Jetta and Jasper

We went out to the park and nature path in Englewood today with Kim and Jasper. Jetta and Jasper just love each other. They when off into the leaves and woody area and Jetta fell down. She called out "bapper!" and held out a hand. Jasper immediately made his way to her rescue and gave her a helping hand to her feet. What a moment Kim and I witnessed from up in the tower of the slide park. I just love having Kim in my life. And Jasper is such a little angel. I hope that we will always stay in each others lives. Jetta is always looking for the perfect moment to plant one right on Jaspers mouth. He fell as he raced by her on the path and she walked over to him with her arms outstretched saying "oh, no Bapper!" "Ohhhhh....." as she hugged him so tight it was almost a choke hold and finally gave him the biggest kiss right on his lips. He was not quite sure if he liked it, but Jetta walked of saying " come on!". I love to see her so happy.

Show and Dinner with John

We went to see "Confessions of a Mormon Boy" yesterday afternoon in Soho. All I am going to say is: YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS SHOW! I literally have so much to say about it, I just don't want to give it away. JUST GO SEE IT.
Here is the link to the website to get tickets. www.mormonboy.com
I left the theatre in tears and John and I haven't stopped talking about it since. He loved it too.

Then we went to the best gluten free restaurant called Risottoria. We had breadsticks, pizza, and of course risotto, all with some wonderful gluten free Bear. We topped it all off with cheese cake and apple pie. Yummmmmmmm! The best part of the whole event was my date. He was tall, dark, blues eyes, and a great conversationalist. He told me how beautiful I looked and always let me have first choice on the next slice of pizza. :) He! He!

As if the night could get any better, we came home to Jetta and the babysitter....... Now this is the first time Jetta has had a baby sitter....... Let's start at the beginning. When the baby sitter ( a wonderful young girl from my dance company) got to the house... Jetta literally pushed us out of the house saying"Bye! Bye!"... so that was the first sign that things were OK. Then when we got home... she was still smiling and laughing and the house was cleaner than when we left. (lucky me) She must have worked hard... knowing Jetta. She said Jetta never cried and they had a blast! The perfect end to a perfect night. I think I will go out with this guy again. :)

Green Thumb

She so enjoys digging in the dirt. I can't wait to have her help me make a garden this summer. More than that she loves chasing the cats yelling "Meow, Meow, MEOOOOW!!!" And LOOK! She is walking down the stairs by herself. No hands. Can you imagine. I guess I thought I would be hold her her hand the rest of her life. Ha!

Berry Toe

John broke his toe last night doing the crab across the floor. I think he was showing off for Jetta. I never saw anyone crab so fast. This morning Jetta was concerned for Daddy's toe and was petting his foot. She pointed to his broken toe, which is blue and purple and said, "berry."

Follow Your Insticts

Well, we are moving to Maryland very soon and I am getting excited about living so close to family. I have to say I am so sad to be leaving my students at Broadway Bound Dance Center. We had a competition this past week and my girls were just stunning. They took 1st prize and I got the top choreographers award. It just really reiterated what I new already. I have to trust myself and follow my instincts. I went outside the box with my choreography this year and have conducted my classes with my own way of teaching and treating the students. What has come from that is beautiful, confidant, full of themselves young ladies that are have the time of their lives. And best of all, I am too. I will really miss them, but they have been the best teachers for me and I will take this experience and go into the next faze of my life with more of a back bone (as Carolyn would say). Anyway, we are also looking forward to seeing Grandma Boppy for Easter. Yesterday Jetta read her Poo Bear book to Boppy on the phone for a long time. I have the phone on speaker and she places it down next to her carefully and begins to read, pointing to everything on the page and "reading" in a rhythmic (rhyming) pattern. She also sang, "twinkle twinkle" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider" Then she took the phone and tucked it under the covers and said....."night night Boppy" She is hilarious! Jetta just loves to play hide-and-seek. She runs behind the TV and (if you don't call for her) says, "JETTA, JETTA!" and when you call her name she runs out with the biggest smile and falls into your arms in laughter yelling "there she is!"

Under the Covers

Jetta speaks in full sentences now. They sound something like this..."Mommy, lsdfoi uhsdmnfkdfhkdnksjdfhlsdfnbskj book." fkjhsdkfjhsidfhskdjfhksjdfh Boo bath. " "Mommy, lskjdfisdufhksjdfh yo yo berry?" It is just so cute. She is such a little social girl. She goes up to other kids and just looks them right in the face and says "Hi, ksjdfhisudhf chu chu? Let's go!" It is all about the berries, the chu chu (any truck, van or train), the beh beh buls, the books, the baths and the Let's go!. She is a never ending bunch of energy let me tell you. The nights have been much better now. She is sleeping well. We go to sleep and read many books until she falls asleep. Last night I was in the middle of reading Corduroy to her and she says "night night" and proceeds to crawl under the blankets down by my feet, just like a Kitty, and lets out a big sigh "ahhh", and next thing I hear is nothing. She is asleep. (Interesting side bar: Just the night before John had fantasized about Jetta doing just that) She never fails to entertain. Always mixing it up. I love that little girl.

Let's be friends

Here is Jetta at the Park in Central Park yesterday. She just loved the slide...see her running over the bridge.She just walked right up to all the kids and started playing along so happy, and look how well she is sharing as she is trying to give a sand toy to a boy. His mother was yelling at him for picking up a toy that wasn't his., How would he know it wasn't his? All the kids were playing with the toys and not having a problem with sharing....it was just the parents who seem to "know better" than to touch something that isn't yours. All I heard was "no, that's not yours!, stop that! put it down! " I think that left to themselves the children seem to have a system of their own. If I don't want you to have something, I will either start screameing, or just take it back. Otherwise, your free to play with anything I have. Wow, maybe that's why adults can feel so lonely in a crowd. As we grow up we learn to stay in our own little box, fearful we will be rejected. I think that we teach our kids this behavior and I saw how we do it first hand. We are born with the spirit of togetherness, and it is beaten out of us by well meaning parents. We really should take some notes from our children. I think they're on to something.

#1 Daddy

I just have to say, I have the best husband and friend in the world. And Jetta has the best Daddy. The other day I asked him if he had any doubts about us being together for the rest of our lives (of course I know the answer,...it is just my abandoned child archetype coming through). His response was, "no of course not, if anything, I worry we don't have enough time together in just one life time" I know everyone must be sick of me bragging about him all the time.....but he just gets better and better every day. Jetta really picked well this life time. We always say "your my baby" to Jetta, and last night she went to bed saying "my baby" to her little bear her Boppy gave her. That was right before she rolled over into the comforting arms of her Daddy.

Beh Beh Bulls!!!!!!

She still just loves her cultured veggies. Thank God for her wonderful Aunt Jessica, or she wouldn't be so healthy, and not to mention, so happy. She is overwhelmed with joy when she sees the jar of veggies coming out. She screams "beh beh bulls!!!!!" with total abandonment and excitement. It is amazing. I just imagine all those wonderful microflora in her gut having a big party, and I go to bed with a smile. (If you want info about how to make these beh beh bulls, just go to http://www.bodyecologydiet.com/)

Rethinking your Job

I think I have come up with a way to think about parenthood in a way that seems to make more sense in this world where career is everything. Being a parent is just like being a personal assistant to a very picky sometimes rude and obnoxious celebrity. When you think of it that way, you somehow can look at all those miles you put on the car just driving in circles so she can sleep, and all of the trips to Barnes and Noble, and Whole Foods just for something to do, and all the cleaning up after her as your house falls apart around you, and everything you do just because she wants you to, it doesn't seem to be that ridiculous. Every parenting book makes you think that if you toddler isn't napping for x amount of hours and eating x amount of meals, and if aren't in control of your own life, then your have failed. Well, if your client wasn't a 19 month old but, say Julia Roberts, people would say, you better just do what she wants or you are going to loose your job. Well, our kids can't fire us (although in some cases they should be able to), but we should live like they could and treat them better than any client or boss we could have. After all, unlike mean or fussy bosses/clients, they are actually doing what they should, being babies. And to make you feel better about the big salary you could be getting as a personal assistant, for the same work you do every day, just remember that bank of love you have is growing bigger and bigger each time you let you child be just who she was born to be.

Mantra

After a day of tantrums and exhaustion yesterday, I woke up this morning with a new plan of attack. A new goal and mantra. My Mantra was, "Do what ever it takes to make Jetta happy, and know that things will change." If that means getting in the car and driving around for 3 hours so she can take a good nap, I will. But I made it a good thing by spending the time in the car listening to my Carolyn Myss radio shows. ( she is my new lady) I will use the time that is so called "wasted" to do something for my own growth. It won't be forever, and instead of fighting and trying to make things be a certain way, I am practicing ' going with the flow'. And I have to say the day is going pretty good. We went to Whole Foods today and Jetta actually succeeded in picking up her sushi with her chopsticks! I think everyone around us was a shocked as I was. Maybe she was Japanese in her last life. Well, we are both a lot happier today. I think a beg lesson of motherhood is learning that no matter how hard you try to make something happen the way you want it, you can not win when you fight with nature. You only win when you work with it. That is probably a good thing for all the keep in mind.

Snow Day

Here's Jetta taking a little break after a long morning of manual labor.

Good Night

We have finally had 2 nights in a row of sleep. After the past year plus, this is a huge reason for celebration. It is so cute the way Jetta wakes up now at about 6 am and sits straight up. She looks at me and says "Mommy, mor mor (morning) , nug nug?" She points to the window so we can look out to see if it is morning yet. I ask her "Is it morning?" and she shakes her head yes. She really understands the concept of not nursing until morning. Wow, she is growing up. Now we just have to figure something out about this nurse-a-thon naps. Ha!