Yep, he's ours

Overheard last night as I was making Andy's lunch for today:

"Andy, why didn't you eat your lunch today? I see you didn't eat your sandwich or your grapes."
"Oh, that's because I was too busy talking."

Double uh oh

In addition to "no," she's also picked up "uh oh." Meanwhile, Andy seems to spend half his day saying, "No, Meg. Not that, do it this way," or whatever. The charming little dictator certainly has his opinions. I wonder where he gets that from?

Andy had his second soccer game/practice today. Last season, I was the assistant coach of this organized playtime with soccer balls and jerseys. He spent half the time whining at me which made it tougher to pretend I knew how to coach, much less coach four year olds. Part of the problem was the games were all at 2 p.m. -- right in the middle of his usual rest time. Even if he doesn't nap, he's still used to some downtime so probably running around in the sun didn't help his mood.

This season, he's playing at 11 a.m. and I'm not right there. So far, it's so much better. Plus, he's actually got some skills. What a difference a few months and a better time slot can make.

Bjorn is reffing football which is cool except he does like five games in a row which eats up all of Saturday. Fortunately, Jennifer was around today to help me get all the gear to Andy's game and manage the all-important handing out of juice and snacks. I tell you, that kid is a good egg these days.

Mini-Andy

Meg is in a hero worship stage with her big brother. I imagine this will last off and on the rest of her life. She really wants to do everything he does. Andy is riding his bike? She wants on the bike. He plays with the water table? She wants to stick her hands in. A few days ago I even took out the high chair (perhaps even, gasp, forever!) and put in a booster seat right next to Andy's chair. She is thrilled to be right next to him. Now I just have to make sure to feed them the same stuff because she totally notices if he gets juice and she gets milk.

What is also fun about this stage is that he's old enough to teach her things. Like tonight at dinner he was teaching her the "open, shut them" song that they sing at school before meals. It involves holding up your hands and clapping. He was proudly showing her and she was doing it. I know, beyond adorable.

Also adorable, Andy pretends that Meg tells him things. So she'll say, "Baba baby oweyo." And he'll say, "Mom, she says Daisy is not a fan of President Obama's plans for health reform." Okay, it's really more like, "Mom, she said she's not going to let me play with the blocks ever because her baby wants them." I do find that she is saying some real words and even some two word sentences, but certainly not to the extent he gives her credit for.

Out of the mouths of babes

"Andy, why did you say that? It's not nice to say, 'Mommy, get away from me.''
"I don't know. I think it was germs. Some strange germs got in my mouth and made me say that."

Pajama party

It's warm and humid here, most likely in anticipation of rain again, so I've been trying to put Meg is some cooler clothes for night. I have gone shopping for short sleeved shirts and shorts recently, but I thought I was okay on pajamas. Turns out much of what I have is fleece and therefore probably too warm. I dug into the closet and found a few pairs of Andy's old 18-24 month and 2T pajamas. Some of them I remember so fondly of him at that age that it warms my heart to see her wearing them. I imagine she'd be thrilled to realize they were Andy's, too. Now I'm wishing I hadn't given away so much of his clothes as about now, she'd look just adorable in blue pajamas wish fishies on them. Precious darling angel baby.

Andy is getting smarter by the minute. We have started playing "memory" and that kid is amazing at it. He also just loves it, which I love. I also like that we can play while I have TMZ on in the background.

We're going to visit some friends for the weekend at the beach. I think the weather is going to suck, but who cares! I am in desperate need of a change of scenery. I realized I haven't taken the kids (or myself) really anywhere interesting since the Christmas debacle in Dallas where Meg was sick and up all night practically the entire time we were gone.

I have decided I am in a funk and, in my natural fashion, I'm driving Bjorn practically batsh*t with my continued stream of things I want to do. Like helping the poor in our neighborhood through the church, taking a vacation to somewhere anywhere, taking classes at Mason (turns out since it's been six years since my last graduate class, I have to reapply), taking tennis lessons. He smiles and tries not to roll his eyes, but I need some ideas of fun stuff to do, places to go, people to see. What you got?

Why, why, why?

Andy asks why about 100 times a day. I know it's normal for this age, but what gets me is when he asks a question he already knows the answer to, and doesn't agree to my answer.

"Mommy, is it afternoon?"
"Yes, Andy, it's 3 o'clock, it's afternoon."
"No it's not. It's morning."
...

I have taken to asking him the question back instead.

"Mommy, where's Daddy?"
"Where do you think he is?"
"At work."

That seems much better than him arguing with me over a question I frankly don't care the answer to. I have also tried this technique"

"Mommy, do cats have tails?"
"Yes, cats have tails."
"No they don't."
...
"Andy, if you knew the answer, why did you ask me in the first place?"
...

He's probably going to be a lawyer, isn't?

More firsts

Clear as a whistle, Meg said the word "duck" this morning. Referring to an actual duck. Well, a yellow, plastic duck, but it was indeed a duck-like thing. How adorable!

Last night, she was playing with the myriad of ducks in the bathtub. I have been trying to keep her away from the cups and other containers like that since she likes to drink the water and, frankly, I have no idea what's in that water after they get it it. So we were playing a little game where I hold the duck, say it, make a quack noise, watch her smile and then have it kiss her cheek. Then she takes it and puts it in her mouth. It was a good game. After her bath, we played with a plastic duck for a little longer then she became interested in a duck slipper that her Cousin PJ gave her for Christmas. With that, too, she would smile and it and promptly stick it in her mouth.

I let her sleep with the slipper, figuring it was safe enough. Then this morning when I went in (at a record 7:40 a.m. although let's say that quietly to not jinx it), we went through the duck bit again and then she said it. My girl!

It's not her first word, per se. She's been saying Mama for probably 4-5 months and then Dada on command. But this is a real sign that we're headed down the communication path. I can't wait! (Although ask me again in a year, I may look fondly on these days where she can't tell me I'm not her friend and that she only wants red juice and toast).

Language

Andy's language continues to explode. I swear, once a day he says something that I think to myself, "I need to write that down." And then it's gone and he's on to the next thing. Some of the stuff he says just cracks me up. Here are a few:

"No, I'm not ready just yet." What he always tells me when we're getting ready to leave.
"We haven't done that in ages!" He's latest favorite exclamation.
"I'm sad about that." Accompanied by pouty face.
"Let's look at the weather. Is it going to be sunny today?" He loves my weather station.
"Reuse. Reduce. Recycle." Thanks Bob the Builder!

He's also developing quite a repertoire about his boy parts.

"My penis is full."
Or the corollary, "I don't have to pee. My penis is empty."
"When you get big, you can get a penis, too." Lucky me!
"She doesn't have a penis." Usually something said relatively loud to the older lady at library or grocery story.

Updated: Andy had another gem I just remember. At bath time, the other night, he told me, "I'm getting so big. When I'm a grown-up, I'm going to be big. And I'm going to have a big penis." When I told Bjorn the story, he naturally said, "A big penis like his father?" but sadly for Bjorn, that's not what he said.

Crawling and other irritating things

Meg is crawling. It is SO awesome. She gets so determined and pushes her little hands and knees forward. She is really getting places. I know, I am s-c-r-e-w-e-d. I have totally forgotten what it's like to have a little person crawling around, pulling up on random boxes and bookshelves and re-distributing the contents after first licking everything. It's adorable and amazing and all that great stuff. And also, so totally annoying.

She's also babbling up a storm. She's saying a whole lot of nothing, but she really authoritatively shouts, "Ga!" or "Ba!" I have been working no her by saying, "Say Mama. Ma-MA!," when she starts to talk to me. Andy often sits next to me saying, "Say Andy" or "Say brother." That part is all adorable. What's annoying is Andy has started calling me Mama. And it really bothers me. How weird is that? Bjorn thinks it's cute, but to me, it's like he's making fun or me. I guess I'm so sensitive that I don't appreciate a nearly 4 year old mocking me.

Developments

Two developments are taking shape this week that are causing me to pause:
1) Andy has figured out that dragging out "pleeeeaaaasseee" is a way to make me rethink my initial "no." This is surely going to be annoying, oh, tomorrow probably, but right now it works. I am clearly setting a bad precedent.
2) Meg has figured out how to curl her lip and begin to cry to get my attention. She does this when she's on the floor playing and wants a change of scenery or when she's at her high-chair and has become bored/tired/ready for a change.

Damnit if these kids don't find new ways to wrap me around their little fingers practically every day.

Darling angel babies

My kids are changing before my eyes. Andy now says all sorts of stuff that baffles me. Like yesterday we were leaving Costco and we had this exchange.
"Mommy, your cheeks are red."
"You mean my teeth? From the smoothie?"
"No, your cheeks. You are embarassed."
"My cheeks are red because I'm embarassed?"
"Yes. That's right."

I thought it was just that I have that lovely fair complexion that turns red when the wind blows. Instead, it turns out I turn red when I'm lying. That's only notable because of this later exchange.

"Mommy, where's my green pen?"
"Andy, is broke. Remember?"
"And Daddy couldn't fix it?"
"No, he couldn't."
"And you're going to send it to the pen fixing store?"
"We tried. They can't fix it either."
Pause
"Mommy, you are embarassed."
"...!"

Seriously, my kid is 3 1/2 and he's already figured out my tell when I'm lying. Bjorn thinks I am totally screwed.

Meg, on the other hand, is getting better and better with the solid food thing. She can pound a stage two jar mixed with a little rice cereal and she's getting quite coordinated at picking up some finger foods and actually getting then into her mouth, like sliced grapes and puffs. Granted, the end result is rather messy, which is why she had two baths today.

This and that

It's been over a week since operation binky removal began and I'm pleasantly surprised how well it went (knock wood, of course). Granted, the poor guy had to get strep throat and mouth ulcers last week that certainly made him not want to put anything in his mouth, thus breaking the familiarity of it, but still. He has so far only asked for it once and seemed okay with the explanation that he doesn't have a binky, he has a bike. I think if he were to get particularly tired and/or cranky, he might not take that so casually, but so far so good.

The kid's language skills continue to impress me. He's getting good at knowing that word starts with what letter so we make a game of it.

"Yogurt. Yuh-yuh-yogurt. What letter does that start with?"
"..."
"Andy, yogurt. Yuh-yuh-yogurt. What letter does that start with?"
"Y!"

Meg's fever has gone and she seems to be feeling better (again, knock wood.) What sucks is if her cough hits her just right, it makes her throw up like it did when she had a bad cold a couple of months ago. I was hoping that catching the ear infection and cold early would stop the cough from progressing that way, but I think she just has a hair trigger when it comes to that. I can only hope she eventually outgrows it and/or stops getting sick so often. In the meantime, I'll just have to plan to wear clothes that don't retain that fresh vomit smell.

Also notable this week, she now loves sleeping on her stomach. I put her to bed on her back and all when when I've come in after she's gone to sleep I find her on her belly. I think it helps her settle down now that she's not swaddled. I am hopeful this makes her head a little less flat, too.

Apu

Andy has trouble with Vs. Instead of saying "very," it tends to come out "wery." Naturally, it just cracks me up. "I've been a wery good boy, Mommy." It's almost as if he has a slight Indian accent the way he talks sometimes -- he says elelator with an L instead of elevator with a V. Sooner or later, his tongue will let him say exactly what he wants or else the peer pressure from his friends will make him conscious enough of the difference that he is conscious enough of it to fix it. For now, I'm just going to enjoy it.

Andy is also quite excited about the Olympics (although he pronounces it the Lym-pics). He wants to get big and run to the finish line. An admirable goal. With his excitement in sports, I also took this as a good opportunity to sign him up for gymnastics for the fall. He says he wants to learn the rings and the bars, but I have a feeling they're just going to do some tumbling. I think he's going to really love it.

Sweet darling angel babies

For two nights and a row, both my children have slept through the night. Meg slept both nights from about 7 p.m. until around 6 a.m., which is a welcome relief. Andy has been struggling with a cold this week, but even he managed to sleep uninterrupted from about midnight until 7:30. I hope I'm not jinxing anything, I just figured they need some credit where credit is due. And certainly sleeping better makes us all like each other more.

Andy's language has really been taking off. He just sounds so grown up sometimes.
"Would you like some dinner?"
"No thanks. Not just yet. I'm not hungry right now."
"?"
I know. How do you argue with that?

He's also getting closer to reading, which amazes me. We now talk about what letters words start with and he's good at most of them. Inexplicably, he confuses M and N. I say inexplicably because there is an N in his name and he knows how to spell it, he just somehow thinks the two are the same somehow (in his defense, they do look alike). They tested his letters and number comprehension at school and that was the one letter he confused out of the whole uppercase alphabet. Lowercase, he's about 60 percent. He also now knows all his numbers and can easily count to probably 25 although after about 13, he tends to drop a number here and there. "11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 19, 20."

Meg is really rolling over and it's precious and adorable. She can easily flip from her stomach to her back although it still seems to surprise her a little. She could easily get from her back to her stomach if she wanted to and she can get from her back to her side, but so far, she doesn't seem to have any need to get back to her belly. She's also sitting up pretty well on her own. Although I'm usually right there to catch her, she has figure out how to fall forward and avoid face-planting by falling on a shoulder or onto her stomach. I know the days of being able to leave her on the floor and know where she'll be when I come back is short and I can't believe I'm looking forward to it. She's also eating like a champ, and can easily chow through at least one stage-2 jar at a sitting without blinking (or, more likely, smearing it all over everything).

As for me, I'm getting better and better getting these kids up and out of the house. I am using the Hotsling my mother gave me and using it to carry her on my hip without killing my arm. It's pretty handy, but I don't always remember to use it.

Turns out with a little bit of sleep, life is pretty good.

The cleanest car ever

I am in heaven. It turns out my local car wash can shampoo my car mats and floor, thus removing the smell of dirty diaper, baby vomit and curdled chocolate milk. Well worth the $29.99 price tag. I might become addicted to this. It turns out they also have a detailing service also for $29.99 when they'll clean the inside, including wiping out the cup holders and that kind of stuff. I think I'm going to do that next time. This could become an expensive addiction.

Andy has come quite bossy lately. Well, scratch that. He's been quite bossy for a while now. What's interesting is that he's totally obsessed with being the "line leader" meaning he has to go first wherever we go, even if he's going slower than everyone else. He's learning what winning and losing means so he's always saying, "I win!" regardless of what game we're playing or if he's actually winning. Good thing the Olympic games start next week. We'll have fun watching and talking about who is winning.

Tonight I thought we had a breakthrough on him sleeping with his binky. He announced that he was a big boy and didn't need it anymore. Of course, when time came for bed, he wanted it back, but I'm hopeful this is a step in the right direction. Over the weekend, he slept both nights without it and didn't ask or even seem to need it so clearly he can do it. When we got back, I had in my head that I just wouldn't let him have it anymore, but the weekend had been long and I didn't have the stamina. Soon. Maybe.

Meg is seriously this close to pulling together the whole rolling over, rolling everywhere business. She can easily roll from her back to her side and from her stomach to her side. Those are the hard parts -- once on her side, she can easily go one way or the other, she just doesn't really seem to see a need for it. She can also sit unassisted for a little bit at a time and is putting together going from sitting to her stomach or side. I think it's just a matter of minutes before the light bulb goes off and she puts all the pieces together.

She's also making progress on eating solid foods. She didn't seem interested around 4-5 months and then with three weeks of throwing up and coughing, it didn't make sense to work on it. But now, she's had a week of apple sauce and rice cereal and this week we're moving on to sweet potatoes (of course, this has subsequently led to some stinky diapers. I had forgotten how generally unoffensive milk-only diapers are).

It's been hot and humid here. Fortunately, we've had a ton of rain in Washington so my garden is busting at the seams with squash and tomatoes. It's been a nice summer, but I'm about ready for it to cool down.

This and that

Andy has developed some really awesomely annoying habits:
* He now asks, "Are we there yet?" Over and over and over again. No amount of answer seems to satisfy him.
* Andy is now pitting his parents against each other to get what he wants. "Daddy, can I watch TV? Mommy said I could." Did Mommy actually say he could? No.
* He is extremely bossy. At the point, I pointed out that the sign says, "No Diving." Now anytime another kid gets in the pool, he has to point out to them at there is NO DIVING.
* He loves to ask, "why?" about anything and everything. No amount of answers seems to satisfy him and if I ignore it, he keeps right on asking until I finally say something. The only thing that seems to work (and then only temporarily) is to ask him why he thinks Calliou is bald.

The poll on naming the bunny ends today. Trixie (Wendy's suggestion for a derivation on Beatrix Potter) is in the lead.

Inside joke

It all started with an innocent nursery rhyme. I heard Andy singing it under his breath a few weeks ago, "Mary had a cat throw up, cat throw up, cat throw up." He wasn't saying it to be funny, he just likes to change the words around without really thinking about it. But it cracked me up. We laughed about it and the phrase "cat throw up" became our little inside joke. Now we like to spend time working the phrase into other songs and phrases. It's actually quite adorable.

In other news, my cat Coltrane (the chubby one) has fallen in love with Andy's bath letters. I have them in a bin beside the bathtub and I find she's taking them out and carrying them around to various parts of the house. By the afternoon, there are usually two or three different letters littering my bedroom floor. I am convinced she's trying to send a threatening message as the letter K continues to be one of her go-to letters. What do you think she's trying to say?

The list

I lieu of a good post, here's a list of the exciting things in our world:

• Today is Bjorn's birthday. We're nine years apart in age again after a brief two week span of only being eight years difference. That seemed like a huge gap, but now it seems pretty normal. A factor of age, I'm sure.
• Meg is really starting to grab things. She's starting to pull a toy toward her mouth. Beyond adorable.
• The six-year-old son of Meg's babysitter has figured out how to make her laugh on command. Also beyond adorable, except I can't replicate it at home.
• Andy's language is getting more complex. I can't quite put my finger on it exactly, but when I picked him up yesterday, he said, "I had a pretty good day, Mommy." It just sounded so grown up.
• His language is so mature, but he still says some little kid things, like three comes out more "th-free" and Little Einsteins is "Little Ein-tines." It's adorable and I'm already sad that he's outgrowing so many of these cutisms.
• Andy, sadly, has also picked up saying, "Are we there yet?" And he says it over and over again.
• We're having a few friends and family over this weekend for Meg's baptism. I sent out real, hard copy invitations. Can I tell you how few people actually bothered to RSVP? What's up with that?
• My parents arrive tomorrow. Yay.
• I have discovered Facebook. God help me.

On my own

This has been my first week on my own without my mom or Bjorn home to help. It's definitely proved challenging handling having two kids at once, especially as I struggle to remember all this new baby stuff all over again. I think we're getting there though. I am finding it almost impossible to sleep when the baby sleeps though as by the time I've finally got her to a nap point in the afternoon, it's time to pick Andy up from school. And naturally, during the day I get almost nothing done around the house except maybe loading or unloading the dishwasher and maybe a load of laundry.

Speaking of sleeping, Meg is waking up at least three times a night lately and sometimes more. The hardest is when I get up to feed her and then she doesn't want to go back to sleep after that. Bjorn has been a big help on that front as a few times I've had to hand her off after an hour or more trying to get her down. He's done the same a few times after he's gotten up to give her a bottle and then had her refuse to go back to sleep. We're working on trying to find some pattern to the madness, but every night is a new and different challenge, that's for sure.

Despite the sleep deprivation and maniacal crying she gives in the car periodically, it has been really special having a new baby again. She still has that new baby smell in her hair (which is sticking straight up after her bath earlier this week) and I just love it when she sleeps on my chest. She's not officially smiling back yet, but she's been flashing me a few test smiles and they do make up for a lot, like her tendancy to pee on the diaper table just after I've put on a new diaper and outfit.

Andy seems to have hit a growth spurt in his language development, which is good and bad. His new favorite word is "why" which accompanies just about every conversation. He has also developed some more advanced reasoning. He now tries to negotiate if he's not getting what he wants and even tries going to Dad if Mom doesn't work. Again, also good and bad. The hardest part of where he is right now is that he's getting stingy with the hugs. I almost have to tackle him to get a hug out of him these days. Little bugger.