Super Spy

Lilly has been insisting over the past couple of weeks that we call her Super Spy. That is, when she or I remember. Mostly we both forget but on occasion she will quiz me with the question, "Mom, what's my name?" I usually remember at that point and call her by her new name until we both forget again. Rachel's new preferred name is Jakeson. I don't know why.

I had my first eye doctor appointment in close to two years on Wednesday. Rachel and Lilly were with me and helped me pick out my glasses when we were done. They both picked out a pair of round glasses with pink frames, definitely designed for someone twice my age. To humor them, I tried them on just long enough to pretend to consider them. Then I told the girls they just were not my style. Rachel was deeply offended at having her opinion brushed aside, and both girls were mortified that I wanted to get the plain black frames. I swear I almost got the pink ones just to validate their opinion but I just could not do it. Finally we compromised on a pair similar to the simple black frames I liked, only these were purple. For these I got both Rachel and Lilly's approval. After all what did I have daughters for if not to tell me what is cool.

After the eye appointment, Rachel had karate. Up to this point the three of us had been getting along famously, but on the car ride home everything came to a head. The girls were hungry and tired, and I was otherwise engaged in a phone call with Felicia and in no position to offer support. So of course they turned on each other. I heard the fighting and looked into my rear view mirror just in time to see Rachel karate kick Lilly. I had a flash of parenting genius and told them that since they could not get along, the next day they would spend the whole day together practicing. In other words they were grounded. Here is the thing about being grounded that in my moment of genius I forgot. When the kids have to spend all day together in the house "learning" how to get along, I have to be in the house with them. It is a sort of punishment for us all. Let's just say everyone went to bed nice and early last night.

I cannot believe how big my baby boy is getting. Every time I turn around he looks a year older. Part of this is his new found sense of independence. With the independence I always have to remind myself to take a step back. Two days ago Carson insisted on wearing a pair of pajamas as clothes. After he peed in them and changed into regular clothes, he insisted on wearing the regular clothes, backwards collar shirt and all, to bed that night. I drew the line the next day when he wanted to put the same clothes back on after his bath. Another difficulty is the issue of backwards clothes. You would think he has a 50/50 chance of getting his pants, shirt, and/or shoes on the right way. However he seems to get all three on backwards or wrong feet three out of five times. I try not to correct yet. It is impressive enough that he is doing it by himself at this stage. We will approach details later.

Emilia has completely lost interest in nursing and bottles. Because of her history I was nervous about this until it was suggested to me that she does not want to nurse because of all the many other interesting things there are to see and do. This instantly rang true to me. She is constantly looking around and observing. Eating probably really does interfere. Shelby and I took a trip to Salt Lake for his cousin's wedding. We left the other kids home, but took Emilia with us. Emilia does not love car rides, as was evident by her fussiness on the way to and from SLC. She also does not love sleeping on vacation. Maybe it was the excitement of the next days activities that got her all riled up, or just sleeping in a new place, but she was up and ready to go by 5:30 the next morning. You would think this meant she would sleep great on the ride home, but she did not. She was one tired, fussy little baby. Despite this, she was delightful while we were there.