Sleep, sweet sleep

Truong was on a business trip last night and while it sucks, it's also OK since I've got the timing of putting the kids down to a well orchestrated science. By 11:30pm, I got myself to bed. I always have a hard time settling down when Truong's gone but I was feeling pretty sleepy by then.

12:01am - Malia starts crying. She always cry around this time. I don't know why. Half the time her eyes are closed but she continues to cry and cry. Sometimes she can settle herself but not tonight. I barely got any sleep so I feel very sluggish as I drag myself out of bed to get her. Plus usually Truong gets her for me. I bring her into bed with me to nurse and she falls asleep. Now I can't sleep because I'm pretty tired and I'm scared that I'll sleep too hard to realize when/if she walks off the bed.

12:20am - I can't take the worrying anymore and I bring her back to her crib. She's in a dead sleep so I hope she stays asleep in the transfer. This of course doesn't happen and she wakes up screaming bloody murder as I close the door to her room. Luckily she settles down after a minute or so and falls asleep. Ahh - finally, sleep sweet sleep.

2:00am - "MOM! PEE!!" This I hear from the monitor in Kael's room. Ugh - while I'm thinking evil thoughts for yet again being woken up, I'm happy that he's at least telling me that he has to go rather than going in his pull-up. He tends to lay in bed and waits for me to get him so if I don't get him in time when he wakes up, I miss the opportunity to have him use the potty and wake up dry. So this is good. It would have been better if it wasn't at 2:00am but I can't complain. I run to his room and hustle him out of bed to the bathroom. We go back to bed and I tuck him in. I made the mistake of putting Mikah next to him when it should have been Baby Jaguar. He tells me the proper order of animals that should be in bed next to him and I realize that he's pretty lucid for 2:00am in the morning. I quickly tuck him in, kiss him g'night and run out of his room in fear that he's waking up. As I'm doing all this, I'm telling him "Please go back to sleep. Please go back to sleep." However, I can't tell if I'm telling him "PLEASE, go back to sleep" or if I'm praying "pleasegobacktosleep, pleasegobacktosleep." Doesn't matter. It's 2-friggin-o'clock in the morning. Back to bed - ahh, sleep sweet sleep.

6:00am - I hear voices. Strange voices telling me about traffic. It's Truong's damn alarm clock. I can't believe he left it on! ARGH!! I don't know how to turn it off so I push all the stupid buttons. I manage to dim the numbers and turn on the CD before the radio gets turned off. I settle myself back down. Then I think "what if I just pushed the snooze button and it'll turn back on in 10 minutes?" So I get up again and actually read the buttons this time to properly turn off the alarm. Back to bed - ahh, sleep sweet sleep.

6:07am - I hear noises from Malia's room. DAMMIT DOESN'T ANYONE SLEEP AROUND HERE ANY MORE?? I angrily slap on the video monitor and there she is: awake, walking around her crib and playing. I'm too tired to care. I turn off the monitor and try to go back to sleep. In the meantime, I can hear Malia chatting to herself, playing with the music toys and opening/closing her shutters.

6:20am - She's getting louder, calling me. She actually doesn't say "MAMA," she says something else that I can't quite pronounce but I understand her tone to mean "mama." She's not mad or crying, just yelling it, knowing that I'm next door. So I get up and bring her into bed with me to nurse in the hopes that she'll fall asleep.

6:40am - Not dice. She's totally awake despite nursing on both sides. She's mobile, crawling all over me. I try to doze with one hand clutched to her onesie to prevent her from falling over the edge. She starts to play the nose game with me (points to her nose, says "nose!" then points to my nose and says "nose!"). I'm not as animated as I usually am so she starts playing harder, jabbing her finger UP my nose rather than AT my nose. I quickly stop the game before I end up with a bloody nose. Then she scoots onto my belly and does the horsey-ride bounce. Cool - this I can do with my eyes closed so I start bouncing. Until she launches herself off sideways and comes within inches of the floor. It's this moment that I decide having a mattress on the floor would be a good idea. She can crawl where she wants at will, I won't have to worry about a broken neck, and I'll be able to catch more sleep. I'll have to discuss this further with Truong when he returns.

6:55am - I put her on the ground to wander around, after closing my bedroom door to keep her in the room with me. My eyes are closed, but my head is hanging over the edge of the bed - this is my way of sort of keeping an eye on her. I forgot to close the bathroom door and she walks out clutching toilet paper, making a banner from the bathroom all the way to my bed. I'm past the point of caring. Then she wanders to the bathtub and turns on the water. The granola guilt in me propels me out of bed to turn off the water and I figure, what the hell I might as well get up.

So that was my morning. Malia went down for her nap at 8:25am and Kael finally woke up at 8:30am. I'm staring at my pot of coffee, willing it to boil faster, working on the laptop as Kael's eating his oatmeal. I'd have gladly paid someone $20 to run to Starbuck's to get me a cup of java but alas, it's just me.

Let's play the QUIET game

There is an upper limit to how much chatter one can stand in a day. I remember when I worked in an office that I would get "talked out" after work and welcomed coming home to a couple of dogs whose worst offense was sticking their noses up my crotch.

Yesterday, I thought being an "experienced" parent to two kids would prepare for me anything and everything. Today, I'm acutely aware that nothing can help me build an immunity to the non-stop chatter hound that is my son.

Oh. My. Gosh. This kid never - NEVER - stops talking. It's driving me crazy. If he was talking to himself, having a soliloquy, a monologue that requires simple head nods I'd be OK with it. But no. He wants a dialogue, a conversation, a discourse with me. Don't get me wrong. I love talking to Kael. I really do. I don't want you to think what a horrible mom I am for not wanting to verbally interact with my son.

It's just really hard to focus and keep a running thread on a conversation that makes no sense. No sense. At all. I guess you can say he's being philosophical and questioning the whys and hows of how the world turns... but honestly, I really don't know why his toy plane is painted black beyond perhaps that's the color paint they had at the toy factory at that time. I don't know why they picked black for this jet and blue for the other. Maybe they ran out of black paint and had to go buy blue? Why are the stripes white? Gee whiz, maybe because they liked white stripes and you can see it better. Oh, the other stripes are blue? Maybe blue stripes looked better on the blue plane. I don't know why blue stripes doesn't look good on a black plane. Yes, I agree - you should have both white and blue stripes on your plane when you grow up. Will having both white and blue stripes make you fly faster? Sure, why not? Oh, the other plane has red stripes too? Why does it have red stripes? Why do YOU think it has red stripes? No, I don't think the red stripes make it crash harder. I like the red stripes. I think it makes the jet look faster. Yes, I know Daddy drives super fast. Why doesn't he have red stripes on his car? I don't know Kael, I really don't know. Why don't we ask DADDY??

Do you see where this conversation is going?? NOWHERE!!

This is when I plead with him to play the Leapster. Read a book. Play the Quiet Game. Tease Malia. Anything!! Just please give me 5 minutes of utter quiet so I can gather my thoughts and go on auto-pilot. My brain cells need time to recharge and it's turning into mush from the constant bombardment of chatter.

Don't even get me started on our conversation about whether or not ladybugs, cockroaches and spiders get along.

The Beast Within

Malia is almost 15 months old and she's already perfecting the diva attitude. She was on a warpath today - like a mini Mack truck, racing downhill with no brakes.

Incident #1
We're at Gymboree enjoying the music, the bubbles, the parachute, the toys...

The toys! Malia was playing with a toy then she picked up toy#2. She gave me toy #2 to hold and walked away. I wasn't aware that I was to hold #2 forever. A little boy crawled over and reached for #2 and I gave it to him. How could I resist those big blue eyes? Malia came running back, saying her favorite phrase: "nonononono" and then she tried to snatch the toy back. When she couldn't reach it, she tried to hit him! Several times! I calmly redirected her hand while telling her it's OK to take turns. Sheesh. With Kael, I didn't have to deal with this until he was around 2 years old!

Incident #2
She woke up from her afternoon nap a little fiesty. Chatting and bouncing around in her crib. I picked her up and she hit my face. What the...?! I stared at her in shock and then she did it again. This time I took her hand and sternly told her "You don't hit mommy. You do not hit mommy." I didn't raise my voice, but I did look at her very seriously. She burst into tears and started sobbing like her world just ended. Can we say "Drama Queen"?

Incident #3
After dinner we went to Border's -- just because. The kids like going there to read books and Malia loves walking up and down the aisles. She was very particular about which books she wanted to read and wouldn't even let me open books that she didn't approve of. I thought we were going home with a Cookie Monster doll that she dragged around but luckily she dropped it somewhere in the board book aisle. Finally it was time to leave and I told her so. She looked at me then walked away, again saying her favorite phrase: "nonononono" but this time adding the head shake for emphasis. I picked her up as she tried to race away and she hit me AGAIN! I took her hand and said "You don't hit mommy." As expected, she didn't listen and hit me again. So I strapped her in the stroller and started to wheel out. I was waiting to hear some wailing as she always screams bloody murder when she gets strapped in after being free for some time. But not a peep. We get to the car and I take her out to put her in the car seat when she took another swing at me. This time, I lightly smacked her hand while saying "you don't hit mommy." The smack was to get her attention, not punitive in any way. She then started wailing as I put her in the car seat. Then she stopped. In fact, she was quiet the whole 10 minutes home. It was very odd. We get home and I go get her. We engaged in a bit of a staring contest when I loosened the straps and she didn't leap out of the seat as she usually does. After a few seconds of The Stare Down, she leaned out into my arms... and gave me a kiss. It was very sweet. She gave me another kiss and hugged my neck. I guess that was her way of saying "sorry."

It's funny (in a funny-scary kind of way) to see that she "gets it" already. I thought I had a few more months before having to deal with behavioral adjustments but I'm slowly learning that my kids are most definitely not alike at all. Malia is showing strong signs on being quite a handful. Already. And we're nowhere near the puberty years....

Where's a stripper post when you need one?

Today was HOT in the Hills. It reached 98 degrees and was kind of muggy which made it even worse. As such, Malia wore just a diaper and a diaper cover for her nap. She usually wears a onesie but we had been running errands and she felt pretty hot. We had some issues with Malia pulling her diaper off but I figured with the diaper cover on, she wouldn't be able to reach the velcro fasteners so we should be safe. I was hoping that she'd be nice and cool and that would pave the way for a nice, long nap.

Who was I kidding? She didn't nap at all. She goofed around, turned on all her toys in the crib, threw her pillow and then her blankie out of the crib (this took several attempts as she's not tall enough to completely clear the sides), opened and shut the shutters... she basically did everything and anything one can possibly do in a small, confined area except nap. After 20 minutes of her shenanigans, I stopped paying attention to the video monitor and went about my business. Another 20 minutes passed and I happened to glance at the monitor. I see her walking across her crib, holding something in her hands but couldn't figure out what it was. Mind you, the monitor image is black, white and shades of gray so it's near impossible to see any details. I look at little closer and then all of a sudden she swings the thing she's holding around her head like a stripper swinging her bra. Around and around it goes above her head. That's when I realize she's taken off her diaper cover. I look a little closer and then I realize she's taken off her diaper and she's butt naked in the crib!

Holy cow! I run into the room and spot the diaper on the floor where she flung it along with everything else in the crib. She's still got the diaper cover in her hands and she's happily swinging it above her head with a huge smile on her face. I make the move to try to take it away so I can reattach the diaper -- and she knows this -- so before I even reach her, she turns away from me with the cover clutched to her chest, saying "nononononono!" I don't know how long she was naked in the crib but luckily she didn't have an accident. By this time, I knew napping was wishful thinking so I took her out and headed to the mall.

"Where's Kael" is the question you're probably thinking. Well, let me tell you: Kael and Truong are camping at Pine Flat Lake near Fresno until Sunday. The boys packed up their tent and other manly stuff to rough it for the weekend and left this morning. It was really hard to watch them leave as Kael has never been away from me for more than one night. I was (still am) very nervous but Truong's a mature, responsible adult....

Truong's a responsible adult....

Truong's an adult who I know will take good care of my boy. Just kidding. Truong's a great parent and I know the boys will have a great time. Or as a great a time as one can have in 104 degrees weather on a lake near Fresno. Unfortunately, where they are at, there is no cell reception so I'll have to wait until Sunday to get trip updates. This is probably good for Truong as I called him three times on the way there and it's a 4 hour drive. I did have Kael take his camera to document the trip so we'll see what kind of pictures he comes home with. I have a feeling we're going to get a documentary on the rocks, sand, water and dirt near and around their campsite. I expect at least one "and here's my shadow" picture.

So back to the mall... there is a little water feature at the nearby mall that I let Malia play in. I full expected her to get soaked and she didn't disappoint me. I wasn't able to get too many pictures because she was too mobile, too fast and I couldn't take pictures and watch over her at the same time.

This is why I couldn't take a lot of pictures. She kept walking up the waterfall steps and I was afraid she was 1) going slip and crack open her head or 2) reach the top and fall into the basin.


MOM!! Look there's water here!! WOO HOO!!










Almost got sprayed in the face.













Direct hit. By this time, people were standing and watching her play. I could hear the gasps from the crowd as she got hit in the face and then the laughter when they saw how much she was enjoying it.


Malia playing with the big girls but not really getting the game.

Teething Hell

Malia is the slowest teether on this green planet. She goes for months of no teeth growth then one day I'll see huge teeth buds under her gums. And there they will sit: angry, red and swollen. Days pass into weeks, weeks pass into months... Jeez, after almost two months of agonizingly slow teething, bad attitude, not wanting to eat, and irrational behavior, I want to dig into her mouth and pull the suckers out myself.

Her top 4 came in within 2-3 days of each other and she was inconsolable. Now she's got the 2 top molars trying to push their way through and she's a wreck. Constantly gnawing on her fingers, can't decide what she wants to eat or do, wants something cold to chew on, no - hot, no - cold, no - hot!

Her naps are a mess (no real change there) and she's kind of mean to Kael. She doesn't like it when I cuddle him and will try to push him out of the way. Luckily Kael takes it in stride and loves to give her hugs and kisses. At least I like to think they are hugs he's giving her, on the ground, with his arms and legs wrapped tight around her....


Poor baby - up early from a nap due to to teething pain.























One of these days I'm going to find just stump
where her finger used to be.








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The Hair Guard


This would be great at keeping Malia from smearing food in her hair.