They're Back!

Nick and Ellie returned from Chicago yesterday afternoon and we promptly turned around and went to the playground so Ellie could get out some of her energy since she had sat on a plane for over 4 hours.

This morning she insisted on wearing something baseball. Her Dodger jersey was too big so she settled on her "Cubs tunic". (And rolled up her leggings).

Not to be forgotten about by all the excitement of baseball and Chicago and Wrigley and vomiting on planes (another story another day), here is my happy spitter.

A tale of two cities

Nick and Ellie are in Chicago today and the weekend. They are going to go to Wrigley and hang out with family. It's cold there like into the 50s...which for Ellie who is used to the recent high temps in Pasadena I'm sure feels like freezing. The game today is  Cubs/Cards game and its Illini day. Nick definitely picked a good game to take her to to get her excited about baseball. And of course she had plenty of clothes to choose from to wear, including her very warm Illini sweatshirt! 

Cal and I are in Pasadena chilling with the high temps, supposed to approach 100 today! Despite not HAVING to wake up at 6 to get ready to get his sister to school, he still did. Lucky me! its okay, we took a field trip to Starbucks (walking) and i actually worked for a little bit there. we were able to get there and back before it got too hot.We have a play date planned for this afternoon at the Huntington. 

Happy May Day

It's already May? When did that happen?!?

Today Nick and Ellie will head out to Chicago to see family and a game at Wrigley using Nicks season tickets. Ellie "packed" this morning. All I noticed was Leia and Red Blankie in the front pocket. Not sure what clothes are in there. But she did also pack a toilet kit...which she then had to unpack (albeit a bit grumply) to brush her teeth.

We all know Cal is a spitter upper. But he's what is medically referred to as a "happy spitter". Really. That is a medical term used by his doctor. So the following photo is a smile just after he spit up.

Hot Day

Today it's supposed to reach almost 100 degrees...ugh. Too early for that...it's not even May.

My children are already conspiring against me. Both woke up with minutes of each other around 6:15. Way too early for Ellie, but randomly she was in the best mood she has been in in the morning in a long time. 

I can't get enough of Ellie reading to Cal. It makes my heart melt and burst with pride at the same time!

At school Es teacher told me she is bummed she isn't coming back next year as she is a great student and really doing well. She said she's doing addition and subtraction problems in her head (not using the Montessori visuals) and writing sentences without the aid of the moveable alphabet. And although Ellie is not a "graduate" of the Montessori preschool program (not doing her kindergarten year there) she is doing the same or accelerated work of the "graduates" who are a year older. Basically this tells me we are doing the right thing by having her do kindergarten next year in public school as 1) she would be the oldest kid at Meher next year with nobody doing work ahead of her to challenger or inspire her and 2) she's already learned what the school has to offer. I love her school and her teacher but I'm glad she will be moving on in the Fall.

And Cal did poop yesterday after a visit to the doctor and the use of a suppository.

Spewing

Random spew:

Ellie and I had a battle royal because her (yesterday's) favorite dress now felt funny and she didn't want to wear it. Instead she wanted to wear a long sleeve polyester dress on a day it's supposed to be 90 degrees. She wore her cotton "favorite" dress.

Yesterday she wore a dress with ties at the waist that we battles about in the morning. We battles about the ties and cities them in back so as to not be a distraction. Well...she untied it at school and kept putting the ties in her mouth (a distraction!). Her teacher have her a warning and said if she kept putting them in her mouth she would have to change. She came home in different clothes. I thanked her teacher this morning and told her I'm sure Ellie is now convinced that there is a mommy-teacher conspiracy against her.

Calvin hasn't popped since Saturday night. I'm giving him till noon before I call the doctor. I put a cloth diaper on him hoping to invoke Murphy's Law and get a blowout so I don't have to call the doctor.

Cal spit up so much this morning he had 2 clothing changes. I broke down and put a bib on him so he wouldn't have to deal with sitting with a wrt chest or neck while I took Ellie to school.

As I said, Ellie and I battled this morning about her dress. And breakfast. And socks. And teeth brushing. And anything else that goes on in the morning. So much so she sulked in her room (under her covers) for a while. As nobody would be watching Cal while I pumped, I brought him into the room so I could watch him. Maybe his crying bothered Ellie but she snapped out of her bad mood and can in to read to him to calm him down. A 2-minute golden moment that passed as quickly as it arrived. But we survived and made it to school.

Let sleeping babies lay

A lesson I know all too well...let sleeping babies lay. Mostly because I am a miserable person to be around in the morning, especially if I have been woken up before I want to be.

Waking up Ellie before she is ready is also asking for trouble. And this morning, apparently I asked for it. Ironically I woke her up later than she woke up on her own on both Saturday and Sunday...I love how that works. But she was a major cranky fuss-pants this morning.

And Cal? Poor thing, he's going to have to get used to being woken up. If he hasn't woken up (and awoken me) by 6:30am my alarm goes off. I have learned that is the latest I can get up and get both kids (and myself) out the door to get E to school on time. And today I put him in his bouncy seat to deal with Ellie. He promptly fell asleep. I then had to move him to his car seat (with a diaper change in between) waking him up.

He wasn't happy.

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On our own

This morning was the first in a week that Ellie, Cal and I were on our own. We weren't up in SB. Grandma Pam and Aunt Susu weren't down here. So things are back to normal. And despite having the extra help while people were here, this morning was much calmer and surprisingly more organized. However, we will definitely miss our visitors.



(That's Ellie crying after Susie left last night).

In news regarding Ellie being a big girl, she is now buckling herself in her carseat. And once she has permission from mom or dad, she can unbuckle herself from her carseat. A little frightening, but a little freeing and a time saver as well for me.












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