at play

Phew. Of all the things I might forget to pack to bring to Gaga and Papa's, at least I'll have those two little girls, and a partial alphabet puzzle.

el kiddos

learning

A. is learning a lot, and fast. She knows how to count (sort of). She knows her name and age (sometimes). She knows her colors. Well, she knows how to say "blue" and "pink."

What color is it, A.? "Blue." (correct answer: yellow)
or
What color is it, A.? "Pink." (correct answer: red)
or
What color is it, A.? "Blue and pink." (sigh.)

She has a lot of full sentences. "I want to take a turn." "It's my turn!" "It's MY TURN!!!" and so on. One of my favorite phrases she uses starts with "I should". What she means to say is "May I..." but somehow it doesn't come out that way...

"I should go on my tricycle."
"I should pick that flower."
"I should have a special treat."
"I should cook dinner!" (this would have been cute, except that she was climbing up on a chair and reaching for a bowl of flour, aaahh..)

on the ride back from the grocery store...

(L.'s carseat faces forward and BR's faces backwards. )

when I grow up...

There are some unclear parts of this (for many reasons). At one point, she says: "I want to drop down the bushes and think about the letter D". I have asked her many times about this, and all I can get is that there is something in a Sesame Street skit about this. (?)

they talk and talk and talk

L.'s pretty good at letting us know what she does and doesn't like. We usually don't have to wonder.

L. (calmy eating her breakfast cereal. she looks up): "Mommy, I don't want any robots to eat me."

later that same morning...
L. (once again, out of nowhere): "Mommy, I don't want to be a surfer when I grow up."

Got it.


When we don't know what's on her mind, we can simply consult her artwork.
This one's entitled: "Belly Button Store"


I am told they are not cheap, but are in fact, very expensive. That's only fair, considering the high demand. One thing you can't accuse her of being: out of touch with today's market fluctuations.

contemplating the divine

L.: "This is gog."
Me: (Huh?)
L.: "It's so big. (singing) My gog is so big! So strong and so mighty..."

right on schedule

I would just like to take a moment to report that 7 days into her 2nd year, A. is showing a great dedication to proving she is reaching her age-appropriate developmental milestones. Today I found 7 walls decorated in black crayon. Yes, 7. And some doorframes, and my dresser.

UK "grandpa", you might also like her transformation of that sweet bedtime tune you taught her to: "..and the wee baby moon DOESN'T CARE! DOESN'T CARE! DOESN'T CARE!"

Pah's mommy: get ready.

island of toys

I asked L. to "drop in a few toys" for BR to play with while he was banished to his playpen:

all on a Sunday morn

after church, and still in our Sunday best, we found a good use for the leftover birthday hats from A.'s party: pop two on your head and voila, kids turn instantly into dragons! (soundtrack: "Aarr!")



Me: "L., please come and sit at the table, it's lunchtime. We're having chili and cornbread, mm!"
Her (rolling her eyes): "Mommy, dragons do NOT eat that."

finally...some sun!

We have really been suffering some terrible weather here lately. It's even been raining. For like, three days!
But finally today the sun shone through the clouds and we could go enjoy being outside without having to be weighed down by jackets.

It's your birthday, say 'cheese'!

A. LOVES her new baby doll stroller from Grandparents D.

"I'm dizzy!"
A. danced and jumped around for a good hour of her birthday bash. All by herself, or with others--either way, she didn't care!
And L. was great about sharing the spotlight. Except during this video clip...

nothin' but trouble

since Grandma S. left, it's been deadly dull around here and we've not had much to report on the blog. Just the usual sibling squabbles, throw in some belly-button contests, viewings and re-viewings of p-rock's and billy n'christine's youtube clips for the gazillionth time, some dress-up games, strollings about and philosophical ponderings.
You know, boring old thumb-sucking-nose-picking-poop-eating madness.
Grandma D.: come save us!

we love Mo Willems, of Park Slope, Brooklyn

(A., reading the 'Trixie' book, by Mo Willems)

I walked away from the lunch table today and BR pulled my plate onto the floor. L. started yelling: "You made a mess, BR! Look, you made a big mess!"
Me: "Please stop shouting, L. He doesn't understand you, he's only a baby. He doesn't know a lot of words. Like Trixie, in your book, remember? When she was little she only knew how to say, 'Aggle flaggle klabble', right?"
L.: "Excuse me, BR: you throwed salsa all over the rug. (Pause) Now say 'aggle flaggle klabble'."

familia

picture perfect

fun with "grampa"

we have been having fun with grandma S. over the last week and have gone on many outings. It's been great and the girls pretty much never want her to leave. A. especially loves playing tea party with 'Grampa'.

3 generations (L's photography debut)

pretend

we went on an adventure, traveling around in airplanes, buses, and such. of course, we used the most appropriate props to simulate this...

(boat)

(tent)

(pirate)

pirate tattoo!

hi billy!

"I go-ed at church school, Billy" (and saw her friend Bella)

pure silliness

these two...

...are crazy about each other. BR just squeals and giggles anytime L. does anything. Anything at all, actually; it doesn't really matter what she's doing. She's just the BEST.

spoiled rotten

On Daddy's day off, sometimes we like to go out to the end of the pier to get as close as we can to the (dozens and dozens of) dolphins who like to swim around out there. And to see the sunset, and to watch the surfers. Aahh, January at the beach...

fun

stop

L. likes to set up this sign (from her miniature train set) anytime she needs to put a stop to anything: like, "stop cooking!" or "stop reading!"

I'd like to find a way to stop her from talking all the time! I tried that once, and it didn't go so well:
Me: "L., you know you don't have to talk all the time."
Her: (genuinely surprised) "I don't?"

Or, here's another one.
"L., please stop saying 'why' or asking questions anytime I say anything."
"Why?"
"Because you are always repeating everything I say."
"I'm always repeating everything you say?"
"Yes, you do it alot."
"I do?"
Sigh...

(ps: I am NOT joking, we actually had that conversation.)

Baby JJ from Chicago

look who came to visit us on Friday! We miss you already, Baby J...

round and round

skype

To all parties who have been impatiently waiting for this: we have finally replaced the webcam and we're ready to skype. Woohoo. Our new camera seems much better even with low light and even has a built-in mike so I don't have to chase the kids around with the microphone on the headset (yes!).