Sister love.

I've managed to have some good one on one time with each of my girls lately. On Saturday, Paul takes E to swim class, so I get to have Little Miss Curly all to myself for the morning. Then on Monday, E woke up with what I thought was a really bad cold and fever. But after she took a 20 minute nap on me in the glider, she bounced back to her normal self and all her symptoms went away. It was really strange. I sent C to daycare that day so she wouldn't be so directly exposed to what her sister had, so it was unusual to have just E home with me that day. We ended up having a lovely day together, although every now and then she would turn to me confused and ask, "Hey, where's Baby Cara?"

On both days, I realized that this whole parenting thing is hard because there are two of them. Toddler was way better behaved having all the attention. And baby was way better stimulated with all the attention I was giving her. Sometimes I feel like I'm selling them both short not being able to attend to all their needs on my own, which makes me sad. But I know their closeness will be worth it.

When they see first see each other after being apart for a little while, they smile and giggle at each other for a good five minutes. Then E tries to give her sister all kinds of things, like multiple blankets, non-baby safe toys, and necklaces with small beads. Lovely. They also do this funny screaming thing that I think girls only do with their sisters. And just when I think I have really had it with room sharing - E was screaming after bath today because she got a paper cut at school, which woke the baby up - we close the door and I hear E saying, "It's ok Baby Cara. They're going to come back soon. Just close your eyes." The crying fades away and turns to laughs and giggles. And Paul and I turn to each other and sigh.

End Day 11.

Oops.

First violation. Forgot to blog yesterday. Was too busy getting everything ready for.... E's first day of preschool! Drop off went swimmingly.  Hoping she has a great day today.

End Day 10.

Home.

Today we went to three open houses. The kids were champs through it all, despite how many times we pulled them in and out of the car through the heat of an 80 degree afternoon. One house was too small, one house was too big, one house was too weird.

E is starting to love open houses. But when I asked her which house was her favorite of the day, she paused and then thoughtfully said, "The Benton house."

There's no place like home. End Day 9.

On cities.

Driving home from work today, I thought about all the reasons that I want my kids to grow up in an urban environment. I didn't really grow up in one, but I spent my most formative years in the city of all cities - New York City, of course, and somehow seem to have permanently fallen in love with the idea of The City. Why the city, one might ask, when you have two small kids? Don't you want bigger spaces, clean strip malls, neatly manicured neighborhoods of houses that all look the same?

I really don't, to be honest. There is something about living in places where everything looks the same that makes me feel really uninterested and uninspired. I love the mix of things that you find in cities - varied architecture, hole-in-the-wall ethnic food, hipster bodegas, people of all different backgrounds and corners of the world. Maybe it's idealistic of me to think that all those things can still go together well while raising a family, but I think it's possible here, and I believe God loves cities and all of the diversity that makes them up. 

After all, Jesus wept for Jerusalem (Luke 19:41) - not for the suburbs. Cities can be broken and sinful, but they need salt and light. That's our highest calling. 

End Day 8.

The World's Longest Day

Today must have been the world's longest day. Baby was up at 5:30am, right before hubby left for the train. She took short naps today too, three naps about an hour each (that's short for her!). Toddler was tired by noon but would not nap even when we were in the car for 20-30 minutes. She insisted on listening to Magic Flute arias instead and critiqued each performance by saying, "She's a good singer" or "I no like this one."

Funny how slowly time goes by when you're watching kids on your own and you have no set plans for the day. It crawls by. At 10:15am, I thought, surely it must be lunch time. I'd better cook something. And by 4:30, we were eating dinner already - a TJ's frozen pizza which E rejected. (What kind of toddler rejects pizza? Picky food phase is making me crazy.)

Hubby's train will not get into nearly 10 tonight. The one day he was home this week, our cleaner was here and so were the kids, making the home office nearly impossible to work from. We need to move, but where? I am not done here in LA. E starts preschool next week. We love it here. We are not done.

So today, we went for a walk, with C in the Ergo and E running along beside me. I told them about the very first prayer walk we ever took down our street. It was right after we put an application down for our house. We prayed for the neighborhood and prayed that this would be our home, and God answered. So today we took the same walk and prayed again - Lord, guide us to where you want us to live. Please.

The world's longest day may actually bear some fruit. End Day 7.

Open House

Today on an afternoon walk, E and I stumbled upon an open house in our area. "Ooh, an open house," I said. "Open house!" she repeated enthusiastically, having no idea what it meant.

We walked over to the house and decided that it was perfect. Two bedrooms on the ground floor, each with their own bathroom, and a top floor with a loft bedroom and open bathroom, and a detached garage that had been converted into an office space. Beautiful views of Silverlake and on one of the prettiest streets in the neighborhood. As I looked in each room, E would repeat my reaction with utmost excitement.

Me: "Gorgeous bathroom."
E: "Gorgeous!"
Me: "Whoa, look at this walk-in closet."
E: "How cool!"
Me: "There's another floor up there."
E: "Look at these steps!"

Exactly what we are looking for, at the fair price of....$1.15 million dollars!

I have no idea why houses in our neighborhood can begin to be sold for upwards of $1M. I mean, I love where we currently live, and the some of the views around are beautiful. But seriously?!

End Day 6.

Little sinner

E has now begun getting out of bed after lights are out, even though she knows she's not supposed to. Activities include putting Doll to sleep with various blankets on the floor, looking at puzzles and books, and throwing stuffed animals in her sleeping sister's crib. How C sleeps through all of this nonsense I have no idea. She has my husband's awesome sleeping genes, I guess.

The funny thing is that when E hears me coming to her room, she runs back to bed to pretend that she was never out of bed, knowing that she's done something wrong. But I guess the thrill of just seeing if she can get away with it is worth the effort. This is the first instance I can recall of real dishonesty, and it's fascinating and slightly infuriating too. When I come into her room, she is purposely super sweet to me to deter me from the truth of her deviousness, asking for extra kisses and saying "Ai-nee" (love you) with a big grin on her face. You little sinner, I think to myself.

"Is this what she's going to be like as a teenager?" asks her daddy. "No," I say. "It will be far worse."

End Day 5.