Kabuki

From here on out, I'm going to refer to my daughter as "Kabuki" or "K". Don't ask. I have about 6 billion nicknames for her so I picked the least embarrassing one.

I can't believe that K will be two and a half in a month. Time really does fly. Since I'm too lazy to write in her journal right now, I thought I'd type some updates on her.

She's officially in a toddler bed and loving it. For the first few days she would sing and talk to herself until we came and got her. Then she would call out for us to come get her. Then she would get out of bed and open her door and stand in the hall just outside her door and call out to us. Now, she wakes up quietly, gets out of bed and walks either down the hall to our room if it's in the morning or stands at the gate at the top of the stairs and calls down to me after her nap. I think she really loves that tiny bit of newfound independence.

Food-wise she seems to love pungent and/or salty foods. She must be in a growth spurt at the moment because she is suddenly eating a ton. Everyday she eats no less than 6 mandarin oranges.

Talking: Oh my. She is hilarious. Loves to play with maracas. She grabs a stuffed animal and one of her maracas, strips down naked then runs circles around our kitchen island and says "c'mon mama, let's dance!" Her favorite toys right now are the maracas, certain stuffed animals, a toy stroller and some magnetic letters and LEGO farmer figurines. She likes to stuff the farmers in her purse, put the purse over her shoulder then grab the stroller and go "shopping" for the following: oranges, onions and chocolate. I have no idea how she came up with that yummy trio.

Classes: Still doing a weekly gymnastics class. I love the teacher, the gym, the physical activity and the socialization she gets. I'm getting a bit bored of it though. We've been going for a year now. We just started her 3rd Music Together session on Wednesday. Ironically, this session is called "Maracas". I think it's a great program albeit expensive. Her gym class and music class are back to back which could cause some meltdowns so I may switch K to the Thursday music class. I figure I'm only going to be doing these classes with her until mid-June. This leads us to.......

PRESCHOOL!!! OMG. 3 days a week. Starting in early July. I'm freaked out. I was going to let her nap there but I think I've decided to pick her up before the nap. It will give me less time, but I can just go to an earlier yoga class. The school has a camera system at the school that allows parents to watch their children. I will need to practice restraint with this one.

Okay, still on the topic of kids but not my child.......

I watched a re-cap of "Idol Gives Back" last night. UGH. I purposely didn't watch it this year b/c last year it just tore me up to see what some of those kids endure daily. 3 little kids sleeping on some dirty foam pad that looked to be about 3'x 4'. Their "home" was a one room shack with clothes and pots on the floor. And they are said to "have it good". How can I complain about ANYTHING in my life after seeing that?

Even before I had K, I have always had such an emotional reaction to such stories. Like crying for several days about it when I'd think of it. I get most of my news from CNN.com and I am absolutely HORRIFIED by some of the crimes against children I see or read. The last one I read was about how this women's boyfriend beat her 2 year old daughter TO DEATH with a remote control. When asked why, the boyfriend "didn't know". The worst part is that the mother was home and didn't do anything. I'd have killed him. KILLED him. Parents put kids in the clothes dryer, in the microwave, lock them out in the snow when they won't behave, put them in a car wash and a slew of other disgusting things. I think to myself how can it ever get so bad that you would do that to a child? Your own child! HOW? WHY? It just makes me so sick and upset.