Lucy's 10 Favorite Things (april 2009)
Wrestling with Harper. These two know how to rough house and both have heads of steel from having them knocked into tables, chairs, couch, bookcase, wall and other heads. They keep their hands on each other much of the day.
Playing with her little animals. She spends hours every day and week playing with her "little animals". She could lose all her other toys and only have these and she would be ok. Well, we would need to keep LaLa as well.
Riding her bike.
Spinach vegetable dip, sugar cookies, and mashed potatoes- Lucy asks to make these all the time, she loves to eat them and loves to "cook" them.
Listening to "her music".
Mary Poppins- all the time, every day.
Reading books, especially those that she is beginning to recognize words in.
Making cards for family.
Preparing snack in the afternoons. It is her job and she takes great pride in preparing it for herself and Harper.
Brushing and flossing her teeth. I am asked many times a day if she can "floss my teeth". It doesn't hurt that the Easter Bunny brought her a "firefly" toothbrush that lights up to tell her how long to brush.

Harper's Top 10 Favorite Things (11 months old, April 2009)
Walking. She is still trying to do so independently, but she loves walking behind strollers, grocery carts, hanging onto my legs, along the furniture or the walls. I can't imagine how happy she will be when she can cross the room all on her own, without grabbing her walking toy first.
Bathtime. We call them speedy buns- those naked little cheeks racing to the bathroom when she hears Ian turn on the bath water. She also gets mad when it is time to get out.
Climbing the stairs- her newest feat. She keeps on going to the third floor even though we stop on the second.
Her thumb. Harper's best soother. She plugs it when she is sleepy, shy, quiet or just still.
Wresting with Lucy. See Lucy's top ten.
Ducks. Harper loves them, they are by far her favorite animal. She quacks on command, usually, and of all the animals at the farm or zoo, these are the ones she gets excited about.
Milk- one of my favorite things is when Harper chases me around the house yelling "Mo Mi (lk)" She loves the sight of her bottle and almost never leaves any milk in the bottle.
Goldfish crackers, rice cakes and dried fruit
Pinky Pie. This is a babydoll sized My Little Pony that Lucy got for Christmas a year or so ago. Harper loves this toy. It talks to her, she kisses it, she hugs it and she drags it around like a rag doll.
LaLa. She might be Lucy's but Harper is allowed to play with her. I don't know if it is LaLa's magnetism or the fact that Lucy loves her, but Harper loves her as well.

Da plane, da plane!

Harper has added new tricks to her repertoire. On Friday we were outside playing in buckets of water and having a snack in the shade. Then it happened. She just stood up. Without anything. She just stood up in the middle of the yard, clapped her hands and then sat back down.
A few minutes later I asked her if she was enjoying her grapes. She answered, "mmmm, bapes!"
Then when an airplane flew over she pointed to the sky and said, "bane!" Then she did it again a few minutes later when another flew over. Now whenever she hears an airplane she begins searching the sky with her little finger pointing up. She always smiles when she finally sees it.
With so much attention to the skies, she has really started to notice birds and trees. She actually said, "bid" tonight when I showed her the birds and then she says "pretty!" when I tell her about the trees.
Leaps and bounds. She is taking off, walking or not.

Oh, Brother!

On Thursday we loaded the wagon with the whole gang and headed out for our second ultrasound of the week. The first was for Reggie, the second was sure to bring good news, we were checking in on the baby!
Lucy has been betting it was a boy. Ian thought it was a girl. I assumed it was a girl, but thought that it might be a boy since I haven't been sick or nauseous hardly at all this time around.
We pile into the exam room. Harper immediately goes crazy from being restrained (much like at the first ultrasound of the week). Lucy sits in the chair and waits.
The tech checks a few things out and then goes to a picture, lets out a little "aaaahhh" sound and Ian and I both look to the screen. We see it, or at least we both think we see it. Then the tech begins typing, "It's a boy!" and points an arrow at his parts.
Lucy giggles with satisfaction and happiness. Harper whines. Ian and I are a little surprised!
So we head home, and within hours we have cleaned out bins of baby girl clothes in prep for the yard sale we have at the end of the week. Move over pink, it's time for some blue in the Jefferies' house!

TANTRUM

Lucy has found a new way of communicating. The tantrum.
It's not really new, but it has been far more frequent lately. They are most frequent when we are outside, on an outting or when we have friends around. Most involve yelling "No" at me many times and bursting into tears and rambling on about whatever she has gotten into trouble about. All at the top of her lungs. All with tears.
If I say anything to her in a calm voice she will usually stop dead in her tracks and say, "What?" in a sweet voice, as though she is being the best of children and just didn't hear me properly. When I say, "You need to go straight to time-out." or "This is unacceptable behaviour" then she will start to wail again.
Harper just sits and watches in amazement. Then she usually goes over to antagonize her sister in time-out. Of course, Lucy will hit or kick her and then we start all over again. I'm the one that needs a time-out.

The Reg

Well, it has been quite a week with the Reg. He went to the vet on Tuesday and they wanted him to be seen with an ultrasound. His face just wasn't healing so we made the appointment for the next day.
Wed- Drop Lucy off at school, run a few errands with Harper and Reggie. Head to Fairfax for Reggie's ultrasound appointment. We get lost. It starts hailing and raining. Reggie is crying- LOUDLY and Harper is crying as well. We arrive, 30 minutes late.
Filling out forms, holding onto crazy dog, watching Harper as she wheels a truck around the room. Hoping that the floor she is all over is semi-clean in the vet's office.
Reggie goes on back. We join him minutes later where he is tied down, on his back on a table. Not a pretty sight. He is not happy and it is a bit unsettling seeing him so compromised.
Harper begins squirming. There is no chair. The radiologist begins trying to explain to me what she is seeing. I am looking for some small pin, toy, staple, anything in his ultrasound to give explanation. Harper begins throwing her snack all over the floor.
The vet takes me over to the xrays and begins explaining all sorts of things I can't concentrate on because Harper has had it, Reggie is crying and I am keeping an eye on the clock since I have to pick Lucy up in and hour and it takes at least 30 minutes to get there.
We finally check out. I take Reggie to the car. I have to pick him up to put him in- belly or no belly, I couldn't leave the dog in the parking lot. Harper and I go in and pay. We return to the car where I realize all that the radiologist has just told me. It looks like Reggie may have cancer in his cheek that is eating away at his jawbone. I remember things like "we may have to remove his jaw bone", "oncologist", "more tests", etc. I call Ian in a panic and tell him what I have heard and ask him to call the vets and see if he can make heads or tails of it. He does.
Reggie returns on Friday to his normal vet, he has another surgery where they take samples from his jaw bone and the tissues surrounding it. We will know in a week what his status is and what all of our options are. He spent a couple of nights at the vet. Strange without him here. Now he is home, wearing a hard collar and running into everything. His face looks mangled and he has another drain in. His leg is still lame. Bugs and heat and blood don't mix, especially when you are a dog who can't scratch them away. But now he sleeps and is on his pain meds. Hopefully we will have a quiet week without surgery, injury or pain.

Harper- you're amazing!

As stated before, Harper is starting to stand alone and trying to get the courage to take those first independent steps. It helps tremendously that she has a very eager cheerleader. Everytime Lucy catches her doing something new or standing on her own, she rushes over to tell her, "Harper- you're amazing!" They both then smile and clap and giggle and then wrestle when Harper finally falls to the ground or chickens out and slowly drops to the ground. Lucy really is a great big sister, and a fantastic cheerleader. Remind me of that when she is crying because Harper is able to take whatever toy Lucy is playing with and run away with it. It is only a matter of time...

Caterpillars- how amazing!

We got our five caterpillars in the mail a week or so ago. They were teeny tiny when we got them. Since then, they have shed their skin several times and grown into the normal sized caterpillars you are more used to seeing. Yesterday 4 of the 5 had begun to enter their chrysalis and the other finished his binging cycle and began hanging upside down this afternoon. The four that are in their chrysalis have formed a cocoon around themselves. We should have painted lady butterflies in about a week. We will hang on to them for a few days and hope that they will lay eggs before we release them into the wild.
Needless to say, they are all the rage in our house. Lucy says good morning to them every day and watches them off and on throughout the day. She loves to show them of to her friends and wants to have all of them over when we release them. She tells me the difference between cocoons and chrysalis and all about the growth of the insects. She has taken them to school and is thrilled to be a "butterfly" in school and be able to share butterflies with her classmates. She claims they are "Amazing animals!"

Little Big Stuff

Harper is such a firecracker these days. Here are photos of her riding in the laundry basket for the first time (Lucy took over the pulling), playing with a princess wand, and her baby. Since these photos were taken she has started a whole new chapter and that is that she stands all the time. She is getting closer to walking by standing for up to a minute all on her own. It is her main objective all day long.

Terry clothed

I love when Harper gets out of the tub. She smells good and she has hilarius hair. She also drags her towel around on her head for some time and wears it like a cape. I had other photos, but none decent enough for the web!

Spring weather, finally!

Chalk, swings, bikes and bubbles- spring is finally here! We've spent as many minutes and hours outside as possible over the past few days. The girls are sleeping like rocks at naptime and are having so much fun with new activities and warm weather to occupy their time. Harper is most interested in sticks and trying to stand or trying to push Lucy's bike around. Lucy hops (literally) from one activity to the other- bubbles, chalk, bike, collecting flowers, rocks and sticks and running wild in the yard. We've splashed in buckets, invited friends over to play outside with us and have identified most of the flowers in the neighborhood.

The video is of Harper "crawling" outside. She doesn't like unfamiliar ground coverings. She won't do her regular crawl on mulch, sidewalks, grass, etc. Instead she drags one leg or she does this new maneuver where she walks with her hands on the ground, a crabwalk.

Easter

Easter had as much build up in our house as any other holiday. Egg shaped placemats were made, an egg tree was decorated, cards and pictures were colored as were eggs and cookies. Lucy asked every 10 minutes for 5 days leading up to the big day "how many days until the Easter bunny came?" The excitement was only heightened by the fact that we got 3 enormous packages in the mail from all the grandparents full of candy, clothes, and other treats. Harper just liked the boxes and the tags on the clothes. Lucy squealed over every pez, m&m, bathing suit (there were 6!) and "cute" clothing item that came out of the box.

So when Easter eve arrived Lucy was beyond excited. She could not decide what treat to leave the Easter bunny. I thought a carrot was the best option, she thought that a carrot was too ordinary and really wanted to leave a banana "it's healthy", she said. She put the baskets out for the hoppy one to find and went right to sleep that night.

Harper was up with the roosters in the morning so was able to have her bottle and wake up before the excitement took over. Lucy wandered into our room a little later and then all happiness ensued on our bed. Both girls were giggles and squeals until the time came to go basket hunting. There were three baskets hidden in our house, along with filled eggs for Lucy to find. Reggie and Lucy quickly located Harper's basket and she pilfered it and then got to work looking for Lucy's (her big sister always has more exciting stuff). That happened moments later and Lucy was thrilled. The eggs were filled with her favorite- little animals and chocolate balls and the basket had flip flops, a chocolate bunny, laffy taffy, pjs, cookie cutters, "tell me a story" cards and firefly toothbrushes that light up when you brush. Harper's basket had matching pjs, a duck book, dried fruit bits and sunglasses.

Afterwards we got ready for church where Harper proceeded to act like a real 1 year old. She took off her sweet little jelly sandals and launched one at Lucy and the other down the aisle. She flirted with men across the aisle and yelled out at the injustice of having to stay in one place. She yelled, "no, no, no!" during the sermon and tried to say "Allelujah" at least once. I let her run free in the back for a while where she promptly found the stairs and went up and down them a dozen times, screaming to go back up them each and every time. She was actually pretty funny the whole time, just rambunctious.

Lucy was wiggly and ready to go have lunch, her only objective during any activity that starts at 11am.

We had a nice dinner just the four of us where Harper out ate even the pregnant lady at the table.

We finished the night with the girls in matching pjs and Lucy insisting that she get a photo with Harper and Ian. Candy filled dreams and popsicle pjs, a nice ending to a great Easter day.

Egg Hunt

We hosted our 3rd annual spring egg hunt on Saturday. We had between 25 and 30 kids and their families and more than 1,000 eggs! The weather was in the 70s and everybody was so happy to be out in the sun with friends and lots (and lots) of good food and goodies galore.

Lucy and Harper were so excited all week and Lucy would squeal everytime somebody had dropped their eggs off in our drop off box outside. Her job was to add the new eggs to the old eggs and give them a good mixing so the eggs would be well distributed at the hunt. Harper would supervise and lick an egg or two for quality control. Then on Saturday Lucy went with me early to "hide" all the egg- nearly an impossible feat with 1,000 eggs, but the grass was the perfect length and all we really had to do was toss them out. She then played "hostess" by greeting everybody who came and giving giant bear hugs to all hr good friends. She was excited to say the least.

And then the moment of truth, we gathered all the kids up and let them go at once. It was happy chaos and everybody ended up with completely full baskets of eggs. Lucy's was full within minutes and she retreated to our blanket in the shade to begin the cracking. Her girlfriends gathered around her and they oohed and aahed over their trinkets, candy and stickers. Lucy ate enough candy to shame the Easter bunny (and we paid for it later with a completely wired 3 year old!)

Harper stuck with Ian all morning. They went out on the prowl and she found her egg, a purple one, which she never even opened. She just played with it, showed it off and was completely happy with her haul. She played with her friends Noelle, Quinn and Caroline, swung on the swings and ate her weight in mac n cheese.

We had a potluck lunch afterwards and then playtime on the playground. 3.5 hours later we retreated home, bellies full, spirits high, and sun-tired kids in tow. It was a great hunt!

And if you hear a crocodile...

Harper is 11 months old! Here is a little update:
Harper is catching on- to everything. It seems like the past week she has taken a giant leap into toddlerhood. She just seems to be communicating more clearly and all the games and songs we've been singing and playing for months are making sense and she is able to participate. She now sings along to "Twinkle, Twinkle", "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Row, Row, Row your boat". She knows one part of each that she sings and she will crawl over to me and try to get me to sing a song by singing the part she knows or by doing the hand movements. My favorite is at the end of Row, Row, Row your boat we add "And if you see a crocodile, don't forget to scream". She "screams". She will also try to say crocodile. Priceless.
Peek-a-boo is a nonstop game after dinnertime. She thinks this is very funny when Ian is involved and can play for half an hour sometimes.
Throwing things or dropping them. I don't even bother putting shoes on her anymore when she is in the stroller. Her little feet get pretty cold sometimes, but she would take them off and toss them if I put them on, at least this way we get to our destination with 2 shoes.
Following commands. She knows "come here", "no", "hand me that" and "let's go", among others. It is very nice to have her participate in these and saves us from a lot of Harper tantrums.
Cleaning up. She has started to clean up her blocks or put her toys into her toy basket. It is all a game and once they are all cleaned up she will promptly dump them out again. You have to be quick and take them away once they are cleaned up or we are repeating the whole process.
Using a spoon. She is starting to get the hang of it. She definitely prefers to feed herself than have me help her and she can scoop out of a bowl a little bit. Problem is that she grabs the bowl and dumps that before she even gets the chance.
Brushing her hair. Have brush, will groom. Then she adds, "Pretty".
Taking care of baby. She loves her baby doll and will give it a bottle, feed it pretend food, wipe its mouth, rock it, sing to it, kiss and hug it and walk it in the stroller. Then she takes it and bangs its head and says, "no, no, no!" That's not quite how we discipline in our house, but the imitation is flattering.
Climbing. She climbs stairs and people and today she climbed her first object. She wanted Lucy's crazy straw out of her cup and Lucy had moved it away from her. Harper scooted a box of wipes over and climbed up on it to reach the straw better. She wasn't much taller than before and Lucy was faster than she was, but the innovation was impressive. And a little scary.
Animals sounds. There is a difference in our house between dog and puppy dog. She can "woof" like a dog, when she wants to but she always wants to pant like a "puppy dog". She will also quack.
And standing alone. This is getting more and more frequent. She doesn't usually realize that she is doing it but when clapping is needed, and in Harper's world applause is often needed, she will stand alone and clap. She can also drink from a cup using both hands while standing. She doesn't really do this when we try to get her to, it has to be unconcious, but it is happening a whole lot.
One month to go until the big birthday. Lucy has many plans for a big party for her little sister, none of which, other than cake, will actually happen (airplane ride, moon bounce, and "lots of candy" are not in the plans). Will she be walking? Will she dive into her cake? Will we realize that it really has been a year already? My guesses are Yes. Yes. And probably not.

Jumping Jelly Bean

Lucy does it. Harper does it. And now, the little bean does it.
What's "it"? Hopping, bouncing, jumping, of course!
Lucy, as we all know, can't hardly get a word out sometimes because she is jumping so much. When asked what animals jump, she lists herself among them ("Crickets, grasshoppers, bunnies, frogs and me!"). Harper imitates and will be getting off the ground as soon as she has any balance. If Lucy is jumping, then Harper is bouncing. And now, we have a jumping jelly bean.
I'm now 17 weeks along and the baby is jumping like crazy. He or she must know that it is a pre-req to do so in our house and that to hang with these girls they must have mad hopping skills. The baby is probably wrestling with the umbilical cord as well, or better learn to since the girls will be tackling in no time. Not a wrestler? then (s)he'll be bounced right out of here!

Did I hear a "Yo" in there?

Harper is learning the art of conversation. We've noticed the past week or so that she has started saying "no" to things she doesn't like and repeats it when she hears it- including in church when the minister says it and she yells "No, no, no, no, no!"
But, yes, or "yeah" has entered her vocabulary as well. She doesn't really know what she is saying all the time, but she has started answering questions with one or the other. Here is a recent conversation we had at my doctor's appointment:
Me: "Ok, Harper, are you ready to go?"
H: "No."
Me: "Are you sure, Momma is leaving and I would like for you to go with me. Would you like to go with me? "
H: "Yeah."
Then she claps her hands and on the way out somebody said, aren't you pretty? (to her, of course) and she said, "No."
Sometimes she doesn't know how to answer so she'll say "Yo" or "Nay". Either that or she's gearing up for a career in hip hop or Congress. I guess we'll see.

Impressed?

Lucy came to me in a very forlorn manner yesterday. She said something was really sad. I asked her what could be the matter and she said. "It's terrible. LaLa is so impressed." I stifled a smile and asked what could impress LaLa so much. She said she "didn't know, she had just been really impressed lately."
I'm sure she meant depressed and I'm sure Lucy doesn't have any idea what she is talking about, but let's just hope that the impression lifts and LaLa is better soon.

Ladies and Gentleman!

Lucy was on fire the other night. We laughed so hard at all her antics that I had to grab the camera. What was so funny? The "show" that was being performed in her room. She had out the instruments, microphone and an imaginary audience to perform for (we didn't really count as the audience, they were in her room and we had to stay by the door).

She was putting on some sort of a play that had to do with Halloween, Easter and other assorted holidays and occasions. I loved her start and stop approach. There would be much ado about welcoming everyone to the show and then she would say "but it isn't starting, yet."

We finally got a show, complete with a few original songs, some covers of old favorites and a kazoo solo from Harper. Dance lessons were also included with lots of hip shaking.

Note- this was not an "adult" show, just another night where Lucy was just not comfortable in her shirt and therefore was topless for her performance.

Reggie, the million dollar dog

Well, I haven't updated Reggie's status in a while and many may think that he is just fine after his surgery. WRONG.
Our dog, who, I have to say up front, we do love, is a money pit.
To back up... Reg has surgery a couple of weeks ago for an infection in his cheek. He comes home, happy and healthy and healing. That was a Tuesday. By Sat, the swelling had completely returned and his eye looked as though it was bulging out of his head. He went back to the doc.
The vet performs a second surgery and puts in a drain in his cheek. The drain is disgusting and actually drains blood out the side of his cheek. Ian and I begin a week of cleaning blood out of the carpet at all times of the day. The swelling remains partially. The open wound on his face is itchy, you can tell, and he is wanting to scratch but the Elizabethan collar he is forced to wear won't allow it, until...
Monday night. Ian heads out to watch the NCAA championship game. The girls are asleep. The dog has taken his meds and is asleep next to me on the floor. A few moments pass and he stands, somehow reaches around his collar and scratches. Yelping occurs and I take a look. Better if I hadn't. He has ripped the drain out of his face, there is a hole in his cheek, a tube dangling in two pieces from his face and oh, yeah, lots and lots of blood. I begin cleaning him up, his entire left side is bloody, there is blood on 6 walls in the house and puddling and splattered all over the carpeting and floors. Ian gets many phone calls from me and returns home to help. Reg spends the night in the kitchen so that we can contain the mess.
He returns to the vet the next day so they can clean him up and examine the damage. It's not so bad and they don't sew him up- we have to keep that wound open for a while so that it will continue to drain. Keeping it open is not fun.
Reg returns home Tuesday night, looking better and seeming to feel better. Ian takes him outside and is on his way back inside when I hear the worst crying ever. I open the door to see if Ian needs help and Reggie is now limping and not using his left hind leg. Great.
He returns to the vet on Thursday. More swelling in the face, a nasty looking eye and only 3 legs. We are told, "Good news, bad news.". The good news, his face is healing. The bad news, he has torn the acl in his left hind leg. The same thing he did to his right hind leg just a couple years ago.
He is only 8. No we don't have pet insurance (it wouldn't cover the leg, anyways) and he does not realize that if he would quit running up the vet bills we might actually be able to afford a yard for him. He's running out of parts to replace. We are running out of money. The vet loves him, for good reason. The million dollar dog and the million dollar vet, they get along great.

Spring Break 2009- Woohoo!

Well, it is Spring Break around here. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean airbrushed t shirts, tequila shots or even a beach around here. Actually, it means, Cherry Blossoms, Thumbelina, bowling, the zoo, River Farm, a Bunny Show and lots and lots of treats, desserts and sugar highs.

We kicked off Lucy's spring break with a trip to the Cherry Blossom Festival where we hung out at the WWII Memorial and along the Tidal Basin. Lucy's highlight was when she decided to trek through a muddy field and had her shoes literally sucked off her feet by the mud monster. She started to freak out and then decided to laugh it off- good choice!

The next day we met up with our friends Vanessa and Brielle to attend a showing of "Thumbelina" at the National Theatre. The girls donned tutus and Lucy sat right in the front row. After the show she came and got me to tell me that she needed to have her picture taken with Thumbelina. When it was her turn she plopped right down in the actress' lap and began smiling. Then we headed over to the Cherry Blossom Parade and then lunch and a train ride home.

Sunday we went to church and grilled out- Lucy decided she loves asparagus.

Monday we went to the bowling alley for Lucy's first bowling experience. Using bumpers and a rolling rack some of the time, she bowled a 96. Not bad. The video below shows why the game took as long as it did- the ball barely rolls down the lane. She had a great time and is ready to take on any challengers.

Wednesday we went to the National Zoo where we joined half of the nation there for Spring Break fun. No idea that it would be so crowded. Lucy loved the cheetahs and zebras and throwing many tantrums. More fun for her than for me. Harper loved the flamingos and the ducks. She always loves ducks. She quacked for the masses and was quite pleased with herself. She spent the rest of the time taking off her shoes and socks and throwing them over the side of the stroller. This happened 3 times where people had to chase after us to return her shoe. I had to go find it twice and after that decided that I didn't care if her feet were cold, she was going barefoot the rest of the day. I had 2 moms comment on her cold feet. Again, she had more fun than I did that day. We came home, napped and then had some new neighbors over for a playdate. Lucy loved playing with Kylee and Natalie, putting on make up, playing with baby dolls and all had a cell phone to call their imaginary friends. Harper loved antagonizing the older girls- that is her specialty, afterall.

Thursday we joined the Wells for a playdate at River Farm. Lucy and Parish ran rampant through the gardens. They played "I Spy" and I made a scavenger hunt for them where they followed a map and found some goody filled Easter eggs in the daffodils. Harper sought mud and found it, many times over. She was a muddy, dirty mess and kicked and screamed when I attempted to clean any part of her- therefore she stayed dirty. She spent the rest of the time chasing her buddy Caroline and at one point I looked over and Harper was just standing in the middle of the field in front of Caroline- not holding on to anything. Then she realized what she was doing and quickly sat down.

Friday we went to a Bunny Show at Discovery Theater. It was full of bunny stories, hopping, and treats- both girls loved it. Harper was able to do a lot of clapping and bouncing and Lucy really enjoyed the stories and the well, I guess you know she LOVED the hopping! Then we had lunch in the castle garden and headed home, where they now sleep. Spring Break is over in just a few days. Those days will be full of egg hunts, church, Easter fun and hopefully a break for me. Who says Spring Break involves a break? I'm ready for that tequila shot, the beach and even an airbrushed t-shirt that says, "I had two kids on spring break and all i got was an excuse for a nap."