Sweet Mother, it's late!!
I know, I should always take advantage of the time that the little animals are sleeping by doing something constructive, but in a sense I am: I am ringing in the new year on the sofa and talking to you, listening to our downstairs neighbors whoop it up and someone, whether it's of the Monkey or Bear variety, let out a single howl of welcome to 2008. So Happy New Year, my dear readers. May it be a pleasant one of great learning and wonderful surprises. Until next time, be well and don't forget to laugh.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Year-end top ten for babies!
Top ten...oh MAN!!
Yes, dear readers, it's that time of year when everyone and their brother makes a top ten list of their favorite things about the year. Usually they are books or movies or music, but as the ringmaster of Casa de Gatos y Ninas, and being who I am, mine will not be your run of the mill top ten. It may not even be a top ten. We shall see as it unfurls below. So here it goes...
The top ten or so things that I have either said, done, learned or experienced this year that I didn't imagine doing, saying, learning or experiencing last year.
- Baby mittens do not belong in the VCR, although they do fit nicely in the movie slot.
- "No, Sister's ear does not come off no matter how hard you pull on it."
- Teaching Bear to say MMMMMMM when she eats does pay off when, unbeknown to Momma, she is in the kitchen chowing on cat food
- "Please don't eat that [fill in the blank]
!" Some examples are dreidel, Christmas tree, cat, Sister, CD of Ryan Adams you found by stretching to your full height and knocking it off the desk with the very tips of your fingers (although I do admire your tenacity on that one.) - I learned that although it took 15 minutes to set up the elaborate baby keeper inner that would rival that of a state penitentiary, the sheer force of 2 nine month olds can break it down and escape in 5 minutes.
- The blind sweep that you learned in CPR for clearing a choking victim's airway also works for getting any number of shredded pieces of tissue paper, fur balls, cat food, and any random nastiness that shouldn't go into babies' mouthes back out.
- "Eleanor, stop licking the DVD player."
- In a blind taste test, the left-hand side of the cart handles at the Minnetonka Target taste much better than the right-hand side.
- This one I already knew, but since I have been out of college for almost 12 years, I had forgotten it: no matter how many times you wash your hands, you can still smell the vomit on them.
- I never realized that I can carry on a 20 minute conversation about poop.
- When wet, Mum-mums and Gerber Puffs are stronger than super glue.
- Our kids will curse us for our capturing a lot of their embarrassing moments digitally, like these most recent photos:
Eleanor with a puff stuck on her nose
Abigail with Chris's socks on
Now that wasn't too painful, was it dear reader? 2007 has been quite the year for us Gaceks, but it's been a great ride. Here's hoping that 2008 is just as fun and interesting. Until next time, peace, love and a lot of patience.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
I'll take Popourri for 500, Alex
The first step is admitting it, right? Okay...Hi, my name is Ringmaster and I am a terrible blogger. Not terrible in the sense that I write poorly, although some might agree with that sentiment. Terrible meaning the essence of blogging, or so I understand it is to write frequently, sometimes even multiple entries in one day. LaVelle Neal of the Strib had 4 entries the other day! Well, to point out the obvious, LaVelle, I am not. As you have duly noted, I am doing great if I can get 2 entries out a MONTH. Well, now that I have some time on my hands, I am going to try to be more diligent. That is my New Year's resolution: blog more. More blog equals good. So without further ado, to the five rings that seem to encompass the Cirque du Gacek.
Monkey see, monkey do
So if memory serves when last we left Monkey, she was struggling to make her own path, to claim a milestone for herself. Well, she can officially check that off her list as she is "cruising." No, she isn't driving a souped up Camero down University, trolling for chicks. She is pulling herself up on things and walking around or along them. Officially, I guess, this is called cruising. She's been doing it for about 3 weeks now and is getting more and more bold in her actions. She has been known to cruise while only holding on with one hand, or try to go with no hands, both of which are foiled when either panic sets in and she falls, or she is nudged by another object, either animate (cat, foot of mother, sister's head) or inanimate (climbing box moves, entertainment center door "bites," chair rocks). I have laid down the gauntlet that she will be walking by Christmas. I am still sticking to the prospect that she will hit a major milestone in 20 days, although I think it will be more like standing on her own as she still evokes Riverdance when she is led out to "walk."
So what issues arise from this momentous moment in little Monkey's life you may ask? Well, the fact that she has experimented with shimmying up the side of her crib is fairly significant. Although I have only seen it twice, and she doesn't sleep in her crib (apparently it is electrified or otherwise unfit for anything but short periods of waiting for the changing table), the idea of leaving her in it unsupervised conjures up many frightening thoughts. Her new favorite thing to do is to stand up, hold onto the side and shake the whole bed with all her might. This is a task is much more satisfying in Sister's crib as A) the mattress sits up higher even in it's lowest setting so she can get more leverage and B) it is older than her crib and much looser in the joints so she can really get the joint rockin.
Other interesting tidbits in E's life include being over 28 inches long, having a bottomless pit for a stomach, and graduating to monthly visits to therapy. It is anticipated that she won't have to go any more for a while after this next appointment as her therapist told me last time that Eleanor was a full 3 months ahead of her peers in terms of motor development. She also got a clean bill of health from the cardiologist (for a refresher, see entry dated 07/03/2007). Although she still has two of the defects of the heart, the murmur is gone and a chest x-ray shows normal blood flow to both lungs. Her doctor was very adamant that she was just fine. She doesn't have to go back to see him until she is 3! Yay! Now how am I going to remember that...
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?
And on to Baby B, our little Bear. Oh dear readers, what a momentous few months she has had. She has mastered crawling forward and robotically motors herself throughout the house. We have given her the Indian name of Thunder Mits as she can not sneak up on anything when she is crawling. Her methodical slap,slap, slaps can be heard even over Monkey's deafening squeals and shouts of "KHHHH! KHHHHH!" when she sees a cat, which in this house isn't hard. Abigail's favorite thing to do is laps around the perimeter of the living and dining room area rugs. But her most favorite destination is to the cat food bowls where she grabs a handful and continues on her journey, depositing small amounts of food as she goes, ala Hansel and Gretel. Perhaps she is worried that they won't be able to find their food unless she gives them a path. Or maybe she is setting a deadly trap for any feline she can lure into her midst so she and Eleanor can mess with it. Regardless of the reason, she tenaciously pursues that destination every time she is set free to roam. Boy will she be mad when the gate goes up over the kitchen doorway!
Abigail also has shown great interest in Sister's ability to pull herself up, and has begun to try kneeling and crawling over small obstacles, just like Monkey did when she was first learning. It's pretty cute to see them standing side by side squealing and talking about what ever, "Dudadadadda! KHHHH, mommamamadada KHHHH" means.
The final Abigail milestone is the fact that she has 2 new teeth coming in on the top. These are the central incisors. She will look like a beaver soon. I think her motivation is being able to eat pizza, as she drools uncontrollably whenever we eat it. She is definitely our kid.
Due to a downturn in the mortgage market...
GMAC-ResCap made a business decision to eliminate over 3000 positions nation-wide of which mine was one. Yeah, that's the PC way to say, "I got canned." Effective this past Friday, I was officially unemployed. Happy Christmas!! In the long run, it's probably a good thing. We all know that the familiar, no matter how distasteful, is preferable to the unknown. This was probably the unfortunate kick in the pants I needed to get me back out there playing the job search game.
Also because of the mortgage market, Chris's job is uncertain as his company provides relocation services. He, too, is looking and has some very promising prospects. I don't want to jinx it, so stay tuned for more on that subject.
Sleep soundly and carry a big set of earplugs
Well dear readers, the rest of the Gaceks have been sleeping for a while. Therefore I should follow their lead. Please join us next time when we will explore such topics as how to remove Mochachino paint from a cat's tail and 15 ways to distract an almost 9 month old with just a straw and your bare wits. Until then, peace.
Monkey see, monkey do
So if memory serves when last we left Monkey, she was struggling to make her own path, to claim a milestone for herself. Well, she can officially check that off her list as she is "cruising." No, she isn't driving a souped up Camero down University, trolling for chicks. She is pulling herself up on things and walking around or along them. Officially, I guess, this is called cruising. She's been doing it for about 3 weeks now and is getting more and more bold in her actions. She has been known to cruise while only holding on with one hand, or try to go with no hands, both of which are foiled when either panic sets in and she falls, or she is nudged by another object, either animate (cat, foot of mother, sister's head) or inanimate (climbing box moves, entertainment center door "bites," chair rocks). I have laid down the gauntlet that she will be walking by Christmas. I am still sticking to the prospect that she will hit a major milestone in 20 days, although I think it will be more like standing on her own as she still evokes Riverdance when she is led out to "walk."
So what issues arise from this momentous moment in little Monkey's life you may ask? Well, the fact that she has experimented with shimmying up the side of her crib is fairly significant. Although I have only seen it twice, and she doesn't sleep in her crib (apparently it is electrified or otherwise unfit for anything but short periods of waiting for the changing table), the idea of leaving her in it unsupervised conjures up many frightening thoughts. Her new favorite thing to do is to stand up, hold onto the side and shake the whole bed with all her might. This is a task is much more satisfying in Sister's crib as A) the mattress sits up higher even in it's lowest setting so she can get more leverage and B) it is older than her crib and much looser in the joints so she can really get the joint rockin.
Other interesting tidbits in E's life include being over 28 inches long, having a bottomless pit for a stomach, and graduating to monthly visits to therapy. It is anticipated that she won't have to go any more for a while after this next appointment as her therapist told me last time that Eleanor was a full 3 months ahead of her peers in terms of motor development. She also got a clean bill of health from the cardiologist (for a refresher, see entry dated 07/03/2007). Although she still has two of the defects of the heart, the murmur is gone and a chest x-ray shows normal blood flow to both lungs. Her doctor was very adamant that she was just fine. She doesn't have to go back to see him until she is 3! Yay! Now how am I going to remember that...
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?
And on to Baby B, our little Bear. Oh dear readers, what a momentous few months she has had. She has mastered crawling forward and robotically motors herself throughout the house. We have given her the Indian name of Thunder Mits as she can not sneak up on anything when she is crawling. Her methodical slap,slap, slaps can be heard even over Monkey's deafening squeals and shouts of "KHHHH! KHHHHH!" when she sees a cat, which in this house isn't hard. Abigail's favorite thing to do is laps around the perimeter of the living and dining room area rugs. But her most favorite destination is to the cat food bowls where she grabs a handful and continues on her journey, depositing small amounts of food as she goes, ala Hansel and Gretel. Perhaps she is worried that they won't be able to find their food unless she gives them a path. Or maybe she is setting a deadly trap for any feline she can lure into her midst so she and Eleanor can mess with it. Regardless of the reason, she tenaciously pursues that destination every time she is set free to roam. Boy will she be mad when the gate goes up over the kitchen doorway!
Abigail also has shown great interest in Sister's ability to pull herself up, and has begun to try kneeling and crawling over small obstacles, just like Monkey did when she was first learning. It's pretty cute to see them standing side by side squealing and talking about what ever, "Dudadadadda! KHHHH, mommamamadada KHHHH" means.
The final Abigail milestone is the fact that she has 2 new teeth coming in on the top. These are the central incisors. She will look like a beaver soon. I think her motivation is being able to eat pizza, as she drools uncontrollably whenever we eat it. She is definitely our kid.
Due to a downturn in the mortgage market...
GMAC-ResCap made a business decision to eliminate over 3000 positions nation-wide of which mine was one. Yeah, that's the PC way to say, "I got canned." Effective this past Friday, I was officially unemployed. Happy Christmas!! In the long run, it's probably a good thing. We all know that the familiar, no matter how distasteful, is preferable to the unknown. This was probably the unfortunate kick in the pants I needed to get me back out there playing the job search game.
Also because of the mortgage market, Chris's job is uncertain as his company provides relocation services. He, too, is looking and has some very promising prospects. I don't want to jinx it, so stay tuned for more on that subject.
Sleep soundly and carry a big set of earplugs
Well dear readers, the rest of the Gaceks have been sleeping for a while. Therefore I should follow their lead. Please join us next time when we will explore such topics as how to remove Mochachino paint from a cat's tail and 15 ways to distract an almost 9 month old with just a straw and your bare wits. Until then, peace.
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