Cute Kid Stuff

I've been collecting things my kids say that are adorable. It's time to put them here before the kids erase them from my phone. :)

The Boy:

I know a great recipe for mud.  Dirt and water.  I know how to make salty mud, too! Dirt, salt, and water.


Mom, I want to play a board game. Why? Because I'm bored!


With my new bike I can totally win first place in the slow motion bike race!


Zsa Zsa:


I say Zsa Zsa in Dutch. Zsa Zsa in Dutch. I DID it! 


I was reading the Ensign (church magazine). Zsa comes up and says, "That's Jesus! Does he say, 'behold'?"


I think the baby is gonna pop out and do a funny dance like this!  (funny dance commences complete with jazz hands)


Aunt Nancy asked Zsa what our new baby's name would be. She paused and seriously considered before stating, Sleeping Beauty. 


CJ:


Smiled while she was awake. :D 

Zsa Zsa's Third Birthday and Party

In a stark contrast with last year, I did not spend the night before Zsa Zsa's birthday sobbing in my mother's arms. I did not spend it sobbing, at all, in fact.

I think this is evidence that EMDR Therapy is working. It should be, at $140 a session. Holy Toledo.

We all (except the Boy) had a great day celebrating Zsa Zsa's 3rd birthday.

She chose green pancakes for breakfast (whole wheat blender pancakes with a handful of spinach added in) and we ate them happily (except for The Boy).

Then we took baths (happily, except for The Boy) and got dressed. The Birthday Girl got to wear a super cute princess dress. :)

Then we headed out to run errands. While at Costco, I let her look at the cakes. I was half thinking I'd copycat which ever design she chose and half thinking of ordering the cake, because I'm seriously, seriously pregnant. Plus, clearly we needed a cake that feeds 48 since the invite list had a total of 6 kids on it.  From ALL the cake designs she could have chosen, the winner was...

Blue Dinosaur. 

I'm serious. She could have had a princess, a clown, flowers, balloons...but no. Blue Dinosaur was the clear winner. So much so, in fact, that there was a fight between The Boy and Zsa about who got to have Blue Dinosaur Cake for their birthday. We finally decided both of them could. Phew. Disaster averted.

A few days later we had her party. With The Boy's 3rd birthday I kind of went over the top. Like, rented a bouncy house and invited everyone we knew, over the top. Because we only do parties on odd years, Zsa's party was the first one we've had since then. I have learned that 3 year old's don't need bouncy houses. (Husband and the accounting gods are doing a happy dance.)

3 year old's don't even need formal invitations. I texted four moms whose kids play with us frequently.
We met at the park and ate cake and ice cream and played on the toys. Best.Idea.Ever.

 Can we agree I got the important part on video? Keeping the candles lit in the wind was enough of a challenge...

 Who wants cake? 

Notice the happy grin...and my extremely gravid uterus atop spindly legs...

If you are my daughter, happiness is a park, chocolate cake and not holding your pee while playing in the sand. 

Happy Birthday, my sweet Energizer Bunny. 

Yesterday: The Day I Had a Brilliant Parenting Moment

My kids have been craving one-on-one mom time, so yesterday I made it happen.

First, The Boy and I drove to a pumpkin patch were he was allowed to choose any pumpkin he could carry. We ended up with a pie pumpkin, which is just fine with me, I like pie from scratch. In fact, I bought a hand-mill for that exact purpose a few years back. :D

Then we made a quick stop to pick up potty training incentives for Zsa.

Back home to pick up Dad and Zsa Zsa. Dad and The Boy went to the soccer game (did I mention Dad is helping coach the team? Yeah, I thought it was funny, too).

Then Zsa Zsa and Mommy went to the produce store where she promptly picked THREE pumpkins. But, altogether they were cheaper than at the patch, so I let her get them. She also helped pick our apples and generally charmed the rest of the clientele with her booming voice, hilarious commentary, and princess cape. (Two year olds are the bomb)

We met up with the guys at the park and watched the end of the game. After a quick lunch at home, The Boy decided he needed ANOTHER Mom Date, so we went to Costco. I let him wander without a time limit in the toys section, which was so fun.

At the end of our trip I had a BRILLIANT idea. Seriously. It's Saturday at Costco in Arizona during snowbird season. The store was packed. The checkout lines were long. The Boy had a practice to get to, AND he wanted ice cream. So while I waited in line to check out, I sent him and two dollars to wait in line at the food court. You remember he's four, right?

So he waited patiently, got to the window and ordered his OWN chocolate ice cream in a cup and paid all while I watched from the checkout stand. He was so proud. *I* was so proud. Also, we saved enough time that we made it to his practice without being late.

Beside getting his own ice cream I think he was most pleased with the change and receipt in his pocket, which is kinda funny. Nobody can say I'm not doing my best to raise a self-sufficient kid. Or one whose good at reasoning. When I asked for my change back, he said "Well Mom, it's in MY pocket, so that means it's MINE." All right then. Just this once you can keep it. But 10% is going in your mission jar.

The Boy and Zsa Zsa

I'm seriously considering renaming this blog, "Brilliant Things My Son Did".
He's getting to the clever stage and I'm constantly amazed.

For instance, the other night he didn't want to go to bed, so he formed a coherent argument instead of just whining like he'd normally do. "But Mom! Some people are NOCTURNAL." Upon recounting this conversation the next day to my friend within his hearing, she asked, "Well, The Boy, do you know what nocturnal means?"

Accompanied with a sigh and eye roll worthy of any teen he replied, "nocturnal is when you're awake at night and sleep during the day." We were both impressed. I was less impressed when I found out he learned the word from TV. I'm trying so hard to get rid of that thing, I hate when it has redeeming qualities.

Another argument he made this week was early in the morning. Like 5:30 in the morning. He came into the parental unit's room and said, "Since you're still really tired and sleeping, can I watch TV?" (I told you I hated that thing, right?)

Also this week we were working on math sentences, specifically the concept of "greater than".
He decided he wanted to write his own sentence to go along with our manipulative math lesson so he wrote this: "10>5?"
When asked about the question mark he said, "They go at the end of sentences!"
Thus began our lesson on punctuation. He was fascinated, I swear. =)

Zsa Zsa continues to be a bright spot in my day. She's so eager to agree to anything I propose, it's such a refreshing change from some other children I could name. I dread the day she figures out doing the dishes, or pretty much anything Mom suggests, isn't really all that fun. "Mom, I want to play a game wiss you." "OK! Let's play 'Clean the Oven'!" "YAY!"

I also love her little half lisp. I kind of hope she doesn't lose it for a while because it's so endearing.
"Mama, I want to snuggle wiss you" is my favorite thing to hear.

She's my naturally optimistic child, and I get a kick out of her sunny disposition. It makes me all warm and fuzzy on the inside. :)

Zsa Zsa is a perfect study in how modern toys aren't any better for us than the sticks our multiple great grandparents had. Her current favorite toy is a shoe lace. Yes, I'm totally serious. Sometimes she uses it with the lacing card horse it came with, and sometimes she uses it without, but it's in her hand nearly the entire day any time we're home. Battles ensue at bedtime when mama (wisely) insists strings do not make good bedtime toys. She is awfully stubborn, though. I can't think where she gets it...

Vacation: Lake Tahoe Coming Home

Did you know it's 13.5 hours of driving time between Lake Tahoe and our house? This doesn't count the gas and meal breaks. Because we were coming home on Sunday, we stopped for church, as well.

Did you also know there are pretty places in Nevada? I'm seriously not joking. I drive through Nevada frequently, and I've never seen a place like this. Just over the mountain from Tahoe is this little place called Carson Valley and it is GORGEOUS. We almost didn't leave. Especially after we found out the ward we attended had been fasting and praying for new families to move in.
Oh my goodness. The valley is mostly ranch land. GREEN IN AUGUST ranch land. The town we were in was clean and small (with a Thai place) and the people were super duper nice. The only thing wrong with this place is that it's in Nevada, so there were also a couple small casinos. I hate gambling. It's just taxes for people bad at math. Sadly, people who are bad at math are pretty much the last people who should be gambling. It's 8 hours from my mama, and 12ish from The Hubs parents. Those are both totally doable one day driving distances. I may be thinking moving thoughts.

Also on the way home, we stopped for dinner in California somewhere at a Denny's. Zsa Zsa is two, right? So imagine our surprise when she stabbed dinner with her fork in one hand and started using the knife in the other to cut between the tines. Clearly, she's going to be a brain surgeon. Also, she now has no excuse for eating rice with her hands the night before.

We got home about 1:30am Monday morning. Our whole family was glad Hubs had taken Monday off from work, as well.

Oh, and our first week back, Phoenix has been setting record highs. Who came back to early? <raises hand>

Things I Learned This Week

• You're supposed to vacuum as many times in the week as you have people living in the house. Did y'all know this? WHY didn't someone tell me I'm only vacuuming HALF as much as I should be? I thought I was being all proactive getting out the Bissell twice a week. Pish. 
• My son can spell his name...and send texts and emails from my phone. This means people I haven't talked to in oh, forever, are getting text messages from me that say only The Boy's name.  

• Just because you CAN make a tutu without a pattern doesn't mean you SHOULD. Unless you want to do it over three or so times. Seriously, use a pattern. :D I will say it was super a lot more easy to do with my new sewing machine, courtesy of my mama. 
• Cooking three dinners in one night, day after day can get a little old, and your personal family may starve. 
• Job's Tears (croix beans) are good for colon cancer.

• If you let your kids read Dr Seuss, they are bound to Box with Socks. At least they weren't boxing foxes. 

THREE.DAYS.

Swimming lessons are over, thank heaven. During the second week, The Boy would.not.get.in.the.water.

It took him three days and losing the privilege of going to Cars2 on the second day to tell me why. He didn't like it when the teacher let go of him. SERIOUSLY!?!?! THREE.DAYS.

Tonight at dinner was more of the same. He was refusing dinner until I guessed that he wanted me to cut up his burrito. He was going to skip dinner, rather than tell me he'd prefer it if I cut it up for him.

We had a big fat discussion about how you get what you want faster, if you come out and SAY IT.

Shades of his father, coming through. I may try sticking my head in the still-broken oven again. Seriously.
At least The Hubs is learning. The Boy still has a ways to go.

This week he also said stuff like, "When is the world going to be over?" and "I'm ready for the world to be over". Talk about giving a mom a heart attack. He said it so solemnly, I'm considering taking him seriously...and to a child psychologist.

In happier news, Zsa Zsa has turned into quite the little fish. She's so daring and adventurous it's a little nerve-wracking. Every once and a while she scares herself and gets less (much less) adventurous for a while.
The Boy seems to really be enjoying tumbling. I'm not sure what I'm paying for since the  first day I asked what he learned, and he said, "jumping over a pillow". Every time we drop him off and drive away, Zsa Zsa says, "I lost my brother!" Once, she was sleeping at home when I dropped him off and when she woke up, she said, "Where my brother go!? Get my The Boy!" She's started to refuse afternoon naps because she's afraid he'll leave without her, which is kind of cute. MUCH cuter than making Mom guess what might possibly be wrong. Equally cute is how fast they both went to sleep tonight. The Boy was snoring before Daddy finished stories. That never happens. Thank you swimming, going to the movies and tumbling all in one da...zzzzzzzzzzz.

Reading the Constructions, and Other Fun Stuff My Kids Say

The Boy is obsessed with pictographs. He's just certain he knows what everything says if there's a picture with the instructions. "Mom! I'm reading the constructions!" "OK, babe.

This past week was our first week of swimming lessons. One morning while putting on his suit, The Boy examined the clothing label, which had a pineapple on it. "Mom! This swimsuit makes it so you can EAT under water!"

He thinks he knows what all the traffic signs mean. He's nearly never right. Also, he's obsessed with no smoking signs and people who light up. He likes to tell me about the people smoking and how bad cigarettes are and how funny they smell WHILE we are walking right past the people smoking. Ferills. It's SUPER embarrassing.
The Hubs thinks it's great. Kind of like a public service, but I see this behavior spilling over into other areas of life. He talks about blind people and people who look different than us right in front of those people ALL THE TIME! Regardless of how often I tell him it's not nice. I can't tell you how I live in dread of the first time he realizes people come in different colors.  There's nothing like a four-year-old to promote humility in a parent.

Zsa Zsa has spent the week month, potty training. Yesterday she left the house for the first time without a diaper or pull up. Not only did she stay dry, she went potty at Great Grandma's house! I can't tell you how happy we were. I'm still bringing pull ups on our Great Northern Migration, next month. I may be brave, but I'm not stupid.

Zsa Zsa's also full of creative sayings. The other day she and I were running errands alone. I kept telling her how wonderful and sweet and clever she was, and she kept saying, "I not sweet. I ZSA ZSA!" "I not smart! I Zsa Zsa. Daddy smart, Sammy smart, I Zsa Zsa." That last one kinda broke my heart.
Then the next day, she hit someone else in the car, and I used her real name to let her know that wasn't nice. She said, I not ________, I a GIRL!" Then I think maybe she's figuring out adjectives are not nouns and more than one word can describe a person.

This morning she was galloping around the house saying, "Hi Daddy Forsey*, Hi Momma Forsey!" We would say, "Hi Zsa Zsa Forsey!" Her reply? "I not a forsey, I a Zsa Zsa!" So maybe not.

Two-year-olds are highly entertaining, and I wish my little girl would stop growing up so fast. I feel like I'm missing it.
*Forsey is Zsa Zsa for horsey, in case you don't speak Zsa Zsa.

My Bean

...is growing up. For my own records, I'm going to take a moment and record some of her cute, two-year-old-self.

• Leaving the house last night to run errands, Zsa Zsa was talking to me. "I love daddy. I love brother. I love beans....I Love Leesa, I love Ab-ee, I love DOODLES." 
• She has a knit blanket my mom made her when she was born. This blanket goes everywhere with her. Since she's getting bigger, this has been something of a challenge, since she has other things she'd like her hands to be doing. Luckily, my inventive daughter has come up with a solution. She now stuffs the blanket under her shirt, thus allowing for blanket closeness AND hand freedom. 
• I held my sleeping girl in my arms at church today, and noticed she got her first freckle. It's right between her eyes on the bridge of her nose. The Boy's first freckle was on his leg. 
• She's a pack rat. How many toys can she take with us in the car? As many as will fit in her arms, plus one. That's how many. 

A Conversation with A Two Year Old

Daddy: Zsa Zsa! What's the matter?

Zsa Zsa: I not MADDER!

Daddy: Zsa Zsa? What's the matter?

Zsa Zsa: I NOT madder! I ZSA ZSA! I upset!

Probably the highlight of my day, right there folks. It's been a doozy! 

Luckily, I'm not the only one. Earlier this evening I read this by Mommamita, and it made me feel better about the whole weekend and motherhood in general, which I have not been holding in very high esteem of late. 

Thanks, Alison. :)

Father and Sons, a Mom's Perspective

This weekend is our church Father and Sons camp out. The Boy has been practically apoplectic with excitement for a good week now. This morning I did some last minute shopping for things like buns and s'more fixn'ns. The Boy REALLY wanted to come shopping with me, but not enough to stop watching a movie and get dressed in the 90 minute window I gave him. He was kinda pathetic running down the drive in his super hero undies and pj top with tears and snot dripping down his otherwise handsome face.
So sad that he has to suffer the consequences of his actions, isn't it? I know. I win the Best Mother Award.
(Just so no one calls CPS, The Hubs works from home and was on board to take over if he didn't get dressed in time.)
When it came time for the guys to leave on their trip, Zsa Zsa was just so sure she'd be going, too. And why not? She always gets to go when Daddy leaves!
As she snuggled me on the couch in tears I asked her if she thought she was a girl or a boy, and with out missing a beat, she said, "I a BOY!" This statement was made just that much more hilarious by the pink and frilly tutu around her waist.
So I've done my best to make our girl time special. We watched Gone With The Wind and Caillou and I made exactly what she requested for dinner, "eggies and straw-babies". Later, she gets to take a spa bath and have her nails painted. And maybe, if she's a very good kid, I'll play trucks with her before bed. But only if we get to wear our pink tutus.

PS: I have to say, if I had all boys I'd really look forward to Father and Sons all year long; but if I had all girls, like my mother, I'd dread it. How awful to have to stay home with FIVE girls and no help! Sorry, Mom.

The Saga of the Binky Continues

To preface: I hate pacifiers. Hate them. We weren't going to use any with Zsa Zsa, but then one night a few weeks after we got home from the hospital, she was just so fussy and didn't want boob so I caved and gave her a binky. It totally worked and I got hours of blessed sleep.
At 18 months, she seemed ready to give it up, but then I was in school and she started needing the binky more and more.
When Zsa Zsa turned two, I REALLY wanted to take it away and just be done with the stupid thing. But we were getting ready to move. Again. So I didn't.
Now she's 29 months and A.D.D.I.C.T.E.D. 
So today, we told her she's a big girl now, and we're happy to let her have the binky in bed or in the car. She's not the kind of kid who will just leave her binky in the crib, so The Hubs tied it to her bed. (We also tied one to the car seat.)
Is so doing, we've inadvertently solved another of our Zsa Zsa parenting woes, the fighting of the nap.

Zsa Zsa spent the morning going from the bed to the great room. Finally when we called her for morning devotional, she wouldn't come. I checked on her a few minutes later and found this.

At 11am. It made going to make 1pm church SO much more tolerable. :D

I Need A Muu Muu

My in-laws just got back from 10 days cruising the islands. Laying aside the fact that I'm insanely jealous of:
a. the trip
    and
b. the time away from Arizona
  
let's focus on what's important here.

My (amazingly awesome) mother-in-law brought back this ADORABLE muu muu for Zsa Zsa.

I want one. I want this one, actually. I want it so bad I've honestly considered losing 125lbs and 3 feet so I can fit into it. Alternately, I've been thinking up designs for a human shrink-ray. But then I remembered that were I three feet shorter, I could no longer drive my kiddos to the zoo or museums. Also, I would need a new bike.
And so I'm thinking maybe my reward for losing the next 10 pounds will be an authentic, Hilo Hattie's adult size muu muu. Wouldn't that be wonderfully ironic?

Favorite Bits of "Spring Break"

This week was Spring Break for all the cousins (and, you know, the rest of the valley). It doesn't mean much to us because:

1. We "home school"
2. My oldest is four

For not being a noticeably different week, it sure tuckered out the Mom. We  had some adventures, so I thought I would share a few of the highlights.

1. On the drive to the zoo, The Boy reached across the backseat, took his sister's hand and said, "Zsa Zsa, you're my best friend".                                        If that doesn't just melt your heart, you must not have one. Talk about filling up my MommyBank. My kids could cause WWIII tomorrow and I would still be so proud of the job I've done raising them. We work hard to encourage our children to be friends and for that brief moment--success. The zoo was fun, too. :)
2. Zsa Zsa disappearing under the table during dinner, then 3 minutes later jumping up and yelling, "BE-PIZE!" It took us a bit, but we finally worked out she was yelling surprise. 
3. Zsa Zsa calling macaroni "doodles". I don't care who you are, that's cute. The Hubs thinks saying "ribbip" for a frog noise is funnier, but I disagree. 
4. The Boy, telling me he can read the pictographic "constructions" during our Wal Mart trip.
5. Friday some of the cousins got together for a hike. I brought my kids, with Zsa Zsa in the wrap on my back. She likes it fine for a while, but after 40 minutes or so, she's done. In one of my least proud momma moments, I told her she needed to stay on my back so the scary monsters wouldn't get her. It worked. <hangs head in shame>
6. After the hike, Zsa Zsa brought me three consecutive oranges to peel. She ate them all. The subsequent diapers had better be orange scented. 

PS My momma is coming to town on Tuesday and I could not possibly be more thrilled. :D :D :D :D :D

Toddler Tweekers

You know how when when your children are the same kind of sick as the kids your children play with, and the other mom takes her kids to the doctor first, and you just kinda assume YOUR babies have the same thing the doctor said their infected friends had?

That.

My good friend took her brood in and was told "it's just a cold". So my currently uninsured (it's a long, boring story) children didn't go to the doctor, because OBVIOUSLY they had the same cough and other symptoms so it's the same thing. Right?

Or not.

Today Zsa Zsa woke up with not only her nasty cough and the runny nose she's had for over a month, she was also occasionally gasping after the coughing fit and once I started to think about it, I did notice her blue fingers the night before. I am SUCH a good mom. Seriously. Applaud.

As soon as she saw me this morning, she asked to go back to bed. That's when I knew she had something more than "just a cold" and I was going to have to fork over a bucket full of money to find out what it was.

Boy, can I call 'em.

An (expensive and uninsured) trip to the doctor later, we found out she's got a double ear infection, a sinus infection, and enough of a wheeze in her lungs to require albuterol. In case you're keeping track, in one day she racked up three prescriptions. Only two of them were reasonably cheap.

The antibiotic is so expensive, if she spits it out, I'm making her suck it out of her shirt, because we are NOT wasting it. Judging on the per ounce price, gold must be a major ingredient.

Speaking of medication, have you ever given a child Albuterol? Well remember a few posts back I wrote about a napless Zsa Zsa and how no sleep has the same effect as would speed on my daughter? Well, Albuterol is the legal drug of choice for two-year-old tweekers everywhere. You can't tell that she also has Tylenol with codeine on board. I think the chemist may have forgotten the codeine part of the Tylenol with codeine.

Currently she's bouncing off literal walls singing, "meenie mo, meenie mo, meenie mo" as fast as her little tongue can motor. Happily, I can report that's not a normal behavior for my sweet girl.

On a completely different, yet related tangent, today Zsa Zsa had to bring her pink princess purse on all our errands. Absolutely everyone who saw her thought she was the cutest thing ever and stopped me to tell me this totally obvious fact. Zsa Zsa compliments easily added 4.2 hours to my errands. I was just glad they knew she was a girl today. Yay for dresses and pink princess purses!

This post has been brought to you by: an exhausted IdahoBecky.

Um...and Shopping with Zsa Zsa

I re-read my post from yesterday. Can we just all agree that I should NOT post ANYTHING

when I'm hormonal?

Good.

Moving On...

Today I took Zsa Zsa with me to Wal Mart. Oh, just the one kid? you're thinking. Yeah. Just the one. Thing is, she forgot to nap today. Some kids get whiny, other kids get sleepy or clingy. Not my daughter. Skipping a nap for her is the equivalent of downing a box of no-doze, four Red Bulls and a couple hits of speed. That kid was WIRED.

Example: In the Wilton cake decorating area, she found the ONLY container of food color gel that happened to have product on the outside of the container. Before I had time to scream "NO!" and move, 1/2 speed movie-style, she had it all over both hands, her face AND her dress. Did I mention it was Red?

After cleaning up that little treasure, I tried to get her to ride in the cart. This is OK, as long as you have one hand on her head, holding her down at all times. If not, she thinks it's a GREAT idea to stand up and launch herself head-long in your general direction, whether or not you happen to be looking, or even facing her. OBVIOUSLY the Mommy will catch her. We caused no less than 4 snow bird heart attacks, but don't worry. She never once hit the ground.

At that point, due to the rapidly escalating need for EMS and cardio paddles, I figured it was safer to let her walk. The trouble is, I take my offspring to The Children's Museum on a regular basis. The same museum that has a very realistic child-sized grocery store in which the children are encouraged to role-play. How did I not see this would translate into my daughter thinking it would be OK to "help" me shop? Daughter. Daddy does NOT need those Depends...or the Ben Gay.

When she got done helping me shop, her new idea of fun was to run the entire length of the isle, make the turn going full tilt, and then peak her head back around the isle to see what was taking me so long. Remember that Red Bull and speed? Yeah. THEN she started to take off fast so she could run in front of oncoming old people's carts, the ones EMS didn't already cart off for Advanced Life Support, stick her hand out like a traffic cop, and smile charmingly. The snowbirds all thought this was adorable. The few people who actually had anywhere else to be that day were less amused.

My daughter displayed every indication of needing Valium, but all she REALLY needed was a nap. Too bad Wal Mart doesn't carry Valiums or naps, because I could use one of each about now. I guess it's a good thing they do carry No-Doze and Red Bull.  

This amusing anecdote has been brought to you by: IdahoBecky.

Addiction

It's time to speak out about my daughter's addiction. We've known about it for quite a while, but lately it's gotten completely out of hand.
I'm in tears as I write this.
Researching treatment facilities has consumed my day. It turns out, there aren't any for this particular addiction! How can that BE! Surely celebrities have children with the same problem as Zsa Zsa! It's outrageous something hasn't been done about this. Just outrageous. I thought for SURE there would be something in California. They have treatment centers for every possible addiction, why not THIS one?!?
We should all petition Oprah...or something.

The breaking point came when I was changing the sheets today and found THIS under her pillow.

Hording and hiding is a sign of serious addiction. Please pray for us and for Zsa Zsa. We hope to break the binkie cycle very soon.

PS This has been a work of sarcasm. Note, and move on.

Randomness

• This morning, The Boy dressed in front of his bedroom mirror. Apparently this is the first time he's done it, because he came out of the bedroom flicking his nipples and said, "Mom? What are these?" I was hard-pressed to keep a straight face as I answered. You'd better believe The Hubs and I got a laugh out of that after bedtime.
• My little Zsa Zsa is turning into quite the talker. Gems like, "Mom! I do it mySELF!" and "O-nja, I lika da o-nja." (Orange) are common.
• She throws hissie fits when she can't be understood or when she can't do something she really REALLY wants to do. So...I'd say a minimum of 10 times a day. Today it was kite flying, or if you're Zsa Zsa, "tight! I fye it! TIGHT!!!"
• The above mentioned kite came with us to the park for our picnic. It turns out it's really much easier to fly kites without kids around. Every time I got the stupid thing airborne, one of The Boy's silly friends would step on the tail (it's a very long tail) and the kite would come crashing back to earth. If, by some miracle, I managed to get the thing airborne and hand over control to a kid, the kid would do something to de-elevate the kite. It was a disaster, but one enjoyed by the many mothers who watched me run like an idiot with a two-year-old in one arm and kite string in the other. I'm pretty sure they were the only ones enjoying it.
• While we're on the subject of picnics, I don't know why I bothered to bring food. I'm the only who eats when we go on a picnic. Each of my kids ate just enough to sustain a fruit-fly and then ran off to play. You'd think that would pretty much ensure a good dinner, right? Nope. They pecked at dinner and then scarfed the raw cookies I made for dessert. And then asked for eggs.
• I really, really enjoy my kids. Especially after bedtime, when they are no longer whining at me.

Kiddo Update

Sorry for the several weeks worth of gap in posting. We moved and I've been building a train table for the kids' Christmas. Just so you know, it's cheaper to get a train table off Craigslist than build one from scratch, but if you want a very nice, very new train table, build it. I'll do a post soonishnest on the whole shebang.

Here's what the kids are up to, more for my records than anything.

ZSA ZSA

• Is talking a LOT. Every sentence starts with, "I want".
• Likes to spin in circles until she falls down, then get up and do it again. Sometimes she says. "I fyeeing!" while wearing a cape and running in circles. 
• Says lots of things she doesn't mean, like "go away". Every time I take her up on the offer, she cries. So we've starting working on what go away ACTUALLY means. Next on the list is "hurts".
• Calls dogs (and random other things) "scaweey MONstoos" (scary monsters)

The Boy

• Is loving spending time with Grandpa. They feed the cows and take rides in the truck, during which The Boy falls asleep. (Thank you, Grandpa). My kids are so lucky to have such awesome grandparents.
• His most common sentence is, "Mom, I want you to play a game with me". At least it starts with "Mom" instead of, "I want".
• LOVES school and was sad when Thursday rolled around and we didn't have preschool. Very sad. I need to start one up here in  January. 

The Saga of a Song

Every night, Zsa Zsa and I have a routine.

I get the toothbrush, she yells "TEEF!!!" and we brush.

We say a prayer with the family.

I read her a story.

Then we shut her doors, say good night to the baby in the mirror and flip off the light after which Zsa Zsa says, "rock-a-bye".

We sit in the rocker and she snuggles into my chest and dictates the songs. 

Always the same songs.

Always in the same order. 

1. "Sunbeam!" I get two bars in and she stops me.
2. "Jesus!" This can get confusing because she either means "Sunbeam" again, or "I Am A Child of God"
3. "Heavenly Fadder!" This one is "I Am A Child of God"

This is all well and fine until we get to nursery on Sunday, because in nursery, we sing these songs. She does OK until we get to "I Am a Child of God" at which point my already tired daughter throws a MAJOR hissy fit. We're talking, screaming, falling to the floor, heal banging included, until the song is over.

Every.  Week.