I Get So Emotional, Baby

Luke has started to be able to express himself with his words more and more each day. When he feels an emotion, he has to tell you about it. Like when Grammie leaves on Tuesdays after I get home from work, he stands at the front door and says "Lukie...sad...Grammie...sad...Lukie." It's a pretty pathetic (but yet darling at the same time) to watch. Sometimes he just stands there and says "Sad. Sad. Sad" over and over. When I give him cookies and he says "Cookie! Happy! Happy!"

Sometimes his little emotions get the best of him. He had his first time out the other day. He was playing with his toys on the floor when he decided to get up, walk over to Jane, and kick her. What? There's no kicking allowed! I immediately put him in time out (aka his pack-n-play) for two minutes. He cried the whole time while shouting "Out, out, out!" After the two minutes were up, I took him over to Jane and we talked about what was appropriate to do with Jane. He saw the error of his ways and told Jane "Sorry, Janey" and gave her a big hug. I'm not sure which Jane hated more...the kick or the hug...

Three Little Cuties

One, giant leap, for Luke-kind

Last night Aron and I went to see the musical "Wicked." It's the story of the Wicked Witch of the West from her point of view. IT'S CRAZY GOOD, PEOPLE. I highly recommend it. A big, huge thanks to my friend, Missy's, brother Cameron for coming through with tickets. I owe him big, huge.

Anyhoos, Grammie and Poppy had decided that they wanted the kids to come over and spend the night while we were watching the show. Score! Tickets to a great show AND a night off from the kids (disclaimer: I love my kids. Please do not think I don't. However, I do really enjoy a night off every once in a while. I'm human, right?)! Anyhoos part 2, Luke had his very first sleepover without Mommy and Daddy. That's right folks. Every night for the past 20 months, Luke has been at home with Mommy and Daddy (except for our 2 day stay with Aunt Annie last summer but he was with us at the hotel room). Grammie decided to put his crib in her room so he could be with her and Ella. Poppy had to sleep in my old room (poor Poppy! My heart cries out at your misfortune) while Ella slept in Grammie's bed with her.

Grammie and Poppy found out 2 important things that night.
#1. Next time, maybe they should draw straws to see who has to sleep with Ella cause Grammie found out the hard way that Ella likes to sleep sideways on the bed. That's right. I said sideways. And you know what? I say MORE POWER TO HER! If I didn't have to sleep with Aron, I would sleep sideways on my bed, too. It's comfy, darn it. Power to the Sideways Sleepers!
#2. Luke talks in his sleep. We've known this for a while but I guess maybe I hadn't remembered to tell them. Grammie said that he talked for a little while about Mommy and Daddy and giggled a bit in the wee hours of the night.

Finally, it is time to go home...

Whose Great Idea Was This?

A Little Unclear On the Concept

You want me to WHAT?!
Yeeeeee-ha!

At Easton, there's a great kids fountain that has a nice, big area for kids to run around in the water, splash around, and generally just have a good time. At first, Ella was a little hesitant to go in the water and didn't quite understand that she was intentionally supposed to get in the water and that Mommy/Daddy really wouldn't get mad if she got her clothes wet. I think eventually she caught on...no?

Lukie had a little had time with the concept, too. He kept trying to take his shorts and diaper off. I didn't realize what he was doing until I heard the woman next to me start to laugh and I realized Luke's pants were half-way down his crack. What can I say? He's likes to be au natural.

After the zoo...

We went to Trader Joe's at Easton. I've never met 2 children who love dried fruit more than mine do. The cashier at Joe's gave the kids balloons. He even made a special one for Ella--a pink one, of course.

Mommy's little lion tamers

I asked Luke what he wanted to see the most at the zoo. Of course, he wanted to see the lions. Ever since he read the book "How Loud Is a Lion" he has been obsessed with lions. He has perfected his little roar which is very darling I must say. Here are my little pumpkins looking at the lion.

El Tigre

Uh, what's in there?
Giddyup!

You know what the best thing, well, the two best things about the zoo was? 1.) The fact that NOBODY was there. We arrived at 12:30 and parked in the 3rd row. THE THIRD ROW PEOPLE! Beautiful. Beautiful. 2.) The fact that Aron got in free for Father's Day. Woo hoo! Saving $10!

There's a day to honor THIS guy??

The men in my life

Today was father's day so the kids and I decided to give Aron a day on rather than a day off (good idea, kids). So we started the day off by going to church then after church we went to my grandparents house to change clothes. After a quick clothes change (and the kids picked up a handful of candy each, courtesy of GG--my grandma), we went out to brunch at Aron's favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurant where he ate tons of breakfast food all smothered in a white gravy. Aron loves anything you can smother in a white gravy (but won't eat food served to him in a basket like at Red Robin--where's the logic there? I don't know but let's move on). After that, we drove to.................................

THE ZOO!!

Whachoo talkin' 'bout--The Ella Edition

Aron and I took the kids for a walk tonight. We were walking down the street with Ella and Luke in their little red wagon when all the sudden, Ella says "Muy rapido, Daddy! Rapido, rapido, rapido!"

My kid, the bilingual 3 year old?

This Mommy's Not Smarter Than a 5th Grader...heck, she's not even smarter than a pre-schooler

So I was watching a show on PBS--Between the Lions, I believe--with Ella the other day. They were singing songs on the show and telling what they meant. Am I the only idiot that didn't know that the song "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly....I don't know why she swallowed a fly..." was some sort of metaphor against telling lies? You know, you tell one lie then you have to tell more and more bigger and bigger lies to cover up the first one?

Yeah, I didn't know that either.

This one's for you, Paula!

I had her wear a floral dress to make it feel more tropical for you.

She's One in a Million, Girl

Ella the future doctor and her patient, Tyrone, tucked under the blanket. Thankfully, he was getting a rest from the sippy of water she was providing (see also her hands).

The Waiting Room?

I think this is Ella's America's Next Top Model pose

The kids decided to pull the cushions off my couch (yikes--it was scary under those couch cushions so I vacuumed them) and all the pillows and piled them in the middle of the floor. At first, they made a fort out of them but then somehow in the middle of all the playing it became a waiting room. They made poor little Tyrone (see also large yellow antlers and red/blue striped shirt) the guy in the waiting room. Tyrone was tossed around quite a bit and made to lie down several times in the waiting room for treatment. His treatment included being forced to drink large amounts of water from Luke's sippy and having his antlers pulled.

On the bright side, at least Jane wasn't forced to participate.

Grammie Night

Sorry about the diaper shot, Luke.

Ella spent the night at Grammie's house while Poppy's out of town. I hear a good time was had by all...there was much TV watching, sandbox playing, and popcorn eating. Does it get much better than that? I let Ella pack her own bag which included about 10 stuffed animals, 5 pairs of underwear, 4 changes of clothes (all dresses or skirts, of course), a set of dolls, some legos, and other assorted toys. She was excited because I let her use my rolling suitcase.

There's a right way and a wrong way to eat your applesauce...you be the judge

I'll not taint your opinion but will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Runnin' with the big dogs

Potty training....it ain't easy...anyone who tells you otherwise is crazy....crazy I tell you...

Lately, we've been trying to talk up the whole potty training thing with Luke. We keep telling him that when he goes in the potty all the time, he can wear big boy underpants like Daddy and Myles. He's been doing ok with it so far but he's not too into it most days. He'll usually go potty when we put him on it and tells us if he has to go after he's already went in his diaper but that's the extent of it. Ella has been the dispenser of the M n M reward (typically, he wants a green one but I'm not really sure why) and the clapper of the hands when he's finished on the potty. She keeps telling him that when he's a big boy, he can wear her panties. I try to explain to her that there are some things that we don't share--like toothbrushes and panties--but I don't think she really gets it. Whatever, I guess.

This morning, though, there was a revolution in our household. We got up and I changed Luke's diaper. After he was all clean, I tried to put a new diaper on him. He kept pushing at the diaper as I tried to put it on saying "No.....Daddy......MyMy.......pan-eeeeeeees" What? Daddy? MyMy? I don't get it. Then it dawned on me. I reached over and pulled out a pair of brand new Luke-sized boxer briefs (hey, none of those nasty tighty whities for my kid. He's got camo boxer briefs thank you very much). I put them in front of his little face and said "You wanna wear these like Daddy and MyMy?" He nearly catapulted himself off the changing table to try and pull them on. He wore them for about 2 1/2 hours this morning without accident. I took him potty every hour but he made it.

My little big fella.

Lost In Translation-The Sequel

Let's just make it clear--I'm not buying Ella's explanation of why she was putting 10,000 items in Luke's crib. BUT I do have a sweet story about Ella and Myles when they were babies.

Ella was probably about 16 or 17 months old and Myles was about 13 or 14 months old. Myles had come over to play while Robin ran some errands. Ella was just starting to talk in a couple word sentences and Myles was just starting to get a few words here and there (mostly Mommy, Daddy, etc). The kids played for a while and had a good time with their toys and stuff. All the sudden Myles came over to me and was pulling at me, obviously trying to get me to do something for him. He was whining and pulling at my shirt sleeve. I kept offering him different toys and he shook his head. I tried offering different food choices and he shook his head. Finally, I turned to Ella and said "You're bilingual right? What does Myles want from Mommy?" She turned to Myles and said something in baby talk and he replied. She went into the kitchen and pointed at the refrigerator. I opened the fridge and she grabbed a juice box and handed it to me and said "Myles." I turned to Myles and said "Is this what you wanted?" I don't think he could've nodded any more and any faster if he were one of those stupid bobble head dolls. I popped in the straw and off he went, happy as a clam, back to playing with his toys.

Now that was a pretty cool moment.

Lost In Translation

Looks like Ella's not the only one the inherited my goofy picture face. Score one for the home team, baby.

The kids take their naps each day at the same time and typically in the same room (sometimes Ella cons me into taking her nap in my bed but not usually). On most days, the kids both lie down and take their naps for a solid 2 hours (2 hours of sweet quiet for me--yipee) with no problem. Today was a little different, though. I put both kids upstairs in their respective beds and blew them kisses as I walked out the door. 5 minutes after I went downstairs I heard large amounts of giggling, little running feet, and periodic cries of "Ella............Ella............." I went upstairs fully prepared to bust them. I walked into the room and saw Ella had put about 5 pillows and 5 stuffed animal "friends" and 3 blankies in Luke's crib. None of these thing were in there when I had left. Before Luke realized I was in the doorway, Luke was telling Ella "More, more" and laughing like crazy. Now how do I bust them when they're obviously having fun like that?

I asked Ella what she thought she was doing. She told me that Luke had told her that he wanted a pillow in his crib because he felt like he was a big boy now. I asked why he hadn't told me that and she said he did but I didn't understand him.

A parent not understanding their child? Must be a first.