My Kids Are a Hoot

My Posture Gets Worse All the Time!

2009-06-12T20:38:00.003-04:00

You can only sit on the floor for so long playing with two small children. My back is sore everyday. Yoga helps, but then again I'm on the floor more often than not these days.

My son has recently started crawling, which is a blessing most of the time. He is very content playing alone because there is so much to explore. I don't have to be on the floor all of the time.

But now, he has discovered that he can walk (very unstably) while holding onto both of my hands (or fingers). I am recalling a very uncomfortable month of my life when my daughter learned this.

If you haven't had children yet, or don't remember this stage in a baby's life, let me enlighten you on how much fun it is... Try standing with your arms hanging below you, hunched over at about a 150 degree angle (remember standing straight up, comfortably, is 180 degrees). Now walk, with your legs further apart than normal so as not to knock over the baby. Try doing this for several minutes at a time, frequently throughout the day. What makes it really fun is the obstacle course that my son has created in every room of the house with his love for throwing things.

Boy, do I regret complaining when all he did was play on the floor where I could sit for hours on end. I should have saved my whining for now. Yoga, step aside. I need a back massage (hourly if possible)...

He's on the Move

2009-05-31T23:20:00.003-04:00

My children were born with big heads (no really, 75th - 90th percentile big). My daughter had a little body (we called her Tweetie Bird) and didn't really ever crawl. She was a late walker and crawler (14 months). My son, big head and all, has a larger body and is more proportionate, so we've had a little more hope that he would crawl during his first year.

Of course, he's been "so close" now for two months, so my hope was fading. But tonight, just as my daughter was getting ready for bed, he decides that the time has come. So bedtime is delayed while we cheer and laugh and encourage the baby. (Did I mention that it was bedtime, and I'm really tired? My daughter got to bed 30 minutes late and my good mood slowing expired within that 30 minutes.)

He's been crouching on all fours for some time now, and propelling himself backwards while propped up on his hands (much to his dissatisfaction). He has had an amazing forward reach for the past week or so. And he has mastered getting himself back to a sitting position once he's on his belly. All great achievements. But doesn't every parent measure true success when they can call their child a "crawler?" Well, we have reached success!

So now what? I've been waiting for this day to arrive, and I'm so proud of him. But as a result, my world has just reached a new level of difficulty. Is the house baby proofed? No, not really. I'd better get on the ball, before he beats me to it.

With a first child, at least there are no toys around that are appropriate only for older children. But with a second child, I've got all of the first child's toys to contend with. This will be fun: trying to keep him away from all of her "too small" toys (which are all over the house, by the way). At least she's on my side. She'll want him as far away from her toys as I want him. We'll make a great team!

Beware of the Baby Giant

2009-05-31T15:29:00.004-04:00

My daughter loves to play pretend with her animals, dolls, and cars. My son has recently become more interested in playing too. Of course, he doesn't pretend or anything, but he loves to throw, taste, and tear down everything.

So, my daughter is in the middle of some complicated story with her toys, when all of the sudden, out of nowhere, appears a Baby Giant (well that's what we call the baby since he's so much bigger than the toys; our whole family is called the Giant Family). Oh no, the Baby Giant's attacking the zoo. Ahhhh, he's eating the elephant!

At first, the Baby Giant attacks were sudden and unplanned. But now, my daughter incorporates him into her stories: Green Goblin has captured the prince and princess. He'll trap them in the tower. Oh, they've tried to escape. You know what happens to prisoners who try to escape, don't you? They are placed in the dungeon where they're at the mercy of the Baby Giant (the "dungeon" is the reaching distance around the baby, wherever he is). Who knows what the Baby Giant will do (seriously, it's anyone's guess). He might show mercy and ignore them, or he might throw them, or bang them, or... eat them.

Sometimes, the Baby Giant cooperates and playing with him is fun. But when he doesn't attack the toys as my daughter sees fit, watch out. The wrath of the Giant Sister can be even more brutal...

Where Does She Learn These Words (of the Day)?

2009-05-21T23:48:00.003-04:00

Here's two good ones and a funny one: distract, manual, and thorns.

My baby son constantly wants to play with his sister's toys, instead of his own. She has learned the art of taking the forbidden (or wanted) toys away and giving him another one. "Here, Mommy. This one will distract him from our play house."
I have no idea where she learned this one! We're on the floor playing with the baby's toys. My daughter hands me a random book she has lifted off a bookshelf and says "Read this manual." I look at her expecting her not to know what a manual is (maybe she just heard the word). Then as I open it and look at a page, she says "Read it. First it says (some instruction). Then you do (some other instruction)..." She totally made up a set of directions for her brother and me to follow.
My daughter sits back on her feet pretty frequently. The first time it bothered her, she came to me and said, "I have thorns in my feet. Help make them go away." I was confused until I realized that she was describing to me that her foot had fallen asleep and was tingling. I thought that was a pretty neat and accurate description for the sensation. Now she says, "I have thorns, Mommy. Massage my feet."

I'd Never Let My Kids Do That!

2009-05-21T23:15:00.003-04:00

I used to be the best mom in the world. I knew exactly how to handle every situation that a child could throw my way. What happened to that mom? She had children, that's what.

Before you have kids, it's really easy to say "I'd never let my kids do that," or "I wouldn't make the mistakes that parent is making." Just you wait, it will all become very unclear one day.

Let's take eating habits, for instance. I can't figure out how I reached a point where I have a four-year-old who is the pickiest eater on the planet, and we cater to her. I can just see my former (pre-children) self looking at me thinking "that mother's crazy; my child would eat what I'm eating or she'd starve."

Well, yes, I'm thinking very hard about how to avoid this mistake with my son (10-months old). But for my daughter, I can't go back in time (wouldn't we all be better parents if that were the case?). She is picky now, and we've been trying everything (short of cold-turkey torture) to coax her into opening up (her mouth) to new foods. But she's very stubborn. And I'm paranoid about giving her food issues. (Of course, it looks like she already has issues with food: not eating it.)

We've resorted to all-out bribery. At first we would give her a prize for willingly trying new foods. Then, we exchanged the prize for a quarter (yes, we're paying her to eat). Now, she's forced to try one new thing at supper every night to get her quarter. And when she does, she looks up at a movie that she's saving up for (with her quarters) and asks if she can have it yet. "Not yet, sweetie, you need a few more quarters." She doesn't really understand how much a quarter is, but we are trying to sneak delayed gratification and the value of a dollar (which isn't much in this economy) in with learning new eating habits.

The first night she was forced to eat something new, she screamed and sat at the table for over one and a half hours. Now, we're only talking one bite here (how hard can that be???). A week later, it took her 30 seconds to try something new. Progress...

Last night her choices were grilled chicken (she eats nuggets, but refuses any other form of chicken...), lettuce, tomato, or cucumber. She said several times earlier in the meal that she wasn't going to try anything new, so I was expecting an all-out battle. But at the end of the meal, she realized that negotiation was futile (as it has been for the past month), and she quickly and willingly popped the bite of cucumber in and ate it. And it tasted okay.

What gets me is that she has only disliked the peas of all the things she has tried. Our plan is to get her to try some of the same new things 7-10 times, since it usually takes that many tries to assimilate a taste into your food bank. We've succeeded with peanut butter and jelly. We're getting close on noodles; she keeps asking me to make them.

We plan to up the ante and make her try everything at the table soon, followed by making her eat only what's at the table. When, you might ask? As soon as her baby brother is eating only what's served (he's still moving from baby food to table food... and trying new table food much more quickly than his sister!). From the looks of the time table, I'm afraid she's going to be a very unhappy child soon. But maybe an unhappy, FULLY FED child.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T22:58:00.003-04:00

In preschool this week, my daughter learned about Mother's Day and Father's Day. Do you want to know how she responded? "What about Children's Day?"

She picked flowers for me with my aunt. She painted a little flower pot, planted a flower in it, and painted a beautiful card for me at preschool. Both times she tried to present them to me as a surprise, but she doesn't quite know how surprises work. She got mad when I looked too soon or didn't ask her the right question. She just wanted it to be perfect. (She doesn't realize that it's always perfect to me because it came from her.)

She made another card via her 10-year-old cousin, and presented my gift to me this morning with a "Happy Mother's Day" greeting. She also gave cards to other mothers in our family (personally decorated by her, of course; complete with paint, glitter and stickers). Her list began with her three grandmothers. Then she added her aunt. And we couldn't forget her two closest great-grandmothers (including my grandmother who passed away recently; she wanted us to go to Heaven to deliver it). It's really cute how much she enjoys celebrations and special days.

Despite all of the cards, gifts, meals, cakes, and flowers, the best gift of Mother's Day is knowing that you are your children's shining star. The most unforgettable moments of my day:

My daughter gave me a kiss and told me several times "Mommy , I love you!"
My baby son, who has no idea today is any different than everyday, is starting to babble mamamama, sort of to me. He's almost got it. And I love how his whole face lights up when he sees me.

Sometimes we wonder why everyday isn't Mother's Day, but my children think everyday is, and that's good enough for me. That's how I know how blessed I am to be a mother, their mother! Now about Children's Day...

Does God Have a Jesus Costume?

2009-05-02T11:23:00.003-04:00

You spend your life learning and growing in your faith. You think by the time you're an adult that you have it all figured out. I know I thought so. Until I tried explaining it to preschooler, in terms she could understand. Talk about a challenge!

One night last October at bedtime, my daughter asked me "Who's bigger, God or Jesus?" Wow, what a good question. And then came "Does God have a Jesus costume?" Who would have thought of it that way? How do you answer questions like this to a 3-year-old?

While tucking her into bed, we talked about how God is bigger than everything (even the monsters she was afraid of). She thought for a second and asked me where God was if He was so big. I tried to explain to her that He is everywhere. She contemplated that.

She was talking very off topic when we said our prayers one night, so I told her that we shouldn't talk during a prayer except what we say to God. She then asked me if God could hear us, since he was listening to other people too. Well, yes, but that's hard to explain to a 3-year-old who knows she can't listen to both me and the TV at the same time.

One night recently, my husband was telling her about outer space and how big it is. He asked her if she would like to become an astronaut one day. She said "No! God hides in space. He is invisible in space." To that my husband asked her if God was a boy or a girl. She said, without batting an eye, "A boy, but He has girl's hair."

She and I often play the "I love you more" game. We constantly 'one-up' each other. I'll say "I love you more than this room." She'll respond "I love you more than the house." Me: "I love you more than the town." "I love you more than the state." Once I made it to space, she was stumped, with a frown. I encouraged her, "What's bigger than space?" She smiled and replied, "God. I love you more than the whole God!" She nodded, knowing she had won. Now, when we play, she'll often skip ahead, and if I beat her to God, she gets mad. "No, let me say that!" Fun times.

Most recently, we've been obsessed with Heaven. Her grandpa died a little over a year ago when she was 2, and it was enough to tell her that Grandpa had gone to Heaven to be with Jesus. She was okay with Heaven and Jesus, then.

Two weeks ago, my grandmother passed away (her great-grandma). She's now old enough to ask a lot of questions and worry about the answers. I explained that Great-Grandma had lived almost 90 years and that her body just couldn't live here anymore. She had gone to Heaven where she could be "healthy" again. When we were going to the funeral home, I told her we were going to say goodbye to Great-Grandma. She stopped me a few moments before I left. "Mommy, wait! Before you go to Heaven, can you put a movie in so I can watch it?" She thought we were traveling to Heaven to say goodbye, because I had told her that's where Great-Grandma had gone. Makes sense. (Even now, she still thinks we went to Heaven.) Over the next few days, she would periodically ask why Great-Grandma had died, and told us that she didn't want to go to Heaven or be with Jesus (probably because she would be away from us).

When I took our son to the doctor for a check-up, she asked "He's not going to die is he?" Today, she asked my mom if she missed Grandpa. She then told my mom that "some sick people die (Grandpa died of cancer) and some old people die (Great-Grandma was almost 90)." She asked if her cousin who is 10 was getting old. Was she worrying about other people in her life might die soon?

You never really know what's going on inside their heads but occasionally we catch glimpses of their thoughts, feelings, worries and fears. Death is a hard one. For all of us. I know she'll grow to understand death and Heaven better as she matures, and I hope her fear of being with Jesus subsides as well. But experiencing death helps us remember what (and who) is important to us, and we learn a little more about our own faith.

Misunderstood Words of the Day

2009-04-30T21:14:00.002-04:00

Here are some recent words/names that my daughter tried very hard to use correctly: Moody, crayon master, Exit Man.

My daughter loves Toy Story, but has yet to pronounce Woody's name correctly. "Mom, his name is Moody," emphasizing the mmm sound.
My husband was drawing a picture of bugs for my daughter, which included a praying mantis. She was unfamiliar with one, so we explained to her what they are. Bless her heart, she repeated it right back to us, sort of. "That's a crayon master there, Daddy."
My daughter has recently discovered the X-Men cartoon, with Wolverine and others. On her way to bed, she asked her daddy to tell her a story about Wolverine and Exit Man, not realizing that the X-Men were a group of super heroes. She said, "You know, an exit, like when you leave." At least she knows what an exit is...

Funny Words of the Day

2009-04-27T14:38:00.003-04:00

Here are a few words that my daughter has added her own little twist to: skin, eyeballs, and dress/crown/shoes.

My daughter understands that our skin is what's on the outside of our bodies. But she seems to think that it is the outside of anything. "Look, mommy. That house has white skin."
At any early age, my daughter has known most names for our body parts. But recently, she has started referring to her brother's sleeping and waking habits in a rather unusual way. "Mommy. Eyeballs. He's awake."
My daughter was coloring with a little set of Disney princess markers that had wrappers on them. She was having a lot of problems with the wrappers sliding on and off, so she decided to pull them off completely. Now the markers had a colored cap and matching ring on the bottom, and the rest of the marker was white. She proceeded to describe the marker to her grandmother La La. "La La, this marker has a white dress and a matching purple crown and shoes." Who would have thought to describe the parts of a marker that way, but a child?

How Can They Be So Different?

2009-04-23T11:13:00.008-04:00

People always tell you how different your children will be, but it is still surprising every time you experience it. My daughter isn't all that girly. She loves to play with all types of toys, she picked out "boy" shirts for the summer, and she pretends to be the super heroes rather frequently.

But don't you dare try to get her to step barefoot on dry or wet sand at the beach. The first day we were at the beach, she had a fit over it. We couldn't get her to take her shoes off or sit in the sand. It really broke our hearts because we knew she would have fun once she got over the initial "messiness."

She finally gave in a day or two later and, for the rest of the week, enjoyed playing in the sand. We barely got her to step in water though, and only with her shoes on, of course. Baby steps...

And then there's our 9-month-old son who could care less if he gets wet, messy, or even sand in his eyes and mouth. Once we got him in the wet sand and water, he had a fit if we tried to get him out.

As you might guess, we experienced the same with the pool. My daughter was very reluctant to get into any of the pools at the resort. She never got in the big warm pool at all. She finally made her way around the outer edges of the kids' pool-playground, as long as no one splashed water in her face. She has a meltdown anytime something gets in her eyes. What finally got her in the pool were her crocks. They started floating inward. I feared the worse (a tantrum), but to my surprise, she laughed and went chasing after them. She spent the next 30 minutes chasing them around the kids' pool. As luck would have it, I didn't have my camera with me that day...

Later in the week, we wanted to get the baby in the pool to see what he would do. Of course, it was later in the day, very shaded, and windy. The heated pool even felt a little chilly. I couldn't stand it very long at all. My husband was even a little cold. Did our son seem to be bothered? Not at all. He had a blast (as my daughter calls it). Splashing around, bobbing up and down, he was in heaven!

Night and day, they are. But in their own ways, they both enjoyed the vacation. Maybe our daughter will come out of her shell soon. Hopefully our son won't grow into one when he gets a little bigger!

Tribute to a "Great"-Grandma!

2009-04-20T23:43:00.002-04:00

I was blessed to have the most wonderful grandmother in the world. You can tell how loving, kind, and well-intentioned a person is by the way a small child reacts to them. My baby (who is very attached to me and doesn't go to others very easily) loved to sit beside her. He would smile, coo and talk sweet baby-talk to her. He didn't cry when he sat on her lap (and that's amazing, just ask everyone else who tries to hold him). He genuinely enjoyed being in her presence. When a baby loves you that unconditionally, you know you have a beautiful heart. And my grandma did.

My daughter, who is very picky about who she hugs and kisses, never turned Great-Grandma down. She loved her even though she couldn't sit in the floor and play. My daughter intuitively understood Great-Grandma's limitations and loved her unconditionally. I think my fondest memory of the two of them will be how much my daughter loved to play with Great-Grandma's cane. And Great-Grandma savored every lost moment without her cane. You could tell it brought joy to her eyes to watch a child playing so happily.

We (the world) lost a wonderful woman today, but Heaven gained an angel. She has gone on to be with the One she spent her whole life loving. We're not crying tears for her. We're crying tears for us, in knowing our journey with her on Earth has ended. She will remain alive in our hearts and memories. "Great"-Grandma, we love you, miss you, and are glad you were ours!

Will the Easter Bunny Find Us?

2009-04-19T22:59:00.006-04:00

We are so lucky. My brother and sister-in-law have invited us on their spring break vacations for several years now. This year our destination was Daytona Beach, Florida.

Spending Easter away from home is always tricky because we have to inform the Easter Bunny of our location. Fortunately the Easter Bunny found us in our hotel. After eating more candy at 8:00 am in the morning than is appropriate, we headed out for Easter activities. The resort sponsored an Easter egg hunt for various age groups, in the pool of course. Well, my four-year-old daughter isn't fond of the pool. Luckily, they had planned an indoor hunt for younger children who weren't into swimming.

Great! Now, guess how many Easter eggs they hid with candy? 100-200 or so. Guess how many children wanted to do an indoor Easter egg hunt at the beach? Two. Three if you include my 9-month-old son. That should be wonderful, lots of eggs for each child. Except that my daughter has to open each egg as she finds it to see what candy is inside. Imagine how long it takes to find 50-100 eggs while opening them as we go... Keep imagining... Nope, not done yet... Almost there...

Here's the best part of the whole hunt. Guess how many pieces of candy in ALL of her eggs were the type of candy a young child can eat? Three. No, I'm not kidding. They had hidden gum, Now and Laters, and jawbreakers in the young kids' eggs. Three of them had sweet tarts. Well, it's not like I wanted her to have 50-100 pieces of candy to eat all week, but... At least her three older cousins could enjoy this candy. Especially since they didn't get very many (five or so combined) in the crowded, very competitive pool hunts. One girl even strong-armed my eight-year-old nephew all the way into the pool.

At any rate, Easter was very enjoyable this year. My nine-month-old even had a great time looking for eggs, until his sister tried to take them from him. We're still working on sharing...

A Man In the Making

2009-04-01T22:21:00.004-04:00

How does a man become a man? Is it simply the y chromosome or is he influenced by his environment? I don't have the answers. I just know that my 8-month-old son is all boy. Let me count the ways.

He and my husband have a language only they speak (not English; it's more like caveman or maybe Chewbacca). I was washing the dishes the other night, and I hear them repeating after each other a Ahhhh or Uhhhh sound. Over and over. Very gutteral. Lord knows what kind of things they were plotting in there...
Do you ever get the feeling that the men (or boys) in your life "hear" you but don't really "listen?" My little one "acts" like he's listening, but I get the feeling that my words go in one ear and out the other. I know he doesn't understand a word I say. He just smiles and thinks that's good enough to get away with anything. Well, he usually does get away with anything.
He can have a million toys laying around (or is it lying around- where is my 9th grade English when I need it?), and what does the baby want? The remote, that's right. He has started at a very young age wanting control of the remote. Now, usually when I take one toy and replace it with another, that suffices. He just keeps playing. But no, if I try that with the remote, he pitches a fit. Sound like any other men in the world?
Have you ever tried to talk to a man (or boy) when they're watching TV? Not only are you ignored, but it could mean trouble if you're interrupting something "important." My son, who doesn't really watch TV yet, will lean all the way around you (and fall over sometimes because he is still immobile and unbalanced) just to look at whatever was so intriguing on TV. It must be genetic...
Are all men obsessed with super heroes? I know I've always wanted a Super Man in my life:
And finally, do I have to do everything? Can you not dress yourself, feed yourself, go and get whatever you want, clean up your mess, and so on? Oh, I momentarily forgot we were talking about the baby. Of course he can't, but it does sound like some habits need to be broken soon, or he may be in danger of becoming a man.

Okay, I apologize for putting the guys through the ringer with this one. I couldn't resist. It's just that every day, my son does something that makes me smile about the fact that he is so different from my daughter, and yet so much like his father. It must be a man thing. And we wouldn't have it any other way!

Beads, Beads Everywhere

2009-03-26T11:10:00.002-04:00

My daughter loves arts and crafts. Last year, she discovered ironed beads. You place the beads on pattern blocks and then iron them to make them permanent. It's great for creativity and developing fine motor skills. And of course, it's fun too! She loves the animal patterns most!

For a few months, we played and played. I loved to make mine look somewhat real, with neat patterns and matching colors. My daughter, who was three at the time, would just put the colored beads on the blocks with no rhyme or reason. The colors wouldn't match, but she didn't care. We had a lot of fun, for a while.

Then one day, I leave the room for a second, and when I return, there are beads EVERYWHERE. All over the room, under seats, behind the TV; I still haven't found them all. Of course, I ask her what happened. At this age, she was still brutally honest. She says, without any remorse, "I threw them." I was so mad, I couldn't stand it. You see, I'm a neat freak and I had organized the beads (hundreds of them) by color in two craft boxes. And it took a while to do so. I was speechless (which was probably a good thing).

So that day, she lost her beading privilege until she turned four, when she might be a little more developmentally responsible. I didn't want to see those beads again (I was hoping that, by her birthday a couple months away, I would be more willing to play with beads again). She was very upset, but she needed to know that what she had done would not be tolerated.

So she turned four a month ago, and she had not forgotten about the beads. After her party, she asks if she can do beads again. I was certainly in a better mood about the beads now and I got them out for her. I even organized the beads again, with help from Dad. We made a few over the next two days, and I ironed them. All was well, for a very short period of time...

No, she didn't make a bead mess again like she had before. But on the second day, I find parts of the animals, like a turtle's head and horse's legs, around the house. I ask her what happened. She had discovered that if you bend them, they'll break, which is really cool to a four-year-old. So I ironed a couple of them back together. Not ten minutes later, I find another beaded body part. I warn her that if she breaks one more, the beads will go away AGAIN. Does she care? Apparently not. The fun is well worth losing the beads. She takes a fish and tears it into 20+ little pieces.

Well, consistency and follow through are very important in discipline and consequences. So two days after the return of the beads to a more mature four-year-old, they're gone again. I don't have a time limit this time, because I don't know when she'll be old enough to handle the beads. You know, I really liked the beads, but what she needs to learn about listening, following directions, responsibility and consequences is far more important.

(Sigh) Bye bye beads!

Words of the Day

2009-03-26T09:56:00.004-04:00

Here are today's words: realize, properly, engrossed, and ridiculous

My daughter walked into the kitchen looking for me. "Mommy, I didn't realize you were in here."
Her grandmother came to visit, and they were drawing pictures. "La La, when you learn how to draw properly, then you are an artist. Daddy and I are artists."
We were saying our prayers last night, when my daughter informs me "I will be engrossed in my artwork tomorrow." She said she learned this one from Pinky Dinky Doo on Noggin.
I was joking about one of her animals, calling it the wrong names. She informed me that "you're being ridiculous."

Words of the Day

2009-03-20T11:37:00.004-04:00

I've decided to keep a recurring log of my daughter's vocabulary (and my son's when he starts talking), particularly the surprising words I didn't know she knew. While it doesn't always surprise me that she knows some big words, it is her appropriate use in context (like she's known the word for years) that makes my heart skip a beat. I usually do a double take, ask her how on earth she knows such a word, and then do my usual name-calling: smarty pants!

The words of today are: entertain, relax, privacy, and expert.

Apparently, I tell the baby to "entertain himself" if I have to do something else while he sits and plays. Today, I left him sitting with his toys to answer the phone, and I here my daughter telling him "You'll just have to entertain yourself, buddy," while she gets up and follows me down the hall.
We're playing with our home-made doll house (see the post "When Animals Attack" for pictures), when my daughter informs me that the two little girls are not playing right now because they are "relaxing" from their playtime.
Again, while playing house with our Play Mobil people, the mommy stays at home when everyone else goes to the pool. Mommy wants some "privacy."
We're drawing a forest of trees. My daughter wants to add her own trees. "Mommy, I'm good at drawing trees. I'm a tree expert."

She sure is a smarty pants!!!

"That's 'Isgusting"

2009-03-20T11:35:00.008-04:00

If you've ever had a baby, you've had the joys of feeding a little one. As a parent, it's very cute, but to a four-year-old, it's very disgusting or as my daughter says, "That's 'isgusting."

The first efforts are usually failures because his tongue pushes everything you just put in, right back out. But baby soon figures this eating thing out, and gulps it down faster than you can shovel it in. Mine generally loves most things you offer him. He likes fruits, loves vegetables (they aren't as tangy), and despises prunes and oatmeal. Because baby food is so mushy and colorful and because my daughter is the pickiest child in the world, she frequently requests that we feed the baby in another room.

I love how my son's eating habits include:

impatience (I can't feed him fast enough, and he will let me know how slow I am),
glaring (he eyeballs everyone else's food at the table),
conducting (he moves his hands constantly as if he heads the local orchestra),
primping (his handfuls turn into face paint), and
dodging (I feel like I'm playing a video game where I'm aiming at a moving target).

The most recent "disgusting" highchair experience is with baby cookies that are intended to help him learn how to self-feed. My husband calls them dog biscuits (they are a perfect resemblance). When he eats these, it becomes brown mush, all over his face. It dries rather quickly which makes it nearly impossible to wipe off. My daughter loves to give them to him, but then she can't even look at him when he eats it. She actually gags.

I would like to think that she's just going through a phase, but at least she doesn't discriminate to whom she finds disgusting. A little boy at preschool is a healthy eater and brings a variety of foods to lunch. One day, he brought broccoli and avocados. According to their teacher, my daughter announces to the table that it is "disgusting" and she doesn't want to sit near him. Sometimes it's hard to remember if she's four or fourteen. She's already commanding who sits where and with whom at lunch! I think we may be in big trouble with this one.

You know, my daughter can be "disgusting" too! Check out these goldfish.

A Budding Artist

2009-03-19T23:12:00.006-04:00

I have limited artistic abilities. On the other hand, my husband is an artist and art teacher. Fortunately, my daughter seems to be cultivating a talent much like her daddy's.

Since she was two, she has been trying to color inside the lines (I promise we haven't been pressuring her!). As a result, she has had many struggles with perfectionist tantrums. She might throw a fit when she colors outside the lines AT ALL. And with the unsharpened crayons we have, who wouldn't color outside the lines? Here's a butterfly she recently colored all by herself. I think it's pretty good for a new four-year-old.

Speaking of her tantrums, today I drew her a forest of trees. She insisted that I add Sleeping Beauty walking through the woods. Even though I don't draw people well, she doesn't mind. But then I went and colored her top gray and her skirt purple (since those are the colors I remembered). Well my visual memory is merely okay. I just don't have a gift for it. But my husband and daughter can see something one time and they'll never forget it. So, I got the gray and purple backwards. She was NOT happy: a tantrum soon followed (Lord give me strength and patience to help her manage her frustrations calmly, please...)

I have begun to wonder if her perfectionism, though certainly genetic from both of us, is as much frustration as anything. I get the feeling that she, like her daddy, can visualize what her picture should look like, but she just doesn't have the age ability to create her vision.

I get the most joy from watching her draw, though. She started out about 2-3 months ago drawing randomly, and then deciding what it was. But more recently, she has been trying to draw specific things. She's usually pleased regardless of how messy it might be (because it's always really cute and really good for her age). On occasion, however, she'll have a meltdown if she doesn't get it right. Here are a few of her drawings (with absolutely no help from anyone, I promise). Try to guess what they are (answers will follow):

You got it: a lion in the grass, fish, and a snake!

Now, she has discovered her dad's talent for drawing beautiful pictures. Every once in a while, she'll ask me to draw her something, but she has learned that if she wants it to look GOOD, her daddy is the one to see. She'll color some of them, but half the time, his beautiful drawings go untouched. I think she enjoys watching him in the process of drawing more than she really wants something to color.

You may have figured out the real reason I have posted her "artwork" (as she calls it): my maternal need to brag on my children. I truly hope she has her daddy's amazing artistic talent, so she can use it in any way she wants. I'm proud of you, Sweet Pea.

When Animals Attack

2009-03-18T13:41:00.007-04:00

Yesterday, my daughter asked me to build a lincoln log house for her Sleeping Beauty and Prince Phillip dolls. Of course, just a house wasn't good enough. I used the numerous other block sets we own to add the essentials for a princess house. We needed a bed, potties, and we even included living room chairs, a couch and TV, a sink in the bathroom, and a dining room table. The prince and princess were kind enough to share their house with the ten or so Play Mobil people we have. Even the giraffes came and joined the party (staying outside of course). Then I had the bright idea of adding a pool with lounge chairs and floaties. Soon, the people had migrated outside and the children were in the pool. A mommy and daughter were still inside using the potty, but they would soon join the fun.

Here is a look at the scene:

Not too long after the pool party began, it was interrupted by zebras. And then more animals arrived: lions, tigers, an elephant, camels and so on.

Little did I know, the animals were not just there for a visit. They had come to attack!

The people were in trouble! An alligator had taken all of the children to his den. I was hoping they could be saved (pardon the cough at the end...):

As much fun as the little house brought us, we had to leave it up over night. And yes, we played with it again today. We replaced the pool with a playground. Today's adventure included animals as well, but they were much friendlier. A few people and animals found themselves in trouble (a giraffe was trapped in the roller coaster, for instance), but no attacks. Luckily Spiderman was there again to save the day!

But don't worry, later in the day, her roaring T-rex attacked a horse family, who was saved by Lucy, the only horse larger than "Rex."

Oh, the joys of a 4-year-old imagination and playtime. I'm finding it important to savor every moment, even those menacing ones when animals attack.

What Do You Love Most About a Baby?

2009-03-14T22:28:00.006-04:00

I stare at my 8-month-old son and wonder what I love most about him.

Is it his little hands that are so chubby, with dimples for knuckles and a rubber band wrist, as I like to call it? And the way he squeezes and moves his little hands when he wants something or is excited?

Maybe it's his snaggle-toothed grin where his two front top teeth haven't come in yet, but the ones beside them have. Oh and when he grins really big, he scrunches his nose and you can see the dimples in the tops of his cheeks.

It's got to be his Alfred Hitchcock profile. No, wait, that's cute but also a little creepy.

Of course, there's that swatch of bright red hair just like mine that flows down the middle of his head, with very little along the sides. My little mohawk baby!

Could it be his incomprehensible language consisting of grunts, growls, cackles, dada's, agu's, yehyehyeh's, and dolphin-esque eh eh eh eh? (No, really, he sounds like a dolphin.)

It might be the way he gazes at me as if I am the most awesome person in his world. And he cries out like he's in pain when I'm the one he wants but he can't have me. He reaches for me with those adorable little hands and bounces up and down when I reach for him.

But, for some reason, it always comes down to those beautiful, cute, always moving little feet of his. I can't explain it, but I could eat them up everyday. I think they're even his favorite thing- the way he holds his feet when he's being changed, how he pulls off his socks every chance he gets, and the way he scrunches his toes up when I try to put a pair of shoes on him. Yeah, the tootsies win!

(I know, I know. It's a little bit of everything listed here, and a whole lot of everything impossible to list at all.) That's why they call it unconditional love.

Mr. Fussy McFusserton

2009-03-11T14:28:00.012-04:00

My daughter and I have started naming everything. While no person, animal or toy is exempt from our habit, my 8-month-old son is our usual target. My daughter calls him "little man," "buddy boy," and my favorite "loudness." But our most recent nicknames take the shape of ______y Mc_____erton. You fill in the blanks.

My son has earned many of these nicknames: Cutie McCuterton, Grinny McGrinnerton, Buddy McBudderton, etc. His most common is Mr. Fussy McFusserton. The reasons are far too numerous but just consider a few: he is a baby (and don't all babies fuss?), he already has 4 teeth and one more on the way, and he's overly attached to me and can't stand it when I leave his sight. Don't get me wrong, he is very sweet and chatty and loves to play. He just has his moments, like all babies. Right now is nap time. Does he want to sleep? Not really, but we all know how tired he is. He is currently fussing as I write. Let me get his mobile started again, excuse me...There. Ohhhh and now he's fussing again.

My daughter loves these new set of nicknames. When I pick one that really strikes a chord with her, she responds very dramatically. Let's say my son were asleep (which of course he isn't yet), but just for the sake of argument: I might call him "Snoozy McSnoozerton." My daughter would cackle out loud and repeat back "Snoozy MCSNOOZERTON???" as she would get louder toward the end and sound like she's asking me if I'm serious. And then she would laugh again.

Oh, wow, he really is Snoozy McSnoozerton now!!!

It's almost become a challenge for me. If I repeat some of the same old ones over and over, she just gets bored. So I have to get creative. And the timing and delivery are important as well. I'm sure this newest set of names will wear thin soon, so I had better start thinking. Aren't there better things I could do with my time than think of crazy, ridiculous nicknames? Of course there are, but when my children are grown up, won't this be one of the more endearing memories of their childhood?

Yours truly, Mrs. Silly McSillerton.

"I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too!"

2009-03-09T23:03:00.005-04:00

When my daughter was born, she looked just like my husband. It was a little scary at first. She still looks like him now, and my son is starting to look like him too. It doesn't seem fair. Will they get anything from me (besides my unconditional love and undivided attention)? As my daughter has grown a little older, she has also begun to exhibit quite a few of his qualities, most of which I am extremely excited about. However, he has passed on one of his darker qualities... We've noticed recently who her "favorite" characters are in many of the movies she watches. Let's see if you can spot the common thread:

Wizard of Oz: Wicked Witch of the West

Little Mermaid: Ursula the Sea Witch

Toy Story: Sid (the toy destroyer)

Snow White: the evil queen

Sleeping Beauty: Maleficent

Lion King: Scar

Lion King 2: Zira (Scar's counterpart)

The Land Before Time: the T-rex

Dora the Explorer: Swiper the Fox

So, yesterday at McDonald's, she has the choice of Littlest Pet Shop toys (which she really likes) or Spiderman toys. She chooses Spiderman (we love that she's not all girly girly!). She's disappointed that she doesn't get Spiderman UNTIL we inform her that Venom is a villain. And then she decides she REALLY wants the Green Goblin.

It is very entertaining that she likes to play pretend with many of these stories (and of course she plays the villain some of the time). She has a great evil laugh and face. Her Zira roar is pretty awesome. For her birthday, she received some money and bought the Barbie special edition Wicked Witch of the West (who stands in an honorable spot on her shelf while the three princesses sit on the floor). Tonight she, the Green Goblin on his glider, took a boy from the market and put him in prison with Spiderman. We don't know who the boy is or why she took him... Oh what fun will we have tomorrow?

As disturbed as we probably should be, we realize that she is simply exploring her dark emotions, in the same way that she is scared of the dark. And she can be the sweetest, most nurturing child you'll ever meet. I guess she'll grow up loving horror movies like her dad. Besides, if she really does turn into an evil super villain, she could just become the CEO of a big bank!

Let's Color a Turd

2009-03-07T22:13:00.004-05:00

I know, I know. I was thinking the same thing. Is she serious? My daughter has just turned 4 and loves to color. She colors everything, all of the time.

I was wondering how she had learned such a word. I decided to probe her for more information. "You want to color what, sweetie?" "A turd, mommy. Come on," she replies with that big smile, hopping around like the world belongs to her. So I, morbidly curious, follow her to her art area. To my relief, there sits a coloring page with a giant T on it and a picture of a turtle.

At this point you may be wondering if she misspoke the word turtle, but I assure you she didn't. She meant to say turd, and only after this incident has she learned what most of us think of when we hear the word. You see, my daughter, who speaks very well and rather clearly for a preschooler, has recently decided that it is more fun to speak in nicknames than in accurate names. For instance, stickers are sticks, camels are cams, donkeys are donks and so on.

It is really very cute, as long as I know what she is talking about. The other night she asks me for "grapes," which I proceed to get. "That's not what I wanted," she replies. "You said you wanted grapes." "Ohhh," (chuckle) "I meant grape juice, mommy. Sorry." A funny misunderstanding. And now turd. What will she think of next?

Kidspeak (is that a word?) is so entertaining. I've adopted it myself, I'm sad to say. I talk to her in the same nickname language. Oh, and in case you were wondering, I wanted to color the "turd" green, but she insisted it be brown. Go figure.

Birthday Uh Ohs

2009-03-06T23:44:00.002-05:00

My daughter recently had her 4th birthday party. A couple months ago at Christmas, her response to every gift was "Oh, I really wanted that" or "It's just what I wanted." So, we did not feel the need to prep her for the party or for her gift receiving manners.

Now, mind you, this is her first real party with non-family friends (and their parents). After opening her first gift (a blanket with her favorite animal on it), she dismisses it as something her baby brother will love. (Okay, not so bad a response...)

Onto gift number two (a game featuring her favorite animal, which she already owns). Her response: "but I already have that." Strike two.

After opening her third gift (a cute little puppy toy with accessories, and she loves animals!!), she tosses it down, and says "I don't want that toy!" By this point, I am mortified beyond words. I fear the remainder of what should be enjoyable gift opening. Did I mention my mom is videotaping the whole thing?

After a few deep breaths, I realize I have a teachable moment on my hands and ask her to come see me before we open anymore presents. I discuss, very quietly, how generous and thoughtful it is for our friends to give us gifts and how the most appropriate response is thank you for thinking of me.

Well, the remaining gift opening went more smoothly, and I had the chance later in the evening to recall appropriate manners during gift opening. I imagine that our guests have less memory of the event than I do (since I am probably the only one obsessing about it in the first place). I'll be sure to have this discussion with all my children when future gift receiving is in sight.