Sunday, February 27, 2011
We Got Jokes, Yes We Do
1) For reasons beyond my comprehension, Carter has an elevated interest in BUTTS. Maybe it's a boy thing where all things butt and fart are funny. Lots of kids run up to their parents at random moments and wrap their arms around their legs for a quick hug. Carter is no exception here. However, he shares this affectionate moment not with my thigh or knee, but with my BUTT! He literally runs up, wraps his arms around my thighs and plants his face in my crack letting a muffled whoop of delight or giggle escape. It's always at awkward moments of course...while I'm washing dishes or paying a cashier at the store...moments when my hands are too busy to shoo him away from my derriere.
2) Speaking of BUTTS...just the other night Mike was getting Nora ready for her bath. While he undressed her in her room, I was running the bath water in the bathroom. Carter hovered back and forth "helping" us. Once Nora was down to her birthday suit, Mike set her on the floor and she immediately began crawling for the bathroom. Carter found this hilarious. He'd never really seen her naked up close before and he was very amused. He followed her on all fours with his face an inch away from her cheeks, all the while poking her and laughing. Nora barely noticed him, she was on a mission to get to the bath. But Carter was relentless. When they reached the bathroom, I said to Carter, "That's Nora's butt." (Our first mistake) He repeated with excitement, "BUTT!" Mike and I laughed (Our second mistake). With such an engaged audience, what kid wouldn't keep up his antics? "BUTT! BUTT! BUTT!...."
3) The potty humor is endless. When you have a small kids in the house, all privacy is out the window. A chance to use the bathroom without an audience is a rare privilege when I'm home with the kids by myself. So I'm quite used to Carter letting himself into the bathroom will I'm perched on the throne. I take it as a good sign that he is so interested in watching me use the toilet. In fact, he's so excited that he usually runs into the room and immediately begins slapping my bare thigh with both hands at a speed that would impress a military drummer. Somehow I need to transfer that enthusiasm towards his own potty training.
4) Carter's verbal expression has really exploded in the last couple months. Every day he attempts new words and often gets them on the first try. However, some words are going to require a bit more practice. A couple weekends ago, Grandma and Pop came for a visit. While Carter knows who these two are when we talk about them, he had yet to call them by their names himself. Well, no longer! Grandma has been christened "Cranky" by Carter. I have no idea why he says Cranky and not Grandma...he really seems to think he's saying the word "Grandma". The name Carter uses for Pop is a little more phonetically logical, however Carter struggles with words that have a "P" sound. So Pop has been named "Cock". Nothing beats hearing Carter ask "Where's Cock?" Pop says he's been called worse things so all is well for now.
5) Carter's verbal explosions has been accompanied by alphabet and counting skills. He can actually identify nearly every capital letter of the alphabet, though lower-case is still a challenge. As far as counting goes, he still needs some practice but it's coming along. Here is how I might count to ten: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Simultaneously Carter counts to ten in his own way: 2, 2, 3, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 9, 10. He likes the number eight I guess. :-)
Of course Nora has yet to utter her first word, but she brings her own amusing antics to the table. She babbles all the time and displays a level of confidence no one can match. She's happy and giggling all the time, and loves to do whatever Carter is doing (much to his dissatisfaction). With a mouth of eight teeth, she's beginning to get the hang of finger food. Crawling was perfected in a matter of days and she moved on to walking along the furniture. She can pull herself up and sit herself down with ease. In the blink of an eye she'll be on the other side of the room! I can't believe she'll be one year old in just over a month. Time flies so fast in this house I'm beginning to think the laws of physics don't apply across our threshold.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Coughing and Crawling
To help me remember the things I want to write in my next post, I've been jotting the ideas down on Post-Its and sticking them to my desk. Now I will attempt to bring you up to date by translating my scribbled notes.
Carter
The past month has really shown a HUGE improvement in Carter's verbal communication. I can't tell you how much this has helped us avoid a potential tantrum (not that those don't still happen). His vocabulary expands at light speed and he's starting to string words together. While he's still considered a little behind for his age (in verbal expression, but not in comprehension), his recent advances have given us a lot of confidence in him. Now, if only we could get him to learn words that lie outside the realm of trains. How many two-year-olds know what a gondola car is?
Tis the season for colds and Carter was the first to get hit hard in our family. He weathered it out without too much trouble, except for the food strike. When he's sick, there's very little that appeals to his appetite. Unless I bring french fries, cookies, or fruit to the table, I might as well toss it in the trash. Fortunately he's recovered and his appetite matches that of a linebacker. Yesterday's lunch included mac'n'cheese, green beans, an apple, handful of crackers, Nilla wafers, and because he was STILL hungry, an entire hamburger bun. (Hey, I ran out of ideas and needed to hit the grocery store, ok?)
Nora
The 9-month check-up took place without incident. Nora is in the >95% for height and weight, understandable seeing how she eats nearly as much as Carter. Unfortunately, she picked up the cold Carter had, only it wasn't just a cold for Nora. She developed a double ear infection with a respiratory virus. Her coughing was so bad she required nebulizer treatment at the doctor's office. We all went without sleep for a few days then, but after the treatment, she really improved. Whew!
On a more positive note, Nora has begun to crawl. And crawl she does! We've had to re-evaluate our baby-proofing and be more mindful about what's in her arms' reach. For example, she can shred paper faster than your standard office paper shredder. Carter's books have become her favorite targets. It's exciting to see her growing though...pulling herself up to standing at tables, babbling like crazy, feeding herself. I can't believe she's almost a year old already.
Us
Other things going on include swimming lessons for the kids at the rec center. Carter goes with Dad and Nora with me. The lessons are at the same time so I can look across the pool and catch a glimpse of Carter trying to escape from Dad. So far there's been mixed results, but we've got a few more weeks so hopefully the kids will get used to it.
Mike and I have been filling our free time by catching up on movies we missed in the theaters with our new Wi-fi Blu-Ray player. I've signed up for some photography classes and Mike has taken an interest in home brewing. We've also tapped one of the sugar maple trees in our yard to collect the sap. In a few weeks, we'll try boiling it down to make our own maple syrup. At the rate of our collection, we'll likely only have enough syrup for one morning of pancakes, but it's a start!
New pics here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=245105&id=1012296258&l=abd5b6bafb
New video below
Sunday, December 26, 2010
On the Flip Side
Some new milestones to share...
- Nora can push herself up onto all fours now. She's not crawling yet, but we consider this a major accomplishment considering how...er...round she is in the middle. Crawling will come soon though! She already rocks back and forth on her hands and knees.
- Nora's also quite the chatterbox. A near-constant stream of BAs, DAs, YAs, MAs, all come out of her mouth.
- Carter's not near the chatterbox Nora is, but his vocabulary finally seems to be catching up with his age. Every day he says a new word. It's amazing to watch him...he's known what these words mean for ages having heard them from me and Mike, but to hear it from his own mouth is so thrilling...hard to put into words.
Hope everyone had a great holiday! Have a safe New Year! Couple new videos below, and click the link for pictures on Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=245105&id=1012296258&l=abd5b6bafb
Thursday, December 2, 2010
The Weeks In Between



Wall quote: "The love of learning, the sequestered nooks, and all the sweet serenity of books" - Henry Wadsworth LongfellowSunday, November 28, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
I've been getting several queries about Christmas gifts for the kids. Please don't think that we expect gifts from everyone for the kids, but I'm going to post some ideas for those who plan to play Santa.
Carter
- Wears a size 2T in pants and shirts.
- Clothing ideas include Razorback apparel, pajamas, sweatpants and hoodies
- Toy ideas, pretty much anything with wheels: trucks, tractors, trains, cars
- Also some art supply stuff would be good for winter indoor play: fingerpaint, coloring books, etc.
Nora
- Currently wearing 12-month clothes, but will likely be in 18-month stuff this spring.
- Clothing ideas: pajamas, knit pants and leggings, hoodies, socks
- My mind is blank for toys for Nora...she's happy playing with Carter's old toys for now.
We're counting down the days to Christmas now! I love this time of year. Hopefully we'll be able to get our Christmas tree next weekend, and maybe we'll hang some lights up outside this year. Another post will be coming soon...I've got some photos to share.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Adventures in Travel
This weekend, Mike and I took the kids up to Minnesota for a big family reunion. My Grandmother's 85th birthday is coming up and everyone met in the North Star state to surprise her. We debated on driving versus flying up there for the long weekend. After finding some low fares online, we chose to fly. I spent weeks planning for every possible need and situation we might encounter on the plane, and I thought we'd have a fighting chance of making it through the flight without incident. Ha! Oh the luxury of naivety!
The trip actually started out surprisingly well. We made it from remote parking to ticket counter through security and to the gate without much trouble. Carter was thrilled to look out the windows and see airplanes up close and Nora was on her way to falling asleep. The dream came crashing down when we boarded the plane. Carter panicked after seeing a hundred pairs of eyes on him while walking down the aisle. The well-meaning flight attendant made things worse when she tried to talk to him about his first flight. Nora woke up as soon as we sat down and proceeded to scream in Mike's arms. Carter didn't want to sit in his seat and he kept trying to escape into the aisle. The flight attendant got on the airplane speaker and invited everyone to welcome Carter and Nora on their first flight. The passengers repeated the welcome in monotone voices like school kids forced to greet their teacher. Mike and I tried to look like she wasn't talking about us.
After takeoff, I held Carter on my lap and tried my best to keep his legs from kicking. But my two arms were no match for his four flailing limbs. I felt awful for the guy sitting in front of me. Even Carter's favorite snack, applesauce in a pouch, didn't come through for us. Carter gave it a hard squeeze and an applesauce volcano erupted in my lap. Mike wasn't having much luck with Nora either. While she cried, he shushed and rocked as best he could in his cramped window seat. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the tray table of the woman sitting behind him. She had to hold her drink to keep it from spilling. We decided to switch kids...Mike took Carter and I took Nora. Things calmed down a little after that. Carter was more comfortable away from the aisle with his DVD player and favorite movie. Nora seemed happier with me as well. She actually fell asleep just as we landed. Whew! We were exhausted and the trip had hardly begun!
My whole immediate family stayed at my sister's house. It worked out really well since they have lots of room and tons of toys! Carter loved playing with his cousin Dalton's trains and cars. He also seemed to get a big kick out of chasing their cats around the house. He would laugh anytime they came into the room and say "Kitty cat!" Nora's experience wasn't so positive. She had a hard time sleeping in a new place, waking up every two hours. Over the course of the trip, she developed a fail-safe, guaranteed pick-me-up-NOW noise. This noise isn't crying or wailing, but it is by far the most annoying sound in the world! I am not exaggerating! Jim Carey from Dumb and Dumber has nothing on Nora! Mike and I took turns getting up with her, but we still felt it in the morning. I surpassed my normal weekly caffeine intake within the first day!
The best part, the whole point of the trip, was Grandma's party. Her face was priceless when we walked in the door. She seemed to be in shock. I loved being able to see so many family members that I hadn't seen in so long. I think I might have been 9 when Uncle Dwight last saw me! Carter and Nora lasted longer than I thought they would at the party. However we still had to leave after a couple hours. I wished we could have stayed longer to visit with everyone and take more pictures. I feel like I missed some opportunities there, having everyone in the same room for the first time in so long.
To wrap up the weekend, Mike and I took Carter to a Halloween trunk or treat with Dalton. Dalton was a cowboy, complete with leather chaps. Carter was a Star Wars jedi, though he shed most of his costume by the end of the event. He seemed to enjoy running around and looking at the sights. Since he didn't collect any candy, I had to steal some of Dalton's (shhh!).
The flight home was the complete opposite of the flight up. Nora slept the entire time. Carter sat in his own seat, quietly watching a movie and eating a snack. After the halfway point of the flight, he sat in Mike's lap and fell asleep. It was kinda peaceful sitting there, looking over at my two guys and down at my baby girl, all sleeping on the plane.
Now we're home with piles of clothes threatening to suffocate us. I hope to kids adjust to the normal schedule without much effort on our part. Click the link below for photos from the trip on Facebook.
Favorite quotes from the trip.
"What is on my leg?" - Mike wondering out loud on the airplane while he held Nora.
"Did you want sauce and cheese in the 2nd layer of lasagna? Or meat and sauce?" - Me getting confused about how Mom wanted me to help make the 4 giant lasagnas for the party.
"Look at the cute cowgirl!" - Random person at trunk or treat admiring Dalton's costume. Is it time for a haircut?
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=238678&id=1012296258&l=5f0cc90b62
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Cross Your Fingers...
The last couple months have been as uneventful as a household can be with two babies in it. But this last week or so has seen a lot of changes. Nora has been eating solid food for her dinner. Between Carter and her, Mike and I are lucky if we actually get to eat hot food at the same time together. Sometimes we postpone our dinner until after the kids go to bed just so we can enjoy the meal! But it's fun to see Nora figure out how to swallow rice cereal, and Carter finally eat some of his food with a fork.
As far as sleeping goes, we've been pretty lucky as parents...both of ours are sleeping through the night. I almost dread the day we introduce Carter to a toddler bed on the likely chance that he will wake everyone up during the night when he falls out of the bed. In his crib, he hardly ever sleeps in a normal position...usually I check on him to find his feet sticking out through the slats.
Couple of other firsts this month...I took Carter to the movie theater to see a Thomas the Train movie. It was a complete failure! Oh well, maybe next time.
In a few days, my fingers will be crossed for a more successful "first". Mike and I are taking the kids on a plane to Minnesota for a long weekend. I'm really excited about the actual time in Minnesota, but also dreading the travel part. I'm sure the next blog entry will have lots of interesting stories from the trip. Until then, check out the new pics on Facebook!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=238678&id=1012296258&l=5f0cc90b62