Beagle Tigers

Graisi had a great time yesterday at the zoo. Albeit, the chaperon lost her good pair of sunglasses and they didn't have time to feed the Lorkeets.
She tripped and fell skinning her elbow and wrist. I was shocked! She told me all about how the band-aid wouldn't stay on. Our world revolves around band-aids and Neopsporin! They're like duct tape...they can fix ANYTHING!

She, also, told me about some of the other kids projects... my favorite was the BEAGLE TIGER.


Last night she asked if she could draw before getting her shower. I asked her what time it was and she said, "7:00". I said, "Nope". She then proceeded to huff and puff up the stairs and under duress took a shower....that lasted 30 minutes. I, in turn, requested she pay me $5 for the over usage of water. (We're hoping this will cut down on her bathing time. ) At 8:00PM I told her to get into the bed. Within ONE HOUR, she had taken a shower and put her underwear and PJ's on. THAT'S IT! No teeth brushing, not hair combing, no hair drying....nothing else. Needless to say, she cried herself to sleep because I'd told her how horribly her hair was going to look in the morning. I was really hoping she would wake up with it matted to her head and sticking out everywhere and would have to go to school like that, but I should have know better. Graisi has REALLY good hair and it didn't look any differently than it does any other morning. So much for trying to shame her into lighting a fire and getting it into gear. Anyone out there have any other suggestions? And yes...we've tried treats, bribes, chore charts, rewards, threats and spankings and none of them have worked thus far. I'm out of ideas...

Alli Claire was mad and very demanding yesterday. I picked Graisi up from the bus stop and headed out again. We don't do this often because of Alli Claire, but I decided to take a chance, because Martin wouldn't be home until late because of softball. And heck, nothing sounds like a good night out like no help and two kids, right? So off we went. I took the girls to the pottery store and had a free footprint tile done for Alli Claire. You just can't pass up free even if it is all the way across town in rush hour traffic. I tried to feed Alli Claire in the parking lot of TJ Maxx, but she was too distracted with the window buttons to worry about eating, so I gave her a quick speech about getting hungry in the store and having to wait because she didn't want to focus on what she was supposed to be doing (sound familiar?). So, we got everything wrapped up and headed home and got stuck in afternoon traffic as expected. We were about 30 minutes from home when the hollering commenced. I feel so sorry for Graisi at this point. But, as soon as I extracted Alli Claire from the car seat, the screaming ceased instantly and she decided to eat :o) But that still didn't make her happy. She nursed and I gave her a chicken stick (which she threw half of it on the floor), sweet potatoes/mango/applesauce (I only got one bite of it in) and a piece of toast (which half also ended up under my chair). Nothing seemed to satisfy her until I pulled out the vanilla pudding. Is it really that bad that I fed my infant vanilla pudding for supper? I mean it does, after all, have calcium in it.