Hey kid, what's in your ear?

I give T1 quite a bit of crap for not being able keep the house presentable while being home this summer with T4 (and sometimes T3). From what I remember last summer it was a breeze. Duh.

It seems that turning 2 has brought about quite a few changes in his "ability".

This evening T4 and I alone at home and in T3s bedrooms looking at his elementary yearbook. T4 said "be right back" and took off.

I guess I was kind of engrossed in the pictures and so it took me while to notice how quiet it was.

I went to find T4. I did. In my bathroom.

It's so weird, but I've never seen a kid fill his ears with toothpaste. And then cover his face and head with toothpaste.

I'm okay!

You'll have to excuse my shrill voice - concrete floors in the house will do that and you'll have to excuse the dim lighting. It's because it's SO DIM that Todd even allowed me to share this video.

Of course, I'm proud that the little one RIDES A SCOOTER at 22 months, but that's not the funny part. You have to suffer through watching the little one "throw" the soccer ball to hear Teeks in the background crash and yell afterwards. It's so funny that I die laughing every time I listen. Comedy genuis... Oh and the little one riding a scooter is pretty cool, too.


I'm Okay! on Vimeo.

The negotiator

I can't remember if that was the movie with Kevin Spacey or not, but that's not "The Negotiator" I'm referring to. No sir, I'm referring the littlest member of my family - whom I affectionately call "Bitty".

So, a few nights ago Todd was in Arlington and I was home alone with the boys. Bitty had his bath first and TK was in the playroom playing. Bitty heard TK in there and said "See Ty-luh" (we are working on two and three words together). So I said "Yes, you can go see TK for ONE MINUTE and then it's off to bed". He looked at me very seriously and said "Fi minits". I said "No, ONE MINUTE" to which he replied "NO FI MINITS".

I take issue with a 21 month old that negotiates time with me. He's growing up so much faster than TK did. I know it's because he has a big brother to watch - and copy - leading to the following...

• He tells me to "Be ca-ful" when I get him out of the tub
• He says "Nah" when you ask him to take medicine. As in - will you take your medicine? Nah
• He rides a scoooter. Really. He pushes off with his left foot and balances on his right leg and rides - down the hill, up the hill, around the house, across the street - it's the only way to keep up with TK
• He demands "Ee-me mac" if he's in the mood for Easy Mac
• He can "buckadeen". That means he likes to buckle his own seatbelt.
• And lastly he like to talk on the phone to anyone that will listen.

Todd and I like his independence, but sometimes a mama just wants her 21 month old baby to be a baby.

"Nah"

Repeat after me

That's what you do when you are 19 months old. Much to the delight and dismay of your parents.

For example, it's delightful when I say "box" and you say "box". It's also delightful when I say "coffee" and you say "gahfee".

It's dismaying, though, when I say "hell" and you say "hell". Or when I say "crap" and you say "grap".

Thankfully you balanced that out last night by repeating me in your best voice when I said "Whatchu talk'n bout Willis???"

You did good Bitty. You must have known how much I needed a laugh like that one...!

I'm conflicted...

But I know the answer.

Got a call from a recruiter today to do a job that I was *MADE* for. It's a long term contract that will become permanent. For a GREAT company. For even GREATER money. Greater money than I've made in my almost 15 years of working. I don't have the job - as a matter of fact, we haven't even set an interview time with the HR manager since I'm out of pocket all day tomorrow. But it's exciting nonetheless. The potential is amazing and there's a BIG part of me that's ready to get back in the game for a while.

And then, the little one came up to me with his curly hair, too tight Cozumel t-shirt, rolled up jeans, holding a bag of Wheat Thins and said "cahgee". :-(

Because I want you to live...

That's what I say to the little one in response to his tantrums lately. What are the tantrums from you ask?

Oh, not much really. Just the little one climbing on the cubes in front of the fireplace and eating the fake rocks and insulation that are necessary for a gas fireplace.

Move the cubes? Oh, yes, I hadn't thought of that. Actually, I did. And TC is smart enough to have figured out how to get them off of the couch and put them back in front of the fireplace. Cut the legs off you say? Yes, perhaps that's next. Or just throwing the cubes in the trash can. Along with candles, flower arrangements, picture frames and pretty much everything else decorative in our house.

But, for now I'll keep explaining to him that he can't eat fake rocks and insulation "because I want him to live..."

Sheesh and ****

Vocabulary lesson courtesy of the little one.

"What are these Bitty? Are these shoes?"

"Sheesh"

"That's right, shoes. And if those are shoes, what are these?"

"****" (removed by TAW)

"Yes, socks. That's right. You can only say socks at home, okay?"

"**********************" (removed by TAW)

"Yep, I got it Bitty. Socks."

New addition

My newest nephew is here. Jackson arrived this morning weighing in at 7lb, 6oz and 19 3/4 inches long. Everyone is happy and healthy.

Our basketball team is almost complete with my 2 - ages 5.5 and 1.5 and now Brian's 2 - ages 2.5 and newborn.

Poor TK will always be Godzilla of the bunch, but these cousins love each other and have so much fun together.

Praise the Lord for his miracles.

Bite, bite, bite, bite!

Do you let your kids eat from the grocery cart while you are shopping? I don't mean fruit and stuff that is weighed, etc., because that would be stealing. :-)

No, I mean like crackers, etc.? I do and my grandmother doesn't really get that. She told me that her kids would have to wait until they got home. I was like "Wow, my mom and her brothers must have been good and well fed kids."

I took the little one to the grocery store with me this afternoon. Little one + shopping of any kind = me having a meltdown. He stands up in the cart, he yells, he grabs anything within 6 ft of the cart (long arms) and did I mention the yelling and standing?

Well, lately, he's also not been content to let ANYONE eat ANYTHING in his presence without yelling "BITE!, BITE!, BITE!" until he consumes every morsel of what you have/had.

This grocery visit was a new low for us. I ordered chicken from the deli and they always give you the sample. As soon as the little one saw the .1000 of an ounce of chicken he yelled "BITE!". So I gave him the bite.

Talk about awakening the beast...

The beast became so awakened that when I checked out I just scanned the empty bag...that once held 1/2 lb of deli chicken...

I think we're going to have to reevaluate the nickname "Bitty".

The math...

2 adults + 1 five year old + 1 sixteen month old + 10 hours ONE WAY in the car = 4 lucky to be alive people...

I'm changing the little one's name...

I'm changing his name to "Stop It".

What is it about 16 months and the kitchen table?

I ask because that's where we find the little one 99% of his awake time. He moves any and every chair, climbs up and dumps the salt and pepper out.

Exciting for me that I'm hitching a ride with my mom on her way to her 40th class reunion in Mississippi. While she's carousing with her high school buds, I'm going to stay with my grandmother with the kids...and no backup for the WHOLE DAY Saturday.

It's true that I invited myself to go along so I'm not complaining, I'm just saying that I'll be the one this weekend wearing running shoes and sweating...

TTTS

He puts the GEE in Genius

The little one just cracks me up on a daily basis. He's at the fun age, i.e. anything beyond newborn and he starting to know what he wants and trying to figure out how to get you to understand him. The big thing now is working on creating words. He's really picked up some, like mama, daddy, di-ber (diaper), be-bee (baby), bobble (bottle), doggie, more, bite, hot, ball, banana, etc.

And then there are the GEE family of words that we are still working out...

Coo-gee. Pronounced Coo-GEE. It means cookie and that's can be anything from Cheezits to Nilla Wafers to Quakes. If they are small-ish and round-ish they are coo-GEEs. And there must be an air of desperation indicated when saying coo-GEE - like if someone doesn't deliver that cookie the world will END.

Naw-gee. Pronounced gnaw-GEE. Naw-gee is the official catch phrase for TC. Naw-gee might mean "Give me that burp cloth", or "I want to hold that toy", or "Please pick me up", "Please put me down", "Please make the dog let me sit on his back". It means everything that the above words can't be used for. And he must love the sound because he will say it over and over and over and over and over again. Like this, naw-GEE!, NAW-gee!, naw-gee!, NAW-GEE!, naw-GEE!, NAW-gee!, naw-gee!, NAW-GEE!, naw-GEE!, NAW-gee!, naw-gee!, NAW-GEE!,naw-GEE!, NAW-gee!, naw-gee!, NAW-GEE!

Wah-gee. Pronounced WAH-GEE. This means water, duh. But is used to indicate ANY wish for something liquid. If you can drink it and he wants it, it's called wah-GEE. What's funny about wah-gee is that it started out being WATER - clearly, WAH-TER...

I told Todd that it's the little one's subtle way of reminding me that he is indeed a GEEnius.

I call it GENIUS!

This morning the little one woke up around 7:30 and when I got him up I changed his night diaper (as usual). We came down for breakfast and while breakfast was cooking he wandered over to where I was sitting and I smelled him. This is also "as usual". EVERY morning I change his 50lb wet diaper and about 15 minutes later he poops. AACK. But I can't bear to leave him in that sodden diaper for any longer in the mornings - so we just waste a diaper.

Anyhoo, I made some comments about "Oh I smell Bitty. Time to change!". So I realized that the diaper bag was in the car in the garage so I just went there to get a diaper and wipes and he followed me and when he saw me opening the door he said "Di-ber, be-bee, di-ber" his words for diaper and baby. I said "Yes, it's time to change the diaper". So he goes walking off in front of me into the den and lays down on the rug and puts his feet up and just waits for me to catch up and change his diaper! I was all, "REALLY? You are a genius!"

That friends, is service with a smile!

This story makes me think the little one will grow up to have the next Stephen Hawking brain. I'm *SURE* your child has done something equally astounding - but please don't rain on my genius parade. Let me enjoy the amazing mind of my 15 month old for just a little longer :-)...until he's 5 and smarter than me...

You know what they say...

If you leave your pantry open and turn your back...the baby will know and will get there before you will...

Two things

I am giddy with love for my kids lately. TK aka Tiki aka Teeks is growing in the funniest, sweetest and best kid on the planet. He's a physical comedy force. I think he's a hoot. He, of course, has his moments - like all 5 year olds and lately those moments include him referring to himself in the 3rd person which I truly hate. I made the mistake of letting him know that so now he just does it...for fun...to irritate me.

And TC, affectionately known as Bitty is the cutest baby EVER. Ask anyone that knows him. He's just so cute to me (and us). He has a belly laugh that can't be beat, two big ol' chiclets for top teeth and my dad's hair pattern and all those things add up to FREAKIN' CUTE! Tiki is a seriously gifted older brother. He's so good to Bitty and is constantly paying sweet attention to him.

Now to the second thing, brave Paulette Hartley is having surgery tomorrow. Paulette Hartley is my nickname for my mom. She's having cadaver bone put in neck. It's actually her second surgery for degenerative disc disease and they will use metal plates and donor bone to relieve the vetebrae that are currently rubbing against one another. Brian, Mara and I are going to hospital tomorrow to keep Ken company for a while. Prayers are always appreciated!

Sick of sick

I'm so, so sick of sick. I'm ready for everyone to be well and life to be normal. TC is doing better, but I tell you, the recovery from RSV is certainly s-l-o-w. It's really sad to watch. Poor baby sneezes and his weight in mucous. I understand now the invaluable skill of being able to blow your nose...the bulb syringe is a great invention, but now that the little one 'recognizes' it he does EVERYTHING he can to get it away from me or just get away from me. I do see a light at the end of the tunnel and the wheezing has stopped so that's certainly a plus!

Ba-whuh?????

That sounded like "...he has RSV."

So the little one has RSV. I really didn't see this one coming. He got a cold about a month ago and I got a little worried with so much talk of RSV among my circle of moms. But he recovered nicely and that was that. Just before Christmas both kids started getting stuffy and and while Tiki's just progressed to a plain old sinus infection complete with drainage and cough TC seemed to be getting more stuffy and feverish. Then came the vomiting and that was more than pleasant. And finally last night while I was changing him after his third bath (it's the only way to erase that sour smell) I heard the telltale wheezing. It sounded "lite" last night, but then this morning he sounded so much worse. So Todd took him to the doc and she confirmed RSV and sent us home with the fistful of prescriptions. We started the Orapred tonight and LUCKILY we already have a compact nebulizer, closet full of Pulmicort and Xopenex for breathing treatments.

I'm so frustrated by this diagnosis for MANY reasons, but that's another post. I sent my mother-in-law, a Senator in CO a very long email asking how I can raise awareness with my local legislators about the issue of the vaccine being more readily approved for babies under 6 months during RSV season. I was pleased to hear back from her that she is sending to her Women in Government colleagues AND forwarding to her pharma lobbyists in hopes of making a connection somewhere.

So I close with something infinitely more positive.

...The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow, For children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep. I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

3 months

WOW is all I can say. The little one is 3 months today! Where has the time gone? It's flying by so fast - so fast in fact I have actually contemplated having a 3rd...then Todd smacked me in the head to bring me back to reality! Those that know me know that I was a dedicated ONLY CHILD MAMA for the last 4 years - so the very fact that I have 2 children is a miraculous feat in and of itself...Thank the Lord for his plans :-)

Sleep is for losers

Well, for the second night in a row the little one has had some trouble making it work through the night. We have not spoken aloud of our tremendous luck that he has been sleeping through the night at 9 weeks because we didn't want to jinx it. So we just didn't speak of it. But now that it's temporarily over I feel safe talking about it. I feel so bad that I didn't take better advantage of those blissful 3 weeks of him having that 8:30 nightly bath, 8:45 nightly bottle and drifting off to sleep in my arms making his sweet little baby noises, smelling of baby lotion and miracles and dreaming all night in his aquarium swing and not peeping again until 5:30 or 6:30 a.m. How foolish of us to not be in bed every night by 9:00. Lesson learned...no matter now cute they are, never trust a baby. :-) I guess we'll sleep when we are dead.