32 months

This month Chloe's imagination took off running. For the first time she began playing pretend and role-playing on a daily basis. She has gotten good at playing with her small wooden family. I especially love to hear the dialogue that the members have with one another. It can be pretty hilarious. She has also gotten even more complex in taking care of her babies and playing Mommy. My favorite new activity is, by far, the invention of a game that started from "Wanna play water, Daddy?" "Oh, we can't play in the water right now, Sweetie, I'm sorry." "Dad-dy play in the wa-ter!" "I'm sorry sweetie, it's too late" "(Hits floor with hands) Chloe splash Daddy! Daddy's wet! Daddy play in water with Chloe!" "Ooooooh! Sure, Daddy can play in that water!" And the "splashing" and "swimming" commence and travel throughout the house with lots of shrieks and squeals along the way.

Favorites:
Books- Hands are Not For Hitting, Thomas: Percy and the Dragon, Where is the Green Sheep?,
TV- PBS Kids
Songs- Shoo Fly, It's Raining/It's Pouring, This Old Man, Tap Your Sticks
Foods- Wraps with Turkey, lettuce, cheese, and ranch, Ketchup (she finally discovered dipping), lettuce, cookies, grilled chicken, oranges

(More) Wormy's Words

I left a few favorites out on the last post....

Every morning when I come in from the gym, Chloe has just woken up "Hi Mommy! Mommy's home from the gym! Mommy was running and jumping! Mommy's STRONG (with appropriate arm motions)! Mommy's fetty (sweaty).... Mommy's wet. Mommy was a brave girl to get wet."

Upon leaving with Daddy and Eli to give me some time to clean the house in peace "Don't cry Mommy, we'll be right back!"

(serious voice) "Bug bite you! Mean ole bug!"

(also in very serious voice) "That mean ole skerl, he stole our squash!"

"Brave girl.....nooooo.. Brave boy, elephant! Dolly is a gurl, elephant is a buoy!"

Seeing me water the plants, runs up excitedly "It's Coey's turn, Mommy! Mommy not do more, just Co-ey do it."

The Cotton is High

Wormy's Words

"God made my boo-boo better! Thank you, God!"

Praying before bed "Thank you for our food. Thank you for Eli eat dinner. Chloe not eat dinner. Chloe not like it, Eli like it!"

First words to Daddy every evening when he gets home "Good-bye Daddy's work, Hello Daddy's home!"

After nap which was a pre-req for playing in the sprinkler. Chloe is sitting on couch waiting, and Eli starts crying from his crib "Chloe not sleep, but Eli sleep ALLLLL DAAAAY. Eli was sleepy."

"Hi Momp! Hi Dat! giggles"

"Daddy's car is dirty, Daddy's car needs bath."

Maybe She Really Does Know

Rushing out the door to get Daddy from work

me: "Argh.. where did mommy put her phone???"
chloe:"mommy's phone's in the bathroom."

and it was.

Wormy Knows All

We were playing our favorite game "raise your hand if ____" when I paused to ask Chloe what her favorite color was.

me: "Hey, Chlo, what's your favorite color?"
chlo: matter-of-factly "pink."
me: "what's eli's?"
chlo: "eli's is blue. what's mommy's?"
me: "my favorite color is pink, too!"
chlo: "no. it's not pink, it's white."
me: "oh really? I didn't know that. well, what's daddy's?"
chlo: "daddy's is red."

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

Today was Ryan's 5th Birthday and we were lucky ducky enough to be invited to the party! The kids had a lot of fun with squirt guns, bubbles, pizza, cake, and ice cream.

Chloe and Ella learning to squirt their guns. The only way they could get the trigger pressed was to face the gun toward themselves. Quite comical to watch.

The birthday boy takes the first swing.

Birthdays taste yum.

Religious Studies 101

I walked in while Chloe was passionately reading her Bible outloud. I notice she is on page one and hear, "...no an-u-muls.. no people.. no flowers.. there was Nothing!"

We Have Arrived

111th Post!

Who knew there were so many?

Cleanliness Is Chloe-ness, C'td

Like I said a few posts back, I'm kind of lazy lately. Add that to a slow drain in the bathroom sink, and you get a grimy, icky basin to look at day in and day out. Chloe can't stand it. Every day, every time, she is in my bathroom (which happens to be every time that I'm in my bathroom) she steps on her tippytoes, peers in to the sink, and in her most serious and panicked voice starts berating me for the dirty sink. "Uh Oh! Sink dirty. Mommy need to fix it. Mommy need clean sink. Sink dirty. That's yuck!" Repeat roughly ten times a day for approximately a week now. Yesterday while the kids were napping, I was put under a great deal of conviction as the spirit of cleanliness and godliness decided to invade my lazybone (not really, we're having sitters coming over tonight and I didn't want them to know how we live) and I put out about two minutes of my usually wasted time and cleaned the sink! I was very proud of myself. Later that evening Chloe came into the bathroom to visit with me and instantly noticed the difference. Her eyes brightened, a giant smile spread across her face, she shot her fists into the air and gleefully shouted "Hooray! Mommy cleaned the sink! Good job Mommy! Sink's pretty! Mommy a good girl! Brave Mommy! Brave Sink! Ta-Da!" I decided right then and there that I wouldn't let my sink get in that shape again. In fact, I'll let it get even worse! The praise and reaction for cleaning away the filth was worth a few days of constant nagging from my two year old and having to look away everytime I washed my hands.

Two Going on Twenty

I know, I know. That title is so overdone. You hear it said everywhere, always followed with polite laughter and an inward rolling of the eyes. Or maybe it's just me that reacts that way, who knows. I can't believe I even used it, but it just seems to fit oh so well. It really is startling how many cliches you find to be truths once you become a parent. They really do grow up so fast, and they really are babies for just a short time, and before you know it, they will be in college. And I know I really do need to enjoy it while it lasts, and people are probably right to tell me I'll miss it when it's gone. But you know, cherishing these years is hard. For me it's really, really hard. I'm selfish and easily annoyed. I like eating my food without other people's slobber on it. I like to use the bathroom alone and shower without miniature peeping toms watching my every wash and rinse. I like my cooking to be appreciated and my conversations meaningful. Like I said, I'm selfish. On the other hand, I love being loved unconditionally. I love the unbridled excitement and the screeching of feet to the backdoor when I return from an errand. I love being told "Brave Girl, Mommy!" everytime I get my head wet in the shower. I like knowing that to my little girl I'm a good "cooker" and that my "nuffins" are worthy of the happy food dance. I love the cuddles and the kisses and the laughter and the squeals. I even love being needed when there is pain and crying. I love seeing them grow and hearing what they've learned. I love the songs they sing and the stories they tell. I truly love them, unconditionally. This blog for me is a way to hold onto the good (and a little bit of the bad) so that one day, when I finally feel like cherishing these times, and I start to miss the baby years, I will have my memories completely raw and uncontaminated by time and ready for reminiscing.

Eating raw carrots and broccoli and doing the happy food dance. How's that for all grown up!?

Still my bookWorm, looking oh so old in her favorite reading position.

A Summer's Breeze

There's A Little Girl, In Our Neighborhood

what Summer is all about

Tempered Tantrum

Eli is having a hard time napping. His teeth hurt or something. He sleeps a few minutes and then wakes up wailing. Yesterday, I go in, again, to cuddle him in the rocker and try to help him rest. Enter Chloe. She peeks through the doorway at me holding Eli and immediately becomes distraught. I press my finger to my lip, whisper "Shh!" and motion for her to go back into the living room. She does. A very short moment later she marches back down the hall, peers in once again, and begins whining for me to neglect her brother and return my affections to their rightful owner. Again I shush and point. Not liking this, Chloe lays down in the floor preparing for what looks to be the beginnings of an Oscar winning tantrum. Then something odd. She looks thoughtful, stops, and stands up. I prematurely think to myself "Good girl!" and smile. She then walks forward, softly and sweetly shuts the door, and returns to her aforementioned position. This time kicking and screaming commence and all attempts at napping end.

31 Months

This has been the fastest month in the history of my marriage. I feel like I just sat down to type Chlo's 30 month post yesterday, and can't really imagine there being anything new to say today.
We started potty training last week with a little guidance from our favorite doctor, and I am happy to say Chloe is doing great. It of course started out rocky, with Chloe returning to her withholding routine, but she has already started going more often, and hasn't had an accident since last Wednesday!
In other news, Chloe continues to be such a sweet girl and a great helper around the house. She is beginning to pretend a little more, and likes to pretend to be Mommy, which is always endearing.
She is really into Thomas the Train and putting together puzzles. She is quite adept at figuring out pretty advanced puzzles alone or with very little help. She does ages 3+ and a couple of 5+. We bought her a new Bible with better pictures and longer stories, and she is really excited about that. Her old one is being shifted to the occupant just one door down. I hope he gets excited about the stories and clings to the Words as Chloe does.
This month's faves:

Books- Rooster's Off to See the World and Little Cloud by Eric Carle, Thomas and the Birthday Party, and Minerva Louise at School

Songs- This Old Man, ABC Song, Angels Watching Over Me, Father Abraham

To Do- Play in Water, Go to Church, Cook, Puzzles, Help Eli, Help Mommy do laundry, Tickle with Daddy, Water the Flowers, Climb and Jump off of stuff

Foods- "Watermelly", DoughNos (bagels), chicken, muffins, and for one beautifully weird day... a southwest grilled chicken and spinach salad

Another month down! School is getting closer every day.
Here's to more posts in June.

We Interrupt This Sabbatical

with an actual post!


I know it's been awhile, and I'm sure lots of really cute, blog-worthy things have happened. Probably an equal amount of cute and annoying, but unfortunately for all of us, the annoying is all that really sticks with me. Hence, the reason for the blog in the first place. Ah, well.

We've actually been quite busy being hospitable as of late. First with Sir Lancelot Huff's four day visit while his mommy had a baby....

Then with a week of TootieDoins.....

topped off by a day of Grandmas!

We've had so much fun around here that we just didn't have time to share it with all of you! Hopefully as things come to me I can put up a quote or two, but for now, I mustneeds get back to preparing meals for others and cleaning up little messes.

They Were Cousins, Identical Cousins

Revive Us Again

We are trying to re-find normalcy around here after a week of vacation followed by a week of late night revival. The kids are beginning to settle back into their eating and sleeping patterns, with Chloe refusing to eat anything but cereal in milk three times a day, and Eli phasing out of his morning nap. Yup, things are finally settling down. We got the chance to visit with extended family who happened to be down in Myrtle Beach while we were visiting back home. The weather was horrific with insane winds and really cold nights. We never even made it to the beach. We did, however, make it to Ripley's Aquarium, a really cool tourist destination. We gawked at the colorful fish, walked beneath the sharks, and petted some horseshoe crabs and rays. It was a fun day.

Seeing Double

Is it just me or are those two looking more and more like twins every day??!?!?