Fangs

if Alexander had been a mom

I dedicate this one to Kris and Kristin in solidarity through thick and thin (poop).

I went to bed with a cold in my nose and when i woke up there was a cold in my head and chest and also a fever with aches all over. B.R. thought the day should start at 4:30 and in the dark I stumbled over the clean laundry basket that had tipped over into a pile of dirty laundry and the shower was broken and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day.
At breakfast L. spilled hot cereal on the rug and A. knocked over her juice and I didn't have time to eat any breakfast at all. In the car, A. cried and hit L. then L. cried and hit A. and then they both wailed. At B.R.'s checkup I tried to convince the Dr. that BR was "just teething" and then she diagnosed an earache-in-need-of-antibiotics and they ran out of flu shots. We only got an hour parking validation but it took an extra 20 minutes to talk the kids into their carseats and L. forgot all her words except "why?" and the power was out in the underground parking garage at the pharmacy and the kids were too scared of the dark to get out of the car. It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
That's what it was because we had to wait 45 minutes to fill the prescription rather than the promised 20 even though the store was empty, and so we killed time with a snack and some games and everyone was happy until I turned my back to sign for BR's medicine and that's when the grocery cart tipped and fell on top of A.'s fingers and L.'s toes. So then a crowd of other shoppers in the store came running to see what happened and they all talked but no one helped, and A. sobbed and I had to carry her and try to push the cart with one hand and everyone stared and clucked but still didn't help.
I found an ant invasion in the kitchen, L. slammed her fingers in a door and A. pooped in the tub and on the bathmat. It was a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day.
I guess some days are like that, even when the sun is shining and it's 70 degrees in December.

Christmas Camping

L. and mommy & daddy started a new tradition this year. She got out her sleeping bag and slept under the tree. We opted for the (much softer) futon nearby.

christmas collection

friends and family

new toys

messy little angel

ready for the (Children's Place) runway

it's Christmas Eve and I'm ready

Santa Claus

first glimpse

You can tell how much in awe she is by the way her hands are folded. (What does she want for Christmas? A candy cane.)

these are my words...

A. also speaks, from time to time. She is getting much better at it, although it's usually just single words here and there. She informs me, for instance, when a helicopter flies overhead (probably about once every ten minutes): "Hockader!"
Then once in awhile she will surprise me with a full sentence. Last night she walked into the kitchen where I had the radio, and calm as can be (as if we always conversed on this level), "What song is that?"

We flipped through a Christmas sticker book the other day and asked her, "Who/what's that?" and got all kinds of answers:
sticker of christmas tree: "santa claus!"
reindeer: "christmas tree"
candle: "can-doll" (allright, got one right at least)
angel: "Aunt Mer" (two!)
random carollers: "snowman" or "grandpa and grandma"
and, my personal favorite, Santa Claus: "Mickey Mouse's Daddy"

L. dumped a whole cup of water on me the other day and I jumped up and hollered (really dramatically) then went to change my clothes. I came back in the room and found A. repeating, "ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh!"

here she is, learning to dress herself:

mommy, why can't I move.

Smiles (Part II)

I will NOT smile for the camera....

well....

maybe I will...

smiling sweetly...sort of

"Cheese!"

little savages

do these children have parents?!?

hamming it up for the camera

standing and proud of it

putting it all together

Today at breakfast our conversation was about how our next door neighbor's great-grandpa had passed away. We talked about the funeral, how Uly's grandmother traveled to Mexico for the funeral, and so on. Then she asked, "But how did he died? Who squished him?"
It took me a second and then I realized: until now her understanding of what it means to die has had to do with scoldings for stomping on bugs.

Then we continued on, talking about how after we die we go to heaven to be with Jesus, but Jesus also lives in our hearts. "In here? But what does Jesus hear in there?" pointing to her chest. What do you mean, L.? "Like later (=earlier) when L. was sleeping and she was coughing--did Jesus hear that?"
Theology lesson: check. Now, moving on to colors and numbers...

O Christmas Tree

Look at our cute little tree! It is up on a table where BR cannot reach it, or eat it, or pull it down on top of his head... the kids LOVE it and decorated it with the homemade ornaments they made with Grandma "Gaga" D.'s help.
Naturally, this was a totally effortless endeavor: get (fighting, screaming) kids' jackets and shoes on, get them and carseats buckled in, arrive at store to buy tree, unload kids into stroller, sling, etc., start walking toward store, realize forgot wallet, reload everybody, go home and get wallet and snacks to sustain us, go back to store, try to act casual about A.'s black eye, buy tree, come home, move furniture around, set up tree, find decorations, locate more decorations in storage, load up kids and boxes and take them up the stairs in shifts, keep BR from gnawing on strings of lights, and so on.
After everything was set up and I had explained and re-explained about Baby Jesus, the wise men, presents, shiny plastic ornaments, reindeer, Santa and traffic jams at the mall (and their proper relationships), L. realized something: "Wait a minute, Mommy! We don't have a chimney!"
Doh.

i was just so hungry, mom

get with the program, p-roc. green beans are where it's at.

you should see the other guy...

take the day off, Mom, I'll do all the work...

trying to rival cousin P-roc

first tooth

BR got his first tooth on Friday, and crawls around--yup, crawling now--with his tongue sticking out. Even when under kiss-attack!

and sometimes, L. joins in...

(i believe the tragedy in question was the absence of lemonade from our fridge)

our sweet little A.

usually this is A., just kicking back and taking it all in...

...but some days can be so tough!

thank you, Dr. Daddy, for our 3-yr old's vocabulary

So there we are, happily grocery shopping and L. is--yes, you guessed it--talking. On and on and on. And I just tune her out half the time. Well, like 3/4 of the time. And she says, "come this way, Mommy, come this way" trying to pull me and the cart down an aisle where we do not need to go. So I try to brush her off and carry on, but she keeps insisting and I keep saying no, until finally she can't keep back the tears and throws herself down to the ground sobbing, and pointing at a big poster by the cereal aisle: "But Mommy, I just want to show you Spongebob's uvula!"

more sayings, by L.

trying to console BR.: "It's ok, BR, it's ok to suck your thumb."


We often talk about L.'s future. When she's 5, she'll go to school, when she's 8 she can go on that roller coaster, etc. Today she asked: "Mommy, how old will I be when I can fly?"


"Mommy, why do bears eat with their hands?"
Because they don't know how to use forks.
"Well, didn't anyone tell them?"

new tricks

In addition to sucking his thumb and drooling on everything, BR also knows how to "wave" and say "hi"! (more like "ha", actually). He is VERY proud of this, it's pretty hilarious; he just beems when we praise him.

He also "crawls" around, although he's not really using his knees, but just throws himself forward with his arms outstretched. A better description is provided by his biggest sister: earlier this evening, I called to L. from where I was in the other room for a report on what he was doing, to be sure he wasn't getting into trouble: "He's ok, Mommy, he's just doing his push-ups!"

thanksgiving

frazeksty--an update

For all monster fans out there, I have some new facts to report about our friend Mr. Frazeksty. I have recently been informed that:
- he is sometimes a monster, and sometimes an airplane
- he is six years old.
- therefore he goes to school.
- what school? why, Chinese school, of course.
- he likes to hang out with turkeys, and also enjoys riding on schoolbuses, preferrably yellow ones.
- he and L. and turkeys at times ride on schoolbuses together.
- and perhaps most important: he has toes.

here we are at the local 'turkey trot'. L. was so disappointed that we didn't let her run, but she has NOT been keeping up with the training schedule we laid out for her...

After the race she ran up to me to say, "Oh Mommy, I'm so proud of you!!" So she was coached a bit by Daddy, who cares, I still thought it was the cutest.

Rub a Dub Dub