We've been working on teaching Claire cause and effect for awhile now. If you do this then you'll get this. When you (yadda yadda) then (something something).
I also find myself taking it to a new level by introducing hyperbole. More than just "If ... Then", it's become "If ... Then ... AND"! So "If you eat that rubber band, then you might choke" becomes "and we'll have to cut it out with scissors". Or "If you don't brush your teetch, then your teeth might turn brown" ... "and ants might come eat your teeth while you sleep at night!". Okay, okay, not exactly parent of the year material, but it gets her to do it!
I have not, however, introduced her to the fear of monsters and the dark, but it seems as though she's discovering the potential there all by herself. The other day, she said she was afraid of the monster in the dark, and I asked her who taught her about monsters in the dark (after telling her that we scared away any monsters that might be there) and she said, "Franklin". Yes, Franklin the turtle ... the one that's afraid of the dark but learned that he could take a flashlight into his dark shell so that he's not as afraid. Yeah, thanks, Franklin.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Spontaneous!
We did something pretty wild and kooky this weekend ... we went down to Austin. Well, okay, that wasn't the wild and kooky thing. What made it so crazy is that we did it so spontaneously. As in no planning. As in "hmm, we're leaving Evan's birthday party; want to go do now? Go to Austin? Sure!". Seriously.
All we had with us was a diaper bag (with three clean diapers apiece, thank goodness), Gavin's lunch, and ... well, I guess that's really it. We were already over in Watauga, so we simply jumped on 377, 820, and found ourselves on I-35W headed to Austin.
Claire was pooped from the party and immediately fell asleep. Gavin wasn't too happy the first few miles, but we stopped at a Starbucks parking lot to feed and change him, then I squished myself into the back between the kiddos and fed him his jar food before practically draping myself over him in the car seat to put him to sleep. Blissful silence. And even though both kids woke up before we made it to Austin, we didn't have to make any stops before getting to the Pees'!
Luckily, both the Pees (George, Christina, and James) and the Law/Lius (Dwo, Crystal, and Kirby) were in town and free to hang out.
Of course, not having actually packed anything, we needed to get our victuals once we got to Austin. After Claire and James played for a little while, we headed out for a group trip to Target. James and I were very pleasantly surprised with the very reasonable prices for clothing, although, $350 later, we wondered how in the world we spent so much! It wasn't just 2 days worth of clothes though: diapers, jar food, sippy cup, cereal, pjs, phone charger, phone cover (mine broke on the way down), makeup, toiletries ... just think about everything you normally pack for a weekend away and imagine having to buy it all.
I won't bother going into the details of the actual trip; I'll let the kids tell that part. :) I just wanted to make sure I made note of the pretty cool thing that we did.
Claire's account
Gavin' account
All we had with us was a diaper bag (with three clean diapers apiece, thank goodness), Gavin's lunch, and ... well, I guess that's really it. We were already over in Watauga, so we simply jumped on 377, 820, and found ourselves on I-35W headed to Austin.
Claire was pooped from the party and immediately fell asleep. Gavin wasn't too happy the first few miles, but we stopped at a Starbucks parking lot to feed and change him, then I squished myself into the back between the kiddos and fed him his jar food before practically draping myself over him in the car seat to put him to sleep. Blissful silence. And even though both kids woke up before we made it to Austin, we didn't have to make any stops before getting to the Pees'!
Luckily, both the Pees (George, Christina, and James) and the Law/Lius (Dwo, Crystal, and Kirby) were in town and free to hang out.
Of course, not having actually packed anything, we needed to get our victuals once we got to Austin. After Claire and James played for a little while, we headed out for a group trip to Target. James and I were very pleasantly surprised with the very reasonable prices for clothing, although, $350 later, we wondered how in the world we spent so much! It wasn't just 2 days worth of clothes though: diapers, jar food, sippy cup, cereal, pjs, phone charger, phone cover (mine broke on the way down), makeup, toiletries ... just think about everything you normally pack for a weekend away and imagine having to buy it all.
I won't bother going into the details of the actual trip; I'll let the kids tell that part. :) I just wanted to make sure I made note of the pretty cool thing that we did.
Claire's account
Gavin' account
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Officially Part-Timer
Well, as of today, I am officially a part-timer. No, not a short-timer (keep breathing, James!), but I won't be working a full 5-day / 40-hour work week anymore.
This is probably expected news to a lot of folks given my last blog posting before I went back to work. I actually approached Jeff back at the end of April, one month after I got back to work. In that month, I realized that I do still like my job, I do still like having some spending money, and the kids -- at least Claire -- do enjoy going to school. Just not 5 days a week worth. I felt as though my weekends were just a preparation to go back to work and that my already scarce time to spend with Claire had effectively been cut in half in order to also spend time with Gavin.
I think Claire feels it too; ever since I got back to work, she's been a lot more clingy and needing of my attention. I don't know if it's her (st)age, the fact that she's realizing Gavin's not going anywhere, or just the fact that I spend a lot less time with her now that I did before Gavin was born or while I was out on maternity. Maybe if I'm with her more, she'll be tired of me and want to be with Daddy again more.
I worked out my proposal -- 3 days a week with 2 in the office and 1 from home -- and presented it to Jeff who worked with HR to make it happen. As of yesterday, I am no longer a "regular employee" of Horizon Lines and am serving in a consultant/contractor role. My contract is through next year with the option to extend if this arrangement turns out to be beneficial to both sides.
I feel very blessed to have a husband and a boss that both support my decision. I know there is some trepidition from everyone involved, but the best thing we can do is try. And if it doesn't work out? Well, we'll cross that bridge if we come to it.
So look for me and the kids as we traverse the great city of Dallas (and beyond!). I can't wait to get into our next set of adventures ... and to start updating our blogs again!
P.S. No, I did not bill the time it took to write this. ;)
This is probably expected news to a lot of folks given my last blog posting before I went back to work. I actually approached Jeff back at the end of April, one month after I got back to work. In that month, I realized that I do still like my job, I do still like having some spending money, and the kids -- at least Claire -- do enjoy going to school. Just not 5 days a week worth. I felt as though my weekends were just a preparation to go back to work and that my already scarce time to spend with Claire had effectively been cut in half in order to also spend time with Gavin.
I think Claire feels it too; ever since I got back to work, she's been a lot more clingy and needing of my attention. I don't know if it's her (st)age, the fact that she's realizing Gavin's not going anywhere, or just the fact that I spend a lot less time with her now that I did before Gavin was born or while I was out on maternity. Maybe if I'm with her more, she'll be tired of me and want to be with Daddy again more.
I worked out my proposal -- 3 days a week with 2 in the office and 1 from home -- and presented it to Jeff who worked with HR to make it happen. As of yesterday, I am no longer a "regular employee" of Horizon Lines and am serving in a consultant/contractor role. My contract is through next year with the option to extend if this arrangement turns out to be beneficial to both sides.
I feel very blessed to have a husband and a boss that both support my decision. I know there is some trepidition from everyone involved, but the best thing we can do is try. And if it doesn't work out? Well, we'll cross that bridge if we come to it.
So look for me and the kids as we traverse the great city of Dallas (and beyond!). I can't wait to get into our next set of adventures ... and to start updating our blogs again!
P.S. No, I did not bill the time it took to write this. ;)
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