Immigration...

Every other blog out there has an immigration post, so I thought I would declare where I stand.

I am for immigration.

I am opposed to illegal immigration.

Thank you.

mwz

Duck Duck Goose

Frances still says "Si... si... si... Dow!" (pronounced like Sit Down but without the ending consonants). I find it intriguing. She expectantly says a random number of "Si" and then yells "Dow" which is accompanied by some show of excitement like jumping or raising her arms. The way she says it is very much like Duck Duck Goose.

She loves it when you say it with her. It's kinda fun sometimes trying to guess how many "si"s there will be so that you can say "Dow" with her (usually 2 or 3 but not always).

mwz

Frances and the Pancakes

Last night, we went out to eat at Bob Evans. I had the "Bob Evans Pot Roast Sandwich" because they put "Bob Evans" in the name. It was a really strange sandwich, pretty much exactly how you would think pot roast would taste on sour dough bread. No better. No worse. But definitely odd.

But that's not the point of this post. Frances had pancakes off of the children's menu. She ate them really well, the best she's eaten at a restaurant in a long time (she usually gets to distracted by the surroundings).

After the meal, the plan was for Arial to drop Frances and I off at Half-Price Books and she would go to Wal-Mart. I thought that was a great plan because both Frances and I like hanging out at Half-Price Books. She normally runs to the children's section.

But last night, she was crying when I took her out of the car. She was crying when we crossed the road. She was still crying when I set her down inside the door.

I held her hand and we walked to the children's section. She cried the whole way, garnering a lot of looks but I was sure that she would stop when we got to the kid's books (all the way at the back of the store). She didn't.

So after a brief period of her continuous crying in the kid's section, I realized that she wasn't going to stop. So, I picked her up and walked back out of the store (still crying).

Fortunately, it was pretty warm out. She didn't want to be put down so I just carried her on my shoulder while she cried. We were basically stranded, so I consoled her as best I could. We walked into a World Market and I was able to calm her down a bit by having her point at various animals. Unfortunately, that was short lived.

We left there (since I didn't know when Arial would be back) and walked back to the Half-Priced Books. She was still crying and still didn't want to go in side.

A woman with a 7 month old came over and that calmed Frances down for a bit while she looked at the other baby. But when they left, she started crying again.

Finally (after somewhere around a half an hour), I kind of cradled her in my arms and she calmed down some. It was then that I began to realize that she had probably ate too many pancakes and had a tummy ache. I slowly took her into the store and walked to the back. There, I was able to find a stool to sit on with her nuzzled into me. We looked at some pop-up books and she perked up a little.

That's when Arial came back. Frances was acting somewhat better but she was still walking very slowly. Arial was kind enough to read to her while I looked at books and CDs (I picked up Dr Frank (of Mister T Experience Fame) "Show Business Is My Life", Shonen Knife "Genki Shock" and K's Choice "Cocoon Crash" and after one listen each, none of them are bad).

This marks the first time that Frances has eaten more than was good for her. I hope it doesn't ruin pancakes for her.

mwz

Frances and the Y

I've started taking Frances with me to the Y when I work out. They have a "child watch" program where they watch your kids while you work out. I can't take her with me all the time because most of my workouts are during times that it isn't offered.

She's gone with me three times now and she really seems to like going. They have toys (that are different from her own toys) and there are other kids and there is coloring. She doesn't want to leave when I get back. She likes seeing me but she wants me to stay and play (rather than take her home).

The worker ladies tell me that Frances is really good and also that she's very quiet. I'd believe that. She doesn't quite talk yet and she's not one to babble to herself.

When she colors, they give me the pictures after words (and I take them because I don't want to look like a jerk who doesn't want his daughters scribbles. They don't know that she has notebooks full of the same scribbles at home).

The last time, there were two pictures. I flipped over one of them and the back was blank. I told her that she could have just flipped it over and let her color on the back (thus saving a page). But she said, "She's so good at filling the page that I don't mind giving her a second". I guess other kids just scribble a bit and then want another piece of paper. But not Frances, she's good at filling the page (and it's true, she is).

mwz

Climbing

Occasionally, we go to this play group thing at a local elementary school. They set up the gym with all sorts of toys and slides and play houses. I may have mentioned this place before.

They have this plastic fort thing. The walls are about 4-5 feet tall and has a shelf to clime up on about 3 feet up. From the shelf, there is a slide. Frances isn't big enough yet to just hoist herself up onto the shelf, so we've been teaching her how to use the holes in the wall to boost herself up.

In the past, I've had to help place her foot and give her a little, extra boost. Tonight, for the first time, she did it all by herself. Initially, I had to remind her to use the wall but then she was able to do the rest by herself. Pretty soon she was climbing up, sliding down and running around to do it over again, all by herself. That made me proud.

But what really had me beaming with pride was when a slightly older (and bigger) boy came up and tried to hoist himself onto the shelf. As he struggled, my little Frances crawled up right past him. I had to restrain myself from taunting the child that he had been out done by a little, tiny girl. I managed to keep that to myself (because that wouldn't have been very nice). I even told the kid's dad that we had been practicing so that he wouldn't feel bad.

But it did make me smile a big smile.

mwz

Big Girl Bed

Last Monday, Frances was having trouble going to sleep in her crib. She normally goes to sleep after about 5 minutes of crying. That night, after about a half an hour of crying, I went to check on her.

I picked her up to calm her down but she kept crying. I decided to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider with her (which she normally likes a lot). So that I could do the hand motions, I sat down on the full sized bed that we have in her room.

Just a couple lines into the song, she wiggled out of my arms and crawled to the top of the bed. I asked Frances if she wanted to be tucked in and lifted up the sheets. She crawled down into normal bed sleeping position and I covered her up. She looked very content and started going to sleep so I left her there.

I was pretty sure that she would wake up in the middle of the night and come to our bed (or make a mess somewhere). But in the morning, she was still in there. (She did cry a couple times in the night but all we had to do was go in there and she would go back to sleep.)

So now Frances sleeps in a big girl bed at night (naps are a different story which ends with her getting out of bed until we put her in her crib). We got a bed rail to minimize the possibility that she will accidentally fall out.

She has been going to bed without any crying and sleeping the whole night the last couple days (with no small bursts of crying). I think she is getting used to sleeping with covers. She has also started getting up on her own in the morning which we aren't really thrilled about but she hasn't done anything bad (yet).

I think everyone is happy with the big girl bed.

mwz