The Mathews Girls

Emma at Bedtime

Putting Em to bed tonight, I squeezed her tightly in a big hug as she giggled and writhed around. Finally she managed to gasp, "Um...excuse me, I'm not a pillow!"

Miss Manipulative, version 2.0

I just put Sophie down for a nap. She'd been quiet for about 10 minutes when I suddenly heard her yell quite clearly, "Help! Help! Help!" She often jabbers for awhile before falling asleep, but shouting a word repeatedly is unprecedented, so I quickly ran into the room to see if she was all right.

During the short trip from dining room to bedroom, my mind raced through many possible scenarios just waiting to be discovered upon opening her door. I thought maybe I'd find her wedged between the crib rails, or caught mid-straddle while trying to climb out of the crib, or possibly even tangled up in the mobile or stuck under the mattress. But when I rushed into the room, she was just standing in her crib, waiting for me. I smothered her with frantic hugs while demanding, "Are you all right? What are you doing, baby? You said 'help,' I thought you were hurt, you're supposed to be asleep!"

Finally I calmed down enough to notice that she was absolutely beaming at me, smiling from ear to ear. I stepped back to get a better look at her and she said, "Mama come, Mama come!" She was so pleased with herself, her entire body was shaking with pleasure.

As I stood dumbfounded, she proceeded to lay down and say, "Sophie sleep Mama. Sssh. Night night."

I had been dismissed. And completely, successfully and unequivocally played by my 20-month-old daughter.

Sophie seems to have picked up some tricks from her big sister on how to keep Mama on the run.

It is official now. Sophie is no longer on my team.

I am outnumbered. And outsmarted. And very, very frightened.

Miss Manipulative

Emma's tummy isn't feeling very good (her words) and she's still recovering from a fever, so I was very firm with her tonight about going to sleep right away, no nonsense. ("No nonsense" is my bedtime go-to phrase, which basically means, "No delay tactics of any kind or I will take away [insert specific threat here].")

Of course, as soon as I closed the door she started begging for "one more hug and kiss." After receiving no response from me, she opened the door and demanded, "Didn't you hear me?" As I'd threatened, I told her no gum tomorrow because she got up out of bed. Then I led her back into her room and told her if she did it again that I would take away all her snuggles. She started sobbing, "But I haven't seen you all day because I was at school, and I love you and miss you and I cried for you at naptime and said 'I miss my Mommy, I love my Mommy,' and now you are being rude to me when all I want to do is love you."

She got her extra hug and kiss. And yes, I'm well aware that I'm a sucker.

Bestest Friends

My Mom and niece just spent three days with us, and as usual, the time sped by way too fast. We hit the pool, beach, Kiddieland, etc. and had a wonderful time. Supercousins Callie and Emma were joined at the hip while Sophie followed them around, desperate to be included.

Apparently I'm off my camera game, b/c I only snapped two photos the entire weekend. However, they are probably my two favorite pics of Callie and Emma ever. In the first, I told the girls to strike a pose. In the second, I captured them candid. Better than words ever could, the shots illustrate perfectly the fabulous dynamic between these best friends. Once again, I feel so blessed that my daughter has a Callie in her life. Don't we all deserve one?

Homebound

Emma has a fever today, so we are stuck indoors. No gym. No playdate. No park. It's been a really long day so far...and it's currently 11:15am.

Dark Days

In the last month, Sophie has transformed herself from a sweet, clingy, relatively even-keeled baby into a whining, moody, stubborn toddler.

I keep telling myself it's just a phase. When she throws her food across the room, I tell myself that it will pass. When she bursts into tears because I have not refilled her cup fast enough, I remember she is cranky from teething. When she shrieks NO! over and over and over again, I recognize that she is just asserting her independence. When she opens her mouth wide and lets loose one of her ear-shattering screams, I encourage her to use her words instead.

But as all these things go on, an evil voice in the deepest part of me keeps shouting indignantly, "This is crap! Where is that other baby I used to adore? I don't LIKE this new crabby baby...I want the other one back!"

Sophie is not quite 20 months old. Technically, we aren't supposed to be in the "terrible twos" yet - although with Emma that phase lasted for about three years. I know patience is a virtue...blah blah blah, whatever. What I really want to know is - When Will This End?

Full Belly

Clearly, Sophie's some sort of prodigy. Does Mensa accept members this young? Must look into that.

Red-faced but proud

I just ran my first 5K. I crossed the finish line jogging strong and did not come in last, so my two modest goals for the race were met. Chris, Em and Soph were there to cheer me on, which felt really great. There were over 5,000 fabulous women running this morning, and I was proud to be among them. Another hurdle crossed...hooray! And now I am going to take a nap.

There's more than one way to toot a horn

While snuggling in bed with Emma tonight before lights out, I suddenly farted - really, really, REALLY loudly. Em and I looked at each other, eyes wide, and promptly burst into uncontrollable giggles. After many minutes of mutual hysteria, Emma finally calmed down enough to say, "Wow, that scared me! I thought it was a monster with a trumpet."

Cold Truth

Sample conversation at bedtime last night:

Em: "I'm cold."
Me: "Then get under the covers so you'll be warm."
Em: "No, I'm cold because I don't have any fur."
[Pause.]
Me: "Did you just say, 'I'm cold because I don't have any fur?'"
Em: "Yes, that is correct."
[Pause]
Em: "And also because the fan is blowing on me."
Me: "Well. Do you think, just maybe, the reason you're cold has more to do with too much fan/too little covers, and less to do with your current state of furlessness?"
Em: "Hmmm. That's a good point, Mommy."
[Long pause.]
Em: "Nope, I really think I'm cold because I don't have any fur."

Summer Days

Today was one of those really awesome summer days...a beautiful, sun-soaked gift from Mother Nature. Nothing about today was particularly special or momentous, but it was just nice to have a rare family day enjoying the weather and each other.

My day started early at the gym, while my wonderful husband fed, dressed and prepped the girls for Emma's soccer game. Once at the park, we discovered the other team was short some players...so we lent them a few of ours! This meant Emma had to play the whole game without a break. And I was so proud of her; she was engaged, focused, energetic. She even got in some good kicks. But after 45 minutes of running in the sun, she was done. She actually walked off the field mid-play with less than a minute to go in the game and announced, "I'm hot. We can go home now." (This is not unusual behavior from any of the kids. In fact, walking off during the game is just one example of the park district's rather informal approach to group sports. They don't use goalies or keep score or, like, teach technique or anything bothersome like that. Mostly they just try to get the kids to run and kick in the right direction. A successful game is one in which every child makes it to the end without puking, crying or leaving. I have yet to see a successful game.)

After lunch, the four of us headed to the pool. This was our first pool trip all summer, and we had a great time. Sophie stayed close to the parental units, either splashing away or walking complete circles around the pool with Daddy in close pursuit. Emma made an adorable new friend, also named Emma, who was absolutely fearless and led our Em to places she'd previously been too afraid to go. Our usually cautious eldest was actually jumping through huge sprinklers, diving into semi-deep water and plunging down water slides. And what, pray tell, is the perfect capper to a day at the pool? Ice cream, of course! We stopped on the way home - a promised treat to help soothe Em's frustration at having to leave the pool sooner than planned. I think she could have stayed until dark and been perfectly content, but when the youngest starts uttering "Night-night? Night-night!" completely unprompted, it's time to go.

Probably my favorite part of the day? Once home, the four of us indulged in simultaneous naps - long, deep, glorious naps, the kind of nap possible only after tons of time spent outdoors. Absolutely divine.

Tomorrow brings a typical go-go-go day of tag-team parenting at the Mathews house. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. But today? Today, Summer gathered me and my three favorite peeps into one huge, perfect bear hug and never let go. Hmmmmm...I LOVE summer.

Some Wednesday Emma Nuggets

Driving home from an audition, Emma wanted to know why I was changing lanes. I told her I needed to get over because we were exiting the highway. She kept repeating that new word to herself, enunciating every syllable: "ex-it-ing, ex-it-ing." As we reached the off ramp, she yelled, "Yeah-hoo! We're exercising the highway!"

One of our gym's angelic nursery workers, Tammy, staged a dance party for the kids while I was gasping for air in cycling class. When I arrived to pick up the girls, Em was barely able to contain herself. The energy hands were flying at warp speed as she shouted, "Mommy, I danced at Studio 4 [translation: 54], and we danced hopscotch [trans: hip hop] and dish coal [trans: disco] and the slide and the twicks [trans: twist] until all our wiggles were out of our body, except mine are STILL IN! Can you believe it? Tammy says I closed the place!"

I told Emma that her friend Esly's dad passed away this morning, so we should draw her a picture because she is very sad. Em was pretty freaked out by the news (death is a minor obsession lately), so I explained that Esly's father was very, very old - almost 100 years old - and that his body just stopped working. She sat quietly for a few seconds before whispering in awe, "Wow, he was almost 100 years old? That's even older than Daddy."

Our Fourth of July

We got back last night from a long, fun-filled weekend in our old stomping grounds...St. Louis.

Friday we went to the zoo with our friends Jim and Terese and their boys Jordan and Jace. It was very hot and very crowded, but we still had a great time. Emma spent most of the day following 9-year-old Jordan around. (I think there was a little crush going on there, just between you and me.) Sophie, on the other hand, only had eyes for the animals. She absolutely came alive at the zoo, making adorable animal noises at every creature she saw. Go figure. She's been to the Lincoln Park Zoo many times with little enthusiasm, so I don't know if it was the change of environment or heatstroke or what, but that day she was very animated. Her typical reaction upon spying a new animal was to "Meow" at them repeatedly while pointing and periodically shouting "an-mall, an-mall!" The monkeys were her favorite, and three days later she's still going around saying "ooh ooh ahh ahh" - most hilariously to some random stranger on the street this morning who apparently reminded her of an ape (and rightly so - he was a bit ape-like in appearance).

The rest of the weekend was spent with the girls' dear Gigi and Paw Paw, formerly known as Grandpa Greg and Grandma Connie. (After 5 years, we officially deemed the longer monikers too big a mouthful for the kiddies, so we opted to use Micah's nicknames for them instead. Problem solved!) We hung out with Greg & Con's granddaughter Jen and her aforementioned 4 year old son Micah, with whom Emma had much fun. The girls got to swim in the pool and go to the mall for all sorts of grand activities...rides, games, food, etc. But mostly, we all just enjoyed being together. Here are a few pics from our Fourth of July getaway. Happy belated Independence Day!

At the zoo...

The girl knows how to work a pose...

Noodle war!

Micah and Emma playing Twister with Gigi

The Mathews clan...

Going for a drive...

Emma (3rd from left) on some crazy rocket ride that she LOVED.

Em & Soph with Gigi & Paw Paw