Three!!! (And A Bit ... )

Buddy,

You are now three years old, my big boy! So much has happened for you this past year (give or take a month or two ... Mommy's been a little lazy with your letter)

You made a best friend (other than your sister). This was big for you because while your sister has had numerous friends that she mentions (often) in conversation for some time, you've never said much about other kids. Well, when asked about a specific child, you'll often say, "I not like that boy." You prefer little babies that are not independently mobile as you will not be required to share your toys with them. Then you met Zachary Dover. And suddenly your conversation was peppered with mentions of Zachy. Zach's mom even started refering to you both collectively as "Daxary." The two of you played so well together, mainly a mixture of action figures, Toy Story references, and calling each other "poopy diaper" while laughing hysterically. I'll admit I didn't understand it, but I was certainly thankful for it. You would do ANYTHING as long as I could answer your "Zachy will be there?" with a "Yes." Unfortunately the Dovers had to move to Nashville. We'll visit, but it won't be the same and you know it. You miss your Zachy.

You have some really funny verbal quirks that I love. You still call your sister "Dee-ya." This is more habit than anything. If I ask you to say "Julia," and you stop and think about it then you pronounce her name correctly. Since it doesn't seem to bother Julia, I don't correct you. It will be a sad day for your Mom when you start saying Julia's name correctly without thinking about it. I'm sure it will be like so many other little things about you growing up and it won't register on me until you've been doing it for a while. And I'll ask you yet again, "When did you get so BIG?!?!" and be a little sad that things change so quickly and so subtly that there's no chance to mark that exact moment you grow out of a behavior. I imagine it is better this way. You would much rather hear about the excitement of the First Times than the poignancy of the Last Times. It is much more comfortable for me to reflect on the joys as well, but somehow looking back to discover I didn't realize we reached the end of a phase on this journey reminds me that it is moving all too quickly.

You've also started pausing when asked a question, then prefacing your reply with "Actually ... " You really have to be there to understand how cute it is to see your little head cocked to the side with those blue eyes sparkling and dimples showing and hear your little boy voice draw the word out as long as you can. Makes me laugh every time.

You think the biggest insult to anyone is to call them "Baby!"  You overheard the Justin Beiber song and now sing the first part of the chorus to anyone you want to make angry.  No one really understands that you're trying to be mean, and you are satisfied just to say it without getting an angry response.  Except with your sister, this is pretty much true of your interactions.  You like to make Julia cry when you get mad at her so you yell, but with everyone else you just mutter things like "You're a BABY!" under your breath while walking away.

You have a wide vocabulary and excellent pronunciation.  Nearly everyone understands everything you say.  You have a few words you can't quite say yet: 

"Yuke" = "Luke" (the little boy next door)

"Wellow" = "Yellow"

"Alent" = "Alien" (you have a little alien toy from Toy Story)

When you don't know a word, you are particularly descriptive when trying to get Mommy to understand what you want.  I love hearing your descriptions for things.

You recently got a big boy haircut for the first time.  I was a little worried you'd freak out about the clippers, but you giggled the whole time about how the clippers tickled you.  You look so handsome.  And big!!  When anyone asks about your haircut, you immediately duck your head to show them the top.  And Sunday at church you told me, "Mommy, I get to go into my big Sunday School class now because I have a big boy haircut!"

(picture by Julia)

You are completely potty trained.  It took me by surprise.  It seemed to take forever to get you interested in even sitting on the potty.  You really couldn't see the point in worrying about whether you went in the potty or in your Pull-Ups.  Then one day when we were watching one of the Toy Story movies (again), you asked for a Buzz toy.  I told you that Buzz was a big boy toy and to get it you had to be a big boy and go in the potty.  A few days later, after taking Buzz away when you went to the bathroom in your Pull-Up and giving him back after you went in the potty, you were potty trained.  A few weeks later you decided you didn't like wearing Pull-Ups at night so you went completely to underwear.  Like your sister, you wake yourself up if you need to go to the bathroom during the night.  Unlike your sister, you refuse to pull your pants down (or up) by yourself so you yell to me to come help.  At this point, though, I'm so excited about being done with diapers, I don't mind at all!

Eventually, though, you are going to have to work at dressing yourself.  You have no interest at all in doing this for yourself.  You don't even really care what clothes Mommy picks out for you to wear each day.  Although, you have started announcing that you won't wear any shirt with a collar unless we're going to church.  Fortunately, you don't differentiate between church the Sunday morning service and church the building yet.  So, I can usually get you into a cute polo or button down most days because we head to the church building several days a week for various activities.

You have several favorite excuses when told to do something for yourself:

"I can't do it!"  (very direct)

"I'm too tired!"

"My tummy doesn't want me to!" (you blame a lot of things on your tummy)

You will sit and cry for twenty minutes rather than try to take off your shoes on your own. Mommy's had to step in to stop Julia from helping you after you beg her "Will you do it for me, Dee-ya?" Since I only ask you to do things I know you can do, I don't feel bad about leaving you rolling on the floor in tantrum mode.  If left alone you will eventually do the task yourself.  It just takes a while.  Which is frustrating.  I'm working on my scheduling to get you started getting ready at least an hour before we need to leave the house. (You also do the "I'm too tired" when you are done walking as well.  You squat down and refuse to go forward.  I try to find the humor in the situation rather than get angry. Sometimes that even works for me.)

One area you have excelled physically in is riding your scooter.  You figured that thing out fast, and then proceeded to beat the pants off older kids when "racing" at the park.  You were quite pleased with yourself.  Although we need to work on your sportsmanship ... shouting "I win!!  You lose!!" at everyone over and over isn't something I want to encourage.

Out of everything you do, you love to watch TV the most.  You constantly ask for it.  You've moved out of the Lightening McQueen stage and moved on to the Toy Story movies.  You are very specific about which one you want to watch:

"the one with the birthday party" = Toy Story

"the one with Jessie and Bullseye" = Toy Story 2

"the one with the mean bear" = Toy Story 3

I'm really tired of all three of them, but you love to watch them.  I can pretty much guarantee that will be your first pick when it's your turn to choose what we watch.  If I tell you we don't have time to watch a whole movie, you pick "Diego" (which Mommy likes better than Dora because there is no Swiper to scare you guys).   Tom and Jerry is also a favorite.  One day when we were in the car, I stopped on a classical music station and you piped up from the back seat, "Mom?  This is Tom and Jerry music?"  Pink Panther is also a favorite.  You have figured out how to access Netflix on Mommy's "toy" (iPod) and if I haven't heard from you in a while, I can usually find you curled up underneath my covers stealthily watching something.

You favorite foods are macaroni and cheese, pizza, popcorn, pancakes, hamburgers, chicken nuggets, french fries with ketchup to dip in, grapes, and strawberries. You are not really fond of anything remotely resembling a vegetable.  I sneak spinach and carrots into your smoothies, count the ketchup as a veggie and call it good. If left alone, you will eventually eat most things on your plate.  (Can you tell you don't like to be bossed around?)

You still love Echo and talk to her in the sing-song voice you usually reserve for babies.  We've been visiting my friend Amanda's house and she has two dogs.  Rudy is her golden cocker spaniel that lives inside.  You adore Rudy.  You get so excited when she runs up to greet you and tell us, "He likes me!!"  (gender specific pronouns are causing you fits). Duke is Amanda's husband's hunting dog.  He lives outside and you love to give him treats, too.  This makes Mr. Greg happy since he doesn't want Duke to feel neglected.

But your first love and best friend is still your sister.  You guys are so incredible together.  You play games together with long, elaborate scenarios that you make up.  Barbies, Buzz and various super heroes make frequent appearances.  You two can play together for hours.  Julia will happily build you circles with your train tracks and you will let her diagnose all sorts of ailments as your pretend doctor.  (Mostly, you are told you have a loose tooth.) In true brother/sister fashion, you know exactly what to do to drive her to tears or extreme frustration.  Tattle-tales have made their appearance as has "I'm not going to play with you ever again!"  But, I've also heard Julia tell you that she won't let her friends be mean to you and direct you not to let your friends be mean to her.  You tell her "Okay, Dee-ya!"  When it's time to pick out what color candy or what kind of drink, if I ask you first, you tell me "It Dee-ya's turn to pick first!" You then listen to what she decides and choose the same thing.  Once you both have it, you yell, "Dee-ya, we match!!!" as if it is a huge surprise to you that such a thing has happened.

Little man you are such a joy.  Any amount of time spent with you means I end up laughing.  I love your sweet heart. You are my snuggle bug. I'm so glad I get to be your mom.

I Love You,

Mommy

Four

Four years old.  I can't believe it. You are SO big.

Your world is filled with princesses, puzzles and "meat sandwiches" from Arby's. You still love to dress up. You don't immediately run to the dress up box each morning like you used to do, but it is a rare day that goes by without the dress up box getting some use. And many days I think you just use your regular wardrobe in a game of dress-up.  It is always interesting to see what you choose to wear.

  

You have traded Ariel for Belle as your favorite princess and added the color "wellow" to your list of favorite colors. You love to tell me that you "used to like" just pink when "I was a baby, Mom, but now that I'm growed up I like all different colors  ... like pink and purple and wellow!"

Your imagination is still expanding by leaps and bounds! I spend a lot of time wishing I could be inside your head so I could really know what you are thinking. In the past year you've started peppering our conversations with names of people that don't exist outside of your imagination. You talk about your "sissy" all the time and often startle girls that you pass by when you point to them and announce, "There's my sissy, Mom!"  When I first asked who you would like to invite to your birthday party, you listed off "Abby and Sarah and Alice."  My best guess is that these are your imaginary friends as I have never met anyone by those names in your group of friends.  

What is really funny is that you have many real life friends.  In fact, whenever we go somewhere, you nearly always meet your "best friend."  One day at Chick-Fil-A, you brought a girl up to me and told me, "Mom, this is my new best friend!"  I asked what your best friend's name was and you stopped, looked at me for a second and then turned to the little girl and asked, "What's your name?"  And that story is not unusual for you.  

You even love grown-ups.  You are a huge hit at the UMW lunches because you run up to those ladies and give them "big hugs!"  You are so loved.

You are such a people pleaser.  In fact, when you watch TV (a favorite activity of yours ... you love the "sheep show," Kipper, Pink Panther cartoons and Scooby Doo) you hate to see a character doing something he is not supposed to do.  You declare the show "too scary" and run from the room rather than see him get caught and scolded.  You refuse to watch Curious George because that monkey is always getting into things he shouldn't!

You are definitely a sensitive little tidbit.  This has been our biggest challenge because your Mama is not.  I'm still learning how not to "break" you and how to kindly put the pieces back together when I do.  Part of me wishes you would toughen up.  That part makes its appearance when you are being rather dramatic in your weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.  But a bigger part of me loves your sweet heart and tender spirit.  We're working together to try to figure out how to hold onto the best parts of you while also preparing you for a world that is not a gentle one.

You're trying to make sense of that world already and your part in it.  I frequently get asked, "Mommy, when you were a little girl like me, did you ... ?"  or told, "Mommy, Gran is your mommy and Grandad is your daddy!"  You're working on figuring out time.  For a while, everything happened "yesterday."  You would start each conversation with "Mommy, remember yesterday when I ... " and it didn't matter if it happened an hour ago, a month ago or even a year ago.  

And boy do you remember things!!!  You still talk about feeding the alligators marshmallows with Grandma Steele last Spring.  And you keep me honest.  I'll often promise to do something or give you something and then get sidetracked.  Soon, you'll be right there telling me, "Mom!  Remember you said you would ... ?  Remember, Mom?  You forgot about that, didn't you?"  You get great joy from reminding me about things.

I find your roundabout way of asking for things pretty funny.  You will often come to me and tell me, "Mommy, we can't eat the candy."  And then I know you'd like some candy.  Sometimes, to mess with you, I'll just say, "Oh, okay, I didn't realize that.  I was going to see if you wanted a piece."  Even though you're happy about getting what you want, you don't like the teasing, though.  You hate it if you think someone is laughing at you. 

You love to move: climbing and jumping off things, chasing friends, riding your bike.  You love to be active.  Most of all, you love to dance.  You are in ballet classes this year.  Once a week on Tuesday afternoons, we head to the church for you to take a 30-minute dance class with Ms. Mary Catherine.  The first day you refused to let me leave your side.  You sat on my lap and cried the whole time.  Everyone was shocked.  It was so completely unlike you.  Later, as you danced up and down the aisles of Kroger, you informed me that you "just felt shy" at class.  I was a little worried I had made a mistake signing you up.  By the next class, you were right in there with the other little girls.  Now, you run into the room and shout "Teacher!  Teacher!  I here!  I here!"  and give your teacher a big hug.  The one day I tried to stay and watch you told me I needed to leave.

You definitely have an independent streak.  I am often told to stop watching you.  You're brave, too.  One day at the park you fell off one of the ladders.  You cried a bit as Mommy held you and then looked at me and asked, "I try, try again?"  I said sure and went over in case you wanted help.  The ladder was shaking you were so scared, but you climbed right up to the top!  I was so proud of you, my girl.

Your fine motor skills are also catching up to your imagination!  You draw such fun pictures.  My favorite (besides the ones of me) is the colored pencil drawing you did of "an angel picking flowers."

You and your brother.  This is my favorite part of watching you grow up.  You two are each other's best friend and best enemy!  Dax knows just how to push your buttons.  And you know just how to pinch him so that it hurts the worst.  You guys play together all the time.  You make up stories.  You play games.  You help each other get into trouble.  You argue.  You fight.  You apologize.  And you always remember that "brothers and sisters STICK TOGETHER!"

Julia, this past year with you has been so much fun.  I'm your Mommy so of course I love you, but it has been so great to realize that I really LIKE you, too.  I enjoy our days together, the way you try to make me laugh, your helpful spirit, your artistic projects and the "adventures" we have.  You are such a blessing.  

I love you,

Mommy

Dax-A-Roo

Hi Sweet Boy!!

Mommy's a little late with your letter. Things have gotten crazy around here and I can barely keep up!

You're part of the reason they've gotten wild. You talk all the time now. But only to family. I know people are skeptical when I tell them how verbal you are since most of the time when they talk to you, you either hide your face or put on a really funny pout, lower your head and refuse to say anything. If they persevere, though, past the pout and cranky "NO!" they will eventually catch a dimple peeping out from underneath that sweet blonde hair.


With family (and those you know really, really well), you can talk a mile a minute. Especially with your sister. I usually love listening to conversations between the two of you. You talk about everything together. Sometimes, y'all spend the time just tossing out the names of everything within site:
"You got your monkey, Dax?"
"Yep, my monkey. Dee-ya's froggie?"
"Yeah, Dax. That my froggie. You see the big truck, Dax?"
"Yep. See big truck. Look, Dee-ya, a bird!"
And so on.
Sometimes, y'all stage elaborate plays together with your toys:
"Oh, no, Daddy Dinosaur! Save us from the monster!"
"ROAR! Monster get you!!"
"Oh, Monster, watch out for the snake!"
"ROAR!! Monster get snake!!!!"
But occasionally ... okay, much more than occasionally, quite often in fact, you just enjoy driving your sister to distraction. To be fair, she's quite easy to rile up (takes after her Mama), but you seem to get a little too much pleasure out of pestering her. Which means you understand your role as Little Brother perfectly:
"Dax? You want to play monsters?"
"NO!"
"Pleease, buddy, I wanna play monsters."
"No play monsters, Dee-yah!"
"Pleeeeeeeeeeeease!"
"You be quiet, Dee-yah! HUSH!"
"Waaaaaaaah! Mom, Dax tell me to hush!"
And so on. Eventually declining into both of you declaring "I not play with you!" and the resulting tears. Five minutes later, though, everyone is happily sharing and playing together ... until the next fallout.

Lest you think yourself some sort of language prodigy, you have times when there is a definite FAIL of all verbal skills. Most often, this occurs when you don't get your way immediately. Mommy tells you "No" or someone has a toy you want. Then, your response is a high-pitched, LOUD, frustrated squeal. You have brought your friend Eliot to tears more than once because you "hurt his ears." The usual response is a completely still, silent room while everyone in it turns to look at you. Which you hate. So you burst into tears.

Even with the squeals and sibling squabbles, I am loving this time with you both so much. You guys are big enough to play unsupervised together and entertain each other for hours each day. Not all at once, of course, but even those short spurts of free time for Mommy are much appreciated. You guys have so much fun together. What a blessing to get to watch you turn into the best friends I keep telling you that you are. :)



These are the things I hear on an hourly basis:
"One more time" ... some kids say "Again!" but you prefer "One more time"
"You hear that?" ... not as much lately, but a couple months ago, anytime you heard a noise, this is what you said. Implied was a request for information about what made such a noise.
"I neeeeeeeeed you!" ... at first, this melted my heart, but you've overused it now, Buddy. A classic case of The Boy Who Cried Wolf!

We went shopping for a dress for Julia in February. You watched and followed as she ran around from pink dress to pink dress, taking them down and declaring, "Oh, Mommy, look! It boo-ful pink dress!" After she had about five in her hand, you marched up to her, looked her right in the eye and announced, "I like da bwoo!" She said, "You like the blue ones, buddy? Okay. I get you some." Then she handed you two blue dresses that you happily carried around until it was time to go. When told by Mommy that we were, in fact, not going to buy you a dress, you threw a royal fit. I missed a golden opportunity to take you into the dressing room and let you put them on while I took pictures. Not realizing there would be such a great photo opportunity, I had left my camera at home. Don't you think that would have been a great picture for your Senior yearbook?

Just yesterday you and Julia were playing in the yard (Finally! Spring seems to have made it up here to Knoxville ... it's been a long, cold winter!) You guys found some pool toys I had bought last year and stashed away. I blew up the pink inflatable ring for Julia and then did your blue one. Julia helped you get it around your waist ("Okay, Buddy, put this arm up through here; now this one up, too. You did it, Buddy!") You then walked into the middle of the driveway, twirled around and said, "Tanks, Mom! I a ballerina!"



You are such a sweet, funny mix of a boy who is All Boy, but yet has a girly older sister that he desperately admires. Everything Julia has (bows, panties, dresses) you want as well, but in "bwoo" or "geen" ... as if that makes everything more masculine. You insisted on wearing your hair bow to church last Wednesday night. Fortunately, most everyone there has or had children so they understood. You love balls and trucks and monsters and animals. And any man that you see is immediately a bud, but you view women with great suspicion. They, of course, are smitten with you and try so hard to be your friend that eventually you will benevolently bestow a smile upon them. Let a guy walk into your sight, though, and you ditch the girls to go hang out with the guys.

Don't think your world is all ballerinas and princesses. You've got approximately eleventy million cars and trucks that you love to play with every day. And if there is a ball in sight, you are convinced it is yours. Your favorite movies are Madagascar and Cars and you can sing the theme song to Wonder Pets as well as quote several catchphrases from "The Buggies." You have a love/hate relationship with "wo-bots" depending on if you've decided robots are scary that day or not.

I went back to read the letter to your sister when she turned two and was relieved to see that she also had an abrupt halt to any interest in eating vegetables. If I were to count french fries and ketchup as a vegetable, then you get plenty. Okay, you'll also eat roasted sweet potatoes. Yum. But just as I was getting smug about all the healthy things you would scarf down, BOOM! I really should know better.

You prefer apple juice over lemonade; jelly over honey; crackers over bread; peanut butter on a spoon over a peanut butter sandwich; green beans over peas; baked beans over black beans; and carbohydrates over any other food group. You will declare you don't like something and immediately try to get it out of your sight. When told to just leave it on your plate, you go into a pout. But, if it is left on your plate, after you've eaten everything else, you'll go ahead and give it a try. Usually you discover you like it. I've learned to give you little portions of everything and then refuse seconds on anything unless your plate is clear. Sometimes this works and you eat your veggies; sometimes you just decide you are finished after you eat the things you do like. But if dessert is mentioned before you finish, even in the statement, "Eat the green bean so we can have a cookie," your attention is immediately focused on the last half of the announcement. In fact, I'd go so far as to guess that you only hear the word "cookie" (or "fruit" or "yogurt" or whatever the dessert item is that day). You toss all food back on your plate and hop up to head to the kitchen and plead for your cookie. And throw a fit when told to go back to your seat and eat the green bean.


Are you seeing a little trend here? You are definitely two :)

You had a birthday party. I thought for sure you would want a blue or green cake so I insisted on searching for white cake mix instead of yellow. I wanted it to be easy to tint. Then, when asked, you thought for half a second and declared you wanted "Yellow!" I get the feeling I'll be able to tell that story a lot as a typical example of what it's like to be your mom :)


Here's a photo of you at your party. You really hated that everyone sang "Happy Birthday" and looked at you. Being the center of attention is becoming your Least Favorite Thing. Once everyone quit looking at you, you enjoyed the cake more.



Oh! You were so funny. Someone would call you "Birthday Boy" and you would ... pout :) and say, "NO! I no like Birf-day Boy!"

You liked being the Birthday Boy well enough when it was time to open gifts.


It's taken me all day to type this. You are obviously not someone to be summed up in a short paragraph. I think you should also know this ... Tonight (3/24) was the first time you prayed out loud during bedtime prayers. You thanked God for "the Giant Pickle and dinosaurs." Amen.

I love you,

Mommy

Drumroll Please ...

This young man ...



... had a birthday! Not that you would know that from this blog. I'd like to pretend that's because there's lots of stuff getting done in real life, but there's only about two people that read this that don't know me in real life so that little lie would be immediately spotted and commented upon. I can say with all honesty that I have not known where my camera was located for the past few weeks. Those of you that know me in real life will have no trouble believing that!

Anyway, much like Julia, I was behind in scheduling Dax for his two year checkup. But only by a couple of weeks. We went today. Nurse Molly said he looks very healthy. Here are his stats:

height: 34.4 inches (45th percentile)
weight: 28 pounds 2.5 ounces (60th percentile)
head circumference: 51.2 cm (off the charts)

For those of you curious how his stats compare with Julia's, check here. All I'll say is that I think my fears will be coming true. A 6'2" daughter and a 5'7" son. :) Regardless, I'll be looking up to both my children, I'm sure.

He's incredibly verbal. Much more so than Julia at the same age. But he's not as advanced physically. My own personal (extremely unscientific) theory is that their brains can only work on developing one set of skills at a time. It's something I've seen happen in both kids so far.

Happy Birthday To You!

One of the kids' favorite games right now is to stack up their nesting buckets into a "birthday cake." Most often, it is a big cake "for my Daddy," but occasionally they break it down into four smaller "cakes" and there's "one for Julia, one for Dax, one for Daddy and one for you, Mommy!" Then Julia sings her version of "Happy Birthday" with Dax providing slightly delayed backup vocals, and everyone pretends to blow out his or her candles. Fun times.

And as everybody knows, things only get funner with fire. (I'd like that on a t-shirt.) So, I did an impromptu birthday celebration with leftover candles from Julia's third birthday and "cake." Okay, the cake is actually the two halves of a hamburger bun, but the kids didn't care. After all, they got to blow out candles again and again and again and again ...

Julia saw these pink sparkly heart plates at Target and had to have one :)

They seemed a little girly for Dax,
but I didn't want him not to feel the Valentine's Day Love ...

Dax got ready to blow out his candles ...

But didn't have much success.

Which is why God invented Big Sisters :)

The Answer

Yep. The circus! Julia and Dax's friend, Gaige, had his second birthday party at the circus!! Isn't that cool?!? We had such a great time. The kids only lasted until intermission (nap time), but they really enjoyed the time we had there.

The Plague

There's been a bit of desperation in the Bouldin House these days. Mainly from Mommy. Both kids have been sick since Monday. It started out with lethargic, feverish children and by Wednesday had transformed into cranky, coughing, whiny, up-throughout-the-night, sleepy, needy children. It stayed that way for the rest of the week. Now Dave's got it, poor guy.

But enough with the whining ...

Yesterday, Julia felt well enough (and had been fever-free long enough) that we went to Mallory's birthday party at Mr. Gatti's. The party started right in the middle of Dax's naptime, so we left him and Daddy here at home to rest. Julia picked her outfit ...


We ended up compromising and she wore the dress and boots, but took off the leg (arm?) warmers and hat and left the sword at home. Dax ate a hot dog and some beans for lunch before we left ...


He looks really happy in that picture, but the truth is I just caught him mid-bite. :) By the way, it is very difficult to feed one child and not the other. Especially if The Other is a hungry two-year-old that really wants a hot dog. In that case, "You'll get pizza later/soon/at Mallory's party" doesn't cut it. So, Julia had a hot dog, too. (For the record, this is one of the first meals all week that they've been hungry enough to eat something other than smoothies or popsicles. Their poor throats hurt too badly to swallow.)

This makes the second weekend in a row that Julia had a birthday party to attend. She now talks all the time about wanting to go "buy a present for my frens." (translation: buy a present for her friends) She also wants to "go to her fren Miss Kenzie's house and eat cukcake and pway." (translation: go to her friend Mekenzie's house and eat cupcakes and play) I'm sure now we'll add in something about playing games and eating cake pops and pizza.

We only had one close call. :) Mallory's first present was a pink princess dress**. Julia was sitting on my lap, completely focused on licking all the icing off her cupcake until Mallory pulled that dress out of the bag. Then Julia sat straight up and said, "Oh, MOMMY! Boo-ful dwess!!!" (translation: oh, Mommy! Beautiful dress!) As soon as she finished her cupcake and cake pop (hey! it was a party! the sugar doesn't count, right?), Julia immediately rushed over to the bag to try to play with the dress. I called her back and she came crying to sit on my lap and listen to my explanations that "it's Mallory's birthday dress and we can't play with it right now, maybe when we visit her house." She told me, "but Mommy I want it!" (no translation needed)

She played video games for the first time. For the record, throwing the Skee Ball overhand does not work well. Also, if your child is two, just find a driving game and park her behind the wheel. No tokens necessary. If it is a toddler-sized version of the game where she can comfortably reach the gear shift, steering wheel and pedal then that's just a bonus :)




**Julia is currently fascinated by all things pink and princessy. We have the Little Mermaid on DVD and she asks many, many times during the day "Mom? I watch princess movie, Mommy?" (I do have to be on hand to skip past the climatic scene near the end where the sea witch gets very big. "Too scary, Mommy") At church one of the first things she runs to is the dress up corner. Sometimes with interesting results ...


Guess I'll be hitting the after-Halloween sales to pick up some beautiful pink princess dresses for our girl's birthday. Hard hat optional.

Late, But Still Cute

Julia practiced and practiced for Daddy's birthday. (The kids are playing with the bottles from Dave's birthday present. We currently have a plastic keg in our closet just a fermenting away.)

One Order Of A Full Night's Sleep, Please!

Sunday night we put the kids to bed thinking they would follow their usual pattern and we wouldn't see or hear from them until the morning. It was not to be ...

Julia woke up a couple of hours later crying. David went in a few times to calm her down and eventually came to bed. When she started crying again, I took my turn. I've got a pallet laid out on the floor in their room so I can lay down and snooze if someone is having a rough night. (I used to put it up each night, but I'm too lazy to do that anymore.)

I dozed a bit and each time I heard Julia fuss, I would tell her "Shhhh ... Mommy's right here." She was quiet for a long stretch so I snuck out of their room and headed to bed. Ten minutes later I heard "Mommy? Mommy? Bye bye, Mommy? Bye bye, Mommy? MOMMY!" So I went back in and repeated the same scenario. After I went back to bed that time, Julia skipped the quiet "Mommy?" and went straight to screaming and had advanced to wordless screeching by the time I made it to her crib. I picked her up and she was SO HOT! (Mommy Of The Year Nomination: I had only patted her briefly on the back thus far and hadn't realized the child was sick.)

She went directly to Dave in our bed so he could hold her while I got her some Tylenol, a new diaper, juice and a cool washcloth. After applying everything in that order, she "cuddled" with us in bed until the Tylenol kicked in. And by cuddle I mean she thrashed about, twisting and turning and kicking and poking. And let me tell you, her little noggin doesn't look like it could weigh that much, but when she falls asleep with it directly on your stomach ... well, I would put it at around 15 pounds. She fell asleep around 4 am ...

... slept through us getting up to Dave's alarm at 6:30 am ...

... even slept through Dave getting ready ...

(I thought (hoped) she'd sleep at least until lunch she was so exhausted)

... and woke up around 8:30 am. Happy Birthday to Me!!

I couldn't handle everyone in the house, so we all went outside to eat breakfast and paint ...

Yep. You're lookin' at breakfast.

Gasp! Joanna Lynn, did you send that child out to paint
in the Front Yard with no pants on?!?
Nuh uh.
Nope.
Not me!

Dax chooses not to bother with a pesky thing like looking at his artwork as he paints.

Perhaps he didn't eat enough breakfast?

Joanna Lynn, you did not get tired of cleaning that baby's head
while he screamed bloody murder on the Front Lawn
and just let him walk around
looking like he's part Smurf all day, did you?!?
Nuh-uh.
Nope.
Not me!

And the breakfast eating and painting and cleaning up took about an hour and for the rest of the day poor Julia laid all hunched up on the couch. Which meant I did not get the laundry done, the house picked up or dinner cooked because I was cuddling My Girl.

Which isn't such a bad way to spend a birthday.

80 Years

We went to Nashville this weekend to celebrate my Grandma's 80th birthday.

On the way, we introduced Julia to powdered donuts ...

She liked them.

Grandma laughed ...

and Bev played "Happy Birthday" on her new piano ...

We only made Grandma blow out three candles ...

And then we wanted to get a picture of all three kids with their great-grandmother. Remember Julia's aversion to posing for "important" photos? This day was no exception ...

Can you guess which of my children is pouting and saying, "NO MOMMY!" right then?

This is the best one of all the kids that we got.

Grandma and Grayson Steele