Wednesday, April 26, 2006

My little artistical prodigy


Britt's artwork
Originally uploaded by Sandra D..

As I've mentioned before, Britt and I like to doodle on her doodle pad. She scribbles, I draw mostly shapes, sometimes numbers. So far, she only likes circles -- or kerkles, as she calls them.

More recently, she's been drawing kerkles herself and I've been adding faces to my kerkles, just for variety.

Today she drew a face, too!

See that wart-looking thing on the left cheek with a hair growing out of it? That was the original left ear, until I tried to get her to finish the right ear, but she drew the bigger left ear instead.

Anyway, I thought it was pretty darn good since she's only 19 months old.

Monday, April 24, 2006

Our new baby


Our new puppy
Originally uploaded by Sandra D..

She's a keeshond (pronounced kayz-hund), and she's 10 weeks old. We haven't decided on a name yet. She's Penny if you ask me, Bubbles if you ask Mikey and Cat if you ask Britt.

We brought her home Sunday and she rode all the way home from Newalla on my lap without peeing on me. We took that as a good sign, but we were wrong. It doesn't matter how much time we spend outside; I swear she holds it until she comes back into the house.

Uh, Bridgie? I'm gonna need my carpet shampooer back, like real soon.

Anyway, Penny/Bubbles/Cat is like a fluffy little teddy bear and her fur is really soft. Britt spent most of today playing in the backyard with her; she's a sweet and playful dog and very patient with Britt, who's doing better than I expected. She doesn't try to pick up the dog or pull her fur, but she won't give her a minute's peace either.

It's like having a new baby in the house; she kept us up all last night, whimpering for attention instead of sleeping. I guess it's gonna take a while for us all adjust to each other.

I just hope she lets us get some sleep tonight.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Spoke too soon


I guess I shouldn'ta said nuthin', dammit. I jinxed myself.

Sarah called at 2:00 this afternoon wanting to see Brittany. We agreed that she could come over at 3:00. She finally showed up at 6:00.

So we all went outside and played with Britt, and played with Britt, and played with Britt some more, and then it was almost 8:00 and we hadn't had dinner yet and me and Mikey were looking at each other going "What do we do about dinner?"

We aren't rude people. Well, Mikey is, but with a judge looking over our shoulder who could take Britt away from us, he isn't. So we ordered takeout from Charleston's and bought Sarah's dinner, too, since she wasn't offering to go away.

(**sigh**)

Anyway, she gave Britt a bath after dinner and wanted to put her to bed, so me and Mikey sat on the couch watching TV and listening to them playing and reading books. Then, I was all absorbed in watching "Tuckerville" (shut up) when Britt came wandering into the living room. I carried her back to her room and found Sarah stretched out on the bed -- sound asleep.

Gaaaah!

So I read some more books to Britt and rocked her to sleep and put her in bed, and then I shook Sarah awake (none too gently) and sent her home.

And, yeah, she spilled some juicy gossip about herself because she doesn't have the good sense to keep her mouth shut, but I'll have to tell you about it later since I've had about enough of her today.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Britt's first trip to the park


park1
Originally uploaded by Sandra D..

When she tried to climb on the jungle gym, she was yelling "Open it! Open it!"

She hated the swing and was too short for everything else, so we prob'ly won't go again for a while.

I did finally find her little blow-up swimming pool from last summer. Now I dread blowing up the damn thing.

(**wheeze**)

Monday, April 17, 2006

Britt's first-ever romp in the sprinkler


sprinkler8
Originally uploaded by littlesisblog.

It was 98 degrees today. In April!

I couldn't find her little blow-up swimming pool from last summer, so I hooked up the sprinkler instead. And OMG! The water was COLD!

She loved it, though. She had a great time, running and squealing for a good twenty minutes until she started looking a little pink and I made her come inside.

(Note to self: Buy sunblock ASAP.)

Britt's first Easter egg hunt


easter12
Originally uploaded by littlesisblog.

She didn't really understand the concept, but she did manage to snag four plastic eggs, containing a grand total of 41 cents and four mini Strawberry Shortcake dolls.

And she looked very pretty in her new Easter dress.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Easter greetings


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(cribbed from Mother May I)

So I dyed a dozen and a half more eggs and shouldn't have. They turned out crappy. Now I'm cranky.

Anyway, have a happy one.

Friday, April 14, 2006

Gettin' eggy with it


Hey, look at me -- gettin' all crafty and shit!

Today I colored Easter eggs with some homemade brew:

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Aren't they pretty? Well, with more practice they would've looked better, but I only had eight eggs. One broke during the coloring process, so I ate it. I used a white crayon to make the designs, which came out a little rickety because Britt was nipping at my heels the whole time.

I got the idea from a recipe for tsoureki, a Greek Easter bread with colored eggs on top. The bread didn't interest me but the eggs did because the color was way more intense than what you get with those stupid PAAS kits.

Now I want more eggs!

She's getting so big


Big enough to climb up onto the upper terrace of the backyard, which keeps me hopping when we're out there because I'm afraid she'll fall off and impale herself on a rosebush.

She was mad at me here because I wouldn't let her stand up on the chair...

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but then she got happy again.

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Heh, that chin.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Party's over


I got birthday greetings from everybody but Bob. My son has forgotten me.

Britt and I were playing in the backyard when Mikey came home, so I went inside and started looking around.

Puppy? Puppy? Oh, puppeeeeee...?

I looked at Mikey.

Hey, where's my puppy?

Oh, did you want a puppy?

(**sigh**)

When I saw the candles on my cake, a 4 and a 3, I started giggling. After he sang the Happy Birthday song, he asked what I was laughing at.

What year was I born?

1963?


(**snort**)

He dropped his head.

I got it wrong again, didn't I?

Yeah, like every year for the past twelve years.

Well, at least you always guess younger instead of older.

After Britt went to bed we were out in the garage smoking.

So you're gonna leave it to me to pick out a dog?

Yeah, pretty much.

So do I have to go and get it too, or just decide which one?

No, I'll go and get it for you.

Anyway, we split a bottle of Riesling and he passed out and now I'm working on the stash of Coronas that Phil left last time he was here.

It was a pretty good birthday, actually. Nice dinner, nice presents, a little freaky-sneaky, and now I'm getting a litte tripsy, er, tipsy.

Heh, tripsy -- I wish.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Yeah, so, it's my birthday


I plan on having a quiet day, at least until Mikey gets home. He's bein' all mysterious and shit, so I dunno what he's up to. I hope it includes alcoholic beverages and a puppy.

Mom had Phil send me this picture of me when I was about the age Britt is now:

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I still had the same haircut in my kindergarten picture. I think it was Mom's revenge for all the stitches she needed after I was born.

Monday, April 10, 2006

Oops, she did it again


I sure am glad we dismantled Britt's bed, or else she'd be one banged-up baby by now:

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We keep pillows lined up around the edge of the bed, and she still manages to roll off onto the floor.

Oh, well. I guess if she's not falling far enough to wake up, she's not falling far enough to get hurt.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Mmmm, pudding


Britt enjoyed an afternoon snack today:

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Pudding! And cake!

After she was done, I wiped her down and cleaned up the mess and did a few chores and then I was in the kitchen fixin' dinner when she came running in with a delighted grin, holding up two chocolate-colored hands at me.

Sis, where'd you find that pudding? I thought I cleaned it...

(**sniff**)

Oh, my God! That's not pudding...!

Six months and one day


That's how long it's been since Sarah's seen Brittany. That's one-third of Britt's life.

Sarah's parents had one short visit with Britt in January, and we haven't heard from them since; the last time they saw her before that was in September.

Bob hasn't even called in a few weeks, and hasn't been down to see her in over a month.

Seems like everybody but us has lost interest in this child, doesn't it?

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Bloody hell


We'd finished eating dinner, I'd mixed up a cake and popped it into the oven, and I was sitting in the garage reading a book and enjoying a long-anticipated smoke when I heard the scream.

I jumped up and ran to the door, where I was met by Mikey, who was holding Britt, who was wailing hysterically and vomiting all over both of them, which wasn't that alarming in itself -- she always vomits when she cries hard. No, it was the blood. Lots and lots of it, all over both of them. Pouring out of her nose and mouth, all over the front of her clothes and his.

Britt likes to bang on pot lids with a wooden spoon, which is fine as long as somebody's watching her to make sure she doesn't jump up and run around with the spoon in her mouth. But jump and run she did, and Mikey didn't catch her in time and she fell on the spoon. He couldn't tell if it got her in the nose or in the mouth because her back was to him and she was bleeding from both places. Anyway, no more wooden spoons for Britt, ever.

We spent the first five minutes flipping smooth out and trying to figure out what happened. Within ten minutes we had everybody's bloody clothes stripped off and had wiped Britt down and saw that the bleeding had stopped. Within fifteen minutes she was sitting on Mikey's lap contentedly munching on her favorite treat -- crushed ice (she calls it "dice"), which I figured was ideal since cold constricts blood vessels. Within thirty minutes she was running around, laughing, playing and dancing.

We went back and forth over whether or not to take her to the emergency room, but the bleeding stopped pretty quickly and she calmed down before we did and I'd already put the bloody clothes in the washer and you know if you have to go to the emergency room and don't want to sit there and wait for six hours to be seen it's best to show up covered in blood, so we finally decided not to go.

I gently wiggled her nose to see if it was broken but it didn't hurt her. She wouldn't let us look in her mouth, though, so when she went to sleep a couple of hours later we examined her as best we could. Couldn't see any damage up her little nose and all her teeth were intact, so we used the handle of a baby spoon as a tongue depressor and couldn't see any damage to the roof of her mouth. Couldn't see the back of her throat, though, and that's most likely where the problem was.

I stayed up until 4:00 this morning keeping watch over her, making sure she was still breathing and there was no more bleeding. But she was and there wasn't, and today it's as if nothing happened. No bleeding, no bruises, nothing swollen. She ate grits for breakfast and macaroni and cheese and cake (she calls it "caack") for lunch, took her regular nap and now she's awake so I have to wrap this up quick.

Oh, God, there was so much blood.

(**shudder**)

I'm surprised I didn't wake up white-headed this morning.

Monday, April 03, 2006

AWOL again


Last night I peeked in at Britt before I went to bed, like I always do, and guess what? She wasn't there. Her bed was empty.

She doesn't sleep in her crib anymore; she sleeps on the guest bed in her room, which we took down to just the mattress on the floor so she wouldn't fall off and get hurt.

Anyway, I peeked in and she wasn't there and panic started to rise because she couldn't be anywhere else. I stepped over the safety gate and started searching and it wasn't until I got past the rocking chair that I saw her -- curled up on the floor, sound asleep, about two feet away from the bed. I guess she rolled off and didn't wake up, because I'd been in the next room since I put her to bed and I never heard a thing.

So it wasn't nearly as bad as last time, but I wish she'd quit disappearing on me like that because it's plumb wearin' out my nerves.

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Britt math


A warm spring day...

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plus a new dress...

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plus a matching hat...

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equals one happy girl!