More Annoying Than Candy Land

I always thought there were few games more annoying than Candy Land. Henry has proved me wrong and come up with some doozies.

He pretty much insists on playing with anything that is not a toy. You let it go because he is having fun and it gives you five minutes to do something else. However, the game always reaches that fateful point where he can't perform some part of it and now he needs your help. Immediately. Over and over.

Take the life jacket game. Adam has been waiting for two years for Henry to be interested in going on the boat. The day has finally come! Anyway, this involves Henry wearing a lifejacket from the car, down the floating dock and onto the boat. Because of this, he needs to bring it home to the apartment. Henry looooooooooves his life jacket and wants to wear it constantly. No harm there, right?

Getting it on involves putting his arms properly through the very tight holes, zipping it up, clasping the front and then attaching the clasp between his legs. In the process, he jabbers away about the life jacket, what color it is, who else needs to wear a life jacket...cute right? You then are forced to answer "Ma...yeah? yeah?" over and over about whether he is putting it on correctly (backwards, upside down, inside out, wrong arm...the possibilities are endless). He then needs help zipping it up, but the zipper doesn't go as high as he likes. He gets positively indignant that you can't zip it up to his chin.

Once it is on for three seconds, he wants it off but he can't undo the clasps (but God forbid you help him do the clasps). Once it is off, you guessed it, he wants it back on again. Over and over and over. You try to be nice and give him the warning that this is the "Last Time." He freaks out and tries to repeat the game with Adam. He then runs back and forth like a ping pong ball until one of us finally cracks and gives in.

Biting off more than we can chew!

Right now, we are:

1. Taking away Henry's pacifier
2. Potty Training
3. Moving Henry to a bed
4. Moving Molly to a crib
5. Putting Henry and Molly in the same room

Really not the smartest plan do you think? I guess it is like pulling off a bandaid, if you do it fast it hurts less.

P.S. Taking away the pacifier was Adam's brilliant plan. I overheard him telling Henry to "throw your pacifiers in the garbage, you don't need them anymore." I was screaming "Noooooooooooooooo" inside from the bedroom. He may not need them but I certainly do!

What time does the rooster crow?

Molly still sleeps in our room because she wakes a few times at night. If we were to move her to Henry's room, she might wake him and then I have two small children up at night. So in our room she stays.

She is at her absolute peak of happiness in the morning. Unfortunately for her that means 6am. I wake every morning to what sounds like a crow making their "caw caw" sound but is really my little angel. It is not a quiet noise, she makes it at the top of her lungs. She couples it with rolling back and forth, kicking until one of us wakes up. This weekend, she added yanking on my ponytail repeatedly. She mixes it up by digging her little baby razor nails into your flesh.

At first you are startled by the noise, having blocked it out of your memory from the day before. But after you wrench open your eyes to the harsh daylight, you are greeted with the most beautiful, happy smile you can imagine. It is impossible to ignore her after that!

Mother of the Year

Just in time for Mother's Day, I share another proud mothering moment.

On Saturday night, Molly was sleeping with us and thrashing around. She wasn't hungry so I decided to give her a dry diaper. So not to wake her even more, I did it in our bed. I opened her one piece footed pajamas, took off her diaper and then discovered I didn't have any diapers in our bedroom. Because I was exhausted, I decided to put my head down for "just a second."

Fast forward a few hours later. Adam woke me up and said "Look at Molly!" She was laying on our bed fast asleep. Unfortunately she was naked from the waist down with her pajamas open and laying in a big puddle of pee. Oops!

Tummy Time Champion

How cute is this baby? I know I am her mother, but what a beautiful little face!

I Swear We Don't Ignore Her

On a recent Saturday morning, Henry and Adam were cooking breakfast and I was in the living room reading the paper. Molly was alone in the dining room, playing happily in the neglecto-saucer. She got a little too quiet so I stopped in to check on her. Sadly, she has made the decision to put herself down for a nap being neither of her parents was attentive enough to do so. How sad is this picture?

Henry and the tale of the big boy bed

Henry is being evicted from his crib soon. I dread doing this because he will no longer be contained (ahem trapped) and I know his sleep will deteriorate. However, Molly is growing by leaps and bounds and soon won't fit in her little hammock.

We ordered the mattress, captain's bed and new bedding but due to a snafu with the ordering, the bed is not here yet. I set up the mattress on the floor and Henry slept in it for two nights. Since then, he has moved back to the crib at his request. We should have the new bed in the next week or so, I hope the transition goes smoothly. Less sleep in this house would be a bad thing.

Here is some documentation of the first night in the new bed. The plus side of all of this is there is a new place for me to hide when our bed gets too crowded. I also can encourage Henry to play lots of "Let's pretend Mommy is sleeping games"

What's New With Henry and Molly

Molly is such a sweet baby. She rarely cries, and is quick with a smile and a laugh. She loves Henry and watches him all day. She could nap more and for longer but I don't really have any complaints. She has wormed her way into our bed, despite my best efforts not to have another co-sleeper.

She now blows raspberries out of her mouth which is adorable. She has great neck and stomach strength, much more so than Henry did at this age. Probably because she will actually lay on her stomach for more than three seconds. Every morning, I lay her on our bed for some exercise. She can get herself from one side of the bed to the other by schooching up her rear end and pulling herself with her hands. My prediction is that she will crawl much earlier than Henry did. Her hair appears to be growing in lighter and her eyes are turning hazel or brown. She seems to be getting chubbier, I'd bet she is about 13.5 lbs now.

Henry is changing every day. He has lost a lot of his shyness and will now actually converse with strangers. I was happy when he stopped ignoring the neighbors in the elevator but could do without some of his commentary. "Goodbye Poopy-Toofy" was a recent favorite of mine.

His language becomes increasingly nuanced every day. I love hearing his little exclamations about things..."Hmm, this tastes good!" "Oooh, my tummy made a sound!" "Henry go to the library to read books!"

His favorite friend these days is Elliot. He loves to have him over to our house to play. They run around like madmen and Elliott's mom has to drag him out the door.

He notices everything around him. Recent exciting sightings were a tractor trailer transporting a load of cars, the streetlights on the parkway, construction vehicles galore.

Could She Be More Bored?

Poor Molly gets schlepped around all day, doing whatever Henry is doing. The good part is that she finds him very entertaining, the bad part is that she doesn't get to do nearly as much as Henry did. I looked back at this blog and loved this shot of Henry. I just had to recreate it with Molly who was not nearly as cooperative. Maybe she was peeved that she was playing on a "Henry" bench. Get used to it kid, you should see what it is like being the third child!

There's Something in the Water

It is amazing how you don't notice your child getting bigger until you see a comparison shot. Check out this shot of Henry laying in Molly's Amby Hammock and compare it to his shot as an infant. Yowza, time sure flies!