Sophie likes baths

A Moment

This morning after brushing my teeth, I discovered Sophie flat on her back in the living room while Emma held her hand and repeatedly crooned, "It's okay little sweetie, it's okay little lovie, it's okay." Apparently Sophie had fallen and bumped her head while I was in the bathroom, so Emma was trying to make her feel better. I immediately went to Sophie to make sure she was okay, but the expression on her face stopped me dead in my tracks. She wasn't crying, wasn't whimpering, wasn't smiling either - she was just completely, utterly focused on Emma with a look of pure, trusting, unadulterated love.

Their connection was so intimate that I actually felt like an intruder, so I just turned around and left the room. When I checked on them a few minutes later, Em was still holding Sophie's hand and their eyes remained fixed on one another. One of my favorite Em/Sophie moments ever.

Stuff

Yesterday in the grocery store as the wonderfully generous deli worker gave Emma a free slice of cheese (a kindness that Emma expects and enjoys during every single visit to Dominick's), Em told me that she wants to be "a cheese maker" when she grows up. Apparently all of Emma's future aspirations somehow revolve around food. Sometimes our similarities astound me.

In other news, Sophie has had a runny nose for two weeks, Em is having trouble with constipation and still needs her four-year-old immunizations, and I can't seem to shake my headaches or get more than four hours of sleep a night. So I finally broke down and called my doctor yesterday to see if she could get all of us in...and was told that she is currently on vacation. Until September 2. Yes, that's right - she is gone for the entire month of August. Now, I certainly do not begrudge anyone a vacation, and I've no doubt that she's earned it. However, when I asked her receptionist the next logical question - who is covering her while she is gone? - and was told that her partner will see emergency cases only, I began to get a little annoyed. Just what, I wondered, qualifies as an emergency? A cold? The flu? Profound blood loss? I was told an emergency is "anything that would require a trip to the ER." Um, okay. I gotta think that if something requires a trip to the emergency room then we would, in fact, go directly to the emergency room, but on the other hand I guess I kind of understood what she was saying. It's just so frustrating to need something and not have it be readily available, b/c of course the world should revolve around me, right? So I made an appointment for mid-September and hung up. And then I sulked for awhile about how much I miss our old doctor. Why oh why did he have to quit practicing medicine? At least when he went on vacation his partner would actually SEE me. Please come back Dr. Rube, come back!!!!

I need to get a gig that affords me an entire month of vacation. I guess I could be a teacher...or go to medical school. I shall look into these options.

Summer Weekends...

Another great weekend...beautiful weather and (thankfully) no travel! Unfortunately Chris battled a nasty cold all weekend, but he didn't let it slow him down much. Saturday Emma had her soccer game, and she actually got a couple good kicks in. I've no idea if her team won or lost (they don't keep a score count), but at least they made a few goals. Here she is looking very athletic-like in her fancy shin guards as she races for the ball.
Mommy, Daddy, Aunt Jayme and Sophie all cheered Emma on - although Sophie's idea of "cheering" is to lounge in the sun looking pretty. However, I must say she does it very well.
Today we went to a Schaumburg Flyers minor league baseball game. I don't know what the Flyers' record is or what any of their players' names are...in fact, until recently I didn't even know they existed. But I do know that they have $5 lawn seats and some yummy grub, and that's good enough for me. We met our friends Derek, Kris and Ella, and we all had a really good time. Here are Emma and Ella playing in the grass.
Remember that good eatin' I spoke of before? I wasn't the only one who appreciated it.
Emma even got to meet the Flyers' mascot...which is inexplicably a bear. Perhaps he's a flying bear? I don't really know. But he was a friendly bear that loved to give high fives, so Emma was happy.
Both girls crashed out on the car ride home, which is always the sign of a fun, full day. And another summer weekend bites the dust. I can't believe it's almost August - so much sunshine, so little time!

Friends 4-evah

Our friend Sam came to stay with us last night, and the kids had fun playing with Chris and generally goofing around.
I recently updated our photo albums, and I couldn't believe the difference between these two kids now vs. almost two years ago. Here's Em & Sam last night, and then vintage Em & Sam from Sept. 2006.

The other day Em asked me when we could "get a baby boy, like Sophie but a him." I told her that probably wasn't going to happen, but that she already had a baby boy in her life - her cousin Cadin. Then she piped up, "And Sam!" True, very true.

The wisdom of a four-year-old

On the way to school this morning, Em asked if today was Show and Tell Day because Daddy had told her it was. I said no, Show and Tell is on Tuesdays. Sighing, she replied in a resigned voice, "Yeah, Daddy gets confused sometimes, but we love him anyway."

Big Aspirations

Today in the car, totally unprompted, Emma announced: "When I grow up I want to be a lobster catcher, like the guy at the store who grabbed-ed up the lobsters out of the big tank." [Note: she is talking about the guy at Red Lobster.] Then she paused before adding, "Or I want to be a cooker and cook cheeseburgers and apple dippers and wear a crown."

Clearly, my daughter eats out way too much.

A weekend away

Another great summer getaway behind us. We headed to Indiana Friday, with Sophie screaming most of the way. The girls reveled in being with Grandma all night, and then Saturday we went to see the Lakefest parade. In the rain. Which continued all day long before clearing up in the late afternoon - long enough for us to check out the festival for a little bit. Saturday night I got to hang with my ICT friends for a few hours, playing games and making s'mores around the campfire, while Daddy & Grandma watched the girls. And Sunday the whole family hung out together at Grandpa's. We had a really nice time...and even though our preschooler decided on the way home to poor her melted ice cream all over the portable DVD player, it still goes down in the books as a good weekend.

Sophie & Chris at the parade - a bit wet

Callie & Emma checking out their candy haul at the parade

Sophie & Cadin

Emma & Callie on ponies at Lakefest

Sophie chillin' with Grandma

Sisters

In the last few months, Emma has proven herself to be an exemplary big sister. She picked out a book this morning and began reading to Sophie completely of her own accord. Em is very patient with Soph and rarely loses her temper with her. I realize this will most likely change at some point, but for now I just enjoy it. Seeing the two of them together makes me happy deep, deep down in my soul. I'm so grateful Chris and I were able to give each of them the gift of the other.

Prunes - hip hip Hooray!

Sophie has been trying many different foods lately, responding to each with slightly varying levels of mild appreciation. None seem to really get her motor running, but she hasn't refused to eat anything yet either.

However, today we entered new territory. Crazy lunges at the spoon, bouncing up and down, mouth left hanging open, desperate grunting between bites, and finally, the ultimate indicator - a five minute crying jag when the entire jar of food was gone.

Sophie, meet Prunes. Prunes, meet Sophie. Ah...love at first bite.

Emma on a Saturday...and other stuff

We had a wonderful, busy, active weekend with Grandma in town. And by "we," I mean Chris and I...my Mom barely left the house b/c she was stuck watching one or both of the kids most of the time, but hey - the important thing is, for a few days I actually got to do some adult things. The highlight was the totally ferocious play we saw at Chicago Shakes Friday night - and let me just tell you, for real, Funk It Up About Nothin' was da bomb and anyone in Chicago who is able to see it before it closes Aug. 3, you need to seriously go. Like, now. Go Get Tickets Now. Go on. You can read the rest of this lame blog entry anytime, what are you waiting for people...GO! Anyway, the weekend also consisted of WallE and Em's first soccer game (she lost by a score of like 4 gazillion to 1 or something, I'm not sure b/c I stopped counting after the other team hit their first gazillion, but who cares, she had fun) and nature walks and birthday parties and festivals and cotton candy and puppets and mini roller coasters and Denzel Washington...yeah, it was a nice weekend. But the most memorable part, of course, involved Emma and some covert activity.

So it's Saturday night, Chris is out with a friend, Sophie's asleep, and Mom and I have just put Em to bed. We settle in with our BW3 wings to watch The Great Debaters and enjoy ourselves a little Denzel. About a half hour into the movie, we both think we hear something. I get up to investigate, but Em's bedroom door is closed, lights off, sound machine on, so all seems well and I shrug it off. Fast forward another half hour, and we hear sounds again. This time when I get up, I see Em's bedroom door is open and the light is on. Steeling myself for a rumble, I push open the door and come face to face with the preschool version of Bette Davis in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. Emma has lipstick smeared all over her face, circling both eyebrows and blackening her mouth, and her eyes are all huge and blank because she's shocked to see me, so the entire effect makes her look like a drugged raccoon with a fat lip who's been drinking a ton of grape Kool-aid. It's kinda creepy, kinda funny, and way way way annoying. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or run screaming from the room. Ultimately, like the good and patient mother I am, I opted for total flip out. Turns out Em had gotten into my Mom's makeup bag and smeared everything all over her bed, her face, the bathroom, you name it. She even wasted an entire package of Kandoo (and that stuff is NOT cheap) trying to clean the mess up, which of course only made it worse. Once she recovered from the shock of discovery and registered how much trouble she was in based on how loud I was yelling, she immediately reverted into classic Emma defense mode - by which I mean she started crying at the top of her lungs. So she's sobbing and snivelling, I'm shouting and shaming and forcing her to apologize to Mom, Grandma's trying to comfort her granddaughter but also support her daughter but also bite her lip to keep from laughing, and Denzel is just sitting there on the TV, freeze-framed, judging us all with that superior, all-knowing, infuriatingly sexy look of his.

After Em was cleaned up and tucked in and threatened with the old "wait until I tell your FATHER" line and finally fast asleep, Mom and I came back into the living room, sat down, and had ourselves a really really really good laugh. How can kids drive you insane and bust your gut at the same time? I tell ya, The Great Debaters was a really good movie once we were finally able to finish it, but it had nothing on the evening's main entertainment. Can't wait to see what next Saturday brings.

Jen on a Thursday

I don't know if lack of sleep, early-onset dementia, or simple brain freezes are to blame, but I have had a crazy day.

• Entered the gym's nursery and started completing the sign-in sheet before I remembered that my kids were home with Grandma.
• Attempted to check out a book from the library with my Supercuts frequent user card.
• Took the on-ramp onto I-94 and then immediately exited again because I literally forgot to merge into traffic. In fact, I didn't even realize what I'd done until I hit the red light at the bottom of the off-ramp.
• Dropped a two-day-old dirty diaper on the conference table in the middle of a business meeting while digging through my bag for a pen.
• Tried to use my car's keyless entry to open the automatic door at the grocery store.
  

Flushed Away

Sample conversation in the bathroom tonight with Emma:

"A long time ago, Genevieve flushed Craig down into the potty and he went to stay in the city."
"Oh, really?" I replied. "And how did he get back home?"
"A millage* used a plunger and he punged and punged and punged and gotted him out," Emma answered. "Do you remember that?"
"Um...no," I said. "Why would Genevieve flush Craig down the toilet?"
"Um...um...um...," Em hedged, "because I just don't know!"

*plumber? I've no idea what this means

So Craig, if you are reading this...watch your back.

How Many Kisses?

Every night before bed, we ask Emma how many kisses she wants tonight. Then she asks us how many we want. Tonight I told her five, so she gave me five big kisses and then screamed, "Oh my, you are delicious!"

Watch Out, David Beckham!

Emma had her first soccer practice today. She went with Chris, and she was so excited when she got home that she literally leaped into my arms. Chris took lots of pictures for me because I was so sad that I couldn't be there. Goodness, can't we freeze them at this age? Before they absorb all the competitiveness and winning/losing stress? They are just so cute, and right now all they care about is that they get to kick a ball and have fun. Here is our little soccer dynamo in all her glory.

The first thing she told me when she got home was that she got to be the "macaroli" and catch the ball and then throw it back. It took a minute before I realized she meant that she was the goalie. Chris said that when she stopped her first score with her legs, she let out a big "Ow!" and looked ready to lose it, but then when she heard everyone cheering for her she threw her arms up in the air in victory. I think this picture must have been taken during the "Ow" stage.
She even had some war wounds, which she proudly showed off for the camera.
Her first game is next Saturday, and Chris, Sophie, Grandma and I will all be there to cheer her on. If you have nothing to do on Saturdays at 10am this summer, come on out to Peterson Park and join the Emma Bloom fan base. At the very least, it should be entertaining!