The Kids' Log May 13-19, 2012

This week was a lot calmer compared to last week. Amen. I spent some time getting organized for the summer including planning Marlie's 3rd birthday party, enrolling her in summer camp and classes. She will be taking African dance on alternating Saturdays. I have also be thinking about our family vacation at the end of summer. I really want to go to Atlanta and spend a week with our friends back there. I miss them so much and most of them have never met our kids. Desmond will be six months by then and old enough to travel by my standards. I hope we can pull it off.

This week I checked off some tasks on my personal to-do list. I went of my six-week follow-up exam at the OB/GYN. I got all the green lights. This means sexy times can resume, but also that I can start working on my fitness. I am going on a 30-day sugar fast. In the last seven days I've eaten half a dozen sticky buns, cookies, a pint of ice cream, and a slice of carrot cake. Drastic measures are needed to get the sugar monkey off my back.  I went to the spa Saturday and got a glorious massage and foot relief treatment. I created a Facebook Fan Page for this blog, so please go and like it. Consider it a birthday gift to me. Oh, yeah. I turned 36 on Friday. Damon was out of town that day, but he came home that night and surprised me with the coolest present. I am typing on it now...my new HP Notebook. I am still in shock. And it gets better. He arranged for Desmond's honorary godmothers to watch the kids tonight so we can go see The Hunger Games. Hubby is officially out of the doghouse. I like him again.

Toddler Log: 2 Years and 39 Weeks Old
The missus had more good days than bad this week (she was sick with a 24-hour stomach bug on Monday and stayed home with me). The worst thing she did was break open a pen and get ink all over her hands and mouth. We have been trying some new tactics that don't involve yelling or threatening time out. With the pen incident, I calmly explained that eating ink can make you sick. When she is making a racket in the room where the baby is sleeping, we tell her she can go scream in her room, but she has to be quiet in our room. It all goes back to redirecting the behavior we want to change. It's not like she listens to us the first time. She is not that goodie two-shoes child, she is all about pushing buttons and boundaries. We just have to be consistent.

Marlie's knowledge and skills were on shining display this week. She demonstrated her mastery of numbers by showing me the three spiders on the web ("Look, mommy there are three itsy bitsy spiders!"). I love that she can do more than count from memory. She has also been getting herself dressed for school. Gotta love that Montessori education!

Baby Log: 7 Weeks Old
Little Magoo went with me to the doctor's office where he showed off his developing reputation as a ladies' man. The nurses just ate him up. He smiled and cooed and didn't cry once while he was passed from arm to arm. The flirt. New moves: he chuckles now and he likes bobbing his head like he's listening to music playing in his head.