Poo Stories

Silent, but deadly...
So I was changing AJ's diaper and he had a big poo, so I thoughtok he's done, I'll clean him up and let him walk around bare butt as usual,
while I clean up the rest of the mess. Then he's crouched at the topof the stairs and just hanging out, not running around not laughing ordoing anything... wrong! I saw three poos that bounced off the secondstep and there was even one that was squished when he sat down. o man!
On the carpet stairs!

Three states of Potty
So given Maggie's amazing potty record since birth, that suddenly all ended at 18 months or so... we're taking baby steps to use the potty again. Last night, she did sit down before her bathtime as the new habitwe're establishing. Then she got up and sat down right away and had a"high pressure" pee. It was so loud and so fast! Very proud ofherself, got a sticker, yay! Pooing in the potty again, has happenedbut is quite rare. She gets two stickers for that. 'k a few weeksback, same thing only this time she simply farted and said I'm done. Then she poured the "fart" into the toilet and flushed it. hahahah! I guess anything that comes out, has to flush.

And then there was the time when she said, "I poo-ted". Creating new words.

Bedtime goes out the window

Man I can't believe how much energy the kids have and how late they sleep when my parents are here. I finally brought Maggie to go swimming today, and unbelieveably, she had so much fun, she LOVED it! It was supposed to be AJ's class usually but I figured I could bring both since my dad could help me with one of them. But of course AJ was napping. Maggie was splashing like crazy (with one arm, the other grabbing on to me tight), she tried to blow bubbles and she was singing along to all the songs. Then we went to the Greenboro library to have a picnic in the park out back, and then we went inside to read books. They were so wiped they fell asleep in the car on the way home and slept for more than two hours. Sorry for blabbing but I guess here in lines the problem, we went out for dinner and when we got home they were just playing and reading books and finally after reading the same book like three times, I finally had to put my foot down and turn out the lights at 10pm. MAN! Even AJ was just rolling around and jumping in his crib, shouting to himself (I guess my dad was on the computer, but his orders were to ignore AJ) I think he just somehow ran out of energy and fell asleep. This is the craziest day ever!

Beauty sleep is vain, rest is fleeting

Man, this life with two kids alone is week to week. One week I'm so energized, we have one big activity each day whether it's playgroup for Maggie on Mondays and Fridays, swimming for AJ and then Library time for both of them on Tuesdays, and Thursdays it's the playgroup at church. Wednesdays I leave open for personal errands or playdates with other friends. And of course there's teaching piano on Tuesday and Thursday, plus my own lesson on Wednesday.

Then other weeks I have to do all that, but I'm operating on very bad sleep so I can barely open my eyes and I have to cancel things that involve leaving the house cuz I feel too tired to drive. I end up napping here and there throughout the day, and I'mnot fully functional until 3pm.

Sleeping is another story. AJ's been sleeping through the night for the past two months. NOw it's like I leave him to sleep in his crib in my room, I leave the radio blasting and one light on. I shut the door and I don't hear him till dawn. BUt then if he does wake up (might happen once a few nights a week) I give him a soother or if that doesn't work, a short rocking, and only warm water.
But now Maggie is the crazy one cuz she sleeps in her own twin bed now, so she will occassionally come out of the room screaming like a mad person. Searching for me cuz I'm not sleeping in my regular room where AJ is. I could be in the guest room, I could be on the couch... I dunno. I just don't want to be in the same room as AJ cuz he makes too many "fake wake-up noises".

ANywayz for three days in a row now, I decided to just put them both in Maggie's room. I just decided I wanted to take my own room back. We'll see how this new stragegy goes.

Twenty-two and half months

You'd be so amazed by all the things that Maggie knows now. About two months ago she was singing Itsy Bitsy Spider. Well it is still her most favorite song. I went to the library today and borrowed a few non-fiction books in the children's section about Spiders. What vivid pictures! She could tell that a Tarantula was "Ho Di -ah" and small one that you see in the house was "Ho Si Go -ah". She was looking for spiders on every page!

Funny! But I'm very thankful that the kids are healthy they're eating well, and maggie talks so much and learns so much. She knows all the letters of the alphabet from H to Z. But I really have no idea what happened to A to G, it's like she doesn't care about them at all. She knows the names of all the planets from her book about planets. I mean they're all the same shape but there are specific distinguishing features whether it's the colour or the rings of Saturn. She knows the moon, earth, and sun in every picture in her books, whether it's a drawing or photo... and she knows a few bible characters in her "peek a boo" bible book - Moses, David, Daniel, Jonah, Esther, Jesus and angel. So cooL! However this is all in English. Gotta work on the Chinese more.

I'm trying to keep the blog updated, so I guess a month ago in March 10 or so, she got the Book about Planets and she was naming them all off beginning with the Sun, Mercury, Jenus (Venus), Eart (Earth), Mars, Dupiter (Jupiter), Saturn Rings! (Saturn), URAINus (uranus), Neptune blue one, baby Pluto. I really had to teach her the "old science" I grew up that Pluto was a planet. It's hard to get it on tape though cuz she stops talking about them, well I think there is one video so I'll have to post it.

Keeping busy on mat leave

Here's my repertoire for the upcoming piano exam on January 28.

Grade 7 – 10 RCM Repertoire
Advanced Piano Pedagogy Viva Voce
2001 Syllabus

Grade 7
A - Suite No.8 in G Major, George Frederic Handel, pg 8
B - Bagatelle op 119, no 1, Ludwig van Beethoven, pg 18
C - Waltz in G# minor, Brahms, pg 42
D - Rondo-Toccata op 60 no 4, Dmitri Kabalevsky
Study No.7 op 132 no 7, Cornelius Gurlitt (Study No.8 pg 17)


Grade 8
A - Invention No 3 in D major BWV 774, JS Bach
B - Sonata in G Major, Ludwig van Beethoven, pg 28
C - Chanson triste, Vasili Sergeievich Kalinnikov, pg 54
D - Milonga del angel, Astor Piazolla, pg 62
Study No.5, Morning Bell op 109 no 9, JF Burgmuller (Study No.2 pg 28)

Grade 9
A - Sinfornia No 6 in E major BWV 792, JS Bach
B - Fantasie in D minor K397, WA Mozart, pg 28
C - Impromptu Op 142 no 2, Franz Shubert, pg 63
D - Sacro-Monte no 5 cinco danzas gitanas, Joaquin Turina, pg 87
Study No.2, Study in A minor op 61 no3, Hermann Berens

Grade 10
[A - Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp Major no 13
B - Sonata in E flat Major K282, WA Mozart
C - Liebestraum no3, Franz Liszt]
D - Claire de Lune no 3 Suite Bergamasque, Claude Debussy
E - The Cat and the Mouse (Scherzo-humoristique), Aaron Copland
Study No.13, Bagatelle op 6 no5, Bela Bartok (Study No.14 pg 78)

[not required for this exam. thank goodness!]