Day 1925

Day two of Lizard wearing underwear: beginning to suspect we had potty-trained her already and just didn’t know it.

Rearranged the living room to move the baby jail from a cold spot to a hopefully less cold spot. In the process finally acknowledging the fact that the fireplace is not a place that is likely to have a fire anytime soon.

Day 1924

Lizard’s first day in underwear = zero accidents.

Also, she’s obviously paying attention when we use food words, even when she doesn’t know what they mean. This morning she was cooking a “roasted salad pie” for pretend dinner.

Day 1923

Today was Lizard’s last full day in diapers. Probably. May the odds be ever in our favour.

Day 1922

And so begins the laborious process of trying to get the kids caught up on sleep after Christmas...

Day 1921

Christmas: for stomping on sleep schedules.

Day 1920

Boxing Day: when you take the giant mound of packaging from your kids’ toys out to the recycling bin, and try to figure out where the heck you’re going to keep all these toys and how much you’re going to have to spend at IKEA to have things to tidy the toys into.

Day 1919

It’s so great watching Lizard be a big sister and guiding Chinchilla through his first Christmas. She helped him open presents, tried out his toys, and gave him SO many hugs. I’m pretty excited to hear her explain Christmas to him next year, when she remembers all the stuff about Santa and Christmas.

Day 1918

I just played a Kirby game for the first time in my life and I have so many questions.

Day 1917

I love getting Lizard’s help when we are cooking or baking. It’s great starting to teach her now, and getting her interested and involved in her food. However, sometimes I forget that if she helps us, everything takes NINE MILLION YEARS.

Day 1916

We’ve spent so much less time carefully tracking developmental milestones with the second kid that I kinda forget how great a baby little Chinchilla is, and how much he can do for his age. I was concentrating so much on what he is eating that I wasn’t considering how he is eating... from his doctor’s reaction, pincer grasp at this stage is very good! The blurring of time kinda makes you lose track.

 I’ll have to try harder to keep track, so we can celebrate our little wonderbaby.

Day 1915

Chinchilla is nine months old! He is a wonderful sleeper, and today he fed himself almost his whole lunch (and then immediately needed an outfit change because of banana elbows). He had leek, kale and mushroom pie with us for dinner. He is a wonderbaby.

Lizard somehow learned about queens and tea parties, and knew that the queen is majesty (missing the your/her, but what da heck. Still pretty good). So she had a tea party with an imaginary queen and then they cuddled up on the couch together, took their shoes off and pretend watched the grinch (while staring at the Christmas tree). Then Lizard read the queen some stories and put her to bed.

Day 1914

A fabulous day for our little Lizard:

She decorated her giant dinosaur tree this morning (placed pieces of her alphabet puzzle on her big dinosaur).
At daycare they had a Christmas party and opened presents, ate treats, and watched the grinch who stole Christmas.
When we came to pick her up she said she didn’t want to go shopping with us (“I’m really quite tired”), but we took her anyway and she was soooo excited about the shopping mall! With all the stores! And decorations! (Bonus for us: we kept her sufficiently distracted that she didn’t notice Santa Claus).
We went home and decorated the tree while we waited for pizza. She very enthusiastically decorated the bottom two feet of the tree, and she got to see the pizza deliverer.
And then pizza and dessert and stories and advent calendar.

Having a kid does make some parts of Christmas more hectic, but the enthusiasm and wonder is so delightful, and so infectious...

In other news, skipping rope is HARD.

Day 1913

Lizard found the stockings, or the “decoration socks” as they shall henceforth be called.

Day 1912

I am excited for when work calms down and I get my husband back again.

Day 1911

First Christmas party of the season: Chinchilla tried to eat more of the food provided than his sister; was more or less happy getting passed around while his sister wordlessly showed people her necklace; they were both pretty stoked when people left and Chinchilla could crawl around and Lizard could play and speak louder than a whisper.

Day 1910

Lizard forgave us for not bringing the tree home yesterday. She was *so* excited when it was delivered.... and once we got it inside, she pulled up her couch so she could sit and look at it. And then she lined up her animals so they could all admire it too.

Day 1909

Lizard was extremely excited to pick out a tree... and then was so upset that we weren’t taking it home with us right then and there that she said she didn’t want to decorate it and that we should keep it in the basement. I suspect she’ll feel differently when the tree is delivered and she sees sparkly decorations...

Day 1908

I’ve had my little Lizard home with me the last two days, and she has been so wonderful. We’ve talked and played and snuggled and read books together. The house is going to seem very quiet and empty tomorrow.

Day 1907

I love it when Lizard comments on pictures in books. About a picture in a dinosaur book, matter-of-factly: “that turtle is trying to die.” Not sure that’s quite his game plan, but sure.

Day 1906

Today I learned that baby dragons say “Oof oof oof!” over and over forever, and that the whole family (including the dog) is dragons. Whatever will get you to eat your dragon dinner, kid.

Day 1905

Got beat up by my kids today. I’d tell them to pick on someone their own size, but I don’t want them bullying their peers. And/or the dog.

Day 1904

We’re making up for Lizard’s missed birthday parties by apparently having the birthday celebrations that never end. Poor girl is exhausted... and has enjoyed it all quite thoroughly.

Day 1903

Today Lizard has her first birthday party (the first two were cancelled because she was sick). She was so excited about her cake that in a brief moment of distraction after the candles had been blown out, she leaned forward and took a bite out of the cake.

Our daughter is awesome.

Day 1902

Thinking of my mom while staying up late baking a birthday cake...

Day 1901

One thousand, nine hundred and one days in, and apparently we still treat each other like we respect each other.

We continue to suck at thank you cards.

Day 1900

Chinchilla has demonstrated enough caution and skill and standing that I let him loose in the living room. Hopefully it doesn’t lead to a dramatic increase in head trauma.

Day 1899

Our little Lizard turned three today, and she was very, very excited about it. Every meal she had today was apparently a party.

She’s becoming a tremendous bullshitter. She firmly stands her ground when confronted with facts, even if her positions are a little silly. Like... that cheese is made from lingonberries.

Day 1898

Tonight I kissed my two year old goodnight for the last time. Tomorrow I start kissing my three year old.

Day 1897

Chinchilla is now a two-toother and fell asleep all by himself.

And I can now say that I have comforted somebody (Lizard, for the record) because they dreamed that they dropped their baby giraffe on the sidewalk. She was very, very upset about it.

Parenting certainly means saying and doing things that you never expected to, and never could have anticipated.

Day 1896

Lizard decided it’s time that she start reading books to me, and I should look at the pictures.

 “What do you think the little bunny is doing? ....very good, mommy!”

Day 1895

Took Chinchilla for the second dose of his flu vaccine so he could shamelessly flirt with all the nurses.

Started the countdown to Christmas festivities with Lizard.