I don't have pictures this week, either. So you get a lot of blah, blah, blah this week, but I finally posted a bunch of videos in other postings from the summer that can keep you entertained.
This week the potty police came into town. Definitely my child. Tucker is the potty policeman. He has this discussion with Whitney about who has a diaper and who doesn't of their friends. Like 10 times a day at least. I figure my mom will get a kick out of this. Apparently I did something similar when I was recently potty trained and my nursery buddies weren't. The conversation goes something like this: "...Aisley doesn't have a diaper. She's big. Joe has a diaper. Tom is big. He doesn't have a diaper. Lucas has a diaper......"
Tucker is really starting to like going to other places where he knows his friends are. He walked out of nursery and his pre-school classes this week with a big, satisfied smile on his face, sighed, and said "Mom, Tucker likes nursery" or "Mom, Tucker goes to pre-school. Pre-school is over". Whitney makes no comment, only continues on her content and patient way.
He really liked the house he went to this week. I think it has to do with the tramp, sandbox and some really cool activities. They did the five senses this week and Tucker had a grand ol' time with his buddy turning the smelling lab into a tasting lab. They really liked how the strawberry pudding mix smelled and tasted, so they thought they would get the same effect with cinnamon. Smells good, right? So a big huge lick of it on the tongue must be even better. Yeah. I think they learned their lesson. Dill weed was also on the paper and Tucker told me later that "mom, I LIKE pickles" Not sure he has had pickles of late. Who knows, though. Might be a dad snack for them when I'm gone. I stopped asking what happens when I'm gone. It makes me too mad to think about it sometimes.
Another thing they did at pre-school was to try to guess sounds. Tucker and his buddy (same as above) loved it so much they did it again.
I finally decorated for fall. I normally do it first thing sept 1st because I'm so excited for fall, but not as much now. I like to drag out summer and it's sunny days as much as possible. So since I waited so long, I could put out the Halloween decorations. I put their treat bags in their rooms. They are these felt bags of a candy corn and a ghost that hold about a soup can worth of candy. When Whitney walked into her room, she noticed right away. She got a big grin and giggled at them for about a minute. She really likes them. She refers to them as "Halloween". As in, "Where did Halloween go?" when I turn out the lights.
I read or heard somewhere that little kids don't necessarily know completely the difference between movie and reality. I think that might apply a bit to books. Whitney totally applies her books to real life. Here are some examples:
I asked her to get her pj's on and she started reciting "...get pajamas big and small..." over and over. It's a line from one of her books.
We went to a playground that has a monkey picture on the underneath of the slide and Whitney pointed out, loudly exclaiming: "Mom! Look! There's George!" We recently checked out Curious George for the first time and they love him. He's real.
We went to a place that has trains. Whitney started commenting "Tucker has train pajamas and Whitney has bear pajamas" Yep. You're right, Whit.
Her newer comments this week melt my heart. She made me "soup", fed it to me, and after I pretend ate it, asked if "mommy feels better now". She also says "I'm making Tucker feel better" whenever she does something to help him out.
The rest of this is just random silly stuff they say that makes me laugh.
Whitney finger painted her green smoothie on the table. I came over to wipe everything up and she said to me "Mom! I made pokey tree!" Pokey tree is what they call the holly bush in our yard. And it really did look like a leaf from the tree. I wish I had a camera to take a picture of that.
Whitney got out her blocks one day. There are some longer, straight, skinny blocks that do look a tiny bit like really thick french fries. She said she was making herself French fries. After she ate some, she made some more for Daddy, because "Daddy loves French fries." Yep. True that.
While we were at the playground one day, they were fighting over the little toy piano thing they have because Tucker wanted to play row row row your boat, but Whitney kept screaming "that's MY EMAIL!!". It does look a bit like a computer keyboard.
She can count to 13 easily now. I'm not sure why it's 13, but it is. She also likes to say "I'm listening, Mom" when I'm getting after Tucker about something. She calls going down the slide on her stomach "Whitney slug". There were two benches facing each other at the playground, so Whitney sat down and asked me in a very serious grown up voice "Mom, do you want to talk?" You bet!
We went to Value Village and there were some tap shoes one size too big for only $2. I seriously considered getting them for her since she loves to watch me dance, but realized another mom probably with a child really in tap lessons will want them, so I didn't. But then Whitney asked for them the rest of the day. She hasn't asked since, but I think she might be interested in dance when she is older. Or now.
Tucker was very considerate of Whitney at the lake this week. We didn't get in the water, but he threw rocks for a good long time while Whitney drew in the sand with her stick. He brought her a pink rock he found for her to throw in. And she wanted clam shells, so he brought her those when he found them. It was really cute.
Tucker likes to play take out the trash. He drags our recycle bin through the house just like I drag the big cans up the driveway. It cracks me up because he walks really slow and careful around the house like I do when they are "helping me" get the cans up so I don't trip over them.
One night I gave them goldfish crackers for dinner. I think they've been missing them. Tucker climbed up in his chair and said with his eyes big with excitement "Oooooo!! Whitney! We got GOLDFISH crackers!!"
Tucker has started liking to take care of me. He likes to feed me my food, give me water to drink and wash my hands for me, just like I do for him. Kind of annoying. Gave me a little respect for why he doesn't like it when I do stuff for him.
He figured out how to buckle himself in the seat so he always has to buckle himself in. Add another 10 minutes on to the trip. It gets worse if he thinks he needs to buckle Whitney in. And even longer if Whitney doesn't want Tucker to buckle her in. Whatever. BUT it takes even longer if I try to do it for them.
Whitney is trying to figure out the rules. And help others obey. I fed them smoothie for breakfast one morning and was going to drink my smoothie while I checked my email. Hah! No checking email. Tucker ran in and said "Mom. Are you eating?" and climbed up to share. Whitney came in and said "Mommy! Go sit in your chair in the kitchen! (with kitchen pronounced as chicken).
all in all they've been really good this week and we've had a lot of fun together.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
an encouragement to keep up daily scripture study
Tucker seems to know these old testament stories. we read stuff out of the picture scripture things once a day.
last minute beach play
Whitney brought me a clam shell with an animal in it.... the rest is self explanatory.
last week and videos from summer
Videos of Whitney pushing Tucker in the swing, playing the flip over game with Piglet and digging in the dirt together. The video below is Whitney taking a picture of Piglet with her play camera. I think I'll put the rest of the videos in separate posts. Taking too long
It's interesting to blog about Tucker and Whitney. They both have much better verbal skills, but Whitney talks a lot more and about pretend things. Tucker talks quite a bit, too. Usually about what is happening around him or to Whitney, so it is harder for me to remember what he says. So I've decided to start blogging about what he does during the day and just know that's pretty much what he says, too.
Tucker still loves water and pouring it. He does the dishes with me a bunch. This means he has the faucet on low filling and emptying a measuring cup. This is the same way he takes a bath. Otherwise, no bath unless it is absolutely necessary. He loves helping with the routine. He is very good about taking care of Sammy and Rocky and their needs. He feeds them and gives them water. He also is conscious of how much petting they need and realizes that they both love their ears "petted".
He loves helping me cook and clean purely to be able to use another tool. He stirs the noodles or veggies in the pot. This is a very stressful endeavor for me, to allow him so close to a hot surface. He also has taken up scrubbing the toilet. I also hate that one because I don't want that thing anywhere outside the toilet or any water being splashed, but we've come to terms with his turn and Mommy's turn and when his turn ends.
He also helped me make salsa from the 20 pounds of tomatoes we bought at the awesome stand. I happen to like my salsa fresh, spicy and with lots of garlic. I let him put in the tomatoes and turn the food processor on each time. He also liked to taste test each batch with chips. I kept tasting and saying "Que rico!". He caught on and did the same thing, scooping up the stuff, eating it and saying "que rico!" even though he would get an expression on his face like it was a bit too spicy or garlicy. I think he just wanted to eat chips.
I think Tucker likes to eat garlic, too. He'll eat large handfuls of garlic flavored Triscuits. Anyone that has had those knows there is a limit to how many you can eat, but he gobbles them up like another flavor of fish cracker.
Whitney has quite the imagination and the words to describe it. They really like to play with the holly berries. They put them in their "soups", gather piles of them, call them apples for Sammy and Rocky, etc. She came up with a new one. She rubbed one on my face and said "Mommy, do you want some apple blush?" and stroked my face like she was putting on makeup. She totally knows how to do it, too. Very intuitive with makeup.
They play "beach" in our shower stall. This is how it goes. They get their soft chairs and drag them into the shower stall. Then they sit in there and play all sorts of pretend beach games. Whitney even got out and was using her soft toy mushroom to put on the "crema para the playa" (sunscreen).
I only have a fitted sheet on their beds. They prefer to sleep on the floor anyway, especially Tucker. He puts his pillow right on top of the heater vent. Anyway, I thought just having the fitted sheet and their blanket would be a lot easier than covers and making two extra beds everyday. I don't know. I make their beds daily anyway once they learned to play this game. They like to crawl in under their fitted sheet and wiggle around like slugs and try to catch each other. The sheets usually come off every time.
Sunday Whitney totally tripped going into the church and did a hard face plant. I guess it didn't hurt because she chuckled to herself, looked up at me and said "Oh no! Silly Whitney slug!". She also calls going down the slide at the park on her stomach being "whitney slug".
On Tuesday I got after her quite a bit for being underfoot when I was going back and forth with stuff to can peaches. So later in the day when I wasn't actually moving hot stuff around, she came in the kitchen. She had her biggest pot in hand full of blocks. She said "the blocks are too hot for Mommy to eat. Mommy could burn herself". I also had my green waste bin out putting in all the scraps. She came in carrying her block bin, which is also green with a lid, only slightly smaller than the green waste bin and said "look! Basura just like Mommy". Spanglish is definitely the language of choice around here.
It has been dry here, even though the air is starting to get cold. They play in the back yard a bunch. One thing they play is Mommy and Daddy. Tucker cracks me up. He gets on Whitney's pink bike and says, "I got to go to work, Mom" and drives off. Whitney says she has to go to work with the plants. I guess they get that Tucker leaves and Whitney works outside in the plants.
Last week they had joy school at another kid's house. Wasn't my week to teach. Turned out pretty good. Tucker let go of his death grip about 15 minutes into the first day and 5 the second day. I think they are having a blast. They are learning about bodies this month. Boy did they have fun with that! Tucker came home the second day saying, "Mom! I go to school! School is all done. Bye Bye Annabelle!" That was the kid's house it was at last week. They made gingerbread men and drew outlines of themselves (with help) on butcher paper. They were very careful carrying their gingerbread men down the stairs to the car and waited until I said they could it eat it. Amazing, right? They also loved their body pics. I put them on the refridgerator and it filled the whole thing up. Whitney loved that. She laid it out very carefully on the floor and put toys along the side of it so she could look at it and point out the pockets and buttons drawn on it. Tucker wrapped himself up in the paper like a "Tucker burrito" (pronounced Tucker furrito).
Thursday we went to check out the salmon at the hatchery. It always amazes me how big the fish are that come up a tiny stream. The water is lower this year, so you see a lot more dorsal fins sticking out of the water and can really see them power through the shallow areas upstream. We were there a good two hours just watching, fascinated. It was fun.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
picture make up post
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| Whitney building her tent |
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| Whitney in the tent she made. No assistance necessary, including dragging all the cushions off the couch |
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| Whitney asked for this picture, but I forgot why. |
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| The other view of her tent she made unassisted |
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| "This is the life" Whitney singing while playing in the warm sand Labor Day weekend. |
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| Tucker eating lunch with Daddy. It was still cold after the fog just burned off |
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| More eating lunch |
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| The view from the beach on Labor Day weekend. These logs made a great see-saw that we played on together as a family a bit later |
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| Whitney found a "whitney puddle" that she was ready to get into and play in, even though it was cold. |
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| Tucker still eating and watching Whitney play in the water and boats going by, identifying them by color |
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| Whitney footprint, with my hand next to it for sizing |
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| In the drift wood tee-pee at the beach Labor Day weekend. |
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| Tucker loved this seaweed salad we tried on the way home from the beach Labor Day weekend |
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| playing Tucker doggy in and out of the driftwood teepee |
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| Whitney making "jamberries" She was actually pretty good at staying focused and keeping everything in the pot and not on her. I seriously need to make her an apron. |
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| Whitney making her favorite kind of bread with Daddy. |
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| Bouldering at the side of the river mid September. They did just fine walking around in all these rocks and throwing the big ones in the river |
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| Tucker carrying his rock to the river to chuck it in. |
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| Whitney eating something yummy Daddy gave her on our weekend trip over the moutain |
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| The weekend after Labor Day was still nice weather, but we wanted to feel some real summer heat, so we went sun searching. When we got there, the babies were a bit overheated for what they are used to and driving in a hot car. Taking a rest in the shade before getting on with the sun activities. |
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| Sharing ice cream with Daddy |
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| Sharing ice cream with Daddy |
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| There was a band playing music in the park. Tucker was fascinated, listening for about 10 minutes straight with rapt attention |
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| Whitney finishing the last of the ice cream cone in a very cute position |
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| There were tons of these petunias cascading from window boxes and hanging pots all over this cutesy town. I couldn't get over the color |
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| Tucker running out of the river |
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| Whitney made a sand cake and cut it in half to share with us |
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| Tucker doggy going through the tunnel |
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| There were several fires that had been burning for a few days to a month surrounding the town we were in. Made for some pretty backdrop at times |
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| Splashing in the river in the late afternoon sun |
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| Holding hands going up our stairs |
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| "Look, Ma! No stool!" Tucker can climb up easily on the counter. He's filling up his water bottle without help. |
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
broke the camera
So I haven't blogged because I don't have as many pics. And it's still been sunny I broke the camera on Labor day by dropping it in the sand. It is stuck half way between open and shut and I can't shut it off or open it to take pics. Oh well.
On Saturday we went to feel some heat by going on the other side of the mountains. It was heavenly. We had a relaxing fall day as a family where everyone was happy. On the way up we stopped to picnic along a river and get some energy out. Tucker and Whitney both had a blast throwing rocks in the river and climbing over the rocks "all by myself, Mom!". We did the same thing in the town we visited, just on a sandy beach along a river.
At the second river, they made us sand cupcakes to eat with a cherry on top. Tucker copied Whitney in this game. They drew in the sand. Tucker liked making turtles and smily faces. They ran in and and out of the water and threw sand, giggling a bunch. It's at times like these that I really enjoy the fam and am glad I'm not a pioneer. If I were a pioneer the fall season wouldn't be so relaxing, considering all the harvest and canning I'd have to do.
On the way home, we found an awesome fruit stand. They had 48 peaches for $10. And they had the "honor system" You just stuff the money in a hole in the wall. I guess they aren't staffed to pick the fruit and sell it, too. That was pretty cool to see that around! We bought a ton of peaches and tomatoes, so I'm going to do canning of peaches and salsa with some yummy stuff. Should be a lot of work, so we'll see how things go.
On the drive home Tucker and Whitney were being really silly. It could possibly be because we had listened to ba ba black sheep for an hour straight. They started shouting random words and then laughing hysterically about the word. I guess because it sounded funny. They liked saying porcupine fish lots.
Friday it was our turn to drop the kids off and go on a date. We went to the driving range and then to eat some pho. I've never tried golfing except that one time in 7th grade. Last time I tried it, the ball went about 18" to the left, so I wasn't so sure it was going to be much fun. But surprisingly it was pretty fun. It's interesting to be at the driving range. Not much talking. Lots of guys around; two other women who looked serious about the whole thing with their cute golfing outfits. I felt a bit silly and out of place because I kept asking all these questions of Jim. He put up with me. I'm pretty impressed with myself. I got the ball to go about 75 feet in a straight line after about 45 minutes. Beginner's luck.
I felt really bad, though, when I went to pick the kids back up. Apparently Tucker was not happy. He cried for the first hour, then slept the second hour, then was in a dazed condition for the last half hour. Apparently he was tired. Lucky, lucky me he went to sleep again about 20 minutes after we got home. I thought for sure with the nap that he was going to be up until midnight, but I guess he was just plain tired. I didn't think we had had an especially eventful or tiring day. But then there was the playground.
We found a triple decker playground that day with three tunnels at three levels. Pretty cool, huh! They thought so. We played for 2 hours there, but other than that, it was just errands and chores around the house.
Thursday we went to another beach park. We keep having these gorgeous days and I keep thinking that tomorrow is when the rains will come back, so we keep playing. The great thing, though, is now that school started, babies rule at the beach parks. It is way more fun and way less crowded. While we we there, they were splashing water toward the ducks. Tucker counted his splashes. He can easily count to 10. He attempts to go to 20, but those numbers are a bit out of order. I guess counting twice a day really helps (every time I give him his medicine we count to 20.
Earlier in the day we went to clogging. Before that, though, the babies figured out how to get into the toy rotation closet and pulled out all sorts of toys. One of the toys they pulled out were the stacking rings. They really like them. They invented all sorts of games. Whitney puts them on her arms like bracelets and says that she has "special O's for Tucker". Special O's are fruit loops. They do look like fruit loops. The other game they play with them is putting them on their feet and walking around the house. It looks like they are walking in high heels. Whitney picked up on that and said " Mom! I have my dancing shoes on, too!" Later that night when I had a bunch of kids over watching them while their parents were on a date, they played "dancing" on the "stage" of the mattress while I played the piano. Whitney really shows an interest in my dancing.
Monday and Wednesday were the first days of pre-school. By the end of the day on Monday I was certain I wasn't going to continue with this "great idea" of mine, but by the end of the day on Wednesday we were having lots of fun.
Monday Tucker had zero desire to participate in school and was not happy that he had to share attention with mommy. He had a lot of time outs in his room and pretty much ran around the house in between the time outs, only occasionlly coming to check on the activity. Whitney put up with it, and was good just to be obedient. But then Wednesday happened. The art activity was cutting and gluing. Holy cow. Had I known this earlier, I would have bought them scissors a while back. They both love cutting paper. But Tucker really likes cutting paper. Duh. Mechanical thing that changes the environment. We were supposed to cut and glue for about 15 minutes, but he did it for 25 and stopped only because I made him. He loved it! He is now our expert confetti maker. After that, they were both more interested to see what's next. We'll see how it goes this week. It's not my turn to teach for another month, so they will be going to the other kids' houses.
Whitney loved helping getting ready for school the saturday before. This week she loved the crayon melting activity the most. Wednesday afternoon they had already started to sing some of the songs. One of the songs has the lyrics "we never hit or kick or push". Whitney sings that part over and over. I think she is trying to give Tucker a hint.
Wednesday we had PB and J for lunch. Whitney has a scab on her nose from a fall earlier this week. She scraped it on some cement. After eating her sandwich, I told her to go in the bathroom to clean her face. She got pretty upset after awhile. I went in to help her out and she said she was upset because her face was still dirty. She had been working pretty hard to scrub the scab off, poor thing.
We also had smoothies for lunch. They were more frothy than normal that day. Tucker made me laugh by saying very ernestly, "Mom! I LOVE eating bubbles".
Later in the day we were outside playing. They were riding bikes around and playing "go to work" Tucker was daddy and he kept pedeling off to work. He would say goodnight each time. Whitney went off to work by working in the plants.
They say all sorts of funny things. Bear with me while I randomly write some of the silly stuff they say and do.
Whitney: "I like it! I'll show you! I'll eat it!" In reference to trying some new food Jim offered her.
Whitney also says " Mom, I want to help Tucker" with lots of things. Feeding him, wiping his bum, helping him off the stool washing hands, giving him food or kisses if he is upset. She also will help him get him food.
In reference to kayaking, Whitney told me the next day that "I like kayaking, Mom. Tucker likes kayaking, too!". They really liked going under the dock on the kayaks the day before.
In the mornings lately, Whitney has wanted to snuggle with me in her bed before getting up while Tucker goes and looks for Papa. She usually doesn't like Tucker touching her bed, let alone getting in to get snuggles from Mommy. But one morning, she scooted over and said " Mom, I made espacio para Tucker" and let him lay his head down on the pillow next to her. It was pretty cute.
She also doesn't really like it when Tucker gives her a hug because it usually ends up looking more like a tackle. The other day, though, Tucker figured out how to softly give her a hug and she tolerated it. She might have even liked it.
One time I felt like eating fruit snacks during the day. That always means I have to share, so I shared. Whitney was very confused. I don't ever give fruit snacks at random. I realized this when I gave her some and she said, "this is for.... This is for..... This is for...." and couldn't think of why I was giving them to her. I realized the only other time they've gotten fruit snacks was for potty training.
Tucker does lots of cute stuff, too. He really likes taking care of the dogs. He has learned that they like their ears petted and does it a bunch, especially in the mornings when they are most distressed or wanting food.
He gets really excited for people. He screeches in delight when he sees his friends coming or when Papa comes in the door from work.
They play pretend a lot more. Tucker likes to play dedo with me. He pretends his fingers talk, eat my food, drink my water, etc.
He still is really good at mechanical stuff. One time Jim was trying to text someone and Tucker kept asking him to push "Q" and pointing to the Q button. Learned that from the i-pad.
They know how to open and shut the sliding glass door. It's nice when they watch out for the dogs and open and shut the door for them when they need to come in or out, but a little more nerve wracking to go to the bathroom. I'm always listening for that door to open.
How he says things cracks me up. He is so earnest and excited. He loves his rain boots. One time he stopped mid-stride in running to tell me "hey mom, I have my BOOTS on!".
Tucker has been having fun playing with Whitney's toys, mostly to irritate her. He likes to wear her hair bow, her necklace, play with her dolls, etc. One day he came in with her beads on and said to me "Mom, I 'm ready to go to church now"
It always makes me laugh to see how they describe things with their new language skills. One night we had pizza and Tucker said "he has cheese on him" pointing to the slice.
She does lots of funny things, too. She likes to make tents in various places all over the house with different things. She used the couch pillows one day to make extra chairs like the soft chairs they have. She also played garage with the blocks, opening and shutting the doors to let Tucker drive his truck in and out of her "garage".
When we were at the beach, she heard some girls singing row row row your boat while they were on the lake. She was fascinated and paid a lot of attention to them until they ended the song.
They've really been helping me with my harvest projects. We've picked blackberries and made jam together. They are really good at making the jam with the smashing bit. They have liked harvest time, I think. Our neighbor has been letting them eat apples off the tree and they love them!
Hopefully I'll have pics for the next blog
On Saturday we went to feel some heat by going on the other side of the mountains. It was heavenly. We had a relaxing fall day as a family where everyone was happy. On the way up we stopped to picnic along a river and get some energy out. Tucker and Whitney both had a blast throwing rocks in the river and climbing over the rocks "all by myself, Mom!". We did the same thing in the town we visited, just on a sandy beach along a river.
At the second river, they made us sand cupcakes to eat with a cherry on top. Tucker copied Whitney in this game. They drew in the sand. Tucker liked making turtles and smily faces. They ran in and and out of the water and threw sand, giggling a bunch. It's at times like these that I really enjoy the fam and am glad I'm not a pioneer. If I were a pioneer the fall season wouldn't be so relaxing, considering all the harvest and canning I'd have to do.
On the way home, we found an awesome fruit stand. They had 48 peaches for $10. And they had the "honor system" You just stuff the money in a hole in the wall. I guess they aren't staffed to pick the fruit and sell it, too. That was pretty cool to see that around! We bought a ton of peaches and tomatoes, so I'm going to do canning of peaches and salsa with some yummy stuff. Should be a lot of work, so we'll see how things go.
On the drive home Tucker and Whitney were being really silly. It could possibly be because we had listened to ba ba black sheep for an hour straight. They started shouting random words and then laughing hysterically about the word. I guess because it sounded funny. They liked saying porcupine fish lots.
Friday it was our turn to drop the kids off and go on a date. We went to the driving range and then to eat some pho. I've never tried golfing except that one time in 7th grade. Last time I tried it, the ball went about 18" to the left, so I wasn't so sure it was going to be much fun. But surprisingly it was pretty fun. It's interesting to be at the driving range. Not much talking. Lots of guys around; two other women who looked serious about the whole thing with their cute golfing outfits. I felt a bit silly and out of place because I kept asking all these questions of Jim. He put up with me. I'm pretty impressed with myself. I got the ball to go about 75 feet in a straight line after about 45 minutes. Beginner's luck.
I felt really bad, though, when I went to pick the kids back up. Apparently Tucker was not happy. He cried for the first hour, then slept the second hour, then was in a dazed condition for the last half hour. Apparently he was tired. Lucky, lucky me he went to sleep again about 20 minutes after we got home. I thought for sure with the nap that he was going to be up until midnight, but I guess he was just plain tired. I didn't think we had had an especially eventful or tiring day. But then there was the playground.
We found a triple decker playground that day with three tunnels at three levels. Pretty cool, huh! They thought so. We played for 2 hours there, but other than that, it was just errands and chores around the house.
Thursday we went to another beach park. We keep having these gorgeous days and I keep thinking that tomorrow is when the rains will come back, so we keep playing. The great thing, though, is now that school started, babies rule at the beach parks. It is way more fun and way less crowded. While we we there, they were splashing water toward the ducks. Tucker counted his splashes. He can easily count to 10. He attempts to go to 20, but those numbers are a bit out of order. I guess counting twice a day really helps (every time I give him his medicine we count to 20.
Earlier in the day we went to clogging. Before that, though, the babies figured out how to get into the toy rotation closet and pulled out all sorts of toys. One of the toys they pulled out were the stacking rings. They really like them. They invented all sorts of games. Whitney puts them on her arms like bracelets and says that she has "special O's for Tucker". Special O's are fruit loops. They do look like fruit loops. The other game they play with them is putting them on their feet and walking around the house. It looks like they are walking in high heels. Whitney picked up on that and said " Mom! I have my dancing shoes on, too!" Later that night when I had a bunch of kids over watching them while their parents were on a date, they played "dancing" on the "stage" of the mattress while I played the piano. Whitney really shows an interest in my dancing.
Monday and Wednesday were the first days of pre-school. By the end of the day on Monday I was certain I wasn't going to continue with this "great idea" of mine, but by the end of the day on Wednesday we were having lots of fun.
Monday Tucker had zero desire to participate in school and was not happy that he had to share attention with mommy. He had a lot of time outs in his room and pretty much ran around the house in between the time outs, only occasionlly coming to check on the activity. Whitney put up with it, and was good just to be obedient. But then Wednesday happened. The art activity was cutting and gluing. Holy cow. Had I known this earlier, I would have bought them scissors a while back. They both love cutting paper. But Tucker really likes cutting paper. Duh. Mechanical thing that changes the environment. We were supposed to cut and glue for about 15 minutes, but he did it for 25 and stopped only because I made him. He loved it! He is now our expert confetti maker. After that, they were both more interested to see what's next. We'll see how it goes this week. It's not my turn to teach for another month, so they will be going to the other kids' houses.
Whitney loved helping getting ready for school the saturday before. This week she loved the crayon melting activity the most. Wednesday afternoon they had already started to sing some of the songs. One of the songs has the lyrics "we never hit or kick or push". Whitney sings that part over and over. I think she is trying to give Tucker a hint.
Wednesday we had PB and J for lunch. Whitney has a scab on her nose from a fall earlier this week. She scraped it on some cement. After eating her sandwich, I told her to go in the bathroom to clean her face. She got pretty upset after awhile. I went in to help her out and she said she was upset because her face was still dirty. She had been working pretty hard to scrub the scab off, poor thing.
We also had smoothies for lunch. They were more frothy than normal that day. Tucker made me laugh by saying very ernestly, "Mom! I LOVE eating bubbles".
Later in the day we were outside playing. They were riding bikes around and playing "go to work" Tucker was daddy and he kept pedeling off to work. He would say goodnight each time. Whitney went off to work by working in the plants.
They say all sorts of funny things. Bear with me while I randomly write some of the silly stuff they say and do.
Whitney: "I like it! I'll show you! I'll eat it!" In reference to trying some new food Jim offered her.
Whitney also says " Mom, I want to help Tucker" with lots of things. Feeding him, wiping his bum, helping him off the stool washing hands, giving him food or kisses if he is upset. She also will help him get him food.
In reference to kayaking, Whitney told me the next day that "I like kayaking, Mom. Tucker likes kayaking, too!". They really liked going under the dock on the kayaks the day before.
In the mornings lately, Whitney has wanted to snuggle with me in her bed before getting up while Tucker goes and looks for Papa. She usually doesn't like Tucker touching her bed, let alone getting in to get snuggles from Mommy. But one morning, she scooted over and said " Mom, I made espacio para Tucker" and let him lay his head down on the pillow next to her. It was pretty cute.
She also doesn't really like it when Tucker gives her a hug because it usually ends up looking more like a tackle. The other day, though, Tucker figured out how to softly give her a hug and she tolerated it. She might have even liked it.
One time I felt like eating fruit snacks during the day. That always means I have to share, so I shared. Whitney was very confused. I don't ever give fruit snacks at random. I realized this when I gave her some and she said, "this is for.... This is for..... This is for...." and couldn't think of why I was giving them to her. I realized the only other time they've gotten fruit snacks was for potty training.
Tucker does lots of cute stuff, too. He really likes taking care of the dogs. He has learned that they like their ears petted and does it a bunch, especially in the mornings when they are most distressed or wanting food.
He gets really excited for people. He screeches in delight when he sees his friends coming or when Papa comes in the door from work.
They play pretend a lot more. Tucker likes to play dedo with me. He pretends his fingers talk, eat my food, drink my water, etc.
He still is really good at mechanical stuff. One time Jim was trying to text someone and Tucker kept asking him to push "Q" and pointing to the Q button. Learned that from the i-pad.
They know how to open and shut the sliding glass door. It's nice when they watch out for the dogs and open and shut the door for them when they need to come in or out, but a little more nerve wracking to go to the bathroom. I'm always listening for that door to open.
How he says things cracks me up. He is so earnest and excited. He loves his rain boots. One time he stopped mid-stride in running to tell me "hey mom, I have my BOOTS on!".
Tucker has been having fun playing with Whitney's toys, mostly to irritate her. He likes to wear her hair bow, her necklace, play with her dolls, etc. One day he came in with her beads on and said to me "Mom, I 'm ready to go to church now"
It always makes me laugh to see how they describe things with their new language skills. One night we had pizza and Tucker said "he has cheese on him" pointing to the slice.
She does lots of funny things, too. She likes to make tents in various places all over the house with different things. She used the couch pillows one day to make extra chairs like the soft chairs they have. She also played garage with the blocks, opening and shutting the doors to let Tucker drive his truck in and out of her "garage".
When we were at the beach, she heard some girls singing row row row your boat while they were on the lake. She was fascinated and paid a lot of attention to them until they ended the song.
They've really been helping me with my harvest projects. We've picked blackberries and made jam together. They are really good at making the jam with the smashing bit. They have liked harvest time, I think. Our neighbor has been letting them eat apples off the tree and they love them!
Hopefully I'll have pics for the next blog
Sunday, September 2, 2012
40 days of sun......
Saturday the Seattle Times had a headline, big huge bold letters, front page that said "40 days of no rain" You mean 40 days of sun. Definitely a record breaker for the area. And I have loved it. Most of my plants are still alive. We'll see if the grass recovers. Lots of people don't water their grass in the summer. I decided to join the club. I hate mowing anyway. But even with the lack of water, the grass in the shade is only a little limp. still green. Amazing. The stuff that is in full sun most of the day is brown, brown, brown. But that's ok. That's usually the grass that does well in the winter.
Today Tucker's asthma got scary out of control, so Jim took him to the doctor. As they drove away, Whitney said "Bye Tucker and Papa! I love you!" Tucker spent most of the day wanting to be on me, holding my hand, or better yet, snuggling in arms. I have an erector spinae of steel, I tell you what. Poor little guy.
He gave us a pretty good scare last night. He had this horrible barking cough that made him cry out in pain, but he couldn't get a good breath so it came out in this horrible half moan and him arching his back. Thank heavens his body is used to this and he finally got rid of all the snot that must have been collecting fairly rapidly, so it was only scary for about 3 minutes. Until the next time and the next. 11 pm- 4 am. Hate that time of night. My brain knows it is the peak of infections and fevers, but seriously, it is always the longest 5 hours ever. So today we decided no more of the scary breathing and took him in to get the snot cleared out of him with a mask of water and some medicine.
Whitney is was helping him feel better. She was throwing his boots all over the driveway. He was laughing up a storm. Until he got laughing too hard for all the snot he had, poor thing. He even joined in with her for a couple of minutes to throw boots, even though he had spent most of the day dazed or doing quiet play.
Since Tucker was so low key and chill with this asthma thing, I decided to run a few errands. He was very content to sit in the cart and hold on to my neck in a big snuggle and I was content to not have the full weight of him in arms all day. And Whitney was happy to go shopping during a big sale. I must admit, I've never gone shopping on Labor Day weekend. Seems like a camping sort of holiday. For camping sort of people, that is. There were tons and tons of people everywhere. And Whitney was loving it because I was putting stuff in the cart. Lots of times I go to the store and put stuff in the cart and then decided I don't "love it" for the price it is and put it back. But today, I put some stuff in that I liked the price. And Whitney was very excited. She actually said "Oh! Oh! Mom! I LOVE it!" to a few things. Like her ladybug (and frogs for Tucker ) rain boots. She even put them on tonight while she threw Tucker's around the driveway. She is also really liking sitting in the big part of the cart so she can put the items up to pay for them. Before it was a real challenge to shop anywhere but Costco or Target because they would fight about the baby seat. Now, Tucker can have it.
Whitney and Tucker are getting much better at counting lately. Whitney can count to 16, if you count eleven-teen and twelve teen as correct answers.
So now I go back to the beginning of the week. Tucker didn't look at or really touch me all day Monday, so I got a bunch done. As soon as Papa walked in the door, he was all snuggles. I think he was mad at me for "abandoning" him for such a long time. He got over it by Tuesday morning and was doing all the mommy snuggling and Tucker doggy noises that mean he wants snuggles.
So what exactly was he doing all day? I have to wonder. He was putting a diaper on and off himself. I don't get it, either. I think he was pretty impressed with himself that he finally learned a skill that he hasn't been able to do for half of his life. The velcro on/off noises were fun, too. Good thing he was putting in on over his clothes.
The results of Daddy time were still present. We went to the park that evening to enjoy our gorgeous fall weather (already started here). He asked to go potty, then beelined it for the mens. Again. The last time he did that was after he had been with Grandpa for part of a day. Now he discusses it with me pretty much everywhere. "Oh yeah. That's Papa's side. " then goes in "mama's side" Happened at church today, too.
Another thing about being with papa is that, before I left, I said I was going on a trip. Whitney was cute and said "I don't want you to go on a trip!" then a little later she said "Whitney wants to go on a trip with mama". Jim thought that was a good idea, too. I said no. After Whitney and I had our trip discussion, Tucker pipes up and says"Mom. That bathroom was pretty gross". I about fell over laughing at that. I didn't know Tucker had all the sentence structure and vocabulary, let alone memory from a week ago when he was with Papa for a good part of the day. Jim had mentioned that when he took Tucker potty at a public bathroom, Tucker wanted nothing to do with it and they had to go home to potty. I guess now we know why he wasn't interested. It was pretty gross.
Enough of the potty stories. Until next time. On to trash talk.
Tuesday I was watching a friend's kids while she went to a doctor's appointment. She wasn't planning on going to the appointment because it would mean she would be 5 days overdue. Poor thing. That wasn't even the end of it. She ended up being 7 days overdue.
Anyway, Tuesday is trash pick up day. I was playing with the 5 kids under the age of four when the green waste truck came. He pulled up and dumped his dumpster into the big part of his truck all right in front of them. He had a captive and fascinated audience. But then the audience turned into the people being watched. The trash man parked his truck and jumped out to say hi and chit-chat for 2 minutes because he was in shock about the 5 of them. As he got out he said "there are only supposed to be 2. Now there are 5!! How'd that happen??"
Not to be too concerned. I have talked briefly with the green waste guy off and on over the past 2 years. The first reason he got out of his truck is because of our kayaks. One day he parked the truck when I was in front and said, "I've been wondering about those boats every week and haven't asked because no one is out front, but now I can ask" I guess he is an avid beach hiker (skinnest trash man I've seen in a long time, now that I think about it) and often pulls along his kayak on his hikes, using those wheel attachments. He wanted to know if we liked our ocean ones and how heavy they were and all. He also had seen our Utah plates and asked why we were out here. Jim mentioned BYU and he has a brother in law or something that went to BYU. But it was interesting to me to realize that the trashman, or the mailman, or the fed ex guy (he leaves 2 dog treats each time he delivers a package, which only adds to the excited barking) all know more about us than I usually think. I always think of them as strangers, yet, he had a point. He observes the same route over and over and so learns about his customers, where I only see the outside of the city truck everyday. Long story short he knows we have two kids, not 5.
Later that night we went to meet some neighbors that had moved in. I think they have kids. I hear kid noises that I've never heard before until they moved in. I told Whitney the cookies were for the neighbors and that they probably have kids. She was good with that. Until we stopped by and they didn't answer the door. It was around 7 pm and I had already bathed them. I had put them in the stroller in pjs hoping they (Tucker) would fall asleep on the walk. No such luck with the sleeping bit, but Whitney felt like she had scored. As we pulled away she said to me: "Mom, the big kids are sleeping. They don't want their cookies" Meaning, I want their cookies now that they don't need them. The next day she asked for them. I think this is when she realized she had better learn to count, and fast.
Wednesday started off a little sad for Whitney. They had a bad sleeping night, so I let them sleep in, which means they didn't see Daddy before he left. Whitney noticed. At breakfast she said "Papa didn't give me a beso". That made us laugh. Half the time Whitney doesn't want kisses. She gives him a stink eye and avoids him, or wipes it off. But I guess it has to be on her terms.
The morning got better because Daddy's packages for them arrived. Big fish and Bozo hit the dust. Too much excitement and whale rides and such. The repairs on them weren't working. So Jim ordered more, not to my knowledge, anyway. But Wednesday morning they were blown up and ready for playing. Except this time Daddy got the black whale, which is bigger in size, and a shark. The way the shark is designed, it rocks like a rocking horse, so they love it. And big fish is always a hit.
In the afternoon Whitney instructed me to ride a stick she found for me like a horsey, just like her. We had races. While we were racing, Tucker was pushing Whitney's bike around and going to check out the garbages. He is tall enough now to lift the lids up quite a bit, and that is fun for him. Except one garbage can "is stinky, mom", more so than the others. Yep.
Thursday we went to the doctor. This is how I do doctors appointments. Fish crackers. Duh. So obviously weaning them off fish crackers only lasted a day. Not worth it. Especially when I got this response out of Tucker. When we pulled up, Tucker said "Oh yeah! The doctor!" in a very excited and animated voice of one who knows he's getting fish for sure.
Jim also bought them a ton of stickers over the weekend. One of them has a worm on it. Tucker loves this particular sticker more than others. He calls it the star snake sticker. I have no idea why. There isn't a star and a snake on it together. But later in the day, he pulled up his pant legs to expose his skinned knees (which he has this year, considering all the sun. we didn't have that problem last year) and put a star snake sticker over both boo-boos. He checked often during the afternoon to readjust their positions and to make sure he could still find them attached to his pants.
Tucker is picking up on sentence structure quite a bit. His favorite sentence is "He's......" and then some action. Like he's running. We went on a walk and saw a bunch of huge slugs they watched. Finally, Tucker ready to move on, said "bye bye slug" then looked at me and said "he's eating dinner". Which he probably was, as he disappeared a bit into the weeds.
The other sentence structure he likes is "It's pretty..." and then fill in the blank. Like "It's pretty gross, Mom." or "It's pretty high" in reference to the basketball hoop level.
Friday we stayed home while I pretended like I was going to get some gardening done. The area that I have prepped for grass is now the local sandbox. They can dig in it for hours and love it. I have a friend that has a big dirt pile in her backyard. She has had it there for some time. Long enough that I didn't have kids when it was first formed. I remember her saying to me "ooooohhh!I hate that dirt pile!" I remember thinking to myself, why? The kids have so much fun in it. Now I know why. They may entertain themselves for 4 hours at a time, but that means you have to spend those 4 hours in cleaning the house. Not sure about the trade off. The laundry piles up more, the walls and doors where they touched have to be wiped down and the sweeping and mopping is much more too. But it is fun. It's how I kept four 2 year olds and one 3 year old in one place fo 2 hours on Tuesday. The dirt pile. And the driveway.
On Friday Whitney hurt herself somehow. I tried to circumvent the usual pattern. She hurts herself, does a fake cry (sometimes real) and runs over for me to kiss it, at which she immediately stops crying. I tried to just go straight to the kiss so I didn't have to hear crying. It didn't work. I kissed her leg, then she yelled "No! Spit it out!" then took her hands in a cupping motion near my lips and put "the hurt" back on her legs with her hands. Whatever. With babies no one ever wins.
The outside play was good, though. Whitney learned to pedal her bike and Tucker figured out the joy of shooting hoops
Later that night, I was cleaning her face and pinched at her nose to get some dirt off of it. She said to me. "Don't touch my nose. It's gross!"
It's supposed to stay sunny this week, so more adventures to come.
Today Tucker's asthma got scary out of control, so Jim took him to the doctor. As they drove away, Whitney said "Bye Tucker and Papa! I love you!" Tucker spent most of the day wanting to be on me, holding my hand, or better yet, snuggling in arms. I have an erector spinae of steel, I tell you what. Poor little guy.
He gave us a pretty good scare last night. He had this horrible barking cough that made him cry out in pain, but he couldn't get a good breath so it came out in this horrible half moan and him arching his back. Thank heavens his body is used to this and he finally got rid of all the snot that must have been collecting fairly rapidly, so it was only scary for about 3 minutes. Until the next time and the next. 11 pm- 4 am. Hate that time of night. My brain knows it is the peak of infections and fevers, but seriously, it is always the longest 5 hours ever. So today we decided no more of the scary breathing and took him in to get the snot cleared out of him with a mask of water and some medicine.
Whitney is was helping him feel better. She was throwing his boots all over the driveway. He was laughing up a storm. Until he got laughing too hard for all the snot he had, poor thing. He even joined in with her for a couple of minutes to throw boots, even though he had spent most of the day dazed or doing quiet play.
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| Whitney put the flag in the ground and made it stand upright all by herself. She was very proud of that accomplishment and asked for me to take a pic |
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| after effects of blackberry picking |
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| Trying to get the last remains of the blackberries off his face |
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| Looking for Moses, Jonah and the temple |
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| Whitney all ready to sing Rubber Duckie |
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| Joe. I didn't tell him to put his arm around his brother and Tucker. It came natural |
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| All five buddies together. This was enough to make the trashman get out of his truck in amazement |
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| The girls |
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| Obviously a perfect day at the beach. For wa |
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| Tucky cuteness |
Whitney and Tucker are getting much better at counting lately. Whitney can count to 16, if you count eleven-teen and twelve teen as correct answers.
So now I go back to the beginning of the week. Tucker didn't look at or really touch me all day Monday, so I got a bunch done. As soon as Papa walked in the door, he was all snuggles. I think he was mad at me for "abandoning" him for such a long time. He got over it by Tuesday morning and was doing all the mommy snuggling and Tucker doggy noises that mean he wants snuggles.
So what exactly was he doing all day? I have to wonder. He was putting a diaper on and off himself. I don't get it, either. I think he was pretty impressed with himself that he finally learned a skill that he hasn't been able to do for half of his life. The velcro on/off noises were fun, too. Good thing he was putting in on over his clothes.
The results of Daddy time were still present. We went to the park that evening to enjoy our gorgeous fall weather (already started here). He asked to go potty, then beelined it for the mens. Again. The last time he did that was after he had been with Grandpa for part of a day. Now he discusses it with me pretty much everywhere. "Oh yeah. That's Papa's side. " then goes in "mama's side" Happened at church today, too.
Another thing about being with papa is that, before I left, I said I was going on a trip. Whitney was cute and said "I don't want you to go on a trip!" then a little later she said "Whitney wants to go on a trip with mama". Jim thought that was a good idea, too. I said no. After Whitney and I had our trip discussion, Tucker pipes up and says"Mom. That bathroom was pretty gross". I about fell over laughing at that. I didn't know Tucker had all the sentence structure and vocabulary, let alone memory from a week ago when he was with Papa for a good part of the day. Jim had mentioned that when he took Tucker potty at a public bathroom, Tucker wanted nothing to do with it and they had to go home to potty. I guess now we know why he wasn't interested. It was pretty gross.
Enough of the potty stories. Until next time. On to trash talk.
Tuesday I was watching a friend's kids while she went to a doctor's appointment. She wasn't planning on going to the appointment because it would mean she would be 5 days overdue. Poor thing. That wasn't even the end of it. She ended up being 7 days overdue.
Anyway, Tuesday is trash pick up day. I was playing with the 5 kids under the age of four when the green waste truck came. He pulled up and dumped his dumpster into the big part of his truck all right in front of them. He had a captive and fascinated audience. But then the audience turned into the people being watched. The trash man parked his truck and jumped out to say hi and chit-chat for 2 minutes because he was in shock about the 5 of them. As he got out he said "there are only supposed to be 2. Now there are 5!! How'd that happen??"
Not to be too concerned. I have talked briefly with the green waste guy off and on over the past 2 years. The first reason he got out of his truck is because of our kayaks. One day he parked the truck when I was in front and said, "I've been wondering about those boats every week and haven't asked because no one is out front, but now I can ask" I guess he is an avid beach hiker (skinnest trash man I've seen in a long time, now that I think about it) and often pulls along his kayak on his hikes, using those wheel attachments. He wanted to know if we liked our ocean ones and how heavy they were and all. He also had seen our Utah plates and asked why we were out here. Jim mentioned BYU and he has a brother in law or something that went to BYU. But it was interesting to me to realize that the trashman, or the mailman, or the fed ex guy (he leaves 2 dog treats each time he delivers a package, which only adds to the excited barking) all know more about us than I usually think. I always think of them as strangers, yet, he had a point. He observes the same route over and over and so learns about his customers, where I only see the outside of the city truck everyday. Long story short he knows we have two kids, not 5.
Later that night we went to meet some neighbors that had moved in. I think they have kids. I hear kid noises that I've never heard before until they moved in. I told Whitney the cookies were for the neighbors and that they probably have kids. She was good with that. Until we stopped by and they didn't answer the door. It was around 7 pm and I had already bathed them. I had put them in the stroller in pjs hoping they (Tucker) would fall asleep on the walk. No such luck with the sleeping bit, but Whitney felt like she had scored. As we pulled away she said to me: "Mom, the big kids are sleeping. They don't want their cookies" Meaning, I want their cookies now that they don't need them. The next day she asked for them. I think this is when she realized she had better learn to count, and fast.
Wednesday started off a little sad for Whitney. They had a bad sleeping night, so I let them sleep in, which means they didn't see Daddy before he left. Whitney noticed. At breakfast she said "Papa didn't give me a beso". That made us laugh. Half the time Whitney doesn't want kisses. She gives him a stink eye and avoids him, or wipes it off. But I guess it has to be on her terms.
The morning got better because Daddy's packages for them arrived. Big fish and Bozo hit the dust. Too much excitement and whale rides and such. The repairs on them weren't working. So Jim ordered more, not to my knowledge, anyway. But Wednesday morning they were blown up and ready for playing. Except this time Daddy got the black whale, which is bigger in size, and a shark. The way the shark is designed, it rocks like a rocking horse, so they love it. And big fish is always a hit.
In the afternoon Whitney instructed me to ride a stick she found for me like a horsey, just like her. We had races. While we were racing, Tucker was pushing Whitney's bike around and going to check out the garbages. He is tall enough now to lift the lids up quite a bit, and that is fun for him. Except one garbage can "is stinky, mom", more so than the others. Yep.
Thursday we went to the doctor. This is how I do doctors appointments. Fish crackers. Duh. So obviously weaning them off fish crackers only lasted a day. Not worth it. Especially when I got this response out of Tucker. When we pulled up, Tucker said "Oh yeah! The doctor!" in a very excited and animated voice of one who knows he's getting fish for sure.
Jim also bought them a ton of stickers over the weekend. One of them has a worm on it. Tucker loves this particular sticker more than others. He calls it the star snake sticker. I have no idea why. There isn't a star and a snake on it together. But later in the day, he pulled up his pant legs to expose his skinned knees (which he has this year, considering all the sun. we didn't have that problem last year) and put a star snake sticker over both boo-boos. He checked often during the afternoon to readjust their positions and to make sure he could still find them attached to his pants.
Tucker is picking up on sentence structure quite a bit. His favorite sentence is "He's......" and then some action. Like he's running. We went on a walk and saw a bunch of huge slugs they watched. Finally, Tucker ready to move on, said "bye bye slug" then looked at me and said "he's eating dinner". Which he probably was, as he disappeared a bit into the weeds.
The other sentence structure he likes is "It's pretty..." and then fill in the blank. Like "It's pretty gross, Mom." or "It's pretty high" in reference to the basketball hoop level.
Friday we stayed home while I pretended like I was going to get some gardening done. The area that I have prepped for grass is now the local sandbox. They can dig in it for hours and love it. I have a friend that has a big dirt pile in her backyard. She has had it there for some time. Long enough that I didn't have kids when it was first formed. I remember her saying to me "ooooohhh!I hate that dirt pile!" I remember thinking to myself, why? The kids have so much fun in it. Now I know why. They may entertain themselves for 4 hours at a time, but that means you have to spend those 4 hours in cleaning the house. Not sure about the trade off. The laundry piles up more, the walls and doors where they touched have to be wiped down and the sweeping and mopping is much more too. But it is fun. It's how I kept four 2 year olds and one 3 year old in one place fo 2 hours on Tuesday. The dirt pile. And the driveway.
On Friday Whitney hurt herself somehow. I tried to circumvent the usual pattern. She hurts herself, does a fake cry (sometimes real) and runs over for me to kiss it, at which she immediately stops crying. I tried to just go straight to the kiss so I didn't have to hear crying. It didn't work. I kissed her leg, then she yelled "No! Spit it out!" then took her hands in a cupping motion near my lips and put "the hurt" back on her legs with her hands. Whatever. With babies no one ever wins.
The outside play was good, though. Whitney learned to pedal her bike and Tucker figured out the joy of shooting hoops
Later that night, I was cleaning her face and pinched at her nose to get some dirt off of it. She said to me. "Don't touch my nose. It's gross!"
It's supposed to stay sunny this week, so more adventures to come.
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