So, Veronica is a spirited kid. That's putting it politely, actually. She's the most stubborn human being I've ever met. I thought I was the child of the most stubborn people. I thought I dated them or even married them (he he he...Love you Jason!) but as it turns out, I was wrong on all counts. I gave birth to the most stubborn person, and she is quickly approaching the age of three.

Now, a lot of times you can reason with Veronica. You can bribe her, appeal to her sweet side by telling her how happy you'll be if she minds, etc. You can even compromise. And then, some days, well, I can't put it better than Jason did in an e-mail to me from work, describing how he got her ready for the day today:

"Veronica was the penultimate nightmare this morning.
She beat me. She won. I wish she had an iron will. Iron can bend.
I cannot make that kid do something she ultimately doesn't want to do. And she is only 2 years old.

What are we going to do?
She is wearing pink socks today. There is no force on this earth that could have got blue socks on her living feet. Nothing.

I never would have thought that I could be so traumatized over socks.
I have shell shock today.
It was like trying to paint the nails of a wolverine that was on fire while falling.
Difficult is merely a word."

And frankly, I know exactly what he's talking about.

So Veronica's a lot healthier, but man, she's showing it in some really bad ways. Terrible two's - oh yeah. Wish us all luck.

Veronica is now on antibiotics. Her trip to the doctor's office today resulted in the vague diagnosis of "probably a sinus infection, maybe allergies." It's so hard to diagnose such a little kid.

At any rate, she seems to be doing better now during her week off from school. She and my mom have been watching DVD's and playing. Mom's got her watching "Bambi" now and eating quite a bit, neither of which Jason and I have had much luck in doing. The worst thing, though, is Mom's ignorance in how to fast-forward past the previews on Veronica's DVDs. Veronica is now completely jonesing to see "Chicken Little", which is unfortunate since it's been out of theaters forever and won't be out on DVD until March. The upside of this, of course, is Veronica now singing to herself, "Chicken, chicken, little star" which had me on the floor laughing too hard to breathe the first time I heard it tonight.

Veronica's singing, btw, goes a little something like this:

"Old Macdonald" as sung by Veronica:

"Ole Dunnell....Had farm.
Eeee oh.
On farm, had de peeg.
Eeee oh.
Oink oink oink here.
Oink oink oink here.
Oink oink oink oink.
Ole Dunnell...Had farm.
Eeee oh.
On farm....had cow.
Eeeee oh.
Moo moo moo here
Moo moo here
Moo moo moo
Ole Dunnell....had farm.
Eeee oh."

And so on, and so forth, substituting cats and dogs too. The fun part is that she sings it deadpan, obviously deep in thought as to how the song goes. It's so cute.

That's all for now. She's in bed right now, and I don't hear any coughing. Pray, keep your fingers crossed, or do whatever it is that you do to ensure it stays that way tonight.

My mom's in town for a few days, at our request, and we're really glad she's around to help out. Veronica's cold - the cough, the runny nose, the goopy eyes and the intermitent fever - has yet to fully go away. Jason had a good idea, and that was to keep her out of preschool for this week so she can rest up, get some individual care, and hopefully get better. And of course my mom's not going to let her go outside in 40 degree weather and play in the mud - which HAS happened at preschool and is a very sore spot with me and Jason, as you can well imagine. Especially after they sent home a paper with every child about the widespread illnesses and how we all need to try to keep our kids home to prevent the spread of illness. Yeah, and damp kids running around in weather barely about freezing REALLY helps all of them stay healthy. :-P

Thus far, Veronica will actually eat for my mom, scarfing down a large bowl of Spaghettios last night and finishing it off with two individual-sized applesauce containers. While I can't help being perturbed that she won't do this for me or Jason, or even her preschool teachers anymore, I'm at least happy SOMEONE can get her eat. Of course, it's totally the novelty. If my mom lived next door or something, she'd probably run and start screaming "NOOOOOO!!!!" at the mere mention of food - which, btw, is what she does to me and Jason. Thrilling, to be sure.

That's the most recent Veronica update. I've still got some time on my lunch break and am sleepy. Waking up several times every night to hear my daughter coughing into the baby monitor does not make for a restful sleep. :-( So off I go to surf and relax.

Jason came up with the most ingenious idea to get Veronica's toenails clipped.

Normally she hates this. Why? Because she's two. But she loves playing "This Little Piggy". So one evening Jason grabbed the clippers and said "we need to cut the piggies' hair." Then when he needed to file the rough edges, he said "now it's time to comb the piggies' hair."

Veronica doesn't mind now. In fact, she just picked up my clippers a few minutes ago and said "Piggies! Comb the hair" and started "filing" her fingernails with them. What a brilliant idea. :-)

Some little tidbits of joy from life with Veronica:

1. A few weeks ago, we were at Wal-Mart, and since Veronica had been good, we let her look at the toys. She had grabbed a $13 toy - more than we would splurge on - and were looking for something to distract her when I saw a bunch of little Batman masks for two dollars apiece. I held one up to her face, thinking she'd push it away actually, but she asked me to put it on her. She walked all through the store, all the way up to the counter, with that mask on. The other shoppers were cracking up. It was too funny.

2. Her new game for you to chase her is to say "Gimme hug!" or "Gimme kiss!" before running off. How can you resist that one? Tonight we put on her little animal ears and tails. She was the monkey, and I was the tiger; she was skipping and saying "Eeek! Eek!" while I roared and tickled her when I caught her. Good times.

3. She's currently in the tub, with Jason supervising, and is giving her Spiderman doll a bath. :-)

That's it for now, just little cute things that I don't want to forget.

So around 3:30 this morning, I was awakened by the sound of sobs coming through the baby monitor. They sounded like they'd been going on for a while, but Jason was in deep sleep and I hadn't heard them previously with my CPAP turned on. I got up and instantly dashed to Veronica's room, where she was sitting up in bed and sadly crying. I asked her if she had a bad dream, and she nodded. I asked her what it was about; she wouldn't say. Then she finally said:

"Nemo on da boat." pause. "Daddy Nemo go after da boat." silence for a few more seconds. "Nemo's on da boat, he going 'way."

She had just gotten a Happy Meal toy Nemo earlier in the day, and now she was having a nightmare about the movie "Finding Nemo." Even more heartbreakingly cute: She pronounces his name "Wee-mo."

So I reminded her that "Daddy Nemo" finds Nemo, and they go home. "They find friends," Veronica added, and I agreed that yes, they made friends along the way and got to see them again too, so it all ended up all right. "I see Audri," she said. "Is Audri one of your friends?" I asked. "Yes." (Audri was a little girl at Debbie's house too, and they're in the same class now in preschool. They're best of friends, giving each other hugs and kisses every day and nudging out the other kids sometimes so they can play together by themselves.) I told her she'd need to go to back to sleep, that Audri was still night-night at her house and she wouldn't be at school until morning, if then. (Audri was diagnosed with bronchitis last week and missed Thursday and Friday; I don't think she was there today, at least not by the time I dropped off Veronica.) So Veronica went back to sleep, peacefully, knowing that she has a friend at school and that Nemo made it home safe n' sound. Oh, how I wish all life's troubles were so pat to solve, all nightmares so easy to get over. At least the thought of the friends you have is always comforting; age never changes that.

Yesterday we took a day trip to see Jason's family. The sole intention was for Jason to spend some time with his grandfather, who's in his 80's and whose health is quickly failing. Jason did get to spend some time with him, and he was amused by Veronica, of course.

After that we went to Anne and Ben's house so Veronica could play with Zane. And that's where this post originates from, as they discovered musical instruments. I don't know what number Excedrin headache would result from Zane on harmonica, Veronica on kazoo, and me and Anne on the drums. The kids just ran laps around the downstairs, blowing into those instruments as hard as they could. Anne was amazed they had any breath left. I'm amazed we had any hearing left.

They're now talking about visiting our home soon, so Veronica and Zane can play at our house. I would love that. As it stands now, it's so sad once we get home and Veronica starts crying, "I wanna see Zane!" At least, I don't know, we'll already be home when it happens next.

Some more memories and musings later, perhaps tomorrow.

OK, now onto Words of Wisdom from Veronica. (Just note that I'm spelling them as they're meant to be spelled, and not how they're pronounced. If you're that curious about the translation into Veronica-ese, write me and I'll get right on it.)

The Meaning of Death:

Veronica: Where Janus?
Jason: I don't know, he's probably in the other room.
Veronica: Where Pita?
Jason: Pita's dead.
Veronica: Pita dead.
Jason: Do you know what "dead" means?
Veronica: Pita too tired. Pita no come home anymore.

The Meaning of Strength:

Veronica is voicing concern that monsters are in her bedroom.

Jason: There's no monsters and even if there were, you're tough!
Me: You're strong!
Veronica (loudly): I strong! I watch football!

Teaching Daddy About the Animal Kingdom:

Jason is changing Veronica's diaper.

Veronica: Look! I have feet!
Jason: You do have feet.
Veronica: You have feet, Daddy!
Jason: Yup, I have feet too.
Veronica: Mommy have feet!
Jason: Yes, Mommy has feet. You know, most living things have feet.
Brief pause
Veronica: Fish have tail, Daddy.

And that's it for now, as she fights the constant cold of toddlerhood and watches the same episode of "Blues's Clues" on DVD for the umpteenth time. (And it's not even a Steve episode, grrrr....)

A lot to catch up on, but right now I just want to congratulate my friend Colleen on the birth of her first child, a daughter! It sounds like mother and daughter are doing fine, and I can't wait to find out more! Congratulations, Colleen! Here's hoping you'll head to Ohio someday, sooner rather than later, so I can meet your little girl and see you again! :-)

As there's been some e-mail issues lately, I'll post more later. Maybe tonight, possibly tomorrow.

So here it is, another new year. We rang it in with Susan, Heather, Carlos, and a lot of booze. Then Darren hung out with us and Carlos last night. It's been a party all weekend, and we've had a wonderful time. It's good to have good company.

And Susan and Heather presented me with one of the best gifts I've gotten all year - a coupon for a free evening of babysitting, coupled with a giftcard to Ted's Montana Grill! Whoo-hoo! I almost cried, I was so thrilled.

In the meantime, Veronica's room has been redone. Today we took out the crib and the changing table. Her toddler bed is set up, with a little wooden crate as a nightstand with a little lamp she can operate atop of it. Her diapers and related supplies are in a tiny 3-rack bookcase, which is fine since we've been changing her on the floor a lot recently anyway. (Plus she now steps into her pants and sits up for her shirts, making a changing table rather unnecessary.) So tonight she's sleeping her first time in a "big-girl bed." I'm so inexplicably nervous, although she seems to be taking to it like a fish to water thus far, climbing in without a moment's hesitation over a half hour ago and barely a peep since. (The only thing she's needed: a drink of water, and then for me to come fetch it once she was finished.) What's really amazing, though, is the transformation of the room. It no longer looks like a baby's room. It looks like a little kid's room. And to realize that it is, indeed, a little kid's room, makes me wonder exactly where the time has gone and how fast it's going to continue to move.