A Tall Tale

Van Van Says

Meeeeeeeee! - Usually in a high pitched squeal when he wants something you've got or with his arms upstretched when he wants you to pick him up.

Num num - When he's ready to eat.

Oh oh - Uh oh

Bah - Ball

Dah Duh - All done (Over and over again at dinnertime...we have a hard time believing this statement since he's usually still stuffing something into his mouth when he says it. Usually we wait to get him out of his seat until he's pushing himself up out of his high chair looking at us like, "What's wrong with you people? I've been telling you I'm Dah Duh for half an hour now!!!")

See - As he points to various things. This was probably his actual first word although we weren't convinced of it until much later.

Um - As he stares into space...Ben says he's a contemplative boy :)

He also does mama, dada, and nana. I can't wait to hear what he comes up with for Sofie!

Nuclear

I'm proud to report that we are a nuclear family once again! After two months traveling back and forth to Ohio for work, Ben is finally a full-time resident of North Carolina. He arrived in the wee hours of Halloween morning and we had a blast carving pumpkins, trick-or-treating and passing out candy in this lively neighborhood. The kids are settling nicely into a new routine. We put Nana on a plane home on Nov. 3rd (I'm still pinching myself over the fact that she actually got on a plane after 35 years of adamantly refusing to fly) and Ben jumped into full-time Daddy-ing. I was anticipating chaos, but it turns out I sold him desperately short because he is WONDERFUL with the kids. It's been quite a relief for me.

The last few months have been jam-packed and eventful. The processes of applying, interviewing, and beginning this job were a complete whirlwind and one that I am so glad I got caught up in. I couldn't have asked for a better place to work or a job more suited for me. I feel really fortunate to have landed where we have. In August Van and Sofie both had birthdays, complete with parties and out-of-town guests layered on top of packing up our old place and traveling to find a new place. We arrived at our new house with Nana in tow on September 3rd and I jumped right into my job (before our furniture arrived!) on the 7th. Over the last two months we've seen Ben only every other weekend as he finished up his position in Ohio and I traveled quite a bit (St. Louis, Denver, Atlanta) through the course of my training. Nana was our anchor at home with the kids and we couldn't have possibly managed this transition without her. Through it all the kids have been resilient, if a bit confused. We are so relieved to be on the other side of the crazy, entering a steadier phase and rooting ourselves into this community.

I hope to find time to return to my semi-regular blogging. In the meantime, a few of my favorite photos from the last few months!

Just Because

Today I sat on a swing, my little Van straddled across my lap, and I kicked out my legs and we swung. He leaned his head way back and beamed up at me before snuggling into my body, arms hugging tight around my sides. And I felt so incredibly lucky.

Today we are in a new state, living sparsely since the moving van has not yet delivered our belongings. I walk into our beautiful empty house after a satisfying day at my dream job and I'm greeted by two jubilant little beings so excited to welcome me back. I am full of happiness.

We are well :)

Eleven Months

Started walking, not very steady (now you are, even standing up on your own without assistance) climb like crazy...love Sofie's two-step stool in the bathroom, mini table and chairs, couch, Sofie's bed, etc.

Throw things behind your head

Know what things are for, put Sofie's necklaces around your neck, hats on your head, phone up to your ear, etc.

Bedtime routine, hold you, hum, and sway, you lay your head on my shoulder and wrap your arms around my neck and your body goes calm

hold your arms out with your hands palm up when you want something

So Flipping Cute

Look Who's Walking!

Van Van took his first steps on June 25th. They occurred just after he attempted an unfortunate balancing act on Sofie's toy stroller which ended in the first, of what I'm sure will be many, giant knot on his forehead. (Currently he is scaling toys to peek out the window with his sister. Help me!)

Pictures

I couldn't resist posting a few pictures from this afternoon. Aren't these munchkins ridiculously cute?!




We were headed out for a princess themed birthday party, hence Sofie's "special" ensemble. Van (aren't those teeth just too much?!) made his appearance as the frog prince!


And while we're at it (and because I just downloaded the last few months of pictures onto the computer) here are a few funny ones from our visit to Grannie Gracie's on Memorial Day weekend. Only the super coolest Daddy could think up such a ridiculous activity!

Nine/Ten Months

Van Van, I must apologize that the following notes are all that formally materialized regarding your nine-month update:

Crawling to cruising and letting go, walking while holding our hands

Responding appropriately to gimme 5, clapping, waving bye bye is emerging, tapping knees for happy deuce song (Happy to See), babbling up a storm

Learning to use a sippy cup, enjoying big kid food at the table with family

drama king, head on the ground screaming when you are mad

enjoying books, music, other people...complete ham when someone's paying attention to you

two top teeth are in, first the right then the left

Mama's boy, fine until you see me walk in the room and then you follow me whining dramatically until I pick you up....pulling yourself up on my pant legs

Parenting, lately, has really been challenging me. You and your sister have been morphing so quickly that I barely have time to adjust before you're changing the game on me again. I am too often giving in to frustration and exhaustion and I find myself wishing that I could just live in the moment and soak you guys up a little bit, instead of constantly trying to figure out how to guide you in the right direction. This parenting gig...it is rough sometimes :)

You are FINALLY sleeping through the night after some pretty brutal sleep training. After nine and a half months of you waking me up every 2/3 hours so you could have a leisurely half asleep nursing session I decided enough was enough. You are now going down for bed around eight thirty with minimal fuss (most nights!) and waking around five thirty or six for the day. Although I would obviously prefer that you would sleep until at least seven thirty every morning like your sister (and shhhhh...don't tell anyone that I already sometimes ache for your little snuggle bod in my bed at night) I can't really complain!

You are a speedy little crawling machine and well on your way to walking. You pull yourself up on just about anything (sometimes you end up pulling things over on top of yourself!) and you get especially excited if it's something you can push around while trying out your legs. You love your walking toy and sometimes we take it out into the long hallway so you can practice without running yourself into Sofie's messes every three feet. You grin with your whole face and huff and puff and proudly careen that thing down the hall as fast as you can go until your legs fall out from under you. You are trepidatious about standing independently, but when we can trick you into giving it a try you can balance for quite awhile on your own. I'm looking forward to cheering on your first steps...it won't be much longer!

We've completely abandoned baby food and you pretty much eat whatever the rest of us are having at mealtimes. You're getting better at managing bigger chunks of food, so it has become much easier to share our daily menu with you. Your taste in foods sort of cracks me up. Given the vehemence with which you denied baby food it's a welcome surprise to watch you gobble up spinach, portobello mushrooms, tofu, and asparagus. You've got a healthy (er unhealthy?!) appetite for non-foods too and we are constantly fishing things out of your mouth with trepidation. Let's just say we've called poison control more than once!

This month I'm struck by how much you understand. You can shake your head no, wave goodbye, and put balls into a container. You love to push buttons on toys and you know how to turn on your sister's Tag reader and then jab it haphazardly at a book until it rewards you with a sound. You are a music freak and you dance like a crazy man, bopping, waving your arms, and banging your head to the beat. You like to play with the toy instruments and you sing, "Ahhhhhhhhh" along with Sofie and I. You are such a happy, wonderful little soul, and the cause of much laughter in this household. You have barreled into our lives and claimed your piece of our pie and, little man, I just can't imagine it any other way!

Inflation

Sofie, running up to me with both hands held up, all ten fingers displayed, "Hey mom...do you have six dollars?!"

Me, giggling, "What do you need six dollars for?"

Sofie, "For money of treats!"

Our Own Brand of Funny

My Beautiful Girl

Go take a look at my beautiful girl on Cassandra Plummer's blog by clicking HERE! If you've been thinking about having photos taken for any reason at all give me a ring and I'll talk your ear off about how wonderful Cassie is!!!

Missing Pieces

An Easter package from GranDebbie...

Painting Nana's toenails...

The boys (twins?) at the park...

Sofie pushing Van (and Nona) on the swing...

Cute head...

Decorating for spring...

Goofing...

Family portrait (bet you can't guess which ones she drew!)

Sofie's Scoot Scoot

The kids and I went down to visit Nana for an overnight this week. We were able to spend some time playing with Sofie's favorite cousin Marlo, taking a wagon ride to a nearby playground, goofing around with baby dolls, and riding Marlo's various wheeled toys in her ample sunroom. Sofie got a tricycle for her second birthday and, though we often encourage her to ride it, she hasn't quite warmed to it yet, so we were sort of excited when she eyed Marlo's mini-scooter and fell in love. Nana watched her scoot around for less than a minute before declaring, "Let's go get Sofie a scooter!" and just like that (with maybe just a bit of a lag to appease a bargain-hunting mama) Sofie has become the proud owner of a shiny red scooter!

Sing Like No One is Listening

Awhile back I joined a community choir. It had been nearly ten years since I had participated in any sort of organized singing and I was really feeling the itch. I was so excited to learn that a neighboring community had a choir already in place and it wasn't long before I attended my first practice and adopted the choir as my own. Nevermind that I am the youngest member by at least twenty years. That just adds to the charm!

We practice on Monday night for a couple of hours and Ben spends the evening taking over the bedtime routine with the kids. He's not that excited about that part, especially after a long day of work, but I think it's good for him and I know it's good for me to get out and do something for myself on a regular basis. Last night we met at a local church where we will have a concert this Saturday and sang through our concert program. This morning Sofie spotted my music and I volunteered to sing it for her. She was more than happy to participate as my audience and even chimed in a few times. After I finished singing through everything (eight songs) I turned to Sofie and said, "Which song was your favorite?" She thought for a moment and then said, "Um...the tire one." Puzzled I flipped through my music until it clicked and I burst into laughter. I can only assume that she was referring to Ezekiel Saw the Wheel.



(In case you can't see the embedded video: click here)

Music is such a wonderful accompaniment to life. My most joyful day to day moments always seem to be singing or dancing with the kids. Take some time to enjoy music in your life today...you can thank me later!

P.S. If you're in the area you're welcome to come see the choir sing on Saturday night. It's sure to be a rowdy time :)

Mama Milk

Sofie, at two years and seven months, is still nursing. You'd probably never know it if you didn't ask us about it directly or perhaps you'd suspect something if you overheard her asking me for some "cow milk" or saying to me, "I wanna murse." Sofie typically nurses twice a day, before her nap and before bedtime. It's part of a winding down routine that we've participated in for as long as I can remember. Lately we've been having some conversations about stopping, but honestly she is quite opposed to the idea and even the mention of it brings out some babyish behavior in her, almost a defiant statement that she is NOT getting too big thank you very much. I always had intentions of nursing my children for two years, mainly because all of the research regarding the benefits of nursing have shown that they continue throughout the first two years of life, but I never really thought about what quitting would look like. Lately, I've been asking myself why I feel compelled to stop and I can't seem to come up with any reasonable answers. Certainly I've heard plenty of people express their distaste with, or maybe it's just their discomfort with the idea of, nursing a child once that child can actually speak and voice its desire to do so. I have to admit that the disapproval of others does register, and sometimes even stings, but I'm finding that I'm caring less and less about what anyone thinks about the matter. My daughter wants to nurse. I am capable and willing. She is thriving. That is all...

Oh, and here is an interesting article on the subject: http://www.kathydettwyler.org/detwean.html

This and That

My lack of posting around here has been weighing on my mind a lot lately. Typically I have a bajillion pictures and funny video clips and stories rattling around in my head and typically I don't get around to posting them until they're no longer up to date and so I just don't post them at all. That has resulted in some pretty poor record keeping around here and golly that's making me feel rotten. So I've set a bit of a goal for my posting for the first time since I started this blog nearly four years ago. I'm not going to jinx myself by laying it out in print, but be assured that there will be plenty of updates around here in the days and maybe even months and years to come. Hopefully quantity won't affect quality too much...forgive me if I get off to a rusty start!














Today we were excited to spend a somewhat impromptu afternoon with Sofie and Van's sweetie cousin Ella. We read books and did puzzles, had a pretend birthday party and built a fort, played with our train tracks and spent lots and lots of time in the sunshine pushing strollers and kicking balls in the yard. It's so fun to have all the kids together and the sound of them all giggling, accompanied by the neighborhood munchkins who always make their way out when the sun is shining, is so infectious. Tonight we threw two grubby kiddos in the bathtub and they are both knocked out cold for a good sleep. A perfect summer day!

Eight Months

Little man you are eight months old today and you are so edible right now I can hardly stand it. You've entered into my favorite stage of baby/toddler-hood and it has been so much fun to interact with you lately. You are dripping with new skills and oozing with personality and we are just having such a fun time soaking it all up.

You started crawling early in the month and you're getting pretty good at it. You're so delighted to be able to independently explore your environment and you amble right up to everything and stick out your little index fingers for a poke. I like to call them your ET fingers and they are your first chosen line of experimentation. Other preferred experimentation measures include knocking things over, banging on them, and, of course, tasting them! When you first started to crawl Sofie and I would go and sit in her room and call out to you. We could hear you grunting and fumbling down the hallway and then your little head would pop around the door frame and we would all giggle together. So fun! Now you try to keep up with us as we flit from room to room and you have no qualms about letting us know just how ticked off you are when we turn around and go back the other way after you've just managed to catch up. Just today you managed to pull yourself up to standing a few times in your crib and I imagine it won't be long 'til you're able to keep up with us just fine!

The warmer weather has brought a few guest ladybugs into our home this month and you seem to have some sort of ladybug radar. Several times I've watched you poke intently at something on the floor only to discover some poor ladybug trying to escape. Goodness knows how many have made it into your mouth! You were also very interested to inspect some worms we found in the dirt with Grampy Dan and Marcy's help this Easter. I know you're young yet, but in contrast to Sofie's very cautious response to creepy crawlies your interest just screams BOY!! to me.

You are really talking up a storm and you'll go on and on about dada and mama, and nanana. Then you throw in a little yaya and some spit bubbles and then mix it all up a bit. You LOVE music and every time you hear it you rock your little bod back and forth. Sometimes you'll even add in your primitive singing, "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!" Daddy likes to tell people your favorite song is the Fillet o'Fish song from the McDonald's commercial because every time you hear it you stop what you're doing to do your little dance. You're absolutely mesmerized by The Wiggles and you completely freeze in awe of them when we play their music videos for Sofie.

Van, your presence has been an absolute delight this month. Your crazy antics fill us up with laughter. We are so fortunate to have you as a piece of this little family of four, an extra slice of happiness to brighten our days together.

The best gifts a proud mama could ever wish for :)

Creepin' Crawler

After a few episodes of accidental crawling Van finally figured out how to do it on purpose about a week and a half ago (March 12). I would have posted a video sooner, but the camera has been MIA for awhile. I found it under the couch cushions recently :) I think we'll just designate that as it's new home!

Seven Months

Well big guy another month has gone by in the blink of an eye you've really made some big changes this month. You found your voice and spent lots of time blabbering on and on about Daddy (even though I spend every chance I get right up in your face enunciating, "MMMMMama, Mmmmama!") You sprouted two bottom teeth, first the left and then the right. And you perfected what I like to call the seal, using your hands in unison to scoot yourself forward flat on your belly. All in all a month well played!

You've joined us for meals at the table, taking over your sister's booster seat, and you think you're a total hot shot. I usually put some little bits of food out for you to experiment with and you get your little pointer finger out and scoot it all around in front of you. When that's not getting you anywhere, you try to snag some by opening all your fingers and then closing them into a fist hopefully with a few unlucky morsels tucked inside. Sometimes you'll even scoot it over to the edge of the table and then lean over and stick your tongue out for it. You're a big fan of Cheerios and you do your best to pick those out from the rest.

Your favorite game right now is peek a boo. You get so incredibly excited to pull that blanket down from over your face and your whole body tenses up in anticipation. If I'm not replacing the blanket fast enough you'll lurch towards me and grab at it anxious to play again. You also like it when I open my mouth wide and wait for you to put your fingers in. Then I gobble them up over and over and over again while you squeal with delight.

It has become quite clear to me this month that you are a BOY and very different from your sister. You are growing and developing differently than she did and your personality is one of a kind. You've made me rather anxious at times, presenting me with new and different challenges than I'm used to, but I'm ready to tackle them with you and excited to see what new challenges the future holds for us, my sweet baby boy.

Public Service Announcement

from Evander...of course :)

Now, I don't know about you but I think what he's trying to say is, "I want to say Mama, but I can't figure out how, so maybe this will get my point across..."

Six Months

My little love you are six months old and your Mama is absolutely flabbergasted that half a year could have come and gone already. It's so hard to believe that in six more months I'll barely remember what it feels like to tote you around on my hip all day long just like I can hardly recall what it felt like to carefully support your squishy newborn body just six months ago.

You are sitting solidly and focusing your time on getting into a crawling position, though you're still nowhere near actually crawling. One evening as you were working quite intently, your Daddy and I spotted you doing a perfect downward dog. It's so interesting to watch you fight with your uncooperative appendages, reigning them in just a little more each day. You're very determined and you know what you want. You get frustrated when you can't quite figure out how to get it and you sure aren't afraid to voice your discontent.

You're still not interested in food, in fact you're quite frustrating to feed since you won't open your mouth and you try your best to ignore me. Often you turn your head away and won't even make eye contact with me, though I'm pretty sure you're paying attention to the ridiculous antics I perform to try and get you to eat because I catch you grinning in response. You still grab at anything and everything that's on my dinner plate and recently we were out to dinner with your Auntie Heidi and I gave you a wedge of pita to taste. You love love LOVED it, couldn't get enough of it, had a royal meltdown when I took it away from you. Since then I've been trying some bits of table food with slightly more success, so perhaps we'll just skip that smooshy baby stuff on the spoon and go straight for the good stuff.

You are such a snuggle bug and I absolutely love it when you're sleepy and you throw your arm around my neck and plant your forehead into my chest for a little rest. Sometimes you make a contented, "Hmmmmm." and I hum right back. When you're hungry and I'm not moving fast enough for your liking you grab my face with both palms flat against my cheeks and give me big slobbery kisses and you grin like a lovestruck fool when I cover your smooshy cheeks in kisses. I'm really enjoying our snuggly times right now, since I know that all too soon you won't be too interested in staying still long enough to let your Mama rub her cheek on your fuzzy little head.

You're very interested in what's happening all around you and you've started to become very distracted when you're supposed to be nursing. You'll nurse, nurse, nurse, and then crane your neck around to see what's happening behind you. You're particularly enthralled by The Wiggles, a favorite of your sister's, and if she's indulging in their music videos I don't even try to nurse you.

Lately I've been trying to think of a good adjective to describe you and I'm really having a hard time pinning down your personality in words. You're focused, but distractable, calm and pleasant, but then furious. The best word I've been able to come up with is intense which, I think it's interesting to note, is a word that I chose to describe you when you were only a few weeks old. My imagination bubbles over when I consider what you might accomplish with such a disposition at whatever it is that catches your interest in the years to come. What a joy it is to be your Mama.

Practicing S

Sofie has a lisp. Whenever she says an s sound her tongue sticks out between her teeth. So, sometimes we practice s sounds. We close our teeth and say sssssss like a snake. She's pretty good at modeling it when we practice, but still goes back to her lisp in running speech. Anyway...this morning we were practicing.

Me: Sssssssss

Sofie: Ssssssssss

Me: Ssssssssssucker

Sofie: Sssssssucker

Me: Good! Sssssssocks

Sofie: Sssssssocks

Me: Good! Ssssssssstar

Sofie: Ssssssstar....and moon! And sun!

Me: Yes! Sssssssssssun

Sofie: Ssssssssssun. I want a sun!

Me: You do? What are you going to do with a sun?

Sofie: Um. Put it in my pocket!

Good luck with that kiddo :)

$$$

Sofie, playing with her wallet: Can you get money in here?

Me: I don't have any money.

Sofie: Oh. We have to buy one at the store.

Well now, there's an interesting idea :)

Goofballs

For those of you who've been complaining about the severe picture drought around here lately...

Smarty Pants

Five Months

Moose, you are five months old and counting and you are growing like a weed. At your five month check up you weighed in at nearly eighteen pounds and at 26.5 inches you've outgrown the height limit on your infant car seat. You are thriving on a diet of little more than mama milk, since you're still entirely unimpressed with baby food. Every couple of days I try again to get you to eat some, in hopes that maybe you'll warm up to it eventually, only to be met with complete disinterest. You'll open your mouth for me once or twice and then you've moved on to crumpling up your bib and working on shoving that in your mouth, gripping the spoon so tightly that I can't pry it from your fingers, or craning your neck around to see what your sister might be up to. I've got my work cut out for me!

You are going through a very sensory stage and your arms seem to have a mind of their own. You hold them out straight and tense and waggle them around until you feel something and then your little fingers grip it as tight as tight can be. The ultimate goal, of course, is to move whatever you've managed to grasp close enough to your mouth to get a good taste of it. You are SO strong. Recently you pulled a straw from my drink and I had a really difficult time prying it out of your hand so I could finish my drink. You're particularly fond of Sofie's hair and manage to get a fistful of it nearly every time she leans over to smother you with kisses. You're lucky she's a benevolent soul!

New tricks you've been working on this month include blowing spit bubbles (this keeps you quite entertained!), sitting up (more and more steadily each day), trying really hard to get up onto your hands and knees, and playing with your socks (more accurately your shoes or socks with the goal of getting one off and into your mouth.)

You are a rotten sleeper, waking up every three or four hours throughout the night. You do NOT like your crib and as much as I've tried to get you used to it you'll almost never sleep for more than an hour in it. You still sleep pretty soundly in your swing (we should've bought rechargeable batteries!) but somewhere along the line, I literally have no recollection of how it even happened, you managed to become an almost permanent fixture in our bed. Now I'm not going to say that the arrangement is getting me much more sleep, as it is certainly poor quality sleep at best, and as I type this sentence I am concurrently brainstorming strategies to get you sleeping better in your own space, but I'd be lying if I said I'm not enjoying your warm little body lying next to me, or that it never strikes me how sweet it is to smell your milky breath each time I stir. You are my little baby, probably my last baby, and I want to savor each snuggly moment I have with you, even if it means waking up crink-necked each morning!

Confession

So did you watch the latest momversation? The topic was "bad parenting moments" or something equivalent. It's the perfect segue to a thought I've had bumbling around in my head a lot recently and have felt compelled to share. Not, by far, my worst parenting moment, but something I'm not proud of. Traditionally I do not do cabin fever well. When I'm stuck in the house for longer than one day I find myself feeling very cooped up and miserable. The recent snow has had me unwilling to bundle up the crew and venture out. So as the walls have closed in on me I've found myself becoming increasingly aware of the small person who always seems to be standing, or maybe just shuffling along slowly, right where I need to be. The one that I'm constantly telling, "Ok, move over I need to open the dishwasher." or, "Excuse me! I need to get the milk out of the fridge." or, "Can you walk a little faster? Mommy needs to pee." I can't help feeling like I've got a little soccer ball constantly underfoot and so it's perfectly natural, don't you think, to be resisting the urge to gently kick it out of the way 20 or so times per day...

Tricks and Giggles: A Video Montage

It's so hard for me to believe that the holidays are over already. They really whizzed by for me this year and, while they were a lot of fun, I'm enjoying getting back to the daily grind and remembering what "normal" felt like. We've been reluctant to venture outside much since the snow started falling a few days ago, but we've been keeping ourselves entertained inside pretty well...

Sofie is becoming a real whiz at the slide whistle...



...and Evander is working on his newest trick, (cautiously) sitting up unassisted. (I edited out most of the episodes of my hand randomly jutting out when I thought he was going to fall!)



When we get tired of playing with all the new toys we just goof off and see if we can make V laugh. That's good for countless hours of entertainment!






Hope you're all staying warm and enjoying your recuperation as much as we are!

Christmas Passed

An exchange between Sofie and I this morning…

Me: “Did you see our Christmas tree?”

Sofie: Long pause as she stares at the tree, and then, “You put stuff in a box?” referring to the ornaments that were hanging there as recently as last night when she went to bed.

Me: “Mm-hm. It’s time to put it away for the year.”

Sofie: “It’s at Nana’s house? Where it goes?”

Me: “Mm-hm. In the basement.” She already knows this, of course, because she’s seen it down there a million times when she goes down to play with all the toys Nana has been collecting from garage sales since before she was born.

Sofie: “Needa take it to Nana’s house.”

Indeed we do. Daily I am amazed by what she knows, what she understands, how she's processing life at just two and nearly a half.