My Kid Tattled on Me!

And I thought we were tight!

On Tuesday Kirch picked Quinn up from daycare. As they were driving home, Kirch, always more conscious of his language in front of her than I am, said "Shoot!" for whatever reason (I think he said he was trying to make a left hand turn into traffic). So Quinn, being the sponge that she is, follows suit and starts saying "Shoot! Shoot!" Then, all of the sudden, she says "Asshole!" Kirch whipped around and said, "What did you say?" Quinn looked at him and said it again - "Asshole!" So she says this a couple more times as Kirch is trying to shush her. Then, this is the kicker - she says, "Asshole! Mommy say that!" Can you believe it? I just about shit my pants when Kirch called to tell me I had just been ratted out by my 2-year-old daughter! What a crack up!

You know, the truth is, that is my "word" when I'm in the car. Everyone is an asshole. If someone pisses me off, I immediately say, "Asshole..." And as quiet as I think I'm being, or as hopeful as I can be that she's not always paying attention, this is proof positive that she definitely is. Guess Mommy needs a time out!

Mother's Day, 08

What a day - my Mother's day started at 1:30am this morning, in true mothering fashion. Quinn came down with a little bug that ended up all over her crib the first time around and ALL over ME the 2nd time! Ugh. She woke up crying (not unusual for Quinn - she usually wakes up from a dream or something at least once or twice a week crying, so we go in and calm her down and that's that), as I said, at 1:30am, so I went in to rock her a bit. I noticed she felt a bit hot, but really didn't think too much of it. I put her back to bed and not 10 minutes later she started crying again. So i went to get her and I just decided to bring her to our bed for a bit, then transfer her back when she fell asleep. I brought her baby, but her baby was soaking wet, so I fumbled around in the dark until I got to the bathroom to turn on the light - to be unpleasantly surprised to find Quinn-up all over her doll! Quinn was fine, hanging out with Kirch, so I went into her crib to find all of her dinner EVERYWHERE. How she didn't get it all over her PJ's I'll never know. So I finally got her sheets changed and we put her back to bed around 3am. Again - 10 minutes later, she was crying again. So I went in and picked her up - this time she let me have it. And boy, did she give it to me! All over me, from head to toe! My poor baby, all I could do was let her get it up - and she kept saying, "All done... all done!" It's a horrible feeling, not being able to do anything for your child when she is hurting. But as I have said a hundred times before, the girl is tough. Kirch got up, cleaned up her carpet, changed her, and she was none the worse for wear... We took her back to our room, watched "Finding Nemo" (for the millionth time), and after about a half hour, I took her back to her room to finally put her to bed for the last time. By this time it was 4:30am and her fever had broke (which was only 100.1 in the first place), and she slept until 7:30am.

Kirch was kind enough to get up with her so that I could enjoy some lazy time in bed - which I totally ate up! I stayed in bed until like 10:30am, sleeping and watching tv. I Heart Mother's Day.

Quinn was completely fine the rest of the day. We did the annual shindig over at Mike & Rachel's and had a great time. It was a long, but happy day for all of us. Quinn missed her nap, but you'd never know it. And her appetite came back with a vengeance. She played and played with Jodi, Bill and everyone who would pay her any attention up until the minute we left for the evening (which was about 6pm). She promptly fell asleep in the car, but woke up with no problem to take a bath when we got home. That girl was dirty! But it was a great day.

And the best part - Kirch and Quinn bought me a trip to the spa in Potomac! A Swedish massage, a manicure, and a pedicure. Most of you who know me well know that I can't stand anyone other than Kirch touching my feet - and a pedicure has always been COMPLETELY out of the question (ICK, ICK, ICK!!!) - but I feel that I'm finally succumbing to the idea of someone making the worst, ugliest part of the human body look good sounds pretty damn relaxing. And hey, it's to make me feel good - so I'm going to take advantage - maybe I'll even convert to being pro-feet! Ugh, that may take a while.

Me and my Grandma!

Kenny and Matt

Mike, you're a good back-rubber!

I'm sorry I puked all over you, Mommy! Happy Mother's Day!

Kirch and Kevin

ABC Song!

On Sunday Quinn decided she was just going to start singing the ABC song - what a proud day for Mom and Dad! We've been working on this forever and she just showed no interest in learning the ABC's, so I can't speak for Kirch, but I'd sort of given up for the time being. Well, there she was, playing on the dining room floor by herself, muttering away... and we had both noticed - hey, that sounds a lot like the ABC's! Sure enough, she was singing proud! Here is a quick video, but unfortunately the memory ran out before I could get it all. Don't worry, there'll be more soon!

Big Night Away

I realize that it is now Tuesday, and the shine of my big news has worn off a bit, but I'm still gonna write about it. This past Saturday night was my very first night away from my daughter. This was a momentous occasion for me - I think because the anticipation of it was what was the biggest hurdle to clear. Well let me tell you - I cleared it with flying colors... when can i raise the bar and do it again? HAHA!

No, truly, let me find the right words to say it - it really took more effort to psych myself up for this night than it did to follow through. I went to Stacy Perrus' house to scrapbook and was just exhausted so I had emailed her earlier in the day to see if it would be OK to just stay. When she said yes, I figured there was no turning back. I HAD to cut the cord sometime and better now than when she turns 12 and I'm still working on that first night away. I called Kirch at 9pm to see how bedtime went, then I called at 11:30 to "check" on her. She had gotten up once (which is about par for the course) and went back down with no problems. I figured, hell, that's the worst of it - the rest will be OK. And, it was! I went to bed at 12:30am and never looked back! I had to be up by 6:30am anyway to get myself home before Kirch had to leave for work, so it really made the night go by fast. And when I got home and walked through the door, she couldn't have cared less that I had "abandoned" her for the evening... clearly, Daddy was enough of a comfort for her (not that he isn't any other time!).

So I've done it. What's next? The "Where to babies come from" talk? Her first test drive? Baby steps, Roxanne... baby steps...

Don't worry about me, Mommy - I'll be fine!

Sheryl Crow's Influence

So I'm sitting here, listening to Sheryl Crow's new CD, posting this, wondering what the hell kind of world are we leaving for our children? Will this beautiful creature that Kirch and I have created life a good, safe life in the wake of our selfish mistakes? I know I can't change the world, but I try the best I know how to leave it as much in one piece for her and all of the other children that have to clean up our mess...

This is true innocence...

Sheryl's new CD, like a lot of her past music, is very "save the world" hippie music, which I absolutely love. But she once again gets me thinking... WTF? Poor Quinn, she's got a lot to face in this world. I just hope we can guide her as much as possible, because, she is going to need it. But I digress. This post doesn't need to be anymore negative than it already is.

You'll take care of me, right Daddy?

What a downer, huh? I just had to get it off my chest. I hope to look back on this post and feel the kick in the ass it takes to make me a better person for my daughter...

Chasing bubbles...

I Had to Deliver...

Mike put me on the spot - I had to come through! We spent last Sunday over at the Kline-Kirchers' abode (sans Aunt Rachel - she was in NJ visiting the fam) and Quinn had a blast. Uncle Mike found a way to go sledding without the snow! He used a boat seat cushion for the "sled" and boy, did that go over great. I'm wondering - was Mike sore the next day from how many times he went up on down that hill with his niece??? She adores her Uncle!!!

Here are some shots from the afternoon...

The New Favorite Hat

Kirch took care of Quinn all afternoon last Friday because daycare was closed. They spent the whole day together, going to Starbucks and to the canal in Potomac with Uncle Mike. From what I heard, they had a great time, and Uncle Mike has all those pictures (which I haven't seen, except one - and here it is!)

Fueling up before we head to the canal!

As Mike says, sometimes the cuteness hurts. Ain't that the truth?!? So anyway, during their outing, Kirch and Quinn ended up at Target and Kirch found Quinn this Detroit Tigers hat. In Target. In Maryland. I don't understand it either, but Kirch couldn't pass it up, and Quinn fell in love with it, so I'm thrilled to say that a little piece of home sits on my kiddo's head usually at least once a day for a while!

Other than that, the big news in the Kircher Household is that Quinn is potty training! We're still not full-on yet, but she is going several times a day at daycare and now in the evening when we come home, I put her in her Elmo underwear (which she adores) and she doesn't get into a diaper until bedtime. She's had accidents and she's had great no-drip days, but at least we're working on it! Yesterday we put her on the potty every 20 minutes or so and she did great. At one point, she even stopped dead in her tracks and said "poo poo," which means pee-pee (I don't know why, because she knows the difference) and we got her to the toilet on time, with a little dribble, but we were successful! Tonight, not so much - she peed thru 2 pairs of undies before we finally took a bath. Ah well, it'll come. It's great to at least be training - those no-diaper days are not far away!