This One's for Pity

Three posts in one night? Crazy!

I just want to tell you that our hot water heater has apparently died. After taking his shower this evening, Jeff announced he'll be showering at the squadron until it's fixed. I however, will be figuring out how not to sweat again until it's fixed because the cold shower I took tonight really sucked!

Recent Faves

From Wyatt, my little Mr. Talks A Lot.

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W: What we doin' today, Mommy?
Me: You're looking at it.
W: But I don't see anything!

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Me: (noticing Wyatt jumping up and down) What are you doing?
W: Trying to see in that mirror up there.
Me: (because it's above the mantel) How's that going for you?
W: It's not doin' too good.

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W: Mommy, can I have a snack?
Me: What did you have in mind?
W: Hmmm...I'm thinkin' about cashews.

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W: (after church today) What we doin' now?
J: We're going to run an errand.
W: And then we're going out to lunch?
J: Yes, I think we'll go out for lunch.
W: We goin' to Three Amigos?
J: We'll let Mommy decide where she wants to go.
W: Mommy, you feel like a quesadilla today?

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W: Mommy, can I have a snack to hold me down until dinner?
Me: You mean hold you over?
W: No, Mommy. Hold me down.

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W: Andrew's my favorite.
Me: Andrew's your favorite cousin?
W: Yes. Thomas your favorite, Mommy?
Me: No, I don't have a favorite. I love them both.
W: Oh. Well, Andrew is my favorite.

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Me: Why did you get in trouble?
W: Because we throwed clothes everywhere.
Me: Did you know you'd get in trouble?
W: Yes.
Me: So what do you think you should do next time instead of throwing clothes?
W: no answer
Me: You should make a better decision.
W: I don't think so, Mommy. It was really, really fun.

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W: Mommy, will you talk to me?
Me: Sure, what do you want to talk about?
W: Kansas.
Me: What about Kansas?
W: When we goin' back there?
Me: I don't know. Would you like to go back?
W: Yes. Maybe at 6 o'clock or maybe at 10 o'clock?

That Was Fun

There's nothing like ten days with family to make you wish you lived a little closer. In no particular order, a photo review of our vacation:

My babies. Oh, how I love them.

Cousins at the zoo. It was cold!

My man doing his best flamingo.

My man being unimpressed with the elephants, as though we see them all the time. My sister's comment, though, was a gem: "Look at that. I mean, those aren't very evolved."

This is the lion cage. There are three lions in it. Wyatt's comment upon seeing them? "Look Mommy! A green bowling ball!" If you look in the upper right of the picture, you'll see it too. I told you he wasn't impressed with the zoo!

The best picture I have of all three cousins from that outing. I chose the one with a blurry Wyatt. If you'd like to see a blurry Andrew or Thomas, I have those photos too. Turns out three boys don't really slow down much, even if it is raining and cold in May! And this should explain why Wyatt asked to nap an hour early on our first day home.

The requisite brainwashing trip. Start 'em young! Natalie was asleep or we would've figured out how to strap her to its back.

Ahhh, Natalie's new favorite way to spend an afternoon (and Grandpa's old favorite way to spend an afternoon.)

An amazingly good pic of all three boys post-bowling. Miracles happen every day - all are smiling, facing the camera and sitting still!

Wyatt's interesting technique.

Always with the follow-through.

Great-grandma and her youngest great-grandkids.

Natalie meeting the Rock cousins. I think she likes Alexis!

Just chilling.

Grandma and her boys, all enjoying a rare moment of quiet. I don't remember any of them being this still when they were together so it's good someone captured it on camera!

Thomas and Wyatt, plotting their next move.

Andrew showing Grandpa and the little boys his discovery. I think his quote was something along the lines of, "I don't know what those frogs have been doing, but there sure are a lot of tadpoles in that pond!"

Wyatt has asked every day if we can talk about Kansas and when we're going back. It's safe to say we had a great time and can't wait for the next trip!

What Happened to Jennifer?

We just took all the kids to the park for a picnic and some playground fun. After a few minutes, I realized there were not one, but two, little girls running around named Harley. And here I thought that might have qualified as an unusual name.

And this is simply further confirmation that I'm getting old.

Dear Red Envelope,

I think your site is fabulous and you always have the perfect gift for all occasions so I'm sincerely hoping you can help me out. I can't find the category titled, "I'm sorry my kid just pooped his way across your basement" and I desperately need a little something that conveys this message. You see, Red Envelope, my sweet toddler seems to have a desperate fear of the potty and/or a control issue and got himself into a real bind (no pun intended) so we did what any loving and concerned parents might do and slipped him a laxative. I swear the label said it was gentle and the pharmacist agreed it was the right thing to do, you know, since he was running a fever from it. Well, it seems he had too much of a good thing and it just all came to an ugly end at my sister's house tonight.

So can you help me out? Perhaps a lovely gift-wrapped box of paper towels, carpet cleaner and disinfectant? Oh, and something really fresh-smelling like a pretty blooming plant might be nice, too.

Thanks for your help,
Stephanie

Miscellaneous

Natalie is two months old; next thing I know she'll be asking for car keys! I was anxious to get her stats since I had a feeling there would be less judgment from the doctor about her growth rate than I ever experienced with Wyatt. Sure enough, at 11 lbs, 1 oz. and 22.5 inches long, she's in the 50-75%ile for height and weight. But because she is her father's daughter, her head circumfrence puts her in the 25-50%ile. Funny.

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Wyatt is tantruming ALL THE TIME to the point that we have had sit down discussions about how to handle this evil behavior and I am beyond worn out. Luckily, the columnist/psychologist/author John Rosemond spoke at a church here yesterday and Jeff & I were able to go. Best sitter money we've spent for a while and, though not all of his tips/thoughts/practices may sit well with others or fully work for us, we're on board for some more common sense parenting. Look out kiddo, Mommy is feeling reinvigorated.

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I had a dream that I was eating late night curry with Adam Lambert from American Idol. Unfortunate since I don't even like Adam's music and have been fast-forwarding through his performances; we had nothing to talk about.

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Wyatt has started requesting that I not move my eyebrows when I speak to him. Easier said than done.

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Natalie slept through the night the first two nights Jeff was home from his trip and had volunteered to take the 4am feed, thereby letting him off the hook. Of course last night, on my watch, she needed that early morning sustenance. Figures.

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We're flying to Kansas today. It's our first trip as a family of four and I'm feeling a little worried about the fact that Wyatt has already chosen to wet his pants once this morning. The upside? Daddy will be there to deal with it. And at least the airline was smart enough to book us all in the same row. We'll keep our circus to ourselves.

Lessons Learned

Conveniently, while we were all standing by our big back bay window, a bird committed suicide by flying into it at high speed. Jeff was actually outside, standing approximately two feet from the scene of the accident, and Mom, Wyatt and I were inside. It shocked us all and then led to interesting conversation, what with the twitching corpse and poop on the window. Wyatt wanted to know what that bird did so we thought maybe it would be a good opportunity to talk about being careful and making good decisions.

Me: that birdie hurt himself because he didn't make a good decision. You know how Mommy tells you I don't want you to get hurt? That birdie got hurt very badly and it's sad.

Grandma: That's why Mommy always tells you to hold hands in a parking lot and follow directions.

W: Why is it sad?

Me: Well, because that birdie probably had a mommy and daddy that loved it very much and now they won't get to be with it again.

W: Why that birdie not going with its mommy and daddy?

Me: (sensing a bad decision on my part to have this conversation) Well, that bird made a bad decision.

and then we repeated some variety of that conversation as Jeff scooped up the corpse with a shovel while we were all watching.

W: (pointing to the poop on the window) Can I catch that?

Me: No, sweetie.

W: Is it on the outside or the inside?

Me: It's on the outside.

W: Where that birdie go?

Me: Well, Daddy took it, sweetie.

W: (making really sad, pouty face) That really sad. That birdie's mommy and daddy are sad.

Grandma: (sensing another wrong turn on our part) I think maybe that birdie could be okay. Maybe if it's really, really careful, it'll get better.

W: But maybe that birdie's family be really sad.

Me: That bird will make better decisions next time and listen to its mommy and daddy, I think.

W: But now the trash man going to take it?

And then I lost it. Hands over my face, trying not to crack up because, yes, that's precisely what's going to happen.

W: Oh, Stephy, what's wrong?

At that point, Jeff returned not realizing what kind of scene he was walking into.

W: Daddy, that bird's mommy and daddy are really sad.

J: Yeah, can you believe that? It's eyes were...

Grandma: (cutting him off) We're having an interesting conversation in here about all of this.

W: Why that birdie do that, Daddy?

J: Because it wasn't wearing a helmet. You should always wear a helmet when you fly.

Me: Or when you ride your bike (shooting Jeff a look)...

J: Right. Or when you ride a bike. A helmet really protects your head.

W: That bird not wearing a helmet?

J: No, that bird wasn't wearing a helmet.

And the conversation is over. Thank God!

So I'm pretty sure Wyatt's takeaway from this is that if you fly into a window, without a helmet, your parents will be sad and then the trash man takes you. The end. What? He's our practice kid so we'll do a better job with Natalie.

Ladies Man

Wyatt was doing an awesome job of playing by himself yesterday morning, getting out toys that haven't seen the light of day for months. After digging through his baskets, he strolled into the kitchen as he was wrapping a lovely piece of grosgrain ribbon around his head.

W: I'm going to girls' night.

me: You're going to girls' night?

W: Yes.

me: Are you fixing your hair?

W: Yes.

me: What are you going to do at girls' night?

W: Play with Isaac.

me: Really?

W: Yes. You want to come?

me: Are we invited to girls' night with you and Isaac?

W: Yes, you and Grandma can come, too.

me: Oh, how generous of you!

W: Yes. It is.



What a gentleman.

A Little Insurance

I have recently made the decision to wean Natalie. Nursing was never overly successful with Wyatt but I battled it through for seven months, never feeling great about it (not helped by his failure to thrive diagnosis and repeatedly holding up the small end of the scale). Things started out barely okay with Natalie and we're kind of heading down the same path so I'm holding true to the promise I made to me: don't make yourself miserable. So we're on Operation Formula Increase around here with the idea being that I'll wrap up the nursing at 2 months. That's next Friday.

So what did she do? She went and got herself a cold with fever (in all fairness, I'm sure one of us unwittingly delivered it to her) so now I'm feeling all panicky about her immune system. Stinker. After two visits to urgent care in the last 20 hours, we're pretty sure she just has a cold and is actually fine. The doctor's are cautiously unconcerned after having screened her for more serious stuff like RSV, flu, pneumonia and UTI and expect the fever to run its course by the end of the weekend. We'll see. Needless to say, she's had a little more nursing in the last 20 hours than she might have otherwise had. Because apparently I think I am actually passing a little defense shield through to her, though obviously I'm not since she's already sick. Nice work, baby girl, you're now guaranteed the free stuff for at least another week.

In happier news? My daughter is officially growing well, tipping the scales just shy of 11 pounds. If my math is correct, that means she's gained more than an ounce a day since birth. I'm sure that makes her perfectly average but that alone makes her a complete anomaly for this house! I love it.

Naps: The Great Neutralizer

My son, who had a rough morning behavior-wise, has just awakened and is nothing but charming. He walked into the family room, saw Natalie laying in her swing and said, "hey! it's Natalie! Hi Natalie!" and then proceeded to give her a kiss and a hug. He has now climbed into the chair closest to her so he can talk to her. He looked at me and told me he was going to talk to his sister. She, in turn, is beaming at him.

Thank God for naps and their restorative power. I mean, I didn't even take one and I feel much better about the state of things around here.

Since the In-Laws Asked

When I get called out by Jeff's parents, it's time to post. We've been busy around here; standard stuff plus I hosted a baby shower over the weekend and that's a feat only because I don't have reliable chunks of time to myself anymore. My friend Tara (who's in town for a couple of months - yay!) totally bailed me out one morning by taking Wyatt with her to the Living Museum and Jeff did more than his fair share of kid care day and night to let me have time to prep everything. But whatever - it was totally fun for me to host and it worked out.


In the meantime, Natalie's growing like a champ and we've discovered she has some pretty sensitive skin. That means that we've rewashed (technically, we're in the process) everything in her room. Thankfully it seems to be helping. In Wyatt news, he's taken to some serious nap-protesting. As in he didn't take one at all for a day last week and spent another one sleeping in his little green chair after having been told he could play in his room but that he couldn't come out until I went to get him. We seem to be back on track which is great because I'm totally not ready for him to give up naps. And I don't really think he is, either, considering he averages three hours every day.


Also? Wyatt's coming up with some real winners in the conversation department. Today he started multiple conversations with, "I tell you what..." and then proceeded to inform me of his plans. He's really good at making plans, by the way. My least favorite yet most often repeated question is "what we doin' today Mommy?" One day I told him I didn't know so he decided we'd be going to the park. And then he repeated that about forty times before breakfast. And then we saw a Dunkin' Donuts ad in the paper (he asks for the sports section every morning) and he decided we'd go get donuts after the park. Needless to say, that's not how our day progressed but I was pretty impressed with his planning skills.


Wyatt's favorite toy right now is a box of dry rotini pasta. If I'd had any idea how much mileage he'd get out of that, I would have given it to him ages ago. The "tini", as he calls it, even went outside with us yesterday to assist in the potting of our new plants (sidenote: we purchased the plants at Home Depot and Wyatt wanted to know why we weren't going to Lowe's. He prefers Lowe's, just so you know) and was pretty much the only thing he played with today. He is also the proud owner of a new rake, courtesy of Jeff and Operation Sod the Bare Spots, and that is getting a fair amount of love, too.

This is Natalie's smile. It's a winner as are those cheeks.

Wyatt is a child after my heart - note that the cupcake has been de-frosted only. He announced he was finished.

What's that phrase about children and apron strings? It's hard to make cookies with a kid in your arms.

Boy and rake, a happy combo. Incidentally, that's a giant pollen clump he's carting around.