Reid trying out a walker at my parents house in CT

Picture from our going-away party

As you can tell, I just haven't had the time to blog lately what with the boxes I am surrounded by.  Fortunately Andy has been home with us since we moved in on Wednesday and we have gotten the most important rooms done- the kitchen and Harper's bedroom (Reid is too young to really care). However, he starts back at work on Monday and I have a feeling that I'm not going to get any more unpacking done until I have some help.  I am interviewing a couple of babysitters over the next few days so it looks like help is on the way! Fingers crossed that one of them is the right fit for our family. I also have a few things lined up in the way of getting Harper back into a school program.  She has loved her school for the last year and I would really like her to go a day or two a week. I have found a few cooperative nursery schools in the area and will be contacting them on Monday. Also, on Monday,we are going for a visit, tour and preliminary child meet and greet at the Montessori school I would like her to attend beginning next year.  We missed the deadline for this year and besides, it's a five day a week program, which neither of us are really up for so early in life. The admission process for preschool these days seems somewhat like what I remember when I applied for college. Costs almost as much too. (ok, not quite...) Noting the absurdity in that.

Here is a pic of Harper, Reid and Miss Maureen- Harper's music teacher back in Colorado, who played at our going-away party.

All of the Pillari cousins

Guess what? We've moved to Ohio since the last time I blogged.  Kind of crazy how the world shifts.  We have been wanting to move for YEARS and finally had an opportunity that was hard to resist put in front of us so we just took it. We will continue to remind ourselves that nothing in life is permanent and we will take this opportunity to spend less time on planes and be closer to family and take it from there. The girls and I arrived in Ohio on Saturday and Andy will join us sometime tomorrow. He is currently somewhere near the Council Bluffs, Iowa area heading east. He had to drive because of Oscar and stuck around the house to see everything get packed up appropriately.  Our house in Colorado goes on the market on Thursday, we are renting in Ohio in the interim and will move into that house on Wednesday.  I was not thrilled about renting again but this housing market is no place for two mortgages so it is what it is.  I took a peek at our new home yesterday, it looks fantastic. It's a big, three-story Colonial, very different from our modern ranch in Colorado.  Lots of stairs for the girls to fall down.  : )  I'll keep you posted on how it goes.  In the meantime, the good stuff of living in Ohio: cousins, cousins and more cousins.  Harper couldn't be more excited to be close to her cousin Lucy.  Here are all five Ohio Pillari cousins: Leo (20 months), Lucy (4), Joseph (3 months), Harper and Reid.  Reid doesn't photograph well these days.  She is always trying to escape and crawl away somewhere.  Ahhh, the difficult stage has begun.

My Reid, my love.

We adore Reid to pieces.  She is the sweetest girl I've ever known (except baby Harper of course, who was equally sweet.)  Harper and I have nicknamed her "dumpster" because of how she eats.  She makes the biggest mess! You always have to feed her with two spoons so you have food going on each one and prevent the lag time of going from bowl to mouth.  She LOVES food.  Harper never loved food the way her sister does.  Harper loved mommy's milk and that was basically it.  Reid is the opposite.  She only wants food, food and more food.  She drinks mommy's milk because that's part of life but I know she would take food over it at any time. She loves purees and is also turning into quite the pro with finger foods. It is so satisfying to feed a baby- Reid eats the most amazing, nutritious foods and for at least the next few months I can take pride in the food she eats. Harper is a great fruit and vegetable eater so I can't complain too much, but she basically survives on 10 foods and can't handle any food combinations, it all must be separate. I got the "Beaba babycook" which is maybe the best baby food making invention ever.  It steams, purees and reheats.  It is so much more efficient then my old way of preparing everything on the stove and then transferring it to the food processor.  And guess what? Reid now has FOUR teeth, not two.  Harper had eight at eight months, I think Reid is trying to keep up.

Riding in the swing for the first time and loving it!

Reid has the world's goofiest smile, it's the cutest thing!!

Trip to Elitch Gardens

My thoughtful and generous friend Cary invited me to use one his free passes to the local amusement park and tag along with him and his son and another friend for a day of fun.  I was hesitant because I honestly think of amusement parks as a microcosm of everything I dislike about the world but I agreed, reminding myself I have children now and I can't be such a Grinch about certain things.  Guess what? I was right, amusement parks are not my thing. But I'll admit it was entertaining and I will take hanging out with Cary and Noah no matter what the situation is, they are such great friends. When I asked Harper what she thought of it she said it was fun.  Strange since she screamed bloody murder about every single ride except the carousel.  : /

Two year olds are so...interesting.

I know every parent finds their child absolutely intriguing and I am no different.  The things that come out of Harper's mouth on a daily basis fascinate and inspire me- they inspire me to be a better parent, a different parent than the one I thought I would be.  I guess the one I thought I would be was a little like the Rick Moranis character in the movie "Parenthood" who walked around with flashcards and tried to make their child bilingual by age 2.  Andy likes to mock me for being like that but I really am not. Honestly, I don't have time and I have accepted that that's not the way my child learns.

One thing of interest over the last month is my realization that Harper does not really recognize her numbers. She  knows what a "2" is, of course, but the other ones she just doesn't care to learn, or learn well. I have realized that symbols like numbers and letters are completely abstract concepts for a two year old who barely has context for them aside from "H is for Harper" and "D is for Daddy".  Even when she spells her name for me I realize that it is just because I have drilled it into her head.  Harper shows a lot of interest in reading and seems to put together that letters make up words, but it ends there. Here are a few Harper quotes on numbers:

3="that's not a three, that's a funny S"
4="that's an A with a broken leg, mommy."
5="that's a two like Harper, it's just upside-down!"
8="two Os, stuck together."

Her lack of knowledge about numbers briefly left me a bit distraught and feeling like a failure of a mostly stay at home mom, so I went where any other parent in my situation would go: Walgreens.  At a friend's suggestion, I bought a box of magnetic numbers, traced them on to a piece of construction paper and placed the construction paper over a cookie sheet with the intention of having Harper match the magnetic number to the traced number.  She enjoyed it, for one round. Then she had the numbers make friends and talk to each other, a la "Hi, my name is number three, what's your name?"

Truly, two year olds are fascinating!