Thursday, March 10, 2011

My Boy


MY BOY loves to be outside. I think he would spend all day outside if we'd let him. His favorite thing to do outside? Play in the DIRT. Give him a container he can fill, and he is in little boy heaven. He found an empty bubbles container one day and spent the entire time outside filling and emptying it with dirt. He likes to fill buckets with grass too. He also occasionally picks a dandelion for me :) At the playground, he loves to swing (takes after his mommy) and will say "push me higher!".

When he's inside, he likes dumping and filling things too. Which means I will find all the puzzle pieces in the doll stroller, or all his cars inside the Legos box. (I think I like it better when he's moving dirt around outside!) He has recently started doing some more imaginative play. He likes to play with Lila's dollhouse people. And when he builds with his Legos, I hear him talking to his Lego Buzz and Woody. 

He loves to sing songs. Usually the ABC song or some other children's song, even nursery rhymes like Baa Baa Black Sheep. He will sing along with Piper's music on her floor mat, which plays "The Bear Went Over the Mountain" tune. His favorite videos right now are Barney and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so I will also hear songs from those occasionally. I got some Mickey Mouse underwear as incentive for going potty on the toilet. We had one success a week ago, but since then he has adamantly refused to sit on it. Once it warms up some more, we will try a little more aggressively to see if he is ready. 

Over the past few weeks, Wyatt has been waking up every night, usually 2-3 times. It is bad when your toddler wakes up more than your new baby!! He has also been very itchy and had little tiny bumps all over (like goosebumps). Then his skin started to get red patches like a rash, so I finally decided it was time to see a doctor and took him to a dermatologist. She said he had eczema and prescribed some lotion and "itching syrup" (medicine to take before bed so he won't be so itchy). Since he started those, his skin has almost completely cleared up. He's had 2 nights of not waking up at all, and 3 nights of waking up only once. I never would have guessed that his itchy skin was what was waking him up! The doctor said often when you have itchy skin, you don't sleep as deeply. I'm glad he is feeling better AND sleeping better! I do think that the diapers dry out his skin (he always seems to be scratching at his lower back), so maybe when he can finally wear that Mickey Mouse underwear, that will help too. My mom tells me that when I was little, I got bumps on my skin and she had to stop using fabric softener. The dermatologist gave me a list of things to stop using and fabric softener was on there! Guess he got his skin from me. Sorry, bud.

Wyatt is in the repeating phase. It is funny when he says these "adult" phrases. Like the time I came to a stop at a red light and from the back seat I heard him say, "Come on, person!" (hmm... wonder who he's heard that from!) Or when I tell him we are going to do something, and he says, "Oh, dat's cool!" Of course, he also speaks like a two year old... like asking for some "washmellows" for a snack! Another thing he does all the time is jump. If he's getting out of the car, he jumps out. If he's stepping over a curb, he's jumping over it. EVERY. TIME.

I couldn't talk about Wyatt at this age without mentioning his favorite food - which has to be M&M's. If he finishes all the food on his plate, we usually have this conversation: 
Me: "Do you want something else?" (as in a second helping perhaps?)
Wyatt: "yes!"
Me: "What do you want?" (more fruit? more milk?)
Wyatt: "some M&M's!" 

Of course, I shouldn't be surprised since his mommy likes them too. Guess that's just further proof that he's MY BOY.


Wednesday, March 9, 2011

My Girl



MY GIRL is four. She will be five in July. She is growing up too fast. Today I took both Lila and Wyatt to the dentist. I had told Lila that if she did a good job, we could go to the library afterward. She did fabulous! She practically bounced into the chair - and even let them take x-rays (which she's been unwilling to do the last couple times). So, we went to the library and she participated in the "All by Myself" story time for 4 & 5 year olds. A couple weeks ago she spent the night at Aunt Janina's house. She had a great time and didn't ask about us once. 

This week we were almost late to school. Normally I would wake up on my own with plenty of time to spare, but the night before I had been up with Piper more than usual so I was tired. I had set my alarm but apparently didn't hear it. I woke up at 8:35. We normally leave the house at 8:45. Somehow I got Lila dressed, lunch made (thank you Lunchables!), breakfast eaten and to school by 9:00. It helps that school is only about 8 minutes away. It also helps that the staff come to the carpool lane and get the children out of the car... because Lila was dressed, but the rest of us were still in pajamas!

She loves going to school, although she must enjoy being at home too because she doesn't ask about school on the days she is at home. She does, however, ask about doing crafts or "doing school" (learning activity books). I used to think a craft had to be some project I came up with for her to do. Nope. She is the MacGyver of crafts... give her some paper, any kind of art supply and tape... and she will make her own craft! Easy enough for me! She also likes to draw her own pictures and is getting better and better at drawing identifiable objects! 

I have enjoyed the few conversations I've had with Lila's teachers. They recently celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday at school. They took pictures of each student and then put them on the bulletin board with a paper 'Cat in the Hat' hat on top of their heads. Each student looked at the camera and gave a nice smile. Except Lila. She cocked her head to the side, posing with an impish grin. When her teachers told me about it, they talked about how much they enjoy Lila. Remember that penguin bulletin board? I had asked Lila which one was hers and she told me "the one that is flying." When I shared that story with Lila's teacher, Mrs. Hedges laughed (she has a really infectious laugh) and then said, "Even though we just talked about how penguins don't fly. But hey, with a craft you can do anything, right?" and then laughed again. And then Mrs. B said that was her favorite penguin.

Another thing that Lila really enjoys doing right now is helping with Piper. And boy, does Piper love Lila! I'm not sure who gets more smiles from Piper - me or Lila! When Piper is fussy, Lila will bounce her in the bouncy seat and try giving her a pacifier (which Piper usually doesn't want). She talks to her while I'm changing her diaper. The other day when she was talking to Piper, she turned to me and said, "I like being a big sister." I think you're a pretty special big sister. And I'm so glad that you are MY GIRL.

The Care Bears' playground.
(Hearts and Care Bears are stickers if you couldn't tell.)

She drew this on Valentine's Day... Mommy and Lila holding valentine hearts.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

March 2nd is Dr. Seuss' birthday. To celebrate, we had Cat in the Hat pancakes.

These are fun because you get to eat them by dipping them in syrup!

Before dinner, Wyatt had to get his hair washed up a bit from playing outside in the dirt.

Yum, yum!

These were super easy to make too. Just divide your pancake batter in half and add some red food coloring to one bowl. (I used Wilton food coloring which is a paste - not sure how liquid food coloring might change the consistency of the batter). I used a 1/4 cup measure to pour the bottom pancake and a 1 Tb measure for the rest of the hat... 5 "red" layers and 4 white. I cooked them on a griddle so they could all cook at once, and then I just stacked 'em up!

Friday, March 4, 2011

Phone Pics

I often take pictures on my phone, but I don't upload them to my computer all that frequently. Today I did. So here is a random selection of pictures from the past few months, taken on my phone.

Lila wanted me to take her picture. 

This was taken awhile ago... maybe a month ago? One time after Piper ate, she fell asleep with her hands folded like this. 
So angelic :)

Wyatt is feeding George here. Yes, that's right. He's nursing him!

Just a snapshot of life right now: Lila coloring, Piper crying, and I think Wyatt had dropped something down his shirt.

Piper's startle reflex.

Waiting for the coals in the grill to heat up.

Pouty lip.

Piper and Lila

Smile

Piper has been giving us smiles for awhile now. Here are some of my attempts to capture one in a picture. She gives them frequently but quickly.

Thinking about smiling.

Almost all of her smiles start on this side of her face.

Her dimple is peeking out a little bit here. Notice how her hair is in focus but not her face? That is what happened when I lowered the camera so she could see my face!

Bad lighting but a good smile.

Big grin!

And finally, a little video I took when I was trying to get her to smile. We were outside, so the sound quality isn't the greatest. Wyatt says, "Piper's gonna look at Wyatt" -- in case you can't understand him. (I took this video on my phone so the picture quality may not be the best either.)

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Muffins with Mom

In February, Lila's preschool had a "Muffins with Mom" morning where she and I went to school a half hour earlier than normal to eat breakfast together. We took a picture before we left the house.

I didn't realize until I got home and looked at my pictures again that this doesn't show any muffins! Ha, ha. They were on the other side of the flowers. There were lots of different choices: blueberry, strawberry cheesecake, pumpkin, lemon poppy seed, chocolate chip. I know there were more, but those are the ones we tried.

I tried to take a picture of Lila eating, but it was a little hard when I was sitting right next to her. (Yes, I could have stood up and moved farther away but that didn't occur to me then.)

Here she is getting some water after she decided she didn't like the cranberry punch after all.

Did you enjoy having breakfast with just Mom? I think so!
(Piper and Wyatt were at home with Daddy.)

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Windy Day at the Park

Last week it was a nice day, so we decided to go to the park. We drove the couple blocks to get there. When we got out of the car, the breeze coming across the lake was a little cool, but fortunately the kids' coats were in the car from when we used them on Sunday (which is why Lila has on her dress coat).

First stop: feeding the ducks. This didn't take too long because Wyatt's idea of tearing off a "small" piece of bread is to throw in half the slice!

Next we went over to a big open field to run around and play.

Sitting down to take a break.

We stood behind this wall to get out of the wind for a little bit. Finally, we decided it was time to head to the playground. Piper was asleep in the stroller this whole time.

Fun times going down the slide.

Talking to each other via the pipes on the playground.

Hanging around while Wyatt checks out the telescope.

The other great structure to play on is the big rock.

Wyatt can climb up on it too.

It also has a little tunnel you can walk through (if you're a kid).

I told him if he smiled he could get down. This was the best he gave me.

Where Lila goes, Wyatt wants to go.

Peek-a-boo!