Evening with an ALMOST 2 year old.....

Dimples - (phfffffffft) "Oh, Mommy, I farrrrted!"

Me - "What do you say honey?"

Dimples - "Thank you!"

I guess she gets more than just her looks from her father ;)

Ahhh, Married Life!

QB and I were watching Oprah tonight and he said something not so nice.

QB - "Am I going to hell?"
Me - "Well you are not going to heaven!"
QB - "At least we will be together forever...."

A Moment to Remember

The Present and Dimples had a busy day that involved lots of getting dirty. After dinner, I took them both up to take a bath. Dimples has not been the biggest fan of bath time lately so I put her in, washed her up, got her out and dried her off. While I was putting her into her jammies, The Present got into the tub. He LOVES bath time and can, and will, stay in until I evict him by draining the tub.

Tonight I was tired, so I let The Present just play in the tub after he was clean. Dimples was running around in her jammies and I was sitting on the floor, clipping my nails, only half paying attention.

Next thing I know, both Dimples and The Present are CRACKING up. I will never forget it. When your children make each other belly laugh....well there is no feeling that explains it. I just watched them, Dimples would throw her binky in the tub and The Present would toss it out on the floor. Repeat. Laugh lots and lots.

This went on for about 3 minutes, I kept thinking I needed to run down and get the video camera, but I didn't want the moment to end. I guess I am left with the memory, in hopes that it will last in my mind for years to come.

As I sat there, I wondered.

Did Miss Smarty Pants and I have moments like these when we were young?
Did my mom sit and smile at us with tears in her eyes like I did tonight?
Will there be lots of these silly moments in our future?

I hope so.

Girl Scout Cookie Time

Here is a peek into my kitchen tonight.

The Present fell down on the tile after he and The Quarterback were playing chase. He hurt his elbow, and was sitting in my lap with Mr. Happy on his elbow.

The Quarterback pulled a Thin Mint cookie out of the freezer and said "I know something that will make that elbow feel better," and he hands The Present the frozen Thin Mint cookie.

The Present sets Mr. Happy down and replaces it with the Thin Mint cookie. He sits for a minute with the cookie on his elbow while The Quarterback and I are laughing so much we cry. He looks up at me, then he looks at his dad and says, "When my elbow feels better can I eat this?!?"


Fast forward 3 hours to when we eat some more Thin Mints. The Present takes his, puts it on his elbow for a few seconds, then pops it in his mouth.

I once was lost, but now I am found...

Busy, that is the word that sums up my life lately. I feel like I have been here, there and everywhere, and the end is finally in site. An announcement today that my March work trip is cancelled (YEAH), so now I can take a deep breath and relax. So much has happened, so much to share, so here are a few things that top the list.

• Dimples took her first steps. I was in San Antonio, TX and QB gave me the call. She is wobbly, but full of fun, she just grins and next thing you know, she has moved. It's sort of like a dance.


• The Present and I made Rice Crispy Treats for our Superbowl party. He likes to call them "Rice Christmas Treats" as in "Mom, can we make some more rice Christmas treats today?


• The Present got a new bike from Santa, and he is so good at riding it. We went to this great park yesterday with a friend, and he was zipping all over the place.


• One down, one to go - The Present is potty trained. He hasn't had an accident in weeks (months?). Yeah for him, yeah for me!

The Present and Grandpa's morning conversation

The Present - "Grandpa, can I have some toast?"

Grandpa - "Sure, I'll make you some."

The Present - "Beep it Grandpa, beep it" (toddler speak for put it in the microwave)

Grandpa - "You can't put toast in the microwave."

The Present - "But why?"

Grandpa - "Because a microwave cooks things, and a toaster toast's it. You want your bread toasted, not cooked."

The Present (nodding his head) "OOOOHHHHHH!"

La La La

For the past week I have noticed something different about how The Present has been speaking. I couldn't quite put my finger on it until tonight. He is finally pronouncing his "L's" at the start of a word. Now "wicking" is "licking" and "wittle" is "little". He's not quite fluent with it yet, so it is a bit deliberate and thought out.

I am amazed every day at how the human brain develops.

My little boy is growing up.

I wuv him so much!!!

My eye's have been opened!

This morning, as I was getting ready for work, The Present decided he wanted to sit with me on the counter and get ready too.

(For those of you who have not seen me get ready in the morning, I should tell you that as I get ready, I like to sit on the counter with my feet in the sink. I have done this since high school, and last year, when I was home at my parents house, my mom walked by the bathroom as I was in this exact position, and she came in and commented that she was having flashbacks to when I was a teenager getting ready for school. I have sat this way for as long as I have "gotten ready" in the morning.)

ANYWAY - I was sitting on the counter, with my feet in the sink, getting ready and The Present was there too. As I was putting on my mascara, The Present looked at me intensely and after a few minutes said, "Look mommy, we have the same eyes!" When I asked him what he meant, he said "Your eyes are black like mine. Daddy has green eyes and we have black ones."

He's right.

What ever will he come up with next?

Kids know more than we think...

At night, The Present says prayers with QB and me. QB or I usually say the prayer and after the "God Bless..." we let The Present take over. He typically prays for Aunt Smartie, Mom and Dad, Dimples, The Firecracker, Nana and Grandpa, the pets etc.

A few nights ago here is how it went.

Me - "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, Angles watch me over the night and guide me to the morning light. God Bless...."

The Present - "God Bless G.G. - and for tonight, that's it!"

The following night it was a repeat. "God Bless G.G., that's all. AMEN!"

AMEN is right. We love you G.G.!

I am winning you!

Here are some cute things that The Present says these days...

• I am winning you - meaning I am beating you
• Ham-ger-ber

Funny, I thought I had several of these to put down and now I can't think of any more. I will add as they come to me, or you can add in the comments if you know of any....

Baby Update

In case you haven't seen us in awhile, here are the new and exciting things the kids are doing these days.

Dimples

• Sitting up on her own. Still wobbly, but she can do it.
• Teething - wow, she will gnaw on anything she can get her hands on. No teeth yet, but they will show themselves soon I am positive.
• Rocking - you know what I mean, the rocking that is the precursor to crawling.
• Mamamamama - yes she can say it.
• Dadadadada - she says that too - but she said Mama first, for the record.
• She eats two jars of baby food a day and loves bitter biscuts
• She will follow anything and everything with her eyes/head, she loves to look around and see where we are going or where sounds are coming from.

The Present

• He is going through a growth spurt. He is true to size wearing a 3T.
• PUZZLES - he loves to do them, and he is so good at them!
• He is all boy, has two speeds, stop and go, and boy, can he go!
• He is so inquisitive, still asking "What KIND is it?"

Red means stop...

The Present recently learned (thanks to his dad QB) that red, at a stop light means stop and green means go. After that we taught him that yellow means SLOOOOW and orange means caution. He is really good at knowing what color means what.

"What does yellow mean?" I say.

"SLOOOOOW" he says.

"What does green mean?" I will ask.

"Go!" answers The Present.

Today, when we were on our way to the morning activites, The Present said,

"Green means go, red means stop and blue means nothing!"

Video Clips

This weekend The Present, Aunt Smartie and I went to the big orange box to make a fire truck. Here are some pictures and video. He was pretty amazing with the hammer. Every single nail he put in was straight as an arrow. The local fire department was there and he got to check out the fire truck too. We had a fun morning!

Postcards

My grandparents loved to travel. Whenever they were on a trip, they would send the grand kids postcards. I always loved getting a postcard from my Mimi. Even as I got older, she would send those postcards when they traveled.

A few weeks ago, Nana and Grandpa (The Present and Dimples grandparents) went on an Alaskan cruise. Guess who got a postcard? The Present! He couldn't have been more pleased. We read them, and then we read them some more. If we were upstairs, the postcards came with us. If we were in the kitchen, the postcards were in the kitchen too. They went with him to his daycare. After picking up the kids one day from daycare, Aunt Smarty almost had to turn around and get the postcards, because she forgot them, and The Present was M-A-D!

I love it.

I can't wait for Nana and Grandpa to go on another vacation so we can check the mail.

Oh, and The Present decided he was like the polar bear on the postcard, because the polar bear looked like he was playing, and The Present likes to play.

Bedtime Routine

About two weeks ago, The Present and I were getting ready for bed, and I decided to type up a list of things he has to do before bed. We titled the list "Bedtime Routine".

The list includes the following:

• Go Potty


• Put on Jammies


• Brush Teeth


• Read Story


• Say Prayers
  

The Present got to draw on the bottom of the list and then we hung it on my bathroom mirror. Each night we look at the list and attempt to do everything on it. Some nights we get them all done, and some nights we miss one or two things.

The Present gets more and more interested each night. A few nights ago, he wanted to look at the list and make sure we had done everything on the list. We read through the list and sure enough, we had done everything on it.

"Now it's time to go to bed." I said.

"THAT's not on the list." he said.

Guess I need to add one more thing to the list.

Stories to Remember

The Present is always good for a laugh, or cry. Here are a few things that he has done lately that make me smile.

QB taught The Present that a red light means stop, and a green light means go. Aunt Smartie picked up the kids from daycare last week. In her car, his car seat is in the middle so he gets a great look out the front window. At each light, he would say "red light" or "green light" and he knows if you are supposed to stop or go!

That same day he was riding through the small downtown she lives by. It is a cute old historic downtown. As they were driving he said "Aunt Smarty, is this like in the movie Cars?" "Why yes," she said, "it is like in the movie cars."

About a month ago, The Present saw the South Dakota quarter with Mt. Rushmore on it. QB looked Mt. Rushmore up on the Internet with him and showed him all of the presidents on Mt. Rushmore. The Present really liked it. Last week when we were watching the RNC one of the speakers mentioned Teddy Roosevelt and the Present said, "Oh, he's on Mt. Rushmore Daddy!"

Life is a Puzzle

It's late, it's the weekend. The Present ate a great dinner, but decided later he wanted a snack. I had fresh bagles in the house, so I asked him if he wanted one.

He did.

Not toasted, no peanut butter, just plain.

I cut it in half, and cut the halves into pieces. Then I put it into one of his bowls, and let him take it to the table to eat.

Can you guess what happened next?

Even though I tell him not to play with his food, he did it anyway...

When I looked over to the table, the bagle was put back together. Just like a puzzle. The Present was proud of himself, very proud.

Then he took a bite.

Life tastes good.

A Trip to the ER

Last night, QB was at the ballpark for work. The Present, Dimples and I were hanging out getting ready to enjoy a night of mommy and kiddo time. I got The Present all settled in our bed with a movie, and I went downstairs to get some water, get Dimples and head back up.

While I was downstairs I heard the loudest crash with breaking glass. As I was running up the stairs, I was shouting at The Present not to move, just to be still. What I saw when I got to him was lots of broken glass and blood. But where was the blood coming from? After a frantic search, I finally saw a big gash on the back of his leg. At that point the mother instinct kicked in.

For those of you who know me, you know I am bad with blood. I mean really bad. Just the thought of blood can make me light headed. So when I say the mother instinct kicked in, I mean it. Here I was, trying to look at a bloody gash on the back of my sons knee, and I didn't even feel woozy. The adrenaline had kicked in.

I called QB at the game and said "The Present cut his leg pretty bad, I think you are going to need to meet me at the ER." Then I called the neighbor, our good friends, and asked them to come help me survey the damage. The neighbors came over, agreed that an ER trip was in order, and offered to watch Dimples for me while I took The Present to the hospital.

I loaded up The Present, called QB to let him know we were on our way, and off we went. The QB made it to the hospital in record time, just as we were getting checked in actually. When the doctor got a look at the wound, she said stitches were in order. My first thought was "UGH! Stitches! Should I be in the room when they stitch him up or will I pass out?" Luckily that took care of itself when they gave The Present that great big shot they give you before they stick that other needle in you. He started crying, and I knew he needed his mama. I wasn't going anywhere.

Five stitches, and one purple popsicle later, we were ready to head back home.

Thank goodness for cell phones.
Thank goodness for great neighbors.
Thank goodness for super nice nurses from Boston.
Thank goodness my baby is okay.

And Gowie Smiles

Last night, as I was blogging, a sleepy Present came downstairs. He and Dimples have had runny noses all week - part of that getting back into daycare thing. Anyway, I asked him why he was out of bed and he said "MOOOOOOOM, I need some MENTHOLATUM!"

At that moment in time, I knew his GG and his great, great grandma, Gowie, were both smiling down from heaven.

"What KIND is it?"

According to Piaget (thanks Mom and Dad, who funded my degree in education so I could have this bit of knowledge) The Present is in the Preoperational Phase. What does this mean exactly? It means he is trying to classify everything, and in his case I mean EVERYTHING.

"What kind is it?" is a question we hear daily. "What KIND of car is it?" "What KIND of juice is it, mama?" "What KIND of shower?" "What KIND of rain?" "What KIND of Olympics?" and so on and so on.

Sometimes I am really good about answering his "What kind is it?" question. "That's a Honda babe." or "Why, that's apple juice." but sometimes I don't know the answer. "I think it is a cumulus nimbus cloud, but we may have to ask Grandpa next time he is around." I never thought a toddler could make me want to look so much stuff up on the internet.

At least I know he has been listening to me and soaking it all in. How do I know? Because tonight, when we sat down for dinner, he said, "Is this 2% milk mama? I like 2% milk!"