Go-Go Mommy

Sweet Pea's Preschool Prep

So far, Sweet Pea has had a pretty easy time meeting and making friends.  And there's a good reason for that - since she was born, her big sister, Poppy, was always there to make the introduction.  Whether it was at the park, in the play zone at the mall, or wherever the two happened to see another kid who would instantly become the girls' new "best friend," Poppy was always there to take the lead.

A few weeks ago I realized that all of this was going to come to a screeching halt when Sweet Pea would walk into to her own classroom at her very first session of preschool.  So... we began the first of many practice sessions entitled "meeting new friends" and "asking new friends to play."  

I'm happy to report that the following unsolicited questions have been asked in the Go-Go Household about half a dozen times a day for the last week - I just hope Sweet Pea will not forget all this on her first day of preschool this week!

Sweet Pea:  "Hi Mommy, I'm Sweet Pea.  What's your name?"

or

Sweet Pea:  "Hi, my name's Sweet Pea.  Would you like to play outside?"

or

Sweet Pea:  "I'm Sweet Pea.  Would you like to play with me, Mommy?"

The Sweet Pea Update

Happily, I can report that little Sweet Pea is definitely coming into her own. At 21 months, she is pointing at everything saying "that", "that", and I have to sit there and name every single item in whatever room or place we happen to be in at the moment. I respond: "bed", "book", "blanket", "chair", "sofa"; well, you get the picture. Sometimes she'll say the word once. When she does, it usually comes out surprisingly clear but then it's not repeated - only once. And I treasure each of those softly spoken words like a rays of warm sunshine melting my heart.

Sweet Pea also loves to dance and is already insisting on dresses - just like her big sister, Poppy. She has even taken to picking out more shirts to wear even if she is already dressed! It doesn't matter, she will insist on adding another shirt. KB says she obviously prefers the "layered look" and would have fit perfectly into the 80's (coincidentally, our era).

The best thing now is just being able to talk to her and know that she basically understands what we ask or tell her. If we ask her to do something like "Sweet Pea, go pick up that crayon." She will gingerly walk to it, pick it up, and bring it right to us saying something like "ouhh" - maybe she means "here."

One last note for my memory book is the way Sweet Pea shakes her head for "yes" and "no." "No" seems to be the one they always master first, especially when you have a big sister that constantly loves to take every single item you pick up out of your hands. Hence the robust movement of "yes" is so cute, not only does her whole head bob up and down but she bends more at the shoulders than at the neck so it is almost like a little bow repeated over and over.

Kids - don't you just love 'em?!

The Happy Door Knocker

There are so many things I could blog about right now. For example, I could write about the fact that we are now homeless in California; or that the reason we find ourself so is that in the short span of 3 weeks we made the decision to put our home up for sale, prep it, hold an open house, receive offers, sign closing papers and physically move out; or that we are now on the hunt for what will (hopefully) be our home for the next 20 years.

As you can see all of this is great blogging material, but here's the thing. Despite all the changes and turmoil in our household right now, the cutest thing is happening: Sweet Pea is knocking on doors - literally.

Maybe it's the fact that over the last 2-3 weeks we've spent all of our free time touring model homes, visiting open houses, and living at an extended stay hotel - all of which have doors a plenty. Whatever the impetus, Sweet Pea has taken to running up to doors, knocking on them, and expecting to go right inside and explore new places.

It's cute when it's a model home and you know that there is no one home to disturb, but when we make the trek down our long hallway at the end of the day to reach our new living quarters and she heads for each door along the way, her little fist raised in the air ready to make as much noise as a 21 month old can muster, then... not so much

While it's a tiny milestone, it sure is a cute one! And who knows, one of these days she just may knock on the door to our next home!

I also write as JB on the Silicon Valley Mom's Blog.

Life Lately

Sometimes life comes at you hard and fast. It definitely feels that way in my life right now. The girls are doing well, KB is working harder than ever, and I am getting back to work. Not that I haven't been working beyond my expectations as a SAHM, but now I am even busier after the girls go to bed with a new project that will move me into the "WAHM" and "mompreneur" categories.

It is exciting to be so close to having something that will enable me to exercise my professional muscle again; to put my "thinking cap" back on and get back to a sense of business acumen. I will share more on this later, but in the meantime, I'd like to share my latest life moments that make giving up the "crazy rat race" in the first place so worthwhile.

Today I saw:
-Sweet Pea so beautiful and innocent at 19 months. She has the cutest wispy hair that is too baby fine and sparse to take her for an actual haircut but is now so long in the back and at the sides that it's starting to curl in all directions. It looks sweetest head-on where it sometimes sticks straight out beyond her ears and catches the light making her look like a little mad scientist. Because of this trait, she has affectionately also become known as "Bibble" in our household.

-Poppy lovingly putting shoes and a dress-up bonnet on Sweet Pea and Sweet Pea sitting quietly like a little, live baby doll, watching her big sister with enormous hazel eyes behind lashes that just don't seem to end.

-Poppy sweetly (and sometimes a bit bossy) directing Sweet Pea on where to go and what to look at as we toured some new homes today.

-The two girls together as one "read" a book (Sweet Pea) while the other talked on a pretend telephone (Poppy) and set up a "sleepover" with a close friend. I can finally see that while Poppy's hair is a more striking color, Sweet Pea's is getting close to becoming a toned-down version of the same unique color.

-Poppy help her little sister up into and down from various chairs around our house when Sweet Pea would make noise that she needed help.

-Sweet Pea inspecting all of the flowers at the newly landscaped model homes. She had to go up to each and every bloom and touch them. I'm not sure what she likes more, the color, the variety, or the feel of them.

-Poppy putting on her ballet leotard and slippers and dancing with Sweet Pea who was dressed in a sparkly green Tinkerbell outfit. The image of the two of them twirling and curtseying will always live with me.

In sum, it's so clear that while my new "job" may give me an avenue to pursue some of my personal passions and interests, it's still all about being here for the little moments.

How to Improve a Classic

I am so geeked! Miss Sweet Pea is just blossoming! Since Grandma and Papa were here, she picked up about 7 new words (bringing her vocabulary to about 12 words); you gotta start somewhere! It's so sweet hearing her say the typical things like "up", "hello", "dog", and then all of a sudden hearing bursts of words like "mom and dad". When she said that string of words, KB thought is was Poppy who said it. It took a lot of convincing to get him to accept that it was actually Sweet Pea who uttered that beautiful line for the first time.

In addition to her vocabulary, she has also become a very hearty, and independent, eater. This stage is great because Sweet Pea is ready to try any food you put on her plate. She loves tomatoes, noodles, peas and a zillion other foods. Of course, some of those bites of new items come right back out after a couple of chews (eewww), and that, coupled with the fact that half of her "favorite" foods still end up on her lap due to her insistence on using her own little fingers to feed herself, is the second reason for my excitement today.

I received a trial "DaBib" in the mail a few days ago and it is like no other bib Sweet Pea has worn. You can see that the bib has a unique, soft "scrunch neckline" that is super easy to put on baby and hugs the neck so no errant peas or sauce-filled noodles sneak down her neckline and end up as permanent fixtures on her shirts. The front of the bib is a wonderfully soft terry and the backing is waterproof. It has a pocket to turn forward when in use to catch those wayward crumbs that try to follow gravity's pull onto her lap saving me from countless "spray and wash" treatments on her meal outfit. Yeah for the attached "optional" crumb catcher!

"DaBib" is an iParenting Media Award winner and you can read more about the incredible mompreneur/inventor of DaBib here. Thank you, Shea, for creating a "new classic"!

Thanks Grandma and Papa B!

We had such a great visit... so many memories were made. Here's just a glimpse:

Watching Poppy at gymnastics, ballet, and swim class;
Going for our train ride (maybe next time we'll make it farther than San Mateo!);
Having a swim/beach weekend in Carmel when the weather couldn't have been any better;
Listening to the roosters and making new friends at the park;
And who could forget our trip to San Francisco Zoo? Sweet Pea had her first
carousel ride and I even got my exercise in for the day!

But the sweetest moment by far was when Poppy went the movies with Grandma and Papa - without mommy and Sweet Pea! Her first venture into independence! Yes, my baby is growing up and I'm the one suffering from separation anxiety. At least I can report that in addition to Papa sharing the popcorn, Horton from "Horton Hears a Who" is "very funny" and says "I'm as light as a feather" - which is really funny to Poppy since he is a huge elephant and so far I've heard her say it between all the giggles a few times a day.

So thank you for a wonderful two weeks. We can't wait to see you soon!

The Sleep Fairy.

We're trying a new experiment at the Go-Go house: having Poppy and Sweet Pea room together. Now that Sweet Pea is almost 18 months old and is sleeping through the night at almost the same schedule as her big sister, I thought this would be a good time for us to try this new arrangement.

So, what led to this decision? Why did we do this when each girl seemed perfectly settled in her own room? Well, did I ever tell you about my little penchant for causing trouble? Actually, there are two main reasons for my madness: (1) my own childhood, and (2) my pediatrician.

First, as the youngest of 10 children, you can bet your last pair of shoes (whatever that means) that I had to share a room with my sisters. As a result, I got to know my older sisters in a way I would have completely missed if I had my own room. For instance, I wouldn't have known that the reason it took my sister, "G", 45 minutes to get dressed in the morning for high school was because she had to try on a minimum of 5 outfits before she could settle on "the" one for the day. Nor would I have had known that my lovely sister, "N", was so good at telling bedtime stories.

The second, and main reason, was that my pediatrician was all for it. When I took Sweet Pea in for her one year check up, I asked him what he thought about having Poppy and Sweet Pea in the same bedroom. Without hesitation he said "definitely yes, as soon as you think they are ready!" (My mother-in-law, who was at the appointment gasped as she thought the doctor would suggest that it would be best for the girls to have their own space.) As we talked, Dr. H emphasized that the girls would develop skills that would help them down the road. Things such as negotiating living with someone, learning to share possessions, helping to displace "night-time fears", and facilitating a closer sibling relationship were all mentioned. This sounded great to me!

So it's going on night number three and so far there haven't been any major bumps in our road to Sleepville. Oh, there are the usual details we need to address: what to do when it's time to read to Poppy and put her to bed but Sweet Pea is already asleep, and how we need to rush in at 5:30am when Sweet Pea is crying and ready to get up but Poppy is still trying to sleep. So far, however, these seem issues seem to be minute in comparison with the benefit of being together that we hope to see in the long run.

Now, I just have to figure out how to talk KB into converting Sweet Pea's bedroom into our new playroom/Go-Go Mommy HQ. Any tips out there?

And so it goes.

We've reached a new milestone at the Go-Go house, Poppy and Sweet Pea are now officially playing together. Sometimes it works out:

Poppy: WEEE, we're playing tug of war! (With each girl on the end of Poppy's favorite/only blanket known as "soft blanket" and running together back and forth.)
Followed by lots of giggling and girlie screaming.
or
Poppy: Come and find me! (The classic game of hide-and-seek.)
Followed by lots of giggling and girlie screaming.

And sometimes it doesn't:

Poppy: No, don't take my teacup.... No, that's not how you play, you use your own bowl.... You've ruined my tea party, I'm very upset with you! (As she storms off into her room.)
Followed by a door slamming.

At least Poppy is using her words!

My 30 days: 29

Sweet Pea is growing up so quickly! Today's moment was watching her go down the slide by herself for the first time.

My 30 days: 12

In honor of Princess Sweet Pea's current group of best friends -
and to my old and new friends as well:

"There is Always a Place for You"

There is always a place for you at my table,
You never need be invited.
I'll share every crust as long as I'm able,
And know you will be delighted.
There is always a place for you by my fire,
And though it may burn to embers,
If warmth and good cheer are your desire
The friend of your heart remembers!
There is always a place for you by my side,
And should the years tear us apart,
I will face lonely moments more satisfied
With a place for you in my heart!

--Anne Campbell

(As you can see, Sweet Pea has quite a collection of "best friends.")