Nooooooooooooo

For now, Dylan's "no"'s are pretty darn cute. I especially love them when they are really long, nooooooooooooo, and sweet.

Dylan took his longest nap today, i think ever. Pretty close to 3.5 hours. Wahooo! He also said apple, more like abble, but close enough. Maybe he was processing that during his nap...

Doctor Doctor Give me the news

Today was a very long day. Got off on the wrong foot and it was hard to get back on track. Left the house about 10min behind schedule, realized I needed gas. Got gas, then took the wrong ramp on the highway and went south instead of north. Made the turn around and realized traffic was moving well and I didn't even NEED to detour out of my way to take the HOV lane. Got to the FIRST appointment 10min early anyway. Waited for 50 minutes to be seen. GRRRR. Sophia's stye has no change and nothing to really do, so they gave her another prescription for a week of steroids to put on it ??!! Started home and the GPS said we'd be home by 12.13. Mass highways decided lunch hour rush was the perfect time to fill some pot holes and had all four lanes closed off, allowing two to go at intermittent intervals. Got home about 12.40. I fed the kids so many pretzels at the doctor's office that I knew they wouldn't be hungry, so I didn't push the left over mac n cheese on them. I tried hard to get them down for a nap at 1pm so that they could get a little nap in before their over due well checkups. Dylan gave me a run for my money but went down after not too much trouble. I had to wake BOTH up at 2.20 which killed me as I am always praying they nap longer. Made it 5 minutes late to the 2.50 appointment. They did well, I checked their stats at home and they are actually the SAME size (at 19 months). Both were/ are 33in tall and 23lb 4oz (Sophia a few oz heavier) at this age. Difference is, those stats put Sophia in the 40th percentile in weight and 91st for height and Dylan in the 15th weight and 55th height. Such a double standard.

One super cute thing that happened today, actually happened twice. First at the opthamologist, while I checked us in, Sophia unzipped Dylan's jacket and helped him take it off, one sleeve at a time, careful and gently. She then repeated this at the doctor's office. SO SWEET! Oh, and Dylan is so advanced he can already jump and get both feet off the ground at the same time. The doctor was checking Sophia's development and asked if she could do this. I was pretty sure, so I asked her to try there anyway. Dylan heard me ask her and demonstrated for her what to do. Apparently at 18months, ,this is advanced. That's my D!

Bed Schmed

So, Sophia has the nicest bed in the house and yet she continues to find sweet slumber in "the space between". Each morning I get her she is squeezed into the crack between the bed and the wall half laying on the European sham that is crammed into that crack. I can't understand how she is not all in pain when she wakes from continuing to sleep in such an uncomfortable position night after night. Sighhh.

A Snowy Day

OK, so the title isn't really mine, but the kids are and this was our snowy day antics.

Our day started out, innocent enough. Going to the mailbox to mail back our netflix flick. Pit stop at dad's snowman, give it a pat for luck.When we arrived at the box, there was snow everywhere as the sidewalks weren't cleared. There were cars at the intersection so I needed to find a way to keep the kids from running into traffic while the DVD was mailed. So, I stuck em' in the snow. Yup, that'll do it!Turned out this little gesture gave me great enjoyment, so I repeated this act, well, repeatedly on our way home.

Yup, pretty stinkin' cute.

And now a note for posterity. Sophia, Dylan, this one is for you. When you are 20, 3o years old and are wondering where you were when President Obama was inaugurated, here it is. Sophia, you were in the basement watching Santa Claus is coming to town. Dylan, you were whining and crying in the living room with me as I cranked the volume trying to listen to the tv and fumble with the DVR stuff to record it all.

Some days are best not repeated

Has been a long day today. Dylan is in that awkward, to say politely, dropping a nap phase. In addition to this I am suspicious his teeth are on the move again. He woke up fine, late even at 5.40. He was fine for the first couple hours and it was a slippery slope after that. In addition to being tired I think his gums were sore as his cheeks were really red and warm. By 11 he was inconsolable in attempts to keep him happy and interested in something so I had to put him down, reluctantly. The earlier he naps, the more tired he will be come late afternoon. And surprise, surprise, but 5pm he was again on that same slope. By 6 Dylan was starting to say "night night" and was super snugly. I brought him upstairs to s l o w l y get things ready for bath and bed. As I sorted through the baby medicine draw I hear a loud crash in the bathroom and rushed into find Dylan with the cabinet on his lap. The top slid off and hit him in the head. Nice. Yup, great. If he HAS to do this stuff, why can't it be in the morning rather than right before bed when he is already overtired. So now I get to wake him up three times tonight, make him talk and walk and then put him back to bed. Oh, little D...

Nana in da tub.

Seems that bananas only taste good to S and D if they are in the tub or in the grocery store. While in these locations bananas are usually essential. My once attempt to fatten Dylan up has become a regular thing. Dylan's bites are MUCH bigger now too. Man that guy can stuff a nana in there.

Sometimes it's "OK" to show the food in your mouth...

Dylan is really into the monkey see monkey do phase and Sophia is of course his greatest muse. I was trying to get them to finish their dinner as they raced around the house and was getting chicken morsels into Sophia's mouth. I then asked Dylan to have a bite to which he refused. I then USED this monkey thing to my advantage and told him Sophia was eating, and then asked Sophia to open her mouth to show him the chicken and she of course did. Dylan promptly came over to get his bite. He has been copying all of Sophia's moves in the tub and laughs hysterically at her antics there. He has literally fallen over in the tub in laughter. Good ol' crazy D.

Sophia's tender side came out again tonight. I was coming up the stairs and banged my head on the cupboard I left open. I yelped, OW! She asked what was wrong and I told her and that I would be ok with a kiss. She kissed me and told me she hurt too - as in I feel your pain. Awwwww.

Big Girl

Sophia is in the big girl phase now. She has been telling me that she is not "liggle" (little), but a big girl. We also were in the library yesterday and there was a small photography display of pregnant women and babies and now she insists that she needs a baby in her tummy too. "But I haff to!" It is amazing how kids can be so cute and yet irritating at the same time sometimes. Cute how she wants to be pregnant, irritating how she keeps insisting and insisting on it over and over and over and over....

Skatin' sleddin' and sleepin'

Enjoyed a nice blanket of snow when we woke this morning. Sometimes winter IS nice.

Took the kids skating on the pond yesterday. Nice smooth ice, no snow covering it. Sweet.Sophia on break while Dylan has a turn slippin' and slidin'

Dylan take a ride with his old man.

Dylan returns from his ride a little on the sleepy side. Some kids sleep in the stroller, our little man likes the sled.

Remind me not to let Dylan park the 4Runner

This is how Dylan likes to park his fire truck. He carefully tips it back like this. Sometimes leaves, other times puts it back, drives some more and then tips it back, etc...

Dylan thought the snow was getting a little high and needed a little mow down.

And in her third year, she ate.

Ok, I really hope Sophia is going through a giant growth spurt. I don't know where she is putting it YET, however, she has had a voracious appetite as of late. On school days this week her little daily report says she ate everything for their lunch. I pick her up at noon and she then has another lunch here. She at a cereal bar and about 2 perogies when she came home today AFTER eating at school. Yeesh! She didn't have much for breakfast, but still... Won't be long now until I am looking up into her big beautiful eyes.

Sweet Slumber

It is funny how kids seem so much cuter with they sleep later. Dylan is SUPER cute this morning waking at 6am as opposed to 4am. My mood seems to be better too. Funny that. That said, Dylan's sleep has been all over the map lately. I have been doing a lot of praying... "Please, please. please go to sleep this time... Please, please, don't wake up so early..." Not sure who I am praying to - seems a little frivolous to pray to the big guy for this. Maybe I am trying to channel our little guy and am praying to HIM.

The good and the bad

I have a few notes to add, some good, some not so good. Lets start with good. It is really fun to watch Sophia and Dylan together and see the little guy imitate all she does. They were in the tub last night and Sophia decided it was a fun game to dip a comb into a cup of water and then comb mine and Dylan's hair. Shortly thereafter, Dylan started dipping and combing my hair too. Then it was just stirring the comb around in the cup of water. Dylan took to this game and kept doing it like it was the most fun one could have. I didn't really get the interest they found in this, but it took some coaxing to tear Dylan away from his cup and get ready for bed.

Another fun thing is how Dylan has started to take to books - FINALLY. I had stopped trying to read stories at bed time for a while as he would mostly just flip the pages, not even looking at what was on them. Now he insists on getting them read to him. Well, one in particular - the large alphabet book I got him. He now points to the pictures and goes through the book one page at a time and will sometimes make noises - quack quack, elephant noise... as we see pictures. He puts his hands on his head for hat, blows his nose when I say nose and touch his face parts at the mouth and nose page.

And now the bad... Not sure what the cause was, but the effect was pretty tiring. I tried for over an hour last night to put Dylan to bed. He was very stuffed up, but he has been this way all week. He would be nice and calm in my arms, but the second I would put him in his crib, would cry "all done" and want up. I laid down with him in his crib for a while and he wrapped his arms around my neck like he did in the hospital. He seemed to be asleep, but did the all done thing when I tried to get out. I ended up getting ready for bed and then decided to just sleep in his crib with him. After a while he was on his back and I did manage to get out without waking him. Then he woke again around midnight and needed me with him. I decided to bring him to our bed even though I haven't had luck with that in the past. He did manage to fall asleep, but was tossing and turning a lot so I tried to move him to his crib again and was relieved to have his stay sleeping. This morning he had a rather large poop that was FILLED with about a handful of undigested peanuts in it. Hmmm. I was feeding him them last night as he wouldn't eat anything for dinner and I thought they would be good protein. So, MAYBE it was the peanuts not passing gently through his system? Or it could be because I took him to the gym for a 40min workout and he was having separation anxiety issues over that? He was not wanting to go down for his am nap this morning - sleeping in my arms, yet cried all done when I tried to get him in his crib. I did manage to get him down, but am not liking this new trend. I DO like the snuggling, but not the dependence on it.

Pole dancing at the Gap

Short, but sweet. Really really sweet.

The boy who wouldn't sleep

We packed up our things rather quickly on the evening of the 30th so as to be on the road early on the 31st to beat the storm. We made it to Maine by 10am and thought things were going well. Dylan only slept half an hour in the car, but I just thought, that's ok, he will maybe have a longer afternoon nap and be more tired so he goes down easier in a new place. Well that was a nice theory. The kids had fun with their cousin baby Erik and there was plenty of action. Sophia adjusted nicely and went down for her nap. DYLAN, however, was not so accommodating. After many failed attempts and an odd cry/ hysterics each time, I finally gave up after 3.30. We were putting the kids down in the same room as us and I was, as it turns out with good reason, nervous. Dylan went down fairly well as he was so over tired. Sophia took a little coaxing and bribing with Ice Cream for breakfast to get her down. I thought we were cleared for the night and the young-ish adults headed out for the night. We made it until midnight and were in the car on the way home by 12.12, 2009. The kids were quietly in bed when we tried to sneak in and then that was the end of sleep. It was quite cold, so I brought Dylan into bed with us to sleep. He lay there for two hours, but didn't sleep. At 2 he told me "all done" and we spent the next hours in bursts of crying, him trying to play and Sophia getting in on the action. I finally brought him back to the room a little after 3 for one more college try. I was getting him quieter only to have Sophia pipe up and cry. We made it to mostly silence shortly there after, with Sophia in our bed and nuzzled into me. I wasn't really asleep, however, that was better than screeching Dylan. Then came 6am and Sophia starts in again. GRRRR. "my tummy's empty" right. SO she has woken Dylan and it is him and I down here while the rest get to sleep. He is bouncing off the walls, ok, couch, and I sit here typing with my eyes stinging not knowing how to work the TV or fancy coffee maker. Dylan's only saving grace at the moment is how freaking cute he is.