Sunday, June 17, 2007

Advice, please

1. We have the possibility of buying a used Learning Tower. Obviously, the kids aren’t old enough yet, but it’s a good deal and I think we might want one. I know someone out there has one, and I’m hoping for advice - is this a good purchase? Will the kiddos fit up there together? Please advise.

2. While we’re gathering advice, I’m looking for recommendations for our next round of toys. We’re coming up on their birthday, so we’re trying to think ahead about what toys and activities we’d welcome at this point to get us through (or at least into) the toddler phase. Here’s what I’m thinking about so far:

Suggestions?

Friday, June 08, 2007

in out open closed

I think we’re on the mend. I have a lingering cough, which always happens after a cold (gee, thanks, asthma!). The kids are definitely over the worst of it, with just an occasional bit of snot to wipe. Although MissM has replaced sickness fussiness with teething fussiness - as far as I can tell, she’s finally getting ready to cut her first tooth. It was a big relief to figure this out today, since her sleep has been getting worse and worse and I wasn’t sure what to blame. But now I can point my finger at her mouth and say “you - you are the culprit” and somehow that makes me feel better.

Plus she’s otherwise quite charming. M’s latest skill is IN and OUT - she loves to take things OUT of containers and put them IN other containers. It’s good that we got one of those toy storage units that’s just a bunch of bins - lots of places to take from and put in. But sometime recently she graduated to the next step - tonight I found a ball IN the laundry basket. Under some laundry. I guess it’s not just IN and OUT but UNDER, too.

Not to be outdone, B is exploring OPEN and CLOSED - playing with doors, drawers, and cabinets... and the kitchen trash can (which has one of those push latches - you press down on the little grey part and the lid pops up). He thinks it’s great fun to pull up on the cabinet and then pop the trash open. To thwart him, I turned the trash can around so the part he can reach doesn’t have the latch. He still presses, though, and looks up expectantly. The thing is, I did the same thing tonight. It takes a long time to retrain me, I guess. Probably more time than it will take for him to figure out how to get to the other side of the trash.

So yeah, things are okay around here. I started to write a post about feeling overwhelmed, and how having sick kids the first week I have no babysitter and no visiting grandmas really sucked and made me notice some, um, unpleasant things about our relationship, but I think I’ll save it. For now, things are okay. J is working tonight, so I did the whole bedtime routine alone for the first time since the babies got so mobile. Tiring, but I got them fed, bathed, dried, diapered, clothed, nursed, read to, and down to sleep. And started a load of laundry. And now I think I’ll go watch TV or something pathetically decadent like that. (Maybe with dessert, even.) Yay, me.

Next up, what we’re eating (and not) these days. And more on the crazy antics of my (almost-former) playgroup. And our nine ten month update. Yikes, I’m late on that one. I’d better get moving. Right after I have some ice cream.