Sunday, February 25, 2007

Photo Shoot


I think I took about 100 photos this afternoon but this is the only successful shot.

Note to self: No photo shoots right before naptime.

Soprano


"Don't cry for me, Argentina..."

Friday, February 23, 2007

Panic on the Streets of London

Brodie and I visited London last weekend, sans Margot. We planned this trip over Thanksgiving so Brodie could participate in a Wharton rugby tournament. Since then, Brodie's accepted an offer for a summer internship in London so it turned into a preview of things to come! We're pretty excited to bring Margot to London (and I'm especially excited to hop around the continent with her!)

Rugby was the focus of this trip, although we did get a few opportunities for sightseeing. Here are some pics from the weekend:

Brodie in action:


Rugby scrums remind me that we're not too far removed from others in the animal kingdom:


Big Ben and big Brodie:


Hanging on the rugby pitch:


Claudia and Westminster Abbey/Big Ben:

Pulp Fiction


"Whose motorcycle is this?"

"It's a chopper, baby."

"Whose chopper is this?"

"It's Zed's."

"Who's Zed?"

"Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead."


Start Dick Dale guitar riffs.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

The Princess and the Pee

Potty-training has begun in full force this week. We're 24 hours in, and it's been going well. No accidents as of yet and Margot has been very cooperative.

I know lots of parents introduce M & Ms around this age as incentive to get their kids out of diapers. Not me. Instead of bribery, I employ psychological warfare to encourage Min to use her potty. (M & Ms are neither good for Margot's skin [chocolate makes her break out] nor for her attitude [the caffeine makes her crazy]). Instead, her reward is simple: toilet paper.

It works like this: I never let Margot play with the toilet paper in the bathroom as a tot. Months ago, I created an aura around the paper by saying, "Oh, no, you can't touch that Margot. It's only for people who use the potty." Eventually, Margot decided she wanted to use the potty and aha! She gets to use the paper. Really, that's all it took.

Oh, and there is some princess underwear involved here too. Margot is wearing underwear with Disney princesses on it, and she doesn't want them to get wet. This is not a novel potty-training technique, but it does seem to work.

I'm thinking of patenting the "No toilet paper until you use the potty" idea, though - that one's all mine.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Dress Up

Margot's new obsession is this blue beach hat from last summer and a soft scarf that my mom gave to me.

She's been walking around the house like this for the past few days.



No one is safe - not even Portia.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

A Spoonful of Sugar...

Helps the medicine go down, right?

Not in Margot's case. Min doesn't need sugar, or juice, or anything to get her to take medicine. Maybe medicine tastes a lot better now than it did when I was a kid (all I remember is hating the grape-flavored Rubitussin). Margot, on the other hand, actually asks to take infant Tylenol and, as of this weekend, Benadryl.

Margot has a red, blotchy rash all over most of her body. It's not raised, and she doesn't have a fever, but she's definitely crabby and not quite herself. The doctor's office said she doesn't need to come in unless she develops a fever, and that I could give her some Benadryl to ease her rash.

She loves it. "More Bendryl, please," she says after getting her three-quarters of a teaspoonful. "More! Benadryl! More!"

Lucky for us, it makes her very sleepy. Right now she's in hour two of what will probably be a three-hour nap, which lets me and Brodie get lots of schoolwork done!

Inevitable

I guess I knew we wouldn't escape the inevitable clothes removal/soaked sheets incident before Margot was fully potty trained.

We'd been lucky in the past.

But last night around 9:00 pm, Margot began to wail. Not the "I don't feel like sleeping" cry, but a real "Guys, come in here I need you right now!" cry.

Brodie and I dashed up the stairs and there she lay: naked, very wet, and freezing cold. Her 'nammies were in one corner of her crib and her completely dry diaper was in anothhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifer corner. She lay right in the middle of a huge puddle on her sheet, blinking bleary-eyed in the glare of the overhead lights. Who knows how long she was like that before she cried! It seemed like a while. We couldn't help but laugh; poor Margot looked so betrayed by our amusement.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Fashion Show a la Daddy

Brodie and I joke that whenever he dresses Margot, she ends up looking like Schneider from One Day at a Time. She usually ends up in a dirty white onsie and jeans that are two sizes too small.

I think he thinks it makes her look 'cool.' And he's not much into girly-girls, anyway.

Here is Brodie's favorte wintertime fashion for Margot. Note the hooded Wharton sweatshirt, the baggy cords, and the checkered Vans. This kid's ready for a punk show!

Not from Concentrate

This morning I gave Margot a Clementine orange to peel and eat while I prepared breakfast.

Her booster seat is in the dining area, out of view from the kitchen. After about five minutes, I noticed things were very quiet.

Then, "Juicy hands! Juicy hands!" Margot called out from her booster.

I came around to the dining area, and found that Margot has indeed peeled her Clementine. Instead of eating it, though, she squeezed all of the juice onto her tray.

"Straw, please," she said, with a big smile.