Silly Billy Cutie Patootie

I signed up for prosebox.net today. Seems like a great backup for OD.

We had a big day yesterday. I’m only just now starting to not feel so exhausted from it, but maybe I am because it is night and I am tired and maybe it still is yesterday’s tired hanging over me but I just assume it is regular tired? Yesterday morning, Ashley and I headed off on a big adventure. We drove half an hour down the street to Kristen (sister-in-law)’s place. Ash was being silly and happy in the car the whole time, we were either making silly noises and laughing or she was saying "Aunty Kisten, yaay!" Kristen was waiting for us by her car, so after a relatively quick move of the car seat we were all off to the beach! We went to Rocky Neck State Park, because it is near Lisa (mother-in-law)’s place and we were meeting her there. I have never been to a beach with more than a few people there at a time, so this was CRAZY! And it wasn’t even hot. It was about 78F (25C?) and the wind was warm but I was quite cold. Didn’t help that the water was cold.

At first, Ash didn’t want the water or the sand, but didn’t want to sit. (She has picked up an annoying habit of saying no when she means yes so I have to determine if it is a real no or a silly no…) We’d go into the ocean (she called it either ‘wawa’ or ‘pool!") and 1…2…3… dunk, her feet would get wet. Then up to the belly. Then we’d stay in the water for a few seconds at a time. By the end of the almost-4-hour beach visit, Ash and I would go to water up to my waist (or higher) and jump! jump! jump! which I am really feeling today. My legs ACHE. She didn’t want to leave the ‘pool’, she was having a blast. Oh, she’d also take her big sand rake in so she could ‘sweeps’ the water. That was extra fun when some seaweed drifted by, actual grass to rake!

After the beach, we went to Lisa’s for a quick change and so Ash could have a snack (I almost begged her to nurse, I was so full it was uncomfortable) and then off to Olive Garden for lunch. Mmm, bread sticks. Ashley ate the ends of my bread sticks and some of my spaghetti. She sat in the high chair for the entire meal, which I was quite impressed with. That was a first. Usually we have to hold her until the food comes out because otherwise she gets sick of the high chair, makes a huge fuss, and we end up holding her while we try to eat. So yay! It was such a good meal, chicken parm with spaghetti and loads of bread sticks and delicious never-ending raspberry lemonade (there weren’t many people so our server was almost hovering with the jug to top up our glasses… awesome!). Then we headed next door to Target because Lisa wanted to buy us things. She bought me a pair of jeans. Kristen helped me pick them out. Well really, she morphed into sales-person mode and was dashing out to get different pairs and getting me to show her how they look and all that. It was awesome, I needed the help. Now I have new jeans! Ashley got a singing Elmo, I think I hate it. Singing toys either are fine or I want to smash them. There is no ‘slightly annoying’ when it comes to singing toys.

Ashley napped in the car on the way to the beach, but that was from 10-11, so by the time we started heading home at 7 she was a zombie. She slept pretty well until we got to Kristen’s, then she had a breakdown while I was transferring her seat. Of course, being my daughter, the promise of listening to Michael Jackson calmed her down INSTANTLY, and she was patient and let me buckle her in and then start the car and get the music started… wow. We had to listen to Thriller for the entire half hour drive home (every time it ended "moosh!" which is her name for it) but that is not at all a bad thing. I was just happy that it was after her bedtime and she wasn’t screaming from tired.

Today we have been pretty lazy. I unpacked (I took a LOT of stuff yesterday) and we cleaned, but mostly we sat and read books. She’s still struggling to grasp the idea that 1 and 0 next to each other means 10. And when she sees a 1, sometimes she says I, until I specifically say "what NUMBER is this?" I think she is doing FANTASTIC for not-quite 18 months.

I’m currently waiting for 2 things that won’t happen right away. 1 is a package of photos from shutterfly, so I can finally fill in the frame I got when I was pregnant (it has a 5X7 newborn spot and then smaller spots for 1-12month photos) and it can stop sitting on the floor taunting me. 2 is waiting for OD to work enough on the computer so I can download my diary (and Jake’s) as XML files. I did notepad files only a few days ago, so I do have copies, but it would be nice if I could transfer my stuff to prosebox… We’ll see.

Title: What I was calling Ash after her nap today. It cracked her up every time.