Golden Girl

Tracey's oldest daughter, Erykah (front row, sitting at the far right), decided to join basketball this year and her team is doing awesome. They practice lots and play hard. They have tournaments nearly every weekend! I got the opportunity to watch one of the first practices back in October and some of those little girls are great players. And now I'm missing all the fun - I just wish I was there to cheer Erykah on! It's just so exciting to see her playing sports like her mommy and me! (of course I would have been equally excited if she had stayed in dance or chosen violin lessons, as long as she's happy).

Here's the newspaper article about the team, the Caledon Cougars!

Go Cougars!!

Terrible Two's

Yes, I believe we have hit the "terrible two's" in my house....I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later.

I emailed Christa a couple of days ago and told her about it. She thought I should share. So here's the email I sent her (tweaked a little):

In the last few days, Sarah has:
coloured on the walls (i knew it was gonna happen sooner or later!),
pulled all manner of things out of the cupboards, including the molasses (now there's a big sticky mess!),
emptied a full container of cheesies on the carpet,
locked herself in the bathroom,
disappeared to "play" in the basement by herself while I was in the washroom and then I temporarily couldn't find her because she refused to answer when called, threw my folded laundry all over the bed,
squirmed around so much during a diaper change that the diaper ripped in half, jumped on my bed (she can climb up there now although it's quite a high bed) and almost bounced right off,
decided she didn't like the ground beef in her pasta lunch and spit it all over the floor,
pulled all of the facecloths out of the bathroom closet,
detached some of the wiring on the surround sound and now our PVR stuff won't work, used her toy drum to climb and reach "dangerous" things in my buffet,
poured her juice into an empty ketchup bottle and then poured it all over the ottoman,
pulled the cats tail and nearly poked his eye out,
attempted to play "catch" with the cat using grapes she had as a snack,
dug her finger down inside two or three of my chapsticks and smeared it all over herself like cream,
squirted her Aveeno cream all over the carpet,
pulled all of her socks out of the drawer and pulled them apart (like I didn't have anything else to do except match up 40-something pairs of baby socks),
pulled Jamie's wallet off the counter and emptied it completely,
...but on the bright side, she hasn't peed on any of the furniture today so it's all good :)

The peeing part? Well, I've been trying to ease into potty training and have Sarah wear "panties" during the day sometimes. Sometimes she tells me she has to go, sometimes she doesn't and then pees wherever. I guess we're not quite there yet in the potty department.

And you'd think with all the things Sarah's been doing that I was never around the watch her. Truth is - she's getting very mischevious and does most of these things VERY quickly while I run downstairs for a couple minutes to throw in a load of laundry, go to the bathroom, quickly check my email in the next room, or otherwise have my back turned for only a moment.

And sometimes - I just let her explore and do the "Terrible-Two" stuff. I try to pick my battles. If unfolding all the socks keeps her occupied for 45 minutes so I can scrub the floors then I let her do that. If pulling stuff out of the cupboards keeps her occupied and won't cause her any harm, then I let her do that too.

Now if only I were fast enough with my camera lens to catch some of this stuff!

Blue Crayon on My Skirt

So, does anyone know how to get crayon out of fabric (specifically a cotton/nylon/spandex blend)?

Sarah decided to colour on my light grey skirt that I had layed out for church this morning.

If any of you read Christa's blog you will see on the right hand side how she has been adding "Items Boone has tried to eat/has eaten" (Boone's their puppy dog).

I'm thinking I may need to add a column entitled "Items Sarah has Coloured On":
Easel (not the paper on the easel, the easel itself)
Our new leather ottoman
Tables
Table cloth
Couch cushions
Her clothing (mostly the sleeves of her shirts...??)
Mommy's clothing (as stated above)
Mommy's scrapbook paper
Books (that are not "colouring" books)
Glass panes in our french doors
Berber carpeting

Surprising, crayon does INDEED mark on these items. I thought we were safe with crayons and only markers would do such "damage".

And now, don't get me wrong. I am very excited about Sarah's new found love of crayons. I love colouring myself and often get caught up in scribbling and drawing cartoons and such. And I believe I have been very patient and understanding about my soon-to-be-2-year-old sorting out the wrongs and rights of crayon etiquette. I didn't even get upset about the skirt. In fact, I still wore it to church. (who has time to pick out a new outfit on a sunday morning?)

However, some pointers are appreciated if any of you have experience with this phase of toddlerhood. (my sister did tell me the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and the stuff you use to wash your hands without water...in the little bottle you can put in your purse...what's that called?...um, mommy brain not working...oh yes, ok, the anti-bacterial hand cleanser, that's what I'm trying to say...that's supposed to take stuff off surfaces too but I don't have any so I haven't tried it).

So far, knock on wood, Sarah has not coloured on the walls. Surprising! I am anxiously awaiting the day.

Tee Subscription

My friend Joann was telling me about the Christmas gift her hubby got for her - a t-shirt subscription!

I'm like, "A what?"

She says, "A t-shirt subscription, like a magazine subscription but instead I get a new t-shirt every month. Isn't that great?"

I agree - that gift is WICKED AWESOME! (I didn't even know there was such a thing!)
personally, my hubster would never think of that.

I forget the website she gets hers from but I googled and found www.threadless.com

Check it out!
Very cool and unique t-shirts - you don't need the subscription to purchase a t-shirt but it just seems so much 'awesomer' that way.

And since the hubster only has about 42 t-shirts currently I figure maybe I'll get him another one or two for his birthday coming up...ya know, just in case he runs out or something...