Last year, all Alice wanted for Christmas was umbrellas. She talked about it incessantly and would not be deterred from that one wish. When she gets something in her head, she doesn't let go. This year is no different and no less funny. This year, all Alice wants for Christmas is a shower her size. I know, right now you are thinking "Wha?". Let me give you a little of the back story.
When we lived in Alabama, the bathroom that Alice used had a detachable handheld shower. I found a really neat suction cup holder thingy that would allow the shower head to be affixed to the wall anywhere. So after Alice's bath, she loved to take a little shower as well, as you can see from the pic.
Fast forward to living in Virginia. I still have the suction holder
thing but the shower head in the bathroom is stationary so it has not
been used in the year we have been here. A couple of weeks ago, Alice
took a super bubbly bubble bath and she was still covered with bubbles
after the water drained from the tub. In an effort to clean her off, I
turned on the shower. At first she freaked (she does not like water on
her face) but then she decided it was fun. She told me that it would be
much more fun if the shower was her size. Now she only wants to take
showers and tells anyone who asks that she wants a shower her size for
Christmas. EVERYONE! Take a look at what is hanging on the wall in her
classroom.
A lot of you have heard stories about my awesome nephew, Nate, so I will start with pictures of him. He is such a character and when he wants to be something, he gives it all he's got!
We do not have photos of Alice in her Halloween costume….let me
paint you a picture instead:
When John and I arrived at school to pick up the kids, her
teacher was clocking out. I asked how Alice was that day, she laughed and
said, “I promise, I only let them have two pieces of candy today. Alice
is bouncing off the walls!” Alice was dressed as a cupcake and wore the
costume most of the day until she drooled green lollipop down the front of
it. She decided on the way home that she wanted to be a princess for
trick or treating. We got home, ate dinner, and I started getting her
layered up so she would not have to wear a coat over the dress/costume.
Meanwhile, Ben and Cooper were running around naked as John was trying to get
them into the bathtub.
Tights, socks, windbreaker pants, undershirt, long sleeved
shirt, purple princess dress. Her neck was bare so I went to the basement
to find my purple scarf. She followed me and discovered last year’s
winter coat and hat which apparently is a princess coat and hat.
So she gets the coat and hat on, with the crown on top of the hat with the poof
on top. I tell her to go get her shoes on so we can go. She comes
back into the living room with her water shoes on. Um no, sorry Alice you
are not wearing water shoes outside go put on blank, blank, or blank. She
goes back to the mudroom and begins a full-blown meltdown because the water
shoes were the real princess shoes and the only other princess shoes are
sandals and I won’t let her wear them…. This goes on for about 5
minutes. I told her that if she did not stop, trick or treating was
cancelled. She stopped crying when I started taking my coat off because
“oh, here are my princess shoes, these are the ones I wanted the whole time,
mommy”. Of course there are only two houses on our street with lights on
so we head down the block. At the first 6 houses, she thought it was a
candy exchange because she kept trying to give each homeowner her candy. (it
was pretty cute and funny) She had a lengthy conversation with a woman
about the lollipop Alice was trying to give her. We got about 5 blocks
away and we had to turn around and go back (she kept zigzagging across
the street from house to house instead of doing one side then back on the other
side but then she forgot so she did not understand why we were skipping so many
houses on the way back). So, 5 blocks to reach home and she tells me that
her feet hurt…..yep, you guessed it. I carried her all the way home.
We had only one knock at the door all night.
The boys were in bed by the time we got home – about 7:20, I
think. She had a bath and bed. Then crawled into bed with us around
1:30. And it was one of those horrid sleep with a kid nights, she spent
the night kicking one of us in the head and smacking with flailing arms…it was
rough. In the car on the way to school yesterday morning she was whining that
her chin hurt. “Mommy, do you know why my chin hurts?” “No Alice,
why does your chin hurt?” “My chin hurts because it did not get enough
sleep last night.” No fooling, Alice….
I MIGHT ask her to
put the costume back on tonight to take a pic but I doubt it. I am ready
for Halloween to be over.
Alice ended up wearing her cupcake costume all weekend and I managed to get a "happy" snapshot.
Alice started soccer last week. She has no idea what she is doing but loves it. It is the funniest, cutest thing I have seen. Check out these pics and video of our baller.
Last Sunday, we had family pictures taken at the Virginia Tech Horticulture Gardens. It was a hot and sticky day but we got so many fantastic shots. Enjoy!
A very special thank you to Liz McNeil of Keleigh Photography for the beautiful work!
I know I am not the first mother to watch her child with awe and wonder but this kid is just the most amazing, most beautiful, most intelligent little thing ever.
For the first time since she was a baby, Alice was so under the weather today that she slept most of the day. She has had a fever and threw up a number of times this morning/afternoon. She has never been the type of kid to let others do things for her but today she flat out refused food and medicine and said that she "couldn't walk very well" so she was carried from couch to bed and back. She woke up about an hour ago and is now sitting across the room from me nursing some ginger ale, apple sauce, and goldfish. (the unfortunate part of this is that it is 9:00 and her usual bedtime was and hour ago)
Anyway, back to the amazement and wonder. I sit and watch Alice as often as I can. I especially love watching her when she does not know I am watching her....in the rear view mirror in the car, while she is doing an art project at the kitchen table, and right now as she is sitting in my chair with her picnic tray watching TV. I am continually surprised at the things that come out of her mouth. Her sass is shocking but her smarts are even more so.
I had planned to share a number of examples but my girl has just notified me that she will be ready to go back to bed after Dora. She did just tell me "I is not scared anymore because I am with you." Once in a while she will tell me that she loves me...I make sure to tell her as often as I can.
Of course John and I will be supportive of whatever Alice, Ben, and Coop decide to be when they grow up but if their personalities are any sign, we think we know what will be. (note: I am willing to bet that I can name the people who broke into song when they read the title of this post. (and Tim, you are not so far from her yourself!))
Alice - The Hostage Negotiator or Lawyer. She has mastered the art of answering questions without really answering questions. Here is a typical conversation on the way home from school:
John or Me (C/J): How was your day Alice?
Alice (A): Good
C/J: What did you do?
A: Played
C/J: What did you play with?
A: Lots of things
C/J: Who did you play with?
A: My Friends
C/J: What did you have for lunch?
A: Food
C/J: What kind of food?
A: Sandwiches
You get the idea. I really do not even thing she is trying to be evasive, it is just what makes the most sense to her. Add in her magnificent talent for stalling and she is most definitely who I would want on my side of the table. Last night, as I was putting her back to bed again; she asked me if I would sleep with her and hold her. When I said No (Because I already did for 25 minutes) she looked at me and said "But I like you so so much, Mommy".
Ben - The Actor/Singer. Ben grins at you the moment you walk into a room, he enjoys standing on his "mark", and claps for everything. He also spends a lot of time working on his vocal range. He makes this gurgling sound that sort of sounds like Chewbacca all the time. He experiments with different pitches and volumes and will practice for an entire car ride.
Coop - The Athlete. Cooper is a machine! At 10 months old he weighs in at a very solid 27 pounds. He is a master at obstacle courses usually going over and through instead of around things in his way. He is ridiculously fast and has already outrun my attempts to close the bathroom door before he gets to it. The amount of food he puts away in one sitting makes me weep at the idea of future grocery bills. I sincerely hope he does not want to play football but if he really does, he will be awesome.
And just to show how different they are from each other...
We all have been sick for the last couple of weeks. First, Ben started with a cold last week and gave it to Coop. Coop then took it to the extreme and developed double ear and double eye infections. Just about the time his antibiotics started working, John and I were hit hard. Alice has made it through with only a slight cough. To say there has been a lack of sleep in our home is an understatement.
Lots of mobility changes with the boys - both are crawling and are getting fast. Alice moved up at school and is doing fantastic. More on all of it when I am feeling better.
Enjoy the videos - I am going to take a nap.
Be sure to listen to what Alice says in the first video (2:20 mark). I almost choked on my coffee.(For the record, she couldn't really see what she said she could see)
A typical weekday morning in our house is anything but fun and definitely not funny. It usually entails praying for pleasant moods, hoping for no tears, wrestling on clothes, and begging for cooperation....and then we have to get the kids ready - ha.
John and I have a pretty good routine that relies heavily on John - I am not a morning person. Since the kids started sleeping through the night, John and I have worked in shifts. If anyone gets up between 9pm and 1am, I take care of them. If they get up between 1:01am and 5am, John takes them. This seems to work best with us since once John's head hits his pillow at night, he is comatose and I am that way in the wee small hours - we both function better during our shift times. Anyway, typically, John gets up at 5, showers and then starts feeding and changing the boys, he wakes me at 5:45, again at 5:55, and again at 6:00. I usually get out of bed around 6:10, swear and jump in the shower. While I finish getting ready, John opens Alice's door. We discovered that she is so much nicer if she wakes on her own than if one of us physically wakes her up. By 6:30, I am done getting ready and Alice is out of bed. By this time the boys are done so if he hasn't already, John gets in the shower. I get Alice changed, dressed, hair done, and some sort of breakfast in her hand. We are usually out of the house by 6:45 which is just enough time to get the kids to school, drop John at work and get to work (John and I carpool and share the car during the day).
This morning John opened Alice's door as usual. Five minutes later, she gets out of bed, stands at the door and says "no, no, no" with a frown, closes the door and get back into bed. And if that were not funny enough, John goes to her door and says "C'mon Alice, time to get up". She called out from bed, "In a few minutes." Makes me wonder how long it will be until she starts the day with swearing. ha ha
The boys are good. Ben has popped out the other tooth that was giving him so much pain. We has a weekend of giggles. They are starting to interact so much more and are moving around like crazy. They have both started sitting on their knees to play with tall toys and Ben is trying to pull himself up on anything he can reach. Hard to believe they will be 10 months old tomorrow!!!
Are these not two of the cutest boys ever?
Ben likes to put his legs over the arms of the chair - just chillin'
Coop likes to eat his food and his feet
An exciting night at our house tonight... Ben crawled for the first time and Coop pulled himself up to a standing position! Let the baby-proofing begin!
The twins have already started doing things behind our backs! Yesterday, John and I put the boys in their cribs for a nap and when we left the room, they were lying down. A few minutes later (I don 't remember why), we looked in to find both of them sitting up! Up until that point, they could not do that - or at least we had not seen them do it. Tonight, Ben pulled himself from a sitting position to his feet and if his toy had been taller, I am sure he could have stood right up. Coop is still doing a strong commando crawl but is starting to rock on his hands and knees. It seems like every other hour, John and I are commenting at something new. We go back and forth on who we think will crawl first.
Ben has finally popped out one of his top teeth and you have never seen a happier kid (or parents). He is so much more cheerful is all smiles this week. And, he is eating so much better. We have started him on level 3 foods but he still does not eat nearly as much as his brother. Coop is still loving anything we put in front of him but Ben is not really showing any interest in table foods.
Alice learned something new at school on Friday - John and I are not sure what to think about it. She loves to dance and always asks us to put music on so she can perform but this time she had a song to sing with her dance. So she turns around and starts to wiggle her butt while singing "Shake your bootie, shake your bootie". um.....yeah.....John and I were at a loss. It was funny but at the same time seeing your daughter do that is mildly disturbing. I think I saw 15 new gray hairs sprout on John's head in about 30 seconds. This video is a long one (8:28) but it documents the dancing and Ben standing up.
As you can imagine, dinnertime in our home is never dull. We are always rushing the clock to get everyone fed before there are meltdowns. Tonight was an entertaining meal with happy/silly kids. Check out Coop's itty bity mohawk in the still shot of this video. Oh that reminds me, Alice has a small mole on her hip and every time she goes potty, she shows me her "Molehawk" ha ha ha.
2011 was a rough year. Incredible highs and incredible lows forced John and me to make some major changes in our lives. Towards the end of the year, we put the house on the market, pulled the kids out of daycare, I quit my job, and we moved to Virginia. So much drastic change - I feel as if we entered the witness protection program. It makes my heart ache when I think about everything/one we left in Alabama. Maybe, at some point, I will rehash the tumultuous last 6 months but I still need to get a little more distance from it so I can attempt to tell the story with a little humor. (does that every really happen?)
2012 will be a better year. I am already finding that in many ways, the change has proven to be good for all of us. John is really happy in his job. I found a job that is OK but getting better. The kids are happy and settled in our new home and new daycare. The move has brought us physically closer to my side of the family. In the 3+ months we have been in VA, we have already seen all of my immediate family more than we did in 2 years while we were in AL. That makes it all worth it, right? (But Flash knew that, didn't he?)
So, onward and upward. I am trying to set some realistic goals for myself and one of them is to blog once a week, if only to post pics of my adorable children. I have found a mantra and am going to try to keep it in the forefront of my mind everyday. "Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." Sounds ridiculously simple, right? we'll see...baby steps.
First up are the most recent cell phone/flip videos. The boys have been sitting up on their own for a little over a month. They will be crawling in about 2 weeks, no doubt. They have started interacting with each other so much and by that I mean, they have started stealing toys from each other. And they are brutal! I actually caught Cooper pulling Ben's hair on Monday. (a glimpse into the future 4 weeks, months, years, warrants a stiff drink)
Not sure why but we have started calling Ben, "BenBen". Maybe because Coop has such a very long nickname, "Super Duper Pooper Cooper". ugh, what can you say about these two?! They are awesome. At their 9 month well visit last week, the bruiser and his brother weighed in at 25 lbs, 13ozs and 30.5 inches and 21 lbs, 13 ozs and 29 inches (can you guess which is which?). It is amazing how much at 4 pounds feels when you are picking Cooper up. After carrying him around for a bit, I almost throw Ben over my shoulder when I pick him up. At 9 months, Alice was 21 lbs. and 29 inches.
The only thing that makes these boys twins is their birthday. They are different in everything from their looks to their temperaments, to their current abilities, to their teeth. Cooper is such a chill little guy. Almost nothing bothers him. He is sprouting his 7th tooth and has been fussy about it for a total of 20 minutes. He seems to be developing asthma so he has been getting regular breathing treatments this winter. We think that it is something that he will outgrow but he has a constant rattle in his chest and wheezy breathing. Coop has started a commando crawl and is starting to pull his knees up under himself - he will be crawling any second. He is not really interested in standing and doesn't seem to like it very much. I think it is because he is so darned heavy, he cannot support himself. He is an amazing eater (duh!) and will chow anything. We have started him on table food and so far he is really liking it. He is cool with just about any situation he is put in as long as he can still me John or me. If he has a toy in his hand, he will sit in his high chair for 30 minutes while I make dinner. He is a cheeky thing though, when his brother or sister are crying - he laughs, thinks it is hysterical. I see a smart ass in the making. He is going to be the child who gets away with murder by flying under the radar and keeping his parents laughing. He loves getting tickles and raspberries and has the heartiest laugh.
Ben is Mr. Smiles when his is in a good mood. He has mood swings like a teenage girl which all seem to revolve around his two top teeth. He has been trying to push though since Thanksgiving - his gums are huge and swollen but nothing seems to push them out. He loves, loves, loves taking a bath. I have been sitting him up in the tub and giving him a washcloth to play with. By the time we get to the washing part, I am soaked from his splashing. He is still very much a little wookiee - and by that I mean that he still makes this funny gurgling noise all the time (imagine the sound that Chewbacca makes). He has always been the more needy of the two but he is really coming into his own. He loves to stand and can do so for 20 minutes at a time. He can also pull himself up when holding my hands; he has not started pulling up on furniture yet though. He is not the greatest eater but we discovered last night that he does a lot better if he has a toy or other distraction in his hand; we can hold his other hand and shovel it in. He is a face rubber so dinner is a messy chore for him. Maybe he does it on purpose so he can have more baths. hmmm....I am on to him. He has a head full of hair that really needs to be cut but I cannot bring myself to do it yet.
Both Ben and Coop have been sleeping though the night for about 3-4 months and we have been putting them in their cribs awake for about a month. Ben only cried for a week or so but since then, they have been awesome. They are usually in bed by 7:30pm and sleep until 5:30am. We are so lucky to have such awesome little guys.
Smiley, laid back Coop
Ben is so happy...when he is not screaming.
Alice is doing great but is very much three. (whoever said the twos were terrible should be shot!) She has adjusted very well to the new house and school even after a false start on both. She has been amazing with her brothers - very gentle, entertaining, and somewhat patient. Knowing her and the family dynamics, she is obviously feeling some jealousy over her lack of attention. I know most of it is typical 3 year old behavior but she is shockingly willful, stubborn, and disobedient. She does not fear any consequence at all. We have tried reasoning, calmly discussing, yelling, counting to five, spanking, removing toys, bargaining, time outs; nothing seems to make much of a difference. I have turned to a book that suggests we speak to her like a caveman. I am still reading but will be sure to share if it works. We are most interested in resolving the staying in bed issue. This girl is training to be a hostage negotiator, I am sure of it. She comes up with one excuse after another at bedtime. We have a very set routine that we stick to but it just doesn't matter. Just as we kiss her good night and turn to leave the room it starts. "But Mommy, I love you and I want you" "I want you to sleep with me" "I'm thirsty" "I'm hungry" "I have to go potty" (this is the only one we allow her to get up for). Once we actually leave the room, we spend the next 10-75 minutes telling her to get back in bed and go to sleep. The pleasure of putting the boys down at 7:30 is spoiled by the sometimes two hours it takes to Alice to actually go to sleep. This book explains how John and I really feel some nights.
On the lighter side, she can be and usually is a very sweet little girl. She is smart as a whip, really funny, and again, shocks us with the things she does and says. Alice's tastes are as different as can be. She loves putting on make-up (made her some faux make-up to keep her out of mine) and dressing in costumes but also loves dinosaurs - T-Rex to be exact. She loves dancing and is a master at being very silly (see video below). She started ballet classes last month but does not yet seem to have the attention span to follow direction for the 45 minute class. I think that we will just let that fall by the wayside for a while and work on the silly dancing at home. She loves helping me in the kitchen and I have had to learn to set aside extra time to complete a task to allow her assistance. She is doing wonderfully at school and is bringing home a lot of artwork. Her class is behind where she was in AL as they are not really working on numbers and letters, but we read to her at home and work on writing as well.
Alice's first ballet class - a very short-lived activity.
We went to my Kevin and Stephanie's (brother and sister-in-law) house in DC for Christmas and had a wonderful time. It was the going to be the first time my whole family had been together since Thanksgiving 2008 but Tim and Cindy (brother and sister-in-law) came down with wicked colds so they decided to stay home. My mom was in her glory with all four of her grand kids under one roof and Alice was spastic just being in the same general area as Nate. Man, she loves Nate - so much that she tells us all the time that she is going to be "married with he".
The video below is Nate reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to his mom and Alice. This is a 5 minute video but it is worth watching - listen especially to Nate around the 1:45 minute mark. He is such a sweet, sweet kid. I cannot believe he is 7 years old already!
Nate, Uncle Kev, and Ben
Reindeer Alice
Rudolph Alice and Rudolph Nate
Nate and Alice decorating a gingerbread house
Nate cut a beard out of paper and pretended to be Santa. Alice was beside herself.
Telling Santa what she wants for Christmas
Nate reads "T'was the Night Before Christmas" to Aunt Steph and Alice (see video)
The only thing Alice asked for from Santa was an umbrella a lot of umbrellas. My mom wrapped up this rainbow one that was mine when I was a little girl. There was another one waiting for her at home (once I realized that one would not suffice).
And it would not be a day with a drama queen 3 year old without a meltdown.
Alice, Nate, and his friend, Cash. Doesn't Alice look like a tiny pixie compared to the big boys?
Ben likes to play bongos on his brother's head
When Coop wants to sleep, he will do it anywhere!
Some mornings it is obvious that Alice was up playing far longer than she was supposed to be.
And so there it is. This year is going to be a great one. Happy New Year to you!
