Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Don't mess with us!

Shaaaaa--
Bam!
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Charlie's hunting trip



Beth and I bravely packed up four kiddos (ours + 1 I was babysitting) and went to a nearby park for a belated (Easter) egg hunt on one of those beautiful sunny days last week. What a gift this weather has been! I had to keep reminding myself that it is still April--as I'm unpacking my summer clothes and getting out the Elmo sprinkler for the yard. Anyway, the egg hunt was fun, but not so much a hunt really. The adults who put on the event hid a bunch of the eggs around the trees and stuff and then dumped about 20 of them in the middle of an open area. So, when you point a toddler toward this area, what's he going to do? Ignore the huge pile of colored eggs right out in the open and hunt for eggs? Uh, no. Before I knew it, Charlie was sitting down in the grass, eating a Reese's Peanut Butter cup wrapper and all. Cousin Aaron (above) got a little more into the hunting part. He was so excited to find an egg inside a tree knot (a "bird's nest" he called it).



Here is sweet Natalie with her eggs. I "babysit" 4-year-old Natalie as part of our co-op where we trade child care each week. She is so helpful and independent, it's not really babysitting! She is very entertaining too and always has interesting facts and figures to share--very into National Geographic lately. On this particular day, she was telling me about how daddy polar bears can't live in the zoo with their young because they will eat them. Good to know.
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"Do I look famous?"

Charlie got a pair of super cool Buzz Lightyear shades from his cousin Aaron. When I saw this pic of Mia trying them on it reminded me of my college roommate Jill. She said that she always wears sunglasses in the airport because then people might think she's famous. We teased her unmercifully for this. Love ya Jill!
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Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Funny thing happened on the way home from Buffalo

Parenting is full of those moments when you just have to laugh at yourself. The other day I had bought a few wooden puzzles for Charlie at a consignment sale. Then, I let Charlie play with one of the puzzles (featuring utility vehicles with sound effects) while we drove to Buffalo to meet the grandparents. Charlie was headed there to spend his very first weekend with Gramps and Gram-- sans parents-- Whoo hoo. Anyway, we successfully exchanged our cargo (one rambunctious toddler) after dinner and headed home. Bob and I were chatting when suddenly we started to hear a police siren. Bob looked anxiously in the mirror, then (nervous laugh) realized that it was the puzzle. A few minutes later we heard an airplane taking off, then an ambulance wailing. It was like the puzzle was possessed. After another ten minutes or sporadic sound effects, I started scrambling around in the back seat trying to find all the pieces. My theory was that the pieces had to be in their place to silence the noises. So, yes, this worked! The only problem was that we couldn't find the locomotive or the helicopter. My solution was to hold the puzzle in my lap with a forefinger strategically placed over the sensor in both of the empty puzzle spots. Silence was restored...almost...I could not stop giggling!

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Hi there Spring!


Amelia is six months old now and she's in that happy stage where life is grand and it's all smiles and squeals. She had her 6-month visit last week and weighed in at 17.5 lbs. This is still above average, but is significantly less than her brother's weight at six months. Charlie was 18 lbs at four months! She's 27" long, although it took the nurse a long time to determine this since Mia is such a wiggler! She was rolling all over the examining table and grabbing fistfuls of the paper-- ripping it to shreds as she went. She barely stays on anyone's lap anymore and wants to be on the go constantly. She bounces around in her jumper like she's on fire and already gets up on all fours and rocks. This is a little scary because I haven't re-child proofed the house for a crawler. There are plastic nuts and bolts everywhere (Charlie is not very organized with his tools)!


The warm weather is making one toddler extremely happy! It seems like as soon as he wakes up he is saying "outside mom, c'mon mom." He can put his boots on by himself now, sometimes on the right feet. We went to Ellison Park the other day and he chased ducks and puddles to his heart's content. At one point he got into a real marshy spot and when I went to pick him up, both of his boots were still in the mud!

Charlie had his two-year doctor's appointment the same day as Amelia's. I thought this was a good idea to combine the two trips but...not so much. Luckily, Bob switched shifts to come with me since he had a feeling it might be hard for Charlie. It was really his first trip to the doctor's where he was old enough to be very aware of the fact that unfamiliar things were going on. He didn't want to get on the scale, didn't want to get on the table, didn't want to take off his clothes, uggh! Glad we don't have to go back for a while. Charlie constantly entertains us with his strange obsessions-- with basements, for example. Today we stopped over to visit our neighbors next door who just returned from Florida. They are a nice older couple and gave Charlie some toys to play with. He played with them for a while and then stood up and said repeatedly, "I want to go down in the basement." He said this about four times and I was actually trying to ignore it. But, they asked me what he was saying and I dutifully tried to explain how Charlie loves to hang out in the basement--any basement. It can be a beautiful finished basement or a bare bones cement basement with creepy crawlies. It is his favorite thing to do. We were at Aunt Kat's house in Buffalo one time and Charlie must have taken everyone in attendance down to the basement at least once. Maybe it's because basements are often where projects happen, at least in our house. To be honest, I don't get it.


Amelia was cozying up in the backpack. Although she still loves the Bjorn carrier, it's getting to be a little rough on the lumbar region. Backpack is much better on that front--er back--you know what I mean.


Met some pals at the zoo on Tuesday. Here are two of the sweetest peeps we know, Cindy and her son Ben. Charlie and I are so bummed that they will be moving back to Canada in a couple of months. We are going to miss you tons!


When we took a walk the other day Charlie turned around and said, "Mia's kicking!" I just thought it was so funny to hear his first official tattle on his sis. I'm pretty sure that Charlie's going to get sick of hearing the "She's little and doesn't know better" spiel.



Chubby smiles.


She was giggling the whole time;)


"Whoa bro, where'd you go?"

Bro and sis bonding, bathtime, etc.


Charlie was watching a little TV to chill out and I set Amelia down next to him. Next thing I know he put his arm around her. It was adorable! They snuggled together for a while too.



"Whatcha looking at Mom?"
Amelia loves those sticky biter biscuits. She works on them forever and, in the meantime, smears a gooey stickiness all over her noggin. Bath is required after she has one of these things.


This slice was bigger than Charlie's head. He handled it like a pro.


The other night Aaron was over and since my kids were filthy, I decided to throw them all in the tub. Here's a birds-eye view of the activities. Funny, when we walked into the bathroom and Aaron saw Amelia's bath seat in the tub he said, "Hey, what's that potty doing in there?"


Here's Charlie opening his birthday gifts from Nana and Grandpa Adams. He was very excited to open all the packages. Thanks for all the goodies and we love you!!