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July 26, 2004
Grrrr.
I've belonged to the same parenting message board since I found out I was pregnant with Quinn. Now it's more of a general chat board, since we know each other so well, but it's still a good place to get a variety of advice when I have parenting questions.
Sometimes I read other parenting boards for fun, though, but today I got pissed off.
This thread at the Mothering.com board is so insulting I could throw up. I mean, if you're going to break your arms patting yourselves on the back because you're Attachment Parents, then God bless you. Go to town. But to be so cruel and stupid about people who don't do things the way you do? It's just unnecessary. None of that is funny, it's just insulting.
What are you teaching your children by being so derisive of other people's parenting choices? By making fun of them, by exaggerating, by being cruel? Good God, the hypocricy! It's a good thing every single one of those people who replied are so damn perfect.
And another thing that's always bothered me about that board...they're so down on TV and "plastic, noisy toys" yet they're glued to a MESSAGE BOARD on a COMPUTER. Hello, pot? This is the kettle. You're black.
Posted by Amy at 10:53 AM | Comments (26)
July 22, 2004
Quinn quips
Miscellaneous Quinn observations...
This morning I set her oatmeal down in front of her as soon as I removed it from the pot, and walked away. A few seconds later, she said, "There are clouds in my oatmeal!" I went back and peered inside her bowl, wondering what she was talking about. She said it again, and then I noticed. There was steam rising in little puffs off the top. And then...I ate her up.
Tonight she was having some graham cracker sticks after dinner (her appetite lately is HUGE; what's up with that??) and she kept coming up to me, showing me how she'd been taking little bites out of each stick to make different objects.
"Look! I made a tree!"
"Look! It's a 't'!"
"It's a square, not a rectangle!"
And then...I ate her up.
Posted by Amy at 10:08 AM | Comments (4)
July 17, 2004
Fun at Daddy's work
Quinn and I are here at Daddy's Work. I've got some email to send out, and it's very difficult to do that when we play Chase Daddy Around The Rows Of Cubicles. The best part of that game is where Daddy gets to look over the top of the cube and see Quinn running by and say "Here I am!"
Now she has discovered my cup of change, and is emptying it one coin at a time, and then replacing the coins back in the cup. She's been through this cycle at least five times, with no end in sight. Maybe I can get some stuff done!
She just notified me that "this one's got train on it!", pointing at the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the penny.
Posted by Andy at 12:34 PM
July 14, 2004
Reading time at the Lester household
Tonight, after we played outside and cleaned the pool for the influx of visitors tomorrow, Mama came in and took a shower, and I got Quinn ready for bed. Mama was still in the shower, and Quinn said "Daddy read a book?"
"OK, let's sit on the couch and I'll read you TWO books."
"No? No two books?"
"Yes, I'll read two books."
"No two books? Read four or five books."
"No, sweetie, we're going to read two books and then go to bed."
"No, five books."
She finally relented and we read Who Said Moo? and Dora's Halloween Adventure.
Posted by Andy at 9:04 AM | Comments (1)
stresssssed out
MOTHER OF GOD.
Quinn has suddenly become completely high-maintenance. I'm so frazzled by our morning that I am having trouble thinking. I was going to work on organizing my office while she slept, but I think I'll sit here in front of the computer, slack-jawed and sedentary, for a while.
Last Friday night, Andy and I took Quinn to see her first movie, Garfield (Bill Murray, seriously, what are you doing????). She did really well, surprisingly, and wanted to stay until the very last credit had rolled (a trait she picked up from her father, no doubt).
So today we rounded up our friends Amy and Collin to go to a 10:00 showing of Cats Don't Dance at a local theater. The web site said to get there at 9:30 for the pre-show entertainment. Do you know what that entertainment was? Sitting in the darkened theater and listening to "YMCA" over and over and over again. I'm not even kidding. OVER AND OVER they played it, as if these were not children, but instead deaf people.
The movie itself didn't even start until 10:20, at which point Quinn told the entire theater that she WANTED TO GO HOME! I am surprised that there was not applause from young and old alike when I finally whispered goodbye to Amy and Collin and escorted her out the door.
What the hell??
When we got home, I planted her butt in front of an episode of "Dora" and tried to relax. Then she helped me make her lunch: frozen chicken nuggets that we cooked in the oven. When I served it to her, with slices of cheese and some carrots and a glass of milk in a Dora cup, she WIGGED OUT. She tossed the cheese aside, horrified by its presence on her plate. She cried because I hadn't let her select the carrots herself, and insisted on returning them to the bag, even though she'd licked some of them. Then she (purposely?) spilled the milk all down her shirt. And did she eat the nuggets that she'd carefully selected from the bag and lovingly arranged on the cookie sheet? No. No she didn't. Did she sit and play with her abandoned food? Yes. Did I finally carry her, screeching, up to bed for her nap? And did I change her diaper and toss her in bed, not caring if she had the right amount of books and if the right stuffed animals were in the right arrangement before I left the room? YOU BET YOUR ASS I DID.
MOTHER OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, this can be a stressful job.
Posted by Amy at 2:15 AM | Comments (7)
July 6, 2004
Discipline in the Lester home
Quinn was a crabby bunny this morning. Daddy and Quinn were going to go to the DuPage Children's Museum, so that Amy could have some time off and clean her office. The museum (or "meh-zoom" as Quinn says) is only open until 1pm, so we had to leave by 9:30 to get there by 11:00.
It was about 9:00 when we rolled out of bed, and I had to hustle Quinn out of her jammies and diap and into the tub. "Come on, sweetie, we gotta go, so we can go to the museum. Let's get into the tub." She crabbed back, "No tub! No baff!" Usually she's all about the bath, and playin' with the duck and the cup and the boats. "We'll have fun. You like the bath." And then she let out a scream. Just opened up her mouth, stared me in the eye, and screamed. I looked sternly back and said "Quinn, stop it." She shut her mouth and said "I stopped my mouf."
So for the rest of the day, if she got all crabbo and I said "Quinn, come on, please don't," that was her reply: "I stopped my mouf."
Posted by Andy at 12:44 PM
Tiger!
When I put Quinn in this dress today she looked down and exclaimed, "I got tiger stripes!!!" 
My mom had hip replacement surgery today, so Quinn and I headed out to be at the hospital when it was over.
"Where you goin', Mama?" Quinn asked as we drove.
"We're going to the hospital. Grandma had her hip fixed there. We're going to see Aunt Julie and Aunt Peggy."
Quinn pondered this for awhile, then went back to reading. (She reads in the car constantly. How does she not get motion sick?)
On the way to the hospital, we stopped in at the school where I used to teach. Quinn told everyone we chatted with "I HAVE TIGER STRIPES!" She also informed them, "Grandma gettin' her hip flixed!" As we were leaving, we saw some men walk by with big brown boxes.
"What's in the boxes?" Quinn asked.
"What do you think, sweetie?"
"Hips!"
Posted by Amy at 6:57 AM | Comments (4)
July 4, 2004
4th '04
I would like everyone to know that I, and, by proxy, Quinn, LOVE SUMMER. Seriously. All the good stuff happens in the summertime.
Anyway.
My cousin Cathy's family is hosting two Irish girls this summer. Their names are Emma and Jolene and they are adorable. I love hearing their brogues, even if I don't understand what they're saying half the time. I'd like for them to sit in my living room and read aloud from People magazine. That sounds like a solid afternoon of fun for me.
Here's Quinn swimming with Jolene while wearing the ring-toss rings as "base-yets." 
Today was Aunt Peggy and Uncle Jerry's annual 4th of July party, and unlike last year, the temperature stayed under 120 degrees. 
As usual, Uncle Dennis lavished lots of attention on her and took her for one of what would be many walks she went on throughout the afternoon. 
Aunt Peggy's house is a street away from Lake Michigan, and there were lots of people milling around waiting for fireworks. But why seek out fireworks when you can play with sidewalk chalk with the Irish girls?
Quinn and Emma, the snuggliest Irish girl ever.
And Quinn with her idol, AUNT CONNIE!
Posted by Amy at 11:52 AM | Comments (3)