I'm a Slackity Slacker

I have reached a new low in my blogging slackerishness.  I went a whole month (April) without a single blog entry!  And it's not like I have nothing to blog about, either.  Our lives are full of exciting events, such as Victoria doing a "ka-ka" in the potty and Valentino developing an addiction to Angry Birds.

So a few notes about each member of my family.  I'll start with me.  My speech has really become very different these days.  For one thing, I talk about myself in the third person, as in, "Mommy can't give you picky-up right now, honey, I'm making dinner."  Or, "How about you give your Mommy a hug and a kiss?  Oh, that's a good boy (girl).  Mommy loves you so much."  Reminds me of a Seinfeld episode.

Additionally, I find myself changing single words into "ity" catch phrases.  Like this:  "We need to go home so Victoria can take a little nappity nap.  And after she wakes up, we can all have a little snackity snack."  I can't seem to help myself.

Daddy is a busy, busy man.  We tore apart our bathroom and he has been working on putting it back together.  I wish I'd taken a "before" picture- maybe Dave did.  We painted (and by we, of course I mean Dave.  I selected the color, he provided the manual labor) an accent wall in a scrumptious shade of chocolate.  New tile, a vanity with a granite countertop, and a new mirror and cabinet will really make the place look fantastic.  Forecasted completion date is within the next two weeks.

Valentino will be four on May 28th.  We celebrated his birthday this past Saturday.  We had a gathering of family and friends at our house and had a pinata, a water balloon frenzy, and of course cake and ice cream.  Tino is having a hard time grasping that he hasn't turned four yet.  This surprises me, as last year he had no issue with the fact that his birthday was on a different day than his birthday party.  I wrote both events on the calendar, and he would walk up to the calendar and say, "Mommy, this is my birthday (pointing to the correct date) and this is my birthday party.  

But this year, he gets downright offended when I dare to suggest that he is really still three.  "No, Mommy!" he says indignantly.  "That's not the way it works.  We had a party and I turned four!"  This evening as I was putting him to bed, we had another discussion about it, and he asked, "I'm not four yet?"  When I told him, "No, you are still three until Saturday," he then asked me, "Then why you put a four on my birthday cake?"  Good reasoning, I say.  When I was a kid, my parents used to say one day I'd be a lawyer because my logic was impeccable.  I have to remind myself that critical thinking skills are very important for people of all ages.  

Victoria is... yes, you guessed it, potty training.  Recently I went to happy hour with a male colleague from work who I've known for years and another former colleague (female) who I hadn't seen for several months.  My male friend has kids in the middle years, ages 11 and 13.  My female friend doesn't have kids yet.  When she asked me, "How are the kids?"  I responded by saying, "Oh, they're doing great!  Victoria is learning how to do a number two in the potty."  Then my male friend jumped in and we started comparing notes on how boys and girls learn differently and the relative advantages and disadvantages of poopy accidents versus pee accidents.  After  a couple of minutes, our friend, astounded, asked, "Is this what moms talk about?"  And we both burst out laughing.  It's true... Two years ago, I would have been appalled at this conversation myself.  

But today, here I am posting it for all the world to see.  My girl has gotten pretty darn good at peeing in the potty.  But poop, well, that is another story.  She does know how to do it, but she chooses not to.  Suggestions?  

Victoria is also talking a LOT, and her speech is beginning to be intelligible to other people besides her immediate family.  Sometimes I'm rather shocked when I am out in public with her and she says something and a random person will respond, having understood her.  It's what I imagine it would be like if I were an immigrant, say, from rural China, and were standing in line at the grocery store and suddenly the cashier addressed me in my local dialect.  

All in all, life is good here at Casa de Tara, Dave and the V's.  I promise to blog more frequently.