Uninvited Playmate

Tonight, after dinner at Chick-fil-A (Tuesday night is KID'S NIGHT!), it had "cooled down" to 89 degrees, so Ivie, Macie, and I decided to hit our playground for some last-minute swinging and sliding before bathtime.

I was holding Macie, and Ivie was walking in front of me. As we got closer to the mulched area, I noticed something stick-like lying in the middle of the mulch, near the grass line. Ivie was ahead of me, and had stepped very close to said "stick" as she walked by to get to her "big-girl" swing (since Macie had staked claim on the "baby" swing).

Well, as you have probably guessed, the "stick" turned out to be a VERY LARGE snake! I froze when I saw it, thankful that Ivie hadn't noticed what it was when she walked by, as she probably would have freaked out and led the snake to do the same. Instead, she just stood there looking at me, wondering why the expression on my face had changed and I had stopped talking to her mid-sentence.

I calmly pointed out the snake to her and instructed her to walk around the BACK of the playground and join me. We then stood and marveled at its size, which, in my opinion, is not something you see in a backyard every day. Especially not a backyard that, though nicely wooded, is about 50 yards from the interstate.

Suffice it to say that we didn't hang around to play on the playground. But I did go back inside to get my camera so I could share a shot of our playmate with you. Ivie went to bed tonight talking about how she hopes the snake goes back home (into the woods) to see his babies and their mommy. I hope that, too, Ivie. Let us never see him on our playground again...

When All Else Fails...

Macie's been a grumpster today. Seems like nothing has made her happy. Until this. Why is it that all kids like to play in the Tupperware cabinet?!?

Waving

It pays to keep the Flip Video in the diaper bag...

This afternoon, I took the girls to Michael's to get some dowel rods that would hopefully replace the cheap plastic tubing that is supposed to keep Ivie's princess castle standing upright. They lasted about a week before one of them bent, rendering the entire thing useless. After grabbing the rods, we headed to the checkout counter and stopped briefly so Ivie could say hi to a tiny dog that was riding in her owner's cart.

As we said hello, I said to Macie, "Mac, can you say hi to the doggie?", and waved at her to demonstrate. And wouldn't you know it, she waved back at me! Wasn't expecting THAT! Too funny - her first wave, and we were in the middle of Michael's...

So I whipped out the Flip and tried to re-create it. Got her to do it a couple more times for the camera, and, of course, Ivie had to show that she could do it to.

So here you go! Macie's first waves...

Ivie's First T-Ball Practice

Ivie's first t-ball practice did not turn out as I would have scripted it (as a mom who grew up playing and loving sports). But so that I don't forget the experience, I'm going to describe it here as it DID happen. So that maybe I can use it to joke with her when she gets older...

We got off to a wonderful start, as Macie cooperated and fell asleep in Emerson's crib next door. Brooke graciously agreed to babysit her so I could concentrate on Ivie at practice (since Dale is still out of town at the golf tournament in Charlotte). Ivie and I got to the park/fields about 20 minutes early, so we wasted some time on the playground, which had great swings and slides. Ivie was having a blast, although it was already 80 degrees by 8:30a.

Practice started at 8:50a, so we headed over to the fields with our gloves. Ivie has a Dora glove and ball, which she adores. Practice started off with some "Alligator catch", where the plan was for the kids to throw ground balls to their partners, back and forth, while the others would snap them up in their gloves like alligators. Great idea, huh? Well, Ivie was not interested in playing this game with Caroline. Because that would involve sharing her Dora ball. So Caroline ended up playing with her daddy, Clint, and Ivie cooperated enough to take a few ground balls from me.

But that is where the minimal cooperation ended. And it was only approximately 9:10a (40 more minutes of practice to go).

After that, the only thing Ivie really wanted to do was take water breaks. They had the cool sno-cone cups at the coolers, so she went through a few of those. Otherwise, she stood next to me, holding my hand, with a grimace on her face the whole time. I think the only word she said was "NO!" (each time we asked her if she wanted to participate in the activity-at-hand).

As the kids were taking turns batting at the tee, Ivie was standing next to me in the infield waiting for the ball to come to her. Out of nowhere, she exclaimed, "I DON'T LIKE THIS GAME." Really? I would have never guessed!!!

When it was Ivie's turn at the tee, she refused to put on the batting helmet. It does look a bit intimidating, I guess, especially given that it fits pretty tight on your head and covers your ears. Since she wouldn't put on the helmet, she didn't get to hit. She was officially the only kid on the team that didn't want to take a chance at batting.

So we've got a little work to do, it seems. Maybe it will just take her a while to warm up to the idea. Or maybe it was just too hot (her face was bright red by the end of practice!) and she was grumpy and didn't want to try something new. Or maybe she just isn't destined to be a baseball player!

At least she has a cool new gray t-shirt to wear. And I'm pretty sure there will be yummy snacks each week after practice. So that should keep her going back for more...

Daddy's Girl

Dale played in a golf tournament with a buddy of his in Charlotte today, so he didn't get to see the girls this morning. As typical when he's gone, he called around 8'ish, since he knew we'd be on our way to school.

Ivie and I both talked to him for a few minutes over the Bluetooth speaker phone in my car. After telling her daddy about what she had for breakfast, and assuring him that she'd been "a good listener for Mommy this morning", Ivie told Dale she loved him and said bye. Dale did the same, and we hung up.

After being off the phone for only a few seconds, Ivie said, reflectively, "He's my best daddy in the whole world." It was one of those simple statements by a kid that catches you totally off-guard and melts your heart. Don't you just LOVE those?!?

Ivie on her Tricycle

Ivie's been perfecting the art of pedaling her "bike" over the last several months, and I think she's finally got it. At least when she's headed back TOWARD our house, since it's downhill. We still have to give her a little push on the ride AWAY from the house, as she's not quite strong enough yet to do it alone.

Here's some video of her riding. Complete with her trying to hit me at the end, while I was holding Macie and trying to keep the camera somewhat still. The camera work ended up a bit shaky as a result, but Macie was safe and found the bouncing to be pretty funny!

Breakfast

The general rule in our house is that, on school days, Ivie is required to eat a fruit of some sort (usually canned peaches, pears, pineapple, or a banana) for breakfast. We do this because we know that at 8:30a at school, the class heads to the lunch room for morning "snack", which is inevitably a carb-loaded kid-friendly item (think Sticky Buns, folks).

However, if she finishes her fruit at home in a reasonable amount of time (i.e., before it's time to hit the road for school) and she's still hungry, we do give her the option of having a second, much-less-healthy item, like a Pop-Tart, some cereal, or a breakfast bar.

We've gotten to the point where we are a little lax with this rule on the weekends, though, and sometimes we allow her to skip the fruit altogether. Ivie has discovered that this is mostly a Daddy-centered decision, as many times the two of them will head downstairs first, before me, and I don't have time to get her bowl of fruit fixed for her. So Daddy takes advantage and gives in to her request for above-mentioned breakfast fun foods instead.

Well, this morning, I had to leave the house at 6:30a to drive to Greensboro for the ACC Summer Compliance Workshop. So I left before the girls were awake. Used to seeing me when she wakes up (I think I can count on one hand the number of times in her life when she has woken up to only Dale at home), Ivie immediately asked of Dale, "Where's Mommy?!?" in her whining, sad voice. Dale responded matter-of-factly with, "Mommy's at work!" and tried to change the subject.

Ivie was not ready to let it go, though, and started whimpering/crying for me. But then, as if a light bulb went on, she immediately stopped crying, looked at Dale, and said...

"I WANT A POP-TART!!!"

Ah... Looks like we've got a smartie on our hands. Always thinking about how to manipulate the situation to her benefit. And thinks she has Daddy wrapped around her little finger. (Which she does.)

As an aside, Dale swears that he made her eat the peaches first. I guess I believe him...

Tooth #5

Macie didn't eat much dinner last night, and she was more crabby than normal (which, for a baby, still wasn't that bad). We just assumed she'd had a long Monday at school. Mondays stink for all of us, right?!?

But this morning, I discovered what might have been the reason for the grumpiness. Macie's upper right lateral (in dentist-speak, to make my husband proud) is cutting through! She's officially 9 months and 13 days old.

I found a cute teething chart online that I'm hoping I can successfully paste into this blog to keep up with Macie's teeth. Why don't I just put it into the baby book, you ask? Well, that's a good question. I'm still working on a complete answer, but let's start with the fact that I'm not sure where the baby book IS right now. But I know EXACTLY where my laptop is!

Macie Walking with the Push Toy

Ivie used to walk up and down the upstairs hallway with this toy, over and over, as she learned how to walk. So I won't be at all surprised if we end up reenacting that over the next couple of months with Macie. Until she decides to let go and do it by herself!

Velcro Baseball

I have distinct memories of growing up playing with my Nana's set of small, felt baseball gloves that had accompanying small yellow balls, each with two bands of velcro wrapped around it, so that the balls would stick to the gloves. Great way for little kids to learn to play catch!

When Nana passed away, I brought this game home, eager to share the fun with Ivie. Though she still hasn't learned the art of actually moving the glove to catch the ball, if you are able to hit her glove with the ball, she does great and really enjoys playing. The set came to my house with 2 balls and 2 gloves. In the past year, though, we've managed to misplace one of the balls, although I was sure it was somewhere lying around the house...

Fast-forward to nap time today. Macie and Ivie were both quietly in their rooms, though I could still hear Ivie talking to her princesses (5 of which went to nap with her today) as I wandered around collecting laundry. Then, without warning, Ivie abruptly stopped talking to them and, instead, started calling incessantly for her daddy. Who was downstairs and presumably hadn't turned the monitor on yet. So I dropped the laundry and went into her room, wondering what the "emergency" would be this time (empty water cup, needed to "hold my hand" for "one minute", wanted her door open, etc.).

When I walked in, Ivie exclaimed, "My Cinderella has a ball in her hair!". Walking over and looking more closely, sure enough, hidden and horribly intertwined in Cinderella's light blonde hair, was the missing yellow ball! And, thanks to the velcro, it didn't plan on going anywhere any time soon...

So mystery of the missing velcro ball is solved. And afterward, while looking in the toy basket for the gloves to reunite the full set, I also found the missing Nightingale (the letter "N" on our animal sound mat). Now if I could only find the "H" from our alphabet puzzle, all would be right in my anal, don't-like-to-lose-stuff-but-it's-a-lost-cause-with-small-children world.