Life seems to be moving at warp speed and both Molly and Ian are growing and changing so quickly that it's tough to keep up. Sometimes I try to take a mental photograph in an attempt to remember what they're doing and what they're like at a given instant in time. Here's your snapshot update for the day:
Molly -
Favorite Foods: Cereal, Oatmeal, Apples, PB&J, Yogurt, Chicken Noodle Soup, Whatever Mommy or Daddy is trying to enjoy for themselves
Favorite Books: "Where's Puppy?" (When she finds the puppy on every page she shouts, "PUPPY!!!" as if she's just discovered the New World, followed by the most precious giggles) and "The Big Book for Toddlers", which means I read or sing nearly every famous nursery rhyme, fairy tale, and classic toddler song at least once, but usually several times each day.
Favorite Songs: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, The Ants Go Marching, Little Bunny Foo Foo
Favorite Activities: Reading (one of her most oft-repeated 2-word phrases is a very demanding, "Read Books!!!"), Helping in the kitchen or with yardwork, Feeding Ian, Playing outside, Building block towers (although she usually spends more time sorting the blocks by color or shape than actually building).
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| "Open up, Ian." |
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| Aren't they precious? Molly has recently started smiling this adorable little smile when she sees the camera. |
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| Helping Daddy rake the leaves. |
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| 'Side (outside) is MoJo's favorite place to be. |
Molly is well on her way to mastering potty-learning. We've had the Number Ones down pat for quite some time now. She's even been accident-free in many unfamiliar situations, including long-distance traveling, friends' houses, shopping, and hiking. She has even mastered pulling off her own stickers from the sticker sheet and putting them on her potty chart. As soon as she's finished, she shouts "Sigga!!!!" (translation: "sticker") to celebrate her accomplishment. The Number Twos are a different story, although I'm optimistic with the system we just started. I bought about 20 small prizes at the dollar store, wrapped them up in brightly colored wrapping or tissue paper, and placed them in a big basket on the back of the toilet. These are "poop prizes" and she gets to open one if she uses the potty for Number Two. So far she's opened 2 poop prizes (a bouncy ball and strawberry Minnie Mouse chapstick) and they were both HUGE hits! I'm hoping she catches on pretty soon.
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| Attempting to earn a prize from the basket. |
Molly has become such a child of routine, I've taken to calling her my little "Monk" (after the famously OCD television detective). Her blankets need to be laid on her bed in a certain order; mealtimes, bath time, and bedtime need to be conducted by a specific formula; she greets me in the exact same way every day when I arrive home from work and then ushers our babysitter out the door. Every daily activity has its own routine and she's not keen on changing any of them. She really cracks me up!
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| Her "monk-like" tendencies at work while playing with blocks. |
Molly starts each day with what I call her word flood, the deluge of language that narrates the first 30 minutes of her day. I usually only get to experience it on Saturdays and Sundays, but it goes something like this, "Mommy! Daddy! Eeee! (Ian), bed, woobie, wet diaper, poop diaper, lights off, bunny, baby, Get up! Get out! News Two!!! (our local news channel) Eat! Drink!" And repeat, repeat, repeat. It makes me smile every time. After waiting for two years to hear what her little voice would sound like, we now can't shut her up.
Ian-
Favorite Foods: Mommy Milk (He's a big fan!), peaches, bananas, bread, noodles, carrots, black beans, really pretty much any food we put in front of him. Typical guy.
Favorite activities: Banging on anything that will make noise, Grabbing items off the coffee table (especially things he's not supposed to have), Knocking down Molly's block towers, Playing at his music table, Wrestling with Molly, Sticking his hands in the toilet while I spray out dirty diapers (I LOVE this one), Climbing into the refrigerator at every opportunity, Going for walks in the stroller, Playing in the tub, Creating as many messes as possible in a 24-hour period ;-)
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| Unlike his older sister, Ian has always loved the stroller. |
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| Another day, another mess to be made. |
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| "BLOCKS!!! This is how I'm supposed to play with them, right?" |
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| They give the appearance of innocence, don't they? Really I just caught a smile in the midst of a monster leaf-pile wrestling match :-) |
Mobility notes: Crawls at the speed of light, which makes this his preferred method of getting around because it gives him the greatest chance of getting into something fun before an adult can stop him; Walking behind a support device (laundry basket, box, push-toy); Taking a few independent steps here and there, usually just one or two before plopping down. Climbing is his new thing. I caught him the other day in quite the devilish little plan. He had pushed Molly's shopping cart over on its side and used it as a step stool to climb on top of the music table, which then became a step stool to get his hands on the kitchen counter!! Yikes!!! We're in trouble now.
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| A man on the go! |
