We are in Florida right now for a family wedding and to visit Adam's Grandparents.
After dinner tonight, I was talking with Grandma (a.k.a. Bubby to the kids) and playing with Molly on the floor. Since it was our last night, Grandma was a little sad. I said "Grandma, I am going to get Molly to take her first step right now just for you. You will be the only one to see it." I looked at Molly and said "Molly, you need to walk for Bubby." I let go of her hands and wouldn't you know she took one tiny little step before toppling over. I couldn't believe my luck. It was like she knew in her little baby mind that it was important to pull out all of the stops right at that moment. She was as pleased as punch with herself and Bubby was pretty happy too!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Any Suggestions?
Cooking meals has become the bane of my existence. It doesn't really seem that hard, right? Think of at least 5 breakfasts, 5 lunches, 5 dinners and 10 snacks per week. I pretend my hands are broken on the weekends.
Breakfast is fairly easy. Henry won't really eat pancakes, waffles, french toast or muffins. Or toast or english muffins. He may lick the cream cheese off of a bagel if I am lucky. So that leaves eggs. If he asks for scrambled, he really meant fried and if he asks for fried he really meant scrambled. Add in 50 lbs of out of season fruit per week at a cost of 8 million dollars and my shopping is done.
Lunch is even better. Until Henry learned that his best friend eats peanut butter and jelly every day he would not touch a sandwich. Now if I am desperate I ask "Do you want to have PB&J like Elliot?" It works 95% of the time. What do you feed the child that won't eat sandwiches? Hmm, you are stumped too I see. Well, you can make pasta with some nice healthy vegetables added and watch him pick out three noodles and then ask to take his nap. Or, order him some pizza and he eats the sausage off of it and declares himself "a little done."
Dinner is my absolute favorite time. Make something that involves chicken or chop meat. Do it only with things that you have in the house because you really, really don't want to drag your children out to the store when the non-parent humans are there because it is too embarrassing. It needs to have corn, peas or broccoli as a side. It needs to start be defrosted before you leave in the morning, prepped during nap and cooked while you have one child hanging off your leg crying and the other hopping up and down saying "But I want you to play with me!" over and over. It has to be completed before the 5pm "I'm starrrvvvvvvving" cry hits. It has to be edible to an 11 month old who won't be fed off of a spoon but who can't really feed herself yet. Child friendly enough that Henry won't immediately say: 1) Ummm, I don't really like that (before his first bite) or 2) This tastes like "mud" 3) This tastes like cow food (my personal favorite). And it has to taste fine sitting or being reheated over when your husband gets home anywhere between 6:30 and 8pm. The time being determined when you hear the key in the lock. Go out on a limb and prepare something a little bit nicer? You will get a phone call around 5:30pm that he has a dinner that night or has to work later or he will walk in the door saying "he is not really hungry, he had a big steak for lunch."
I'm kind of grinding my teeth while writing this, I'm not really sure why. I used to really enjoy cooking.
Breakfast is fairly easy. Henry won't really eat pancakes, waffles, french toast or muffins. Or toast or english muffins. He may lick the cream cheese off of a bagel if I am lucky. So that leaves eggs. If he asks for scrambled, he really meant fried and if he asks for fried he really meant scrambled. Add in 50 lbs of out of season fruit per week at a cost of 8 million dollars and my shopping is done.
Lunch is even better. Until Henry learned that his best friend eats peanut butter and jelly every day he would not touch a sandwich. Now if I am desperate I ask "Do you want to have PB&J like Elliot?" It works 95% of the time. What do you feed the child that won't eat sandwiches? Hmm, you are stumped too I see. Well, you can make pasta with some nice healthy vegetables added and watch him pick out three noodles and then ask to take his nap. Or, order him some pizza and he eats the sausage off of it and declares himself "a little done."
Dinner is my absolute favorite time. Make something that involves chicken or chop meat. Do it only with things that you have in the house because you really, really don't want to drag your children out to the store when the non-parent humans are there because it is too embarrassing. It needs to have corn, peas or broccoli as a side. It needs to start be defrosted before you leave in the morning, prepped during nap and cooked while you have one child hanging off your leg crying and the other hopping up and down saying "But I want you to play with me!" over and over. It has to be completed before the 5pm "I'm starrrvvvvvvving" cry hits. It has to be edible to an 11 month old who won't be fed off of a spoon but who can't really feed herself yet. Child friendly enough that Henry won't immediately say: 1) Ummm, I don't really like that (before his first bite) or 2) This tastes like "mud" 3) This tastes like cow food (my personal favorite). And it has to taste fine sitting or being reheated over when your husband gets home anywhere between 6:30 and 8pm. The time being determined when you hear the key in the lock. Go out on a limb and prepare something a little bit nicer? You will get a phone call around 5:30pm that he has a dinner that night or has to work later or he will walk in the door saying "he is not really hungry, he had a big steak for lunch."
I'm kind of grinding my teeth while writing this, I'm not really sure why. I used to really enjoy cooking.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Funny Henry-isms
We were watching TV recently and it was way past Henry's bedtime. He is always asking to watch "his show." I explained to him that normal children were already in bed and that it was now my time with the TV. If he didn't like it he could go to bed. He then suggested that we watch "Daddy's show" and was shot down again. He tried to gang up on me by looking at Adam and saying "But I thought we were going to watch Seinfeld!"
*****
He drives me nuts by asking "Why?" all day long. Each answer needs to be broken down even more with another "Why?" I finally asked him, "Henry, why do you keep asking me why?" He immediately replied "Because I want to know!" with all of the disdain he could muster.
*****
His new teenager-y phrases are "Don't you look at me like that" and "Alright Alright!" followed by a big sigh.
*****
We were fooling around tonight trying to put little clips in Molly's mullet. He said "Molly, you look sooooo cute... like Maya!" He wasa little too moon-y eyed when he said it and I had to remind him that Maya is his cousin.
*****
He drives me nuts by asking "Why?" all day long. Each answer needs to be broken down even more with another "Why?" I finally asked him, "Henry, why do you keep asking me why?" He immediately replied "Because I want to know!" with all of the disdain he could muster.
*****
His new teenager-y phrases are "Don't you look at me like that" and "Alright Alright!" followed by a big sigh.
*****
We were fooling around tonight trying to put little clips in Molly's mullet. He said "Molly, you look sooooo cute... like Maya!" He wasa little too moon-y eyed when he said it and I had to remind him that Maya is his cousin.
Miraculous Molly!
Henry and Molly insist on taking their baths together. It is impossible to give a bath to one and not do the other. Henry will just strip down and hop into the tub and Molly will hurl herself in headfirst, clothes and all.
Our system is that one person mans the tub and the other person relaxes for three seconds on the couch. Once Molly is washed up or evicted because she dove under the water one too many times, the other person comes in to take her to get dressed.
Tonight after I got Molly fed and dressed in her pajamas, we were sitting on the couch. Henry came and sat on the couch next to us. Molly leaned over and wrapped her little arms right around his neck, giving him a hug. She even rested her head on his shoulder for a minute. I knew what she was doing, but I wanted to confirm that I wasn't seeing what I wanted to see. I said "Molly, give Henry a hug" and she leaned over and did it again. Of course Adam and I had to get into the mix and demand our attention too. She has given hugs in the past, but this was the first time she so obviously did and and then did it on command. It was one of the sweetest things that I have seen in a long time. It is so great to see how much she understands now.
What I probably find more shocking is that she wants to hug Henry :) He absolutely tortures her all.day.long yet she still adores him!
********************
She also now insists on feeding herself with a FORK. We have to load the food on it for her, but she can then get it into her mouth. She wants to use a spoon herself too, but that is just a mess. She absolutely refuses to be fed off of a spoon. She is so stubborn, she would rather starve than have someone feed her.
********************
Molly can now walk for a little bit just holding one of my hands. She is still really wobbly but I think her first solo steps are coming very soon. Today she also let go a few times very deliberately and was standing without holding onto anything. She was quite pleased with herself (and all of the attention she was getting for doing it.)
Our system is that one person mans the tub and the other person relaxes for three seconds on the couch. Once Molly is washed up or evicted because she dove under the water one too many times, the other person comes in to take her to get dressed.
Tonight after I got Molly fed and dressed in her pajamas, we were sitting on the couch. Henry came and sat on the couch next to us. Molly leaned over and wrapped her little arms right around his neck, giving him a hug. She even rested her head on his shoulder for a minute. I knew what she was doing, but I wanted to confirm that I wasn't seeing what I wanted to see. I said "Molly, give Henry a hug" and she leaned over and did it again. Of course Adam and I had to get into the mix and demand our attention too. She has given hugs in the past, but this was the first time she so obviously did and and then did it on command. It was one of the sweetest things that I have seen in a long time. It is so great to see how much she understands now.
What I probably find more shocking is that she wants to hug Henry :) He absolutely tortures her all.day.long yet she still adores him!
********************
She also now insists on feeding herself with a FORK. We have to load the food on it for her, but she can then get it into her mouth. She wants to use a spoon herself too, but that is just a mess. She absolutely refuses to be fed off of a spoon. She is so stubborn, she would rather starve than have someone feed her.
********************
Molly can now walk for a little bit just holding one of my hands. She is still really wobbly but I think her first solo steps are coming very soon. Today she also let go a few times very deliberately and was standing without holding onto anything. She was quite pleased with herself (and all of the attention she was getting for doing it.)
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Wild Girl
Adam and I keep saying that Molly is going to be a wild one. She has such a fun personality, it is coming out so much more lately. She is very mischievous and is constantly getting into things she knows she is not supposed to. She loves to put things in the toilet, or unspool the paper. She tries to work the key out of our firesafe and today she hid it in a bin of toys. When she seems me coming and knows she is in trouble, she shakes her head "no" very fast. She also giggles and tries to beat me to something she wants.
We had to empty their room of toys and turn the dining room into a playroom. She was trying to climb the bookshelf and was always stuffing small things into her mouth. She liked to sneak in there and play alone. If I turn my head for a second she darts over to the computer and tries to bang away on the keyboard. If I am holding her and distract her with a toy, she bangs that on the keyboard.
She has perfected her temper tantrum, back arching and all. I am convinced that she tries to get Henry in trouble. She shreiks so loudly when she doesn't get her way. I forget how young she is, so honed are her manipulation skills. She has Adam absolutely wrapped around her finger with her "hi da!" and "bye-bye da!" complete with backward wave. She will even give him a hug sometimes.
She pretends to blow her nose and blows on her food. She is already starting to refuse a sippy cup and wants to hold an open topped cup alone. She screams bloody murder if Henry gets something that she doesn't have. She steals Henry's fork off his plate at dinner and waves it around. She has tried to bite both Henry and me and licked his back in the bathtub today.
Just recently, I have found her: playing in the coat closet, playing in Adam's closet, trying to flood the kitchen by hanging on the water cooler tap, playing in the pantry, trying to empty my dresser drawers, Henry's drawers, emptying the hamper, unloading the bag of clean, folded laundry, trying to crawl out of the gym at Henry's gymnastics class, playing in the bathroom garbage, hiding under the dining room table...she is a handful!
We had to empty their room of toys and turn the dining room into a playroom. She was trying to climb the bookshelf and was always stuffing small things into her mouth. She liked to sneak in there and play alone. If I turn my head for a second she darts over to the computer and tries to bang away on the keyboard. If I am holding her and distract her with a toy, she bangs that on the keyboard.
She has perfected her temper tantrum, back arching and all. I am convinced that she tries to get Henry in trouble. She shreiks so loudly when she doesn't get her way. I forget how young she is, so honed are her manipulation skills. She has Adam absolutely wrapped around her finger with her "hi da!" and "bye-bye da!" complete with backward wave. She will even give him a hug sometimes.
She pretends to blow her nose and blows on her food. She is already starting to refuse a sippy cup and wants to hold an open topped cup alone. She screams bloody murder if Henry gets something that she doesn't have. She steals Henry's fork off his plate at dinner and waves it around. She has tried to bite both Henry and me and licked his back in the bathtub today.
Just recently, I have found her: playing in the coat closet, playing in Adam's closet, trying to flood the kitchen by hanging on the water cooler tap, playing in the pantry, trying to empty my dresser drawers, Henry's drawers, emptying the hamper, unloading the bag of clean, folded laundry, trying to crawl out of the gym at Henry's gymnastics class, playing in the bathroom garbage, hiding under the dining room table...she is a handful!
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
NoNoNoNo
Molly has started staying No by shaking her entire body. It is pretty funny. She has also started saying "bye-bye" while waving.
Henry Three Year Check Up
Henry had his three year check up on Friday. Wearing jeans, a rugby and with a belly full of water and two cheese sticks, he weighed a whopping 31 lbs. They measured him as 37.5 inches tall, but we think that is wrong and that he is about an inch taller.
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