For some number of years now, albeit inconsistently (for months at a stretch it will be on and then off again), I have played racquetball on Saturday mornings with my friend Aaron Salazar. We usually play from 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM, and then hang out for about 30 minutes shooting the breeze about this, that and the other.

One Saturday morning, almost two years ago, I decided to pick up some donuts at a local store after the alluded-to racquetball routine. Among others, I bought a few chocolate cake donuts with chocolate icing and "sprinkles", figuring that this is what kids love (using my own experience as a guideline, of course). I was right - Bethany was very pleased with the choice. At the time, Bethany's speech capabilities were just beginning to really pick up steam, but she would still flub words here and there; so, when she tried to talk about the donuts with the sprinkles, it came out "sprinkler nuts."

Every Saturday became "sprinkler nut day" for a short time until we couldn't stomach eating donuts every weekend and also thought that it wasn't the healthiest tradition to start - we now do it every other week.

Even though Bethany is now perfectly able to say "donuts with sprinkles," all of us still refer to them as "sprinkler nuts;" also, since Aaron and I haven't been playing racquetball on Saturdays as of late, Bethany goes with me to get them more often than not, and loves the chance to go with dad on a special trip.

Catherine and I are not strangers to proliferating nicknames around our home, both for living things and inanimate objects. Although somewhat embarrassing, the following progression of a name devolving into a nickname epitomizes the essentials of the process which takes place on a regular basis:

We have a cat named Milo - one of his nicknames, which we thankfully don't use any longer, was "panties." Just how did that happen? Catherine commented that the cat liked to snuggle a lot. So, she started to refer to him as "snuggy pants" (think "smarty pants"). "Snuggy pants" turned into "Mr. Snug E. Pants," and that was shortened to simply "Mr. Pants."

Then it became "panties."

As I mentioned, we don't really call him this any longer, it was a short-lived nickname for obvious reasons. We do, however, still refer to him as "Mr. Pants" or just "Pants."

So, all that leads to my main topic, which is that our penchant for giving things strange names is beginning to (thankfully) rub off on our daughter. We have a son named Talmage - we don't really have any nicknames for him, because the name "Talmage" has yet to yield anything interesting for us. We do call him "Mr. T" quite a bit, but usually it's just Talmage.

All on her own, Bethany has started to refer to him as "Talm" - of course we think it is adorable that she does this, in part because it is something she originated; kids are great at parroting things, but signs of independent thinking are a bit rare when kids are so young.

Bethany had a Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy (T & A) on Tuesday of this week (24 JUN).

For a long time Bethany has had nasal problems (constant sniffles/runny nose, snoring/apnea and generally a nasally voice), so after getting nowhere with Bethany's pediatrician, Catherine decided to make a trip to a pediatric ear, nose and throat doctor who confirmed our suspicion that she was having problems - about 90% of her nasal airways were blocked because of massive adenoids and on top of that she had slightly enlarged tonsils.

The procedure was scheduled at about 3 weeks out but we decided to move it up because we couldn't bear to think of her suffering any longer than necessary - we got her in a week sooner than originally planned. We didn't really say much to her about what was going to happen until a few days before, and even then we didn't tell her anything to specific other than "you are going to be able to breathe better." I gave her a more detailed and truthful run-down the night before, which may have been too detailed! I just can't see a reason to hide facts from someone, especially someone who trusts me - granted, there are some details that don't need to be mentioned (like about blood, knives, etc.) unless they are asked about...right? Oh well, it's all said and done now!

When we brought her home, she was, of course, still in la-la land from the general anesthetic - we just set her down on the couch in front of some animated films and made sure to keep her numb with the Lortab they sent home with us - this simply put her into a deeper state of confusion and disorientation. We discontinued the heavy drugs yesterday and she seems to be out of the haze she was living in, at least until the scabs start coming off and we need to put her back on the narcotics.

We are now more than 4 days into her recovery and Beth had a wonderful day today - we went to a family-centric breakfast-in-the-park event that my employer organizes every summer; clowns that paint faces and blow balloons are always present, and Bethany availed herself of their services (more than once - part of her first balloon popped and she was distraught about it. so we grabbed another. All in all it was good to get her out of the house and into the outdoors and around other kids.

Although it will be a few weeks before we will really know how well things will be with regards to her breathing and the associated problems, her nose already seems better - she is not sniffling and doesn't sounds nasally. We are hopeful that she will be able to start sleeping through the night so that dad and mom can finally get a good night's sleep. We found out that she is iron-deficient too, which would help explain a lot of other problems she has been having (hair falling out, night terrors, a few other minor things which I can't remember at this hour).

She has had more than her share of medical problems in her short life, but as long as everything works out in the end, we don't mind too much - she is worth it all.

One of the books currently in Bethany's story-before-bedtime cycle is "Fancy Nancy" - it is a cute book about a girl that loves to make everything "fancy." Nancy's idea of what constitutes "fancy" might, by others' definitions, be considered messy or even gaudy; regardless, Bethany loves it.

One of the lines in the book, midway through a lament about things her family doesn't understand about being fancy, is as follows:

"Sandwiches definitely taste better when you stick in frilly toothpicks."

This is just above an illustration of Nancy presenting a plate of small sandwiches to her father while he reads the newspaper in a recliner, each sandwich pierced with a "frilly toothpick."

A few weeks back, while dealing with a particular reluctant eater at dinner time, I thought "Let's see what happens if I stick a toothpick in each piece of food..." Sure enough, Bethany was willing to eat more simply because toothpicks (non-frilly) were placed in each piece of food. I told her "See, just like Fancy Nancy!" She loved it. I knew that she would do better if the toothpicks were frilly, so on the next trip to the store, I made the big purchase (I bet Osama bin Laden wants to kill Americans because we use these toothpicks).

Later that night, I am laying in bed with Bethany having a nice chat before she fell asleep, and I asked her about the toothpicks and such, and the following conversation (as near as I can remember it) transpired:

Beth: "I told mom we bought frilly toothpicks at the store."

Me: "Oh? What did she say?"

"I don't know."

"Did she say nice things about them?"

"No, she said mean things about them!"

I don't know what Catherine said, but she probably simply said something mildly dismissive, instead of bubbling over with shared enthusiasm, which is probably what Bethany had hoped for. Bethany is passionate about things, that's for sure.

Over the past two days Talmage has really hit a turning point in his horizontal mobility skills - he has been pulling himself around on the floor for weeks now, but hadn't really come around to "crawling" per se. Well, that time has past and today he really showed off his newfound capabilities; this kid is going to be trouble in a way we are only beginning to fear. Bethany will have her hands full keeping Mr. T away from "her" beloved toys (she shares, but still has relapses of possessiveness once in a while).

Talmage has also started to speak real words in the sense that he uses them to convey meaning. He has been using "no" and in just the last 48 hours he really started to use "more" when he wants more food. Yay for Talmage!

Crawling and talking are just some of the skills he is sure to use for his diabolical purposes; currently, the phrase "seek and destroy" sums up his modus operandi.

We rented a movie for Beth that has clips of the Disney princesses singing in their respective movies.  Bethany of course loves it and is so excited to see the princesses in person when we go to California. 

Jason was commenting on how he hates the Snow White one because the movie is so old and it doesn't sound very good.  Bethany overheard him and said, "Oh chill out.  I just like it".  Don't mess with Bethy's princesses!

Anyway, Beth is very excited to go to California.  She has been trying to pack for the last week.  Yesterday I was folding laundry and she came upstairs with the giant box of goldfish crackers and a baggie.  She asked me if I could help her pour some crackers in a bag for her to take to California.

Her cousins also have a little blue car that the kids sit in and pedal.  For some reason Beth wants to drive that to California.  She said that she'll drive it and follow the rest of us as we drive in our van.   She asked her cousins if she could borrow it.

This just in...as I've been typing this she ran up to Jas and said, "What's up, fool?"

That kid cracks me up!

Well, it has been a while since I've been able to blog since the server has been down.  It will take me a while to blog about all the fun things the kids have been doing lately.  For now I thought I'd just give an update on the kid's doctor checkups.

Bethany had her 3 year check up and the doctor said that she is doing great.  She seems to be right on track physically.  The doctor said that she is a very smart little girl.  But we all already knew this, right?  The nurse checked her eyesight, which apparently isn't something that they do at this age.  I didn't know that.  I just went along with what they told me to have her do.  Anyway, Bethany couldn't do the very last little line at the bottom.  I asked the nurse if she should be able to see it and she said no.  She said that Bethany did much better than kids much older than her.  Not because the older kids can't see it, but because the "E's" facing in all of the different directions are to abstract for kids to describe.  When the doctor came in she was surprised that they were able to check her eyes too.  The doctor asked her a bunch of questions that check for their ability to reason and to see if they know cause and effect type relationships.  Bethany answered them all perfectly.

Talmage had his 9 month check up at the same time and he is doing great as well.  He now weighs 19 lbs. 9 oz. which puts him in the 40th percentile.  He is 30.5 inches long which puts him off the charts.  Yeah, maybe he will be my basketball player!  He is doing a lot of fun things like clapping, waving, shaking his head "no", saying mama and dadda, and just being darn cute.  He has been a little trooper the last few days.  He got his first cold (we've all had one except Jas) and he has hardly complained at all.  He wanted to be held the first day that he had a fever, which was nice since he NEVER holds still.  It was nice to just cuddle him for a while.  He is lots and lots of fun.

Talmage is just trucking along being our happy little ray of sunshine.  He has never once gotten to the stranger anxiety phase which most babies have gotten to by this point.  He is happy to see everyone and is alway smiling.  Although I must say he is extra happy to see his mom, especially if she has been away from him for a little while. 

He wants to see everybody and touch everybody and LOVES to play with anybody and everybody's watches and jewelry.  Last Sunday at church he spent 30 minutes straight grasping at the lady's jewelry that was sitting next to me.  Luckily she didn't mind and it kept him occupied for a good long time.  Bethany was never like that, she was always leary of strangers and still is, which is probably a good thing.  Talmage is definitely more outgoing and I imagine will be much less shy than Beth.

Talmage is finally sitting up on his own and will do it somewhat willingly now.  He has been able to do it for quite some time now, but for some reason has not liked the sitting position too much.  He constantly wants to stand and I think he wants to stand so that he can jump.  I swear the little guy has springs in his legs.

Anyway, I am happy to see him finally advancing in that area.  He has been fighting it for a long time, but he seems to be enjoying it a little more now.

So I took Beth to dance class yesterday and she would not go in.  She curled up in a ball outside of the class.  I picked her up several times and took her in, only to turn around when I was out and discover that she was right on my heels.

Then I had one of the other moms take her in, since she will often times do something for others that she will not do for me.  She had the same problem...Beth came right back out after her.  Her teacher even tried to coax her into the classroom.  Bethany pretended to be asleep at that point.

I was still convinced that she would love the class once she got over her initial fear so I placed her inside the classroom and closed the door and prayed that there would be no crying.

She held the teachers hand for the first 5 minutes of the class, but then she was off and running on her own.  She LOVED it!

Tonight when I was snuggling her before she went to bed she thanked me for taking her to dance class and for making her go in.  She said that she is so glad that she went and told me that when we go next week she will go right in the classroom all by herself.

 

Well, Beth has now gone from sleeping in her dance clothes to not wanted to go to dance class.  When we went last week, she just stood there while all of the other kids danced around.  I'm sure this is fairly normal since they have all done dance before.  Bethy was also the youngest one there.  She looked so little out on the dance floor with the other kids.  Her teacher was so cute and sweet with her and she is confident that Bethany will warm up and be ok after a while.  I am pretty sure that she will be also.  It is typical Bethy style to test the waters and be a little shy at first, but when she warms up...watch out! 

Anyway, dance class is tomorrow again.  I have debated back and forth about whether I should make her go even if she says that she doesn't want to.  After much deliberation, I've decided to take her anyway.  I am pretty sure that she will like it once she gets warmed up to everyone.  I think that she just needs a little push in the beginning.  If she still says that she doesn't want to go in a month or so, then we will drop it.  Let's cross our fingers that everything goes ok tomorrow!

Today was a very bad day healthwise for me.  The fatigue was particularly bad and has been for the last couple of days.  I have been very discouraged watching the laundry and the dishes pile up.  The cupboards are practically bare since I've been too tired to make it to the store and it seems like the day to day duties of bathing, feeding, and wathcing after the kids is almost more than I can handle.

I took a shower this morning in hopes to make it to the grocery store at some point today.  I got out of the shower and realized that I barely even had the energy to get dressed.  I guess all the stress just built up in my because I just started to cry uncontrollably.  I sat down on the floor and was sobbing.

 It was then that Bethany came into my room and saw me crying on the floor.  She immediately became concerned and asked what was wrong with me.  I told her that I was just tired.  The conversation then went something like this...

Bethany: "Oh mommy, it's ok.  I am here.  You will be ok".  (As she wrapped her arms around me and held on tight to me)  "We need to get you up to Grandma's so that you can have a nap there.  Come on mommy.  Get up...I'll help you get dressed.  Everything will be ok once we get you to Grandma's.  If you can just sit next to me in the car, I can drive you to Grandma's house.  I'll just use your keys".

She then came in the closet with me to find some clothes to wear.  The whole time she was telling me that she is my very best friend and that she will tuck me into bed when we get to Grandma's house.

A few minutes later she said, "Mom, if you can just make it long enough to walk to the car, I can drive you to Grandma's and you can sleep in the car".

 Well, I finally got dressed and got the kids ready to go.  I thought that I would still try to get the grocery shopping done, but that I'd leave the kids with my mom while I did, so I wouldn't have to struggle with them at the store.

When I got the kids in the car I thought that I would humor Beth and see what she would do if she thought I was actually going to let her drive the car.  She climbed into the driver's seat and asked me if I'd buckle her seat belt for her.  I buckled her in and got in on the passenger side.  She instructed me to get my seat belt on.  Then after I did that, she put the keys in the ignition and said, "Ok.  Now how do I get it started"?  (As if I was actually going to tell her how to start the car).

Anyway, I asked her if her feet could reach the pedals.  She said no.  Then I asked her if she could see out the windshield.  She said no.  Then I asked her if she thought that maybe I should drive.  She said no, that she could figure out a way of doing it.  I said, "Ok.  Let me know when you've figured something out".  We sat there for about a minute and then she said, "Maybe you should drive, mommy".  I said ok and told her that I appreciated her willingness to help me anyway.

She can be such a little tender heart, especially if she knows that someone is not feeling well.

Since Bethany loves to dance, we thought that we might sign her up for a dance class.  I found a creative arts center that has a good dance program and they let you come and try out a class before you sign up.  So, that is what we are going to do.  The class is tomorrow, so I have been talking a lot about it with Beth to get her excited.  She keeps telling me that she doesn't want to go.  When I ask her why, she says that she is too little.  I think that she will be excited about it once she gets there.  I got her some dance clothes today in hopes that she will be a little more excited. 

Well, it worked because once she had the clothes she was more willing to try the class.  It was the shoes that did it.  For some reason she is thrilled about the dance shoes.   After we got the clothes, she wanted to go to the class right away.  The dance studio was on the way home, so I drove her by it.  There was a dance class going on and we could see it through the window.  She was riveted.  When I started backing the car out of the parking lot, she started crying and insisted that we go in.  She didn't seem to care that the kids in the class were at least 6 or 7 years older than she.  She wanted to go in and join the class right then and there.

Then, when we put her to bed tonight I asked her if she was excited for dance class tomorrow.  She said yes and then she asked if she could have her dance clothes to sleep with in her bed.  I got them for her and put them in her bed and then I left.  A little while later she came out of her room and asked for some cough medicine.  She often finds anything she can to ask for so that she can stall going to bed.  I told her that she didn't need cough medicine because she didn't have a cough.  She insisted that she did have a cough and was just "holding it in her mouth" as she put it.

 Anyway, after I talked her out of the cough medicine, I started helping her back into bed and I noticed that she was wearing the dance shoes.  I told her that she would probably be more comfortable without them, but she insisted on wearing them to bed.  So, I again left her and went downstairs.  A little while later, actually it was quite a bit later, I heard her come out of her room.  I went to the bottom of the stairs and looked up and there she was wearing her dance tights on OVER her pajama bottoms.  It looked hilarious and I'm sure it took her quite some time to get them on by herself.  They are pretty tight and I'm sure she had to work pretty hard to get them on over her p.j.'s. 

 I was able to talk her out of wearing the tights to bed.  She still insisted on the shoes though.  She didn't come out of her room again, but I did hear her making quite a bit of noise in her room before she finally went to bed.  I'll be pretty interested to see what she is wearing when she gets up in the morning!

Lately Bethany has taken to using some slang phrases she hears from her parents and in other places. One of these is prefacing her quoting herself or others with the word "like," as in "And I was like, 'Hey! What are you doing?!'" or "And then she was like, 'Stop doing that!'"

One other thing I have done a bit lately (and need to quit) is refer to Catherine as "lady" - this is done in a joking manner, using a phrase similar to "Look lady, what do you want for dinner?" Bethany has unfortunately borrowed this practice on occasion as well.

So, tonight during our nightly snuggle-before-she-goes-to-bed chat session, she said something to me about eating food and being fed too much and used the phrase, "I was like, seriously lady."

She said some other funny things today too - Catherine and Bethany were in the kitchen and Bethany was giving some attitude, and all of a sudden Bethany said "I'm not in a mood - seriously!"

We have been emphasizing to Bethany the reason that we celebrate Christmas.  We have been telling her that we are celebrating the birth of Jesus.  This morning I asked Bethy if she was getting excited for Christmas and she enthusiastically exclaimed "YES".  I asked her what she was most excited about and she said that she is excited to open presents and have birthday cake.  She is literally planning a birthday party for Jesus with cake, candles, and ice cream.  Hmmm, I'm not sure I can get a cake big enough to hold 2,007 candles.

Bethany has a little friend in the neighborhood named Sierra.  They are best little buddies.  They were born six days apart, they are in the same nursery class at church, and they will probably be in the same preschool class next fall. 

 Anyway, today Sierra was at our house playing with Bethany.  I was folding laundry and cleaning bathrooms while they were playing in the toy room and just generally being mischievous together.  I enjoyed listening to the type of conversation that takes place between two year olds when they don't know that an adult is listening.

Sierra wanted to put on some of Bethany's dresses.  Changing clothes seems to be one of Sierra's favorite activities.  Usually I let them dress up in "spin around" dresses, as Bethany likes to call them.  However, today I had just finished the laundry and was trying to get the house clean for Christmas, so I didn't want the extra mess of a dozen dresses strewn about.  Anyway, I told Sierra "no" and went back to my cleaning.  Bethany came into my room to inform me that Sierra was quite upset with me.

Her exact words were, "Mom, Sierra is not happy with you AT ALL".  Imagine that...an upset two year old...how odd.

Last time Sierra was over here she was upset with me because we didn't have any treats to eat.  I scoured the house and could not find a treat, so finally I found some chocolate chips for them to eat.  I promised her that next time she came I would have some treats for her.  When I found out that she was coming over today I decided that I had better make some treats.

So, I quickly whipped up some chocolate chip cookies.  Only these were healthy chocolate chip cookies, or about as healthy as chocolate chip cookies can get.  They were made with whole wheat, oats, zucchini, and banana.  They were pretty good if I don't say so myself.  Bethany loved them and scarfed them down.  Sierra very politely praised the cookie, telling me that it was the best cookie she had ever had.  However, she only took one tiny nibble.  After staring at the cookie for 5 minutes, praising me the whole time about the yummy cookie, she finally said that she was done eating.  Poor kid.  She was looking forward to the treat I promised her and the healthy cookie must have been such a disappointment.  She was still so cute though, and never once said that she didn't like the cookie.