"Minnesota Nice"

I'm sure a lot of you have heard this term. I want to tell you, from the horse's mouth (born and raised Minnesotan), it's a farce/falsehood/lie. It doesn't exist. Oh sure, on the surface people from here seem nice enough, but it's really no different than other places, it's probably worse. People in MN tend to live here a loooong time, thus transplants have a hard time. Why? I have no idea. T-Daddy and I were having this very same discussion the other day...it's still an unanswered question. Both of us are often accused of not "being from here" by transplants. Which, to me, is a great compliment.

Just today I had a run in with "MN Nice." I was out in my backyard, minding my own business, cleaning grapes for jam/juice. School was recently let out and a group had walked by. A woman, whom I see walking every day too and from school with her stroller and gaggle of children, and a goofy guy walked by. All of a sudden the guy comes jogging back to where I could see him and said, "Hey, do you think you could cut your plants back? My friend said it's hard to maneuver her stroller around them."

Now, I pride myself in being a good neighbor. I had never seen it as an obstacle before, but now that I look at it, sure, I can see it. No problem. But WHY didn't she have the guts to tell me this herself and instead talks behind my back and sends her messenger boy?!? We are outside all the time. We both have children...as I'm sure she can see by our plastic playground! I believe I'm a very approachable person.

So if you think people that are exclusionary, passive-aggressive, and talk behind people's back are "nice"*...WELCOME!

*I by no means think all Minnesotans are this way, I just hate the term as I think it's such a lie.

Day 5 of School

It went MUCH better today. Of course there was still clinging, of course there was still crying...but not as much and for not as long. CiBaby was even having such a good time when I arrived after lunch that when she saw me, let out a couple of tears and then went back to playing...and didn't want to leave! Waaaahoooooooo!

Next week we're going to go until after their movie. Stay tuned.

The End of an Era

I received a call from one of our lovely neighbors* on Saturday that they would like my consultation on some landscaping they are thinking about. Not an odd request, really.

We were able to get together tonight to go over the plans. During the discussion I learned they were planning on putting their house* on the market after the holidays. While I know this as the right thing for them, we will be very sad to see them go...even if it's only a couple miles away.

*We have great neighbors. These particular ones brought us baked goods on Christmas Eve, the day after we had moved in. How very thoughtful...so much so I remember the deets almost 7 years later.
**So if anyone is looking to live across from us, let me know, I'll hook ya up! I can't guarantee baked goods though...but I do make "damn good hummus."

The dark side of kiddy rides

"Mini-wheel" - can anyone say "caged animal"???

And why does this "Kiddapiller" have a
huge smile on it's face?because he's squeezing a huge kid
out of his butt!

*These are rides we found at the Middle Eastern festival on Friday.

Opposites existing as one

This is our life, or so it seems.

Chuck E Cheese and Camel Rides

Both of these activities took place on the same day, in the same city, the city I call my "hometown."

We spent the late morning/early afternoon celebrating a little friend's birthday at Chuck E Cheese. I truly don't think I have been in that building since it was Showbiz Pizza when I was a kid. The kids had a blast. Of course I almost forgot the lactose pills, what a disaster that would have been. Thank goodness for a very close CVS.



Later in the day we picked up Bopa and Gwum (CiBaby's new name for G-Mama) and went a little ways down the street to the Middle Eastern festival at a local Greek Orthodox church. They had food, music AND camel rides! CiBaby was captivated by the camel. She wanted to get right up next to it. We are going to wait until next year to take her on the camel ride, as we were pretty darn positive that once she was set up on the beast she would freak out and there goes $10.

College and Preschool

Yes, we have 2 daughters (and 1 son)...one is in her 3rd year of college, the other is in pre-preschool.

We visited Big Sister at school this weekend for Family Weekend. It was a whirlwind. Big Sister and I "stuffed a (chenille) Husky" (the school mascot). It was quite fun.

While we were making stuffed animals, CiBaby and T-Daddy stood in line for Dave the Balloon Guy. Balloon figures. Doesn't seem like much, does it. Twist 1 balloon up into the shape of a dog? Oh no, not this guy. He used MANY balloon. He made a VERY patient CiBaby a Minnie Mouse (who she actually realizes is a mouse and not a monkey anymore). She was ecstatic. She was SO happy she even consented to having her picture taken with a stranger. Shocking, I know.

Cafeteria food and cucumber infused water

To my utter amazement, I found cucumber infused water at the "hydration station" in the cafeteria of Big Sister's school. They also had strawberry and lemon...but I love cucumber. It's so refreshing. Talk about a change from when I was in school!

Fiercely independent, bossy and shy

Our youngest child, CiBaby. If you're around her at home she's fiercely independent (I do it, I hold it, etc.) and very bossy (sit! come! etc). We go off to playdates and generally she'll be playing, climbing, leading boys around, or eating.



However, if we get into new situations, someone is new or if you step away from her side for a second, watch out for Miss Shy. She clings, she cries, she carries on. How could this be the same child?



What an interesting life. It's a good thing I majored in Child Psychology. lol

Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruíz y Picasso

Otherwise know by his friends as Pablo Picasso.

Our little Picasso was caught in the act...again.

Do you see the boldness of her strokes? Her use of color?* Her eye for a space that was apparently in need of some snazzing up? I mean really, how does one punish an obvious love of all things artistic??? She sings, she dances, she...draws. Oh, and she cleans it up without a fuss.

*She got black AND green in before I realized what she was doing around the corner.

Volunteerism

Volunteerism is the willingness of people to work on behalf of others without being motivated by financial gain.

I've been thinking of how do I get CiBaby into the "volunteer" mindset from an early age? Yes, I realize she's only 2 years-old, but no time like the present to start preparing.

I was raised with the volunteer mindset. My parents volunteered all the time...and I tagged along. I remember going grocery shopping with my mom when I was in early elementary school in preparation for a Loaves and Fishes supper at a nearby community center. We shopped, chopped, cooked, served and cleaned up. During this time I interacted with many of the recipients of the meals...it was a great learning experience.

When I was in 3rd-4th grade* we had a speaker come from a children's home in the area to speak about volunteering...in general. Well, I went right home and told my mom that I wanted to volunteer there. So off we went to the children's home. Apparently I was the youngest volunteer they'd ever had. I was assigned to one child, Donna was her name, and she was actually older than I. Donna had a lot of strikes against her. She was blind, couldn't speak and had multiple health issues, but she was a sweetie. We would read together and play. I did this for several years. I still keep a card that Donna made for me.

I did many volunteer jobs as a kid...including being a candy striper in a physical therapy department. The list is quite long, so I won't get into it. But my point is that it is a part of me. Always has been, always will be. I want this for my child as well.

So today I was out on MinnMoms.com and found an article on getting children involved in volunteering. They had some great ideas and good websites for ideas as sometimes it's hard to find age-appropriate volunteering for our little ones. How fun would it be for your little one to make a card for a sick child? How fun would it be for that sick child to get some fancy mail?! There are a couple of websites out there devoted to just this Hug and Hope for Sick Children and Make a Child Smile. There are probably more but this is a good start. There is a local organization that is dedicated to helping families volunteer called Doing Good Together. Their motto is building strong families, caring kids and a better world. I think that really says it all.

*I had to call and confirm this time frame with G-Mama as I wasn't sure, but I knew I was young.

Times are a changin'

Back in June our little tadpole graduated, thus today she started her first day as a little fish...er frog*? Whatever. No fear of the water for her, no sir-ee bob! CiBaby jumped off the edge like a champ!

The other change is bedtime. Previously we had a heck of a time getting CiBaby to go to sleep by herself. Of course there was a time of adjustment, then there was a time of bad habit development. Enough was enough. My good friend, Travel Goddess M., gave us very sage advice and a darn good book (the Ferber book) as her darling daughter had been the same way at one time. It has finally worked. We have a good routine down, kisses, hugs and lights-out with out much hoopla.

So, as tonight's swimming gets her a bit rilled up, bedtime was fairly uneventful, and I felt good about going in when she started up with some crying as she actually needed something...a he-he** and a blanket. She's still not asleep, but she's content being in bed, by herself, and that's all that we ask.

sigh

*Technically she went from being a Water Baby to a Tiny Tot.
**he-he = hanky in CiBabyeese

School - Day 3

It went much, much better today. There was still crying and hanging on for dear life at the beginning, but it wasn't constant. Thank goodness for distractions...painting (which she LOVED), coloring and a little boy named Avery*, with the most beautiful mane of hair you will ever see. CiBaby was told that she was having lunch at school today, so we stuck to that. The Director is wonderful and kept reassuring her that mom was coming back after lunch. They even peeked out the window to see if mom's "white car"** was there. Her teachers are great too, but for some reason she associates the director with calling mom/mom coming to get her.

Of course there were a few tears of relief when I arrived, but stopped soon after. Next we drove over to our good friends, the Kippster's house, and had lunch with the girls. It was a lovely afternoon.

Round 4 next week.

*He tried to give her his apple slices so she would stop crying...it worked.
**When I talked to the Director on the phone she mentioned the car and asked if it was really white , which it is. That smarty pants kid, she knows her colors!!!

Saturday, Saturday

It's a good thing we aren't Jewish as today was not in the least bit restful or reflective.

The morning started out with a scramble to get to Tumbling Class at the local High School. I'd been talking about it just the day before and 15 minutes before it started I remember it was today! Yikes. We have never gotten ready that quickly and out the door ever. Because it was at the HS we walked...did I think about grabbing the stroller in our panic to get out the door??? Of course not! Try hustling a 2 year-old along a sidewalk of great exploration! To top it off there was a garage sale along the way...with a doll house. I put a hold on it, picked up CiBaby and we bolted to the school.

Tumbling class was crazy*. Imagine around 20 toddlers with 1-2 parents each in a room with padded floors and fun climbing/jumping/walking/hanging equipment. To say that CiBaby was a bit overwhelmed is putting it very mildly. It's a Mom, Dad and Me class, so at least she didn't have to leave my side. And as a former gymnast I know all of the mechanics of the different moves and how to break them down into teachable parts, so I think that was helpful in that she was shying away from all of the instructors. She finally got into it with only about 5 minutes left of class. Her fav was the cartwheel...which is really a half-cartwheel half-forward roll move, it's pretty cute.

With Tumbling class over we walked home, grabbed the stroller, went back to the garage sale to get the dollhouse and a couple other things.

said dollhouse

Later in the afternoon we gathered at a local park with some of our playgroup friends for family play and potluck. We had a blast and we also met some new friends...including another little 2 year-old girl from China!

Then, to top off the day, I met with some girlfriends for bookclub. We read The Mirror by Marlys Millhiser, written in the 70s, but so great! Nothing that I would have picked up on my own, that's why I love bookclubs. And to my great surprise, we had one of the best political issues discussion I've ever had with friends. Normally it end badly with people saying this like "why would you ever think that?!" or "you're wrong." Hence the reason I normally stick to facts or don't even get involved. But this was opinions. It was VERY refreshing. Thanks ladies.

It was an exhausting, but great, great day in this life.

*I brought my camera, but with only me today it wasn't possible to take pictures and participate. Next time.

What?!? My hands were dirty.

CiBaby has a new found facination of washing her hands. To aid her in this quest I thought some foaming handsoap would be easier to handle than a slippery bar. Apparently it's too easy.

We be jammin

Do you recall the raspberries I talked about back in July? I'm not sure that I mentioned at the time that these particular canes bear fruit twice during the growing season - mid-summer and late-summer/early-autumn, with the later producing much more.

Last evening, on one of my daily gathering of produce from the garden, I came back with over a pound of raspberries! Now, we could have gorged ourselves that evening, but I decided that was as a best time as any to try my hand at raspberry jam.

So this morning, with a chair up to the counter, CiBaby and I made jam...5 - 4 ounce jars of it. It was delicious! The offical taste-tester thought so too, she got to lick the spoon and cooled pan.

Now we will be able to savor the fruits of our labor this coming winter. I love having a farm in the city all to myself!

Second Day of School

Well, it didn't go as well as hoped. Actually, it was much worse than I would have imagined (minus getting "tapped" by someone's bumper on the way out...no damage though). We drop the children off at 9:30AM and by 10:30AM I got a call saying CiBaby hadn't stopped crying yet, and how long was I willing to let her cry? ugh. I ended up picking her up at 11:15AM, a full 2 hours and 45 minutes before the end of the day. I talked with the Director and we're going to try a short day again next week, but we're going to try to get her through lunch first.

So instead of spending some time getting a few things done I picked her up and we went and had lunch with G-Mama, who we hadn't seen in over a week since they were in Alaska! Then we did a little browsing for Halloween costume elements (I'll share our costume idea later, builds suspense that way) and then went home. CiBaby fell asleep almost immediately, but do you think I was able to transfer her to the house? Heavens no, and I can't get her to go back to sleep for anything. I swear some days that kid has insomnia (can toddlers have insomnia???) as she didn't get a ton of sleep last night and now just a 15 minute nap. This afternoon/evening should be LOTS of fun.

Round 3 next week.

The Girls

The Girls got together last night to celebrate our friends' wedding!

The blushing couple

Laura* and Colin got married on Friday in a beautiful location in the Wisconsin North woods and came back to party their pants off with the rest of us! What a fun event. The party was held at Intelligent Nutrients and there were a lot of personal touches in the party by the bride and groom. Laura, event designer and owner of Flings Event Design, and now husband Colin, a brewer with Barley John's Brew Pub, had beautiful, delicious and interesting food and outstanding beer brewed by the couple.

Food and drink(s).

Our guys, holding up the bar.

The Ladies and their Men.

*Laura was the last of The Girls in the longtime bookclub to be married. Congrats guys!!!

Poultry products gone wild

What do they say about a double yolk, you'll have good luck when you have an egg with a double yolk? Well we had 2 from the same carton yesterday...is that double lucky or does it go to the negative and bring bad luck?

I'm thinking it was the later.

First, I had a not so great conversation with "customer service" from a major airline. Fine whatever, customer service isn't what it use to be, you'd think I'd get that through my thick head by now (I guess I'm holding out hope).

Second, after we put CiBaby to bed last night, T-Daddy and I snuggled down to watch a movie. All lights in the house were off, except for the glow from the TV in our bedroom as we watched Mona Lisa Smile. We were about an hour into the movie and all of a sudden there were multiple loud thuds in the front of the house. We literally jumped out of bed and raced to the front ready to attack as we thought someone was trying to break in. Smart? Probably not, but it was instinctual...keep the house and all of it's beings safe.

Come to find, our house had been egged! You have got to be kidding me. Why?!? We don't have kids in Junior/Senior High in the house (not that it's a good excuse but it's a little more understandable/reasonable), we are very neighborly and what a waste of a good dozen eggs! So of course I called the police as it was an act of vandalism.

The officer finally came and we talked with him. There were several of them, as we heard multiple voices right before the eggs flew and we were pretty sure they were on foot. The officer said he was going to be looking around the area, I went inside and T-Daddy went to wash the house down...yes it was 11 PM by then, but that couldn't wait until morning. As T-Daddy went back to turn on the water he heard voices, got to the officer before he left and told him where he heard them. The officer took off...

I walked towards the next street over and saw 3 early teen boys running faster than I thought humanly possible up the street, with a police car right behind them. I stopped to talk with two women walking down the street. They caught one kid who wasn't apparently as spry as the other two. He was put in the squad car and taken in for curfew violation, as he didn't have any eggs on him. While talking with the women, one woman said she thought there were 6 kids as she saw 2 packs of 3 kids each running from different ways. Interesting.

All of a sudden 3 teen boys came sauntering down the street, one of the woman went to talk with the boys and they swore up and down that it wasn't them, that it was friends of theirs from a party they were at around the corner. I believed it because why would you even come near the area with all of the police cars around?

Would you believe the officer came back to tell us they had gotten one of the kids and brought him in (oooooooh I bet his parents are going to be PISSED!) and then...then told us those boys that talked to us were also part of the deal?!? Ballsy is all I have to say. For some reason they weren't brought it for curfew violation, maybe they were a bit older? No idea. To top it off they are freshmen/sophomores from the high school I graduated from eons ago, in a first-ring suburb, out carousing after their Homecoming loss.

I have my mind set that I'm going to send an email off to their principal. Back in my day that kind of behavior was not tolerated by the school. I also might walk over to the girl's house who had the party last night and have a little chat. Don't piss off the CzaMama!

First Haircut!

We finally bit the bullet and took CiBaby in for her first haircut tonight. It had been needing it for awhile, but I was hesitant on a few fronts. She's not exactly thrilled with strangers doing things to her (like the doctor, etc.), I'd hoped to be able to actually style her hair as it looks so cute in barrettes and ponies, and it took so long for her to get a full head of hair, so I was a bit nostalgic.

This picture was taken almost a month shy of a year ago. Boy how time flies and hair grows! This was Day 2 of our newly expanded family...our little toupee baby.

And now. CiBaby's a wild woman with long flowing hair. Her bangs had gotten so long they were going past her nose. I knew it was time when, this morning, she slicked back her hair with her soy milk to keep it out of her eyes.

With a good nap under our belts, I rang up a local kid's salon to see if there were any openings. There were so we took the 6 PM slot. Armed with a camera and an extra pair of hands we went down for the big "trim."

As you can see, she doesn't like to be confined.

Dora kept her attention for most of the cut.

Then for the big bang trim...

and blow dry, like Mama.

Considering everything, she did really well!

Tah-dah! Where did our baby go??? We think her new haircut and found courage made her feel like big stuff and really sassy.

To celebrate this occasion we walked over to one of our favorite haunts and had a great supper, and then off for some lactose free ice cream and raspberries at home. What an evening.

Never a dull moment

Tuesday evening I had to go feed The Cat and pay him a little attention, so T-Daddy was on bedtime duty by himself. No problem, he does it most nights. When I got home he told me the details of the evening...CiBaby pulled the stuffing out of her WET diaper. Huh? She actually dug a hole in the butt of her disposable diaper and pulled the wet, clumpy stuffing out...all over the place.* Ew. So, I'm really thinking she's on the verge of potty training.**

Wednesday morning, we were getting ready to go off to a playdate and she had a stinker. Okay! Does she tell me? No, but she always points out when she's peed even a drop. Whatever. So I keep asking her to come with me to change her "didit"...no go. WHAT?!?! So a drop of pee in the diaper means it needs to be changed immediately, but a damp, squishy sh*t can just sit there and age?!? Weird child.

Today was a typical morning. We had breakfast in the kitchen to Mulan.*** To my surprise I got a live version for a bit, complete with hocking a loogy during the first day of training scene. I couldn't stop laughing, it was so stinkin' hilarious coming from a 2 year-old!

There's never a dull moment around our house.

*I even found remnants of it in her room the next morning. Double ew.
**We sit on the potty, but nothing has happened yet.
***It's basically her fav movie of all time.

First Day of School!

CiBaby went off to her first day of school today*. She goes one day a week for the morning and into the early afternoon. They did an art project, had gym and music time and lots of play time in their classroom. She and her classmates even had lunch together. Of course she didn't eat her lunch but helped herself to everyone else's, deeming herself the official Lunch Taste Tester in the room.

My main goal during her time at school was to go to the gym, first and foremost (there is one close to CiBaby's school), run errands and do some housework. My first goal was derailed when I found the gym that I use to be able to go to in that suburb has become a "Gold" gym, therefore I can't go. BLAH! I'm not going to up my membership dues just to go one day per week, as our gym is only "Bronze."

Instead of getting a nice workout in, I got coffee and did a bit of browsing, as it was a "short" day at school today.

I talked with CiBaby's teachers before I went in to get her. She cried just a bit off and on during her time there, but nothing too bad**. Of course when she saw me she instantly broke down and did the squishy-face cry...you know the one I'm talking about. Once she calmed down she said "bye bye" to her teachers and we were off.

In the car she multi tasked by eating her lunch and taking a nap***.

My baby is growing up. Next thing you know she'll be off to college like Big Sister!

Stay tuned for round 2 next week.

*I had to get these pictures around the corner right before picking her up as she was crying as I left.
**I was actually very nervous about this.
***She wasn't blinking, she was actually sleep eating.

Fashion 101

Fashion 101 - instruction by CiBaby

1. A girl can never have too many handbags.

2. Knee-highs accentuate your cute knees.

3. A full coverage swimming suit is always appropriate.


4. Add a little color to an all-black ensemble. Asymmetry
adds that little somethin' somethin' extra.

Labor Day

What a great day to end* an awesome summer.

First off, I got to sleep in! Woohoooo! 8:00 AM baby.

Second, Goodwill had 50% off (almost) everything so we are in winter time fun at the CzaMama house!

Third, and really foremost, we spend a very fun and exciting** evening with some of our best friends...the Kippsters.

Our dinner was so delightful (plus the beers and mojitos, minus the screaming). Grilled herbed whole chicken, green beans, tomato salad, corn on the cob, garlic bread and watermelon. So good and fresh.

Cheers to all, and to all a good school year!

*Summer doesn't technically end until Sept 22nd, but really, the summer fun is over.

**CiBaby is so excited she can't fall asleep. ugh.