peek a boo

Lena has begun to hide from her food. I know, this is strange from a kid who loves to eat as much as she does, but it's true. At first I though she was just rubbing her weary little eyes, but then I noticed she was peeking over the top to see if I was still threatening her with a spoonful of yogurt. Once I moved her hands away, she kept her eyes closed and smiled that smile she smiles so well. You know the one. The "I am Lena, flirt of flirts, look upon my smile ye parents and despair."

Poopsplosion

If you cannot guess from the title of this post, the following information will be about poop. You should stop reading now if this offends your delicate sensibilities. Or if you're just grossed out by poop, which is completely understandable.....

Okay, so as you might have guessed we had a bit of an accident here. Well, actually, this was last week, but I'm still having flashbacks, so I thought I'd spread the joy. I'm going to tell you the moral of this story before we even begin. Moral: It is totally worth the extra $5 to buy Huggies diapers. I was convinced by my friend Jaye that the Kirkland (Costco) brand was just as good and cheaper than Huggies. Money is tight, seeing how we only have 1 1/4 jobs, so I though "great, every little bit counts" and bought the Kirklands. Fast forward to last week. We had already had a couple of mishaps where Lena's diaper had come loose on one side because the tape on the Kirklands is not very strong. These mishaps were mildly annoying, but not traumatic. Not so much on Tuesday. On Tuesday, Lena was happily playing in the living room when I smelled a terrible, but not unfamiliar, smell - only this time, it was much worse than usual. I picked Lena up and immediately knew something horrible had happened. I ran to the changing table in her room and unsnaped her jumper. It was everywhere.... on the jumper, down her legs, in her shoes, everywhere. I, of course, started screaming for Jason, who came running because I was yelling like the baby'd been mauled by wild dogs. Now, Jason has never balked from changing Lena. I know it's not his favorite job, but in general he's pretty good about it. But when he got to the room he looked horrified - as if he'd never be clean again. Lena, on the other hand was overjoyed. This she demonstrated by bouncing her poo butt up and down and laughing, which did not really not help the situation. In fact, what she was doing was the opposite of help. We got her cleaned up, but not without much grimacing and gagging. I know, I know, it could have been a lot worse, but this was bad enough people. Really, you had to be there. Just be happy we didn't take pictures.

Anyway... this was our first pootastrope - a momentous occasion in every parent's life I hear - and I'm sure it won't be our last. I'm just hoping she doesn't discover fingerpainting. Oh god am I hoping.

Croupiness

Sorry to have been absent from this blog for so long. Lena had croup. At first croup was not so bad. She barked like a seal and we considered teaching her to balance a ball on her nose and clap for fish. But her nose is too small and she doesn't really like fish. Then her barking turned into real coughing and the fun began.

Remember the last time I wrote about her being sick... how she was all cuddly? Well, it was like that again, only with more snot. Jason and I spent a goodly portion of this last week chasing Lena with kleenex. You'd think she'd WANT us to clean the slime off her face, but you'd be wrong. She's finally started to feel better (she's eating better and running laps up and down the hall), although she still sounds awful. I'm hoping the coughing and runny nose calm down a bit by Thursday. We are scheduled to go to the La Habra Children's Museum (the trip was cancelled last month) and I really want to go. It's supposed to be good for this age group since there are many hands on displays and Lena is definitely a hands on sort of kid. Also, I haven't taken her out much (overprotective mom, etc. etc.) and she's getting antsy. We usually go to the park, or at least story time once a week not to mention mommy and me. I think she misses people.

The Gooey Badge of Mommydom

You know, I've never really been one for fashion. Sure, I like clothes, but I was never what anyone would consider hip. I am, by nature, unable to wear anything uncomfortable - hence the many pairs of elastic waist pants - and I'm much too lazy to ever do my hair or wear make-up on a regular basis. Hell, I can't even be bothered to shave my legs unless I'm being forced to dress up by circumstances beyond my control. HOWEVER, I would really like to get through just one day without smashed banana, pureed sweet potato, or some kind of sticky baby handprint on my clothes.

I know, there are many things about motherhood one must get used to: waking up at 3 am because you're sure the noise you just heard was zombie robots abducting your baby, worrying that your child's minor sniffle is actually some rare microbial infection which will cause her to someday vote republican, the utter lack of public dignity when trying to entertain your nap-deprived child in a grocery store. ("look honey, mommy has bananas on her head!") But lately, it's the huge amounts of laundry that seem to pile up overnight that get to me.

Sure, there are moments of pure parental bliss that accompany mommydom: Lena's little face when she sees me in the morning, her new happy dance which now includes much hand-waving glee, the crestfallen eyes of the mommy whose son she beat up. But really, it's the laundry I'm focusing on right now. I want my shirts back.

Best husband EVER

So let me just repeat: I have the best husband...EVER. There are obvious things (at least to me) that are great about Jason. He's wicked smart, very sweet, and might I add totally cute. But who knew he was so good at housework. That's right.... Jason does housework. And not just the pick-up-the-towels-in-the-bathroom sort of work. No, he cleaned the kitchen floor yesterday... for TWO HOURS. I swear I could eat off it, it's that beautiful.

Now, usually neither of us likes or does housework. Those of you who've been over recently can atest to that. However, I got the urge to clean over the weekend and spent most of Saturday on the living room, while Jason played with Lena. Both of these activities require much stamina and since we are old now, we were tired afterward. On Sunday, it was time to work on the kitchen. I cleaned all the usual stuff, but left the floor last because it was nasty, especially where Lena sits to eat. So to further avoid this cleaning nightmare, I went to Target while Lena slept. While I was gone (for 2 hours - damn Target's a time suck) Jason scrubbed the floor... by hand. It was like coming home to Christmas day I was that happy. So I thought I'd share. Okay, I'm done gushing now.