Say what?

So this weekend Jonah did and said some things that had me laughing so hard!

We often play the peek-a-boo game where you put a blanket over you kid and then ask, "Where's Jonah?" and when he pops out you act all surprised. At least that's the way it usually goes and it's good for some giggles. Jonah even hides sometimes (not very well) and then says "Jonah, where are you?" because he wants you to ask that question. It's pretty funny. Then on Saturday Jonah threw a blanket over top of his head and then wandered around the house while saying "Where am I? Where am I?" I busted up laughing because it was so hilarious.

Then this afternoon Jonah grabbed a pillow off our living room couch and said, "Pillow all stinky". Then he proceeded to dramatically sniff the pillow and said, "Nope. Clean!" Then he did the same thing with the rest of the pillows while we all laughed at him. Where do kids come up with these things?

Nature Walk

Almost every morning I haul myself out of bed around 6 a.m. and after breakfast I go on a walk, pushing the boys in our double stroller. Eli usually falls asleep in his car seat but Jonah is always looking around, commenting on everything he sees (sometimes he's just talking to himself because I am listening to music or books).

Yesterday I noticed a beetle as we walked toward our house through the cemetery. I walked past it and then paused. I thought, "I should show Jonah the beetle. We can watch it together and learn about nature."

So I am anticipating a wonderful nature moment with my little boy as I turn the stroller around and point to the ground.

Me: Look Jonah! A beetle!
Jonah: Oh!
Me: See it walking across the pavement?
Jonah: Step on it!

Ha! So much for the beauties of nature! :o)

Approaching Rollover!

So the other day I was taking a video of my baby with my digital camera because I was SURE he was going to roll over. So I waited... and stopped recording... and started recording... and waited... and stopped recording... and started recording... and waited. You know how it goes, right?

So the video didn't turn out to be very exciting because he didn't roll over. Mostly you just hear me saying... "Oh! So close... you can do it! Roll over!" So I won't subject you to the movie. Instead here is a still that I took out of movie. Check this little guy out! How long do you think it will be before he rolls over?

Sprinkler Tag

I have somehow found myself in charge of my neighborhood's playgroup. Each week we have Playgroup in the Park and invite all the mothers to bring their children and come play. I love playgroup and I really don't mind being in charge except for one little thing...

We have been going to various parks in hopes of finding the PERFECT park. You know, the one that has lots of shade, plenty of grass to roam around on, really great equipment, swings, slides, benches, tons of parking, soda coming out of the water fountains, etc. I didn't think we were asking for too much (except that last bit) but apparently I was wrong.

For a while there we were weighing the importance of the various factors as we checked out nearby parks. Park A has nice equipment, but not enough shade or parking. Park B has plenty of shade and parking, but the slides end approximately three feet from the ground (no kidding!).

Then I finally found it! The PERFECT park. It has shade, great equipment for children of various ages, lots of grass, swings, slides, benches, you name it! (no soda fountain though) So I was very excited and got the word out that playgroup would be at this beautiful oasis.

I arrived at the park and was the first one there as always. To my dismay the sprinkers were running... at 10 AM! I was thinking... "What the...? Aren't they supposed to water AT NIGHT?"

Ok. No problem... the playground equipment isn't wet so we'll just set up our blankets on the wood chips. It will be tight but there is plenty of room. This can still work out, right?

Soon a few other ladies joined me and the kids were having fun. The sprinklers turned off and we all did a happy dance... until another set turned on. No problem... these ones aren't going to get us either, right? I am feeding Eli on our blanket as the sprinkler just misses us. Perfect! We set up in just the right place... um, or not.

We weren't so fortunate the next pass. Eli didn't even blink as he gets showered, he just keeps on chugging his moo-juice. Jonah on the other had is very surprised and not too pleased. As for me, I was actually thinking that this was getting pretty comical.

So we were going to move to the other side of the play equipment because it was still dry, when "Psshhh!" the sprinklers turned on all around us. So we made a run for it!

We moved over to the smaller equipment (didn't I tell you this park is PERFECT?) and ended up sitting on our blankets which were spread out on the nice soft cement. Ahhh!


I don't think that the day at the park was a total loss... and it sure was exciting! The kids had fun playing together on the little playground. As for the moms, we spent the next hour in fear of the hiss of sprinklers and pondering who on earth waters the grass in a public park during the day?

Cart me away!

Please tell me someone else has done this...

So I went shopping for groceries at Wal-Mart this morning and I got one of the enormous carts. You know the kind that feels like you are steering a big blue buffalo around the store? I'm not talking about the fun kind with the cute car in front of the basket. No... these are the ones where it's you, a spot for two kids (more if you are creative), and your basket WAY out in front somewhere.

With my two boys I can't use a regular cart and put one of them in the basket and the other in the seat because then where do I put the groceries? Sometimes I think... "I'm not getting that much. I can put the car seat in the bottom of the basket." Then I end up stacking groceries all around the carseat and once they are bagged they will never fit back in there!

So I have resigned myself to the hugenormous carts that don't exactly turn on a dime (heck, they probably wouldn't even turn on an oversized frisbee).

The only problem with these carts is that with a baby's car seat on top and you pushing on a bar approximately THREE FEET behind that it is impossible to see where you are going. So I'm on my way out of the store when... CRASH! I felt like I'd hit a brick wall, but I still couldn't SEE what I had hit. So I go around to the front of the cart to find that I ran right into one of the bright red poles. You know the ones in front of the store that are there for absolutely no reason I can determine? (Why? WHY are they there, people?) I swear everyone walking by was laughing at me as my two year old freaks out and starts asking if we had an "ack-ident". It was a little bit embarassing, to say the least.

Then after playgroup today we went to Albertsons because they were having a great sale on chicken. They only had regular carts in the store, so I put the carseat in the basket. I was only getting chicken, right? Hah! By the time we were done I could barely fit the groceries back in!

Why don't more places have the carts like Costco's that can seat two kids? I can't wait until Eli is big enough to sit up by himself, but I don't know how excited I am to try to get my two-year-old to follow me around instead of riding in the cart!

I'll wash, you rinse... or not!

Jonah was "helping" me do the dishes yesterday by rinsing the dishes. Notice that the dish drainer is still empty and so is the side of the sink I was washing in. I guess the dishes are getting a really good rinse.


I guess you could say he was also "helping" out with the laundry!

Itsy Bitsy Spider!

Jonah loves to sing (or listen to me sing). When I have to feed the baby we usually either read books or sing songs. The nursery leaders at church have told me that he is one of the best singers, which I thought was great because he usually doesn't sing with me. Sometimes I have to stop singing and let him finish for me in order for me to hear him sing.

Check this video out. It is so adorable and funny!

Soggy Saturday

This morning I got to sleep in. At our house this means that I didn't get up until just after 7 a.m. and it was heavenly! Of course our two-year old, Jonah, was up before we were. When I got up he came to greet me and I discovered that he was wet from his shoulders to his knees! He usually has a pretty soggy diaper in the morning, but this was something else! I wondered if he had somehow found some water and soaked himself in the twenty minutes he was roaming around by himself this morning.

Nope. Turns out that Daddy put him to bed last night and forgot to change his diaper. Nice huh? So he was soaked and so were his sheets. Mommy and Daddy were pretty tired last night, so I could have made the same mistake. We both had a pretty good laugh about it this morning!

Strawberry days

A little birdie reminded me today (as I chased him away) that I needed to check our garden for strawberries. Bonanza! There were more strawberries than I think I have ever gathered at a time.


My problem is that the birds are still getting them. You can see in the picture that a couple of the berries have been pecked at. We put up pinwheels to scare the birds away, but obviously they aren't phased by them. Anyone know how else we can scare the birds away? I love my berries you know!

Trash Talks

Wednesday is garbage day in our neighborhood. Although it is nice to have your trash taken away by a big blue truck, there are some things that I definitely don't like about garbage day.

Every morning I go on a walk, pushing my boys in the double stroller. I usually go early when it's cooler and it makes me feel good... except on garbage day when it makes me feel sick! You would not believe how much people's garbage stinks! I don't know why this should surprise me because with two boys in diapers, my own garbage doesn't smell like a bed of roses either.

I still go walking on garbage day, but no matter how I try to steer clear of the garbage cans I can still smell it all. Yuck! Even if the can is empty. Maybe I just have a sensitive nose or something.

Anyway, pondering the smelly trash made me think of what people would learn about us if they (for some weird reason) decided to rummage through our garbage. Here's what I came up with:

1. The stinky diapers would tell you that are two children living at the house. One is a toddler and one is a baby.

2. The man of the house reads every computer magazine known to man!

3. The woman of the house is probably happy because the man of the house actually throws said magazines away instead of piling them up in the garage.

4. Certain feminine products indicate that there IS a woman of the house (of child-bearing age, of course).

5. The lack of fast food containers would indicate that they don't eat out often.

6. The woman of the house gets all the ads and coupons for local craft stores.

7. These people don't drink a lot of soda.

8. The presence of bits of fabric, thread, and paper would indicate that the woman of the house enjoys sewing and other paper crafts.

9. The lack of coffee, tea, tobacco, or alcoholic beverage paraphernalia would indicate that these people are either health nuts or Mormons.

10. None of the trash (including the magazines) has the name or address of the people living there, so these people must be paranoid (safety first!).

11. Breakfast is either Honey Bunches of Oats, Life Cereal, or Frosted Mini-Wheats.

12. Wow! How much milk can one family drink?

So what would your garbage say about you?

Suck it up!

So for a while now Jonah has been afraid of the vacuum cleaner. Eli could care less... sometimes the vacuum actually puts him to sleep! I have been telling Jonah that the vacuum is "not scary, just noisy" for a while, but it hasn't seemed to help. Every time I would open the vacuum closet he would wimper and head for the hills (and by the hills I mean the couch because the vacuum can't get you there!).

I couldn't figure out what to do to make him get over this fear. I felt like I'd tried everything. Then my brain finally kicked in gear and yesterday we made some progress as I applied my psychology background to the situation.

In the psychology word what I did was called systematic desensitization. I needed to get Jonah to see that he could be on the floor while the vacuum was running and even touch it and nothing bad would happen.

So I plugged the vacuum in and turned it on. I know that Jonah finds holding my hand comforting, so I had him hold my hand while I pushed the vacuum with the other. He was nervous, but I kept telling him "See... mommy pushes the vacuum and then pulls it back" over and over.

Pretty soon he thought this might actually be fun and when we got to his room he said "Jonah do it". So I let him touch the handle and help me push it. He didn't do it for very long, but I was stunned that it was that easy. Then when I vacuumed my bedroom I got a piece of paper and tore some little bits off and showed him how the vacuum cleaned the floor. This was like magic for him, and before long he was running around pointing out bits of paper for me to vacuum up.

I guess before this I always just figured that he would "get over it" and just needed to "suck it up" (haha). But what he really needed was a little bit of help. Now he understands what the vacuum is for and that it really is "not scary, just noisy".

What's that smell?

So this morning I was really hoping that my boys would sleep in. Nope! Even though we put Jonah to bed really late, he woke up at approximately 6:22 a.m. (and by approximately I mean exactly because I looked at the clock and moaned). But I had already been out of bed at 5 a.m. to go to the bathroom and then I fed the little guy around 5:30 a.m. So I guess I was already awake... mostly.

So I got Jonah a cup of milk and after he drank it up he cuddled in bed with me. It was nice and I was hoping he would go back to sleep. No such luck. Instead I get this:

Jonah: blue, green, brown, one two three four five!

Then he started babbling some more colors. So I knew I might as well play with him because he was definitely awake. We made a tent under the covers and tickled and giggled a bit. We were having a good time.

Me: You smell like pee-pee!
Jonah: Nope!
Me: Are you sure?
Jonah: (looks right at me and then toots) Hahahaha!
Me: Oh!
Jonah: pee-eww!
Me: No kidding.

How is it that little boys learn to master that particular body function so quickly, huh?

Then he proceeded to climb over me repeatedly while saying, "Mommy get up!".
That is how my day began. Fun, huh?

It's not a diet, I'm in training!

Weight has always been an issue for me. I actually weigh less now than I did in high school, which is pretty good considering the fact that I have given birth twice! I have never really lost weight by going on any kind of "plan". Basically I have lost weight in the past by exercising more and eating less and the weight has come off very gradually.

I would love to be able to loose weight like they do on the Biggest Loser, but I know that's not possible unless I were to... you know, get on the show! That will never happen because unfortunately (or fortunately, I suppose) I am not fat enough to be on the show!

I really want to loose weight, but I guess I must not always want it bad enough to put down that cookie. Mmmm... cookies. See, I have quite a sweet tooth. If I see chocolate then I really want to eat it. I have a hard time with the idea of restricting what I eat. For some reason that brings out the rebellion in me. The monologue in my head goes something like this...

Responsible me: You really shouldn't eat those. We are trying to be good.
Rebellious me: Mmmm... that sure does look tasty. We should just try one.
Responsible me: NO! We are not allowed to eat any of those cookies.
Rebellious me: Oh yeah?! I'll show you! Just try to stop me.
Responsible me: Ok. Maybe just one.
Rebellious me: Well we already blew it, why stop at one?

So you see where I run into trouble. I am pretty good about exercising. I take the boys on a walk nearly every day. It just isn't enough to make up for what I eat. Ever since my DH has started riding his bike to work I have been thinking that it is time for me to ramp it up.

Last night we got talking about how fun it would be to take a bicycling vacation together. DH has really been enjoying biking to work and I enjoy riding my bike too. I would love to be able to spend some time with him without the kids... it could be like a second honeymoon.

Then I realized that if we went anywhere on our bicycles I would be the red-faced one huffing and puffing in the back. I don't want that to be me. So instead of being on a diet, I have decided that I'm in training.

I am training for a chance to take even short bicycling trips with my husband. Somehow having that goal to work towards makes it easier for me. Then I can concentrate more on exercising, and the being good about food part comes easier because I have a worthwhile goal.

So we'll see if tricking myself works.

The Second Time Around

Have you ever noticed that you do things differently with your second child than you did with your first?

I don't just mean that you are better at changing diapers or whatnot. Of course you have more experience and therefore are better at some things this time around. What I am talking about is how you don't do things that you did with your first child because you have to take your first into consideration... ok, that didn't make much sense. Let me 'splain.

When Jonah was little and we were working on getting him to sleep through the night there were a couple of times that we had to let him cry it out so that he would go back to sleep and learn to sleep through the night. Right now his little brother Eli sleeps through the night most of the time by himself. However occasionally he will wake up early. Like last night he woke up just before 5 a.m. But of course I couldn't wait and let him cry about it because that would wake up Jonah.

It's not really a big deal because Eli does sleep through the night most of the time. But it makes me wonder about other things that will make growing up a different experience for my two boys simply because of the order that they were born. I love both my boys and I hope to be able to be fair to them, but sometimes it isn't always possible. Know what I mean?

Repeat after me...

My just barely two-year-old has quite a grasp on language. He is already speaking in full sentences and is coming up with his own phrases, which I think is really quite remarkable. The other day we were reading together and out of the blue he said "Oh wow! Look at that!" Isn't that funny?

There is one thing that has been driving me crazy though... he will keep repeating a word or phrase until you repeat back what he has said. I don't know if he doesn't think we are listening, or if he just needs the validation. I know repetition is how kids learn new words and phrases... but he will repeat things I know he already knows how to say. I think he is just trying to make sure we are listening. The question is, how do I get him to stop? I can't always instantly stop what I am doing or interrupt my present conversation to tell him "yes, Jonah" or repeat what he said.

It's not that I'm not interested in what he has to say. I want him to feel important and loved, but I also need him to know that mommy can't always pay close attention to him, and he can't just keep repeating himself until I do.

Any ideas on what I should do?

Binky Bling

So this week I made some beaded binky straps for my three-month old son, Eli. I got tired of losing binkies, especially when in the car. I found it a bit difficult to make binky clips that looked "boyish". So how did I do? Are these ok, or do they scream, "Help! My mommy doesn't have any girls!"

A Tale of Two Teddies

A year and a half ago for Christmas one of my coworkers gave my son, Jonah, a teddy bear. She is a sweet older lady who doesn't have a lot of money and I was touched by the gesture.

The teddy that she gave to Jonah was unique in many ways. When you think of a teddy bear, you probably think of something cute, cuddly and brown. This teddy is powder blue with long arms and legs and a little bow sewn below his chin. I had no idea when she gave us "Teddy" that he would become my son's best friend.

Appearances don't matter to little kids as much as they do to adults. I didn't think that Teddy was anything special, but Jonah disagrees. He absolutely loves Teddy and would not even think of going to sleep without him! For some reason Jonah finds comfort in holding Teddy close and feeling his face as he drifts off to sleep.

Teddy has been through a lot. He has traveled with us to 5 different states in the past year and a half. He has been thoroughly squeezed, petted with grubby fingers, dragged around, vomited on, and washed many, many times. His stuffing has compacted and he can no longer hold his head up. Somewhere along the way he lost that little blue bow. He looks much skinnier and worn than he did a year ago, but there is a lot of love in that little blue bear.

I foolishly tried to replace Teddy with a bear that I thought looked more "acceptable" when Jonah's brother Eli was born. We had Eli "give" Jonah an adorable brown teddy bear as a gift when Jonah came to the hospital. But nothing could replace Teddy.

Now instead of one bear, Jonah sleeps with Teddy and Brown Bear... but there is no question as to which bear Jonah loves most. It's definitely Teddy.