Battle of Wills

Who is more stubborn?  The mom or the toddler?

This morning there was an...um...opportunity to find out the answer to that question.  And it was documented by the cell phone camera.  Because that is what mom's do to eventually prove they are right, right?  Poor children.

It started out perfectly innocent. 

The mom bought some fun new (super cheap!) toy dishes for the toddler's kitchen. 

The basement was a disaster because of the toddler, so the mom decided that before the toddler could play with the new toys, she had to help clean up. 

The toddler's job was to clean up the little animals and put them in the blue basket (like she usually does during clean up time).

Not too difficult, right?

However, the toddler refused.  Multiple times.  Even after the mom took out the new toys and started playing with them herself to entice the toddler.  All she got was the toddler putting 2 toys in and then immediately throwing the basket so the toys fell out.

You can't make me, Mom.

So after some drawn out drama and the toddler sobbing "sleepytime sleepytime!", the Mom decided to abandon the basement for the moment and have lunch.

Mac & Cheese in a Mickey bowl makes everything better.

After being cheered by the mac and cheese, the mom decided to try her luck with the clean-up battle again.  It took a few minutes, but...

VICTORY!!!

When Mommy wins, toddler wins.

Dishes! Dishes!

The Battle of Wills Part 1 (assuming there will be many more):

Mommy: 1  Toddler: 0

Triple Date

Chris and I went out with two other couples tonight.

Jenna and Andy are great- but it was the other couple that got most of our attention... 

Charlie and Callie...

...on a date...

...typical toddler dinnertime shenanigans...

...and then, of course, ice cream!

Bed Time

I'd like to start off by saying that this is in no way a major issue, but rather a slight annoyance.

I've alluded to the fact that bed time has not gone the way we'd like lately.

No, there is no screaming.  No, there is no crying.

On the contrary, there is lots of laughing.  And blabbing.  And kicking the crib.  And naming different animals.  And kicking the wall.  And talking about colors.  And talking to blankies.  And sighing.  And counting. And...you get my drift.

The little stinker just really likes to entertain herself in the complete darkness instead of falling asleep.

Tonight she is showing off her counting skills:




We have tried an early bed time.  We have tried a later bed time.  No matter what time she goes down, it takes at least 30-45 minutes of babbling to herself (last night--> 90 minutes) before we hear a quiet monitor.

And every night Chris and I look at each other and roll our eyes at the funny things coming through the monitor, and we are so thankful that this little stinker is all ours.

Weekend Wrap-Up

We had another mellow weekend.  It was great.

Friday
Um...I honestly can't remember.

Oh yeah, I posted this. That about summed it up.

And there was probably a "naked baby" running around because her new favorite thing is to be without clothes.

Saturday
We practiced our silly smile.

We took a jaunt around the neighborhood.

After nap time, we took our pants off and burned off some energy. 



And by we, of course I mean the toddler.  I was invited to be "nakee babies" (in this case, pant-less) with her, but declined.  The conversation went something like this:
Callie: **Taking a quick break from running**  Mommy nakee babies too!
Me:  No. Mommy will not be naked babies.
Callie: Okay! **Continuing to run back and forth**


Then that evening, while Chris went to the T-Wolves game, Bethany came over and we had fun with stickers.

Sunday
While at the condo, Mari and Callie took a little rest...Kona supervised.

For the Superbowl, I made some low(er) fat/fewer calorie versions of my favorite dips: spinach artichoke dip and taco dip.  We also had veggies.  And fruit.  So we did not consume the 4000-6000 calories that the average American does on this crazy football day.

Friday Night

Friday nights look a little different than they did ten years ago.

Tonight:

5:00-7:30 Dinner, billions of books and play time with the toddler.

7:30 Toddler bed time.

7:45 Glass of wine.

And no doubt falling asleep on the couch in the next hour.

I'd pretty much call that bliss.

Ouch

Let me just start by saying that today ended up MUCH better than it started out.

Chris had to travel up north today, which means that he got up SUPER early. Normally that is not a problem, but this morning it seemed to throw the rest of the morning into a slight tailspin.

It all started with Kona being obnoxious and whining for breakfast around 6am (an hour early). So in order to not wake the toddler, I got up to take her downstairs.

Somehow (I'm still not sure how) I totally biffed the steps and fell down the entire flight of stairs to the main floor.  Thankfully the stairs are carpeted, but the landing was hard wood.  I (miraculously) was fine- I'll no doubt have some soreness and bruises tomorrow, but it could have been much worse.  I have been freaked out of falling down those stairs since I was pregnant, and even more freaked out once I started carrying Callie up and down them.  This morning it was just me.  Thank goodness.

After feeding Kona and a quick shower, the toddler was awake.  At 6:15am (45 minutes early).  Yelling out "Mommy! Mommy!"

Sigh.  No leisurely getting ready time for this girl.

I managed to get the both of us ready and out the door in time to drop her off with G-pa.

The day started looking up after work.  We met Kylie and Calvin at MOA for some walking, dinner, and lego playing. Then Cal and I had a fun time, just the two of us, riding some rides at Nick Universe.

Legos

Blues Clues ride

Horsey! Horsey!

Swiper's Car

Now I'm listening to the crazy toddler (who is supposed to be sleeping) over the monitor.  She is starting to work the system.  I can just imagine her thinking, BABBLE BABBLE BABBLE! If I talk long enough, Mommy and Daddy will come see me! BABBLE BABBLE BABBLE!

So we need to figure out how to switch up the system so she can no longer work it.

Wish us luck.

Weekend Wrap-Up

It was a really long week last week, so I was very much looking forward to a fun, chill weekend.  It was just that.

Friday
We met friends for dinner (where I ordered a margarita that I was thinking about all day long) and watched the T-Wolves game.

Saturday: Sewing Day!
Cathleen and I have been working on making p.j. pants for ourselves for awhile now...and we finally finished them yesterday.  Thankfully we had G-ma's help (and G-pa on toddler duty), and got to make a little pair of matching pants for Callie too.  It was a blast!

Callie also showed off her reading skills by reading to G-ma and Shorty.



Later, Chris and I got to go out to dinner (a new fancy place in our neighborhood) while Dan and Anna babysat.  It was weird to eat a meal without worrying about entertaining a crazy toddler.  And kind of great.  Callie decided to use the hour that we were gone to poop, so Dan and Anna got the joy of dealing with that.  Auntie Yoda- you're really due for one now! :)

Sunday
We decided to do a family baking project- Blueberry Muffins!  And by baking, I actually mean putting together some sort of baking MIX.  We're not that fancy, though I'm told actual muffin baking isn't that difficult (right, Boom?).  Anyway, we got the stuff and got to work:

Mix and Stir

Add the blueberries

Get the muffin cups ready

Watch them bake

Yum!

I'll let her tell you about it...well.  She sort of talks about it.  Mostly she is just focused on eating it.  She also mentions chicken and I have no idea where that came from.



This afternoon we went to the condo and hung out with Boom and Bops.

Then my dad and I went to the T-Wolves game and saw them come close to beating the Lakers.  Thanks Dad!

Oh man...I feel like I need another day off.  While doing a good job of having fun and relaxing, I didn't so much do a good job of actually getting stuff done around the house. 

Oh well.