4 is harder than 2

I thought two year olds were hard to manage. Wow, I had no idea.

Haley is 4. Four and two months. And she is the most impossible, chatty, egocentric little thing. It always has to be her way and all about her. We were leaving the house the other day, and she told me we were out of milk boxes and only had one juice box left. Great, thanks for telling me, helpful girl! We're also almost out of milk. We'll stop by the grocery store after the gym.

A couple of hours later we arrive at the market. Her sister is asleep in the car seat, so I rested the car seat in the front section of the shopping cart. Haley demanding that she be put in the food section of the cart. I explained to her that we were at the market for her food, and that we wouldn't be able to get it if she sat there. "I'm too tired to walk!" she wailed. "But Haley, there won't be any room for YOUR food," I explained. "But Mommy! I'm too tired to walk!" "Well, then perhaps we should go home and take naps instead of shopping and going to our friend's place for brunch." "NO MOMMY! I'm not tired for a nap! Put me in the shopping cart NOW!" This lady walked by and gave me a nasty look. "Okay, honey, you can get in the cart. Where should we put your juice boxes?" "On my lap." And with that, she sat in the cart, opened her sticker book, and enjoyed the free lift.

You can probably see this one coming. "OW! Mommy, you hurt me! Don't put the juice boxes on me! You're crushing my sticker book! The yogurt is too cold on my legs!"

Somehow, and with great speed, we managed to get through the store. While unloading the cart on the belt, I picked her up and set her in a chair by the window, directly across from the register, with her sticker book. Once I was rung up, Alexa woke up hungry, so I fed her with one of the jars of baby food I had just bought. Which is funny, cause that's the first time I've ever actually bought jars of baby food for Alexa! I've been making my own, which is super easy - steam and puree and freeze in ice cube trays - but she ate a giant piece of chicken yesterday at a party. I'm a vegetarian, and so is Haley, mostly, although without really being aware of it - she just doesn't choose to eat it. She's always been a pick eater. So I bought jars of food with meat in it so Alexa can have the meat she obviously wants. She loved it!

These girls are so different it's mind blowing. Alexa, now six weeks shy of her first birthday, has eaten everything I've put in front of her, including olives, spiced chicken, a dill pickle, pizza with onions and mushrooms. She rarely passes up food. Haley eats, she eats, well, beige food. Haley is on a beige diet. Macaroni and cheese, waffles, raisin bran, noodles with butter, crackers, pb&j with the crust cut off (she won't eat the crust and eats less of the sandwich if I don't cut the crust off. God forbid her lips should touch the crust. That said, her real favorites are tofu, broccoli, grapes and strawberries, the last two being her favorite dessert. I wish I was raised like that!

Tonight was exceptionally difficult. Haley went back to school for the first time today since last Tuesday (it's Monday). She had a fever all last week and for the early part of the weekend. She didn't nap this afternoon, and was tired and cranky by 6pm. At 7:30, after her bath, F was getting ready to read to the two of them. Haley was being very rough with Alexa, and we told her if she picked her up one more time, no books before bed. Well, boundary tester that she is, she picked her up. And off to bed she went, but not without a lot of tears and yelling. "Be nice to me," she told me. I said, "Haley, I love you and I want to be nice to you but you have to be gentle with Alexa and you have to listen to me."

F and I agree that the most important thing is to be consistent with them. So when I said no books if you p/u Alexa, and then she picked up Alexa, he was right on it with me and we shuffled them off to bed. It wasn't easy, it certainly wasn't fun, but perhaps she'll think twice about picking up her poor, long-suffering little sister tomorrow night during story time.

Baby Dash

We went to visit Mary and Peter and their sweet new baby Dash yesterday. Finally, another boy in the community! So many girls. I got so busy playing lactation counselor that I totally forgot to take photos. Fortunately, Mary & my boss was there earlier in the day and she shot a few. He's adorable - pale, white skin like his daddy and long, narrow eyes like his mama. 8 lbs, 9 oz, 20.5 inches. Here he is in all his 5 hour old glory: