Monday, May 28, 2007

Whereby Veeka discovers the poo


This being Memorial Day weekend, we of course had to introduce the Little One to a new concept: the outdoor pool. Of course she loved splashing about but found that being attached to Mommy is quite a drag. Unfortunately, every time she wrestled free to strike out on her own, down she sank. How does one teach a child who doesn't even speak English to swim? Hmmmm. The first day, we were at my condo pool. The next day, we were at the Kreitzers' pool, at the home of friends in the Shenandoah Valley. There, they helped me try to explain to her the word "kick."
This may take awhile.
Otherwise, Veeka is doing well, although her mother continues to be under the weather with various bugs. As if she wasn't already sick enough, she picked up an ear/throat infection from the condo pool. Sigh.
Veeka continues the process of Terrible Two. Her latest: Sitting down on the ground any time she doesn't like something. Soooo, we no sooner had gotten out of the car in the condo parking lot this afternoon, then when she sat down on the asphalt and began to shriek. About what, I do not know. Saturday, we hit Tysons Corner mall so Mommy could find some decent sandals. Stupid Mommy. She didn't realize that eating early, then going shopping at 6 p.m. is a Bad Idea for little people. Veeka tolerated this arrangement for about 45 minutes, then started to howl whenever I entered a store. I was trying on some spiffy Italian shoes when she upchucked on the store couch. Mommy tossed the shoes at the clerk, then ran out the door with the Little Terror informing the entire mall as to how rotten a life she has.
Note to self: Little people are good for 4-hour increments max before they must eat or nap or both. Shopping must be kept to under an hour. Snacks must be served every 2 hours. Sippy cups must be kept at the ready. Veeka has already tired of Cheerios so now she's onto her newest munchie: Oyster crackers. Whatever it takes, right?

Monday, May 21, 2007

The terrible 2s



I think Veeka is starting to hit her stride now that she has turned two and officially be naughty. The photo of her in the driver's seat portrays the position she THINKS she holds in our household. She was fine this past weekend during Mommy's birthday festivities when she posed princess-like with all sorts of out-of-town visitors (the white-haired lady is named Bettie in the second photo)and even stayed up til 9 pm without much of a fuss.
But that was then. Someone (the daycare folks swear it was not them) taught her how to spit. So she goes around *spitting* - the little terror - at me, the kitties, whatever. Today was an example of a Nasty Day. First, she woke us all up at 1 a.m. screeching. She wanted to play. I made my way downstairs to the fridge, grabbed a sippy cup of cold milk, then tossed it into the crib. That shut her up.
I crawled out of bed later that morning and had just changed her ONLY to experience a diaper explosion. So we change her again. Then she wanted my cereal more than her oatmeal. Once she tires of a dish, she simply drops it on the floor, which creates a big mess, especially when the dish is full of food. Mommy has yelled at her countless times about this but Veeka is not in the listening mode. So Mommy removes all her food from her. Veeka sulks, then screams. Then kicks off her highchair tray which also goes crashing to the floor.
We decide it is high time to get this child to daycare. Every effort to dress her meets with shrieks and wails. We finally drag her into the car and whizz her off for a few hours while Mommy works to bring food on the table.
But 6 pm comes all too soon and when the Little One comes out to greet her mother, she spits again. Hmmmm. Going home, more sulking until a bag of fruity cheerios is tossed her way. We of course are very tired after having braved another 70 minutes of lovely rush hour traffic. At home, Miss Veeka is handed some pasta with yummy sauce and kidney beans and corn. Usually she snarfs down the kidney beans. This time, no way. We bring out some bread to get her to eat that. She shreads the entire piece and it too lands on the floor. (Note - her most destructive acts are done while I am in the kitchen). I hand her a sippy cup. Crash, that goes on the floor. I run out to the kitchen to pour her some applesauce. Unfortunately, I have left the milk bottle cap off the bottle on the dining room table. I re-enter the dining room to see the little darling pouring milk out of the bottle all over the dining room table.
By this time Mommy has had enough. She drags her screaming child upstairs and throws her into the bathtub. Miss Veeka hollers the whole time, then splashes water on Mommy who has forgotten to remove her work clothes. Fortunately, Mommy was not wearing one of her suits. Then as Mommy lifts her out of the tub, she wrenches her knee.
Mommy is now typing this at 11 pm. knowing that in a few hours, her little tzarina will be up at some ungodly hour.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Mommy's Day



Well, it was my first as a real mom. Must say it felt pretty nice. Thanks everyone for more cards and good wishes! I went to church, worked in the yard, went to dinner at a friend's place where Veeka had 3 kitties to terrorize. No, she is still not speaking although she is trying to say "kitty," I just know it. Whenever she sees a kitty in a story book, she gets all excited.
Today Veeka was feeling pokey with no appetite, cold extremities, a cough and a temperature. I thought it was allergies but by the afternoon, it had gone up to 101.5, so I called the doctor a second time who told me that high temps are no big deal with kids and not to get worried unless it reaches 103. So I am dosing her with Tylenol and motrin. Still, she didn't eat dinner and fell asleep in my arms so I *hope* she is better. There is nothing like trying to solve such things at work with the daycare provider on one line and the doctor's office on the other. Kiddie pediatrics is very new to me.

Friday, May 4, 2007

Sniffle, sniffle


Postings have been a bit rare of late because yours truly has had the nastiest cold for going on two weeks now. Yesterday it turned into a bit of flu. Am not sure whether to blame the weather or the kids at Veeka's daycare. But I, who have always been healthy, have been on-and-off sick since I came home in February. Veeka, actually, has been quite healthy throughout all this. Funny, that.
Little news here other than I have spent the past week covering the Anglican/Episcopal Wars which have to do with a local Episcopal priest getting made an Anglican bishop by the Anglican Province of Nigeria all out of protest of the Episcopal Church consecrating the world's first gay bishop in 2003. Turns out that the head of the Episcopal Church got involved this week cuz the Anglican archbishop of Nigeria has flown in to install this priest as the head of a new Anglican denomination, based in Virginia. Confused yet? And then today, the archbishop of Canterbury got involved by asking the Nigerian archbishop (a bit tepidly I am assuming) to desist from tomorrow's ceremony. Course he was doing so to shut up the angry Episcopalians cuz if he had REALLY not wanted tomorrow's event to happen, he would have said something before all these Nigerians bought their overseas plane tickets to come here.
Anyway, if you want to read all about it, google my name and then Anglican and Episcopal and Minns (the last name of this new bishop) and you will find out lots of info. I get to be on BBC radio in the midst of it all describing the players to a London audience who are all wondering what all these Virginians have to do with a bunch of Nigerians. What that has all meant personally is because I am totally out of sick leave and vacation leave, I have dragged myself to work all week, barely getting through each day. But no one at work seems to mind my looking like Death Warmed Over, as long as I keep churning out those pieces!
The photo is of me and Veeka before The Cold set in.