"My need medicine! My gotsa nuffy nose!"

Because part of the point of this is to record the adorable things my children say.

(Miss L did not, in fact, have a "nuffy nose." She got over the cold more than a week ago. But it's hanging on with Baby J and she's feeling left out.)

The Universe is Laughing at Me

Miss L and I have been halfheartedly going through the motions of potty training for the last couple of weeks. She's on the young side and I don't have a lot of spare attention, but she's interested in the process and tall enough that she's going to be ready for some things (that also require no diapers) sooner than later. Like Småland at IKEA.

The major stumbling block is just getting her to understand what I want her to do while sitting on the toilet. She's perfectly happy to sit there, especially since she gets my undivided attention and we read books and look at catalogues. She'll even ask to go to the potty, but previously it's just been when my attention has been focused on other things, like making dinner or the baby crying. On the upside, she's very good at telling me when she's gone on the floor while I was looking the other way. (She refers to everything as "poopy" when it's not in her diaper.)

This morning, we went through the normal routine of her asking, then sitting there with nothing happening for several minutes until she got bored and wanted down. Less than half an hour later, she asked again while doing something that looked a lot like a gotta-go dance. So off we went, and within a few minutes of sitting down...tinkle, tinkle, tinkle.

I, of course, went nuts. She just gave me this look like, "Yeah, Mom, that's great; can we go back to looking at the ducks now?" We cleaned up and washed our hands, and I finally got to break open the big container of individually-wrapped Twizzlers that's been sitting on the back of the toilet since we began this process. (Note to self: chocolate was a much better idea. Must get M&Ms and a big jar.) Then I called everyone I know.

As I was crowing to my mother, Miss L comes up to me announcing, "Poopy!" I peer around the corner to see a very small puddle on the floor. Oh, well. I take her to the bathroom, pull down her training pants, and exclaim in dismay as several toddler turds roll out and across the floor.

*sigh* One step forward, one step back.

This house has been quarrantined due to plague.

All four of us passed around three strains of the flu bug for almost two weeks. Not fun at all. (The Committee and I also realized this was the first time we'd both been sick at the same time since we had kids. We usually both get whatever's going around, but one at a time.)

There were a couple of upsides to this, though. Miss L has finally consented to walking up or down the stairs under her own power (because there was no way I was hauling her up and down two flights multiple times a day). And oddly enough, Baby J decided to suddenly start sleeping 7-8 hours at a stretch. Regularly. Like, every night. I put her down at 9 or so and she doesn't peep until 5.

Valentine's Day

We don't usually celebrate Valentine's Day. The Committee bought me flowers and hair bands once, probably 7 or 8 years ago.

Yesterday, he came home from work with presents for all of us. Apparently, he saw a really gorgeous frame at one of the stores at Downtown Disney, which started the whole gift kick. He took one of our wedding photos, made it black and white, took the distracting things in the background out, and put it in the frame for me. He brought Baby J a little pink stuffed Nerd and Miss L a Valentine's Day mylar balloon.

Now I have an excuse to get him something for our anniversary in two weeks. :)

I don't know how my ancestresses did it.

Yesterday morning, I was standing next to my bed folding laundry. Or at least I was trying to fold laundry. Baby J was lying on the bed (on her activity mat) screaming at the top of her lungs. Miss L was clinging to my leg and whining at the top of hers. Ah, motherhood. And I started to wonder how my foremothers dealt with this.

Of course, I was missing the obvious, as the Committee pointed out when I shared this with him. My foremothers had their own mothers (and aunts, cousins, etc.) around. I guess it's time to renew my campaign to get my parents to semi-retire and move closer.

Adventures at the Polling Place

My polling place is the little community center in the park directly across the street from my front door. I love it. (It does tend to cause traffic problems, but my street is small enough, my community is small enough, and these things happen so infrequently that it's not really an issue.)

So yesterday was the Florida primary. My vote for a presidential candidate probably won't count but there was some important local stuff on the ballot. As usual, there were people with placards and fliers hanging out just beyond the no-politicking-beyond-this-point signs. (Those signs are recent and directly related to a local skirmish that I'll post about if I can Google up the names of the guilty.) No one approached us as Miss L* and I walked up to the building.

On the way out, however, was a different story. As we were making our way back home, a guy with small yellow cards practically ran over to get my attention. He handed me one and urged me to read the first paragraph, which read:

"The so-called Florida 'Marriage Protection Amendment' could take away benefits from all unmarried couples in Florida. This amendment won't just ban same-sex partnership recognition - all unmarried couples in Florida could lose the benefits they already have:"

(Then it went on to list the rights in question, such as hospital visitation and existing corporate domestic partner benefits.)

Now, in this matter I am the proverbial choir being preached at. (Hell, I'm all for skipping the civil union nonsense and calling it marriage.) But I was amused to be so specifically targeted by the person delivering this message, as it wouldn't technically impact me at all.

Then I realized that I was walking with a toddler and not wearing a wedding ring. So I suppose it wasn't a huge leap after all.

Oh, the two groups sponsoring the flier were Human Rights Campaign and Florida Red & Blue.

*my two-year-old