Monday, June 29, 2009

Pavlov's Children

I sometimes wonder if Pavlov ever had kids. If he did, they would probably be like mine....

When I'm in the kitchen, I often find myself going into the pantry. It just dawned on my why Addison sometimes gets upset that I'm in the pantry....it's not that she wants to be in the pantry or doesn't want me in there, it's that she wants to be in her high chair so I can feed her a snack from the pantry.

Yep, it turns out she is very aware of where the graham crackers and goldfish crackers are kept...so when I open the pantry door, she hears the bell in her head and thinks "SNACK!!!" and makes a beeline for her high chair.

It only took me a few episodes to figure out what was going on....

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Swim Lessons & Walking

Since I have been completely sporadic with writing, I figured I would combine two posts into one.

Swim Lessons
As any So Cal mommy knows, you gotta get your kid in swim lessons. With all the beaches & pools, it's a darn shame if you don't get your kids trained...right? (It could also be that I grew up loving swim lessons so I gotta put Drew & Addi in them too even if there is the possibility that they may think it's torture.)

Anyways, as I have found out over the years, there is limited space in the city sponsored swim lessons. So when I read that the first day of registration was today, I figured as long as I got there right when it started, all would be good. So I packed up the kids and headed to the community center and arrived right when registration started...to a line of 100 parents. (I knew I should have camped out...)

Now before you roll your eyes at what may seem to be the minutae of my life, let's just say that after an hour of waiting and getting both kids into their classes (yep, Drew got the last spot in his class), I actually felt like I had accomplished something. Like I had stood in line for concert tickets and got just the right wristband. Just instead of front row, I earned the pleasure of packing the kids up for swim lessons at 9 AM on Saturdays. Ah, the joys of motherhood (no sleeping in!) I mean, I actually left the community center with a proud smile on my face. (Lame, I know)

Now for the other topic...

Toddler Walking
Now that Addi is getting around, I've come to remember the different styles of toddler walking.

The Robot: This is what a toddler looks like when they not only walk, but they try to walk fast. I know, not too original with the name, but you get the picture.

The T-Rex: This is the robot walk with arms bent at the elbows...like a little dinosaur.

The Frankenstein: Robot walk combined with arms straight out. This is usually combined with Addi running (fast robot) down the hall chasing Drew.

The Wraith: This is the Frankenstein combined with screaching...like the wraiths from Lord of the Rings.

The Teradactyl: This isn't a walk. This is just what it sounds like when Addi & Drew are in the other room and they start screaching at each other. (And when I say screaching, this is the "good" noise...) I'm not quite sure what is going on, they just sound like two teradactyls...or what movies have led me to believe is a teradactyl.

The Dedication
On my first post, I mentioned that Patrick's cousin Chris had inspired me to start a blog. He has decided that he has run out of material and will no longer post. I hereby dedicate this post to the loss of his blog. It was his postings of steak, Nascar and Kristin's love of Banana Republic that inspired me to give this a shot. (And I am nowhere near the blogger that he is, I mean was.)

One Last Thought
Have you ever noticed that the amount of things that you pack for a day at the beach is inversely proportionate to actual amount of time spent at the beach?

One diaper bag, one bag of towels, snacks, juice boxes, blanket, two beach chairs, spare clothes, hats, beach toys, lotion and two kids = 45 minutes of fun in the sand. Oh alright, I suppose we can squeeze out a whole hour....