, "NO Boots! NO Dora! DON'T put that ball there. Don't touch it!"

And when the ball went into the hole (the drain) she went into a Rescuers monologue; "Ball go in hole FIND MY DIAMOND!" (You know the part where Medusa makes Penny go into the hole to find the big diamond?) That part has been stuck in her head lately. Except she calls Penny 'Peanut'.

To end on a sweet note, there are these stone doorway things at the park we pretend to sleep in, and today while I was 'sleeping' I was woken up with a kiss! Gemma was the prince and I was the princess. She was very pleased with herself.

Christmas Morning

Oops. Haven't put any pictures up. That's part of my holidays; taking an internet break. Sorry about that. Here's a few of Christmas morning; we had such a blast. Gemma was very cute and into things this year; digging in her stocking, picking the pieces of paper and tape off of presents, trying everything out. Lots of wonderful gifts for her. The bike is a huge hit, obviously. But the little things she also loves, too; princess board books, cars, playdough...She loves playdough; she got some for her birthday and we play with it almost everyday so I got her a few more cans to supplement her current colour selection (and replace the colours she's mashed together).

Skirt in the dirt

Gemma likes dirt. She spends lots of time lately when we are at the poking around and sifting it through her fingers and drawing in it with sticks, etc. I don't mind this; kids are supposed to get to get dirty and seem to stand up to frequent washings quite well. Well, this grandma at the park was not having it. She was with her two grandkids and she didn't want them in the dirt with Gemma. She didn't think Gemma should be in there, either, and kept trying to lead her out. At first Gemma was just annoyed; she came up and told me "No take away me!!" But then the lady actually LIFTED her out of the dirt and Gemma lost it, totally bawling her eyes out. All she wanted to do was play! So I got her cars out and gave them to her and she wheeled them around in the dirt and the grandma left her alone after that. Then when she was loading her kids up in the stroller I grabbed the wetwipes I keep with me and washed her kids hands, before the toxic biohazardous poisons could leach into their skin and cause irreversible damage and to show her I wasn't a complete idiot as a mother and she thanked me profusely and left.

Ali came with us, and I tried to assure her that our trips to the park aren't usually so dramatic. Hopefully she will come again!

Gemma fix it!

When things get broken around here we usually rely on Daddy to fix it. And so that's what Gemma says when we find something broken; "Daddy fix it!" When we are out on the town and we see a construction site or a pile of lumber or a broken fence she says confidently "Man come fix it". Yesterday was cute because I was trying to put my new bike bell on but not having much luck and so Gemma took it. "Gemma fx it." she said. Growing up!

Also last night, I was out late Christmas carolling and Chris was one handed parenting. When I got home they were in bed but not sleeping yet. I went in a laid down with her and she said, "I rubbing my eyes. I so tired!!!"

Narnival

It was the last day of school on Friday, and totally filled with fun and excitement so I brought Gemma to school. The highlight for the kids was the annual carnival, this year called Narnival with a Narnia theme. Anyway, here are some pics of Gemma winning prizes, fishing, giraffe bowling, and swinging on the monkey bars.

Concert Excitement!

Sometimes Gemma wakes up before I go to school, so I go in and cuddle with her for a few minutes and then she proclaims "Wake Up" time and then I settle her on the couch with a movie and some cheerios. Well this morning, I was laying in her bed with her, and we were pretending sleeping with our eyes closed, and the she opened her eyes and looked at me: "Today Mommy Concert!"

How much do I love this girl?

Happy Birthday!

The season of Gemma's birthday is over. And so fun. We had her kiddie party yesterday after school and it turned out so well. There are great pictures on facebook and flicker, so take some time to go see. The kids came at 4, and Chris said all day Gemma was like, 'no friends', but as soon as she saw the first group of people walk up to our building she was so excited. Her and her friends played so sweetly in her room while we waited for the guests to arrive, and then it was some Cedarmont Kids Praise and Worship, a DVD she LOVES and is the ultimate in cheesy Sunday school music. She is pretty familiar with the DVD and so lead the singing and dancing and everyone really liked it. (Even her big friends got into it; they were so sweet). Then cupcakes and fruit, and presents, some more playing, and then everyone went home. She had a great time and so did everyone else, hurray!

Hmm, I was going to add a few teaser pics but I can't because it looks like Chris has them on his laptop, not this computer. So go look at facebook and flicker. We'll put more up on the blog soon.

Birthday part 1

Gemma had a grumpy day yesterday and this morning; 6 hours of traveling will do that to anyone, not to mention the new sniffles brought on by the fresh mountain air. Fortunately with the help of a long nap and some Dimetapp, Gemma had a wonderful birthday party tonight. It was our friend Thanksgiving dinner at Ali and Nick's, so we carefully balanced the cake in the stroller and filled a backpack with her gifts, and trucked over there. After a delicious turkey dinner she listened to us sing to her Happy Birthday, then blew out the candles. She was very excited about that. Then she proclaimed her age (THREE!!!! ha ha) we began opening gifts. At first she wanted to play with everything, but soon caught on to the concept of more, and kept on going excitedly. I told her we would play with the new toys when we got home, so as soon as she was done she picked up the bag of gifts and said, "Go home!!!" We tried bunch of the new toys and started watching one of the new movies before finally venturing home. She walked all the way home from Nali's place, ran actually, and I was so proud of her. She went to bed easily; so pooped, but is sleeping a bit restlessly due to a scratchy throat and cough.

The cake was a miracle; for something that the magazine said I would assemble in minutes it was almost a disaster! First of all, I used a mix, and so it was really light and fluffy and crumbly: not so easy to cut into different shapes and frost. The edges were just falling away under my knife no matter how gentle I went. Of course, if I would have done this ahead of time (doh) and frozen it I understand that this would have gone a lot easier. Thankfully when the cookie crumbs came down (it was sandcastle cake) it looked ok. Chris helped with the ice cream cone towers, we added some cookies around it and some rock candy, and TA DA! Not as bad as it started out. Gemma loved it, and it was edible. Both important factors.

There are tonnes of pictures; Chris will get them up soon.

Next party is Monday. 4-5pm. Short and sweet, then everyone goes home for their own dinner. This one is for Gemma's friends, so there will be lots of toddlers, etc.. Will video and take pictures. And soon the b-day ones from today we'll be up.

Saturdays

Saturday is a pretty happy day around here. By Friday Gemma is usually tired of mommy leaving for school all the time, and so Saturday we usually spend a few hours doing just Gemma stuff. We often go to Daan park, because they have a big sandbox and slides, and because its a little farther away we don't make it there during the week too often. She loves the sand park, as she calls it.

Gemma making a mess

These pictures crack me up so much!

The blue ones are from two weeks ago, when I posted all those pictures from the wedding. Well, posting pictures takes time and Gemma was coloring by herself in the living room as I was uploading photos. When I went out to the living room this is what I saw:




She had bitten the tips off of three markers, and then drawn on herself with the turquoise. (I did find two of the three tips on the floor. The third one I can only assume was enclosed in the turquoise poo found in her diaper the next day).

The next pictures are from a painting project last week. She was on my lap, as I was busy painting these little movie cameras and clapboards black. She had her own brush and was going to town on some paper, getting a bit on herself but 'No big deal' I thought. I couldn't actually see her face. My partner in painting was cracking up, but still didn't think anything was up out of the ordinary. Then when Gemma was done I took her to the bathroom to clean up; holding her still facing away from me I carried her to the bathroom, washed my own dirty hands and THEN looked up into the mirror... and finally saw the handiwork my little artist created. I totally burst out laughing, and Gemma was surprised too at how she looked. Chris captured the moment for us. Ha ha, I love it!

New Haircut!

A few more haircut pictures, because I couldn't resist.

In one picture Gemma is looking under a traffic cone. There are always these traffic cones at the edge of our driveway area, and one time there was a baby gecko under one of them, so now every time we go by there she has to look and see.

Gemma's Haircut

These pictures are priceless. Every face is so cute, she really did not enjoy the experience. She was getting so scruffy looking though, and so to the salon her and daddy went.