Unemployed

Avery really likes to draw. She’ll draw Dan and me, or Romey, or her house, a helicopter, whatever—she’s a creative (or so it seems).

Last night Avery was drawing and alternately distributing pictures to Dan and me. Each time she’d say, “Here’s a picture. Make sure you show it to your parents.” It’s a natural conclusion that while at preschool Avery’s teacher is telling her to “show her picture to her parents.”

We decided to dig a little deeper and asked Avery, “Who are your parents?” She replied, “Well, Uncle Tommy, Uncle Jake, and Matt.” We corrected her and told her that we (Dan and Susan) are her one and only parents; no one else, just us.

Her response will go down in Avery history: “Well, WHY are you guys my parents? Tell me the truth!” Naturally these words were accompanied by an emphatic bummer sigh. Sorry to disappoint, Avery. Which leads me to share these Donald Trump pictures of Romey—Dan and I are SO FIRED!

Romey's Donald Trump inspired hairstyle

"Mom! You're fired!"

"Dad! You're fired too!"

"And you too blog-readers!"

Snapshot—Fall 2009

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, one of the primary reasons that I blog is to ‘record’ Avery and Romey. I take a lot of pictures, and video, but I don’t journal, and am a Creative Memories dropout. I have aspirations of putting together yearly photo books, but…….yeah, in the meantime, I’ll just blog it. So, Ave and Ro, this one’s for you.

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Romey—Gizmo

Let me start by saying that I love reading dooce.com. I don’t always agree with the author or appreciate her language, but I think she’s a great writer with a terrific story re-telling sensibility. Ah, story telling.

Anyway, she wrote this paragraph about her youngest daughter (approximately four months old):

“You are what I call The Ruse. And I am not falling for it, not one bit. No way. I'm guessing your kind is evolution's way of sustaining our species. Because you and your irresistible cuteness and mood could fool a woman into having lots and lots of babies. BUT I AM NO FOOL. You know why? Because I have already lived through the third year of someone's life, and I know yours is coming. And when it hits, when you throw your body across the floor in a fit of rage, I'll be all SEE! I KNEW IT! Behind all those smiles and adorable dimples lies an evil three-year-old!”

I read this and laughed and laughed and laughed. I think I might have even stood up and clapped. Why? Because, sometime over the last month, someone snuck into my home and dripped a little bit of water onto my sweet Romey’s head. And then, before my very eyes, Romey transformed from a little cooing Gizmo into a ferociously screaming Gremlin. And, let me tell you, it just gets downright ugly sometimes, and I can’t believe that I was stupid enough to think that Ro would skip past this tumultuous toddler stage. Yes, we still have glimpses of Gizmo, but boy, can that Gremlin make her presence known.

[My editor just informed me that Gizmo becomes more aggressive/mean/naughty if he's fed after midnight, and he multiplies if he gets wet. Details, details.....you get the idea.]

A typical Romey moment now often includes: a dirty look or two, screaming, kicking, and/or full body tantrums. She often will exercise her ‘right to refusal’ card and can be downright impossible. Yes, we’ve ushered in the two’s, and the great thing about Ro being my second child is that I’ve learned from past experience to just step over the tantruming child, and am often overheard saying, “Save it, sista!” or “work it out!” A golden rule: you just can’t reason with a tantruming child.

On a happy note, amidst all her tantrum throwing, Romey has managed to put on a little weight, and is now filling out Avery’s 3T clothing. Romey’s vocabulary is expanding as well, and her favorite words are: juice, mama, dada, gum, baby, bye bye, Avery, and a couple of others that I’m having a difficult time recalling at the moment.

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Avery—The X-Files

Avery has become our Queen Negotiator, and, at times, will use her manipulative prowess to get what she wants (I don’t know anyone like this).

Here’s an example: Avery spies a blue bottle of Gatorade, and says, “Oh, I’ve never had a blue drink before.” Then she dutifully waits, and bats her eyes at whomever is drinking the blue Gatorade. And then the drinker (who can not resist Avery’s charm) offers Avery a drink, prompting Ave to spring up and say, “Sure! I’d LOVE some!” Note: If the owner of the Gatorade bottle had not shared, then they likely would have been ‘X’ed.

Ah, the ‘X’ syndrome. We’re just coming out of the two-week period of intense ‘X’ing. Avery would draw a picture, and then ‘X’ some one out of it. Often that some one would be me, and Ave would explain that she had done so because sometimes “you (me) were naughty.”

Exhibit A and B: Mommy with an 'X'

It seemed that everyone had their turn with a ‘X’ on their face. Finally, I got a little fed up with it, and hastily drew a picture of Avery, and then put a giant ‘X’ over her drawn face (not her real face). Somehow, I’m not sure why, but that interchange got the point across. Remember, I don’t profess to be good at this parenting thing; just trying to muddle through it. I will say, though, that ‘X'-ing Avery worked, and the ‘X’ is ‘X’ed for now.

Avery has also become very, very imaginative, and can often be found building a ‘house’ (a chair with blankets), or a ‘hospital’ (a table and a blanket). Tea parties are still a big hit, as well as Candy Land, Hungry Hippos, Hi Ho Cheerio, and Play Doh. She loves to write, and has become even more infatuated with all things princess—Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, etc.

Avery created a 'video' of Dan and me.

And—my least favorite Avery update—I’m noticing that Avery is steadily becoming more aware of how other’s feel about her. She’s concerned with whether or not someone will like her, and if they’ll be nice to her. I hate to see her so ‘affected’ but know that we’re ONLY at the tip of this ice burg (more on this later).

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Have a great week, and Happy Fall!