A general kiddo update is overdue and I'm still in a Thanskgiving-y kind of mood. Perhaps its the effects of so much pumpkin pie.
Miss Maggie - I am soooo thankful for this little gal. She is such a great little sister - meaning she handles the well-meaning but sometimes dangerous attention of her older siblings very very well. She also handles our circumstantial inability to respond to her cries as quickly as we would a first/only child.
I am soooo thankful that she is such a great sleeper. She sort of just did that on her own. Granted, we had a rough few months where she was going to bed really really late (like 2am) but even then she'd sleep for an abnormally long stretch. That bedtime has been eeking up over the past few months and now she's a 7 to 7 kid of girl. It's AWESOME. And in the last month or so she's gotten on a pretty regular nap schedule too - around 10am and 2pm. Can I say AWESOME again?
It's pretty superficial - but can I just say that I'm so thankful for her HUGE smile and those dimples (right cheek and chin)????!!!! Melt my heart and make me chuckle all at the same time. Have I mentioned she dies laughing when I sneeze? It's better than her favorite toy. (Speaking of toys, I'm also thankful she is big enough for the exersaucer. Especially since she still can't sit up. Or roll over.)
Okay - so this was a "game-changer". This little angle has been a stubborn one when it comes to food - no bottle for her. But she has taken to rice cereal! Yea!!! I mean yea as in "finally she'll eat something from someone other than me" and also a sarcastic yea because this stuff is soooo messy. Perhaps she decided it was time for the hard stuff so she'd be guaranteed more regular baths?
Bee was there for her first rice cereal adventure and it was a total success. (Miss M had started to associate Bee with a bottle and cry every time she saw her...not okay!...so this was good on a number of levels.
Liked it so much she just had to have the spoon.
Miss Rebecca - I am so thankful for this crazy little stinker. She is so full of sweetness, spirit and SONG! The girl is singing all the time. Here are her lyrics to a few of our favorites:
From the Bob the Builder theme song: Doo a diddy, one and two (Scoop, Muck and Dizzy...Rolly too)
Batte batte choco-late (from a Dora episode)
Every song from Marry Poppins (Mary Punkins)
- Let's do fly kite, up to high high...sendihsoaaaaring
-Tuppins a birrr, tuppins a birr
And of course all the songs from church and school - her seasonal favorite has been one about a ghost saying boo...but I don't know it so I can't even begin to interpret what she's singing... but she LOVES the clean up song "Clean up clean up abody ewhere". (She is the best cleaner-upper in our family.)
She got all geared up to rider her glider bike but then got distracted (above).
Holding cousin Baby Bear (below).
New parts of her two-year old vocabulary:
- a-o-u / wudu (I love you)
- what dat? what doin? whah doin dat? (ahh, the neverending questions!)
- donny (sorry) - often preemptive, not because she's sorry, but to avoid punishment she sees coming. (but she is good about appoloziging to Owen and Maggie for accidental stuff.)
- Ahknow (I don't know)
- Party hat - EVERYTHING is a party hat to Rebecca. This is one of my favorite things about her - she is goofy! She puts anything and everything on her head or your head and then calls it a party hat and giggles giggles giggles.
- Hey you guys! - her greeting to just about everyone. This girl has never met anyone who doesn't deserve a friendly salutation (or a kiss/hug goodbye).
- (uh)Becca - okay, this one makes me sort of sad. She has moved on from Bep Bep for Becca to actually saying Becca and if you ask her to say Rebecca she says Uhbecca. Either way, she's growing up! :(
- I hear all kids can be particular about bedtime routine stuff but I think ours take the cake. We have had so much household drama over the right blankets the right way - it boggles the mind. And now Rebecca has joined the fun. She has these two (baby) blankets. One is soft/fuzzy on both sides. It has to be folded into a pillow (because she won't sleep with the little pillow I bought her) and the other one which is satiny on one side has to be her blanket - but its too small to actually cover her well...so, drama. Anyways, this nightly drama-fest is filled with her saying "cuddle me, cuddle me!" which means cover me, tuck me in, make my blankets bigger and just right!!! And then we end with "big cuddle, big cuddle" which means - cover me more, tuck me in tighter and righter! This girl luuuvs her two pink binkies!
Mr. Owen - what a big boy!! You've already seen him on his bike (Thanksgiving post). We're so proud. [I have to make fun of Kyle a little bit here. We were at the bike shop and it was down to two bikes that both fit Owen well. One was white and black with some red (matched his helmet - same brand). The other was blue. The first would have been easier to pass on to the girls (assuming they may balk at the clearly boyish blue bike). Kyle, had a temporary parental regression and asked Owen which one he liked better. Say what???!!! Kyle - what are you doing??? Of course, Owen picked the blue one. Silly Dadda. Kyle then spent the next 10 minutes trying to convince Owen the other one was cooler because it matched his helmet. Still a no-go. Never ask a question you don't want the answer to. Silly Dadda!]
A few weeks ago Owen got to go on another specicial grandparent-sponsored adventure - to ride a real steam train from
Cedar Park to Bertram. It's about an hour and a half there with a stop over at the train station and then back. Owen had a blast! Thank you Nana!
I am just so thankful for this little guy - really for everything that comes out of his mouth - most of which makes me laugh...
Recently he told Aunt Mel (when he spent the night with them) that he would "appreciate" sleeping in Uncle Luke's office (by himself) instead of in a room with a cousin. I think he needed a break from being kept up at night by someone else playing...
We have shared some of his jokes with you. They're not improving much. But that doesn't mean they're not hilarious. He was telling some the other day and told me they were for Maggie.
He told me the other day that the BEST thing about our new house is that it's soooo close to the Children's Museum. (It's not really that close - but he figured out its closer than our house now.)
He has started to show some interest in outer space. Kyle has jumped on that interest like a something on a something (fill in your favorite southern phrase). Books, iPad apps, time outside at night with the telescope. Dadda has a new hobby (thanks to Owen). So, they've been talking about science a lot. And scientific things. And using scientific jargin. When I told Owen we were out of juice he replied that "my theory is we need to go to the store and get some more". His theory was correct.
I am so thankful for these three happy healthy kiddos.
