Overdue pictures

April has been the month of warm spring days and snow. Here are some overdue pictures from some of our April adventures.

Allergic to water

While driving to school today we passed a drainage pond that was previously frozen. We celebrated the sign of spring and how nice it was to see open water. Of course, I have to make everything into a science lesson. Sometimes the results are interesting.

Meredith: I love water. Water is great!
Derek: Did you know our bodies are made out of a lot of water?
Meredith: Yeah! [pause] If you were allergic to water, you wouldn't even be a person!

Meredith quotes: Family, et cetera

Meredith has given some memorable quotes recently. Many dealing with family relationships. Others on the subject of school and fairness.


While walking the dog:
"How come I have to do all the work and you get to have all the fun!?!"
The offense was that her job was to open and close the gate and I got to be the one to walk the dog equal to Meredith's weight and surpassing her muscle mass. I assured her that I didn't think that was true that she did all the work.

After being told to turn off the TV, Meredith challenges the ruling while following me upstairs during Elaine's pre-dinner diaper change:
Mer: It's not fair!
Der: Just because you can't do something you want doesn't make it not fair.
M: It isn't fair!
D: I don't think you understand what fair means. In any case, we need to wash hands for dinner.
M: I do know what it means! I have to tell you. I wanted to watch Dragon Tales.
D: You watched two other shows already and it's time for dinner. You'll be able to watch Dragon Tales another day.
M: But it's not fair! Today I got to watch Curious George and Super Why! but not Dragon Tales!
D: Yes. We don't get to watch Dragon Tales every day. You saw two--
M: Some days I get to watch Curious George and Super Why! and Dragon Tales! Today I only got to watch Curious George and Super Why! It's not fair! I want to watch Dragon Tales!
D: Well, that's not really how fairness works, and usually you don't watch Dragon Tales because we have to eat dinner, like we're just about to. It is only a special occasion. Tonight we have to eat dinner.
M: You're not listening to me! I'm trying to tell you about fairness! [she starts stomping to stress her points]
D: Meredith! I don't like the tone you're using. I need you to behave. We can talk about this, but you need to be patient. No more stomping, or flailing, or yelling.
M: I' M YELLING BECAUSE I'M FRUSTRATED! IT'S NOT FAIR THAT I CAN'T SEE DRAGON TALES!
D: Meredith. There are going to be consequences if you can't improve your behavior.
[stomping and kicking of furniture ensues]
D: Meredith, I'm going to count to three and if you don't stop there will be NO TV tomorrow.
M: AARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH! IT'S NOT FAIR! [stomp! stomp!]
D: Okay, no television tomorrow. Now, let's settle down or there will be more consequences.
M: Hmpphth!
[pause]
M: [calmer] It's not fair that I can't watch Dragon Tales.
D: Meredith, I know you're upset because you wanted to see Dragon Tales, but we can't watch TV whenever we want. We need to eat dinner now. If you're frustrated, we can talk, but that kind of behavior is not acceptable--even if you feel it isn't fair.
M: [hopeful] Maybe I can watch Dragon Tales tomorrow?

Making pizza for Meredith, Jen and myself:
Mer: We're putting mushrooms over the whole thing?
Der: Yes.
M: Everyone likes mushrooms?
D: Yes.
M: Zach doesn't like mushrooms; even though they're so good!"

Meredith learned about dinosaurs at school:
Mer: Some kind of meat eaters travel in groups.
Der: What are the groups called?
M: I don't remember.
D: Why do they travel in groups?
M: I don't really know. So they can find food really good? And triceratops do too.
D: Are triceratops meat eaters?
M: No!

Telling me about learning how to make graphs at school:
Mer: What you do is make two lines. And then you put lots of squares between. And then, then, you call out the things you would like to see that other people would like. And then what you do is, and if, like, if someone likes something better than the other one, they win.
Der: What do you do with the squares?
Mer: With the squares, you kind of draw a shape of that thing in the squares. Like if I had spaghetti then I make a kind of a wiggle. And that is a graft! [sic]

A conversation in the car:
Mer: How do you know people in your family by looking at them?
Der: You don't know people in your family by looking at them. You know they are your family because you grew up with them.
M: But how can you tell by looking at them?
D: You can't.
M: Then how?
D: Because they are part of your family when you are born.
M: What if you are walking down the street... I'm going to give an example. It's just an example.
D: Sure. An example sounds good.
M: I'm trying to ask you my question about looking at family members.
D: I know this is hard to ask so I understand. I really like talking to you about this though.
M: Okay. This is just an example; if you are walking down the street and see someone in your family? How do you know? Like, if you were on the street, how would the daddy know, how would you know I'm your daughter?
D: Well, I know you're my daughter because I was there when you were born.
M: But I'm not a baby now.
D: No, you're not a baby now. But I remember when you were a little tiny baby when you were born and I knew you were my daughter and I was your dad. And now you've grown and you're bigger, but I still remember you being born and growing.
M: Can you use pictures to remember?
D: Well, pictures help us remember things, but I'm not going to forget you are my daughter. I don't need pictures.
M: But if you forget can you use pictures to remember?
D: Pictures are helpful and nice to look at, but I assure you I won't forget you're my daughter.
[pause]
M: How do you know your cousin if you see them on the street?
D: You know them, because you have met them before as your cousin. If you didn't meet your cousin and you saw them on the street, you wouldn't know they were your cousin.
M: You wouldn't?
D: No. But you have met your cousins. So you would recognize them, right? If you saw Zach on the street, you'd remember him?
M: Yes!
[pause]
M: I haven't seen Zach in a long time...

Later in the car:
M: I have lots of cousins. Zach is a real cousin.
D: A "real" cousin?
M: Yeah. He's the biggest kid cousin.
D: He is? What about his sisters?
M: His sisters?
D: Yeah. Natalya [age 14] and Kayla [age 17]?
M: They're not kid cousins.
D: They're not?
M: No! They're grown-ups!

And later:
M: Jaz is a real cousin.
D: What about his baby brother Soley?
M: Soley's not my cousin.
D: But if Jaz is your cousin and Soley is his baby brother, then Soley is your cousin too.
M: Soley's a baby.
D: Why does that matter?
M: Babies aren't cousins.

More milestones

Elaine had her first-month checkup yesterday. (Derek brought her, since I am (always) at work, so this is hearsay, but I think we can believe him.) She was only about 25th percentile for height and weight - a proportional little peanut - and the doctor thought her development was right in line. Good news! We think she's pretty great, but doing things in a different order and timing from Meredith. Good to have input from someone who thinks of it as a sample larger than 2.

A snapshot of Elaine at one:

Elaine's favorite things:

• pulling up on EVERYTHING - the bed, Daddy's pant leg, even the dog.
• babbling constantly. She's rarely quiet. It's good we don't go to concerts or live in an apartment.
• including real words in her babbling: fish! dog! all done! ooh! (Pooh, as in Winnie the.) meow! (when she sees a picture fo a cat.) She's saying more than that, but that's all we have gleaned so far. Derek thinks maybe she's speaking French.
• finding and following her sister and the dog, around and around.
• grinning at you, hiding her face, then quickly looking back and grinning even wider. It's the cutest thing in the whole world. (And no, I'm not biased at all.)
• looking at books. Each new page is exciting. She loves both being read to and crawling over, knocking books off the shelf, and crowing with delight to sit and look at them by herself.

Elaine is working on:

• cruising. She hasn't quite got the idea that she can pull up and then move - we'll see when this happens!
• more teeth. She has the front four, plus significant bumps on her gums.
• feeding herself. She doesn't quite have the chewing part and is just not that interested. But she eats a wide variety of pureed foods.
• making herself understood.

-JRR

Elaine is now one

Yesterday was Elaine's birthday. It's hard to believe she was born just one year ago. She was less than 7 pounds and cried and slept a lot. Now she's crawling and scooting everywhere, pulls up an every eligible object, doesn't like to nap, and enjoys being silly and interacting with people.

For the birthday party on Saturday, all four grandparents were able to make it. Both girls got a lot of good attention as a result. In the late afternoon, we had friends over for Elaine's birthday party. The weather was just good enough to take it outdoors for a little bit. Sadie did well with all the kids and adults running around and yelling. She's been with us for less than a week and is already comfortable and settling in.

Elaine got a birthday cake, of which she had no real interest in partaking. She did some cake smashing, however. Her dad and sister did most of the unwrapping of gifts.

Just in the past week, Elaine has gotten noticeably more verbal. Their are fierce debates as to what constitutes a bona fide word. The alleged vocabulary now includes dada, mama, buba (baby), it-tay (kitty), dah! or ah-dah (that), duh! (dog), turt (turtle), and frah (frog). She is making a lot more non-word verbal communication too. Elaine understands more than we probably realize. I sang the words "clap your hands" and without any other visual cues she started clapping her hands. One of Elaine's favorite things now is to initiate peak-a-boo and clap her hands.

For your viewing pleasure, pictures of the past weekend:

Annoying Troll

With the weather changing, recovering from a cold, not getting enough sleep,getting a new dog, and grandparents visiting, Meredith was a bit manic this last weekend. Add some sugar from Easter candy and birthday cake, hilarity ensues.

I don't know where she got the idea of an "annoying troll," but Meredith randomly pulled out this attention-seeking routine this weekend.

Introducing Sadie

So the dog now has a name: Sadie. Here are some pictures taken after we picked her up and on her first day with us.

Sadie is adjusting to her strange new home well. She's learning where to sleep and where not to sleep. (I have to teach her to get off the couch.) She is learning the neighborhood on multiple walks and trying to figure out who (both dogs and people) are friendly. All squirrels, to my approval, have been deemed enemies by Sadie.

Sadie is good at taking direction. She likes everyone, but seems to follow me around the house a bit. It's not so much needy, as it is "Hey, I'm here. Let me know if we're going to do anything."

Still having some piles of snow outside, Sadie will roll and rub herself on the snow as if it is the best thing in the world. We'll see how much she'll roll in the mud this spring.

Canine

Our household just added a new member of the pooch variety.

She's a three year old beagle-lab mix. Her former name was "Lady." We're trying to think of a new one.

A name that sounds similar to Lady might help a little bit in the transition. Some ideas:

• Daisy
• Mattey (as in a pirate's first mate)
• Sally
• Sadie
• Rascally
• Olivia
• Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
• Snowy
• Spot
• Sparky
• Pesky
• Captain Licky Face
• Wendy
• Georgie Girl
• Rhapsody
• Noodle
• Belle

Any thoughts or additional suggestions?

Bunnies and Eggs

Meredith has been looking forward to Easter the previous week. She was counting down the days. We had talked about the Easter egg hunting a little bit and the Easter Bunny's role in it, but it hasn't been a big focus around here. Nevertheless, Meredith has been talking to someone because the day before Easter she gave both us parents a long speech about all the things she knows about the Easter Bunny. Among many tidbits was that the Easter Bunny can't talk.

We found ourselves the day before at the Midtown Global Market. We ended up staying longer than planned with the unplanned, good fortune of seeing the Easter Bunny come in to take pictures with kids. Well, amend that. Meredith told us afterwards that it wasn't the real Easter Bunny, but a grown-up dressed up. She knows because the fake Easter Bunny had gloves on. Meredith still enjoyed having her picture taken with the pretend bunny and Elaine didn't freak out for a couple of seconds of picture taking.

On Easter we spent much time with the neighbors and connected friends and families. Six kids went about an excited egg hunt through one house and two snow-covered yards. My hope is that next year, due to a later in the year Easter and a warmer early spring, that we'll be able to conduct an egg hunt without snow and cold. I think it was March 26 of last year when we were able to walk at Minnehaha Falls in shorts with the thermometer passing 80! We got ice cream that melted faster than we could eat it!


PICTURES!

Elaine explores the slide. Meredith tries to help.

More info from Meredith

Recently I received one of those email forwards with lots of personal questions from my sister Sonja. I decided to have Meredith answer them for the purpose of the blog. I deleted all of Sonja's responses, but there was at least one answer that was identical to Meredith's. I'll keep it secret though.

Meredith's [mostly] verbatim responses:

1. What time is it? Daytime

2. What's your full name? Meredith Lael Reise

3. What are you most afraid of? Bears

4. What was the last movie that you saw in a theater? Bee Movie

5. Place of birth: At a hospital

6. Favorite food: Chocolate and cheese

7. What's your natural hair color? Kind of browny-tanny

8. Ever been to Alaska ? No.

9. Ever been toilet paper rolling? I don't know what that means.

10. Love someone so much it made you cry? No.

11. Been in a car accident? No, I dont' think.

12. Croutons or bacon bits: Bread bits.

13. Favorite day of the week: Christmas or Friday.

14. Favorite restaurants: The Indian Restaurant.

15. Favorite Flower: Sunflower, because it's so tall.

16. Favorite sports to watch: Football and basketball.

17 Favorite drink: Orange juice.

18. Favorite ice cream: Chocolate and vanilla.

19. Disney or Warner Brothers: [After explanation] What's Bugs Bunny?

20. Ever been on a ship ? What ship? Rocket ship or sail ship? Okay, neither.

21 What color is your bedroom carpet? Kind of bluey and a little gray--I don't know what kind of color that is. Orange? White?

22. How many times did you fail your driver's test? What does that mean?

23. Before this one, from whom did you get your last e-mail? I don't know.

24. What do you do when you are bored? Sleep a lot, cry a lot, eat a lot.

25. Bedtime: I don't remember.

26. Who will respond to this e-mail the quickest? Mommy?

27. Who is the person you sent this to that is least likely to respond? What does that mean?

28. Who is the person that you are most curious to see their responses? Everyone.

29. Favorite TV shows: Dragon Tales. Nothing else.

30. Last person you went to dinner with: Grandma and Grandpa and Daddy and Elaine.

31. Who do you think will be President? Which one is the girl one? Clinton.

32. What are your favorite colors? Red and purple.

33. How many tattoos do you have? One. [?]

34. How many pets do you have? One.

35 Which came first, the chicken or the egg? The egg?

36. What do you want to do before you die? Always eat chocolate?

37. Have you ever been to Hawaii ? No. I don't think so.

38. What countries outside the U.S. have you been to? I don't know what that means even.

39. How many people are you sending this e-mail to? I don't know, lots?

40. Time this survey ended: Daytime?