4

My Baby Girl,

At 4 today, you're certainly not a baby anymore.  You're my petite little girlie-girl.  You're dramatic, hilarious, adorable, and sweet.

And my dear kiddo, I totally have a blog post coming for your birthday, but alas, you and your sister and brother have succumbed to some germ and I'm about tuckered out. 

So for now, happy, happy birthday my little Beanie...  I love you always,

Mama

They Render Me Powerless

I'm in so, so much trouble.  Take a look:

Those dimples slay me.  And he KNOWS it!  (Hence the mischievous look)

Trouble, I say. 

Next Thing You Know, I'll Be Turning Backflips

As my mom would say, Sayer's in a mode right now.

A high maintenance mode.

He's the third kid, so we operate under "whatever works" now instead of being hyper about anything.  So long as my kid gets decent naps and is well fed, I'm happy. 

And with two older kids in this house, getting decent naps is sometimes tough. 

So on a general day, I nurse the kid, he passes out, and I put him in his bed.  Quick, easy, and gentle.

But for the past two days, the boy has been increasingly difficult to put to sleep.  He fusses and thrashes and cries... and cries.  And just sounds broken-hearted.  Today, after trying unsuccessfully to nurse him down, I decided to try Daddy's method of popping a pacifier in his mouth and rocking him. 

More crying and crankies.

I changed his diaper, changed his outfit, changed my outfit, (you know, in case he was offended by my mismatched pajamas), turned out the lights, stood up...

Nothing was working.  And the poor kid sounded miserable. 

And then his flailing hand found it's way into my mouth.

INTO MY MOUTH.

I started to pull my head back and noticed something peculiar.  Silence.  The kid had a death grip on my lower jaw.  But he'd stopped crying.

Seconds later?  The kid was out like a light. 

So I'll be keeping this one in my back pocket.  Death grip on Mama's lower jaw results in near instantaneous sleep.

Hey, whatever works. 

Good Morning To You, Too

This morning, upon seeing me groggily emerge from my nest of blankets and comforters, Bean looked up and me and chirped,

"Mama!  You look like a MONSTER!"

Gee, thanks kid. 

And Now I'm Scared

See this face?

Cute, isn't it?

And for a long time, it's been a face that's been attached to a body that stays put when I walk away.

Not anymore. 

The kid is mobile, dudes.  He moves.  He's mastered the art of rolling both ways.  That gets him here and there, but the kid has added this weird army crawl to the mix.  And now?  Now nothing on the floor is safe. 

I found him eating a receipt the other day...  not a stitch of solids until his first bite of... paper?  Oy.

I'm lacing up my running shoes.  It may be years before I can sit still.

Complete Randomnipity - Part 11 Billion and 6

• I'm completely procrastinating on cleaning my kitchen and putting laundry away.  (And organizing toys.  And making a grocery list.  And getting myself dressed.  And... eh, you get the point).  But it's raining and chilly and it's just the kind of day where things don't get done. But you're all warm and toasty and you know?  You just don't care.
• The girls are on the kitchen floor coloring on a huge strip of paper that the middle child pulled from the art table roll.  Bean is wearing a pink princess dress and no shoes.  C is alternately coloring and using the paper as a foot path and running back and forth.  Bean tolerates this with grace most of the time.  Until her hands get stepped on.  Then she gets ticked.  Can't say I blame her.  
• Sayer is crashed out in the Beco carrier.  C periodically checks on him and says, "Sssss, Sayer seepin!"  or "Mama!  Sayer WAKE UP!" 
• I had my first foray into Bento-fying food today with apple slices.  I used teeny tiny cookie cutters to make the apples into flowers and hearts. HUGE hit.  I'll post more on this later this week.
• I would rather buy music than almost anything.  (Well, except food.  I love food).  Now I would rather send everything to Haiti.  We have too much crap.  
• If you laugh at the result of your children's mischief, your day goes so much better.  If you take pictures too,  you're preserving some laughter for the future.  If you turn a blind eye to potential mischief in the making because you need a good laugh, rest assured.  You're not alone.
• I will be unbelievably sad the day my kids are all too old to say, "Hold you mama!"  when they want to be picked up.  
• And now, lunch is finished cooking, Shaun will be home soon, Sayer is awake, and everyone needs some munchies and some snuggles.  Not a bad way to spend a Sunday.  What are you up to?
  

Poor Kid

It's really hard to get anything done that's remotely productive when I have this little (big?) face to look at all day.

Uh oh, he's looking hungry... (and when it's not milk that he wants, it's my face)...

And then... he sees me...  looks like he might attack... (look at that drool!)

Or maybe not. I much prefer the grin to the gnawing, any day. 

Happy belated 5 months, kid.  Happy belated 4 months too...  and maybe... 3?  (Bad Mommy!)

The Makings of a Chocoholic

It's no secret that we eat quite a healthy diet in this household. 

I reserve candy for special occassions. 

Like bribery.

If I have to cut little fingernails or get myself 2 minutes to pee in peace, I'll often resort to my stash to buy some time. 

It worked beautifully for quite awhile.  And then?  Then C grew wise to my bribing ways. 

Now, if she gets a notion for a piece of "chocky-it," she follows me around the house saying, "One? One? One? One?"  in the most forlorn voice I've ever heard.  At least for the first 30 times I have to say, "No, baby."

Then forlorn becomes completely irritated. 

"CHOCKY-IT! ONE?!   ONEEEEE?"

Remedies include pawning her pleas off on "Later" or "In a minute," distracting her with something else, or giving in and giving her a chocolate covered raisin.  (As you can imagine, the former doesn't go over very well). 

Today, I was nursing Sayer in the living room and she came in with a newly discovered treasure, a giant Hershey's Kiss that one of my students gave me.  Immediately, the pleading started,

"ONE?!  ONNNNE?  ONNNNE?"  (I'm still not 100% sure how she knew it was chocolate). 

My refusals did nothing to placate the kid's obsession.   I tried telling her "Later" which merely had her repeating,
"More?  ONE?  LATER?!" over and over and over again. 

Then she started to get shrill.

Sayer's naptime was about to be compromised by a chocolate obsessed toddler.

So I did what any mother who values her quiet and her sanity would do.  I put Sayer in his bed and came back to dole out a piece of the candy to stop the madness.  (Yes, I KNOW I'm not helping things in the long term).

That's when I noticed C was drooling.  Literally.  I peeled back the foil on the Kiss and she started dancing from foot to foot.  Just for kicks, I stopped and started to put the Kiss back in its box.  She froze, pointed and shrieked, "ONNNNNNNE!"  *pause*  "Peas?"

Yes, I gave her a bite.  She popped it in her mouth, closed her eyes for a moment and said, "Chocky-it GOOD"

Yup, I think a "chocky-holic" is born.  Oy.

Remind Me Not To Let Her Pick My Old Age Home

Today, I was sitting with Shaun and he hugged me and said to Bean,

"She's a pretty awesome Mommy.  Should we keep her forever?"

Bean looked up and said,

"Nope!"

Shaun and I looked at each other and he asked,

"Wait, why?"

Without pause, she cheerily said,

"When she's old, she's gotta go."

Yeah, she banned from having any say in my Golden Years. 

(For the record, she isn't plotting my replacement with a trophy mom or anything... it just came out really wrong...  and really hilarious)

Sisters

When they love each other, they really love each other.  When they don't?  Erm, it gets scary.

(originally posted on my joint photo blog with Amy, Just Make it A Double)

Overheard in the House of Loonies...

"C, NO!  You may not brush Sayer's teeth!  Sayer doesn't HAVE teeth!"

"No, baby girl, toilet water is NOT for drinking."

"Mama, feed?"
"C, you want to eat?"
"FEED!"  (And with that, she climbs on my lap, onto the recently vacated Boppy and puts her face to my stomach for a few seconds before sitting up with a satisfied expression), "I FEED!" 

"Mama, yelly bean!  Floor!  EAT IT!"
"No, no C!  Don't eat a jelly bean from the floor!"
"Eat!"   (And then she opens her mouth, her tongue tinted a tell-tale green.  Too late, it seems). 

"Mama, look!  Your baby!" 
(And then Bean pokes me in the stomach.  Um, NO.)

"Hey Mommy!  You're awake!  Why...  why is your face angry?  Be happy!  You're awake!"
(I manage a half smile...  hey, it was pre-caffeine).
"There!  That's better.  Rise and shine and give God the Lory Glory!"

C - 20 Months

Oh Kid,

I thought that if I didn't write updates to mark your monthly birthday, you'd stall in getting older and stay one and a half forever. 

Um, it didn't work.  You're now 20 months old.  TWENTY months!  It sounds so very old. 

Then again, you're not helping things with your sudden exhuberant grasp of the English language.  You regularly speak in full sentences, though a lot of times, about half the words are a bit too garbled for anyone not versed in C-speak to understand.  But every day, you're becoming clearer. 

But no matter how clear your speech gets, there are some words I hope you always say in your little quirky way...  my current favorite?  "Teeya-torra"  for "Tortilla".  Makes me smile every time. 

You're often unintentionally hilarious when verbalizing your mischief, too.  Yesterday, you started narrating your play.  I was actively engaged in something else so I was only half paying attention to your running commentary. 

"Color!" 

"Yeah!  Good girl, C!" 

"Mommy, I color!" 

"You color!  Yeah!" 

"Color Sayer!  YAY!" 

"Good job C!  Wait, WHAT?!  NO!  Don't color Sayer!" 

Despite your affinity for coloring your brother, you love him a lot.  When he cries, you're the first to start saying, "Ssssssssss....  Sssssss Sayer!  It OK!"  while rocking him or patting him.  However, you're still very fond of tackling him too, so I have to stick around when you're in his vicinity. 

You fight with Bean a lot, but she's the first person you ask about when you wake up in the morning.  If she's not in the room, you'll call out for her, "Sissy!  Are you?"  When you guys play together, you're the best of friends.  I hope it stays that way for years to come. 

You're splendidly polite and easily charm with how sweetly you say thank you after someone gives you something.  "Dank you Aunt Shell!"  You're always the first one to say "bless you" when someone sneezes.  And if someone... ahem... passes gas?  You're sure to remind them to say "scoooze me!"  (Because you say it for them first...  "Scooze me Daddy!")

You love television of any kind and have solidified a special place in your Daddy's heart in your affinity for "fooooootball!  TOUCHDOWN!"  When you get up earlier than the rest of the house, you and Daddy often snuggle together on the couch and catch Sports Center. 

Music has become a great love of yours too.  You've started spinning in circles while dancing and saying, "Ballerina, ballerina!"  You also have definitive preferences when it comes to the songs you like.  Most recently?  "Bust a Move."  Yeah, I didn't expect to hear, "You want it, you got it!" coming from the back seat.  If you don't like a song, you're quick with, "Not dis one!" until we change it. 

You are intense.  Your happy is HAPPY.  Your mad is MAD.  Everything is big with you, even if your tiny body isn't.  You're so very, very different than your older sister.  The two of you give me the best of the world of having girls.   Even though I'm having to learn the nuances of parenting all over again, I wouldn't change it for anything. 

Thank you for making my life so much fun,

Mommio