In these trying times, Monkey and Bear are researching ways to help save money. Since they are only 19 months, their resources are limited, but they do have a lot of access to macaroni noodles and cheese sauce. They have been working diligently on their research and have compiled it into their forthcoming book 101 Handy Uses for Macaroni and Cheese, published by Penguin and on shelves next summer. Below are some of their newer findings. Enjoy and stay tuned for their upcoming book tour!
If you are on a budget and your child needs PE (pressure equalizing) tubes, simply stick some elbow macaroni with cheese sauce on it in her ears and Voila! The noodle will open the ear and the sauce holds it in.
Another handy use for said macaroni and cheese: earplugs. This is Abigail's over all fav.
Cheese sauce can double as hair gel.
At a loss for how to wear your hair for your big date? Try rubbing a few noodles with cheese through those hairs just above your ears for a snazzy decoration.
Too young for pierced ears? No problem! Just stick a noodle on each ear and problem solved!
Need more tips? Contact your local bookseller about preordering their book today and you can get the handy companion book *352 Things That Fit Down a Laundry Chute. But wait! There's more! Order your copy today and you can get Monkey and Bear's first book **The Toddler's Guide on How to Condition Your Parent for the low, low price of $19.99! That's right, 3 timeless treasures for under twenty dollars! Call now, operators are standing by.
*Exerpt from 352 Things That Fit down a Laundry Chute:
267.) Dirty Diapers 268.) Any shoe in the house, although Daddy-sized ones can get stuck 269.) Cats Authors' note: This posture is only theoretical as neither Monkey nor Bear has been able to coax and lift one high enough to test the theory. 270.) Soda cans 271.) The Sunday paper
**Exerpt from The Toddler's Guide on How to Condition Your Parents
Chapter 82: Don't Go Silently Into That Good Night As we have discussed in previous chapters, it is always recommended to keep your parents off their guards. This is especially true and easy in reference to sleep. It has been our experience that a sleep deprived parent is a controllable parent. Want to watch "Abby's First Sleepover" 600 times? Simply pretend that there is electrified force field surrounding your bedroom that shocks anyone under the age of 5 when crossed. Scream at the proper decible level described in chapter 36 (Screaming Cuz We Like To) and for added affect, do the noodle technique as described in chapter 51 (Affective Tantrum Throwing and You). If properly executed, you should be able to watch that episode of Sesame Street over and over. Good Luck!
Oh dear Readers, there is never a dull moment at Casa de Gato y Ninas. If you were cogniscent during the 70s or if you have had experience with toddlers, you may have heard about a fad called streaking. Well, we here under the bigtop are going through a retro-phase in that our little Monkey is all about the naked. Actually, she is more about the diaperless life than the Full Monty. I personally think toddler nakedness is pretty cute, but the cuteness stops when said toddler pees all over the floor, bed, towel, her hand, etc. So until she is more ready to be potty trained, we are breaking out the duct tape. Red Green would be proud.
Oh dear readers, the wheels of change are rolling fast. My old road is rapidly changing and I should get out of the new one if I can't lend a hand cuz the times they are a changin. Okay, I will stop with the 60s song lyrics, but life is changing here at Casa de Gato y Ninas. Too fast for my tastes!
My dear readers, Abigail has started the ball rolling with a huge milestone. She figured out how to climb out of her crib tonight. To be fair to her, she's been working on it for about 3 months, but this time, she was successful, to some extent. I say this as I intervened before she hit the ground, literally. I was in the bathroom and heard what I thought was her gearing up to scream. It's a very distinct Abigail noise that is the vocal equivalent of a pitcher winding up for a fast ball. Even though Eleanor was clearly not asleep, I quickly scooted in to try and nip the crying jag in the bud. Since I was going from the bright bathroom to the dark room, I was pretty much blind, but could tell from her noises that she was standing, so I moved toward the sound, expecting to run into the crib rails. Instead, I ran into her body!! I felt her second leg fall off the top of the rail and grabbed her under the arms just as she was about to drop to the ground and certain head trauma. Sniff, sniff. My babies aren't babies any more!
As I said, she's been working on this for a while, so we have been reading up on it. I remember reading a message board discussion where a mom was contemplating toddler beds as her little one was going AWOL from the Infant State Penetentiary at 13 month old. Her question for the audience was, "Isn't she too young for this?" to which one person replied, "Clearly the answer is no. You may not be ready for her to graduate to a big girl bed, but she is." I remember thinking how harsh but how true that comment was, not just in reference to the bedding situation. So many times have the girls done something when I wasn't ready to hit that milestone yet. They did it with crawling, teeth, walking, and talking, just to name a few. I am sure the Great Bed Migration of 2008 won't be the last time that the Bear and Monkey leave Mom and Dad bewildered and in their dust. So before I get too sappy and nostalgic on y'all, I'll leave you with a good song that talks about looking back. Please note the section after the weird little Robin/Kermit conversation-it made me tear up:
So that was my evening. Just another day under the Big Top, I guess. Stay tuned for our next installment where Eleanor, not to be outdone by Sister, gets a job and goes off to college at 19 months. Until then, courage.
Per usual, I am a day late and a dollar short, but I failed to log our 2nd matrimonial anniversary last month. Although we didn't do much on the day itself, the day before, my beloved surprised me with a meal at Broder's Pasta Bar. So super yum, I can still taste it. If you ever have the opportunity to go, please do so. Another of our traditions is to have our photo taken at the site where we had our nuptials, the Lake Harriet Rose Garden. Since the babies were there in spirit ( although at that point we thought it was just baby), they are dragged out and bribed to look cute. All I can say is that it's a darn good thing that they are just naturally adorable and photogenic, so even when they are screaming bloody murder, the shot isn't totally lost. So without further ado, a summary of our last 3 September 23rds at the Rose Garden: 2006-the original shots
The whole scene
Vowing
Favorite Photo (technically not at the Rose Garden, but still pretty darn good!)
2007 First anniversary (Monkey and Bear 6 months old)
Abigail-the only happy shot of the day
The Monkey-Check out that hair!
The closest we got to everyone looking at the camera-BEST shot of the day.
Pretty cute
2008 Second Anniversary (Monkey and Bear 18 months old) What a difference a year makes! The girls are almost to big now to manhandle into submission, so this was a pretty difficult shoot. But our perserverant photographer, Sez, stuck it out and got some wonderful shots. The biggest disappointment was that they cut down the tree under which we had our ceremony. Sad.
One of the cutest photos of all of us
Eleanor and Daddy discuss the pros and cons of drinking the water in the fountain
while Momma and Abigail look for life in the bottom of the fountain
Doing the Cheerio Dance
This was such a great shot last year, that we tried to redo it this year...yeah, not so much. Every time we tried to get closer together, A would scream. Sigh. A sign of things to come, I fear.
What's left of the tree.
There you have it. Clan Gacek-where every day truly is an adventure! I will leave you with one last photo: in front of our new house. Please note, we did not try to all dress alike, it just sorta happened. Hope all is well and until next time, solid.
