The title says it all...here's to playing a little catch-up.
This picture is so poor because Kyle wisely put down the camera in order to rescue our little monkey from herself. Needless to say that low chest isn't next to the bookshelf anymore. The only thing we really have to watch out for now is her using our desk chairs to get up on the desk - she wants to blog.
Okay, now we're going way back...but wanted to share a few photos from Cousin Bailey's third birthday party in September. Aggie theme - so much fun!
Of course, Rebecca loves balloons.
Bailey & Emmy
Birthday girl with birthday hotdog.
Birthday family. Say cheese!
Presents are AWESOME!
Baby Brother Blake probably wondering, "what's all the fuss?"
Bailey got some headbands and Rebecca figured out exactly what to do with them. She already likes her accessories!
Yum.
I think this was the day after his dreaded haircut. (You'll be happy to know the curls are definitely on their way back!)
Okay, now this is totally changing subjects (no police at Bailey's party). A couple of weeks ago we were woken up by a loud knock on the door and a police officer telling us to put on some shoes and come outside. We were so freaked out! What had we done? What had somebody else done??? We go outside and there are 5 squad cars! So, it ends up that a police officer drove his car into a rocky terrace/embankment in the front of our yard. Their only explanation was that "the road curved and he didn't". Okay. The picture doesn't do it justice. So, really no big deal, but now our poor landlord is dealing with the city bureaucracy of getting it re-landscaped. Ahhh, the beauty of renting!
Totally asleep in his chair at lunch (yes, still in his pajamas).
Still hanging out in one of her favorite spots.
This fire truck used to be red. It's been outside so long now it's faded to pink and just perfect for Rebecca in size and color!
Owen on his new (birthday present) "hot walk" bike...notice there are no pedals or gears. The idea is that he'll learn to balance by just scooting himself along, gradually picking up his feet more and more until he sort of glides around - and all without training wheels! Cousin Bailey is a speed demon on hers and Owen is picking it up slowly but surely!
I am such a big boy!
I want to be just like big brother!
I'm not sure it gets much cuter than this...check out how dirty her dress is!
Rebecca Tidbits:
- This girl loves her ACCESSORIES, or rather, mine. She loves trying to get into my jewelry and figures out ways to make her own. Example: the lid of a mason jar = bracelet. She is also sporting an actual little girl hairstyle now! (One little clippy pulling the "bangs" back and to the side.) It's better than the comb-over we had going on before. My mom put her in her first ever pig-tails a few weeks ago and they were funny looking at best.
- She is a MASTER POINTER. She points at everything, all the time. And when you get her what she was pointing to she just starts pointing to something else. Exhausting.
- She TALKS all the time. Only "Ma Ma" and "Da da" are discernable, but there is some sort of squeaky squably noise coming out of her mouth at all times. (She still mixes up saying/pointing to momma and dadda correctly, but at least she says momma about as much as she says dadda now!)
- She is now a ONE NAP girl. I consider my ability to get O and R to nap at the same time in the afternoon a key determining factor in the success of my day. It's an obsession.
- Following in Owen's footsteps, she likes to "ride" the rocking horse STANDING UP.
- Knows a little BABY SIGN LANGUAGE. Just as Owen had his own version of "all done" so does Rebecca. She just waves her hands all over the place (video forthcoming). She also has her own sign for "more" but she mostly means "milk" or rather, more milk. She just touches her pointer finger to the open palm of her other hand. Like, put it right here Momma!
- She opened a sprite can and a beer bottle today within about 2 minutes. Opened via explosion. Bored with milk and juice?
- She knows "KISSES". If I ask for Rebecca's kisses, she leans into my face with her mouth wide open and sort of tries to eat my nose. Close enough.
- Outside of her almost incessant DANCING (to toys, Owen singing, real music, pretty much anything!), the cutest thing she is doing right now is playing PEEKABOO. When I say "where is Rebecca?" she puts her hands on her face (sometimes covering her eyes, sometimes not), sometimes just rubbing her fingers all over her face and through her hair. When I say "there she is!" she throws her hands up and giggles then claps. I could sit and do this with her for hours. Okay, just minutes--but lots of them.
- At the age where she actually DISOBEYS. What? Our little princess? Yes. She's doing the requisite toddler move of rubbing her hands all over her high chair tray sending her food all over the floor - just for fun. And she's also sitting down when she doesn't want to go somewhere. Unlucky for her we can still pick her up!
- Until about a month ago, when Owen would wake up from the night or from a nap he would stay in his bed and call out for us (usually me) until someone came in to get him out of bed, even though he could climb out of his bed with ease if he wanted. Not sure what changed, but I guess he just realized he was a big boy and so now he "WAKES UP ON HIS OWN". It made him very proud the first couple of times. To be honest, I wasn't in love with the new way because I liked the control, but I'm over it now. He's so cute wandering into our room in the morning in the dark, dragging his green blankie, and maybe his Thomas, blue frog, puppy dog, crocodile and pillow. He doesn't travel light.
- Sometimes kids say things better than we ever could...After a "DISCIPLINARY EVENT," Owen told me "Dadda is not what doing what I'm saying and I'm not doing what Dadd'a ssaying". So true.
- Speaking of discipline, we have a new weapon in our arsenal. Such a simple recommendation from our pediatrician is making such a big difference with our little ARGUER. Just like you might tell a kid before you leave that "we are going to play for 5 minutes and then we're going little Johnny," we're taking that to a whole new level. We pretty much give Owen a warning for everything (e.g. in a few minutes I'm going to tell you its time for your nap, in a few minutes I'm going to tell you its time for dinner, etc.) and then we take it the next step and say "and when I do, you're going to say "yes ma'am or yes momma" and obey".) He usually says something like, "or I'll say, ' yes-sir-y-bobby-mommy'!" and then when it's time that's pretty much how it goes. Seriously? We're not at 100% by any means, but it's surprising to both Kyle and I how far a little BEHAVIOR COACHING can go!
- I printed some fill-in-the-blank THANK YOU NOTES for Owen to use to thank his birthday party guests for the awesome presents they gave him. I just had him say what he liked about each gift and wrote it down--his words, no editing. I should have kept an entire list because some of them were pretty funny. Here are the ones I remember:
- Telescope: Because I like to put the moon and the stars in it.
- Bike helmet: I like it because I do.
- Crocodile dentist game: I like that he has teeth and likes to chomp but he's a nice crocodile too.
- I don't remember what he liked about it but I do know Owen calls Handy Manny "Handy Mandy"...
- Kyle and I go back and forth as to which of our delightful kiddos requires more energy these days. Rebecca is certainly all over the place and a danger to herself (and our stuff). But Owen acts like we're his own personal Wikipedia (Kyle calls it MOMMY-PEDIA). It is a constant, and I mean constant, barrage of questions. What do trains do? What do people do? What is protein? Where do cockatoo's live? Our only management strategy is to try to get him to play a little game where we at least take turns saying things that ________ do because most of his questions he already knows the answer to.
- On that note, I guess I've been making lots of "YOU EXHAUST ME" kind of breaths (you know, loud exhales, pause...) because Owen has started noticing them and asking me "Momma, why are you breathing like that?". I guess I need an attitude check too sometimes!
(Huge "eureka inhale")...."IS THIS CCCHHHIIINNNAAA???!!!???!!!"
Yiyi and I both got a big kick out of it. He was sooooo excited to maybe be making his first trip to China. I think he half expected to see a panda!
Okay, that's it for us. One of these days I'll get some pics up of our trip to Italy!
