25 Sep 10

It's been so long since I've written because I haven't had any one thing to really write about. Emma seems to be in a stand by stage where she's not really learning any really big new things. she's almost getting bored and will do anything to occupy her time. Such as, laughing hysterically as she chases Mowgli around the house with a sunning mat.
Emma is also at the age where she really enjoys helping out with the chores. She's not always extremely helpful but I am enjoying every minute of her time spent with me, help or not. There will come a day when she will not be so keen on helping out any more. I was thinking of this today and it reminded me of when my mom taught us to ask her if there was anything else she needed help with on cleaning days. She would task us and we would do that task and then start playing with our toys so she finally had to enforce that we ask her for more work whenever we were done with our first task. So, I will relish this time with Emma even if she doesn't actually offer very much help. At least she wants to be with me and she wants to learn.
But, Emma will be a great house keeper because she excels in everything she does. Already she can walk in my 3 inch heels with ease and daddy's flip flops with the toe strap between the right toes. Not a small feat if you consider she did it all on her own and is only 19 months old.

My Garage Saling Experience

I first thought it would be a good idea to have a garage sale at the beginning of the week. My husband, Jason, is not a fan of clutter in the garage so I knew that even though he would be going on a long deployment by the next week he would not be opposed to spending his last weekend cleaning out the garage and making some money while we're at it.
Wednesday night there was a lot of anticipation in our house hold as we went through each room with boxes and adding to the boxes items of junk that were once thought to be priceless treasures. We also cleaned out the storage unit. I had done that before on my own, but this time Jason was with me and he could speak for his own things.
On Thursday, both of us came home tired. Emma had kept us up early in the morning and siestas were out of the question. Errands were run, food was eaten, friends were chatted with, excuses were made to not get the garage set up for the big sale. Finally, when neither of us could think of any more reasons for procrastinating, Jason moved the car and we began pricing and setting up tables. Jason gladly did his part in the preparations by driving our nice 2010 camaro out on the town to get us some food which we proceeded to eat when he got back. After eating the food, I trudged on only to find Jason rolling up in a sleeping bag (which we were not going to sell) I could tell he was going to be very helpful, but I couldn't complain that he had gone and got our dinner.
Thursday night I went to bed anxious. I knew I would wake up naturally around 7:30, but I also knew that we had forgotten to get change, it was too late to get it now, and I wouldn't have a car to drive in the morning to go and get it.
Friday morning, Emma woke up again at 0530 and wanted to get in bed with me. While the motherly part of me wanted to just snuggle in with her, the reasonable part of me knew that my little squirm worm couldn't "snuggle in" to save her life. So, I put her back in her own bed where she cried her self back to sleep. The realization hit me at this point that if I was going to get an early start on the garage sale I was going to have to set my alarm. I was too tired from interrupting my sleep to trust my self to be up by 7.
8 o clock rolled around and I was not only on my feet, but the sale items were out on the front lawn and I was set up with Emm'a breakfast, a chair, and a magazine. Two hours went by with only two customers, no profit, and lots of texting to my mom who was keeping me company.
Disappointment was trying to set it, but I wouldn't take defeat. I let the cats out, off leash, and watched Emma chase them. I read and she re-arranged the sale items. Sure enough, more and more cars came by and I started making some money. As the day continued I found myself in a state of peace, enjoyment, and relaxation. Emma took a nap at noon which gave me the afternoon in silence and not having to be a watchful eye. Even the cats were staying near the house and napping in the near by flower bushes. I found myself reminiscing my child hood garage sale experiences and brain storming on just about anything and everything with my alone time.
Jason and I start the sale up again tomorrow. I have high hopes for a pleasant time spent with the family earning enough money for a nice date night before he leaves. I've closed up shop for now although I am still jumping at the sound of cars driving by hoping that if I run outside in enough time I could grab their attention and they could still look in the garage and see what I have left.

"My parents are so weird"

I don't think I ever said my parents were weird growing up unless it was in fun. My Dad is a genius so, though he may have his silly moments, he does them with a stroke of genius which makes him just look cool. My mom definitely had her odd moments as well, but we were older and I think she fed off of my brother's oddities more than anything. Over all my family had fun and I was never embarrassed of my parents. I can honestly say that. I don't remember talking bad about my parents not one time. That being said, it is a common stereo type for kids to think their parents are weird.
Now, I have been known to be very odd. I can remember my mom, jovially, grabbing my head and yelling "Tiff! You are so weird!" But it was honest fun for me. My church friends were used to me and were just as weird as I was, but my Navy friends had never met some one like me. They enjoyed hanging out with me and my husband (prior Navy friend) always told me that it was my oddities that made him fall for me. (I guess he's the weird one.) And after living with Jason, I tend to wonder if he's weirder than I.
Well, I said all that to say that this morning Emma and I were playing around on the bed being goofy. She's only 17 months old so you would think it's safe to be weird around her. Well, she started asking for cheese which is her way of saying she's hungry so I picked her up and I started singing this song about cheese to her in a really weird manner. And she just stared at me like, "Wow, she is so weird." Her eyes were big and her eye brows raised and everything. I just started laughing hysterically realizing that my daughter isn't even talking properly yet and she is already realizing that her mother is weird.

Improvising

I was never really a believer in baby crates or baby proofing your house. I always thought you should be able to train your kids not to get into what you don't want them to get into. Recently, however, when Emma colored on my dining room chairs with a pen behind my back I decided that I will make an exception for the sake of my nice chairs and also for the fact that while I do my best to teach Emma to not draw on the chair, she has a nature of her own and there's always the possibility that she will. But what would I do to protect the chairs? That's when I remembered my new best friend, Cling Wrap. That stuff is really great. It's not your typical "as seen on tv" stuff. It really does cling to ANYTHING. So, now when the color crayons are out, I cling wrap my chair. This way I can still yell at her for coloring on the chair, but at least if she does color on it, it is protected.

28 Jul 2010

There is nothing cuter than a little toddler walking around with her blankie. Maybe I'm biased because I always had a security blanket and there are those who will tell you I still have my baby blanket which I will neither confirm or deny. I just wish Emma wasn't so cute when I'm trying to discipline her.
I've had a real battle with Emma throwing fits especially when I'm trying to lay her down for a nap. I have had to resort to giving her two naps a day as well. She doesn't have to sleep, but she does need to lay quietly in her bed for at least an hour so I can have some down time after work and take a break from her fits.
Today I wanted to take some different approaches. There is a tub of toys in Emma's room that she hasn't played with in months. After two days of fits and getting no where with her, I mixed things up by pulling out the old toys. She absolutely loved them like they were brand new. I doubt she's cured from throwing fits but it is a break in her norm which gives me a chance to re-group.
P.S. I was amazed at how well Emma caught onto some of the toys. You know that red and blue ball toy that has the shape cut outs and the shapes that you put in it? Well, she ended up being very good at that. Also, she has started playing like she's talking on the phone with any of her toys regardless if it looks remotely close to a phone.

My Must Have

Something I will always have somewhere in my house is a notebook for lists. I make a list of everything which is a trait I learned from my mother. I have gone far and beyond a simple grocery list. I have my groceries, my errands and it doesn't stop there. I have lists of Things I need to look into before getting out of the Navy, Things I want to say in my blog, meals I can eat on my diet, meals Emma likes to eat in general, items I like and want in my future dream house, things to get done by the time Jason gets back from deployment, things to do that will keep me sane while Jason is on deployment, birthday ideas, honey do list for when Jason gets back (mostly Josh takes care of all that as time goes by), things to get at walmart, things to get my sister, movies I've watched while Jason is on deployment, school ideas for Emma....that's just my new notebook. I don't have time to get my filled notebook out (which I kept, of course, because I never throw anything out. Besides you never know when I might need to venture back to an old list.)
Mom, you held the title for all these years and wore the crown, but if I'm afraid to announce that I might be the new "List Queen." You know what I just did? I just listed all my lists. The ultimate list! Bam! and Boom-shocka-locka!

Lesson Learned for both of us

I taught my daughter something today, that for some reason, I originally thought was going to be quite the task to do. But Emma is so smart. She catches on so quickly. So far Emma has been able to claim just about anything in the house. I don't really mind if she plays with whatever she wants. We have a few things we don't let her have like the remotes or other electronics, but other than that she has full reign of the house. Blankets and stuffed animals have especially always been something that she has been allowed to have. So, when Jason sent me a build-a-bear for my birthday (it came in the mail today) Emma immediately thought it was hers. I let her hold it for a while, but I was cautious because I really want this bear to be special for me. I plan to cuddle it at night or anytime I'm missing Jason and I really don't want baby drool and other messes all over it. So, I finally decided that I wasn't going to let Emma play with it and I braced myself to spend the rest of the evening teaching her this very thing.
But, it wasn't hard at all. When she reached for it, I told her this was my bear that daddy gave me and here is your owl that daddy gave you. Course the owl never seemed as great because it's not new, but Emma learned quickly and with in a few minutes she new that the bear was mine. I'm sure I'll catch it in her hands from time to time, but the whole situation made me think that Emma would probably learn very quickly in anything I try and teach her. Sometimes I put off training her in something because I think it's going to take me a week and half to instill the new concept to her.
Raising a child of your own sure does tell you a lot about yourself. I never realized how controlling I was until Emma started showing her own signs of being controlling, like not letting Jason open the refrigerator door. I realized she must have learned that from me. I started noticing that even I will keep Jason from going in to the kitchen if I think he'll make too big a mess, ect. I will rather just do it myself. I can not reiterate to myself enough how important it is that I put myself in check each morning and through out the day so that Emma is learning good habits from me.