Naked Time

Because Magnolia gets really bad diaper rashes, our doctor prescribed daily naked time to air her out and make sure she is completely dry after bathing.

Tonight, post bath we were sitting on our living room floor, Magnolia playing with her toys, me checking blogs on my laptop peeking over at Maggie every few seconds to keep an eye on her.

A few minutes into naked time, I glanced over to see her eating something -- it kinda looked like a Cheerio. But Nana swept the floor for me today. Thinking maybe she managed to remove part of a toy, I quickly leaned over to do a finger sweep of her mouth. As I removed the squishy, wet mass I noticed she was sitting in a pile of similar matter.

Magnolia was eating her own poop! Gross!

Maggie was not pleased when I swept her up, raced to the bathroom to sanitize her and brush her teeth. Naked time was over for tonight.

Cleaned and jammied we headed back into the living room to find the offensive after dinner snack had been magically cleaned up. Brian was at soccer. I'll let you figure out who helped me out. Double Gross!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAALLLLLLLL!!!

Ladies and Gentleman, last Sunday, November 9, 2008 Shannon Rush, star defender of Bellingham's finest soccer club, known as Your Grandma, had the rare opportunity to play striker and she did not disappoint. In a hard fought loss Shannon scored her team's only goal, her first in a distinguished 3 year career.

This was no gimme, folks. It was a beaut!!

Her teammate, Erik Meyer, streaked down the right wing before finding Shannon positioned perfectly at the top of the box. He made a beautiful pass right to Shannon, who one-timed it solidly into the lower left corner, leaving the sprawling goal-tender no chance.

Deliberations are currently under way among the management regarding whether Shannon--who has been known as "The Wall" for her defensive prowess--would better serve the team in an offensive role full time. Some commentators speculate Your Grandma is looking into emerging cloning technologies in order to have Shannon play both positions.

Happy 8 Month Birthiversary!

Things Magnolia has learned this month:

• ++ To give kisses (she will even give you a kiss when we read about it in one of her books).  So fun!


• ++ To wave hello and goodbye


• ++ To put her hands over the side of her high chair tray where they get magically tickled and cleaned at the same time (Consequently, Otis and Trudy have discovered where to hang out at mealtimes)


• ++ That she prefers one food over another (One day after eating banana for breakfast she was given her staple tofu for lunch. Assuming the tofu cube to be banana she immediately spit it out and started crying.)


• ++ Moving her hands makes Mama and Papa excited. She is trying to sign to us lately. She has mastered rubbing her fists together (the sign for changing your diaper) but uses it for everything. A couple times, she has been able to sign for "more" when eating by tapping her fists together instead of twisting

Magnolia's Favorites right now:

Food - Peas, Avocado, Sweet Potato, Banana

Songs - Itsy-Bitsy Spider and Old MacDonald (especially when Papa sings it)

Book - Snuggle Puppy

What do you get when you cross a Ladybug, a Bat, and Princess Leia? Halloween '08!

In spite of still being pa-sickie, we decided to join some of our friends with young families for Halloween festivities. The evening began with Princess Leia and a Bear dancing to ghostbusters, which is always awesome.

We warmed up with some yummy soup and made sure everyone had all their appropriate costume parts and candy receptacles.

There were two wagons; one for the little ones and one for the bigger kids. Unfortunately, Magnolia decided she was not a fan of the wagon. She preferred Mama Bear's arms.

The Three Bears

It is amazing how quickly kids learn and how long lasting their memory can be when candy is involved. The three-year-old's were leading the charge, but it wasn't long before the younger ones had caught on.
Already these savvy "big kids" had learned the art of trading and the bonus of the unattended candy jar by the front door. I was impressed by one little boy/bear that very responsibly and nicely informed potential treaters that he couldn't have their chocolate treat because he is allergic to dairy.

It was fun to be with other families on a nice night and laugh at our kids. But with it came a realization that Halloween is forever changed.  We'll miss the grown-up costume parties but look forward to many more Halloweens like this one, filled with squeals of anticipation and candy-induced ecstasy.