David has learned a new word, "uh-oh". He was playing with a rubber ball the Easter Bunny had left in his basket on Saturday, bouncing it all over the living room. One time it ended up on the back part of a chair cushion, where he couldn't get to it. He looked at me, eyebrows raised, and said very clearly "uh-oh!". Since then he's been using the expression quite frequently. V. cute.
Nolie is getting pretty good with her letter sounds, and is practicing rhyming. She still has trouble remembering that it's the end of the word that has to sound alike, not the beginning. And gets rather frustrated at times.
We attended a birthday party at the park on Sunday morning. Water balloons and water guns, a pinata, and a Hello Kitty cake. The kids had a blast. As we were getting ready to leave the ice-cream truck drove up playing its music rather loudly. Nolie kept asking what it was. After several failed attempts to redirect her attention, I finally blurted out "It's just a truck that plays music". "Why does it play music?", she reasonably wanted to know. "I guess the driver wants to entertain everybody", I said. Lame, I know. But somehow it worked and we made it to the car without the true nature of the truck dawning on her.
She is very interested in her next birthday party. And is dismayed that it is taking such a long time to get here. She wants a "pink pony, princess, pirate party". I am at a complete loss as to what to do to pull this one off. Rent a pony with its mane braided with pink ribbon, have the girls dress up as princesses, and the boys run around in pirate garb??? Pink pony pinata? How do you get all of that translated as cake decorations??? Oh, dear. I was hoping for a messy-art party, or an old-fashioned-children's-games type party. No such luck.
I find myself still struggling with the whole balancing-work-and-family-life issue. I've made no progress, and seem to be more and more tired. I want to do both things well, and worry that I am lacking on all fronts (I'm definitely lacking in the keeping-the-house-straight category). *sigh* I know you can never truly know all the details, but I see so many women (friends, relatives, acquaintances) seemingly balancing everything so well, and being really present, and I'm amazed b/c I so do not feel like I'm all that. Mama sure set the bar high. Okay, enough.
