Summer Summary

We had an absolutely wonderful summer. As in summers past, we spent a lot of time with the kids and parents on our street: every Friday was either a morning playdate (aka coffee klatch for the moms) or an evening cookout (aka Happy Hour for the adults), not to mention the numerous playdates in kiddie pools, on the many backyard swingsets, at the playground, and the sprayground. We celebrated my birthday (I stretched the celebration out over 8 days), Adrian's 40th with family and dear friends, and some of our friend's birthdays.

My last couple posts caught you up on a couple fun stories. But they didn't even scratch the surface. Now here are some pictures and quotes to better fill you in on our busy, busy summer:

Visiting with Uncle Mike
My littlest brother made the long journey home for a visit in May. It was especially exciting for Oo, who has been waiting for a long time to see him. Here's a picture of the siblings reunited and a picture of the kids totally at ease with their uncle and his friend, Alisha.



I Love a Parade
Our FAVORITE parade takes place every June on the east side of town. It's a spectacular event put on by many of the artistic communities in the city, with all of the costumes hand made. Any one can enter the parade, so there is always a wide variety of music, costumes, and ages. We took a lot of pictures of the parade this year, but this one is my favorite.


Despite the high energy of the crowd and the spectacular stuff to watch, Oo and her cousin found a woman giving away free kittens. So the two of them spent almost all of the parade snuggling with kitties.


God Is Everywhere, Right?
Oo: Is God in that banana?
Me: No, He isn't.
Oo: But God is everywhere.
Me: Yes, He is.
Oo: And He made that banana.
Me: Yes He did. But I don't think God is hanging out in that banana.
Oo: Well, I think He's in that banana.

Feeling Trashy
Our neighbors had an awesome party this summer. The theme: white trash! We did not, of course, want to introduce the term "white trash" to the kids or explain to them what it means, so we told them that we were going to "an ugly clothes party." Here is Oo hanging out with one of her favorite neighbors, Lola.

Here is T trying to abscond with a bra that was dangling from a tiki torch.

And here is the proud family. Notice how Oo is holding daddy's beer.


Oo Being Oo
Even the simplest of tasks becomes a big to-do when trying to get two goofy kids to cooperate. A trip to the post office in early July to mail birthday cards on time was supposed to be a leisurely walk to the neighborhood post office. But the "leisurely" had to be scratched from the plan once we experienced delay after delay, dilly-dallying, ill-timed diaper emergencies, and a pointless argument about picking out one's own clothes.

After all that, we barely had enough time to DRIVE to the post office before it closed. We locked the house door and quickly piled into the car. It is then that Oo declares she has to go potty. So I let her out of the car, unlocked the door, and sent her to the basement bathroom. Then I waited and waited and... (insert Jeapordy theme song music here). Frustrated, I went to see what was taking so long. I found her still on the potty; "business" was done, but she was leisurely flipping through a book. Leisurely was nixed earlier, so I pleaded, "Come on! We don't have time for that. Let's go."

We get to the post office with two minutes to spare. Since earlier I had surrendered in the clothing argument, Oo was wearing a blue, flowery dress and bright orange socks with her pink sandals. The lady at the counter took a look at her and quietly giggled. Oo was also clutching the book she was reading on the potty. The lady asked about what Oo was reading, and Oo smiled and held up "Time Management for Dummies." The lady and I cracked up laughing. Hmmm... that would've come in handy today.

The Rare Quiet Weekend
There were just a few Saturdays and Sundays this summer when we didn't have plans. We took the opportunity to hang out in our backyard with the kiddie pool, pudding pops, squirters (squirt guns), and the sandbox.

Pudding pops were definitely our favorite treat of the season.



A Trip to See Great Friends
Some very dear friends of ours moved off of our street last year, and we just haven't been the same since. A car trip this summer to spend the weekend with them was exactly what we needed. We had so much fun that I practically forgot to take pictures. But here are the few that I did take. This first one is a combined dress-up/craft session that kept the girls busy for at least an hour.


Both Adrian and Oo really enjoyed the chance to play Guitar Hero with our friends. Adrian and I have agreed that we won't get a game system for our house, but I don't mind when Oo plays a game or two in someone else's home. In the middle of playing Guitar Hero, Oo says, "Mama says that video games make you lazy, so I'm going to take a break." Then she dramatically plops down on their couch as if she'd been striken by a wave of laziness so intense that it made her incapable of standing on her own two feet.

Despite the one-year difference in age, the two boys loved hanging out together. Here they are playing with Mr. Potatohead accessories.

And of the few pictures I took, here is my favorite: Story time with Miss Nicole.


A Stop Along the Way
After our visit with our friends, but before we drove all the way back home, we stopped in Ft. Wayne, IN, for a 24-hour mini vacation. Why Ft. Wayne, you ask? Well, we learned that Parenting magazine had rated Ft. Wayne's zoo as the 5th best zoo in the country. A top-ranked zoo in Ft. Wayne?!? We had to check it out!

We arrived in Ft. Wayne late in the afternoon, and checked into our hotel. The kids jumped up and down on the beds for a while, then we had an early dinner. After dinner, we spent some quality time in the hotel's pool. The beauty of a vacation destination such as Ft. Wayne: we had the entire pool to ourselves! I am pretty sure that this was the kids' first chance all summer to play in water deeper than our kiddie pool. They had a BLAST floating and kicking around in their "floaties." We laughed and played together until bedtime.


Back in our hotel room, we put a kids' movie into the DVD player and climbed into our pajamas. The kids didn't stay awake for very long.


The morning was filled with anticipation and chocolate chip pancakes. Once we were inside the zoo's front gates, we soon discovered why Ft. Wayne's zoo was so beloved. Great exhibits! The animals were all in natural habitats, and yet we were able to get so close to them. This first pic is of our monkey having a blast watching the real monkeys.


And here is Oo on an African safari.


Judging from his reaction to the lion, I'd have to say that some of the exhibits were too close for T's comfort.


This zoo lets you feed the giraffes!


And the HUGE seal tank was a HUGE hit.


We took this picture of Oo near the tortoises. Notice how the zoo has a subtle rock wall within the exhibit to keep the tortoises from getting too close to the visitors.

Well, this one tortoise in particular was so interested in Oo, that he bee-lined (SLOWLY bee-lined, that is) right toward her and tried to scale over the rocks. His short legs and heavy shell caused him to get stuck on top of that short rock you see him on in the above picture. With his little legs flailing, his claws scratching, and the bottom of his shell scraping on the rock, he finally made it over to Oo.

T was absolutely fascinated with the tortoise, so much so that Adrian had to hold on tight to keep T from going on a tortoise ride.

Fortunately, the zoo's petting farm gave the kids a chance to finally touch some animals. We pet pigs, cows, horses, sheep, bunnies, and of course, goats. But not only did we pet the goats, we were given brushes and asked to brush them. Oo made it her personal mission to brush each one of the 30+ goats on the farm. Even after one of the goats tried to eat Oo's shirt right off her little body, she remained focused on her objective.


Milk
Oo: How do mommy cows make milk?
Me: I don't know. That's a good question.
Oo: I think that the baby cows make it when they're in her tummy. (pause) And they sing a little song. (pause) And they march up and down her bones. (pause) The baby cows make them [the udders] out of dough, and then they paint them pink.


New Bikes!
One sunny Sunday afternoon, the kids and I pulled our car into the driveway, and what did we see? Two brand new, shiny bikes—a surprise from Daddy! I could not get the kids unbuckled and out of the car fast enough. And who could blame them for their excitement? Check out the sweet rides:


And so for the remainder of the summer, there was no more kiddie pool, no more chalk drawings on the driveway, no more digging in the sandbox. There was only this:

I Am Stuck on Band-Aids 'Cause Band-Aids Stick on Me

Here is the band-aid story that I promised to you in my post on July 31:

One morning in mid-July, Oo woke up and told me she had a bruise on her leg that stung. I took a look and saw a bizarre, dark pink blotch on her thigh that was obviously some sort of bug/spider bite. By lunch time, part of the blotch had developed a small water blister, and by bedtime the blotch was fully blistered—over one inch long and 1/2 inch high... seriously. The next day, I took her to the doctor, who was stumped as to what may have bitten Oo. The theory: perhaps Oo was having an allergic reaction to a bug bite. The prescription: give her Benedryl and wait for the blister to pop.

For the three days that followed, we found ourselves addressing the bug bite and a fever (from 99 to 102) with regular doses of Benadryl and Motrin.

After the blister popped, we used band-aids and Neosporin on the spot. Removing band-aids to put on fresh ones turned out to be the MOST traumatizing part of Oo having this daddy-tarantula bite* on her leg. (* Oo's self diagnosis.) Before I could even touch the old band-aid with so much as my pinkie finger, she would scream and thrash around. Band-aid removal was definitely a two-parent job.

One night Adrian was working very late, and the band-aid task was up to me, alone. In a moment of desperation, I decided to cut the band-aid in half through the pad, so that I could pull it off one half at time. Oo and I thought this was a great plan, and all was calm while I cut the band-aid and pulled the first half off. Immediately after pulling it off, however, there was a dramatic scene of flailing and wailing and dirty "How could you, Mom?" looks. And so it was decided that the other half of that highly waterproof band-aid would stay on her leg "until tomorrow."

THREE DAYS later, enough was enough. Oo's skin is sensitive to adhesives, so that half of band-aid, with its dark dirty edges curling up at the corners, had to go! I armed myself with lots of baby oil (to loosen the adhesive) and Adrian's assistance. The anticipation was too much for Oo. She screamed and kicked; she pleaded for us to leave the band-aid alone. While she was distracted (trying to throw a most spectacular fit), I grabbed the edge of the band-aid and quickly yanked it off.

Her immediate reaction to my cruelty: "WOW!" Followed by a smile and "That wasn't so bad." Oo was relieved and now at ease, but Adrian and I collapsed, doubled over from both emotional exhaustion and laughter.

(Note: Just minutes earlier I posted an old blog entry that I started to write back in June. If you have not already read that entry, scroll down now to read "Better Late Than Never.")

Better Late Than Never

In June, I downloaded a few photos and wrote only four sentences before I needed to turn the computer off and head home for a visit with my family. Afterward, I forgot all about this blog entry and never posted it.

This morning I finally finished writing the entry. Here it is... originally from early June:


Okay, so this picture has nothing to do with the stuff I'm posting about today, but I just had to share. In my unbiased opinion, it's cute on so many levels.

I need to make this a quick post; this morning we're leaving for a car trip to see my "littlest" brother at Chippie's house and again at Nonny's.

Yesterday we went to the zoo to spend some quality time together. The day was beautiful and perfect for watching animals. Before getting to the zoo, we stopped at a neighborhood carry-out to get bottled water. Oo took a long look at the store and said...
Oo: That place is for DJs.
Me: Yeah? How do you know it's for DJs?
Oo: Because the last time we drove by, there were DJs coming out.
Me: How did you know they were DJs?
Oo: Because they were wearing necklaces and black shirts, and they had their hats on backwards.
(Sounds plausible to me.)

Last summer the zoo had a dinosaur exhibit that scared the pants off of Oo (it had life-sized robotic dinosaurs that growl and spit). But when Oo heard that the exhibit was at the zoo again this summer, she said she HAD TO go see it because it was her FAVORITE thing at the zoo.

At the main zoo gate, we were each inked with a dinosaur stamp on the back of our hands so we'd be permitted into the special exhibit. The stamp was enough to get Oo over-the-edge excited, but T had a different perspective as he stared at the blue dinosaur on his hand...
T: I want dinosaur OUT! It's stuck!


The kids had fun seeing the dinosaurs, but our trip to the zoo was during T's naptime. He's been slowly weaning himself off naps, and we figured that seeing the animals would ward off any sleepiness. Well, we were wrong. As we pulled him around in the wagon he became less and less interested in animals. Soon he was completely crabby and miserable. At the mere mention of monkeys, however, he perked up.

Our zoo is horribly spread out. To see the monkeys, you have to make a long trek uphill. It's quite a schlep, and there are no animals to see on the way. By the time we made it to the monkey house, T had reached his limit. To our dismay, the first few "cages" were monkeyless, and the empty cages sent him flying off the deep end. He threw himself down on the floor—arms flailing, feet kicking—and began screaming, "I NEED monkeys!"

After Adrian and I had a quick chuckle at T's expense, I scooped up T, tucked him under my arm like a football and ran through the monkey house looking for a monkey. Some of the monkeys I showed him were apparently not monkey-ish enough, prompting T to repeatedly scream "NO! Not a monkey!" The picture below documents the glorious moment when we finally found a monkey that was satisfactory.


After the monkey house, we ran back down the hill and all the way back to our car. T fell asleep on the ride home and again once we got him in the house. The pic below perfectly captures his exhaustion.


Lesson learned: Never assume naptime can be intruded upon by anything other than monkeys.

Hectic

Our family is visiting with some very dear friends of ours this weekend. I apologize that I have not had time to blog or post pictures in a while. I have some cute pictures that I need to post of the kids hanging out in the backyard this summer. And soon I'll have pictures of Oo and T playing with their friends who we're spending time with this weekend.

Oh... and I need to remember to tell you the band-aid story too. Good stuff.

Craving M&Ms

WARNING: If you're not a parent, you may want to skip this post. It's all about potty training. Need I say more?

Well, since our two celebrations on Monday, we have not earned any more M&Ms. It's not for a lack of trying, as T asks (yes, asks!) several times a day to sit on the potty. AND he usually asks to sit just before he has to go — a dry diaper and nasty gas serving as indicators that he has something brewing.

But the poor, little guy is in a quandary. He really, really wants to use the potty, but his body still finds it unnatural and now goes into "lockdown" when his diaper is off. The situation is causing him a great deal of stress (and a lot of tummy aches). This morning, for example, he woke up with a dry diaper but started yelling and throwing things as soon as I suggested using the potty. So I dropped the subject.

T, however, continued to battle. He walked over to his potty and draped his distraught body across the top of it. Then he ran into the living room, threw himself on the floor, and started sobbing, "I can't do it. I can't do it." I told him to use his diaper if he needed to. That idea did not sit well with him and caused him to kick and scream.

I used breakfast as an opportunity to distract him. An hour-long leisurely breakfast and two cups of orange juice later, his diaper was still dry. This time, rather than drape his body across the potty, he was willing to sit and give it a try. We read the book "No More Diapers for Ducky" (a favorite of his) three times. We listened to kids' music. We were very patient. But once his bottom was sore from sitting, he decided to throw in the towel so he could go dance to the music.

He has now been awake for over three-and-a-half hours and is still wearing last night's dry diaper. I foresee a difficult day (and a lot of tummy aches) for us today.

M&Ms for Everyone!

We had M&Ms before breakfast today! A celebration of T's first use of the potty. Yeaaaaa!

And then T earned MORE M&Ms for everyone after breakfast, for another, and perhaps more challenging potty first! Yeaaaaa! Yeaaaaa!

(Did you notice... there is ONE "yeaaaaa" for the first potty use, and TWO for the second use? I'll let you figure it out.)

Now Serving #4

Since Oo is 4 years old, her favorite number is 4. And because Oo's world must be systematic and organized (which does not necessarily mean "tidy"), EVERYTHING must equal the number 4.

If she's eating baby carrots, she wants to be given exactly 4 carrots. Every bite of those carrots consists of 4 small nibbles before she chews and swallows. If she's filling a cup with water, she holds the cup under the water to the count of 4. If she's eating M&Ms, she'll eat only 4 M&Ms, not 3 and not 5. But if she wants more M&Ms, she wants exactly 4 more. Should I tell her she can only have 2 more, she'll say, "No thank you. Give them to T because he's 2 years old."

She rinses away her toothpaste with 4 sips of water. Before she'll come in the house for dinner, she slides down the slide 4 more times and then must sniff 4 flowers in our yard. She blows 4 kisses to Adrian in the morning, and makes 4 pictures when we're painting. There must be 4 kisses on each boo boo and 4 books read at a time to her.

Oo turns 4 1/2 next week. I was planning on baking her a birthday cake shaped in a half circle to celebrate. But now I'm wondering. If she knows she is 4 1/2, just how much will it complicate matters? Four and a half carrots, bites, sips, M&Ms, slides, flowers, kisses, books... Oy! I need to think this through.

Current Antics

Once again, I have been lagging behind in my blogging. And once again, it was because of Gummy Bear.

Nothing major to report, other than Oo's theater class performance last week, which I have to say was A-DOR-A-BLE. I took video of it, which I want to edit before I post -- most of the footage is of Oo spinning on one foot, trying to make her dress poof out. So until then, here are some pictures:




And now, some little things the kids are currently doing that entertaining us:

- Oo wakes me up every morning. She tip-toes into my room, stands by my bed, and kisses the tip of my nose. If I don't wake up right away, she'll say, "Wake up, Momma" in a quiet sing-songy voice. I've never been much of a morning person... until now.

- T loves to swing. Always has. He loves when we give him big pushes on his baby swing and send him flying high. But he's also attempting to swing on a big-kid swing. He holds on tight... most of the time. It's going to take a while to learn this new skill. He has, however, quickly mastered how to brush dirt out of his hair!

- Now that her hair is longer, Oo has 3 hair style options -- a pony tail, pig tails, or a clip to hold back her bangs. How does she decide which style to wear? In typical Oo fashion, she follows a pattern -- a hair clip one day, a pony tail the next, pig tails after that, and then back to a hair clip on the 4th day.

- If T doesn't like the way he did something, he has a do-over. For example, he was walking down the stairs today. He made it down 3 steps when he suddenly realized that he wasn't holding on to the wall for balance. So he walked back up the 3 steps and made sure he was holding on to the wall (double- and triple-checking himself) before he went back down again.

- (Nicole... If you're reading this post, be sure to skip past this paragraph. Trust me.) Oo is so lovey, and she tells us all day long that she loves us. Similar to the book "Guess How Much I Love You", she says she loves us "as tall as that tree" or "as big as our yard." When she wants to let us know that she loves us "a lot, a lot, a lot," she'll say, "I love you as far as Chicago." (Our good friends moved to Chicago last year. She misses them "a lot, a lot, a lot," and so to her, Chicago is the farthest place on the planet from our home.)

- Now in the "terrible" part of the Twos, T just wants to be taken seriously. He has been practicing his under-the-eyebrow scowl in front of the mirror lately. And he'll randomly walk up to me and declare, "I serious."

- Oo is obsessed with secrets. If she tells me she's pretending to be a fish, for example, she'll say, "Don't tell Daddy! I don't want him to know I'm a fish." But as soon as he walks into the room, she'll say, "I just HAVE TO tell him! I can't resist." She is also quick to rat me out to Adrian if she thinks I did something that he wouldn't approve of. Of course, Adrian thinks this is hilarious.

- T hums all day long. He has quite a repertoire, including some of the obvious songs, like the themes to Sesame Street and Elmo's World. He also like to hum a waltz he heard on a Baby Einstein video.

- When drawing people, Oo starts with their head, followed by a stick-figure body. She then gives them underpants -- which always look like polka-dotted boxers -- and then draws clothes on top of the body and underpants.

- T has started to make his toys talk to each other. A rubber duck will say, "Hi blue fishy" to the fish bathtub toy, and the fish will say, "Hi duckie." Then T will purposely drop the duck onto the floor and say, "Oops, duckie bonk a head... I okay."

- Oo has strayed away from having imaginary friends. But now she has imaginary big sisters and big brothers -- and they are all characters that she has seen on TV.

- T is in a mommy-love phase right now. I get many, many hugs around my legs every day, and if I'm sitting on the floor, he'll tackle me with a hug from behind. He also likes to make sure I'm always near. If he's headed upstairs, down to the basement, or outside with Daddy, he'll say "Mon Mom" (Come on Mom) until I follow him.

- Inspired by a family down the street, the kids have starting "playing" soccer. They both are very good at dribbling a ball up our driveway with their feet, but I have not yet been able to convince them to play in the grass.

- Oo daily begs to play Internet games. Not a fan of computer games, I only let her play for a short time. She used to play on Playhouse Disney's site, but fortunately she now prefers the games on PBS Kids' site, which are far more educational and challenging. T doesn't use the computer yet, but he loves to side right up to Oo and watch her play. And of course, he has to push a few keys on the keyboard when she's playing, which sends her into a fit. "Ugh, little brothers..."

- T is talking more and more every day. He's recently added some phrases to his verbal repertoire that, combined with his toddler pronunciations, are so freakin' cute. To list a few:

"App-pooter seeping" -- Apple computer is sleeping. (turned off)

"Ah pah pan, mo less" -- It's all part of the plan, more or less. (a phrase he regularly hears on Oo's favorite TV show)

"See you wake up" -- I'll see you when I wake up. (what he says before falling asleep for a nap)

And our number one, most-favorite phrase is "I wan pun-bah pear-puns puss-pah!" -- I want a Spongebob Squarepants push-up pop!

That's all for now. But before I sign off, here's a picture of T reading his favorite books, which he can recite from memory: "Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?" and "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"

Gummy Bear

Okay, so in my last post I alluded to "Gummy Bear." "Gummy Bear" is what keeps me from blogging more often. "Gummy Bear" is what slows down my responses to your emails. "Gummy Bear" is what makes me merely a shadow on Facebook.

"Gummy Bear" is a video on YouTube. But I'm not the one watching it.

This short movie will show you what I'm talking about.





If you'd like to see the video T is obsessed with, follow this link:

The Gummy Bear Song

Miscellany

The kids have been giving me many little things to blog about, but, thanks to T, I can only use the computer in secrecy. He has a new obsession with the laptop. Every time he sees it, he climbs all over me yelling, "Gummy bear! Gummy bear!" (More about that in a future post.) So while T is distracted, I'm going to try to get you caught up on all the little things. Here goes:


Toddler Trade-off

Exactly 14 days ago, T ran head first into the terrible twos. Seriously. The change in his disposition was so sudden and dramatic that I could enter the exact date into his baby book. His first MAJOR tantrum happened in my doctor's building (just a follow-up appointment). Oo pushed the elevator call button before T could. After screaming, he threw himself to the floor. Where did he land? Halfway in the elevator (which had just arrived) and half out of the elevator. Not yet allowed to lift him, I held the doors open with my body while I used my foot to roll him the rest of the way into the elevator. He screamed all the way up.

Just as suddenly as his big tantrums started, his language skills have taken a big leap forward. He's had a great vocabulary for a while, but he rarely chose to use it. Preferring a caveman-like style of communication, he usually grunted and pointed to tell us what he wanted. But all of a sudden he's narrating everything and using longer phrases: "Cookies in bowl," "Shoes and socks on... go outside," "Play with blocks, please." We're all enjoying hearing what he has to say!


Garbled

Even though T's language skills have improved, his pronunciations are not always clear. At lunch the other day, he looked at me excitedly and said, "Moon schnoob noot!"

Me: What did you say?
T: Moon schnoob noot.
Me: I'm sorry, I don't understand. Oo, do you know what he's trying to tell us?
Oo: Nope.
T: (losing patience) Oo, I SAID, 'Moon schnoob noot!!'

"I said" was a new phrase for him, and it was said with such serious frustration that I had to fight off my giggles.


Puddle Jumping

The kids have new raincoats and matching froggy rain boots (Oo also has a Hello Kitty umbrella that Santa gave her this year), and Oo has been begging and begging to try out the new rain stuff. But after the slew of ear infections this fall and winter, I've been hesitant to take them outside to play in the rain -- our rainy days this spring have all been quite chilly and windy.

Well, I finally caved. On a recent rainy morning, I suited the kids up in their rain gear -- AND their winter hats -- and we headed out to play. The kids were so excited you would've thought it was Christmas. After squealing, stomping in puddles, catching raindrops with their tongues, and twirling the Hello Kitty umbrella again and again, they fought me tooth-and-nail when it was time to go in for lunch. The battle, however, was immediately over once I announced they could have hot chocolate with their lunches.


The Band

Oo often spends an afternoon each week practicing for "the big performance." Her performance may be anything from a dance show to a puppet show to a musical variety show (complete with costume changes). Her "rehearsals" are long and intense, with the goal of being ready to put on the show for Daddy after dinner that night. Once dinner is done, but before the dishes can be cleared, Oo assigns seats to Adrian and I (usually in the back row... her stuffed animals get preferred seating), and the show begins.

Her latest creation was a rock concert (which, come to think of it, she never did perform for us). She decided the dining room was her dressing room, the living room was the stage, and the kitchen was where the band rehearsed and came up with all their ideas. I asked her if her band had a name, and she replied, "The 3000 Band. And do you know why we are The 3000 Band? Because you have to pay 3000 money to listen."

Dream big, little Oo. Keep dreaming big!


Picky

As with all kids, my kids can be picky eaters. Oo has long had a "no skin" food rule, which translates into no skin on her apples, pears and plums, as well as no crust on bread. She has just taken the no-skin rule to a new level. Now "no skin" also applies to hot dogs, and -- as if she didn't already eat very slowly -- she frees her peas and corn from their tiny skins before eating them.

The list of foods T won't touch has always been more lengthy than Oo's list. At our favorite ice cream shop, he added a new item to his list. I ordered two kid scoops of Oo's favorite flavor -- Blue Cosmo (it tastes like cotton candy). T's never had this flavor, and neither kid has ever had sprinkles on their ice cream before (what kind of mother am I??). When I gave them the cups of bright blue ice cream topped with rainbow sprinkles, their eyes lit up and they squealed with delight. T loved the new flavor of ice cream, but the sprinkles... After each bite of ice cream melted in his mouth and was swallowed, T would say, "Bleah!" And then he'd stick his tongue out to wipe the sprinkles off one by one. I felt bad that his treat was marred by my choice to add sprinkles, so I scraped off all the sprinkles and ate them myself. The sacrifices a mother makes for her children!


No S'more Please

After several rainy days in a row, the kids and I got pretty squirrely. To break the monotony, we made S'mores bars together -- like Rice Krispie Treats, but using Golden Grahams and stirring in chocolate chips and extra marshmallows. Oo helped by cutting the butter into little pieces and by doing much of the stirring. T helped... that is helped himself to a lot of marshmallows! After dinner that night, we were all excited to taste our new creation. T, however, took one lick, said "Bleah," and handed the s'more to Adrian. Oo took several bites of hers before pulling it apart to eat just the chocolate chips. She then declared that she no longer likes marshmallows. Adrian and I "had to" spend the next several days eating the rest of the s'mores by ourselves. Poor us!




Stop Copying Me!

Keeping true to the title of my blog page, T does everything that Oo does. No longer entertained by this, Oo yells at T, "Stop copying me!" at least a dozen times a day. At the library, I stumbled across (as if by divine intervention) the perfect children's book to help keep the peace in our house. It's called "Copy Crocs," and was written by David Bedford. In the story, Crocodile is annoyed when his friends do everything that he does, so he keeps running to get away from them. In the end he realizes that it is more fun to have his friends with him than to be alone. The book has worked wonders for us. Now when T imitates Oo, she usually shrugs her shoulders and says, "T's being a copy croc again."


It's in the Genes

Many people comment about how much T looks like Adrian. But last October my cousin took a picture of T that, to those of you who knew me as a little kid, looks a lot like me. I forgot I had the picture until I was tidying up my email inbox yesterday.



"Sunny day, sweeping the clouds away..."

I have to mention we LOVED the warm sunny weather we were having. On Saturday, I took our niece to an afternoon showing of "Monsters vs. Aliens." I'll admit, it was a little silly to sit in a dark theater on a sunny day, but it doesn't matter because we had fun! Back at home, Adrian and the kids took full advantage of the great weather. Below is a picture he sent to my cell phone while I was at the movie. It's classic Oo!


Well, I gotta sign off for now. T's climbing on me yelling, "Gummy bear!"

Make a Wish

While Oo and I sat on the floor playing today, I noticed an eyelash on her cheek. I carefully picked it off and showed it to her as I explained one of my favorite childhood superstitions: make a wish, close your eyes and blow the eyelash away to make the wish come true.

Her eyes twinkled with the possibilities and she grinned a big grin. Before closing her eyes and blowing her lash away, she whispered, "I wish, I wish my eyelashes would stay on."

Happy Easter

Over the course of this holiday weekend, I composed three blog entries in my head. And now I can't remember what I was going to write. So rather than try to recall and recompose three entries, I'm just going to share some pictures.

Visits from Grandparents:

Both of my parents made trips into town last week to help out with the kids. The kids were beyond excited!




Egg Hunt with Neighbors:

Every year we get together with other families on our street for an Egg Hunt at the park. This first picture is of T all bundled up. He does NOT like cold weather and was quite crabby until we layered him with an extra sweater and his winter gloves.


Oo and some friends taking a break after the hunt.


Oo and a friend taking stock of their spoils.


Easter Morning:

Before bed Saturday night, Oo informed both Adrian and I that she planned to wake up early, tip-toe downstairs and find all the eggs before anyone else could. What she didn't count on was being the last one to get up -- she was pooped out from running around the park the day before.

Once Oo was awake, the four of us headed downstairs to find out what the Easter Bunny had left. T bee-lined directly for his basket, pulled out a new pair of sunglasses, and put them on. He was so fascinated with his new shades that he didn't bother to look for eggs.


Lovin' the new glasses, T wore them ALL DAY LONG.


Aunt Meanie will be proud to learn that after finding all of the Easter eggs, Oo (aka Mini-Meanie) set to task sorting all of the contents of her Easter basket. As the picture below shows, the sorting included an entire jar of play beads separated by color, and later by shape.


Oo was thrilled with her new Easter dress. She loved that it was polka dotted (circles are her favorite shape) and that it matched the pink sparkly shoes that Aunt Cindy gave her. To add an extra touch of fanciness, we painted her finger nails bright pink. I love her girly pose in this picture!

Time on My Hands

Still recovering, I'm now able to lift up to 10 lbs., but that isn't enough to resume full housework duties (especially vacuuming and carting laundry up and down stairs). I also don't have the energy to do much yet. So I sit. In our dirty house, I just sit. I've had help with the kids and the laundry -- which is great, because neither just sit.

Though the crumbs and fingerprints stare at me mockingly, I do so enjoy the time I have to think and to dink around on the computer. Below is a picture I made yesterday of the kids. It was totally a test-run effort -- rough and not the best picture of the kids -- an experiment for some pictures I hope to make of them in the future. Let me know what you think.