Quick 5

If your house is really a mess and a stranger comes to the door, greet him with, “Who could have done this? We have no enemies.”
~ Phyllis Diller 

This time of year is altogether wonderful and frustrating.  I'm truly tired of winter, but the truth is it is still winter.  But then we'll get a couple of days that are 65 and 70 degrees, and I can open my house and flush all the stale air out and I feel hope.  Then the next day it doesn't get above 35 degrees and stays dark and dreary.  I'm not sure how much of these weather mood swings I can take.

1.  This week we had a cousin play date.  My sister and I determined that once a month we would get our kids together so they could actually get to know each other.  It only took until March for us to make it happen.  But the point is, it did.  And not too soon either; Alaina had been begging to see "Naomi and her brother Oliver" for weeks. (Sorry Ollie and Joya...no pictures of you this time.)

2.  Joya loves to play dress up, but doesn't really get the concept.  Mostly she brings us these tiger ears and grunts until we put them on her.  Then she gives us a cheesy smile, rips them off, and the process starts all over again.  After about 38 times I give up.

3.  I'm trying to force Alaina to drop her afternoon nap.  It sounds foolish, but she's been staying awake so late at night.  I put her to bed at 8:00, and she's usually still awake at 9:00.  I've heard her as late as 9:30 and 10:00 too.  So I thought that the 2 hour nap she was taking each afternoon was preventing her from feeling sleepy at night.  So I turned nap time into rest time, and gave her a special new toy to play with for an hour on her bed.  I told her she needs to play for an hour, then she can come downstairs.  Both times we've tried this I've gone upstairs to find that she's cleaned up her toys and covered herself up and gone to sleep.  Wednesday night she went to sleep okay, but she did have Cubbies and that wears her out.  We'll see how Thursday night pans out.  Maybe only letting her rest for an hour will help her fall asleep quicker.

4.   Joya is a border-line full-fledged walker.  So I need some good shoes for her.  I've been having a hard time finding some in her size, but then I remembered a gift from some friends at church.  They gave us a pair of "squeaky" shoes.  As in, they squeak with every step she takes.  At first I thought it might drive me crazy, but they were the only shoes I had on hand so I had to put them on.  But now we think they are pretty cute.  It's a tiny little squeak for a tiny little girl.  And bonus: she can't sneak up on us.

5.   And now time for another game of "I Spy" with Alaina:
Alaina: I spy with my little eye sompfing...white!
Me: Is it that car over there?
Alaina: No!
Me: I give up.
Alaina: It's THAT car over THERE!!
Apparently I'm not very good at that game.