Pee-Pee Dance

This morning Norah came into the bathroom, saw Adlani on the big potty and started pointing to her bum and saying "poo-poo, poo-poo". I asked her if she wanted to sit on the little potty and she nodded yes, so I took off her diaper, told her to sit down, and left the bathroom. She has shown a little interest in the potty before, but mostly she puts the removable part on her head and walks around saying "hat, hat, hat". A few minutes later I went back to the bathroom and the potty was full of pee!!! Even after the pee-pee dance she was still acting suspicious so I asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty some more. She nodded yes, so I told her to sit and I went to get Adlani dressed. A few minutes later I heard her saying "uck, uck, uck" and Aliya ran into the bathroom and found that she had pooped in the potty too!!!
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For all of you skeptics out there...she peed in the potty again tonight! Aliya was 21 months old when we potty trained her...Norah is only 18 months old! If you don't understand my excitement, you obviously don't have kids, or had them so long ago you have no recollection of this stage in their development.
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Caution: If you are poop-averse, don't watch the videos below!
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Puppies!!

For all of you Annie-lovers, the breeder I bought Annie from has brand new puppies available!
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http://www.rocking2r.com/Miniature%20Aussies%20pg%204.htm
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Heat, Eat, Review

If you ever find yourself in the freezer aisle of Trader Joe's wondering whether to go with the Trader Jose's Chicken Burrito Bowl or the Trader Giotto's Gnocchi al Gorgonzola, this blog is a great resource: http://heateatreview.com/

By the way, did you know that Trader Joe's will take back anything you don't like for a full refund?! Don't try that at Target!.
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Pathways

There was an article in the Metrowest Daily News today about the Pathways Family Shelter (beneficiaries of our holiday gift drive):
Click here to read it.

Hippity Hoppity, Easter's On Its Way...

Isabel came over today for the 2nd Annual Egg-Coloring Event and viewing of Aliya's *new* bedroom. Norah was enamored with Baby Billy, and Adlani is claiming that Isabel is one of his girlfriends. He said that he likes tall women. Isabel's response was, "I am NOT marrying that kid." We'll see how that plays out. Although Norah is "an older woman" in comparison to Baby Billy, he's about to take the lead on weight! They both weigh 26 pounds!! Kelli and I had a few minutes to chat amidst the chaos...I realized after they left that it probably wasn't a great idea to have chicken pot pie for lunch on Good Friday! Sorry Kelli! I'm not Catholic!

2008

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2007

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She Really Talks! Really!!

I fired up the blog because there was something bugging me but then my brain betrayed me again and I forgot what it was. So annoying!!! I just remembered...

Anybody who knows me has heard the story (probably several times) about how Aliya had an extremely advanced vocabulary and her pediatrician never believed me because she always cried when we were at his office. Well. Norah's 18-month appointment was yesterday. Her vocabulary is advanced as well, and as I told the doctor, she is actually putting small sentences together. It took Aliya a while to do that. Norah is saying about 100 words (that we understand and about 500 that we don't), and phrases, like "Here you go Mommy", "Bye-bye Aliya," and "Daddy...Where ARE you?" The kid talks CONSTANTLY, and I have witnesses.

So I proudly tell the doctor about her verbal ability, with examples, and this is what he says to me: "Well, the next step is for her to start using words on her own, rather than just repeating what you say." WHAT?! She IS using words to communicate HER wants/needs. She says "more" when she wants more food, "all done" when she's done eating, "up" when she wants to be picked up, "ow" when something hurts, "dirty" or "uck" when something's dirty or ucky, "shhh" when Annie won't shut up, "cup" when she wants a drink, and "banana" when she wants a frickin' banana! She's not a parrot!

I really like her doctor but this is a hot-button issue that bugs me. The other disagreement we've had was when the hearing specialist wanted Norah to have tubes surgically installed in her ears and I chose instead to take her to a chiropractor to see if he could help clear the fluid. After 3 or 4 visits her ears were miraculously clear and her doctor said that it was probably just a coincidence. Whatever.

Update: I took Norah to the Dr. today for possible conjunctivitis. While I was talking to the Dr., she fell off the scale and yelled "Whoa!" and pointed to the poster on the wall and excitedly said, "Apple!". When he asked her questions she responded with "yes", and "no", and when he looked in her ear and then said, "This one looks good," she said, "Thank you." Too bad she isn't capable of using her own words.
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Good News / Bad News

I can't watch the news. Just like I can't watch TV shows or movies about bad stuff because I start to worry that it might happen to me - I avoid the news for the same reason. If I spend all of my time obsessing about global warming, bird flu, the sad state of our government, world hunger, the imminent recession, and why Brittney went out in short-shorts and no bra, I won't get anything done. I don't want to be ignorant, but I really think the media constantly reports the bad news to get us all whipped into a frenzy. Have you ever tried to buy bread, milk, or eggs, when there's a snowstorm in the forecast? With the amount of food stored in my pantry, we could survive for an entire winter! Why does the Stormcenter5 logo and sound effect inspire me to immediately jump in the car and head to Stop & Shop?!

So I decided to find a source for some good news. There are actually sites that specialize in good news!!

http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/
http://www.happynews.com/ .

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Another interesting source for news is http://nuttynuttynews.blogspot.com/. It's not all good news but you will find headlines there like:

~ Beautiful Girl: Camel Beauty Pageants Become Popular Pastime
~ Drunkorexia: Women Are Increasingly Skipping Meals To Save The Calories For Booze
~ Burger Joint Adds Spitzer Burger to Menu
~ Boy Says Teacher Forced Him to Urinate In Lunchbox While Everyone Watched
~ California Student Stops Out-Of-Control Bus, Gets Detention For Skipping Class
~ Armed With Ham - Restaurant Owner Fights Off Meat Thief
~ Top 10 Interview Mistakes - Answer the Phone? Sniff Armpits?

Or this lucrative story which you may have missed...

PTA Raffle Rigged, Woman Charged With Cheating

(Northfield Center Township) - When you win a lot, people will wonder if you cheated. In this case, police say she did.

Summit County Sheriff's Deputies arrested 31-year-old April Nellie of Beechwood Dr. Thursday night for cheating during a school fundraiser. During a January Parent Teacher Association (PTA) event at Northfield Elementary School, Nellie was in charge of a reverse raffle. Nellie was responsible for maintaining control of the raffle tickets prior to the drawing on January 25. After Nellie’s name was called and she had won six baskets during the raffle, folks got suspicious. Deputy Roger Morgan investigated and determined Nellie bought an additional 1,943 tickets from a local party favor store, wrote her name and some others on them and then added the tickets to the other legitimate raffle stubs. The value of the baskets she won was $2,450. Nellie was booked into the Summit County Jail for cheating, a felony of the 5th degree.
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Update: Here's another good site for off-beat news (thanks Johnny!) - http://www.7dvt.com/2008/news-quirks-9

Move that Bus!!!

It has been a long and messy couple of weeks, but after an incredible amount of help from Grampa B and Grandma Ginny, we finally finished Aliya's room and the two new closets for Aliya and Adlani. We had the big reveal last night and Aliya was blown away. At bedtime when I said, "I'm glad you like your room," she said, "I don't LIKE it...I LOVE it!!!" She said it made her feel like a big girl. That's not surprising considering that she still had her Noah's Ark nursery wallpaper. One of her comments was, "I don't know how I'm ever going to thank you guys." She's such a mini-adult. The closets are a huge improvement over the 15" closets that couldn't hold a standard hanger. Aliya also ended up with a shoe cubby that holds about 24 pairs of shoes, and lots of dresser drawers for clothes, art supplies, etc. I'm hoping with a nice fresh start she will be inspired to keep it clean and clutter-free. If anyone likes the colors we have a leftover gallon of paint in each color.








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Biannual Torture Session

It's time, once again, for the biannual trip holiday trip to Portrait Simple. The bunny pics didn't come out as well as they have in the past, but we got some good non-bunny shots. When the photographer sat down with me to review the pictures she said, "The group shots are a little hectic, but hey, that's life, right?" Right.

Check them out here: http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?r=1&e=3628821

Click "continue" (not "login") and you may need to type the last 4 digits of our phone number - 0558.

















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Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore"

This weekend we were working on Aliya's room and we suddenly heard what sounded like a zillion crows outside raising hell. They were going absolutely nuts. It turned out that our neighbors' cat killed a crow and the rest of the "murder" of crows (that gives me the willies but that's what a group of crows is called) was freaking out. It was really interesting. Since we're city dwellers, we've got to get those nature lessons in whenever we can.
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Mardi Gras!

We went to a great event at Aliya's school, which included a multicultural potluck dinner and a jazz concert. Fun for the whole family!




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Picnic Lunch

I can feel spring coming! Hurry up dammit!!


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Last Lecture

This video will make you want to be a better person and remind you to appreciate what (who) you have. Get some tissues.
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Laughing Babies

None of these are my babies but they're good for a laugh. Be careful, they're contagious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_mBLWpdwnI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXXm696UbKY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG5rQ3D_Zrw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCDqqfUfJPo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P6UU6m3cqk&feature=related
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100th Day of School

Here is Aliya modeling the vest she made for the 100th day of school.
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Makeup!!!

I won't *out* her on the blog, but a special someone in our lives gave us the stash of makeup that she had in her junk drawer of cosmetics. Almost all of these were used once!! Aliya and I picked out a quart-sized bag full which will probably be a lifetime supply of makeup for me, and Rachael is anxiously awaiting the rest. Thank you special someone!!

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Boston Globe

Aliya's school created a video with some classroom footage and parent interviews to use during the Two-Way presentations and school tours. They interviewed me for the video and asked if I would be willing to talk to a reporter from the Boston Globe who was doing a story about the video. Aliya was very impressed that they spelled her name right.
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Demolition!!

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Work has begun on Aliya's new room! Yippee!!

Amazing Accident!!!

This accident in Utah is unbelievable. The truck went through the concrete barrier (where the people are standing on the right side of the picture), flipped over the culvert, and landed on a 25-foot wide strip of land, 1 foot away from the edge of a 200-foot high cliff. I bet the driver had to change his Underoos after that one!








































http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/06/utah.crash/index.html
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Revolving Door

We've had lots of visitors in the last couple of weeks. First, my brother Elijah and his girlfriend Kristin came from Tennessee for 4 days and promptly got roped into doing the morning drop-off route for me (much harder than it sounds). The third day was a snow day so they got to spend LOTS of extra time with the kids. Last week Elijah called with the news that the day after they arrived back home, he proposed!!! I can't believe my baby brother is getting married!

The next arrival was Ben's Aunt Aiesha who unexpectedly got a visa to come visit from Morocco. Aiesha stayed with us for a few days and was so bored that she wanted to go back to Ben's sister's house so she could do some work (cleaning, etc.). While she was with us we took her to the N.E. Aquarium where we had this photo op.

Another surprise arrival was Amine, the son of some friends from Morocco. He was on break from college in Quebec, so he decided to come visit us. Hopefully he wasn't expecting a week of peace.

Our next visitors will be Grandma Ginny and Grampa B, who are coming this week to help us work on Aliya's room.
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They're Playing Her Song!

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Norah's nickname is "No-No", mostly because she's such a little maniac so we're constantly telling her "NO!". It's fitting that her favorite song (Black Horse in a Cherry Tree) has a lot of "No's" in it. A couple of weeks ago we were at Joe's American Bar & Grill and I was feeding Norah some of my ziti. When she got sick of eating it, she stuck half a piece of ziti on her finger and started waving it back and forth and singing "No no...no, no no no..." It was so cute!

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Our other favorite activity at Joe's is to wear the napkins.

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findaFLUshot.com

The 3 rules I try to live by are:

~ Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
~ A stitch in time saves nine.
~ A place for everything and everything in its place.

I absolutely HATE it when I don't follow these rules and it results in wasted time or money. I'm usually very susceptible to suggestion, so when Helga mentioned the website findaflushot.com, I would normally go right to the site, find a place and time to get a flu shot, and then follow through and get one.

Well, getting a flu shot was a task that fell through the cracks (kinda like getting an IUD, which was on my list until the opportunity passed and Surprise Baby Norah came along). Ben was struck by the flu about a month ago and he took to his bed for 4 days. He said it was the worst he had ever felt. For the first couple of days I thought he was just being a crybaby, but a couple of weeks later I got it. I seriously felt like I was dying. In addition to the fever and respiratory symptoms, the headache and body aches were unbearable. I was SO tired but I had a hard time staying asleep because of the pain. I resorted to using my Hypnobabies (self-hypnosis for childbirth) techniques and that helped a little.

To make matters worse, it was school vacation week so I had to make sure the kids didn't wander off or burn the house down while I was passed out. It was 4 days of hell, then about 3 days of recovery, and a full week to dig out from under the pile. Through it all, the kids were fine...they all had flu shots. Next year, I will too!!!
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