Lame

I was making our Christmas cards the other night and I realized I have SO few pictures of Maria.  I ended up using one from August!  What can I say, it's been busy.  But Maria is ever present, don't you worry.  Lately, Maria:

• has taken to demanding to know the schedule for not just the next day, but the whole week.  Lucky for ME, she only knows four days of the week.  So we talk about Monday, she go to school.  Tuesday, she go to school.  Wednesday, she go to the library AND lunch, and Friday, she go to ballet.  She doesn't know Thursday, and do you want to know why?  Because we don't have anything scheduled on Thursday and therefore it doesn't exist.  
• is doing very well in preschool.  Her teacher's name is Miss Stacey and another parent told Mike last week that she always thinks of Maria as "Miss Stacey Jr." because Maria stands by the door in the morning and announces which student is coming in.  "Good Morning, PATRICK!", she'll yell.  And then she says "Miss Stacey!  PATRICK IS HERE!". 
• has been enjoying ballet, but she's not too serious about it.  I notice the teacher telling other parents that their student is starting to do well, to maybe move up, but the teacher always just says hi to me.  Ha!  I don't care, she loves it and it's inexpensive.  Today she told me she'd like to do tap dancing, so maybe we'll do that some day in the future.  FARRRR in the future.  
• gets along well with Veronica.  They are mostly pretty sweet together, still.  
• loves the baby.  
• loves to talk on the phone.  We call my mom, my dad, and Mike's mom pretty often.  She asks my mother the same thing all the time.  "How's your new red car, Grandma?" is big and also "How's Grandpa?".  She tells them about 'her baby' and about school, and ugh, just everything.  She is hard to understand AND she holds the phone about two feet from her ear and mouth so it's interesting.  It's not what old Alexander Graham Bell intended, that's for sure, ha!  
• is enjoying the iPad and Netflix.  She likes Strawberry Shortcake, which Mike and I think is the dumbest thing, ever.  

So, she's doing well, she's almost four.  We talk a lot about Christmas.  We have an Elf on the Shelf that we are all having fun with.  She's fine.  She's the least AND the most of my worries, ha!  

Cinderella

She was a perfect trick or treater. She looked great, she was polite, she loved to give out candy. She was just perfect!

Teeth

So she fell out of bed last week and her teeth were loose and we were worried that she'd lose them, or have to have them pulled. Then on Tuesday of this week, she was swinging at school and she knocked one out - or almost out - Mike took her to see the dentist and I guess they walked in and the dentist just yanked it out from where it was hanging. I wish she would have done it and then maybe we wouldn't get charged for an extraction, ha! Maybe we won't anyway, who knows. She was upset the day it happened, but mostly because she couldn't go back to school for lunch. She has been fine and FINE ever since, she is a real trouper, I'll give her that.

They are both driving me crazy about this baby. My GOD they are loud and all they want to do is push their dirty fingers in her eyes and mouth. It's hard, but I'm assuming it won't last. It's hardest on Mike, because in the evening, I usually have the fussy baby in the sling and although I am hands-free and you'd THINK I could help get them in their pajamas and whatever, I really can't because they have to yank the sling off the baby's face, so they can JAM their fingers in her mouth. Oy. It's bedtime right now, if you couldn't tell.

Maria has had a good week, they must be working on letters at school, she knows all about what words start with what letters. She can count to infinity, she is really getting into books, she dances like a crazy person. Lately her thing is stepdancing and oh, my Lord, it's hilarious. She is a funny girl, she drives me mad but mostly I just love and like her a lot. She is one tough cookie.

Neglect

Poor Maria. I assure you I haven't been neglecting her like I have been her blog. Here she is enjoying a bedtime snack with old Veevsalah Voo. The other night she fell out of bed, BOOM! it went, around midnight. I was downstairs with the baby and I thought either one of them fell out of bed or someone dropped a big bag of bricks in their room. Mike went in and I heard Maria crying and crying AND crying, so I went up to see her. Mike was just putting her back to bed, she had busted up her lip and was still crying but went back to sleep. Then Mike took her to the dentist on Tuesday and lo and behold, her two front teeth are loose and might have to come out! We are praying and praying that by giving her soft food and her staying off them, as it were, she will be better in two weeks and won't have to have her teeth pulled. That would be a long time to go without front teeth and I am loathe to think about getting her a flipper or whatever it is they use on Toddlers and Tiaras.

We felt terrible that we didn't know it was more serious but the thing is, she is so tough you just wouldn't know if there was something wrong. She wouldn't miss school for anything, so we can't ever find out how she really is.

She's so cute and funny, though. Mike said she was super brave at the dentist, he got her settled in and then had to go with Anthony and she was fine by herself. I had some friends come over this week to see the baby and she just chatted away with them, told them she poops on the potty but Veevsy doesn't, but Anthony does, etc., etc. She's gross but charming! She's so good with the baby but unfortunately Veronica isn't, so I have to run and go save Mike. I'll be glad when this baby is old enough to punch those little hands away from her face!

Pretty Maria

Ooh she is a busy thing! She ran up to that teacher today, YELLING from way down the hallway, MISS STAAAAACEY! MISS STAAAAACEY! IT'S ME, MARIAAAAAA!". Her teacher seems to like her, I hope she's good. She seems like fun anyway, enthusiastic. I know how I feel about it but maybe it's different for just 8 hours a week.

Here's our latest fight with Maria. She wears a diaper to bed - she is in no way ready for night training, she wakes up soaking wet, I'm just not too pushed about it BUT she waits all day for that diaper to poop in, sometimes SECONDS after I've put her in it. So we're working on it, I tell her no, she can't do that,, I make her wait, I make her sit, blah blah blah nothing works. This week I started to put her RIGHT to bed after she poops, like I change her but that's it, no tv, right to bed. She cries and cries but up she goes. So tonight, she comes RACING to the toilet, yelling "I have to poooooop!", goes in, does it, all's good right? Well. She told Mike "I ALMOST pooped on the floor", which made Mike go check but he found nothing. So we're all happy, everyone's good, she gets to watch her Max & Ruby, all's well.

Cut to later, we all go up and all three kids go in the room and Mike tells a story, I put the girls in their beds and realize V left her blanket downstairs while she was playing. I tried to give her another one but she wanted hers so Mike went downstairs and got it. I covered her up and left. Later, I heard V crying so I went in and Maria told me that there was POOP on V's blanket. I was all, whose poop? and Maria was all "Anthony's! Veevsy's! Mommy's!". I'm slow, so I was like, what are you talking about? She said look at the blanket! and I did. And there was poop on it. I said, Maria - did you poop on it before when it was in the livingroom? She said "ummmm, no?". LIAR. I said, look it's okay if you did, but you have to TELL us before I put a blanket on Veronica that is covered in POO! She said, well yes, it's my poop. I said I KNOW NOW! Sheesh. So everyone is cleaned up and Veronica, who is no dummy, took the clean blanket and allowed me to clean hers overnight. Lord, lord, lord. We are getting there but it is a damned bumpy road.

Star of the Week

This was Maria's first full week of school and she was the Star of the Week, so that was a good way to start.  They do it alphabetically - I can remember being in school with kids whose last names started with A or B and being hella jella that they always lined up first.  Then sometimes, to be fair, the teacher would start with the names at the END of the alphabet, but as I recall, the teachers at Catherine A. Dwyer grade school never started in the, say, MIDDLE, for those of us with a last name that started with K.  Anyway, enough about ME!, ha!

When you are the Star of the Week, you get this painted coffee can to bring home and you bring one of your favorite things to put in the can.  It has to start with the same letter as your first name.  We kept thinking and thinking, what the hell are we going to do?  What starts with M?  Then one of my parents, I can't remember who, or maybe it was my sister Laura, said Monkey George!  I still think of him as Curious George, but Maria thinks of him as Monkey George and he is, in fact, a monkey, so it all worked out.  I had to make him hug his own neck and put his feet up by his ears to get him to fit in the coffee can, but he did so off he went on Monday and Maria let her classmates guess some things about him and then POOF! brought him out of the can and showed him off.

Also when you are Star of the Week, you get to bring the snack on Monday and Tuesday, so Maria brought strawberries and grapes for Monday and cheese cubes for Tuesday.  Not to brag, but her teacher said I was a good snack parent.  I was grateful and relieved because I had no idea what to do.

Lastly, Maria granted Miss Stacy an interview today, and when asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, the answer was "a kitty cat".  That's super cute and funny on it's own, but I think it's funnier that that is the answer that Maria has for "what do you want for your birthday?" that Dora asks in one of her library books.  I think she just has the one answer, regardless of the question.

She is doing very well in school and I am thrilled. I think it's a good fit.  I think she'd be fine if she went on a longer day on Monday, or another day of the week, but this is what we started with and what I'd like to continue with if it's possible.  We'll see - maybe I'll have the baby and Maria will go insane, in which case I will put her in boarding preschool.  Kidding!

She loves her teacher and her teacher, of course, loves her.  And she is so smart - because it is such a small world, there is a boy in her preschool class who is also in Anthony's school - that's crazy, right?  I saw one of the case managers from Anthony's school there on the first day and she mentioned that she had a therapist there with one of the kids.  Then Maria's teacher said to me, does Maria have a brother named Anthony? and I told her yes.  She said that the kid's therapist said to her, "that has to be Anthony's sister, it looks just like him!".  Miss Stacy said she told her, "I only know about Veevsy Voo!".  Ha!  Anyways, back to the genius of Maria - today we were picking up Anthony, and the little boy came out with his ... grandmother, I think, and she said "heeeeey Mooooom!  That little boy  - that boy - I know that boy from my class and my school!".  This was only her third day!

I told Laura today - I am a wreck.  Thank God I have preschool to send Maria to, and speech therapy for Veronica, because I don't know what kids are capable of, and I fear I'd hold them back if it was just me.  I am so used to NOT pushing them and NOT expecting too much that I don't even know what they can do.  I'm learning, but it's lucky that there are other, professional people involved.

So she is doing well.  Tomorrow we are going to a story hour at the Library and Friday we start ballet again, so we are moving along on our fall schedule.  Things are going to be so different four weeks from yesterday, I can't even imagine it, and I bet our sweet Maria can't either.

Sunday

Ooh wee she has been insane today.  We got up late, SUPER late for us, which is 7:30.  I heard her knocking on the door so I went in.  Maria and Veronica were lying on Maria's bed together, which just never gets old to me, they look so cute.  I sat down, or went to sit down, and I felt that her bed was wet.  I asked her about it and she said "oh, yes, Mommy, it's wet from PEEEE!".  So proud.  So we got up and stripped them and started our day, as we have to leave for church at 8:30.

We got it all together and offed to church.  We all went in at the start, but then Mike took Anthony out once he got too noisy.  Maria said "WHERE IS DADDY GOING?" and I told her, he is taking Anthony out because Anthony is getting noisy and she said 'I NOISY TOOOO!  I NEED TO GO OUT!".  I kept them in there for a while longer but then we had to go out and regroup because Veronica was losing her MIND and so was I.  Maria and I ended up going back in and she was fine, adorable even, but still.  It's hard.  I think Veronica is going to have to skip it for a while and I think that means the others will too because it's too hard to take Maria and Anthony because they have to be in two different places and ... it's just too hard.  We'll try again in a few months, I guess, and in the meantime I will take the baby by myself and Mike can either take just Maria or just Anthony or go alone.  We'll see.

Maria and I went to meet her teacher last week.  Her teacher seems lovely and like she is going to be a great fit for Maria.  She seemed to really like Maria, but who wouldn't?  She is great, at first.  :)  But like today - we went to church, we got pancakes and potatoes to bring home, we went to a friend of mine's house to get some baby stuff that she was gifting me, we went and GOT DOWN and got lunch afterward, we watched Snow White in the van, we got ice cream., I mean, big day right?  We got home for two minutes and she was all 'WHERE WE GOING NOW?  WE GOING TO GRANDMA AND GRANDPAS?  WHO'S COMING OVER?  WHAT'S A HOLIDAY?  I WANT TO GO PLAY IN THE DRIVE THROUGH!".  And this was like seriously the first five minutes after we got home.

But now she is all bathed and sweet and ready for bed, and Mike is off from work tomorrow, and I am not as HORRIBLE as I usually am on Sunday nights.  I can make no promises for tomorrow, ha!

Friday

Fridays are becoming one of my favorite days with the girls. I think it helps because we don't have Anthony's home therapy anymore on Fridays and that used to sort of LOOM over my mind all day until it happened.

Today we went to our friend Marta's house, and we brought DONUT HOLES.  Maria is very big into donut holes and now we have made converts of her friends Charlie and Emma.  Emma's mother told me that Emma didn't even want breakfast today because she knew there would be donut holes later, ha!  Anyway, then Marta put aprons on each of the girls (adorbs) and they made pizzas and ate them.  It was the cutest thing I've ever seen and Marta is INCREDIBLY good with those girls and they all listen to her and spread that cheese on the pizza, rolled out the dough, so cute and good.  I took some pics with my phone and I'll post them later but I really want to type stuff as it happens.  It's been two weeks since I've posted here and this is WITHOUT the new baby so I'm trying to catch up.  Maria is downstairs SCREAMING and CRYING so I can't be here long.

God I wish I could ever have just a minute - like a minute or two during the day where I am not being screamed at or cried on, or forced to pick somebody up and carry them or whatever the hell.  By the time I have a minute, after they go to bed, I'm exhausted.  Anyways.

Bad mothering aside, it was a good day for Maria.  She likes her friends and even though she can be a little bossy, she is trying to be better.  It's hard for her, she bosses everyone around here and then she plays with friends who are NOT Anthony or Veronica and they don't want to hear it from her!  But I think she's doing well and we're lucky to have met these friends her age.  I want to tell them, be patient with Maria.  She can be a pain but she is worth it.  I mean, wouldn't you want to have her on your side in a fight?  I can't stand it when kids are mean to her, or don't seem to like her.  I feel like it's breaking my heart.  I know.  I KNOW I have to get tougher about it but not right now.  I'm the opposite of tough right now.

Yesterday Maria went on a picnic with my Mom, after hanging out in the morning with my Dad.  She really, really likes these Thursdays.  The went to a picnic, to Mass, and then shopping at 'the Red Store', which my mom deduced (correctly) is Target.  My mom bought Maria a new backpack on wheels, and one for Veronica.  She also bought her a Dora/Diego DVD, cupcakes, Princess toothpaste, and apple juice.  Maria can wear anybody down, this I know, because as I recall I NEVER would have gotten all that out of my mom on a trip to the grocery store!

We go and meet her preschool teacher this week, which should be fun, then they'll start next Tuesday.  I can't wait.  I'm excited for Maria, I think she'll like it and I am excited for me, too.  SUPER excited.

Maria asked that Mike get the camera the other night, when they were all in the tub, so he did. I had to crop V out, and Maria's hands, which are dancing hands, because she's naked and we all have to suffer because there are a million pervs out there on the Internet. But it's adorable, trust me.

Maria is doing well, but she is driving me crazy and I am already kind of crazy. There are many, MANY good things about her. MANY. She is a good sleeper, she has moved into her big bed and she loves it and has adapted very well. She is loving and sweet to Anthony and Veronica. She says YAY! and gets as excited as anyone when Anthony has success with toilet training. She is so smart, she has never forgotten one thing in her life, she knows how to do everything - turn on the hose, fill the pool, get herself into her carseat, etc. etc.

HOWEVER. She negates all the good things she does with one thing. Every day of my life, she starts hammering away at me about what we are doing that day. She starts when her eyes open and she doesn't stop until they close. I try to ignore it, I try to answer her, I try everything I can to not make it so freaking miserable but I can't help it. She is like an interrogator, it's awful. WHERE MARIA GOING TODAY? WHERE MARIA GOING TODAY? WHERE MARIA GOING TODAY? WHERE MARIA GOING TODAY? And God help you if she doesn't like the answer.

Monday

We are off to swimming today, we're starting our second week.  We just go twice a week for three weeks and that's the summer session.  At this rate, we'd have to go for like 10 summer sessions in order for there to be a person who knows how to swim at the end.  But it's exposure to the water, I guess.  Maria doesn't like going to THIS Y as much as she likes the LAST Y that we went to, but I attribute that to her overall difficult-ness more than anything, this Y is fine, too.

ANYWAYS.  She is doing well, her friend Carlotta and Carlotta's sister Maddelena are taking swimming too so that's fun for her.  It's also fun for ME, because I get to hang out with their mother Marta, and their little brother hangs out with Veronica, so it is all good as the kids say.  She is going to ballet on Wednesdays, she is napping about half the time during the week.  She is sharing her room with Veronica, and it's going ... okay, but not great.  It's better than it was.  I am hopeful in a few weeks it will be just like they've always been in there together and they'll be okay.

She'll start preschool in about six weeks, I guess, and she is going two days a week right now but I might change it to three.  I just don't know how it's going to be with these two girls at home and a little baby.  My guess is that it's going to be crazy, but who knows?  Maybe she'll surprise me and be a big help, loading the dishwasher, doing her own laundry, ha ha ha boo hoo that will never happen.

Big Girl

She's really turning into a ... I don't know what to call her. A child? She's not grownup, of course, but she does so many grownup things. She answered the phone for me the other day and said hi to Laura, and then delivered the phone to me. Laura said, how is that possible? She's just a person who can answer the phone, say hi, and give the phone to you? I know. I KNOW. It's such a weird way to be, to have a six year old and a three year old and still be so shocked and amazed at the three year old because the six year old still wouldn't do some of this stuff. No wonder I am crazy.

Too Bad

Too bad she's so sad and miserable, right? This is how she is 95% of the time, I swear it. But LORD GOD, the other five percent is insane. Last night she got mad at Anthony in the tub and she was crying. Mike told her she was going to have to come out of the tub if she kept it up and she did and he took her out and I went to get her and she was, like, FURIOUS. Like stiff as a board, so mad, she just - she didn't know what to do with herself. It freaks me out when she gets like that, because it's so the opposite of how she normally is, plus I am tense about tantrums because of Anthony. She calmed down after a minute or two and wanted to go say she was sorry to Mike, and she did. It's very upsetting when she gets mad like that but I can't let her KNOW it's upsetting to me because I have the feeling it would happen a LOT more if she knew what it did to me. So I'm not teaching her to read yet and no one tell her, okay? :)

Friday

• Have I said she calls the driveway the drive-through?  She says "can we play in the drive through?" almost every day when we get home.  She loves it and I hate it, because it's hard to watch all three of them.
• She is getting very entertaining in general.  She tells the story of the three little pigs, and she pretends to be the wolf, and she makes a scary voice, it's adorable.   She sings Broadway Baby, and she calls Times Square Times Squares.  She just adds in consonants where she feels they will give the song something extra.  Like she sings the end and she says "In a great!  Bit! Broadwait! Shooooooooowt!"  because she likes the way the T sounds at the end.  
• I screwed up and stupid ballet started TODAY and not next week, PLUS the class is full, so we have to do Wednesdays at 12.  This will screw with the nap schedule pretty good but it's only seven weeks and also, she is probably outgrowing her nap enough that one or two days won't kill her.  
• In a few weeks, she'll be three and a half.  Crazy.  I hope that in the second half of her third year, she'll start to not wear a diaper at night, but I am not too pushed about it.  
• She is the most loving sister ever.  Sure, she can be a complete rat to Veronica if she wants something.  She and Veronica had a fight at Trader Joe's yesterday that I can only describe as operatic.  Seriously, it was insane.  Tears!  Yelling!  Screaming!  Wrestling!  More tears!  I've never seen anything like it.  But mostly she is lovely to her and she is always, by some miracle, so sweet and kind with Anthony.  She loves him so much.  I think this is because girls always like boys that don't like them, ha!  But she is a sweet thing, I have to admit it.  
• Her friend Emma has been away and we saw her today and she was so, so happy.  It's so hard to explain to someone Maria's age that her friends are out of town, or at their grandmother's house in NJ, or God forbid Italy.  Maria has no reference for it and she just gets mad.  
• Speaking of mad, she has gotten, like, ridiculously angry this week, at least once a day and sometimes more.  I guess the cold hard truth that you can't always get what you want is finally hitting home for her and - well, let's just say she's displeased.  

Pretty Baby

Maria is having fun at her camp, and I like it too! She's pretty quiet about what they do, but she always shows me her little projects and seems to be having fun when I go and get her. I think she'll be glad to be back into two days a week this fall. Today when I picked her up, we were pulling out of the lot and she said "I sure would like to go to the Children's Museum!". I said, well today we went to camp, that was our activity today and she said "hows about Thursday?". Ha!

Overserved

She is crazy. She's also sick, today, which stinks. I had no suspicion when she wanted to take a nap at 9:30. I was up early and I heard her yell at 5:30 but didn't go get her until 6:30, which is still pretty early for her, here lately.

So she napped for an hour at 9:30 and woke up hot and crabby and headachy. Now she's napped again and is doing a little better, I guess. She got her haircut yesterday and was the best haircut-tee ever. Sheesh - when she wants to do something and is happy about it, no one is happier! She was charming and sweet at the hair place.

But I'll tell you how she is. This morning at 6:30, I brought her in to Mike, who was still sleeping, and we all lay down for a while. I put her on the pillow and pulled up the blanket and put my arm around her and snuggled in and she said "Mommy?". I said, yes?, thinking she'd say something about how nice this was or something. Instead she said, "what Maria doing today?". Sigh. Even sick, she wants to go go go.

Pretty Profile

Reading

She's such a weirdo - she never, ever relaxes for more than two minutes. Then I find her in this baby swing, making up the words to this book. She's funny but crazy. Maybe she was hot? She's sitting right by the AC vent.

She had ballet today and it ends next week. Next week is a big one - she is starting swimming lessons at the Y, she'll go Monday and Wednesday. Tuesday, she and Veronica start at their summer camp. She is happier when she's kept busy, and that makes all of us happier, too.

Jungle Cat

Ha, she looks like a crazed lunatic here, right? She loves that driveway and she is a heck of a runner. What she lacks in ability, she makes up for with sheer ferociousness! Lord, no one has ever driven me so crazy and made me so happy. She didn't take a nap yesterday, we were busy all day and she just never got time, so it was a long day, but she was pretty good about it. Yesterday she slept until like 7:45, which is unheard of, but today (Saturday), she of course was up before 6:30. Soon I am going to get her a clock that shows what time she can get up, and I hope she'll just bum around in her room until maybe 7:00.

She'll start her summer camp a week from Tuesday and I am going to start her in swim lessons next week, too, I hope. Then later in the summer, I am hoping she can take some swim lessons with some friends. I want to talk about what our goals are for this summer for Maria, but I feel like she has had so many goals met here recently, I hate to push it. I guess I'd like to her mind me more. I'd like her to learn to control the volume of her voice, because sometimes I think she is seriously going to shatter my eardrums. She is LOUD. She is screaming her head off right now, out in the driveway and I am in the front of the house and I feel like she is sitting next to me. Mike will get up with her in the morning and take her downstairs and try and keep her quiet and I still feel like she is there on the pillow. I hope she has fun at her camp and I hope she makes some friends, I hope she keeps up with ballet and I hope she learns some swimming. That should be okay, right? But mostly I hope she can do the volume control thing.

Old One Eye

This is a dirty look, with just one eye, can you tell? She was mad today because we couldn't go outside on the deck and go swimming, because there was a tornado watch. I let her go out later, when it was better. She's not really a weather girl, ha. Today she was watching Dora and they interrupted to say the National Weather Service has issued a blah blah blah you know and she kept saying "okay, weather! Thanks, weather! BYE, WEATHER!". Ha!

She just went to bed, which is always my favorite time of day. She is so much of a person. She is like hanging around with Liza Minelli or something. We went to a playgroup today and before we left we had a conversation that went like this:

M: Can we go now?
J: Not yet.
M: Now?
J: Not yet.
M: Now?
J: Not yet.
M: Now?
J: Not yet.
M: Apple juice?

Then we went to the playgroup and she kept coming upstairs and asking "do you want to come play?". I told her no many times but she kept checking, maybe so as not to hurt my feelings? Ha, so considerate! We start at the camp a week from Tuesday. I'm really looking forward to it, I know she'll do great. Two of her good friends from ballet are going away for a while and she'll miss them, I'm glad she's going to be busy with something. She's so gorgeous though, right? My sister Laura pointed out how good her hair looks in this picture. It's the little things, sometimes.

Wednesday

We are almost halfway through Maria's first week with no preschool. We have kept pretty busy, Monday we went to my mom and dad's, Tuesday we went to the museum and today we went to a playgroup. I was telling my sister today, I have to find a way to ... to receive Maria better. I was almost crying to Mike today on the phone, I can't take it, I told him, if she is going to DEMAND to know what we are doing from the time she wakes up until we do the thing. Then we get in the car, I told him, to go to the playgroup, and she demands to know if we are there yet, again every five seconds. It's insane! She is the most relentless person I've ever met, with the best memory of anyone I know. But I can't get mad at her because she's smart! I am happy that she's smart, I'm HAPPY that she talks to me, and I guess I shouldn't be too choosy about how often she says things.

I took this picture Monday, she was THRILLED that she still needed to wear a jacket. She loves to wear jackets, because she doesn't really associate it with the fact that it's still FREEZING in May. She wears those headbands of mine like that, it's very Olivia Newton John/Let's Get Physical, right?

Tomorrow we are going to the Y, after Veronica's speech therapy. I always pray and pray on Wednesday nights that speech therapy goes well, that I'm not too crazed by the end. Then I always march into that Y, ready to explode because it went so badly. But maybe it will go better tomorrow. Some day it's going to go better. Some day. I hope it's before October, because then I really will go nuts.

Happy

She's a happy person, mostly. Of course, I'd be happy to, if I just screamed orders at people all day and they did whatever I said. Not really. I was just telling my Dad, in the last five months, Maria moved houses, moved out of her crib, got toilet trained, and got rid of her pacifier during the day. She does all this with her brother spending a large part of his time at home screaming and yelling and flopping on the floor. Maybe not a LARGE part but a significant part, I should say. She is also, for the most part, incredibly nice and kind to Veoronica. She is super smart and precocious, I think.

She goes to ballet with her two friends Carlotta (Charlie) and Emma. They love each other and get very excited to see one another. Apparently, they are WILD in class, their teacher told me today. I think she likes them though, and I can see why, they are sweet. Even when she is driving me crazy, I can still see it.

This week we opened the pool, which is just a big tin bucket that I fill with water. I have a pool for them but I forget where it is - probably in storage, so this bucket seems to be working for now.

Maria has slept until 7:00 the last three days, which is like a miracle - it's like noon for her, practically. She has also been napping not at all or for a shorter time, so I guess maybe her nap is on it's way out.

I'll miss it, but mostly because I like to have a break sometimes from her talking at me. So maybe I'll get some noise canceling headphones, ha!

Me and Maria

Ugh, pictures. The worst. But I have to have pictures of us, so I am not caring if I have two pens in my hair or I am all pregnant and horrible looking. She is ... it's so weird, she is always with me, ALWAYS. Even when she goes to bed, she shouts out every 15 minutes or so until she goes to sleep. She wakes up in the night and Mike goes into her, and she wants to know if it's time to get up yet. We have those long drives to school, she goes with me to get Anthony, she is part of Veronica's therapy, she is just - she is the most present person ever. I'm lucky that she is so smart and charming and funny, I suppose. Still, on days like today, when she won't take a nap because she fell asleep on the way home from school, I am still sick of her. Ha!

She is wearing her Dora shirt in this picture, she loves it and is obsessed with it. If she could wear that shirt or her Kai Lan shirt every day, she would. I do laundry every day and it's still not enough to keep up with her demands for these two shirts, it's crazy. And it's getting small! She seems to have shot up here lately, she is tall and getting a little leaner.

Today at school she was sent home with a little plant for me for mother's day, but I had to get her teacher to REMIND her that it was for me and not her. She is not really down with the concept yet, ha!

Shasay, Shante

Maria, at the Barbie runway at the Children's Museum. She had a great time there today but I am worried that all she'll remember is the way she screamed bloody murder for 30 minutes - all the way walking out (which takes forever), all the way home in the car, until she cried and coughed herself to sleep. Mike was with me today, but I told him, just picture her leaving that way, with only sweaty old me carrying her and pushing the stroller, and that's every other time we go. She is ... difficult.

Friday

Oh this child.  She has had such a big week!  We moved her into her toddler bed on Sunday night, she asked to sleep in it and she just - did - and it's been great.  Her crib is still in there, I guess our plan is to move Veronica in it but maybe we will wait a little while, until Maria gets used to being in her bed.  She has been terrific about it, about 90 percent of the time, which I think is really good.

She also has her nuk only when she is up in her bed, which has also been going incredibly well.  She gets up and puts that nuk in the basket and boom! that's it.  Except when it's NOT okay and she wants to have it just because she feels like it.  Last Saturday she wanted her nuk and we told her not until naptime and she told us she wanted to TAKE A NAP and we sent her up, at 10:00, ha!

The toilet training is going very well, she is getting a little lazy about it, kind of pushing her luck.  She wants to know if she poops a "little bit" is that okay?  Um, no!  But I can't complain, she is really doing well and she has no example of what to do, we are both kind of doing it for the first time, so I am proud of us.

She can be super bad.  SUPER.  BAD.  She is the most impatient person I have ever met, and I know me, even!  But someone just told me, I think my friend Emily, the difference between three and four when it comes to instant gratification is very big.  So I am hopeful.  I am hopeful that she will continue to grow and thrive and be super cute and kind and love ballet and swinging and all sorts of stuff and she will start to dislike being a horrible shrew.

My parents came home this week and everyone is happy to see them, but especially Maria.  She really actively missed them, I think and it's nice to see her with them.  It would be even nicer to see her LIVING with them for the next two months.  Ha!  Kidding!

Toddler Bed/Pacifier

Maria went to the dentist yesterday and although she had no cavities, she only got a B for teeth brushing and the dentist said she could tell Maria used a pacifier, although she didn't tell Maria to never use it again, which I would have appreciated.  Maria did VERY well  at the dentist, according to Mike, and I'm glad he got to take her.  It's nice to have some experiences with Anthony and then right after with Maria, because Anthony of course hates the dentist and is now getting really smart about even being there and being difficult about going back to the room, while Maria, I guess, opened her mouth WIDE and was very cooperative and good.  So.  That's nice.

I have to get rid of this nuk.  Anthony chewed his to bits and then stopped using them but Maria isn't too rough on hers.  Today I told her that she was going to only have it in her room and she's been pretty good about it.  Well, in fairness, she was good for the morning and then sort of forgot.  I am going to leave it room-only for a few weeks and by the end of April take it away completely.  It's ridiculous, it's not medicine, she doesn't need it, she can live without it, so we are getting rid of it.

I would like to move her to a toddler bed too, by the end of the month.  Anthony broke his, which I have had for a LONG TIME waiting for Maria, so that's a bummer.  I was trying to find a used one but couldn't, so I bought one at Target for $80.  Then this woman came up to me last Friday at ballet and she said she heard me yakking (my words, ha, not hers) about wanting one the week before and she didn't mean to eavesdrop but she had one, and did I want to see it?  She wanted $35 for it, and I said great.  I gave her my email address and then I had to run because OF COURSE Veronica was running out the door.  So I haven't heard from her, which is a GIANT pain in the ass because I want to get going on it but I don't want to open the one from Target if I am going to return it.  So now I have to wait until Friday and hope I see her again and she just had my address wrong or something.  So.  Pain.  As usj.

We only have a few more weeks of taking Maria to the other side of town for preschool and although I am not excited at the prospect of nothing to do all damned summer, I can't wait to be done with this stupid drive.  There has been construction going on on the way down there since Anthony was in therapy down there, YEARS and YEARS ago and I hate driving in it.  I hate that Veronica and I have to hang out down there for more than two hours.  Veronica is starting to hate it too and she was super bad today.  I went to Kohl's and I had to go to the bathroom while we were there, which Veronica HATES - she literally screams and cries the whole time I am in there, which is a total pain, plus there were like FIFTY people outside the bathroom there today (does anyone have a job?  What the hell is everyone doing at the Kohl's at 9:30 on a Wednesday morning?) and I am afraid they think I am beating her or something.  We are coming out of the *bathroom* and she is wiping tears and - oh, it's just weird.  I feel like I have no home or something.

I don't know about this summer.  There is a playgroup in my 'hood that we can go to, I can continue to go to my old playgroup from before Maria had preschool, so there will be stuff to do and not as far away.  So it will be a nice summer, once it starts.

Happy

She was happy because she stole the dress off of her sister. We have had a long week. I shouldn't post on Friday but it's the first time, it feels like, that I've sat down all week. Maria is fine, she is sleeping fine, she is toilet trained, except for a very rare occasion. She is enjoying ballet and we are signing up for another session as soon as this one is over. Now that I have my Flip, hopefully I'll be able to take some video of her 'recital' this coming week. Hopefully Mike will still be home because of the Government shutdown (of which I am fully in favor, and I don't care about anything like money so I can't be reasonable about it) and he can watch Veronica so I have a chance to actually watch Maria this time. She has two little friends in ballet, Charlie and Emma, and she loves them both. They are very cute, holding hands and being friends. Anthony is yanking on my hands so that's it!

Sticker

I have been buying stuff for their Easter basket and today somehow they got in the drawer where I had everything hidden and got out these stickers. Maria has stuck them all over her face and hands and as you can see, she is unwilling to share them with Veronica. We have not had a great weekend and Maria is on spring break from preschool this week, which I think is NONSENSE. Spring break? From Preschool? To escape all the ... pressure? Ugh. It's such crap, but off we'll be and it will be trying, I'm sure. Some days my only hope is that they don't remember these early years.

Video - Forget You

Glasses!

They love to mess around with glasses, especially Mike's. Sometimes Maria will give me the Mr. Potato Head glasses (seen here) and say "be Daddy!". So I always put them on and say "I'm Daddy, I have to go to work, good bye!" but that's just for his benefit. Maria is especially adorable and infuriating lately.

Peek a Boo

She was playing while I was taking pictures, she is a funny girl. Today she had a pajama party at school and brought in her 'teddy bear' which to her means her Monkey George (Curious George) doll and her pink bear. She had a good time at school, she always does. It's really the only thing with Maria that I can count on, it's nice. It will be so much nicer next year when she likes school AND it's not 30 minutes away. We are getting our fence installed tomorrow and I will be glad because yesterday I tried to go outside with all three of them and they seriously all three go in three different directions and it's terrifying. I can't wait to cage them in, ha!

Carousel

At the Museum, last week. Its' the first time we've gone since she turned three, so she could go on a horse that went up and down. I was afraid she'd be scared, but of course she was fine. She is a tough girl. We had a hell of a crazy time at the museum. It was crazy crowded, I didn't have my stroller, and the girls have reached an age where neither of them want to do the same thing AND they are both able to get away from me. I lost Maria once - thank God my friend Nami was there because she went to the one exhibit to look for her while I looked where we WERE. I won't go there again with the two of them unless I have the stroller, because at least then I can strap V in while I chase Maria. She went to school today and she did great with the potty thing ALL day. She always does well there, potty-wise. She's only had one accident in months. We are working on it at home more, both of us, and it's going well. She is doing fine, although I wish she ate better. I wish she liked juice less and wasn't so obsessive about having her own way. I feel like all I say, all day, is NO! Lucky for me, she can be super hateful, so I don't feel as bad as I would if she were nice about it.

Reading to Veronica

I've been using this new editing tool that's part of Picasa, which is free from Google. I really like it, I never have time to do anything serious, so I like to just try something and save it. Someday, what would I do, if I had time? If I could just sit and my desk and work on pictures? It feels like a dream.

What I would like for my birthday, not that this blog is about me, is a Flip Video Camera. I had one, I think I got it for Christmas the year before Maria was two but she broke that damned thing. THEN when we got our house broken into, the stupid thieves didn't steal it so I couldn't claim it on the insurance. Anyways, I never take video anymore and they are all doing such cute things, Maria especially, with the singing, I'd love to get some of it. So. In case anyone who reads this also is in the habit of getting me a birthday present, I would like a Flip. :)

Maria had a pretty good day today. We had to stay close to home because I had a fence guy coming over mid-morning. But we went to the store and the two girls drove in one of those car carts. Those are a pain and I hate them BUT it was super not-crowded at the store so I figured it would be okay and it was.

Lately, Maria's been using toothpicks for her food, and I totally approve. It makes it a lot easier for her to eat, she can't work a fork wonderfully yet, the toothpick is a great transitional tool, I figure, and it's fun. Today she ate a whole hot dog before we went to the store, even! She spears the pieces and then dips it in ketchup, she's a crackup. She really doesn't like a lot of food. I am trying to have her snack less so that she is actually hungry and will try stuff but she can be a LARGE pain about a snack when she wants one. We're trying to have more fruit but she never likes a veg.

I hate to end this so abruptly but everyone is FREAKING out because I am sitting down. The nerve.

Pretty in Pink

I know it's cliche but she really is, right?  Pretty?  In Pink?  This sweater was from Christmas, from Mike's mom and we have just gotten her in it.  Maria doesn't believe in wearing sweaters over a shirt or something, she thinks they are all JACKETS and yesterday was the first day it was warm enough to have her wear a sweater as a jacket.  She loves to go outside, she can put on her own clothes and boots, even though the boots are rarely on the right feet.  She doesn't like to do things for very long, so it's nice to have this weather break and not have to put on every piece of clothing in the house before we go out, since we're only going to be out their for two or three minutes.  She loves to ring the doorbell at the back door and when I answer it, she says "Helooooo!".

She has been singing a lot, she loves the songs from Beauty and the Beast and she really likes Cee Lo's "Forget You'.  She has a sweet voice and is a good singer.  She gets that from me and I'm just going to say it because although Mike is a good singer, I'm sick of hearing about how she gets EVERYTHING else from me - the incessant talking, etc., so I'm go ahead and take the singing.

Valentine

Maria had her Valentine's Day party at school today and I think she had a good time. She said "Ben HIT ME!", right when I got there to pick her up. I said "did you do anything to him? Did you hit him first?" "Yes!", she answered. Sigh. She said he hit her right in the EAR. God only knows what the truth is. She drives me bonky bonks on Monday because she's so tired she falls asleep on the way home from school and then she won't nap so she is UP IN MY FACE all day. She yelled and screamed today after we got Anthony because I woldn't stop for apple juice. Sheesh. She is a wonder - I love her so much and she is so affectionate and great. She is also a genius and she carries a pretty good tune. But sometimes I can't take one more second of her. She is SO loud and SO up in your grill all the time. But super sweet. Look at her. I picked out a red shirt for her today and said "how about this?" and she got that AC DC shirt and said, How about THIS? So that's what she wore. Anyways, first Valentine's Day party, one ear hit, several valentines, one hundred lollipops. I'd say it's a success.

Sick

Hoo boy.  She just has a cold but Lord is she a sicky looking child or what?  She just took a short nap today, too, so she's been *charming*.

Cute

She's so cute, right? She missed school one day last week and ballet last week and she really wants to go back to school tomorrow but she has a pretty bad cold. I just put her to bed and her cheeks are so, so red. Fingers crossed!