Gone again

We managed to stay home for nearly a month before leaving again.
We are traveling to and around the great states of Utah and Idaho for a grand reunion.
Be back soon!

Jane's Stats (and Hannah's too)

Jane had her two-year appointment. Here's how she measures up:

Weight: 24 pounds - 15th percentile
Height: 35 inches - 75th percentile

I guess she is taller than I thought.
She had a rough appointment. The doc decided to flush out her ears because of all the junk in them, and she howled in pain. It was sad to watch, so sad, but at least I got to hold her.

We thought we'd figure out where Hannah is at, just for fun.

Weight: 32 pounds - at the 42nd percentile
Height: 42 inches - above the 97th percentile

We knew she was tall but it's strange to see how tall. That girl is going to be taller than me by age eight- not fair.

••••••••

On a slightly unrelated topic...
Every time I walk to the pediatrician's office, I see this office sign and I laugh:

Maybe Jack (A.K.A. "L" Kevorkian) has moved on to euthanasia via laughing gas.

Another one I see from time to time is Dr. Rotman, Dentist.
I wonder if either of them have lost potential patients because of their names...

Jane's birthday, the play-by-play

Note: below may contain info and photo overload. Be prepared.

"Good Morning, Jane! Happy Birthday!"
I was more excited about Jane's birthday than anyone, I think.
I wasn't so excited about Jane turning two as much as I was about the potential fun to be had for the day.
We started early, our schedule running on zoo-opening hours. But we looked outside.
Oh, oh- It might rain. We better hurry.
Hey, let's open one of Jane's presents!
Jane got her very own Hello Kitty umbrella. She acted as if she has waited her entire life for her very own umbrella.
We had to test it out immediately... in the non-existent rain.

Jane kept pointing to the kitty, "Kitty, kitty, kitty... " She was so proud. Ah, the joy! (Thanks, mom!)

Before leaving, I asked Dan to take a birthday photo of Jane with me and Hannah.

Yes, isn't that sweet. What can't be shown, is how wet and mad I was two minutes after this snapshot was taken, when Hannah sprayed me and the camera down with a hose.

Time-out for Hannah and then for myself to go get me and the camera dried off.

After picking up Jane's friend, Caitlyn, (and apologizing to Hannah) we were off.
We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo...



This was an exciting new feature. Don't my little chicks look excited?
The Queens Zoo is small, quiet, picturesque and perfect for two-year olds with little to no attention span. We breezed through most parts. The highlights, as much as I can surmise from the little ones' P.O.V., were:
the sea lion feeding, and the barking
the alligator
snack time
the flowers
the "do not cross" cables that are so fun to cross
petting the coyote skin that the zoo youth educators had
watching ME feed the sheep

I think their favorite part of the zoo trip was riding on the carousel, which really had nothing to do with the zoo. That's always a sure thing for everyone's entertainment.


Except maybe for Dan's. Cheer up, Dan!


That's better.
Right as they got off the ride, BOOM... CRACK and then the rain.
Good timing.

Hours later, after a wicked storm with a sky dark as night, we headed to the subway for a downtown trip. Our destination?
Ellen's Stardust Diner.
Our friend is a singing waiter there on occasion, and as it was his last shift before he and his family leave our ward and move to Wyoming, we thought we'd pay him a visit.
The food is as good as to be expected for a diner, but not as good as the prices suggest. Nonetheless, the atmosphere was fun and entertaining. The girls loved watching the train go 'round and 'round the track up above. Dan and I loved watching our friend belt out show tunes and golden oldies. We had no idea he could sing so well! Actually, all the waiters had amazing talent.
At one point, one singing waiter sat down by Jane to serenade her. At first she looked right at him with a "may I help you?" look, then she looked at me as if to say, "who is this guy?"

Don't worry- she's not about to cry.
See her full mouth and that brown goo under her lip? That's Tootsie Roll juice, an appetizer before her fried meal. We're such good parents.
With all the loud singing, the place seemed like some off-Broadway theater which featured dining room seating and a strange medley of songs. We had a great time.

Home again, and time for the good stuff, at least the stuff that matters to Hannah- presents and cake!

Hannah had requested cow pies for Jane's birthday dessert, but after I suggested a cupcake cake, she changed her mind. Maybe it was the double "cake" that sold her. We'll have to talk to her about cow pies later.



Jane went nuts on the frosting, kind of like last year.


Just like last year, that's all she ate- the frosting.
Presents this year, including the aforementioned umbrella, were:
a raincoat, (thanks again, mom),
Dora DVD,
baby doll stroller, could be the winning gift this year, and
lots of books, three of which are about sheep and lambs- her favorite.

Our DVD player provided the girls' entertainment for the remainder of the evening, and I didn't feel an iota of guilt.
Looking back on the day, I can say it will be a memorable birthday of our little Jane O.
She may not remember it, but some day, she'll know about it.

Hannah and a boy cut

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Hannah suddenly told me that she wanted short hair. Where did that come from? I asked her how short she wanted her hair. She said,
BOY SHORT.
Don't get me wrong. I have some dear friends with the cutest short hair cuts, but it just so happens that I am deeply fond of Hannah's golden brown locks and to lose them would be tragic. Am I being dramatic? It's amazing how attached I can get to things I adore.

I'm going to see if I can find a way to show Hannah what she would look like with boy-short hair. If she absolutely loves the look - and loves it for at least ten years - I'll consider letting her do it.
If I can't get through to her, I might be calling on reinforcements for an intervention.

"Mary had a little lamb"

That's what Dan said when Jane came into our room this morning with her blanket draped over her head and holding her Lamby.
She usually wraps her blanket around herself, after removing all of her clothing, and sometimes her blanket makes it onto her head.

There's something endearing about a child literally wrapped up in her own little bit of comfort and security. This blanket is special because Grandma made it. And then there's Lamby. I really love that thing, mostly because Jane loves it so much. A few days ago, I thought Lamby was gone and I was genuinely sad (Monica, knows what I'm talking about. I still have hope for Mino). I thought I should take more photos of Lamby, just in case.

<

"Anything!"

Lately, when I ask Hannah questions like, "what's that noise?" or "what are you doing in there?" or "what is Jane crying about?", her response is invariably, "Anything", which she means is nothing, which really means something.

This afternoon, when I called out to her in the kitchen, "Hannah, what are you doing?"
and she said, "Anything!", I knew I needed to check on her.
She had opened the box of pasta I had just bought and was making letters from a pile of noodles on the floor.

At first I was upset that she was using the same noodles I was planning on cooking with tonight. Then, I realized it was a good learning opportunity for her, as she doesn't like to write letters on paper too much.
I let her play. What are a few less noodles in my pot, anyway? Sometimes, I really have to yell at myself to keep things in perspective.
<

Gov's Island

For Dan's biweekly Friday off, we went from our island (technically, Queens is on an island) to Manhattan Island to Governor's Island.
Here are a few of the girls. I'll start with Hannah defending herself against the onslaught of bubbles blowing her way.








It was a very relaxing day.
You can see more of the girls here and here.

It's growing

We knew we were getting a little water damage in between our ceiling and wall,
but then one morning, I woke up and saw this growing out of the corner.


Oh, you want a closer look, do you?
By all means.


This thing actually had stems and leaves. Weird and gross.
When Hannah saw the ceiling she said,
"I think it's broken. You better get a new ceiling quick, Mama."

Indeed!

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Every parents dream

Hannah said she wanted these for her "wedding flowers".
I don't know who she thinks she is talking about her wedding already, but I will say that if her desire for a weed bouquet holds, then she will have one happy mother and father on her wedding day.
<

We love chocolate!

"These girls..."

That's what I said tonight when I saw Hannah and Jane after coming home from a meeting.
I saw them and I thought, "Ah, these are my girls, and they are... amazing!"
I practically smothered them until lights out,
and then I smothered them a little more.
Hannah just took it like she had no will. I think she loved it.

Jane cracked me up when she starting crying to have the roll of duct tape with her in bed. She has certainly grown fond of the stuff since it became a necessary component of diaper changing.


Hannah really isn't this bad at smiling. She happened to be showing me a "teeth smile."

These girls...
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Mother-daughter picnic date

Hannah has been asking if she could go on a picnic for some time now. She has some books with picnic scenes, complete with the red-checkered blanket and she never fails to point it out to me. Well, tonight the little lady was granted her wish.
For our date, Hannah and I packed up the bike trailer with the necessary items for an outdoor meal and headed to the nearest park with grass, which isn't as close as you might think for all the parks they have in NYC.

Here's what was on the menu, designed by Hannah:
pasta,
tomatoes,
chips,
apples with peanut butter,
yogurt,
pink lemonade and
chocolate milk


In addition, Hannah wanted some time for activities so we brought along bubbles and water balloons (again, her choice). Hannah has been wanting to play with water balloons since she saw kids filling them up at the park, but I realized tonight when I pulled them out that she didn't know what to do with them.
I said, "OK, do you want to throw them now?"
She looked at me incredulously, eyes wide and slowly said, "Nooo!"
"Well, what do you want to do with them?
"We can put them in the grass."

Eventually, I convinced her that the divine purpose of a water balloon is for it to be thrown with great force. I threw one and after it popped and splashed, she was eager to throw one herself. She made me proud as she launched each one.
We blew some bubbles and then it was time to go.

I really enjoyed having the time to focus only on Hannah. We definitely need to do it more often.

When we came home, we ate some of these simple and delicious treats that I saw on Natalie's blog this morning.

Hannah saw them on her blog too, and wanted them for our date so we made some. We decided to share them, much to Dan's delight. Dan said that's how s'mores should be- he's one of those who doesn't care for the dryness that a s'more can offer. I can see what he means.

We watched The Princess Bride to end Hannah's date night. She often asks to watch it, but she can only watch it with us- "It's scary!" but she loves it anyway.

I so look forward to date nights.

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The culmination of things

Hannah has previously shown her passion for towels and boxes. Now these two things have come together in what seems to be perfect harmony.

As always, when things are too quiet, I have to do safety and quality checks to make sure everything is OK. I walked into my bedroom and found this:


I asked her what she was doing but she didn't respond. I peeked under the towel to find her smiling at me.


She said she was trying to go to sleep, so I let her be. She never fell asleep, but I'm glad she put those Costco boxes to good use. I kept the boxes out of the recycling for a couple of days just for play time.

The people of NY

As we were approaching our building from a short walk this afternoon, a somewhat elderly woman approached me telling me about how she had all of this cheese. She said she wanted to see if she could sell the cheese but told herself if she couldn't find anyone to buy the cheese, she would give it away. I politely smiled and nodded trying to understand her broken English.
My kids were starting to wander away so I wasn't paying too much attention to her ramblings, but I heard bits about open-heart surgery, kittens, noodles and of course, the 2 pound block of American Cheese.
I rounded my kids up and was hoping to take the opportunity to excuse myself to go inside with my children. Then the woman finally got to her point.

I will give you the cheese, [she pulls it out] look- it's low fat, and you give me money, not very much, and tomorrow I come and watch you children and you give me money, whatever you can.

Whoa! This was a new level of unscrupulous panhandling that I wasn't used to- so bold!
I quickly mentioned that I have no need for the cheese nor a sitter nor do I have any cash.
She retorted:

But you have checks right? You write checks? I come tomorrow. Are you American?

About as American as that cheese, I suppose, only I hope I taste better.

I insisted she try and sell the cheese to someone else and that I really didn't want it. She insisted on giving me the cheese anyway. I urged her to keep the cheese. I was getting aggravated by now.
Ignoring my wishes, and my tone, she pulled out a new bag and put the cheese in it. She told me to take it and it was OK if I didn't have money. She said she was alone and couldn't eat the cheese by herself.
I said thank you, herded up my girls and turned to go inside.
Her last words were

Good luck with the cheese!

Thanks, I'll need it!
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Hannah and her sister

Hannah is such a nurturing big sister. She is almost always concerned about Jane and trying to take care of her.
Today, after I put Jane down for her nap and without me knowing, Hannah had gone in their room to cover Jane up with Hannah's "special blanket" and put some stuffed animals under her arm, one of which is Jane's Lamby. I went in to make sure it was cool enough and found her like this.
I felt my heart warm a little, took a picture and then pulled the blanket down as it happens to be the warmest quilt we own. She was surely roasting. I just hope Hannah doesn't go back in there to see her good intentions disregarded.

*******

We have been doing other things, mostly Summer related- BBQs, swimming, eating ice cream, playing in parks, etc. Unfortunately, however, our computer is getting fixed and the photos I have taken remain on my camera (the above photo was taken with Dan's).
We should be up and blogging in no time.